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Okay, so I went to Target with Terrie yesterday and after about an hour of browsing around, I picked up two things that I could’ve gotten elsewhere – a big bag of Sun Chips (French Onion), and the latest book in the Wheel of Time saga, The Gathering Storm.

I’ve known about the book’s impending release for a few months now, but when it was finally released last week, I had a somewhat lukewarm enthusiasm to run out to the nearest bookstore and buy it.  This was a far cry from several years ago, when I was even waiting for the bookstore to open so I can be one of the first to read it.  A lot of it stems from the way the series has progressed in the last three to four books.  The pace had slowed down to a crawl, there were more characters being introduced that it almost rivalled War and Peace, and the “beginning of the end” was nowhere in sight.  While I appreciate long, rich tales like The Lord of the Rings, The Sword of Truth and The Dark Tower series, I somehow felt that more than ten books and almost twenty years of telling that single story is really pushing it…  

* * * * *

The Eye of the World

I started reading The Wheel of Time in my second year of college in the Philippines (1992), and back then I had to take a long, hard commute to National Bookstore in Baclaran, which was the closest bookstore that carried fantasy books.  Back then I was deeply immersed in the works of Stephen King, Clive Barker, Dan Simmons and Brian Lumley (to name a few), and the only “hard” fantasy fiction I have encountered was Tolkien’s Lord the Rings and Joel Rosenberg’s Sleeping Dragon.  Being someone who liked tales that spanned more than one book, I quickly took notice of a group of paperbacks at the bottom of the fantasy/horror shelf that had very interesting cover art. 

The three books that I saw were The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, and The Dragon Reborn – the first three books of the Wheel of Time series, written by someone called Robert Jordan.  Thinking that it was a trilogy a’la LoTR, I read the synopsis at the back, found it interesting, and quickly grabbed those three books and headed for the cashier.  When I got back to my dormitory in Cavite more than two hours later, just in time for dinner, I wolfed down my “college dinner”, quickly nabbed the first book, lay down my bed, and started reading… and reading… and I continued to read until I saw that the clock on the wall was telling me it was already 3am in the morning.  So I guess it would be an understatement to say that I was hooked – like a bad habit.

Suffice to say, I finished all three books in less than a week, and I had mixed feelings of fear and anticipation when I discovered that it was not really a trilogy, but instead the beginning of what would be a long, arduous journey into a fantasy world where magic, love, history, politics and war are the norm.  I waited later that year for the fourth one to come out, The Shadow Rising, and the following year, I was at the bookstore twice a week checking if the fifth book, The Fires of Heaven, is out on paperback yet…

(You would have to understand that I almost never bought hardcover books in college, mostly because [a] the bookstore only had fantasy fiction available on paperback and [b] even if they were available, I would have to use up a couple day’s worth of my measly college allowance just to be able to afford it… and I also had no way of knowing when a book I wanted to read will be coming out, coz there were no newsletters, and there was no Internet.)

By the time I graduated college in 1996, I had added Lord of Chaos to my collection, racking up the total to six WoT books in my ever-increasing shelf of fantasy/horror fiction (which included all, yes, ALL of Stephen King’s novels and story collections, about six of Clive Barker’s, and a whole cacophony of other books written by fiction writers that are too many (and some, too obscure) to mention.  Lord of Chaos is still one of my favorite WoT books, because that was when all hell started breaking loose, and that’s when the shit started hitting the fan.

And that was also the time when Robert Jordan’s “one-book-a-year” rule started flying out the window…

* * * * *

A Crown of Swords

When I worked for the Philippine Daily Inquirer in mid-1996, I was lucky to find out that there was a specialty bookstore just a couple miles from work.  And lo and behold, in one of the shelves, there was a hardcover book with the familiar cover art style, and it said A Crown of Swords.  That seventh book was the first fantasy hardcover book I ever bought, and since I was already working, I can now afford it… barely.  And when the paperback came out later that year, I also bought it, coz that hardcover book didn’t fit very well with the whole army of paperbacks it was bookending.

