I really, honestly wish I had a video to show you of the hilarity that is Laser Pointer Tag. But I don't, because I don't own a camcorder. Instead, I shall attempt to describe it.
So, I live right in the middle of downtown Moscow, and when the drunken "woohoos" and "yeeeeahs" of the Friday night college students wake me up from my peaceful "have to get up at 6 a.m." slumber, I exact my delicious and hilarious payback. For my birthday last year (March 2, in case anyone cares), my parents got me a gift certificate for Thinkgeek.com, a fine purveyor of the silly, inane, and awesome. With this, I purchased a number of objects, one of which was a green laser pointer. Unlike the ubiquitous red laser pointer, the beam that emanates from this model can be seen clearly in any lighting condition dimmer than broad daylight. The dot at the terminus of the beam is a brilliant green and thus a relative oddity to the inebriated Friday night crowd.
Thus was Laser Pointer Tag born. When Friday's noise inevitably wakes me up, I clamber out of bed, grab my green laser toy, and off to the windows in my apartment that border on the street. From there, I can tag any number of "under the influence" college students, or run the dot around in circles, or put it on someone's back, only to turn it off the moment they begin to look up. It's especially hilarious when the object of my jest blames someone across the street and makes "I see what you're doing there" gestures at them. Only once have I been caught at my silly game, at which point the victim shouted a few choice obscenities concerning my nether anatomy, and then continued on his way.
This is, of course, immature. But what manner of practical joke isn't? This kind of thing comprises the majority of the jollies I get these days. If I can't make fun of the stupid kids of which I once was, what can I do? Thanks to my little brother, I have a defense against what could happen if a drunken jock doesn't get the joke and storms up to my apartment to exact petty revenge, but I don't think that will ever be necessary. Most people just have fun with it. A few people have even chased the green dot around the empty Moscow streets like tipsy cats. It's good, clean fun, and hurts no one.
On a completely unrelated note, I found a Dubstep (translation: especially twitchy Techno) video that makes you really root for the monster. It's Skrillex's Equinox: First of the Year, and the official music video is amazing.
The bass unit that I picked up second-hand at a yard sale is amazing for this song.
If you want "lyrics" of a sort, my recently-married little brother found this edition for me, which is uncanny in its accuracy, and has improved my own totally sweet dance moves and lip synching, which I will show you all as soon as I acquire the aforementioned camcorder (probably from my brother as well).
Hilarious, but a total failure as a sing-along video. Anyway, that's it. I have to go to work in four hours. Huzzah for insomnia, right?
Showing posts with label College Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label College Life. Show all posts
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Thursday, January 20, 2011
In which the Author Muses Musically, and Ponders Politically
My back is feeling better. With the exception of the occasional twinge if I sit for too long, barely pains me at all. Huzzah for modern medical science! At least no one tried to bleed me. Well, there was that one nurse who might have been trying to. How else do you 'miss' the giant blue veins on my hands? I mean, they're RIGHT THERE and HUGE.
Anyway, no rambling about back pain. It's answered prayer, and I am grateful for it. I will instead ramble about music!
For those of you who don't know me very well, I enjoy lots of stuff from the electronic genre. My current favorite artist, for multiple reasons, is "VNV Nation," especially their most recent album "Of Faith, Power, and Glory." It typifies pretty much everything I like about the electronic genre: a driving beat, heavy synthesizers in combination with actual instruments, and good vocals with harmony.
Exhibit A: "In Defiance" from the aforementioned album. It has a positive message with some battle metaphors in it, a driving beat, hot synth lines, and a piano. And then there's Ronan Harris, the singer. That man's voice just makes my ears happy. For some reason his mellow baritone just kind of makes me feel safe and warm. I've fallen asleep dozens of times listening to his "Illusion" on the album "Judgement" (which coincidentally contains one of my other favorite songs by them, "Testament"). If I could meet one person from one band, it would be Harris, and I'd try to convince him to let me sing a duet with him.
I'd also recommend the entire Judgement album (yes, it's the British spelling of judgment, because the band's from Ireland). It's got half a dozen outstanding pieces on it, and the rest's not bad.
Another song that's very similar but lighter on the synth, is Assemblage 23's "Hooked." The harmony in Hooked is simple, but golden. I keep singing bits of it with my friend Avery. I think I just prefer male vocalists in electronica. Female vocalists in this genre tend to have higher-pitched, squeaky voices that grate on my nerves.
And on an unrelated note (music pun ha ha), I've also been listening to a lot of oldies recently. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are among my favorites for their style and humor, and Frank Sinatra's crooning is just as sexy as it was when he first sang those songs in the 40s.
Speaking of battle metaphors and voices that grate on my nerves, am I the only person who is both tired of and disappointed by the constant screeching at each other that our politicians are doing in the aftermath of the Tuscon shooting? Listen, irrespective of whether or not violent language contributed to the decision of a disturbed individual to start shooting at people, politicians shouldn't be using that kind of language.
Yes, I know that the American political system has never been the most civil place. I mean, people used to get beaten down with canes in our senate building (during the debate on slavery). When senators couldn't get their way merely a few years ago, they'd blather on and on, wasting their time and our tax dollars in a less-than-fair tactic called a filibuster. But when you're drawing crosshairs on people's heads, using battle-ready language, and calling up images of reasons used to justify the Holocaust, something has gone horribly wrong.
