If I live too long absorbed in my own mundane reality I believe my brain will shut down entirely and I will drool on myself like a human vegetable. I obtain my fiction fix in one of three ways: movies, TV shows, and books. In the end movies and TV just can't cut it. Books are the real fix.
I'd estimate that Hollywood is producing half a dozen watchable movie per year. Given the movies I've seen recently, I'm not sure they can maintain even that humble pace. It seems like the only good movies released in the last several years are (a) based on books, (b) based on TV shows, or (c) based on historical events. Movies are really no good for feeding my addiction. Even if I lined up every watchable movie ever made end to end and sparingly shelled them out at a rate of one or two per day, I'd be a vegetable inside six months. Really, have you seen that Superman Returns movie? *spoiler* It's the old Superman with new actors. I swear the plot and sequence of events is nearly identical. If it wasn't for Kevin Spacey the derned thing wouldn't even be watchable. Sadly, I've already seen probably three quarters of the watchable movies out there and only one in a dozen of those could be considered really good (only the really good ones are repeatable). Not much left. Might as well dissect the DVD player (it's fun to see how those things work) and carpet bomb the AMC (imaginary wonton destruction can be fun, too) for all the help they are!
Television is only slightly better. Television brought us the wonders of Farscape and Firefly. It also brought us reality TV which I firmly believe, if not eradicated, will eventually be responsible for the complete and utter failure of our entire civilization. Seriously, I have hundreds of digital cable channels and a TiVo, it seems I should be able to find something to give me a decent fiction fix. The problems with TV are twofold: (1) in large doses it has a tendency to induce the same symptoms in all people that I get from fiction withdrawal -- the brain-death and the drooling, and (2) true quality is rare and inconsistent. Even the best series like Farscape are hit or miss from one episode to the next. Firefly, which was truly sublime TV, was not hit or miss. Every episode was a hit. Unfortunately there were a grand total of 14 episodes. Had Firefly lasted as long as Joss Whedon's other genius creation, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, (7 seasons) I'm sure Firefly would have been hit and miss also (hopefully not missing on an entire season like Buffy did -- remember Adam? 'nuff said). But I digress. TV is good for a fiction fix now and then and there's the added bonus that your neighbor probably watches it too so you have something to talk about, but in the long run TV just isn't good enough.
Some folks turn to the Internet for their entertainment fix. Note this wasn't on my preferred list. You can find a lot of great things on the Internet. If you enjoy stupid human tricks YouTube and other similar sites may provide you with endless entertainment. These tend to be two minute clips who's sole reason for existence is low comedy. If they have a plot at all it's as thick and engaging as that of a soft-core porno (just like the porno, the plot isn't the point). If you enjoy this type of thing, more power to ya, but it just isn't my cup of tea. The Internet has grown into an indispensable resource for information and communication. When it comes to entertainment, however, I believe the Internet is still in it's infancy. Yes, movies, TV, and books can all be downloaded but, as of yet, there is little if any good, solid, quality fiction indigenous to the Internet.
To fully satisfy my fiction addiction I must turn to books. Book quality has the same inconsistency problem we find with TV, but the sheer number of books available nearly eliminates this difficulty. A paperback book and a trip to the movies cost about the same these days. The movie is going to provide approximately 2 hours of entertainment. The hours of entertainment you derive from a book depends on how fast you read and how long the book is, but it's a good bet it'll be a lot more than 2 hours. Books are nearly 100% portable. You can't take your TiVo to the DMV with you!
Then there's all the arguments you'll hear from stuffy intellectuals about how books broaden your mind and whatnot. That may be true about some books, but honestly, does a chapter of the latest John Grisham really broaden your mind any more than the latest episode of 24? When you pick up Grisham's fiction you're not looking for an expanded vocabulary or new ideas about the world. You're looking for entertainment. I have to agree with the snooty bookish types about one thing, though: there's just something luxuriously decadent, wonderfully relaxing, and utterly comforting about a room full of books.
I read mostly science fiction and fantasy. I'll pick up a horror novel or a mystery once in a while, and I enjoy a touch of non-fiction here and there usually having something to do with physics, space exploration, or nutrition. I have a bit of an aversion for standard "literary" fiction. I admit, I haven't given it a fair shake. I've read the backs of many of Oprah's book club books. The seem not so much entertainment as a lesson in values, or a political statement, a history lesson, or just plain stuffy. I know this isn't fair. I'm working on it.
You will find mostly sci-fi and fantasy in this blog. I love to talk about books and I know only a few people that read the same things I do and even fewer people that read as much as I do. This is my outlet.
OH! You actually wanted to know about ME?I was born not far from Detroit, Michigan in 1974 which makes me 32 years old as of this typing. My folks still live in the house where I grew up. I went to the University of Michigan for four and a half years and graduated with a BSE in Aerospace Engineering. I had some dreams about designing space stations. When I graduated in '96 the space station thing didn't look so promising but this new fangled Internet thing was starting to look really exciting! I've been working as an Internet engineer ever since. And I do mean Internet with a capitol I. I don't design web sites (in fact this site was designed by my brother-in-law), I don't write software for email or browsing, I don't run ethernet for office buildings, I make the Internet go, the real core parts. I currently work for NTT (the Godzilla of telephone companies) and help design and maintain their international IP infrastructure. NTT's Global IP Network is among the top 5 Tier 1 Internet providers. That may mean nothing to you so I'll put it this way: I'm one of the folks that make sure that you, sitting where ever in the world you're sitting right now, can read this web page, wherever in the world it's being hosted today. Mostly, these days, I do the technical side of project management and make minor design decisions.
If that's all kinda boring to you, then you probably want to know what I do when I'm not reading books or making the Internet go. I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan and, except for a three year experiment in Seattle, I've been here since college. Not too terribly long ago a good friend of mine convinced me to go on a date with her brother. "You'll have fun, nothing serious, just a nice summer fling, it'll be great." We fooled her! Last September we got married. I'm glad the getting married part is now over. It was a lot of fun but it was a ton of work! I think I like the being married part better. It's also a fair amount of work but the fun lasts more than a day. My husband, Paul, is a pretty great guy. He fixes computers for a living and goes fly fishing for fun. He's starting up a new business so he can have fun and make money at the same time (lucky dog!). If you want to go fly fishing on the Huron River in or around Washtenaw County, check out his website, Huron Fly Fishing and give him a call! He knows where all the best spots are and he's a top notch fisherman. When he's not fixing computers or doing something related to fishing you'll most likely find Paul watching TV. This is the weird part: He does not read fiction. I love him dearly but I just can't grok his lack of appreciation for a good novel. Hopefully it's not genetic!
So, when I'm not reading books, making the Internet go, planning a wedding, or hanging out with Paul, I like to ride my bicycle. In the winter I spend a fair amount of time at the gym so I can get right back on my bike in the spring. I'm not competitive, I just like to get out and go a long way. I often ride out to say hello to Paul wherever he's fishing and I especially like to ride organized century rides.
I have lots of other interests but there's only one more I manage to make time for: Food. Several years ago I decided I was tired of being the fat girl so I spent a little over a year diligently transforming myself into an average girl. I became really interested in nutrition along the way. Then I started dating Paul and he and his family have taught me what it means to be a "Foodie". Check out Mary's food blog, Ceres & Bacchus. I'm still a newbie to the world of Foodies, but it's fun and it tastes amazing!
You can find a little bit more info about me linked from the main Lunar.net site. If you want to know about my family, you can check out the Ruhmann family website (it's probably out of date, I'll get to it one of these days). This site was designed and built by my brother-in-law, Erik Ekman. Many thanks to Erik!