Roche turned and looked at Kivrin. "Are these the last days," he asked, "the end of the world that God's apostles foretold?"
Yes, Kivrin thought. "No," she said. "No, it's only a bad time. A terrible time, but not everyone will die. And there will be wonderful times after this. The Renaissance and class reforms and music. Wonderful times. There will be new medicines, and people won't have to die from this or smallpox or pneumonia. And everyone will have enough to eat, and their houses will be warm even in the winter." She thought of Oxford, decorated for Christmas, the streets and shops lit. "There will be lights everywhere, and bells that you don't have to ring."
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Book Review: The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison
This is arguably the first book in the "high fantasy" genre, although fantasy fans may find it basically unrecognizable were it not for the similarity to The Lord of the Rings. And that seems to be the work that this book always gets compared to, so it bears emphasizing that The Worm Ouroboros predates The Lord of the Rings by decades and probably influenced it a great deal. It's also reminiscent of Icelandic sagas. Actually "The Lord of the Rings + Icelandic sagas" is, in one line, practically the best description I can think of. There are some baffling quirks that such a description doesn't cover. The setting is specifically stated to be the planet Mercury, even though Eddison completely ignores scientific knowledge about Mercury, which did exist even back in 1926. He introduces the world and some of the characters through a random man on Earth who is taken there in what would seem to be a dream except that his guide (a swift, although I had to look "martlet" up on the internet because no one calls swifts martlets anymore and I don't think I'd ever encountered the term before in my life) tells him that he is totally not dreaming. It's all very weird.
I know I'm against popular opinion on this one, but here are some rather obvious reasons that this book is better than The Lord of the Rings.
I know I'm against popular opinion on this one, but here are some rather obvious reasons that this book is better than The Lord of the Rings.
- In The Lord of the Rings, a midget with no claim to fame other than that his uncle is famous among midgets goes on a long journey to a fiery mountain in order to dispose of a piece of jewelry. His companion is his best friend who happens to be another midget. In The Worm Ouroboros, the king of the Demons goes on a long journey to a fiery mountain in order to rescue his brother, the greatest warrior in the world. His companion is his best friend who happens to be the second greatest warrior in the world.
- In The Lord of the Rings, the main villain is some being that never actually appears in the books themselves, but who is like, totally an evil tyrant or something. In order to even understand what he's about, you have to read a completely different book. In The Worm Ouroboros, the main villain is the king of the Witches. His hobbies include conjuring hellspawn to whisk his enemies off to fiery mountains, falconry, sex, and sending armies to conquer every place on the planet, even the really lame ones.
- The Lord of the Rings has a deranged monster that used to be a midget and is obsessed with a piece of jewelry. The Worm Ouroboros has a goblin philosopher/alchemist/explorer/lord who seems to have a case of chronic backstabbing disorder.
- E.R. Eddison is a better writer than J.R.R. Tolkien.
- The Lord of the Rings interrupts the story with a song or poem that some character recites and that Tolkien made up. The Worm Ouroboros interrupts the story with a song or poem that some character recites and that is from LITERATURE! Classy.
- Passage up some dangerous mountain is made even more dangerous in The Lord of the Rings by a spider. Passage up some dangerous mountain is made even more dangerous in The Worm Ouroboros by manticores.
- At the end of The Lord of the Rings a wizard villain who wasn't dealt with earlier prolongs the story with his boring takeover of one insignificant settlement that is thwarted anticlimactically. Possibly the worst part of the whole story. At the end of The Worm Ouroboros, the main characters, having killed all of their enemies and essentially conquered the world, decide that peace sucks and arrange for the gods to bring their enemies back so that they can do it all again. They got the idea because the gods seem to like them and the gods gave another character that they liked eternal youth and peace, so they figure eternal youth and war might be doable. I truly believe that this point alone is sufficient to make the case that The Worm Ouroboros is the superior book.
Monday, June 14, 2010
I wrote this whole post and then forgot to put a title on it. Oops.
I am done with this quarter. Once I leave the campus this afternoon, I shan't be returning for the foreseeable future. It's an odd feeling to be leaving again, although, I think, not nearly so odd as returning was. In all, I suppose the experience was—satisfactory. Oh, and I guess I won't be using the wireless internet here. At home everything is all cumbersome wires. I should do something about that. Maybe I will.