It's not that Republicans are wrong, and Democrats are right, or vice versa. It's that both of them need to simmer down and do some serious self examination. Sure, in this country we have the right to say whatever we want to the guy across the street. But the founding fathers made sure we had these rights with the idea of common sense in mind, thank you Mr. Paine. Shouldn't common sense and self-control keep our politicians' words in check?
Apparently not. Next time an election comes up, pay close attention to the kind of rhetoric your favorite candidate uses. If they can't be civil, they're not getting my vote.
End of rant.
I'm taking 16 credits this semester (down from 19), most of which are writing-intensive, so my amount of writing I'm getting done on work that I want to do is going to suffer. I will at least have time for editing the book into publishable shape by April, I hope.
On to immense loads of writing homework. You may continue with your lives.
Anyway, no rambling about back pain. It's answered prayer, and I am grateful for it. I will instead ramble about music!
For those of you who don't know me very well, I enjoy lots of stuff from the electronic genre. My current favorite artist, for multiple reasons, is "VNV Nation," especially their most recent album "Of Faith, Power, and Glory." It typifies pretty much everything I like about the electronic genre: a driving beat, heavy synthesizers in combination with actual instruments, and good vocals with harmony.
Exhibit A: "In Defiance" from the aforementioned album. It has a positive message with some battle metaphors in it, a driving beat, hot synth lines, and a piano. And then there's Ronan Harris, the singer. That man's voice just makes my ears happy. For some reason his mellow baritone just kind of makes me feel safe and warm. I've fallen asleep dozens of times listening to his "Illusion" on the album "Judgement" (which coincidentally contains one of my other favorite songs by them, "Testament"). If I could meet one person from one band, it would be Harris, and I'd try to convince him to let me sing a duet with him.
I'd also recommend the entire Judgement album (yes, it's the British spelling of judgment, because the band's from Ireland). It's got half a dozen outstanding pieces on it, and the rest's not bad.
Another song that's very similar but lighter on the synth, is Assemblage 23's "Hooked." The harmony in Hooked is simple, but golden. I keep singing bits of it with my friend Avery. I think I just prefer male vocalists in electronica. Female vocalists in this genre tend to have higher-pitched, squeaky voices that grate on my nerves.
And on an unrelated note (music pun ha ha), I've also been listening to a lot of oldies recently. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are among my favorites for their style and humor, and Frank Sinatra's crooning is just as sexy as it was when he first sang those songs in the 40s.
Speaking of battle metaphors and voices that grate on my nerves, am I the only person who is both tired of and disappointed by the constant screeching at each other that our politicians are doing in the aftermath of the Tuscon shooting? Listen, irrespective of whether or not violent language contributed to the decision of a disturbed individual to start shooting at people, politicians shouldn't be using that kind of language.
Yes, I know that the American political system has never been the most civil place. I mean, people used to get beaten down with canes in our senate building (during the debate on slavery). When senators couldn't get their way merely a few years ago, they'd blather on and on, wasting their time and our tax dollars in a less-than-fair tactic called a filibuster. But when you're drawing crosshairs on people's heads, using battle-ready language, and calling up images of reasons used to justify the Holocaust, something has gone horribly wrong.
It's not that Republicans are wrong, and Democrats are right, or vice versa. It's that both of them need to simmer down and do some serious self examination. Sure, in this country we have the right to say whatever we want to the guy across the street. But the founding fathers made sure we had these rights with the idea of common sense in mind, thank you Mr. Paine. Shouldn't common sense and self-control keep our politicians' words in check?
Apparently not. Next time an election comes up, pay close attention to the kind of rhetoric your favorite candidate uses. If they can't be civil, they're not getting my vote.
End of rant.
I'm taking 16 credits this semester (down from 19), most of which are writing-intensive, so my amount of writing I'm getting done on work that I want to do is going to suffer. I will at least have time for editing the book into publishable shape by April, I hope.
On to immense loads of writing homework. You may continue with your lives.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
In which the Internet is Threatened, and the Author is Lazy
The Federal Communications Commission is about to pass regulations that will let internet providers limit what applications can be used on their networks, and even allow paid prioritization of speed for certain sites and services. Net Neutrality is threatened, and because of the way our wishy-washy government does things, loopholes in this legislation aboundeth.
I'm a supporter of Net Neutrality, which by definitions means this: if you have a nifty idea, game, service, site, or what have you, you get the same kinds of speed, the same kind of service, and the same chance for viewer attention as any big company (with the exception that they have more cash to spend on advertising than you do).
This regulation should really not become law because it is not only extremely broadly tailored, it also doesn't serve a compelling government interest, and actually harms public interest. There are loopholes in it large enough to drive an intergalactic cruise liner through. For example, Verizon and AT&T could block all access to Skype on their internet services and on their phones. While it seems reasonable to say 'well, we don't want people using our phones for free,' it's also been my opinion that since people are paying something like forty dollars per month for unlimited data transmission, they should be able to use it for anything they want, VOIP programs like Skype included. I'm paying forty dollars a month just for phone service, much less any kind of internet.
