Day 30 – Goals For The Next 30 Days

Its the last day! One last list (for this challenge anyway):

• Keep on blogging. This has been fun and I want to try and keep it up, if not a quite the same break-neck rate. I'm going to aim for at least a twice a week schedule, but we shall see how it goes.
• On that note, perhaps I'll start another one? Not in February, but since the next 30 days includes March I may give that a shot. Topic suggestions are welcome!
• Stay on top of my school-work. I've actually being doing pretty good thus far this semester and hopefully I can keep on tackling my work as it comes up instead of waiting till the last minute to start it.
• Creative writing. This one kind of scares me - because of the time commitment it could take - but also because if I start tackling the kind of short-story/poetry writing that I want to, part of my plan involves putting it up for critiquing. Maybe. I'm not entirely sure yet, but either way I need to start writing again.
• Tackle my TBR list. My To Be Read list is actually a little longer than what I have posted in the sidebar. This is probably the longest I have ever let my TBR list grow - aside from the Christmas my parents gave me pretty much the entire Wheel of Time series, which doesn't count because they wouldn't let me read them all right away - and I am actually itching to finish them all.

Yes, I do realize that all of my goals are going to have some serious price tags attached to them in regards to monopolizing my time, not to mention that I have other commitments as well. So, How about I just report back in 30 days and let y'all know how I did?

[Update] As a point of interest, I have updated the original post with links to each topic - just in case anyone wants to go back and read the others. That post itself is linked under the "projects" tab.

Day 29 – Your Highs And Lows Of This Month

Late, and in brief:

Highs:

• Blogging: this has been a seriously cool experiment and while occasionally inconvenient (ahem, the late nights which are entirely my fault), it has helped me to sharpen my mind and practice some of the skills that I'm going to need if I'm going to survive the rest of this (and next, and next...) school year.
  
• Developing For The Web: speaking of school, I picked up a new course this semester on web design and application building. It is really awesome and I have been enjoying it quite a bit. Here's hoping it continues.
• Birthday
• Anniversary
• Getting plugged in at church: after spending a fair amount of time not really plugged in to anything, I am now (back) to running projection for services at my new church! It is exciting.

Lows:

• N/A: surprisingly this has been a really good month with nothing I would particularly characterize as being a low. Unless of course you want to count hours being slashed at work, which does suck. But other than that, I really can't complain :-/

Day 28 – Your Current Relationship

Today's topic is more a broad statement than it is a question. This is Seana and me in one of those photo-booth pictures that we did a while ago. There are other pictures of us, but I happen to like this one a lot. It is no coincidence that I decided to tackle this subject today, being that it is our four year anniversary.

It is a little funny to think about our relationship because we have been in it for quite a while. Seana and I were friends for several years before we started dating, and our relationship has seen us through some major periods of life. What with the end of high school, beginning of post-secondary and all the additional challenges and changes that come with that transition, it has been nice to have someone to walk with through it all - someone I can trust completely and unequivocally. Have we had our problems? Yes, and I fully expect them to continue - that is just the way life works. But the important thing is that we have managed to work through them and address them as they come up, some things probably more than once. Again, that's life.

I find it difficult to imagine what my life would be like without Seana in it. Different for sure. She sees a side of me not everyone does - a side effect of not always being the most open person. I love her, and I appreciate every moment that we have together.

With all my heart.

<3

How To Perform Song-writing Alchemy

This is apparently how you create a hit pop song. Who knew it was this simple?

Note: There is some brief profanity at the beginning and end of the video.

Day 27 - What Kind Of Person Attracts You?

This is kind of a tricky one, in that the title immediately lends itself to a romantic interpretation, which may not be the kind of angle I am aiming for. On the other hand, speaking generally about the kind of attributes which attract me to someone in a more general sense can be challenging as well since they aren't really that clearly defined. Well, neither is the other, since I tend to be attracted to those of the female variety on a case-by-case basis - not that I have to concern myself with that (more tomorrow).

The key, I suppose, is that everything is fairly arbitrary. There are things that I admire in one person which I do not in others. I like to see people more as the sum of their parts rather than just settling for a few "positive" attributes and calling it a day. 

Sitting here and re-reading what I have so far has made me reflect on the friends I have and, in particular, the people I am closest to, and I suppose that there are a few commonalities that I can pick out:

• Intelligent: not that I need to surround myself with people who have super-high IQs or anything, just people who don't take the world at face value and are willing to verbally spar about things like politics, culture, media, science, theology and the like.
• Curious
• Geeky: how do you know if you are a geek? Step one - complete two of the following quotes, and you are off to a good start (thank you #observationdeck)
• "I am your ______" 
• "Damn it, Jim. I'm a _____ not a brick layer" 
• "I’m sorry, ____. I’m afraid I can’t do that." 
• "I must not fear. Fear is the ______." 
• "My name is ______. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" 
• "End Of ____" 
• "Kneel before ___." 
• "Shop Smart. Shop ____" 
• Honest about your quirks: born from my general geekyness, I can't stand it when people try to hide the things that make them interesting because they want to be "mainstream." Normal is overrated: come to the Darkseid, we have cookies.

