World Empire...V

I just found an old friend on-line. Many years ago I borrowed a CD from my sister, it was a share-ware CD that had come with her new computer. One of the games I found on it was called World Empire (I think either the original or II). It was somewhat of a Risk type game, except that the map had every country of the world on it. As in Risk there are connections between every continent--e.g. Brazil to Liberia--even when there is no actual connection in nature. Also there is only one connection between each set of continents. Europe and Asia only connect between the Ukraine and Russia.

Each turn you get a certain number of armies based both on the number of territories that you control and how many continents you have completely dominated. There is one catch though, you have an ideology, as does every country on the map. Countries are initiall independent and occupied by a certain number of armies (between one and four I believe). If you conquer a country with the same ideology as you there will be no need to leave anything but the one army required by the game (just as in Risk you have to have a minimum of one army on each territory). If, however, you conquer a territory with an opposing ideology you must leave a certain number of armies (the computer will tell you 2 or 3) to prevent a revolt. If you do not leave enough armies and the territory revolts control will be granted to the enemy (the other player with the same ideology as the country) as well as five armies on that territory.

I enjoy the game because you get to see every country in the world. V, the newest version, does an excellent job of showing nearly every nation. I was slightly disappointed that they didn't include East Timor, but I did see Monaco and San Marino! I downloaded the 30 day trial of V, so I probably won't be buying it. 'Tis a fun game, but not forever. Plus I found a few things in my storage unit this evening!

I found three items of especial note: two DVD sets and a game. I found both my complete set of the series Firefly, but also my Band of Brothers DVD set. Now I can watch either whenver I want--and I could even go from Firefly to Serenity! Though I would read the three comics in between--which I of course bought back before the movie was released. Additionally I found my Diablo set, so I can reinstall Diablo II, restore my saved game from well over a year ago, and go back to playing whenever I have enough time. :-)

Okay, I didn't realize that I'd stayed up so late--but I just had to finish my first game on World Empire V! :-) I work the next three days 9-5 so I need to be getting to bed earlier.

~Matt

Sleep

Well I definately intended to post this last night so that I would keep up my rhythm of posting every day, but alas I fell asleep before I could type and post this entry. Sleep has been interesting lately. My schedule fluctuates so much that my sleeping schedule is somewhat crazy. I might work 14:00-22:00 a couple days then 09:00-17:00 for a couple more with a day off in between.

I'm glad to have this job as it is bringing in money--but it isn't enough. I'd rather work with people a bit more, even if I'm in a cubicle next door to co-workers. On this job too often I'm just on my own wandering through the store or the lot as I work. It does provide some good time to think up ideas for my stories, but really too much time. I don't think that I'll be able to get the part-time position I applied for at the museum--I haven't heard anything back yet and the position is no longer listed. Therefore I need to edit my resume and get serious about finding other work. The problem is I barely make enough money at bigg's for my current situation, and it isn't at all enough to let me live on my own, :(.

~Matt

The Grand Crusade

Wow...To some extent I am speechless, but I won't let that prevent me from typing this entry! :-) I just completed The Grand Crusade, the final book in the DragonCrown War Cycle. It was well, nay very well, worth the read and the time spent on it. My earlier fears related to the evil overlord list were assuaged. Timing is everything.

The volumes to contain many descrptions of battles, and here they often were not glamorized as much as they could be.

The scattered Aurolani infantry fell swiftly. It occured to her that bards might suggest they were ripe wheat before scythes, but that analogy was simply too pristine. Wheat stalks did not scream when an arm hung by a ligament. They did not bleed or whimper and they certainly couldn't leap at a warrior, drag him down, and bite his throat out. That would ever be the way of it, though--that bards would sanely describe the utter insantiy of war.

There were many battle scenes, but also intersperced were comments such as I reproduced above. It was a grand quest at times, but not without trial and heartache. This was no mere painless campaign against evil, it was more human than that and showed a truer understanding of suffering and sacrifice. However, I would offer one caution besides the violence. There were a few PG-13 scenes that could definately have been left out--but regretably they were not.

