Category: Consumption

Reiley and I play war

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Yesterday we decided that Reiley was old enough to play a Real Time Strategy war game with me. She and Wren have been playing multi-player Age of Empires ][: The Conquerers for a long time now, and they’re very skilled at map building and playing in a friendly mode. So Reiley kept up with me just fine. And it’s fortunately not too graphic, especially compared to many, many other games. You get to choose from a variety of actual civilizations, so it’s educational, too (yeah yeah, that’s the ticket).

I sent over a few soldiers to attack her early, and she sent a sneaky counter-attack around the back of my colony. She’s a great opponent, and a really good sport to boot. There’s a little bit of guilt on my part, for 1) letting her play wargames and 2) for not holding back more when I’ve played the game a lot more than she has. But I guess there’s plenty of time for her to surpass her old man (and whip his butt). :>

9.0 The Office

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Watching the Office is like watching a train wreck in slow motion: it’s too disturbing to look away. Tons of awkward pauses and inappropriate behavior will keep you squirming. Hurts so good.

Poker passion

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The local tournament-style Texas Hold’ Em poker game last night was great fun – I knocked a couple people out and ended up in 4th place. Keith made it to 2nd place, which is typical, and Chris was the first one out, definitely NOT typical. Just goes to show – even though it’s a great game requiring both strategic and bluffing skills, you can’t remove lady luck from the equation. :>

Pop has a publisher!

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This is BIG news! My pop has gotten to the point where he’s pretty happy with the polish he’s applied to his first novel, The Boxcar Kid. He’s been working hard on it for quite some time now, and he has serialized it into three separate books. He’s taken the job of finding a publisher very seriously, researching the “right” way to go about it, attending writer’s conferences to get networked, and even working up an extensive marketing plan.

It’s finally all paid off, as he’s been approached by ArcheBooks Publishing with a serious offer to get published! I really like the look of the publisher – they’re targeted at helping new writers establish long-term careers. They publish only nice hardcover editions, but complement that with ebooks with generous licenses, and have lots of other smart approaches to publishing. Way to go, pop! I’ll update this as more news rolls in. In the meantime, check out the website I set up for an introduction.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! Love ya! Hope that free lunch at Iguanamia hit the spot!

UPDATE: Not content to share the spotlight with me mum, my dad decided to smash his car into bumper-to-bumper traffic, causing the three cars in front of him to take damage. Poor guy! Talk about your roller coaster day. He’s recovering now, with a sore chest thanks to hitting the seatbelt and airbag pretty hard. I know you’re on a roll, pop, but slow down and take it easy for a bit! Hope you feel better soon.

9.0 44 Scotland Street, Espresso Tales

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These two Alexander McCall Smith novels were originally written as a serialized newspaper column, just like Robert Louis Stephenson used to do. I’ve really enjoyed his light touch and wonderful character development – he floats effortlessly between dozens of characters, with lots of interesting perspectives on life.

In one of Alexander McCall Smith’s short stories, I remember him talking about a poet who wrote under different pseudonyms, each with a different personality. The protagonist stated that in our day, the poet would have been psychoanalyzed as a schizophrenic and his poetry would have been sterilized into diagnostic fodder. Luckily, Smith can get away with displaying multiple personalities in such a masterful way that we can all just indulge.

9.0 Human League – All I Ever Wanted

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As a continuation of the 80’s nostalgia theme of Doug’s recent mix, I dug up this gem from a couple years ago. I have a few others that might make a nice response to Doug’s mix.

Still, I have to say that one of the songs Doug chose, New Order’s Krafty, is the pinnacle. It has had the replayability of Blue Monday, with no less than 4 gorgeous sweet bridges across the verses and choruses filled with upbeat lyrics.

Yes, nostalgia can have a saccharin aftertaste, but not on these nice new sweet goodies – pure sugar. HaHA!

9.5 Great Expectations

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Now that I added a “books” category I might as well fill it up a bit with stuff I’ve read recently.

A rich look at life in a different time, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations will take you to a place where class really mattered, but then shows that regardless, people are people, and the richest and most affluent can be the poorest and least happy, and vice versa.

Other recent quick-reads: Alexander McCall Smith’s Portuguese Irregular Verbs series (hilarious), H.G. Well’s The Time Machine (which stands against the test of time), J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye (will be a great re-read for the rest of my life), and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped (pure fun).

9.5 Doug’s mix :P

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My college buddy Doug sent me a retro+new mixed tape today of bands we’ve loved and newer stuff he likes, and it’s joyous and melancholy, and in heavy rotation. One of the few images that persists in my sorry small brain is Doug playing perfect air guitar in the window of our second story frat room to “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”. Thanks for sharing that blissful moment of music with me, and the knowledge that it is always there to lift us up. Word.

  • New Order: Waiting for the Siren’s Call, Krafty
  • Erasure: Breathe, I’ll Be There, Let’s take one more rocket…
  • Pet Shop Boys: (lots)
  • Robbie Williams: Kiss Me (redux)
  • Fisher: You
  • Mute Math: Typical, Plan B
  • Switchfoot: The Shadow Proves the Sunshine
  • Eluvium: Perfect Neglect…, An Accidental Memory…

8.5 Freakonomics

~ m ~ 3 Comments

A lot tighter than Junk Science, this book targets a few completely random subjects with statistical analysis, most often with unpredictable results. Crime related to abortion rates, the true hazards of daily life (e.g., wet bathroom floors – ala Gavin de Becker), nature vs. nurture, etc. What makes the book resonate is the truth that bubbles up from the clinical statistical approach – any presumption is fair game, resulting in some great insights. I wish Junk Science had felt that true.

P.S. Thanks to Gary, he’s been my source for current popular nonfiction lately. :>