Chapter Ten.

Today was a good day for random science fiction/fantasy stories, though I use science fiction as a qualifier simply to differentiate the type of "fantasy" I'm referring to, so you don't get confused and worried that this blog is about to include a bit too much information.  

So I've been reading the Wheel of Time, as mentioned numerous times before, and I just reached chapter Ten of book eleven.  Excellent chapter!  I'm thrilled, though the possibility exists that someone reading this might receive a spoiler as a result of my expounding upon why I'm excited by this chapter - thus, I will dispense with further description.

Regardless, I've been waiting for it for a long, long time.  Awesome!

In other, related news (re: the first paragraph here), we had what felt like a pretty good Ars session today, which I ran for the most part.  Our characters are all embroiled in Ragnarok (Yeah, the end of the Norse mythos), so we as players keep doing all this research into what would supposedly transpire.  I, currently, seem to be playing the universe conspiring to make Ragnarok happen (or not happen!), and everybody else is trying to navigate events and figure out what's going on and why we seem to be stuck at the beginning of the process.  Three years of winter have come and gone, all of Europe is freaking out, the year is 1255, and for some reason the frickin' Jotunn and AEsir aren't gettin' their fight on.  Loki seems to be missing (what else would a trickster do than not be where he's supposed to be?), and stuff is generally messed up. 

But it went pretty well.  They figured some stuff out.  Next week should be fun!

Otherwise, I sat around today and made orange juice / Cracklin' Oat Bran pancakes, cleaned the kitchen, read a book, and planned for tonight's game.  All in all, a lovely Sunday. 

A veritable <evoking of large quantities> of activities

Today, I have done many things. I started the day in New Haven, at my brother's house.

I woke up at 9:00 AM or so with two four year olds climbing all over me asking me to wake up.

So I woke up. After a bit of breakfast and a shower, we sat around for a bit and played Candy Land. Given that Nathan and Lucas were the ones flipping over all the cards (and deciding when to discretely set one aside when they found it inconvenient), by the time both of them got to the end, I had just made it to the Rainbow Trail that they crossed on their first move. Not the fairest game, but that's okay.

Following that, I had some coffee while my brother played Chutes and Ladders with them; similar to my game of Candy Land, he lost miserably. Following that, we played Sorry! This time, both my brother and I were playing, and we insisted on playing by the rules. All of the rules, which makes a good lesson in patience and fair play for little boys. Amazingly, after trailing the entire game, I ended up winning (BOOYAH!). Much better than my performance at Canasta last night.

After that, I gathered up my things and got ready to head back to Cambridge. As is often the case, the boys were too distracted by life to notice that I was leaving. Such is the way things go with four year olds! The drive back to Cambridge was rather uneventful, and quick. I listened to The Beatles (Abbey Road) and Radiohead (parts of Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief, as well as most of In Rainbows).

When I got home, I sat around for a bit and had a late lunch, then shuffled down to Harvard Square and sat in Dado to study for my Jazz Theory quiz. He called it a quiz, but I'd call it more like a full-on, four page test of most of what we did the entire semester. Maybe even a final exam, given that it took an hour and a half and was on our last day of class.

That said, I think it went fine. Basic music theory is easy when compared to calculus, or something like that. After Jazz Theory came Ear Training, in which we worked out the rhythms of Blue Room, a delightful little tune. Both classes were quite pleasant.

On my way home from NEC, I continued to read New Spring, the prequel to the Wheel Of Time (Robert Jordan). Ten minutes ago, I finished it. What a great book. Well worth a read if you've read the rest of the series (or even if you're only part way) - it is indeed a prequel, and doesn't give away anything in the later books. A few characters make interesting appearances, however, and I could see how what happens in this one might influence your opinion of them in the later books, if you happen to read New Spring first.

Very cool. It's going to be such a bummer when I run out of Wheel Of Time to read. I'm starting Knife of Dreams now, and after that, all I have left is the new one, and whatever Mr. Sanderson comes up with after that. God, I hope somebody wraps up this series. It's just way too epic to go unfinished.

Whew. So, all that said...

VOTE TOMORROW.

This seems like a pretty important little election thingy we're having here. I've received no less than three robo-calls and one random lady from Rhode Island imploring me to vote, not to mention what feels like countless e-mails. Crazy.