Timewaster's Guide Archive

Hello all.

My name is Bill Giles.  Bill progressed to Bilbo, which I personally pushed to Baggins when I joined Quark, BYU's science fiction and fantasy club, and created a login name for their forums.  I now have a large group of friends/acquaintances who know me solely by this name.  (I'm still active in the club, even though I graduated.)

I graduated in December from BYU, with a Bachelor's degree in English.  I originally wanted to be an English major in high school, but not wanting to live in a cardboard box under a fire escape in a back alley, I decided to change my major to Zoology and pursue a career as a pediatrician.  When I realized I wanted to work more directly with patients, I changed to pediatric nurse, and then, upon the realization that my drive was actually to work with kids, and not necessarily in medicine (I wanted to be a dad, not a nurse), I promptly changed to Statistics, because I had enjoyed the intro class.  Heh.  That lasted about three weeks.  I then started working on a major in Sound Recording Technology and worked at university's Classical FM station for two years, but I was unable to get that major, because it required admittance to BYU's School of Music, which is ridiculously competitive.  I took all of the classes, which could effectively be considered an unofficial minor in Sound Recording Technology, but ended up coming full circle and majoring in English after all.

Now I work in Provo doing research at a Public Relations firm, which represents computer connectivity companies- networking, storage, etc.  Ironically, it was my three weeks as a statistics major and two semesters as a TA that pushed me over the edge in getting that job.  Who knew?  Either way, it's a great job that I love.

I was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, but I'm currently staying in Provo for I'm not sure what reason.  It's just one of those promptings that I've learned to follow.

I initially found EUOL's work at a BYU sidewalk sale, where I saw a hardback copy of Elantris for $6.00.  I'd heard the book mentioned in Quark before, and so I decided to pick it up.  After all, who am I to turn down a hardback fantasy novel for six bucks?  I read it and was hooked.  I progressed to reading everything that Brandon had written that I could get my hands on, including his blog and two different drafts of Warbreaker.  (It was very interesting noting the changes between the two versions.)  I'm still trying to figure out how I lucked into finding a favorite author of all time who is local.

As for ending up here, specifically, I found a link on Brandon's blog to the Q&A on Hero of Ages, which I immediately had to read after finishing the book at 2:30 a few nights ago.  I didn't get to bed until 4:00.  8:30 work the next morning was not enjoyable, but it was worth it.

As for myself, I consider myself to be a true eclectic.  I love books, movies, video games, board games, card games, and just about anything else that has a good story.  As for genres, it's just as broad.  For video games, I love platformers, RPGs, puzzle games, racing games (though I am horrendously bad at most of them, Jak X: Combat Racing being the exception), fighting games (especially the Smash Brothers franchise), RTSs and MMOs (currently WoW, though I am hoping to get into the Darkfall beta).  Movies, I enjoy action, fantasy, science fiction, drama, romantic comedies, chick flicks (yes, I admit it), regular comedies, foreign... all sorts.  Books include fantasy, science fiction, contemporary fiction, YA fiction, biographies, historical fiction... yeah.

Anyway, I've been very impressed with the level of discussion I've seen on here, and I'm looking forward to reading more and adding my own comments.