I’ve started reading The Hobbit. I don’t know how many times I’ve started to read it throughout my life, but it’s a book I’ve intended to read. I know I’ve never made it to chapter three, which is where I’m at now. I believe I was first exposed to the book from the animated movie that looks like it was made in the 1970s. I had some friends in middle school who were all about Middle Earth–they even wrote notes to each other in runes. I wanted to like the whole Tolkein thing with them, but I just couldn’t get into it.

I found my copy of The Hobbit on my bookcase during a recent cleaning, so I decided to give it another shot. My thoughts so far:

–I relate to Bilbo Baggins more than I care to admit. He’s described as a guy who is privileged to live a life of humble leisure. There is enough capital from his upbringing that he can live comfortably without working hard, and the life he wants to live is simple. He has no demands to a complicated, expensive lifestyle, and his simplicity and relative solitude suits him fine. He is living the life I aspire to.

–Gandalf has played a deus ex machina role twice already, and I am going to get irritated if Tolkien continues to resolve conflicts by having Gandalf appear seemingly out of nowhere to fix problems.

–The dwarves (or is it “dwarfs”) are on a mission to get their treasure back from the dragon Smaug. Why do dragons need treasure anyway? Do they engage in commerce? Do they have dragon bills and dragon mortgages? I figured dragons didn’t need money since they pretty much lived wherever they want, and ate whomever they want. The book says Smaug is probably resting on the treasure as a bed. In fact, the cover of my copy shows a dragon resting on a pile of gold, not unlike Scrooge McDuck probably did in Duck Tales. But I find it a little hard to believe that a dragon would want to take treasure just to sleep on it.

CKT and I saw Big Hero 6 this afternoon. It’s a cross between I, Robot and Scooby-Doo.

I reviewed my marketization manuscript today for the first time in a few months. It’s going to need a little more work than I thought, but I am confident I know what it needs.