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The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.. I decided to read this because everybody was talking about it on Twitter. Amazon had the hardcovers for about $9 a piece, so I snatched them all up. I enjoyed this series a lot.

It takes place in the not so distant future. A country called Panem exists in what remains of North America. Panem is governed from a place called the Capitol, which is located in the Rocky Mountains. As punishment for a rebellion against the Capitol, each year a boy and a girl from each of Panem’s 12 districts must compete in the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a fight to the death that all of Panem is forced to watch. The winning competitor’s home district gets extra food for a year.

The first book is definitely the best, so at least give that one a try. Once you get into it, it’s hard to put it down.

• 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 Elliot
• 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

Microsoft Kinect finally was released at midnight last night and I’m so glad that I can finally talk about. I was in the beta program, but because of the Nondisclosure Agreement, I’ve been pretty quiet about it except for a few mentions on Twitter. I didn’t want to risk having it taken away from me. I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. My dog looks at me like I’m crazy when I’m using it, but that’s okay.

Setup was easy. I started out positioning it below the television but moved it to on top so that it could see me better. That brings to mind the biggest problem so far: space. You need to have plenty of space in your play area. They say at least 6 feet between you and the sensor, but the more the better. We were able to download beta/demo versions of 3 games: Kinect Sports, Joyride, and Kinect Adventures. I’ll probably buy Kinect Sports eventually. I didn’t like Joyride. I didn’t get to play Kinect Adventures much, but I’m getting a free digital copy for being in the beta. I had to download updates 1-2 times a week during the beta and I noticed improvements over time. I think Kinect is quite a bit better now than it was when the beta first started.

Dance Central is the only game that I’ve bought so far. It’s a lot of fun. You just have to get over looking like a fool. It’s made by the same people that made the first few Guitar Hero games and Rock Band. It’s not an easy game since I have no dance skills. It’s also physically demanding. Maybe 1 or 2 days a week I’ll skip going to gym and dance to “Poker Face” or “Poison” or something. I like the menu navigation in this game better than the 3 beta games. I can see companies getting pretty creative with navigation.

Speaking of navigation, I like being able to use voice commands and gestures to control some of the tasks on my 360. Neat features. One feature I have yet to try out is Video Kinect, which lets you have video chats over Xbox Live. You know how people are going to abuse that, so I don’t even have to say it.

Microsoft released a big dashboard update last week in preparation for Kinect. I got some of the updates when I got Kinect around the end of August and they rolled some of the others out later. I like that the audio quality will be better even though I haven’t chatted with anyone yet. ESPN on the 360 sounds cool, but I can’t watch live games since my ISP isn’t affiliated with ESPN3. It probably won’t be much use to me until something changes. Netflix search is the new feature I like the most. It’s a no-brainer, especially since I could already search when I used Netflix on my Roku. Other than better looking avatars, I can’t remember any other new features, but it seems like there were some.

I’m enjoying all the Xbox goodness that’s come lately. Of course, the games are going to make or break Kinect. I hope they come out with a lot of good games soon, so I don’t get bored with it like I did with the Wii, which I believe has been made obsolete by this device if it wasn’t already before.

The new TV season started a few weeks ago.  I tried out a lot of new shows.  It was hard to keep up with them and the old shows that I was already watching.  A lot of the new shows were mediocre, so I’ve been able to drop a few and free up some time.

I’m still exercising.  So far I’ve lost about 27 pounds.  I’m starting to get bored at the gym, so I may need to switch it up a little bit.

Work has slowed down.  The project that I was working on for the first half the year has stalled, so it’s back to the same old stuff that I’ve always done.  The next month could be pretty busy though.

Some things are finally starting to fall into place.  It’s time to make some of the changes I’ve wanted to make for a while.  There are things that I want to do while I’m still young enough to want to do them.  Maybe I’ll make a list and post it here.  Hopefully, there will be raises in the New Year because I won’t feel comfortable trying to do some of these things until I have more income.  I’m single, so I don’t have 2 incomes at my disposal like most of the people I work with.  If there are no raises, then it might be time to move on.

I need to blog more.  There are a lot of things on my mind.

What’s been happening lately?

• My back and everything else is feeling better. It’s great to feel completely healthy for the first time since early summer.
• I had a little vacation around Labor Day weekend. It was so good. I mostly got stuff done at home that I’ve been wanting to do for a while.  I went to visit Mom for a little while. My sister and her husband were in town as well, so I got to meet my niece for the first time. I’m going to enjoy spoiling her.
• I’m down about 16 lbs so far. More to come.
• I’ve been doing the same stuff I normally do in my spare time.
• I caught the little town blues.

Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik. It was just ok. I was dissappointed. It’s definitely the weakest in the Temeraire series. I was bored for most of the book.

Now I’m working on The Hunger Games Trilogy.

After that I’ll start reading The Walking Dead.

• 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
• Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• American Gods, Neil Gaiman
• The Law of Nines, Terry Goodkind
• 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
• 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

Summer has flown by. Fall classes begin next week. It’s one of my favorite times of the year because Starkville and MSU become more alive. Even though summer break ends next week, we still have a little longer before the summer season ends. 44 more days. We should be getting some relief from the heat before then, right? This heat is making me miserable.

I didn’t move at the end of July like I thought I would. My landlord said I could stay where I was and he would put the person that had rented my place in a different one down the street. I’m glad because I wasn’t looking forward to moving.

About a month ago my back starting killing me all of a sudden when I was walking to my car after work. It was hard for me to stand up straight for about a week. It’s feeling better now, but it’s still not 100%. My wrist and shoulders are also hurting and my thumb has been popping constantly. It all started around the same time. The doctor seems to think it’s from too many hours working at a computer, but I don’t think she really knows. Nothing that I’ve tried has helped much. I hope I can start back exercising soon so I can re-lose the weight I had already lost.

