After a thoroughly uneventful Shrove Tuesday (except for a change in hair colour, but technically that happened on Monday) which I spent at the office (yes I'm back at the office again, temporarily), and then cleaning up our apartment, scrubbing the bath (green everywhere, heh) etc, I feel like I should still make some sort of commitment for Lent. I thought about it for a while. Alcohol is always a great idea, but as I'll be spending next week with a group who will definitely place a glass of wine in front of me every evening, no matter what, and there's several birthdays coming up as well, this one seems a little hard to do. Going off Facebook also seems neat, but as there's several people who only ever contact me via FB, and I sometimes need to check on things my computer game-developing clients (hehe, 'clients'...) post, this is also not as feasible as I would like it to be.
Instead, I chose, maybe somewhat cowardly, coffee and chocolate. Cowardly because I'm already trying to avoid them anyway. And because I don't desperately need my morning coffee like some do. Still, it might help. I'll try the Quit Sugar thing again come spring, so this should prepare me somewhat as well.
What I'm also trying to get rid of (I can't avoid it per se, but I really don't want it) is all that anxiousness about people's reactions towards me. My hair is now an anime-worthy shade of emeral green and basically looks like I'm test-driving a wig for Comic-Con. People WILL react to that. I generally have this instinct to try to hide, and to fret endlessly about what people will say. And you know what? So far my colleagues have said nothing but "Ooooh, great! Awesome! Keep it like that! Great colour!", and even if they didn't, what would it matter? Instead of worrying I should rather go out there with a big smile. So that's what I'll try to do. After all, it's not like this is going to wash out tomorrow. ;)
And maybe I'll manage to get back to getting rid of some unnecessary stuff every day. You know, throw away some redundant paper stuff (old magazines, study materials I will never again need or even look at, random papers), get rid of old cosmetics, register some books for Bookcrossing (and set them free), stuff like that. A little every day, and suddenly there's a whole lot of space on all the shelves - at least that's what I'm hoping for. :)
Mittwoch, Februar 13, 2013
Freitag, Februar 01, 2013
January Reading
Sooo, January seems to be over. The sun was out and the weather was really nice today, and yesterday too (I just spent yesterday mostly asleep or reading, while lazily admiring the bright blue sky I could see through my windows while today I actually ventured outside). I'm all for clouds and loads of snow and cold, because, let's face it, it's winter, and that's where these things should occur. But I'm also all for stormy nights which clear the skies and the sun putting a hint of spring in the air. Because, hey, it's February. :)
Anyway, on the 6th I put down a tentative reading list for January:
All Manga Power
As much Dresden Files as I manage
Humble Bundle - Signal to Noise, xkcd, SMBC, maybe more
Michelle Goodman - Don't just read, WORK!
...which I then swiftly forgot about, and only really kept to in one point. You'll soon notice which.
So, here's what I read last month...
Cornelia Funke, Tintenherz
I've been meaning to read this one for ages. And I borrowed the book from a friend I think in February 2012. So, high time I finally got to it. I read it the first days of the new year, which was great...two days of just lying back and read. After the stressful time I had before, during and right after Christmas, it was bliss.
I admit that I watched the film maybe 2 years ago, maybe a little less. It's nice, but it's also nothing like the book, no matter how much I may like Helen Mirren. Although maybe I'll watch it again now and see whether I like it any better.
The second in the trilogy is already on my shelf...soon...soon. :)
Anthony Horowitz, Groosham Grange
This was...odd. The cover claimed it to be something akin to Roald Dahl. And to be funny. But as it happens, it turned out to be neither. If it's anything at all, then it's one the books J.K. Rowling must have used for inspiration. Kids mysteriously receiving mysterious letters from a mysterious school. Three of them travelling there together by train. Teachers being mysterious (werewolves, ghosts etc). Mysterious mirrors. Etc. Just that...it was neither fun nor really exciting, there was a lot of sort of senseless violence, and...I really didn't care for it. Maybe I was too old, I suppose younger readers might enjoy it more. Who knows.
Jim Butcher, Fool Moon
Ah, the Dresden Files. After telling my boyfriend for a long, long time that I would most probably not read them, I turned around that decision over the past couple of years, listened to some of the audiobooks a year or so ago...and now decided to take the plunge and make my way through the books. Since the first one (Stormfront) is currently with my aunt, and I pretty much know it by heart anyway (audiobook plus reading the graphic novel version several times...seems to be enough), I started with #2. I already knew the audiobook, so no big surprises there. But I think I've got a better grasp on things now than when merely listening to the story. Reading really is a very different thing.