I moved to the United States the following year, and in 1998, A Path of Daggers, the eighth book, came out.  And bookstores in California were like restaurants in the Philippines – they were everywhere.  So I easily found the hardcover and continued reading about the lives of Rand Al’Thor, Perrin Aybara, Mat Cauthon, and the rest of the characters.  And that’s when I noticed the drastic change in pace… the story was starting to really slow down, and by the time I bought the ninth book, A Winter’s Heart, I realized that either Robert Jordan is at the mercy of his greedy publishers, or he doesn’t know how he’s gonna end his story and get out of the hundreds of holes he dug for himself.  Even though there were a series of huge events near the end of the book, it was almost not enough to compensate for the “drudgery” that peppered 90% of it.

But I continued reading, because like everyone else who still followed the series, I wanted to know how it’s gonna end.  I actually bought A Winter’s Heart during a book signing in a fantasy bookstore in Santa Monica, along with the first book so I can have Mister Jordan sign it for me.  He and his wife were sitting behind a long table, signing books and talking with the many fans who attended the event (the line was so long that it was threatening to round the whole block where that bookstore was).

When it was my turn, I asked Mister Jordan to sign my two books, and then I asked him the question that he has probably heard a thousand times already:  ”Mister Jordan, when will we see the end?”

He smiled, and his wife laughed beside him.  After signing my books, he shook my hand and said, “I don’t know, but it will…”

* * * * *

The snail-like pace of The Wheel of Time series didn’t improve with the 2003 release of the tenth book, Crossroads of Twilight.  For the first time since I started reading The Wheel of Time, I was getting bored, annoyed and indifferent to the story.  I wanted it to end right then and there.  I was sick of reading about the PMS-like outbursts of the Aes Sedai, the dozens of subplots spanning dozens of chapters, and the lack of focus on the main protagonist himself, Rand Al’Thor.  I was compelled to skip chapters, skim through dialogues and sometimes peek at the end.  It was worse than pulling teeth or watching paint dry.  Robert Jordan seemed lost, and it showed in his story.

(Heck, he even wrote a prequel, A New Spring.  As if he isn’t busy enough already with the present, existing ones…)

I felt that there needed to be a fresh approach to the story, coz it appeared to me that Mister Jordan waded in too deep and was having a hard time swimming back, hence he was too busy tying off subplots instead of resolving the main plot itself.  And introducing NEW subplots didn’t help, either.  This was why, when I bought the eleventh book, Knife of Dreams, I didn’t get past the first three chapters.

Yeah, for the first time, I couldn’t finish a Wheel of Time book.  It was just too convoluted for me.  So I sat there, an unfinished hardcover on my lap, wondering when, or if, I should read it again.  I vowed that it was gonna be the last WoT book I’ll buy and read if the trend continues.

And then, last year, Robert Jordan died… and when I read the news, I can almost hear a million voices suddenly crying out in frustration and resignation, and suddenly silenced…

* * * * *

The Gathering Storm

So how do you finish a story that was nowhere near to being finished after its writer dies?  You either write off the series as one of the most colossal disappointments in fantasy literature, or you get a new writer to continue it.

Robert Jordan’s widow chose the latter, entrusting the continuation to a little-heard writer named Brandon Sanderson.  And the poor guy is now thrust into the shoulders of the 800-pound gorilla – how do you finish a story that even the original writer doesn’t want to finish?  Luckily, Jordan left behind some notes on his thoughts about how the story should end, a compilation named “A Memory of Light”, and from this resource, Mister Sanderson began the craft the beginning of the end… at long last.  The fresh approach has finally arrived, albeit under inopportune circumstances.

Because of the sheer size of the reference material, the last book was split into three, with the first one being named The Gathering Storm, the second one tentatively named Towers of Midnight, and the last one tentatively named A Memory of Light – all scheduled to be released one year after the other.  Like the old times.

(Kinda funny that most disgruntled fans have said that the world would end sooner than the Wheel of Time saga…  since the last book is slated for a 2011 release, it would beat the doomsayers’ predictions.  That is, if you believe the world would end on 2012…)

* * * * *

So ultimately, Tarmon Gaidon, the final battle, will commence and end in three books.  Three last books that I’ll be reading with the same excitement that I had when I read the first three books in the series, almost thirteen years ago.  My experience with The Wheel of Time will (appropriately) come full circle. ..

