Nights or mornings

~ Veselin ~ 3 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Are you more of a night or morning person?
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I used to be a night person. Then I had kids. Then I discovered the saying:

If it’s not important enough to be first thing in the morning, it’s not important enough to be the last thing in the evening.

— Someone said that on the Internet

I’m now a morning person. I still do evening work sessions to catch people in distant timezones but my most productive time is the early morning.

What I Read in November 2024

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

I read 7 books, 1 gamebook, and 1 comics in November.

Best books for the month:

  1. Thraxas 11 and 12 – The march to free Turai is over, and the series didn’t end. Some serious questions are left for the unwritten book 13, like why are Thraxas and Makri glued together? Both books were 5/5s, and also short and easy to finish.
  2. Shadow of the Fox #1 – a human with fox features starts a journey to secure a world-dominating scroll. LOTR in a magical ancient Japan. Book 2 relied on superheroes and deux ex machina, and is closer to the bottom of this post than the top but was still interesting.

Worst books for the month:

  1. Claw of the Dragon – a gamebook where the choices don’t matter and you just read a few pages in a non-linear order to reach the final. Probably targets 7-8-year-olds from the pre-computer age.
  2. Monk and Robot – clever and thought-provoking but not as interesting as the other books I read in November.

Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa

~ Veselin ~ 3 Comments

In a magical world that feels like ancient Japan, a girl with fox tail will challenge the demons. She’ll have help by lots of random creatures, some of them interesting and others – less so.

The hero path has issues – the superpowers need super enemies. Thankfully, Yumeko’s superpower in book 2 is deception and she can’t just win by levelling up. She’ll need to figure out some clever ways out of the tough situations that keep happening.

The book is great. Gets 5*/5 and I’ll look for the final tomorrow. I liked book one more because the superpower was kindness.

What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why?

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why?
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Looking back, I think the hardest decisions I made were related to giving up certain things, projects, or ideas.

For example, I gave up a series of pet projects I had from my early years of engineering. Some of these were integral part of my self-identification. But we need to recognize what’s important and focus on that, recognize what brings joy and focus on that as well. All of my pet projects needed significant maintenance and moderation and over the years, turned to unpaid chores that drifted away from their original purpose. I only mildly regret about my old blog.

Speaking of pleasurable activities that turn into chores, reading can be one. I can see myself switching from reading to gaming at some point in the future. Or maybe I’ll watch a TV series. Owning books can be that as well. The first batch of books I gave up to the library was particularly hard. I’m glad I did it because books pile up quickly and can clutter any home. There has to be a way for all these books to be rehomed.

There are harder decisions in life but I prefer to think about choices that are not between different evils. Like the following:

Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?