hi friends. been a long time.
i had a few personal cards made up not too long ago. i call them personal cards because i can't call them business cards because i am not really in business. they have a sampling of my personal data on them. so they're personal cards.
one such bit of information is a link to this blog, which has been woefully neglected for quite a while now. so without further ado, here's an update.
i'm no longer on night shift at the factory, and quite thankful for that. i run one of the brand-spanking new presses, which will hopefully mean a decent raise next month when reviews come around. i am generally in a better mood, getting to see my family a bit more often and not being a zombie during the weekends.
with my body and mind slowly adjusting back to its traditional circadian rhythms, i am now in a position to get the rest of my life back on track. the car is finally paid off, so we can slowly climb back out of debt.
i'm hoping that with these vast improvements to my overall well-being will come the return to writing. any of you who keep up with me will know it's been a tough year for my creative process. i'm hoping that this new position and new fresh outlook will allow the proverbial creative juices to proverbially flow.
what else? over the last year i've taken up wargaming, Warhammer 40k to be precise, and so far this year i've given up wargaming, Warhammer 40k to be precise. the universe of 40k is massive, filled with great stories and memorable characters. just the background story (10,000 years before the game itself is set) is 20-something books strong. i've read a dozen or so of the books, and plan to read more in the future. and while the universe is huge, the stories memorable, the characters brilliantly brought to life, the game itself is just too damn expensive. rather, too expensive for me. i could see myself picking up a model now and then for painting, because i do quite enjoy that aspect of the hobby, but in order to keep up with the other players (hell, just to play with my kids at my house) requires a sizable investment that i'm not willing to put forth just now.
books. books, books, books. regular books, comic books. i've been reading a lot this last year, more books than comic books, to be sure. as i mentioned above, quite a few 40k books have been absorbed, but i've also managed to read outside the sci-fi genre as well. a few examples:
The 1,000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and Cloud Atlas, both by David Mitchell
Clive Barker's newest Abarat book, Absolute Midnight
All the rest of Martin's Fire and Ice series that i hadn't read so far
Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, which I'm sure will be turned into a movie
and right now i'm re-reading Necroscope by Brian Lumley, having read it a few times over the last few decades.
as far as comics go, i am woefully behind. i'm hoping this year to follow a few titles a bit closer, but now that Hellblazer is being cancelled, i just don't know what books to keep up with. i am, of course, open to suggestions.
well i'll wrap this recap up. thanks for taking the time to keep track of me. i will promise to update my blog regularly, and fall short of regular like i do every year. i hope this new year brings peace and prosperity to everyone.
-jamie
