Category: Daily Journal

Daily Journal: January 12,2025

The third day in a row that once again, I get past my daily reading goal, I’m pretty sure that this type results will become the norm for the rest of the the journey of this year of reading. The current number for today is 203, and I know that one more short reading session before the night is done is in order to try and start the 5-day gold reading streak and the chasing of those mysterious prizes

Not sure that my eyes will agree with the idea, but I’ll give it a go anyway. For this task I’ll recruit the help of the apprentice Witch Coco from to the extremely cute manga Witch Hat Atelier.

Until today, and I can’t recall why, I finally got around reading the first Volume of the series, which has been on my lend list from Kindle for around six months, and to be honest, I was missing some great artwork and story.

I think it was probably a hangover of reading manga during last year’s final stretch so profusely, that I purposely avoid them. But I think that’s way overdue to start some pending series, actually, this is Exactly that kind of light quick reading that will get me back on track with my goals.

Later on the week, now that I mention goals, I’ll write the first Numbers post in a while, there, I will have the whole run down of how things are progressing.

The good news is that the first streak I’m chasing, the 10-day reading streak of at least 179 pages is already on its way. My hope was to start the 4 week streak, but I fell short. But things are finally starting to be more consistent, it only a matter of time to get back on track.

For now

Off to read

Azriel

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Daily Journal: January 11, 2025

For the second day in a row, I have achieved my daily total of pages, I feat not that common in this year of reading. To put it mildly, consistency has not been the common denominator in the past few months, but thankfully, that’s beginning to be a thing of the past.

Today the main reason I could achieve this goal was a graphic from one of my favorite artists/characters combo. On this particular story the Scottish artist Jock takes Batman on a journey to reach Blackgate prison on thru the treacherous streets of Gotham, that not only are infested by a turf war between street gangs but also with the deadly villain EMP and the familiar Killer Croc, the behemoth adversary that roams the underground of the city, all of this while the lights of the city have gone out.

A bloody and almost broken Batman must fight for his survival one city block at a time. As always the fuzzy and dynamic penmanship of Jock fits perfectly with the dark persona of Gotham’s Dark Knight.

This new momentum has inspired me to create some new reading challenges to boost up my total numbers for the year. Of course, to spicy things up, I’m attaching a prize for myself when each of the mini challenges are achieved. I’ll start with the following four challenges, this until I scheme some new ones.

  • 10-day reading streak, at least 179 pages per day
  • 5-day gold reading streak, at 300 pages per day
  • 4 week reading streak, at least 1,253 pages per week
  • 100-day reading streak, at least 179 pages per day

This will help me get things back on track, and achieve another successful year. As you can see there’s a lot of reading to do, and with that in mind

Off to read

azriel

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Daily Journal: January 10, 2025

Today, that’s the approach for this period of my reading.

I have fallen a little behind my reading, nothing catastrophic , but my intention is to get back on track, taking that exact approach. Focus on today.

My current goal for each day, in order to reach my coveted goal, is 179 daily pages. This year ,that number has decreased to 98 pages per day. Still a solid number, but not enough to get me across the finish line.

Luckily ,over the Christmas holiday, I received a batch of books that are slowly taking me out of my slump , and the past few days that number has increased exponentially.

With that in mind, my immediate goal is to cross the 20,000 page line for this year over the weekend, and more importantly restart the streak of the weekly goal, which is 1,253 pages, to carry it until the end of the year of reading, the last 20 weeks of the year are going to be really interesting.

But for now, I’ll focus on today, and those 179 pages that will get me closer to the million pages goal.

Off to read

Azriel

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Daily Journal: July 31,2023

All in all, the weekend was really productive for my reading. I could tally almost 14 hours of total reading, but more importantly, I got to page 936 of Alan Moore’s Jerusalem, not quite the original goal, but a triumph.

Also, I finished the novella A Frost of Fear and Fortitude, which had been my favorite story from the Levanthria series, that dark spin on Saint Nick was just perfect. Hopefully, A.P. Beswick will make some more stories, besides the upcoming A Frost of Death and Deceit, to be released on December 1, 2023.

