I tend to avoid bringing up politics, largely due to disillusionment with the current system and a desire not to let myself get drawn into the intricacies of doing your damnedest to actually be non-partisan. My disillusionment will not stop me from voting when I wake up tomorrow (today?), but I’m not going to assume even for a moment that there won’t be some serious tampering and corruption going on.
All that to say: go read today’s Diesel Sweeties. Funny and scary, because it’s true!
I’ve been feeling not quite shipshape the past few days, first mentally, and now physically (but thankfully not at once). Been slightly feverish with swollen lymph nodes for the past day or two, but overall I’m definitely making progress, staying hydrated and all. I did want to write tonight, however, for a few reasons.
Item the first! Happy Guy Fawkes Day. For whatever other foolishness we all do sometimes, I gotta give props to the fact that we celebrate someone who tried to blow up parliament. Perhaps if he’d been successful, we’d have declared it a tragedy instead, but still, let’s hear it for taking personal responsibility to do what you feel is right and necessary to effect change!
Item the second! I’m heading south for Thanksgiving. I should be in DC the weekend prior, if anyone down that way wants to get together for coffee or dinner et cetera. I know there is a large contingent of DC’ers that I’ve been promising to visit for months… now’s the time. Contact me to work out details.
Item the third! NaNoWriMo is going slowly, largely due to a) my being lazy, b) Final Fantasy XII (expect a review when I’m through it), c) a massive funk I was feeling, d) wanting to curl up under some covers and sleep this cold off. Those are the big excuses. The bright side is that it is still early in the month, and it’s not like I have a job or anything to distract me from catching up. (No no, there’s no embittered tone to that, not at all… Well, maybe a little. Only a little, though. Despite continuing to plunge myself into debt, I’m feeling pretty good about things at the moment.)
There a lot of things I’d like to write about but haven’t been. I know I’ve said similar before, but I hope that as I start feeling better, I’ll actually start getting into a routine of writing again. Now is not the time, however: I need to devote the rest of my writing time this evening to my nanowrimo project. (You need to do just under 1700 words a day to hit the 50,000 word goal by the end of the month… I need to do closer to 2000-2100 a day, and should realistically aim for 2500-3000 a day to handle those inevitable days where I’m otherwise occupied — see: “driving to DC.”)
Sitting in Hanover, at the Hop, a tradition I’ve had for going on nine years now, typing away on my laptop about nothing really of importance. I’ve got nothing really to say, but I’m writing anyway, because sometimes that’s the right answer for stress and worry and overthinking things (not because it stops any of them, but because it codifies them and thus offers the potential of getting some sort of mitigating manageable handle on them). The reasons I’m stressing are largely unimportant and unsurprising. I’m in a sort of purgatorial limbo right now in pretty much every aspect of my life, and it’s driving me up the wall, though I know I simply need to accept it and not let it get to me, especially since at least some elements are decisions I’ve made for myself. (Make your bed and lie in it and all that.) That’s not really why I’m writing though, other than to point out that those concerns and stresses and frustrations haven’t left, they are still there, still acting like monkeys on my back. Frankly, I’m sick of talking about how stressed I am. It feels redundant, it’s embarassing, and it hasn’t done a goddamn thing for advancing any of my goals, causes, or ideas. The only reason I’ve talked about it as much as I have is because it’s taking up so much of my mental energy (not because I feel it’s at all noteworthy or interesting to read).
So, let’s talk about other things, shall we? My time at Peterborough was interesting (a word that is used far too often), and it was nice seeing my cousins. I managed to even get some writing accomplished, some of which I’m feeling pretty good about. Most of it was stress/loneliness/depression induced whining, but there’s some things that I’m feeling alright about. I’m writing a comic script for a friend of mine that I think is coming out pretty well, and look forward to seeing what they do with it. I did some writing exercises talking about the ghosts in the house, and (at my father’s suggestion, per my request for such) a quickie story talking about the Thing in the woods up on the hill, and I think those at least are moderately interesting if not an acceptable quick read.
