This week was the lead up to and start of our road trip. I enjoy road trips a lot. Driving through Oregon and Northern California is a delight. It’s. been just about 7 years since I’e moved here from Connecticut and I will never stop being awed by the natural beauty it has: volcanic mountains, misty rainy forests, the powerful forces of coast, and the starkness of the high desert. Our trip takes has taken us, first, to the southern Oregon coast. I love it’s small towns and long lonely stretches. I really enjoyed seeing In A Landscape once again. Since I am working from the van this week, my note is a bit shorter. This counts as my last post for Blaugust. Things I Liked From the Culture series novels The Player of Games and Use of Weapons, my favorite ship names I am reading the Culture series per my brothers recommendation. So far I’ve really enjoyed the books. I’ve just finished Use of Weapons and am starting with the next. One aspect I’ve enjoyed so far is the names of the ships. Below is a list of my favorites to far: So Much for Subtlety Just Read the Instructions Congenital Optimist Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence What Are The Civilian Applications? Sweet and Full of Grace Size Isn’t Everything Ships in the series are sentient beings with full and equal rights as all other sentients in the Culture. Ships (or at least the Minds, which are their sentient AIs) choose their own names. They seem to have a wry sense of humor. From the podcast What Went Wrong, “The Lord of the Rings (parts 1-3)” I think the Lord of the Rings is my favorite film series. They came out between (for me) the ages of 11 - 13 and they were incredibly pivotal piece of art to me. I’ve seen all the extended editions so many times and was lucky, a few years ago, to have experience a marathon viewing where a friend of mine cooked meals from the film.v Hearing this detailed history of its making only increased my appreciation of the films and how lucky we are to have them. Definitely a good way to spend ~3 hours while driving.