I’m writing this from my new iPhone. Florence got me a way-super-early birthday gift, presumably because she wanted me to have some time to play with it before the wedding… And then the almost two weeks we’ll be out of the country… Wouldn’t get to use it then either. Antway, it’s exciting. I literally have the internet at my fingertips.
word press tee-shirts, other spending
I would totally buy one of the new WP tee-shirts if they came in… you guessed it, black. The tee-shirts are simple and appealing, but only come in red. Yes, that’s right, one style, one color. Totally lame.
I’ve also been meaning to buy one of those cool greyscale firefox shirts.
On the other hand, Florence and I have been trying to save money for the wedding. It’s going to cost quite a bit more than we’d expected it to, but in spite of that, I splurged $25 this morning at amazon, buying the new Jasper Fforde novel, (and Phillip K. Dick’s Ubik because I’ve been meaning to read it, and it got me to free shipping).
I absolutely adore all of Fflorde’s novels, and hadn’t known this new one was out.
Last Friday at Midnight, Florence, Nate and I went down to Barnes & Noble for the big Harry Potter release night. Standing in line (or sitting in line) for over an hour wasn’t all that fun, but it gave me a chance to read the first of the Spiderwick Chronicles. (Nate read it too, we’d just watched the preview earlier that day.) I have to remember to request the rest of them from the library before the movie comes out. (Which reminds me I should really read the bridge to tarabithia someday… and then watch the movie.)
Anyway, I finished the final Harry Potter yesterday at lunch. It was the best of the bunch, as far as I remember. I teared up at the end. I was sitting on the stoop outside work, balancing a quesadilla on one knee, and the massive 759 page novel on the other. I can’t say enough about how good it was. J. K. Rowling (or her editors) did such a great job of making it fast paced and readable. It felt like she brought back nearly every character for at least a brief cameo (especially at the end), and tied up seemingly every loose end. It was a brilliant roller coaster of pure joy to read.
For someone who claims to like science fiction way better than fantasy, I’ve sure been on a fantasy kick lately. But it feels kind of wrong to go from Harry Potter straight into what I was going to read next… that Thirteen novel by Richard Morgan. I haven’t decided whether that’s ok.
nothing posting
So I finished The Amber Spyglass, and now I’m reading Stardust, by Neil Gaiman, rather than Thirteen, which I’d said I was going to start next. Stardust is shorter, and I started it on the plane to Chicago, thinking I’d get to return it to Florence’s sister Susie while we were there, rather than bring it back on the plane with us because I hadn’t finished it, which is of course what happened instead. There is also a connection between the two, as both the Phillip Pullman books and Stardust are on my “to read” pile for the same reason — I wanted to finish them before their movie counterparts are released.
I just got done uploading a few pictures from the trip to flickr, and realized they were all of people, but that we hadn’t taken any with Susie (Florence’s sister, who we spent most of Saturday visiting). I did also meet Florence’s father on Saturday too, (that was the main purpose of the trip), and that meeting went well.
We stayed with my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Michael, and my cousin Patrick, who I discovered shares my love for “casual” (mostly web-based) video games. We took turns showing each other games we like on Kongregate, and I’ll admit he took way more turns than I did. He also showed an interest in Flash game development. Too bad the program is so expensive, or I’d get him a copy for his birthday or something.
library thing reprise
I love librarything.com. It’s really cool. I was basically just surfing around over there, trying to find the place where they post their bookpiles, (’cause I just uploaded this one) and ended up in a forum talking about what I’ve been reading lately.
Long story short, I decided it would make a good blog post, and here I am. So here’s what I’m reading lately:
I’m in the last few dozen pages of The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. I’m also in the midst of A Theory of Fun, by Raph Koster. I usually have a non-fiction book I’m just carrying around while I actually read a novel.
When I finish The Amber Spyglass, I intend to start reading Thirteen, by Richard K. Morgan, hopefully tomorrow night.
Other books on the night side stand (ie, ones I’ve started reading, but not yet completed, or just like having near at hand): Astro City: Local Heroes, Kabuki: Metamorphosis, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, Motherless Daughters by Hope Edelman, The Automatic Message, The Making of a Poem, ActionScript for Flash MX, Stardust (The original with illustrations by Charles Vess), Make Magazine: Issue 8, and numerous other individual comic books.
That’s about it.