Marathons of NCIS are a dangerous -- but oh so entertaining -- thing. I have a friend who suggested a bunch of us dress up as the cast for Halloween. I hope that pans out. It would be fun. All I need is a hat and a black wig.
I'm also watching a family move out one of my across the street neighbors. There's two apartments of (mostly) guys across the street. I can't tell if there's two guys in each apartment or three. This weekend they had a really big party. I knew because at about 2:56 a.m. I gave up on them quieting down and just shut my windows and turned on the air. It drowned out their farewell party fairly well. It's hard to tell which guy is which -- one white frat boy looks remarkably like the next -- but I do believe this is one of the people who nearly burned down the building by adding more lighter fluid to the coals every time their grill flame burned down. His family has been loading up his little teal car and a big Dodge truck all afternoon.
Are all of them leaving? I have no idea. This might just be a rotation of friends. These are also the neighbors who like to bang on the doors (and windows) of their friends' places (and their own places) to get let back in after smoking and occasionally just because they don't want to take their keys with them. It always gives me pause when I hear that knocking. Even with my windows down it sounds like it's in here.
In other neighborhood news I haven't seen my neighbor Smokey all week. Woohoo! Nor have I seen his girlfriend in her super ghetto car. Has he moved or is he just away for the week? Prior to returning I was away for two weeks so I can't be certain for a few more weeks. In the meantime I'll enjoy the quiet.
Equally amusing but sad: I just watched my neighbor's family (mom, dad, little brother) try and give that sad, teal two-door a running start. Push, push, push, run, let it go. It rolled until it hit the speed bump.
Looks like your transmission's gone buddy. I know how that goes.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Keeping the Post Office in Business
There are some days when I feel like I'm single-handedly keeping the post office in business: there weren't even bills or junk mail today, just self-addressed envelopes containing rejection letters.
When I get a paper rejection letter it's somehow more potent a rejection than the ones that come by email. First I think of something an acquaintance from the Kenyon Workshop Wrote that these are "little pieces of pain addressed to me by me." Then I think of something I've heard attributed to Stephen King: he kept all his rejection notes collected together and pinned to his wall. When the push pin fell out because there were too many pages attached, he got a spike. When the spike fell out, he got published.
Yes, I keep my rejection letters. Some people ask 'why would you ever want to do that?' They're up on my bulletin board, in plain view, as the physical proof that I am working toward a goal.
My problem with them is that they're inaction instead of action. They are dead ends where I had previously been moving forward. Nothing else to do but to turn around and try the next street; to get moving again. I sent two submissions out yesterday, got two rejections today, there'll be two more submissions in the mail tomorrow.
When I get a paper rejection letter it's somehow more potent a rejection than the ones that come by email. First I think of something an acquaintance from the Kenyon Workshop Wrote that these are "little pieces of pain addressed to me by me." Then I think of something I've heard attributed to Stephen King: he kept all his rejection notes collected together and pinned to his wall. When the push pin fell out because there were too many pages attached, he got a spike. When the spike fell out, he got published.
Yes, I keep my rejection letters. Some people ask 'why would you ever want to do that?' They're up on my bulletin board, in plain view, as the physical proof that I am working toward a goal.
My problem with them is that they're inaction instead of action. They are dead ends where I had previously been moving forward. Nothing else to do but to turn around and try the next street; to get moving again. I sent two submissions out yesterday, got two rejections today, there'll be two more submissions in the mail tomorrow.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Three Minute Fiction
The first few of NPR's Three Minute Fiction Contest stories have been posted on npr.org. Hopefully more will arrive soon.
I liked the first one but I have to admit that I didn't "get" the second one about the kid and the river. I'm willing to be enlightened though if someone knows what I'm missing.
I liked the first one but I have to admit that I didn't "get" the second one about the kid and the river. I'm willing to be enlightened though if someone knows what I'm missing.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Sluggish Summer Days
As summer drags on I find myself doing less and less that can be deemed "productive." I'm in the middle of a two month break from classes and my list of things I should do is just as long as ever. What happened to all my good intentions?
Part of me wants to keep the pace of life slow. To keep visiting with friends and family, to go to fairs and the like. Part of me wants to take this chance to clean and organize. Actually, I'm rather itching to get back to my apartment and clean the whole thing top to bottom.