Worse yet, paid prioritization of speed is only 'discouraged,' not banned. This means that if you really like, oh, say, Wordpress to blog on rather than Blogger, Wordpress can pay the internet provider to make their site load faster, upload faster, et cetera. What does this mean for a few years down the road, when Revelation hits the fan? Will sites with Christian agendas just be shunted down to the lowest tier of pokey slow? Or does this pave the way for blocking it entirely, and that this regulation is just the beginning of censorship and an erosion of our First Amendment rights? FEAR MY PARANOIA!!! (AND MY CAPITALS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!)
End of rant.
As for my non-ranting personal life, I have been exceptionally lazy for the last few days. I dedicated my first day of winter break to doing nothing constructive whatsoever. I'd forgotten how relaxing it is to just be totally worthless as far as productivity goes. I couldn't keep it up, though. The next day, I wrote about 1,200 words on my next book (!!!) and wrote another song for my musical. It may be the only piece of literature (if that's what you can call it) that contains the lines "You may kiss the bride. You may now defend the bride from bandits."
Less back pain is always a good thing. Those shots I got the other day continue to work their medicinal magic, and I'm feeling good enough to get back to work. They have a followup with me on January 11 to get another round of them, but things should be pretty shiny after that. The sooner I don't have to deal with very long, very uncomfortable needles, the better.
I'm going to nip out and get a haircut now. The amount of shagginess this mane of hair has developed is starting to get inconvenient. My fedora no longer fits. Fortunately there's a place in town that does 5 dollar haircuts. Perfect for my famished college student budget.
You may now continue your pedestrian existences, peasants. May the Force be With You, and may your internets always be free of regulation.
I'm a supporter of Net Neutrality, which by definitions means this: if you have a nifty idea, game, service, site, or what have you, you get the same kinds of speed, the same kind of service, and the same chance for viewer attention as any big company (with the exception that they have more cash to spend on advertising than you do).
This regulation should really not become law because it is not only extremely broadly tailored, it also doesn't serve a compelling government interest, and actually harms public interest. There are loopholes in it large enough to drive an intergalactic cruise liner through. For example, Verizon and AT&T could block all access to Skype on their internet services and on their phones. While it seems reasonable to say 'well, we don't want people using our phones for free,' it's also been my opinion that since people are paying something like forty dollars per month for unlimited data transmission, they should be able to use it for anything they want, VOIP programs like Skype included. I'm paying forty dollars a month just for phone service, much less any kind of internet.
Worse yet, paid prioritization of speed is only 'discouraged,' not banned. This means that if you really like, oh, say, Wordpress to blog on rather than Blogger, Wordpress can pay the internet provider to make their site load faster, upload faster, et cetera. What does this mean for a few years down the road, when Revelation hits the fan? Will sites with Christian agendas just be shunted down to the lowest tier of pokey slow? Or does this pave the way for blocking it entirely, and that this regulation is just the beginning of censorship and an erosion of our First Amendment rights? FEAR MY PARANOIA!!! (AND MY CAPITALS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!)
End of rant.
As for my non-ranting personal life, I have been exceptionally lazy for the last few days. I dedicated my first day of winter break to doing nothing constructive whatsoever. I'd forgotten how relaxing it is to just be totally worthless as far as productivity goes. I couldn't keep it up, though. The next day, I wrote about 1,200 words on my next book (!!!) and wrote another song for my musical. It may be the only piece of literature (if that's what you can call it) that contains the lines "You may kiss the bride. You may now defend the bride from bandits."
Less back pain is always a good thing. Those shots I got the other day continue to work their medicinal magic, and I'm feeling good enough to get back to work. They have a followup with me on January 11 to get another round of them, but things should be pretty shiny after that. The sooner I don't have to deal with very long, very uncomfortable needles, the better.
I'm going to nip out and get a haircut now. The amount of shagginess this mane of hair has developed is starting to get inconvenient. My fedora no longer fits. Fortunately there's a place in town that does 5 dollar haircuts. Perfect for my famished college student budget.
You may now continue your pedestrian existences, peasants. May the Force be With You, and may your internets always be free of regulation.
Friday, December 17, 2010
In which the Delay is Explained, and the Reader gets a Lesson on why Orcs are like Cats
Pinched spinal columns hurt. But no worries, jamming giant needles in the spine fixes the problem, right?
Anyway, via a combination of wrapping up a semester, intense back pain, and the release of Fallout: New Vegas, I haven't written a post for this blog in ages, and am now remedying the situation.
All the News in Fits of Print:
Long stories short, I've still been working on the musical. Sometimes I make headway, sometimes I don't. I'm still looking for a person to help me with the actual songwriting. No such luck acquiring a talented musician as of yet (at least not one who's willing to work on speculation instead of cold hard cash). But see below in Things you should Look At. I found a hilarious music site thanks to one of the followers of this blog. Kudos to you, Jess.
I had a two month dating-style relationship with a Jewish girl whose mother is from the Ukraine. It was great. She was really funny, a goofball, and we had a lot of geeky interests in common. Unfortunately what we didn't have in common was a religious belief of any kind. She was Jewish by culture not faith, and I guess I was "too Christian." I'm sad that it's over, but I know God's got someone for me out there who's just as geeky and screwball who doesn't think He's a fairy tale.
