tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54102619701952785062024-03-20T05:01:05.667-07:00Vita NovaA journal of crafting the life I wantBTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-48183700944989014982013-11-08T12:16:00.001-08:002013-11-08T12:16:41.251-08:007 Quick Takes: Vol 21<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I swear I didn’t mean to have this many references to blood and horror!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Been a while since I’ve done this. Of course, blogging in general has fallen off. Actually, a lot of things have; I’m becoming more reclusive by the day. Reclusion is like tasting human blood; once you get the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hunger</i>…</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">You know, of all the posts you read on today’s 7 Quick Takes Lists (hosted by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary</a>, </i>of course), that last one’s probably gonna be the creepiest. Sorry, my mind comes up with weird analogies. Let me clarify; I’m <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">temporarily</i> letting my reclusive nature run away with me due to a number of factors, including an increase in allotted writing time. I do not, as of yet, have a taste for human blood. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Remember a couple weeks ago when I said my external hard-drive, will all my video files broke? Well, turns out it’s a ‘Level 3’ damage, meaning that it’d cost over <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">$1,300</i> to possibly recover anything, in addition to the $250 I already put down. So, that’s it; it’s gone. I’m not emptying my bank account for the possibility of recovering some files. Good bye every single one of my video files! Or, not quite; I remembered I still have an old, smaller external hard-drive, which included a goodly chunk of my video files (I can’t just use it permanently because 1. It’s too small for my purposes and 2. It’s formatted for a PC and I’m on Mac now). Not all by any stretch, but at least I didn’t actually have to start from scratch. Thank God for small miracles! </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve been doing a lot of my writing recently at a small coffee shop not far from my apartment. It’s small, fairly quiet (occasionally it’s more, ahem, ‘cozy’ than I would like. Being the recluse that I am, I prefer at all times to maintain at least ten-feet of space between me and anyone whom I have not given express permission to approach), and has really good coffee and cookies. Very conducive to working, and I tend to get a lot more done there than at my apartment. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of writing, some of you may have seen the report of what I’m working on the other day. For those who missed it, it’s basically “1<sup>st</sup> Samuel with dinosaurs.” Of course, I’ve also got ideas coming out of my ears; more stuff for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gods and Monsters</i> universe, a dream-based story that’s existed in one form or another for years, my ‘Teddy Roosevelt vs. the Jersey Devil’ historical fiction series, and a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Se7en-</i>style Batman fan-fiction, to name the most prominent pieces at the moment. So much to write, so little time! </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve been reading H.P. Lovecraft for the first time. My first story was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dagon</i>, which was something of a disappointment: falling asleep in the middle of the ocean and waking up in the middle of a desert covered in dead fish has it’s creepiness, but on the whole the story just didn’t convince me of the narrators insanity. I was thinking “okay, so you discovered a lost race of fishmen; get over it. Julie Adams got abducted by one of those things, and you don’t see <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">her</i> going all emo about it.” My second story was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pickman’s Model</i>, which was refreshingly and delightfully creepy. “No, no, trust me; it’s just the rats. They keep trying to get out of that old well…”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When it comes to music, recently I’ve mostly been incessantly playing songs from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Newsies</i> (yes, the Disney movie from the early 90’s starring a very young Christian Bale). See, I like musicals, and when I discover a new one I have the habit of fixating on a few songs and playing them repeatedly for a couple weeks. Seize the day! </span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-62207372511428827092013-11-06T11:56:00.000-08:002013-11-06T11:56:09.176-08:00On WritingBack when I was still blogging, I occassionally made reference to my 'current writing project with a very marketable premise.' Since November is writing month (not really doing Nanowrimo, but I'm trying to set a goal of finishing the first draft during the month), I figure I might let you in on a few things:<br />
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The title is (tentatively) <em>Lost City of the Dimetrodons</em>. The premise is an epic-fantasy book-to-series set in a world where humans live alongside dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts. The dinosaurs aren't the sentient beings of the <em>Dinotopia</em> books, but just animals of varying degrees of intelligence, savagery, and domestication. I'm taking it as a challenge to make them as accurate as I can. So, for instance, the theropods are almost all covered in feathers, most pterosaurs are much too small to carry a human, and the big predators don't come running for the great taste of people. Of course, telling a good story and making it <em>fun</em> is more important, so if it ever becomes a toss up between science and storytelling, storytelling wins (for instance, I think my pteranodon is <em>slightly</em> bigger than it really was; six-feet tall standing instead of about four-to-five, depending on who you ask). <br />
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So, I've got the premise. I've got the core cast of characters (they fit rather neatly into the 'five man band' model, though I don't think they're stock fantasy figures by any stretch. At least, if anyone else has, say, a 3 1/2 foot, pteranodon-riding version of Cyrano de Bergerac, I'm not aware of it). I kind of have the plot, though it could use some streamlining. I just need to work on shaping it into a coherent whole. More on that as it develops. <br />
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Meanwhile, <em>Hendricks</em> continues its posting, and I just realized I need to edit/finish a particularly large chapter before it is scheduled to go up on Friday! <br />
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BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-8622647554365331972013-10-14T07:33:00.003-07:002013-10-14T07:33:56.894-07:00The Monster's BackThe few of you who have read this blog for a while may remember that my first blog was called 'Monstrus Dei.' I abandoned it after deciding I wanted to write in a different style, and because I couldn't really think of much else to say. <br />
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Now, though, I think that I've both developed my voice enough and have enough angry, sarcastic rants bottled up inside me that I'm reviving it. Or rather, I deleted all the old posts and am beginning it over again. It's no great loss: I don't think any of the old posts were that great anyway. <br />
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So, if you've got a fairly high tolerance for bluntness and sarcasm, go take a look. BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-61132113300690288212013-10-11T17:53:00.003-07:002013-10-11T18:00:21.317-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 20: First Aid and Online Dating<style>
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</span></span></span>Today was our annual first responders training
at work, and since I’m a first responder that means I spent most of my day
watching a video on First Aid. My main takeaways were A. that if I ever need
CPR I really, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> hope the person
administering it doesn’t take time to put on latex-free gloves or fiddle with a
mask to avoid catching some infectious disease from my spittle or vomit while
my brain cells die by the thousand due to a lack of oxygen and B. that
according to the CDC, the human race should never have made it out of the
caves, since apparently any spilling of blood is a biohazard outbreak only just shy of unleashing the T-virus. I know
blood-borne diseases are a real thing, but seriously people? In the video they
showed us, people were putting up <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">caution
tape</i> because a woman got a mild cut on her arm. Meanwhile I’m imagining
Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, or even the 19<sup>th</sup> century and
wondering why they didn’t all end in mass extinctions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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</span></span></span>On that note, the video goes on to talk about
how companies are required by law to offer Hep B shots to employees who might
get cut on the job, and that if employees refuse, they’re required to offer it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">again</i> if they do in fact get cut, along
with a complete medical exam, preventative shots, and counseling. The last bit
made me laugh: “after we’ve filled your head with horror stories about what
might happen if you touch blood, we’ll pay to help you through the trauma if
that actually happens.” I’m all for companies taking care of their employees,
but this struck me as a bit much. I mean, good Lord! At this rate a broken
glass in the break room could send a company into Chapter 11! </div>
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“Well, we were
going to bring on two new guys this month, but Ted had a nosebleed, so hiring’s
been suspended another year.”</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Way to go, Ted.” </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>I know I promised a piece about my retreat the
weekend before last, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. Instead, I’ve
spent my time writing posts about online dating that morph half-way through
into <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Friday the 13<sup>th</sup></i>
jokes. I’ll get to it sometime soon.</div>
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</span></span></span>Speaking of which, my stabbing hasn’t yielded
much fruit yet, though I admit that I haven’t really started in earnest. The
girl I was going to take a stab at didn’t come to anything, so now I’m
searching for another girl who looks interesting enough to stab at. Stab, stab,
stab.<br />
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Just keep stabbing, just keep stabbing la! lalalala! I love to STAB!<br />
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(hm, I hope none of my prospective matches see this).</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Thoughts while browsing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Catholic Match: </i>“Nice, but lives in California and doesn’t do long
distance;” “Seems really insistent on ‘outgoing’ as a quality in a match, so
much for that one;” “Her profile pic makes it look like she wants to bite my
throat out;” “Perfect! But I already tried her and didn’t get a response;”
“…This one’s entire ‘about me’ is a Bible quote. Thanks, that helps a lot;”
“…And this one spent half her introduction talking about her dog!” “I already
tried this one…but that was a really long time ago and she’s got a ton of
common interests, so I’m gonna give it another shot.” </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>On a happier note, I discovered that some
generous soul uploaded a host of classic film serials. I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">love</i> classic serials! I’ve been enjoying <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Federal Operator 99</i> all this week, which was actually a lot better
than I was expecting. I mean, I love serials, but they’re often not what you’d
call <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">good</i>. This one, though, is one
of the better one’s I’ve seen; it has a worthwhile hero, a nicely oily villain,
and an atypically gutsy and involved heroine. Usually in these things the girl
doesn’t really do much except get kidnapped and imperiled (which I like, don’t
get me wrong), but this one actually plays an active role in foiling the bad
guys. She even rescues the hero at one point! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>You know, it’s funny; when I’m at work, all I
want to do is write. When I’m at home, I have to really force myself to sit
down and get to it. Maybe it’s because there’re fewer distractions at work, or
maybe I’m just in a ‘work mode.’ </div>
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Wherefore art thou, <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/"><i>Conversion Diary</i></a>? </div>
