Finished!

Yes, I am indeed finished with this year’s Nanowrimo project. The story is completed at 74,725 words. This is the longest thing I have written, ever. I’ve been writing around 4-5k the past couple of days and my brain is fried. Meanwhile, I will give you the summary. It’s supposed to be fantasy/steampunk.

Summary for Foxfire: The city of Amanthus may be mysteriously rotting from the inside out, but Zan Hu has other worries. Her Uncle Elliot has passed away leaving several people clamoring after Zan, urging her to complete the research that he has left at loose ends. There’s also the Museum director who’s after her uncle’s machines. Then there’s her strange patron funding her work–why is he so adamant in following her around? Oh, and there’s another thing that has her worried–changing into a fox at the most inopportune moment.

If you’re curious and aren’t afraid of reading a first draft (and my crappy explanations on electricity–please do not use them to help you study for your E&M course), you can go here to read the entire novel in several installments or you can download the entire thing to read at your leisure.

TV Is Evil But…

I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And one thing immediately jumped out at me. There are a lot of young, blonde, female teen idol “singers” who I’ve never even heard of–but they all look the same. The Evil-Big-Name-Recording-Companies must have cloned Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera/Blonde-Girl-What’s-Her-Name and never disclosed this to the National Bioethics Advisory Committee.

A Reply

I suppose sarcasm does not translate well on the internet. In response to a rebuttle to my vitrolic Gravity’s Rainbow review, I did not literally mean that the judges for the book took crack. It was a metaphor for “what the hell had they been thinking?” I’m sorry the review gives out the impression that I lack any understanding of the book. I don’t give out in depth criticisms of most of the books that I read simply because it’s done better elsewhere. Besides, it wasn’t really the core message that turned me off. That in itself does not doom a book. It was the execution and the style that gave me the feeling that somebody had attempted a lobotomy on me. If the story theme had just been an adventure story with a happy ending but had been written in the same way as Gravity’s Rainbow, I would have also given it a thumbs down.

Also, if you have to be picky about my metaphor about crack, please do not imply Gravity’s Rainbow won the Pulitzer because it didn’t. It won the National Book Award. And as far as I know, the Pulitzer and the National Book Award are not the same thing.

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Is anyone addicted to Sudoku? I’ve heard about it a long time ago but I’ve only started playing a couple days ago. I jumped in immediately to the harder levels in the hopes that I would be able to learn how to solve them more quickly than if I started on an easy level and worked my way up.

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Belated: Unconscious Mutterings

1. Heads up:: To
   
2. Kicker :: Up
   
3. Aggressive:: Defense
   
4. Getting ugly:: Mirror
   
5. To be continued:: For
   
6. Twist:: Tie
   
7. Form:: Fill
   
8. On the road:: Driving
   
9. Import:: Export
   
10. Flowers:: Shop

The Thursday Threesome: Where’s the Server?

Onesome: Where’s– the main event for you and yours next Thursday? Are you staying in? …or are you doing the “Over the river and through the woods” thing?

As usual, I will be writing like mad. (And if anyone is wondering about my progress right now, I’m at a little over 33k and my plot is approximately half done. And my latest chapter has a tentacle monster.)

Twosome: the– main course? If you had your way, what would be on your plate as you sat down for a Thanksgiving meal?

I suppose the traditional kind of things like turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pies, etc. But no cranberry sauce. Or green bean casserole. Yuck. I prefer my beans un-casseroled and my cranberries un-sauced.

Threesome: Server?– Who is the main server at your get together? Does one person run the show? …or do several people work together? Students: do you even get to go somewhere?

It’s egalitarian.

Ha! Take That Country Music!

Okay, so I only knew that the local news station co-opted the first half of some country music awards show because it was really windy today and the sky was looking pretty ugly and I was wondering what the weather people were saying about it. Yep, lots of “tornadic activity” and I’m spending the rest of the evening in the basement.

The sky’s still pretty crazy–lightning is flashing every couple minutes or so with the accompanying loud rumble of thunder.

And I’m thinking, “tornadic” is a poor excuse of a word.

A Quarter

Yet another, semi-depressing birthday. It could be more depressing because of the significant milestone but it also means that now my car insurance is a hundred bucks less. Go figure.

Yet Another Year For Ye Olde Blog

Is it crazy or what–this blog is four years old today. Pretty old in internet terms. And at the moment, it’s acting sort of old considering the pace I’m putting up the posts lately. I suppose that’s my annual blog complaint as well–that I’m not posting often enough. Oh well. Here’s some links to diddle your time away:

Calendar Maker. This serves no practical purpose, except for people wanting to draw up a moon calendar based on worlds with many moons.

Nice Hair. A web comic that originally started out as a joke about Neil Gaiman, Tim Burton, et al.

Gorey TTF. “It’s a TrueType font based on the distinctive hand lettering of Edward Gorey.”

Science fiction book and magazine covers. (via Monkeyfilter) Geez, I’m such a geek.

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The Thursday Threesome: Of the Hours in the Week

Onesome: Of the Hours-in the week, which ones are your favorites?

Any one except the one when I have to get up.

Twosome: In the-week there are 168 hours (it seems longer!); what bit of trivia do you hold that you’d like to share with the group?

There are approximately 35 different breeds of sheep in the United States. I happen to know that because somebody asked me to look it up recently.

Threesome: Week-after week we roll along, pausing each Thursday to share some common time here; where else do you go on a weekly basis for a little diversion? (On line or off line; either is fine.)

There is another meme, but uh, I haven’t been so strict about doing it.

Crazy Sale!

Don’t ask me how I ended up there. Now that I think about it, I’m not quite sure. It’s fuzzy and a bit of a blur. But I do remember that there was a sale. I turned a corner and then suddenly I was in the middle of a kitchenware war zone. A sale on pots. And lots of desperate housewives with the occasional bewildered husband.

There were ripped up cardboard boxes and sadly tattered pieces of plastic. Shopping carts jammed every which way. And the pots! Here, there, everywhere. The bigs ones were extremely coveted–snatched up as soon as they were spotted among the debris, hugged against bosoms like precious children. Yelling, cajoling. A militant sparkle in every cooking woman’s eye.

And you’d better step out of the way or you’d be run over by a cart filled with pots.

“A lid! A lid! I’m trying to find a lid! To. Fit. This. Pot!”

Yes, pots need lids. And all those lids, mismatched, incorrectly sized. Those housewives, pick up one, try to fit it on their big pots. And fail. Don’t get in between those shoppers and their quest for the perfect pot on sale. They smile. Excuse me. Sharp, bared teeth flash before my eyes.

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The Thursday Threesome: I Can’t Stand Being Sick!

Onesome: I Can’t – What little thing can’t you do that everyone else seems to be able to do?

Shop at a clothing store. It bores me.

Twosome: Stand – What issue is it that you take a big stand on?

Uh, a lot of things.

Threesome: Being Sick – Are you prone to getting sick or are you one of those people that can go years in between illnesses?

No, I do not get sick very often. But I do have allergies. Pesky things.