Marcher Lord Press has inducted a new member to our fold of spec-fic weirdos. Sharon Hinck, who writes, get this, Old Testament Fantasy Fiction, has joined the MLP crowd, and I really want to read her books. I've wanted to write a fantasy/Hero thing about King David's Mighty Men of Valor for a long time, and her writing sounds right up my alley, at least as far as deliberately Christian fiction goes. I recommend you take a look at Restorer's Journey, which I will be liberally borrowing (read stealing) ideas from.
Got a Cortisone shot (two actually) in my spine. The needles hurt a lot, but it's lessening my back pain already and it's been less than 24 hours. God willing, I'll be back to full mobility in time for the next semester (and for work, as being off the schedule has had a dramatic shallowing effect on my pockets).
Things you should go look at:
* SONGS TO WEAR PANTS TO: http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/
You should check this out, especially "We Are the Robot Pirates" and his cover of Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive." This guy takes emailed suggestions (and paid commissions too) and turns them into funny short songs. The guy's name is Andrew, and he's super talented. His musical style is incredibly eclectic, hitting genres from rap and pop to electronica, bluegrass, and even some really silly satire pieces about zombies. If you value your sanity, do not, repeat, DO NOT listen to "Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows." Also for his more serious work (Drum n' Bass Classical Rock covers of things like Rihanna's "Only Girl" and some of his original, very heartfelt pieces) check out his channel on Youtube called Suture Sound.
As soon as I have about four hundred dollars, I am paying this guy to produce an orchestrated version of one of my songs from my musical, "Sneaky Sneaky." He already said he liked it, but couldn't do it for free. Phooey. Why's everything gotta be about money these days?
* THE BENNY HILLIFIER: http://bennyhillifier.com/
I don't know who runs this, but it amuses the crap out of me. You know the song "Yakety Sax" that a lot of comedy sketches play during silly chase scenes? Well, this critter can take any Youtube video and replace the sound on it with that song. It can turn a lackluster fight scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-yG-8fryCM) into THIS: http://bennyhillifier.com/?id=J-yG-8fryCM
Great for funny cat videos, Matrix fight scenes, funeral videos etc.
REASONS WHY ORCS ARE LIKE CATS
Courtesy of a conversation with an insufferable Brit/Indian half-breed friend of mine, Orcs are apparently like cats for a number of reasons. The conversation mostly consisted of saying things about cats, and then almost falling over laughing when we imagined that Orcs do these things too.
1. They like to sleep in hot places
2. They claim territory/things by scent marking them
3. They eat their food off the floor
4. They get grouchy if they are tired, hungry, thirsty, full, drunk, sober, awake, or currently existing in any fashion.
-it just devolved from here-
5. They poop in a box
6. They go into heat
7. If you touch a baby Orc the mother won't recognize its scent, and will eat it
8. They shed everywhere
10. They bathe by licking themselves
11. They'll sleep on your couch and not move even if you want them to
12. It is impossible to get up off a couch when an Orc is laying on you
13. They purr
14. Orc Hair is impossible to get off white clothing
15. Paper bags are amusing to them
16. They are easily distracted by laser pointers
It went on from there, but those are the "best of" or maybe "worst of."
That is all, you may now return to your lives. The next post will not be quite so long in coming.
Responses for my followers:
* Angelica: Yeah, sorry about the delay. Fortunately as the semester is now over, I have some extra time to write blog posts. Whoopee. I don't like making myself a liar, so more posts cometh.
Anyway, via a combination of wrapping up a semester, intense back pain, and the release of Fallout: New Vegas, I haven't written a post for this blog in ages, and am now remedying the situation.
All the News in Fits of Print:
Long stories short, I've still been working on the musical. Sometimes I make headway, sometimes I don't. I'm still looking for a person to help me with the actual songwriting. No such luck acquiring a talented musician as of yet (at least not one who's willing to work on speculation instead of cold hard cash). But see below in Things you should Look At. I found a hilarious music site thanks to one of the followers of this blog. Kudos to you, Jess.
I had a two month dating-style relationship with a Jewish girl whose mother is from the Ukraine. It was great. She was really funny, a goofball, and we had a lot of geeky interests in common. Unfortunately what we didn't have in common was a religious belief of any kind. She was Jewish by culture not faith, and I guess I was "too Christian." I'm sad that it's over, but I know God's got someone for me out there who's just as geeky and screwball who doesn't think He's a fairy tale.
Marcher Lord Press has inducted a new member to our fold of spec-fic weirdos. Sharon Hinck, who writes, get this, Old Testament Fantasy Fiction, has joined the MLP crowd, and I really want to read her books. I've wanted to write a fantasy/Hero thing about King David's Mighty Men of Valor for a long time, and her writing sounds right up my alley, at least as far as deliberately Christian fiction goes. I recommend you take a look at Restorer's Journey, which I will be liberally borrowing (read stealing) ideas from.
