A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Every year, beginning a few days before Christmas, it is a tradition of mine to take an hour or two every night to read a bit of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. For me Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't. It is, and has been, one of my absolute favourite stories! Not only is it a feel good story, but within it's pages is one of the most valuable lessons I have ever been fortunate enough to learn and understand. 'Tis a lesson I consider to be of the profoundest of importance.

The lesson I speak of takes place in the final moments of Scrooge's encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Present, at which point Scrooge comes face to face with two of Man's children, Want and Ignorance. Seeing as I haven't a hope in hell of recounting that moment of the story in any way that can be said to do it any justice, I have decided it would be better if I simply quoted that particular scene from the book; the lines of the excerpt in which their is the most to be learned from I've written in bold text. Here it is:

"Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask," said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirit's robe, "but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?"

"It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it," was the Spirit's sorrowful reply. "Look here." From the foldings of it's robe it brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at it's feet, and clung upon the outside of it's garment.

"Oh. Man! look here. Look, look, down here!" exclaimed the Ghost.

They were a boy and a girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with it's freshest tints, a stale and shriveled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angles might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.

Scrooge stared back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude.

"Spirit! Are they your's?" Scrooge could say no more.

"They are Man's," said the Spirit, looking down upon them. "And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!" cried the Spirit, stretching out his hand towards the city. "Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!"

Out of all the books I have read over the years, no book has even come close to offering me a moment I love nearly as much as I love this moment from A Christmas Carol. It is by far my favourite book moment. It's lesson, though it was my dad who originally brought it to my attention while he and I were watching the movie version of A Christmas Carol staring Alistair Sims many years ago, has been invaluable to me. In fact, I would not be going too far in saying that it has had a profound impact on my life. Both my desire to be informed, and my unquenchable thirst for knowledge were born from this small scene in this wonderful story.

I can say with all honesty that those words have had a huge influence on the man I have become. Before I realised their importance, everything I feel important to-day wasn't important to me in the lest. Education and knowledge meant nothing to me. I could have cared less if I could be said to be informed or not; it simply wasn't important to me. But over time, as I got older and began to truly understand the message within those words, my perspective of what is important in this world and what isn't began to change dramatically. I cannot even begin to express how great an impact this tiny little scene has had on me.

That being said. If by some chance you have never taken up A Christmas Carol to read, I highly suggest you take the time to do so. Whether you are looking for a book steeped in meaning, or you're just looking for a great story, A Christmas Carol is most definitely worth your while.

'Tis the Season to be Jolly?

Well, Christmas is fast approaching yet again. It almost feels as if last Christmas had only just ended a short time ago, but of course that isn't the case. That aside, though, I've got to say that, at least for my family, the Christmas spirit seems to be a bit lacking this year. It just doesn't feel like Christmas this year. I'm not sure why, exactly, we just can't get into it all this year.

We've been late getting all our decorations up this year, and even when we did put them up our hearts just weren't in it. We haven't had the interest in putting everything up, and, unlike years past, when we have gotten around to putting things up, everything hasn't gone up in a single night; it's all gone up over many nights. It's strange. We can't seem to figure out what's different about this year.

I know I have things on my mind that are contributing to the season feeling less festive for me, but why is everybody else in my family feeling the same way? And there's a general feeling that others are feeling the same way outside our family, as well. There's snow on the ground, it's been quite chilly of late; everything has been very winter-like and absolutely perfect for strengthening and adding to the spirit of Christmas, and yet, it's just not happening. It's really, quite odd.

One possibility my parents and I have discussed is that perhaps Christmas is beginning to lose a lot of it's spirit. We all understand already that Christmas has changed for the worst in many respects during the late 20th century and during this first decade of the 21st century. Everything has become so much more about the material instead of family and spending time with those you love like Christmas used to be about, but perhaps even the material aspect of Christmas is beginning lose it's appeal, as well. Perhaps people are beginning to think differently about Christmas. Maybe amidst all the worthless material things everybody seems so focused on these days people are starting to think to themselves "Is this it? Is this all Christmas has to offer?"

