Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Awesome Archival!

Our Awesome Archival today is a digitization project that allows anyone access to Maimonides's code of Jewish Law. The following excerpt is from Language Hat.
The Bodleian Libraries are the proud custodian of Maimonides' authorized manuscript copy of his major halachic work, the Mishneh Torah, a code meant to collect disparate rulings and to present them "succinctly and clearly, so that all the Oral Torah will be easily accessible to all." ... A later owner of the copy, a certain Eleazar, son of Perahya, stipulated in his will that this and the other volumes of the Code (now lost) should remain in the public domain for consultation....
The manuscript is now as public as it gets. The scan is archival quality, which means you can see scuffs, stains, and so on at a high zoom rate. There are a lot of similar digitization projects taking place all over the world, providing the general population access to documents that until recently have required a great deal of work in terms of access permissions and travel to get to.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Smatterings

With Winter break seems to have come a blogging break. I think I mentioned that even though I am out of school for a while I feel busier than I ever was, and that remains true. So, here is a quick 'I'm not dead' post to provide a quick overview of what I've been doing for the past two weeks.

I've started Chinese lessons. Chinese is one of those languages that is almost impossible to break into for me. I've tried learning half a dozen times now, and nothing sticks. The problem lies in the fact that pronunciation alone is such a struggle. With languages like Japanese and French the sound of the language came naturally to me. Not so Chinese. Too many minimal pairs that do not exist in English. Just tone itself is enough to make things difficult, but with x j s q etc also being hard to hear and pronounce for an English speaker, Chinese is a real devil of a language. It almost makes me miss Japanese.

I'm now hard at work as a Wrangler for Anythink libraries, an amazing library system that has done (almost) everything right in how it has reinvented itself into a 21st century library. Our library director was elected Librarian of the year by the ALA, and the district itself earned the 2010 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, which means our director will be meeting with the president and first lady. The branch I work at is relatively small, but the materials are checked out in such a rapid basis that with two or three of us working full tilt we can barely keep up with the circulation. I was angsting for quite a while over not being able to find a job, so now I am extremely happy that I stuck it out and finally landed in such a perfect position.

The job itself is great (books everywhere!) my co-workers are awesome, my bosses are ridiculously nice, and so on and so forth. The only things that could make the job better is if the branch was closer (It's a 45min drive away) and if they let us work in larger chunks of shifts. 5 hours is the max per day, which means a -lot- of driving, a short shift, and then a lot of driving again. This makes it somewhat difficult to schedule the other things I have going on.

The internship has unfortunately been put on a sort of hold (though I have free time again tomorrow, woo!) simply because Boulder is even further than work, and I need a whole day dedicated to going up there if it's going to be worth my time at all. For a month and change I haven't had that whole day. Quite disappointing, but I'm looking for things to improve on that front soon.

I occurs to me that I have spent most of my brake doing non Archival type stuff. I've been taking advantage of the time to do things like write 300+ prompts for a fantasy world building challenge, and NaNo, and so on and so forth. I feel like I should be using my time more constructively towards my future employment... but writing a ton of questions like "What body modification is taboo in your world and what is wide spread?" Is so much damn fun. I've finished that project, and will probably be including it in whatever website I build when I find the time for that. This is where I look at my to-do list and laugh.

While working at the 'cat desk' at the local shelter I was told that they are looking for foster parents to keep small mammals, like guinea pigs and rats and such. I can't bring a cat or dog home due to Lord Rufus and apartment restrictions, but a small animal should be alright, so I've applied, will be going through an interview, and then hopefully will be helping a little critter acclimatizes itself to human interaction, which will make it more appealing to prospective adopters.

About the same time I was given a book by a fellow volunteer. I had been talking to her about school, and the fact that I was studying to become an archivist, so one day she gives me this book called The Collectors by David Baldacci. Baldacci is one of those big names in the world of the spy/intrigue novel. I've shelved many of his books, but have never read a word of any of them, mostly because of my bias against any fiction written before the 1940s. But, since this book was being given to me I figured I had to at least make a go of reading it.

Turned out that wasn't going to happen. I got something like 5 chapters in (read: 10 pages) before putting it down and deciding that I had much better ways to waste my time. You would think a book that apparently revolves around the Archives of the US Government would be interesting, but the writing is so absolutely amateur that the wonder that should naturally go hand in hand with materials recording the very birth of our nation has been neatly removed by bluntly telling prose and a cardboard cast. Definitely not going to bother.

There is an ice skating rink on campus that has free skate for an hour on most days of the week. Because I'm a full time student, admission is free for me, though it still costs to rent shoes, but 3 dollars is a nice price for an hour of good exercise and slamming into rink walls. I still need to learn how to stop...

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Awesome Archival!

This blog is awesome: How to be a Retronaut. It showcases cool historical materials (most recent is Eiffel Tower blueprints) and weird stuff from the past. Very neat.

And in the news: The National Library in India has a Secret Chamber. No one knows what is in the secret chamber, since there is no way to enter it, not even a trap door, but some are predicting skeletons, or maybe even a treasure horde. They're going to bore a hole through the building and see.

Friday, November 26, 2010

I occurs to me that being hot, sweaty and uncomfortable in the middle of fall might indicate that I'm sick. That would also explain the lethargy and inability to get out of bed at a decent hour. I guess it's time to start drowning in tea.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Estes Park

A few weekends ago I went up to Estes Park with my uncle. It's most famous for being home to the Stanly Hotel, a haunted building that inspired Steven King's the Shining, but the best part of it for me was the trip there and back through winding mountain roads.

Last week I went back to Estes for a NaNo write in. I am sorely behind, so I figured going an hour and a half out of my way to sit and write was a good way to force my butt into action. It worked rather well. I got something like 10k out of that one day.

I opted to drive back that night instead of staying over and risk driving while exhausted. Turns out being the only car driving down dark, winding, steep roads with the music blasting is a ton of fun. I also ended up having to wait for a herd of caribou  Elk to cross the street right as I was leaving town, which was awesome. Caribou Elk are huge, and I was very glad that they were only interested in crossing the street and not in inspecting and/or starting a fight with the bright metal things in their way. Needless to say, I was very careful for the rest of the drive. Running into one of those things would not be pleasant at all.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Awesome Archival

Anatomy of an Auction by Bonhams.

The first two episodes (the last two videos) are the really interesting once. Provenance is inspected in a number of very rare books recently brought in for auction.

Friday, November 19, 2010

End of Fall Semester

PHEW. Fall semester is over. My last class was last night and I just have a few finishing touches to put on a project before the whole thing is behind me. But somehow, even though I have a two month break ahead of me, I feel like I'm busier than ever. It might be because:
  • I've still got that internship and now I'm volunteering weekly
  • I got a job (FINALLY) at an awesome place but it's 45 minutes away
  • There's a NaNo novel looming over my head
  • And a fantasy world project I committed to that must be finished by December
  • I'm starting to take Chinese lessons
  • It's time to go trolling for scholarships and internships
  • And I have some work to do for the LIS publishing group that I have been putting off with the excuse of "I'll do it when the semester ends."
  • Oh yeah, and two book reviews are over due. =x
So now that the essential schoolwork is out of the way all of the little stuff is bubbling to the surface. 

The last few weeks have been a little hairy. I continue to ignore my limits and attempt to take on much more than is humanly possible to fit into a 24 hour day, and the result was a few papers typed out franticly that barely made it to the deadline. Luckily, I also have a habit of researching deeply and throughout the semester, so I already had all of the information I needed, but had to scramble to organize it properly.

When I submitted my paper I was very disappointed with it. I realized early on that my intended paper would have to be 30 pages or so to fill it with the information I gathered, but the assignment called for 10. I cheated and made it 14, simply because I didn't have the time to streamline it any more than that, and submitted it with a wince. 

