Book: Exhalation

So, I just finished a book of short stories:

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

It is a collection of nine speculative fiction stories of varied subjects that are quite good! I found one of them a little drawn out and lacked a solid ending, but  that’s a pretty good ratio of average-to-good without a single bad story.

It really was a collection aimed at my kind of mind, too. Mostly ideas without much a plot in them. Not that they were bad! In short stories, and some of these were really short (one was three pages), there isn’t room for a long involved narrative anyway. Most of them had some kind of story and series of events, but it wasn’t the main focus. They didn’t focus on the characters much either, which I always like to see. Ideas front and center.

Anyway, I’d highly recommend it to anyone who likes idea-centric speculative fiction. I read a copy borrowed from a housemate and am going to buy a copy for myself next month when the budget can handle it.

 

Second post of 2020

Well, it’s been interesting the last few months. Well, maybe interesting is the wrong word. Anyway, things here are decent enough. Everyone in the house is safe and we are staying inside. Mostly. I probably go for snack runs to the grocery store a bit too often but I’m very careful when I go out.

Anyway, in news not about the end of the world, I watched an older anime recently. A rewatch of an old favorite from 2002. Older art style and animation. Wasn’t exactly top of the line when it was new either, but I still liked it. Was interesting to see how my reaction has changed over the… almost two decades since I saw it the first time. The pacing was way slower than I remembered. I think it is mostly because of the lack of animation quality. I don’t mind slow pacing in slice of life anime, but in more modern anime the quality lets more detail and motion even in moments of nothing much happening. I still liked it, for the most part. Mostly for the same reason as I did way back when. The unconventional romance premise. Though I tend to like more modern stuff more these days. Nicer animation is just nicer, even when I sometimes don’t like the art style. Except for the new Fruits Basket. Original/First anime for life on that one.

Still, life continues. Depression comes and goes. Sleeping pattern wobbles around like a sipping top on drugs.

 

 

First Post of 2020

In the cyberpunk future we are! Still feels weird to be in the future like this. Anyway, the main reason I haven’t been posting is that there hasn’t been much for me to say. Between the anti-depression meds and actually exercising occasionally, the clinical side of the depression is more or less handled for me. Which is nice! However, I’m now struggling with the ingrained habits of not doing anything and so… struggling for motivation even when I’ve got the energy and oomph to do something.

Still playing World of Warcraft, even though sometimes it feels more like a responsibility than a fun game. Which is about par for the course. I do wish it was a little better at delivering story. I mean, there are some really neat stories in the game. Both small scale (a quest or two) and large scale (whole sections of the game) but since there is no dialogue (more or less) outside of the quest acceptance screens, it fails at delivering crucial plot points on occasion.

In reading news, I’ve jumped into re-reading some of the Sector General stories. Which are science fiction stories (most of them short stories) about a multi-species space hospital. I remember them being really good and it’s been almost a decade since I read any of them. I was reminded of the series by a conversation about memory and neuroscience I had with some housemates so I decided to see how I react to them from my current state of mind/personality/self.

 

Last post of the year 2019

Almost in the far future cyberpunk year of 2020. So, here is some blog content that was supposed to go up like several months ago. I believe this is the last of the horror/found footage movies I was watching way back.

 

Let’s get this started

What is this “blog” you speak of? Some kind of new social activity all the hip young kids are doing?

Anyway, I’m (once again) going to try to post here on a more regular basis. I’m gonna try to do the regular updates starting with the new year but always good to have a running start with this sort of thing.

As for what has been going on… Not a whole lot. The usual depression kicking my ass off and on. Been trying a new diet program and actually have lost 30-40 pounds. Would be more but I keep falling off the wagon. What else… Finally got talked into playing World of Warcraft and that’s been interesting seeing the game/experience from the inside.