It's been a long process of slacking. I haven't truly written a new piece in about a week and I haven't had any editing done, but that's going to change today. I'm taking a solemn vow to send out three pieces by Friday, and I'll be damned if someone is going to get in the way of me and my rejection letters.
So I stared that last night and got an entire story edited and sent out. I'm focusing on two other pieces that are not quite as close as that one, but we will see what I can come up with. It should be interesting to see what forced editing will produce on these stories.
In other words I've come to realize that watching is an acquired skill. The passive form, looking, is something that everyone has a personal forte in, but actually watching something and seeing the minute details is something that is truly difficult. I have found that people need to watch things several times to get the gist of what they are watching, but to really watch is to observe the details of something near perfectly the first time that you look at it. Honestly watching different activities is almost as different as performing said activity, and the two are closely linked. The act of watching an activity and being able to perform it.
By gaining skill in general watching, just like gaining practice in basic practicing, means that you pick up on the details quicker than an unskilled watcher. The focus needed is something that is relatively unknown in today's society, but not all forgotten. It takes the same skills as truly reading or truly participating. To dive so deep into a subject so that you lose conscious thought and just immerse your senses into it. A watcher is like a reader or an athlete, they can separate extraneous reality from what is pertinent and become one with the activity that they are seeing.
Why watch? Because, to watch is the first step to any forethought. Forethought allows consciousness before time blurs past. Watchers can see the details and know when to look for them. Watching takes effort and skill, but it is wasted unless that insight is put to task.
So watch and watch well, but don't get so lost in watching that you forget to act.
Ciao!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
The Dawn
There is something nice about the morning. The quiet before your roommates start stomping about and a tea bag brewing slowly in a cup of hot water. The quiet sounds of birds outside, and people who are much more awake than you going into work at absurd hours. I always get more stuff done in the morning. My studying schedule usually starts around 3am (after sleeping of course) and goes until my mid morning nap around 9.
The quiet contemplation of the morning hours does wonders for the soul (if you're into that sort of stuff) and I think that though I have come close to a complete breakdown at points (thank you microbial genetics,) mornings help me get through things (and caffeine, but that's a love story).
In this modern era, where afternoon seems to stretch until the sun goes down and evening never seems to end, morning is the aftermath when it should be the beginning of something wonderful. I'm not sure how else to say it, and the kettle is demanding my attention.
Take care, take care, take care
Until next time - Patrick
The quiet contemplation of the morning hours does wonders for the soul (if you're into that sort of stuff) and I think that though I have come close to a complete breakdown at points (thank you microbial genetics,) mornings help me get through things (and caffeine, but that's a love story).
In this modern era, where afternoon seems to stretch until the sun goes down and evening never seems to end, morning is the aftermath when it should be the beginning of something wonderful. I'm not sure how else to say it, and the kettle is demanding my attention.
Take care, take care, take care
Until next time - Patrick
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The Summer-Time Shuffle
Hey guys!
It's been a little bit since I've updated this (mostly because I've had other projects that needed attention). I've been restarting my writing habit and you may or may not see evidence of that come early next month. I've been working diligently trying to find some new editors (since the hobos that I picked up last week escaped when I left the windows unlocked...) but we'll see how that battle fairs. Otherwise I am excited to gather some more rejection letters.
I've been working on a few new pieces, stretching into a bit of Urban Fantasy and such. Most of it needs a few more rounds of editing, but that will come. Honestly I just need to get stuff submitted and let it sit in someone's inbox for a few weeks before it becomes stale in my hard-drive. We'll see what happens with that in the next few weeks though!
I've been working on my teaching methods for the fencing team next year since I have the considerable honor of being our team's Men Sabre Captain. I wish they realized how terribly unqualified I am for the position (but they'll learn soon enough.) It's going to be tough getting into shape before the season really starts, but we'll see what I can do.
Diablo 3, DOTA2, Diablo 3, and maybe a little Bastion... have all kept me more than busy the past month or so. Almost hit the level cap on D3, and I am starting to become acceptable in dota2 (people have stopped yelling "FEEDER!" every game, so I assume I've improved slightly), and Bastion is a super awesome game that I wish I was better at... Either way my time has become even more divided as of late, and I need to figure out how to keep everything organized.
Other than that there is class that need studying for, social media that needs brushing off, and books that need reading. As everyone else knows, I think we need to find more time in the day.
Later Dudes!
It's been a little bit since I've updated this (mostly because I've had other projects that needed attention). I've been restarting my writing habit and you may or may not see evidence of that come early next month. I've been working diligently trying to find some new editors (since the hobos that I picked up last week escaped when I left the windows unlocked...) but we'll see how that battle fairs. Otherwise I am excited to gather some more rejection letters.
I've been working on a few new pieces, stretching into a bit of Urban Fantasy and such. Most of it needs a few more rounds of editing, but that will come. Honestly I just need to get stuff submitted and let it sit in someone's inbox for a few weeks before it becomes stale in my hard-drive. We'll see what happens with that in the next few weeks though!
