Frustracje z Empikiem

Jedną z rzeczy które robię będąc w Polsce to wycieczka do księgarń. Chodząc po tychże księgarniach zauważyłem, że Supernowa wydaje teraz książki Wiedźmina w wersji z czarną okładką a ja już zacząłem kupywać je w białej okładce. Jako, że taka niezgodność okładek wyglądałaby nader źle na mojej półce, mogłem uczynić tylko jedno! Iść i kupić resztę książek której mi brak zanim znikną z obiegu!

No i był taki problem, że w księgarniach ich już raczej nie było. Powinienem był kupić jak tylko jedną zauważyłem, ale Empik miał akurat promocję kup 3 w cenie 2 więc szukałem i szukałem... aż wszystkie Empiki przeszukałem... a jest ich z Białymstoku trzy...

Ale jest jeszcze nadzieja! Zostało nam dane cudo jakim jest internet! Zatem bez kolejnej zwłoki wyruszam na wirtualną wędrówkę po katalogu Empika i oto znajduję wersje które były mi potrzebne do ukończenia mej kolekcji Sagi o Wiedźminie!

Zamówienie zostało złożone 21 września (środa). Niemalże natychmiast, z szybkością której pozazdrościłby sam Hermes, otrzymuję email, który dumnie głosi iż moje zamówienie zostanie zrealizowane już następnego dnia (czwartek)! Pozostało mi już jedynie wyczekiwać aż książki dotrą do mnie nim z Anglii wyjadę, a zatem tydzień.

Czekam i czekam...

I oto 26 września (poniedziałek) otrzymuje email. Empik prosi o me wybaczenie i oto, żebym oszczędził ich życie ponieważ z przykrością obwieszczają mi iż nie mają w posiadaniu tomu zatytułowanego Chrzest Ognia, jednak pozostałe dwa są jak najbardziej w ich posiadaniu, Krew Elfów i Pani Jeziora, zatem muszę jedynie dać im moje błogosławieństwo aby mogli podzielić zamówienie na dwie części i niezwłocznie wysłać mi te książki które mają... po czym będą się modlić o szybką zgubę nim mój gniew do nich dotrze... Zgadzam się na takie warunki lecz jestem lekko zawiedziony. Akurat potrzeba mi było Chrztu Ognia żeby dalej czytać tą całą Sagę.

I tak oto 28 września wieczorem (środa) wracam do Anglii, cała noc w podróży. A gdy budzę się 29 września (czwartek) po całym dniu spędzonym na drzemce której nieboszczyk mógłby pozazdrościć, dowiaduję się od mamy iż przyszła do mnie paczka a w niej książka...

Chrzest Ognia

Faza...

A Shadow Over Heaven's Eye

Set in the world of Exalted, the book is a story about Swan's visit to Yane. It's a city with a society where people are assigned to a specific caste based on the alignment of stars during their birth and the social status of their families. Swan is a foreign diplomat arriving to help his friend, a royal of Yane. He is also a Solar Exalted, Chosen by the Sun and commonly believed to be a demon in mortal flesh.

The story focuses in part on Swan's mission to help in trade relationships between cities, a drug plot and young Maylea. It doesn't take long for Swan to note that Maylea, the daughter of his friend, is on the cusp of Exaltation. The young girl is flooded with new memories about herself and the diplomat which causes confusion to form between her and Swan, especially considering she is soon to be married.

For players of Exalted, Maylea's memories will end up surprising, I certainly never thought of using pre-Exaltation memories in such a clever way. Further tying them into the ongoing plot, which is revealed to be truly epic, is just one reason to applaud the author. Naturally, no Exalted book is complete without fight scenes between Chosen, this holds true here. Not only that, the final fight scene is in an exotic scenery which only makes it harder for Swan to come out victorious. All this as we slowly get to know how his final opponent figures into the story and what are her motivations.

While there are many threads running throughout the book, they are cleverly tied together at the very last chapters. Meaning the full picture is for us to discover after we reach the epilogue.

