Changes

I want everyone to know that I will begin posting my writings here. I may make some personal posts still, but I want to put my writing up.

My first latest short story will be up in a few days. It's called _The Last Panacea_, and I have just barely finished a first draft. I will work on it a bit and put it up for the world to see.

I would like comments and feedback. Remember I am still learning my craft.

:)

What's happened since my last post

I graduated with a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

I got an IT job at Johnson and Wales University in Denver.

I got to spend 4 weeks with my family at Christmas time.

I turned 30 (March 2).

I finished my volunteer time (25 hrs) that I need if I want to go for teacher certification.

I dropped out of CU when my fin aid was cut.

I've nearly finished outlining my novella. It may be a novel later.

I got a contract job helping with facial recognition software.


Things I wiil do this year:

Move closer to Denver (in May/June).

Get A+ certified.


Things I'd like to do in the near future:
Settle down.
Finish my novella.

What's happened since the last time

I went on a campout with my church the following weekend. Saturday after we left camp I nearly killed myself on a 4 mile bike ride (no I'm not used to it). I got my tablet PC from FedEx 45 minutes before I had to go to Centennial that same Friday as the campout. The account on the computer was jacked up so I had to bust out my NT password cracker cd and reset it. I ended up rebuilding the thing the next evening anyway. I took the tablet to Centennial and then on the campout with me becuase my roommate picked me up from the school. I was exhausted when I got back that Saturday.

I got the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy DVD when it came out on 9/13. It's great for the most part (some of the acting was flat). The scene where they're all turned to yarn figures is my favorite.

On 9/28 I got my story about patenting religion critiqued in my intro to fiction class. I got many useful suggestions. Someone thought it was Devil's Advocate part 2. I knew there were flaws in it and I can more clearly see them now, I do need to work on my characters and motives. My confidence was shaken in my writing (I have to submit something else to be critiqued for 11/2). But I know like everything else in this life you have to work at it. I'm a novice still and need more practice, but I'm horribly distracted. Last week I spent the time during a critque that I didn't have to write planning out my time travel story, My Guy. I think it could be a good screenplay when I'm finished.

I have to post some more exercises from the class up here on my blog.

For Halloween, I will be wearing a toupee of sorts (I am bald), but no ordinary one. I am trying to get my hands on some old yellow shag carpeting. I will wear a piece of that as a rug. I will also grow a cheesy mustache and wear some 70s clothes.

On 9/30 I saw Serenity, the movie follow up to Firefly. It was awesome. The best movie I've seen this year. That makes ROTS no higher than #2 and even that's uncertain. I'm not sure what follows after that but In Good Company comes to mind and Willy Wonka too.
I am sad about something that was done in the movie, but the rest was fantastic. I'll buy the DVD and I might go back and buy the tv series now (I've seen them all). At the theater I saw so many people that I knew from school. I also saw a lot of older folks too.

I was really sick this weekend. I woke up Saturday with absolutely no energy. I was asleep most of the day. I had no energy to cook anything but I scrounged enough up to go get something to eat. Today I took a 4 hour nap in the afternoon. Every 4 hours I pop painkiller cause my throat hurts. I've been keeping myself hydrated as well. It's sinus stuff.

I don't feel much like reporting anything else but the facts. I think that's all for now. I guess it's becuase I'm sick so I hope this is coherent. I won't be proofreading it.

Centennial Middle School Project

I've started a blog for the work I'm doing there. Check it out.

http://cmsp.blogspot.com/

P

Sarah Lee, pie hater?

This was another exercise we did from my intro to fiction class.

We had to take a small statement and write a story about it from another character's point of view.

Here was our statement:

"Sarah Lee confesses hatred of pie."

"Welcome back to a Currant Affair. Our top story tonight, a shocking confession from the confectionariess Sarah Lee. Let's see the video."
"I hate pies. I just loathe them" she bluntly said in a press conference earlier today.
A reporter raised his hand. "Why do you hate pie?"
"There's no creativity left in pies. Sure we have desserts and there are main dish pies, but there's nothing innovating in them right now."
"But aren't there almost infinite combinations for desserts and main dishes?"
"Maybe but the genres are old and tiresome, they're still just basically desserts. Why the public won't accept anything else I don't know?"
"What kind of things have you tried?"
"First we looked at salad pie. The concept was too baffling for John Q. Public. Then we tried drink pie."
Some of the reporters shuddered.
"You can imagine how messy those were."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Well, they can keep using my name to sell other non-pie products, but I'm thinking of sellilng off our pie division. Mrs. Smith's has expressed interest. I'm just sick of pie."
The video ended and cut back to the studio.
"There you have it folks. How this will affect our sweet tooths and the company's stock value are yet to be seen. Goodnight."


