All in all, you're just another brick in the etc.

Today, Pink Floyd's album, The Wall was released back in the year 1979. Jesus Christ I'm old.

Also today, the hurricane season of 2005 comes to an end. So long, stormy weather! See you again next year!

The blogging season of 2005 does NOT come to an end, although NaNoWriMo does. Well, officially. I am, as I have stated before, going to continue to work on my "perth" story - and, no Perth has not yet even been mentioned, thanks for asking. Also, no, neither has Choset. As for my word count on this official last day of Nano - it stands right now as of 5:39PM PST, at 25,555. I keep going back and editing parts I've written, adding more, deleting stuff that sucks or that has been contradicted, blah blah blah.

So, the scene (heh. Originally wrote "scent" which is funny on multiple levels) that I started working on, like two weeks ago, is STILL where I am at in regard to progress on the story. But the stuff leading up to that scene is now much more detailed. Yay?

Also, we have money. But, as is generally the case, not for much longer. Oh well. Money is made to be spent, no? I mean, a man (and four women) need to eat.

Um. I don't really have much else to say right now, so I'll close with my one question. It's not an original question. In fact, it's been said many times, many ways. But it is a question that deserves an answer.

How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

Half way!!

I hit 25,014 words in my story today!! Bitchin'!! Now, if I can simply duplicate the work it took me 29 days to accomplish in 24 hours, I'll be totally styling.

Oh well. At least my word count in my blog is coming along semi nicely. I mean, yeah, I'm still just barely past the half way mark, and only have one month to go, but I am feeling very confident about it. I might not hit 200,005 but I'll come damn close trying.

Also, I;ve discovered the great thing about boqs in my blog. They provide 2 days worth of posts. Granted, the way to get lots of comments seems to be to ask one question (which is what Annika did with both "Can Green Lantern fight someone with blonde hair?" and "What is friendship?" One question = lots of replies. Many (or, colloquially, a "bunch of") questions = not so many replies, but more words. Hmmm. Also, i think being Annika may have something to do with the number of responses, but I have no way of being Annika to test that theory. Although...there is this bizarre crawlway behind my desk at work....)

Anyway. Time to answer my own bunch o' questions from yesterday and possibly ask another (single??) question (s??) at the end. Whhheeeee!!


What forms of self defense do you know?
Conflict aversion 101. Dude, I'm the fuckin Master of avoidance.
Also, sarcasm and cynicism.
Oooh! And! I use my books and my poetry to protect me. Heh.
Also, I took Tae Kwon Do for about a month and a half when I was 13. Stand back, potential attackers!

?drawkcab evah elpoep emos taht gnihtemos si tahW
I like how backward spelled backward looks like drawback. That;s just cool.
As for the question itself - I'll give my controversial answer: .eussi epanS elohw ehT

"Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'?"
If this were on the WD my answer would be:
[crying]
Yes.

Since it isn't, my answer is thus:
I just want you to want me!! Hee. (Also, Kirk took my answer.)

And, this was Didn't I See You Crying (I Want You to Want Me) by Cheap Trick. The lyrics (go word count!) are as such:
I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I'd love you to love me
I'm begging you to beg me

I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I'd love you to love me

I'll shine up the old brown shoes
Put on a brand-new shirt
I'll get home early from work
If you say that you love me

Didn't I, didn't I
Didn't I see you crying
Oh, didn't I, didn't I
Didn't I see you crying
Feeling all alone without a friend
You know you feel like dying
Oh, didn't I, didn't I
Didn't I see you crying

I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I'd love you to love me
I'm begging you to beg me

I'll shine up the old brown shoes
Put on a brand-new shirt
I'll get home early from work
If you say that you love me

Didn't I, didn't I
Didn't I see you crying
Oh, didn't I, didn't I
Didn't I see you crying
Feeling all alone without a friend
You know you feel like dying
Oh, didn't I, didn't I
Didn't I see you crying

Feeling all alone without a friend
You know you feel like dying
Oh, didn't I, didn't I
Didn't I see you crying

I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I'd love you to love me
I'm begging you to beg me

I want you to want me
I want you to want me
I want you to want me
I want you to want me

Out of every song EVER, where does Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n' Roses fall? Top thousand? Top million? Higher?
#470,052,318. It's tied for that, by the way.

My feet are cold, I'm hungry, I want a Pepsi really badly, and I have a slight headache. How are you feeling right now?
My tongue is burned, and my neck is sore, but I'm doing okay, really.

"Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?"
How does one fight Foo, anyway?
Also, I would hope that the Steph is.
Also, I am really really tired of that song now. (I used to like it.)
It is Best of You by the Foo Fighters.
Lyrics!
I've got another confession to make, I'm your fool
Everyone's got their chains to break, holding you
Were you born to resist, or be abused?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Are you gone and on to someone new?
I needed somewhere to hang my head, without your noose
You gave me something that I didn't have, but had no use
I was too weak to give in, too strong to lose
My heart is under arrest again, but I break loose
My head is giving me life or death, but I can't choose
I'll swear I'll never give in, I'll refuse
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Has someone taken your faith? It's real
The pain you feel?
Your trust?
You must confess.
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Has someone taken your faith? Its real.
The pain you feel?
The life? The love, you died to hear?
The hope that stops the broken hearts?
Your trust?
You must confess
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
I've got another confession my friend, I'm no fool
I'm getting tired of starting again, somewhere new
Were you born to resist, or be abused?
I swear I'll never give in, I'll refuse
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Has someone taken your faith? It's real.
The pain you feel?
Your trust?
You must confess
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Go find a radio, turn it on. What song - or commercial, or whatever - is playing?
You know, I had to reword this to make it in the form of a question. Originally it was "Tell me what song - or commercial, or whatever- is playing." But I switched it up so I would not get a deluge (okay, two) answers of "That's not a question." [/history]

*turns on radio onto 100.5, Jack FM*
It's "Fooled Around and Fell In Love" by... um, whoever sings "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" (yes, I'm too lazy to google it up.) Of course, in the time that it took me to write that all, the song ended, and now it's an AC/DC song (You Shook Me All Night Long) Ugh. *turns off radio in disgust*

What book would make a kick ass movie? What movie would be better as a book?
Practically any Robert J. Sawyer book adapted into film would get me into the theater.
I'd bet The Matrix trilogy would have made for an interesting (and more comprehensible) set of (comic??) books.

Computers are stupid, aren't they?
"That date is in the past."
I rest my case, your honor.

"Well do you, do you, do you wanna, do you wanna go where I'd never let you before?"
Mmmmm. Forbidden doughnut.
This is the (unfortunately) highly infectious Do You Want To by Franz Ferdinand.
(also, did anyone catch the theme with the lyrics this time?)
Speaking of lyrics, here they be!

When I woke up tonight I said I'm
Going to make somebody love me
I'm going to make somebody love me
Now I know
Now I know
Now I know
That it's you
You're lucky lucky you're so lucky
Well do you
Do you
Do you want to
Want to go where I'd never let you before
Well do you
Do you
Do you want to
Want a go of what I'd never let you before
Well he's a friend and he's so proud of you
He's a friend and I knew him before you
He's a friend and we're so proud of you
He's a friend and I blew him before you
Here we are at the Transmission party
I love your friends - they're all so arty

What do you think our car's mileage will be at the end of the year? (as of 2pm PST on 11/28/05, it is at 138695.)
141,071.

What do you think my word count (in my blog) will be at the end of the year?
200,004. Hee.

and finally...

Why don't you ask a question now?
Well, okay then. I think I will. You know, since I said that I would ask my one question at the end of this. So here it is:

Why is it easier to destroy than to create?
And isn't destruction actually a form of creation?

Okay, so it was two questions instead of one. But still.

rhythm

So. I totally forgot my disk with my story on it at home. Which is the excuse I'm going with for why I'm not writing more right now. I mean, dude, I could totally write some of my story, email it to myself, and then add it onto the disk when I get home. But for now, I'm working on increasing my word count on my blog.
Or, put another way:
I

a
m

w
o
r
k
i
n
g

o
n

i
n
c
r
e
a
s
i
n
g

m
y

w
o
r
d

c
o
u
n
t

o
n

m
y

b
l
o
g
.

Heh.

Cheaters always prosper.