Ah, I cannot rave enough about these books. I have enjoyed other fantasies before, but so rarely have I enjoyed a series so much. I think the last such might be Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies. It is rare to find authors that so truly understand politics and human nature that they can craft a truly believable story. Leaders do not merely band their armies together because they are "good" and they're fighting the forces of evil. In truth they may have to be bribed, "guilt-tripped," or forced to do what is right. Stackpole definately recognizes this and creates real characters that live, breath, fight, and die on the page but live on in fond memories.

Now I no longer have to look at my time at work as so interminable, keeping me from these books. However, I am taking Talion: Revenant to work with me today--it was Stackpole's first novel, though not published until after some of his first works were out. I'm looking forward to seeing how he handles a single volume work.

~Matt

PS Reading the reviews at Amazon is very interesting. I happen to believe that most of the top reviews under the book are dead wrong. They consistantly assign one, two, or perhaps three stars to the book. However, many of the things they complain about are what I love. Beware there are significant spoilers therein that I've avoided here in case any reading this want to read the books. But part of the reason I enjoyed these books so much was not only that Stackpole is a great writer but because he defies so many conventions. Because his books are different I think that many were disappointed and couldn't see the books for the excellence that they are. Well, at least that is my two cents, and I'm not changing 'em. :-)

Heat

It was almost eighty today (at the least, it might have been higher), though with the humidity and coming after winter it felt much hotter. The last three days I've worked 09:00-17:00, outside working with carts the whole time (except for breaks and visiting the drinking fountain frequently). I just noticed after Thursday that my arms were slightly sunburned! I could finally see a watch mark on my arm again, as well as one on my right wrist where I wear the Livestrong bracelet my dad gave me. I hadn't had such marks all winter since I'd been inside much of the time and we didn't have many bright hot days.

A few parts of my head are a bit red, but not too much. I wear a cap, have Transitions lense glasses, and my hair is long. I've been telling my mom for a while that my hair is longer than it has ever been before and how much I enjoy it. But she keeps reminding me that I haven't shown her a picture so she can't really picture it or know exactly what I'm talking about. I am planning to get a haircut, I've just not gotten around to it for quite a while...;-) As I mentioned above I wore my cap all day so this picture which Chris took after dinner this evening, evidences "hat hair" to an extreme. I'm quite certain that Mark would never go for a hair style like mine, in fact he might even be shuddering now as I know how much he likes baldness.

I finished When Dragons Rage yesterday right after work and started The Grand Crusade. I kept going for a few hours and did my best to finish, but alas sleep finally took me. I'm going through it now and since there is nothing new on TV to distract me I'm really hoping that I can finish it tonight. In one way I definately do not want to be done as I will really miss these books, but on the other hand I want to see what is going to happen even more! :-)

~Matt

Thunder

About four this morning I woke to the sound of rolling thunder. As it was warm last night I'd left the windows to my room open, though the blinds closed. When I woke though lightning filled the sky several times along with the sound of thunder and I could hear rain pouring down. Therefore I decided that I had to close the windows. While I do really enjoy a good thunderstorm in the middle of the night I enjoy sleep even more. Thankfully I was able to go back to sleep fairly soon.

Unfortunately I only get to work inside for the first two hours today--after that, for the remaining six hours of my shift, I'm on carts. *sigh* Hopefully the rain won't come back and I'll just have to deal with puddles on the ground and such, but I'm not really too hopeful. The forecast tied into my Google toolbar says "Light Thunderstorm Rain." But at least it has 63 as the temperature, that won't be too bad!

~Matt

State Quarters

Okay, we'll start off with some trivia--then move on to the real meat of this topic. Who is the only person featured on both sides of a coin? Give up? Well I didn't intend for this to be a serious quiz--not with the pictures to the right. Obviously any American readers will know that President Abraham Lincoln is on the front of the current penny (and if you don't know something so basic as that you should be shot, or at least have something really bad happen to you...:-P) You can see it easily on this picture, perhaps a bit easier than on an actual coin (especially if you don't have great eyesight) but Lincoln is also featured on the back. The Lincoln memorial in D.C. is on the back of the penny and the memorial includes a large statue of Lincoln in the center--you can just see this statue on the penny design.

