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I Am Number Four, Pittacus Lore. I read this because the previews for the movie interested me. I fall for hype easily. I enjoyed the book. It’s about 1 of 9 of young aliens living on Earth. They are hiding from a race that killed everyone on their home planet. Because of a charm, the kids can only be killed in the order that they are numbered. The story centers on Number Four, since his turn has come. The book moved very quickly. There’s a lot of teen romance stuff in there, but that isn’t so bad. It’s the first in a series. Even though I enjoyed this book, I’m not sure if I’ll read the next one.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller. This was very good. Even better than Batman: Year One. It tells the story of a future Batman that had faked his death and retired 10 years earlier. One of Batman’s old enemies goes back into crime and that makes Batman come out of retirement. It’s cool to see fifty-something Batman fight crime even though he’s not as strong or fast as he used to be. He even takes on a new Robin as his sidekick, but this time Robin is a girl. Year One and The Dark Knight Returns are two great Batman stories that show the opposite ends of Batman’s crime fighting career. Check them both out.

Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson. I’m so glad I finally finished this book after stopping and starting for the past few months. It started out slow, but it got really good after about 500 pages. Some things happened that have we’ve been waiting to see happen for a long time. I was happy. Things were set up nicely for the 14th and final book, which should be out in about a year.

• Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
• Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Mick Foley
• The Associate, John Grisham
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• The Walking Dead, Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 4: The Heart’s Desire, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 5: The Best Defense, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 7: The Calm Before, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 8: Made to Suffer, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 9: Here We Remain, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 10: What We Become, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Fear the Hunters, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 12: Life Among Them, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 13: Too Far Gone, Robert Kirkman
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larson
• The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larson
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larson
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• I Am Number Four, Pittacus Lore
• The Giver, Lois Lowry
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• Suicide Kings, George R.R. Martin
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
• Batman: Year One, Frank Miller
• Either You’re in or You’re in the Way, Logan and Noah Miller
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
• Private Parts, Howard Stern
• The Way of Shadows, Brent Weeks
• Shadow’s Edge, Brent Weeks
• Beyond the Shadows, Brent Weeks
• The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
• Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
• To Green Angel Tower, Tad Williams
• Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1 – Unmanned, Brian K. Vaughan

I’m taking a different approach to talking about what I’m reading. This is mostly because I start of lot of books, but don’t finish them until much later. For the past couple of months, I’ve been spending more time than normal reading. I’m a little proud of myself.Some of these haven’t been touched in 2011, but I plan on getting back to them this year.

Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson. I’ve made it about halfway through the latest Wheel of Time book. I’ll finish it eventually. It’s going pretty slowly. I have the same issues with it that I had with the last one. There’s stuff happening, but there are long stretches of nothing happening. I do think the stuff happening in this book is more interesting than the stuff that happened in the last book. Rand wants to do what!?!?

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. This is the latest Sword and Laser pick. I’m almost finished with and I really like it. It’s about the end of the world. The forces of Heaven and Hell are getting their forces ready for the upcoming battle. It’s a pretty funny book, though some of the jokes don’t work. Maybe it’s a British humor (I almost spelled it humour) thing, since both of the authors are British.

Batman: Year One, Frank Miller. I really like this one too. It’s a retelling of the origins of Batman, Commissioner Gordon, and Catwoman. I liked the Commissioner Gordon storyline more than the rest, but it was cool to see Batman learning to become Batman, making mistakes, etc.  Not surprisingly, the storylines of all three characters intersect in the end.  This makes me want to read more Batman stories, especially ones written by Frank Miller.

The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman. I started reading The Walking Dead last year in preparation for the TV show. I read the first 2 trade paperbacks, which is comprised of the first 12 issues of the comic book series. It’s so good! It’s about the aftermath of a zombie outbreak. Like everyone says, it’s less about zombies and scares than it is about how people interact with each other. Read the books and then watch the TV show.

The First Law Trilogy, Joe Abercrombie. I think I started reading The First Law Trilogy in 2009. It’s been about a year since I started on the final book, Last Argument of Kings. This is a great series for those who like fantasy series that are more adult than The Lord of the Rings or The Wheel of Time. If I were a recommendation engine, I would say something like “If you like George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, then you might like this series”. It’s a great read. I’ve heard that the last book isn’t as good as the first two. That might be the reason I’m not in a hurry to go back to it.

• Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
• Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Mick Foley
• The Associate, John Grisham
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• The Walking Dead, Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 4: The Heart’s Desire, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 5: The Best Defense, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 7: The Calm Before, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 8: Made to Suffer, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 9: Here We Remain, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 10: What We Become, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Fear the Hunters, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 12: Life Among Them, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 13: Too Far Gone, Robert Kirkman
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larson
• The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larson
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larson
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• I Am Number Four, Patticus Lore
• The Giver, Lois Lowry
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• Suicide Kings, George R.R. Martin
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
• Batman: Year One, Frank Miller
• Either You’re in or You’re in the Way, Logan and Noah Miller
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
• Private Parts, Howard Stern
• The Way of Shadows, Brent Weeks
• Shadow’s Edge, Brent Weeks
• Beyond the Shadows, Brent Weeks
• The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
• Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
• To Green Angel Tower, Tad Williams

It’s been almost 7 years, but I have finally found another MMORPG that I can get into: DC Universe Online. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot of fun. It’s not weird that I like this game because the last MMORPG that I really got into was City of Heroes. I guess I like being a superhero.

I bought the PS3 version and it is taking time to get used to playing an MMORPG on a console. I pre-ordered this version before I got a new PC in November. My old PC wouldn’t have handled it well. I never thought to change my order. I don’t really like playing computer games these days anyway. I think the lengthy download that takes place before you can play the game might not have taken so long on the PC, but I don’t know that for sure. Menu navigation and chatting is awkward (even with a keyboard) on the PS3, but combat is as easy as any other game. I have heard about some issues that have caused them to have to take the servers down, but those seem to take place when I’m not playing.

The missions usually are “defeat x number of this kind of enemy” or “do this action x number of times”, but that’s pretty standard for this type of game. I just like going out and using my superpowers on people, leveling up, and gaining new powers. I did my first arena mission yesterday with 3 other players and it was a blast. I want to do some pvp stuff, but the wait time on those is too long.

I think the main reason I like this game so much is that it’s set in the DC Universe. You start out in either Metropolis or Gotham City. You also have access The Watchtower. I have a feeling they’ll add more areas later, but you have plenty to do as it is. I geek out every time I see a DC character standing around and it’s cool to fight alongside them.

I have two characters, both on the Crisis server. One is Heatstorm, a fire-based character. The other is Dr Destiny, a sorcery-based character.  I think I’ll get a lot of play time out of this game.  I might’ve bought a lifetime membership, but that option isn’t available on the PS3. Oh well.

I’m not going to lie.  It is nice that people are noticing that I’ve lost weight.  Unlike the last time I lost a bunch of weight, this time it’s happened all the right way (I think).  I’ve had a few people ask me what I’m doing and my answer has been 1) exercise and 2) eating better.

Exercise
It always takes me a while to get in a good pattern, stop making excuses, and start exercising on a regular basis.  For me this happened when I was on vacation around Labor Day of last year.  Since then I’ve been doing cardio for 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week.  Now I’m used to going 5 days a week.  It’s part of my normal routine on those days.  There are times when I don’t want to go, but I do and I feel good after I finish.

Eating Better
I refuse to give up any of the foods I like or count calories. I just have to keep everything in moderation.  Even after I started exercising, I noticed that I was eating enough for 2 at dinner each night and I was eating too much junk at other times.  Now I’m only eating enough for 1.  I still get to eat my chicken, burgers, steak, pasta, etc.  I don’t snack much throughout the day.  When I do, I tend to eat peanuts, apples, or a small piece of candy.  I used to eat 1 or 2 packs of Reese’s Big Cups a day, but now I might have 1 a week. I don’t eat fast food often these days. I rarely eat meals prepared outside home.  This has been fun because I’ve learned to cook a lot of good meals.  Also, I don’t drink soda much anymore and I don’t really miss it.  I drink lots of water, juice, and tea instead.  Saturday tends to be my cheat day.  That’s when I’ll eat fast food with a Dr. Pepper and have a Reese’s at some point during the day.  Another benefit to eating better besides weight loss has been the money that I’ve saved.  I estimate that I’m saving around $150 a month on food.  That more than pays for my gym membership.

So, that’s what I’ve been doing.  It may work for everyone, but it’s worked for me.  It’s all been worth it.

