I’ve been considering starting a masochistic little writing project. I will spend 52 weeks writing short stories. One story each week. I’d be lying, if I said this wasn’t inspired in part by Jonathon Coulton’s “Thing a Week” project to record 52 songs over the span of a year. Also, a cursory Google search shows that some people have beaten me to the idea. Despite the idea’s unoriginality, I’m really itching to do more writing than I do now, and this seems like a good excuse. I’ll write a story and post it by 12:00 AM Monday of each week.
Of course, I have tried something like this in the past. I’ve competed in NaNoWriMo three times., and failed three times running.[] Still, a short story a week, no set minimum length, might be a bit easier, volume-wise. I can just toss off a little bit of flash fiction in weeks where I’m running behind, but I’d like my stuff to have some substance. I figure I can reward myself with something if this works, but I need one really good carrot. I’m thinking treating myself to a steak dinner at a good restaurant would be a fine reward.
To this end, I’ve set up a subdomain on the site. When I start this project (should happen soon), I’ll post the link and a snazzy logo, like I did with 30 Minutes With the Lights Off. I’m gunning for having the site up by April 1st, and the first story by April 2nd, with any luck. If I have to, though, I’ll simply bump the start back by a week.
Wish me luck.
Okay, a couple days ago, I joined Twitter, being part of the massive throng which has amassed on the site in the past month. Well, the novelty has yet to wear off, but I’m wondering just how long it will last. It reminds me of a little phenomenon during the early days of weblogging, just before it really took off: the E/N site. Short for “Everything/Nothing”, the stereotypical E/N site consisted of several short posts a day of the same content level as Twitter - whatever the hell that person was doing/thinking at the time.[]
Twitter posts are about the same: one sentence, usually short, simple, and generally of no real interest except for voyeurism. It’s interesting to know that Lore Sjöberg is taking a nap, but do I really need notification of that sent as a text message to my cell phone? Does he need me to tell him I just got home from work? Do any of my readers need to know, either? In case you do, I’ve even added a Twitter widget to the sidebar.
Overload is becoming a problem, I only have 12 people on my Twitter friends list, and I had to turn off cell phone notifications after just a couple hours. Just the volume from those 12 people was enough to drive me nuts. Some early adopters are becoming completely overwhelmed. I’m sure there’s more value to Twitter than, say, MySpace[], especially if you have local friends and need to keep track of what’s happening in a social context. Since I can count the friends I have in meatspace that I would be likely to do things with, and are in close enough geographical proximity, on one hand, Twitter is going to have to remain a fun little voyeuristic distraction. As long as I’m not posting about what the hell I’m watching on TV or when I go to the bathroom, it should be okay.
When last we left my friend’s ancient iMac, it had OS 9, but was still not much more than a glorified paperweight. This past Friday, we finished the job. First, the 128 MB RAM module was pulled from the broken iMac, as well as its bottom plastic plate to replace the broken one on the new machine. Then, we installed the RAM into the new iMac, for a total of 192 MB, more than enough for Panther. Next, I installed the iMac firmware update, which was a painless procedure. Finally, we were ready to install OS X…
…And, it went off without any major hitches. We got his machine online, and began to install the copious amount of software updates that it needed: 10.3.9 update, security update, Daylight Savings Time update, iTunes update, Safari update, etc. It took longer to update the damn thing than it did to install OS X.[] We had enough time to go back out into the elements for dinner at Wendy’s, and got back to find it still installing updates.
Now, though, my friend is finally online and able to read the harrowing struggle of getting his ancient machine functioning with the world. Of course, the question now remains about what to do with the busted 500Mhz iMac DV sitting in the corner of my room in a box, and with no bottom plastic base.
I’m a member of the Church of the Subgenius, an online parody cult. Some of you may be aware of the child custody case involving Reverend Magdalen (neé Rachel Bevilacqua), a member of the church. To summarize the case: Her son, Kohl, was taken from her following an absurd custody case from his biological father. The reason for the change of custody? Her involvement in the church. There was a re-trial, and the new judge found in her favor (thankfully), but a stay has been put on the verdict, and now she won’t have her son until May following an appeals court review of the case… if we’re lucky. You can get more information on Magdalen and her case via The High Weirdness Project’s page.
Even more absurd is that the father has received pro-bono legal assistance, while Magdalen, and her husband Jesus have racked up over $70,000 in legal fees— and they’re not even out of the woods yet. To this end, a fundraising site has been set up. I encourage all of you out there to pledge something![]
Pledge here! Now!