Thus Lincoln is the only person on both sides of a coin--to this point. Later this year it will all change with the South Dakota quarter. And I have a preview of the design right here for your viewing pleasure. Of course George Washington is on the front of the quarter (again if you don't know that and you're American submit yourself for punishment somewhere suitable) and as his visage is featured in Mount Rushmore, South Dakota's most famous landmark--you'll see him on both sides of the quarter later this year.

I rather like this design. I'm always in favour of landmarks on the quarters--hence my like of New York, and Mount Rushmore is no exception. If nothing else Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson were three of our greatest presidents--and Teddy wasn't that bad...much better than his cousin!! *shudder*

This is a nice transition into my main topic, as of course I intended that it should be. :-) As I mentioned above I like the New York design which features both the state outline (a plus when you have an interesting shape--unlike Colorado--look, I love Colorado, but the outline is boring) and the Statue of Liberty. Texas is also quite interesting with the outline of the state and a single star--harkening to its former status as the Lone Star Republic. Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maryland are also great designs. Kentucky doesn't feature my favourite design--but it isn't half bad--horses are a major part of Kentucky's image. It is California's design that I truly despise.

Okay, first of all I don't hate people--just sometimes I really dislike some of the things they stand for. I'm all for being good stewards of the Earth, as God calls us to be in the Bible, but the current environmental movement is far, far beyond the pale. I honestly think that many believe animals should have more rights than humans. It isn't even just the ecoterrorists (yes many are real terroists just as much as Jihadists) or envrionuts--even the mainstream movement is far out of line in my mind. Eh, I'd better not go off into that tangent too much more or I'll become even more vitriolic.

Well John Muir was an early enviornmentalist. I simply think that California's history has much, much more to offer to a quarter design than John Muir and Yosemite. Many other things would be more appropriate to California history than this one man.

Elements from the state seal relating to the Gold Rush, or the Grizzley (as on the state flag--the Bear Flag Republic), agriculture, or any number of other things. Heck, every fourth grader in California learns about the California missions set up by Father Junipero Serra--what about putting San Juan Capistrano and its swallows on the coin? I'd go for that--if I couldn't have some sort of design similar to the flag. ;-) Nearly any of the items above would be preferable to the current design--which unfortunately cannot be changed. :(

I guess I'm just bitter since I don't especially love either the design from my home state of California or my current adopted state of Kentucky. *sigh* But I guess you can't win them all...

~Matt

Reading, what else?

I'm continuing to read through Michael Stackpole's DragonCrown War Cycle and still very much enjoying it. I just finished the second book--the first of the trilogy, but second since it comes after the prelude novel. I continually enjoy the way the author twists and even discards many fantasy cliches. Anyone who has read much fantasy is familiar with the typical quest motif. A young hero (or more infrequently heroine) is taken away from their normal life and they venture forth in a quest for some great and noble purpose--often to retrieve (or destroy) some magical object. Often the story is additionally a coming of age tale. DragonCrown does have a quest--the destruction of the evil tyrant from the north--but nothing is ever easy or simple. The heroes take a bit to come together, and they do not just charge after their goal. Instead the plot weaves around quite a bit.

The changes don't seem to be driven completely by the plot however--they seem more natural. A battle doesn't simply end the war, rather it serves several purposes. Yes the heroes may win for a time, and will probably eventually win--but so far this hasn't made the villian seem cartoonish or pathetic, rather contstrained by what is available to her. I think another great thing about the trilogy is the first novel, The Dark Glory War. I've already talked about it here--but it is taking on new meaning as I continue deeper into the series. DGW is narrated in first person while the other books are in third person. As I saw in I, Jedi Stackpole does a great job with first person--and this is no exception. The tale is set a generation (about 25 years) before the trilogy and serves to set up much of what happens later. I think that the trilogy could definately stand alone without DGW, but it is much richer for the addition. Furthermore reading DGW can only whet your appetite for the other novels as it ends, but obviously the story is ready to continue.

There is one cliche that I'm afraid the books will fall headlong into. It is a variation upon Rule 19 from the Evil Overlord List:

I will not have a daughter. She would be as beautiful as she was evil, but one look at the hero's rugged countenance and she'd betray her own father.

I guess I'll have to see where the plot goes. At this point I'm hoping that Stackpole will throw in some twists to surprise me--or that what I can see coming will happen early and not be at the climax of the series.

