The Written Word

For the past couple weeks I've been in a rut of sorts. It was nothing real specific that I could pinpoint, just the feeling and knowledge that the wind was taken out of my sails, or that I've hit a lull or wind hole. In my off hours, I found myself asking more and more what I was doing with my life. I've got a sweet job and all, but as far as personal betterment is concerned I've been doing jack shit. I've fallen off the swimming wagon, there isn't a whole lot to do in Montgomery I haven't already done, and my days have become uncomfortably interchangeable. I thought about my activities and nothing really stood out; it seemed more like a collection of diversions that killed time between commitments. Keeping up on the news is good and all, but being informed isn't a goal. It's a means to an end of being a well rounded person. I need something to stimulate my mind and intellect, and reading up on political squabbles and glorified press releases just isn't doing it for me.

So I took a cue from an awesome person in my life and picked up a book. It's called Consider Phlebas, the first in a series of space sci-fi novels that revolves around an advanced society called The Culture. It's been a very good read; I've had it for about a week and am already nearly through its 500+ pages. Iain Banks has a way of writing that flows extremely well, and is very descriptive and witty in places, but most importantly it has stretched my mind. The book is quite epic in scope, and the way people, places, societies, and events come to life are a breath of fresh air compared to what I'm used to. It made me realize that most of the things I read on a daily basis aren't very well written, or aren't that creative or imaginative. I'm a computer guy and spend a lot of my time on the web, so this might just be a reflection of the sites I choose to visit, but it made me think about the old programming principle Garbage in, garbage out. If the input is terrible, you're going to get terrible results; there isn't some magic box in the middle that makes good things happen in a puff of glitter and happiness. Even though reading in one's spare time is mostly for fun and diversion it does have an impact on their overall life. For me, I kept remembering the old books I read, video games played, and comic books I tore through. Not only were they entertaining, but they moved me in some way to try something new, read up on some subject, or change my habits for the better. Inspiration is the essence of writing; unfortunately, that tends to be lacking in a lot of the places I visit.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy visiting Reddit and other various sites, but I guess I need to find a balance. If there's one thing I've learned after four months of being out here, it's that "balance" is a concept I tend to struggle with. Fortunately I'm still young and have time to learn these things. The Culture series stretches nine books so far, so that should keep me occupied for a little while. Hopefully after then I'll have more to go on, but in the mean time it's good progress on clearing out the garbage that's started to accumulate and weigh me down.