Sacrament

The reader is introduced to Will Rabjohns, a photographer of soon to be extinct species. He has his deal of fame, an Englishman living in San Francisco and a gay.

After we take a look at the average day of the main character, Will falls into a coma. This acts as a way for Barker to shift our attention to Will's childhood. The reader goes over the major events that made Will into who he is now and builds the basis for the rest of the book. At the same time, it's uncertain how the book's present interacts with the character's past. In many ways, I was reminded of time travel stories. It's also the first time we are introduced to the story's main antagonists, although their true nature isn't revealed up until the very last pages.

I am not familiar with literature where the main character is homosexual but I am pleased that this fact isn't used merely for the sake of it. Will's homosexuality is part of the plot and one of the reasons why the main antagonist despises the photographer so much, it also correlates Will's perception of himself.

The story overall is gripping. I found myself craving to read what happens next. However, the main reason it caught me as much as it had was that the author doesn't limit himself just to pleasantries. I would imagine some might find the images this book gives to be slightly disturbing if not obscene.

I live!!!

Life can be quite complex at times. So I'll try to break this entry into categories, because I feel like it.

General
I have recently found myself in a tricky position. The internet connection was shut down and for half a month I had no way to be online at my usual times. Which meant that I was out of the circulation and had to use the time in a different fashion, but on that later, let's talk about cooking first!

I found out that I love cooking. This sounds very lame considering that the most I cook is chop, fry and add sauce, I'd rather have some more complicated things but money and time don't allow for it. What would be really great is if I had someone to cook for, as is, I'm looking forward to my sister's visit and am thinking of what things to cook. I'll probably try that thing Harry did for MJ in Spider-Man 3, looked real nice. Cooking for myself is just not as awarding. My tastes are quite limited, especially when it comes to meat so most of the stuff I make is various chicken breast dishes (mostly with rice). My cooking must look weird since I hate the feeling of sticky liquids on my hands. I always use just the index finger, the middle finger and the thumb of my left hand to hold a breast as I cut it, carefully watching not to touch it more than I need to and washing it immediately after I'm finished. It might be a slight Obsessive Compulsive Disorder of mine, but at least it's not like I wash my hands seven times a day... I saw a documentary on such people and their skin literally cracks...

I stumbled upon an article detailing three aspects of a relationship. Sex (the physical act of copulation), Erotica (the sensual pleasures of the flesh) and Love (the more esoteric and emotional state of being with someone). After reading it, I think a lot of my issues spring from the fact that I am looking for Love in a relationship, while I feel as if all is about Erotica primarily... The article is not in a language you'd understand.

Family
My mother and my sister bought tickets and shall be arriving here at the end of this month. My mom will probably be picked up by dad who'll come down and might stay for a night, while my sister will stay with me for a week and a half. Which should be interesting, we plan on drawing, cooking, shopping and playing turn-based strategies (Heroes IV and Civilizations IV) together. Right now she keeps sending me photos of all the new kittens on my grandpa's farm.

We had a bit of a scare with my grandpa. He felt significantly weak these past few days. Of course he is old but for someone who can get himself dead drunk and still walk a few kilometres through knee deep snow in the middle of the night on his knees... him feeling weak is not a good thing, but I called him and that cheered him up. I suspect he is just being depressed by the fact I'm not on the farm...

Friends
I find it hard to befriend people, but there are a few instances where it is really worth it. I know I'm bad at keeping contact, but truth is, I just don't have enough things happening in life to make weekly updates.

I have emailed everyone, so if you didn't receive an email, something is wrong with your account (I'm looking at you, Seven!!!). It took me a while, 37 emails is a major feat, and most of the subjects where crappy ones like "hello", "hi" and the sort, but it's not like I made one big email and sent it to everyone...

Thanks for everything guys and gals.
Career
I've recently got word from Książnica Podlaska (my home library-publisher) that Mr Mieczysław Czajkowski really liked the translations of poems I made for him and wants to publish them. He first needs to find a sponsor, so we shall see if I get my name in yet another book.

