I figured it appropriate to title this post after the Caisson Song seeing as it has been running through my mind, off and on, since my "American Originals" post. I have continued to dutifully march my way through the writing process. This week was another good week with 5240 words to show for my efforts.
It's the second week in a row with over 5000 words. I have considered the possibility of upping my weekly word goal to 5000 words. Seeing as I no longer have to concern myself with betting on sports it would seem appropriate that I increase my writing efforts to make up for the difference, though a 25% increase may be a bit much. I'll use this week as another test period.
I fear so much writing makes me even more boring than usual. I have had little else to talk about the past two weeks. So I may as well give a complete update here and perhaps that'll get everythng out in the open and I can forgo mentioning it for a while.
The second novel is already at 19000 words. Assuming it is of comparable length to the first one, I am about 18% finished. However, I suspect this one may be a bit longer. One can never tell until it is done. The first book in the second novel was a bit on the long side.
I have been writing a total of 15 weeks, though only 13 have had the 4000 words goal attached. (Recall my two weeks vacation after the finishing the first novel.) The first week I hit 3800 words and called it a tie. I forgot why, someone should go back and read that section to remind me. Of the remaining 12 weeks, I have hit the 4000 word goal 6 times and missed it 6 times.
This is in itself a meaningless statistic, seeing as I could have written 10 words a week for 6 weeks followed by 4010 words for 6 weeks, but we can all rest easy knowing that for the 13 weeks, I averaged 3846 words per week. I'll take it and call myself pleased with the result: 47730 words total since my Vegas arrival.
It would certainly be grand to maintain this pace. If possible, I should be awfully close to finishing the second novel sometime in November. I imagine I'll get burned out eventually and need to take some time off, but this is the stuff dreams are made of, a desire to continually improve one's situation.
There! Now that I have all the writing crap out of the way, I'll have to come up with something more clever to speak of next time.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
What the Flock?
I did indeed manage to hit my 4000 words last night. I finished chapter 5, which also completes the first book of the second novel. Technically, I suppose I could take the next three days off, but I don't seem to feel as though I need to go through my short rest period that I generally need to go through after finishing a book. The best part was that I very quickly came up with a rough idea for the second book. I need to hammer some stuff out, but with any luck that'll only take a few hours to a couple days. So far, I'm a touch over 18000 words into the second novel. Not a bad start...
It's been a while since I've discussed any new technologies or software, so I figured I'd relay to those who haven't yet updated, Firefox has now come out with version 3.0. I just upgraded last night, which is about a week or so after it came out. I always like to give new versions at least that much time, just in case there's a problem. The upgrade was painless and most of my extensions upgraded just fine. I also chose a new theme, one with a darker background.
Cullen, you may be interested in hearing that version 3.0 supposedly has a smaller memory footprint. I have found that it uses about 8-12% less memory, but I also never found it to be a memory hog to begin with, so take that for what it is worth.
Most people are too lazy to download and install a new browser and that is fine. I'm not offended. Most people learn to do things one archaic way and they never bother to seek out anything better, despite the fact that they know software goes through constant revisions. I figured I'd mention another free browser that is built off Firefox 3.0. Yup, people are already building off the new version. It is called "Flock" and it is also a free download available at flock.com.
Why did I not download this version if I am going to pimp it here? Well, I figured it was time I pimped something I had no use for, but know that other friends of mine may have a use for it. Call it charity work.
So what's the special special gimick of Flock? It is being advertised as a "social web browser". It was designed with special support compatibilities to certain sites, in particular, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogger, most news feeds, and more. Essentially, the browser automatically keeps track of your social networks and notifies you of germane information without you having to log into the various sites all the time to see if anything has updated.
I imagine I may eventually check this browser out, if only because it'll make checking my Gmail and posting my blog posts easier. I'm not really into the "social networks" like Facebook and Twitter, but I know a lot of my friends at the Knickerbocker are into that sort of thing and for the more progressive among them, (I think that subset may only include Cullen) this may be what they (he?) is looking for.
It's been a while since I've discussed any new technologies or software, so I figured I'd relay to those who haven't yet updated, Firefox has now come out with version 3.0. I just upgraded last night, which is about a week or so after it came out. I always like to give new versions at least that much time, just in case there's a problem. The upgrade was painless and most of my extensions upgraded just fine. I also chose a new theme, one with a darker background.
Cullen, you may be interested in hearing that version 3.0 supposedly has a smaller memory footprint. I have found that it uses about 8-12% less memory, but I also never found it to be a memory hog to begin with, so take that for what it is worth.
