The Boy's playing Lego Star Wars. It boggles my mind that he's any good at computer games. Let me preface this by saying that my brother plays video games with style. He's got timing, grace, coordination, he makes games look like art. He also spends hours ensuring he completes every detail of every level. The Boy, on the other hand, is more your button masher player. He finishes a level, he's pretty much done with it. I just can't fathom playing this way.
I am not a video game champion. I get geniunely frightened when I have to fight bosses. In Zelda, when Link gets down to the point where the game makes that "you have half a heart left" beeping noise, I'll sometimes turn the game off just because I can't bear to listen to his pain. But, I'm getting better at the playing. I've got a Super Mario that I'm finally working on completing every single detail myself and I'm trying to do the same thing with Ocarina of Time, but it may never happen.
Today I went to the library. I forget how much I like the library. School libraries with their talent for not having anything worth reading had disillusioned me about them for a time. Still, the concept of being able to check out a book and keep it for a month, it's just fascinating. Seriously, this library gives you three or four weeks, the libraries in my previous experience were a week and a half or two. Still, you mean, you'll let me borrow it? You won't charge me unless I bring it back late? Gee, thanks!
However, going today was an act of desperation. I've read pretty much all the books I have and it's depressing to look at the bookshelves and have nothing really look good. You know, where you've read all your favourites so many times opening the covers again would just be a rehash, and you might as well just think about the part of the book you like and get on with your life? I'm at almost the same point with my music, and will reach that point with my DVD's soon. (But I still have some I haven't watched since Christmas yet, so I have someplace to go with that.)
I was originally going to check out all the HP books (except 3, I have that one) to read again, but Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire were checked out. I looked again at how long Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince are and just checked out Phoenix, because it's the one I remember the least well. I read it in a day about three years ago and Harry annoyed me so intensely I don't recall a lot of the details in it.
As well as that, I figured the time had come to find something new to read, and as just about everyone I know has been saying "Neil Gaiman" to me recently I checked out his kid's book, Coraline and Anansi Boys. American Gods was checked out.
Google reveals that Gaiman is the guy behind Neverwhere. I remember the BBC had a mini-series that PBS rebroadcast around 1998, I think. We missed most of it, because it was serialised, but what I remember was that it was at least interesting, in a creepy way. My brother got a copy of the book eventually, but I never had a chance to read it.
Anyway, I'm half through Coraline, and it's the same kind of deal, interesting in a creepy way. It reminds me specifically of The Little Girl Who Was Forgotten By Absolutely Everyone (Even The Postman), which, if you've never seen the Childrin R Skary site, it's worth the time. Watching it again, I'd say Emmeline's a little more Tim Burton than Coraline, but there are still parts of it that make Harry Potter look incredibly light hearted.
I mean, there's death and stuff in Harry, but it's all got a sort of pretty shiny feel to it. The only thing that comes close to a really dark dangerous feeling is the first chapter of Goblet of Fire with the murder, and most of Prisoner of Azkaban (but only on the first reading, once you know who the "Grim" is, it's not spooky anymore).
OK, going to go finish the book, maybe start Anansi Boys. In the words of Jack Benny, "g'night folks".