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.
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.
But sometimes you just do things because you should try everything in life at least once. This year I am not making just one NYR but several! Statistically speaking, my chances of following through with a NYR will be greatly higher if I just make more of them.
So here we go!
1. So I was thinking I will read 40 books by the end of the year. Now, I hadn’t actually thought about this until yesterday at work when someone suggested I go for the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. That was when I actually realized the rate I would need to be reading in order for me to actually pull off this 40 books/1 year idea. Instead, by this day next year I will be finishing the last few pages of my 24th books. This puts me at 2 books a month. Still a challenge but a much more manageable one especially for me since I am a slow reader. Comic books will not count for this project but audiobooks will because it takes just as long to listen as it does to read in my head.
2. I am also going to actually follow through with a 365 project which will consist of some daily record of my life be it a photo, writing, audio or video. I imagine the toughest part of this will be remembering to post something. I assume I will probably go camping at some point which will keep me from being able to post on exactly the day but every day will still be accounted for at the end of the year. I’ll probably post these here.
3. Only one new article of clothing may be bought per month. I think this will be THE hardest of the resolutions. Mostly because I’m terrible at knowing what will actually be the most loved item in my closet until at least a 3-4 month residency. This is going to take some research and no more impulse buys or boredom shopping. I think the less clothes I buy, the more I can spend on one piece and that one piece better be f*ckin worth it.
The rest of the rules for 2011 are general guidelines for living that don’t exactly apply to just a year of amusing tricks (the resolutions above are probably not going to continue for more than the one year – though #3 probably should stick around for as long as possible). The other rules will be things like no more making excuses for not working out. No more making excuses about eating when not hungry, just make sure you’re actually hungry when you eat. Clean your room, once every two weeks at least. Pursue things that you’re actually interested in. General year round “spring cleaning”, pair down your material things, get rid of things that you never use.
no more of this
2011 is looking to start off pretty good, starting a 401K next week, still got a job, took care of my car, starting to make exercise a part of my regular life (well, not since before Christmas but I will be going back to Bikram yoga soon and I still have my gym membership), family is well, got an excellent boy.