Most people are too lazy to download and install a new browser and that is fine. I'm not offended. Most people learn to do things one archaic way and they never bother to seek out anything better, despite the fact that they know software goes through constant revisions. I figured I'd mention another free browser that is built off Firefox 3.0. Yup, people are already building off the new version. It is called "Flock" and it is also a free download available at flock.com.
Why did I not download this version if I am going to pimp it here? Well, I figured it was time I pimped something I had no use for, but know that other friends of mine may have a use for it. Call it charity work.
So what's the special special gimick of Flock? It is being advertised as a "social web browser". It was designed with special support compatibilities to certain sites, in particular, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogger, most news feeds, and more. Essentially, the browser automatically keeps track of your social networks and notifies you of germane information without you having to log into the various sites all the time to see if anything has updated.
I imagine I may eventually check this browser out, if only because it'll make checking my Gmail and posting my blog posts easier. I'm not really into the "social networks" like Facebook and Twitter, but I know a lot of my friends at the Knickerbocker are into that sort of thing and for the more progressive among them, (I think that subset may only include Cullen) this may be what they (he?) is looking for.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Enh,...
I must say, the past few days I have been pretty unmotivated to write a blog entry. Not much has changed over the last few days, and thus, nothing to write. Though I haven't been motivated to write here, at least, I have been maintaining progress on my more important writings. Today is Thursday and already I am breathing down the neck of my 4000 word goal for the week. I haven't tallied in today's results but I imagine I am in the 3700-3800 word range. I may even go back for a second writing session later tonight.
It has been strikingly hot for the last 8-9 days with the daily high being no less than 105 degrees. In fact, I had come up with my own "rule of nines". If you try to google that phrase, you will mostly get pages on how to calculate the burned area on a burn victim, but there are many rules of nine.
The one I am personally most familiar with is the accounting rule of nines. In accounting, if your tabulated results differ with the actual results is evenly divisible by nine, then it is likely you transposed a pair of digits somewhere. It is a mathematical fact that if you take a number and transpose two digits and take the difference of the two numbers the result is divisible by nine.
I wish more people knew this rule. Every time I see people wowed by some sort of mathematical trickery, nine times out of ten, it is either basic algebra obfuscated by words, or an application of the accounting rule of nines. It is all very banal, but it impresses people for some reason.
Anyway, the rule of nines I came up with, was 90 degrees by 9am. That's been the benchmark temperature for more than a week, until today.... Today it didn't get to 90 degrees until 10am and the high was a mere 102. Whew! The days are getting shorter and you can already see the difference! I wish...
Anyway, that's enough about the heat. I finally made my way to the closest Chinese restaurant. It turns out the name of the place is D&B Chinese Food. The D & B apparently stands for delicious and best. I cannot comment on that. Being a Brown, I am unfortunately a nontaster and all Chinese food tastes the same to me. Hooray for genetics. I ordered two large dishes, hopefully enough for 3-4 meals, and thus far it is fine.
Since they deliver and I am no longer placing bets, I guess I never have any reason to leave my apartment again. Except to jump in the pool when it gets too hot; which is basically, all the time. Well, I guess that's not totally true. You'd be surprised how refreshing the 82 degrees feels at 4am.
As a last comment on this meaningless post, I figured I'd warn everybody that July may be a bit of a dry month for posts on my blog. The Tour de France stats the first week of July and goes for 23 days. This is the one sporting event that I absolutely love to watch every minute of it that I can and OLN has 4-6 hours of coverage a day. If they get the channel and I can watch it in the clubhouse, I will be watching it with great relish. If they do not, I'll find it online and download it so I can watch it that way. Of course, this is a great daily time commitment and if I want to keep up with my normal writing, my blog posts may suffer.
It has been strikingly hot for the last 8-9 days with the daily high being no less than 105 degrees. In fact, I had come up with my own "rule of nines". If you try to google that phrase, you will mostly get pages on how to calculate the burned area on a burn victim, but there are many rules of nine.
The one I am personally most familiar with is the accounting rule of nines. In accounting, if your tabulated results differ with the actual results is evenly divisible by nine, then it is likely you transposed a pair of digits somewhere. It is a mathematical fact that if you take a number and transpose two digits and take the difference of the two numbers the result is divisible by nine.
I wish more people knew this rule. Every time I see people wowed by some sort of mathematical trickery, nine times out of ten, it is either basic algebra obfuscated by words, or an application of the accounting rule of nines. It is all very banal, but it impresses people for some reason.
