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No TV or movies of note, for me. Because I'm a Luddite, I guess. Or becoming one. I'll see the new Star Wars movie. Maybe nothing til then.
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Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley may not have been the best book I read last year, but it will certainly be the most memorable. First fantasy novel I've ever read (and I read almost exclusively "genre" fiction, cause I'm a nerd like that) that really explores beyond typical medieval European tropes. No humans (well, not exactly), elves, dwarves, goblins, etc. No binary gender roles or heteronormative assumptions. It's all fucking (emphasis on the fucking) weird, basically. And the plot races along, maybe too fast, with lots of things happening. Lots of bad things. Makes Game of Thrones look downright cheery. Even the good guys are cutting children in half, for example. And one protagonist is a genocidal maniac, who, over the course of the book, literally murders tens of thousands. So, yeah. Pretty brutal. Pretty fucked up. But so well done that it's compelling. (Tellingly, it's the only book I've seen make so many best and worst of '14 lists.) Can't wait for the next in the series, and the authors' upcoming sci fi trilogy.
I read a couple books a week, usually, so this section could get really long, if I let it. So we're stopping at one.
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Best album is impossible for me. Most memorable, even, is hard to guess. I'd chose Mare Cognitum's Phobos Monolith if I had to, but I don't have to. It's the best in spacy, atmospheric, truly progressive black metal. Just sit in bed, post long run, no food, no water, and bliss out on endorphins and sound. So fucking good.
So, we're also going with most listened to. Probably. They're from 2012 and 2013 respectively, but whatever.
I know anyone who reads this just sort of endures my music posts, so enough of that.
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Running, huh? How about that.
I did some. Ran a good half marathon in March. Won it. Pretty much it, in terms of racing.
Had a trip to Colorado, went up and down a couple mountains. That was more fun, and ultimately more satisfying.
Had a stress fracture. Nasty little bitch. Two cracks in my left fibula. Did more damage to my brain, however. Really drove home how important hobby jogging is to my sanity, which is pretty terrifying, if you think about it at all.
I think about it a lot. Which is why the stress fracture ended my "all racing flats, all the time" approach to running. Coulda predicted something would break, I suppose. Probably, people did. But sometimes you need to touch the stove, to see if it's hot for yourself.
There were nutritional considerations, as well as training things, also. I can own my own dumb shit. But I have learned to love the heel strike, as it were. First shoe I bought, when back, was the Adidas Energy Boost, which is an overpriced gimmick.
Or so I thought. Put it on. Feet loved it. Bought it. Begrudgingly. (And at a 25% discount.) That was June. Still using it 99% of my miles. No visible midsole wear at all, and still feels soft but snappy. Upper is coming off in a couple spots, and the outsole is about gone in places too. But still. Turns out that, for me at least, the overpriced gimmick totally delivered.
Training at the end of '14 was the best it's ever been, but we'll see how that translates, going forward. I just know that six minute pace feels about like seven minute pace did in the Spring.
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I ate a lot of apples. Drank a lot of coffee. More of these things, going forward.
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