On my other blog, the one that someone might actually read (the chemistry one), I caved in and turned on comment moderation. The spam was too annoying and now I can at least console myself that other people won't see it if I don't catch it first. I would have preferred murdering the spammers with an axe, but this solution will have to do. Also, the unintended hiatus is over. Yesterday I made a new post. And it won't be an anomaly. I will write at least two more posts this month. Maybe more. No, really.
So now that I'm out of school again and have like, totally massive amounts of free time (or not) I am resolving to get some crap done that I should have been doing all along.
Most importantly, I need to re-apply at the University of Washington. I have plenty of time, but let's just get it out of the way now.
I should also get a passport. Fesler was harassing me about this. And it's something I might as well do. He was also harassing me about completing a FAFSA thing, but my rebuttal to that was totally sound, so there. But the passport thing, yeah, that makes sense.
More posts on the chemistry blog. For real.
I'm not going to forget all about German just because I finished the two stupid quarters of it here. And man, they were disappointing, but bitching about that is a subject for another entry entirely. I have plenty of resources for progressing in my proficiency with German and I'm going to make that a goal or whatever.
Calculus. I will attack that monstrosity anew. Not sure how yet. Any suggestions? It's important to me, but it's also sort of overwhelming.
I'll get back into the swing of Legacy and help Nick build more decks, hopefully going to some tournaments at some point.
And while we're on the subject of games, I still need to get strong enough in go to beat a computer opponent, even if it's a relatively easy one.
And while we're still on the subject of games, I'm working on finishing another Diablo 2 character. We'll see how the demons like it when they have to face down thirteen skeletal warriors, thirteen skeletal mages, a clay golem, a dude with big trident or something, and up to a dozen revived monsters, all while I'm cursing them and turning the corpses of their fallen comrades into firebombs.
And let's finish my Oblivion character already. He's already completed virtually every quest except for the main questline.
There will be more writing, and not just on this blog or the chemistry one or Traversing Sinnoh, but some actual fiction. Because I've been reading and now that I've stopped to think about it, I'm totally a better writer than some apparent professionals. I might as well at least make a hobby of it. I have some fun stories that I've thought of over the years. If I think they're good enough, you may see them.
Speaking of Traversing Sinnoh, I'll finish that too.
Once this knee injury recovers, I want to get in better shape for judo and do some more judo tournaments. I think I'm seriously improving.
Is that too much? Should I say that I'll do even more stuff? I think I should.
On my other blog, the one that someone might actually read (the chemistry one), I caved in and turned on comment moderation. The spam was too annoying and now I can at least console myself that other people won't see it if I don't catch it first. I would have preferred murdering the spammers with an axe, but this solution will have to do. Also, the unintended hiatus is over. Yesterday I made a new post. And it won't be an anomaly. I will write at least two more posts this month. Maybe more. No, really.
So now that I'm out of school again and have like, totally massive amounts of free time (or not) I am resolving to get some crap done that I should have been doing all along.
Most importantly, I need to re-apply at the University of Washington. I have plenty of time, but let's just get it out of the way now.
I should also get a passport. Fesler was harassing me about this. And it's something I might as well do. He was also harassing me about completing a FAFSA thing, but my rebuttal to that was totally sound, so there. But the passport thing, yeah, that makes sense.
More posts on the chemistry blog. For real.
I'm not going to forget all about German just because I finished the two stupid quarters of it here. And man, they were disappointing, but bitching about that is a subject for another entry entirely. I have plenty of resources for progressing in my proficiency with German and I'm going to make that a goal or whatever.
Calculus. I will attack that monstrosity anew. Not sure how yet. Any suggestions? It's important to me, but it's also sort of overwhelming.
I'll get back into the swing of Legacy and help Nick build more decks, hopefully going to some tournaments at some point.
And while we're on the subject of games, I still need to get strong enough in go to beat a computer opponent, even if it's a relatively easy one.