I just got the results back and apparently my professor was impressed, because I got 35 out of 30 possible points and was told to seek publication. My face as I read that e-mail probably looked something like this:
 

Definitely a happy surprise.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Inception

I have been on an Inception binge lately. Because I've had the soundtrack on infinite loop and have been scrounging around for clips and screenshots, I inevitably checked to see if there was any theater still showing it. Apparently it's running in dollar theaters now (Which are now $2.50 theaters, but still) so for a study break I drove down and watched again. 

A second viewing confirms my initial impression of Inception. It's a great movie, and all the details are all fucked up. The great thing about it is that it doesn't matter that a few moments of objective questioning will point out hundreds of places where the movie defied its own logic. The logic was not the important part of the movie. The story was. And the story was why the Inception was so good. It was psychologically driven, where every scene had a storytelling purpose, even if it didn't all mesh into a cohesive 'universe'. When I watch, there's a part of me that's going, "Wait a second..." but it's drowned out by the part that REALLY wants to know what's going to happen next, even though I've seen it before.

And of course there's also the part about it being fucking sharp style wise.

Inception star Joseph Gordon Levitt
Inception: Badass men doing badass things in badass ways.

$2.50 well spent. Inception will probably be the next movie I buy, which is saying something, since I rarely buy movies. I think Shoot 'em Up was the last one I picked up, which was almost three years ago, and before that was Rajio no Jikan, which I bought in 2004. So yeah.

Monday, November 1, 2010

So... Damn... busy!

I'm rushing this out in the 10 minutes or so between all of the upkeep I've been doing for various project and rushing out the door to interview for the first 'real' job that has called me back in all of my eager searching.

First, not so awesome Archives:

US Loses Archival Matrial - Kind of lame.

Second, the 'capstone' speech at the Rally to Restore Sanity, by Jon Stewart.
"And now I thought we might have a moment, however brief, for some sincerity, if that’s ok; I know there are boundaries for a comedian, pundit, talker guy, and I’m sure I’ll find out tomorrow how I have violated them.
I’m really happy you guys are here, even if none of us are really quite sure why we are here. Some of you may have seen today as a clarion call for action, or some of the hipper, more ironic cats as a clarion call for ‘action.’ Clearly, some of you just wanted to see the Air and Space Museum and got royally screwed. And I’m sure a lot of you are here to have a nice time, and I hope you did. I know that many of you made a great effort to be here today, and I want you to know that everyone involved with this project worked incredibly hard to make sure that we honor the effort that you put in and gave you the best show we could possibly do. We know your time is valuable, and we didn’t want to waste it. And we are all extremely honored to have had a chance to perform for you on this beautiful space, on The Mall in Washington, D.C.
So, uh, what exactly was this? I can’t control what people think this was, I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or to look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies. But, unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country’s 24-hour, politico, pundit, perpetual, panic conflictanator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected, dangerous flaming ant epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.
There are terrorists and racists and Stalinists and theocrats, but those titles that must earned; you must have the resume. Not being able to be able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers, or real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe, not more. The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything, we actually get sicker, and perhaps eczema. And yet, with that being said, I feel good: strangely, calmly good. Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us through a fun-house mirror, and not the good kind that makes you look slim in the waist and maybe taller, but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass shaped like a month-old pumpkin with one eyeball.
So why would we work together? Why would you reach across the aisle to a pumpkin-assed, forehead, eyeball monster? If the picture of us were true, of course our inabilities to solve problems would actually be quite sane and reasonable. Why would you work with Marxists actively subverting our Constitution, or racists and homophobes who see no one’s humanity but their own? We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe torn by polarizing hate. And how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done. But the truth is, we do. We work together to get things done every damn day. The only place we don’t is here or on cable TV. But Americans don’t live here or on cable TV. Where we live, our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done, not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.
Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, or Conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often, something they do not want to do, but they do it. Impossible things every day, that are only made possible through the little reasonable compromises we all make.
Look. Look on the screen. This is where we are; this is who we are: these cars. That’s a schoolteacher who probably thinks his taxes are too high. He’s going to work. There’s another car. A woman with two small kids, can’t really think about anything else right now. There’s another car, swaying, I don’t even know if you can see it. The lady’s in the NRA and loves Oprah. There’s another car. An investment banker: gay, also likes Oprah. Another car’s a Latino carpenter. Another car a fundamentalist vacuum salesman. Atheist obstetrician. Mormon Jay-Z fan. But this is us. Every one of the cars you see is filled with individuals of strong beliefs and principles they hold dear. Often, principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers. And yet these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze one by one into a mile-long, thirty-foot wide tunnel carved underneath a mighty river. Carved by people who by the way I’m sure had their differences. And they do it. Concession by concession. You go, then I’ll go. You go, then I’ll go. You go, then I’ll go. Oh my God, is that an NRA sticker on your car? Is that an Obama sticker on your car? Ah, well that’s okay, you go, then I’ll go. And sure, at some point there will be a selfish jerk who zips up the shoulder and cuts in at the last minute. But that individual is rare, and he is scorned not hired as an analyst.
Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes, it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together. If you want to know why I’m here and what I want from you, I can only assure you this: you have already given it to me. Your presence was what I wanted. Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. And to see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you.”
Jon Stewart at The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, October 30, 2010

There was a satellite rally in Denver, but I was busy training to volunteer at the local animal shelter and only managed to get there when everyone had already left. Oh well.

Today is NaNoWriMo kickoff. I went to a kickoff party, which was an excellent choice, as at midnight some 30 people went utterly silent and started getting to work. I wrote for an hour and a half, almost making the mark for the day, and then drove home before I felt like I would be too tired to do so. I don't know if this NaNo will be a success, but I'm already off to a better start than usual.

A -lot- more happened this week, but I don't have the time to talk about it. I'm very much looking forward to the winter break, where I can catch up on things and maybe even clean my room.

    Sunday, October 24, 2010

    FUUUUUU

    How fast can one learn French? 6 months?

    Context: There's a paid summer internship at the National Gallery of Art for their rare books department, but "Advanced skills in a language other than English are essential."

    Maybe I should have studied romantic languages. Maybe I should have concentrated on history. Maybe I should have picked up more area studies specialization.

    There's too much to know and too little time to learn it!

    Saturday, October 23, 2010

    Fun Weekend


    Huge congratulations to The Private Library for reaching post 500. There was a time when it was likely that the blog would become a static resource, but public outcry provided the impetus to keep things going. not only was the author, L. D. Mitchell, kind enough to post one of my own articles there, but he enhanced it with dozens of links to extra resources that I didn't even know existed. As one of the blogs that really cemented my decision to go into LIS and work with rare books, The Private Library will always have a special place in my heart.

    And now for more fun links to break up the long, rambling posts about my hectic days:

    In an extreme example of the maxim, "If you want it done right you have to do it yourself," Calum MacLeod built himself a road that was so successful the government appropriated it later.

    An awesome Gallery of pictures with a woman shooting a bullseye almost every year for 70 some years. The other galleries in the parent site are fun to look through too.


    ===


    I've been busy for the last few days. Yesterday was the beginning of MileHiCon, where I volunteered by helping set up the art gallery (don't know why that's so fun) and timing a few panels for the presenters. The highlight for me was Donato Giancola, who did a talk on the classical influences of his art, and had a painting up for auction valued at 7k dollars depicting George about to do battle with the Dragon. Giancola is still an oil on canvas guy, and his work in person is exquisite. I only wish that one day I'll be able to have a nice sketch from someone as skilled as he is, but until then I can stare at the art in the galleries.

    Today was Zombie Crawl Day. I went with a bunch of library science students, and although I didn't have the time to zombify, I lifted some fake blood off someone else and had some nice bloody smears across my face. Here are some highlights:



    Oh God they're breeding!

    Friday, October 15, 2010

    Awesome Archival!

    Here's something to watch for:

    "The NHPRC and UVA Press will create a new web site which provides access to the fully annotated published papers of key figures in the nation’s Founding era. The project is designed to include the papers of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin...Through this web resource, users will be able to read, browse, and search tens of thousands of documents from the Founding Era."