I finally went back to my parents’ house, which is my home base for the next few months. I’ve managed to successfully live on my own and outside my parents’ house for a decent number of years now, and even owned my own house for a while… so it’s a little embarassing to be suddenly back there for a while. I’m staying positive about it: I get along with my parents, which helps, and hopefully it will serve as a good motivator to do what’s necessary to improve my situation. (Job applications continue to be sent out and, after looking at my most recent list of bills, with redoubled energy.) Mostly, I’ve been working to get my room into a semi-productive configuration (things are still mostly in boxes, so finding ways to organize it functionally is a nice challenge), so that I can get at least some mental and physical clutter out of the way for NaNoWriMo in a few days. I’ve also been applying for jobs, several of which are particularly exciting prospects (notably, a few at Apple, and a few game related jobs), with any luck, I’ll hear back from at least some of them sometime soon, and in any case, it’s something vaguely productive, to get back in the habit of doing.
There’s a new television show that I found out about looking at craigslist that involves travel, where they take you wherever you want. Needless to say, I applied this evening. I don’t know if it’ll go anywhere, and frankly it doesn’t matter. It’d just be neat, is all. I sent in two different places I’d like to go, telling them to choose which they’d prefer for the show. I think they’re interesting choices, we’ll see if they think so too.
Plenty more to report, but nothing more for the evening. Now that I’m back around, I’ll aim to post a bit more frequently.
My cousins are in theory coming in tomorrow at some point, which will be nice. I’ve been going more than a little stircrazy while at Peterborough. I’ll probably post some of my writing later, as most of it is on my desktop, which has no internet connection (I suppose I could transfer it to my laptop, and sooner or later I will, if for no other reason than to keep my content mirrored). It’s been some interesting experiences, but by and large it hasn’t been as productive as I’d like… I am writing every day (or nearly so… took Sunday off to collect some things from home and jabber with people), but it’s largely lacking direction or merit as anything more than journaling (which has its own merit, but not in the venue I’m talking about).
I should really start these posts when my battery is at a higher level… things I want to mention: I’m planning on doing National Novel Writing Month this year, so “woo-woo” on that. Also, I’m looking for ideas for scripts and short stories, mostly as writing exercises. If there is some idea that you’d like to see me explore, leave me a comment and I’ll do my best. (This isn’t a copout on coming up with ideas myself, so much as that I find myself more motivated to work on something if I’m doing it FOR someone.)
I’ve become increasingly unhappy with my Gallery solution. Gallery 2 is feature-rich, yes, but at the cost of being a pain in the ass to use in terms of administrative interface, and customizing it is… well, painful to say the least. All those promises of making it easier to customize than Gallery 1 haven’t really panned out, in my humble opinion. In short, I’m not happy.
So, I’ve spent snippets of free time over the past few months looking at alternatives… most of which suck just as much or more. I found one that I really liked (ZenPhoto), but discovered to my chagrin that it has absolutely NO support for multiple users, which is unfortunately a dealbreaker right now. Reading through their forums, it’s on their possible to-do, but isn’t a high priority (argh!). Razzifrazzin’ sonuva…
So the search continues. I found another lovely app (Tableau) that looks PERFECTLY suited to my needs (including multi user support, huzzah!), but it requires Ruby on Rails, which my current web host doesn’t support. I’m otherwise very happy with FutureQuest, so I’m reluctant to leave them over this, especially since there really aren’t better options right now… if or when I finally do leave FutureQuest, it’ll be because I’m co-locating my own server (probably running OS X 10.x Server, replete with my own jabber and calendar servers), which is currently decidedly outside the realm of cost feasibility.
So, I’m putting the call out: anyone know any nifty gallery solutions? I’m looking for something that is lightweight and easily customizable, but also has the features I need like multi-user support, and will run in a LAMP environment? I’m aware of the ones currently up on OpenSourceCMS already, and am unhappy with the offerings, to be honest. Frankly, it’s this frustration that I think has caused more people to move to collective gallery solutions like Flickr. I really don’t want to go that direction, though, unless there’s no other choice. Damnit, I LIKE being able to host my own stuff.