To be perfectly honest that's how I've felt about Christmas for the last few years. I feel pleased with my gifts, and am grateful for them, but in the end I feel as if Christmas is supposed to be so much more. Particularly the last couple Christmases, during which I would have given up everything I had under the tree to be spend Christmas with my then girlfriend Zoë. And to be perfectly honest, I'd still give up all the materials of Christmas to go to Australia and spend the holidays with her despite the fact she and I cannot be said to be a couple anymore. To be with her in any capacity for Christmas would make me so very happy; it would make for a very meaningful Christmas for me, indeed.

One tends to expect so much of Christmas. Classic Christmas songs and movies ingrain in us the idea that Christmas is a time of togetherness and love, that it is a time to be happy and thankful for what we have regardless of the trials and challenges we may be facing in our lives, even regardless of whether or not we have much to call our own. Once upon a time even those who had very little were able to find some happiness during the Christmas season, but this obsession Western society has developed for the material above the immaterial and irreplaceable has definitely not improved Christmas, it's dampened it.

Don't get me wrong. It isn't my intent to attack Christmas in it's current form and foolishly try to make others feel differently about Christmas in hopes of achieving some sort of return to a past state of thinking in regards to Christmas. I am simply pondering if we as a society truly enjoys Christmas as we once did. I tend to believe we don't. We have transformed it into something so very material we have slowly been forgetting that Christmas can been so much more than what we've made it. And, to be honest, how can an occasion we've made to be so very material be special anymore? These days many of us continue to gain material things all year long. If your mobile phone you got for Christmas breaks in June, nine times out of ten you'll be getting a new one within a few weeks or months of breaking it.

As I said, material gain is something that continues for many of us, albeit slowly in some cases, all year round. That being the case, a Christmas focused on materials can never mean as much as it used to mean in the days it wasn't about material things at all, but about spending time with, and being thankful for, family and friends.

Another Step Made

Back in November I finally got around to booking an appointment with our local Motor Vehicle branch where I am to take my Road Test in hopes of getting my Drivers' License. Seeing as I had had my Learners' License for over a year and a half I was anxious to take the next step. So, one Thursday morning, my mum and I hopped in the car and made our way to the Motor Vehicle branch up town.

Before I went for my Road Test I took some time to drive around up town in hopes of familiarising myself with the area as best I could before taking the test as I hadn't had very much experience driving up town. Before I knew it it was time to take my test. The instructor had me check all my lights and such and off we went! Unfortunately, near the end of the test I made a couple mistakes and I ended up failing. The set back was annoying, but thankfully I was able to book another test for the next week.

The bright side of having failed the test on the first go was that I knew exactly what to expect the next time 'round. During the next week I took every opportunity I had to spend some time driving around up town. I still able to find too much time to do so, but seeing as I had spent a fair bit of time driving up there in all, I had gotten a handle on driving in the city centre, so I was much more confident for my second test.

During my second test I was convinced I was doing horribly. I messed up my first attempt at parallel parking but got it on the second go, and was unsure if I had turned my wheels the right what when I had parked on the hill. Both were things I'd have done perfectly fine if I hadn't been nervous. Thankfully I passed! It felt so good to finally have it out of the way and to know I'm now able to simply hop in the the car and go whenever I like. Well, as long as I have my parent's permission; it's their car, after all. ^_^

I'll have to spend another year in the Graduated License program here in New Brunswick before I've finally gotten my Class 5 Drivers' License, at which time I'll no longer have to worry about restrictions. Thankfully, given my age, I don't really have to worry about too many restrictions, anyway. At the moment the restrictions that apply to me are that I've got to keep a 0% Blood Alcohol Level and I'm only allowed to have three passengers in the vehicle I'm driving at any given time. Both restrictions aren't a problem for me in the least, so I'm not phased. I'm just happy to finally have my license! =)

Young Stalin

Originally I had planned not to write a "review" for this book, but after I read a few chapters I quickly changed my mind. As the title suggests, Young Stalin details the life of a young Joseph Stalin, focusing on his life from the time of his birth in December 1878 up until shortly after the Bolsheviks seized power in a dying Russian Empire during the Russian Revolution in 1917, which would later lead to the formation of the Soviet Union. Written by Simon Sebag Montefiore, Young Stalin was written as a prequel to Montefiore's 2004 book Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, which focuses on Stalin's life during his years in power.

To be honest, until I picked this book up, my knowledge of Joseph Stalin had been very limited. I've had a near basic knowledge of Stalin's history for many years now, but not nearly as much as I should have had. I found the book to be brilliantly written, and, from the moment I picked it up, I was surprised at how interesting and informative it was. All in all it was much better than I had expected it to be, and I'd recommend it to anybody who has a deep interest in 20th century history and those who drove those historical events.