Would that get me back to working?
I know I've accomplished things this July, but I would like to do more before the month is out so I think it's time to stop thinking about it and start being proactive.
Part of me wants to keep the pace of life slow. To keep visiting with friends and family, to go to fairs and the like. Part of me wants to take this chance to clean and organize. Actually, I'm rather itching to get back to my apartment and clean the whole thing top to bottom.
Would that get me back to working?
I know I've accomplished things this July, but I would like to do more before the month is out so I think it's time to stop thinking about it and start being proactive.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Back from the Road
Who doesn't love a wedding? Particularly when the bride wears such an exquisitely poofy dress?
Gowns like these really add to the fairy tale notion of the whole event. And she's a great girl who has been through the trials of life and always come out with a grin on her face; she deserves a fairy tale wedding.
My weekend of traveling and visiting with friends has wrapped up and while it was great to see so many people and catch up, I can't say I'm sorry to be sleeping in my own bed tonight with no traveling to do in the immediate future. The plan for right now is to do laundry and to get back to writing.
Gowns like these really add to the fairy tale notion of the whole event. And she's a great girl who has been through the trials of life and always come out with a grin on her face; she deserves a fairy tale wedding.
My weekend of traveling and visiting with friends has wrapped up and while it was great to see so many people and catch up, I can't say I'm sorry to be sleeping in my own bed tonight with no traveling to do in the immediate future. The plan for right now is to do laundry and to get back to writing.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Apollo 11
So as soon as I start thinking about doing a "space race" topic for my second writing assignment next fall I discover that July 20, 2009 is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
Sounds like a sign if I've ever heard one.
All sorts of information is popping up. People are digging up news articles and re-publishing them on the internet -- Barnes & Noble is selling a reprinted edition of the NYTimes front section from July 20, 1969 -- there's films, books, memoirs, and then there's this site: we choose the moon.
At wechoosethemoon.org you can listen "live" to the audio transmissions between Apollo 11 and ground control. And by "live" we mean that it's in real time ... just precisely 40 years later.
Every time you tune in between now and July 20 you can hear that stage of the mission. As I'm typing the crew is on sleep orders so it's not very interesting but they've gotta wake up sometime! Once they "land" and come back the site will allow you to go through their audio and visual files as well as their films at your leisure.
Sounds like a sign if I've ever heard one.
All sorts of information is popping up. People are digging up news articles and re-publishing them on the internet -- Barnes & Noble is selling a reprinted edition of the NYTimes front section from July 20, 1969 -- there's films, books, memoirs, and then there's this site: we choose the moon.
At wechoosethemoon.org you can listen "live" to the audio transmissions between Apollo 11 and ground control. And by "live" we mean that it's in real time ... just precisely 40 years later.
Every time you tune in between now and July 20 you can hear that stage of the mission. As I'm typing the crew is on sleep orders so it's not very interesting but they've gotta wake up sometime! Once they "land" and come back the site will allow you to go through their audio and visual files as well as their films at your leisure.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Long Middles
As someone in the middle of a lengthy project (see the little counter bar immediately to the right) I'm rightfully concerned with with the long hard slog through the middle of the novel. As it stands I'm at just under 20,000 words and it still feels like "the beginning." I have one more character to establish before I really feel like I get off the ground and can't look back.
I seem to recall there being a rather depressing Willa Cather quote (which I now can't find) about how the months spend writing the middles of novels were the worst months of her life. I believe there was a reference to a man alone in a desert with no sight or notion of where the next instance of water would be.
Rather upbeat, eh?
Lynn Viehl covered Middles yesterday over on her blog. Particularly notable was when she stopped to enlighten us with this:
She goes on to explain that C-4 is not necessary, that you can always just throw in a surprise that takes up your characters' attention for a while and therefore keeps you the writer moving along and forces your characters to act rather than contemplate their navels while seated. But still ... it almost makes you want to blow something up.
I seem to recall there being a rather depressing Willa Cather quote (which I now can't find) about how the months spend writing the middles of novels were the worst months of her life. I believe there was a reference to a man alone in a desert with no sight or notion of where the next instance of water would be.
