Friday, January 29, 2010

New and Improved

Since my last post I've done two things-
  • I've changed the logo above to an image that matches the background
  • I've reworked the AoC Writing Blog to the AoC Design Blog.
The first one lead to the other. I wanted to make this site prettier, which is kind of hard to do on Blogger, so I opened Photoshop and got to it. several minutes later I came out with the beauty above.

Now I do make rounds to all of my websites everyday, including my portfolio, and even IU. So I have been looking at the writing blog for awhile and trying to figure out what to do there. I already had this blog here for personal use and I didn't want to put this one on my "professional" domain. It wasn't until I started working on the logo for AoC Design that I realized that I could use that site as a way to encourage myself to do more art. I do actually have my dA account still, but as I've mentioned before it depresses me to go over there, not to mention it is a social networking site and those things really give me a headache.

In other news my back hurts like hell. I think I wasn't using my right arm much because of the wrist thing and I'm feeling it now. Or it was the cortisone shooting up my arm, either way - ow. Still working on the new novel. Still behind, but after NaNoWriMo the numbers are so small and meaningless.

Later,
-X

Monday, January 25, 2010

I just might have lost my mind

I started writing again. No, not Illuminated University, that would have made sense. No, the other day I just had the urge to write so I chose the one I did the most prep work for. I am happy to state I'm already a day behind on writing the first draft.

Okay, was a day behind when I started writing this. I suddenly realized that I could write about what I wanted to write or I could, you know, write it.

I might have something interesting to write about in the next couple of days if writing a story, personal statements and watching television doesn't get in the way.
-X

Friday, January 22, 2010

Another day over

I wasted today. I woke up late (11:00 am) and immediately left to restock on turkey, as that is mostly what I live on. This means I didn't have breakfast until 12:30 (30 min shower and getting dressed, 15 min to get to Walmart, 15 min to get turkey, 15 mins in line, 15 to drive back, 15 min to make sandwich) and of course I waste time while eating so I didn't finish that until... lets not get into how much time I waste eating. Anyway, I turned on my laptop and started to check out my Google reader stuff and my email and posting on the NaNo forums. My mother came home and we ordered curbside Outback, we couldn't eat at Outback because my sister-in-law's baby shower is in a couple weeks (peanut is due on May 1st!) and my mother has suddenly realized that she needs to finish the things she is knitting for it (and decide if she's going up to Michigan for the shower). Afterward we watched Julie and Julia, which is one of the chick flicks I wanted to see. It was okay, but I felt like I wanted to see more.

So, I wasted a day. I should have written person statements for the jobs I'm applying to, and I might do it tonight as I do appear to be in a writing mood.

On the plus side I didn't eat that much today (unless you count the cheese fries). My mother's office has crates of oranges in it that no one eats so she's been taking them home. I've developed a taste for them and am having them on a nightly basis interspersing my grapes and raisins (does that seem redundant?). So healthy diet is getting a step up. Otherwise I feel guilty. I keep thinking that though my wrist still hurts, nothing is wrong with my spine and I should be doing crunches - just to get into the habit. I intend to start the hundred challenges again soon, once I don't have to worry about injuring myself. That is six weeks of physical therapy away, as it is my wrist feels better now than it has all day. Cortisone finally wore off.

Okay, I'm going to take medication and write a personal statement.
-X

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Take that Day seven thousand seven hundred eighty four!

Another day gone and done with. And what a fun and exciting day. I actually went to the doctor for my wrist and was diagnosed with tendonitis. So I'm typing with a brace on, and my wrist hurt's even more because she moved to diagnose and she shot it full of cortisone.

I got to watch Scott Brown win the Massachusetts election.

I discovered a third internship type job to apply for and tomorrow I'm going to request several recommendation letter for them and hopefully write essays for them which I wisely chose not to do tonight (it's really hurting to type this).

I really wish I could write more, but I have a doctor's appointment early tomorrow and I should sleep if I actually want to wake up for it.
-X

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Am I allowed to be bored?

