Journey to the Center

Today is funny, mostly because I’m crabby. There’s a lot going on today, in a mental-overhead sort of way and it’s taking some weird sort of toll on my brain and my ability to concentrate, making the day fuzzy and indistinct. It’s also making things funnier than they would normally be.

Take, for instance, the hallway yawner.

I’m walking along, minding my own business, headed off to heat up my lunch in the kitchen. Around the corner comes a big man in a bight yellow sweatshirt with his mouth wide open. The first thought I have is that he’s trying to eat the world. And then I wonder where he’s going to put it all, since it doesn’t look like the sweatshirt will expand that much.

I had to stifle giggles until I was safely in the kitchen and away from him. Passing his office has been dicey since then, I’m seriously tempted to let him know that he just shouldn’t try it. Too danged risky.

I’ve finally finished the bookshelf that I built with my father. I’d put off staining or sealing it because I was paranoid about my ability to get a nice, even stain applied. My success on previous projects was directly proportional to the color I picked - the darker the stain, the worse I applied it. Especially in cases where I really wanted the color but not the saturation. As a result, this bookshelf has been sitting in various pieces waiting for me to get some courage for over a year.

Two weeks ago I finally got the bug. I decided that I really liked the color of the red oak without any stain at all, so all I needed was to seal it. We get tons of natural light, so 3 coats of varnish is essential for anything to retain even a bit of its intended color. The living room floor is a perfect example of this - the color fades from one side of the house to the other in direct proportion with the amount of sun.

The trouble with 3 coats of anything is that it takes 4 hours between coats. So it took 4 sets of painting sessions (yes, 12 total) to get everything sealed. It took a couple of weekends, especially with other projects thrown in, but I’m done. And the piece is beautiful. I’m still deciding whether or not I want to wax over the sealant to protect the wood from scratching and daily abuse, but for now it’s actually holding books.

Additional images in the gallery.

The disposal is in! Finally, I can grind bits of food into smaller bits and then flush them away down the sink. This is strangely satisfying, especially considering the amount of time it took to get around to completing the dang task.

But now the plumbing is done (One minor tweak involved and only 3 new pieces of pipe! Thank goodness for compression fit pipe.) and the thing works like a champ. It’s enormous - 3/4 hp motor. I can’t imagine what we could possibly grind up that would need that much power, but its there if we need it. Maybe I’ll start grinding bones or something, just to justify the thing.

And now the box can go to it’s final resting place in the middle of the living room. It seems to make the best kitty fort ever. Once inside, the cat goes into full-on army mode. It’s almost worth more than the disposal itself.

I’d been looking forward to the next book in The Looking Glass Wars series, Seeing Redd, for quite a while, so when I saw a copy I jumped at the chance to read it. I’d started with the short series of the Hatter M comic (which I loved, partially for the artwork and partially for the brilliant story) and then moved on to The Looking Glass Wars. I mowed through that book in a weekend, entranced by the new take on Wonderland and its vicious war machine. I expected to love this book.

Was I ever disappointed. The story is clearly a middle space; something that intends to lead somewhere but could not possibly stand on its own. It has no merit other than setting up book 3. And maybe 4. And however many other books they intend to push out.

It is mostly a rehash of the Hatter M series, from a mildly different point of view. Redd ends up in England by some quirk of fate/imagination and goes through much of what Hatter went through, meeting many of the same characters but getting along with them because she’s evil. There’s a minor skirmish back in Wonderland and some characters have some emotions. That’s about it. Book over. Beddor is clearly setting this up for the Epic Battle in book 3. Or whatever, depending on how long he strings his audience along and can play on this for money.

Right there, in the dust jacket About the Author segment, I found the explanation for my disappointment. Frank Beddor is a movie producer. He spent 3 years coming up with the ideas behind the first book. This second book came out in under a year. He’s working on a movie about the saga. This book was not written for itself, but to try to build up a Looking Glass following that resembles the Harry Potter phenomenon. Sure, it’s for a slightly higher age range, but the idea is still the same. Books > Movies> notoriety.

What I wouldn’t give to trade Seeing Redd for book 1 and my naivete.

ETA: John Scalzi addresses the topic of writing descending into hackery today.  I think this applies perfectly in this situation.