Absurdities 4

I have a lingering collection of things that I have stumbled across in my travels and daily life that have made me laugh or shake my head whilst uttering expressions such as, "What has this world come to?". In this series I share the absurdities with you. Enjoy.

• At the main entrance to my building at work one needs to use the center doors to enter. However, one is not allowed to use the center doors.
  

• Should I spring for the next day shipping or not? I guess if saving one freakin' day is worth my daughter's college fund.
  

• The scoreboard from the Patriots/Bears game a few weeks ago shows you the definition of domination.
  

• When setting up a pit-type trap, one must use the right bait to have a hope of capturing one's desired quarry. See if you can match the bait at the right with the following quarries: 1). Scientist, 2). Bengal tiger, 3). Politician, 4). Nerd.
  

Infinity Blade Redemption

The second story in Brandon Sanderson's Infinity Blade world is the novella Infinity Blade Redemption, which follows the story shortly after it ended in the novella Infinity Blade Awakening. There we met Siris, a young warrior who had been trained by his people with the single purpose to battle the oppressive God King and to die in that battle against the immortal being. However, the battle ensued and, confoundingly, Siris did not die. In fact, he seemed to have slayed the God King. Ultimately, Siris understood that the God King was truly immortal. When he body shell was destroyed, he simply regenerated into a spare shell. Siris, who had been bred to despise the God King and all of the deathless souls of the land, soon comes to understand through his companion Ida, who had tried to kill him several times in the past and actually succeeded once, that he too is one of the deathless. However, he seems to be of a different ilk. A deathless with a conscience and a cause.

Alternated with this story arc, we come to understand a bit about the origins of the world of the Infinity Blade. How it was created by a megalomanical madman, a technological genius who wiped away most of humanity for no other reason but to get his kicks. To play God and savor the sweet taste of absolute control. Creation and destruction completely at his whim. Ultimately we see a strange and unlikely alliance between Siris and the God King as they are forced to join forces to stop the truly all-powerful being called The Worker. Along the way, he who was once the hero and defender now becomes the scourge and he who was the scourge becomes the hero and defender. Ultimately we see a lost soul who finds redemption. A great narrative that was left ripe for future development. Sanderson states in the acknowledgements that he looks forward to further development of this world.

Thanksgiving 2015

I hope that everyone can find some time to appreciate the blessings that they have in their lives. Happy Thanksgiving to all of my online friends.

Ghost Town

The day before Thanksgiving and the parking lot where I work is a ghost town, replete with honest-to-goodness tumbleweeds blowing hither and yon. What is normally a bustling, packed house, is down to barest bones. For me, like many others, Thursday and Friday of this week are holidays, and thus the next four days amount to one of the longer breaks from work that most folks will get to enjoy. Many have bugged out for travel or just decided to get a head start on the time away. Up and down my hallway, the doors are closed and all of my usual Wednesday meetings are cancelled. If you have ever seen the chilling 1971 film The Andromeda Strain, that provides a good basis for the feel around this place. What just a short time ago was bustling with people, with activity, is suddenly wholly and oddly quiet. Yet what contributes to the eeriness more than anything for me is the following Peanuts cartoon that I stumbled across recently. Does this mean that Woodstock is an avian cannibal? Is it possible, and I do hope so with all of my being, that the bird depicted is actually a tofurkey?

Quick Hits 50

Sometimes I hear an utterance or catch a quick visual of something that sticks in my mind. As this sensory input rolls about in my head, several different outcomes are possible. It might be the case that after a moment of consideration, the input is deleted as uninteresting, trivial, or too much for me to deal with. However, another possible outcome is that the input keeps demanding my attention. It somehow wants me to wrestle with it and give it more than just a passing notice. In such cases, they can end up here, in my blog series called Quick Hits.

With religion strongly at the heart of conflict among people, I wonder if it wouldn't just be better if all religions just disappeared altogether. I wonder too how long it would take for us to come up with something else to kill each other over.

What do you think?

Scandal

A colleague of mine was recently fired from his job amongst a cloud of scandal. Shortly after this occurred, rumors were being bandied about in clipped and hushed tones in hallway conversations and water cooler gatherings. While I saw some concerned faces, more often than not, the folks who I came across who were talking about this occurrence were yuking it up in salacious tones. In my younger days, I would definitely have been found amongst the gossips throwing dry grass upon the existing flame. However, as I have gotten older, I have come to much better appreciate that I have more than a few skeletons in my own closet. If any of these ever came to light, I shudder to think how I would be treated. Failures, poor choices, and sinful acts that would definitely set tongues to wagging and fingers to pointing. It sure would be good to think that if I was found out, folks would respond to my own shortcomings with grace. I would wager that I am not the only one with darker secrets that I would not come to be found out. In fact, I can say with some certainty, that all of us could say the same thing.

Why then is our first instinct to dog pile on someone who is already down? What it is about human nature that loves to gossip and talk up the failures of others knowing that we have suffered through our own failures? Why do we find such mirth in the fall of others, even those who we would consider our friends? Even when folks don't know the full set of facts, they are more than happy to fill in the gaps with their own dark theories. It is so easy to think the worst of others and to make their failures and their fall into a fountain of jokes and crass remarks. Don't they appreciate that as folks lives are broken apart, even if it is because of their own poor choices, that they are not the only ones affected? There are families involved who have lost the income of their breadwinner. There are spouses whose mate has betrayed them. There are children who relationships with their parents could be forever affected. There are no winners in such messes and this is most certainly not a game or a show for our entertainment.

Infinity Blade Awakening

My latest read from author Brandon Sanderson was his novella Infinity Blade Awakening. This story was borne out of a video game and its narrative definitely carries that sort of feel to it. Kind of like an adventure in the vein of The Legend of Zelda. The story follows Siris, a young man whose entire life has been set out for him by his people. He was raised to be "the sacrifice", a warrior who was destined when he came of age to go and fight the God King, just as all of the men of his lineage had done for centuries. Although the God King was immortal and presumable all-powerful, the men in Siris' line still went off to fight in an attempt to win the freedom of their people. The God King had a long history of oppressing the people and requiring them to pay exhorbitant taxes. This rite of raising a sacrifice to go off and battle the God King was the one act of rebellion of the people that was within their power.

Siris trains his entire life and goes off to fulfill his destiny. To battle the God King valiantly and to die. However, when the fated battle comes, he does not fall, and instead slays the God King. When he claims the Infinity Blade and returns to his people, he is stunned not to be welcomed as a hero. Instead he is shunned and forced to leave the village. The people are terrified that the other Deathless of the land will seek out Siris and exact their revenge.

As Siris wanders the land trying to figure out what to do next, he meets up with a beautiful lady named Ida. Ultimately Ida turns out to be an assassin after the prized Infinity Blade. She knows something about its power and something about who Siris truly is. Siris thwarts Ida's plan and they become oddly paired allies. Siris comes to develop a plan to find the legendary forger of the Infinity Blade, a weapon designed to kill the Deathless and free the people. However, before he gets too far in his quest he finds out that the God King isn't as dead as he had thought. Ida's plan to save Siris from the clutches of the God King is to put a crossbow bolt through his forehead. Strangely enough, her plot works and sets Siris free to continue his quest.

A fun story to dive into. Now onto part two, Infinity Blade Redemption.