Tag: blog

Something for the soul

~ Veselin ~ 20 Comments

So, the little one watched a TV ad about guitar toys and asked for one. I gave him a chance to change his mind but he didn’t and persisted over a few days. “Oh, buddy, you’re unleashing a Kraken here. I’m not getting you a guitar toy, I’m getting you a real guitar appropriate for your height.” The result was that I ordered this lovely baby-size Yamaha. Plays beautifully. Now the big question is if the kid will sustain the interest for longer than 1 day. He’s excited today.

I don’t know about him but I was quite happy buying it and trying to play sounds I’ve not attempted in many years.

Kukeri

~ Veselin ~ 10 Comments

I only saw one of the gatherings this year and the folks were without their uniforms. But they were as noisy as always. I’m sure the evil spirits ran away.

Small Cats & Not So Small Cats

~ Veselin ~ 6 Comments

Last summer we saw a litter of kitten in a hard to reach place. There was no mother cat nearby.

It might be hard to spot them, but 4 voids.

The 4th one is a sniper and hides well.

We visited the same area around Christmas and I asked my wife “Remember the kitten? I wonder if they made it” and then 5 seconds later saw this:

So momma cat successfully protected her kitten from adoption. The 4th void is a sniper again.

2024 In Books

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments

2024 was the first year in which I managed to go over 100 books. This was a major achievement for me and a result of several circumstances:

  • I reengaged with the gamebook community, which is full of voracious readers (and writers)
  • I discovered the Thraxas and Stephanie Plum series that are super interesting and each book is short, single-thread, bubblegum-ish
  • A few of my friends were inspired to read a lot this year so I was not alone on this journey
  • I ignored several of the latest books by Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Zachary Pike, J.K. Rowling, Liu Cixin just because they were too long. Maybe I go back to these works in 2025. Or 2035. Not soon. Ignoring enormous books by otherwise great authors seems to be a good strategy. TL;DR.

Here are the best finds from reading 111 books and 36217 pages:

Best Series

  • Thraxas by Martin Scott – a Pratchett-style comic fantasy series, which I completed entirely in 2024. There are some hints of exploitation in the first 2-3 books.

Top 5 books

  1. We Are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor – Bob starts exploring the galaxy and the opportunities are endless
  2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
  3. Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
  4. Conquer Yourself by Silvia Azdreeva
  5. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Best Gamebook

Trends

  • Kobolds are everywhere
  • AI is human and should be treated as a life form (yet to find a book say otherwise)
  • Pretty covers sell well

2025

I’m not sure if I’ll try to keep the pace for 2025 yet. I’ll set an official goal to read 52 books, or 1/week for the year.