mechanics-of-life

[mechanics-of-life]

[mechanics-of-life]

I finally got a second curtain.

Living the rich life over here

[mechanics-of-life]

Started to lose track lol. Dates probably inaccurate.

Completed: 1-3, 5-9, 11

In-progress: 4, 10, 12

1/200 - Wheel of Time: A Memory of Light (Series #14/14) - Jan 3, finished (nice)

2/200 - Shades of Magic: A Gathering of Shadows (Series #2/3) - Jan 4, finished (cliffhangerrr)

3/200 - Chapterhouse Dune (Dune #6/6) Mar1, finished (lowkey anticlimactic)

4/200 - A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic #3/3) Started Mar1, 1/2 done

5/200 - Wicked Villians: Desperate Measures (Series #1/?) - ebook - Jan 13, finished (spicyyy)

6/200 - Cormoran Strike: The Running Grave (Series #7/??) - ebook on libby - Feb 16, finished (took only 7 books for the characters to admit their feelings.....)

7/200 - The Dark Tower: Song of Susannah (Series #6/7) - ebook - Jan 18, finished

8/200 - The Aurora Cycle: Aurora's End (Series #3/3) - reread - Jan 20, finished

9/200 - The Dark Tower (book 7 of 7 in the series) - Feb 3, finished (wow. that ending)

10/200 - Barrow of Winter - Started Feb6, 1/2 done

11/200 - The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower: #4.5 of 7) - Feb8, done

12/200 - The Obsidian Chamber (Pendergast #16/?) - Mar 1 - started, 1/2 done, idk why I forgot to add it to the beginning of the list

13/200 - Blood Meridian - I'll try to get past the first few pages this time lol

14/200 - System Collapse (Murderbot Diaries #7) - idk why I keep dropping this. I was eagerly awaiting this one

15/200 - Murtagh (Inheritance Cycle #5) - again, anticipating the release and haven't gotten to it, idk

Ran out of tags for the first time ever lol

[mechanics-of-life]

AND WHAT am I supposed to think?

Calling me just to say you won't call me?

Now I'm just thinking about you more

Just hearing your voice again.... I nearly started crying right there

[mechanics-of-life]

I'm gonna name a character in my book after you, and you can't stop me.

It's gonna be a dragon. I'll use your old username.

[mechanics-of-life]

I miss you

Does that mean I lose face?

Every time I call and leave you a voicemail.

I miss you I say.

Of course you didn't pick up.

I call, and every time I hear the answering machine when I hear your sweet voice

One day I fear that I will only hear "the number you have dialed is no longer in service"

Does that make me pathetic?

Still loving you?

I don't care, I can't seem to care about anything else in the world.

I miss you. I still love you.

I'm sorry I didn't say it sooner.

When it mattered.

[mechanics-of-life]

[mechanics-of-life]

Completed books 1-2, 5-8... so I've read 6 of 200 for this year (1 book, 5 audiobooks)

3/200 - Chapterhouse Dune (Dune #6/6) Started Jan6, 1/4 done

4/200 - A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic #3/3) Started Jan9, 1/2 done

9/200 - The Dark Tower (#7 of 7) Started Feb3, 3/4 done

10/200 - Barrow of Winter - Started Feb6, 1/2 done

11/200 - The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower: #4.5 of 7) - Started Feb8, done

"In the proper hand, any object can be magic" -The Wind Through the Keyhole

[mechanics-of-life]

“As the man with no name, a fantasy version of clint eastwood, you were okay, a lot of fun to partner up with.”

“Is that how you think of it?”

“Yes, but then you changed, right under my hand, it got so I couldn't tell if you were the hero, the anti-hero, or no hero at all [...] you started to scare me, so I stopped writing about you, boxed you up and put you in a drawer.”

“I think telling stories is like pushing something. Pushing against uncreation itself maybe. And one day while you were doing that, you felt something pushing back. [...]”

“it was more than the usual ‘going dry’ feeling, for sure, I'm used to that. Although it doesn't happen as often as it used to… it's… I don't know… one day you just start having less fun while you're sitting there tapping the keys, seeing less clearly, getting less of a buzz from telling yourself the story, and then to make things worse, you get a new idea, one that's all bright and shiny, fresh off the showroom floor, not a scratch on ‘er. Completely unfucked up by you, at least as of yet, and, well…”

[mechanics-of-life]

I had a dream about you again last night

But then I woke up

I want to go back to sleep and live in that dream forever

[mechanics-of-life]

"Do any of us, except in our dreams, truly expect to be reunited with our heart's deepest loves, even when they leave us only for minutes and on the most mundane of errands? No, not at all, each time they go from our sight, we, in our secret hearts, count them as dead. Having been given so much, we reason, how could we expect not to be brought as low as Lucifer, for the staggering presumption of our love?" -The Dark Tower, Stephen King

[mechanics-of-life]

February 3, 9/200 - The Dark Tower (book 7 of 7 in the series)

“As the man with no name, a fantasy version of clint eastwood, you were okay, a lot of fun to partner up with.”

“Is that how you think of it?”

“Yes, but then you changed, right under my hand, it got so I couldn't tell if you were the hero, the anti-hero, or no hero at all [...] you started to scare me, so I stopped writing about you, boxed you up and put you in a drawer.”

“I think telling stories is like pushing something. Pushing against uncreation itself maybe. And one day while you were doing that, you felt something pushing back. [...]”