P.S. – The next time someone asks me what how I’ve lost weight, I’m going to say cocaine, diet pills, and cigarettes just to see their reaction.

I got my PS3 back today.  It was supposed to be here yesterday, but I wasn’t home to accept the package from FedEx.

Sony sent me a new machine.  They did return the 500 GB hard drive that I had installed, which confirms my belief that the hard drive failure wasn’t the problem.  Since the hard drive is in a new machine, I had to format it to use on that machine. All of my data is gone.  Oh well.  Things could’ve been worse.

I’m happy to have my PS3 back.  I got in back only 7 days from the time I sent it in if you don’t count the New Year’s Eve holiday and missing FedEx yesterday.  I’m glad Sony returned the game that was stuck in the machine. I can watch blu-rays again and I can play DC Universe Online when it’s released on Tuesday.  I hope this one lasts a lot longer than the first one.

I came up with a list of things I want to do in 2011. I hate to use the term “resolution”. I reserve the right to change my mind of any of these without feeling guilty. I didn’t do this last year, so I can’t whether I was successful this year or not.

• Move. I want to move either to a better place in Starkville or out of Starkville. One or the other is going to happen. The time is right now.
• Go to my first convention. I want to go to San Diego Comic-con, but if that doesn’t work out I’ll go to Dragon Con in Atlanta.
• Keep exercising. I’ve lost 45 pounds so far. I just need to keep it up, even if my gym becomes unusable because of all the new people in January. I also want to start strength training.
• Buy new clothes. I need new clothes, especially new underwear. I hate shopping. The only clothes I get are the ones I get for Christmas presents. I need to change that.
• Learn something new. I want to learn something new and cool tech-related.  Unfortunately, my job doesn’t provide me with many opportunities to learn new things.
• Meet new people. Most of the time I’m happy to sit at home, hang out with Reese, and catch up on TV. I just don’t feel like going out. I don’t know how to meet people around here since there’s nothing to do and I’m not a student anymore. It may be that I don’t meet any new people until after I move.
• Listen to music more often. I listen to too many podcast and neglect the music collection that I’ve spent so much time on.
• Blog more. I’ve done well this week, but normally I blog only once a month. I want to do better without setting an arbitrary frequency that I might struggle to stick to.

I think these are pretty simple and very doable. Hopefully, I won’t forget to look back at these throughout the year and at the end of the year.

Happy New Year!

Update, 1/5/2011
The title originally said 2001 instead of 2011.  Thanks to Morning Toast for pointing that out.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Novel by Charles Yu. This was the Sword and Laser’s latest pick and I decided to read it since I haven’t read one of their selections in a while. The title made me think of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I don’t know if they have any similarities since I have read Hitchhiker’s Guide, but other Sword and Laser listeners are making that comparison, so I guess there are some.

The book is about a time machine repairman, Charles Yu, who is searching for his father who left his family and is somewhere out in time. You learn about Yu’s broken family and how Yu feels responsible for his father going away. To me, this book was just okay. It’s was interesting, sad, and funny in parts, but mostly I was just trying to get through it so I could get back to my Wheel of Time book. All the sci-fi references and jargon were cute at first, but after a while I got annoyed with it. Maybe if you liked Hitchhiker’s Guide, you’ll like this one more than I did. Or just wait until they make a movie out of it.

I said this was a 2010-2011 list, so I just deleted what I’ve already read and carried the rest over. I also added a few.

Book List 2011

• Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
• Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Mick Foley
• The Associate, John Grisham
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• The Walking Dead, Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 4: The Heart’s Desire, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 5: The Best Defense, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 7: The Calm Before, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 8: Made to Suffer, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 9: Here We Remain, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 10: What We Become, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Fear the Hunters, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 12: Life Among Them, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 13: Too Far Gone, Robert Kirkman
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larson
• The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larson
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larson
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• The Giver, Lois Lowry
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• Suicide Kings, George R.R. Martin
• Kraken, China Mieville
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
• Either You’re in or You’re in the Way, Logan and Noah Miller
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
• Private Parts, Howard Stern
• The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
• Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
• To Green Angel Tower, Tad Williams

Well, my PS3 died Sunday or Monday night. Today is Thursday and I just received the coffin that I’ll use to send it to Sony for repair. I was in the middle of playing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune when it happened, so I won’t get to beat that during Christmas break like I wanted to. I also have to scrap my plans to watch the new Sherlock series on blu-ray this week.

