So, what does “reading a SciFi/Fantasy” series have to do with the price of tea in China?

Well, nothing actually.  But it does have something to do with my whole “Transform Tony in 2013” plan.

Here’s the VERY brief outline of the plan.  Trust me, I can be brief when I need to and today, I need to because I’ve got a LOT of things on the “to do list”

But, Uhmmm.. I digress… back to that outline of “The Plan.”

Here is the deal, I recognize that to achieve my goals for this year (more detail on that later) that I have to do a little bit every day/week:

1. Get plenty of sleep every night
2. Stretch daily
3. Lift (3 x a week)
4. Cardio (3 x a week)
5. Diet (in the sense of eating right, not in the sense of starving myself)
6. Dance (overlaps with cardio but not always — also overlaps with lifting, but not always)
7. Be “domestic” (e.g. laundry, dust, balance Quicken, pay bills, ride herd on the clutter, etc)
8. Be “entrepreneurial” (e.g. add designs to my online t-shirt/button/bag shop on Zazzle, write articles on Squidoo, promote and advertise my Line Dance Instruction business, etc)
9. Socialize and/or Relax

So, where does the “reading SciFi” fit into all this?  Well, friends and neighbors, I’m about to go all Zen on you.

There has to be balance!

To maintain a healthy “me” there has to be some socialization and relaxation built into the picture.   It can’t all be “work, work, plan, plan, plan, work, work, work toward the goal”  Ya just gotta cut loose and relax some too!

So, as part of my ‘getting ready for bed” routine I do some reading.

Ah-HA!  cry the teeming masses of the eight people actually reading my blog!

The light dawns.  The sun rises and understanding and clarity reigns throughout the land!  Woot!

And the SciFi series I’m re-reading is The Dresden Files / by Jim Butcher.  Ok, so I’ve read this series of books before.  And I have this “rule” that I only keep books around if I’ve read them at least four times.  And since this is the fourth?  fifth? sixth? time I’ve read this series I’m going to keep the books around this time so the next time I want to read them I won’t have to go scrounging around to find them all.

If you’re into SciFi, or Fantasy, or you’re into Detective Noir books then this series has got your name written all over it.  It is about this nice guy who happens to be Wizard, and a Private Investigator and who sometimes gets himself into trouble.  Uhmmm.  Did I say “sometimes”?  That’s like saying the Mississippi has a little bit of water in it.  LOL

Anyway, the books are a very fast read.  Lots of fun.  Entertaining, enjoyable and full of action.  They have characters which develop and grow, not only within each book, but over the span of the entire series.  Which means that you really do need to read them in order.

The first one, which I finished last night, is called “Storm Front”  Here is what it says about the book on the author’s website:

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he’s the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things — and most of them don’t play well with humans. That’s where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a — well, whatever.

There’s just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry’s seeing dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry’s name. And that’s when things start to get… interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.

Now, that I’ve finished book one, I’m going to have to head to Half-Price Books today and try to find Books 2 & 3 in the series.  *sigh*

That is after I go to the dance studio this morning and before I go practice with my awesome dance partner and then go to the wonderful West Coast Swing Class tonight.

See ya on the dance floor!