Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Sketches from the past Part III (warning, nekkidness)

 


Sketch En Plein Air from the beach in Maine :)









I believe this was from a lineart that Blogadog gave me, but I think I got too frustrated with the acrylics to finish! XD

Pandora's Star

Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton

narrated by John Lee

I was apprehensive at first about getting this book from audible.com for my next commuting entertainment, however it was long (37 hours 26 mins, which is a bonus, more bang for your buck) and had decent ratings (4.1/5 stars overall) so I went for it.
The reason I was apprehensive is because it was coined a "Space Opera" in some of the reviews, which made me think that it would be overly long, drawn-out, detailed to death and the story would be lost. However, it was not what I thought. YES, this story is very involving! There are many characters and worlds and subplots that merge and diverge, so you have to have somewhat of an attention span for this. Also, I wasn't sure of the extent of my sci-fi maturity, I mean sure I love Firefly and Star Trek and I, Robot and X-files and and and... but was I READY? Could I HANDLE IT? I mean, this shit looked legit. LOOK AT THE COVER, STRAIGHT UP SPACE, DAWG!
My god, I am SO glad I listened to this. It was like slipping into a bath after poking it with your toe for an hour to determine if it was too hot. Except the bath turns out to be a wormhole opening to an awesome new UNIVERSE of BEAUTY and ADVENTURE and AWESOMENESS.
Okay, okay, enough with the terrible praise using horrible analogies.
Peter F. Hamilton built a universe, and he had god-like thoroughness. Not only did he think everything out, but he then went on to share it with you in a rich platter of delectable scenes, characters, places, and events. It was never boring, if you paid attention. If humans reach the stars, I hope its in the way he described (minus the frightening events at the end of the book, haha). Everything he described seemed incredible real, so real that I honestly believed this WAS humanity's future, until I came back to reality and remembered it was only 2013. Humans are still incredibly human in this book, and he portrays them fantastically well.
My favorite characters are Wilson Kime, Paula Myo (of course, since she's described as having Filipino ancestry ;) and being incredibly sexy!), Ozzie (his plot is one of my favs).
I can't get over how incredibly well-woven Peter F. Hamiltons universe is. Truly amazing. I mean, the concepts of the individual components such as the High Angel, the Silfen paths, the colonization of new worlds, the concept of rejuvination,  organic circuitry tattoos... they would ALL make fantastic stories all by themselves, and yet we get the whole package in Pandora's Star.

5 stars, would recommend!

Possible Minor Spoiler alert: There is one thing I REALLY want to praise Peter F. Hamilton for, which is how he took the reader into the dyson alien's lives. Well, not just their lives, but there evolutionary and technological history, from the dawn of their existence. I could really appreciate the depth of the problem that the Commonwealth faced against such a foe, because I could understand just why the Primes were the way they were.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Sketches from the past! Part II

You can see Part I here!



 Back when I used to draw horses all the time. Those were simpler times. Can I go back?


She never got a name. I should name her.


I dream of jackalopes. :)




Thursday, June 20, 2013

Summer Haze

I apologize for being such a bad blogger. I've wanted to, really, I have, but sometimes I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew this summer. I'm freaked about my wedding, about taking my GRE, about applying to grad schools... I work full time now basically, 9-5 M-F, and more on the weekends. Apparently I don't handle stress all that well! Its like I punish myself unnecessarily, which just makes everything worse.
I've slipped on my diet recently, what with all that's been going on. I've only gained about a pound back but the real detriment is in losing sight of my goals. I hopped back on today with an even stricter plan. Hopefully this helps get me focused in areas of my life besides eating! 
Because it would be too hard to explain what's been going on since I last posted, let me just catch you all up with some pictures!



 I'm learning a lot in lab, my research project is chugging along (though we're facing some set backs due to how new our lab is and the fact that all of us are new to this!) I really love research, and our model organism. They get cuter and cuter the more I work with them. Yes, we have to cut their tails off (I know Blogadog hates that stuff) but I assure you its as humane as possible. 
I can appreciate the desert heat


Peak-a-boo
My city at dusk
 Part of the reason that I've been so absent lately is that I've been hanging out with my friend that recently went through a break up. I know it was a really hard thing to go through, and I didn't want her to go through it alone. She seems much better now-- sometimes all you need is someone to vent to.

Officially one of my favorite foods: Thai Beef Salad

<3 bean sprouts
 We had my cousin over for a few days as he happened to be in town for a couple of weeks. Family means food time, so of course we ate out and had delicious Asian food. :)
On the road again

Doom learning how to jetski. He seemed to like it, I discovered that I HATE jetskis.

Staying in a hotel for a couple nights was pretty awesome. Especially because Doom's dad paid for it.

Driving home at 5am
Doom and I went on a mini-vacation. His dad and his dads girlfriend reeeally wanted us to go so we went! It was a place only a couple hours away, right by the Colorado river. And so we played in the sun and went shopping and gambled (hey it was free money) and ate cheap food (and way too much of it) and drank (ugh headache) and got to hang out with drunk white people for 2 days. Overall, it was good.