So. I figured since I don't really have anything to say right now, I'd conjure up another random boq (you know, since the last one I did went over so well).
As always, either answer it in my comment section or, better yet, copy and paste it on your own blog, and in the comment area just tell me that you've answered it. [up]

<b>What forms of self defense do you know?</b>

<b>?drawkcab evah elpoep emos taht gnihtemos si tahW</b>

<b>"Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'?"</b>

<b>Out of every song EVER, where does <i>Welcome to the Jungle</i> by Guns n' Roses fall? Top thousand? Top million? Higher?</b>

<b>My feet are cold, I'm hungry, I want a Pepsi really badly, and I have a slight headache. How are you feeling right now?</b>

<b>"Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?"</b>

<b>Go find a radio, turn it on. What song - or commercial, or whatever - is playing?</b>

<b>What book would make a kick ass movie? What movie would be better as a book?</b>

<b>Computers are stupid, aren't they?</b>

<b>"Well do you, do you, do you wanna, do you wanna go where I'd never let you before?"</b>

<b>What do you think our car's mileage will be at the end of the year? (as of 2pm PST on 11/28/05, it is at138695.)

<b>What do you think my word count (in my blog) will be at the end of the year?</b>

and finally...

<b>Why don't you ask a question now?</b>

Ta da!  Now, maybe once I get done doing work work, I'll work on my story. (Geez. Could I work the word work in there a few more times?)

~~

I was planning on making this a stream of consciousness type of entry, and I will, but I think that it will be ...not as long as I had hoped, since my stream of consciousness seems to have hit a dam. heh. Dam of consciousness. I kinda like that term. Unfortunately, I don't like HAVING writer's block. I have gotten to 24,127 words in my story, which is 24,127 more words than I had a month ago, so yay for that. I keep getting hung up with wanting it to be "real". I want to do more research to ensure that I get the facts straight, which is just, I have realized, a stalling tactic. Although I do enjoy learning the facts. But, seriously, do I need to know exactly how Global Positioning Systems work when I'm going to be writing a story that involves robotic spiders from another universe?

No, not really.

Although, if someone can tell me if a person would be able to track something that had a GPS tracking chip (is that how it's even done? Through microchips that are tracked by satellites?) that doesn't belong to them, that would be somewhat beneficial. Otherwise, I'll simply take that fictional liberty and say that it can be done. Because it works in my story. So, yeah.

There are plenty of other times I've needed to just say "Well, this might not be how it is in the real world, but it's going to be this way for the sake of narrative." Like i said, I've recently realized that it was a way to stall for time, so hopefully I'll cut back on doing that. (Or try to. Because I am curious whether a car falling 150 feet would explode or not. Going on what I've seen in television and movies, the answer appears to be "sometimes". Additionally, would someone inside said vehicle be able to survive if it did NOT explode?.... and, yeah, I'll just have what works best for my story be what happens, "reality" and "physics" be damned.)

In non nano news (heh) - you know the whole thing where people put the coins on the eyes of the dead so they could pay Charon to cross the River Styx? Well... since we don't do that anymore, how are people getting across? I figured maybe they were using their credit cards, but 1) people aren't generally buried with their MasterCards (are they?) and 2) once you're dead, I think they tend to cancel those types of things, so I doubt that the Boatman of the Dead is really accepting of them.
Heh. Imagine that commercial:
Funeral: $5000
Casket: $2500
Having money to cross the River Styx: Priceless

Hee.

I can't believe that I have to go back to work tomorrow. The past four days went by really quickly. I mean, I enjoyed them, and wasn't thinking about work while I was off, but it's just ...man, they're gone already. Bummer.

I was going to incorporate pictures - sometimes prevalent to what I was talking about, sometimes just random - in my blog entry (entries? Make it a gimmick?) but I just don't want to go through the work of finding stuff online, saving it to the computer and uploading it through blogger. If I could just not worry about the whole 'stealing bandwidth' issue it would be much easier. Bah. Ownership.

I found five bucks today. That was a nice surprise. Wish I could repeat that little magic trick, but I do believe that we are now officially out of cash until payday.

It's weird, the official start of winter is still several weeks away, but it is COLD outside now. I wonder when (if?) the dates of the seasons starting will ever be changed to reflect the fact that the weather no longer really matches the calendar.

ANd now it has been eight years, so I'm done typing things up.

Besides, there's a crime about to be committed in this quiet neighborhood, so I need to go make sure everyone is safe.

It must be a Saturday

Because I am finding myself having nothing to say.

Flew a kite today. That was enjoyable.

We're about an hour and a half into the movie Troy which is turning out to be better than I had expected. Yay for low expectations!

Speaking of low (or lowering) expectations, I still plan on finishing my nanovel, but there is no way in hell that I will reach 50,000 words in the next four days. However. I am going to finish the story, no matter how long it takes. It might take two months, it might take six, but I will finish the first damn draft of that story, and it will be ...well, first drafty. But it will be done which is a major accomplishment, actually. And when I finish it, I might post it here, or somewhere online, but I have not yet decided.

Word count time!

112,879 / 200,005 (56.4%)

These are a few of my favorite links

Heh.

These are the links that are in my favorites. There might be something cool in here for you to look at, or not. A good percentage of them are hippie-earth-loving-anti-government-anti-civilization type of sites, because, you know, I'm weird that way.

Then again there are plenty of others that aren't. So, either way, enjoy! All the links will open new windows.

Taking you to the BuffyGuide.com Forums - BuffyGuide.com - Heh. Remember when that was practically the only site I ever went to? Good times. Good times.

Shockwave.com - Collapse - Mmmm. Fun.

random numbers - Vicki (CndGirlEh on the WD) gave me this link to a random number generator. Yay for random!!

Boingo Lyrics - Pretty much what it says. The lyrics to every Oingo Boingo song ever.

The Lyrics - A pretty cool lyric site.

Earth View - Neat.

HTML Help - To get info on HTML, I generally use the funky chickens.

Help! What do I download to write IF under Windows?
Quest - Create adventure games easily - For a while, I was trying to figure out how to write a zork-like game. These two sites were ones I bookmarked to help me out.

iFiction - Main Lobby - And if you want to play some zork-like games...

WD Archives - Heh. Archives of an archival site. The internet is so in love with itself.

Paper Mario FAQ/Walkthrough codes and cheats - Game Revolution - Yay for cheating!

Index of Previous Columns - Word Detective is a cool site. I really should visit it more.

List of Queen songs in alphabetical order - At one time I was going to write a boq that was every question from every Queen song ever. I never did, but this was the site I had bookmarked in order to do that.

Texttwist - Game. Words. Fun.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg - A composite photo of the earth in eternal darkness. Cool stuff.

Famous Quotes and Quotations at BrainyQuote

The Gargoyles Fan Website - Gargoyles rule.

BG Forum Profile Pics - BuffyGuide.com

Other Games

GameRival.com

AGI Development Site - Download - Another game creation site.

SignMaker 2.3.1 - Make your own freeway sign - Play Online - A cool little site that let's you make your own (virtual) freeway signs saying whatever you want.

Band of F***ing Monkies - This site is like monkeyfilter, only not exactly. Lots of links to unusual things.

POPClocks - July edition 2 - Go forth and multiply, huh? Well, we've got that down pretty well.

IP Address Locator - Enter an IP address to find its location - Lookup Country - Track the Internet Weirdos who are tracking you!

Oh Superman - smh.com.au - An interesting article about Australia, America, and Iraq.

The Brick Testament - Heee. The Bible, in Lego fashion.

Gortbusters.org :: Gortbusters - A forum site much like Ishcon.

NaNoWriMo.org : Home - Breaking News - Yeah, I think we all know this site. And, yeah, I'm going to just ignore the fact that I haven't worked on my novel today at all and that there are only 5 days left in the month. Moving on.

Upside Down Critics: Your source for reviews - Loki's movie review site. Two thumbs up.

The At Sign (@) Page: How Do You Say "@" in Any Language? - Wh@ a gre@ article.

Money is Time - Scott Blake - an interesting online clock, displaying the time in US currency.

Kai Curry - Without Chimpy, there would be, like, 2% less websites in the world.

Main Page - Wikipedia - An online encyclopedia that anyone can edit! Amazing! (heh. It's just funny that I have this in my favorites as well as on the side of my blog. I really do love the wiki, don't I?)

Free Web Page Hosting - Pretty much what it says.

loader01 - Fun (but very difficult!) game about zombies taking over the office. Yay zombies!

Andrew Nestler's Guide to Mathematics and Mathematicians on The Simpsons - Yay! Bimpsons and math!

The 100 Worst Films of the 20th Century - But I actually liked Grease 2!!

ComingSoon.net - Movies Coming Soon | Upcoming Movies | Trailers - This way I know what movies to add to our Netflix queue.

Prison Stats - Mmmm. Depressing.

500 Years of Indigenous Resistance - A super long article about how Native Americans have fought back since Columbus landed here.

