In which I win the internets. Or something.

I win the internets or something. The part I was working on--since my "novel" is in four parts, having finished the main plot at 10,000 words--isn't quite done, but the objective was 50,000 words in 30 days. 1600 words a day isn't that tricky, unless you get more than a day or two behind.

Point the second: if you don't already read the Real Live Preacher, check out his most recent post here. The insurance situation in this country is messed up beyond belief.

Point the third: Ironically as I was reading RLP's post, there was a report on NPR about the Pope's new encyclical. I'm on my way through it, but we all need a little hope now and then.

Huh. I'm only 2105 words short of where I should be. That's totally doable, if I get a good streak. Wait, scratch that. I could easily write (+ 2105 1667) words in a day if I were writing an academic paper. (Why, yes, I mostly do LISP, thanks for asking.) Having to tell a good story? I may have to go back into academic-mode and bust out some footnotes and citations. I still need the name of a (fake) psychedellic drug that reacts badly with alien biochemistry. Stumped on that one, and I can't keep calling it $drug. (I know enough perl to be useful.) I'm finding I have the most horrible luck coming up with names.

No, this probably won't ever see the light of day. Perhaps I might show it to people, provided that they buy me several beers and sign an NDA.

Things I've learned from NaNoWriMo

So I'm actually trying to do NaNoWriMo this year. I'm about 33,941 words into it, but am 2733 words short for where I should be today. About 1600 words a day really isn't difficult. 1600 words a day that's actually good is difficult.

Fiction is different from academic writing in that you have to lie to tell a good story. Nobody wants to hear every little detail about a given event, although in academic writing, every little detail does matter. In fiction, leaving out details can make it more appealing.

Getting an idea for a plot is easy. Keeping it going past 20,000 words isn't. I'm doing the Tolstoy thing, and my "novel" is actually in 3 (possibly 4) parts.

I think just spewing words and not (initially) caring about quality is helping the dissertation. I was starting to get hypercritical of what I'm doing, which was slowing me up. Keeping at least 1660 words a day flowing has helped the writing that matters.

Who knows if I'll actually finish. This won't ever see light of day, but it's been an interesting exercise.

From Paul Cornell's blog. Too good not to share.

In honor of Talmida:



A classic. Their friend in the background, who's oblivious to them, really ties it all together, I think.

More serious stuff to come. Been super busy.

A video found from a friend...oddly appropriate given the Gospel reading yesterday:

Bella?

So in my websurfings, I found a link to a blog post about the movie, "Bella." Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I don't like chick flicks. If there's any hint of romance or hurt/comfort (if I may use parlance from the fic world) as central plot issue, it'll make me snooze. I'd watched the trailer to "Bella," and, honestly, it didn't look like anything I'd be interested in, even if it's being hyped as the next great Catholic movie. And, yes, I realize I will be labeled a Bad Catholic for not wanting to see "Bella."

So when I found that blog post, I started feeling better--here was someone who knew something about film (and I'm sure she'll be dismissed as part of the librul academic atheists), and wasn't impressed with the movie. The fact that others associated with the film's production cast aspersions on her faith is enough for me to not see it. Nothing in her critique of it is the least bit ad hominem, yet people associated with the film are quick to sling it.

Any good filmmaker would be able to respond intelligently to criticism. Lord knows the ability to take criticism gracefully is something you have to quickly learn in any kind of art program. Plus, being able to respond to criticism clarifies your own point that much further. Responding by saying a critic has deep spiritual problems? Doesn't say much for one's film making abilities, there.

I think her post and the reactions to her thoughts illustrate two things about Catholicism these days:

1.) Our political climate is fostering extremism. If you disagree, you're BAD, when in reality it means nothing more than one disagrees.

2.) Why do we, as Catholics, accept trite pablum for art? Look at the liturgical music produced lately. When's the last time we had a Flannery O'Connor or a Graham Greene? How about the visual arts? Why is it that everyone sings "On Eagle's Wings," but clams up at "Pange lingua" or "Salve regina?" (Personally I think chant is way easier to sing than anything that OCP publishes.) From Palestrina to Pärt, we've had a tradition of good liturgical music that can stand on its own as art. Why is it that parishes won't (or can't) support a choir and music program so that they can encourage and commission new music?

I have a theory that the decline of music education and role of western art music in society has more to do with the decline of liturgical music than anything Vatican II did. If people aren't ever exposed to anything which challenges or stretches them, then it's difficult for them to understand it. There are plenty of composers out there, and not everyone sounds like the modernist composers of the 1950's. And even if they do, don't they deserve a chance to bring glory to God?

Radio Fork: "Hurt"

I'm being Posty McPost Pants today, but this is also a poll on my LJ, so ignore, if you've seen it twice.