I know there are videos online that show you how to open up the PS3 and fix it, but I don’t want to do that. I have a feeling that I’d damage it more and have to buy a new one, which is more expensive than the $100 Sony is charging me to fix it.

I’m kind of disappointed that this happened, though it isn’t that much a surprise. People criticize Xboxes for having a high failure rate, but consoles in general don’t seem to last long these days. I bought my on Tax Day in 2008, partially because I was mad at owing the IRS money. I would’ve gotten one eventually even if I didn’t get it on that day.

I hope they can fix it fairly simply and return the disc that’s stuck inside, but my biggest concern is that I’ll lose all of my data. The lady on the phone said they won’t format the HD if they don’t have to, but the material that came in the coffin said that they will definitely format it. I don’t want to have to download everything from the PlayStation Network again on my slow Internet connection, and I really don’t want to lose all of my save games.

I’m hoping for the best.

I’ll start with my birthday the week before. I’d been saying all year that all I wanted for my birthday was TRON: Legacy, which came out on the same day. Well, I got it. I got off work early and drove down to Brandon to hang out with my friend John. It was good to catch up with him since I haven’t seen him much lately. We went out to eat, saw the movie, and got drunk afterwards. It was a blast. The hangover the next day wasn’t fun, however. It was only the 2nd time all year that I’d drank any alcohol. The last time was in Austin.

Christmas was good. It was hard to be away from my dog for 47 hours, but I enjoyed spending time with the family that was there. My sister and brother-in-law were stuck in Atlanta with the flu. My mom seems to be doing better, after being not-so-well for a couple of months. Thank goodness! There are some things she doesn’t remember, but otherwise she’s her normal self, which means she’s driving me crazy :).

I think I said this last year, but I do miss getting presents. I’m a little jealous of all the cool things I saw people getting on Twitter and Facebook. My sister and her family are the only ones who regularly get me gifts now, but they weren’t able to come. They’ll be mailing their presents later. I did take part in the Twitter Secret Santa that one of my Twitter friends organizes every year and I got an awesome Walking Dead t-shirt that I will be wearing during warmer months, if not before. I’m grateful for that. I will say that watching my cousin’s kids open their presents pretty much made up for any disappointment I had.

Even though it was an odd Christmas and disappointing in some ways, I think this was one of the best Christmas seasons I’ve had recently.

The Adderall Diaries by Stephen Elliott. I bought this book after I heard that James Franco had bought the movie rights. I like Franco as an actor, and I like that he’s done some weird things with his career lately. The title and premise of the book seemed interesting and I wanted something kind of wanted something different to read, so I thought I would go for it.

This is a true story. Stephen Elliott was suffering from writer’s block and decided to write a true crime novel about the murder trial of a computer programmer in the San Francisco area. He ended up with this book, which is part memoir and part recount of the trial. I guess covering the trial made him think about his past. I really enjoyed reading this book.  Elliott’s life is kind of sad to me, with the substance abuse, failed relationships, and father/son drama.   He and some of the players in the murder mystery confirmed that there are some messed up people in the world. Yes, I’m being judgmental. It makes me glad my upbringing was stable and my life right now is fairly normal and boring.

• Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
• Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged
• Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings
• The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
• Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
• Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
• Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
• The Adderall Diaries, Stephen Elliott
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Mick Foley
• American Gods, Neil Gaiman
• The Associate, John Grisham
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• The Colorado Kid, Stephen King
• The Walking Dead, Volume 1: Days Gone Bye, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 2: Miles Behind Us, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 4: The Heart’s Desire, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 5: The Best Defense, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 7: The Calm Before, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 8: Made to Suffer, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 9: Here We Remain, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 10: What We Become, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Fear the Hunters, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 12: Life Among Them, Robert Kirkman
• The Walking Dead, Volume 13: Too Far Gone, Robert Kirkman
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• Suicide Kings, George R.R. Martin
• Kraken, China Mieville
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
• Either You’re in or You’re in the Way, Logan and Noah Miller
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• Tongues of Serpents, Naomi Novik
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 2: Scott Pilgrim Versus The World, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5: Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 6: Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
• Bitter Seeds, Ian Tregillis
• The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
• Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
• To Green Angel Tower, Tad Williams