Thursday, November 27, 2008

Vocabulary

First off I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, let the food be good, and the naps even better. As for you shoppers out there, get a good night's sleep and beware the crowds! I've only been out shopping once on Black Friday and it was pretty intense I'm not gonna lie. There's some damn good deals out there though, I might hit the stores so I can get a special someone a special something :)

Anyway, as all two readers out there have noticed, I have a wretched vocabulary. I also can't spell nor use grammar nearly the way I should. Alas I'm not terribly interested in the latter, Fire Fox and Word take care of spelling, and friends and teachers point out my grammar plenty. So that leaves me with my 3rd grade vocabulary. Now I know there's plenty of harebrained techniques out there, learn a new word every day and use it in as many sentences as you can, which probably work, but I'm lazy. A customer at my work came in a couple months ago looking for a nice hardbound dictionary. No joke some of those dictionaries are really nice, and I was stunned to find that he was going to highlight words he didn't know. He was about 60, a really nice, one of those cool old guys that I wanna be when I'm old. He explained that as he reads whenever he comes across a word he doesn't know he'll look it up and highlight it. I didn't really think much of it at the time, kinda a neat idea I'll admit, but nothing that captured my attention for long. I guess it stuck though, I've been almost compelled to buy a dictionary since I spoke with that guy. I thought it was just a novel idea seeing as I wanna write better, but it seems his little technique rooted itself into my subconscious and finally wormed it's way out. Naturally because I'm so cheap I never got around to buying a full price dictionary-- they're freaking expensive-- but on Sunday I found a Oxford Pocket American Dictionary of Current English for a steal of $2.99. Well really with my 33% discount it came to around $2.13 with tax :P. It took til just today, I dunno why now, to realize that old man was the reason I got the dictionary.

Granted I read a whole hell of a lot--clicky-- and I'm sure that there's plenty of words I don't know as well as I should. So I'm gonna try this highlighting thing out and maybe go through the dictionary like, what? At the end of every month? I'll work the kinks out I suppose. One thing I know I'll have trouble with is admitting I don't know a word and then sucking it up and looking it up. I've been trying it, its hard! I don't think people realize just how much they don't know until something like this, and indeed I know a lot of words through context but that isn't quite the same. Some authors I've been reading recently are rather clever with their word choice, I wouldn't have even known! I'm toying with the idea of even typing up the words and the definitions here in my blog, but I'm not so sure about it. The people I know for a fact that read my blog are all way smarter than I am and I'm not so sure I'm willing to show how utterly retarded I really am. Though, I know none of them will openly say how dumb I am, I know they'll think it! Maybe I'll type it up in word and when I feel a bit more confident post it here? We'll see haha. Now that I'm doing this I think it may actually help with spelling a little, maybe? I really don't know, but I'm optimistic.

Speaking of Word, I know a couple of my friends use Blogger and I had a question. Recently I have been writing some of my blog posts up in Word first and when I tried to post it Blogger freaked out. Apparently, Word 2007 has some weird HTML that copies over here and screws up Blogger. Has anyone else experienced this? I should probably just ask the Blogger people, but yeah.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A Year of Reading

Since I began working at Borders I've kept a log of all the books I've read. Mind you, this log is only from November 19th 2007-- I've read probably triple if not more books in the course of my life-- so it’s rather short. Hopefully I'll keep this log up to date for the rest of my life, then when I'm 40 I'll be able to be like whoa! It'll also help with the nasty problem of not knowing if I've read a book or not. I've found this extremely irritating of late, I'll pick up a book, think it looks pretty good, buy it, only to get like a chapter in and realize I've read it. It’s not a huge hassle but when I'm the reading zone its shitty to go back and find another book. Anyway here it is, I figured posting it a year from when I started would be kinda neat.