Anyway, the rule of nines I came up with, was 90 degrees by 9am. That's been the benchmark temperature for more than a week, until today.... Today it didn't get to 90 degrees until 10am and the high was a mere 102. Whew! The days are getting shorter and you can already see the difference! I wish...
Anyway, that's enough about the heat. I finally made my way to the closest Chinese restaurant. It turns out the name of the place is D&B Chinese Food. The D & B apparently stands for delicious and best. I cannot comment on that. Being a Brown, I am unfortunately a nontaster and all Chinese food tastes the same to me. Hooray for genetics. I ordered two large dishes, hopefully enough for 3-4 meals, and thus far it is fine.
Since they deliver and I am no longer placing bets, I guess I never have any reason to leave my apartment again. Except to jump in the pool when it gets too hot; which is basically, all the time. Well, I guess that's not totally true. You'd be surprised how refreshing the 82 degrees feels at 4am.
As a last comment on this meaningless post, I figured I'd warn everybody that July may be a bit of a dry month for posts on my blog. The Tour de France stats the first week of July and goes for 23 days. This is the one sporting event that I absolutely love to watch every minute of it that I can and OLN has 4-6 hours of coverage a day. If they get the channel and I can watch it in the clubhouse, I will be watching it with great relish. If they do not, I'll find it online and download it so I can watch it that way. Of course, this is a great daily time commitment and if I want to keep up with my normal writing, my blog posts may suffer.
Monday, June 23, 2008
American Originals
I spent a fair portion of the weekend watching old M*A*S*H episodes. I haven't watched this show with any gusto since my early teens. It hasn't lost much in twenty years. I still think it was the best overall show that's ever been on television. The humor is simple, but the depth of the show goes as far as you wish to delve.
I think I like the show because it is filled with extreme idealistic characters that one can only aspire to mimic, yet they are very real, very human, and of course, very likable. I don't think I've cried this much in years. It's such an intense show that watching one episode right after the next builds up lot of conflicting emotions and intense thoughts.
I love the patriotism of the show while proselytizing the flaws of our country. I watched this show endlessly as a kid, perhaps that is where I developed the habit. Being able to be outspoken against the mistakes of our government is one of the tenets that this country was based upon. It scares me that it has become so casual an exercise to label such critics as "unamerican", despite this knowledge. To me, the egregious unamerican acts include not allowing people to speak their minds.
I have always considered myself to be hyper-patriotic. I really do believe we live in the best country in the world, but I simply don't like the way it has been changing in my lifetime; even before my lifetime. I have always been fond of John Philip Sousa's marches from the beginning of the last century. They're very inspirational and are by definition American Originals. (For my swing dance friends: They are also the precursor to swing music. Don't believe me? Listen to one of them while listening to the earliest swing. They have the same baseline. It took a number of years for swing mature from sweeter to hotter.)
These marches were also hyper-patriotic. They inspired American citizens to enlist in WWI & WWII by the millions. Of course, we were dragged into those wars under false pretenses, like every war from last century. But at least people were proud of their country and what they were doing.
Our government no longer seeks to inspire the population into doing what it wants, and I think that is a shame. It's no less deceptive than the beat down they are doing now, but at least people could hold their heads up high. These days the government seeks to terrorize its own citizenry into doing what it wants. It's grinding people into submission through a constant barrage of home grown terrorism, and when people get jaded just enough they take it the next step further.
When was the last time our government sought to inspire the citizens? When was the last time they set a humanistic goal? A goal that was not just for us, but for the good of all mankind? I can think of none in my lifetime. Setting aside my distaste JFK's personal life, the only one I can think of is his goal of putting a man on the moon. Admittedly, the goal was inspired to show the world communism was inferior, but that misses the point of setting a goal and achieving it. It was something the American people could be proud of.
What goals does our government have set for us now? The end of terrorism? Please, they are the primary perpetrators of terrorism in the world. We currently have two generations growing up in this country, a third on the way, and not once have they seen their government do anything altruistic. We're supposed to be the best, wealthiest, strongest, etc. country in the world, but we haven't set a world goal with even the slightest nobility in over 45 years.
If there is one repetitive sentiment in the episodes of M*A*S*H, it is a constant battle of morale. Probably one-third (or more) of all the episodes involve some form of attempt to boost the camp's morale. It's no small wonder that people lack direction and goals of their own, when their own government can't instill a positive direction for its own actions, how can the people be expected to contribute positively to society? If our government is going to perpetually dupe us, the least they could do is try to raise morale throughout the country.
Anyway, these are the things I think about when I watch M*A*S*H.