Got a Cortisone shot (two actually) in my spine. The needles hurt a lot, but it's lessening my back pain already and it's been less than 24 hours. God willing, I'll be back to full mobility in time for the next semester (and for work, as being off the schedule has had a dramatic shallowing effect on my pockets).
Things you should go look at:
* SONGS TO WEAR PANTS TO: http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/
You should check this out, especially "We Are the Robot Pirates" and his cover of Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive." This guy takes emailed suggestions (and paid commissions too) and turns them into funny short songs. The guy's name is Andrew, and he's super talented. His musical style is incredibly eclectic, hitting genres from rap and pop to electronica, bluegrass, and even some really silly satire pieces about zombies. If you value your sanity, do not, repeat, DO NOT listen to "Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows." Also for his more serious work (Drum n' Bass Classical Rock covers of things like Rihanna's "Only Girl" and some of his original, very heartfelt pieces) check out his channel on Youtube called Suture Sound.
As soon as I have about four hundred dollars, I am paying this guy to produce an orchestrated version of one of my songs from my musical, "Sneaky Sneaky." He already said he liked it, but couldn't do it for free. Phooey. Why's everything gotta be about money these days?
* THE BENNY HILLIFIER: http://bennyhillifier.com/
I don't know who runs this, but it amuses the crap out of me. You know the song "Yakety Sax" that a lot of comedy sketches play during silly chase scenes? Well, this critter can take any Youtube video and replace the sound on it with that song. It can turn a lackluster fight scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-yG-8fryCM) into THIS: http://bennyhillifier.com/?id=J-yG-8fryCM
Great for funny cat videos, Matrix fight scenes, funeral videos etc.
REASONS WHY ORCS ARE LIKE CATS
Courtesy of a conversation with an insufferable Brit/Indian half-breed friend of mine, Orcs are apparently like cats for a number of reasons. The conversation mostly consisted of saying things about cats, and then almost falling over laughing when we imagined that Orcs do these things too.
1. They like to sleep in hot places
2. They claim territory/things by scent marking them
3. They eat their food off the floor
4. They get grouchy if they are tired, hungry, thirsty, full, drunk, sober, awake, or currently existing in any fashion.
-it just devolved from here-
5. They poop in a box
6. They go into heat
7. If you touch a baby Orc the mother won't recognize its scent, and will eat it
8. They shed everywhere
10. They bathe by licking themselves
11. They'll sleep on your couch and not move even if you want them to
12. It is impossible to get up off a couch when an Orc is laying on you
13. They purr
14. Orc Hair is impossible to get off white clothing
15. Paper bags are amusing to them
16. They are easily distracted by laser pointers
It went on from there, but those are the "best of" or maybe "worst of."
That is all, you may now return to your lives. The next post will not be quite so long in coming.
Responses for my followers:
* Angelica: Yeah, sorry about the delay. Fortunately as the semester is now over, I have some extra time to write blog posts. Whoopee. I don't like making myself a liar, so more posts cometh.
Friday, July 2, 2010
In Which Far Too Much Happens, and the Post is Belated
Where in the realms of earth, sky, and sea do I begin? My week (or two of them, really) has been so incredibly complicated and busy that I am nearly exhausted. But most of what happened is good news, so fret not, dear readers.
Let me begin with the reason I didn't post LAST week. I was chaperoning a group of guys for the University of Idaho's youth journalism conference thingy. I'm not sure exactly what it was about, but it seemed to be an intensive workshop where the kids learned to write journalistic story leads, took photos, wrote and produced video interviews, that sort of thing. It was really nifty stuff, and I'm sorry I missed out on most of it. I was mostly just there in the evenings to make sure the guys didn't go down to the girls' floor.
On that note, Daniel and Aaron, you guys were awesome. I hope to see you again sometime. On an unrelated note, Daniel writes short stories, a few of which he was kind enough to let me critique. Look up his 'A Western Story' on DeviantArt here.
So it was on to the weekend, and I thought I had spent my 'week off' from book-related things well. Not relaxing as I had hoped, but doing something worthwhile. Unfortunately, my house disintegrated that weekend. Two of my friends have left the house, at least temporarily. Stephen is home to Missouri, recuperating from a breakup wherein his girlfriend cheated on him and destroyed his entire world. Amanda has taken off back to her home in Sandpoint, as there are more jobs available in that tourist town than in Moscow. I gave Amanda a ride home, and Stephen a ride to the airport. I will miss both of them this summer.
However, on a more positive note, my airplane-piloting, grease-monkey, outdoorsy girl cousin just got married this weekend. It was an awesome ceremony held in an aircraft hangar. And I got to ride a Segway. They are way cool. You kind of stand on one and lean forward, and it just GOES!
Also, no one really badgered me about how I should be married already because Hayley is four months younger than I. Thank you to everyone who didn't badger me. My last relationship ended poorly, and I'm not inclined to start another so soon.
So this last week, after dropping Stephen off, has consisted of trying to work out bills and their appropriate payments (as Amanda, who was taking care of these things, is gone), and trying to work out the awful tangle they're in. So far I've nailed down the city bills, found the missing rent money, and discovered that our rental company is very unforgiving when it comes to getting these things straightened out. Also, found out that after rent and bills, I don't have nearly enough money for the Oregon Christian Fiction Writer's Conference. I suppose most of my next paycheck will go toward that.
