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24 Books Update

1 down, 23 to go!

I finished reading Zero History last night and like most of the Gibson books it takes a while to build up but the action is all at the end. The action was pretty great but the reveals were what really made it. I thought the action at the end of Spook Country was much better but this book, having met most of the characters previously, was a good second parter to Spook Country. I would talk more about it but I don’t want to spoil it if you (whoever you are) are going to read it.

I finished sometime after midnight and then started Googling things like Gabriel Hounds and Hollis Henry, like I always do when I finish a Gibson book. Nothing aside from book reviews came up though, that was expected but also a little disappointing.

Now I’ve started on Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, which I guess is aover 10 years old now! The copy I have has a new Preface that was written in 2000 which was some time after the first edition of the book came out and the whole of the restaurant world had a chance to read it.

I watch No Reservations now and can’t really believe he’s been around for 10+ years doing this kind of stuff. Mostly because Bourdain didn’t really enter my atmosphere until a year ago, people don’t exist outside my realm of awareness.

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Imaginary World

So I bought a super lotto ticket the other day because the jackpot was something like $300,000,000 and I started imagining what I would do with that kind of money.

I would give 1 million each to all my co-workers. I think we all deserve it. I’d of course take care of any of my own debt as well as that of my parents and put money away for my sister’s college education.

I’d probably purchase some real estate. A place where I could retire when I get older. Then I would travel the world, go backpacking through Europe, I don’t really want to take the easy road for everything, the money would just be my safety net. Then I’d probably start a couple businesses. Not really sure what kind of businesses but I’d have as much time as I wanted to figure that part out.

This is of course the same way that people find out what they really want to do in life. I was never able to mentally put myself in a situation in which I had the means to do whatever I wanted, so I felt like this never worked for me. Somehow. imagining winning $300 million worked for me.

Thinking about it now though (and realistically) the best and most successful businesses come from people who are doing things that they love so much they would never give up on them. That would be the tricky part. I have the capital to start a business but do I have the devotion to make it a success? I guess I just have to find out what my passion is.

Oh, I didn’t win, by the way. Didn’t match any numbers at all.

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One Year Long

I’ve been thinking about my 365 resolution and I’ve decided that it would be best to create a tumblr for this project so let me introduce to you, One Year Long.

I figure it will be easier to post while mobile with the tumblr app than the wordpress app later in the year.

I think I am way over concentrating on this resolution and procrastinating on my 24 Book resolution. This is bad. I need to start reading. I’m actually thinking it might be good to go to the gym and read or ride the train somewhere so I can read. I guess I could go all the way both ways on the Gold Line.

The reading procrastination is doing something good for my room cleaning though as in order to avoid reading I am cleaning my room. Desk area is pretty clear now. w00t.

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Two birds with one stone: Book 1 & 1/365

To start off two of my resolutions that I’ve made, I’m going to talk about books and consider this my first post of the 365 project.

I’ve actually been reading two books simultaneously in December. They are William Gibson’s Zero History (part three of the Bigend books) and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I’ve been really enjoying Zero History, as I knew I would since the main character is one from a previous Gibson book that I love and it’s from an author I really like. In Defense of Food has actually been a lot tougher to get through. I had just finished Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma last month and I really enjoyed it so I thought I’d stick with someone I was already familiar with but I think the subject matter is the problem here. Just not as interested in nutrition as I am in cooking and eating, I guess. Since I don’t want to stop reading Zero History and I want it to count for one of my 2011 books I will start rereading as my first book of the year!

By the way, happy new year! 2010 ended suckily as I did not make it to Cat and Fiddle for English New Year with my friends due to an emergency car repair that needed to be performed. I got in my car to head over to Patrick’s to bring him some soup then intended to get over to Cat and Fiddle for English New Year but about a block from my place my car suddenly lost power and started revving low when stopped and having a hard time switching gears. The engine was also smoking a lot. It was pretty nerve wracking.

I got to Radi’s at about 4 pm and they found out it was a FUBARed spark plug. I have to go back next week. Great. So I missed English New Year and haven’t seen my friends for about 3 weeks or something, I have car repairs that need to be made and the boy is sick so we didn’t go to Kate and Andrew’s PJ party. I did enjoy spending much needed time with Patrick, watching 30 Rock and eating chicken noodle soup and drinking tea, but it would have been nice to see me friends tonight.