I think I like the show because it is filled with extreme idealistic characters that one can only aspire to mimic, yet they are very real, very human, and of course, very likable. I don't think I've cried this much in years. It's such an intense show that watching one episode right after the next builds up lot of conflicting emotions and intense thoughts.
I love the patriotism of the show while proselytizing the flaws of our country. I watched this show endlessly as a kid, perhaps that is where I developed the habit. Being able to be outspoken against the mistakes of our government is one of the tenets that this country was based upon. It scares me that it has become so casual an exercise to label such critics as "unamerican", despite this knowledge. To me, the egregious unamerican acts include not allowing people to speak their minds.
I have always considered myself to be hyper-patriotic. I really do believe we live in the best country in the world, but I simply don't like the way it has been changing in my lifetime; even before my lifetime. I have always been fond of John Philip Sousa's marches from the beginning of the last century. They're very inspirational and are by definition American Originals. (For my swing dance friends: They are also the precursor to swing music. Don't believe me? Listen to one of them while listening to the earliest swing. They have the same baseline. It took a number of years for swing mature from sweeter to hotter.)
These marches were also hyper-patriotic. They inspired American citizens to enlist in WWI & WWII by the millions. Of course, we were dragged into those wars under false pretenses, like every war from last century. But at least people were proud of their country and what they were doing.
Our government no longer seeks to inspire the population into doing what it wants, and I think that is a shame. It's no less deceptive than the beat down they are doing now, but at least people could hold their heads up high. These days the government seeks to terrorize its own citizenry into doing what it wants. It's grinding people into submission through a constant barrage of home grown terrorism, and when people get jaded just enough they take it the next step further.
When was the last time our government sought to inspire the citizens? When was the last time they set a humanistic goal? A goal that was not just for us, but for the good of all mankind? I can think of none in my lifetime. Setting aside my distaste JFK's personal life, the only one I can think of is his goal of putting a man on the moon. Admittedly, the goal was inspired to show the world communism was inferior, but that misses the point of setting a goal and achieving it. It was something the American people could be proud of.
What goals does our government have set for us now? The end of terrorism? Please, they are the primary perpetrators of terrorism in the world. We currently have two generations growing up in this country, a third on the way, and not once have they seen their government do anything altruistic. We're supposed to be the best, wealthiest, strongest, etc. country in the world, but we haven't set a world goal with even the slightest nobility in over 45 years.
If there is one repetitive sentiment in the episodes of M*A*S*H, it is a constant battle of morale. Probably one-third (or more) of all the episodes involve some form of attempt to boost the camp's morale. It's no small wonder that people lack direction and goals of their own, when their own government can't instill a positive direction for its own actions, how can the people be expected to contribute positively to society? If our government is going to perpetually dupe us, the least they could do is try to raise morale throughout the country.
Anyway, these are the things I think about when I watch M*A*S*H.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Pusillanimity
After thinking about the gambling aspect of my Las Veags stay, I always knew it had a low probability of success, and I think I am going to call it quits. In coming out here I had a pretty measly bankroll of $2500 and was prepared to supplement that with another $1500 out of my savings. I have said many times that if I were to expect any reasonable chance of success I would need at least $100,000.
Hopefully, the math of that is obvious. If I were to cover my $1200 a month living expenses, I have to double my initial $2500 bankroll every two months. If it were easy to make a fifty percent profit per month at anything, the dopes on Wallstreet would have sucked that tit dry long ago. With a $100,000 I would only need to increase my bankroll about 1% a month. Better yet, I wouldn't have to bet every month. I could stick to betting the sports I like to bet.
As I have been blogging all week, I have had a losing streak (7 bets in a row!) in my least favorite sport, for betting anyway, namely baseball. After squandering far too much I decided I should reevaluate my plans considering baseball is essentially the only sport I can bet on for the better part of the next three months. I felt my choices were to start chasing after money with bets I don't like making, or settle in and focus on other things.
I have enough money to make it to the end of the year, maybe November, but then I will have to start amassing debt. I'm not sure that bothers me so much. I've been through that before and it's a whole lot more bark than it is bite. I suppose with my credit, I could easily live on my credit cards for a couple of years. After that, what's another bankruptcy?
Getting back to focusing on other things, the obvious question is what would those other things be? At some point, I am going to need to make a teaching portfolio, that is, if I want to get a job teaching anywhere. I suspect that will be a one or two month project I can do in my spare time. Wait, I guess technically, all my time is spare time.