    I am looking forward to seeing how this little (up to $2mil) project is executed. What I would love to see in an online archival site such as the above is something beyond a simple display of materials, even if they do provide 360 degree viewing and 4000x zoom. I'd love to see more curational context (which can sometimes be kind of sparse in websites) AND links to research, published material, and people who have made use of these documents. In other words, a reverse bibliography. How hard could it be? And how fascinating to follow a document from its simple state as a piece of old paper to a piece of some interesting historical puzzle?

    If anything, that sort of approach might more immediately illustrate just how useful these materials have been (or how little has been done on them if you find 0 citations!) It would be a good way to advertise the value of archives while at the same time using the power and flexibility of the web to add value to a product, not just make it available.

    That's my futurist archives rant for the day.

    Thursday, October 14, 2010

    Day from Hell/van

    The bookseller Ed Maggs on books:
    "Maggs says he enjoys the process of discovery behind letters and books. 'I'm a frustrated historian or novelist,' he says. 'Books and manuscripts are the greatest repositories of history and history, maybe, is the most important thing of all for giving meaning to our lives.'"

    Today was one of the most fascinating and educational days of my LIS career. I needed to observe a library for not one, but two projects, and had spent some time looking for a library that would fit with my interests. After sending e-mails around about the possibility of there being an archives in Denver with an Asian bent and getting nothing, it was serendipitous that during a completely unrelated meeting of a publishing group I mentioned wanting to work with Asian collections and someone mentioned that UC Boulder actually had an Asian special collection. After a few e-mail exchanges I was in contact with the librarian in charge of the Japanese/Korean portion of the collection, and arranged to meet him. That happened today. The interview I had with him, and subsequently UC Boulder's Archivist down in the library basement, was worth an entire semester of classes.

    The only downside to this facinating education was that it took twice as long as I had been anticipating, and I had expected to be able to finish to projects before class that evening. Instead I got to enjoy a leisurely ride through 20 some miles of rush hour traffic, and banged out a somewhat unprofessional bibliography in the hour I had before class. The assignment didn't carry too much weight though, and what I gained today was more than worth it. I am absolutely exhausted, so I'll have to go into more detail tomorrow (but not too much. I don't kiss and tell.)

    Wednesday, October 13, 2010

    Hnnnng

    Nothing warms you up like trying to pedal a bike with a flat tire. I filled the tire with air (75c for air! What is the world coming to!) and it went flat again immediately, so it looks like I'm going to have to replace a tire.

    I was doing a little RSS reading after coming home from class and came across a list of resources for job searches in the library field. The first link was for North Suburban Libray System. Their front page reads " On May 31, 2010, all NSLS full-time employees (except delivery staff) were laid off. The only member service NSLS will provide in the immediate future is van delivery. This scaled down version of the NSLS website will remain up until further notice."

    FUUUUUUUUU

    Well, here's hoping that in two years there will be employment prospects again. I should really get started on cultivating expertise somewhere to make myself more employable, but I find it difficult to find the time in between the classes I am taking, which are are as introductory as you can get (with the possible exception of Organization of Information, but that one drives me a bit nuts.)

    I am still holding out judgement on this whole ten weeks a semester thing. Way too short in my opinion, but then again, I am looking forward to taking classes that are more relevant to my focus.

    I am currently in the interview process for two different jobs. Both are full time and rather decent. What I -really- want is a call back from the libraries in Rangeview, but I'm not sure if that would happen. I turned in three separate applications to them on Monday, and because the computer was having a terrible time interpreting the file I had to go over every little check box individually and double check that it wasn't changed from the last time I loaded the file. I realized after I had printed that I was not thorough enough and one check had gotten through, and then, when I could not find any white out, decided to fix the issue when I got to the library I was submitting everything to. Of course by the time I got to the library I had forgotten about this, and so two applications say that I was previously an employee of Rangeview and one says correctly that I have not. I literally did not have a moment to do anything today, so I guess tomorrow I'll have to call them and set things right. Bleh.

    So far I've gotten a whole sentence translated of the Japanese book I'm trying to go through. I don't think I'll get very far, but some Far East Language skills would really help, and I need to brush up VERY badly.

    Sunday, October 10, 2010

    CALCON Report

    PHEW. The last three days have been the most busy since I drove West, and considering the fact that I have been intensely busy for months now that is an achievement. I was up in Loveland  volunteering my time at the CAL Conference since I couldn't justify the cost of simply attending, and, as I mentioned before, events are just more fun when you're working behind the scenes. That's where you meet the cool people

    And boy did I meet a ton of cool people. I know a big part of attending conferences and participating in clubs and groups has to do with networking, but if the Denver Library community is a web then I am tangled all up in it. I must have met a dozen or so awesome people, and have spent the time after the conference trying desperately to keep their names and faces straight in my head. I figure if I can recognize half the people I met at a later date I did ok. I won't go into specifics because it would take forever to cover everyone and what made them awesome, and I don't want to commit the crime of forgetting someone important.

    Because I was volunteering for a good portion of the time, and was playing DDR when I wasn't volunteering, and chatting when I wasn't doing -that- I didn't actually attend very many of the seminars or panels. I'm not much of a seminar person anyway. It reminds me too much of class, and besides, I wasn't registered. I did sit in on a talk given by the staff at anythink Libraries (small a) and was extremely impressed. The entire district when from being a "dump" to the ideal that all public libraries should strive to achieve. When I think of my own time trapped in the hell of suburbia, I know I would have loved to have a library as forward thinking as anythink. I would have preferred they not be so extreme that they do away with capitalization though. And that's not to say my hometown library is -bad-. It's just not nearly as good.

    Besides the parade of friendly and fascinating people, the highlight of CAL has to be the Battledecks competition Friday night. Competitors had to improvise a speech that followed the conference theme (Transformation and Illumination), plus a bonus theme that was different for each person (Urkel an H1N1, American Bacon vs. Canadian Bacon), all without seeing any of their slides before hand. And the slides were a collection of lolcats and non-sequitur captions. I have not laughed so hard in a very long while. Every presenter was hilarious, and a few of them straight up killed the audience. Apparently the winner of the competition was the state librarian, so if I ever meet him face to face I'll have to compliment him on his ability to make squid pants relevant to the library profession.

    There was an auction table at the conference with some interesting stuff, including a plush owl and some exquisite woodblock etchings, but the item that really grabbed my attention was a three credit tuition waver, worth almost 3k. I had a chance at cutting 1k out of my tuition right there, but unfortunately I ended up with competition at the very end, and wasn't willing to get into a bidding war just so I could pay up front nearly the whole cost of a single class. Oh well.

    The weather has taken a turn for the cold. Just last week I was hot in a t-shirt, and now it's 50 degrees and I'm sitting with a blanket, turtleneck, and sweater. I'm going to have to go out and pick up a box of tissues.

    So now that that week is over, I have time to relax, right?

    Haha. No.

    This week I have to:

    • Arrange an advising meeting and get next semester sorted out.
    • Visit the Asian collection in UC Boulder for two separate classes.
    • Finish a comparative paper. (And read the papers I need to be comparing.)
    • Create a service bibliography
    • Submit applications for every position Rangview library has open, because Rangeview is awesome.
    • Attend a volunteer orientation at the local animal shelter.
    • Register to volunteer at the DPL CTC
    • Attend two job interviews on Monday
    • Build my new website and put up the intro tutorial to web design
    • Contact someone at the Talking Books Library about volunteering there
    • Cajole the Michigan Lighthouse Conservatory into providing me with their collections list for upload into librarything
    • Post flyers for the Denver satellite to the Rally to Restore Sanity
    • Add another 100 prompts to a fantasy project
    • Do some research on spy libraries 
    • Finish reading a book in Internet Neutrality
    • Review one e-book, and two magazines
    • Find some time to eat and sleep.

    Wish me luck.

    Sunday, October 3, 2010

    This week has been a bit of a roller coaster. I think I am going through the phases of grief in terms of my job search. I was firmly in the Anger zone on Friday, and am anticipating a long stay in Depression land, but am doing my damnedest to ward off the mental and physical stagnation that this usually brings on. Having so much that simply needs to get done helps, but my meals have been taking a bit of a hit.