Johnny Cash vs. NIN on "Hurt." Who's better? I can't decide because they're both very different songs.

Hello, wayward blog readers. I'm still here.

1. Been busy. Like Liam, I'm stuck in work hell.
2. Haven't had much interesting to write about lately.
3. If you haven't seen season 3/29 of Doctor Who, you'll note that the spoiler tags went away. I figured since it had aired both in the UK and in the US that they were no longer necessary. If you're going back through my archives, don't complain to me if I spoil the ending of "Last of the Time Lords."
   
4. There have been a few issues lately that have made blogging decidedly unfun. To some extent, we all create a persona when we're online. But the internet is also a harbor for mentally fragile people, who find support for their own distorted view. I've been online since 1993, when I started college, back in the days of DOC and Citadel BBSes. I assume people are putting forth that which they want me to see when they post here (everyone engages in some form of subterfuge online), but when I'm confronted with it (namely in the form of sockpuppets), that's clearly a cry for help. While I have sympathy for such people, I don't want to engage them here. I am not a therapist, and I can't provide the help they need.

First, there was a lack of due-process with a bunch of RIAA letters forwarded to UW students last year. (Because obviously IP's are never spoofed, proxied, or otherwise manipulated.) I'm sure there were students guilty of filesharing, if file sharing is something to be guilty of. (I'm not convinced. I think it's more of a gray area.)

Next, we have my university forcing people out of their neighborhood. Said area is not owned by UW, although a large percentage of the people living there are students. Did I mention the people being forced out are sex offenders? Yes, they are. And, it should be noted, were placed there because their crimes involved children, not adults. Also note the line in the article about how UW is interested in purchasing the five properties their landlord owns. It even made the Chronicle of Higher Ed.

Okay, sex offenders are creepy, scary people, I'll admit. The thought of what those men did makes my skin crawl. But if they were legal tenants, does UW and the governor have a right to force them out? What's to keep some other group lobbying and forcing out another group of people they deem undesirable?

Either they paid their debt to society, or they didn't. If they didn't, they shouldn't be free. If they did, then they've got a reasonable expectation of privacy and freedom from harassment, like the rest of us. I think it says a lot about how a given society, given the way the lowest members of that society are treated.

And, by the way, before someone accuses me of being academic (pardon the pun) about this, I lived across the street from those guys for the better part of a year and a half. By far, the worse neighbors were the fraternities, sororities, and other college students. That article and the actions by UW make me wonder whose legacy, big-donor mommy or daddy called to complain. The sex offenders were known when I lived there. I can't believe UW just learned about them.

Mathetes award and other stuff

So thanks to Cura and Jeff for their nominating me for a Mathetes award. :) Here's my response:

The Mathetes Award, created by Dan King of Management by God to recognize those who take to heart the Great Commission and further God’s Kingdom by creating more disciples for Him.

The rules for the award, as posted by its creator are as follows:

In the spirit of this award, the rules are simple. Winners of this award must pick five other “disciples” to pass it on to. As you pass it on, I just ask that you mention and provide links for:

1) This post as the originator of the award (Dan King of management by God)
2) The person that awarded it to you, and then
3) Name and sites of the five that you believe are fulfilling the role of a disciple of Christ.

My five (order meaning nothing beyond where they are in my blog bookmark folder):

1.) Rev. Mommy

2.) Crystal at Perspectives

3.) Sr. Julie at A Nun's Life

4.) Sr. Susan at Musings of a Discerning Woman

5.) Liam at Sententiae et clamores

Something of substance to come, I promise!

Be cool to the Pizza Dude

NPR junkie that I am, I'm listening to an interview on my local affiliate with the person who produces the "This I Believe" segment on NPR. (Link takes you to the program's site.) They just played one segment from the show entitled "Be Cool to the Pizza Dude." You can listen to it or read it here.

For the link-phobic:

Be Cool to the Pizza Dude
by Sarah Adams

If I have one operating philosophy about life it is this: "Be cool to the pizza delivery dude; it's good luck." Four principles guide the pizza dude philosophy.

Principle 1: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in humility and forgiveness. I let him cut me off in traffic, let him safely hit the exit ramp from the left lane, let him forget to use his blinker without extending any of my digits out the window or towards my horn because there should be one moment in my harried life when a car may encroach or cut off or pass and I let it go. Sometimes when I have become so certain of my ownership of my lane, daring anyone to challenge me, the pizza dude speeds by me in his rusted Chevette. His pizza light atop his car glowing like a beacon reminds me to check myself as I flow through the world. After all, the dude is delivering pizza to young and old, families and singletons, gays and straights, blacks, whites and browns, rich and poor, vegetarians and meat lovers alike. As he journeys, I give safe passage, practice restraint, show courtesy, and contain my anger.