When you don't have a job and have very little money it feels wrong to be bored. Winter has a lot to do with it too. You get that bedsore feeling, like all you've done all day is lay around. Remember now that I don't have a desk or table to work at so I look for employment laying down. I also watch Hulu laying down, read books, play computer games... and my mother wonders why I eat standing up.

It not some type of specific thing I want to do. I think about a lot of the things I normally like to do, driving, walking around stores, playing games, seeing movies, but none of them are striking me as what I feel like doing. I don't like shopping without money and it sucks even more since I don't have a place to put anything. I brought useful boxes to put things in the other day, but what I really need is like a organization center, like an entertainment center, but you put crap in it instead of a television. Of course I don't have room for that.

To give you an idea of what I'm working with my room is in a constant state of flux. The static items that were here before I returned were a twin bed with a sinking spot, a tall bookcase where in anything I removed to bring to school were replaced with shit, an uncomfortable chair, a bedside table that was until last week full of crap, and a dresser full of a small fraction of the crap a fifty-six year old woman with three grown kids accumulates. She offered to empty, but I don't want to get comfortable and I want her to thrown the crap out, not move it into some other room. She's starting to remind me of her mother with the "always need to clean and thrown things out" problem.

Anyway, that stuff fits in fairly well - until someone tries to live in the room. I noticed that there really wasn't anywhere to put my suitcase when I visited. It now sits next to the bedside table zippered up in case I need to use it. My father would put it in the rafters I'm sure. Next to that is a very large box that carried the rest of my summer clothes and a couple other things. It still sits there as a place to put clothes that don't quite fit me at the moment and to hold most of my t-shirts that are a bit impractical in the winter. Next to that is the bookcase - the lower two sections are inaccessible because of the box, the top shelf became home to everything I left and my mother added. The middle shelves have things I bought while back, like books, and a couple of art pieces I own, not to mention cologne, contacts, etc.

On the floor next to that I have a box of paper for art. I'm getting the urge again and this time it's right here. I also consider it one of the things that need to be inside so it doesn't get destroyed. My almost brand new printer is in the unheated garage which makes me cry a little. Getting back to my floor, I also have my large artbox, which is about the size of a case of water from Walmart, which cannot be outside as well as computer discs and music. My eighteen inch tall Christmas tree is in here too right now as is my Tupperware of ornaments. I have a rubbermaid drawer dealie that I use as a dresser for underwear, socks and undershirts. Everything else is folded on top of the dresser in plain view. Couple boardgames that got brought in and never sent back out and my "medical" box - band-aids, soap, theatrical makeup. Finally eBay boxes and last but not least two laundry baskets, one for underwear and one for everything else. If I don't do my laundry every week the baskets overflow and make my room nearly unlivable. For one day a week I feel like my room is a little clean, but it's like doing a quick wipe down your bathroom when you know it need a overhaul. My room hasn't been vacuumed in six months.

And this is what I have to live with on a daily basis. I can't breathe in the rest of the house, or in my room if I leave the door open. I tire of my parents conversation. I refused the other day to engage my mother's attempt to make an amazing story over how she prepared dinner when my father was out of town. This isn't a feel sorry for my mother thing, I was in the kitchen when she did it, and the answer when my father asks is usually redundant ("This looks sautéed," "Why yes it was!").

That was cathartic.
-X

Friday, January 15, 2010

Brainstorming

I'm trying to come up with a plot for... I don't know. I just feel like it. Sadly, I'm very attention deficit so I'm not making head way.

I find myself wanting to write a story that is a bit more realistic. Something in the vein of Bones or Castle. Less serious crime drama. Kind of like Burn Notice or Leverage, but with a greater focus on the villain(s). The idea I have is a guy who considers himself a supervillain in a normal world. Supervillain because of the amount of power he has, not because of the whole evil deal. I picture him doing illegal things for mostly good reasons and not being unduly cruel to his underlings. He emerging from another character I designed - my Marty Sue for most of the shows listed above. He's been around my head for a couple of years so I really want to get him out, but I have too much pride to actually write fanfiction.