On my way to the bank, I pass a temp agency. I am half tempted to drop by some afternoon and see what kind of work they can get a PhD in Mathematics. Probably nothing better than data entry. I have always wondered how I would fare at a job like that. I don't imagine it would be much of a challenge. I suppose I could get a job as one of the casino front desk clerks, or whatever they're called these days. Probably something like "Hotel Inhabitant Facilitator" or something equally stupid. Of course, that's a lot of people interaction for a job that is likely to be under $10 an hour.
Since I'm not going to be gambling, I guess I'd better think of something else to do with my time. The teaching portfolio looks like a solid option.
My apologies to those that were enjoying the romanticism of coming out here and gambling. I certainly enjoyed it. It's too bad I was too poor to give it a real go, but the old adage is true. It takes money to make money.
I told Kim last week that I was a bit of a coward to have run out here, in search of avoiding the more mundane aspects of life. She seemed to disagree with my assessment of the situation. It's all about interpretation. I suppose I am a bit of a coward now for not simply taking the last of my money and betting it all, but at least I'll be a coward with a roof over my head for a few months more.
Hopefully, the math of that is obvious. If I were to cover my $1200 a month living expenses, I have to double my initial $2500 bankroll every two months. If it were easy to make a fifty percent profit per month at anything, the dopes on Wallstreet would have sucked that tit dry long ago. With a $100,000 I would only need to increase my bankroll about 1% a month. Better yet, I wouldn't have to bet every month. I could stick to betting the sports I like to bet.
As I have been blogging all week, I have had a losing streak (7 bets in a row!) in my least favorite sport, for betting anyway, namely baseball. After squandering far too much I decided I should reevaluate my plans considering baseball is essentially the only sport I can bet on for the better part of the next three months. I felt my choices were to start chasing after money with bets I don't like making, or settle in and focus on other things.
I have enough money to make it to the end of the year, maybe November, but then I will have to start amassing debt. I'm not sure that bothers me so much. I've been through that before and it's a whole lot more bark than it is bite. I suppose with my credit, I could easily live on my credit cards for a couple of years. After that, what's another bankruptcy?
Getting back to focusing on other things, the obvious question is what would those other things be? At some point, I am going to need to make a teaching portfolio, that is, if I want to get a job teaching anywhere. I suspect that will be a one or two month project I can do in my spare time. Wait, I guess technically, all my time is spare time.
On my way to the bank, I pass a temp agency. I am half tempted to drop by some afternoon and see what kind of work they can get a PhD in Mathematics. Probably nothing better than data entry. I have always wondered how I would fare at a job like that. I don't imagine it would be much of a challenge. I suppose I could get a job as one of the casino front desk clerks, or whatever they're called these days. Probably something like "Hotel Inhabitant Facilitator" or something equally stupid. Of course, that's a lot of people interaction for a job that is likely to be under $10 an hour.
Since I'm not going to be gambling, I guess I'd better think of something else to do with my time. The teaching portfolio looks like a solid option.
My apologies to those that were enjoying the romanticism of coming out here and gambling. I certainly enjoyed it. It's too bad I was too poor to give it a real go, but the old adage is true. It takes money to make money.
I told Kim last week that I was a bit of a coward to have run out here, in search of avoiding the more mundane aspects of life. She seemed to disagree with my assessment of the situation. It's all about interpretation. I suppose I am a bit of a coward now for not simply taking the last of my money and betting it all, but at least I'll be a coward with a roof over my head for a few months more.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Long Distance Conversation
I didn't bother posting yesterday (Really, a day and a half ago as I intended on posting this last night before going to bed, but I was too tired so I am posting it this morning) because it was a repeat of the previous day. Yet another great day of writing (1172 words) and off to the Hilton to post a losing bet.
Yesterday makes the third day in a row. The writing was only average at 571 words, but my bet at the Hilton still lost. It's turning into a very bad month in that regard, but I said warned myself that there would be days like this. After writing 5500 words this week already, I decided to take the weekend off. It's obvious I could use a couple days down time.
I was complaining on a message board about Turkey's soccer team in the Euro 2008 tournament. They played Croatia and battled them to a 0-0 tie after 90 minutes. They were playing that annoying style that I was complaining about last week, the "I'm too much of a coward to play to win, so I'll play to not lose" style.
The following is a conversation I had with a women from Turkey. Though it is not included in this part of the dialog, she said a great number of her countrymen were complaining about the style of play as well. I was just annoyed that I had to endure 90 minutes of 11 chickens (Turkies?) running around playing so cautious they only managed 7 shots during regulation, only one of which was on goal. That's right. Ninety minutes and they only managed one shot that was actually heading towards the goal. It was pathetic.