    This last week I:


    • Spoke to a Chinese teacher and realized I was -really- overreaching, so I'm sticking with Japanese for a bit
    • Attended an amazing concert of Brahm's German Requiem in a beautiful cathedral
    • Ate at a "fast food" Japanese restaurant that almost killed udon for me
    • Restarted an old project (because that's what I do when I'm stressed, start projects) that has nothing to do with anything else I'm doing currently but will be moderately time consuming
    • Submitted more reviews for Tangent Online, which, by the way, has now published everything
    • Started doing research on grants and linguistics, of all things
    • Got furniture for my room, including a dresser, which remains empty as I choose to leave everything strewn across the floor
    • Finished up my first group project of the semester just in time to dive into the second
    • Bought something to transfer my photos onto the computer and realized immediately after that my computer has a SD cardslot compatible with my camera.
      • So, pictures:
        The living room, with Rufus giving the tour in the corner.
        The little dining room right behind it. The roommate I replaced took that table, so now it's just open space.
        The kitchen. You can't see them but some of the things on the fridge are hilarious.
        Lord of the domain, Rufus. 
        Rufus lording over me as I try to do work.
        The catlord is pleased with my obedience. 
        ===
    So that's that. A few book/archive related links for today:

      http://stackedup.tv/#read Quick interviews with writers and other bookish creators.

      http://eap.bl.uk/index.a4d The endangered archives program. Some of these projects sound ridiculously awesome. Going through them keeps me focused on gathering up the skills/qualifications to participate in something like this.
        ===
    And now I'm finishing up a conference for group project two and have to set up and go to a paper writing group. If I could get a publishable paper out of this semester that would be great, but I really have no idea how to go about it. Hopefully this group will help.

      Friday, October 1, 2010

      Awesome Archival!

      For this week, the evolution of a service medal, the first presented by the fresh new country of the U.S.A. This is one of the great things about archival; being able to follow the thought process of those who are long dead and gone.

      http://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/2010/09/libertas-americana/

      Thursday, September 30, 2010

      I have been thinking deep thoughts lately. Among them, why do we never see squirrel poop? You see bird poop all over the place, and dog poop is pretty obvious, but I've never walked down a sidewalk and noticed squirrel poop. Do squirrels hide their poop? Do they disguise it so that that what we think is bird poop isn't?

      ===

      RadioLab is basically the radio I've been looking for for a long while. I don't know how I feel about the direction where voices overlap in the narrative, but the content is just what I wanted. Now I might have to consider an MP3 player.

      ===

      Continuing my love affair with all things paper, this guy combines the art of paper cutting and folding into ridiculously complex pieces borne out of a single sheet.

      ===

      It appears that I didn't bring the proper USB connection with me for my camera, so photos will have to wait a bit until I can go out and get something. When I do get the right cord I'll post what I have so far, but it isn't much. My photography has slipped to nothing since I've returned from Japan.

      Sunday, September 26, 2010

      MAN am I out of shape. Fidez' grandparents, being the amazingly generous people they are, 'lent' me a mountain bike so that that my commute would not be 30 minutes on foot anymore. After spending nearly as much on a lock and helmet as I would have spent on a night parking pass, I set out on this bike and was quickly reminded that I have not exerted myself physically in any form for a very long time. My legs were not happy with me, but I was happy with the bike so they can fall off and die. I also realized, as I was biking, that the handles were not in alignment with the wheel and the seat was not in alignment with anything. Those were both easy fixes, but they were also things it would have been nice to notice before I started peddling. At least I had the good sense to test my breaks -before- they were needed.

      ===

      Here's a project to watch: http://www.thismustbetheplace.tv/

      The first film is great. I really hope they upload more.

      ===

      I don't know why but I find that it's much more satisfying to work behind the scenes at an event than it is to simply attend something. I always get bored just 'attending', but when I'm given a job to do, even if it inhibits my freedom to enjoy all that an event may provide, I'm always so much more satisfied when I'm done. Maybe I should go into event managing. Career change!

      Nah, volunteering is one thing, running the show is another.

      Anyway, I will be attending the Colorado Association of Libraries Conference as a volunteer. I'm not signing up to attend any of the big events, which I don't usually enjoy, and instead will be running errands for three days.

      ===

      I'm curious about how blogger decides what blogs to associate with mine. When I hit the next blog link, which I do often, I constantly end up on blogs about either alternate education or Christian homemakers. While I have nothing against elementary education or Christian homemakers, I can't say this blog is about either. Maybe I'll have to go through some of the nuts and bolts and figure out what's doing this.

      On a similar note, I am heavily considering investing in a domain and some virtual server or something somewhere and rekindling a website. It might make sense professionally, and it never hurts to update old skills either. The question is when I will find the time.

      ===

      I continue to bleed money with association memberships and household necessities and a rather contorted job situation that's starting to annoy me, but my solution has been to start applying full tilt again. I have a minor advantage now too, because I have access to more trade information and have discovered a number of library based job leads.

      I also think my right wrist is starting to develop carpal tunnel, so with a six page paper due Monday, and two other projects due Thurs, this week might be a bit of a challenge.

      Thursday, September 23, 2010

      Awesome Archival!

      From the Library of Congress, a reenactment of the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots.

      Very impressive axework!

      BBC Headline of the day: Fire death baby accused in court.

      I have discovered the most amazing shortcut for word processing. Alt+Ctr+Shift+V = formatless pasting. Having to reformat text every time I cut and paste from an outside document was driving me crazy, so I finally went looking for a solution, and sure enough, there it was.

      I was flipping through the Chronicle of Higher Education while waiting for a meeting yesterday when I came across an ad that amused the hell out of me. Apparently Xerox is very upset with the fact that its brand has been appropriated to simply mean copy, and is actually spending money to advertise to whoever it is that reads the Chronicle of Higher Education that they'd really appreciate it if everyone only used the term Xerox when referring to the brand itself. There's something about how Zipper was once a brand, and now it stands in for, well, zippers. You would think a company would be happy that their brand was synonymous with whatever it was that brand did, but I guess not. Stuff like this is why I roll my eyes at business.

      I have never lived with cats, but since coming to Denver I haven't spent a single day without one. My roommate's cat, Rufus, is a real character, and after a few jittery days where he did nothing but stare at me he's now decided my lap is the happening place to be. He also doesn't seem deterred by the fact that there is a computer on my lap and I am trying to do work. I thought if I stuck my elbows out and just kept typing he would get the hint, but he just straddled my left arm and lay down on top of it. I'm too much of a push over to shove him off, so one half of my lap is cat, and the other is computer, and I have yet to figure out a comfortable way to accommodate both.

      Today was my first advising appointment of my masters career, and it was probably the best advising appointment I have ever been in in my entire life. My high school counselor was bad to the extent that she could not spell the subject that I wanted to pursue in college. My college counselor met with me something like twice in the four years that I was at school, and did little more than make sure I had the credits to graduate. When I tried to transfer my major to Japanese in my freshman year the Japanese advisor looked at me like I had grown a second head, asked me why I'd want to do that, and then told me to wait. I had my little battle with Japan after that and dropped the idea.

      But today I went in, was asked about my intended focus, my intended career, was advised on classes I should be taking in and out of the program, e-mails were sent on my behalf as we discussed things, possible employment, internships, etc were brought up, and I left knowing what to expect for the next two semesters, and what would take priority in my work outside of class.

      I don't know if the Grad/Undergrad divide has something to do with the massive difference in treatment, or if the hundred or so library students divided between 5 or so advisors makes the difference when the entire Asian Studies Undergrad department had a single advisor (I think) or if I have grown so much as a student that I'm better equipped to look for what I want and to go for it than I was back in Hawaii. All I know is that things are already feeling more productive than they did in Hawaii.