I broke the ice and read my aloud first last Friday when we did this.

Character Perception Exercise

This is an exercise we did in my intro to fiction class.

Choose one of the following settings:

a. a bank
b. a fast food establishment
c. a librarian's convention
d. a Yanni concert
e. the bus

Then choose one of the following characters to perceive and act in that setting:

a. a young woman who's just been diagnosed with terminal cancer
b. an old man who's just committed a murder
c. a middle aged man whose marriage proposal was recently rejected
d. a young girl who's overheard her parents talking about divorce
e. a poor woman who just lost her winning lottery ticket.

Do not directly refer to the situation preoccupying your character (e.g cancer, murder). Instead, reveal the character's feelings through perception and his/her interaction with the enviroment. First, second, or third person limited (the narrator can only see into the head of one character).

Try and guess where I was headed. I will warn you that I didn't get to finish.


Jamie meandered into the auditorium taking a seat alone and near the back. I was late and by the time I got there ther were only seats left at the front.
Jamie was my dear friend and we went to grad school together. She looked down and depressed --something unusual for her. She was normally a happy go lucky personat least in public who would and could help anyone find almost anything especially in periodicals. If she was upset here, today, it must be really big. She normally would discretely take care of any problems she might have out of sight.
But she had to be here, she was giving a seminar the next day. Hopefully her composure would be back and whatever was troubling her would have passed.
All through the talk I kept glancing at her trying to figure out by her body language what was wrong. I'd been around her enough to sort of tell (we even dated contrary to office politics).


That's it. I told you I didn't finish.
Two of the ones we read in class had were both about rejected middle aged men at Yanni concerts. I didn't know enough about Yanni to write about him.

We thank you for your support -- Bartles & James

News

Let me tell you of a rollercoaster. First my financial aid was blocked becuase they thought I had graduated. This was on 8/31. So I had to fill out a form that took 3 days to process. So that happened and then they tried to deposit my refund into a nonexistant bank account. So I had to wait for that to come back. Finally on 9/2 I picked up my check and went to Wells Fargo. I had an account with them and it was closed (and another account which I owed a lot of money). I was willing to pay what I owed them but they wanted me to pay both accounts off which was more than I could pay at the time to make a new account. So I had to go to Compass Bank. I opened an account there but they had to hold the check for 7 business days so no $ until 9/14. :( So I'm still waiting. I had to agree to pay $100 more for the tablet pc I'm getting because I am delayed in paying for it.

Good news though. Friday I got word that they want me back as a tutor. Yes! So I'll be doing that. If I bone up on my math again, I can get more hours. The problem is I'm quite rusty.

I'm going to start posting the exercises we do in class for my intro to fiction class. I hope they don't seem subdued (becuase I am). They could be because the class is at 8 am.

Right now I feel that my computer science past has broken off and feels distant (including what I've learned). It seems to be fading. I feel more attached to writing and english at this time. IT work no longer interests me.

But there is something odd. Taking english classes is interfering with me starting/working on projects. Or maybe it's just that I'm keeping busy.

I am using CS though to make a word game that I invented. I'm using Python to process some words. Basically it goes like this:
You have a contiguous chunk of a word (3, 4, or 5 letters long) and you have to try to guess words with that chunk in it. BTW, the name of the game is Vofragulary and there will probably be a version written in flash eventually.

Example: nve a word with that in it: invented.

DO NOT STEAL MY IDEA.

You get points for guessing multiple words with that chunk.

Tomorrow (ie later Sunday) I'll post an exercise from my fiction class.

Growing Pains

Last weekend was a whirlwind. I had an intimate conversation with a female friend. We both revealed things we had never shared with anyone else. I went first and she replied back, but I didn't handle it well and was mean and very judgemental. I knew I was being rejected, but I handled things poorly becuase I was being selfish. I wasn't clear about that until friend, much older and wiser than me helped me sort through things and see that. I'm trying to work on that.

What I said in the conversation made me feel extremely vulnerable. After my mishandled reply to her own confession, I didn't want to deal with any of it and didn't check my email for more than 12 hours.

I feel ok about the rejection, but talking with her is an irritant to me still. That's why on my suggestion we are having a time out. Two weeks hopefully should do it.

I have more to say (hopefully not judgemental knee-jerk reactions) and I still care a lot about this person, but I need time to heal. I don't take rejection well. I never have.

It has been suggested to me that I start looking elsewhere.

School again (bong)

Well, it's been 2 months again and I've managed to ignore the blog that long. It's not like I got too busy to do it I just neglected it (like many things in my life).

