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The Magician King, by Lev Grossman

I’ve been briskly cruising through this adventure for the past week.

I had a copy of The Magicians for a while, but stalled out a bit until I was reminded that SyFy will soon have a live-action adaptation of it. I’m a bit hopeful since their adaptation of The Exspanse seems good so far.

Anyways, on to this book. If you’ve not read The Magicians yet, I recommend it. My take on it, so far, is that it’s a bit of Harry Potter, a bit of Narnia, and lots more angst and cynicism.

The main character is not an orphan, nor a legend, but he, Quentin, did dream of a world more extraordinary than our own. He wanted to visit the land he’s read about since he was a kid, the fantastical kingdom of Fillory. He sort of got his wish in The Magicians, attending, and graduating from the magician school, hidden in the state of New York, Brakebills, and The Magician King is the continuing adventures of Quentin, but he’s not alone.

I feel like I relate more to Quentin than Harry, or even the Pevensie siblings. He had the misfortune of angsty teenage years, unrequited love, a fantastic turn of events, and a coming of age in the magical world. Turns out that his initial love interest didn’t share the same journey, but he’s been reunited, and this story see’s Quentin trying to learn more about her, while still trying to find himself, even as the adult he is.

Inspired by: Friday Reads | L Jones Edition

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What was supposed to be a wallet rotation turned into a photo inventory.  


Apologies for the short post, but I was wrestling with some technical bits (you may have seen some brokenness, and that’s related.) Good night!
 

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4901615250_787da212d6It’s kind of a tough one, but the things I eat could really use a change. I know this every time I slip on some not-so-old clothes and they’re super snug, or, worse, don’t fit any more.

It’s not even the expense and trouble of finding good alternatives that also happen to taste good, but that, often, it requires a serious time commitment to get things solidly rolling. I’ve seen others work on this by pre-packaging some of their meals in advance, and that seems like an efficient option, but, I must confess, I’m without a plan. Any help in this area is much appreciated.

Feel free to share if you have something you’ve been putting off as well.

What do you know that you need to change, but are afraid or unwilling to make the first step?

Today’s prompt is from the Written with Desk community on G+:


Photo Credit: KJGarbutt via Compfight cc

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I idolized Rick Astley. Well, not really, but I did actually enjoy his tunes, especially when they would pop up on MTV.

If I had to have an idol, which I can’t say I really did, it would probably have been the King of Pop himself, Micheal Jackson.

The 80s and 90s were some of the years it was good to be a fan of MJ, from Beat It, to Thriller, to the Moonwalker anthology, life was good if you loved pop.

Teen Age Idol

Who did you idolize as a teenager? Did you go crazy for the Beatles? Ga-ga over Duran Duran? In love with Justin Bieber? Did you think Elvis was the livin’ end?

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My choice for this week, and my first of 2016, is Police Bust, by Joseph Trapanese, off the Straight Outta Compton movie soundtrack. 

I admit it, I’m a bit late to the Straight Outta Compton soundtrack, but I’m glad, for once, that a Spotify alert caught my attention.
This is not my first experience of the work of Joseph Trapanese, as put quite a few spins on his Tron Uprising soundtrack, even weeks after Disney canceled the excellent show (boo, Disney!) This soundtrack continues his signature style of adventurous, driving music. I totally imagine running and chasing going on, listening to this. 

The funny thing is that I haven’t seen the movie yet. I will, and now I know it will definitely sound good.

Note: This is a late post. I’ll have another choice tomorrow. 

Music Mondays – Kat

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steak.jpg
It's a Saturday, so there's no work for me today. This Saturday does, however, require some travel away from my warm bed, in order to celebrate my brother's birthday.

Worst case for the day would be a combination of factors, such as a car breakdown on the way home plus inability to pay for a tow. Basically, it's tough for today to go too badly. A car breakdown would mostly be a big inconvenience and mostly due to the cold after dark (desert areas get really cold winter nights!)

Best case would be that the food at the restaurant chosen is really good and that the nieces and nephew are relatively calm (love them, but they can get really excited sometimes.)

Here's to a good day!

Worst Case Scenario

Of all the awful possibilities, what’s the worst possible thing that could happen to you today? Now, what about the best?

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Funds permitting, the one luxury item I'd love to purchase is a car. It's not just any car, however. It's an electric car, but, even that's not so extraordinary. I'd prefer to buy a Tesla Model S.

It's a car that starts at $75,000. That's nearly 5 times the cost of my current car, which I've had for about 13 years.

It's still pretty much a dream car at this point, mostly due to performance and fueling costs, and also because the car itself is fairly high-tech in its amenities. The main stumbling blocks right now are not only the high purchase cost, but some of the lifestyle changes needed, such as an outlet needing to be installed at home, which I don't have the authority to undertake. That's the major one, as I'm lucky enough to live in the western state of California, so charging away from home, to the places I would drive to, isn't a problem.

Home-charging would cover the range of local destinations.

Having a car that not many have yet would be kind of neat, but mostly I really want to reduce use of gasoline (and have that extra money that such a reduction entails).

I also have read that it's got quite a bit of get-up-and-go too, which is a nice bonus as well.

Keeping up with the Jones’

Tell us about the one luxury item you wish you could afford, in as much detail as you can. Paint a picture for us.

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That first day on the support queue. Hundreds of messages were in it. It seemed like it scrolled forever.

I felt like a tiny fish in a tank of sharks. Luckily, I was not completely without aid, as the support veterans were not far away, virtually and physically, and I slowly gleaned wisdom from them, even as I took notes and learned not only how our hosting system works, but filled in gaps in my knowledge of how the web works.

I could bounce a question (or 2, or 10…) off a grizzled tech, or a lead, and usually, they let me know what’s up, or, better, how I could proceed towards a solution or unlock tge needed knowledge. I definitely worked with some wizards (and still do!)

Nearly 9 years later, I don’t see that queue so often these days, but I do still learn things, even as I work to improve the support the company provides. I was warned, even though the job felt like a dream job, the pitfall of cynicism was tricky to avoid.

I think I’ve avoided becoming jaded pretty well. I think that has been made easier by seeing pretty regular successes, even with the missteps that can happen to any growing company.

This is the longest I’ve been with any company. I’m glad it’s worked out and look forward to each day because of getting through those initial months when it was “sink or swim.”

What about you, kind reader? See other responses here:

Sink or Swim

Photo credit: Matthew Wiebe – unsplash