I've been working on my teaching methods for the fencing team next year since I have the considerable honor of being our team's Men Sabre Captain. I wish they realized how terribly unqualified I am for the position (but they'll learn soon enough.) It's going to be tough getting into shape before the season really starts, but we'll see what I can do.
Diablo 3, DOTA2, Diablo 3, and maybe a little Bastion... have all kept me more than busy the past month or so. Almost hit the level cap on D3, and I am starting to become acceptable in dota2 (people have stopped yelling "FEEDER!" every game, so I assume I've improved slightly), and Bastion is a super awesome game that I wish I was better at... Either way my time has become even more divided as of late, and I need to figure out how to keep everything organized.
Other than that there is class that need studying for, social media that needs brushing off, and books that need reading. As everyone else knows, I think we need to find more time in the day.
Later Dudes!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Disappointment, resolve and midnight oil
Finally got my computer parts in and working, though there was some issue with an outlet and several reconstructions but I now know how to put a computer together really well. I've been playing quite a bit of the DOTA2 beta with my roommates and have been enjoying myself quite a bit. It was a long wait for the parts, but well worth the investment.
On another note, I did not make it into Clarion for the '12 session. Sad, but there are tons of candidates for every accepted applicant so I'm not too terribly heartbroken about being a terrible writer and blah blah blah. I'm a little disappointed, but that is a completely nature reaction to this sort of news. I've taken it in stride and am going to attempt to become published this summer... somewhere. We'll see what voodoo I can manage with a few captive editors and no classes.
Had a wonderful weekend other than that though. Watched the entire first season of Game of Thrones on Saturday and the first episode of the new season last night. I am really excited and I'm going to have to read the books now (I'm a terrible person for not reading them already, but sometimes we do things out of order.) We also hosted the Alumni Tournament for out fencing club and we got to see quite a few familiar faces return to us. We all went out to Crunchy's afterword, though I only had a coke and some pizza, I do have exams this week and needed to study.
I've got another story in the works, and it seems that I always write best when I have more important things to do. Probably my procrastination kicking into overdrive or something. But anyway and otherwise, it's been a bit of an emotional roller coaster this week and I need to study for my exams.
So long, until we meet again!
On another note, I did not make it into Clarion for the '12 session. Sad, but there are tons of candidates for every accepted applicant so I'm not too terribly heartbroken about being a terrible writer and blah blah blah. I'm a little disappointed, but that is a completely nature reaction to this sort of news. I've taken it in stride and am going to attempt to become published this summer... somewhere. We'll see what voodoo I can manage with a few captive editors and no classes.
Had a wonderful weekend other than that though. Watched the entire first season of Game of Thrones on Saturday and the first episode of the new season last night. I am really excited and I'm going to have to read the books now (I'm a terrible person for not reading them already, but sometimes we do things out of order.) We also hosted the Alumni Tournament for out fencing club and we got to see quite a few familiar faces return to us. We all went out to Crunchy's afterword, though I only had a coke and some pizza, I do have exams this week and needed to study.
I've got another story in the works, and it seems that I always write best when I have more important things to do. Probably my procrastination kicking into overdrive or something. But anyway and otherwise, it's been a bit of an emotional roller coaster this week and I need to study for my exams.
So long, until we meet again!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Time-Related Disappointments
Well, it's been an interesting turn of events the past few days... couldn't be expected, but it's not horrible, just means I have to wait a little longer for what I want.
Got my last box of computer parts yesterday. All of the boards, memory, storage, graphics, and other such things arrived from Newegg. I put it all together, turned it on, and nothing. Now, I made sure to follow the instructions and everything so there is a chance that something came busted or I missed a plug, but my friend is coming over to take a look at it after work today. Still need to pick up an OS (I'm thinking Windows 7, possibly dual booted with some flavor of Linux) and some speakers. Once (and if) it starts running I'll get to have some fun with it.
Waited until midnight last night for the email from the folks over at Clarion. When that didn't come I got simultaneously confused and a little upset just because I felt a little ignored, but thankfully I re-checked their website. They extended the date of notification until the 22nd, which I can completely understand but still I want to know what's going to happen. Otherwise I've started writing a new story: nothing particularly cerebral or deep but it's entertaining to me.
I've also started reading a new web comic: Gunnerkrigg Court. The art style didn't impress me much at first (not that it was bad at all), but it dramatically improves into a beautiful illustration as the comic continues. The plot is thick with minimal dead-ends, and good characterization. Urban fantasy that delves into both High Magic and High Tech at times, but never to a ridiculous(-ly undesirable) degree. It's been around for a while but it has a reputed 30(!?) comic buffer so that there is never any missed days, or so I've been told. I'd highly recommend it.
I'll keep in touch amigos!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Night's Ink
Just having a very unrestful night, so I thought I would update before I tried to sleep again. It's been a good week back at school, and I feel that the break helped raise my spirits quite a bit. Been running at fencing practice to help build some cardio, but the week off dulled my blade-work.
Hosted Catan night today, where I cook dinner and we all play Settlers of Catan. We haven't been able to do it because of the rash of tournaments and breaks, but hopefully we can get it back into the swing. I made jambalaya and cheddar chive biscuits, which all took far less time than I thought they would. There was even enough left over for munching during the week, which is a marvel when cooking for three other guys.
