This was set in the same universe as Windup Girl, but a little earlier and in the Southern US. The book was a lot lighter hearted than the Windup Girl with a nicer ending by far. I also don’t think it made me think nearly as hard. The themes were underdogs vs. big bad company and not too much else mixed in.
Steph and I did a paint nite in Mountain View with Jeff and Patty. The location was Agave and the painting was a fall scene with orange leaves and a blue sky. I went a little off script with a sunset painting that turned out marginally. The nice touches I liked in mine were the two mallards I painted in the corner.
Stephanie’s was really nice, and I really liked the leaves in her painting. She also had an adorable kitty sitting in the swing.
I went skydiving again. The first time was freshman year in college, so a while ago.
We met up with some of Steph’s work buddies and headed out to near Moss Landing. The wait was a little long, and the ride a little short, but still worth it. I got a video of it, and hopefully Steph can pick that up from her coworker tomorrow. Hai, Mark, Kaijen, Erik, and Damien were there as well. It was the first time I had met Damien, and he was a really cool guy. We went to a Thai restaurant after the skydiving and had a good meal before heading home. Steph was super tired so we didn’t do anything more that day.
Friday night we met up at Bon Chon in Sunnyvale, but the wait was well over an hour and a half. The food was good, but certainly not worth that long of a wait. One of the most annoying parts is that the group ahead of us was just talking at the table for 20 minutes after they had payed, and we were all soooo hungry. After food we went back to George’s place and played some of the You don’t know Jack game pack. I really enjoy the Drawful game, but got the strangest phrase I’ve seen yet, ‘Counting Crows Guy Farts Arrows.’ How is one supposed to draw something like that? The night was pretty calm overall, and Steph was at the Beachhead house party for all of those who had lived at Beachhead at some point. I caught a Lyft home and got right to sleep since I was pretty tired.
I really enjoyed last Wednesday when we went to Karaoke with Steph’s coworkers. She did a few of the songs that she likes the chorus of and wants me to sing the rapping parts, but not as many as the previous Wednesday. I also got to sing more of the songs that I got to put in. I really liked the selections made by Mark, as they were the fun songs I typically would pick, and great singalongs. He also liked the songs I picked. I’ve really enjoyed hanging out with Hai and Mark. Perhaps we can invite them to some more things.
I read three novellas, ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ by George R. R. Martin, ‘Perfect State’ by Sanderson, and ‘Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell’ by Sanderson.
A Knight of the seven Kingdoms was really nice, with a bit of a lighter side to the seven kingdoms, and a good look at their recent history for the primary series of Song and Ice and Fire. The characters were delightfully odd, and not homicidal maniacs like most of the characters in Song of Ice and Fire.
Perfect State had a wonderful premise, and amazing execution, as is expected from Sanderson. I really enjoyed the interplay of the characters with the world around them. I also liked the philosophical questions of whether the AI should be considered human. There is also the natural born to natural born interaction part of that philosophical bent, with class systems for them. The final philosophical piece that is interesting is the futility and fatalism of the premade worlds each person is put into. I hope he does something else in this universe.
Shadows for Silence in the Forest of Hell was a great universe, but not as likable as many of his other universes. The limitations were great, the characters identifiable, but the world was too bleak. The twist at the end was fantastic.
We went over to George’s place for a going away party for Lindsay. It was pretty good including some fun Karaoke. We’re going to try to go and see her while she is in India, and I think it should work out just fine.
Stephanie put in a lot of songs that she likes the chorus of, and then there is a fast rap component to them that she likes me to do. I need to get better at the rapping parts of those songs.
Archer and Lana have been doing really well, and getting to go outside for longer and longer periods of time.
This has allowed them to get into more and more trouble. Archer is the primary culprit, getting into other patios, up to the second story, climbing trees, and almost catching a squirrel. He also got an adorable lion’s mane.
The discussion on this book was great, since we were able to talk about the world in general as well as the story. There were lots of discussions on the characters and the writing style. The disparate beginnings confused everyone, but we all agreed it came together well in the end. The Anderson character was interesting, in that you start out being able to identify with him, and he might be a little mean. In the end he ends up being a monster that gets his just deserves. We also talked about the manipulation of animals and people. I thought it wasn’t feasible for the changes to be such a step function. I would expect some people to have smaller improvements, and not fully reworked genomes. I look forward to the next discussion as well, and I’m a little surprised that people agreed to read the books on religion.
It's an Exciting World 