I'm planning on a trip home next week for a day or two to meet one of my fans and talk shop with someone about making an honest-to-goodness AUTHOR WEBSITE for me. Not that the blog's too shabby or anything, but it'd be nice to have a place for people to send me fan mail. And post comments, questions, and the like. Which, I've noticed, no one really does on here. Insert frowny sad face here.
That's all the news in fits of print. Enjoy your day. I'm off to work graveyard shift tonight... insert another sad face. Ah well. At least it'll help with the whole complicated money thing.
Let me begin with the reason I didn't post LAST week. I was chaperoning a group of guys for the University of Idaho's youth journalism conference thingy. I'm not sure exactly what it was about, but it seemed to be an intensive workshop where the kids learned to write journalistic story leads, took photos, wrote and produced video interviews, that sort of thing. It was really nifty stuff, and I'm sorry I missed out on most of it. I was mostly just there in the evenings to make sure the guys didn't go down to the girls' floor.
On that note, Daniel and Aaron, you guys were awesome. I hope to see you again sometime. On an unrelated note, Daniel writes short stories, a few of which he was kind enough to let me critique. Look up his 'A Western Story' on DeviantArt here.
So it was on to the weekend, and I thought I had spent my 'week off' from book-related things well. Not relaxing as I had hoped, but doing something worthwhile. Unfortunately, my house disintegrated that weekend. Two of my friends have left the house, at least temporarily. Stephen is home to Missouri, recuperating from a breakup wherein his girlfriend cheated on him and destroyed his entire world. Amanda has taken off back to her home in Sandpoint, as there are more jobs available in that tourist town than in Moscow. I gave Amanda a ride home, and Stephen a ride to the airport. I will miss both of them this summer.
However, on a more positive note, my airplane-piloting, grease-monkey, outdoorsy girl cousin just got married this weekend. It was an awesome ceremony held in an aircraft hangar. And I got to ride a Segway. They are way cool. You kind of stand on one and lean forward, and it just GOES!
Also, no one really badgered me about how I should be married already because Hayley is four months younger than I. Thank you to everyone who didn't badger me. My last relationship ended poorly, and I'm not inclined to start another so soon.
So this last week, after dropping Stephen off, has consisted of trying to work out bills and their appropriate payments (as Amanda, who was taking care of these things, is gone), and trying to work out the awful tangle they're in. So far I've nailed down the city bills, found the missing rent money, and discovered that our rental company is very unforgiving when it comes to getting these things straightened out. Also, found out that after rent and bills, I don't have nearly enough money for the Oregon Christian Fiction Writer's Conference. I suppose most of my next paycheck will go toward that.
I'm planning on a trip home next week for a day or two to meet one of my fans and talk shop with someone about making an honest-to-goodness AUTHOR WEBSITE for me. Not that the blog's too shabby or anything, but it'd be nice to have a place for people to send me fan mail. And post comments, questions, and the like. Which, I've noticed, no one really does on here. Insert frowny sad face here.
That's all the news in fits of print. Enjoy your day. I'm off to work graveyard shift tonight... insert another sad face. Ah well. At least it'll help with the whole complicated money thing.
Friday, June 18, 2010
How good it feels to write 'The End.'
Ladies and jellybeans, reptiles and crocodiles, I stand before you and sit behind you to tell you something I know nothing about.
Or perhaps I am here to tell you that I have indeed finished my second book. Who knows which it is? It must be one of nature's greatest mysteries!
All right, so I'm a little loopy from having stayed up until four this morning writing and sending the book to the publisher, then getting woken up by one of my professors from the college calling me about an hour and a half before I meant to wake up. But the fact remains that I am done with the initial writing, and will soon move on to the whole editing thing again. The tentative release date for my next book is with the batch MLP releases in April 2011. So it will be just less than a year until the second book is in print.
No reason not to start the next one in the meantime, I suppose... but now there's not as much pressure from various sources. Except possibly from my friend Avery, who has set an artificial due date of next Thursday for my next book. Hmm... Can I write 100,000 words or so in six days? Not very likely, good sir. Try again when I'm even more sleep-deprived. I might be insane enough to go for it at that point, but I could not vouch for the quality of the writing.
So, now I'm off to work, footloose and fancy free, to use the cliché. I also have to get one of my professors a copy of the background check I got for work at Gritman so I can watch a couple of teenagers over the weekend for some sort of conference or something. Shouldn't be too difficult, and I get some food money for it, so woo!
On a completely unrelated note, Monsters vs. Aliens is not only cute, but the character of Galaxar the alien and his clones just remind me so much of a Villain and his Minions that I was rolling on the ground laughing as I was watching it. I then had to dust off my back. Apparently I haven't swept upstairs in a while. I live in the basement, so it's out of sight, out of mind, as they say. They, who is in fact, my uncle Tim. I was so impressed with the movie that I went out an bought a bit of the soundtrack, and made a ringtone out of the song Dr. Cockroach was dancing to to hack the security system on the ship. It's a terrible song, but the one bit of it he was dancing to was so very catchy!
