The Road

I recently ( a few hours ago) finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

I honestly have to say that I loved it. It was a unique experience for me. This book breaks almost every rule of literature I can think of. There is hardly any punctuation, the dialogue can be confusing especially if a third character is present, there is no discernible beginning, or middle. Just the end, which is contained in about the last 10 or so pages. I started the book and wondered when he would stop establishing the status quo, and introduce the main plot. It didn't dawn on me until maybe page 40 that he did start it way back on page one.

The only driving force is the characters. The Man, and The Boy. Not only are they the only driving force for the narrative, but also for each other. Either one of them would like to just lay down and die at any given moment, but they can't because they have to live for the other.

McCarthy does a good job of installing an emotional investment for his characters into you. The Man is a decent enough guy, who's only reason for living is to protect and provide for his son. The Boy is, well, just a boy. He's innocent and kind hearted and while he understand the situation they're in, that doesn't stop him from trying to change it for the better. At one point they come across an old man. This old man is starving, like most others in the world, and will probably die soon. The Man knows that there is nothing that they can do for him, but that does not stop the boy from trying. This is why you love them both. The Man tells it like it is, and the realist in all of us can sympathise with that. The Boy though, likes to believe that there's more to life than it's harsh reality. In the boy, the idea of humanity itself is still alive.

I guess you can think of The Man as the middle point of a spectrum. On one side, are the antagonists, the people who have turned to murder and canabalism to survive. On the other, is The Boy who thinks that it's more important to help others than to just survive. In the middle is The Man, who will do just about anything to survive, but not for him, for his son. He won't take what belongs to someone who's alive, and he won't hurt you unless you give him a reason to, but if he finds a reason he will end you without a 2nd thought.


I couldn't help but feel more apart of this world than any other I'd encountered in a long time. When they found the smallest of treasures, I felt proud and overjoyed. When they encountered a hardship I was nervious and frightened for them. Everyone they met on the road I wondered if this might be the end for them, or a new begining. When they found a place to rest for a few days, I was happy to see them warm and out of danger, but similarly to how The Man thought, I knew they still were in danger. If they found this shelter, someone else might too, and those people probably aren't friendly.

Again, I have to just say how much I enjoyed this book. Once I got into it, I had a hard time putting it down. Nothing about the idea of it is really all that unique. Post-apocalyps has been done, father and son stories have been done, but not in a style and with an emphasis on the harsh reality of life like this. I could go on, but I don't want to spoil anything for anyone that hasn't read this yet and I certainly hope I haven't already.

The checklist.

The following items I have scavenged, or bartered for.

Tv stand/entertainment center. I found it in the garbage. some of the screws could probably be tightened, but that would require a screwdriver. It hasn't fallen over yet, so I don't think it will for some time.


Futon bed. Not quite sure how it turns into a couch, but that hasn't been an issue yet. Bought it from a guy named Kane from Criagslist. It cost me 30 dollars, plus 30 bucks worth of gas into Jeff's truck to go get it. Jeff has offered to pay me back, but I have insisted that he does not. Only time will tell. Also, it's my fault anyway for grossly misjudging how much gas it would take to get to Austin and back in the truck. You see, I, being of the liberal hippy mindset believed that it would probably get something like 7 miles to the gallon. In actuality, it's much, much more efficient. Oh well, even at 60 bucks it's still cheaper than buying it anywhere else.

Jeff says he plans to buy a new desk soon, so has offered to give me the table he currently uses. Huzzah!

We also have a microwave of questionable safety concerns. My logic is thus: if it were truly dangerous, they would have put it IN the dumpster and not right next to it. Jeff thinks otherwise, but continues to use it.

A pub table. So far it's gotten little use, but hey, it was free and cool. It's on the balcony right now and I put some candles on it (also found) on it for atmosphere. They offer poor light though.

Things I need:
A usb cable so I don't have to have my computer in the living room to connect to the internet. I doubt I could find one easily, so I may have to suck it up and buy one.

Speakers for my computer. Mine have finally died. I think there is an identical pair at home in what could be referred to as my closet. Otherwise I'll probably have to buy a set as well, as peak dumpster diving season has just now passed.



I think that's all really. There are a few other luxery items I wouldn't mind finding, if given the time or the money but I think past that I should be well off for the time being.