Principle 2: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in empathy. Let's face it: We've all taken jobs just to have a job because some money is better than none. I've held an assortment of these jobs and was grateful for the paycheck that meant I didn't have to share my Cheerios with my cats. In the big pizza wheel of life, sometimes you're the hot bubbly cheese and sometimes you're the burnt crust. It's good to remember the fickle spinning of that wheel.

Principle 3: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in honor and it reminds me to honor honest work. Let me tell you something about these dudes: They never took over a company and, as CEO, artificially inflated the value of the stock and cashed out their own shares, bringing the company to the brink of bankruptcy, resulting in 20,000 people losing their jobs while the CEO builds a home the size of a luxury hotel. Rather, the dudes sleep the sleep of the just.

Principle 4: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in equality. My measurement as a human being, my worth, is the pride I take in performing my job -- any job -- and the respect with which I treat others. I am the equal of the world not because of the car I drive, the size of the TV I own, the weight I can bench press, or the calculus equations I can solve. I am the equal to all I meet because of the kindness in my heart. And it all starts here -- with the pizza delivery dude.

Tip him well, friends and brethren, for that which you bestow freely and willingly will bring you all the happy luck that a grateful universe knows how to return.

Evening Odds and Ends

1.) Stomach flu. Came out of nowhere last night/yesterday afternoon. Haven't made an emergency trip to the bathroom in a bit now.

2.) Watching the Ken Burns documentary on WWII. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I wonder if our perceptions of the war would've been different, had CNN, google news, and the internet existed back then. What if Halliburton and Blackwater existed then?

I'm trying to understand some of the hatred some of the people interviewed still have for the Japanese. I don't hate the Saudis, who were mostly responsible for 9/11. Granted, my family isn't winning any racial harmony awards, but some of the things I've heard them say (of the generation who lived through that time), don't bear repeating, as if the firebombings of Tokyo and two atomic bombs weren't enough. Does that generation of Japanese hate Americans?

I guess part of what I'm reacting to is how lily-white and innocent the Americans are being portrayed in this. Sure, they probably didn't come close to some of the atrocities elsewhere, but having heard of the crap that happened in Vietnam through present day, I'm a bit incredulous.

I'm tired of hearing how my generation isn't as patriotic as the "greatest generation," because we oppose the war in Iraq, or how our morals are askew. Or how we don't compare in education to that generation. Maybe they need to realize that the world is completely different than it was 60 years ago.

Here's a podcast interview with Paul Cornell, the writer of the book Human Nature that became the episodes "Human Nature," and "Family of Blood" of the season of Doctor Who that just aired. (That's season 29 for the old school fans and season 3 for the new school fans.) It's really well done. Boy howdy, if you haven't seen Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords, hold off if you don't want it spoiled.

And here is a blog about the theology of Doctor Who. Don't agree with all his conclusions, but I like it nonetheless. (That and I tend to see the Doctor more as St. Michael than a Christ-like figure, but I need to work out my thoughts on that sometime when I've got more brain space. If the last three episodes of the current season follow Revelations, it kind of follows, but I'll let the episodes air over here before spewing forth.)

A day in the life of a fool...

Thanks to Liam I have this song stuck in my head. (Worksafe.)

I admit I get a bit frustrated, when I hear someone say that laity should just be content with the rosary, the Mass, and vocal prayer, generally some saccharine verbiage out of a prayer book published before 1950. Don't get me wrong, I like the rosary (the Dominicans are rubbing off on me, even if I get more out of making them than praying them), but purely verbal prayer doesn't always fill a need.

It's one instance of that "Don't you worry your little lay head *pat pat*" attitude that you see among the generation younger than me. While the Liturgy of the Hours is important, one of the reasons why I switched to Latin was because I found myself just spitting out the words as fast as I could, without really considering their meaning. The LotH is the prayer of the entire Church. As such, it should have relevance and speak to our lives. When it works, it's uncanny how a particular psalm (usually just one for that day) speaks to something going on in my life.

But also it should be more than just the words on the page. There should be something in the words that points to something greater than us, which is the point of lectio divina. (Or should be.) Granted, I'm a barely-closeted contemplative, but I believe we're all called to a deeper relationship with the Divine. Hiding behind pious prose isn't going to expose us to that deeper mystery.

Others have written about how contemplation is a gift and a calling from God. If this is true, then what possible reason is there to restrict people from that to which they're being called?

Ah heck. Anyone know how to get videos from youtube working on blogger?



Bleiben Sie in Ruhe...

Obituary for Zawinul here.

