Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Ahh yes, the Era of Yesteryear!

Since the 4 book round robin stuff is going on, plus my brain is filled with maths cobwebs, lets see:

The Era of Childhood: (IE, want to say 1988 to 1995.) I was so little when Babylon 5 first hit. Awww.

Parents used to read to me.

Cat in the Hat, Boxcart Children, the Hobbit and even:  

  • ET
  • The Last Unicorn
  • Inspector Gadget
  • The Smurfs
  • Gummiebears
  • Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers
  • Gundam
  • Samurai Pizza Cats
  • TMNT
  • Ghostbusters
  • Biker Mice from Mars
  • Mighty Max 
  • Dad's old Superman Comics
That's just the tip of the show and book iceburg. I really didn't get into reading on my own til late elementary school, with scolastic book fairs at school.

The Era of Teen Fundamentals: (1996 to 2003) cause even at the end, with 20 yrs I still felt like a big kid.

  • John Carter
  • Black Company
  • The Hobbit
  • HP Lovecraft
  • J. Verne
  • C. J. Cherryh 
  • Dad's App. N Army Footlocker. I mean, its a good thing I have a tried and true pulp geek for a father.
  • Andre Norton
  • Lensmen
The biggest shows:
  • Gargoyles (Back when Disney was Fun.) 
  • Stargate
  • Babylon 5
  • ST DS9
  • ST Voyager, (Loved the Doctor, he was fun.)
  • Space Above and Beyond
  • Dad getting me old runs of Flash Gordon, Star Trek, OG BSG and many others. It was like having a sci fi retrospective at my house. It was great. :D 
The Era of College and the Navy: (2003-2013)

  • Waiting for Mr. Weber to finish Honor Harrington. It wouldn't happen for a while. Even I was put aback by the level of doorstopper Weber was putting out.
  • Starting to wonder why certain sci fi books weren't interesting me as much.
  • Re-read Dune!
  • Re-read Revelation Space
  • Carl Sagan
  • Find Silver Age Superman collections, giggle and have fun with it. 
  • Get worried about the Direction of DC comics. 
  • Survive Book Readings/Assignments in college like the Golden Compass or "Early Influences of X, Y or Z" topic that was dry as dirt.
  • Survive College and still remain kool-aid free. It helped that I didn't live on campus. 
  • University did introduce me to Dashiell Hammett though so it wasn't a total loss. 
  • Enjoyed some of the SW EU for what it was. NJO=Please, someone slap Jacen Solo 24/7. Shut up Jaina, who cares. Oh look, Anakin Solo, the only decent one. Shit.....he gonna die.

The Era of Electronic Library of Sci Fi Alexandria and Pulps: (2013-2020) aka I am the crypt keeper. But still on 2nd breakfast. Still feel like I'm young at heart when it comes to somethings.

  • Kindle, that was a game changer for me. Because my rooms and even back in the Navy, I was like, I need more space for books. SO now I have a library of awesome that travels with me.
  • Indie Boom.
  • 2014: Sads, Mads, and the Hugos (Love him, hate him or not care: Vox Day got a whole lot of things flushed out into the Open. In more ways then one.) 
  • Realize that a fair amount of "trad" sci fi sources were soapboxing.
  • Start looking into indie sci fi: Space Operas esp. 
  • Still give Trad consideration though: Esp if its Baen. Not all is lost. Or wanders.
  • Start Humming "All Along the Watchtower" BSG style. 
  • See old hobbies teeter on the edge and fall over. Realize that its hard to let go but it must be done. Esp. since it means I can put my energy into other arenas. Or projects.

Sure there's def. a nostalgia factor of what formulated my earlier years but going back to old favorites I have a new appreciation for them. Esp. in the light of current shenanigans.

Do I want to re-live yesteryear? Nah, I find that my life is pretty good. Sure I don't have middle level income but I have no debts. The booming economy has me at 4k more per year atm + I'm helping my family with food, bills, grandma mis-adventures. Yea, the only thing I would really want to do is be able to project my mind into the past, warn my younger self of the one biggest mistake I made: Write sooner dangit. :P

In fact, the only thing that made school tolerable was finding new and interesting books to read. Being a "nerd" in the 80s and 90s was not popular or part of the overall pop culture. In a good way that is.

I would never want to repeat school ever again. As an adult, I find I can still have fun with old stuff but on my own time now.

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