daBlog by goddess101

Broken

It’s funny sitting at a computer programming all day can give you the same feeling of having done several hours of physical activity. In the morning, they both make you feel broken.

These last few mornings, I’ve been waking up feeling like I’ve just been beat up. In some sense, I have. Debugging and testing a program is a lot like trading punches with a powerful enemy. Just when think you’ve got a bug put down, another one comes up to play on your weaknesses and bite you in the butt. The struggle can often last hours. More often than not, I wind up victorious at the end, with the ability to walk away from the computer knowing I’ve got something solid working, free of the most obvious bugs.

Last night, I wasn’t as lucky. I had been working on a specific problem for hours, and it was left still unresolved by the time dinner rolled around. After the meal, I realized I had been done for the day. The stiffness in my forearms and the ache in my lower back told me it would have been foolhardy to continue. So, I spent an hour on the couch, contemplating how much my body hurt, and eventually dozed off. When Rudi told me to come to bed, my body was in such excruciating pain. The shlep to the toilet was like a death march, sharp pangs in my hip and back. My shoulders ached. I needed to grab onto the door frame for support for the quarter step into and out of the bathroom.

Luckily, this morning wasn’t so bad. Somewhat refreshed and re-energized, I am determined to tame that buggy beast sometime today.

Neil Gaiman's Sandman

I’ve been a lover of comics for as long as I can remember. My mom may even still have old issues of my old well-worn superhero comics (usually sans covers), which I would occasionally grab on trips to Safeway. Later as a teen, jumpstarted by my Robotech obsession, I started collecting comic books more seriously, investing in plastic sleeves and relatively expensive mylar bags to preserve my treasures. I also ventured outside the typical superhero realm, taking great pleasure in reading graphic novels which dealt with more serious and mature material.

“Neil Gaiman’s Sandman” is most definitely one of them, and one of the best I’ve ever read. I had bought the first volume, Preludes and Nocturnes, years ago, which is a collection of the first 8 issues. I had actually tried on numerous occasions to read it, having read that Sandman was one the premier titles to own in the comics universe, but ironically (or maybe not so, given the title!) I would fall asleep. Not that the material wasn’t any good. I just couldn’t get into it, similar to how the first 50 pages of a good book are a bit tough to absorb at first. However, a week ago, I decided to give it another try, and, well, I’ve reached that tipping point. Now I must read the rest!

What’s so great about it? It’s creatively written and meticulously planned out. In fact, there have been a few moments when I’ve had to stop and say to myself, “Wow, this is bloody brilliant!” I don’t want to give away any of the good stuff, but in summary, the series is about Morpheus (a.k.a. the Sandman), ruler of the Dream Realm, who is removed from his world by cultists seeking immortality and held captive for decades. The book follows the affects of his imprisonment and the inevitability of his escape. Sounds simple, sure, but Gaiman has written some pretty trippy stuff in here that will not only tap into your own dream experiences but maybe expand your mind a bit.