      The only problem is that none of this is guaranteed to translate into employment. It is an employers market still, and people who are far more qualified than I am are coming up empty. At this point the only option is to move forward though. There's no point in wasting time, making little money, and hoping some day it gets better.

      Sunday, September 19, 2010

      The best things about school are the things you discover when you're studying.

      I'm doing research on Net Neutrality and am starting with a few historical and comparative communications policy stuff. Right next to the relevant books I found a telegram dictionary. Back when the telegram was the primary method of quick, long distance information, word space was a message writer's biggest concern, so a huge lexicon was created to replace standard phrases with a single word each. For example, "Emprestado to lendel close scanbiare" means, "Is it imperative to be prepared to close as soon as transfer books are closed." At least, I think so. My handwriting is terrible and there may be grammar rules or something I'm unfamiliar with, but that's the gist.

      I would really like to learn Morse, but there's Gregg Shorthand to master first.

      The other interesting tidbit I came across as I was studying was a reference to the work conditions of a federal office during the great depression. In the process of creating the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 cots were set up to help people work around the clock and 72,000 hours of unpaid overtime was performed in the first year. I wonder if we could get any good legislation going if Washington put itself to work like that again.

      And, it turns out there's a large Russian population in Denver. I have to do a little bit of research on that for a project where I invent an imaginary patron, so maybe some interesting facts will rise to the surface there too.

      ==

      Refs(mainly for my benefit) :
      Lindblom & Cohen, Useful Knowledge and Useful Problemsolving

      Thursday, September 16, 2010

      Compared to the chaos of the last few days today has been pretty excellent. One interview, where the only real hitch was that I found out I had left my belt up in Dacono and had to rush out and buy one before driving out. I guess I'm set up with a temp agency now, though I'm not expecting too much out of it. Work for job number 2 doesn't start until next week, I'm munching on what's left of my spring rolls, and my to do list is actually starting to shrink!

      I've had three hours of unmitigated sitting, which I have enjoyed thoroughly, and now I'm off to make yet another feeble attempt and shopping for work quality clothes. I hate shopping with such a burning, angry passion, but t-shirts and pants with holes in the behind are not cutting it anymore. Speaking of which... I need to see about some patches...

      ... but I hate clothes. Blegh.

      Wednesday, September 15, 2010

      Oh man. I don't think I can recall any other week in my life where I have been this busy. On top of preparing for and attending my first classes, trying reel in all the lines I put out for work, familiarizing myself with the area and its grocery stores, trying to cook and failing, and otherwise putting all the disparate pieces involved with moving to a new city and starting a new life into place, I have had maybe one hour total with which to rest or fool around on the computer. My mind is so revved up that it's taking me three or more hours to fall asleep after I lay my head on the pillow, which is something I -really- hope changes once things get more settled.

      I've had a two day grocery ordeal involving a Japanese food store near downtown and two meals that I managed to only buy half the ingredients for each. Today I resolved to pick up the missing stuff from a local store, and set about making spring rolls. I've had a real hankering for spring rolls since I mentioned them before, something like a week ago, and have not managed to scratch that particular itch since I was denied them. When I was in Japan I had made them with my host mother, so I though, hey, how hard could they be? You don't even have to cook anything but the shrimp.

      Well... It turns out I didn't quite remember what went into them, so I forgot some of the flavoring, bought cabbage instead of lettuce (I guess I'm making a cabbage dish soon) had absolutely no idea how to prepare avocados and didn't know I didn't know until I had mangled one, and ended up buying shrimp that was too curled and too small to be laid out the traditional way. Youtube gave me a crash course on avocado slicing, and after some experimenting the shrimp worked anyway. What was irredeemable was the sauce. It was terrible and I ended up just throwing it out. Without the sauce spring rolls are really bland, and without the greens they're even blander. Good thing I don't mind tasteless food. Plus, by the time I was done making a dozen of them I was too hungry to care.

      I've taken a picture of the results of my exploits, along with a few shots of the interior of the apartment, but my usb cord is (hopefully) still sitting in my trunk along with a few other excess effects that I have not bothered to move in yet, so all that will have to wait. I also noticed that the lens of my camera has managed to pick up even more black spots, even in the protection of its case. Somewhat annoying, that.

      I've now taken two of the three classes, and predict a heavier workload than I expected initially. Since the school runs on quarters, each class is only 10 sessions long, which sounds a little crazy, and probably is. Within those 10 sessions we're expected to do a large paper, a group project, and a few other assignments. I'm thinking I will not be able to pull of the procrastination game this time around.

      There's probably a lot more that I'm missing, but that will have to wait for another day, as I'm tired, and want to spend at least a minute of this day doing nothing (probably will work on my budget spreadsheet instead). So here's a quick list.

      Stuff I like about Denver so far:

      • The road I take to school has a bike path, so when I get a bike the commute will be perfect.

      • Driving back from part time job 1 I saw an entire family of prairie dogs chilling by the road. I think that's the first time I've ever seen a live prairie dog, and there were more than a dozen. Unfortunately one was flat on the shoulder. =s

      • The people in general are all pretty cool, and the drivers are pretty sane, even considerate sometimes.

      • All the curbs are slanted, so that I can relearn my parallel parking and it's cool if I go a little too far.

      • There's a Japanese food store in the city. It's not really that close, but it's there, and it has a lot of good stuff.



      Stuff I don't like about Denver so far:

      • It's almost all road related. For one, I can't seem to get onto I25 south without spending 10 minutes criscrossing the damn thing. Ironically, the one time I did get onto I25 S without a hitch I really wanted to go North.

      • There is no parking anywhere at all. I hate city parking.

      • The building where I have my classes is as far from my apartment as it can be without being off campus. Ok, that's not completely true, but it is on the wrong side.

      • I still don't have a room of my own. I'm managing fine, but I am really looking forward to being able to have a real space, and be completely moved in.



      Phew, 11PM already. I've got an interview and a class tomorrow, and then I think I will set off on another culinary adventure.

      Tuesday, September 7, 2010

      Nothing says "it's official" like a 6 hour orientation. My behind is sore but after weeks of preparation, being at the school and hearing my professors talk about the coming semester woke me up and gave me a nice shot of energy. The bumper to bumper traffic back to Dacono sucked most of it back out of me.

      In less than a week I'll be attending classes, and then I can judge if this little gambit really was a smart move.

      Sunday, September 5, 2010

      Saturday was break day. Instead of sending in a ton of resumes I went out with Fides, his mom and her boyfriend to check out the King Tut Exhibit. While the exhibit was certainly interesting, I suppose I've been spoiled by the Louvre and did not think that the additional admission fee was quite worth it. My childhood fascination with the Egyptians was rekindled to some degree, and I can't say I've ever seen anything that belonged to King Tut's grave before, so that was a treat. And Fides shared with me the fact that this would be his first museum visit ever. The very idea stunned me, and it stunned Aram when he found out too. Twenty three years and not a single museum! I'll be dragging Fides around to more of them in the future, for sure.

      Once we had gotten a museum education in Egyptology and boggled at the $46k coffee table book on sale at the gift shop (I don't care if Zahi Hawass -had- signed it) Fides and I checked out the Taste of Colorado festival going on right across the street. The food there is beyond expensive at two times a reasonable price at least, but I decided to splurge and try a Buffalo Steak Slider. It didn't taste much different from beef. Oh well.

      I would have liked to check out the vendors a bit more, but the sun was on a mission to set us on fire and poor Fides was drooping fast, so we got in the car, got lost, and made it back home in time to play some Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines for a few hours. It's been a while since I've enjoyed myself with a single player game so much, and the great part is that when I finish with my Nosferatu I'm replaying as a different clan for a very different play experience. I'm thinking Toreador. Can't get much opposite than that.

      Labor Day weekend for me has meant job applications. Bro called during the Feast and let me in on the festivities via staticy cell reception. I had forgotten it was feast day. Felt a bit bad about that, but the gesture was appreciated.