So, as I hold The Gathering Storm in my hand, I am filled with excitement and anxiety.  The longest story I have ever read will finally come to an end two years from now.  The satisfaction and contentment I had after I finished Stephen King’s last Dark Tower book, or the anti-climax I experienced when I finished the last book of the Sword of Truth series, will be brought to bear on the last three books of Robert Jordan’s magnum opus…

The storm is finally gathering, and I can’t wait till it’s finally done…

* * * * *

Technorati: book, brandon, eye, gathering, jordan, light, of, robert, sanderson, storm, terrie, the, time, twelve, wheel, world

Random shit that I think about as I sit here at the office waiting for something to happen…

I would have to say that this recent episode of Southpark’s 10th season was one of the best and funniest episodes I’ve ever watched… well, not mainly coz of the sick humor, but rather due to the subject matter they tackled – which was the wildly popular MMORPG World of Warcraft.

Even if you’re not into WoW, I am sure you would appreciate the sick satire portrayed in that episode. I myself have been playing WoW on and off since late 2004, and the inside jokes really had me rolling on the floor. Granted some of the game elements they portrayed were flawed – Stan’s dad said he was a “hunter”, but his character had a “shield”? Or how just killing boars in Elwynn Forest for a few weeks will get you up by fifty levels? Or how a seemingly legendary weapon isn’t “bind on pickup” or “bind on equip”? And they conveniently left out the idea of “respawning” after a character death…

Meh…

But really, flawed facts aside, it was a very funny episode. Kinda gives creedence to how World of Warcraft has now become well-known even in showbiz – it’s no longer just a geek thing! (I think)

The three best lines in the episode:

“Mom! More HOT-POCKETS!”
“Mom! BATHROOOM!!!”
“Oh no, not the Sword of a Thousand Truths?!”

* * * * *

Speaking of World of Warcraft, I think I may have fallen back into that obsessive game once again… As Al Pacino would say, “Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in!”

For those who are reading this (the three of you, haha!), I am currently playing on the Executus PvP (US) server, for the Horde. I currently have a level 49 Tauren warrior there named Aethercharge. I would’ve probably been level 55 by now, but I’ve been spending most of my time there doing Battlegrounds to up my rank (my primary objective is to reach rank 11 and get my sweet Black War Kodo!).

My other characters are scattered in the other realms – I have one level 60 Tauren warrior in Mal’Ganis, and one level 60 Night Elf priest in Bonechewer. It’s been ages since I touched those characters and I found that it gets really boring after you reach 60, unless you’re one of those who enjoy a 4-8 hour session with a raid group of 40+ people trying to kill one bigass, badass dragon…

The damn game is a time sink, but I keep getting sucked back in… maybe it’s high time I uninstall the game from my computer. Easier said than done, of course.

So if you are bored with your level 60 character as well, join me in Executus. I’ll twink ya. I’ll run you through quests. I’ll even dance for you, the way only a Tauren can… Peanut butter jelly time…

FOR THE HORDE!!!

Technorati: bonechewer, executus, love, make, mal'ganis, mmorpg, not, of, realm, server, southpark, warcraft, world

It’s been five years since the incident that changed America, and the world. A lot has happened… and a lot will still happen.

Are we wiser? Are we better? Are we safer?

Where were you when it happened? What were you doing? How did it affect you? Does it still affect you? Do you think America (or the world) is prepared – so that this horrible event will not happen again? Do you think that the measures and actions done in the name of this tragedy were all warranted, and necessary? That we just made the world better – or worse?

September 11, 2001 - World Trade Center

Looking at the image on the left, what comes to your mind?

It’s annoying to read nothing but questions, but questions are all I have. Sure, it’s disturbing to put up a picture of that horrible attack once more (as I just did), and it might seem that I’m trying to cut open old wounds. But it is my intention to make some people flinch. They seem to forget what really happened five years ago, and are all willing to swallow whatever our leaders force-feed us, all in the name of September 11…

Fuck that.

They say that hindsight is 20/20. Learning the lessons of history will do us all a lot of good.

I have an old blog entry written three years ago that recounted where I was, and what I was doing, during the September 11 attacks. Do you still remember where you were, and what you were doing? And what you felt “needed” to be done?

Looking back to the last five years… at all the things we have done ever since… makes me shake my head in disgust despair…

We still have a lot to learn…

Technorati: 11, 9/11, attack, center, remember, september, terrorist, trade, world

Sometimes they come back… (Imagine me saying this in a low, raspy voice with a faint hint of phlegm dribbling around in my throat, with the cold wind blowing outside, and a faint wolf howl in the distance, while…)

Okay, maybe that’s going a little overboard

Anyway, are you prepared for one of the looooongest weblog entries I have ever made? Are you prepared to be overcome by an onslaught of incoherent musings while being drowned in a deluge of half-pondered thoughts that would violate your virginal sensibilities?