The only task left for the month of July is to reach the 12,000 net pages. Right now, I’m looking at 286 pages to do so. The best course of action is to read a bit of Mr. Moore’s book and finish the night with some graphic novels.

With that in mind.

Off to read

azriel

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Daily Journal: July 30,2023

Yesterday was a very productive day of reading, from the challenge of reading those elusive 24 hours over the weekend, a monumental task that only achieved twice in several tries, I was able to rack up 9 hours 25 minutes, and 14 seconds, not bad for not really trying.

Hopefully, today will turn out to be at least as productive as yesterday, if the clocks passed the 12 hours mark, then I’ll be more than satisfied. The truth of the matter is that the true goal is to hit those mini challenges to close out the week of reading on a high note.

Speaking of which, and as posted in yesterday’s entry, the four challenges go as follows:

  • Reach page 950 of Alan Moore’s Jerusalem (currently on page 852)
  • Finished the third book of the Levantria Series A Kingdom of Courage and Cruelty
  • Read the novella “A Frost of Fear and Fortitude” (currently on page 43 of 128)
  • Read 12,000 net pages on the month of July, my current total is 11,525, leaving only 475 pages for the next two days.

On the broader picture there was some forward momentum. In the next milestone, to reach 750,000 pages, the new date is set to be October 16, 2030, pretty close to the deadline of the whole project, but has decreased by 56 days in the last two weeks. My goal to reach this next waystation is on April, 2027. which puts me 1,266 days behind, things that doesn’t make me sweat, judging by my reading rhythm, I’ll get way faster than that.

For the major prize, the current date of achieving the herculean task is now on February 17, 2038. The last time I calculated this projection, back on June 12, my end date was February of 2039, that means that over a month of reading I have close the gap to a whole year less, pretty impressive if you ask me.

The main focus of today will be Alan Moore´s Jerusalem, and lighten the mood, I´ll throw in some graphic novels. I have considering revisiting one of my favorite Green Lantern story-arcs, Blackest Night, written by Geoff Johns back in 2009, and it shaped Green Lantern as we know it today, which remains one of the few series that I read from the major two comic publishers.

Off to read.

azriel

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Daily Journal: July 29, 2023

I know that in order for these posts to be called a “Daily Journal,” they should be exactly that, but there’s so many things to read that sharing my daily ranting just skips my mind.

The good news is that I have already reached the 20,000-page mark for this year of reading. Those gears are moving just perfectly. There’s still the possibility of a 100,000-page year, but I will not get ahead of myself.

For now, I’ll focus on the task at hand, reading 12,000 net pages in the dwindling month of July. This leaves me with 1,258 pages to read in the next 3 days, and just for fun, I’ll throw in another attempt to achieve 24 hours of reading over the weekend to spice things up.

In the mix of all of these, I have three more mini challenges to reach over the weekend

  • Reach page 950 of Alan Moore’s Jerusalem (currently on page 700)
  • Finish the third book of the Levantria Series A Kingdom of Courage and Cruelty (currently on page 130 of 238)
  • Read the short story “A Frost of Fear and Fortitude” set also in the Levanthria series, a retelling of not so jolly old Saint Nick, the monster hunter

I have a lot on my plate for the weekend. The only thing that I can assure is that it is going to be very fun.

Off to read.

azriel

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Daily Journal: July 25, 2023

It has been a couple of really slow reading. This is mainly because my focus has been on the behemoth task of tackling Mr. Moore’s intricate novel Jerusalem. The setting of his native Northampton, going thru several ages of the once Saxon capital in England, has been quite the challenge. The second part book, which I’m currently navigating, is focused on some of the dead residents of the enigmatic town.

To say it is a difficult endeavor is an understatement, but as with all of the work of Mr. Moore, it’s worth the challenge. Being realistic, my goal is to reach at least 75% of the book. The original plan was to finish in July, but with such a complicated story, it’s best to take it slowly.

What comes next on my reading queue? that’s a great question. There are three possible paths to follow. The first will be to pick up where I left the Dragonlance series. The second would be to read the next two books of The Vorrh Trilogy by the late Brian Catling. The third option is to continue the adventures of Glen Cook’s Black Company.