*shrugs* I'm just enjoying these books so much. I only started typing this so that I would keep up with blogging. I'm right now very eager to get back to my book! :-)

~Matt

PS Here is a perfect example how Stackpole tears into cliches. The first speaker is a princess begging the help of Will Norrington, a character believed to be the focus of a prophecy, but for various reasons he is doubting this concept.

"You must be, though. Don't you know?"

"It's magick! How am I supposed to know?" Will swept a thick hank of hair back. "It's not like I have a scar on my forehead or some weird birthmark or anything. Just because my father is a henchman for an evil empress doesn't mean I'm a hero. I mean, I know the songs. I know the legends. It's just easier in the legends."

It is great how he pokes fun at both Harry Potter and Star Wars (especially as he has written Star Wars novels).

Surety

I thought about the title "Death and Taxes," but I have no deaths to report...;-) I just finished my taxes. Normally I'd not procrastinate this much, but this was my first year figuring them out on my own. Previously an uncle of my mom's who also does my parent's returns graciously did mine as well. This year I had to wait until I could catch my brother-in-law at home at a time conducive to coherent thought (i.e. not at 01:00 or right before leaving for work). Of course once he opened up Turbo Tax I realized that I could do it all on my own (besides asking him a couple questions for clarification). The amount I'll be getting back is substantial and will do well to supplement my current income.

I'm looking seriously into getting another job at the museum center (part time in the gift shops) to supplement my bigg's income--even though it would likely involve giving up days off. As it stands I can just afford to pay my bills, tithe, and for necessities like gas--nothing left over for savings or spending money (why I'm enjoying the quarter money--though tithing from that too and I've thought that if I'm going to give extra, which I can't afford from my normal income now, it would come from there--say to a missionary at church). I'll be able to sock this refund away in my savings account at ING Direcdt where it will earn a healthy 4% interest until I need it. Hopefully I'll find a better job soon, or at least I won't lose this one (I really don't think I'll lose it, so I'm not sure why I typed that--perhaps I'm just to strangely lazy to hit the Backspace key and I'd rather just type this longwinded parenthetical explanation!) so that I can leave the savings money alone for a while.

~Matt

Utterly disgusting

I've never been too tempted to smoke. I think it has something to do with all of the education as a kid about the evils of smoking, my parents, and how nasty cigarette smoke smells (those aren't necessarily listed in order of importance). Well what I had to do today didn't give me any reason to change my mind.

As you walk up to the outer doors of bigg's (for you California readers places in cold weather country have two sets of doors so you don't open up the warm inside to freezing blasts of cold air everytime somebody enters or exits) you will see signs on the doors notifying you that no smoking is permitted inside. Of course many people walk up to the doors with lit cigarettes, desparate to get in those last few puffs before they must enter the smoke free store. Instead of just expecting people to drop their cigarettes on the ground (though sadly many do--Have I ever mentioned that working with the general public day in and day out does more to support my belief in human depravity than anything else besides the Bible?) bigg's has provided containers where cigarettes may be safely disposed of.

They look like large board game pieces (like pawns from the game Sorry!). Near the top of the central pole is a hole through which the smokers drop their cigarettes. The cigarettes fall down the shaft into the bottom of the container which flares out into an open space perhaps sixteen inches in diameter. This area consists of a plastic bottom (similar to the top piece) containing a metal tub. The metal bucket is filled with water so that lit cigarettes are extinguished when they fall in. Well one of the more onerous duties which is incumbent upon housekeeping/carts staff to perform is the emptying of these containers.

In preparation one of the other staff and I each donned two latex gloves on each hand. Then after removing the top piece we used a wad of paper towel as further insulation before grabbing the handle of the metal tub and tipping the contents into a trash container. The smell from these metal tubs was as far as I can recall the most vile odor that my olfactory nerves have ever had the misfortune to encounter. I would rather spend all day in 100 degree weather in a well used cow pasture than spend five more minutes with that smell. As the other employee pushed the trash container in front of the store so we could go to the other door I very deliberately walked in front of him, upwind! *shudder* I only hope that I don't have to be involved in this process again while I'm employeed at bigg's. If I never smell that noxious odor again it will be far too soon!!

