The start of a New Semester
It struck me yesterday how fast the past semester flew by and how soon I’ll be moving to which ever state for whichever job that I find. It’s rather terrifying in its way. And exhilarating. I have a lot of worry connected to it of course but I remind myself that things can change (or in some preferably cases, remain the same) quite a bit over the course of a year and half. I just hope that I have the wisdom to make the right decisions. I’m worried most about making the wrong decision and not being able to correct it.
Books I'm reading:
LoveCraft:
I’ve read a few more Lovecraft stories, finishing what I feel is the essential Lovecraft works such as the Cthulu mythos, Shadow of Innsmouth being one of the best, I feel. I don’t care much for the mythos really. It doesn’t frighten me as I felt it should. I suppose it’s because I already think as Lovecraft did, at least as far as humans are concerned in the role of Creation and the universe. It doesn’t fill me with any sort of dread though. I can understand why it would and I suppose if truly confronted with the notion, I probably would go insane or be terrified to the very core of my being…but then I suppose that’s the difference between understanding and knowing.
War of the Spider Queen:
I’ve decided to reread this six-part series. I was going to before but I was a little worried that I would not get as much out of the reading as I did before because I’ve noticed that a lot of other fantasy that I have been trying to read has come up short at best. I’m worried that I’ve either moved past them and crave only “classic” literature or that the quality of the writers is starting to decline even more perceptively than I had believed. I read the first two chapters of the first book of WotSQ and found that I had to force myself to put it down. I’m so happy that my aesthetics haven’t changed but it worries me about the condition of fantasy novelists.
Warhammer Fantasy: Inheritance:
This is the first of the Vampire Counts trilogy and I picked it up because I do enjoy the occasional vampire story. They are my second favorite undead creature after all. To put it simply, this book is par at absolute best. I’ve read about 3/8 of this book thus far and I must say I often find my mind trailing into other thoughts while my eyes move along the page. There has yet to be a character I didn’t despise in some form or fashion as well. The two protagonists that the reader first meet are over-zealous, overly Romantic, vengeance driven fools who’s death I rejoice it should it ever come. The once character I was looking forward to reading about, Vlad von Carstein, was a bit of a let down after given more dialogue. I don’t care for his overly melodramatic, emo-goth speak. I expect more from a heartless ruler. The book, thus far, fails to please but it delivers what I guess it promises. Vampires are often depicted as high Romance figures with melodramatic stories. It just gets old though. I love Keats and Shelley and Blake but I cannot stomach the Romance that so many contemporaries try to affect. I hated seeing it in fellow students and I hate it in the stories I read. Poetry has license to loose itself from reality; prose needs to work within it, at least to some degree, even if one means to change, alter or lose reality.
I plan to continue on a little longer and hope for the best…or at least hope that writer took some pride in his work and “got better.”
Runelords: I don’t have much to say in regards to this book yet except Amy recommended it to me and I think I’ll give it a go. She recommended Card’s Enchantment and I really liked that book.
The Wizards: Blackstaff:
I bit the bullet and bought a Forgotten Realms book about one of my favorite figures from that place. I have read about ten pages into it and so far I think I like it. I remember the author from other Forgotten Realms novels and I remember liking him. Still, the last D&D story I read, written by Ed Greenwood (WHO INVENTED THE WORLD!!), was the worst piece of garbage I had ever read. Until I read all his books about Elminster, I liked the old wizard. NOPE. NOT NO MORE! YOU RUINED HIM FOR ME, ED. YOU PUG-UGLY BASTARD! Sorry. I have mixed feelings wot regards Mr. Greenwood. I hope to find good things about the Blackstaff though.
"'I wish that everyone had what they deserved,' I wished with all sincerity.
As the genie raised his great arms, he asked, ‘according to whom?’”
What would you answer to this? Personally, I couldn’t find an answer. Everything was too flawed to make such a world-encompassing wish. If you say anyone in particular, you run the risk of someone who has a too harsh or too soft view of things. They likely don’t see themselves as either and thus have a skewed view of things. If you say your own, you are being way too prideful and still run the risk of naming any one else in the world. While you think your mother may deserve something, someone else may know something about her that you don’t and feel she deserves a lot less. Your enemy might deserve pain and torture in your eyes but in the eyes of the community, they are near-saints. Who are you to make such a judgment?
And you don’t want to say God because the Christian God is different from the Jewish God is different from the Islamic God is different from the…et cetera and so forth. While an overly zealous and foolish person may make take this route, a truly wise and good answer would require something else.