St. Gabriel, patron of twisted pairs, fix my DSL...

So for almost two years, I haven't had to so much as reboot my DSL modem. I realize I'm lucky in this respect. I piggyback my DSL on my existing phone service through another provider, and the relationship has been great. I will admit that I would recommend speakeasy, even though I'm currently having problems.

They're shipping a new modem, so hopefully that will fix things. If that doesn't work, they'll ratchet up the pressure on my phone company. I'm tempted to dump my phone, get a prepaid cell, and just go bare DSL. It's not much more than what I'd be paying, if I upgraded my existing service. Any recommendations as to cell phone providers? I should probably get one, anyway, with as much travel as I do. I'm looking at prepaid plans, since I hardly use a phone.

You know, St. Gabriel the Archangel is the patron saint of telecommunications. I'm beginning to think he'd be faster than my ISP goading my telco into fixing the damn line. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I found a silly little novena to him. My DSL hasn't dropped yet...

There's something about Real Live Preacher's newest series in the Foy Davis stories. The latest three center around a boy named David Friedman. His stories and writings always hit hard in an ultra-realistic way, but it's not that.

In another life, back in school before college I was David Friedman. During fifth grade, I was beaten up daily and blamed for it. (Smart kids ask for it, apparently, and should just act normal.) Middle school wasn't much better. High school the beatings became emotional. College? It was wonderful. But my experience reflected through David's aren't what's eating at me through those stories.

For awhile, a part of me wanted those who bullied me to be monsters, still. Probably some are. Probably some are ordinary people. Even some may be nice people once they grew up some. Another part of me wanted to lord over them that I've managed to do things with my life that they haven't--I'm one of the few from my suburban high school who's living further than 10 miles away from the suburb I grew up in.

There was a time when I wanted to show up at a reunion, Hoopy Frood in tow, and name-drop the composers, choreographers, visual artists, and other people I've met, while reciting my CV. In the end, I didn't go to my 10 year reunion. Now I don't feel much towards those people. If I hadn't read the story, I probably wouldn't have thought about them. I have people who love me, and I have people I love. I'll never be a social butterfly, but when the mood strikes I have people to do stuff with. Life is pretty good.

What made my stomach sink was the idea that those who bullied me are feeling some kind of remorse, yet I want them to be faceless monsters. Can anything erase what they did? Probably not. Will I forget what was done to me? Probably not. Catholic teaching says as much that we have responsibility for the effects of the sins we commit. What reconciliation does is allow us to go on with our lives. Do I want their lives to go on? Sure. Do I want them to feel awful for what they did? I'd be lying if I said I didn't, but no I don't as much as I once did.

What would happen, if we ran into each other in QFC? Probably the initial pleasantries. I'm sure they'd be as interested in my forays into the arts like I'd be interested in their kids. We'd exchange smalltalk over avocadoes, and then go on with our lives. Maybe they need to hear that my life is as boringly normal as theirs is. Maybe I needed to hear that they're just people.

So a few weeks back when I knew my desktop was needing last rites, I broke my coffee mug. Said coffee mug was perched precariously somewhere where it shouldn't have been perched. I wasn't overly attached to the old coffee mug. It was a shade of blue I wasn't fond of. The lip was curled inwards, making it difficult to drink from without spilling. Its redeeming feature was that it held about three cups of liquid.

Today I schlepped to a St. Vincent de Paul store to replace it. Thrift stores are weird and slightly sad places. So many well-loved and used things are there, and you can't help but wonder the stories behind them.

I found one mug to replace my old one that would do quite well. But then I happened upon this one. At first it struck me as hideous. It's an uneven yellowish-green glaze with some sort of flower-cum-blueberry motif going on. Trust me. It photographs prettier than it really is.

I couldn't put this mug down, though. It was well worth the 40 cents it cost (since today was 50% off day, I got both mugs for the price of one.) For the price, it was a good investment. It'll hold half a hotpot (about 22-25 oz of beverage.) It holds the heat pretty well. (Better than my old coffee mug.)

I wonder what its story is. There weren't any other dishes there like it. It's mass-produced from China, but aside from that, who owned it? Was it some grandmother, who had her tea or coffee in it? A college student, who moved? Maybe it was a white elephant, and its recipient didn't know what to make of a one-of mottled green mug of vague flower pattern. Did its original owner just tire of it? Did its old owner die? Probably not...the "made in China" sticker is still firmly attached. It probably wasn't even used. Which, in a strange way, makes this mug that more appealing. Someone somewhere disliked it enough to not even use it, a sad tale, if it were a gift.

It does well with tea, although my loose tea diffuser is a bit too short for it. We'll see about coffee tomorrow.