You may have noticed that my posting schedule has once again become a fair bit more sporadic than my preferred rate, including a two week hiatus from posting on Applegeeks (need to post there today or tomorrow). There are a few reasons for this, mostly revolving around the fact that I’ve been sequestering myself in various places that aren’t exactly known for their internet accessability. I spent a week at Squam, which was excellent and I already touched upon briefly, and now I’m in Peterborough for the next few weeks, until we close it up at the end of the month. There is no internet at the house, but the bagel shop at the bottom of the hill has free wifi, so I can still do a morning (or in this case, afternoon) email check and update… for now.
You see, I’m planning on sending my laptop in to Apple… again. There is a very disconcerting and loud whine coming from it, especially when the hard drive platter is first spinning up after being turned on or awaking from sleep. NOT GOOD. Also, the keyboard makes an annoying squeak ever since they replaced it earlier in the summer. I’ll still have my desktop (which I bothered to bring down with me), so I can still get my work done, but I do think that tomorrow I’m going to trek out to the Apple Store in Salem and have them look at it again. It’s under warranty, and I really want it to be as ship-shape as possible by the time the warranty ends.
Arr. Other things (how much can I type in the 10 minutes left on the laptop battery?): Canadian Thanksgiving at Squam was delightful, and I had a great time getting to chat with my cousins (hello to any of you reading); I’ve been reading some fascinating interviews with various comic book writers, and really do think that this sounds like a great fit for several of the stories I’d like to tell (above and beyond the already existing comic characters that I’d like to revive). That’s what I think I’m going to focus on for the next week: sinking my teeth into writing some comic scripts.
Anyway, battery is dead, I will update more soon!
So, it’s a few weeks later. I spent a week at Squam, which was excellent, and I got a decent amount of writing and reading done. I’m looking forward to continuing the trend this coming week at Peterborough. The week wrapped up with my heading down to Providence and bringing my friend Claire up for a few days to hang out. It was really fantastic to get a chance to hang out and talk with her after spending a full week in seclusion, and she seemed to really enjoy the general vibe of Squam. She also got a chance to meet Mike and Mariah, who came up Saturday night and hung out for most of Sunday, as Mariah was shipping off to basic on Monday.
Dropped her off Monday night back in Providence, and headed back north to Vermont. I’ve spent most of the rest of the week futzing with things and doing general update errands and chores (pay bills, etc). I’m hoping to finish up the last of those on Monday, so I can head off to Peterborough by Tuesday or Wednesday. This weekend, I went down to Carver, Mass, and went to King Richard’s Faire, which is a large renaissance faire, where my friend Andrea lives and works. While we’d made plans to head down separately, apparently several of the RISD crew decided to head to that faire on the same day, and once I found that out, I chatted with Andrea who was kind enough to provide free passes for them. It also made it nice to be able to wander around and be sociable, and hopefully cross-pollinate friends a bit, as I think they’d all really get along, and Carver isn’t that far from Providence.
It’s made for some long days, and I must admit I’m pretty worn out/tired, and looking forward to going back into seclusion for a while. I did want to update people a little bit about what’s been going on. All my computer doodads are still for sale, and I’m about at the point where I’m going to list them on eBay, because due to being in the right place at the right time for a good deal, I ended up buying the new machine before actually selling the old ones. While this is good in my ability to just transfer my data over from the old machine to the new one, it does mean that I need to act quickly on selling the old stuff so I can pay the credit card bill. So, please, if you know anyone who might be interested in any of it (see last post), let me know ASAP.
Sometimes it’s more difficult to start a post than it is to write the rest of it. Why is it that we have so much with starting things and ending things? Once we’re into it, we can just glide along, but the wrappers on either side, man they’re tough.
When last we visited these hallowed electrons, I was in Providence, it was morning, and we were leading into a camping trip in Maine. Well, the trip to Maine was excellent. I really had a great time, wandering around, building campfires, taking the kayak out, and having some really excellent conversations with people. I kind of wish I’d been able to bring Freya with me, as since it’s an island, she would have been able to run freely without worrying about her getting into TOO much trouble. All told, there were eight of us: Kate, Andrew, Casey, Claire, Erica, Kelly, Mary, and myself. Damn good times.