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BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-31898648655614579522013-10-10T08:57:00.000-07:002013-10-10T08:57:00.043-07:00The Whims of WritingSo, I was supposed to be buckling down to work on my Epic Fantasy series. Either that or doing editing work on <em>Hendricks</em>. Instead, I hit upon an idea which has been percolating unseriously for a while and which I pretty much just started on a whim. Now I find it's just too much fun not to play around with. It's just a quick, fairly short book about a teenage girl who takes up a hobby as a cat-burglar. <br />
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The premise is fun enough, but what really makes it a blast to write is that it's in the first person perspective of a rather bubbly and easily-distracted teenage girl, who is reporting in semi-present tense. In the opening scene, for instance, she has trouble remembering which character from <em>The Iliad</em> the ancient mask she's stealing is supposed to be connected to, then complains that the method for beating motion detectors doesn't work as well as it did on <em>Mythbusters </em>("Jaime and Adam lied to me"). It's frankly just too much fun to put down. BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-22306131803987961602013-10-09T07:22:00.001-07:002013-10-09T07:23:46.109-07:00More Online Dating Stuff!So, my online dating experience has been pretty lackluster so far. I keep finding beautiful, interesting-seeming women with a lot of common interests who don't so much as glance at my profile when I messege them. Or they glance at the profile, but don't reply.<br />
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That makes me wonder whether I'm going about this the wrong way; am I supposed to open with an "I like this, this, and this about you and would like to get to know you better" message, or should I just dive right in with a chat invite? Anyway, that's what I've decided to try next. There's a very lovely young lady I've got my eye on whom I'm going to take a stab at...okay, I took a stab last night, but I'm not sure whether she was online or not, so I'll take another one. And I'll just keep stabbing until something happens!<br />
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Wait, that sounds wrong...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi10lpavvPuBrne3HcmtmqpzLeWzuDor5_dYGp6DKi5QUzRzBcnBrzgHPJC1GkYoGsG7-zU-R_w09ygHuLRVT6BDtk3-B-Id148raR2c8f7rcD8Q4SeLNAdQPpz4U8QH06arf2iobcScYEd/s1600/untitled.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" closure_lm_190183="null" dsa="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi10lpavvPuBrne3HcmtmqpzLeWzuDor5_dYGp6DKi5QUzRzBcnBrzgHPJC1GkYoGsG7-zU-R_w09ygHuLRVT6BDtk3-B-Id148raR2c8f7rcD8Q4SeLNAdQPpz4U8QH06arf2iobcScYEd/s320/untitled.bmp" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Stab, stab, stabbity, stab...so, are you into horror movies at all?"</td></tr>
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BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-84021693992212663862013-10-04T11:46:00.000-07:002013-10-04T11:46:25.155-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 19<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Still hosted by <em><a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary</a></em>! </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I went on my long-weekend personal retreat last week. I’ve been meaning to write a dedicated post about it, but just haven’t gotten around to it. Consider this a foretaste. In any case, I had a wonderful time; I read and wrote and played my violin and walked around the woods hacking tree branches with my machete to use in a fire and just sat outside looking at Lake Michigan and reflecting. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I loved the quiet of the UP (though I wasn’t as isolated as I had hoped; there being cabins on either side of me and Escanaba right across the bay). I could just sit and breathe and think for long periods without an distractions, and I loved it. Speaking of no distractions, there wasn’t any wi fi, so I got a lovely four-day break from the internet, reinforcing my previous suspicions that I use it way too much. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As part of the reflection part I read (partly) through two excellent books: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The War of Art</i> by Steven Pressfield and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Million Miles in a Thousand Years</i> by Don Miller. I’d read both before, but enjoyed the chance to review them and re-absorb the powerful messages therewithin. They both helped me do some diagnosis and planning for making a better life for myself. I’ll probably talk more about that in the future when I’ve had more opportunity to digest my reflections.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I also read some Plato, which was delightful, and it inspired me to do some work on a very casual book on Ethics I’ve been fiddling with. Ethics is sort of my passion philosophically; I love parsing and fiddling with it and coaxing out all sorts of lovely little rules and axioms. Most of my writing, though, was dedicated to the new book series I’m working on, about which I don’t want to say too much except that I’m aiming at the young adult market and it has an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">extremely</i> marketable premise. </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, I recently got a new desk-top computer to supplement my over-taxed laptop. This means that, for the first time in ages, I’ve been able to indulge in my hobby of making music videos. At least, I managed to make one before my external hard-drive, which contains all my video files, broke down, necessitating my sending it out to try to get the data recovered, which will take a few weeks and cost a considerable amount of dough. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course, everyone in the Catholic blogsphere has been struggling mightily to come to terms with Pope Francis’s recently revealed penchant for giving off-the-cuff interviews in which he says things that are easily misconstrued, which in the process means that a lot of his less-confusing and lovely statements get missed. For my part, I rather wish he’d be a bit more careful, but I also wish everyone reading him would calm down and listen a little more carefully. I still love Francis, though he certainly isn’t my style of Pope (I’m more like Benedict; bookish, quiet, and not really a fan of being with a lot of people). Speaking of which, we’ve been hearing from Pope Emeritus Benedict a lot more than I had expected, which is all to the good! If you haven’t read the released sections of his letter to the atheist mathematician regarding the latter’s review of his book, go find it now! </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was shocked to hear that Tom Clancy – whom I haven’t read nearly enough but consider myself a fan of – died at the much-too young age of 66. Clancy was a conservative and at least in some way a Catholic, both of which are sadly rare things among bestselling authors. But what we’ll remember him for is his excellent thrillers like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hunt for Red October </i>and (the only book of his I’ve read and one of my favorites) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rainbow Six</i>. Requiescat in pacem, magister. </span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-44401913958791845082013-09-20T07:00:00.001-07:002013-09-20T07:00:36.556-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 18<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, here’s a question: do I have a bad attitude if I honestly don’t care about my job except insofar as it pays the bills? I mean, I work at a place where people basically spend their time re-inventing the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">light bulb</i>. I really wasn’t aware of any great defect in my car’s head lamps, nor of any need for novelty mood-lighting in the interior. I’m sorry, but it’s hard to get excited about endlessly refining something that pretty much has worked fine for at least half a century. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cars in general just don’t interest me much; they’re just tools, and not even particularly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fun</i> tools (like shotguns). My ‘dream car,’ as far as it goes, is one of those pick-up trucks that keeps running for decades and only gets sold when they stop making parts for it. In short; I honestly don’t think we’re doing anything particularly important, and even if we were, I wouldn’t have much interest in it. Is that bad? Should I try to make myself care about my job? What do you think? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(I really hope my boss doesn’t see this.) </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A series of recent internet articles/discoveries from disparate sources has helped me really make peace with my introvertedness. I seriously could have used this kind of advice a little earlier, when everyone was trying to get me to go out and ‘socialize’ with people and acting like there was something wrong because I didn’t find much common ground with my fellow high schoolers. Better late than never, though. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m still breaking from the online dating scene. I have the idea that I really need to settle on a career/vocational path and make a little progress in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> field before I search for a mate. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our esteemed hostess at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary</a></i> mentioned an argument with her husband about the possibility of mixing rap and country. I loathe rap and love country, but I have to come down in the “it CAN be done” camp, based on the song <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Answer to No One</i>. How many songs involve someone boasting about being a ‘Republican voter’? For that line alone, the song rocks hard. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I just took the Meirs-Briggs Personality thingy again, and this time I came up as ‘INTJ.’ I’m not entirely convinced that’s accurate (I’m not aware of much ‘unrelenting self confidence’ at the moment), but it’s kinda cool. Well, except that, according to the website, INTJs are “likely to be completely clueless when it comes to attracting a partner.” Yeah, tell me something I don’t know. Apparently, I’m the same personality type as Vladimir Putin, Augustus Caesar, and both Hannibals (the general and the cannibal). Suddenly, my dreams of world-domination don’t seem quite so fanciful. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As part of this week’s 7 Quick Takes, we were also asked to come up with the song that best expresses our personality type. Me? I picked <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Impossible Dream</i>; idealistic, defiant, magnanimous, and devoted to higher ideals to the exclusion of conventions. That sounds about right. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I plan to use my upcoming vacation to do some serious discernment and come up with a good blueprint for some short and long term goals. Time, I think, to buckle down and get serious about, as the subheading says, crafting the life I want. </span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-48614445592573645762013-09-13T05:33:00.003-07:002013-09-13T15:38:51.409-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 17<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/"><i>Conversion Diary</i></a> again. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Missed last couple weeks for one reason or another. Actually, have falling off blogging almost entirely, for one reason or another. I’ll try to remedy that soon. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicles</i> is now on its fourth week, and I’ve gotta admit, I was expecting a bit more response. I don’t know; maybe people aren’t aware that it’s up? Maybe they just don’t really care? One of my friends said she wasn’t sure whether she was supposed to comment. For the record, if you’re reading it, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that’s pretty much the whole point!</i> Anyway, the little response I’ve gotten has been positive so far, so that’s good.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, I’ve been fairly successful at the buckling down thing I’ve been mentioning: not very consistent, but have managed to put in a good amount of time drawing, exercising, praying, violining, and even dusted off my Italian Rosetta Stone. Regarding the violin, I’ve got a surplus of new sheet music (including a 300+ page book of Irish Folksongs I got cheap from Amazon), so that should keep me busy for a while. Recently I’ve been mostly working on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fields of Athenry,</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Men of Harlech, </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bridge Over Troubled Waters</i>. I also got a version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Modern Major General</i>, but it’s a bit out of my league at this point. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Drawing wise, I think I’m actually beginning to improve a little; I actually produced at least one (1) copy that I think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">doesn’t </i>suck! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t have any scanning technology, so I can’t show it to you, but it actually came out (I think) pretty well. Go me! </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m taking a break from the online dating scene. Partly because I want to focus on other things at the moment, partly because I was getting very tired of finding attractive women who share a lot of my interests and who then never respond when I try to get in touch with them. I’m taking this as a sign that God doesn’t really want me dating at the moment, and I plan to put the extra time and effort to good use.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Problems of a Fantasy Writer: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Could I get away with calling something “the Forbidden Zone”?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My Romanized Hebrew dictionary doesn’t have all the words I’m looking for</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve got someone fencing with a rapier and dagger in what’s supposed to be based on Ancient Israel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Would it be worth it trying to find a reference/dictionary for Ancient Punic? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should this world have crude firearms or not? I don’t really want it to, but if not, how do they fight off the allosaurs? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the record, I didn't make any of those up: those are all real issues I'm working on at the moment. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well, I’m all set for my vacation up north; I’ve rented a cabin, I’ve got time off, and it’s coming up fast. Whew!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I plan to spend about four days relaxing, doing serious writing, and playing my violin. Maybe go for a hike in the woods. I’m really looking forward to it! </span></div>
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BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-54600183756733671602013-08-23T09:14:00.001-07:002013-08-23T09:14:04.637-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 16<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today is the day! I’ve finally started posting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chronicles of Hendricks</i>!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kind of nervous, but also excited to see what the initial reaction is going to be. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My sickness continues to linger, but it’s getting better slowly. I might be ready to start running again soon. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Meanwhile, I’m still working on buckling down, even as I take a brief break from writing (except some notes for future stories, of course). Violin everyday (right now I’m focusing on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jurassic Park</i> theme, which is good because it really works out my pinky finger), drawing most days (right now I’m trying to copy drawings from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DeviantArt</i> that interest me. My copies largely suck so far), and working on reading at least a chapter of the Bible every night (less successful, but maybe posting this will help me be more consistent). </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last weekend, while helping my brother move down to Philadelphia, the two of us started listening to an audiobook. There were warning signs that it wasn’t going to be very good, including the fact that the mystery series it was a part of is named for the main character’s cat, and the fact that the author’s cat has a co-authorship credit (though some of the turns of phrase in the book led us to believe it). I tried to be optimistic, but about the time the description included a ‘large, polished, mahogany desk’ (because the composition and shine of the desk is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">so</i> vital to the scene) I gave up and we riffed on it for the rest of the CD. The fact that the leads were all incredibly self-righteous abortion-supporters (as a plot point) certainly played a factor in my enjoyment of ripping the book apart, but even apart from that it was poorly-written, with lots of unnecessary descriptions (“they climbed into the squat golf-cart” as opposed to the roomy stretch golf-cart, I guess), bad turns of phrase, and, again, self-righteous leads (I’m not just saying that because they all support abortion; they’re the kind of people who are constantly talking about other people and usually about how ‘awful’ they are, very rarely with any kind of context. Seriously, that seemed to make up roughly half the dialogue, and from what I gather we were supposed to agree with them). The ‘large, polished, mahogany desk’ became a running gag, and we identified it as the chief suspect, along with the titular cat. It was a lot of fun.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It also helped me note down some of the things <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> to do in writing, including “don’t give your pet co-authorship” and “make sure the descriptions are A). necessary for the scene and B). don’t involve adjectives already included in the very concept of the object described.” Calling a golf-cart ‘squat’ is basically the same as saying that’s it’s a golf-cart. A necessary description for a golf-cart would be “their tricked-out golf-car with the streamers and tie-dye color scheme.” That is, it’s something that doesn’t immediately spring to mind when you say ‘golf-cart;’ something that separates <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this</i> golf-cart from every other golf-cart in existence. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m making plans for a long-weekend getaway at the end of September; to rent a cabin in the UP and just spend a few days alone; reading, writing, hiking, and what have you (probably bring the violin as well). I’ve felt the need to go off and be alone for a while now, and after spending a day or so in Philadelphia it’s become even more urgent. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I don’t really like cities, except perhaps to visit, and I felt stifled and constrained every minute we were there. I’m really looking forward to it! And during that time I plan to get a good start on my next book.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The more I think about it, the more I want to put off pursuing my teaching degree. Not that I don’t intend to teach: I still do, but I find that I want to chase something else first, and I seem to be in the best position I’ll ever be to do so; I have no wife, children, or other dependents, I’ve got a job, money in the bank, and some free time. What I would really like to do is to save up some more, then leave my job and set out to write/study/practice full time for a few months or year. I’m going to keep thinking and praying about this and let you know what I decide. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">More at <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/"><i>Conversion Diary</i></a></span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-23344033515136068882013-08-22T08:56:00.003-07:002013-08-22T08:56:33.488-07:00On Being AloneI like to be alone. I love isolation, space, and freedom. I feel chaffed and constrained even in my present apartment, not because it's small (the size doesn't really matter), but because there are a lot of other apartments around it. Even my sister's yurt in Maine woods seems too constrained for my tastes, as there are neighbors fairly nearby on both sides. <br />
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Last weekend we moved my brother down to Philadelphia, and I found that I <em>hated</em> being in the city. It felt suffocating to have so many cars and people around. I don't suppose I mind visiting, but I couldn't stand living there. I need space and quiet and isolation; the sense that no one's going to notice, let alone complain about, what I do on my own property. The way I like to put it is that I want to live somewhere where I can go shooting in my backyard and not have anyone call the police (or, you know, get shot). <br />
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Right now I'm looking into renting a cabin in the Upper Peninsula to get away for a long weekend. The very thought of being alone, out in the woods fills me with excitement. Of course, it all depends on whether I can find a suitably isolated cabin available for a reasonable price, but I'm hopeful (especially since I'll be going in late September/October, passed the summer season). <br />
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My ultimate goal is to be able to work from anywhere, so that I can live in a nice, quiet spot surrounded by nature and nothing but nature. Wide open spaces and my own land and water as far as I can see; that's the life for me. <br />
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So now you know what I'll do if I ever get a big advance on a book. BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-64137110281570933152013-08-16T09:06:00.001-07:002013-08-16T09:06:15.113-07:007 Quick Takes Vol.15<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in;">
<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">So,
blogging has fallen off, as you’ve noticed. Partly that’s because I’ve
been focusing on other writing, partly because of laziness, and partly
because the network at work has a problem where I can’t post anything on
blogger from my work computer (I know, I shouldn’t be blogging at work
anyway, but it’s just so much easier, and my boss doesn’t care what I do
as long as I get my work done). </span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Regarding writing, I’m a little behind in what I was hoping to accomplish. I still expect <i>Chronicles</i>
to be ready for its big reveal next week (yikes!), but I’ll have to
buckle down a little more to make sure of it. The last big set-piece I
had is done, but I still need to put in some important connecting tissue
and do some re-writes on the first chapter. Oh, and I need to find more
epigraphs, though fortunately that can wait, since the first few
chapters are set in that regard. Long car-rides + laptop = work! </span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">With <i>Chronicles</i>
nearing completion, I’ve been considering my next writing project. And
I’ve decided. In addition to doing work in the Gods and Monsters
universe where <i>Chronicles</i> is set (informally known as the Tomiverse), I’m also working on a <i>very</i>
exciting epic fantasy idea. I won’t say too much here, except that the
basic plot is structured around the two Books of Samuel, only with…well,
you’ll see. </span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">One of the reasons I’m behind on <i>Chronicles</i>
is that I came down with one of my seasonal colds this week. They work
by hitting me hard for a couple days (Thursday was an absolute
nightmare), then lingering until they’re satisfied that any fitness
routines or milestones I’ve built up over the past few months have been
eliminated. Well, this time I don’t intend to let that happen; come next
week, I’m going right back into my exercise routine, whether I cough
myself to death or not. Suck it, cold virus! </span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Managed
to get out to Mass for Mary’s Assumption, which served to confirm that
my decision not to go to work on Thursday was very much the correct
choice, as Mass was spent in a dreamy, stuffed-up, head-ached haze. I’m
sure the Blessed Mother will forgive my lack of attentiveness and guzzling cough-drops
(not to mention other things that day: it’s hard to stay faithful to
pious resolutions when you feel like your sinuses are about to pop out
of your skull). </span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Wallowing
in self-pity and so on has also led me to decide to make another
attempt at organizing my life and building good habits/routines. Working
out some ideas/goals right now, so stay tuned for updates on that
score. This blog <i>is</i> supposed to be about that sort of thing, after all. </span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Ummm…yeah, not much else. The last week has just been a haze of work, Nyquil, Lewis, <i>Minecraft</i>, Chesterton, cough-drops, <i>Order of the Stick</i>, and God-knows what else. SICK! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">See <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/"><i>Conversion Diary</i> </a>for more and better posts. </span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-40081815689101144372013-08-02T09:00:00.000-07:002013-08-02T09:00:18.968-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 14<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary FTW! </a> </span></span></span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Well,
for those of you who follow <a href="http://thecatholicnerd.blogspot.com/">my other blog</a> (the one I actually write on), you might have noticed that
I’ve been growing more casual and sarcastic (or do I repeat myself?).