      Now I'm worried about whether or not it will be feasible to go home for the Christmas holiday. It will depend on the job I get. I'd be willing to fly out for just a few days if that's what it took, but there's no use speculating.

      Applying to an average of 10 jobs a day maaay be paying off. I finally have a reply. There is no guarantee that a callback means a job, but the position looks like a great one, and just the prospect of having work is catapulting my spirits. Here's hoping.

      Thursday, September 2, 2010

      When you hand your whims the reigns and let your curiosity lead you unfettered sometimes you end up in strange places. If you told me I would be spending any amount of time in a small town in the middle of the American West I would have rolled my eyes and said, "yeah right," but here I am, chilling in a barn-cum-guest house while I prepare to move down into metro Denver in a week. I've been here almost two weeks now which means it's about time for my bullish insistence that it will all turn out alright is now locked in mortal combat with the bear of 'WTF was I thinking?'

      I only have two major concerns, but they are major. The first is about the job search. I've never had such trouble landing a job. Sometimes I would drag my feet about getting one, but since high school I have been able to find work when I needed to find work. Two weeks may not seem like a long time to the objective observer, but for someone who is going to have tuition and rent to pay soon I am seriously starting to wonder if there is something in my resume or approach that is sabotaging my efforts towards gainful employment. Considering I am using the same resume build that I did when I almost got that job back home, I don't -think- there's anything in there screaming "Stay Away" to prospective employers, but who knows. Maybe the job market is just that terrible. The only thing that can be done is to drive ahead and keep my eyes open for my chance. I did find a hidden pocket of library assistant jobs for some law firms, so maybe something will come of that.

      My second concern has to do with the location. I like Denver, a lot. It's a beautiful city with a beautiful backdrop of mountains and plains and a strong public transportation system, which I still consider essential even with a car. The problem is that I love New York City, Seattle, and New England too, and am wondering to myself if I should have gone somewhere that had what I was more specifically interested in rather than somewhere that was just new and challenging. For example, if landing a position at the library of congress was my dream job, would it not have made sense to try getting into a program closer to the library of congress? Or if furthering my education in East Asian studies and Asian languages was something I really wanted to keep up with should I not have held out for Seattle? My decision was ultimately influenced by the fact that Denver accepted rolling admissions while every other school I was considering did not, and I was on the verge of going nuts if I was going to spend one more month languishing at home but in hindsight I wonder if I couldn't have exhibited just a little more patience.

      That's not to say that I think my choice was a bad one. Every road to something leads you away from something else, and I simply have the time now to look around and wonder about what I am passing by in choosing this particular path. I expect that once I moved down into Denver proper and start meeting the other people in my program I will know more firmly whether or not the leap of faith I have made here was an intelligent one.

      ---

      I've also learned a lot of things from my life as an undergrad in Hawaii. I know what works and what doesn't. I'm looking forward to my time as a graduate being, on the whole, much more satisfying than my time as an undergraduate, but for that to happen I will have to work at it and resist the temptation to fall into a routine and drive through the next two years with blinders on.

      So I'm keeping my eyes open for stuff to do and people to meet. There was an advertisement up for a language event involving food and free 30 minute classes, so I thought, what the hey, I'll go down, check it out, and maybe meet someone interesting. Turned out that the event was tailored to an older crowd as an extension of the adult learning program and the classes they were selling only met once a week. You can't get much done language wise once a week, but I've had such an itch to study -some- sort of language I was still considering signing up. Lucky for me the choice was taking out of my hands when the classes I was interested in were scheduled at the same time as my grad courses.

      I am still heavily considering finding some way to start learning Chinese, but am trying to focus on the job front first, and -then- I will find new and exciting ways to spend my money.

      Monday, August 30, 2010

      Dreams and Reality

      The last few days have been on foot job canvasing days. Forty five minutes into the city, hours asking for applications from every store that I would possibly consider working for, and then the drive back. Today I turned in the applications I had collected in bulk, and tomorrow I track down the Barnes and Nobles stores I did not hit. I haven't turned in any online applications in a few days, even though I've still been collecting listings, so now there's 10+ e-mails to send out, cover letters to write, and tedious application forms to fill out that ask for all the things the resume has in it anyway. I'm considering not making a tailored resume for jobs with application forms, just because I feel like I'm doing the same thing twice every time, but even though the resume is optional I don't want to put myself at any disadvantage.

      The job hunt today also included a trip to the library to take a test for a sorting position. I was given a sheet of ten problems, with ten items per problem, and asked to alphabetize everything. I got a 91%, which is as embarrassing as hell. Still passed, but it appears I need to retake kindergarten.

      I have a guest blog up at the Private Library. I had been meaning to write the article ever since I had picked up a half dozen catalogs from the New York antiquarian book fair, but the thing that spurred me to finish it was the need for a writing sample in a job application. I've been wanting to write something on unconventional and 'exotic' binding practices too, but that will require more research and resources than I have time for at the moment. It's still in the back of my mind.

      So far I have gotten two call backs for 'jobs'. One was for a speech recognition service. It isn't a job per se. When I fall into the right demographic range they give me a call and I read stuff for them in my East Coast accent. Given that I am constantly being told I don't have the Joisey accent I guess I won't provide them with the most stereotypical data, but whatevs. It's 40 bucks for a 45 minute session. The other job is as part time as it comes. Occasional yard work and mending for a doctor in the DU area. These things might provide for a little, but I'd still love for a JOB to call me back.

      It's gotten to the point where I've had dreams where I'm asking some anonymous employer why they aren't contacting me and they're giving me some speech about 100 applicants yadda yadda yadda. Dreams are times for floating ships and pirate islands, not more job searching.

      Anyway, to move away from the depressing, some quick notes:


      • I still can't believe Denver spends money on buses that go up and down a single street and stop at every corner every minute.

      • There are pianos standing along the 16th ave. mall for anyone to come bang on them for change. They are painted all sorts of gaudy colors and some people really can play.

      • I had a real hankering for spring rolls and immediately ran into a Thai food cart selling spring rolls.

      • I then waited 20 minutes to order said spring rolls only to be told they were out, so that part of the day wasn't as awesome as it could have been.

      • My friend's grandma is essentially adopting me and is treating much better than I deserve.

      • After living with 4 cats and 2 dogs for a week and a half I want one of my own. =x



      Even though the job stress has been driving me a little nuts, I'm enjoying the freedom of exploring the city and chillaxing with Fides while I gear of for class. I'm crossing my fingers that the classes will be worth the move and the financial wager.

      Wednesday, August 25, 2010

      Chugging along

      I feel as if I haven't played a computer game in ages. There's a Oregon Trail tribute game online I've been using to let off steam between applications as I spend my days looking for work and writing reviews (4 in two days. That was pushing it.) But other than that I haven't had the time for much leisure. Austin's mom took us out to the movies two days ago, where we saw the Expendables. It was a perfectly straightforward action movie that probably would have been ten times more awesome had the director given us a few straight shots of the action. Also, Jet Li got a terrible part. But overall the carnage was satisfying, and the plot just there enough to keep it all together.

      It appears that I have a place in Englewood. I am knocking on wood until a lease is actually drawn up, but unless my possible roommate completely changes her mind, everything is good to go. School is likewise in set it and forget it mode. I -still- have to register, but it seems that I will be able to register for 7PM classes almost exclusively, which keeps my job options at maximum. Again, knocking on wood.

      What I would really like to find would be a job with a publisher or a library, but beggars can't be choosers in this economy. As long as I can stand it (and I can stand a lot) and maybe even learn a little while on the job, I will be happy. And of course it would be nice to end up with a salary that will actually let me pay my bills.

      Amongst this all I have not read a page of my book since I set off. The Shouwa emperor is just going to have to wait.

      Monday, August 16, 2010

      YESSSSSSS

      Every day since my application has been complete I have looked at the status page on the DU site. It's an informative little page, with a two column table noting each element of the application and its status, including acceptance. Every day I've seen the acceptance field set as 'pending', sighed heavily, and moved on (until 2 hours later when I had to check again real quick).

