Reflections | The Job | And its sidekicks | End of the money god

Looking back at this blog and the most recent posts I've made, I have realized that it has been incredibly lame. I haven't been writing nearly enough, and when I write it's primarily on entertainment. My goodness, did I really write something on The Wheel of Time?

Ah, well. I guess that's just how it goes. My heart really hasn't been into blogging anymore. I do get inspiration to write about something, but when it comes down to sitting down and actually writing the blog, I sulk. I guess my inspiration isn't very strong.

However, I do feel I owe it to the readers (ie family and friends) to keep writing. So here it goes!

Update: The post has become extremely long, so I divided it into sections. It gives the illusion that I'm writing in an organized fashion and it's not large rant.

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The job is going okay. The excitement level here at CityTeam resembles something like a roller coaster. Major assignments for a week, then nothing for a week, then major assignments for a week, then nothing, and so on and so on. I'm in the nothing week right now, and it's incredibly dull. Next week will be when the holiday events start, and the media rush starts right along with it. Luckily, I won't be having to work on Thanksgiving day like two years ago, but there is still a hefty amount of work to be done. I'm just prepping all my gear now, blacking-out tapes, checking batteries, cleaning lenses, testing mics. I did all of that in like one day, and now I'm stuck browsing the web reading Warcraft lore, playing Scrabble on Facebook, and writing blogs. :)

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Also, I've been doing a lot of side jobs lately. Many weddings were photographed, a few portraits sessions were had, and even some video editing was conducted. Considering the work ethic and utter hatred I have for photo post-production, I'm terribly backed up. I don't know why I accept more side jobs when I have like three other projects I'm trying to get done, but I do it anyway. I just need the cash, I guess.

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Which actually brings me to something I wanted to write about. It seems whenever I feel somewhat released from financial burdens, something comes up that throws me right back into it. Mainly, it's a major car repair at the very opportune time when I've made a lot of money recently. For a while, I would get really frustrated about it to the point where I would question God's motives. I pray for financial support in any way, and whenever I finally got it, it was taken away. Of course, it was a terrible way of looking at "financial support," but I was seeing it through the perspective that having thousands of dollars in my account was the definition of financial stability.

In reality, God was helping me get through the money problems. Giving me opportunities to make some extra cash prepared me for when my car unexpectedly broke down or when another student loan finally kicked in. Sure, I would have much rather have just had the money without my car having trouble, but if this is how God will teach me to put more faith in Him, then so be it. It's also taught me to really give up my monetary responsibility to God. I struggled with the idea of giving tithes to the church every week when I was in bad financial pickle, but praying about it one last time and dropping the check in the offering basket made me realize that better things have come of it. More discipline, more faith, and my bank account hasn't been negatively affected by giving 10% of my earnings each week ever since I started doing that.

So anyway, I've learned a lot about my faith in God through money. It's pretty exciting, and I give gladly to the offering plate every Sunday now. It's not because I am well in money, but because I know that God is there backing me up. I really owe it to Him to give some of my earnings back, and I love Him more for it.

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Whew! I think that will be all for now. I'm gonna go take my lunch break now. Man, work is just tough sometimes...

The Wheel keeps on spinnin'

Well, three days ago, I learned of some news that I found interesting. Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series, died of a rare disease.

I laughed.

If some of you don't know the status of the WoT series, it isn't complete with the 12th book on its way when Jordan croaked. He had notes that he passed on so that the book can be completed, which will end the series entirely.

Anyway, I read the article reporting this news with laughter in my throat. I just thought of all those hardcore WoT fans gobbling up the newest book as it came out, discussing the characters, the land, and the plot twists. I imagined them delving into the hundreds of pages that served as a glossary for each of those novels to explain more in detail the terms that may not have been described in the main text body. I thought of all those countless hours Jordan spent writing this and the fans spent reading it. And for what? Nothing! I think a final book written by a different author just to resolve the story would hardly be the same. Notes-shmotes, that 12th book won't be the same.

So I laughed.

All those poor shmucks who thought this story was SO AMAZING were totally suckered. I was almost sucked into the WoT movement. I read the first book during my Junior year of high school because of recommendations, and I thought it was excellent. It did remind me much of The Fellowship of the Ring, but I found it forgivable. I then bought the second book and started reading it when I realized something: There are SIX more of these novels that are STILL on the same story with another book on it's way. And from what my friends were saying about the story, there was no end in sight! That's when I put the second book down. Screw...that!

I'm no writer, but having eleven books over 15 years doesn't speak well of your series. To me it confesses bad story-telling, bloated plot-lines, and I can only guess unnecessary tangents. How else could you have gone thousands and thousands of pages on the same story? I'm sorry, Jordan, that's just terrible. Have you ever heard of notes or outlines? Perhaps planning out the whole story before actually putting it down in a narrative sense? Sure Tolkien spent decades planning out LOTR, but at least he was able to write it into a "trilogy." Stuff from LOTR could have been edited out because they were unnecessary to the whole story (the Hobbits' return to the Shire in the book was ridiculous), but all that excess adds up to maybe a hundred pages...I bet you could do without whole BOOKS in WoT.

I also became turned off from the series because of the lack of self-confidence in the characters. Of course, the main character was only beginning his discovery of becoming top dawg when I stopped reading, but I...hate...excessively whiny characters. Rand al'Thor had way too much potential to be one of those types, and I didn't want to deal with that for 10+ novels.

I can't get the feeling out of me that the only reason why the 12th book will finally end WoT is because Jordan KNEW he was dying. Otherwise, I bet he would have gone longer on the series. I guess it was the Wheel of Time's way of saying, "End my suffering already!" You could say that the Wheel of Time for Jordan ended before Jordan could end The Wheel of Time. Man, if that's not irony, I don't know what is...

Jordan, it's sad - it really is - that you've passed away. I'm sure you made an impact in people's lives that doesn't involve your books, but I feel no pity for the WoT and its missing proper, Jordan-written ending.

I went on the web to see if others shared my feelings, and though I found more WoT lovers than haters, I did find an anti-Wheel of Time page. It was so funny, that I thought I should link to it. Be warned that it's a site-design disaster, but the content is priceless.