When we got back from Maine, Erica and I broke up. This was my decision, and for my own needs and reasons. It’s something I’d been giving a LOT of thought about, and decided it wouldn’t make sense to drag it out further, and that it would be best to do it in person. It’s not because of anything either of us did wrong, and whoever she dates next is going to be a damned lucky fellow, because she’s fabulous. It was just time to end it — I need to be single for a while, to re-center myself and get into a place that works for me. I always kind of felt like it was new-agey bullshit when I heard reasons like that, but it’s not, and I’m not sure I can explain why to those who haven’t already gone through it. I’m working on salvaging friends out of it, including Erica. I came to really care about the people down there, and value them as friends, so I sincerely hope this doesn’t cause any rifts or distancing (or at the very least, none that are insurmountable).
On Saturday, I went to my former roommates’ (Kate and Andy) wedding, which was an absolute blast. I took gobs of photos (which I still need to burn to DVD, dangit), and the bride and groom looked fantastic. The theme of the wedding was 1920s-30s, and so there were plenty of people dressed out in vintage suits that really made the whole event feel classic. There were pleasant conversations happening all around the space, and I think everyone was really charged to have a great time. The wedding was at 5, but festivities carried on well into the night, with the band leaving around 11, and people continuing to hang out after that. I took off shortly after the band left, and dropped my brother off in Montpelier before heading south to the Upper Valley. I didn’t get home until around 1-1:30, at which point I was bushed and went straight to sleep. Sunday, I woke up and went back north to Montpelier, to help my brother pack and move his things out of the house, since he’s taken that position down in DC. (In case you were wondering why I drove back down rather than simply crash on a couch, I forgot to bring a change of clothes and didn’t want to pack and lug boxes in a dry clean only suit.)
Since then, most of my days have been occupied with getting my affairs in order for disappearing for a while to Squam and Peterborough; paying bills, picking up sundry items, digging items I want to bring out of packed boxes, et cetera. Other than that, I’ve been spending time with my parents and hanging out with friends, and in general trying to keep things low key. I’m really looking forward to this time alone (that said, if you want to visit for a day or two, as long as you want it low key, I’m willing to share the space). It feels really good to have a set direction and plan with all this: WRITE! Build some inertia with my writing, and if things start looking positive in that general direction (writing is a fairly broad category), run with it. If that doesn’t work out (knock wood), I already have plans on what to try next, most of which involve getting a crap job and studying my ass off in one of several subjects. It just feels good to have a direction with all this.
I’ll wrap things up with a quick note that I am selling a plethora of technological gadgetry. I’m selling off both monitors (19″ and 22″, prices negotiable), a spare graphics card (X700), my vaio desktop (PCV-770, upgraded), aaaand my PowerMac G5 tower. I’m reluctant to let that last one go, but the sad reality is that I would be better served for my purposes in reducing my overall office footprint as much as I can, and I can get equivalent power out of a fully specced 24″ iMac (which I can afford if I sell all the things I listed). I also decided this evening to additionally sell my Palm Tungsten T (yes, the original Tungsten), with cradle, for $75. If you’re interested, let me know.
It’s fairly rare that I write a post in the morning, mostly because I’m generally fairly nocturnal, and as such don’t do much of anything in the morning. That said, I’m down in Providence at the moment, and didn’t really feel like sleeping anymore, for whatever reason. So rather than wake anyone up, I crept out of the bed, showered, and am sitting in the kitchen on my computer, killing time until others wake up or arrive. The flaw, of course, is that the others are nocturnal too, and it could well be hours before they’re awake.
I don’t really have a lot to say, so I suppose this is a bit of a nothing post, but it seemed like the thing to do, and here I am. In relation to my previous post’s “secret project”, that would be that I’m now guest-blogging over at Applegeeks, writing for a new section they’ve added about Apple-related chatter. It’s not a pay gig, but it still feels really nice to be invited to do such a thing, and I definitely look forward to continuing. For now, I’m trying to do a new post each week discussing a different Mac developer as a regular thing, and probably posting other things on a more sporadic basis. Of course, I’m going to need to “write ahead” a bit to deal with the time I’m taking off to get some OTHER writing done, but that’s fine.