It seems like every day I wish that I were somewhere other than here. I want to go back to Texas. I want to go to California. I want to go to New York. One of these days….

Scott Pilgrim is a series of 6 graphics novels written by Bryan Lee O’Malley. It’s a really fun series. Scott is a 23-year-old Canadian who is also the bass player in a band. He meets a woman, but in order to date her he has to defeat her 7 evil exes. I decided to read this after I saw the first preview for the movie adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. the World a while back. Even seeing that preview didn’t prepare me for what I saw in these books. It was a lot of fun. The last volume came out last week. I think they’re each around 200 pages so even a slow reader like me could finish them quickly. I hope the movie is good. At least see the movie if you don’t want to read.

• Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
• Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged
• Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings
• Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• American Gods, Neil Gaiman
• The Law of Nines, Terry Goodkind
• The Associate, John Grisham
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• The Colorado Kid, Stephen King
• 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
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• 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

These are going to be short and sweet from now on if they weren’t already.

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King. I only read this book because the new Syfy series Haven is based on it. From the Haven previews, I think it’s only going to be loosely based on the book. Almost the entire book consists of these two old journalists telling their intern a story about an unsolved mystery that happened years earlier. Reading it made me remember why I don’t read Stephen King anymore. Something about his writing style gets on my nerves. I advise passing on this one and just watching the TV show. I read this book using the Kindle apps on my iPhone and my work PC. It’s the first time I’ve read a book that way.

Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis. This was another Sword and Laser pick. It was interesting. Think alternate history WWII with super-powered people that use batteries to power their abilities. I love alt history and I love superpowers and they go pretty well together in this book. I wasn’t really into the beginning and the end, but I really enjoyed the middle. When I started getting close to the end I could tell that this was the first in a series. I later found out that it is the first in a trilogy. If I had known that before I started, I may have waited to read it. At this point, I’m not sure if I’m going to finish the trilogy.  Maybe if I had the other two to read right away I would’ve been more likely to continue.

• Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
• Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged
• Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings
• Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• American Gods, Neil Gaiman
• The Law of Nines, Terry Goodkind
• The Associate, John Grisham
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• The Colorado Kid, Stephen King
• 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
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• 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

As of yesterday, it’s officially summer. Summer used to be my favorite time of the year. I’m sure most of that had to do with being on vacation from school. Summer isn’t as big of a deal now, probably because I haven’t had a summer off from everything since 1997. The thing I associate with summer the most now is the heat. Damn, it’s been hot. But still, summers working for a university in a college town are a little more laid back than the rest of the year.

I don’t have anything excited going on this summer. I didn’t renew my lease on my current place, so I’ll be moving in about a month.

In 2006, I made a Summer Mix CD. I’ve included the track list. I usually bring it out at the beginning of summer and listen to it throughout the season. It’s on my iPod now, so I’ll probably be listening to it even more than normal.

1. “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper
2. “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles
3. “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
4. “Whoops Now” by Janet Jackson
5. “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash
6. “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves
7. “Soak Up the Sun” by Sheryl Crow
8. “Summer of ‘69” by Bryan Adams
9. “Summer” by War
10. “Summer Nights” by John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
11. “Summertime (featuring P Diddy)” by Beyonce
12. “Girls of Summer” by Aerosmith
13. “Sex in the Summer” by Prince
14. “Hot Fun in the Summertime” by Sly & the Family Stone
15. “If You Steal My Sunshine” by Len
16. “Cruel Summer” by Ace of Base
17. “The Boys of Summer” by The Ataris
18. “And On And On” by Janet Jackson

Update, 2/23
Oops! I had messed up the name of Sheryl Crow’s song. It’s corrected now.

I just wanted to make a quick update on my book list since it’s been a while.

Americans Gods by Neil Gaiman is the first (I think) book in the One Book One Twitter project started by Wired Magazine. The purpose of One Book One Twitter is to get a lot of people talking about the same book. They have a schedule for which chapters you’re supposed to read each week and there’s a Twitter account leading the discussion. I haven’t been taking part in the discussion on the book, but I did like it enough that I read ahead and finished it early.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Gaiman. I’d never read any of his books, but I had seen the movie Stardust. It’s hard to say too much without spoilers, so I’m just going to go for it. The story is about a man named Shadow who gets out of jail after 3 years. He is hired to work as a bodyguard for a mysterious man named Wednesday who turns out to be a god. This book uses a concept that I’ve seen a few times lately: that gods really exist because people believe in them. When people stop believing, the gods lose their power. You see a lot of old gods and creatures of folklore that were brought here when people settled in America like Loki, Anansi, Anubis, etc. You also see gods based on newer concepts like technology and media. There’s even a god inside the TV. The new gods want to wipe out the old gods. Wednesday is trying to rally the old gods so that they can fight for survival. It’s a good, quick read and I recommend it.

I read The Gathering Storm when it came out last October or November, but never got around to mentioning it here. Brandon Sanderson took over the job of finishing the Wheel of Time after Robert Jordan died. I remember being satisfied with the book overall. There were times where it seemed to drag on with a lot of pointlessness but overall I think he did a great job of keeping it interesting. Right now I just want to know how it ends.

I also read the first 2 books in Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law trilogy. If you like George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, you’ll probably like it. I’ll say more when after I finish the whole trilogy.

I keep adding more to the list.

• Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
• Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged
• Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• American Gods, Neil Gaiman
• The Law of Nines, Terry Goodkind
• The Associate, John Grisham
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• The Colorado Kid, Stephen King
• 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
• 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
• The Gathering Storm, 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