~Matt

Bittersweet

Well I'm giving up on the two books at at time for a bit I think. Not at all because it hasn't gone well. Each time I've tried it I've enjoyed the experience--though I picked the wrong two books the middle time--I've not yet finished Star Wars while I finished the first book in the omnibus Steven R. Green book...so those are on hold for a bit. I'm just plunging ahead into the rest of the DragonCrown War Cycle.

But I just finished Owls Well that Ends Well. Mark, I really can't thank you enough for directing me to Donna Andrews. I really, really enjoyed the Meg Langslow series!!! I mistakenly read We'll Always Have Parrots first, finishing it on the 26th of March. Once I had everything straightened out I purchased the rest and finished Murder with Peacocks on the 31st (purchased 3/29) with Owls following this evening after the rest in between. :-) So I'm somewhat saddened that I don't get to visit with Meg, Michael, and her crazy family for a while...but the fantasy I just finished was even more bittersweet.

Michael Stackpole is an amazing author! The first book of his that I read was I, Jedi and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it might have been part of what has steered me away from the reset button Star Trek novels into more serious books (though I'm sadly behind on my Star Wars canon--I'm not even close to being able to read the New Jedi Order). The Dark Glory War was one of the best fantasies that I've read in years. It came across as real. The main character comes of age at the start--he is eighteen and just becoming a man. But throughout he realizes that despite what he does and accomplishes he is yet a very young man, never feeling the equal of the men around him. Yes as he is one of the heroes of the tale obviously he accomplishes much--but it feels more natural than most stories where the young boy goes off on a quest that turns him into a man. Stackpole is going to give me good direction when it comes time for me to get more serious about my fantasy writing.

I've long wanted to avoid sterotypes--to the point that I forever banished the idea of Elves from my personal fantasy universe (while keeping dwarves though). Even in the cooperative fantasy universe I developed with some friends I took charge of the Elves and have made them very different--they have different racial stocks, cultures, and religions--oh, and humans have more magic than they do. :-) *shrugs* But enough about me, back to Stackpole.

I say bittersweet because of the ending of DGW. I won't say more, but as I was as involved in the book as I usually am in good books it hurt to read the end. Of course I'm about ready to plunge into the trilogy that this volume was intended to be a prequel to, but still... If you read fantasy and are ready to get away from some of the cliches for a bit you could do much worse than picking up The Dark Glory War. If you've heard me talk about fantasy you know that I no longer even glance at any book by (blast what is his name...), oh yeah, David Eddings.

I read his four main series and was disgusted at the end when I realized he basically recycled the same plot, even down to many features of geography and politics. He claims that formulas are what sells and perhaps he is right. I still enjoy the novels of Terry Brooks--they are somewhat formulaic in the heroic quest mode--but they're more lighthearted and still enjoyable. Despite what publishers or David Eddings might claim I'm always ready for something good that bucks tradition--and Stackpole definately has that talent. I've already marked one of his other fantasies at the library and bought another with my quarter money (I ordered it on-line at Amazon)--both are stand alone. I can hardly wait to continue exploring his worlds! :-)

Recent Entertainment

First a report on Serenity. Yes it was just as good the second time. It has been long enough that I didn't remember every little detail before it happened, which made the experience more enjoyable. The extras were also quite nice. The easter egg on the main screen contains a short documentary about the Fruty Oaty Bars commercial (the one with the subliminal message that sets River off) and a full screen version of the commercial it self--all great stuff.

I was also reminded again how much I enjoyed both Firefly and Serenity for their dialogue. Joss was a genius writing the stories. The dialogue captures a sci-fi angle that yet feels archaic and western with splashes of Chinese not seeming out of place. This along with the constant humour is great. I can understand his pain in cutting some of the deleted scenes as they contain more excellent ripostes of wit.

Well my last reading of two books simultaneously went quite well. Phobos was a great sci-fi mystery and reading it along with We'll Always Have Parrots only heightened my enjoyment of both books. I'm at it again now. First I'd started Owls Well that Ends Well, but I don't want to finish it too quickly as it is the last of the Meg Langslow series from Donna Andrews that I have to read.

It works out great because when I went to Borders yesterday I not only purchased Serenity but I picked up four books by Michael Stackpole. If you're into Star Wars you may recognize him as the author of the X-Wing series. I've not read them yet, but if they're anything like his other books (including I, Jedi which I have read) they're probably quite good.