Ales Kot, Wild Children
Very short, rather odd comic. Not sure I get it yet. Maybe there is nothing to get as such (or so the comic itself claims). A lot of ideas. A lot of playing around with things. Food for thought.
Jim Butcher, Grave Peril
The journey continues. I knew this one as well, but reading really made a difference.
Jim Butcher, Summer Knight
And on, and on. I got a little annoyed with this one (and the ones before), because while reading I noticed some plotholes, some inconsistencies, that I hadn't when listening. In the last one it was mostly switching the names of minor characters, but here a whole subplot is resolved with an explanation that doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I still enjoyed the book, and it didn't take too much away, but still.
Jim Butcher, Death Masks
So, this one was as far as I'd got with the audiobooks. I stopped somewhere around the last third, I think. Idiotic, really. Anyway, reading it was a lot of fun. Finally getting to places I hadn't experienced before was GREAT. :)
Eiichiro Oda, One Piece # 65
And here it is: The culprit which messed up my sleeping pattern (if you can call it that) for the week. The book arrived Monday. I only started reading shortly before midnight. And when I finished it, I did something I had tried to avoid so far: I grabbed my boyfriend's tablet, turned on his manga reading app and read the next several chapters as well (I guess #66 will hold no surprises for me when it comes out in May :P). I NEEDED to know how the current story arc ended. For SCIENCE. (I kid you not.) Anyway, that kept me up far too long, and I only tore myself away (story arc already being long over, ladeeda) with a lot of self-discipline. And a sort of annoyed look at the clock.
What can I say about #65? Pretty much as expected, it mostly shows off the things the Mugiwaras have learned during their break from pirating. No challenge for them anywhere. But then, there is sudden use of words like "holy war" and their enemies being "hollow" because they only fight because they have been told it is the only way to exist...it is tradition...it must be done...and you get a glimpse of the past where they commit terrorist acts not because *they* have been hurt but because they think it *must* be done...
It made me think about when One Piece had started being social commentary. I always thought that only really started with Enie's Lobby. But then again...what about Alabasta? What about Kokos? It's way more explicit now, of course, which makes it such great material for my presentation, but the basic idea has always been there: "I will protect my friends against bullies/tyrants." And it does not matter who it is, against whom or what...gender, race, species...no matter at all.
I KNOW I will go crazy over writing that paper, because I always go crazy. But boy, will it be fun!
Jim Butcher, Blood Rites
My sleep did not get much better with this one. Great to find out what addiction feels like. Reading while eating. Reading while drinking. Almost reading while cooking. Not sleeping when I should. Grabbing the next book as soon as the last one is finished. Small wonder none of the people I owe some finished work to haven't already strangled me.
I won't say much about the book. But vampires are scary things. Even the pretty ones. :P
Jim Butcher, Dead Beat
Finished this one last night. WOW. Some parts had me a little confused, because certain things just weren't as obvious to me as they were to Mr. Dresden, but hey. Bob the Dinozombie. What else can I say? WOW.
I also really enjoy the fact that after the first three or four books, they are now flowing more into each other. There are more cross-references, you get more of a feel of things from one book having a major influence on another. Nice. :)
And there they are. Ten books in one month. Don't ask me about work, but woooo. 10 books. :D
And the thing is...I really need to finish the Dresden Files (14 books published so far = 7 more to go) before I can read anything else, at least anything longer than...well, one One Piece volume, it seems. So...just don't expect my February list to look very different. And then I'll finally be able to stop clapping my hands over my ears and singing silly songs to myself whenever my boyfriend meets the other avid Harry fan in my circle of friends. Whew!
Anyway, on the 6th I put down a tentative reading list for January:
All Manga Power
As much Dresden Files as I manage
Humble Bundle - Signal to Noise, xkcd, SMBC, maybe more
Michelle Goodman - Don't just read, WORK!
...which I then swiftly forgot about, and only really kept to in one point. You'll soon notice which.
So, here's what I read last month...
Cornelia Funke, Tintenherz
I've been meaning to read this one for ages. And I borrowed the book from a friend I think in February 2012. So, high time I finally got to it. I read it the first days of the new year, which was great...two days of just lying back and read. After the stressful time I had before, during and right after Christmas, it was bliss.
I admit that I watched the film maybe 2 years ago, maybe a little less. It's nice, but it's also nothing like the book, no matter how much I may like Helen Mirren. Although maybe I'll watch it again now and see whether I like it any better.
