Reading...its not a game

One of the things that I have been doing a lot lately is reading.

Its an ancient art that requires one to look at symbols that relate to a language that you are usually proficient in.  When these symbols are arranged in predetermined ways it makes sense to the person translating them.  You can use these symbols as a way to tell a story to others.

In other words, its like playing a game, but instead its on paper (or e-reader) and your i/o device is turning the page.


I only jest at those young people who don't take it seriously.

A couple of months ago I started to get back into reading.  I read all of the Harry Potter books a couple of years ago and I really liked them.  I am someone though who doesn't like to re-read things however since I can remember the story and it nerves me to the point that I feel like I am wasting my time since I know what happens already.

I had just watched all the Star Wars Movies on Blu-ray with my wife since she had never seen any of them before (its a long story) and I had started to think about all the books and stories that are in the Expanded Universe.  How cool it would be to look into those stories.

It was this same thinking that led me to watch the all of the Stargate series.  I love Stargate and I thought after seeing it when I was a kid "Wow.  I wonder if we will ever get more movies that look at other worlds.  Cause there are a lot of possibilities".  Oh how right I was.

As a side note, please go watch all of Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and Stargate Universe (SGU is amazing and they need to bring that back ASAP).  You can buy all the DVD's online, or you can watch them on Hulu or Netflix.  Its worth it in my opinion.


So back to the whole reading thing.  So I asked my buddy Brian about which books to read since he is an avid Star Wars fan.  He led me to the Thrawn Trilogy.

BAM!

Read all three of them and I loved them.  I was instantly hooked.

I immediately asked him for more recommendations and he said I should go to the X-Wing series.

So now that I am 7 books into the X-Wing series, and have spent ~$80 on all the books.  I spend a lot of my quick free time reading them.  Especially at night when I can't sleep but I am in bed but don't wont the bright light from my PSP or DS to wake my wife in bed.  Just laying there and reading them on my iPad helps to relax me and take me on these fantastic adventures that have been written.  It helps my mind to simmer down and relax and I usually end up falling asleep.  Not because I am bored but because I am content.

Sometimes I might talk about my reading adventures on here just to break up some of the more monotonous game updates when nothing big has really happened.

Below you can find the titles of the books that I have read, in case you are interested:
Thrawn Trilogy:
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire
Star Wars: Dark Force Rising
Star Wars: The Last Command

Star Wars: X-Wing Series:
Rogue Squadron
Wedge's Gamble
The Krytos Trap
The Bacta War
Wraith Squadron
Iron Fist
Solo Command
Isard's Revenge (I have yet to read)
Starfighters of Adumar (I have yet to read)

Update on my whereabouts

Damnit I did it again.

I have been gone.

Well.  I have been absent is the best way to describe things.

My last post was on December 18th.  So I think I should update things since around that time.

First, at the beginning of December my wonderful wife finally got a job in the school system here.  It is something that has been a longtime coming.  For 4 years now she has been working her butt off and got the recognition that she deserves.

Now with this we had to figure out our schedules since she wouldn't be at home to look after the pup.  So I got used to being up every morning and taking the dog on amazing walks, plus having to deal with work.

Second, because she suddenly got a job in December I still had to work all the extra shifts in the mornings and weekends that I had already signed up for.  Since I had been doing a lot of part time work to help cover things at home while we figured out things with our jobs, I would sign up for work the month beforehand.  So I had a lot of days that I was working.  I did so much thought that I was exhausted and getting burned out on a lot of things.

Third, my workload with my regular job was picking up with the end of season things for winter sports coming up, plus having to get things ready for the spring season.  I was just going a million miles a minute for a long time.

Combine all of that, plus the fact that I still have been going strong through January with work, I have been just trying to catch up with rest.

I have had a lot of my mornings to myself and thats when I get a lot of my gaming done.  Don't worry.  I got through Assassins Creed: Revelations this month, which I am excited about.  I will be working on that review soon.

I also have some other announcements as well.  Got some charity work that I am going to work on, and some other updates as well.

The next two days I am doing testing in my office all day long.  The problem is it takes very little time to do the testing, but the periods of research are sporadic.  This leads to much downtime.  I will easily get all of my other paperwork done, but I plan to spend time updating this here blog, plus playing some PSP games.

Stay tuned for some fun