Empire by Orson Scott Card

"Being young is an eighteen-year prison sentence for a crime your parents committed.  But you do get time off for good behavior."

Empire intersperses humor with a rather frightening and horribly realistic future world view of what could happen to the United States.  It revolves around two main characters Major Ruben "Rube" Malich and Captain Bartholomew "Cole" Coleman both officers in the United States Army.  It follows them through the twists and turns of a conspiracy that starts with the assassination of the President and ends in the possibility of a second civil war that may tear the country apart.

What makes the book so horrifying is the believability of the situation.  The country is divided not along lines of race or religion but politics.  Turning on the news on any given night it's easy to see the animosity between the U.S's two major political parties and understand where the crazies from both sides of the room could throw the country into turmoil rather than help it.  The book also postulates on the fall of the democratic nation due to the weight of our own government and an eventual stalemate due to the constraints of the system it labors under.  That particular theory is in evidence on any given day of the week.

"Our short-term politics trump long-term national interest every time.  Can't fix Social security, can't fix the tax structure, can't fix the trade deficit, can't fix outsourcing, can't fix anything because there's always campaign money involved, or demagoguery that blocks the way.  Between the NRA and the AARP, you can't even do the things that vast majorities already agree need to be done."

In the end it is what Card does best that makes the book such a good read.  He makes characters you can sympathize with.  The reader feels for their successes as much as the failures and it is the cracks in each person that make them interesting and relate-able.  Good people trying to do good things and being manipulated by the system and people who only want power, what's not to sympathize with. 

"So he can use his powers for good as well as evil."
"We all can, it's telling the difference that gets so hard"

Oh the Places We'll Go

I got this link from a friend:  http://douweosinga.com/projects/visited?region=usa

It's a fun little website where you can go to create maps of the places you've been.  You can make maps of the United States:


visited 34 states (68%)

Or of the World:


visited 9 states (4%)
It's hard to see some of the smaller countries on this map but the 9 are The Untied States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Honduras, Peru, France, Israel and Morocco.

The website also has maps of Brazil and India and their various provinces/states.  All of which have me itching to plan the next great adventure!  And when I say plan what I really mean is to tag along while my friend and travel buddy makes arrangements to go to New Years in Florippa, Brazil!

In the mean time I'll be going hunting in North Dakota as well as making minor trips to visit both friends and family.  It's going to make for an interesting end of the year but it is going to be well worth it.  I'm so excited about the prospect of traveling again.  I can't wait to see what adventure lies around the next corner.

A Wonderful Thing

Parents are amazing people and I don't necessarily think that I spend enough time telling mine that.  I know how many people in the world aren't supported by families as caring and accepting as mine and I'm using this as a reminder to remember to let them know that more often.

I'm very much aware of needing to make my own way in the world and trying to see and do things that are separate from my parents and outside their realm of control.  However, it is beyond comforting to know that no matter how hard I fall they'll always scrape me up and put a Power Rangers band-aid on it.

I was at home this past weekned and had a wonderful time.  My amazing friend and travel buddy came to visit and we got to talking about our families.  I said something akin to "barring murder I'm pretty sure my parents would take me back in no matter what." to which her response was "I'm pretty sure my mother would hide me even if I did kill someone".

Families are a wonderful thing.

Give Credit Where Credit is Due

While my thoughts on a recent movie I saw inspired me to share with others, the inspiration for my blog's title and description came from a show I like very much.  And while some may wonder at being inspired by a jaded, bitter, angry make-believe doctor I remain undaunted by the prospect.

This is because, while the character may be all of those things he is, above all else, logical and funny and honest.  In the end he uses all of these attributes, both good and bad, as a shield to mask his vulnerabilities.  It is the most honest thing the writers have done with the character.  Everyone uses smoke and mirrors to distract people away from the things we don't like about ourselves and don't want others to see and if a person tries to claim otherwise they're lying, because, well... Everybody Lies.   

Dr. Gregory House: They're out there, doctors, lawyers postal workers some of them doing great some of them doing lousy. Are you going to base your whole life on who you got stuck in a room with?
Eve: I'm going to base this moment on who I'm stuck in a room with. It's what life is. It's a series of rooms and who we get stuck in those rooms with adds up to what our lives are.
-- House M.D. "One Day One Room"

Dr. Gregory House: Personally, I choose to believe that the white-light people sometimes see, visions this patient saw. They're all just chemical reactions that take place when the brain shuts down.
Dr. Eric Foreman: You choose to believe that?
Dr. Gregory House: There's no conclusive science. My choice has no practical relevance to my life, I choose the outcome I find more comforting.
Dr. Cameron: You find it more comforting to believe that this is it?
Dr. Gregory House: I find it more comforting to believe that all *this* isn't simply a test.
--House M.D. "Three Stories"