Fledgling by Octavia Butler
First person. Hero has an "ace" but not hardly up her sleeve. 300 pages but felt like a short story. They find the killers kind of easily and they're convicted by a rather quick trial. Liked the beginning but it developed a pedestrian feel as it went along. Started feeling embarrassed about reading it, etc. Oh well. Bad guys highly and stupidly 2D but is that so different from real life? Perhaps it could have been better if longer. Felt rushed towards a happy ending. Wanted Parable of the Sower but it wasn't on kindle so just grabbed what they happened to have at the independent bookstore when I really should have used amazon.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Boo hoo, woe is ME!
reddit.com is a pretty good site. Somewhat makes me feel better about humankind. Found an extremely intersting article there plus many useful comments about an 80% optimism bias. Reposted it at FB and no one commented or liked. Because I don't know any interesting people at all. But there are some out there. Scattered very few and far between, almost impossible to find online it seems.
Got sick three times in last month or so. Once after getting a tetanus, diptheria, .., pertussis shot. Second time from the worst hangover I think I've ever had. And finally from either a stomach flu or food poisoning. But this all coincides with changes in my exercise program. Going back to running twice a week. Want to get up to 3 hours each time because that makes work much more tolerable. Mostly slow continuous running, but with some hill repeats and finishing off with a brisk mile or two. Ed Whitlock broke 3 hours for the marathon at 73 years old by running for 3 hours continuous almost each day. I've found repeatedly that two days a week works almost as well as 5, 6 or 7. (Although maybe not really with aerobic activity....) Anyway, it's first and foremost about feeling good. And I've felt pretty damm bad recently with running much more frequent plus some light lifting.
reddit.com is a pretty good site. Somewhat makes me feel better about humankind. Found an extremely intersting article there plus many useful comments about an 80% optimism bias. Reposted it at FB and no one commented or liked. Because I don't know any interesting people at all. But there are some out there. Scattered very few and far between, almost impossible to find online it seems.
Got sick three times in last month or so. Once after getting a tetanus, diptheria, .., pertussis shot. Second time from the worst hangover I think I've ever had. And finally from either a stomach flu or food poisoning. But this all coincides with changes in my exercise program. Going back to running twice a week. Want to get up to 3 hours each time because that makes work much more tolerable. Mostly slow continuous running, but with some hill repeats and finishing off with a brisk mile or two. Ed Whitlock broke 3 hours for the marathon at 73 years old by running for 3 hours continuous almost each day. I've found repeatedly that two days a week works almost as well as 5, 6 or 7. (Although maybe not really with aerobic activity....) Anyway, it's first and foremost about feeling good. And I've felt pretty damm bad recently with running much more frequent plus some light lifting.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Went to a site called goodreads and read a bunch of reviews for a few books. Mary Stewart and R Scott Bakker... Was depressed by the stupidity of most of the people. In order to find happiness I have to get past that. Just forgetting the reality of what's out there is what has worked best so far. I wonder if there might be some other way. That the ravens, fish, squirrels and cats in my life aren't so smart doesn't bother me. Perhaps I could learn treat other people the same way instead of expecting them to be my equal.
Conversely, many people are hypersensitive to such an arrogant attitude in me. But short of becoming a stupider person they'll still say the same.
Conversely, many people are hypersensitive to such an arrogant attitude in me. But short of becoming a stupider person they'll still say the same.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Perhaps it's part of the very cycle of the rise and fall of civilizations, that social norms are developed and those who disagree with them are slowly but surely quite simply removed from the gene pool until everyone agrees, and then shortly thereafter the society is destroyed from it's erroneous(sp) ways. It does certainly appear that the idea of disagreeing with the social norms of today has become a thing that's just not done anymore. Maybe 100 years ago. Then you go take your commune out in the wilderness which would eventually fail anyway. Now, not really. Seriously I don't really see it going on anywhere to any meaningful degree.
Maybe someone rants about how they hate Bush or rightwing thinking. And someone else goes on against the corporate coverage of war. Meanwhile, someone else with a hippy bent goes on about marijuana being illegal. A very very few people may even go on about the absurdity of lawn mowing, the great American pastime. But most focus on single issues and even these are few and far between. Or I just know all the wrong people. That could be it.
Still I'd do well to learn to love mowing the lawn. This year I find myself minding it less than in the past. But I think that's because I'm in better endurance shape then I've maybe ever been. Still the bamboo should be here in a couple of weeks.
Maybe someone rants about how they hate Bush or rightwing thinking. And someone else goes on against the corporate coverage of war. Meanwhile, someone else with a hippy bent goes on about marijuana being illegal. A very very few people may even go on about the absurdity of lawn mowing, the great American pastime. But most focus on single issues and even these are few and far between. Or I just know all the wrong people. That could be it.
Still I'd do well to learn to love mowing the lawn. This year I find myself minding it less than in the past. But I think that's because I'm in better endurance shape then I've maybe ever been. Still the bamboo should be here in a couple of weeks.
Recommendations from the great Robin Hobb:
The Heir of the Night by Helen Lowe
I didn't very far. I agree with this review:
http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2012/04/the_heir_of_nig-comments.shtml#comments
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith and something in the middle of a huge series by Steven Burst
They both remind me of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, which isn't a completely awful thing. I like first person but it's a rather crude first person. A simplistic person.
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
This one I'm 56 pages into and liking quite well so far.
The Heir of the Night by Helen Lowe
I didn't very far. I agree with this review:
http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2012/04/the_heir_of_nig-comments.shtml#comments
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith and something in the middle of a huge series by Steven Burst
They both remind me of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, which isn't a completely awful thing. I like first person but it's a rather crude first person. A simplistic person.
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
This one I'm 56 pages into and liking quite well so far.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Good mood lately. Why I couldn't say. Running more often, mostly continuous runs? Or is it related to a second sperm analysis that came back far better than previous and furthermore that as such I'm drinking alcohol again? Or spring?
A few pond dreams even. Even a slight writing breakthrough. (First person).
OTOH dreading that I might still get offered that job. Although hearing nothing for a month is a good sign. I should have learned my lesson by now. Ideally I should be doing something more with my mind, but thinking ideally is exactly what's caused me so much unhappiness throughout my life.
A few pond dreams even. Even a slight writing breakthrough. (First person).
OTOH dreading that I might still get offered that job. Although hearing nothing for a month is a good sign. I should have learned my lesson by now. Ideally I should be doing something more with my mind, but thinking ideally is exactly what's caused me so much unhappiness throughout my life.
Sunday night did 4 miles in 32:30. Today, wednesday, did 6 mile repeats in 7:07, 6:49, 7:18, 7:03, 7:25, 7:35. Slower than I managed a while back. Have gained 5 to 10 pounds with lifting more. Also have neglected faster running a little, I guess. Going to do mile repeats twice a week. Really ought to do more than 6 I think. I guess I'll still attempt to add in "easy runs", which are about 9:30 to 10 minute miles. But geez, those get boring quick.
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