I managed to stay unemployed the rest of the summer (and still am). I've looked into being a tutor again--now they need professor recommendations in order for you to get the job. I haven't finished pursuing that.

I did get to know my friend Cami better over the summer. I helped her move twice (and a few other folks as well). Once to a temporary place and once to a permanent place. During the second move I discovered she had the old board game Hero Quest. I about told her I loved her, but I didn't. I've been dying to play that for a long time and was going to get a copy (off ebay) for myself (and the expansions eventually).

The first week of school started again. I'm taking 6 hours of English (intro to fiction and Shakespeare for non majors). The english is so I can apply to the MA in Creative Writing program. Just to keep my options open I will be applying as a new undergrad for the Spring as a English major (becuase I don't know what else I can do) and I will be eventually working toward the teacher licensing program. For that I have to have 25 hours of working with kids and take a subject test. There is no computer science one even though there ought to be so since I have a minor in math I'm shooting for that even though english isn't out of the question either (yes I know I've been ignore capitalization and whatnot, but it's early). I was looking through my calculus book again and realized I've forgotten most of what I leared. :( I will be working with a computer club where I will be teaching the kids to make games and simulations with AgentSheets agentsheets.com I used it for a class last spring. Doing this will get my my 25 hours and be a litmus test as to whether I wish to continue pursuing teaching because I'm really begining to enjoy this english stuff.

I will be getting a tablet/laptop hybrid as a educational expense and the one I'm buying the auction ends in about 10 minutes (so good luck to me). I want this model, the Toshiba R15-S822.
I've been editing this since the auction ended and I won ($1075+ S&H).

I'm still working on the Fluxx clone (see my last entry) and have started writing code after finishing some basic artwork. I am reviving a word game that I invented a few years ago to make it into a commercial product. I think there is potential for it but I won't give any of my secrets away here. :) It's a hard game of spelling a patterns. I'll be sharing it at the Game Club meeting this Tuesday to firm it up some more.

For anyone that actually reads my blog here is something to see if you're awake (becuase I'm not here at 7 am). I can't have any romantic relationships at this time. I'm not comfortable to elaborate in such a public setting at this time.

I'll try to keep you more informed (btw, I haven't heard back from the patent office since the last post).

Remember Soylent Green is people.

Well, it's been a while

Still unemployed. Got some interviews next week. But in the hustle and bustle of hardcore (at least for me and it hopefully involves penetration into a job) job searching I've stopped writing. :(
The job I thought I had fell through and the company never told me officially. I had to hear it from the guy I was supposed to be replacing.

Interesting news from the patent office. I got a letter almost a month ago saying that I didn't meet the education requirements. I followed up on that. Seems they didn't think I took calculus. I did, I had to to get get my degree. I transfered the credits from a community college to Texas A&M where they became Math 151, 152, and 253 (calc 1-3 respectively), which they call engineering math. I told the people at the patent office. So I'm not out yet. I'd still like that gig.

I can't remember if I said I've joined the CU game dev club. A friend of mine is in the club. I go to the meetings weekly and I've been presenting AI topics as they relate to making games. The first one I did was Fuzzy Logic. The second one I did was a review of probability so I can cover Bayesian Analysis, which I present at the end of the month. I'm trying to top myself every time I present. So this next time powerpoint and a demo program.
At this time I've almost finished writing Pong in Flash. I've got a few bugs to fix and then I get to write the AI. I've been watching Flash training videos while I've been unemployed so I'm getting a leg up. I'm also working on another game, a clone of the card game Fluxx (http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Fluxx/Default.html).
Tomorrow I'm getting together with my friend to start some freelance Flash work.

I've been on some hikes more often. I went today and last Saturday. I only go a couple of miles cause climbing at this altitude still floors me. Both times listening to Harry Potter audio books. (yeah I'm finally embracing it. I saw the first movie back in '03 and the other 2 last Thanksgiving --boy that was a long 6 hours or so. I've finished the Sorcerer's Stone and I am now on The Chamber of Secrets.)

I've been introduced to a cool tv show that didn't make it. It's called Firefly. It should have lasted more than 14 episodes (on Fox). Check it out if you get the chance it's really good. It's a space western. They're doing a feature film that comes out in September.

Now that my sponsors have paid me off for mentioning thier products (except for Fox) I have to diss some stuff.

I've been introduced to a pyramid scheme this week which I won't be participating in. It's not directly tied to this company but some of the materials it uses is from it (http://www.quixtar.com/). So steer clear of them. Everything sounds good but unless you're at the top you're always paying up and down (if you sucker anyone in below you).

