The Apocalypse Will Kill The Trolls Too

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

I read through the first part of this book and so far it’s enjoyable.  The world is falling or rather fell apart…climate change, environmental pollution, radiation, all kinds of horrible man-made trouble has resulted in the end of society.  Everyone is dead except for a small commune in the Shenandoah valley.  Even the animals are gone except for those saved by the small family that saw the writing on the wall and prepared.  The book was written in the 60s and it definitely feels like a eco-apocalypse from that era, so much so that I got a strong sense of the movie Silent Running…a resigned feeling of loss with nothing to be done to prevent the end of everything.  So I guess that while I’ve enjoyed the book so far, it is not a happy story.  Even the characters that DO survive, suffer heartbreak and have to sacrifice for the greater good of the remaining society.  Essentially what’s left is a little collective of clones that have rejected the individualism that apparently brought about the downfall of civilization.  It’ll be interesting to see where the story goes, but things look pretty bleak for the world and with the clones only able to replicate a certain number of times, perhaps we are headed to a robot civilization?  

Onward to Bronze III…II…I

Wow!  I enjoyed a great series of matches going 20-4 and shot up the ladder.  For once, I seemed to get in with a group of people (though I didn’t team with anyone) that actually wanted to play…only 3 AFK players in 24 games.  And even with that, I only lost 2 of the 3 games with an AFK.  In any case, including the 5 straight wins from last time, I won 19 in a row.  Zyra carried me from Bronze III up to Bronze I and it was a fun time.  As I mentioned, 2 of my 4 losses were with AFKs, but for the most part, people paid attention to pings, communicated well, and knew the champions they were playing.  I’m at a loss to understand how this happened all at once, when usually I might get a good run of 4-5 games, but then a streak of trolls will show up.  Well, after this run, I am definitely feeling like I will attain Silver this season.  

Morning Ramble 2.75