Unfortunately I ran across some of these books at a Cincinnai Public Library book sale a few months back and for one reason or another I didn't buy them. It breaks my heart (and wallet? ;-)) to think that I could have had two or three of these books for fifty cents if I'd only bought them then! I did get one 15% off for answering a phone survey from Borders and one using the weekly 25% off coupon, but still more than $0.50 a book! *sigh* Well I've just caught up to Owls in my reading of The Dark Glory War so I'm now switching back to Donna Andrews for Chapter Ninteen.

I leave for work at 13:30 so I think I'm going to go pack my lunch and then get in as much reading as I can. Or perhaps I'll just reverse that order... :-)

~Matt

PS This post reminds me that I haven't updated my library in a bit. I think that as I'm not likely to buy any books for a while I'm going to have to export my library to html and upload the new version. Hmmm...I might even post about the statistics later--they're quite interesting. I can't wait until I have all my books unpacked and I can know that every book I own is listed in my computerized listing!!

Serenity

Well Mark went out and bought The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I plan on buying that eventually--but it was another movie I had to get today. It has been out for a while, but regretably I forgot about it for a while, and didn't have money to get it--that was all rectified today. Today I purchased Serenity. I'm going downstairs to watch it now. I saw it in theaters--but only once, and I'm more than ready to enjoy it again! :-)

~Matt

Rain, i.e. liquid wet stuff from the sky

Yeah, that stuff. I used to love it, well I still do enjoy a really good rainstorm, just so long as I'm not working on that same day. Working outside as I do now I'm really not attracted to pulling carts through pouring rain or having to deal with drenched carts. Last night involved some rain, but thankfully much of the time I had to be outside it was barely coming down, if at all.

The picture at left is from 2004, during my last couple months at TMC. The view is towards the cafeteria and computer sciences building along the front of the library. I was standing in between Vider and Rutherford (but almost to Rutherford) when I took the picture. 'Twas a wonderful rainy day--or it had been.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I'm off on a bit of a movie kick. I have seven DVDs out from the library, and I've been enjoying them. :-) Last night I watched Shanghai Noon and this morning it was Shanghai Knights. Both were quite fun, and as I approached them first as comedy and then as historical fiction I enjoyed them much more than Zorro. Perhaps I just expected too much of Zorro, whereas these were entertainment from the start that happened to be interesting. You have to love the name of Jackie Chan's character Chon Wang (say it out loud) and all of the characters they run into are great.

For some reason I've never seen the movie Jaws, so that was also one of the movies that I checked out from the library. Of course I've heard about the movie for years--but I've never before taken the opportunity to lay hands upon a copy.

Now of course I'm still reading--currently I'm in the middle of Crouching Buzzard (well nearer to the end actually). But since after that I only have Owls I don't want to rush things too much.

I have some leads from Mark about other good mysteries though, and plenty of other books that can keep me occupied, so I'm not really that bad off...;-)

Still all this talk of rain (well and retyping my title) reminds me of the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide. You've heard of this dangerous substance, right? I think I might have blogged about this before--but if so it was probably back in '04 so here we go (perhaps again), but going nonetheless. Go to DHMO.org! Trust me, you can't afford not to protect yourself against this dangerous chemical! You'll definately thank me later for warning you about this grave danger.

Thank you and please resume your regularly scheduled lives and wait for my next update with baited breath.

~Matt

MIsc

Yes, I meant to type that capital letter "i." Sometimes when I'm typing fast I'll acidentally hold down the shift key a split second too long producing glitches like MIsc or I"m. I've been doing MIsc so long that I've now made it my standard abbreviation for miscellaneous (Cool, I spelled the word correctly on the first try, ;-)). But you didn't come here to read about my typing habits or pecuilar abbreviations (at least not for more than this paragraph, unless I type another blog post later ).

Okay, first of all I'll go to Harry Potter. I've read all of the Harry Potter books published thus far, i.e. all but the last book which Ms. Rowling hasn't written/published as of yet. I have enjoyed each one of them, and I've also enjoyed the movies that have been made. Yes, of course they have changes, but they've been good nonetheless. However, I wasn't as happy with The Goblet of Fire.

