| Painful Experience |
[Feb. 8th, 2009|07:17 pm] |
As I mentioned in my previous entry, I've started a sequel to my finished serial. I've been reading parts of the old one to refresh my memory as I write the new one. Talk about an appalling experience.
The last few chapters of the old one, Magician's Merger, don't strike me as that bad. They aren't high art, but they're readable. But then I looked at the first few chapters. Oh man! The passage of several months makes the mistakes really stand out. The first few chapters were utterly horrid. I'm surprised that anyone made it through them to read the rest of the serial.
So, rewriting the first three chapters of Magician's Merger plus giving the fourth a vicious editing are how I spent most of the weekend.
Writing something that's long--book length--finishing it, and then looking at it again several months later are all very educational experiences. |
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| Sequel |
[Feb. 6th, 2009|10:48 pm] |
I've started a sequel to my Web serial. I don't claim that either one of them is any good, but writing keeps me away from low places and dangerous temptations. |
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| Steve Martin: Marked for Death |
[Feb. 1st, 2009|12:04 am] |
I'm not that much of a film buff, but why, why, why, why, why does Steve Martin feel the continuing need to defile good movies? Hasn't he made enough money from his disgusting twaddle? And if he does get some sick thrill from crapping all over them, why can't he at least change the name to cut down on the confusion? |
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| Pulling My Hair Out |
[Jan. 25th, 2009|06:47 pm] |
To my regret, I am not a musician. I am, however, an occasional versifier. Every once in a while, I write some song lyrics in addition to my usual doggerel, and every once in a great while, those lyrics come with little tunes in my head.
Several months ago, the muse bit a chunk out of my fundament, and I wrote several sets of new lyrics. I have a tune to go with one of them, and I have been using this tool in an attempt to transcribe the tune.
It is hard. It seems that my ear skills are so bad that I can't even tell when the pitch I'm humming to myself is rising or falling. If anyone is interested, he or she can plug this
X:1
T:The Possum Song (Reminds Me of Someone I Know)
C:WSC
M:3/4
L:1/64
Q:133
K:C
z24 C16 B,8 | .D24 C16 D8 | .F24 E16 D8 | C24 D16 E8 | .G24 F12 (_E6 _D6) | B,24 C16 E8 | G24 F16 E8 | D48 |
into the editor to hear the first eight measures of the approximate melody by first clicking update and then clicking on the midi link. The first five listed are somewhat off; only the last three are close to what is in my head. I've tried to write down nine through sixteen, but so far they aren't close. Heck, I can't even tell if I've come up with the tune myself or if I've heard it somewhere.
Ah, well, I just wanted to vent a bit. |
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| Huh. |
[Jan. 15th, 2009|08:24 pm] |
In 1967, apparently, More of the Monkees outsold Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heats Club Band in the United States.
PS: The Cash Box and Billboard lists differ. It's also a lot harder to find complete historical lists from Billboard on line. The Billboard site only freely yields the yearly top five lists. It's enough to see that Cash Box and Billboard differ significantly. I wonder how their respective methodologies vary, but I don't know if I wonder enough to do the necessary digging. |
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| Random Thought |
[Jan. 5th, 2009|07:03 pm] |
The book and movie got it wrong. When you look behind the curtain, the wizard turns out to be one really scary SOB. |
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| It keeps your head from sounding hollow. |
[Dec. 29th, 2008|06:47 pm] |
I quit taking Paxil Thursday. The results have been interesting. It seems that the Paxil was dampening a wide variety of emotions, perhaps even some patterns of thought.
Quasi-rational meat, indeed. |
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| Sailboats |
[Dec. 13th, 2008|03:06 pm] |
I'm again feeling a moderate longing for a sailboat large enough to live aboard, a longing that I have had, off and on, since I was a teenager, but I've never been sailing in my life.
