As August concludes, so too does the summertime, for all intents and purposes; kids are going back to school, the daily temperature has begun a slow decline, and the local breweries have already pulled their summer seasonals in favor of autumn beers. I myself will be heading back to college in just a few days for what will (hopefully) be my final year of study. As I look back on the summer, I must admit, I'm both a bit impressed and a tad embarrassed by the amount of work I've already done on my backlog. But you see, dear readers, while the Back-Blog itself began in August, the actual quest has been going strong all summer long. In addition to the 13 books, 9 DVDs, and 11 video games listed in the annals of the Back-Blog, there were dozens of successful loggings that have as of yet been unmentioned here. For the sake of revealing the full summer's worth of progress, I'll list them here and now.
A triad of DS games that I had started, but never finished, were finally put to rest: Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger, and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. The Xbox 360 saw plenty of action as well, with the first Halo, both Gears of War games, Burger King's Pocket Bike Racer and Big Bumpin', the Xbox Live Arcade version of Worms 2: Armageddon, and Trivial Pursuit all getting beaten. On the Wii, I made closure with both Wii Fit and North American Hunting Extravaganza; on the GameCube, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. That's 13 more games.
Perhaps even more impressive and pathetic was my DVD count. I finally got around to killing off two trilogies, the original Ninja Turtles and Terminator ones, while knocking off the first film from a third: Back to the Future. Additional films included Gone Baby Gone and the computer-animated TMNT. That right there is 9 DVDs. But wait until you see the list of TV seasons I knocked off: two Dexter seasons, two 30 Rock seasons, and a year's worth each of Weeds, Friday Night Lights, Entourage, Deadwood, Breaking Bad, and Family Guy. Baby... that's 10 more right there.
In terms of reading, there was Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and not much else; my booklogging quest was a late inspiration by my fellow Back-Blogger, Sweeney.
When my summer began, it was full of possibilities. Now, 14 books, 28 DVDs, and 24 video games later, the potential is gone. Some would call it a wasted summer. No doubt, my having a "life" to speak of certainly deserves to be called into question. But allow me to defend myself and my summer of logging, if only for one paragraph. Sixty-six completions is about two every three days. While this number seems high initially, let's consider what else I had time to do this summer. I had time to attend three Red Sox games. I had time to attend pick-up softball games almost every weekend. I had time for two rock concerts, half a dozen graduation parties, and scores of general social evenings with friends. I spent a long weekend in Maine with my grandparents. I spent another touring Niagara Falls and Toronto with my family. A third weekend was spent hiking and drinking at a friend's lake house. I had time to prepare for and take the GRE. And on top of it all, I worked 40 hours a week. In my eyes, this is as complete a summer as one could hope for. The logging and blogging were just occupants of my spare time, and dare I say it, constructive ones at that.
Like any good progress report, this reflection ends with a question for the future. Specifically, what's on tap? I've just bared the discard pile for all to see; perhaps it's only fitting that I show a sneak peak of my current hand as well. I'm currently reading American Lion, a biography of Andrew Jackson. It's a very interesting and intimate read, and as can be expected, it's a slow one. I want to take my time with it, so don't expect it to be the next book you see me make an entry for. Other likely targets on the horizon include the remaining two Narnia tales, a Joseph Heller book or two, and maybe, just maybe, a 700-page beast. Shitty children's books are on hold for the time being, as I can't quite bring myself to taking any of them to college with me. As far as DVDs are concerned, you can be sure to expect a number of TV shows coming up; we're in TV on DVD release season, and the purchases are bound to come in rapid fashion. I'm currently splitting time between Dexter's third season with my girlfriend and Deadwood's second without her. But plenty more abound. Video games are the hardest for me to predict, as I'm in the middle of at least a dozen at any given time. I tried playing Civilization IV: Colonization just the other day, but quickly found that I will need to wait for a better computer before that game becomes worth playing through. Worms Blast is a puzzle game for the GameCube that I played most of the way through the other night before getting hopelessly stuck on the penultimate puzzle. As of right now, my plan is to bring only my GameCube to school with me. This is where the bulk of my gaming backlog lies, largely due to my several compilations on the system. If I do indeed follow through with this plan, expect to see more Sonic games completed, in addition to the pair of Metroid Primes. I'm sure the DS will also find its way back to school with me, and I'll be sure to bring some Xbox games as well because my roommate will be sure to bring his 360 back as well.
How will the transition back to school affect my progress? My instinct is negatively. The fast pace and rigorous courseload of my senior year as an electrical engineer will certainly play a large role in this planned decrease, but so to will the different people and atmosphere on and around campus. I will apologize in advance for going weeks or even full months without logging a single thing. I can only hope that in my absence, dear old Sweeney will continue his unwavering pace of one or two loggings per week; I may have been far more active this summer, but once Labor Day hits, this will really become Sweeney's blog for quite some time. I can only promise that, slowed as I may be, I'll never lose sight of the ultimate goal: 100% completion across my bookshelves, DVD racks, and game catalogues.