  • A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card
  • Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
  • Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
  • Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
  • Next by Michael Crichton
  • Monster by Frank Peretti
  • Empire by Orson Scott Card
  • Paranoia by Joseph Finder
  • Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Heor
  • Stiff by Mary Roach
  • Anthem by Ayn Rand
  • Brimstone by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
  • Dance of Death by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
  • Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
  • Dune by Frank Herbert
  • Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
  • Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
  • Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
  • God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
  • Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
  • A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer
  • Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
  • The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
  • Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert
  • Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
  • Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
  • Robota by Orson Scott Card
  • Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
  • Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
  • Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
  • The Stranger by Albert Camus
  • Innocent Mage by Karen Miller
  • Lamb by Christopher Moore
  • Awakened Mage by Karen Miller
  • Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
  • We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
  • Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr.
  • The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
  • Feed by M.T. Anderson
  • Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
  • Click by Bill Tancer
  • Final Theory by Mark Alpert
  • The J-Curve by Ian Bremmer
  • The Sword by Deborah Chester
  • The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
  • The Ring by Deborah Chester
  • The Chalice by Deborah Chester
  • Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
  • The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
  • Sway by Rom Brafman
  • Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
  • Shadows Edge by Brent Weeks
  • Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist
  • Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist
  • Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card

Total: 55

Note: The books in bold I own, the non-bolded books I read at work or borrowed from a friend. In my personal list I have each of the books rated from 1 to 10 but I decided to hold off on that simply because I'm probably pretty biased. Plus how can you rate a Fantasy against a Mystery or a Fiction?

Here in America reading has become one of those things that everyone wants to do but is "too busy" to do. Back in 2007 the Associated Press did a poll concerning just that, what they found is honestly saddening to me.
"One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday [August 21, 2007]" This quote was taken from a Washington Post article that was written on the day the Ipsos poll was released. I don't know the details of the poll exactly but even if its somewhat true this country is in trouble. I did a little snooping around recently after I found the aforementioned article and found a somewhat 'better' set of figures. These numbers came from the Harris Poll:

TABLE 1

BOOKS READ PER YEAR

"How many books do you typically read in the average year?"

Base: All adults


Total

Generation

Gender

Political Party

Echo Boomers (18-31)

Gen X (32-43)

Baby Boomers (44-62)

Matures (63+)

Men

Women

Rep.

Dem.

Ind.

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

None

9

6

7

9

12

11

7

10

8

7

1-3

23

28

24

23

15

27

18

23

24

18

4-6

19

18

22

20

15

22

17

22

17

20

7-10

13

12

11

14

11

11

14

13

15

11

More than 10

37

36

36

33

47

29

44

33

35

44


Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.

As you can see roughly 1/3 of Americans read more than 10 books a year, which is good. It’s hard to say which of the two polls is more accurate and indeed from what I found both seem fairly legit. In any case, I'd say that we should be reading more. Granted my opinion is a bit biased seeing as I've read 55 books this year but even still. 10 books aren’t really that many if you think of the amount of time Americans sit in front of the tv or even the computer. Sure some people really don't enjoy reading at all and sure many find a movie or a reality tv show more entertaining than their imagination.. still.. the human mind is a great thing. When I read it feels like I'm watching a movie with actors that put real people to shame, with views and imagery that an HD tv can only dream of making. If you think about it television and movies are just dumbed down books, and if ANYONE thinks there's a movie based on a book that’s better than said book they have a poor imagination indeed. Why would you settle for someone else's imagination? What you can do with your mind is so wonderful that it’s sad to think some people go their lives without reading. Authors not only give you all the tools to create a world in your head but they can also give you meaning. What are you gonna learn about the world by watching American Idol? Pick up 1984, A Red Sky at Morning, Dante's Inferno, East of Eden, or any other number of classics out there and you'll discover not only a fantastic story but symbolism, satire, and a touch of politics. All of which with such intensity that there's no way a tv show or even a 2 hour movie could put it all in. Hell, if you're not into the "dry" classic stuff they forced you to read in high school pick up Alastair Reynolds or Neal Stevenson and you'll learn something.

Well I suppose I'll stop preaching now, I hope this possibly interested some of you into reading or at least picking up one of the books I've mentioned. If not, well, all the power to you it’s your life after all. If there are any questions about the books above or any sort of recommendations I can make, feel free to hit me up.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Who Am I?

This is a question that’s been haunting humans since the dawn of time. How it has been answered has varied over the years and though I am far from well educated in what people have said I have some ideas of my own. Perhaps they can’t even be called ideas so much as a response to a certain viewpoint I’ve encountered. Really I don’t know what the “I” is or even how I would respond if someone asked “who are you?”. Perhaps there is no answer, but I think there are things that dictate just who we are.