And while we're still on the subject of games, I'm working on finishing another Diablo 2 character. We'll see how the demons like it when they have to face down thirteen skeletal warriors, thirteen skeletal mages, a clay golem, a dude with big trident or something, and up to a dozen revived monsters, all while I'm cursing them and turning the corpses of their fallen comrades into firebombs.
And let's finish my Oblivion character already. He's already completed virtually every quest except for the main questline.
There will be more writing, and not just on this blog or the chemistry one or Traversing Sinnoh, but some actual fiction. Because I've been reading and now that I've stopped to think about it, I'm totally a better writer than some apparent professionals. I might as well at least make a hobby of it. I have some fun stories that I've thought of over the years. If I think they're good enough, you may see them.
Speaking of Traversing Sinnoh, I'll finish that too.
Once this knee injury recovers, I want to get in better shape for judo and do some more judo tournaments. I think I'm seriously improving.
Is that too much? Should I say that I'll do even more stuff? I think I should.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
It looks like someone beat the crap out of me, which is only true if my floor is "someone."
Hey there, what's up? I just wanted to say that this morning, I got out of bed, put on my slippers and my glasses, and then promptly tripped over nothing and fell right on my face. Yeah. Just wanted to share that. Also, this quarter of school is almost over. So that's cool. I don't really have anything else to say right now except that my lips hurt and that I'll try to post something more interesting next time than, "I totally fell on my face." Not saying that I'll succeed. But I'll try. Well, I have to go to class pretty soon (my finals are basically over though, so I'm not even sure why I'm bothering).
Friday, May 21, 2010
Inventory of the tomes
My mother saved the table legs. They're somewhere in the kitchen now. And she complains about my dad being a packrat...
Paperback series
I have several books from some popular science fiction and/or fantasy series, all of them in paperback. So it makes sense to have this as a category. These books are individually rather small, but there are so many of them that they take up a lot of room. I have...
Asimov: The End of Eternity, Prelude to Foundation, Nemesis, I, Robot
Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, Podkayne of Mars
Other: The Complete Chronicles of Conan, Cyberdreams, Thor's Hammer, Man Plus
"Classics" that are also at least kind of sort of science fiction: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Brave New World, 1984
Classic literature because I have class
John Steinbeck's two best books, two Poe books (one of which is complete works, so the other is redundant, but it does look nice), and then two others, one Russian and one French, both translated into English because I am too lame to know more than one language.
Ostensibly classics, but they suck
Three books. Should I say which ones, or would that mean more assassins?
Kind of miscellaneous
This old King Arthur book for children or some such creatures and also The Lovely Bones.
Picture books
Watchmen and Quick as a Cricket. We used to have more Audrey Wood books, but somehow this one ended up safe with me and the others have probably been ruined. Personally, my favorite is The Big, Hungry Bear.
Drama
Picnic (ugh), Hamlet, and three books of George Bernard Shaw plays. My great grandma got me those when I was really into Shaw. I don't think I've read anything by him in years now, but I still think they're some of the best plays ever.
Non-fiction
Eight or so books. No particular theme.
Useful reference texts that I should store somewhere easily accessible
Dictionary, calculus cliff notes, organic chemistry lab manual, old microbiology textbook, statistics textbook, biology textbook, plant identification books, general and organic chemistry textbooks, organic chemistry solutions manual, book of quotes, calculus textbook.
Not so useful reference texts that might still be of some use
Microbiology textbook from microbiology class, old chemistry textbooks, psychology textbook, American history textbook that was never for any class I ever took but it looks mediocre, newsletter production manual (huh?), books from philosophy of science class (all bad), books of photographs, my dad's old torn up book of frontpages from the Los Angeles Times, English textbooks, ancient zoology book.
Books that I have not yet read, but might some day
Logic puzzles, a strange book about mathematics, a 1940's mystery novel, a 1960's science fiction anthology, an Isaac Asimov book, a Colette book, King Lear, a book of Mark Twain quotes, Othello, a Neil Gaiman book, another anthology, Gravity's Rainbow, some book about science and politics, the complete works of Jack London, The Dilbert Principle, another Carl Sagan book, a Fyodor Dostoevsky book, a book of Dryden poems that is 110 years old, Henrik Ibsen plays, a Charles Dickens book I was supposed to read a while back but never did, Moby Dick (I've read part of it but never finished it).