That’s a feature, not a bug. I’ve decided to embrace my some-what
abrasive, introverted personality and just kinda run with it. There are a
number of reasons why, most revolving around the fact that trying to
hide or subsume it doesn’t actually seem to have helped much in the ol’
socialization department, so why bother? </span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">One
of the nice things I’ve been noticing about Online Dating is that it’s
kinda forcing me to put myself forward, whether because it’s really hard
to get in touch with anyone (I confess; I tried with one girl three
times without getting a peep in response. Might have been rude, but I
had to consider: possibility of someone I’ll never meet having a low
opinion of me that she’ll quickly forget all about versus…well, let’s
just say it wasn’t even close), or just because I’ve been hanging out on
the forums and having people laugh at my wry comments. A little
positive reinforcement goes a long way.</span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">By the way, sometimes I wonder whether I’m being too picky with the dating thing. Then I think; ‘well, what the heck <i>should</i> I be picky about if not this?’ So, yeah, I’m going in with high standards; not so much anything <i>specific</i>
(beyond religious/political agreement) as that I’m looking for someone
who stands out to me somehow as being particularly unique or smart or
quirky. And if she happens to also be a petite brunette with glasses,
well so much the better.</span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">So, I’m getting down to the wire with <i>Chronicles of Hendricks</i>.
Let me explain how I’m working: I pretty much just write whatever scene
I feel like, but there’s a ‘main thrust’ of the story, which means a
more-or-less complete block of text starting from the beginning. At the
moment, the whole book largely consists of three big chunks; the main
thrust, another from slightly later on, and the ending. In other words,
it’s actually coalescing into a single, solid whole. Do you remember
when the T-1000 got shattered at the end of <i>T2</i>, and then the
droplets all came together until it reformed itself? That’s kind of what
my writing technique looks like. Right now, it is finally assuming a
more or less human form. </span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Okay,
the heck with analogies. The point is that I have set myself a final
deadline to have the whole thing done (or at least, in a presentable
form) by the 23<sup>rd</sup> of August, at which point I will begin
posting it in serial form at a private blog that I will set up for the
purpose. More information on that as we get closer.</span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">After having deleted <i>Minecraft</i>
for the third time (the thing soaks up time like a vacuum cleaner), I
decided last weekend to reinstall it, though with strict limitations
(honestly, writing and Online Dating are usually more fun anyway, but
sometimes you just need to turn off the brain). Mostly it’s because I’ve
found that it’s a <i>great</i> way to listen to audio books when you’re
not driving; you just turn off the background music and it gives you
something to do during the long, long hours of <i>Nicholas Nickelby. </i>It’s surprisingly easy to pay attention to both at the same time, and it makes you feel like you’ve actually <i>done</i> something worthwhile while you were lost underground hunting for diamonds. </span></div>
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<span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">On
Tuesday of this week I walked to and from work (roughly three miles one
way), something I’ve been meaning to do all summer. On the way there I
worked out a number of troublesome plotting problems and came up with a
lot of great ideas. On the way back I was mostly saying Army cadences to
myself (they really do work, by the way). I don’t know whether that was
because I was tired after a long day at work or because the route I
took back (I took different routes to and from to see which works
better) was a lot longer, less direct, and hence tiring. Incidentally,
my legs were <i>incredibly</i> stiff and sore all evening after that. Can’t wait to try it again next week! </span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-62275554867797685682013-07-26T04:54:00.000-07:002013-07-26T04:59:41.763-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 13 <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s the Online Dating Edition of <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">7 Quick Takes</a>! Some background; I started an online-dating account at <a href="http://catholicmatch.com/">Catholic Match.com</a> about a month or so ago, and I’ve come to the following conclusions:</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">First, let me say that Catholic Match has this thing were there’s both a paid account (which let’s actually communicate with the other users) and an unpaid account (which doesn’t). I guess I can understand the thinking behind this (it's exactly the same policy behind porn sites: lure them in with pretty girls and then GRAB ‘EM!). What I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can’t</i> understand is why THERE’S NO WAY TO TELL IF A GIVEN PERSON HAS A PAID ACCOUNT OR NOT! Meaning that it’s entirely possible to find what appears to be a great girl and not only not be able to get in touch with her, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to have no way of knowing whether you even </i>can<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> get in touch with her!</i> I hate, hate, HATE that policy! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A lot of people need to put more thought into their ‘about me’ profiles. I swear, at least three-quarters of them start with some variation of “I love my family and I’m passionate about my faith!” Yeah, I kind of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">assumed</i> that you’re into your faith, seeing as how you’re on a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Catholic</i> dating site and you checked off the “I accept all Church teachings” option. And I’m glad you love your family, but as far as relationships go, that’s…frankly not the first question I would ask. ‘What are you passionate about? How would you describe your personality? What do you want out of life?’ Those would be the questions to deal with upfront, not confirming that, yes, you came to a Catholic dating site because you are indeed Catholic. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And while we’re on the subject, I realize fifty words (usually the above “I’m Catholic and I love my family” line) ending with “message me if you want to know more!” sounds all humble and enticing and stuff, but from my perspective it’s just annoying. The idea of these ‘about me’ things is to give a broad overview so that people can see whether or not you have similar personalities or interests. If I have no idea what you’re into, or what you might like to talk about, I’m probably not going to message you with basic questions like that. There’s enough drama and frustrations in the dating world without having to spend a week of e-mailing/chatting back and forth only to discover that we have nothing in common, which you could have let me know right away by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">filling out your bloody profile a bit more!</i> Seriously, how hard is it to say “I’m into horses, literature, and my hobby is making pipe-bombs”? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(incidentally, if your hobby <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> pipe-bombs, that’s an automatic 'message that person!’ for me). Not only does it help me to judge whether I want to get in touch with you, but having a unique, interesting hobby (i.e. pipe-bombs) makes you all the more attractive. Don’t be shy! Fill out everything you can!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Girls, don’t let your profile pic sell you short. I’ve seen tons and tons of dark, fuzzy, red-eyed, and just-plain-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bad</i> profile photos. The thing is, about half the time if I do click on their profile, I find a half-a-dozen other, much better pictures. Why wouldn’t you use one of the ones that actually make you look pretty, instead of the one that makes you look like it was taken when you had been up for forty-eight hours straight and/or had been recently possessed?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Two more things: one, make sure that at lest one photo on your profile actually shows your undistorted face (framed in shadows or a hundred feet from the camera doesn't count). I'm not going to be asking that bridge you're posing on for a date; I want to see what <em>you</em> look like. Two, for goodness sakes, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">smile!</i> Do you really think you’ll attract a guy to check out your profile by glaring sullenly into the camera? “Wow, she looks like she hasn’t laughed since the Clinton administration: be still my heart!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On a related note, some advice for guys interested in trying this sort of thing: don’t necessarily judge how attractive the girl is just by her profile pic. Sometimes it gives you a good idea of her appearance, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve had the following happen a number of times when I go<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to view a profile: *search page* “okay, she’s not bad looking…” *click* “AI CHIHUAHUA!” </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you think it might be less frustrating than normal dating (as I foolishly did), you’re in for a very rude awakening. Here are some typical interactions: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Me: “Hey, I like your profile; I’m into that sort of thing too! Want to talk sometime?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Her: *No response*</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Me: “Wow, you’re really pretty and funny! Let me know if you want to chat or email!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Her: *No response*</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Me: “Judging from your profile, you’re exactly what I’ve been hoping to find! I think you’re fascinating, gorgeous, and funny and I’d love to try to get to know you better.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Her: *No response* </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Me: “GAAAAAAAHHHH! WHY DO I EVEN <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">BOTHER</i>?!?!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Her: *No response*</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite the above, it’s actually easier to keep a hopeful attitude in this sort of thing. As you peruse, you get to thinking “wow, there are a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lot</i> of beautiful women out there who share at least some of my interests!” It’s an encouraging thought. </span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-46300091011491197302013-07-19T16:08:00.001-07:002013-07-19T16:08:28.443-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 12
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Still hosted by <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary</a>! </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>So, one of my favorite blogs is <a href="http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monster Hunter Nation</i></a>, run by a sci-fi/horror
author/gun-nut named Larry Correia. See, it’s great because it features nerdy
sci-fi/horror/fantasy, Conservative politics, guns, and writing tips. If you
threw in Catholic Theology and musical theater it’d be my one-stop internet
shop. Anyway, the other day he posted a <a href="http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/ask-correia-14-how-to-be-a-professional-author/">great article</a> on writing
professionally, which basically compressed everything I’ve been trying to get
through my head over the past week into one handy 4000+ word article. Highly recommended!</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>My mind has been full of controversial topics
lately. I’ve been holding off publishing them because I want to make sure I get
them right and decide how conciliatory vs. blunt I want to be.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Combining the last two items, I really need to