I'm going to start writing again this week. I have to. I need to finish my novel. Oh, I did finish Paatentim, giving it a more upbeat ending (albeit somewhat rushed). I'm reading about characterization so some of that should make it into my writing soon. I'm still more of an ideas person and don't care too much about the characters. Someday I'll appreciate the need for better characters. I don't need to explain everything unless it's fun explaining the stuff. Stuff happens in the story becuase it happens (this mostly deals with science and technology or the society). I tell my story ideas to others and they usually sound better (or more enthusiastic) that how I actually deliver them. I need more practice, but first I'd be happy with a job.

I've started watching my roommate's Seinfeld dvds. I'm in season 2 (season 4 just came out).

See you in a few weeks hopefully with better news.

Weekend Update

Almost done playing for the night a cool online rpg type game called kingdom of loathing www.kingdomofloathing.com. I've been playing since mid October 2004.

I don't feel in the mood per se to update but I have to. I have reached a critical mass of information to share.

First a professor who will remain nameless hasn't graded my last IF so I don't officially graduate. Once he does get around to grading it whenever it's convenient for him, I'll have to reapply for graduation. The thing that pisses me off the most is that he won't reply to my email inquiries. So that's new. My hands are tied at the moment.

I got screwed out of a temp job this week. I was "hired" and went to the temp agency the morning of the job and filled out paperwork and they conveniently recieved a call that said they didn't need me. Bastards. They didn't say why and all they gave me was a lousy tshirt.

I finally heard back from the USPTO today. They said I wasn't qualified for the job. They said I didn't meet the educational background. This is BS and I will be calling them on Tuesday.

I'm still unemployed but will soon have a job in a couple of weeks. We're still negotiating the salary stuff.

Oh my car is paid off this month!

Now that I'm done ranting you get to hear some good stuff and wisdom I've accumulated recently.

First I was able to write on my "novel" for around 4 hours this week and finished 10 pages. I have to type up the last 5 as I wrote them today. I also haven't edited anything that I've written on it since I resurrected it. But a couple of weeks ago I fleshed out at least the general direction with some pretty good details of the rest of it. I also fleshed out the next short story but Paatentim keeps coming back to mind. I may have left too big a mess and I might want to clean it up as it ends very sadly and something is left unresolved (at least in my mind).
Now I don't write descriptive stuff very much and I am trying to do better. I'm am learning my trade still and I need to work on beats too so you'll be seeing more of that in my writing.

I decided I can't wait around for feedback on my writing before starting the next thing. It's a waste of time. You give stuff to people and they don't read it in a timely manner and it's frustrating. So I'll keep sharing stuff but won't wait or be disappointed when they don't read it quickly. I guess that was a bit of a rant.

I'm also forming my own rules for writing. What makes my standard my standard. One rule so far is "Is it clever?" if it isn't then rewrite or toss it out. I've also been able to notice hiccups in my writing where there's like a skip or a jolt and something doesn't transition smoothly in a scene. I'll be working on that too.

I already had a testimony of the power of words. It has increased though. Take a look at the word addiction. If you have a serious problem and you use that word it gives power to the word. Yes it's good to acknowledge the word but saying it gives some mystical power to it that may defeat you in your attempt to defeat it. This is similar to why you don't say the devil's name aloud as it gives him power. I've taken to saying serious problem over a word like addiction.

I'm also beginning to believe that I have the tools and the talent and I don't need any more education. At least education that you have to pay for at a university. I'm tired of them and don't want to spend any more money there unless someone else is fitting the bill and I *never* have to pay it back. I can do anything I want. I just need to be calm and logical.

I'm learning Macromedia Flash and have a few projects in mind. I've also been hanging out with the CU Game Development Club. I have a friend (she's president) and I've given a tutorial on Fuzzy Logic and will do one on Basic Probabililty this week. I am still interested in AI and will try to do stuff to keep that interest alive.

As I have become more serious about writing it has made me become more serious about life. I am trying to learn my trade better and in doing so I am paying more attention to conversations especially body language and gestures. This will help me with beats in my dialogue. It has helped elsewhere too but I don't care to elaborate right now.

Lastly, I realize that I have more insight than wisdom. I have the knowledge but I don't apply it so I am lacking in wisdom. I'm lousy at applying my insight.

A few weeks back I bought a couple of books to help me with my writing (I already bought Strunk and White's Elements of Style a couple of months back). I got one on self editing, called Self-Editing for Fiction Writers and the other is Robert's rules of writing. I have finished reading them and I have learned and hope to continue to learn from them.

I guess I was in the mood to write tonight.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

P