7 Quick Takes Friday vol. 2

Still insipired by Conversion Diary

1.       While I struggle to complete the rewrite of Lepus, I’ve also been doing preliminary work on another book, this one not set in the ‘Tomiverse’ (as I informally call the massive inter-connected world that most of my books take place in). This book is an epic tale of oppression and rebellion set in an alternate 1890s America. The working title is The Free American Army, but a more fitting name might be Teddy Roosevelt Beats Up Everybody. Other historical figures present include Thomas Edison, Nicolai Tesla, Annie Oakley, newspaper mogul William Randolph Hurst, ultra-badass Federal Marshall Bass Reeves, and the Jersey Devil (who’s one of the main villains). Yeah, I’m loving this.

2.       Ah, I just remembered that Jurassic Park is being rereleased in theaters today! I’ll have to go see it this weekend, probably post a review. Actually, I might make this ‘dinosaur weekend’ and thrown in a dinosaur-themed post for The Catholic Nerd I’ve been working on.

3.       I have a fairly addictive personality; when I find something I like, I want to keep on doing it until I finish. With that in mind, I probably shouldn’t have decided to try Minecraft last weekend. For those who don’t know, it’s a creative puzzle/adventure game aptly described by one reviewer as being less like Crack and more like having everything you need to make your own Crack. On the plus side, I’ve already decided to implement new rules to limit my time with it, so here’s a nice opportunity to practice self-control…yeah, that’s the ticket.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have go build some lava-spewing gargoyles made out of digital blocks…

4.       My parents are in Maine this week visiting my niece (and I suppose they might see my sister and brother-in-law while they’re there), which means I spent most of Easter and the following couple days at their house watching the dog. And I’m doing it again today! It’s not a problem, since I love our dog, but the drive is a rather long one and eats into my gas money pretty quick. And God help me if I forget to bring anything important (it has happened that I’ll get all the way to their house, then remember something I absolutely need and have to run back to my apartment immediately).

5.       As usual, I overindulged during Easter, with bad results (i.e. indigestion). One of the few times in the year where I can eat all the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups I want, and it turns out badly! This is indeed a vale of tears.

6.       Speaking of which, I think I’ve fallen into the habit of not snacking. I bought a whole bunch of snacks to feast upon in celebration, but I’m just never hungry enough to indulge, apart from meal times. I guess that’s probably a good thing, but I haven’t even eaten my delicious-looking white-chocolate bunny yet! (I love white chocolate).

7.       Now I’m trying to memorize violin pieces and I think I might have an idea. You see, memorization generally involves translating the information you want to memorize into images or movement. Humans naturally have excellent ‘spacial’ memories; memories for places and objects. Translating a poem or a set of numbers is easy (I have my own code for numbers that has worked every time), but music…not so much. So then I thought “what if I used Minecraft to create a massive score which I could then walk along? That might work, and it’d give me an excuse to play Minecraft some more!”

Actually…that’s probably a bad idea. Never mind.