Not really books
Or perhaps books intended for me to write in them or something. I found four lab notebooks and an old spiral notebook from junior high. Oh, there are also some instruction manuals, like the one for my globe and for my chemistry model set thing. Also, computer game manuals.
For the lulz
Books that I don't really intend to actually read, but that I do find amusing and happen to have for some reason include some funny self-help books, this really bad book that I don't know how to describe exactly, a book about IBS that someone must have given me because of my intestinal spasms, a book about how to become a millionaire by starting a mail-order business, and this awful fantasy trilogy that someone must have given me.
Do not want
Do you want any of these? Now is your chance...
Paperback series
I have several books from some popular science fiction and/or fantasy series, all of them in paperback. So it makes sense to have this as a category. These books are individually rather small, but there are so many of them that they take up a lot of room. I have...
- 7 books from the Battletech series. I got into these after I started playing Mechwarrior II. I forget how many books from the series I read over the years. Some of them, particularly the Michael A. Stackpole ones, are actually quite good. These seven are pretty much random ones that I got as a Christmas gift in, I think, 1999. I had already read two or three of them, as it wasn't like my parents kept track of which ones I had and hadn't read.
- 4 Darksword books. The complete original trilogy and the odd companion book, Darksword Adventures. All I'm missing is the sequel, Legacy of the Darksword. Got into these because they were written by Weis & Hickman.
- All 7 books of the Death Gate Cycle. As before, got into it because it was the same authors that originally did Dragonlance. Easily their best work, though.
- 2 of the Star of the Guardians books. The Death Gate Cycle aside, these books seem to be convincing evidence that Margaret Weis wrote better without Tracy Hickman than with him. Their fans will be sending assassins after me right about now. But it's true.
- All three volumes of the Rose of the Prophet trilogy. Weis & Hickman's second best work, probably.
- 15 Dragonlance books. I have no idea how many Dragonlance books I've read. Dozens, easily. Maybe a hundred. Nothing particularly good about the ones I happen to own, except for what seem to be first editions of the Legends trilogy and the first volume only of the Chronicles. Also, I just remembered that I read one of these before I read the Chronicles. Presumably the same copy sitting on the desk now. I wonder where I originally got it. I didn't really get into this series until J.T. loaned me the Chronicles back in 1998 or so.
- 1 Redwall book. I am not positive, but I'm pretty sure that I read every single Redwall book that was published up to this one, although I'm sure there are a lot more now.
- 2 volumes of His Dark Materials. Missing the first one.
- 2 Magic: the Gathering novels. The concept of books based on a card game just seems too silly to me to bother with. But I have to say that back in the day, they actually got some good authors to write these things. You'd think that they'd just exploit the popularity of the game to make a quick buck, which of course they've done, but there are some real gems to be found here. Not anymore, of course. That's why I said "back in the day." Now the books are tied to the sets as part of their storyline. Some of the old books were good. These two, unfortunately, are not among them.
- 1 of the Chronicles of Prydain. I read the whole series in 1996 or 1997. The last one is pretty bad. This is the first one.
Asimov: The End of Eternity, Prelude to Foundation, Nemesis, I, Robot
Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, Podkayne of Mars
Other: The Complete Chronicles of Conan, Cyberdreams, Thor's Hammer, Man Plus
"Classics" that are also at least kind of sort of science fiction: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Brave New World, 1984
Classic literature because I have class
John Steinbeck's two best books, two Poe books (one of which is complete works, so the other is redundant, but it does look nice), and then two others, one Russian and one French, both translated into English because I am too lame to know more than one language.
Ostensibly classics, but they suck
Three books. Should I say which ones, or would that mean more assassins?
Kind of miscellaneous
This old King Arthur book for children or some such creatures and also The Lovely Bones.
Picture books
Watchmen and Quick as a Cricket. We used to have more Audrey Wood books, but somehow this one ended up safe with me and the others have probably been ruined. Personally, my favorite is The Big, Hungry Bear.