Mostly, I am posting the conversation for my Grandmother to show her how the world is a bit smaller these days since the internet has started finding itself a larger and larger cornerstone of our culture. I have had many conversations with her before and I know she is pretty smart, so it shows how we're all pretty much alike. I'm going to shorten her screen name to "K" and I leave in all typos. Unlike me, most people are in too big of a hurry to fix them.
K: I still believe that it is much more exciting than your "football" which is not played by feet :D ha ha!!! But only when it is a good match. TUrkish team always had fault, and the reason is inferiority complex. THey believe that they will lose anyway, so they try at least not to lose that badly haha!!!! so sorry for them..
Me: I enjoy both sports, but the most common time that I find American football to be boring is when one team is blowing out another.
That never happens in soccer.
My favorite sport to watch is probably NBA basketball.
K: same here :) It is shorter, faster
Me: I like the flow of the game. Waves of action flow back and forth between teams. I find it has nice balance for a sport.
K: everything is neat.. well, yes, like a nice wave that carries you off shore and then back that's what I meant.. faster... It occupies your brain, your soul... meets your need of adrenalin... forms a nice bond with the fellow audience, It's not too long to ruin the relations :) :)
Me: LOL! I was refering to the back and forth between teams. But you're right, the game's do seem to be just long enough without droning on too long and games that go into overtime (or double and triple overtime!) are almost always exciting enough to make up for the extra time wasted. ;)
The conversation was invaded by a teen age boy from England. Even online I like to mock little kids. This is the good part. The adults carry on with their adult conversation and the little boy runs along. I'll call the young man "D".
D: i cant stand football unless england are playing myself lol.
Me: You get to play against the entire English team? That's pretty cool. :P
K: me I'd like to see that:) ha ha ha!!!!!!
D: hell yeah... and i always win :D
Me: That's what they get for playing to not lose against you. ;)
K: we are not Europeans, you see, they don't even want us in the EU.... 90% of the country is in Asia. Yet 30% of the population is in Europe... and more than that live in EU countries. :D so solve the puzzle. noone could so far ha ha ha!!!
Me: It's not much of a puzzle seeing as it is all moot anyway. Over the next thirty years the international bankers that control 98% of the world's wealth will finally achieve the goal they've been working on for the last 60 years, namely, a unified world economy.
Then the next day the world will run out of oil.
It'll be a Friday.
Come Monday, the survivors will be back to throwing stones and living in mud and grass huts.
K: :D Yeah... Tell Sam about that... THey mostly habit over there... not that they are US Citizens... you know, bin Ladin family is a good friend of the Bush for ex. (bush against bush :D ladin is bush)
Me: Sam's busy. He's too bogged down with trying to figure out how to get us all implanted with the RFID chips.
Good thing I am an urban hermit and will never have children. I would pity my children, grandchildren, and the world they will be enslaved in.
K: I think people like us should have children.. one or two... But I am 34, not married, no children.. who am I to give advice :D
Me: The meek shall inherit the Earth, alas, the bible conveniently forgets to mention that it is the mentally weak, which means our children would be the first go.
I stopped giving advice a long time ago. That is, once I realized that people actually seek to take more offense from the words than understanding.
Most of the time anyway....
K: :)
____________________
This was her response to her team eventually winning the game in extra time:
K: Oh no! non, non non!!! we won... I'd better keep away from windows. All these black sea people and Kurds worship their guns and shoot them whenever they are emotional. Bunch of ignorant idiots...
____________________
And there you have it Grandma. That's how two intelligent people from different countries talk to each other whilst online. The conversations are a little disjointed, sarcastic (that just may be me at the table), but they are honest enough that you can see everyone is pretty much the same. Hopefully, the meek won't inherit her part of the earth tonight.
Yesterday makes the third day in a row. The writing was only average at 571 words, but my bet at the Hilton still lost. It's turning into a very bad month in that regard, but I said warned myself that there would be days like this. After writing 5500 words this week already, I decided to take the weekend off. It's obvious I could use a couple days down time.
I was complaining on a message board about Turkey's soccer team in the Euro 2008 tournament. They played Croatia and battled them to a 0-0 tie after 90 minutes. They were playing that annoying style that I was complaining about last week, the "I'm too much of a coward to play to win, so I'll play to not lose" style.
The following is a conversation I had with a women from Turkey. Though it is not included in this part of the dialog, she said a great number of her countrymen were complaining about the style of play as well. I was just annoyed that I had to endure 90 minutes of 11 chickens (Turkies?) running around playing so cautious they only managed 7 shots during regulation, only one of which was on goal. That's right. Ninety minutes and they only managed one shot that was actually heading towards the goal. It was pathetic.