And on the subject of Villainy/mad science, I heartily recommend the web comic "Girl Genius" for those of you who just can't get enough awesome steampunk and mad science. If you ever wanted to see giant walking battle platforms, lightning control generators, hilarious lovable scary monster soldiers, and a love triangle that would make even Lydia Weatherblade's head spin, check it out. It's got a decent amount in the archives too, so even if you're very bored, you're not burning through it in just one day.
That is all. You may now go about your daily business. And buy my book in April!
Or perhaps I am here to tell you that I have indeed finished my second book. Who knows which it is? It must be one of nature's greatest mysteries!
All right, so I'm a little loopy from having stayed up until four this morning writing and sending the book to the publisher, then getting woken up by one of my professors from the college calling me about an hour and a half before I meant to wake up. But the fact remains that I am done with the initial writing, and will soon move on to the whole editing thing again. The tentative release date for my next book is with the batch MLP releases in April 2011. So it will be just less than a year until the second book is in print.
No reason not to start the next one in the meantime, I suppose... but now there's not as much pressure from various sources. Except possibly from my friend Avery, who has set an artificial due date of next Thursday for my next book. Hmm... Can I write 100,000 words or so in six days? Not very likely, good sir. Try again when I'm even more sleep-deprived. I might be insane enough to go for it at that point, but I could not vouch for the quality of the writing.
So, now I'm off to work, footloose and fancy free, to use the cliché. I also have to get one of my professors a copy of the background check I got for work at Gritman so I can watch a couple of teenagers over the weekend for some sort of conference or something. Shouldn't be too difficult, and I get some food money for it, so woo!
On a completely unrelated note, Monsters vs. Aliens is not only cute, but the character of Galaxar the alien and his clones just remind me so much of a Villain and his Minions that I was rolling on the ground laughing as I was watching it. I then had to dust off my back. Apparently I haven't swept upstairs in a while. I live in the basement, so it's out of sight, out of mind, as they say. They, who is in fact, my uncle Tim. I was so impressed with the movie that I went out an bought a bit of the soundtrack, and made a ringtone out of the song Dr. Cockroach was dancing to to hack the security system on the ship. It's a terrible song, but the one bit of it he was dancing to was so very catchy!
And on the subject of Villainy/mad science, I heartily recommend the web comic "Girl Genius" for those of you who just can't get enough awesome steampunk and mad science. If you ever wanted to see giant walking battle platforms, lightning control generators, hilarious lovable scary monster soldiers, and a love triangle that would make even Lydia Weatherblade's head spin, check it out. It's got a decent amount in the archives too, so even if you're very bored, you're not burning through it in just one day.
That is all. You may now go about your daily business. And buy my book in April!
Friday, June 11, 2010
What'e'er good cometh of far too much coffee, 'tis far outweighed by the cost...
Ne'er have I seen the dangers so clear of the legality, and more importantly, the abundance of caffeine in this country. When a restaurant will sell an endless cup of coffee to someone at 4 a.m., and then bring them a second pot once they have foolishly consumed the first, well, perchance I think too harshly of them, and 'tis the fault of the consumer, not the business.
All right, so I know this is summer vacation and all, but let me note one thing. My days off work are just that. Days off. Not nights stretching into infinity. I do not wish to be kept up until 4 a.m. by the sinister machinations of my friends, nor torn from the security of my own home by the same in an attempt to make me go to WinCo with them. This manner of treachery is only acceptable when leavened with delicious food.
So it was that this befell me. A couple of my housemates drag me out of the house at 4 a.m., ostensibly to go grocery shopping. Now, I'd already been grocery shopping. That very day, in fact, and gotten ingredients to make delicious food for the house. But no, they were not content with this, and off we went. We did not make it to WinCo, as I foolishly mentioned I was hungry, and lamented that even McDonald's wasn't open so late. Or perhaps not open quite that early.
So off we went to the local Shari's, which if you don't know what that is, is kind of like a Denny's. It's a 24-hour diner. Stephen, this adorable no good dirty rotten scoundrel friend of mine, bought me very early breakfast. Stuffed hashbrowns, sausages, eggs and toast, the works. But my mistake was the coffee.
See, another friend who happens to live in our house is allergic to coffee. So much so that we can't even brew any in the house, or the fumes get to her and drive her sinuses nuts and kick her in the head. So when I get the opportunity to have some coffee, I sure as chocolate pudding take some. Yes, that epithet was strange, but it's 2:30 a.m. Cut me some slack.
I drank two pots of coffee all by myself. I'm not sure where the first pot went, but I more or less inhaled it before my food got to me. Also, I consumed enough cream and sugar to power a small European country. Coffee, as it turns out, requires a certain ratio of sugar to cream to coffee for me to tolerate it. And of course, I usually use coffee as an excuse to drink cream and sugar. So with the ratio of four sugar packets and three creamers to one cup of coffee, and an average of four cups of coffee per pot... my goodness, that is a stupid number of sugar packets. Nevermind.
This of course affected my behavior somewhat. I am mildly hyperactive in my normal state of consciousness, and the addition of two pots of coffee to this is not the best of soothing balms. Somewhere between the first and second pot, everything in the world became hilarious. My friends and I chatted about random stuff for an hour while we ate and I drank gratuitous amounts of coffee. And cream and sugar. It makes Stephen sick to watch me doctor my tea, as he's lactose intolerant.
