sleepcamel.net : brad weikel

Part 3 of 6 in a series discussing the 6 broad "topics" that I've incorporated into the latest design of my site. In this post I will give a quick update on my life right now, because that's what the "My Life" category is all about. No further explanation needed.

The Mini Update
I gave a bit of an update recently, but here's the bullet point version, which covers more in less time.

• Done with my MA course work. Starting to read for my thesis, which I'll write mostly between January and April of next year.
• Weirdness at work. I've spent over 15 months on a single project, and have now had most of the control taken away from me. Frustrating, but it has freed me up to do more creative work there, including some upcoming video projects. I'm also running tech-for-scholars workshops.
• Bailing on triathlons. This was a bad year to try that... too much going on.
• Getting some training at DCTV as a producer/cameraman. I'll do a little volunteer work, but mostly just want to network and get my feet wet in the film world.
• Volunteering this summer with a youth group, filming their 8 week arts & music project. Woot!
• Continuing to work with gnovis, and also looking at some TA options for the fall semester, to keep me connected even though I'm not taking classes.

And now... some books.
Roughly 5 years ago, I embarked on a project to chronicle my life in books, by picking the one "most influential" book that I had read in each year of life.

these aren't necessarily my favorites, just the most "formative". some of them are snapshots of my interests at that time, others are indicative of the life changes i was going through. a few are just really cute, because i was too young for interests, life changes, and maybe even for favorites. -- Me. June 10, 2003

Originally, I posted them with commentary but, in the interests of brevity, I'm just going to include the titles this year. I'm also including five years worth of updates.

Age 0. "500 Words to Grow On" Harry McNaught
Age 1. "Goodnight, Moon" by Margaret Brown
Age 2. "Pat the Bunny" by Dorothy Kunhardt
Age 3. "Big Dog ... Little Dog" by Philip Eastman
Age 4. "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" by Virginia Lee Burton
Age 5. "The Berenstein Bears and The Truth" by Stan Berenstein
Age 6. "Bunnicula" by Deborah and James Howe
Age 7. "Jim Forest and the Flood" by John and Nancy Rambeau
Age 8. "The Hardy Boys #3, the Secret of the Old Mill" by Franklin Dixon
Age 9. "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen
Age 10. "The Blue Sword" by Robin McKinly
Age 11. "Flint, the King" by Mary Kirchoff and Douglas Niles
Age 12. "Swiss Family Robinson" by Johann David Wyss
Age 13. "Dragon Wing" by Margaret Weis
Age 14. "The Legacy" by R.A. Salvatore
Age 15. "Chaos: Making a New Science" by James Gleick
Age 16. "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," by Richard Bach
Age 17. "Cry, the Beloved Country" by Alan Patton
Age 18. "To Green Angel Tower" by Tad Williams
Age 19. "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer and "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev
Age 20. "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula Le Guin
Age 21. "When Science Meets Religion: Enemies, Strangers, or Partners?" by Ian Barbour
Age 22. "A Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Age 23. "Culture Jam" by Kalle Lasn
Age 24. "Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con" edited by Andrew Sullivan
Age 25. "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell
Age 26. "You're an Animal, Viskovitz" by Alessandro Boffa and John Casey
Age 27. "Code" by Lawrence Lessig
Age 28. "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert

This last one makes me cringe because it's an Oprah recommended book, but it's the only viable candidate. I'm not reading much outside of academia these days (hence Lessig at 27...), and if there is one thread that has characterized the last year of my life, it has been the attempt to find balance between, on the one hand, my ambitions, work obsessions, and anxieties, and on the other hand, my desire for a healthy lifestyle: physical health, personal well being, and meaningful relationships with friends and loved ones. Gilbert's book describes a similar struggle, and was even a bit of a rallying point for me as I tried to simplify my life (with some success).

[I also considered "Limits to Growth: The 30 year update" but decided against it; it validated many things for me, but was not life-altering.]

OK, that's it! Hopefully, in the next year I'll manage to read a few books that aren't about technology, so that I'll have something exciting to add to the list.