Conversely, to ask that the view be according to an impartial being gambles the risk of inviting a Lovecraftian Doom upon the entire human race. And even if not, why would an impartial being care? Wouldn’t they just leave things as they are?
So do we as for the impartial being who cares to be the one in judgement? If so, what does this being “care” about? Humans? Justice? Mercy?
I don’t have an answer but I feel this is quite the question.
Games I’m playing
Okami -
play a god in the form of a white wolf and alter the world with a paint brush. It’s a great game. It’s beautiful to look at and the gameplay is excellent. It feels Zelda-esque. I recommend this to anyone.
World of Warcraft - I have my shaman to level 60, and am working on getting my warlock there, though I wish I could work to get my mage that high instead. Sigh. I’m looking forward to the expansion. I think I’ll definetly be one of the infinite number of blood elves though. I just don’t know which to make….
Final Fantasy 12 -
What a way to make up for FF 10-11. This one game really makes up for all the crap that gamers were subjected to in FF 10, 10-2 (GAAAAR!!!!) and the cool but inaccessible FF 11. It’s beautiful and combines elements of FF Tactics (Which was an awesome game) with elements of Vagrant Story (which was an awesome game). It has great graphics and the gameplay is innovative with battles being less of an impediment to the story if one so desires. The story is also promising to be a good one thus far. More to come as I play.
Neverwinter Nights 2 -
I have to start over in this game because my save file no longer works sadly. It’s kinda cool though because I hated that my character had a round head. He looked like my friend Matt more than me. And I think I’d like to make a specialist mage as well. We’ll see. Not sure when I’ll pick this back up.
Heroes of Might and Magic 5 -
Another GAAAAAR!!! I had to completely uninstall the thing because it crashed every time I tried to play it after I had finally gotten to the Necropolis campaign. OH THE AGONY!!! I have to get through it all again. Sigh. I hear that cheats work on the game once again though and may use that to my advantage.
Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth -
Amy got this for me for Christmas. So far, it’s really cool and I like the way it handles the RTS. I think I’ll get the second one eventually with the expansion. It’s certainly a nice follow-up on the last RTS game I played, “Warcraft III: Frozen Throne.” I don’t count Armies of Exigo because I can’t get past the second stage. It makes no sense so I gave up.
New Years resolutions
I only wish to lose a little weight. I’d like ot slim down to about 170-175. I’m about ten to fifteen pounds over that at the moment. I’d also like to start eating healthier and take more vitamins but why is it so expensive to be healthy?
Books I'm reading:
LoveCraft:
I’ve read a few more Lovecraft stories, finishing what I feel is the essential Lovecraft works such as the Cthulu mythos, Shadow of Innsmouth being one of the best, I feel. I don’t care much for the mythos really. It doesn’t frighten me as I felt it should. I suppose it’s because I already think as Lovecraft did, at least as far as humans are concerned in the role of Creation and the universe. It doesn’t fill me with any sort of dread though. I can understand why it would and I suppose if truly confronted with the notion, I probably would go insane or be terrified to the very core of my being…but then I suppose that’s the difference between understanding and knowing.
War of the Spider Queen:
I’ve decided to reread this six-part series. I was going to before but I was a little worried that I would not get as much out of the reading as I did before because I’ve noticed that a lot of other fantasy that I have been trying to read has come up short at best. I’m worried that I’ve either moved past them and crave only “classic” literature or that the quality of the writers is starting to decline even more perceptively than I had believed. I read the first two chapters of the first book of WotSQ and found that I had to force myself to put it down. I’m so happy that my aesthetics haven’t changed but it worries me about the condition of fantasy novelists.
Warhammer Fantasy: Inheritance:
This is the first of the Vampire Counts trilogy and I picked it up because I do enjoy the occasional vampire story. They are my second favorite undead creature after all. To put it simply, this book is par at absolute best. I’ve read about 3/8 of this book thus far and I must say I often find my mind trailing into other thoughts while my eyes move along the page. There has yet to be a character I didn’t despise in some form or fashion as well. The two protagonists that the reader first meet are over-zealous, overly Romantic, vengeance driven fools who’s death I rejoice it should it ever come. The once character I was looking forward to reading about, Vlad von Carstein, was a bit of a let down after given more dialogue. I don’t care for his overly melodramatic, emo-goth speak. I expect more from a heartless ruler. The book, thus far, fails to please but it delivers what I guess it promises. Vampires are often depicted as high Romance figures with melodramatic stories. It just gets old though. I love Keats and Shelley and Blake but I cannot stomach the Romance that so many contemporaries try to affect. I hated seeing it in fellow students and I hate it in the stories I read. Poetry has license to loose itself from reality; prose needs to work within it, at least to some degree, even if one means to change, alter or lose reality.
