A Tribute to Kristin Pennock

Who is now probably very embarrassed.

Too bad.

Don't worry, Kristin, this is also very much a tribute to friendship in general.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of running into an old(ish) friend. It had been at least several months since we'd had a real conversation, and MUCH longer since we really talked. What was going to be a mutual update spanning a handful of minutes turned into a two hour conversation in the Tanner building (a very awesome place in its own right, if you don't know).

Prudence dictates that I refrain from describing the details of the conversation, but it should be enough to say I am overwhelmed by how important specific people can turn out to be at certain times of life. Walking away from that building, off to play catchup on the things I had let slide for the couple of hours I had disconnected from the harshness of my typical pace, I remembered that this person has since had the ability to tell me exactly what I need to hear the moment I need to hear it. And I think that's pretty outstanding. And affirming.

So allow me to here reiterate one of my favorite personal philosophies--everyone is in your life for a reason. Good friendships aren't formed by any kind of chance or coincidence. I've seen over and over that each of the people I've grown to care about has met a specific end in my life that no one else could meet. And I know that I've been able to fill the same role for them.

We don't hang out, Kristin and I. Our lives are vastly different, and our paths don't cross very often. But I'm going to go ahead and say that running into each other yesterday was an event catalyzed by something divine.

So thanks, Kristin, for being quite wonderful. And thanks, God, for using the people I know to effectively help me along in this monumentally difficult process of living.

Three Things at Once? Three Things at Once!

First things first (and this is NOT one of the "Three Things")…("at Once")(?)(!):

2009 showed up a couple of days ago. So, welcome, and I hope we all get along famously.

OK, now on to the first thing (of three):

Anberlin is a feel-good band. Like…vitamins. Devin and I were talking about this the other day, and we decided that Anberlin sort of gets into your system and makes you feel happier about life and living. They have three albums that are all pretty great, and which you may want to consider if you enjoy healthy music. But healthy in a good way. Like drinking a fruit smoothie with real fruit and stuff in it. You know.

Thing Two (non-sentient and not living in a large hat on top of a cat):

I saw Traitor last night. Well, well. How'd I let this one slip by? I remember seeing the trailer and thinking, "Oh cool, another generic espionage movie." But, see, I was thinking in very sarcastic tones (notice the words "cool" and "generic" occupying the same quotation). But here again was this situation where some friends were going to watch it, and I wanted to spend time with said friends, and suddenly here I am, watching this film about which I felt little passion but against which I held nothing. I just hoped I wouldn't be bored.

I wasn't bored. Watch this film. It's one of the best, hands down, films about terrorism and its destructive connection to Islam that I know of. It also happens to be terribly exciting and unpredictable, with great acting, great writing, and all-around solid filmmaking. Why didn't I hear more about this movie?

Oh that's right. Because right now it's a political faux pas to openly point out Islamic jihad as the enemy we're fighting in a film. Don't talk about it. Sure, we're all thinking it. And, yes, it is one of the most difficult and important thing that the world faces right now. But we wouldn't want to offend anyone, you see. Because above and beyond every other right you have in this country, you have the right to take offense, and everyone else has the obligation to prevent you from doing so.

Well, I'm not the kind of person who likes to go around offending people, either. If a film is going to honestly address terrorism, it had better do so maturely and sensitively. And Traitor pulls it off. But do people care? Don't they just want to have a good time when they go see a movie? Probably. So it's a good thing this film is a lot of fun.

3:

I just finished my first Brandon Sanderson novel. Mistborn: The Final Empire. Laugh if you want—such reactions are fair and expected when it comes to modern fantasy novels. The rest of what I'll say will only matter to anyone who cares at all about good fantasy. There are, in my stubbornly obtuse humble opinion, three tiers of readable fantasy. I don't have extensive experience in the genre—I just know that I end up putting down most books that fit into it after about five or ten pages. But I've made it through three authors, now, all of whom I've enjoyed to some degree or another.

During high school, I read the first ten books in The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. By book ten, I hated Robert Jordan (despite the name…or maybe because of it). I hated him because I realized he was something of a hack. He had created a fantasy series that many people had grown to love, and, I think, discovered a dependable way of keeping the money flowing. Never end the story. Just keep writing 800 page monoliths that introduce ever-expanding story lines and endless parades of new characters, and you'll never have to step outside of your luxurious box. Book 10, as I recall, spent the first 200 pages on a recap of the last book, and then the next 500 or so pages covered about two weeks of the story. I vowed to permanently disengage. I haven't read the 11^th book.

More recently, I read a few books by David Gemmell. I won't say much. I think he's probably the best. His novels tore me to pieces. I've rarely read better fiction, let alone fantasy. He blows every other fantasy author I've read out of the water. He's probably even better than Tolkien, when it comes to the sheer skill of storytelling.

And now, just last night, I finished the first of the Mistborn novels. Sanderson's good. He's better than Robert Jordan by kind of a lot. But he's also certainly not as good as Gemmell. I was up last night until 4am reading the last 200 pages of the book, if that says anything. You can go read actual reviews if you want—I just want to point the guy out. Incidentally, Robert Jordan's dead, and his wife has asked Brandon Sanderson to complete the Wheel of Time series, which is kind of a big deal really significant for him. And for fans. I might even finish reading the series now.

Well, that was long. I'm not sure that better things can be said, but at least, yeah, it was long. And that's something.