Speaking of books, I have a hard time writing recently. Not that I don't have any ideas, I've got plenty and the more I think about a concept, the more subplots my mind adds. However, for some reason, I don't feel like writing prose lately. On top of that, I decided not to write poetry about love. I looked through my old ones, and it just seems like I'm some kind of masochist... lots of pain and angst and stuff... I shouldn't drag myself down like that. Thus even though ideas come, I discard them because of their topic.

I've recently spoken with Wyrm in German over ICQ and my German is horrible. I need to seriously learn the language. That way I can at least try for a teaching position in England. Which would give me enough money to live and by saving some, I'd be able to publish a book. Of course, I won't publish it in Britain, but I only need money to publish it in Poland. I can do it either in Polish and let it roam free or print a bunch in English, bring them back and start selling them on eBay or some such. (This is why people think of me as a planner, I just can't help myself but to make plans...)

Literature
I'm done reading The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice and started to go through Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. Before continuing, I shall take a moment to do the following:

Magnificent Seven, although being a man of the written word, I find myself at a lack to describe the gratitude emanating from my bleeding heart for this gift you've chosen for my birthday, nearly two years ago. I loved the book and remain in your eternal debt.
(not payable by Mastercard, Maestro or Visa)

Ah, how I love to read such books. Very sensual and vivid, even though I have mixed feelings about the sex scenes in Bitten, I still like it overall.

Cartoons
Not many of you heard, but there will be a new Transformers cartoon. I think it's cool, most people think the style is awful and that it's going to suck. Then again, people always say that about new things. The only thing I was worried about is how they will make toys for this cartoon with those designs!? The panel at Comic-Con showed the prototypes of some and finished products of others and they look great. Soundwave turns into come kind of van-like car and has a guitar! That made me laugh... I'm really starting to like it but it comes out next year, so there's half of this one to go through with.

Other than that, I'm watching three ongoing Anime at the moment. Bleach is in filler stages, which is annoying but Naruto Hurrican Chronicles finally had the fight with Sasori and it's excellent, much better than Deidara vs Gaara. D.Gray-Man is going nicely, a bit slow but the plot thickens...

Series
No internet meant I had loads of time to watch series. So I finished what I had of Painkiller Jane and Raines. The first season of Ghost Whisperer and the first two seasons of Medium. Excellent stuff to watch but I quickly ran out of my stash so I finally picked up Prison Break, I have to say that from what I heard I expected something better, but I really like the whole portrayal of the prison environment.

Toys
I had one of those "you live only once" moments, so I bought Barricade, from the Transformers Movie which I haven't yet seen. The toy is excellent, I really like how the car and robot modes look and am impressed with the transformation sequence. It took me a while to get it right, to know what are the limits of all the joints without smashing them, it's crucial that you are gentle with these things, the paint on the sides (the words POLICE) are already peeling off. The transformation from robot to car is a bit tricky at the end. You have to put everything in just the right place and put enough pressure on the whole back to make it click and then it is excellent. It's hard because I don't want to break it!


Roleplaying
It's only a few more days for my pre-ordered copy of Changeling: The Lost to arrive. If it's cool enough, I might take that proposal from Weregoat and Rabbitpurr to set up a game on RPoL for them.

Speaking of which, the Orphanage game is going through the hiatus, apparently Deoq and another player are outside the internet range, while a third one is MIA.

United We Stand game is doing extremely well. One player said he'll be slower but right now he is in a solo thread with the rest being scattered around the Hundred Kingdoms doing some quests worthy of heroes. Our First Lunar NPC Solar Bonded to one PC has finally made an appearance, the Dawn is going travelling through the towns to make an army, while the rest is very close to fighting some demon kittens!

I've recently started a Werewolf: The Forsaken game in Polish, but one player seems to be ignoring it although he said he would post, without him it's down to two players, which is kinda bad. I'll have to hunt him down now...