I plan to continue on a little longer and hope for the best…or at least hope that writer took some pride in his work and “got better.”
Runelords: I don’t have much to say in regards to this book yet except Amy recommended it to me and I think I’ll give it a go. She recommended Card’s Enchantment and I really liked that book.
The Wizards: Blackstaff:
I bit the bullet and bought a Forgotten Realms book about one of my favorite figures from that place. I have read about ten pages into it and so far I think I like it. I remember the author from other Forgotten Realms novels and I remember liking him. Still, the last D&D story I read, written by Ed Greenwood (WHO INVENTED THE WORLD!!), was the worst piece of garbage I had ever read. Until I read all his books about Elminster, I liked the old wizard. NOPE. NOT NO MORE! YOU RUINED HIM FOR ME, ED. YOU PUG-UGLY BASTARD! Sorry. I have mixed feelings wot regards Mr. Greenwood. I hope to find good things about the Blackstaff though.
"'I wish that everyone had what they deserved,' I wished with all sincerity.
As the genie raised his great arms, he asked, ‘according to whom?’”
What would you answer to this? Personally, I couldn’t find an answer. Everything was too flawed to make such a world-encompassing wish. If you say anyone in particular, you run the risk of someone who has a too harsh or too soft view of things. They likely don’t see themselves as either and thus have a skewed view of things. If you say your own, you are being way too prideful and still run the risk of naming any one else in the world. While you think your mother may deserve something, someone else may know something about her that you don’t and feel she deserves a lot less. Your enemy might deserve pain and torture in your eyes but in the eyes of the community, they are near-saints. Who are you to make such a judgment?
And you don’t want to say God because the Christian God is different from the Jewish God is different from the Islamic God is different from the…et cetera and so forth. While an overly zealous and foolish person may make take this route, a truly wise and good answer would require something else.
Conversely, to ask that the view be according to an impartial being gambles the risk of inviting a Lovecraftian Doom upon the entire human race. And even if not, why would an impartial being care? Wouldn’t they just leave things as they are?
So do we as for the impartial being who cares to be the one in judgement? If so, what does this being “care” about? Humans? Justice? Mercy?
I don’t have an answer but I feel this is quite the question.
Games I’m playing
Okami -
play a god in the form of a white wolf and alter the world with a paint brush. It’s a great game. It’s beautiful to look at and the gameplay is excellent. It feels Zelda-esque. I recommend this to anyone.
World of Warcraft - I have my shaman to level 60, and am working on getting my warlock there, though I wish I could work to get my mage that high instead. Sigh. I’m looking forward to the expansion. I think I’ll definetly be one of the infinite number of blood elves though. I just don’t know which to make….
Final Fantasy 12 -
What a way to make up for FF 10-11. This one game really makes up for all the crap that gamers were subjected to in FF 10, 10-2 (GAAAAR!!!!) and the cool but inaccessible FF 11. It’s beautiful and combines elements of FF Tactics (Which was an awesome game) with elements of Vagrant Story (which was an awesome game). It has great graphics and the gameplay is innovative with battles being less of an impediment to the story if one so desires. The story is also promising to be a good one thus far. More to come as I play.
Neverwinter Nights 2 -
I have to start over in this game because my save file no longer works sadly. It’s kinda cool though because I hated that my character had a round head. He looked like my friend Matt more than me. And I think I’d like to make a specialist mage as well. We’ll see. Not sure when I’ll pick this back up.
Heroes of Might and Magic 5 -
Another GAAAAAR!!! I had to completely uninstall the thing because it crashed every time I tried to play it after I had finally gotten to the Necropolis campaign. OH THE AGONY!!! I have to get through it all again. Sigh. I hear that cheats work on the game once again though and may use that to my advantage.
Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth -
Amy got this for me for Christmas. So far, it’s really cool and I like the way it handles the RTS. I think I’ll get the second one eventually with the expansion. It’s certainly a nice follow-up on the last RTS game I played, “Warcraft III: Frozen Throne.” I don’t count Armies of Exigo because I can’t get past the second stage. It makes no sense so I gave up.
New Years resolutions
I only wish to lose a little weight. I’d like ot slim down to about 170-175. I’m about ten to fifteen pounds over that at the moment. I’d also like to start eating healthier and take more vitamins but why is it so expensive to be healthy?