Rather upbeat, eh?
Lynn Viehl covered Middles yesterday over on her blog. Particularly notable was when she stopped to enlighten us with this:
... one seasoned writer told me, "When you're bored, blow up something" -- and I've tried this, and it works.
She goes on to explain that C-4 is not necessary, that you can always just throw in a surprise that takes up your characters' attention for a while and therefore keeps you the writer moving along and forces your characters to act rather than contemplate their navels while seated. But still ... it almost makes you want to blow something up.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The *Canadian* Bachelorette
Dear Ed:
Short-shorts? Seriously?
I know you have great man-legs but short-shorts? No, please don't say it's so. You're in Hawaii, couldn't you have gotten some board shorts? Couldn't the producers have sent out the intern on an emergency shopping trip? Short-shorts for men just aren't acceptable this side of the 70s unless you're running a marathon ... in which case we already know you're crazy.
Short-shorts? Seriously?
I know you have great man-legs but short-shorts? No, please don't say it's so. You're in Hawaii, couldn't you have gotten some board shorts? Couldn't the producers have sent out the intern on an emergency shopping trip? Short-shorts for men just aren't acceptable this side of the 70s unless you're running a marathon ... in which case we already know you're crazy.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Shop Girl
The second half of last week found me neglecting the blog. Instead I was sorting and selling in my aunt's adorable little gift shop.
She was off on a buying trip out of state -- apparently they have convention type things where artists and manufacturers come and pitch their products to small business owners and the like -- so my mother and I ran the store for a couple of days.
The first day we spent building displays and ringing up customers. Building the display was rather fun, it's like playing with building blocks except this time there's lace and tea sets. The next days we sorted and organized the office and storeroom. Both are small rooms but were packed with stuff in no particular order. Most of what we did was straightening, organizing and labeling. I hope that my aunt can find things after we've moved them all around ... although truth be told she couldn't really find things before! I also hope she's more pleased than angry; you never can tell how people will react to these things. Although it has to be easier to clean it up with us today than with Oprah on national television.
I'm about halfway done reworking my syllabus for the fall semester. Anyone know any good films or documentaries dealing with the space race or with the space program as it stands today? What about the Copenhagen Conference? I'm toying with the topic of the second writing project. We're either going to be researching aspects of the space race/moonwalk etc. or environmentalism. But I still need resources for which ever one I choose.
She was off on a buying trip out of state -- apparently they have convention type things where artists and manufacturers come and pitch their products to small business owners and the like -- so my mother and I ran the store for a couple of days.
The first day we spent building displays and ringing up customers. Building the display was rather fun, it's like playing with building blocks except this time there's lace and tea sets. The next days we sorted and organized the office and storeroom. Both are small rooms but were packed with stuff in no particular order. Most of what we did was straightening, organizing and labeling. I hope that my aunt can find things after we've moved them all around ... although truth be told she couldn't really find things before! I also hope she's more pleased than angry; you never can tell how people will react to these things. Although it has to be easier to clean it up with us today than with Oprah on national television.
I'm about halfway done reworking my syllabus for the fall semester. Anyone know any good films or documentaries dealing with the space race or with the space program as it stands today? What about the Copenhagen Conference? I'm toying with the topic of the second writing project. We're either going to be researching aspects of the space race/moonwalk etc. or environmentalism. But I still need resources for which ever one I choose.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Summer Holidays
My Fourth of July was unremarkable. Given where my apartment is I tend to lay low during anything that can be considered a "drinking holiday." Fourth of July isn't so bad although there was plenty of weirdness that woke me up at 3:00am but I hold to the principle that when one lives in a building primarily with 19-23 year-olds most holidays are drinking holidays. All I have to say about St. Patrick's Day was I was glad I didn't live on the first floor or I would have put plywood up over my windows.
I tried to do some writing, finished about 1000 words between two different projects and spent most of my time tinkering with edits on the pieces I'm sending out on submissions. I have sent out just over a dozen submissions in the past week. This is timely because about two months prior I had a flurry of submission activity which resulted in a flurry of rejection slips the past two weeks. My adviser has told me that I'm not allowed to change my story "Cake" until I get thirty rejections and I'm not allowed to be discouraged until I receive fifty. Working on it.