Perhaps the problem is merely my imperfect recollection of the book, but it seemed to me as though a great many things were left out of the film and as a result it (while also trying to include a great many other things) seemed to skip around at times, landing only too briefly on any one point. *shrugs* I did enjoy it, but I just felt that it was lacking. For example at the start I expected to see some of the World Quidditch Cup and was disappointed to see nothing beyond the introduction of the Bulgarian and Irish players, :(. But the movies are only a pleasant addition to the books anyway, as is nearly always the case with me (I can't think of a contradictory example at the moment actually) I'm in it for the books first and foremost! :-) And speaking of books, I'm quite upset with Mark!

I've already told Mark about this, so he shouldn't be too surprised. Yes, I'm quite upset that he didn't bug me to read the Meg Langslow series by Donna Andrews more often. As I noted in my last post I picked up two of the books--but I got the wrong two. I thought I had the first two when I actually had the fourth (Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon) and fifth (We'll Always Have Parrots). I read the fifth before Mark set me straight (thanks again! :-)) and so I purchased the first (Murder with Peacocks), second (Murder with Puffins), and third (Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos). On Saturday I picked up the sixth (Owls Well that Ends Well) using my Borders Rewards 25% off coupon.

Currently I'm reading Crouching Buzzard and I'm thoroughly enjoying all of the books. Certain things that puzzled me about Parrots are finally making sense now that I'm reading the others. I only regret that because I read it first I mentally perceive that I have one less book to read (which if you just consider in order I do). No Nest for the Wicket isn't coming out for a while yet (August 8th). All of my current books are in paperback (all but Owls were specially priced at $3.99 instead of the typical $6.99) so I'll probably check that one out at the library. But anyway, back to the books. Mark told me about them, but if I'm only starting them now so longer afer I first met him he obviously was laying down on the job. :-)

Oh yes, the money for these books. Well I totaled up my quarter money and it came to nearly $100 for the month of March. I've already spent some of it and plan to ration the rest out. I'll still keep track of the total I've collected, but I'll probably save it for a month and then turn it into spending money by exchanging it for bills at my bank.

My job is going well--I think that my feet are definately toughening up after so long on the hard store floors, and I'm albe to pull more carts than before. It isn't exactly a normal work-out routine--but being on your feet seven hours a day (minimum) and regularly pulling between twelve and seventeen carts across a parking lot is bound to convert even a couch potato eventually. ;-) And just to set the record straight, I'm not a complete couch potato. I'd be more of an any-flat-surface-where-I-can-read potato if anything. ;-)

Tonight it rained, quite heavily for a bit. This precipitation was accompanied by thunder and lightning for much of its duration, thereby limiting the other carts/housekeeping employee and myself confined to the store for the last quarter of our shift this evening. Thankfully the rain finally stopped and we were able to clear the lot before the thunder started back up. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, but we left at 22:00 and I'm the next carts employee scheduled, starting tomorrow at 15:00. *sigh* The 15:00-23:00 shift is not my favourite. But of course I'm sure that I'll manage somehow.

As you might imagine from the image on the right I recently watched the movie U.S. Marshals. I believe it was the summer of 2004 that I first watched the movie The Fugitive. I didn't realize until tonight that U.S. Marshals is somewhat of a sequel to that movie as it stars the same Deputy U.S. Marshal, Sam Gerard (played by Tommy Lee Jones). I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Some of the twists were quite obvious, as for example the guilt of the fugitive, but others were more entertaining.

One recent movie that I didn't enjoy at all was the Legend of Zorro. It definately did not live up to the first movie in the series. Its "history" was even more convulted and inaccurate than any other movie I've seen lately. Stop your eyes now if you've not seen the movie and care about spoilers (my advice would be to skip it and spoil yourself if you must know what happens).

The movie was set in 1850 and yet the "bad guys" were ready to conspire with the fully-formed Confederate army that was prepared to attack the North. Never mind that the Confederacy wasn't acutally formed until Lincoln was elected--he was the catalyst. *sigh* I don't even have the energy to tear apart the movie. I'm tired from my long day and the blasted "Springing Forward" nonsense. I changed my clock last night, but I still operated on the old time as far as my reading went. ;-)

Good night all, I hope to return here soon.

~Matt