Day 26 - Your Favourite Books

Oooh boy, I have been looking forward to today for quite a while. As I may or may not have mentioned, I love books. The shape, the smell, the feel of them in my hands; there is not many things in this world that give me as much pleasure as reading a good book. So to share some of my favourites is a pleasure, especially since for one I know which I’m going to recommend. Also, this calls for another list!

The Recent – Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

I picked up Little Brother shortly after Christmas, mostly because I had received a fancy new e-reader and Cory has a tendency to give his writings away for free on his website. I had read some other stories by him in class before and already purchased one of his other books, Eastern Standard Tribe, but given all the buzz I had heard about LB I figured it would be the perfect book to start my e-book reading experience with. Boy was that a good choice.

Doctorow has constructed an eerily believable future in which the technology we trust and rely on often unthinkingly is turned against the population of San Francisco following a terrorist attack, leading to a level of surveillance usually associated with police states. The book’s teenage protagonists use all the tricks they know to stay one step ahead of the government hounds in an attempt to preserve the rule of law, due process, and human rights in the face of fear-mongering and power abuse. It forces the reader to question what freedoms they are willing to give up in the name of security. It is smart and (bonus) educational, though not overbearing when it is trying to teach the reader how something works in the story. It is the kind of book that is really hard to put down once you pick it up.

The Comedy – Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

My parents gave me this book for Christmas one year, likely because of the ties the legends of Anansi the Spider to Jamaica. My Dearma had told us some Anansi stories, and this book serves as a very interesting take on the West African/ Caribbean tales of the trickster god. This was also my first exposure to Neil Gaiman, who is now one of my absolute favourite authors.

The book centres around Fat Charlie and Spider, the sons of “Mr. Nancy” who meet for the first time following their father’s death. Fat Charlie, who never though of himself as anything special, is shocked to discover that his brother seems to have magical powers, though not as shocked as when he discovers that his father is a god. Trying to reconnect the two brothers is a daunting undertaking, and naturally hilarity ensues. Gaiman is always good for a laugh in that ironic, British way, and Anansi Boys has him at the top of his game.

The Time Consumer – The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

Totalling up to about eleven thousand pages over fourteen books (with one more on the way), the Wheel of Time series is an epic of epic proportions. To attempt to sum the complex and layered stories would be madness, so I’ll point you to the Wikipedia entry to sate that thirst. What I can say is that the usual fantasy tropes are there: magic, swords, dragons (kind of), the reluctant hero, an epic struggle of good vs evil.  It is a long book series, but perfect for anyone looking for something to dig into that isn’t going to be over before the enjoyment kicks in. I picked the first book up at a book fair at my elementary school. Little did I know what I was getting into. A few years and a shelf on my book case dedicated to the series later, tWoT has fostered in me a huge appreciation for serialized storytelling of the sort that makes waiting for the latest manga chapters to come out bearable. It can take a lot of patience to slog through the series, especially as more and more characters are introduced, but it is worth it.

I linked to the fourth book in the series because it is my favourite, and though I own all the books in either paperback or hardcover the books are also available as e-books, for those not willing to carry around the tomes eating up space on my bookshelf. Strongly recommended.

Runners up:

• Good Omens – Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett
• The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R Tolkein
• The Saga of the Seven Suns – Kevin J. Anderson
• The Song of Albion – Stephen R. Lawhead
• The Space Trilogy – C.S Lewis
• Ysabel – Guy Gavriel Kay

Day 25 - Somewhere You'd Like To Move Or Visit

The whole world.

I love travelling, and have been blessed with the opportunity to do a fair bit of it. From spending time living in France to travelling half-way around the world to visit some family in Tanzania, I have the travel bug, and the only prescription is more cowbell travelling. I really enjoy getting to go out and experience different cultures, learn the way other people live. Having exposure to different ideas about life and how to live it can be a transformative experience, if you let it be. The key to enjoying your travels, as far as my experience goes, is to be open to trying new things, especially food since that seems to be the second way people best express their culture (the first being language of course).

And again, because apparently I love lists, the top ten places I would like to visit:

• France
• Australia
• The UK and Ireland
• New Zealand
• Iceland
• Japan
• Israel
• Italy
• The Netherlands