Category Archives: Personal Life

Sin City

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After dropping off my car to be serviced (in preparation for the trip east next week, we leave here in 5 or 6 days), Mickey and I went to the movies, in particular to the 11am showing of Sin City.

Go see this movie, right now. It’s brilliantly done, and largely shot for shot from the comics, which is quite impressive. It is primarily done in a black and white noir style, with the occasional flash of color. The action is intense and bloody, but is done in such a way that you don’t shy away as grotesque. The dialogue reads like a comic, for better or worse, but the voice over work is perfect, and captures exactly the gritty world of the film. My hat goes off to the folks involved in creating this masterful film.

Worth mentioning: it doesn’t matter if you’ve read the comic or not, going in. It stands on its own QUITE well, and may interest you to go read the comics after watching it.

A Novel Concept

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I finished my annotations today, which is really only noteworthy in that they’re not due until next week. Also, I’ve written a damned respectable amount in my stories that I’m pretty pleased with, so I feel like I’m finishing the semester pretty strongly. It’s a good feeling to have. I still have a few finishing touches I need to do (process essay, self evaluation, stuff like that), but the semester is largely done; as far as I’m concerned, anything I write past this is gravy.

Of course, I happen to be a big fan of gravy, so it sort of fits that now that my semester on writing is largely finished, Uri and I have decided to undertake a personal challenge: 80 pages in 5 days. It doesn’t have to be good, it doesn’t have to be cohesive or connected or on topic, it just needs to be 80 pages. In 5 days. 20 pages a day (yeah, technically 80 pages in 5 days is actually 16 pages a day, shh). I think it’s doable. I’m not going to post it, of course (I suspect a lot of it will be cruft and freewriting), but I’ll try and post any nuggets I happen to pull out. I wouldn’t hold my breath, though. We start tomorrow, and are going to run til Saturday. The rules are: 12 point font, double spaced, normal page size and margins, and you can’t count prior writing, even if you’re continuing from something else.

Anyone who wants to join us is welcome to. Just post your page count in the comments.

[Page Count: 24]

Apple Store Followup

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The interview went really well (I DO know my shit, after all), up until we started talking availability. The position they were looking for is an immediate opening, and I won’t be able to start until May, when I get back from my residency. He did say that I should give him a call in May, though, if I’m still interested. We’ll see if I am; my concerns about time management with my schoolwork are still very real. (To reiterate; major time intensive semester coming up, do I really want to tack on 40ish hours a week of work to that.)

The benefits are pretty damn sweet, I must say. Everyone is given an iPod (they all got shuffles when it came out), extensive job training, various gifts throughout the year, and a major discount on a system per year (full system, machine, monitor, ipod, et cetera), plus a slightly smaller discount for 3 more systems for friends and family. That would certainly help solve the laptop concern (namely that it’s falling apart… I won’t be able to get it fixed until after I get back from residency, because I need it while there).

Anyway, just thought I’d share, for those keeping score.

Writing Insanity

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Two days ago, my Nanomage draft was four pages long. This afternoon, it’s 12.5 pages long. I think that’s pretty damn good progress, and I’m really happy with how it is going. There is still room for growth and fleshing out, but I think the story is really solid. From the original draft that I wrote in October, I’ve retained the general world, and that’s it. The character names are different, the pacing is different, it just still involves nanotechnology of a similar sort.

It feels unimaginably good to “feel good” about a story again. Seriously, it’s been years since I’ve been happy with one of my fictions. The story thus far: he’s been experimented upon, and just escaped onto a train heading west from just north of Chicago. That’s probably where I’ll end chapter 1, and then I’ll go on from there. Seems like a good break in the action, a good initial arc. I suppose I could technically drag out the events of chapter 1 into two chapters, but I don’t really want to… I think it works better with a faster pacing.

Anyway, I just wanted to share, because right now I’m twitched on writing anything further for a little bit.

Happy Naw Ruz

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Today is the vernal equinox, the first day of spring, which means it’s also Naw Ruz, the Baha’i New Year (doesn’t that make more sense than some arbitrary day in the middle of Winter?). Just wanted to wish everyone a happy day, and hope it’s as lovely there as it is here.

Now, back to writing.

The Apple Store… Again

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Last year, I submitted my resume with Apple’s retail outlets in Bellevue and Seattle. I got an interview at the Bellevue store, which proved to be a mess (I was supposed to head over after my game testing job, but I hit nasty traffic and missed the appointment, the reschedule was a mess, et cetera). I didn’t get the job, and dropped the matter. The game testing gig paid nearly as well, and was more flexible.

This morning, (about 10 minutes ago), I got a call from the Apple Store in Bellevue, wondering if I’d like to come in to interview for a part time Specialist position (Retail). Hours would be flexible (could just work afternoons, for instance), and the game testing job hasn’t really been going anywhere lately. They don’t even have my updated resume, so I’m a little surprised. I’ve scheduled an appointment for next Wednesday at 3pm, and we’ll see how it goes.

Here’s the thing: I’m not really sure I WANT to work for them anymore. The consistent money would be nice, the discounts would be nice, the commute would not be nice, being in retaili again would not be nice. The big one: I’ve got a fucking huge workload coming up with this semester, and I’m not sure if I want to have to worry about hauling ass up to Bellevue 4 days a week when I’m trying to finish my degree. I realize people work during their degree programs all the time, that doesn’t mean they would if they had the choice not to. School comes first. It should make for an interesting interview, and I’m actually looking forward to that.

The Maynard Brothers Are Coming to Town

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Just to let it be known: as has been mentioned before, our school residency is quickly approaching. This means that Uri and I will be heading back east in April for a week or two. This means we’ll be around to hang out, and would like to, damnit. Drop me an IM or a comment or an email if you want to set something up (my birthday will be right around then, so maybe a Koto dinner?)

I’m giving everyone plenty of lead time on this, so there shall be NO excuses of not enough advance warning!

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again, in case you couldn’t tell.