I live....

Much is the same, but I'm doing more reading and trying to find fulfillment in that. Just finished two books that are very much alike, both about something that I generally don't have much use for---video games, especially MMORGs or whatever they're called such as World of Warcraft.

REAMDE [named after a possibly typo'd virus file] by Neal Stephenson was over 1000 pages, but was a fast paced read. I've always thought Stephenson was like an Asperger author, slamming you with information. But this book is mainly long because of the many characters and arcs, and the time it takes for them to intersect. It's much like his earlier work, but I'm now giving ANATHEM [his previous book] another whirl. I actually own that book, but am checking it out of the library because I don't feel like looking for it.

Anyway, REAMDE involves intrigue in a Warcraft-like game, with the difference being the game was created mainly to try to profit from the practice of exchanging real world money for in-game items and activities. There are Russian mercenaries, Taliban, Chinese hackers, all playing a role.

It's very much a thriller, and I wonder if some of Stephenson's devotees might be disappointed, but the characters are all interesting and over the week and a half I was always wanting to get back to the book to see what happened next, and that's about as good as you can get.

READY PLAYER ONE is a fantasy of sorts, a love letter to 80s geek culture. It's in a distant future, a dystopia where most people live in squalor but spend the bulk of their time in a virtual environment. The creator of the environment, the richest man on earth, dies but creates a competition where the winner receives his fortune. It's a series of riddles and tests all based in 80s videogames, role playing games, television, movies and music. One kid living in poverty manages to be the first person to solve one of the riddles years afterward, and the race is on from there.

I am a selective geek---I like horror and not so much fantasy/science fiction, and have a healthy appreciation for other non-geeky things too--and unfortunately I am not talented in computers or in anything else where my geek interests could become a career. Anyway, I enjoyed this a lot.

So now I'm reading THE ART OF FIELDING, THE MARRIAGE PLOT [new Eugenidies that I'm wondering how anyone can appreciate who wasn't an English major] and a few others.

Also soldiering through the George RR Martin books when I want to read something right away and don't feel like going to get one of the library books. Some books you have to be in the mood to read, which is why I always like having several books around. The Martin books I can read anytime, even if I walk away from them for weeks.

I'm still applying for jobs, but our main focus is getting out of here sometime next year. We're both worried that this extended period of unemployment may make it hard for me to get back into the swing of things--I will likely be over three years unemployed by the time we get out of here, barring some kind of seasonal job or something else happening. I no longer get call backs very often, even for jobs that I would seem well-qualified for---last interview was last month at another firm. I was interviewed by people who had graduated the same year I did, and that is a sad indicator of where things sit with me these days.