Drama
Picnic (ugh), Hamlet, and three books of George Bernard Shaw plays. My great grandma got me those when I was really into Shaw. I don't think I've read anything by him in years now, but I still think they're some of the best plays ever.
Non-fiction
Eight or so books. No particular theme.
Useful reference texts that I should store somewhere easily accessible
Dictionary, calculus cliff notes, organic chemistry lab manual, old microbiology textbook, statistics textbook, biology textbook, plant identification books, general and organic chemistry textbooks, organic chemistry solutions manual, book of quotes, calculus textbook.
Not so useful reference texts that might still be of some use
Microbiology textbook from microbiology class, old chemistry textbooks, psychology textbook, American history textbook that was never for any class I ever took but it looks mediocre, newsletter production manual (huh?), books from philosophy of science class (all bad), books of photographs, my dad's old torn up book of frontpages from the Los Angeles Times, English textbooks, ancient zoology book.
Books that I have not yet read, but might some day
Logic puzzles, a strange book about mathematics, a 1940's mystery novel, a 1960's science fiction anthology, an Isaac Asimov book, a Colette book, King Lear, a book of Mark Twain quotes, Othello, a Neil Gaiman book, another anthology, Gravity's Rainbow, some book about science and politics, the complete works of Jack London, The Dilbert Principle, another Carl Sagan book, a Fyodor Dostoevsky book, a book of Dryden poems that is 110 years old, Henrik Ibsen plays, a Charles Dickens book I was supposed to read a while back but never did, Moby Dick (I've read part of it but never finished it).
Not really books
Or perhaps books intended for me to write in them or something. I found four lab notebooks and an old spiral notebook from junior high. Oh, there are also some instruction manuals, like the one for my globe and for my chemistry model set thing. Also, computer game manuals.
For the lulz
Books that I don't really intend to actually read, but that I do find amusing and happen to have for some reason include some funny self-help books, this really bad book that I don't know how to describe exactly, a book about IBS that someone must have given me because of my intestinal spasms, a book about how to become a millionaire by starting a mail-order business, and this awful fantasy trilogy that someone must have given me.
Do not want
Do you want any of these? Now is your chance...
- Patriot Games by Tom Clancy. Ugh, Tom Clancy. How could I ever have tolerated him?
- Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. Seriously?
- Tom Clancy's Op-Center: Mission of Honor. Not even actually by Tom Clancy. Stupid, really. Glad I never read this one.
- The Charm School by Nelson Demille. Looks like a wannabe Tom Clancy book. Ugh.
- The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells. Not sure why I used to like H.G. Wells either. I was young and stupid.
- 4 resume guide books or whatever. Not that I'd read a book written by a total stranger for help with my resume. My sister got them when she graduated from college and she didn't want them, so she gave them to me. I don't want them either.
- Some algebra workbooks.
- An old Christian apologetic book. Oh, I guess this is my dad's. I'll just sneak it onto one of his shelves or something. He probably wanted me to read it, but I'll bet he never read it himself anyway. Besides, I read the first bit of it and it was really boring and pointless.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Cleaning part of of my room.
This has shifted from an attempt to gather, catalog, and do something about my books this evening. It has become something entirely more monstrous. I ostensibly cleaned this room out back in 2004. And yet, somehow I am finding object that not only shouldn't be in here, but that never belonged in this room and never belonged to me to begin with: relics of our move to this dump of a house back in 2001, during which I was incredibly sick and it fell to the rest of my family to pack my stuff and put what was thought to be mine in my room. But along with most of my stuff, a lot of other junk came for the ride. And some of it, nearly a decade later, is still here. I'm not even touching the closet for now. I'm already surrounded by junk. I'd take video of this with my laptop if I didn't think I would die of embarrassment.
The rest of this house is still worse, though. But forget that. No matter how awful the rest of this house is, I am going to do something about my room. Something. Not sure what. Can't possibly do it all tonight. And I do need to use the bed at some point, so I should probably figure out a way to remove the stuff that's there now. So, no video footage, but I will provide a written record of my sins. In this venture, I have discovered...
