That quote is precisely why my district manager is an asshole. I'd go more into depth about how much i despise him, but I'm way too angry for that right now. So i'm gonna move on to a safer subject, and feel assured that you're hating him with me.
Nick made some sort of crazy "my opinion matters" list for 2006. He inspired me with his boldness to make a list as well. However, I'm not Nick, so my list isn't gonna be about video games (much), and will focus more on my primary hobby, reading.
I read a lot of books this year, and because I feel guilty qualifying them, I'm just gonna list the excellent ones and why they are awesome.
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson: First and foremost, the best book I read all year. It's a stand-alone fantasy novel, and it's the most original fantasy story I've read, ever. It also has one of the most realistic and strong female protagonists I've seen since...well, since Phillip Pullman's series, His Dark Materials. All you need to do to fall in love with this book is read the first page. It's two paragraphs, and it will make you buy it, I swear.
I managed, at last, to read through The Illuminatus! Trilogy, which has been sitting on my bookshelf for years. It's totally bizarre, and it hurt my brain to read it. I don't reccomend you try it unless you have a grand history with hallucinogenic drugs, or are schizophrenic. Maybe both. It's about conspiracy theories, and at the same time human nature, the evils of society and government, and the evils of anarchy. I'm glad I read it, but I honestly still dunno what it was REALLY about. It's written in 3rd and 1st person, and it skips through narrators, viewpoints, geographical and temporal locations, all without any warning. There are singing dolphins, too. And a computer that marries a sea monster. My head hurts just thinking about it. As a redeeming factor, there's lots of promiscuous sex!
On the subject of conspiracy theories, I finally gave in and read The DaVinci Code. I actually wasn't very impressed. It seems to be one of those pop culture things, where I'm not sure how it got popular to begin with. As an author, Dan Brown leaves a LOT to be desired. In short, he's a good storyteller, but his characters suck. Any attempts at character development are just embarassing, and any dialogue not involving his research is lifeless and boring. To his credit, he does a lot of research for his books. But, it's not new research. He reads nonfiction, builds up fantasies about the topics he's reading about, and then writes them into a story. I also read Angels and Demons which was better, but nothing great. Brown takes erudite learnings and turns them into pop culture fiction, and it sort of takes the magic out of it for me. That sort of knowledge shouldn't be fed to the common idiot, because then you get people who say "Dan Brown invented the Freemasons". No joke, I just heard this the other day.
DaVinci Code intrigued me, and offered little to sate my curiousity, so I went to the source and read Holy Blood, Holy Grail. This is where Brown got most of his research from, and if you were interested in the topic, you should read this and just skip right over DaVinci Code. Conspiracy theories aren't really my thing, but religion and the study thereof is a hobby of mine, and this was delicious to read. The prospect of the fundamental basis for modern Christian belief being proven wrong is interesting, and the theories this book embarks on are fantastic. It also touches on the history of medieval Europe, which is something I love reading about. And, to my delight, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Feminine Divine. Female divinity and Christianity in one...such sweet sacrilege.
On another topic, I picked up Herman Wouk's Don't Stop the Carnival, a novel based on his exploits in the Caribbean in the 1950's. It's very funny, and I was pleased to see that the ambience and the mechanisms of the Caribbean haven't changed much since his adventures and my more recent inhabitance. The book includes both the ridiculous humor of the islands, and the tragic incidents that make up day-to-day life there. I would highly recommend this for anyone who is looking to visit or move to the Caribbean, just to give you a general feel for what you're unwittingly walking into.
I have managed to introduce Christopher Moore and his myriad titles to my little "group" of people, and I'm thrilled with the results. For anyone who doesn't know, Christopher Moore is a fiction writer with a sick and absolutely wonderful sense of humor. My favorite part of his books is his ability to illustrate the relationships between people with as few words as possible. A few quips and silly lines of dialogue, and the reader has no problem believing the humanity of the characters. He has a new book coming out on the 23rd of this month called You Suck! A Love Story and I aquired an advanced reader's copy of it that has so far cycled through 3 of us, and is available for more. I think it's one of his best books, along with A Dirty Job (about an unsuspecting father who becomes death...sort of) and Lamb (the story of Jesus as told through his childhood pal, Biff). I also read The Stupidest Angel right before Christmas, a holiday story with zombies that has a psychotic ex-B-Movie actress who thinks the Sand Pirates are out to get her. And Roberto, the fruit bat from Guam who wears RayBans. It just gets better, I swear.
I read more, I swear. These are just the highlights that sort of defined the year for me. I have spent more of this year reading than I have playing video games. That's a good thing, I think, because I love reading very very much. Plus, I've mastered multi-tasking to the extreme. That's right folks; I can successfully main-heal in FFXI and read a book AT THE SAME TIME. I rule! Unfortunately, I'm still playing FFXI. I can't seem to tear myself away from it for good. I like my character, dammit, and I love some of the people I play with. And I'm really really good at my job! That shouldn't mean so much, but it's nice to be able to do something I know I'm awesome at.
Point of interest: There's going to be a blue moon in May!!!! Exciting!!!!
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