      Today, like every day before it, I check the status page and saw 'pending'. I let out some steam with a grumble, and prepared to do something else, but first I scrolled down to the very bottom of the page.

      There were two buttons down there that I hadn't noticed before, marked "Accept offer of admission" and "Decline offer of admission" respectively.

      So I hit Accept.

      So now I guess I'm accepted. Great news just two days before I'm scheduled to set out for Denver. I promptly told everyone I knew the news, and now my optimism meter is a full.

      This means that the 10+ applications to work that I submitted are probably useless, but ah well. I had broken down and submitted an application to a winter internship in LA too, just in case I didn't get in, but now that's no longer an option.

      ===

      My brief foray into 'freelance writing' died in utero, which I do not regret at all, and after deciding that if I hated BSing for a grade I would hate BSing for money, I fell into an opportunity to write for real, albeit for free, when a request for reviewers was put out by the proprietor of a Spec. fiction review site. I had the itch to write, and my article writing skills -were- rusty, so I applied, and now it seems I will be reviewing for Tangent Online. The guy who runs it seems like a chill dude, and I'm going to enjoy the opportunity to read new stories and gain a little experience as I do so. Who knows, I may just find a doorway to something even better here.

      ===

      I got a guest pass for SCII so that I could play some vs. with friends, and after the lan ended checked out the campaign. As annoyed as I am about Blizz's marketing direction, I have to admit that I like the campaign a LOT. I also am reminded at each mission how much I suck at SC. I tunnel vision too much and cannot run a base and a group of units at the same time. Period.

      Unfortunately, you can't play single player without being connected to bnet, and bnet was down, so I got denied play time. The movement gaming companies are making to require that people are always online, even when they are playing a game that should have not problem running offline, really irks me. I don't think I'll be buying SCII with the way it's set up. I'll probably just play on someone else's account whenever the urge hits.

      If Diablo requires 24/7 online access I am going to be PISSED.

      Friday, August 13, 2010

      First, in gaming news, and interesting post from Neuroskeptic. Some Korean scientists are trying to develop a drug from video game addiction. Their subjects are cited as being so hopelessly addicted that they play at least "4 hours a day". Four hours! If that's addiction I'm in huge trouble. Of course the article goes on to say that these subjects have dropped out of school or lost wives due to their play habits, so I suppose I'm safe yet. Plus, I don't play Starcraft.

      These last few days have been extremely active (not quite productive) to my pleasant surprise. I finished three more job applications yesterday and have signed up to contribute to a F/SF review site on the side. While there's no payment involved, there are galley copies to be had and my name in the byline for future references. My last published article is something like five years old now, so I figure it's about time that I added a few more writing credits to my name.

      I also did some vague checking into freelance work. Online freelance is a domain so choked with land mines I don't think it's worth the effort, and many of the big freelance sites looking for writers are either looking for people to write student papers for them, or want 5 articles a day on random subjects for the sole purpose of boosting Google traffic. I can feel the suction of hell on my fingertips when I browse through stuff like that. And yet, I almost want to try. Would I be able to write 500 page articles in less than 15 minutes 5 times a day about random crap? (That's the speed I'd need to keep up to get get at -most- 8 bucks an hour) I don't know if my BS powers are -that- strong.

      Thursday, August 12, 2010

      Ah, the job search. What an adventure. I'm looking for work at full speed now, and have been quickly reminded of how painful it really is.

      The first job I applied to was fishy at the very beginning. There was 0 information about the business in the ad, and they had posted it on Craigslist. But at 16 bucks and hour full time I couldn't resist sending off a resume anyway. Today I got an e-mail back from them saying thanks, they really want to interview me but could I just sign up to this credit verification website that tricks people into paying monthly fees first?

      Oh well.

      I have not gotten anything back from the second job I applied to last night, so I figure that's probably a good thing. And while I would like to stop using Craigslist, I don't want to miss a thing. I'll be canvasing for jobs in person when I get to Denver, but the sort of job you get that way is usual retail or food.

      The last piece of my university application puzzle was submitted two days ago, and now the ball is entirely in DU's court. Considering that there are only 3 weeks until the start of the semester, I don't have my hopes up too high, but considering that I haven't gotten a letter saying no yet, I'm still looking for a miracle. If I get in I may be able to find work on campus, which would be a double blessing.

      It's about time I considered what I would be taking with me to Denver, but I haven't started bothering with that. I don't need much to live. The only minor challenge is making sure I have enough to keep from freezing to death in the coming winter. Not looking forward to that at all.

      Tuesday, August 10, 2010




      For the past few years now I've aimed to read about a book a week. Last year I only managed about a book a month, and the year before I don't think I actually kept a record.

      This year has been pretty slow too. Technically I'm on my 14th or so book, and I don't think anyone needs to do the math to realize that we are not in the 14th week of the year. I've been reading consistently, but the books I have been picking up were not easily digestible. Typically it would take me a month or more to finish one, and then I would sit down with something short and finish that in a single sitting.

      This time I spent about a month or so slogging through London, which was not nearly as good as what I've been reading lately, and the next item on my plate was a quick novel by Asimov that I finished in a few hours.

      What I have been consistent with is writing reviews for each of the books I finished. I think so far Les Mis has been the only exception, and I have exempted it because I am still writing the review in my head. It's such a good book that I want to do it justice. All my reviews are linked to my account on library thing, and one I add one the widget on the sidebar is updated. The last few have been lazy, but I'm trying to up the quality into something that people might actually consider reading. I figure if that's almost all the writing I do, I should put more work into doing it well.

      I myself don't usually read reviews of anything unless I have already read it or am in the middle of reading it. I use them not so much as a guide to what I should read next (because I have a list that stretches 100 books long to do that for me) but as a way to check my own impressions and understanding against some outside experience. And, I do get some bit of egotistical pleasure from reading reviews by people who really didn't get it too.

      Next on the plate is Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. Lately I've been trying to brush up on my academics, listing Kanji compounds, practicing reading, etc... so it's good timing to read a book with a focus on Japan. Maybe I'll keep up with the good habit of updating this damn thing and put some notes down as I go through. I do this on paper as well, but true to my disorganized nature I keep forgetting which notebook I'm using for the purpose, and so my comments on books are spread out on random pages of random notebooks and are almost impossible to reference properly.

      Wednesday, August 4, 2010

      I was watching Inception, and every time this dude came on screen I felt this small tug at my memory. I knew I had seen him from somewhere before. I KNEW it, but could not for the life of me place his face. Well now, a week later, as I was doing something completely unrelated to anything, it hit me. It's Tommy from 3rd Rock from the Sun.

      Looking through his discography, 3rd Rock was the only other thing I've seen him in. So now every time I recall a scene from Inception I see Tommy, the alien with long hair, running around in people's minds. Wonderful.

      And no, this is not particularly blog worthy, but I'm trying to build up a habit again.

      Tuesday, August 3, 2010

      Books Books Books

      Why do I love books? Because these sort of things exist:

      The Voynich Manuscript

      And

      Codex Seraphinianus
      I was reading this blog a while ago and it got me thinking about many things, which is something I find DFW does whenever I run into him. The source article is worth reading here. At this point I'm blogging about a blog about a blog about the original text, when it's the original text I'm looking for, but I suppose that's how information travels nowadays, and since I don't have the money, time, or space for a new book at the moment an excerpt will suffice.

      The important quote is here:

      Serious Novels after Joyce tend to be valued and studied mainly for their formal ingenuity. Such is the modernist legacy that we now presume as a matter of course that “serious” literature will be aesthetically distanced from real lived life.

      Pointing to Ippolit’s “Necessary Explanation” in The Idiot, Wallace asks:

      Can you imagine any of our own major novelists allowing a character to say stuff like this (not, mind you, just as hypocritical bombast so that some ironic hero can stick a pin in it, but as part of a ten-page monologue by somebody trying to decide whether to commit suicide)? The reason you can’t is the reason he wouldn’t: such a novelist would be, by our lights, pretentious and overwrought and silly. The straight presentation of such a speech in a Serious Novel today would provoke not outrage or invective, but worse—one raised eyebrow and a very cool smile…. People would either laugh or be embarrassed for us. Given this…who is to blame for the unseriousness of our serious fiction? The culture, the laughers? But they wouldn’t (could not) laugh if a piece of morally passionate, passionately moral fiction was also ingenious and radiantly human fiction. But how to make it that?