Table legs. Not just any table legs. These went to a table that has never existed in this house. Presumably the rest of the table was moved in a different box and didn't end up in my room. I think it was breccia or something covered in glass, so it was probably broken and thrown out shortly after we moved here. I think I actually knew that these damn things were still somewhere in my room, but I blocked it out because it was too stupid to consider. I am giving these to my parents because it seems good for a laugh and there's a decent chance that my dad won't actually throw them away and that they will survive to end up in some museum centuries from now along with the rest of the crap unearthed from our house, preserved only by virtue of the building's ridiculously bunker-like design while the rest of the neighborhood perished in some natural disaster or something.
A pocket calculator still in its box. Might be nice if it were something actually useful, instead of stupid and obsolete.
Mix CD's that Eric made and later gave to me. They were sitting on a book. They should still play. Not that I ever bother to put a CD into the drive on either of my computers. But it's a nice idea. I'm saving these, of course.
A pad of sticky-notes from GRCC. Probably from when I first started there back in 2005. Why would I keep these? I never use sticky notes. These go in the trash.
A blue slip of paper with text in blue Sharpie reading, "I got you the BEST bookmark ever! Love you. V" Are you kidding? I'm totally keeping this. If it was in a book at the library and I pulled it out and brought it home, then it is clearly worthy of my collection.
Audio cassette tapes featuring Ravi Zacharias and Zig Ziglar: two people whose opinions I couldn't care less about. Just about all of my dad's other tapes were destroyed by being in our garage. Most of my family's possessions were in carboard boxes there for storage. When my mother tried to move some, she found that even though the boxes looked normal, when she tried to lift them, the tops and sides of the boxes would pull away, revealing that whatever was in them was completely ruined. Our garage didn't flood or anything. It's just so humid and mold-infested that nothing left in there is safe.
One of those flashing light clip-on things that doesn't even work, possibly because it has the word "Boeing" on it, meaning that it's from when my dad worked for Boeing.
A nerf dart gun. Awesome.
I think these are 3-D glasses. Whatever. I don't need them.
Underwear. Um, I have no idea how these got here?
A dozen plastic grocery bags. I laugh at the oceans. Or is it cry?
My checks. These should last me for the next 50 years or so at this rate.
Drugs. And the "discard by" date hasn't even been reached yet.
The adapter for my mouse that I bought. I forget what this adapter is called, but I don't need it. Might as well keep it somewhere in case I do? I don't know. I don't want to be a packrat, but this is potentially useful. I might be able to use it to connect the mouse to my old computer or something. I think my old computer is too old even for that...
The test of a sea urchin, specifically a "sand dollar." I've probably had this for like, a really long time. Might as well keep it.
My flash cards for reactions in organic chemistry. Excellent.
A handheld game called "Radar Sea Combat" that still works. Amusing. How old is this thing?
Magic CD's of the old Microprose variety. I never bought these, but I think I salvaged them from our garage and my brother must have gotten them somehow. I should try to install this stuff on my old computer, although I already got some of that software from the Home of the Underdogs back when they had it.
This amazing thing that I stole from my dad. No way am I giving this back to him. It's a miniature poster thing of the electromagnetic spectrum and presents it better than just about anywhere else I've seen. Really cool. I say I stole it from him but in reality he let me borrow it and I've just never given it back. That being said, one of the reasons for me not giving it back was that it was hidden behind a wall of books on my "bookshelf." And no, I didn't forget that it was there. I just didn't want to give it back to my dad. I will treasure it forever. Uh, I mean I will give it back to my dad at some point.
A beaten up page of sleeves for cards. Useless.
A laminated map of the good old U.S.A. One of those ones where Alaska is in a box with a different scale from the rest of the map so that it looks smaller. The state of Texas undoubtedly cut this company a check.
A 2005 calender that I am guessing my mother gave me because it's a Pink Floyd calender. No need for old calenders.
A GRCC schedule for last quarter. I'm sure I have much older ones around here somewhere, though. Throwing this one out.
Award certificate things from high school, mostly from wrestling. Amazing how hard my name is to spell. No, it's not "Steven." And it's not "Stephan" either. I am Stephen Bahl. Is that so confusing? I also see my promotion certificate to green belt in judo that I thought I looked everywhere for back when I was supposed to make a copy of it for my next promotion. Whatever.
