Booking

In this life that Alrica and I lead, when we talk about booking, we are usually referring to making a reservation for lodging or transportation. But here, when I title this post "Booking" I'm talking about something very different.

I read a book!

I recognize that is not entirely monumental. Quite the contrary, most people reading that sentence would shrug and say, "Um, good for you... I guess." I see why that might be your reaction. So let me elaborate on that statement.

I read a physical, hold it in your hand, ink letters printed on paper pages that you must flip by touching and separating from the next pages, book.

This, also, may seem anticlimactic to many. But in that same life described above which is shared by Alrica and me, a physical book is a luxury. Paper is heavy! Books are bulky. We are not traveling with books. So while I do get plenty of exposure to the "written" word, it is in either e-book or audiobook form. Sure, sometimes we stop by a bookstore, but we aren't planning to buy a book. Again, we'd have to carry it. We also sometimes visit public libraries, though mostly out of curiosity. The lack of books in English (and lack of permanent address with which we could get a library card) means borrowing a book is extremely improbable.

So, how do I happen to be reading a book? Well, I have a cousin.

Those of you who read about the wedding we attended a few weeks ago already know I have a cousin, multiple cousins. I do have a lot of cousins. If we limit ourselves to first cousins, I only have eight, six on my mother's side and two on my father's side. But if we consider nth cousins m-times removed, then I have way more than eight.

Stopping to think about this mathematically, if I just let n and m get large enough, a huge proportion of the people on this planet are my nth cousin m-times removed. But even limiting this to cousins that I have met, the number, while an insignificant portion of the world population, is pretty large by more localized standards.

Back to the cousin who relates to the book, who shall be called Michael. (Because his name is Michael.) This cousin is my first cousin once removed. He is the son of my first cousin (and that first cousin was at the wedding, but his son, Michael, the first cousin once removed, was not.)

Michael is a writer, though primarily not of books. His profession is as a comedy writer. He's written for a variety of companies, like Nintendo and IGN, and also a host of late-night shows and their hosts. (I feel very accomplished having used two forms of the word "host" in that sentence. Michael would probably have found a funnier way to say it.)

Point being, Michael is a brilliant writer of comedy. And while I said he is not primarily a writer of books (or in truth I said primarily not of books and I am trying to sketch this out in symbolic logic to see if in this instance those mean the same thing) he did write a book. I mean recently. Right now, he is taking a hiatus from writing for late night TV to promote his book and in an unironic twist, he will be on a late night show later this week as part of that endeavor. You can see him on Thursday, June 26 on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

In case you fear I am digging my way into a very deep rabbit hole or finding tangents to tangents, let me assure you I am not. Most of you have probably already figured out that the book I read, the physical book I read, is Michael's new book called Good Game, No Rematch. (Look, I even linked it! I'm so nice to my readers.) It's kind of a memoir going through various stages of Michael's life, but much of it is told in terms of video games. Michael is a major fan of, player of, and collector of, video games.

Personally, I am not that into video games. For example, right now on my phone I have five games, three of which came preloaded with my operating system and which I have not yet ever opened. The other two are KROPKI which is a puzzle game that you could totally play with pen and paper and Best Cryptic Crosswords, because I like the cleverness needed to solve the clues. If I have any video games saved on my laptop, they must have come with the operating system and I don't even know what they are.

The downside to my general disinterest in the antics of Mario, Sonic, and a variety of other protagonists I had never heard of before reading their names in the pages of Michael's book was that this important aspect of his memoir was esoteric to me. What was fascinating was hearing Michael's take on his life. Admitted, I wasn't around Michael much during his adult life, but in a good portion of his childhood, I would see him regularly. When he talks about his dad or mom or sister or brother, I know all of them personally. No surprise, they are also my cousins! (Okay, his mom is my cousin by marriage, cousin-in-law if you will.)

If you are into video games or comedy or video games and comedy (I could have probably saved myself words by writing video games and/or comedy, but instead I used even more words writing this parenthetical) then you might enjoy Michael's book a lot. He's very funny and I assume his obsession fueled video game anecdotes are totally on point. I have no reason to doubt him.

Regardless of the author and the themes, there was this fantastic experience of reading a book. I like e-books and audiobooks a lot. But there is something to the experience of holding a book in your hands, letting your eyes traverse the page, smelling the paper. That's a nice sensory experience to have.

The hydrant has nothing to do with the rest of this post. But look at that beauty! I couldn't resist.

Sometimes people ask me if there are things I miss by lacking the more traditional home life or being out of the United States. Usually I think about things like the huge variety of foods we can get in the States or having an entire spice rack to choose from when cooking or being able to express myself fully in the native tongue. I forget about the little experiences until they are brought back to me. But there are some of those small things that I can live without, but wouldn't it be nice... Like reading a book. A physical book.

Thanks for that, Michael.