The Abolition of Work--Bob Black - An article about working from Primitivism.com.

Primitivism - And the main site.

The first farmers: Theories and Old World Evidence - Another super long article. This one about the Agricultural Revolution!

Infoshop.org - The Anarchist Case Against Voting and Elections

Rare-Extreme: Banjo Kazooie Walkthrough - Another site devoted to helping dorks like me get through my video game when I can't figure it out on my own.

ANYDAY Today-in-History PAGE of SCOPE SYSTEMS. - If you want to find out what happened on this (or any) day in history, this is a good place to go.

Planet Ark - [frown]

Forum Instructions - Info, Rules, Policies - BuffyGuide.com - Heh.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/early_indian_west.jpg - A map displaying where Native American tribes lived back in the day.

Project Gutenberg - Welcome to Project Gutenberg - Books! Online!

Lyrics to Tool's Aenema - The Reverend Maynard Says Learn to Swim - Mmmm. Apocolyric.

9-11 Questions - Raises some interesting questions about that event.

The Simpsons - Episode List - TV Tome - Episode guide!

Potluck - The Truth (Damned Truth) of Election Statistics - Quite intersting article about the ridiculousness of elections.

The Memory Hole > Bush Flatly Declares No Connection Between Saddam and al Qae - Oops.

we are what we do - Well, we are.

TALKING HEADS pictures, winamp skins, wallpapers, lyrics, album reviews, press - Same as it ever was.

Stolen Elections: Then and Now :: rwor.org - This article was written before the 2004 "election" had occured, but it's still interesting reading.

Maya Links and Calculators - A big ol' site with a gabillion links to all sorts of Mayan stuff. Check it out before 12/21/2012, though.

http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/n64/file/castlevania_e.txt - Dude. Did I put the walkthrough to EVERY game in my favorites??

Global Research - An incredibly depressing, incredibly scary, somewhat lengthy article about depleted uranium weaponry that is being used by the US.

The Word Meter - The site I use to keep track of my word count progress.

Going Through the Motions... the OMwF fansite and fanlisting - Where do we go from here?

Just Harmless Fun? - The HTML version of a pdf file of a super long article about pornography and how horrible it is. I haven't read the entire thing yet.

StarDate Online | Moon Phase Calculator - M O O N. That spells website.

GoStats free website hit counter and Live Web Reporting counters - Eventually I need to add a counter and all that jazz to my blog.

Lesson 20 -- BOARD GAME DESIGN - For when I finally get off my butt and start designing board games of my own.

Alternative Holidays/Days of Significance - Another Wormwood Day has come and gone, and I failed to celebrate it again! There's always next year.

Just Letters - A browser based multi-user Flash game - "Someone keeps stealing my letters!!" This is fun for about 20 minutes or so.

Every Video Game » Play Nintendo and Sega Online - Mmmm. Nostalgic.

The Flaming Fire Illustrated Bible. - Bible verses interpreted by artists across the world. Interesting stuff.

Poynter Online - Fifty Writing Tools - Links to 50 different essays providing writing tips. Someday I may read them, and then I might even use them.

Science Toys - Use household items to make toys that demonstrate scientific principles.

WORDCOUNT / Tracking the Way We Use Language / - 84 2520 1042. 1413 8 65!!

Legend of the Green Dragon - I need to join up on this. It's one of those Multi-player D&D game things.

BoardGameGeek - Serving the Board Game Community Since January 2000 - Everything relating to Board Games EVER.

US Drought Monitor - Keep an eye on how much of a drought the States are going through at any given time.

IRIS Seismic Monitor - Monitor the entire planet for earthquakes!

StripGenerator - Make your own online comic strip.

Survival International - A zine devoted to indigenous peoples and their needs.

Color Code: A Color Portrait of the English Language - Neat. They took the images from words from a search engine and averaged them together. It's weird, but kinda cool.

And finally...

A gallery of walls with stuff written on - Man, some of these are hilarious. My favorite(s) so far are:
NAZI'S R GAY AND EAT POO!
and
the picture of the dinosaur and the word "Never forget!" written underneath.

And with that, I'm done. I have a bunch of blogs stored in my favorites, too, but this has taken me long enough to do as it is, and besides, most of the blogs are already over to the side, so there's no need to post them other than for the increasing of my word count. So maybe some other day.

There is no "D". But you have a free spin.

Yes, we are watching Wheel of Fortune right now. Or, rather, it's on. The older girls are running around the house, the youngest is having nee-nee, and I am blogging.

And, hey! It was "Charleston, South Carolina", which is where I was born. I think. (Yes, I don't know my own hometown. It's either Charleston or Conway. Or Myrtle Beach.)

ANyway.

TOday was the day of Thanks, and it was pretty good. The turkey and mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and corn and green beans and rolls and sparkling apple cider and cranberry sauce was awesomely good.

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the Rockettes at the beginning gave me goosebumps. It was totally like a scene from 1945.

Steph's oldest brother came by for a little while, before the food was finished cooking, and played with the girls for a spell.

I helped Irina get to sleep by speaking to her in parseltongue. She totally loves Voldemort.

I still need to purchase a Pepsi so that I remain healthy - Steph is sick already. [frown]

That's about all, I guess. I did no work on my story, because ...I don't know why. There is less than one week to go, and I have over half to go still. Oy. Maybe I'll work on it tonight during Finding Nemo. Maybe.

Anyway, I hope that everyone had a glorious 4th Thursday of November... OH! I rememeber what I was going to blog about!
Today in history!

This was the day in 1963 that Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald (on live television!!), thus forever giving conspiracy theorists wet dreams. (hee.)

Also, in 1971 on this day, D. B. Cooper (who actually only went by the name Dan Cooper, but a media mix up resulted in D. B. sticking. Funny how often things like that work)... um. Oh. RIght. D. B. Cooper got away with his skyjacking. Only 200,000 dollars. Man. That doesn't seem like a lot of money. Of course, it was the 70s, so maybe it was more then. But I think if you're going to risk prison and/or death, that you should ask for a bit more cash in return. But then, maybe he wasn't a greedy guy.

And in some other century on this date, Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species was first published. It sold out on the first day. Just like Harry Potter!

I do love Wikipedia. It provideth the mucho info.

So, now that I've rambled about everything, I'll close up. And say that I hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing Thanksgiving Day.

Wheeee! kend.

Heee! I am amusing.

Four days off! And I only went to work today for 5 hours. And I'm at 23,176, and I didn't even add anything new to the story - the additional five hundredish words all came from adding onto the prolouge! It's like I'm succeeding and failing at the same time!

New Lost tonight!

Four days off!!

I've got Land of the Dead (yes, we're still trying to finish up the Halloween zombie marathon from Netflix. This completes it, except for Resident Evil one and 2.) to watch.

And now I'll answer yesterday's boq!

FOUR DAYS OFF!!!!

"Why do they always send the poor?"
Three answers for this one.
1) There are so damn many!
2) What are they going to do - send the rich? Not bloody likely.
3) Why do the poor always go? [eyebrow]
"BYOB" by System of a Down
Lyrics are thusly:

Why do they always send the poor?


Barbarisms by Barbara
With pointed heels
Victorious victorious kneel
For brand new spankin' deals

Marching forward hypocritic and hypnotic computers
You depend on our protection
Yet you feed us lies from the tablecloth
La la la la la la la la la oh oh

Everybody's going to the party have a real good time
Dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine

Kneeling roses disappearing into moses' dry mouth
Breaking into Fort Knox stealing our inventions
Hangers sitting dripped in oil crying freedom
Handed to obsoletion
Still you feed us lies from the tablecloth
La la la la la la la la la oh oh

Everybody's going to the party have a real good time
Dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine

Everybody's going to the party have a real good time
Dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine

Blast off, it's party time, and we don't live in a fascist nation.
Blast off, it's party time, and where the fuck are you?
Where the fuck are you?
Where the fuck are you?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?

Kneeling roses disappearing into moses' dry mouth
Breaking into Fort Knox stealing our inventions
Hangers sitting dripped in oil crying freedom
Handed to obsoletion,
Still you feed us lies from the tablecloth
La la la la la la la la la oh oh

Everybody's going to the party have a real good time
Dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine

Everybody's going to the party have a real good time
Dancing in the desert blowing up the sun...
Where the fuck are you?
Where the fuck are you?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?

Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
They always send the poor
They always send the poor

Yay! It's an incredibly infectious song. And it helps me with my word count. And it is anti-Dumbya, so I think I approve.

