One random night when everything changes, you won't reply and we'll go back to strangers

I've actually been thinking about posting for a few days, but between one thing and another didn't quite get around to it. The thing on my mind for the last week or so has been Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. It's been the book club book for February, and I'm still not totally sure exactly how I feel about it :|.

To be entirely honest, I don't think the week or so since I finished reading the book has helped at all! If anything, the strong feelings I was left with as I put the book down have dissipated somewhat, and I'm left with a sense of vague contrasts. Sweeping passages of time versus intense moments. Deep exploration of feelings in some relationships versus others left barely half sketched.

One of the things that does stick with me though, is how central gaming is to the characters. They aren't just making games, they live with them. In more ways than one. As someone who's gamed off and on for the last three decades, it was nostalgic to revisit the late '90s and early 2000s as an era of dramatic changes in the world of video games. The evolution of technology allowing people of interact with games and each other in profoundly different ways. A change that promises to continue, of course.

But personally what I found resonating with me much more was how gaming is treated as a properly "grown up" thing. I think it may well just be the company I keep. I'm not surrounded by avid, or even that many casual, gamers. So the world around me is not screaming - yes, gaming's a perfectly normal and sensible part of life. It's not just about unplugging from the daily grind, not just about passing a bit of time. That gaming can actually be about doing something you positively enjoy rather than just something you do to avoid things you don't enjoy much... I'm not sure I know quite how to express what I mean, exactly.

Going back to the story itself (be warned, possible spoilers ahead), I did rather enjoy, even though felt occasionally confused by, the sometimes dramatic shifts of style between chapters. The ones that stand out most obviously are of course The NPC and Pioneers. The first I found particularly poignant, I mean, you know what's happening, and it's gruesome, but it plays out so poetically... The second was pretty obviously in-game, but there were definitely sections when I found myself second guessing a bit. The end of the chapter of course makes things amply obvious.

When it comes to the characters, Sam and Sadie seemed to oscillate wildly between completely relatable and almost absurd. Although as place holders for how we humans can be irrational, loving, cynical, selfish, etc., they did very well. On the other end there was Marx. I mean, of almost all the characters in the book, if there was one who existed almost exclusively to be a contrast to Sam and Sadie, it was Marx. I'm left feeling the poor guy got hard done by, like seriously!

The other somewhat odd thing about the book was that when I got into it, it was almost impossible to put down! But there were certain points when I did feel like I had to stop, and then found it almost as difficult to pick it up again... So much so that I ended up re-reading Murderbot 3 and 4 in those gaps. So yeah, in the end how much did I like it? In some ways a lot, and in others not so much. But I'm glad I read it :).

As for the rest of the month, it was pretty cold for the most part. Sometimes really really cold. And there was some snow, so we went out cross-country skiing a bit. Maybe not as much as we could have, but oh well :). In the mean time though, I've actually managed to start up with the running again! It's quite different running in -11 °C and snow than in +11 °C and dry :D.

There were also the Winter Olympics, where Norway did amazingly well, and I discovered that watching cross-country races is a lot more fun when you know more about what's going on :). Oh, and ice dance is a fascinating new addition to the list of things I find simultaneously awesome and terrifying :P.

Since then though, the temperatures have shot up and the snow is slowly disappearing. One almost wishes that it'll get properly warm so that the footpaths and roads don't turn to ice every morning and slush every evening. I guess we shall see!

Something different

The familiar thing about January this year is the temperature and snow. Particularly given the weather we had at the end of last year. The unusual thing was that we ended up spending two weeks of it in India :). And honestly, while it was only half the month, it rather overwhelms the other impressions from this last month :).

It was the first trip in three years, and it was really nice to visit! And the weather, while cold for local conditions, was rather more like a temperate summer week in Norway :D. So yeah, rather perfect! Having not lived full time in India for the best part of two decades though, there are certain things that take longer for me to adapt to. 

One thing is the noise of course. The crowds of people is another. The thing that is new is the level of particulates in the air. Well, new compared to when I was a kid at least, but something locals just have to put up with, which is not great for their respiratory health :/. Fortunately, for part of the visit we'd planned a getaway to the Dooars region in the northern part of West Bengal, nestled beneath the Eastern Himalayan foothills close to the Bhutan border.

I'd never been to that particular part of the country and it was beautiful! Not as close to the hills as my last trip to North Bengal and therefore not quite as wild. But the fact that the area is essentially a patchwork of nature reserves and tea gardens with settlements and roads in-between does make for a pretty amazing experience.

It may have been the time of year, but I was rather taken aback by the lack of water in the massively wide riverbeds. On a guided foray into the Buxa Tiger Reserve we were told that there are hardly any tigers around, mainly because the lack of large water bodies means their prey have moved on...

In between the relaxed days of visiting various sites, nice food and enjoying time with family, it was also nice to enjoy the cleaner air and the blue skies. (You can't really see the blue in the sky any more from Kolkata, even on a perfectly cloudless day :/.) Large parts of the travel between places was also done by train, which given the services now available, does make for a much more relaxed way of travel than by road :).

There was also plenty of time to relax and catch up with family without feeling run down from travelling constantly from one place to another. And of course, plenty of amazing home cooked meals :).

The week between the UK and India trips feels so long ago now :). I guess it was mostly just unpacking and repacking to be honest. Note to self: don't book long holidays too close to each other :P. And then this last week back has felt simultaneously relaxed and hectic. It's nice to finally be home for a little while without feeling like we're going to be heading off again. But catching up on work has been.. well, hectic.

The travel has also allowed for quite a lot of reading! The book club book for the month was an old favourite of mine, All Systems Red. And having enjoyed the books the first time, I ended up reading the first four novellas again :). I'm not sure there were many great revelations beyond the first read, except the confirmation that I just find the characters really fun to spend time with. One of the few series that I'd probably be happy to read again and again. Not least because they are such quick reads :).

Then I went back to Asimov. Robots and Empire was the only robot novel left, so I started on that first. Once again the feeling of a simple murder mystery was replaced with a wider intrigue. That didn't make it any less enjoyable of course. But I was left reflecting on how different the storytelling is between Robots and Murderbot.

Instead of moving straight onto Foundation, I decided to take the detour through the Galactic Empire novels. It's probably not so surprising, but I had almost no memory of the plots of the three novels. After the last Robot book, it was interesting to again be back in Asimov's writing from the '50s :). 

It was also interesting to see the gradual evolution of the Trantorian empire and the position (and cultural memory) of Earth over the course of the three episodes. Somehow though, I could help but feel that the overall tone of the Empire novels were rather grim...

It was also interesting to read on my Kindle again after a number of years. I'd just decided it was easier than carrying books along for the India trip :). Now that I'm back home though, it's back to book-books :D.