Cloudy Days

[greenstorm]

The sun's gone and with it any sort of manic energy wellbeing. I've settled into being comfortable now despite the kind of weird circumstances that I find myself in.

The Juggler's bringing a friend from work home today and the Other Woman's out, so I've been picking up around the house just a little. Puttering, mostly, digging used condom wrappers out of the sofa, folding blankets, putting things away when I know where they go. It's a relaxing sort of way to be, and it's nice just to put things straight unhurriedly. The Juggler isn't out to his work people, so if the SO and I are still here when he gets home I'll need to act innocent, or at least hopeless.

Maybe hopeful? ;)

Bah. Entertaining as it would be I don't think it would make anyone else very happy to mess with that. Alas for growing up and having to be responsible and stuff.

I've been messing with some concepts lately, relationship-wise. It's occurred to me that intensity and depth of relationship has nothing to do with the per day sort of time commitment of the relationship and that in turn has nothing to do with the permanency commitment in the relationship.

A number of factors have brought that one up. I've sort of realised, what with the scattering of things that's resulted in my not really having a primary right now, that what I want from a relationship is a sense of permanency. When I say I want a committed relationship that's to a large extent what I mean; the other cluster of my relationship needs seems to float around making the relationship more reliable/permanent in the sense that it's mostly tool-building for long term relationships.

That's probably been tripping me up quite a bit recently. Commitment is a very confusing word. I'd tried using 'commitment to X' before, but I like the idea of splitting it up into things like permanency and emotional support and daily reliability better. It just pulls fewer strings. It has fewer connotations and is less likely to get confused with things like exclusivity and permission/ownership.

It's both interesting and scary to realise that maybe I don't want One Relationship and some side stuff, but that instead I like a scattering with the idea that they're all there long term but that one can do things like take breaks, go one a month's vacation without offending anyone... hmm. I'm running out of words but there are a lot of concept-images floating around that surround tis still. Practically it's not all that different, but I do feel like I'm standing taller and more independently. It's not a bad feeling and it's especially good when I'm lonely -- I don't feel like someone's let me down, I just feel lonely which is okay.

But enough of this. I need a nap again (grilling chicken at 2:30 am was fun, but leaves little in the way of sleep time) and I'm curious about this book. It's called The Skies of Pern, Anne McCaffery, and it's a really terrible book. I like a lot of hers but this one's... just terrible, heavy-handed and obvious like a bad fanfic. I don't think I'll finish it but I want to see if it gets better.

Take care.

Comments

[breklor.livejournal.com]

My favourite series, with the possible exception of LotR, is Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. He's up to 25+ books, and just keeps getting better and better.

My favourite sequel? Not counting books deliberately constructed as series... hmm. I rather liked Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow, which is a sidequel to Ender's Game... it retells the story of the first book from the perspective of one of the supporting characters. It's pretty darned good.

How about you?

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure. I don't think Discworld keeps getting better and better, though I've stopped myself at 3 or 4 books because more than that would make me jaded and cynical about series-similarity and moneymaking authors. They all feel pretty the same to me, though I have the feeling I'm mostly alone in that.

I liked Ender's Shadow. The one that came after that was kind of weird, though.

My favourite books do tend to be one-offs. I really liked the Wizard of Earthsea trilogy by LeGuin (though I hear there's more to that than just three books) and David Eddings' fantasy series were very cool (sure, they were repetitive, but I liked having more of that yummy candy to read). I liked the Shannara stuff and especially the second series-set with Walker Boh and co, so maybe that counts?

Oh! The Red Mars series rates more highly on the list than most of those. It was excellent throughout with a very slight quality drop that was worth it for the heightened complexity of character.

[breklor.livejournal.com]

IMNSHO, Discworld does get better and better, especially after you get out of the first few. Pratchett acquires a talent for bittersweet comedy that's just unbelievably yummy, especially since he also has a talent for writing characters you can get attached to, so when they wind up deep in the kaka you really care.

I heard the books past the first three in the Earthsea series are recent sequels, which does not bode well, but I know nothing else about them...

I like one-offs too, but every now and again I find a series that actually has more than one book's worth of stuff to say.

OH! Yes! The Mars series was amazing! I have read it twice but I need to read it again someday.

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

I -swear- there are two different Discworld series, the one I've read and the one everyone talks about. There just have to be. Characters? In Discworld? They're just props to illustrate sometimes-clever silliness. I've never felt like any of the characters I've read stuff about felt terribly realistic.

There seriously have to be two different series. Which were your favourite characters, portrayed in which books?

[breklor.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness. I have a terrible memory for such things.

I can tell you I have always loved the portrayal of the three witches. And in the later books especially... people like Vimes of the Watch begin as cardboard characters on which to hang a plot, but they grow and flesh out into full and sympathetic people. I think one of Pratchett's other strengths is that nearly everyone in his books is sympathetic in some way, in that he gives you insight into why they do what they do, why they are who they are... Captain Carrot becomes a very wonderful character later on. Even Nobby.

Rincewind is always irritating, but I kinda like him sometimes too.

[spectral42.livejournal.com]

Enders Game was a great book - I haven't read it in years though. Time for a trip to the used bookstore for the two of them!

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

Have you been through the whole Xenocide/Speaker for the Dead sequel stuff as well? They really are wildly different. Ender's Shadow is sort of halfway between the action of Ender's Game and the introspection of the others, then the next one in that series (shadow of the Hegemon?) which is also about Bean... er, is a little strange.

But Ender's Shadow was great. I loved Virlomi.

Re:

[spectral42.livejournal.com]

I've read Xenocide and Speaker for the Dead, though I don't remember the contents of them - I read them quite a while ago. I think I missed Ender's shadow though, I don't remember reading it at all.

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

Ender's Shadow and the rest are really quite new. I think Shadow of the Hegemon's still hardcover only. I've been buying them for my brother as they come out.

So if you read them awhile ago it's not that you missed them, it's that they've come out since.

I won't even start on the plots -- that's for realtime communication.