Does blood money make a difference? For example - someone pays you, say, 1000 dollars for something you own. Does it matter who the money came from? If it's from mafia hitmen does it make it less acceptable than if it came from, say, a family member or a friend?
Money spends. If you're going to be all self-righteous about where it comes from, you're going to end up starving. (ha ha ha) Seriously, all money comes from the government, and you know how wonderful they are, so I don't think you can think too hard about where you're getting your cash from, ya know?

Torches and pitchforks really are underused nowadays. I know that's not a question.
That isn't a question, but I should have made it one. The question would be - WHY are they so underused? I mean, Bush and co should have been lynched years ago...

What's going on in the news today? It's been a slow month, hasn't it?
Fucking News.
Um. When I watched today twas all about the traveling of Americans and airports and the President giving a turkey the Presidental pardon. Slow month indeed.

Whatchya reading? (always a good standby question)
The Zomibe Survival Guide by Max Brooks.

Is the sky falling?
Nah, the ground is just rushing upwards.

What shape is the universe? (i think I've asked this before.)
We all live in a yellow submarine.
Also, it's cell shaped.

If you could give a lie detector test to anyone in the world, who would it be?
Heee! I am amusing.
Oh, let's say, one of those dimwits from the Maury Povich show. "The lie detector test determined ....THAT was a lie!"
Then I'd run off the stage in tears.
Classic.

Should I post my story here? Do you want to read it? Do you think I'll finish it?
Undecided.
Well, I don't really have a choice.
..Undecided. But leaning toward yes.

and finally...

What's something that has made you laugh recently?
"Turkey milk."

Survey says

Holy whatever, I am so tired of people.

You know what, I was going to provide the work related rant, but it's just not even worth the time and energy that it would take. Maybe I'll change my mind later.

Let's see - what else is going on?

I'm avoiding my story.
I have a headache, even though this is a short work week, and really, it hasn't been all that stressful of a day... bah. Winter is just bah.
I finished One Door Away From Heaven, and I do believe I'm done with my Koontz Kick. At least for a while. Highly disappointing ending, I must say. Koontz needs to be sent the Stephen King memo: Kill your characters. Cause them pain, and remember that not everything ends happily in life. Also, lay off the dogs, dude. AND - psychology? Not really the devil you make it out to be. Lastly, no more proselytizing. It's great that you're a Christian and all, but ...whatever. I guess it doesn't matter since I wont' be reading any more of his books for a while anyway, right?

What else?

When I originally thought about blogging, I thought about making a list of movies that I hated, since Kirk did that recently on his blog. But now that I'm here, actually doing that feels like too much work. And getting worked up over movies - most of which are crap anyway - just seems... eh.

Steph and Harper and Irina are going to a Thanksgiving party today. With banana bread. I'm very jealous. Right about now i'd give practically anything to be somewhere other than work. It's not like there's even anything for me to be DOING. But I ...ohh! Email!

Bah. It was nothing good. A revision to the OBIN guidelines. Apparently, now as long as the "fucker" part of "motherfucker" and the "hole" of "asshole" are edited out, we're good to go with those words. Yippie ki ay, mother!

I'm still waiting on a phone call or an email back from the Armenians. No, seriously. We're running some Armenian Telethon (heh. I originally typed Telethong) on Thanksgiving Day. I need a trouble number and the audio subcarrier information given to me. Thus far, no return call. No return email. Okay, then.

It's 12:22 as I type this, and I should be eating lunch, but I'm avoiding the lunch room because I don't like eating in there during the noon hour anymore. Too many people, which means talking. And I'm tired of talking to people. Oooh! Email!
BAH!! Dollar modification. Shut up, people!

Speaking of talking, though, Tina (my ex boss) called me yesterday. She's up in Oregon now, and her family seems to be doing well. Her cat has disappeared, though. That was sort of a bummer, but she's holding out hope that he'll return. He's gone missing before, but then, that was back in Vegas.
She gave me her new email address and I gave her mine, and she said that she'd be back in Vegas during December to visit, so there ya go. Hey, another email, but I'm not even going to be excited this time, because I know that'll just disappoint.

H
E
A
D
A
C
h
E


And, yeah, I'm doing that to boost my word count. Got a problem with that? [glares] [gets tired of glaring] [wants to go to sleep] [types more instead]

It was bitterly cold this morning. My ears were all numb when the bus finally arrived. It wasn't freezing outside, but I'd say that it was in the low 40s. Even though our house is not properly insulated, and it is often pretty cold inside, being out there made me appreciate how warm it truly is in there.
Every morning when i take the bus to work, I walk past these areas where homeless people sleep. It's disconcerting, for a minute or two before I push it out of my head, to see blankets and cardboard beds and empty alcohol bottles and garbage and discarded clothing all around there, especially as it is getting so cold.
Oh well. What are you going to do, starve? Ha ha ha.

Steph had this neat idea the other day. That couples should be allowed to marry each other. Like legally have a four-person household, where the responsibilities are all split. That way, everyone could work part time, and there would always be someone there to watch the children. I don't know if Steph's idea involved the swapping of mates. The idea, though (not the mate swapping, just the concept of having another couple that you are legally attached to and who would help out with all matters familial)  was one that was very intriguing. It would be like a baby step toward the retribalization of  people. Sort of. Anyway, seeing how people get uptight at the thought of anything other than man-woman marriage, I don't see it happening anytime soon, but still a neat idea. If I were working on my story, I might even try to find a way to incorporate it somehow.

Hold on.

Back. A short walk downstairs - and back again (obviously) - did me a little bit of good. I'm still suffering from a headache, and still Grumpelstiltskin, but it was good to get up from my desk and move around.

I think I will go eat, lunch crowd be damned, and see if that helps any.

And then he just sat at his desk for at least two more minutes, doing nothing. Wow. I am really tired or really ...something. Okay. Seriously this time, I am going to go get some food in my belly. Hopefully when I get back the Armenians will have called, although I'm not holding my breath. I'm much more likely to get a Family Feud complainer. [rolleyes] (And, yeah, okay, I'll tell the Family Feud story..ies when I get back.)

Back.

Feeling slightly better, too. But. Hold on.

Still have a headache. I think it's a caffeine (or, rather, a lack of) headache. I bet if I had a Pepsi i'd feel better. Pepsi - cures what ails ya.

Anyway. The Family Feud stories.

Yesterday during the 4pm episode of Family Feud, there was a problem with the automation. (Let's automate the television station. That way, nothing could possiblay go wrong!) So, the op on duty, trying to get the problem under control, but not wanting to have dead air while doing so ("Why we in black?"), ran some of the commercial breaks from Family Feud. Twice. Meanwhile, time marches on, and 4:30 rolled around, so the op decided, well, Family Feud at 4:00 is pretty much a wash (he was still unable to sort out the automation error - when the machines go bad, they REALLY go bad), so I better start my next program.
I agree with that call.
However. For those watching at home, they never got to see what happened in the final 6 minutes of the show. Did the family win $20,000? Did they only win 400 dollars? We'll never know!!
Most people would just shrug it off. Maybe be mildly irritated. But every once in a while there's a person out there who has to bitch about it.

And so, at 4:35 yesterday, I got a call transfered to me asking if we were having a problem with Family Feud. Since our station is set up in a really un-user friendly way and I don't have a television in front of me (and, even more baffling - neither does the receptionist), I said I didn't know, but I could go check.
So I put Irate Family Guy on hold, run downstairs, run across the parking lot, enter the other building, run down the hall, and go into Master Control, where I find the scoop. The op on duty was trying to recover still and wasn't too keen on me standing over his shoulder.
Having the answer I needed, I ran back to my phone, and slightly out of breath, took Irate Family Feud Guy off hold.
Explaining to him that we had equipment failure and that I was sorry, he was still pissed off at me. "So I wasted twenty minutes of my time watching a show I'm never going to see the ending of?"
"Well, yeah, basically. Newsflash. Television = waste of time."

I, of course, didn't say that - directly. But dude. What else was I going to say? We had a machine failure, we couldn't get the show to run, it's not going to be on again for several weeks, I'm sorry. Move. On.

Eventually he realized that I could not turn back the hands of time (I'm no Superman) and that bitching about it to me was not going to do any good and he hung up.

I was told by our receptionist this morning that he called again, yelling at her about how we 'always mess up the 4pm Family Feud'. Always?
And, dude. It was 24 hours ago. Let. It. Go.

Hopefully tonight we have it air with no problems. But I may have to make sure I leave before 4pm just to be on the safe side.

Then. Got another phone call today from a viewer - another male, older guy, but not the same Irate Family Feud Guy I spoke to yesterday - who was pissed as HELL that we would air Family Feud calling George Bush a liar.

Um. Care to explain, Señor Psychopath?