The second in the trilogy is already on my shelf...soon...soon. :)
Anthony Horowitz, Groosham Grange
This was...odd. The cover claimed it to be something akin to Roald Dahl. And to be funny. But as it happens, it turned out to be neither. If it's anything at all, then it's one the books J.K. Rowling must have used for inspiration. Kids mysteriously receiving mysterious letters from a mysterious school. Three of them travelling there together by train. Teachers being mysterious (werewolves, ghosts etc). Mysterious mirrors. Etc. Just that...it was neither fun nor really exciting, there was a lot of sort of senseless violence, and...I really didn't care for it. Maybe I was too old, I suppose younger readers might enjoy it more. Who knows.
Jim Butcher, Fool Moon
Ah, the Dresden Files. After telling my boyfriend for a long, long time that I would most probably not read them, I turned around that decision over the past couple of years, listened to some of the audiobooks a year or so ago...and now decided to take the plunge and make my way through the books. Since the first one (Stormfront) is currently with my aunt, and I pretty much know it by heart anyway (audiobook plus reading the graphic novel version several times...seems to be enough), I started with #2. I already knew the audiobook, so no big surprises there. But I think I've got a better grasp on things now than when merely listening to the story. Reading really is a very different thing.
Ales Kot, Wild Children
Very short, rather odd comic. Not sure I get it yet. Maybe there is nothing to get as such (or so the comic itself claims). A lot of ideas. A lot of playing around with things. Food for thought.
Jim Butcher, Grave Peril
The journey continues. I knew this one as well, but reading really made a difference.
Jim Butcher, Summer Knight
And on, and on. I got a little annoyed with this one (and the ones before), because while reading I noticed some plotholes, some inconsistencies, that I hadn't when listening. In the last one it was mostly switching the names of minor characters, but here a whole subplot is resolved with an explanation that doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I still enjoyed the book, and it didn't take too much away, but still.
Jim Butcher, Death Masks
So, this one was as far as I'd got with the audiobooks. I stopped somewhere around the last third, I think. Idiotic, really. Anyway, reading it was a lot of fun. Finally getting to places I hadn't experienced before was GREAT. :)
Eiichiro Oda, One Piece # 65
And here it is: The culprit which messed up my sleeping pattern (if you can call it that) for the week. The book arrived Monday. I only started reading shortly before midnight. And when I finished it, I did something I had tried to avoid so far: I grabbed my boyfriend's tablet, turned on his manga reading app and read the next several chapters as well (I guess #66 will hold no surprises for me when it comes out in May :P). I NEEDED to know how the current story arc ended. For SCIENCE. (I kid you not.) Anyway, that kept me up far too long, and I only tore myself away (story arc already being long over, ladeeda) with a lot of self-discipline. And a sort of annoyed look at the clock.
What can I say about #65? Pretty much as expected, it mostly shows off the things the Mugiwaras have learned during their break from pirating. No challenge for them anywhere. But then, there is sudden use of words like "holy war" and their enemies being "hollow" because they only fight because they have been told it is the only way to exist...it is tradition...it must be done...and you get a glimpse of the past where they commit terrorist acts not because *they* have been hurt but because they think it *must* be done...
It made me think about when One Piece had started being social commentary. I always thought that only really started with Enie's Lobby. But then again...what about Alabasta? What about Kokos? It's way more explicit now, of course, which makes it such great material for my presentation, but the basic idea has always been there: "I will protect my friends against bullies/tyrants." And it does not matter who it is, against whom or what...gender, race, species...no matter at all.
I KNOW I will go crazy over writing that paper, because I always go crazy. But boy, will it be fun!
Jim Butcher, Blood Rites
My sleep did not get much better with this one. Great to find out what addiction feels like. Reading while eating. Reading while drinking. Almost reading while cooking. Not sleeping when I should. Grabbing the next book as soon as the last one is finished. Small wonder none of the people I owe some finished work to haven't already strangled me.
I won't say much about the book. But vampires are scary things. Even the pretty ones. :P
Jim Butcher, Dead Beat
Finished this one last night. WOW. Some parts had me a little confused, because certain things just weren't as obvious to me as they were to Mr. Dresden, but hey. Bob the Dinozombie. What else can I say? WOW.
I also really enjoy the fact that after the first three or four books, they are now flowing more into each other. There are more cross-references, you get more of a feel of things from one book having a major influence on another. Nice. :)
And there they are. Ten books in one month. Don't ask me about work, but woooo. 10 books. :D
And the thing is...I really need to finish the Dresden Files (14 books published so far = 7 more to go) before I can read anything else, at least anything longer than...well, one One Piece volume, it seems. So...just don't expect my February list to look very different. And then I'll finally be able to stop clapping my hands over my ears and singing silly songs to myself whenever my boyfriend meets the other avid Harry fan in my circle of friends. Whew!
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