blog more. So, I’m declaring here that I will blog something – even if it’s just
a video or meme – every day this coming week. So, keep an eye on my other two
blogs!</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Does anyone know about Macbooks? Because mine keeps giving me trouble; it runs sluggishly a lot of the time, especially
when I start programs up, but even at just odd times. It’s a fairly new
machine, and I’m not over-taxing the memory at all (there’s over half of it
left), nor can I find any background programs causing problems. So what gives?</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Had a very nice dinner earlier this week with a
friend of mine. We tend to discuss theology a lot, since he’s a Protestant and
I’m Catholic, and we got into it fairly good this time (though we spent so long
on other topics we didn’t get too far) I don’t think I did a very good job of
defending Marian devotion (I’m still something of an amateur on the subject),
but I do think I managed to explain the big problem with Sola Scriptura well
enough. In any case, a good time was had by all. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>So, I’m kind of excited because I found an AR-15
model for just under eight-hundred. Very no-frills (not even sights!) so I’m
not so sure about it, but it is encouraging to know that it can be had for
under a thousand. I figured twelve-hundred was the bare minimum price. That
doesn’t mean I’ll get it; for one thing, I need to save up a lot more before I
even consider making a big purchase, for another even then I’m leaning away
from the gun to something a little more immediately practical. In any case, when I do get my AR, it’ll probably be a
little higher end. Nothing too fancy (since I am a beginner), but at least one
that includes iron sights and a dust-cover. I mean, we must behave like
civilized people! </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>In addition to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Witness</i>, I’ve also picked up <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Last Lion</i> again (the epic biography of Winston Churchill). Might have been
a mistake, since I’m being sucked into the life of Churchill and leaving poor
Mr. Chambers just as he was about to tell of his tragic upbringing. Of course,
Churchill had it rough too. It’s really hard to find a historical figure
without a tragic childhood, isn’t it? Oh, I suppose Roosevelt counts, since his
big tragedies didn’t happen until his adult years. </div>
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Well, that one went kind of off
topic, didn’t it? </div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-35694105525464953992013-07-12T16:21:00.000-07:002013-07-12T16:21:48.955-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 11
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Still hosted by <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>I haven’t been blogging for a while. That’s
partly intentional, partly just because I haven’t had the interest or energy
for it lately. But, while visiting my sister in Maine she was very insistent
that I take it up again, so here we are. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Regardless, I’m putting a hold to Famous
Catholics and other series, just because I’m a little tired of them and I want
to flesh out the blog a little bit more. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>My current task in life is learning to accept
drudgery. I don’t mean useless drudgery (but I have to accept that sometimes as
well), but the small, persistent effort required to acquire new skills and
knowledge. See, I’ve usually been the type of person who tries to snatch at
things all at once in one great effort, and since that usually fails, I get
discouraged fairly easily. I’ve known for a long time that this is a bad idea,
but now I’m working on reforming my attitude into a healthier, steadier method
of attack. It’s too soon to tell how successful I’m being, but I’ll keep you
informed. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Speaking of Maine, we were up there for my
niece’s second birthday. She’s cute beyond words and extraordinarily
independent. “No, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’ll</i> do it!” was
her typical response to offers of help, whether for opening coolers, walking
uphill, playing on the swings, or pretty much anything that she put her mind to
doing. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>It took me over a year to do it (mostly because
I was reading in fits and starts), but I finally finished Luigi Giussani’s
great theological trilogy: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Religious
Sense, On the Origin of the Christian Claim, </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Why the Church</i>. It’s an incredibly dense, complete explanation of
the Catholic faith which sets things out in a frank, sensible, and fairly
easy-to-follow way. If I had to summarize his main point, it would be the
importance of focusing on the essential questions involved in such matters and
trying to understand and answer them rather than more superficial, secondary
questions. An essential question would be, say, “what is unique about the
Christian claim,” and a non-essential question would be “how does Genesis
square with Darwin?” Of course, he says it a lot better than I do. Giussani has
had a huge influence on my own philosophical and religious views, so he’s
highly recommended.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>With Giussani finished, I’m now tackling
Whittaker Chambers’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Witness</i> about
his experience in and break from the Communist Party. I started reading it
while I was in college, abandoned it when I left, and have made one or two
aborted attempts to resume in the meantime. Now I’m pretty well set on reading
the whole monstrous thing (seriously; it’s huge). Chambers is an excellent
writer, and his real-life account is as riveting and moving as any spy novel,
and considerably more depressing. He makes no bones about his predictions for
the future, and none of them are very cheerful. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>In weighing my next big purchase, I’m not sure
whether it should be A). an ‘assault-rifle’ (Not sure whether I want an AR-15
or a Kalashnikov; the former has more American spirit, but the latter is
insanely durable) B). a desktop computer so I can start learning 3D art and
animation or C). a pickup truck to replace my aging Ford Focus and further my plans
to live out of a camper for a while. In the meantime I’m enjoying the fact that
I’m the kind of person for whom <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">those</i>
are the options. </div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-22480951456846622352013-06-07T07:49:00.000-07:002013-06-07T07:49:02.323-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 10<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tomorrow early, I’m leaving on a vacation. I’m heading down to Johnstown, and then to New Jersey to visit a college friend I haven’t seen in years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m also taking Monday and Tuesday off work, so I might stop by Gettysburg or something on my way back. We’ll see. I mostly just felt the need to get away for a while. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Reading wise, I just finished <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Autobiography of G.K. Chesterton</i> (delightful and highly recommended to Chesterton fans and non-fans alike) and started <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Road to Serfdom</i> by F.A. Hayek. Shortly after beginning the latter, I remembered that I never finished <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Why the Church?</i> By Luigi Giussanni, so now I’m reading both a very dense work of theology and a very dense work of political science. But I’m enjoying both of them, so it’s all good. Now I just need to decide which one is coming with me on my aimless wanderings. I’m thinking <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Road to Serfdom</i>, because it’s a real page-turner. Not that Giussanni isn’t, but Hayek is more so.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was also excited that I was even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">more</i> ahead of schedule for this week’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Famous Catholic Friday</i> post (<a href="http://thecatholicnerd.blogspot.com/2013/06/famous-catholic-friday-gen-james.html">Confederate General James Longstreet</a>). I pretty much finished it yesterday and only did a few minor revisions this morning. Go me! The Catholic Nerd is starting to come back to life a little after a long period of very little activity; I’ve got some juicy posts waiting in the wings for when I get back from my trip. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So I’ve been working on improving my diet, and I think I may have seen the effect when I went for my run yesterday. A goodly distance, then a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">long</i> walk through the suburbs (which I was deflected into by one of those annoying cars trying to turn into the last street I had planned to cross <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">just as I was about to cross it, good Lord I hate when that happens!</i>), which had me wandering sort-of-kind-of in the general direction of home, before I found myself in familiar territory and started running again, despite my legs being number, running all the way home! In short, I did a better and more strenuous work out than I have in a long time. Oh, and I did it all on an empty stomach.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That last bit was related to the fact that it was a very <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">annoying</i> day at work yesterday, including having to wait around for the computer tech to come “sometime between noon and four” (it ended up being about three, after I had missed lunch). Most of my frustrations (including that one) were related to the fact that we just transformed an old lab/conference room into a new office suite for the guys in a department that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">probably won’t even be in this building much longer!</i> I swear, I never know what people are thinking. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the writing front, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hendricks</i> is reaching the point where I realize I’m going to have to go back and shore up some of the sagging bits. But there’ll be time for that later; for right now I just introduced a few of my all-time favorite characters and am loving finally getting to work with them. One of them (just as an example) is a very mad scientist whom I envision being played by Vincent Price and who pronounces “science” with a capital ‘S’ (don’t ask me how; it’s just the way he says it). So, things are good on that front. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Regarding the above, I often find it helps while writing to envision certain people ‘playing’ my characters. For one thing I’m a massive film geek, so mentally casting Donald Pleasance, Vincent Price, Rondo Hatton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and John Rhys-Davis in the same story helps me to get excited about the book (for those who will be reading it, keep this list handy and try to pick out who’s who). For another, I find it helps me keep characters consistent to give them a specific voice and appearance that I’m already familiar with. Just a free little writing tip. </span></div>