Oh, a headlight for my car. The one on the driver side is out and it sure would be nice to drive at night again. I wonder how hard those are to replace. The owner's manual just says to take it into the dealership for replacement lights but I don't think it's THAT complicated.


Other then THAT though, I gotta say I'm really happy about this new place. I finally feel like I have a place that is MINE, you know? In my last apartment, it felt a lot like a dorm to the point it really took me a year living there before i actually felt comfortable putting up posters because what if they suprise inspect and say I have to take 'em down?

Here though, it feels much more like the place I live and less like the place where I keep my stuff and sleep. It's a feeling I haven't really had since moving out of the Aberdeen house a whole bunch of years ago. I mean, I had to move from my room into my brother's room, then shortly after that we moved into Grandma and Grandpa's house, just in time for me to move to San Marcos and the dorms for a year and then my old apartment for the last two. I'm still organizing my room, and right now it's a mess but once I get caught up on laundry and get everything into it's place my room is going to look and just plain be amazing.

I'll upload pictures sometime tomorrow or later this week. Jeff's parents are coming in tomorrow and I think I might want to clear my computer off the coffee table so they have somewhere to sit. I do have this one for now:


Meet my kick-ass entertainment center. We have 5 game systems that we can hook up. Most are 10 years old or older. Those rabbit ears aren't just for show either, we currently get 4 channels, all Spanish. Not of lot of people I would trade places with right now though.

Won at RISK

CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

This one was kinda crazy. I turned in cards, and that allowed me to eliminate because he happened to be weak at the time. That gave me his cards, which let me turn in cards again and take out Nick on my next turn. That gave me a set again, which I had to use to save Nick R in his last territory. Like two turns later I'm able to turn in cards yet again and eliminate Jeff (hope this means we can still be roommates) and that gave me 6 cards, two complete sets. I turned both of those in for a whopping 59 armies which lets me eliminate Sean and all but one territory of Gabe. If the game had gone on, I would have turned in cards again thanks to Sean's 3 and that plus my territories would have been I think like 46 armies. I could have taken over the rest of queens AND Brooklyn with that.

Team A played a good game. Jacob and Sean were thorns in our sides and our top priorities early on. I'll admit that it was largely to crazy luck with the cards and dice that let us win. There was also constant communication between all three of us. I had heard from MK that a few days into it he had sent the first e-mail to his teammates. At the time I heard that I had already deleted a 35 message conversation between my teammates. I have about 30 more sitting in my inbox still.

Can't wait for the next game. I like this New York map.

sleep troubles

I've been having some shitty insomnia these last 6 or so months. I just don't want to sleep, you know? And time just keeps slipping by me before I really know what's up.

Tonight for instance, I worked out a little bit from about 11:30 to after midnight. After that I went back to my apartment, and I guess just hung out and watched TV or something, but at around 1 I realized I really wanted to do some laundry. I washed my bedsheets, and a set of clothes for work tomorrow (later today) and that took me until 3:30. At that point I was watching Starship Troopers, a horrible movie that I've seen several times, but just felt compelled to keep watching because I honestly didn't want to go to bed. I finally put my sheets back on, but I know I just have to get up in like 2 hours any...so I might as well blog.

I know it's not really insomnia though. I think I'm using it like most people use Bi polar or Anti-Social. Honestly, I'm just having trouble sleeping because I'm depressed about certain aspects of my life. If I were really an insomniac I'd stay up for like, 3 days strait before my body finally just shuts down momentarily to sleep. Instead, I'll probably get about an hour and a half of sleep tonight and be really tiered throughout the day. I might go to MASS* and take a nap there, but I always feel like a dick when I do that. Alternatively I might just sleep in my car in the parking lot of my work, or if I think I can, just drive home and take a nap there. I'll have things I can do...but won't because I just won't feel like it and I'll probably stay up too late and the cycle will begin anew.

This will might only continue until summer, but I could see this lasting until I graduate. My god it's going to be so long until I graduate. It's not going to happen until December. That's another 8 whole months away. Although, I'll probably mess something up and have to stay another semester so that's even longer. I really want to go back to community college where I at least don't feel like I'm throwing money down a hole.

We will live forever

Or die trying.