Fourth and last day of the early autumn travel, the hike on Tarnica, largest peak of the Polish side. Weather was not to be as close to flawless as the previous day, but it was to be good and I was excitedly waiting for the last hike before departure.
Monthly Archives: September 2017
Bieszczady, third day
Third day’s plan were the grassy peaks I’ve seen from the previous hikes. After the rainy second day, I considered it quite great deal of luck that my clothes managed to dry overnight, but outside it was still quite misty in the morning. Typical early autumn, I guess. The forecast was optimistic, but I refused to blindly believe it. Also, this time we were using one of the most used trails, so the ticket and souvenir shack was active in that place, meaning no free entry this day.
Bieszczady, second day
Second day of the stay, the plan was to reach Krzemieniec, the peak where Polish, Ukrainian and Slovakian borders converge. Just as the first day, the night was rainy and it did not look better for the day, but unlike the first day, now the situation repeated here in the hills, not in the city now far away.
While we boarded the bus in very faint rain, it changed to worse while it carried us some 10 minutes on the main road to reach the start of the trail. It was now raining consistently, though it was still not too bad. This fact probably saved us a bit of coin, as entering the national park (Bieszczadzki Park Narodowy) costs 6 PLN/day (roughly 1,4€ or 1,6$) but in this terible weather and the main hiking season gone, the shack selling tickets and souvenirs was closed.
Bieszczady, first day
One month after my return from Slovakia, another trip happened, this time for five days. Needing to cross pretty much half of Poland’s width, the bus journey was quite lengthy and the weather, in the fist part, did not help it much. I spent the first part in power saving mode, interrupted by a stop somewhere behind Krakow.
When we were moving again, I picked up my kindle and started reading, something that kept me occupied through the long journey. Shortly after that break, we left the highway and road quality kept gradually decreasing until we reached the Bieszczady mountains in the south-east corned of Poland. The first hike started in quite late time 13:15 and the plan was some 16 km.
Book review: Soldier Sworn
Third book in the series by D. K. Holmberg. None the less engaging and fun than the first two. I actually read this one in two sittings, the first one in bus being stopped around 65% by the encroaching darkness of sunset.
Note: This review is slightly spoilery.
Book review: Shattered fate
This books picks up where Splintered fate ended. A few days after the battle that ended the first book, Lana wakes up but is given little time to rest. While one danger was dealt with, the greater one still remains and is getting more pressing.
Lana and Kaiden will be tested in many ways I don’t want to tell right away to avoid spoilers, but it’s not going to be easy. There’s much more interesting and (to me) quite shocking revelations as they delve into the backstory of her main enemy and the land itself. Well, I guess that’s pretty much all I can say now, because I feel anything more would risk spoilers.
Shattered fate cover
- Read date: 2.9.-10.9.2017
- Publication date: 20.8.2016
- My rating: 85%
- Amazon link
- Goodreads link
Again, due to low amount of ratings on both Goodreads and Amazon, I am not listing them.
In conclusion, this and the first book were quite good reads by story, even if the language suffered in the first book. Still, for something pretty much unknown about, pleasant surprise. Also, it hints possibility of another book.
Book review: Splintered fate
Finally I am doing another review, with quite some delay. This time it’s a shorter book. Splintered fate takes place in a world that is split between Rami and Madonians. The Rami are led by a king that hungers for war and even between the Madonians there are those who lust for fight and due to the enmity between those two races, the world is on brink of war.
The main character, Lana, is Madonian council member that probably just crossed into adulthood and with some personal tragedies behind her. Eventually, things go downhill and it comes to fight, where Lana meets Kaiden, Rami warrior that is her childhood friend. There are also creatures called ‘Aorra’, spiritual beings bound to Madonians, usually in form of an animal.
After series of events, Lana, Ardin (Lana’s wolf Aorra) and Kaiden are forced to run together, in hopes of saving themselves and hopefully Lana’s people as well as her faction of Madonians are those most willing for peace.
They eventually discover a hidden city where members of both races live together and in peace and try to earn their trust and support in ending the war, but eventually Lana is forced to leave the city to protect her own. Without spoilers, it gets down to a close fight with one of her enemies.
Splintered fate cover
- Read date: 12.8.-22.8.2017
- Publication date: 6.11.2015
- My rating: 75%
- Amazon link
- Goodreads link
Due to low amount of ratings on both Goodread and Amazon, I am not posting them here
I must mention that I have a thing for connection to a creature, in many forms, which is one of the reasons I really liked Eragon and James Cameron’s Avatar. The bond between a Madonian and an Aorra is something that got my attention easily.
On the other side, it’s visible that it’s self-published book of someone who does not have English as native language and someone more sensitive to this, it could be troublesome.
He’s back… in 3D
So, two days back I went to watch the 3D remaster of Terminator 2: Judgment day. I admit it was mostly out of curiosity to see how it’ll work out with converting a 26-years old film to 3D version, and it ended up quite nicely. Writing comments for the film itself is quite pointless as there was said much about it during the time it was first released (in that time I was still in the crib).
It was somewhat strange going to cinema to watch a film I knew pretty much inside out and could replicate most memorable lines at any time, in both English and Czech. When it comes to 3D itself, I was mostly waiting for it to show when T-1000 took a hit, but to me it was most prominent by the end where the temporary mist from liquid nitrogen was floating around.
Since I usually watch films at home on my PC with headphones, the biggest jump in quality was actually the sound and I realized I heard details I never noticed when watching it at home.
To wrap it up, I think that for someone who likes the series, going to watch the 3D remaster is nice addition. Especially if you don’t have at least 5+1 sound system at home.
Anyway, T2 was supposedly a test and James Cameron might decide to convert more of his films to 3D in time. We’ll see. Rumors are that he’s planning more Terminator sequels as well…
Writing thoughts: prejudices
So, it’s a bit over two years since I started working on my story, and well over five years since I went from “maybe one day” to “seriously thinking about it”. I still don’t feel ready to talk about it much, and I do here because of the partial internet anonymity. Even that took time.
Truth is, I am still afraid what people around me might think when they learn the truth, which is the reason that I am still quite picky about those who truly know what I am up to (including that it is me, and by that I mean knowing me at least somewhat). Being gamer and generally shy person who sticks to himself most of the time, I was often considered a bit strange. How worse could that be if those around me knew the truth?
Writing thoughts: background music
More often than not, I listen to music while writing. The choices might be quite diverse at some point. In this post I’ll share some of my choices (generally speaking, not naming songs).
Tomas - the wandering dreamer 
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