Mostly, I am posting the conversation for my Grandmother to show her how the world is a bit smaller these days since the internet has started finding itself a larger and larger cornerstone of our culture. I have had many conversations with her before and I know she is pretty smart, so it shows how we're all pretty much alike. I'm going to shorten her screen name to "K" and I leave in all typos. Unlike me, most people are in too big of a hurry to fix them.
K: I still believe that it is much more exciting than your "football" which is not played by feet :D ha ha!!! But only when it is a good match. TUrkish team always had fault, and the reason is inferiority complex. THey believe that they will lose anyway, so they try at least not to lose that badly haha!!!! so sorry for them..
Me: I enjoy both sports, but the most common time that I find American football to be boring is when one team is blowing out another.
That never happens in soccer.
My favorite sport to watch is probably NBA basketball.
K: same here :) It is shorter, faster
Me: I like the flow of the game. Waves of action flow back and forth between teams. I find it has nice balance for a sport.
K: everything is neat.. well, yes, like a nice wave that carries you off shore and then back that's what I meant.. faster... It occupies your brain, your soul... meets your need of adrenalin... forms a nice bond with the fellow audience, It's not too long to ruin the relations :) :)
Me: LOL! I was refering to the back and forth between teams. But you're right, the game's do seem to be just long enough without droning on too long and games that go into overtime (or double and triple overtime!) are almost always exciting enough to make up for the extra time wasted. ;)
The conversation was invaded by a teen age boy from England. Even online I like to mock little kids. This is the good part. The adults carry on with their adult conversation and the little boy runs along. I'll call the young man "D".
D: i cant stand football unless england are playing myself lol.
Me: You get to play against the entire English team? That's pretty cool. :P
K: me I'd like to see that:) ha ha ha!!!!!!
D: hell yeah... and i always win :D
Me: That's what they get for playing to not lose against you. ;)
K: we are not Europeans, you see, they don't even want us in the EU.... 90% of the country is in Asia. Yet 30% of the population is in Europe... and more than that live in EU countries. :D so solve the puzzle. noone could so far ha ha ha!!!
Me: It's not much of a puzzle seeing as it is all moot anyway. Over the next thirty years the international bankers that control 98% of the world's wealth will finally achieve the goal they've been working on for the last 60 years, namely, a unified world economy.
Then the next day the world will run out of oil.
It'll be a Friday.
Come Monday, the survivors will be back to throwing stones and living in mud and grass huts.
K: :D Yeah... Tell Sam about that... THey mostly habit over there... not that they are US Citizens... you know, bin Ladin family is a good friend of the Bush for ex. (bush against bush :D ladin is bush)
Me: Sam's busy. He's too bogged down with trying to figure out how to get us all implanted with the RFID chips.
Good thing I am an urban hermit and will never have children. I would pity my children, grandchildren, and the world they will be enslaved in.
K: I think people like us should have children.. one or two... But I am 34, not married, no children.. who am I to give advice :D
Me: The meek shall inherit the Earth, alas, the bible conveniently forgets to mention that it is the mentally weak, which means our children would be the first go.
I stopped giving advice a long time ago. That is, once I realized that people actually seek to take more offense from the words than understanding.
Most of the time anyway....
K: :)
____________________
This was her response to her team eventually winning the game in extra time:
K: Oh no! non, non non!!! we won... I'd better keep away from windows. All these black sea people and Kurds worship their guns and shoot them whenever they are emotional. Bunch of ignorant idiots...
____________________
And there you have it Grandma. That's how two intelligent people from different countries talk to each other whilst online. The conversations are a little disjointed, sarcastic (that just may be me at the table), but they are honest enough that you can see everyone is pretty much the same. Hopefully, the meek won't inherit her part of the earth tonight.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Early to Bed, Early to Rise,...
Makes a man finish his day awfully early!
I slept from 10pm to 6am last night. I'm enjoying the night sleeping. I seem to get my best work done first thing in the morning after a night's rest. For whatever reason, I don't seem to write as well when I'm on other schedules. Maybe that's all in my head because I've been writing so well the past two days.
This morning I wrote another 1700 words. It was a pretty good morning. Hope I can manage another 300 over the next four days so I can declare this a successful week. I called Moose and told him I had a couple of new chapters for him to download. We talked for a bit, then I called Kim and talked to her for an hour. After that, I listened to the last of my backlog of podcasts and found I nothing left to do for the day and it was only 2pm.