      My first urge was to say that this was true, but then I wondered if the books I have read really support it.

      What have I read that's both Serious Lit and recent? By recent I suppose Joyce is a good cutoff.

      We have The Fountainhead, DFW's own Infinite Jest (Though only a small part of it, as true to the joke I didn't bother to finish), Invisible Cities, a good smörgåsbord of HS required reading, like Animal Farm and Catcher in the Rye... And even among these titles the only ones that might not be considered old is IJ, which was published in the 90s, and Invisible Cities, which was published in 1972. In other words, I have no idea what passes for a Serious Novel nowadays. If it was written before I was born I probably have not bothered with it.

      For a while I've noticed that I simply do not like 'modern' novels and have been struggling to understand this bias. For the most part I have assumed that the problem was in the sheer number of novels being published and the fact that the cream has not yet risen, which means the modern reader is slogging through the crap that has been only somewhat sifted out by the publishing industry. The democratization of publishing has exacerbated the problem. When I went up to Lunacon there were a number of authors peddling their small press publications. I purchased a book and found it riddled with basic grammar and copy errors before I even realized that as a story it wasn't any good.

      If you go to Barnes and Noble, where the stock is more closely curated, you will still find that 99% of the titles are completely mediocre. Slogging through a minefield of duds is not my idea of a good time, and so I've stuck to what I know will at least give me something, even if it's nothing more than a stronger historical perspective or a familiarity with a title that has had an effect on literature as a whole. Even then you have duds. The Octopus was not worth my time, but the chances that I wonder why I bothered drop considerably when I go back 50 years. So, as a reader I'm not really equipped to talk about the situation of modern Lit.

      I think the reason I feel so inclined to nod my head at DFW's position is that I can see the influence of the thought he is expressing in my own writing. Perhaps it's because I'm a denizen of the internet, where expressing passion is akin to being trolled, but it seems almost impossible to hit earnest without slipping into shrill. Perhaps it's because I'm an intellectual child of the 1900s that I struggle with the mores of my own time, but I would like to write something earnest and forward and true to an older aesthetic without having it feel pretentious and out of touch.

      Sunday, July 25, 2010

      When things get complicated. I go quiet. Right now things are getting moderately complicated so I haven't been posting much. Here's a short update.

      I tried near the beginning of this month to induce a radical change of habit by writing five hours a day. The first day I managed 2 hours, the second 1, I skipped the third, struggled past 1 hour on the fourth, and have been writing in 10min fits and starts for the past 2 weeks since. Ok, this last week I didn't write a single thing that I can recall. Today is Monday, so maybe this week will be a little better.

      A while ago Blizzard decided the best way to make people civil towards one another on the internet was to make them sign their full names to any statement they made of the official forums. The idiocy of asking people to out themselves to a community that is notorious for immaturity, flaming, and ridiculous vendettas that sometimes span years and servers should be self apparent. I and enough other subscribers canceled our subscriptions and gave enough negative feedback that the decision was reversed within three days, but even so the thread announcing that reversal is going strong at 300+ pages. To put it into some context, the initial thread where the change was announced was locked as it approached 2500 pages. Considering it was open for only 3 days, that's 833 pages a day, 35 pages an hour, and about half a page a minute. This does not take into account that this is only discussion on the main thread. New threads were popping up every second and being deleted just as fast. Like many other posters mentioned, I've never seen any large community react so negatively and so unanimously about an issue on the internet.

      Even though Blizz backed down my account remains canceled. I've been hemming and hawing about whether or not I want to renew it. On the one hand, my mage has hit a dead end. There is no raiding in my guild to speak of, and I don't care to RP in the server I'm on. If I walked away from him now I wouldn't feel all too bad. I've given up on seeing the Lich King by the expansion, and no one even seems to be looking at the Ruby Sanctum.

      On the other hand I've been getting a hankering for moving away from PvP and spending some time RPing again. For me this means going back to Sentinels, and while RP is a lot of fun, and a lot more creative than anything else I've been doing lately, it also is intensely time consuming. I'll just have to see how I feel when it comes time to pay again.

      And, I'm moving out to Denver in a few weeks. That's the complicated part.

      Monday, July 19, 2010

      Wikipedia sometimes introduces me to fascinating things.

      Juan Pujol

      Another good link for posterity:

      Rules for writing fiction, by writers, to writers.

      Hitting 'next blog' up in the blogger dashboard is probably the most useful aspect of this little pre-fabricated blogging service out there. Sometimes you can stumble upon interesting things, like unschooling. I personally think this is a great idea, but requires a certain sort of family environment to be really effective.

      Sunday, July 4, 2010

      June had 0 posts. Why? Because it was a terrible boil of a month and its end was an immense relief. July is building up slowly, but with a transfer request and college application pending things are looking up. Another difference: I struggled through The Education of Henry Adams all through June and finished it on the first of July, along with the quick read Taroko Gorge. Taroko Gorge was an early review book for librarything, and as a rule I am suspicious of anything free, but it turned out to be a decent book, and being able to read within five hours was a nice change of pace after the 2 month task of The Education.

      I'm reading The Fantasy Worlds of Peter Beagle now, and anthology of his works that includes the novella The Last Unicorn. I used to watch the movie adaptation religiously as a kid, so I'm looking forward to revisit the story through the original telling.

      Monday, May 17, 2010

      My room is now cleaner than it has been in over 4 years. The massive amount of crap that has been slowly pushing me out of my own abode has been defeated, for a time, until by my fatal neglect allows its inevitable return.

      Work has started scheduling hours again and I am anticipating a paycheck fatter than $50 again. This is a good thing. I already miss the spare time, but only to a degree, and God willing things will keep moving forward and all this halting and waiting is in the past.

      Work itself is the usual. The books and the co-workers make it constantly enjoyable, and I still learn new things from the various customers that come in looking for this and that. Because of our proximity to Princeton we get every sort of reader, from every corner of the earth. It's a good job for the Observer. The only thing that gets on my nerves are the people who collect half a shelf of magazines, sit down with their cheap latte for 4 hours straight flipping through everything, and then wander away without even closing the last thing they read, or even worse, dump their magazines in front of other magazines in the stacks as far from where they belong as possible, as if somehow this will wipe their bookstore karma for next time. Nope. If I ever procure the power to kill with my mind, you fuckers are the first to go.

      I'm undecided about whether or not I'll destroy the kids who come in and study out of our test books for the entire day without even considering purchase. One the one hand they waste our time and our space and never put the books back. On the other hand those things are kind of expensive, and become useless after the test has been taken. On the super secret third hand, libraries exist for a reason. I think I'll destroy them too.

      My book reading has crawled to a halt with Adams. I need more of an education on America in the 1800s than I have to get much out of it, so for the most part all of his references fly over my head. Without the context The Education of Henry Adams is not much more than a guy saying stuff like, "I went to France and kind of wasted my time there. Then I went to England and didn't do much there either." What actually happened, if anything, is hard to pick out.

      I commit hyperbole here, but even the introduction is an apology for Adams being so "allusive" and "obscure", so I'm not off by much.

      Saturday, April 17, 2010

      Did I get what I was going to get done done? No, but in not doing that I got something else done. I keep trying to cultivate something like artistic merit but the stop and go method that employ means I don't improve all that much. So for the last 24 hours or so I've been in go mode and drawing bad pictures in the hope that they will lead to better pictures.

      I also found some interesting things on the internet.

      A book on (unintentional) innuendo in Christian imagery. Good for an irreverent chuckle.

      A video of many nerds recreating a scene of A New Hope. I hope the full film becomes available.