Outside the Wire by Kevin Patterson & Jane Warren

During the past week I've been reading a very interesting and insightful book called Outside the Wire: The War in Afghanistan in the Words of It's Participants put together and edited by a man by the name of Kevin Patterson, and a woman named Jane Warren. It's title is quite self-descriptive, so I trust there's no need for me to detail what lies within it's pages. I found it to be a very light and informative read, unlike many non-fictional works which, despite often being informative, are not always simple and easy to follow due to the sheer amount of information their pages bombard their readers with.

Outside the Wire is a perfect book for anybody, Canadian or otherwise, who is interested in gaining some degree of understanding of exactly how much Canadian soldiers have been doing in Afghanistan. Personally I found the chapters which touched upon Afghan women and their current way of life very insightful, for, though I've read and learned a lot of what the conditions are like over there for our troops and the average everyday Afghan, I've rarely come across much information offering insight into the day to day lives of Afghan women these days, especially in a family setting or amongst themselves. There is no better way to understand a conflict than to read accounts of it written by those who have experienced it first hand, which is exactly what Outside the Wire offers those who decide to read it. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone!

Home Sweet Home

Considering that within the next few months I'll be leaving for St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec to begin my Basic Training to become a member of the Canadian Forces, I've often found myself coming to the realisation that, in just a few short months, I'll soon be leaving my home behind and finally beginning my own life. After I've left home – a home in which I've lived since I was born – my time living here will nearly be at an end. I'll still be returning home for a short period after I've finished my Basic Training, but once I've left to take my course at the the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering (CFSATE) in Borden, Ontario, graduated, and have begun my career, I'll be making my final move from home to my own place wherever it is I'm posted.

That being said, lately I've found that I am much more inclined to spend more of my spare time out and about when the monotony of my indoor life gets the better of me. I've been going for more walks lately and find myself taking routes I haven't taken in quite a long while; I want to take in sights and once-familiar places as much as I possibly can because, to be honest, I may not see some of them again until years in the future if ever. I guess I'm just incredibly sentimental sometimes, not to mention nostalgic. I've even been taking my digital camera out with me when I go out so that I can take pictures of some of my favourite places and sights around my neighbourhood.

As much as I'm excited to get on with my life and get the hell out of this place and away from some of it's people – people who had made growing up hell for me with their constant slandering and foolishness (I still can't figure out how Kevin and I managed to start a brush fire while he was working and I was sound asleep in my bed) – I can honestly say I'm going to miss being here, too. This is the only place I've ever lived; nearly every good memory I have has taken place here. So when the day comes that I will be leaving, it will definitely be a sad day, but only for a day; there is so to do, and to see, and to experience in the future!

Citizen of the World

Last December, shortly after Christmas, I made a trip to the local Indigo Books store in my area to pick out a few books to buy with a few gift cards I had gotten for Christmas. After a couple hours looking about I ended up leaving the book store with three books, The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, and Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Volume One: 1919-1968 by an author by the name of John English, a book which I had been eying since a few months beforehand. I've only now just finished reading the three books I picked up that night, and I've got to say, I definitely enjoyed Citizen of the World the most out of the three.
For those who are reading this who may not know anything of him, Pierre Elliott Trudeau is often considered by many Canadians as one of the greatest Prime Minsters in modern Canadian history, though, depending on where it is your from within Canada, he was also despised by many Canadians, as well, for many different reasons, all of which would take much too long to explain. In 1982, as Prime Minister of Canada, Trudeau repatriated our country's Constitution from the United Kingdom where the power to amend it rested solely in the hands of the British Parliament. He also made sure that our newly repatriated Constitution protected the rights of all Canadians by adding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to it. It is for this reason above all others I have for many years now had the greatest respect for our late Prime Minister; he was a bold and strong enough a leader to do that which a great deal of modern governments often seem loath to do, he gave his fellow citizens rights rather than constantly looking for ways around or restricting them.Citizen of the World is the first volume of a planned two volume biography that focuses on Trudeau's life prior to becoming leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. It was brilliantly written, I really enjoyed reading it. If I had thought he was an interesting man before reading this book it was nothing compared to how interesting I've discovered he truly was. While reading the book, to my utter surprise, I found that in his youth Trudeau seemed to, in fact, be a strong Québec nationalist and, for a time, was a borderline separatist. But during his life, which is often the case with those who keep a truly open mind and seek continuously to educate themselves, his views and opinions were constantly evolving to the point that many of them were completely opposite of the opinions he had held as young man.
Trudeau fancied himself a citizen of the world. He spent over a year in his youth backpacking around the world; a journey that took him from Europe to the Middle-East to Asia and through more than one war zone in the process; he had actually even been shot at on three separate occasions. Later in life he made trips to the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba during some of the most turbulent times of the Cold War, during the days of McCarthyism when making trips to Communist countries was often very dangerous as political idealists sought to prosecute anybody and everybody suspected or proven to be Communists. He didn't seem to perceive the world through the scope of "us and them"; he sought to understand those around the world and didn't begrudge them for holding different ideals and political philosophies. Love him or hate him, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was a fascinating man. If only we could all fall under the category of Citizen of the World.