I've switched over from short stories to campaign writing, which is nice change to be able to actually GM a game. We're using mini-six, which is a light D6 system (instead of using tons of odd dice, it only uses standard six sided dice). I tend to do more laid-back mechanics and try to let the story flow how the players want to go. I'm going to start documenting everything on Obsidian Portal to see how well it works, and that'll be updated weekly or as well as I can do so.
I was starting to write out all the mechanics and everything (I'm pretty damn proud of what we've put together), but I realized that it would dominate the post. So if you want to see what I'm working on I would look at the Obsidian Portal page here: Sunder Lands.
(Note that I'm in the process of fill this out so forgive me for slow updating.)
It is also St. Patrick's Day and being my name sake, I fear that I may be very popular tomorrow. So I will do my best to hide until they drag me out kicking and screaming (at least give the impression, otherwise they'll think it was too easy. I do have a reputation to keep up.) Hopefully it will be sunny and beautiful but otherwise I may be fine with running around in the rain.
Well, I will write to you soon and hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight.
Edit: I would like to note that because a campaign is a collaborative effort, not all of the writing or ideas were written/imagined by me. There are several co-authors that helped build the initial setting without which it would have been impossible.
Hosted Catan night today, where I cook dinner and we all play Settlers of Catan. We haven't been able to do it because of the rash of tournaments and breaks, but hopefully we can get it back into the swing. I made jambalaya and cheddar chive biscuits, which all took far less time than I thought they would. There was even enough left over for munching during the week, which is a marvel when cooking for three other guys.
I've switched over from short stories to campaign writing, which is nice change to be able to actually GM a game. We're using mini-six, which is a light D6 system (instead of using tons of odd dice, it only uses standard six sided dice). I tend to do more laid-back mechanics and try to let the story flow how the players want to go. I'm going to start documenting everything on Obsidian Portal to see how well it works, and that'll be updated weekly or as well as I can do so.
I was starting to write out all the mechanics and everything (I'm pretty damn proud of what we've put together), but I realized that it would dominate the post. So if you want to see what I'm working on I would look at the Obsidian Portal page here: Sunder Lands.
(Note that I'm in the process of fill this out so forgive me for slow updating.)
It is also St. Patrick's Day and being my name sake, I fear that I may be very popular tomorrow. So I will do my best to hide until they drag me out kicking and screaming (at least give the impression, otherwise they'll think it was too easy. I do have a reputation to keep up.) Hopefully it will be sunny and beautiful but otherwise I may be fine with running around in the rain.
Well, I will write to you soon and hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight.
Edit: I would like to note that because a campaign is a collaborative effort, not all of the writing or ideas were written/imagined by me. There are several co-authors that helped build the initial setting without which it would have been impossible.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
The Spring Break Wrap Up
Hey there everybody,
This will be a two parter as I had an unfinished post that was going to be posted last Friday but life happened and I became to busy to finish it. I will post that once I get finished with this one.
The weekend went well as far as MFCs (Midwestern Fencing Championships) go. Big tournament with lots and lots of teams and fencers from all around, including both Varsity and Club fencers. We finished in 8th place overall (around 20 schools were there) so we did fairly well. Our men's sabre squad finished 7th, which is a vast improvement from our standing last year. (It turns out that winning schools is important to doing well.) I personally ended up in 22nd place out of 70(-ish) sabre fencers, which is 2 places better than I did last year (yay improvement!). The entire thing was very close to going much, much better or much, much worse and a few touches here and there would have had dramatically different results, but that is just how life goes.
I'm now on spring break for the rest of the week. I've got a few days of relaxing and composing that will end in my birthday this weekend. I was given a book, "Treason" by Orson Scott Card, from a friend and will start reading it once I have some time to myself. I like Scott Card, but he does tend to get a little bit too philosophical in his novels as they progress. We'll see how this one turns out.
I'm going to take a nap and read a book. Take care everyone!
This will be a two parter as I had an unfinished post that was going to be posted last Friday but life happened and I became to busy to finish it. I will post that once I get finished with this one.
The weekend went well as far as MFCs (Midwestern Fencing Championships) go. Big tournament with lots and lots of teams and fencers from all around, including both Varsity and Club fencers. We finished in 8th place overall (around 20 schools were there) so we did fairly well. Our men's sabre squad finished 7th, which is a vast improvement from our standing last year. (It turns out that winning schools is important to doing well.) I personally ended up in 22nd place out of 70(-ish) sabre fencers, which is 2 places better than I did last year (yay improvement!). The entire thing was very close to going much, much better or much, much worse and a few touches here and there would have had dramatically different results, but that is just how life goes.
I'm now on spring break for the rest of the week. I've got a few days of relaxing and composing that will end in my birthday this weekend. I was given a book, "Treason" by Orson Scott Card, from a friend and will start reading it once I have some time to myself. I like Scott Card, but he does tend to get a little bit too philosophical in his novels as they progress. We'll see how this one turns out.
I'm going to take a nap and read a book. Take care everyone!
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