It’s interesting watching the change in light as the morning has progressed. The early morning light was delightful and refreshing, and then quickly became stronger, with sharply contrasted shadows on the buildings. The sky was mostly sunny with the occasional tuft of clouds, though in traditional weathergod mode, as my mood darkened, it clouded over. (I’m dealing with some bank stupidity involving an eaten ATM card at the moment, which my father is graciously helping facilitate while I’m away.) As I work to regain my composure and relax, it’s started to get sunny again.
I realize that the likelihood of my actually affecting the weather in a noticeable fashion is relatively small, but that is the nature of magic — it stems from belief, and from the conundrum that if you observe a connection between two things that plausibly shouldn’t have a connection, there is a possibility (however slight) that they are in fact actually connected somehow. The main difference between magic and science is that science covers the ones we’ve already managed to explain. And besides, it’s fun to think I’m altering the weather through my mood. It’s worth noting that the most mild and sunny winter on record for Seattle was the winter that my brother and I were both in Seattle and I was in generally good, mellow spirits.
Gah, I’d really like to go downstairs for a cup of coffee, but I wouldn’t be able to get back in the building without waking someone else up.
I’ve largely finished moving out of the house in Montpelier, with my belongings (and myself) moving down to my parents’ house for the time being. This really isn’t that bad, as I get along with my parents rather well, and we’re all aware that it will be temporary, which takes a lot of the stress off (though it still remains to be seen exactly how temporary). The one major flaw with living there is that they have no broadband, and even their dialup is noisy and slow. This is through no fault of their own: they’ve kept their hardware up to date and internal lines clear. It all comes down to the fact that the phone company isn’t willing to lay new cable, nor add a station to a pre-existing box to add DSL capability further out of town. Also, the cable company continues to give a song and dance about “maybe” running cable out there “soon” (which is what they’ve been saying for 20 years), so that’s out as an option. There is wireless broadband in the area, but there are a few hills in the way of the line-of-sight needed to get there. Cellular based broadband (EVDO and the like) MAY work, assuming that our somewhat sketchy reception at the house is enough and that the towers serving it are upgraded to handle it… awful big investment for something that may not work. Basically, the choices are either pay an exorbitant amount of me getting a T1 or partial T1 installed, move, or suck it up on the 56k dialup service that is consistently lucky to hit 28.8 (which is “high enough” according to the letter of the law that the phone company will do nothing about the line noise, since it’s not seriously affecting voice communication).
So, instead I’m sitting in my car, in Hanover, listening to my iPod on my car stereo, getting some writing done and downloading a few updates and apps I wanted/needed for some projects. Normally I would be sitting out in front of Collis, but it’s too cold and rainy. Otherwise, I’d be sitting inside the Hopkins Center and using the wireless there, but that’s closed up tight for Labor Day weekend (as is the interior of Collis). But hey, my car is pretty comfy, and it’s nice being able to listen to my own music.
Tomorrow, I pack up my bags and head south to Rhode Island, where Erica and her friends are gearing up for the new school year, and planning a big camping trip up in Maine, which I will be accompanying them on. (And yes, I do consider them my friends too, but I know them through Erica and they were her friends first, so…) It should be a good time rain or shine, and it will be nice to see them all again (many of whom I haven’t seen since the spring). One of my secret projects should be coming up tomorrow as well, so hopefully I’ll have time to post about that once it’s done.
Y’know, modular apps is kind of neat in that when you update an application, you just drop the new application into the directory and it replaces the old one. That said, I do kind of miss when an updater actually modified the pre-existing app. They were smaller. I’m most of the way through an 80mb download, and that is frankly a small package compared to some. it gets frustrating killing time waiting for things to download (hey, news to companies out there: not all of us have an OC3 pipe!). But then, when else would we write all our blog posts?