“it was more than the usual ‘going dry’ feeling, for sure, I'm used to that. Although it doesn't happen as often as it used to… it's… I don't know… one day you just start having less fun while you're sitting there tapping the keys, seeing less clearly, getting less of a buzz from telling yourself the story, and then to make things worse, you get a new idea, one that's all bright and shiny, fresh off the showroom floor, not a scratch on ‘er. Completely unfucked up by you, at least as of yet, and, well…”

“I know that there are writers who do write, but I'm not one of them. In fact, whenever I do run out of inspiration and resort to plot, the story I'm working on usually turns to shit.” -Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower: 6 of 7)

[mechanics-of-life]

January reading/audiobook update:

January 3, 1/200 - Wheel of Time: A Memory of Light (Series #14/14) - finished (nice)

January 4, 2/200 - Shades of Magic: A Gathering of Shadows (Series #2/3) - audiobook on libby - finished (cliffhangerrr)

January 6, 3/200 - Dune: Chapterhouse Dune (Series #6/6) - audiobook on libby - 1/4 done

January 9, 4/200 - Shades of Magic: A Conjuring of Light (Series #3/3) - audiobook on libby - 1/2 done

January 13, 5/200 - Wicked Villians: Desperate Measures (Series #1/?) - ebook on libby - finished (spicyyy)

January 14/15 (skipped a bunch of paragraphs so I'm not gonna count it) - Wicked Villians: Learn My Lesson (Series #2/?) and A Worthy Opponent (Series #3/?) - ebooks on libby - finished (spicy but meh writing)

January 16, 6/200 - Cormoran Strike: The Running Grave (Series #7/??) - ebook on libby - 1/4 done

January 18, 7/200 - The Dark Tower: Song of Susannah (Series #6/7) - ebook on libby - 1/4 done

January 20, 8/200 - The Aurora Cycle: Aurora's End (Series #3/3) - ebook on audible - reread - finished

To read:

Murtagh - haven't started (read ittt)

System Collapse - started and dropped (why isn't as good as I expected :(( )

Project Hail Mary - must.. reread.. again (for like the 5th?? time)

The Obsidian Chamber - started and dropped (ughh not in audiobook format on libby)

New Spring - reread at some point (maybe later in the year...)

I usually read more near the end of the year... so I'm actually surprised I've gotten through so much this month...

Got sidetracked and have been listening to a DND podcast "Tales from the Stinky Dragon" I'm on story arc #3

Quotes:

"There are other worlds than these, gunslinger"

"This is your fault, all of it!" - Aurora's End

"To die in the fire of war is easy, [but] to live in the light of peace [is] much harder." - Aurora's End

"You have to fix it!" - "It is not broken!" - Aurora's End

you have to fix this please. I am not broken

[mechanics-of-life]

Language learning January update:

Current priorities -

1) Mandarin (basic fluency, HSK 5)

2) ASL (work through Lingvano app)

3) Toki Pona (learn all 137 words)

4) Hebrew / Arabic (relearn/learn alphabet)

5) Gaelic (start learning again, if I have time)

6) French (work through Duolingo I guess)

Mandarin -

Previous info: Been slowly learning for the last few years (uhh I think it's been like 5 years or so). I know probably around 3000 characters, but I still feel like I don't even have basic fluency somehow.

Goal: Basic fluency by the end of the year, confidence with all HSK 4 and HSK 5 words and grammar structures. Even though my current reading level is closer to the 拼音 books I have, I want to slowly work through the novel I have.

Progress: Trying to read a few pages of a 拼音 book every day, and so far with the novel I'm about 5 sentences in, with 20 new words added to my vocabulary list.

ASL (sign language) -

Previous info: started learning around October last year, working through the Lingvano app. Had a pretty good streak going for awhile but broke the streak and lost motivation sometime in December. Trying to get back into it. I probably know around 300 signs.

Goal: Work through the Lingvano app by the end of the year.

Toki Pona -

Previous info: I know 10 words...

Goals: Learn all the 137 words by the end of the year.

Greek, Gaelic, Latin, French -

Previous info: Greek - tried learning a few years ago, maybe learned about 30 words. Gaelic - started learning 2 years ago, maybe had about 50 words or so. Latin - didn't get far at all, maybe a few words. French - learned it in school up till grade 12, but I've forgotten so much; don't really have the motivation to get back into it, but I really should.

Goals: I guess these are all on hold for now, unless I get my life more organized. Greek probably won't become a priority again for awhile, Latin certainly won't be a priority for a long while unfortunately, but I hope I can get into Gaelic again later in the year if I find some time. French is definitely something I should get back into, ASAP, but the motivation is just not there for it.

Hebrew -

Previous info: I'm a scholar and a weirdo so I wanna work through the original version of the bible and all its biblical hebrew. Learning the language seems "easier" than struggling with just looking the whole thing up word by word. I didn’t get very far, I guess I sort of know the alphabet and probably around 5 words.

Goal: uhhh idk, do better.

Arabic (Egyptian dialect) -

Previous info: just started learning, still trying to work on recognizing the alphabet.

Goal: I want to be able to learn the alphabet and pronunciation by the end of the year. Duolingo can't really help so it's gonna be an uphill battle for this.

Misc -

I guess my other priorities down the line would be Sanskrit and Italian. Sanskrit cause why not, and Italian cause I want to read through the original Dante's Inferno

[mechanics-of-life]

Read (listen) with me ~

January 13, 6/200 - Wicked Villians: Desperate Measures (Series #1/?)

January 18, 7/200 - The Dark Tower: Song of Susannah (Series #6/7)

January 20, 8/200 - The Aurora Cycle: Aurora's End (Series #3/3) - reread

you bet I've started a new one before I've finished the previous ones... excluding ones I've started before this month, I'm in the middle of 5 audiobooks rn :)))))

[mechanics-of-life]

another date with me myself and I

[mechanics-of-life]

Read with me ~

January 16, Book 5/200 - Cormoran Strike: The Running Grave (Series #7/??)

also don't be fooled, I'm not reading one after the other lol I'm halfway through this one as well as the last two, at the same time, just whatever I feel like reading at the time