He informed me that the question was "If you could give a lie detector test to anyone in the world, who would it be?" and the number one answer was "George Bush", which insinuated (he claimed) that George Bush was a liar.
When I tried to say that I didn't think that is what they meant, he jumped down my throat. "Don't tell me what I didn't see! That sure as hell is what they meant. And I don't appreciate it."
Oooohkay, then.
Trying a different route, I tried to shift the 'blame' to the audience members that were polled. Since it's the audience that they ask the questions to, it isn't the station's fault that they want to submit Dubya to a lie detector test.
"Well that just shows the democratic/liberal sway that's going through this country. I don't agree with it," Irate Family Feud Guy 2 says.
Umm.
He continued on, telling me that even though his wife likes "that stupid show", they're never going to watch it again if that's the kind of nonsense they're going to air on it. And he was going to email everyone - the RJ, Family Feud, maybe George Bush himself - to let them know that he isn't a liar and he doesn't appreciate people insinuating that he is.

Yeah. Do you see now why I'm sick of people?

In other work related news, because work is all freaking encompassing lately, I still haven't heard back from the Armenians. However. They sent us a backup tape. That is only one hour long. And not in English.
It's going to be a long Thanksgiving, I have a feeling.

Finally, I think I will now make a random boq. You can either answer here in my comments, or cut and paste into your own blog. Or both. Or neither. The choice is yours!

<b>"Why do they always send the poor?"</b>

<b>Does blood money make a difference? For example - someone pays you, say, 1000 dollars for something you own. Does it matter who the money came from? If it's from mafia hitmen does it make it less acceptable than if it came from, say, a family member or a friend?</b>

<b>Torches and pitchforks really are underused nowadays. I know that's not a question.</b>

<b>What's going on in the news today? It's been a slow month, hasn't it?</b>

<b>Whatchya reading? (always a good standby question)</b>

<b>Is the sky falling?</b>

<b>What shape is the universe? (i think I've asked this before.)</b>

<b>If you could give a lie detector test to anyone in the world, who would it be?</b>

<b>Should I post my story here? Do you want to read it? Do you think I'll finish it?</b>

and finally...

<b>What's something that has made you laugh recently?</b>

Meh. A kinda weak bunch of questions (and one non-question), but it really does feel like the good ones have all been asked.

I guess I'll send this off now. Woo and hoo.

Do you like ba-na-na bread? Are you a big mon-key?

One of these days I'll have to make a decent sized blog entry.

Not today, obviously. "Unnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" says Irina.

My nanovel, by the way, is now around 22,500. Only 10,000 behind schedule!

Oh, and the Posiedon remake last night was boring, pointless, and excrutiatingly painful to watch. See also: Steve Guttenberg.

In conclusion, "Unnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!"

Ahh, Sweeps.

Watching the remake of The Posiedon Adventure. Because it was made in the 21st century, it's got terrorists! Yay! Terrorists win!

It also has Steve Guttenberg! Yay! The terrorists win!!

Nothing much else to say right now.

Shut Down

Shuts Down Your Computer

That would be nice for a brain. Have a Shut Down button, so you could just ...shut down for a while.

I guess ultimately there IS one, but there isn't a reboot option. Um. Unless the Buddhists are right.

All I know is that I have not written in my story today and I have a killerr fucking headache right now.

107,668 / 200,005 (53.8%)

funny, crazy, eyerolly stuff

The ending of the South Park episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die" had me laughing very hard today. In fact, rethinking about it makes me smile and chuckle. I don't want to give it away, but if you've seen it, you undoubtedly know what I'm talking about. (Chili.)

Two Simpsons things that have caused me to laugh:
A classic - "Hello. I'm Mr. Burns and I believe you have a letter for me."
"Okay, Mr. Burns, what's your first name?"
"I don't know."

It never gets old!

And the other Simpsons line - "We'd like to strike Mr. Skinner's testimony from the record!"
Heh.

And then there was the thing that I saw today at work. A female coworker, who has a reputation of sleeping around quite a bit had her cell phone with her. She asks me if I could read this text message she received and maybe give her some advice. I'm never a good one for advice giving, and especially when it comes to relationship material, but I want to be a good friend, and there might be something I can say, so I say I'll take a look at her phone.
She pulls up the text message on the phone and hands it to me. The screen reads:
OMG! I just found out
that one of the guys
you messed around with
has AIDS!! But

I read that and my eyebrows raised to the top of my head. Holy fuck, I'm thinking. I ask her, "How do I read more?", and she pushes a button to scroll down. The rest of the message reads:
Don't worry, because
I just saved a bunch
of money by switching
to Geico! Hee hee!

I laughed for nearly five minutes straight. The message was sent to her by her sister, who apparently has a reputation for pulling jokes like that. I think the humor comes from the utter sense of relief one feels when you realize that the scare isn't real. I'm sure that not everyone would find this joke funny, but the morbid side of me really was very amused. [shrug] People are weird.

Speaking of weird and crazy people, Dateline is doing a story on Mark David Chapman - the guy who shot John Lennon. It's spooky, crazy stuff. It just goes to show how ungodly crazy brains can be. Earlier, the Spanish Inquisition came up in our conversation at dinner, and it made me realize that people can be especially creative with ways to cause harm to others. I mean, drawn and quartered? What kind of sick mind comes up with something like that?


What was the eyerolly stuff? I totally had something to mention in that regard, but now I forget what it was. Oh well.

In other news, I've reached the 20000 mark. Woohoo!! STill not at the point where the shit hits the fan, but, hey, there's still plenty of days left in November...

In conclusion, my arm is totally asleep, and so is Irina.

60 to go?

It would be apropos if the Lostaways ended up being there for 108 days total by the end of the series. We'll see, I suppose.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is only 1 week away. It totally doesn't feel like it.

I'm at 19,052. Still far behind, but at least more stuff is happening now. I think I know where I'm going with the awesome scene that I thought of yesterday, which is good, since I'm AT that scene now.

Speaking of Nano, I updated (although it's now behind again) my word count at the official site, and I even put an excerpt (just a small paragraph) in my Nanowrimo profile. Yay.

The fact that Judd is still on this show just demonstrates the sadness of humans, I think. Man. (heee!)
Hey, maybe he'll get voted out tonight! [/said every week]

Short work week next week. Awesome.

My belly is all abaoiglny. I don't like it.

One Door Away From Heaven is getting pretty interesting, although, really, Curtis Hammond's story is the only one I really care about.

I have a slight headache.

I'm mostly just saying things to build up my word count. It's nothing really interesting. Sorry.

The Steph is probably going to take Saren out for a mom/daughter date and go see the new Harry Potter movie. Jealous! But, she said that she'd take me in a month or so, so word.

Time to hit "Publish Post"

bloggin'

on a wednesday night with a baby in my arms and with nothin' to say.

haven't we done this tune already?

I'm at 18.020 (or 18,020, rather). And! I'm out of the flashback and back in the present. Woo hoo! Even better, i've got an upcoming scene thgat ius very... good. Except that i don't know how it's going to play out, because my brain can't conceive it to the logical conclusion, which sucks. ame old brain.

In other news, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire opens in two days. Thias is the first Harry Piotter movie that the station has not had a prescreening for. [frown]

i guess that's all.

Another long blog entry. One of those ones where I write periodically
throughout the day, adding to it as I think of things. And I should be
working on my story. Which I will be. Right now I'm at 16,029.

First things first.

It's time for one of my favorite segments in the P@rix (and hopefully
one of yours as well) - Viewer Message Time!!

I'll transcribe another message that was left on my voice mail. Yay!
This one is from an older (sounding) gentleman - sounds about 60ish.
Also, his last name and phone number will be omitted. And here we go:

Yes, Mister Patrick [my last name], this is Art [his last name] [and
then he spells it!!]. Phone numbers: [he gives me two phone numbers to
reach him at]. Uh. My question is, why was the 7th Heaven show canceled?
It's one of the best shows you've got on TV. And my next question is, is
when is Jerry Springer gonna either get off the air or put on some new
shows? The ones he's got now is boring. And... you could put something
better on then Jerry Springer. And... what... the the problem is... you
might give it some thought is if there was more shows on like 7th
Heaven, and less shows on with, uh like detective stories and blood and
guts, and all this other crap that's on, uh, there might be less crime
in the United States. And put on more of these family shows like 7th
Heaven, and whether the ratings are bad or not, if you get enough of 'em
on there, they'll either have to watch 'em, or...or put a movie in their
set, one or the other. But at least give some uh clean, healthy type
entertainment for the people to watch instead of all this garbage. So.
That might be a thought that you might put to some of these lunatics
that dream up these stupid shows. So I'd appreciate a call from ya.
Thank you very much and have a nice day.