For the record, if you ever go to the Shari's in Moscow, Idaho at night, and you are served by a waitress named Krystal, she is a fantastic person, a paragon of professionalism, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for putting up with my shenanigans.
THE POINT OF THIS STORY IS
It actually doesn't have one, but it produced an interesting side effect. For the next two hours after getting home (6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Thursday morning), I wrote two thousand words per hour. After the caffeine wore off and I crashed for four hours, I got up and wrote even more. Seven thousand, one hundred and fifty-four words are the direct result of two pots of coffee. I'm not sure of the quality, but the quantity is stupendous.
Therefore I am going to bed now to catch up on my much-needed sleep. But I'm on a roll now, folks. With just less than three thousand words to write, give or take, and the story winding up to a conclusion of sorts, I am so very very close to being done it's not even funny. If I wasn't falling asleep at the keyboard, I'd just finish it now. But I have work in the morning, bwaaaaah. Off to clean sheets and fuzzy blankets for the night. Hopefully tomorrow, the book will be done. No promises.
Oh, and by the way, Duncan, thanks for being my first follower. You are the Best. Stalker. Ever.
Thought for the Day: Contemplating the fall of the Bolsheviks, I realize that it really doesn't take much to topple a governmental system and become an evil dictator. Next time you see a ruling regime on the brink of collapse from their own stupidity, would you do me a favor and tell me so I can take it over?
All right, so I know this is summer vacation and all, but let me note one thing. My days off work are just that. Days off. Not nights stretching into infinity. I do not wish to be kept up until 4 a.m. by the sinister machinations of my friends, nor torn from the security of my own home by the same in an attempt to make me go to WinCo with them. This manner of treachery is only acceptable when leavened with delicious food.
So it was that this befell me. A couple of my housemates drag me out of the house at 4 a.m., ostensibly to go grocery shopping. Now, I'd already been grocery shopping. That very day, in fact, and gotten ingredients to make delicious food for the house. But no, they were not content with this, and off we went. We did not make it to WinCo, as I foolishly mentioned I was hungry, and lamented that even McDonald's wasn't open so late. Or perhaps not open quite that early.
So off we went to the local Shari's, which if you don't know what that is, is kind of like a Denny's. It's a 24-hour diner. Stephen, this adorable no good dirty rotten scoundrel friend of mine, bought me very early breakfast. Stuffed hashbrowns, sausages, eggs and toast, the works. But my mistake was the coffee.
See, another friend who happens to live in our house is allergic to coffee. So much so that we can't even brew any in the house, or the fumes get to her and drive her sinuses nuts and kick her in the head. So when I get the opportunity to have some coffee, I sure as chocolate pudding take some. Yes, that epithet was strange, but it's 2:30 a.m. Cut me some slack.
I drank two pots of coffee all by myself. I'm not sure where the first pot went, but I more or less inhaled it before my food got to me. Also, I consumed enough cream and sugar to power a small European country. Coffee, as it turns out, requires a certain ratio of sugar to cream to coffee for me to tolerate it. And of course, I usually use coffee as an excuse to drink cream and sugar. So with the ratio of four sugar packets and three creamers to one cup of coffee, and an average of four cups of coffee per pot... my goodness, that is a stupid number of sugar packets. Nevermind.
This of course affected my behavior somewhat. I am mildly hyperactive in my normal state of consciousness, and the addition of two pots of coffee to this is not the best of soothing balms. Somewhere between the first and second pot, everything in the world became hilarious. My friends and I chatted about random stuff for an hour while we ate and I drank gratuitous amounts of coffee. And cream and sugar. It makes Stephen sick to watch me doctor my tea, as he's lactose intolerant.
For the record, if you ever go to the Shari's in Moscow, Idaho at night, and you are served by a waitress named Krystal, she is a fantastic person, a paragon of professionalism, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for putting up with my shenanigans.
THE POINT OF THIS STORY IS
It actually doesn't have one, but it produced an interesting side effect. For the next two hours after getting home (6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Thursday morning), I wrote two thousand words per hour. After the caffeine wore off and I crashed for four hours, I got up and wrote even more. Seven thousand, one hundred and fifty-four words are the direct result of two pots of coffee. I'm not sure of the quality, but the quantity is stupendous.
Therefore I am going to bed now to catch up on my much-needed sleep. But I'm on a roll now, folks. With just less than three thousand words to write, give or take, and the story winding up to a conclusion of sorts, I am so very very close to being done it's not even funny. If I wasn't falling asleep at the keyboard, I'd just finish it now. But I have work in the morning, bwaaaaah. Off to clean sheets and fuzzy blankets for the night. Hopefully tomorrow, the book will be done. No promises.
Oh, and by the way, Duncan, thanks for being my first follower. You are the Best. Stalker. Ever.
Thought for the Day: Contemplating the fall of the Bolsheviks, I realize that it really doesn't take much to topple a governmental system and become an evil dictator. Next time you see a ruling regime on the brink of collapse from their own stupidity, would you do me a favor and tell me so I can take it over?
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