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BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-52742030189123307502013-05-31T12:41:00.002-07:002013-05-31T12:49:58.292-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 9<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em><a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary</a> </em>again. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">For Memorial Day my Dad and brother and I all went out shooting. They spent most of the time raving about my S&W Model 60, about how good it feels, how accurate and functional it is, how powerful it can be, and so on. So, yeah, I think I made a good choice with that one. Oh, and Dad’s laser sight was awesome too. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Another busy week at work with two days of set up for a four-hour training session, which, apparently, wasn’t very good anyway. Still, I learned that you should always <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">over</i> estimate the number of pizzas you order for an office lunch. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">I’m tentatively beginning to look for another job, possibly out of state. It’s just starting to feel like I ought to be moving on, and my current job doesn’t really have much to offer except a decent wage. This is something I’ll need to do a lot of thinking and praying over, especially as my lease ends in the coming months. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">On the writing front while I’ve been plugging away at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hendricks</i> I also started a side ‘80s genre film crossover’ fan-fiction project just for fun (and extra practice). I’m considering posting it in installments for people to read since I’m enjoying it so much. Sample sentence: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">“The DeLorean roared to life and sped off down Elm Street, scattering leaves in its wake.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I don’t know about you, but that sentence alone makes me happy. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another current writing project is coming up with funny and bizzare little similes. For instance:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-As Shackleton said to the man who brought ice cream, that doesn’t really help. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-As Pyrrhus said, at least we won. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-As Gavrilo Princip said before shooting Archduke Ferdinand, what’s the worst that could happen? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i> think they're funny anyway. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">A prior commitment to meet up with a friend means that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Famous Catholic Friday</i> this week will probably become <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Famous Catholic Saturday</i>. Oh, well. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">I’ve been re-watching some old <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Columbo </i>episodes, reminding me of how wonderful they are. What really strikes me, though, is how very <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">manly</i> the characters are. Columbo himself in particular, but also in the villains of the week. There’s a confidence, a professionalism about everyone that I don’t really see much in contemporary shows. I might have to do an article about it in the future. </span></div>
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BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-32696774848375044592013-05-24T10:13:00.000-07:002013-05-24T10:14:20.863-07:007 Quick Takes Friday Vol. 8<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em><a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary</a></em> FTW!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, it turns out my rent is going to go up this year, and I am not happy about it. This makes me seriously consider my perennial back-up plan, which is to move to Texas and open up a rattlesnake sanctuary, where people can come to watch the rattlesnakes roam wild and free. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m only joking a little; I have honestly considered that, and I think I might be able to make a success of it. I mean, everyone likes rattlesnakes, right?</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Seriously, I have considered a move down south. Booming economy, conservative, and lots of space; sounds good to me! If I find a job and/or some cheap, good land down there, I’m gone. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m slowly, reluctantly trying to eat healthier, which at the moment means such things as cooking up asparagus to go along with my eggs and bacon and leaving the lettuce on my sandwiches (I draw the line at tomatoes). So far, so good (except when I forget, which is, admittedly, a fair amount of the time); asparagus works fine with bacon and eggs, and I’m actually starting to enjoy the taste of lettuce mixed in with my ham and cheese (especially if there’s mayo as well; mayo makes lettuce much more palatable). </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was actually ahead of the game on my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://thecatholicnerd.blogspot.com/p/famous-catholic-fridays.html">Famous Catholic Friday</a></i> post this week! I’m so proud of myself! And I even managed to post something that wasn’t either that or a Scripture Reflections! Go me! </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s been a crazy week at work; first we had a meeting with the head of the department (who is very nice, but a bit of a neat freak so we had to make sure that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything was PERFECT</i>) to discuss something I can’t talk about in a public forum. In setting up for that I learned that ordering high-quality muffins requires 24-hour notice. Then we had <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">another</i> major meeting two days later, requiring chilled juices (one of the managers had me put the out roughly two-hours early, with the result that the ice was half-melted by the time the meeting began), coffee, a sandwich tray, and, yes, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">muffins!</i> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Meanwhile, I’m mulling over trying to sell some ideas, including ones for a video game and a beef commercial (that’s ideas <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">plural</i>: I’m not considering a video game that also functions as a beef commercial. Though now that I think about it…). I figure it can’t hurt to throw some ideas out there and see if anyone bites. Who knows? I might strike it rich in the beef business. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m glad this is a long weekend, because my apartment needs a good Spring Cleaning. And I still need to put together that pull-up bar I mentioned weeks ago! So much to do…</span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-49108820686984799202013-05-17T14:02:00.000-07:002013-05-17T14:02:16.887-07:007 Quick Takes Friday Vol. 7
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Again, hosted by <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/"><i>Conversion Diary</i></a>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Woah, what a week! Those of you who follow
politics know what I’m talking about, but even if you don’t, odds are you’ve
heard something about all that’s been going on. At least three major scandals
blew up all at once, and like the Fiendfyre in the last <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Harry Potter </i>book, they appear to just be getting bigger and bigger
rather than burning out. </div>
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And the worst part? We <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">still</i> haven’t heard anything about what I think is the worst of the
Obama Administration’s scandals: Fast and Furious (I believe that’s because
they’re still trying to work around the President’s not-at-all-suspect
Executive Privilege declaration). Hey, House Oversight Committee? Maybe we can
use all this to draw people’s attention to the whole “the DOJ shipped guns to
the Mexican Cartels, leading to the deaths of hundreds of innocent people”
thing. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Speaking of politics, I have a free tip for any
future Presidents: </div>
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Don’t. Do. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihxzUZNuffvMl5tys1_yb-OS4tidhOOlRsScIjYfPjNEJbbzD1bCMPpCXJnipvGAxK1d3Jmc39H9LOSMG3d5xOBFB_-cFSnuEHsP17ALzakarVs4o6mgnjq7AaG7hKbGE5uQJkDVCVlj0n/s1600/Marine.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihxzUZNuffvMl5tys1_yb-OS4tidhOOlRsScIjYfPjNEJbbzD1bCMPpCXJnipvGAxK1d3Jmc39H9LOSMG3d5xOBFB_-cFSnuEHsP17ALzakarVs4o6mgnjq7AaG7hKbGE5uQJkDVCVlj0n/s320/Marine.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now, before anyone says it, I’m
sure that some previous Presidents have done it too, but I frankly don’t care.
A United States Marine is not the President’s personal valet and manservant. If
I’m not mistaken, he actually <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">has</i> at
least one valet and manservant! Get <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">him</i>
to hold up your damn umbrella. Or how about another one of the bloated White
House staff? In a pinch you could even call up one of the more useless Cabinet members
(Secretary of Education, Secretary of Energy, etc.) and put them to work. Or,
how about this? If you think it might rain, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">put
up a friggin’ tarp, you lazy incompetent!</i> </div>
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This strikes me as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">painfully</i> disrespectful thing for the
President to do. These guys are Marines. Not only that, but they’re color guard
Marines serving the President: they’re the elite of the elite, and he’s using
them as a personal umbrella stand!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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Just check out that poor Marine’s
face: even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he</i> can’t believe the
President is making him do this. I like to imagine he’s weighing the relative
merits of going ‘The Penguin’ on Obama’s arrogant posterior. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>I’m still going strong on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicles of Hendricks</i>; we’re up to about 26,000 words (though some of
those I’m already planning to cut/replace). You know, writing works in funny
ways. This week I happened to come up with the idea for a joke about the “only
one way to find out” trope (you know, someone will say something like “is it
safe?” and the other person will say “only one way to find out” and risk their
lives to ‘test’ the thing). Then I decided, ‘wait, if they’re going to climb up
the laundry chute, they should run into something on the way…’ then, when
trying to decide how they escape from the ‘things’ (I won’t say what they are),
I wound up having them pulling off a sheet that was covering something…and now
I want to make that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">something</i> a plot
point somehow. I just don’t know what it is. Stay tuned!</div>
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</span></span></span>So, I went shooting again this week; again,
trying to make it an at-least weekly thing, since A). I need to practice and
B). there’s a range fairly nearby that is cheap, quiet, friendly, and seems
largely unaffected by the ammo shortage. Anyway, this particular range gives
you a pair of clips to hang up your targets, with the rule that you have to pay
for any that you accidentally shoot. So, I plugged out my usual fifty rounds
into two targets, was doing fine, hadn’t hit the clip once…then on my very last
shot I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">destroyed</i> the clip. Literally;
the bullet smashed it to pieces, taking a good chunk of target with it. </div>
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Frankly, that was worth the two dollars they
charged me for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>My apartment has been invaded by ants. Seriously,
they’re everywhere. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t bother to kill them
unless they’re directly in my way. I’ve got the exterminator coming, but since
that’s done through the apartment office I don’t know when exactly he’s
supposed to get here. In the meantime, I just squish them when they bother me
and try to clean up my food so they don’t have a motive to come in. Of course,
now it’s too late: they think this is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their</i>
home now. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>By the way, regarding the violin recital I
mentioned last week? Well, it was one of those things were everyone tries to
assure me I did fine, but I know it was the worst version I’d played recently.
