For some reason, I've had Xenia on my mind for the past few weeks. It's not because I've been listening to her music (or anyone else's, for that matter - 99.9% of my MP3 listening time is spent on podcasts these days), but she popped into my head and I did a few lazy searches of my usual sources of Xenia-related info (so, I pretty much just checked her Youtube account for new videos) and not only did I find nothing new, I saw that all but one video and all the other Xenia-info on her youtube account had been scrubbed. Very weird. So I went down another rabbit hole and checked the Xenia facebook and twitter pages (I'm not a huge fan of social media, so these were a last resort for information), which led me to Xenia's new (as of Jan 2015) blog: xeniamusic.wordpress.com. And I discovered that Xenia has been struggling for the past couple of years (pretty much since I saw her at the House of Blues).
Being confused and depressed is pretty much par for the course when you're a kid (she's a slightly older kid now, in her early-twenties), but Xenia's struggles really bum me out because she has so much going for her. And to be honest, my concern is really rooted in selfishness when you get to the root of why I care. I just want her to sing and sing and sing some more. I will happily listen to everything she's recorded on endless repeat. I do wish she would release her music on CD, though. I've bought all her digital music on Amazon, and maybe it's just the old man talking, but I really prefer having a physical CD of the music I love. A photo-filled CD book with lyrics and hopefully a few other fun extras is icing on the cake.
Speaking of new music, my trip down the rabbit hole led to a discovery: Xenia has released a new song in March, Window Pain. So I downloaded it yesterday and listened to it all morning on endless repeat. It's really good (as you'd expect), but just sounds so sad. And the song also seems to be overproduced, but that might just be my inner-old man poking his head out to yell at the kids on his lawn. I would happily listen to Xenia singing acapella. Too many other instruments, synthesizers, weird percussion, etc just get in the way. I'm still glad I bought it and can't wait for the album this is supposed to be the precursor to.
Auctions
The auctions continue...though not many people are showing any interest in my stuff. I'm practically giving away my comics. I actually spent many hours going through all my Star Wars toys and grouped a bunch of the toys together into sellable groups. Or at least groups of toys (action figures, vehicles, etc) that I thought would be sellable. But I may be wrong. Or maybe people will become more interested as Episode VII gets closer to release. I did manage to sell a couple of Star Wars comics series (Dark Empire I and Empires End/Dark Empire III), thought not for much. But even selling this stuff at a loss, at least I'm decluttering. I'm really getting tired of having so much stuff taking up space. Especially since I don't get to enjoy any of it.
Books
I've finished reading a few books since the last post. Here they are:
Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half Really funny, though there wasnt really a whole lot of "reading" involved. If you're a fan of super funny illustrated books, this is the book for you.
David McCullough's The Path Between the Seas I learned more from this one book about the history of the Panama Canal that I'd picked up in decades of life. Well-written and packed with detail. Who knew the French started the project...only to fail miserably? (okay, maybe the "failing miserably" part wasn't really all that surprising - but this was the French back when the French were capabable of doing things.)
Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning I'm not a big fan of short stories, but I am a huge fan of Neil Gaiman. And the stories in this book didn't disappoint. Except for several that I wished wouldn't have ended so abruptly. Especially Shadow's continuing adventures.
Adam Carolla's In Fifty years We'll all Be Chicks This is my first foray into the Adam Carolla Literature Library. And likely will not be my last. It's basically just a collection of Adam's complaints about...well, pretty much everything. But he complains in a way that makes me laugh. A lot. Funny stuff.
So I guess that's all I have to blather on about today. I considered mentioning all the really good TV that I've been watching, but figured it wasn't worth the effort.
As I mentioned a little while ago, I've been parting with a lot of comics that I don't really have the time or opportunity to enjoy anymore. And I've only made the tiniest dent in the space occupied by all my comics and the other "collectible" stuff I've acquired over the years. What started out as a quest to severely reduce the number of comic books in my collection (I had between four thousand and five thousand comics, which took up a lot of space in their big comic boxes) has evolved into just clearing out anything I don't still love...or have time to love, anyway.
In addition to the few comics that I've sold - I've avoided parting with any of the comics I most love so far - I have sold a Darth Vader statue, a treasured Infocom Leather Goddesses of Phobos game (that wasn't even playable since it was for the Atari 800XL, but did come with a lot of fun stuff), some Star Wars plush toys, some pin-up books, an old digital camera, and have even started selling some of my unopened toys.
I'm not exactly making big bucks selling this stuff (and have lost money on a bunch of these transactions after misjudging shipping costs\eBay\Paypal fees), but the garage is theoretically getting emptier. Part of me hates parting with so many things I really valued (and still would, if I had any time to), while another part of me is looking forward to having less clutter. I even finally went through all my old computer stuff and boxed up a bunch of computers and computer parts that need to be hauled off to an electronic recycling place. I decided to give my Zip 250 USB drive a shot on eBay and actually sold it for way more than I expected (with around ten disks totaling about 1.5 GB total space). So progress is being made...just not very quickly.
I feel like I should talk about the big stack of books I've read recently, so I'm going to at least mention them and offer a brief opinion of each (since my opinion is so very valuable).
The Long Mars - The last Terry Pratchett book (published before his death) I will ever get to read. Less Terry than Stephen Baxter, but still a worthy read.
Gray Mountain - I'd avoided John Grisham's last few books because the topics were just a little too far left for my tastes, and this one is pretty left, too, but I read it anyway and really enjoyed it. The characters were strong, even if the the plot was typical John Grisham (coal mining corporations raping the Virgina mountains this time), and it was as fast-paced as his best books.
Anathem - Man, this thing was a beast. And super-slow to get into. It did have a lot of technology tie-ins to The Long Mars, interestingly. There were many times the story just dragged, but later in the book there was plenty of well-paced story-telling. I think it was a little like Fellowship of the Ring. It all takes place in a familiar, but completely foreign, world, so the background has to be filled in first. Oh, and if you love math and proofs, this is definitely the book for you.
The Golden Princess & The Given Sacrifice - SM Stirling's post-apocalyptic stories are a lot of fun with the post-medieval battles (due to the blackout of all modern technology) and Lord of the Rings references. And he is no more reluctant to kill off main characters than George RR Martin, though they seem to get a longer run than Martin's characters in these books...usually.
I also picked up the 2015 Hyperbole and Half calendar a few months ago when I saw it at Barnes and Noble. It now hangs in my "cubicle" at work (I call it a "cubicle" because my employer has recently decided to try the "open office" layout). It's so horrible. Open office seating is horrible, not the calendar. Though the calendar could use a little more context from month-to-month. It's been too long since reading all the stories on the Hyperbole and Half site to still remember what this single cartoon panel (or two) relates to (I've also got the Hyperbole and Half book, but it's in the to-read book pile). So there's that.
I think that's all I wanted to blather on about. And it's not like anyone reads this drivel anyway (except you, Dan, and maybe Steve, but I meant anyone important).
I'm with Neil on this one. There's so much to say about Terry, but so little I want to say now. I only saw him in person a few times at book signings, but between those few brief meetings and reading every one of his books I've been able to get my hands on, I feel like I knew him pretty well.