To-read or Not To-read? That is My Nonsensical Title

Over the past few weeks I've been meaning to compose a list of books I hope to read as soon as I'm able. Unfortunately I'll probably not be able to read most of the books on the list unless I already own them as I can't afford to buy anything at the moment – a very common side effect of not having a penny to your name – let alone heaps of books. I've listed each book under it's author and have written the title of those books I already own but haven't read yet in green text. The list is extensive, and I've had to force myself to stop adding to it for the time being as there are just so many books out there I'd like to read that I could go on adding to the list for days! As I finish reading each book on the list I'll update it by striking it's title out so that everybody will be able to see the progress I've made. Also, look for my latest additions to the list in bold red text, and the book I'm currently reading in bold blue! Finally, books which I "own" in eBook form will be in bold purple text and shall remain highlighted in purple text until I own a physical copy. To signify if I am currently reading an eBook I will instead change the colour of the date I started reading the book to blue rather than changing the title of the book to blue. So, without further ado, my To-read list:

Andrew Davidson

• The Gargoyle

Alexandre Dumas, père

• The Count of Monte Cristo

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

• Infidel
• Nomad
  

Barack Obama

• Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Bertrand M. Patenaude

• Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary

Brian Mulroney

• Memoirs: 1939–1993

Carolyn Jessop

• Escape
• Triumph
  

Cassandra Clare

The Mortal Instruments

1. City of Bones (Started: Fri., Feb. 5, '10 – Finished: Mon., Feb. 8, '10)
2. City of Ashes (Started: Wed., Feb. 17, '10 — Finished: Sat., Feb. 20, '10)
   
3. City of Glass (Started: Wed., Feb. 24, '10 — Finished: Mon., Mar. 1, '10)
4. City of Fallen Angles (Started: Mon., Apr. 18, '11 – Finished: Thurs., Apr. 28, '11)

The Infernal Devices

1. Clockwork Angel (Started Tues., Aug. 31, '10 – Finished: Sat., Sept. 4, '10)
2. Clockwork Prince (Publishing Date To Be Announced)
3. Clockwork Princess (Publishing Date To Be Announced)

Charlaine HarrisThe Southern Vampire Mysteries

1. Dead Until Dark
2. Living Dead in Dallas
3. Club Dead
4. Dead to the World
5. Dead as a Doornail
6. Definitely Dead
7. Altogether Dead
8. From Dead to Worse
9. Dead and Gone
10. Dead in the Family

Charles Dickens

• A Tale of Two Cities
• Great Expectations (Started: Sun., Sept. 20, '09 – Finished: Mon., Sept. 28, '09)
  
• Hard Times

Charles P. Pierce

• Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in The Land of the Free

Christopher Hitchens

• God is NOT Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Started: Thurs., Feb. 12, '10 – Finished: Tues., Feb. 16, '10)
• Hitch-22: A Memoir
  

Christopher Paolini

• Inheritance (Started: Tues., 8 Nov., '11 — Finished: Fri., 18 Nov., '11)

Cormac McCarthy

• The Road (Started: Mon., Feb. 8, '10 – Finished: Tues., Feb. 9, '10)

C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia

• The Last Battle (Started and finished: Tues., Sept. 15, '09)

