Too lazy to even type, and TV sucks [a cascading bit of trite]

Been home almost a week now. Only thing I have to show for it is I’m a bit older – says so on my license. I wish I felt guilt about it.

I don’t.

OK, I do, a little bit, mostly because I have spent most of the week playing Spellforce2 (damn you Jeremy), marching orcs and dwarves across the Iron Plains.

I should be writing. Or something. Feeling like my Muse has gone and abandoned me all together. Well. Not really, no, only in respect to that love/hate relationship I’m current in with that Science Fiction story of mine. The last few days she’s been whispering sweet nothings to me about a fantasy story that would be really fun to write, but I’m pretending to ignore her. Then, when she isn’t looking, I scribble down what I remember of the conversation, map bits, etc., then hide my notes in case she comes back. Don’t want my Muse thinking I’m succumbing to her wily, wicked ways. ‘Cause I’m not. I’m a bigger man than that.

So how am I amusing myself, besides of course the near addiction with which I’ve been playing Spellforce2 (and yes, this is why I’m not allowed to have games folks)? Certainly not with TV. Sure, tomorrow night SciFi – oh, pardon, you’re right, SyFy – airs the final episode of BSG. But what else am I watching, really? Fox’s dying Dollhouse is fun, though I’m not tied to it, and there’s an occasional guilty pleasure in Chuck or Heroes. But to be honest, TV has really been in the quality dumps since last February when there was a writer’s strike. Ever since then, the TV that came back to us (minus, oddly BSG) has been lackluster and depressingly droll and predictable. Yep, I’m saying it again – I’m fed up with TV. Now, we learned the hard way that getting rid of cable is nice in theory, sucks on unforeseen levels in reality. But that doesn’t mean I have to watch it. I’m thinking of turning into one of those freaks that spends a little money each month on DVD’s and books and doesn’t bother with the real thing any more.

So, what to do with my spare time, what to do, what to do…yeah, writing should be on the list, but you knew that. What’s on my list of things to do is read. I have a little bookshelf going on my desk of books to read. I’ve got some Erikson (Deadhouse Gates (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 2) and Memories of Ice (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 3) ) I want to read, as well as Martin’s “A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4) .” I also have a copy of Swann’s latest, Prophets: Apotheosis: Book One, and Kevin Anderson’s Hidden Empire (Saga of Seven Suns). I’ve also got a copy of Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 1), which I’m about half way through and not extremely impressed with, but hey, reading is reading. But to take a bite out of some other flavors, I have some R. Scott Bakker (The Darkness that Comes Before (The Prince of Nothing)). What I’m really excited to finally have laid my hands on, though, is Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One). I’ve been so impressed with the first 100 pages – and after hearing about Abercrombie non-stop for the last year or two – I went ahead and bought the second book, Before They Are Hanged (The First Law: Book Two) so that I had it handy when I made it that far.

And there you go, that’s what’s on my quick access bookshelf at the moment. More whining and moaning to come later. Sorry, but this blog post was sure better for my health than VPN’ing into work to see what fresh hell has been unleashed during my ‘vacation’ this week.