34 books, 40 DVDs, and 72 video games remain backlogged. The battle is far from over. And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
A triad of DS games that I had started, but never finished, were finally put to rest: Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger, and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. The Xbox 360 saw plenty of action as well, with the first Halo, both Gears of War games, Burger King's Pocket Bike Racer and Big Bumpin', the Xbox Live Arcade version of Worms 2: Armageddon, and Trivial Pursuit all getting beaten. On the Wii, I made closure with both Wii Fit and North American Hunting Extravaganza; on the GameCube, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. That's 13 more games.
Perhaps even more impressive and pathetic was my DVD count. I finally got around to killing off two trilogies, the original Ninja Turtles and Terminator ones, while knocking off the first film from a third: Back to the Future. Additional films included Gone Baby Gone and the computer-animated TMNT. That right there is 9 DVDs. But wait until you see the list of TV seasons I knocked off: two Dexter seasons, two 30 Rock seasons, and a year's worth each of Weeds, Friday Night Lights, Entourage, Deadwood, Breaking Bad, and Family Guy. Baby... that's 10 more right there.
In terms of reading, there was Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and not much else; my booklogging quest was a late inspiration by my fellow Back-Blogger, Sweeney.
When my summer began, it was full of possibilities. Now, 14 books, 28 DVDs, and 24 video games later, the potential is gone. Some would call it a wasted summer. No doubt, my having a "life" to speak of certainly deserves to be called into question. But allow me to defend myself and my summer of logging, if only for one paragraph. Sixty-six completions is about two every three days. While this number seems high initially, let's consider what else I had time to do this summer. I had time to attend three Red Sox games. I had time to attend pick-up softball games almost every weekend. I had time for two rock concerts, half a dozen graduation parties, and scores of general social evenings with friends. I spent a long weekend in Maine with my grandparents. I spent another touring Niagara Falls and Toronto with my family. A third weekend was spent hiking and drinking at a friend's lake house. I had time to prepare for and take the GRE. And on top of it all, I worked 40 hours a week. In my eyes, this is as complete a summer as one could hope for. The logging and blogging were just occupants of my spare time, and dare I say it, constructive ones at that.
Like any good progress report, this reflection ends with a question for the future. Specifically, what's on tap? I've just bared the discard pile for all to see; perhaps it's only fitting that I show a sneak peak of my current hand as well. I'm currently reading American Lion, a biography of Andrew Jackson. It's a very interesting and intimate read, and as can be expected, it's a slow one. I want to take my time with it, so don't expect it to be the next book you see me make an entry for. Other likely targets on the horizon include the remaining two Narnia tales, a Joseph Heller book or two, and maybe, just maybe, a 700-page beast. Shitty children's books are on hold for the time being, as I can't quite bring myself to taking any of them to college with me. As far as DVDs are concerned, you can be sure to expect a number of TV shows coming up; we're in TV on DVD release season, and the purchases are bound to come in rapid fashion. I'm currently splitting time between Dexter's third season with my girlfriend and Deadwood's second without her. But plenty more abound. Video games are the hardest for me to predict, as I'm in the middle of at least a dozen at any given time. I tried playing Civilization IV: Colonization just the other day, but quickly found that I will need to wait for a better computer before that game becomes worth playing through. Worms Blast is a puzzle game for the GameCube that I played most of the way through the other night before getting hopelessly stuck on the penultimate puzzle. As of right now, my plan is to bring only my GameCube to school with me. This is where the bulk of my gaming backlog lies, largely due to my several compilations on the system. If I do indeed follow through with this plan, expect to see more Sonic games completed, in addition to the pair of Metroid Primes. I'm sure the DS will also find its way back to school with me, and I'll be sure to bring some Xbox games as well because my roommate will be sure to bring his 360 back as well.
How will the transition back to school affect my progress? My instinct is negatively. The fast pace and rigorous courseload of my senior year as an electrical engineer will certainly play a large role in this planned decrease, but so to will the different people and atmosphere on and around campus. I will apologize in advance for going weeks or even full months without logging a single thing. I can only hope that in my absence, dear old Sweeney will continue his unwavering pace of one or two loggings per week; I may have been far more active this summer, but once Labor Day hits, this will really become Sweeney's blog for quite some time. I can only promise that, slowed as I may be, I'll never lose sight of the ultimate goal: 100% completion across my bookshelves, DVD racks, and game catalogues.
34 books, 40 DVDs, and 72 video games remain backlogged. The battle is far from over. And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
No comments:
Post a Comment