Dan Brown

• The Lost Symbol (Started: Wed., Sept. 16, '09 – Finished: Sat., Sept. 19, '09)

Dan Dancocks

• Spearhead to Victory

Doris Kearns Goodwin

• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Dover Publications

• The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain: A Book of Quotations

Edgar Allan Poe

• (Various works)

Fred Doucette

• Empty Casing: A Soldier's Memoir of Sarajevo Under Siege

Fritjof Capra

• The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance (Started: Mon., Sept. 20, '10 at 22:40 – Finished: )

George G. Blackburn

• The Guns of Victory: A Soldier's Eye View, Belgium, Holland, and Germany 1944–45

George Orwell

• 1984 (Started: Tues., Mar. 16, '10 – Finished: Wed., Apr. 15, '10)
• Animal Farm (Started Fri., Mar. 19, '11 – Finished: Sat., Mar. 26, '11)

George R.R. Martin
A Song of Ice and Fire Series

1. A Game of Thrones (Started: Mon., 21 Nov., '11 — Finished: Mon., 06 Aug., '12)
2. A Clash of Kings
3. A Storm of Swords
4. A Feast for Crows
5. A Dance with Dragons

Guy Walters

• Hunting Evil

Harper Lee

• To Kill a Mockingbird (Started: Fri., Apr. 16, '10 – Finished: Fri., Apr. 30, '10)

Helen Rapaport

• Conspirator: Lenin in Exile

Jack London

• 40 Short Stories
• Sea-Wolf, The
• White Fang

Jane Austen

• Emma
• Mansfield Park
• Northanger Abbey
• Persuasion
• Pride and Prejudice (Started: Thurs., Oct. 29, '09 – Finished: Tues., Jan. 12, '10)

Jean Chrétien

• My Years as Prime Minister

Jeff Sharlet

• The Family

John English

• Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau: 1968-2000 (Started: Sat., Sept. 4, '10 – Finished: Tues., Sept. 14, '10)

John Ferling

• The Assent of George Washington

John Milton

• Paradise Lost (Started: Sun., 7 Aug., '11 — Finished: Fri., 13 Jan., '12)

Jon Anderson

• Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life

Jon Meacham

• American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

J.R.R. Tolkien

• The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún

Jung Chang & Jon Halliday

• Mao: The Unknown Story

Karl Marx & Fredrich Eagles

• The Communist Manifesto (Started: Wed., 3 Aug., '11 — Finished: Thurs., 4 Aug., '11)

Kevin Patterson & Jane Warren

• Outside the Wire: The War in Afghanistan in the Words of It's Participants (Started: Thurs., Oct. 8, '09 – Finished: Sat., Oct. 17, '09)

Mark Twain

• Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography
• Prince and the Pauper, The
• Roughing It

Markus Zusak

• The Book Thief

Mark Zuehlke

• On to Victory: The Canadian Liberation of the Netherlands

Max Hastings

• Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940–45

Michael Shelden

• Mark Twain: Man in White (Started: Fri., Mar. 25, '11 – Finished: Mon., Apr. 18, '11)

Miranda Carter

• George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I (Started: Fri., May 21, '10 – Finished: Tues., Jun. 1, '10)

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• The Scarlet Letter (Started: Sat., May 1, '10 – Finished: Thurs., May 20, '10)

Ray Wiss

• FOB Doc: A Doctor On the Front Lines in Afghanistan

Rex Murphy

• Canada and Other Matters of Opinion

Richard Dawkins

• Ancestors Tale, The (Started: Tue., 17 May, '11 – Finished: Sun., 7 Aug., '11)
• Blind Watchmaker, The
• Climbing Mount Improbable
• Greatest Show of Earth, The (Started: Wed., Jan. 13, '10 – Finished: Fri., Feb. 5, '10)
• Selfish Gene, The (Started: Wed., Aug. 11, '10 – Finished: Tues., Aug. 31, '10)
• Unweaving the Rainbow

Rick Hillier

• A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War

Rick Mercer

• Rick Mercer Report: The Book (Started: Sat., Sept. 18, '10 – Finished: Mon., Sept. 20, '10)
  

Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians

1. The Lightning Thief (Started: Fri. 6 May, '11 – Finished: Tue. 17 May, '11)
2. The Sea Monsters
3. The Titan's Curse
4. The Battle of the Labyrinth
5. The Last Olympian