Money. Fucking. Sucks. Period.



thuwhu. keelsh and tooshj.

Yeah.

Okay, back to my story. Oh. But first: The otehr day when I was talking
about coincidences, Simon left the comment saying "Coincidence? I think
not." which was totally a great pop culture catchphrase for a while.
(where did that originate anyway? From those Time-Life Mysteries of the
Universe commercials? That's what my memory is telling me, but I can't
be sure.)
Anyway, what I want it replaced with is "Coincidence? I think so!"
Because EVERYTHING is a coincidence.
And the great thing about everything being a coincidence is that you can
be either awestruck OR dismissive, depending on how you feel about the
situation.
Example:
"Whoa. That's an amazing coincidence! How weird, man." <---Awestruck.
"Pfft. That's just a coincidence." < ---Dismissive.

Yay!

Now, coincidentally, I'm going to go back to work on my novel. Or back
to work on my work. One of the two.




16222. And it's lunch time. I'm not making nearly as much progress as I
had hoped, but what are you gonna do, starve? Heh.




Ruck Fules. Heeee! Some dork in the audience of the Maury Povich show
had that on his shirt. Oddly, the syndicators blurred it twice, but left
it alone the other five times he was visible. Man, censorship is not
only annoying, it's also pretty damn stupid. I mean, at least be
consistent if you're going to limit people's freedoms.

Speaking of enforced rules that blow (okay, I wasn't, technically, but I
didn't have a better segway ...or is it segue?), I must now go check on
some of our movies to ensure that they are closed captioned. Because,
see, starting in 2006 - which is just forty six days away - the FCC has
mandated that everything, with some exceptions (because there are always
exceptions ...except when there aren't), everything must be closed
captioned.
And that means that any movies we have in our movie library that are NOT
captioned (which, ironically, looks like it might be about 53%) can no
longer run. Thanks a ton, FCC!

And, actually, the above statement is not entirely true. The movies CAN
run if they are lacking captioning. It is just that if the FCC were to
find out about it, our station would most likely be fined as a result.
So, as always, it comes down to money.

Can someone please shoot this culture in the head?





The wind is freaking cold. What is up with that? Did I get transported
to the arctic and not know it? Brr, man. Brr.



The fact that i keep wanting to revise my story as I go is irritating. I
should just be focusing on writing. Foing goward. Or going forward, if
you prefer to be spoonerism free (aka foonerism spree). But, yeah. There
will be plenty of time for revision later. And eesh, is it going to need
it. Partr (part, rather) of me wants to just publish it on my blog
anyway, and screw the idea of trying to get it published as a book (or a
movie) because, really. Really. Plus. Word count! But, honestly. Is it
going to get published? Well, most likely, no. I don't know. It needs a
lot of work. In fact, I should work on it now.

Word count tally: Story = 16,531.
This blog entry (excluding the words: "Word count tally: Story = 16,531.
This blog entry (excluding the words: "Word count tally: Story =
16,531") = 916.

Nine sixteen? Bah!
Also. Sixteen five thirty one? Double bah! I need at least 1,018 words
in this blog entry. And at least 9 times that many in my story. Not
good. It's already 3pm. No time! I hate it.



It's much later in the day now. I didn't hit the halfway mark, and I got an inspirational email from the Nanowrimo folks about how Week Three (which we're now in) is supposed to be where things start to flow and come together and I'm totally not that way with my story, but thanks for thinking of me anyway, guys.
And there was a big ta-doo today and it's been an extremely long day and I love Stephanie so freaking much and even though SHE doesn't agree, she totally is a superhero.

15,something

I've got a sleeping (barely) baby in mmy arms, and not a lot to say, so this will be a short entry.

Um, like, that short, apparently. I really have noyhing to blog about right now. On the upside, I've got a gabillion new ideas for the story. (slthough still no real clear ending. Not that I'm anywehere near the ending yet. Man, when Jen has a flashback, she really has a flashback.) So /I guess it balances out, huh? The real question is - can i write 10 thosand words in the story by tomorrow?

Yes. Yes, I can.

Will I?

Find out tomorrow. Same P@ time, same P@ blog...el. Hee. blogel.

14,388

That's where i am at in my word count for the story. also, i'm totally used to typing in microsoft word and having my errors either be autocorrected or underlined. blgger should do that. Oh well. Guess I'll just have to be more diligent.

Dude. Everything is a coincidence. Truly. (some) People say that there is no such thing as coincidences, but they have it completely wrong. EVERYTHING is. Life. The fact that you are reading this. The fact that I am typing it (or, rather, was typing it. Heh. Reading is like time travel. Time is meaningless!). Just... everything.

It's a difficult concept to accept, but I'm trying to.

Here's an example. In my story - roads play a major role. Highways in particular. Perth, Australia also plays a big role. I went to wikipedia and typed in "highways", and at first I got the entry that someone had changed where all it said was "balls". (Very mature!), so I clicked on the history button and went to the last change and got the real article. The picture they had was of the Mitchell Freeway in Perth, Western Australia.

Everything is a coincidence.

In other news, um. I don't think i had any other news, actually. I hsould (should, even) get back to my sotry (or story, if you prefer). I'm almost out of the flashback (dude, if my story were a tv show, it would be Lost, because it's totally a flashback like Lost would do. But the bad thing is, since it has been such a slow week for me, the flashback has been all i've been writing for the past...forever.)

ANyway, the point is that this version is going to need MAJOR revision. S. Revisions. Yeah.

But on the upside, at least I'm getting stuff out there. I doubt highly that I'll get it revised completely by the date that it's supposed to be taking place (June 6th, 2006) but no big. I'll just be happy if i get it written, period.

In conclusion, I need to shave. My face is all itchy.

How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

Let's find out.

Blogger posts I have made in the P@rix: 930. (New goal! If I play my cards right, i'd like to reach 1000 by the end of the year. Totally doable!!)

Word count on my novel: 13262

Word count on Saren's novel: 140

Word count on my blog: 105219

Now let's see that info as meters...

Blog posts:

930 / 1,000 (93.0%)

My Novel:

13,262 / 50,000 (26.5%)

Saren's novel:

140 / 500 (28.0%)

Year-to-date blog total:

105,219 / 200,005 (52.6%)

V is for Vonnegut

Or, it should be.

Today, besides being Veteran's Day (I won't voice my unpopular opinion that it's kinda weird to celebrate war and the people who fight in them. Oh. Wait. Oops.) is also the birthday of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, writer, satirist, and all around... human. Yay.

Today also was Friday, which means the week of hell at work has finally concluded. Yay, I guess. I have not done any writing on my story at all today. That's the second or third day this month that I've done that. I'm currently at 13,092, and it really is crap. Well, no, that's harsh. It needs a lot of revising. Yeah.

Um.

Speaking of work, I am getting an ulcer. Got to love the American Dream, no?

[ish] HEE! I meant to type [sigh], but found the typo too funny to correct.
So, yeah. I gues...OH!! I totally forgot the Big News of the Day!

7th Heaven is going off the air after this season!!

That's right, it was announced today that the "drama" (note the irony quote marks there) 7th Heaven, which is currently in its mind boggling tenth season (I KNOW!!!) will be calling it quits at the end of this season.

The "show", which was the WB's first foray into hour long dramas back in 1996, has been the WB's highest rated series, and has been airing in the same time period (Monday nights at 8pm) since day one. (That itself is incredible and pretty much unheard of in programming.)

No word yet on how it's gonna wrap up, but I'm holding out for a bloodbath where one (or all) of the Camden kids finally snaps, killing everyone in the city.

Weird. 7th Heaven is ending. So it goes.

In conclusion, You know everything I say is horseshit.

Koontz List

So. I made the goal a while back to read all of Dean "Go Word Count!" Koontz's novels, even those that suck. And even those that were written under a different name (and the guy has used several. Split personality much?). I've read several of them before, so I won't have to reread those, which is good, because life is short.
Thanks to wikipedia, I've got a list of all of his novels - along with the years that they were prublished. Or published, even.
I'll embolden (heh) the ones I've read (that I can remember reading. Some I may have read and just don't recall. Stupid generic exchangeable titles.[/mutter]) and then after the list, I'll put any little comments about the books I've read. Go word count!