That decision will be made once my journey thru the treacherous streets of Northampton ends.

Off to read.

azriel

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Daily Journal: July 24, 2023

To be honest, I have been meaning to get back sooner to share my progress of this crazy project of mine, but my focus was so caught up on getting the first milestone, which I did as announced on my last post.

So, on July 14 of 2023, after 5,392 days of reading, the first 500,000 pages were achieved. For me, it was such a joyous occasion, and having great people around that have shared the process, some for a short while, some for a very long time, it made it all that much special.

Now, I have some new challenges ahead of me, including the next 500,000 pages. This next step will have to be achieved just a fraction of the time, 2,874 days to be exact. But fear not, judging by how the first 48 days of the current year of reading, I’ll be fine.

Speaking of that, my current total is 19,980 pages for year sixteen. If by some miraculous feat I keep this pace up, I’ll be reaching in November of this year the total quota of 64,850 pages. Pretty impressive

Obviously, I can’t sit still even in these booming times. My main focus is cutting down the days that my schedule has fallen behind. Currently, the projections for achieving the 1,000,000-page mark are on March 12, 2038. That puts me 2,472 days behind my 50th birthday

There’s so much more reading left to do, but the tides are changing, and I will jump head on at these momentum and ride the waves to that coveted goal.

Off to read.

azriel

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Daily Journal: June 18, 2023

Once again, I find myself coming back to this cathartic device, which is even more necessary nowadays. There isn´t anything, besides reading, that can put my mind at ease faster that sharing my nonsense in written form, making a little noise in hopes that someone will find some solace between these lines.

With my reading from yesterday and today, I made some significant steps toward the main focus of the upcoming months, getting to the 500,000-page milestone no later than the middle of September. The good news is that, according to my projections, the new date for reaching the said goal is now October 27, 2023. There are only 12,022 pages between me and the first half of my project.

Today´s reading has been filled with really diverse material. I finished No Country for Old Men, by the late great, which is still really hard to think that this week he passed away, Cormac McCarthy, this was a re-read to celebrate his illustrious career that will live eternally on the brutally beautiful prose that he created. The other book that I’m working on is the behemoth written by Alan Moore, Jerusalem. Expanding 1,255 pages, currently on page 84, it explores the streets of Mr. Moore´s native city of Northampton, elevating them to mythical proportions. My goal for today is to reach page 142, following a schedule to finish it no later than July 3.

As always, and I know that´s pretty late on my neck of the woods, I´ll try to squeeze in some graphic novels in between the slow progress that novels represent. For tonight´s menu there´s volumes 6 and 7 of the manga series Battle Angel Alita, thankfully, I did not let the not-so-highly regarded movie adaptation deter me from giving the series a chance, it´s pretty fucking awesome.

Off to read.

azr

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Daily Journal: May 13, 2023

After a much needed rest, I’m back to try and conquer this year’s goals, and more importantly, getting back to my previous writing rhythm with these daily entries.

Today’s reading has been a bit slower than what I had in mind coming into the weekend, but it’s better not to focus on what I haven’t done and instead try to salvage a bit of the day with a last effort before succumbing to sleep.

As tradition dictates, the month of May is mainly focused, from May 4 to May 25, to read anything from the many tales from a Galaxy far, far away. I have already finished a couple of books, Ahsoka and Before the Awakening, and right now, I’m working on a pretty interesting story of the training of infamous Sith Lord Darth Maul.

In The Wrath of Darth Maul, we bear witness to the cruel methods of Darth Sidious in order to obtain a worthy apprentice in the dark sith arts. Although this story is not part of the official story canon, there’s a lot of ties to the events that are portrait in both the Prequel Trilogy and the Clone Wars series. Regardless of what the new direction of the universe has taken, I still have plans to go over the more than 100 books from the Legends series. There are some true gems waiting to be discovered.

To top things off , there’s a couple of printed graphic novels that I bought quite some time ago. One from the High Republic era and one from the Bounty Hunters storyline that takes place in the Rebellion era. This little reading marathon is the perfect excuse to jump into what has been going on in the current storyline and maybe try and play catch-up.

Off to read.

azr

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