Oh, well; I’ll do better next time. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Today at work we had a cook out (I forget what
for: some of the wiper guys put it on). Lots of delicious-smelling hamburgers
and brots and chicken…and I couldn’t have any of it because it was Friday! For
a while I considered just diving in and doing some other penance later, but
then I thought “It’s a penance; it’s supposed to hurt” so I passed over the
sumptuous meats and contented myself with asparagus, carrots, and watermelon. </div>
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I actually found it wasn’t too bad;
after a few minutes I stopped noticing the heavenly aroma of grilled flesh, the
asparagus provided a nicely smoky/seasoned flavor, and I walked away fairly
contented. So, it all worked out and I don’t regret the loss of juicy
meat-flesh (*twitch*). </div>
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BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-38963940969287597892013-05-10T10:47:00.002-07:002013-05-10T12:27:19.106-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 6 <div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again, hosted by <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary</a></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mid-way through last week I fell down with one of my patented seasonal colds. This hit me hard for a day or two, then linger on in a moderate form for the next couple of weeks, leaving me lethargic and disrupting any exercise schedules I may have established (as of this writing, that is still the case). About the only silver lining is that I get to take Nyquil. Sweet, sleep-inducing Nyquil…</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During one of my healthier moments I managed to finally get out to a small local firing range and try out my revolver. Here’s the result:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Both of these silhouettes did very bad things: I had no choice but to take them down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Overall, I’m pleased with how it went. I definitely need a lot of practice (and this was with .38 rounds: .357 rounds will pack a lot more kick), but it’s not a bad start. The range itself was okay; small, but literally empty<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I was the only one there ). On the one hand, I enjoy the privacy. On the other, it makes me worry that they might not be around for long. In any case, I plan to make this a (at least) weekly thing so I can get really comfortable with it. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have my first public violin recital tomorrow; nothing fancy, just a low-key opportunity for my instructor’s students to scratch out a short piece for the audience. It also means that I’ve officially memorized my first actual song on the violin (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Faith of Our Fathers</i>), which is a pretty cool milestone. I’m hoping to do <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Star Spangled Banner</i> next. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of memorization, I’ve recently discovered that Rudyard Kipling was an absolutely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">awesome</i> poet. My latest memorization project was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gods of the Copybook Headings</i>, which is an alarmingly perfect description of the current state of Western Civilization. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When all men are paid for existing, and no man must pay for his sins</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As surely as water will wet us, as surely as fire will burn</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the topic of memorization, the problem I’m running into is developing my ‘palaces.’ Briefly, those are the visual environments that I populate with the mental images to help remember things. See, the problem is that simply making them up is difficult and requires me to use precious memory to accomplish. But, on the other hand, there are only so many real places that I know well enough to use, and most of those are either too small for my purposes or already being used. I’ll have to go on more walks in the future to counterbalance this. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I haven’t been keeping up with ‘Famous Catholic Fridays’ very well lately: I missed the past two weeks and probably am going to miss this week as well. Lethargy, laziness, and a lack of material are the main causes: I just haven’t had the energy to do the research and get the article out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Let’s commit to getting one out next week no matter what, shall we? I’ll even give you a preview: it’s probably going to be Dante (hi, <a href="http://trenchcoatintrospective.wordpress.com/">Liz</a>!) </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Related to the above is DISCIPLINE! I need to get a lot better at disciplining myself. Grr! Let’s make that my goal for May, shall we? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Extra Take: This week I was very saddened by the death of <a href="http://catholicityoftaste.blogspot.com/2013/05/ray-harryhausen-rip.html">Ray Harryhausen,</a> one of my personal heroes. I take it as the final sign that the classic film industry that I loved is truly gone forever, and nothing like it will ever be again. </span></div>
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BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-47345148367516442382013-04-26T08:25:00.002-07:002013-04-26T08:25:18.874-07:007 Quick Takes Vol. 5<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hosted by <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Conversion Diary</i> </a>again at last!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Reading the other ‘7 Quick Takes’ makes me realize that I’m something of an anomaly. Most of the blogs seem to be run by moms or at the very least women. Me, I’m a nerdy single guy who writes a lot about novels-in-progress and guns. Not that moms can’t write about guns; I’m very much in favor of maternal gun-ownership. A mama bear may be scary, but a mama bear backed up by a Glock is even better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I seem to have unblocked my writer’s block; I’ve made more progress this week than I have over the past month or so. I ultimately decided to work on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicles of Hendricks</i> for now, and just over the past week I’ve gone from zero to 11,472 words (as of this writing). The strategy I’m trying out for this one is to simply write whichever part I’m currently thinking of. You see, previously I would start from the beginning and plow through each chapter in turn. This time I’m keep it to a single word document and jumping all around the book as inspiration/interest strikes me. I’m still trying to work my way up from beginning to end, but I don’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hold</i> myself to that, if you get me. This has not only proved much more profitable, but much more fun. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It helps that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicles</i> is pretty much exactly the type of book I want to write: it’s a manic adventure story set on a remote Caribbean island that features pretty near close to everything I like to have in stories: lots of monsters, evil villains, a beautiful and endangered heroine, an unassuming hero who triumphs over all odds, etc. It’s the kind of book where characters quote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Tempest</i>, but also say things like “you just don’t under<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stand</i> science, do you?” and that includes both philosophical discussions about whether humanity is perfectible by its own merits <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> a fight between two giant snakes, one of which spits acid. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you haven’t read Steven Pressfield’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The War of Art</i> I highly recommend it. It’s all about the battle with ‘Resistance,’ the curious reluctance we have to doing what we really feel called to do. I’m certainly very familiar with it. But he describes how, after your power through and do what you have to do in spite of resistance, it’s an incredibly freeing feeling. Well, this week I’ve experienced some of that and I feel better than I have in a long time. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the downside, as of this writing I’m not sure who I’m going to do for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://thecatholicnerd.blogspot.com/p/famous-catholic-fridays.html">Famous Catholic Friday</a></i> this week, or even if I might end up skipping it and saying that my ‘G.K. Chesterton Appreciation’ fills in for it (even though I'm planning on doing one on him in the future). </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My sister has expressed ambivalence or dislike for Chesterton on occasion, most recently in a long post and discussion. That makes me kind of sad, since I can’t share my love of Chesterton with her. But, on the other hand, that’s life. There are a lot of artists I don’t like whom other people whose opinions I respect adore (Picasso, Mark Twain, Ezra Pound, etc). It’s part of the wonderful tapestry of the Church and the world, and I need to get better at not letting it bother me. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Inspired by an <a href="http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/03/21/how-to-build-the-ultimate-bodyweight-gym-using-only-pvc-pipe/">article</a> on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.artofmanliness.com/">The Art of Manliness</a></i> I’ve decided to construct myself a pull-up bar out of PCV piping. In retrospect, I should have read the comments section first, as most people expressed doubts that PCV was actually strong enough for the job and wouldn’t shatter into a thousand deadly shards. However, I believe I’ve come up with a number of solutions for my own model: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The cross-bar is only three feet long rather than the five feet for the ‘complete gym’ version.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ll reinforce the crossbar with wooden dowels to give it some extra strength.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ll wrap the whole thing in duct tape, because DUCT TAPE FIXES EVERYTHING! That way, even if it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does</i> shatter, it won’t send shards flying into my eyeballs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m also considering ways to reinforce the support beams, possibly by simply filling them with something (I am open to suggestions, as long as we keep in mind that 1. I need to still be able to disassemble it for storage and 2. They’re two-inch-diameter pipes). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Look for a future article about how this all worked out, possibly with pictures! </span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-83954057132612819112013-04-19T11:22:00.000-07:002013-04-19T11:33:32.522-07:007 Quick Takes Friday Vol. 4 Once again hosted by <a href="http://www.camppatton.com/">Camp Patton</a>.<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">First of all, in case you are wondering, yes I’m doing better than I was last week. I’ve still got fits of depression, but I’m gaining more energy and having more fits of cheerfulness as well, so that’s good.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally finished my ‘Famous Catholics Friday’ profile of <a href="http://thecatholicnerd.blogspot.com/2013/04/famous-catholic-friday-nicolaus.html">Nicolaus Copernicus</a>, which I intended to get up last weekend, but just didn’t feel up to the research (see above, RE: Depression). Good Lord, what a man! What a genius! And it really irks me that these days he’s mostly relegated to a footnote in the stupid ‘Galileo story.’ Frankly, if anything Galileo ought to be a footnote to Copernicus, not the other way around. Of course I don’t mean to belittle Galileo’s many, many accomplishments, but his contribution to that particular issue was basically just lending support to Copernicus…and then getting himself and Copernicus banned because he was a jerk about it. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Obviously, this has been rough week for everyone in the country: we’ve had to endure listening to the horrors of the Gosnell trial (once the media could be shamed into actually doing their jobs); we’ve had to watch yet another act of wanton evil directed against innocent people, this one with bombs rather than guns. It doesn’t make too much difference, really. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, we were treated to a (probably) accidental explosion down in Texas that reads almost like an atomic bombing, with photos of mushroom clouds and descriptions of whole areas being “gone.” In the face of such evil, our first and last defense is prayer. Let’s pray for the victims, those they leave behind, the injured, the responders, and, let’s not forget, for the perpetrators. May God be merciful to them and inspire them to true repentance.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Prayer may be our first and last defense, but there’s a lot in the meaty filling in between. There was at least some good news this week on that front (at least for some of us); every single one of the new gun-control measures (including a return of the worse-than-useless assault weapons ban) failed miserably in the Senate. This despite the fact that the Senate is still controlled by Democrats who might be expected to be a bit more open to the idea of gutting the Second Amendment some more. Granted another bill that would require States to honor CCW permits also failed (not sure how I feel about that one; my pro-second-amendment beliefs clash with my pro-tenth-amendment ones), but the funny thing is that it received <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">more</i> votes than any of the gun-control ones. Thank God for small miracles!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of which, I finally purchased my carry-gun this week (they never had what I wanted in stock previously). It’s a Smith and Weston Model 60 revolver chambered for .357 Magnum or .38 Special rounds. It’s not exactly what I was looking for (it only holds five shots), but I’m very happy with my choice so far. For one thing, it has a longer barrel than most ‘snub-nosed’ revolvers, giving it better accuracy and less recoil (so I’ve heard; I haven’t had a chance to fire it yet), but it still fits comfortably and completely in the pockets of all the pants I’ve tried it in. For another, since buying it I’ve read nothing but good things about this particular model, with the only complaint being one guy who thought the trigger pull was too heavy. Maybe it was just his particular gun, but I find it pretty much perfect; it takes some effort (which is good, since I don’t want it going off in my pocket if I make a sudden movement), but it’s smooth and comfortable. Plus, if it’s really a problem you can just cock the hammer back and fire it single-action (for the record, I don’t recommend this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">at all</i>). Finally, it just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feels</i> good in my hand; very secure and comforting. I foresee a very profitable working relationship with this particular firearm. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last night my parents and I went to see my brother present his thesis in Creative Writing. His was a weird, trippy combination of journal entries, stream of consciousness, script, to-do-lists, and musical (seriously). It wasn’t the kind of writing I usually like very much (for instance, the guy who presented after him I found almost unbearably grating), but this was quirky and creative enough that I thoroughly enjoyed it (a confession of murder is presented in the form of a stage-musical. How do you not love that?). </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of writing, I’m leaning towards doing another tear-down of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lepus</i>. This draft isn’t working too well, and I realized that the thematic heart of the story needs to be different. That, and I’ve worked out most of the difficulties that were keeping me from taking another stab at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chronicles of Hendricks</i>. Whichever I decide to work on next, I’m aware that I really need to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">finish that book first</i> before I do anything else. I’ve got too many partially-completed writing projects as it is. </span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-49051033514103148582013-04-12T05:04:00.002-07:002013-04-12T05:04:30.977-07:007 Quick Takes Friday vol. 3<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Yet again, inspired by <em><a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary</a>, </em>though currently guest hosted by <a href="http://www.camppatton.com/2013/04/7-quick-takes-friday.html"><em>Camp Patton</em></a><em> </em>due to family issues (follow the link to Conversion Diary and offer prayers).</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well, first an update from last week; I’m having a bit more success in limiting my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Minecraft</i> time than I had last week. It’s just a matter of reminding yourself of all the other things you need to do and getting tough with yourself. Now I’m reflecting on blog posts I can do exploring how the appeal of games like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Minecraft</i> point to our being made in the image of God. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Among those other things is a great site I found called <a href="http://duolingo.com/">Duolingo</a>, which allows you to study foreign languages for free. It’s kind of like Rosetta Stone, only more laid-back and fun. They structure each lesson like a game, so you have a set number of hearts and every time you make a mistake you lose a heart. The more hearts you end with, the more points you earn, and the more points you earn, the sooner you level up. I’m at level four right now and working my way through foods in Italian (Io bevo birra). One of the things I really like about it is that it sends you an e-mail each day reminding you to put in some time, so you feel guilty if you ignore it (so far I don’t know what happens if you do; the little owl mascot probably cries or something). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">3. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">I suppose I need to turn in my Catholic blogger card, since I completely missed Divine Mercy Sunday. In my defense, I’ve had a pretty rough week emotionally, and simply haven’t had much energy left for blogging. What exactly has been wrong is hard to describe in a blog post (and, honestly, I don’t really want to shout it out to the internet at large), but I’ve been exhaustingly miserable. Doing somewhat better now, but I still feel like I’m lying when someone asks me how I’m doing and I instinctively answer ‘fine.’ </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The trouble with saying how you actually feel is that the person expects you to explain when you say “rotten” or “horrible,” and a lot of time you don’t really want to pour out your troubles on the guy you work down the hall from. So, we lie. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On a happier note, I found some new pieces for the violin that I’m excited about trying out; namely, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Still Alive</i> from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Portal</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Want You Gone</i> from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Portal 2</i>. Okay, they’re not actually scored for the violin (both are for piano and voice), but who cares? As long as it’s in tenor cleft, right? Anyway, on my first run through of them I actually found them to be fairly easy pieces, for all their many quarter notes; the fingering is intuitive, and I know the tunes so well that I know exactly when I’m going wrong. I had such a good time that I’m considering trying to talk my violin teacher into letting me play one of them for a solo recital coming up. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Unfortunately, I just learned why you’re supposed to loosen your violin bow when you put it away; the tension goes out of it if you leave it tight for too long. Now I’ve got to take it in and get it fixed/replaced. Darn. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Regarding liberal reactions to Margaret Thatcher’s death, all I can say is “Classy" (those are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">heavy</i> sarcasm quotes, in case you don’t read the news).</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m also considering plans to buy a bunch of land in the U.P. (seriously, check out land prices up there; I’ve seen 40 acre waterfront lots for $<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">500 an acre!</i> I mean, I could afford that today!) and just build my own home/compound up there. A little like what my sister and brother-in-law are doing in Maine, only with more surliness and an eye toward defensibility. That, and I plan to make it mostly out of stone to build that ‘crazy woodsman’ physique. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This might be the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Minecraft</i> talking. My idea is suspiciously similar to acting out the game, only with hopefully less exploding trees. </span></div>
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BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5410261970195278506.post-45029912917650627732013-04-05T10:46:00.002-07:002013-04-05T10:53:51.813-07:007 Quick Takes Friday vol. 2<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Still insipired by <em><a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary</a></em></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">While I struggle to complete the rewrite of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lepus</i>, I’ve also been doing preliminary work on another book, this one <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> 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 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Free American Army</i>, but a more fitting name might be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Teddy Roosevelt Beats Up Everybody</i>. 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.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ah, I just remembered that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jurassic Park</i> is being rereleased in theaters today! I’ll have to go see it this weekend, probably post a<a href="http://catholicityoftaste.blogspot.com/"> review</a>. Actually, I might make this ‘dinosaur weekend’ and thrown in a dinosaur-themed post for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://thecatholicnerd.blogspot.com/">The Catholic Nerd</a></i> I’ve been working on. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Minecraft</i> 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 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">own</i> 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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now if you’ll excuse me, I have go build some lava-spewing gargoyles made out of digital blocks… </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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). </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">love</i> white chocolate). </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Minecraft</i> to create a massive score which I could then walk along? That might work, and it’d give me an excuse to play <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Minecraft</i> some more!” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Actually…that’s probably a bad idea. Never mind. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
BTanakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03247800533467244131noreply@blogger.com0