1. Dean Koontz's Frankenstien, Book Three (Summer 2006)
2. The Husband (May 30, 2006)
3. Forever Odd (November 29, 2005)
4. Dean Koontz's Frankenstein, Book Two: City of Night w/ Ed Gorman (July 26, 2005)
5. Velocity (May 24, 2005)
6. Dean Koontz's Frankenstein, Book One: Prodigal Son w/ Kevin J. Anderson (January 25, 2005)
7. Life Expectancy (December 7, 2004)
8. The Taking (May 25, 2004)
9. Odd Thomas (December 9, 2003)
10. The Face (May 27, 2003)
11. The Book of Counted Sorrows (2003)
12. By the Light of the Moon (December 24, 2002)
13. One Door Away from Heaven (US December 26, 2001)
14. From the Corner of His Eye (December 26, 2000)
15. False Memory (December 28, 1999)
16. Seize the Night (December 29, 1998)
17. Fear Nothing (January 14, 1998)
18. Sole Survivor (January 29, 1997)
19. Demon Seed (revised edition) (July, 1997)
20. Tick-Tock (October 1, 1996)
21. Intensity (1996)
22. Dark Rivers of the Heart (1994)
23. The Door to December (1994)
24. Dragon Tears (1993)
25. Mr. Murder (1993)
26. Trapped (1993, Graphic Novel)
27. The Funhouse (1992)
28. Hideaway (1992)
29. Cold Fire (1991)
30. The Bad Place (1990)
31. Shadowfires (1990)
32. The Eyes of Darkness (1989)
33. Midnight (1989)
34. Lightning (1988)
35. The Servants of Twilight (1988, as Leigh Nichols)
36. The Voice of the Night (1988)
37. Shadowfires (1987, as Leigh Nichols)
38. Watchers (1987)
39. Strangers (1986)
40. The Door to December (1985, as Richard Paige)
41. Twilight Eyes (1985)
42. Darkfall (1984)
43. Twilight (1984, as Leigh Nichols)
44. Phantoms (1983)
45. The House of Thunder (1982, as Leigh Nichols)
46. The Eyes of Darkness (1981, as Leigh Nichols)
47. The Mask (1981, as Owen West)
48. The Funhouse (1980, as Owen West)
49. The Voice of Night (1980, as Brian Coffey)
50. Whispers (1980)
51. The Key to Midnight (1979, as Leigh Nichols)
52. The Face of Fear (1977, as Brian Coffey)
53. The Vision (1977)
54. Night Chills (1976)
55. Prison of Ice (1976, as David Axton), reissued as Icebound (1995)
56. Dragonfly (1975, as K. R. Dwyer)
57. Invasion (1975, as Aaron Wolfe), reissued as Winter Moon (1994)
58. The Long Sleep (1975, as John Hill)
59. Nightmare Journey (1975)
60. Wall of Masks (1975, as Brian Coffey)
61. After the Last Race (1974)
62. Surrounded (1974, as Brian Coffey)
63. Blood Risk (1973, as Brian Coffey)
64. Dance with the Devil (1973, as Deanna Dwyer)
65. Demon Seed (1973)
66. Hanging On (1973)
67. The Haunted Earth (1973)
68. Shattered (1973, as K. R. Dwyer)
69. A Werewolf Among Us (1973)
70. Chase (1972, as K. R. Dwyer)
71. Children of the Storm (1972, as Deanna Dwyer)
72. The Dark of Summer (1972, as Deanna Dwyer)
73. A Darkness in My Soul (1972)
74. Demon Child (1972, as Deanna Dwyer)
75. The Flesh in the Furnace (1972)
76. Starblood (1972)
77. Time Thieves (1972)
78. Warlock! (1972)
79. The Crimson Witch (1971)
80. Legacy of Terror (1971, as Deanna Dwyer)
81. Anti-Man (1970)
82. Beastchild (1970)
83. Dark of the Woods (1970)
84. Dark Symphony (1970)
85. Hell's Gate (1970)
86. The Fall of the Dream Machine (1969)
87. Fear That Man (1969)
88. Star Quest (1968)

#6 - Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Book One: Prodigal Son with Kevin J. Anderson was pretty good, actually. Much as I might complain about Dean Koontz (and rightfully so in a lot of cases), reading this was what prompted me to start my Dean Koontz campaign. The drawbacks - the story was originally written (as Koontz explains in the forward) as a Made For TV movie script. When that fell through, he opted to write it as a trilogy. A lot of the action in the book (not to mention the dialouge) reads like a made-for-tv movie. And the "humor" that the cop Michael uses was just completely unfunny. But then, Koontz's characters have never been ones that spoke ...normally.

#7 - Life Expectancy another decent book. The humor actually worked in this one, and I enjoyed the villain(s). Although I gotta wonder, if someone predicted that your newborn child would have five dates of misery and strife (and told you exactly what dates they would be) ...would you tell your child? Yeah, there's the idea of being prepared for something bad that is going to come, but on the other hand, maybe not knowing at all would be better. I Don't know. Just seemed odd that Jimmy Tock's parents would tell him about his dates with destiny at all. Of course, if they hadn't we wouldn't have the story...or maybe we'd have a very different one. [shrug]

#8 - The Taking - This one started out pretty good. Very quick, very actiony, very apocalypse. About 60 or 70% through the book I said to Steph, "I just don't see how he's going to get them out of it." because the situation was just so freaking dire. And then the ending came and it sucked ass. Plus, there was a "super dog" in this one (Dean Koontz has a tendency to include dogs that exhibit greater intelligence, kindness, and humanity than any normal person you'd meet in the world). If Dean Koontz (or someone) were to rewrite this book with a MUCH different ending, it would be top notch.

#13 - One Door Away From Heaven - currently reading. There are three narratives going on in this story, and I am most intrigued by the one about the boy on the run. Even if he does have a dog with him. I'm barely 100 pages in, so the verdict is still out right now.

#15 - False Memory - UGH! Horrid. He's used the same plot in at least two of his books, plus there was a super dog. And a completely unneccesary disturbing sex/incest scene. This type of crap is what gives Koontz a bad name.

#18 - Sole Survivor - Um. I read it, but don't have much memory of it. Something about people surviving plane crashes? The ending, if I recall, was totally unexpected... but I don't know if that was a good thing or not.

#21- Intensity - I hated this book, even though it is supposedly one of his best. I don't recall much about it, except that the villain was laughably stupid. (Not that the villain was unintelligent, just unbelievable as a person.) And the protagonist was much the same.

#22 - Dark Rivers of the Heart - I know I liked this one, but I can't recall for the life of me what it was about. Doh.

#24 - Dragon Tears - This was one of my favorite Koontz books, and I know I recommended it to the Steph, but she hated it. This had a super dog in it, but I didn't care. I liked the story of a person becoming a god. The scene where time was frozen except for the two cops was awesome.

#35 - The Servants of Twilight - Another really great story that fell apart at the end. I came up with a much better ending, but meh.

#38 - Watchers - The book that got Koontz noticed. And that features a super dog as the main plot point. Not a bad story, but I have no idea what happened in it. I've not watched any of the movies based on this, and have no desire to.

#39 - Strangers - This was Koontz's The Stand. Totally epic, covering multiple characters from all walks of life who slowly come to realize that even though they don't know each other - at first - that they have something really big in common. No idea how it ended, though. Heh.

#44 - Phantoms - Yay for the premise! Boo to the fact that I can't remember a single thing about the story!

#54 - Night Chills - Er. I know it was about a government group using subliminal messages to control people, and I know that it had some very explicit sex scenes. Other than that, I have no idea.

Huh. So, I guess in conclusion what I've learned is that most of Dean Koontz's books suck at the end, and/or are completely forgettable. Yay!

Unwinding

I can't seem to unwind. I had one of the busiest days at work ever, and thus didn't get to do much work on my novel - I'm at 11,086 at last count. I want to (I mean, I WILL) reach 15000 tonight before going to sleep, so I've got some work ahead of me, but I'm all tense right now, and I don't know
a) why

and

b) what to do about it.

I hate when I get this way. Every little thing irritates me, and I have this anxious feeling that I need to be doing something, even though I don't want to DO anything. I really, really hate this feeling.

Additionally, my jaw left hurting. Or, put another, Non-Pearl Jam way, my jaw is currently aching from being tensed. Obviously this is due to stress, and I should relax, but again - I don't know how. Irk. Some.

Deep breath.

I was going to post a list of all the Dean Koontz novels he's ever written, along with my coments on them (go word count and all) because the Steph went and picked up another book of his (remember how I said I was going to read all of his novels? I'm still doing that.) but that doesn't really mesh with the semi-rant above, so I think I'll save it for another time.

In the meantime, I guess I'll sign off the computer ...no, I'll sign offline, and stay on the computer to work on my novel. At least until Lost comes on.