Hmmm… (checking thesaurus to see if I used any words out of context)

Anyway (again), I guess you’re probably wondering what the hell happened to this site after November of last year? I would have been glad to say that the new world order – I mean – the Bush government ordered me to do it because of potential sedition and insurrection, but sometimes you can’t have what you wish for. For those who have seen this site before, you know my weblog habit by now – prolific posting for about a couple of weeks, then drop out of the face of the planet for a few months. That’s coz I’m a chronic dilettante – someone who obsesses over an activity for a specified amount of time, and when something else catches his fancy, pursues it and drops whatever he is doing… finished or not finished. A quick way to become a jack of all trades but master of none. Almost like having Attention Deficit Disorder. Always finding something else interesting in mid-thought as I…

… oh hey, I just noticed my keyboard letters are starting to be worn off… I can’t even see the letter A in the keyboard anymore…

*cough* Anyway (third time), what have I been doing in the last seven or so months since I wrote my last entry? All kinds of things, I guess. And I’m gonna write a synopsis of several hundred words to let you know. And wouldn’t it be funny if there was a blackout just before I finish… (feels a cold shiver down my back) Well, I guess it can’t be helped. No one ever reads these things anyway (except a person or two who is still interested at what I’m doing, or the occasional stalker who thinks I’m worthy).

Honestly, I have sorta lost faith in the American system after that idiot got reelected. Who ever thought that religion would be the deciding factor. I didn’t see it coming – I thought this country was more intelligent than that. Unpleasant surprise for me. The angst has become real. I don’t know how the fuck I’m gonna be able to think of this country the same. Maybe I should go ahead and rethink my earlier decision to move to Canada. But then I have to learn French. Damn.

Anyway (fourth time), I’ll split the recaps into easy, understandable parts, and use very small words. I’ll even pitch in a few visual aids. Make sure to keep up…

Recap One: The Lord of Terror

So late last year I finished the game module I was working on for Neverwinter Nights. It was a remake of one of my favorite games, Diablo, and it was intuitively titled “The Lord of Terror”. I had been working on the damn thing for almost 8 months, starting January last year. I finally finished it in September, and submitted it at the Neverwinter Vault.

And yeah, it was a hit. I knew it was gonna be popular, but I never thought it’d get to the Hall of Fame in so short a time. In less than three months it got more than 20,000 downloads, and to this day it still has a pretty high 9.72 average rating. Damn, I guess I’m good, having my very first module get to Hall of Fame. Now, excuse me while I fondle myself…

Recap Two: The World of Warcraft

A few weeks after I finished working on my NWN module, the long-awaited MMORPG World of Warcraft came out. I initially planned to just play a couple of hours a day on it, but the game sucked me in, and there were times when I was playing it for more than 8-10 hours, often extending into the early morning hours.

I eventually started a guild consisting of people who visit my tech support site, plus other people who just wanted a guild to be in. My race of choice was Tauren, and I got my druid to level 30 in just over a week. Afterwards I started a Tauren warrior, and got him to level 58 in less than a couple months, two levels shy of the threshold level 60.

But as usual, it was a doomed cause as well, as another adjacent interest started to sprout on the side, and some responsibilities in real life began to surface. So my prolific WoW slid down the totem pole and thus another addiction began to rear its ugly head…

Recap Three: The Anime Attack

I have been using the Netflix online DVD rental service for more than two years now, and up to a certain point, I was content with renting 2 DVDs at a time, except when I wanted to finish some TV series like 24, The West Wing and the Star Trek series DS-9 and Voyager. But when I ran out of TV series to rent, and new movies to watch, I had to look at other genres. I came upon an anime site, AnimeOnDVD, that had detailed reviews of tons of anime DVDs. Until that point, the last anime DVD I had watched was the Tenchi in Tokyo series, which was middle of last year. Having found an interest in romance comedies (eww, don’t tell other people about this, okay!), I began searching for similar genres, and found a good review/recommendation for a series called Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (His and Her Circumstances, to the Japanese-challenged folks out there). So I queued it up on Netflix and when they arrived, watched it with no high expectations.