People set off all sorts of fireworks around here. I couldn't see any of them but I could hear them. The cats woke up from their perpetual naps and sat wide eyed with ears twitching for the first hour after dusk. There was this rumbling, rolling, ominous stretch that really had me on edge. It was easy to believe in those moments that it was more than just fireworks outside. And the rolling--approaching--nature of the sound gave weight to the question in my head is this what it sounds like when there's actual fire fights? But it stopped quickly enough and I retreated back into my mentality of suburban safety.
The big confrontation of the week came earlier when my father asked his new Canadian girlfriend if Canada Day (July 1) was a lot like the American Fourth of July, and she told him no: The Fourth of July is a lot like Canada Day. My father suspects she's something of a nationalist -- no reason that she shouldn't be. But do I tell her that the only three Canadians I can name are the governor of Michigan, comic-fantasy author Tanya Huff and the Bachelorette?
I tried to do some writing, finished about 1000 words between two different projects and spent most of my time tinkering with edits on the pieces I'm sending out on submissions. I have sent out just over a dozen submissions in the past week. This is timely because about two months prior I had a flurry of submission activity which resulted in a flurry of rejection slips the past two weeks. My adviser has told me that I'm not allowed to change my story "Cake" until I get thirty rejections and I'm not allowed to be discouraged until I receive fifty. Working on it.
People set off all sorts of fireworks around here. I couldn't see any of them but I could hear them. The cats woke up from their perpetual naps and sat wide eyed with ears twitching for the first hour after dusk. There was this rumbling, rolling, ominous stretch that really had me on edge. It was easy to believe in those moments that it was more than just fireworks outside. And the rolling--approaching--nature of the sound gave weight to the question in my head is this what it sounds like when there's actual fire fights? But it stopped quickly enough and I retreated back into my mentality of suburban safety.
The big confrontation of the week came earlier when my father asked his new Canadian girlfriend if Canada Day (July 1) was a lot like the American Fourth of July, and she told him no: The Fourth of July is a lot like Canada Day. My father suspects she's something of a nationalist -- no reason that she shouldn't be. But do I tell her that the only three Canadians I can name are the governor of Michigan, comic-fantasy author Tanya Huff and the Bachelorette?
Monday, July 06, 2009
Charming and Wonderful
Just discovered this over the weekend. Featherproof Books has these adorable little DIY books containing short stories.The mini-books are free to download and come with their own printing and folding instructions. They print on regular paper and fold down to a quarter of a sheet.
I'm yet to read any of them (the campus computer lab with all of its printers opens up again on Monday) but their newest mini-book author is Joe Meno, author of Hairstyles of the Damned -- something else which I want to read but haven't had the chance to. I leafed through it and came to the chapter about ManicPanic hair dye. That's when I knew I would have to get my hands on a "long term" copy, that is one I can hold long enough to read cover to cover.
Featherproof describes themselves as "a young indie publisher based in Chicago, dedicated to the small-press ideals of finding fresh, urban voices." And the books they publish as " filled with the liveliest of fiction wrapped in the loveliest of designs."
They also have full length -- and preprinted! -- books for sale.
Me? I'm incredibly excited to get my hands on these little stories and fold myself a book or two.
Friday, July 03, 2009
LoL Cats
No, this isn't my cat -- I'm resisting getting an LOLCats account so that I can maintain some semblance of productiveness -- but this one is a common scene at my house.
moar funny pictures
Oh and this is just plain cute:
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
moar funny pictures
Oh and this is just plain cute:
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Overdue Books
If you're library books are overdue in San Francisco it's time to start rehearsing your excuse. The public library there is waiving fines if you tell them why your books are tardy. They've posted some of their favorite excuses here. I believe my favorite is the last one listed.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Homeward Bound
What you always want to welcome you home: a third of a gallon of milk two weeks past its expiration date.
[Update: it went straight into the freezer. No way am I opening it when I can see the chunks. It'll go directly into the dumpster tomorrow.]
[Update: it went straight into the freezer. No way am I opening it when I can see the chunks. It'll go directly into the dumpster tomorrow.]
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