I was only able to finish one book this month. It was Lion of Macedon by David Gemmell. I've read most of his books and I find them to be a little to formulaic. They usually have one hero who saves the day while losing his life. Also, they're always far too heavy on magic. I feel like magic is usually a cop-out in fantasy books. It's fine if it's done well, but far too often I find it's not. In some of his books the magic is just too bleah. This novel didn't have a whole lot of magic in it though. It was definitely well done.
The story is about the beginning of the life of Alexander the Great. It starts by following the life of Parmenion, the person who becomes Alexander's greatest general in the sequel. This book focuses on Parmenion's life growing up as a half-Spartan, half-Macedonian in Sparta. He is spurned by the Spartans for his mix-blood heritage, which hardens him into the warrior he will later become. The rest of the book follows his path to destroying the strength of Sparta. While doing this he meets Philip, the future king and "father" of Alexander. Parmenion is a great mercenary general who fights battles for the Persian satraps and, later, Philip. The book takes a turn from history when it is revealed that Parmenion is the actual father of Alexander, hinting at the future military brilliance of Alexander.
There is a lot more to the book but I don't want to give it all away. 5/5
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Pong pros
I am currently undefeated at beer pong when playing with my older brother. I think I'm like 5-0 or something. It may not sound impressive, but I'm sure the number will go up.
Apparently there is supposed to be some sort of Beer Olympics this summer, so there could be some more Korpal domination. We can never seem to win until both sides have one cup left. It would appear, though, that intoxication does not make for worse aim for us. We're just good.
My strategy is to call on NBA greats from the past and present. Many times I have called on Kobe, Lebron and Shaq. Usually it's the more gritty, less-superstarry players like Mahorn, Darko and Laimbeer that come through. Don't steal my strategy.
Apparently there is supposed to be some sort of Beer Olympics this summer, so there could be some more Korpal domination. We can never seem to win until both sides have one cup left. It would appear, though, that intoxication does not make for worse aim for us. We're just good.
My strategy is to call on NBA greats from the past and present. Many times I have called on Kobe, Lebron and Shaq. Usually it's the more gritty, less-superstarry players like Mahorn, Darko and Laimbeer that come through. Don't steal my strategy.
Moving on up. To the East Side. Really.
Weezy! Alexa and I decided on a place to live for the next six months. Or, for her to live for the next six months and for me to move to in May.
It's actually in Belleville, a place I have often ridiculed for its slightly more hillbilly aspects. Belleville is not a place I would have ever seen myself living. It's really right on the border between the east side of Ypsi and Belleville, so I would almost argue it's more Ypsi than Belleville. For some reason I've always had a disdain for Belleville. Call me critical.
Anyway, we both really liked it for a couple of reasons: 1. It's fairly inexpensive. It's about $150 dollars cheaper per month than all of the other places we looked. 2. It's pretty damn big. It's about 850 square feet and considering we have little to no furniture it will feel pretty spacious.
We'll be moving March 2 which is coming up pretty fast. We definitely didn't look as early as we should have, but I think we're ending up in a pretty good place. Some friends of ours used to live there and they said it was a pretty good place to live and that the management is pretty great.
Our apartment will be overlooking a nice area of green, which will be perfect for Lucy to walk around and explore. It will definitely be good for Alexa to get out of her house and have a place of her own. (I'm sure she'll blog about that, though.)
One downside, and not a particuarly big one, is that we don't know anyone currently residing there. A few of the places we looked were being considered quite heavily because we knew people living there. It's nice to be able to hang out with people without having to travel.
It's actually in Belleville, a place I have often ridiculed for its slightly more hillbilly aspects. Belleville is not a place I would have ever seen myself living. It's really right on the border between the east side of Ypsi and Belleville, so I would almost argue it's more Ypsi than Belleville. For some reason I've always had a disdain for Belleville. Call me critical.
Anyway, we both really liked it for a couple of reasons: 1. It's fairly inexpensive. It's about $150 dollars cheaper per month than all of the other places we looked. 2. It's pretty damn big. It's about 850 square feet and considering we have little to no furniture it will feel pretty spacious.
We'll be moving March 2 which is coming up pretty fast. We definitely didn't look as early as we should have, but I think we're ending up in a pretty good place. Some friends of ours used to live there and they said it was a pretty good place to live and that the management is pretty great.
Our apartment will be overlooking a nice area of green, which will be perfect for Lucy to walk around and explore. It will definitely be good for Alexa to get out of her house and have a place of her own. (I'm sure she'll blog about that, though.)
One downside, and not a particuarly big one, is that we don't know anyone currently residing there. A few of the places we looked were being considered quite heavily because we knew people living there. It's nice to be able to hang out with people without having to travel.
Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book
As I was subbing at Ypsi High the other day I realized just how much I used to read in school. It comes as no surprise that I was able to read almost every Stephen King book, a whole bunch of Goosebumps books (don't judge me), a ten-book series in the Star Wars universe and other random books (a few by Barbara Kingsolver and others that Alexa recommended).
I think I read roughly 20 hours a week in school alone (none of it school-related). I can say, however, that I never read a whole book that was assigned to me. I should be ashamed, but I'm not. This doesn't include how much reading I did outside of school, which was a considerable amount. I even had a lot of time to spend with friends and do stupid things (i.e. make movies, play hockey and just other things people do in high school).
I'm a little depressed about how much less I'm reading now. All the time I spent in school reading is now spent working (of course, subbing allows for a lot of reading time). In the six years since graduating from high school most of it has been spent working, doing school work or hanging out with Alexa and other friends. I often skip out on hanging out with people to catch up on some reading.
I'm hoping that I can start reading more. I have ambitions to read a lot more books in the coming years. I just hope I can find the time to do it.
I think I read roughly 20 hours a week in school alone (none of it school-related). I can say, however, that I never read a whole book that was assigned to me. I should be ashamed, but I'm not. This doesn't include how much reading I did outside of school, which was a considerable amount. I even had a lot of time to spend with friends and do stupid things (i.e. make movies, play hockey and just other things people do in high school).
I'm a little depressed about how much less I'm reading now. All the time I spent in school reading is now spent working (of course, subbing allows for a lot of reading time). In the six years since graduating from high school most of it has been spent working, doing school work or hanging out with Alexa and other friends. I often skip out on hanging out with people to catch up on some reading.
I'm hoping that I can start reading more. I have ambitions to read a lot more books in the coming years. I just hope I can find the time to do it.
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