It was either the best or worst mistake of the year, depending on how you looked at it. I was hooked – bigtime. After watching the first two DVDs, I returned them immediately and couldn’t wait to get the next few DVDs in the series – to the point that I increased my DVD rental limit to the “8 DVDs out at a time” plan… Goodbye $50…

From that point on, 99% of all my DVD rentals had been anime – and not just feature films, but most of them were full-blown series, from 10-episode ones to 26-episode ones. I’ve also started splurging on eBay for import anime DVDs (okay, maybe a few of em are bootlegs, but don’t sweat the little things, okay?). I think I’ve spent more than $300 in DVDs in the last couple of months. Damn.

So anyway (fifth time), I’ve developed a really annoying attachment to this genre that I have lost my taste for “regular” live action DVDs in my collection. The other day, I ran out of new anime to watch, so I popped in a Babylon 5 season 2 DVD into my PS2 and started to watch. I had to eject the DVD after less than 30 minutes because I couldn’t stand it anymore. So yeah, I replaced it with a DVD of Onegai Teacher (it’s anime, in case you didn’t get it), and was finally able to watch something that interested me.

So yeah, I sometimes have anime withdrawals on those boring nights when I run out of things to watch. I think I’ve watched the Love Hina series about 4 times already, and it isn’t even “that” good, either. Maybe it’s a new psychological sickness, enjoying moving artwork as opposed to moving pictures. Is there a psychiatrist out there who can comment on this? A comedian, maybe?

Recap Three Interlude: The Anime Fansub Torrent Syndrome

Did I mention that I run through anime DVDs like cigarettes? Well, that always leaves me with a day or two of “downtime” as I wait for my next rental DVDs to come to me. So what was my solution? Torrent files of Fansubbed anime. (I’d like to give a primer on what “torrent” and “fansub” means to those among you who are clueless, but I’ll let mister Google handle it)

Anyway (sixth time), I came across a huge variety of torrent files for various fansubbed anime – specifically, shows that just aired in Japan less than a year ago, and some ongoing ones as well. And here I am, with a broadband connection, actually salivating at the chance.

So what was a poor bored guy supposed to do?

Unfortunately, most of the fansubs I downloaded were anime versions of H-games. What’s an H-game? Well… most are adult games, and some are mere dating sims played on consoles like PS2. I was a bit intrigued coz I never played any game like that before (that is, if you don’t include the Leisure Suit Larry series). Most of them were surprisingly good, if not a tad ridiculous and out of this world.

But hey, whatever quenches my need for anime, right?

Right now, this is still my current obsession, until the dilettante in me decides to stalk some other hobby. I think I’ve been more exposed to anime in the last 2-3 months than I’ve been for my entire video viewing life. Does that mean I am on my way to be an otaku? I dunno. I don’t think so, but then again, who knows. Let me ask Pikachu…

(What’s otaku? Ask mister Google)

Recap Four: The Financial Services Surprise

Reading all this, do you think I’ve been wasting my time all day doing all sorts of lazy hobbies? Not exactly.

I’ve also began getting into financial services. What financial services? Insurance, annuities, securities, mortgages, etc. I have been hearing that financial services will be the next big thing in the next few years, what with the baby boomers fast reaching their compensation period.

So I’ve been trying to study for state exams and getting my license(s). I just recently passed the Life Agent exam, which means I can now legally sell life insurance in the state of California. Next thing I’m doing is studying for the Securities exam.

I heard a funny anecdote about people lambasting the insurance business. Someone even said “Are you that desperate for money that you wanna sell insurance?” I guess I wasn’t surprised that the someone” who said it was earning minimum wage.

Maybe later in my journal I’ll discuss why financial services is a very important business to get into nowadays. Then I’ll email it to that guy and attach a trojan virus in a file attachment that says “EARN MONEY WHILE YOU SLEEP”.

Final Recap

So, that’s basically what I’ve been doing since November last year. Lots of things have changed, but then lots of things also haven’t changed… I still smoke. I’m still a bit overweight. I still clean my room once in several months. I still haven’t gotten a haircut. I still don’t have a girlfriend. And I still don’t go to church.

So with all that, I guess I could say that … it’s the same old shit, only with newer nuggets… If you read this far, I guess you really like what I write…

…and I guess I should be afraid, or something…

Technorati: anime, campaign, diablo, fansub, financial, karekano, license, life, lord of terror, module, muyo, netflix, neverwinter, nights, nwn, of, recap, services, tenchi, torrent, warcraft, wfg, world