Robert Service

• Trotsky: A Biography (Started: Thurs., Jun. 3, '10 — Finished: Wed., Aug. 11, '10)

Robert Louis Stevenson

• Kidnapped
• Master of Ballantrae, The

Seth Grahame-Smith

• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Simon Sebag Montefiore

• Young Stalin (Started: Sun., Oct. 18, '09 – Finished Tue., Oct. 27, '09)
• Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar

Sir Richard F. Burton (Translation)

• Arabian Nights: The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night

S.J. Parris

• Heresy

Stephenie Meyer

Twilight Series

1. Twilight
2. New Moon
3. Eclipse
4. Breaking Dawn

Stuart McLean

• Extreme Vinyl Café

Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games Trilogy

1. The Hunger Games (Started: Tues., Sept. 14, '10 – Finished: Sat., Sept. 18, '10)
   
2. Catching Fire (Started: ?, Jan. (Maybe) ?, '11 – Finished: Fri., Mar. 19, '11)
3. Mockingjay (Started: Thurs., Apr. 28, '11 – Finished: Fri. May 6, '11)

Thomson Gale

• Einstein: His Life and Universe

Tim Cook

1. At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1914–1916
2. Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1917–1918

Tony Blair

• A Journey: My Political Life

William L. Shirer

• Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Look for updates to the list in the future!

Restful Reading Over Restless Screens

Lately I've been trying to devote more of my spare time to reading. In the past I've normally taken my time with most of the books I've chosen to read, so much so that it's often taken me months to finish some of the books I've picked up over the last few years. It's never been that I've been disinterested in the material I choose to read, nor has it been due to the fact that many of the books I often read have proven to offer a certain information overload that's rarely experienced when reading fiction, which, I might add, normally doesn't take me nearly as long to read as non-fiction. In looking back on the last few years I find that my less-than-frequent reading habits can be, at least in part, explained by the amount of time I've often chosen to spend my free time online.

Until recently most of my time had been taken up sitting here at the computer rather than using it to read or finding other useful ways of spending it. Having spent the bulk of my time at the computer I've often not even been in the mood to read, and normally I never spent too much time reading unless I absolutely feel like doing so. However, lately I've been trying to cut back on how much of my time I spend online, especially since, for the most part, I've been very disinterested with the internet of late. That's not to say I've done particularly well in cutting back on the time I spend online — I generally spend a great deal of time on the internet to relieve the vast amount of boredom I often experience during my highly monotonous days — but I have been spending less time surfing the web lately, which definitely isn't a bad thing.

Instead of spending time online to wind down before bed every night I've been spending more time reading and adding entries to my journal, which, I've got to say, has been much more relaxing and enjoyable than sitting in a computer chair in front of a constantly flickering screen, which, I'm sure, is probably hell bent on either frying my brain, or ruining my eyes. I've really come to look forward to simply relaxing in bed reading for a couple hours before I turn in for the night, and I definitely feel much better about spending my time that way rather than spending my time online all night long.


Keep an eye open for my next blog in which I'll be posting my To-read list!

A New Beginning

During the last few months I have seen my life move in a completely different direction than I would have ever expected. If you had told me a year ago that in a years' time I would be joining the Air Force to become an AVN Tech (an aircraft mechanic) and waiting to go to Québec to begin my Basic Training, I'd have told you you were off your rocker. And yet, that is exactly the direction my life has taken. So much has changed over the last few months I've often felt overwhelmed by it all, but, despite that, I hope I can be said to be taking it head on.

I've done my best to embrace everything life has thrown at me over the past few months and, though I've not always been successful in doing so, have tried to look at everything that has changed for me as the beginning of a new phase of my life. I'm trying to break those habits and routines of mine which, I feel, have always held me back in life and have made me seriously unhappy for as long as I can remember. And so, it is in the interest of change that I've decided to create this blog.

In the past I've written blog entries on my Windows Live Space, but those entries have often been of a highly personal nature and have been quite alike to the entries found in my own personal journal. For this blog, thought I hope it will be said to offer insight into who I am, I hope to be a little less personal than I have been in blogging in the past; if I need somewhere to reflect upon the emotions I am experiencing due to some event that's happened in my life I will probably, though not necessarily, either turn to my journal, or continue to add the odd entry to my Windows Live Space rather than writing it all out here.