Really, I have a good idea about my main character/villain, my problem is the organization. I want a bunch of loosely affiliated college students, maybe a few high schoolers, as his organization but I'm having trouble with the original recruits. The later ones are obvious, they are scout my current members but what reason does my character have for starting it in the first place. I want it to be something he stumbles into, not something he specifically decides to do.

Enough procrastination for today. Time to do something... not procrastinaty...
-X

Thursday, January 14, 2010

We need more exploding vampires

As I said I saw Daybreakers in theaters yesterday. I liked it. It covers that mystery of why the vampires don't just take over. Still they keep some standbys, more so than even popular books and movies do. Vampires can't go without human blood, their brains turn to mush if they try. They also go nuts at the sight of blood, burn in the sunlight, and don't give a damn about humans. The humans are nearly extinct yet the vamps can't control themselves enough to not tear apart the few that they find. A realistic, more satisfying, version of vampires. The opening is a girl in her twenties (note the term "girl" and twenties) committing suicide by sunlight. That concept was brought up in Interview with the Vampire, but most people were too creeped out by it to continue in that vein.

I'm not sure how I feel about them continuing the tradition of vampires being harmed by sunlight. If you haven't heard, the sunlight thing was created to avoid copyright infringement during the filming of Nosferatu, the attempt failed and the production company was sued into bankruptcy by Bram Stoker's estate. Particularly when I was playing Dungeons and Dragons I found the restrictions on them immense. Sure, if you have a one on one battle with one your screwed, but up until then you have several dozen options to destory it or protect yourself - like building a moat (vampires cannot cross running water) or sleep in a church (they cannot enter consecrated ground) The ability to be safe in the sunlight takes a lot of the terror away. That's one reason I liked 30 Days of Night, because it took that option out of the mix.

And since I mentioned it in the title I have to mention I liked the exploding vampires. They never explain it, but it is just amusing.
-X

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I need to get a life

I need to get a life.

Since I completed NaNoWriMo I've gotten in to the habit of trying to write fiction. It's kind of the idea of the program. It really makes me realize that I have no life.

They always say "write about what you know" and most authors get around that. Most of the stories I look for are fantasy based because I get to make the rules. The one book I read on the subject pointed out that you need to keep to certain concepts, like if it isn't a Star Trek book don't talk about warp speed, but kept an open mind for the most part. You can study something or read about something to make it believable enough for the average reader. Some people will be mad at you if you get everything right, but you shouldn't worry about them. My point is that reading up on something, or watching something isn't as good as actually experiencing it. Whenever I actually experience life I think about how once considered writing about a similar event and I realize that I would have gotten it all wrong.

In November I went to an IFD show at a bar in Baltimore, MD. I don't go to bars that often. Maybe three or four since I've been able to drink. I don't drink that much, thought if I did I would do it at a bar. Anyway, each of these bars were completely different. They all had the same concept, sell drinks and entertain people, but one was focused on just drinks and cheap food, but the one in Baltimore had a decent stage and a very odd balcony area too. The one in my college town seemed more aimed to the locals instead of the students, or maybe just the alcoholic students. Each time I entered I felt like I knew what to expect and each time I was proven wrong. The one in Baltimore had a great stage, but the sound was messed up, not in the "you're seeing a show way" in a "fire your sound engineer". I wouldn't have thought about that when writing. The one I was at in Charlottesville, VA was simply too small for the number of people there. I don't think of that when a book says crowded, I think busy, not standing room only.

When I watch Dollhouse and they get into the nonsense about brains, half of which is made up, I just think about how much they do know. I can't list off all of the parts of the brain. First aid for a bullet wound? Don't know it. A Broadway show, a Bon Jovi concert, snowboarding, ice skating, operating a motorcycle, I haven't done any of that. Even a couple of weeks ago when I got stuck in the blizzard, a guy towing me out of a snow bank asked me if I knew how to drive in snow... nope, the last time we had that much snow I was eight. But the thing is I thought I could drive in snow. I had never had a problem with it before.