A tumbler from Jet City Pizza. I think the phone number changed, so the one on it is no good. I hope that place is still around, actually. They might not be. Does anyone know? Wait, this is the internet. I can just look it up. Looks like it isn't. That's a shame.
Another map, but this one is my "First State Quarters of the United States Collector's Map." And I did complete it. This thing is worth big money. Like we're talking $12.50 at least.
Some sort of Leatherman knockoff thing that I've had for like 15 years. Maybe more. Be prepared.
Okay. I think that's everything but the books, which is sort of like saying that's a small fraction of the mess I'm dealing with, since the vast majority actually is books. But this is already running on and I haven't even started on the books. I'll report back on that issue later.
The rest of this house is still worse, though. But forget that. No matter how awful the rest of this house is, I am going to do something about my room. Something. Not sure what. Can't possibly do it all tonight. And I do need to use the bed at some point, so I should probably figure out a way to remove the stuff that's there now. So, no video footage, but I will provide a written record of my sins. In this venture, I have discovered...
Table legs. Not just any table legs. These went to a table that has never existed in this house. Presumably the rest of the table was moved in a different box and didn't end up in my room. I think it was breccia or something covered in glass, so it was probably broken and thrown out shortly after we moved here. I think I actually knew that these damn things were still somewhere in my room, but I blocked it out because it was too stupid to consider. I am giving these to my parents because it seems good for a laugh and there's a decent chance that my dad won't actually throw them away and that they will survive to end up in some museum centuries from now along with the rest of the crap unearthed from our house, preserved only by virtue of the building's ridiculously bunker-like design while the rest of the neighborhood perished in some natural disaster or something.
A pocket calculator still in its box. Might be nice if it were something actually useful, instead of stupid and obsolete.
Mix CD's that Eric made and later gave to me. They were sitting on a book. They should still play. Not that I ever bother to put a CD into the drive on either of my computers. But it's a nice idea. I'm saving these, of course.
A pad of sticky-notes from GRCC. Probably from when I first started there back in 2005. Why would I keep these? I never use sticky notes. These go in the trash.
A blue slip of paper with text in blue Sharpie reading, "I got you the BEST bookmark ever! Love you. V" Are you kidding? I'm totally keeping this. If it was in a book at the library and I pulled it out and brought it home, then it is clearly worthy of my collection.
Audio cassette tapes featuring Ravi Zacharias and Zig Ziglar: two people whose opinions I couldn't care less about. Just about all of my dad's other tapes were destroyed by being in our garage. Most of my family's possessions were in carboard boxes there for storage. When my mother tried to move some, she found that even though the boxes looked normal, when she tried to lift them, the tops and sides of the boxes would pull away, revealing that whatever was in them was completely ruined. Our garage didn't flood or anything. It's just so humid and mold-infested that nothing left in there is safe.
One of those flashing light clip-on things that doesn't even work, possibly because it has the word "Boeing" on it, meaning that it's from when my dad worked for Boeing.
A nerf dart gun. Awesome.
I think these are 3-D glasses. Whatever. I don't need them.
Underwear. Um, I have no idea how these got here?
A dozen plastic grocery bags. I laugh at the oceans. Or is it cry?
My checks. These should last me for the next 50 years or so at this rate.
Drugs. And the "discard by" date hasn't even been reached yet.
The adapter for my mouse that I bought. I forget what this adapter is called, but I don't need it. Might as well keep it somewhere in case I do? I don't know. I don't want to be a packrat, but this is potentially useful. I might be able to use it to connect the mouse to my old computer or something. I think my old computer is too old even for that...
The test of a sea urchin, specifically a "sand dollar." I've probably had this for like, a really long time. Might as well keep it.
My flash cards for reactions in organic chemistry. Excellent.
A handheld game called "Radar Sea Combat" that still works. Amusing. How old is this thing?
Magic CD's of the old Microprose variety. I never bought these, but I think I salvaged them from our garage and my brother must have gotten them somehow. I should try to install this stuff on my old computer, although I already got some of that software from the Home of the Underdogs back when they had it.
