The Fellowship of the Ring. by J.R.R. Tolkien

Two days ago, (I didn't have a computer on me at the time, so I wrote what I thought down on a note book. Which I will now copy onto here.) I finished reading Part 1 of "The Lord of the Rings", and I tell you it was a bite and a half.
It took me 5 days to finish. Though even with the fact that it had small font, usually that size of book would only have taken me 2, maybe 3 days at most.
Having said that though I did enjoy it very much.

For years, people have been telling me that it is a great book but really hard to read, and that Tolkien rambled on a bit about scenery etc., taking ages to get to the point.
I did feel this a bit as I was reading. Though I think it does make sense, as he originally made these books as a place for his made up language (the eleven language) to exist. In a sense the world and the culture of the people where more important then the main characters.
In opposition to that theory however, there was a jarring note when it came to directions. To give you an example; In the beginning when the four hobbits are going through the Old Forest, they start off facing East, then turn 'right' towards North.
If you are facing East and turn right, you are going South.

This, among other things, makes me think that Tolkien was a person who "heard the words" (in his mind as he read) rather then saw the pictures that they represented.
What I mean, is that when reading most people(as far as I know most people) picture what is happening in their mind. This way, it can be almost as though they are watching the story rather then reading it.
Tolkien on the other hand was, I think, among those who enjoyed the flow of the words and how they formed ideas. - As I am not one of these people, I'm not rightly sure how it works. -

I must admit, the way he strung the words together was beautiful. Lord of the Rings is one story which I wouldn't mind getting in audio. Though usually I like to read the book myself, I have a feeling that it would be great to listen to.

I loved his songs. One person who told me about the books described them in the same category as his long descriptions of the scenery's, but I loved them. I could almost hear the people singing.
Every time I came to the songs, I would sing them out loud just to hear them, and they would make their own rhythm on my tongue. No effort required on my part.
-Side Note. Maybe Tolkien would have been able to become a great Bard if those things were still around.-

As to the movie, I haven't seen it in a while, but I still think it is one of the best book based movies ever to be made. And maybe Tolkien's slow but steady pace had something to do with that.

New directions in Life. Ski, Books, or other work.

Ok, so this post isn't a story or a review.
Just, me.

It's been a year since I finished High School. Over a year, really.
I don't wont to go to Uni, that much I'm sure of.

As for what I want to do with my life, well, I know I want to do something with books.
That's one reason I started this Blog. It would be great if I could do something to do with that, but there isn't much in the way of jobs in that area.
'round the beginning of this year, my Mother got fed up with my doing almost nothing but eat and read, and she told me to get a job, or go to Uni.

So I began looking for jobs.

This was around the beginning of April.

Right before that though,(in February) I had tried to start a book club in order to find people here in Malaysia who love reading as much as I do.
It didn't go well. A few people expressed interest, but did not come.

I sent out applications to Ski resorts in New Zealand to begin with. Living in Malaysia, I have had as much of Summer as I want, and I loved to ski as a kid.
I would love the chance to do it again. I also considered going on a Ski instructor course. That would be the experience of a life time as far as I'm concerned.
But it is very expensive, even without considering how much getting my own ski gear and feeding myself for 10 weeks with no income.
I could get out a lone, but I'd really rather not do that unless I had no other choice what so ever.
Plus, you know, I haven't skied since I was 12. I think. 13 at most.
Even that wasn't any professional stuff.
So I decided to do that maybe next year, once I've had the chance to save some money and hopefully done some more skiing practice in the mean time.

But the question arose, what if I didn't manage to get a job in a Ski resort? There were hundreds, or for the bigger places thousands, of applicants every year to get a job at the ski resorts and not half that many positions.
What was I to do? Sit on my but until the Northern half of the world went into winter and try them? It would be even harder for me to get work there, because I'd need a permit.
My goal of going getting an instructor qualification seemed suddenly to be so so far away.

Maybe if I got normal seasonal work for a few months I could at least save some money, then I could tackle the problem of getting work up north for their winter when that time got here. That problem would be there weather I got work in a NZ ski resort or not. I thought, one bridge at a time.
So I also sent in some applications for seasonal work.

Here is where that reading club comes in. ( I know that it must of seemed really random earlier, when I mentioned for no apparent reason a book club that didn't go anywhere.) Over the past week, and especially the last two days, I have suddenly run into a whole lot of people who love the idea of a book club.
I was all for trying that again. I hadn't heard back from any of the people that I'd sent an application to, except for one rejection, and after all, the direction of books is where I really want to go in life.