So I'm adding a new GOAL - Get a life. And I'm adding a bunch of stuff to my extended goal list

Reread

So, I'm one of those crazy people who reread books. Not just when the next one comes out so that I can remember what's going on, I do it all the time. Sometimes I don't finish them on reread number three hundred, but I still try. The other day I started rereading Dragons of Autumn Twilight, mostly because I needed to practice scriptwriting for Screnzy and I thought the easiest way to practice was to use a already created story and "adapt" it. I put that in quotes because that part I did was almost word for word from the book. Maybe three pages in and about ten minutes into the movie.

Anyway, I shouldn't be doing this. I have several books to read, such as Dune and Dracula. Instead I'm reading a book I know almost by heart, and no, rereading isn't any faster than the first time. Usually, it's slower because I stop more often to ponder other ways for events to happen. If you're familiar with Dragonlance you know that it is long running series and even the tiniest alteration in the early books could completely screw up the later ones. Which wouldn't necessarily be bad. The series gets seriously fucked up after awhile.

What could I do instead of rereading these? I could apply for the three jobs I discovered, search for more jobs, or watch more stuff on Hulu, which would maybe end up with me writing a more interesting entry.

I am planning on seeing Daybreakers soon and reviewing it then. Ta-ta for now.
-X

Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Dragonlance: Dragonlance Chronicles)Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition (Dune Chronicles, Book 1)Dracula

Monday, January 11, 2010

Dollhouse rocks

Okay, last night I finally got caught up on Dollhouse. I missed at least seven episodes in a row for various reasons (like, I don't know - work?) but I had them all waiting for me in my Hulu queue. I finally got around to sitting through them and it got really good. They could have drawn out the story they had done in the first season for awhile longer but, damn, I was floored by the cliffhanger for the last episode where you meet "Mr. Rossum". I'm still not sure if that's the villain but for some reason I didn't see it coming at all.

If you can't tell I'm still reeling from watching it last night. I suggest watching the show, but I have to warn you that it is a show you have to watch from the beginning. Echo, the heroine, "glitches" and switches personalities and the only way you know about any of her personalities is by watching from the beginning. Then you know the person picking the locked doors, or the blind woman, or the private investigator. I would find the show very confusing to jump into.

Anyway - check it out.
-X
Dollhouse: Season One
Dollhouse: The Complete Second Season

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Lazy Day

Today has been a very lazy day. I woke up. Messed around on my laptop. Showered and ate. Restocked on soda. Ate some more. Getting a bed sore now. I miss having roommates around. Someone always has something interesting to do. If all else failed we would just start watching old movies. Suppose I can peruse the job listings. I wish I had a desk.

I read Fool Moon yesterday front to back. It almost seemed like a waste of money until I remembered that seeing a movie in theaters is the same and I don't get to keep it afterward. Good book though.
-X

Friday, January 8, 2010

Routine

So I'm back to my old routine. I killed a month working and have a little bit of money, but I've already gotten past the point where I feel like I can spend any of it. I'm looking for more work. Maybe some more retail to save to move. I made just over $1100 after taxes and I plan to file as soon as W2s show up. It is a great thing to be poor around tax season. I should get a couple hundred back. That's a couple hundred closer to moving out.

I feel ashamed. I haven't practiced drawing or rendering or model building, but I have nowhere to put things. My mother left all of the ornaments from the Christmas tree lying all over the living room, but I know I would never be allowed to do that. I have one other excuse, my wrist now hurts when I write. Remember, I'm not in grammer school anymore, the most writing I do by hand is a shopping list. Yeah, writing ten words hurts. A lot.

I have an appointment to fix it in a week, or at least an appointment to find out what's wrong with it, then get another appointment to fix it. Meanwhile, I started looking up images of the human wrist online (hint: look for the Gray's Anatomy ones) and have another possible diagnosis. This one more likely then the rest. Whatever good that is.

Until I've gotten the wrist thing figured out I'm being a little careful about jobs. Most theatre jobs I look at require you to lift fifty pounds easily. I can't actually do that right now, or I can, it just hurts a lot.

Well time for me to sleep. Trying to keep a schedule. Like that ever works.
-X
}