The psychological idea of “roles” has always seemed natural to me, even before I knew the term “roles” or what the idea behind it was. I guess I always had this sort of thought in my head. I am a son, a friend, a lover, a student, a worker, a stranger, a boy, a citizen--both of the world and my country -- a human, and a million other things that I can’t name right this moment. The thing I’m responding to I’ve encountered twice so far, it’s the thought that says “There are no roles. I’m the exact same person to everyone, everywhere.” Now I can almost understand not wanting to admit your personality is dictated by those around you, but this form of egotism is ridiculous to me. I realize that many of the roles that we live each day are almost one in the same, but even yet there are enough differences between any two that it’s impossible to say you’re the same person around everyone. For example, you chat and laugh and joke around with your friends, sure you can do all those things with your parents, but it’s significantly different. You won’t go telling your mom about the crazy sex you had with your girlfriend last night or your dad about how much you drank the previous night. Even the way you act around people changes depending on the role you’re in. It’s a happy little thought that you control how you act in any circumstances, but to those egotists out there, you don’t control your actions nearly as much as you so pompously think. The very nature of roles are so deeply ingrained in our heads that it’s just not something you can control. Sure you can have a certain degree of freedom in your actions, you can whisper sweet nothings into your friend’s ears if you wish, but you’ll be criticized for it. Now from what I understand of egotism, albeit not much, they take great offence to the above example. “You’re actions should be done for you and no one else” is the main idea I gather. I agree, what you do should be entirely on your own personal set of morals, but as much as you despise it the fact is humans are social creatures.

The worst form of punishment, no not death, but the form of punishment that will break anyone no matter their philosophy, their nationality, their race, their age, nor their gender is isolation. The human brain has evolved in such a way that it thrives on interaction; it works its best being presented with new ideas, new viewpoints, and new people. The very act of speaking to another human being stimulates the brain in many ways. To think that any human can be so self assured, so self centered, to bypass millions of years of evolutionary hardwiring is idiotic. Granted, there are social hermits out there, people that despise all form of interaction, but sadly for those egotists, it’s not them. I’ll even be generous and say that even if you’re the exception and treat everyone the exact same way in every situation you wouldn’t be looked on with any bit of admiration. Like it or not, even if you’re so all mighty and great, the rest of us aren’t. Being a functioning member of society means you have a certain set of obligations to people, those obligations dictate how you should act in certain instances. So if you go telling your parents how hard you fucked some girl last night, or tell your boss to go screw off like you would one of your friends, you’re going to be an outcast. Sure you’ll be self righteous and almighty knowing that you broke social code, but what will your life be like? A year of that and what job would you have? What friends? What lovers?

Now, even if you can accomplish this feat and keep any sort of social contact outside of yourself, you’re going to be one bland, wretchedly boring person. Perhaps you’ve read this far and said “I don’t tell my friends about the crazy sex I have, or any of the examples you’ve given Ryan. I’m confident in who I am and I don’t do anything to hurt anyone’s feelings.” Okay, perhaps you have accomplished this, but what kind of personality is that? Humans are meant to be different, are meant to have a will. There’s two ways the above can be accomplished. You can be a complete arrogant ass and truly say whatever you want to say to whoever you want, but keep it toned down enough that it doesn’t get you in trouble. Or you’re the most boring person in the world because if you treat a three year old the exact same way you treat your boss, your friends, and your lover, you have no personality. MacIntyre said our lives are the stories that we tell, what kind of story is going to be told that has not differences, no interactions. Part of what makes us human is all the characters we play, all slightly different, yet all wrapped up in this indivisible thing called “I”.

Who I am depends greatly on who I’m with, but yet I feel that there is indeed some deep down thing that links all of the different roles. Maybe they’re just fleeting similarities or even just something my human-ness needs in order to try and understand the world around me. Either way, to me, being the exact same person around everyone is impossible, no matter if you like it or not situation dictates who you are. Perhaps only in such a small way that you think you’re being the exact same, but really there’s something different. The vocabulary you use, the emotion you show—or don’t show for that matter—your body language, any number of things. It isn’t a bad thing, it’s a wonderful thing in my opinion. On the flip side, there is some truth to the egotistical argument. To be completely and utterly different solely based on who your with is hypocritical. To be a devout catholic in church and a horrible person on the street is just wrong. There exists, at least in my opinion, a balance of the two that make humans great.