Here is where the twist comes in.
I woke up this morning to an e-mail from one of the seasonal work places saying they want more information, such as when I'll next be in their area.
Hopeful sign?
Maybe. But now the question is, do I want to go and do seasonal work, or do I want to pursue the reading and writing part of my life.
Seasonal work would mean that I get to save some money, and maybe do the ski course next year, but if I go now, I might be giving up the chance to create some friends that are interested in the kind of thing that I am interested in.

So which way do I go?

The one thing that is clear is that I need to work on this blog allot more. I shall make it a rule from now on. I must not pick up a new book until I have spoken of it on here.

I am reading 'The Fellowship of the Ring' right now. (For those of you who live with your head stuffed under a pillow, that's the 1st book in 'Lord of the Rings'. And if you're still lost after I say that, then I say "Congratulations! Your time machine works brilliantly. Welcome to the 21st century.) So I should be doing a post on that in 2 ~ 3 days at most.

Sincerely, if perhaps not articulately,
Saaski

Agony 17/03/2009

Thunk. Tap. Thunk. Tap. Thunk. Tap. It was a rhythm that started early every morning, then continued, unbroken until late at night. Thunk. Tap. Thunk. Tap. Thunk. Tap. To me, it meant pain. It had been going on for years now. And I was starting to accept the fact that the Vampires were never going to accept that I’m never going to give them the information they want.

Never.

I had come to realize that I needed to accept another thing too. – My family was not coming for me. They never had been. From the second I was dragged into the center of the enemy, I was already a lost cause to them. Either that, or they had tried, and failed.

The first option seemed more likely to me. Because if they had done the second option, then they probably wouldn’t still need me to stick around.

Unless of course, you know… They just got some weird kick out of watching hunters suffer.

Gross. Even we don’t go that far. Hunters exist to protect our fellow humans from harm. Not to stretch them over some weird but incredibly effective – believe me. I should know. – machine, and watch while they dip into a world that gives a whole new meaning to the word “agony”.

Thunk. Tap. Huh… I guess my time here has paid off for something. I can almost ignore the pain now, I’m so used to it. It has taken on a sort of numb-like quality. I wonder if I can ignore it enough to go to sleep,

Thunk. Tap. Thunk. Tap. Thunk. Tap. Thun…

Notes...

I wrote this some time ago when I was not in a very happy place. 

"The Da Vinci Code" By Dan Brown

This book has the potential to deeply offend some, highly intrigue others, and simply not interest most of the rest.

Which opinion you'll have is based, I think, very much on your belief in religion(or lack of it). But either way, I can promise you that it is not a book to take lightly. And if you are of the religious kind, I would strongly suggest reading it with and open mind, and the knowledge that when push comes to shove this is a FICTION book, and that Brown never claimed that it was fact. Or you simply won't enjoy it.

The plot itself isn't hard to follow, but it can get a little heavy, for lack of better words. Because of some of the things it deals with. -love, religion- And the fact that it is based around what is to many of us, our own beliefs. Or at least something that we grew up hearing about, and were taught to take for granted.
I will not get into my own beliefs in religion, but I will say that I had to put this book down and walk away for a while half way through, and that I am not one to put books down lightly. - So that's saying something.
It is like the difference between eating a fudge cake, and eating a sponge cake I guess. Both are delicious, but one you have to eat slowly, and the other you can take it in at what ever pace you like.

On a purely technical note however, the story is written well, and I believe is well worth reading.
Brown did tend to drag on a bit with his descriptions, but then may a great authors do.

So, yeah.

I enjoyed it, and so did my acupuncturist.

Saaski.

Memories.

Memories. Pictures in my head,
showing me what has already come, and past.

Memories. The knowledge that I hold inside,
of what has already come, and past.

Memories. Shared secrets, moments, and times,
that have already come, and past.


Memories. The doorway into my future,
that will soon come and pass...

Yesterday.

Yesterday, a sad day.
Yesterday was fun.
Yet yesterday, is yesterday.
A day that's gone goodbye.

Forever more our past is gone.
A history, we write.
But even though, events are gone.
Our memories still haunt.

'Cos yesterday, is yesterday.
The finished chapters in our book.

But all I know,
Is that though chapters go,
They are still there in the book.

So unlike tomorrow,
The bane of yesterday,
Is the truth we can't rewright.

Yesterday, a sad day,
Yesterday was fun.
Tomorrow dose not care.

'Cos yesterday, was yesterday.
The curse for our human minds.

Note. 
I wrote this poem last year. Though I've changed it a bit. I think it sounds better this way.