This amazing thing that I stole from my dad. No way am I giving this back to him. It's a miniature poster thing of the electromagnetic spectrum and presents it better than just about anywhere else I've seen. Really cool. I say I stole it from him but in reality he let me borrow it and I've just never given it back. That being said, one of the reasons for me not giving it back was that it was hidden behind a wall of books on my "bookshelf." And no, I didn't forget that it was there. I just didn't want to give it back to my dad. I will treasure it forever. Uh, I mean I will give it back to my dad at some point.
A beaten up page of sleeves for cards. Useless.
A laminated map of the good old U.S.A. One of those ones where Alaska is in a box with a different scale from the rest of the map so that it looks smaller. The state of Texas undoubtedly cut this company a check.
A 2005 calender that I am guessing my mother gave me because it's a Pink Floyd calender. No need for old calenders.
A GRCC schedule for last quarter. I'm sure I have much older ones around here somewhere, though. Throwing this one out.
Award certificate things from high school, mostly from wrestling. Amazing how hard my name is to spell. No, it's not "Steven." And it's not "Stephan" either. I am Stephen Bahl. Is that so confusing? I also see my promotion certificate to green belt in judo that I thought I looked everywhere for back when I was supposed to make a copy of it for my next promotion. Whatever.
A tumbler from Jet City Pizza. I think the phone number changed, so the one on it is no good. I hope that place is still around, actually. They might not be. Does anyone know? Wait, this is the internet. I can just look it up. Looks like it isn't. That's a shame.
Another map, but this one is my "First State Quarters of the United States Collector's Map." And I did complete it. This thing is worth big money. Like we're talking $12.50 at least.
Some sort of Leatherman knockoff thing that I've had for like 15 years. Maybe more. Be prepared.
Okay. I think that's everything but the books, which is sort of like saying that's a small fraction of the mess I'm dealing with, since the vast majority actually is books. But this is already running on and I haven't even started on the books. I'll report back on that issue later.
Still more about books
Something needs to be done about this mess. I had most of the books I bought at that library booksale sitting in a spot on my floor between my bed and my desk (actually between my bed and a big plastic container of Magic cards that is itself between my bed and my desk). It was supposed to be temporary storage until I could figure out where to put them. Well, when I pulled them out, there was slight water damage on some of the ones that had been directly on the floor. I relocated the whole mess to my bed and later to the top of my dresser and now to my bed again. Books. It's out of control. I just cleared off my whole bookshelf, which is really not a shelf at all, but a large area that takes up most of my entire desk (and it's not a small desk).
I am going to organize this shit somehow. I should separate what I have read from what I haven't and what I want to keep from what is junk. Also, I'm finding some interesting things that are not books at all. Also, my hand started aching after my exam today and it's still painful, so I don't want to type a lot. I'm going to cut this short.
Before I do that, I'm going to say a quick bit about the last book I read. To Say Nothing of the Dog: How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis. Not a full review, because I can't manage that right now. But I'll likely finish the book I started after it (one of my old books that I've had for years and never read) soon, so let's just get it out of the way.
This book is awesome. Glowing recommendation. Will definitely be reading more from this author in the near future. Best time travel mystery story I've ever read. Actually, it's the only time travel mystery I can think of right now. Whatever. #14 or so on my still-in-need-of-reworking top 50 list. Glad to be reading good science fiction again.
I am going to organize this shit somehow. I should separate what I have read from what I haven't and what I want to keep from what is junk. Also, I'm finding some interesting things that are not books at all. Also, my hand started aching after my exam today and it's still painful, so I don't want to type a lot. I'm going to cut this short.
Before I do that, I'm going to say a quick bit about the last book I read. To Say Nothing of the Dog: How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis. Not a full review, because I can't manage that right now. But I'll likely finish the book I started after it (one of my old books that I've had for years and never read) soon, so let's just get it out of the way.
This book is awesome. Glowing recommendation. Will definitely be reading more from this author in the near future. Best time travel mystery story I've ever read. Actually, it's the only time travel mystery I can think of right now. Whatever. #14 or so on my still-in-need-of-reworking top 50 list. Glad to be reading good science fiction again.
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