I suppose the desire comes from the idea of being able to haul anchor and split whenever one wants to while still keeping one's home--stability amongst change. Freedom and ultimate privacy when you want it, but you still get to keep your stuff.
Plus, they're pretty. |
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| Deceptive Scoundrels |
[Dec. 9th, 2008|01:51 am] |
Amazon, when I visited the site, put up an advertisement for Under Armour. I thought, Holy crap! Amazon really has my number. I clicked on the link, though, and found out it was only thermal underwear. |
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| Books you hate meme |
[Dec. 6th, 2008|08:35 pm] |
via ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tinymammoth:
Here are the 200 most popular books on Library Thing. Bold the books you read and hated. Italicize the books you plan never to read. Underline books you think are overrated, but don't hate. Do nothing to express positive feelings, this is all about book hate.
Then, at the end, pick the book you hated most of all 200!
( Read more... ) |
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| That's Our George |
[Dec. 4th, 2008|04:55 am] |
I had a freaky dream. I don't remember all of the details, but I had George W. Bush's dismembered body stored in a cooler (ice chest) in a cabin in the woods. I remember worrying about the best way to dispose of the corpse, including feeding it to dogs.
(No, I'm not making a veiled threat about the soon-to-be-ex-president of the USA. I really had that dream.) |
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| I Think Not |
[Nov. 28th, 2008|09:37 pm] |
Typealyzer
I put through everything of mine that conceivably could be called a blog, including my serial. With five things tested, it gave me four different answers, all of which are different from the written tests I've taken. It said the serial is ESFP.
To be fair, the site claims to be typing the blog, not the person. On the other hand, I'm not sure that claim makes any sense. |
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| Prophecy |
[Nov. 14th, 2008|08:15 pm] |
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My record as a prophet is not good. Unfortunately, it's not bad enough to use as a reverse indicator. |
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| It Makes Me Feel a Little Sick When I Think About It |
[Nov. 5th, 2008|08:19 am] |
We live in interesting times. The election came down to a choice between the leftist and the nut, and the American people chose the leftist.
Our means of selecting leaders is broken. |
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| Stumble Upon |
[Nov. 3rd, 2008|12:34 pm] |
About a year ago, I lost access to my Stumble Upon account. I didn't have the password. They had no email address of record to which to send the password. In short, the account was doomed. This caused me not a small amount of aggravation.
Anyway, I have now broken down and created a new account. If any of you use or still use SU and want me to friend you, reply here with the URL.
My SU URL is here. |
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| Pointless Rambling |
[Oct. 22nd, 2008|11:35 pm] |
I haven't used this site in too long. Part of it is that I don't have much to say a lot of the time. Another part of it is that when I do have something to say, I suspect that it's nothing anyone wants to hear. Anyway, I think I'm going to just ramble a bit and see what comes out of my fingers, kind of like free association. Feel free to ignore it.
( Read more ) |
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| Distant Drums |
[Aug. 12th, 2007|05:12 am] |
So, I'm awake at 4:30am. The cat is also awake, and wants out. It's nice out. I figure, why not?, and let him outside. Because it is usually cloudy, most nights in Michigan are lousy for looking at the stars. I decide to step out and see if tonight is any better than normal.
It's not, but I hear in the distance what sounds like someone beating drums, bongo type: bump, bump, bumpity, bump, bump, bumpity. Along with the rather loud singing of the tree frogs and bugs, it was making a compelling tune, and I'm getting into it. Add in a couple of distant trains for punctuation.
Whoever it was has stopped now, and the local roosters--there are at least three--are getting into their morning crowing contest, and the eastern sky is turning pink. What I want to know is who was up at 4:30 having what sounded like a drum circle?
(written ~5am) |
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| I Preferred the Trees |
[Apr. 29th, 2007|09:51 pm] |
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I've noticed around here that some of the farmers are plowing up land that, judging by the size of the trees that were on it, has lain fallow for decades. I suspect ethanol subsidies are the culprit. |
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