I ate lunch and then went to the Hilton to place a losing bet. (Damn baseball, anyway!)
It's going to be a tough month. I am now a couple hundred in the hole for the month and I suppose I should look to break even. We'll see. It's not much more than half over, so I guess there's plenty of time. I am thinking of picking a nice soccer game and putting some big bucks on it. Lately, I feel better about those matches than the baseball.
I'll randomly jump back to the beginning of the post. I'm jealous. Moose told me he has started taking Karate lessons again. I was never a big fan of karate, and definitely preferred Tae Kwon Do as it suited my mentality and physicality better, but at this point, I'd take any martial art over doing nothing. Alas, I have seen neither a school within walking distance, nor have I seen the pile of money that would pay for lessons should one magically sprout up. (Okay, they don't really sprout up magically.)
This, of course, leads me to a natural segue to a comment I made in my phone call to Kim. I miss my Chinese food. (What? Karate is Japanese, Tae Kwon Do is Korean, and now I'm discussing Chinese food. How much more natural can you get?) Having a Chinese restaurant right around the corner from my apartment for eight years in Albany was pretty great. I'm a sucker for the old reliables like chicken with broccoli, pork lo mien, or the bucket o' meat. I forget what that's called in Chinese, boneless pork spare ribs I think, but I'm not sure if that's a direct translation.
The closest chinese place around here is half way to the grocery store. That's much too far. It's got to be about a half mile. I'm much too old and fat to be traveling that far for food. Maybe when I was young and filled with hate I'd have made the trip, but I don't have that kind of energy anymore. Kim suggested that they might deliver if I order a lard pack size order. It's a thought.
Getting back to my post, after placing my losing bet I had to figure out what I was going to do with myself. I opted for starting Season 5 of M*A*S*H. (Yes, that's actually the way the title is supposed to be spelled.) After several hours of viewing, I finally decided it was time to bore everyone with the goings on of my day. Sorry, once again I am a bore. What can I do?
I slept from 10pm to 6am last night. I'm enjoying the night sleeping. I seem to get my best work done first thing in the morning after a night's rest. For whatever reason, I don't seem to write as well when I'm on other schedules. Maybe that's all in my head because I've been writing so well the past two days.
This morning I wrote another 1700 words. It was a pretty good morning. Hope I can manage another 300 over the next four days so I can declare this a successful week. I called Moose and told him I had a couple of new chapters for him to download. We talked for a bit, then I called Kim and talked to her for an hour. After that, I listened to the last of my backlog of podcasts and found I nothing left to do for the day and it was only 2pm.
I ate lunch and then went to the Hilton to place a losing bet. (Damn baseball, anyway!)
It's going to be a tough month. I am now a couple hundred in the hole for the month and I suppose I should look to break even. We'll see. It's not much more than half over, so I guess there's plenty of time. I am thinking of picking a nice soccer game and putting some big bucks on it. Lately, I feel better about those matches than the baseball.
I'll randomly jump back to the beginning of the post. I'm jealous. Moose told me he has started taking Karate lessons again. I was never a big fan of karate, and definitely preferred Tae Kwon Do as it suited my mentality and physicality better, but at this point, I'd take any martial art over doing nothing. Alas, I have seen neither a school within walking distance, nor have I seen the pile of money that would pay for lessons should one magically sprout up. (Okay, they don't really sprout up magically.)
This, of course, leads me to a natural segue to a comment I made in my phone call to Kim. I miss my Chinese food. (What? Karate is Japanese, Tae Kwon Do is Korean, and now I'm discussing Chinese food. How much more natural can you get?) Having a Chinese restaurant right around the corner from my apartment for eight years in Albany was pretty great. I'm a sucker for the old reliables like chicken with broccoli, pork lo mien, or the bucket o' meat. I forget what that's called in Chinese, boneless pork spare ribs I think, but I'm not sure if that's a direct translation.
The closest chinese place around here is half way to the grocery store. That's much too far. It's got to be about a half mile. I'm much too old and fat to be traveling that far for food. Maybe when I was young and filled with hate I'd have made the trip, but I don't have that kind of energy anymore. Kim suggested that they might deliver if I order a lard pack size order. It's a thought.
Getting back to my post, after placing my losing bet I had to figure out what I was going to do with myself. I opted for starting Season 5 of M*A*S*H. (Yes, that's actually the way the title is supposed to be spelled.) After several hours of viewing, I finally decided it was time to bore everyone with the goings on of my day. Sorry, once again I am a bore. What can I do?
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