In conclusion, welcome to the new kind of tension.

Apocalypse When

So Sunday night CBS had a made for TV movie on (ahh, Sweeps) that was
entitled: Category 7: The End of the World, and was, fittingly enough,
about the end of the world. It had Randy (or Dennis, maybe?) Quaid -
which ever one of them was in Independence Day - and Shannen Doherty and
Gina Gershon and Tom Skerrit and lots of CGI of famous landmarks being
destroyed. I'm there! Count me in!

But because it started at 9pm and I'm an old man now, I taped it so I
could go to bed at a decent hour. (Plus, I knew that it wasn't going to
be very good, and I might want to fast forward or whatever) I opted to
watch it last night because Mondays have nothing good on television.
(Neither do Tuesdays, Fridays, or Saturdays, come to think of it.)
It was about what I expected. Although I was surprised at the amount of
characters and how much time they were given - I guess it helps for the
viewers to empathize with people we know stuff about. But then, at the
end of the two hours I'm smacked in the face with a stupid "To Be
Continued..."

The fuck kinda shit is that, CBS?!

So next Sunday is Part Two - and they didn't mentione (or mention, even)
if there was going to be a part 3, or if Part Two would wrap it up. I'm
torn on whether to watch it or not. I mean, I know it's gonna suck, but
there's still this part of me that wants to know how bad. Strange.

Although, really, I've got my own end of the world scenario going on
(broke the 10k mark today!! Woo!! But now I'm stuck!! Boo!!) to worry
about. So maybe I won't bother taping it after all. Meh. I've got a
week to decide, I guess.

In conclusion, I feel fine.

File in the P@ionary

Spleepsi. Noun. Sleep and Pepsi combined. See also: Heaven.

Treehouse of Horrors!!

Since the newest Simpsons Halloween special finally aired last night, I figured I'd list all the vignettes from all the episodes, highlighting my favorites (if I can remember, or if I can choose).
Woohoo!

Bad Dream House
Hungry are the Damned
The Raven

The Monkey's Paw
The Bart Zone
If I Only Had a Brain

Clown Without Pity
King Homer
Dial "Z" for Zombies (tie. Both vignettes are classics)

The Devil and Homer Simpson (Mmmm...forbidden donut)
Terror at 5 1/2 Feet
Bart Simpson's Dracula

The Shinning
Time and Punishment
Nightmare Cafeteria (this is, undoubtedly, the best Treehouse of Horror EVER.)

Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores
Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace
Homer³

The Thing and I
The Genesis Tub
Citizen Kang (quite possibly my top pick of all time)

The Homega Man
Fly vs. Fly
Easy-Bake Coven

Hell Toupee
The Terror of Tiny Toon
Starship Poopers (Jerry Springer dying? Instant classic)

I Know What You Diddily-Iddily Did
Desperately Xeeking Xena
Life's a Glitch, Then You Die

G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad
Scary Tales Can Come True
Night of the Dolphin

Hex and the City
House of Whacks
Wiz Kids

Send in the Clones
The Fright to Creep and Scare
The Island of Dr. Hibbert

Reaper Madness
Frinkenstein
Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off

The Ned Zone
Four Beheadings and a Funeral
In the Belly of the Boss

B.I. Bartificial Intelligence
Survival of the Fattest
I've Grown A Costume to Your Face

In conclusion, Halloween and the Bimpsons. Two great tastes that taste great together.

Heavy!

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the date that Doc Brown fell, hit his head, and came up with the idea for the Flux Capacitor.

I should have written about it then, but forgot to. Perhaps if I had a DeLorean, and one point twenty one gigawatts of electricity, I could remedy that. (Let's ignore the fact that I can alter the time stamp on Blogger with a simple click of the mouse, shall we?)


query: If you enter a date that doesn't officially exist into the computer ( like Doc Brown does in the movie - December 25th, 0000 - there was no year 0 A.D., or the dates in ...I forget when, the 16hundreds? When the King just changed the calendar, making like two weeks of September completely disappear) what happens? Do you just end up going nowhere? Maybe we'll find out in Back to the Future 4. Or maybe I should search for some Back to the Future Fanfic. I'm sure it's out there.

In conclusion, Great Scott!

Discouraging. Word. s.

I woke up this morning feeling very discouraged about my story, which is dumb, because it has been going pretty well. It's mostly due to the fact that I've got this ...sort of cognitive dissonance (or whatever). See, my characters have just done something that they totally would have done a LOT sooner in real life, and now I have to figure out why it took them so long to come up with that idea.

On the bright side, I think that I may have found a work around, but then, I haven't done any writing today at all, so I guess it's a moot point for now.

In conclusion, it's word count time...

100,872 / 200,005 (50.4%)

cuh-rap.

So, I'm jamming along on my story, thinking it's going well, and getting to a pretty interesting part - the meat of this particular part of the story is really coming together when -plink!- the station's power went out.

Mmmm. Wasted time and words.

Oh well. It'll be interesting to see what comes of the rewrite, since I know I won't be able to exactly recreate the words I'd written previously.

In conclusion, Jesus Saves. So should I.

It's a pity I didn't blog today

Because I bet it would have been a great entry if I had.

What a character

It's been a LONG time since I've done real fiction writing, but now that
I'm back into the swing of things with my nano (sorta. Currently stuck
at 2258), I'm reminded of something that used to happen to me when I was
younger and more of a consistent writer. And reader.

I adopt characteristics of the main characters. I really get sucked into
whatever story I'm writing or reading.

The main character of the story I'm writing now has narcolepsy. All day
yesterday, and today, I've been exhibiting symptoms of EDS (that's
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness. I've been doing research for this. Wacky,
I know.). Now. I know I don't really have narcolepsy or EDS but it's
just funny how since I've been writing about someone who DOES, my brain
has been mimicking it.

Also. A certain four letter word that pertains to my story has shown up
twice in the past hour. (I can't say what it is because the story hasn't
revealed that aspect yet. Gah. Even saying this is, I feel, giving too
much away. Forget I said anything.)

In conclusion, I really am very tired.

Day One.

Done. And I'm feeling pretty good about it. (NaNo, that is.) Steph added the nifty little counter and NaNoWriMo icons. Which hopefully are visible now. The table entry from a few weeks back was making them show up at the bottom of our screens, but I know people use different browsers, so your mileage may vary, as they say.

Anyway, I managed to finish my first chapter AND the prolouge and get in 17...something words. I believe it's 1725, but not absolutely sure. Either way, impressive. Even better, though, is the fact that I'm pretty happy with it. There are things in there that are all foreshadowy and clever. Like when you read Harry Potter (or any good book, really) and then at the end go back and see that there were clues there all along. Good stuff, man.

Of course, like I was telling Steph, the fact that I've been carrying this story along with me for nearly a decade probably helps. [tongue]

So. It's pretty late now, but I'm not tired. Sigh. All day long I was exhausted beyond belief. Now that it's time to go to sleep, I don't want to. Oh well. Better force myself to get some rest. Tomorrow is another day.

Misc.

Lots of stuff to say, not really awake enough to say any of it.

It's freaking November! Holy year, dude! 2005 is nearly done. Unbelievable.

So. It's November, which means time to write a novel. Which means I'm going to write my epic Perth/Choset story. Really. I am. I just haven't started yet. Even though it's almost 9am, and I've been awake (ish) since four, and I've had the story idea in my mind for ...what, like 8 years now? Good god.
But I am going to write it this year. This month, even. Heh.

Oh. There was one last boq that I didn't answer. It was a long one, though, and, you know, I don't think I feel up to answering it right now, either. Sorry, word count.

Speaking of word count. And of NaNo - I believe that I will be posting my story here for everyone to enjoy (or, you know, not). The unknowable factor - do I post it all in one big clump, or should I do chapters? I'm thinking chapters. Yeah. So, in December, that's something to look forward to.

Church sign wisdom!! (The church near our house has updated it's marquee again. [it was actually changed a few weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to remembering to blog about it])
One side reads:

EXPERIENCE GIVES THE TEST FIRST AND THE LESSON LAST

and the other side says:

ANY CREW MEMBER CAN STEER THE COURSE WHEN THE SEA IS CALM

So now you know. And knowing, as they say, is half the battle.

Um. I don't know what else. I think that might be everything for now.

Bah. That's only 275 words. I need to write 3332 words a day. (1666 a day for Nano, and 1666 for my blog. Although, really, I only need to write 1666 words a day for the rest of the year. It's like doing Nano twice. In a row. So I really ought to focus more on Nano. And other things. I mean, my novel is important, but ...now I'm just blathering.

In conclusion, I Don't Know vember.