I've finally completed my INS certification. Mostly, it means that I get to put letters behind my name (not that anyone outside the insurance industry would know what they mean, but still).
- Thîr:
wet - Music:Dizz Knee Land by Dada
Title: The Princes of the Noldor (Ch 11 of 12)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: WIP. Series of vignettes, each concerning a grandson of Finwë at a turning point or decisive moment.
Genre: Drama/Genfic
ff.net: The Princes of the Noldor: Angrod
hasa: The Princes of the Noldor: Angrod
I'm absolutely furious at the moment. ffnet has now forbidden 'character-based' section breaks (such as hyphens) and disallowed centring except through their editor. Worse, they've swept these out of fics that have already been posted - in the past, their code restrictions have left old stories intact, but not this time. So, all section breaks, without which some stories are nearly incomprehensible, are gone. Of course, they eliminated proper html section breaks ages ago. The only way now, really, to get a fic to appear properly is to upload as html and then edit it with their text editor.
It's going to take hours to fix all my fics. Fortunately, I have all the original html files, but I'll have to convert them to ansi (ffnet will no longer take anything in unicode) and fix a whole slew of relics that ffnet no longer allows in html coding. Then, once I've got the chapters uploaded, I've got to finish fixing them with the ffnet editor.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: WIP. Series of vignettes, each concerning a grandson of Finwë at a turning point or decisive moment.
Genre: Drama/Genfic
hasa: The Princes of the Noldor: Angrod
I'm absolutely furious at the moment. ffnet has now forbidden 'character-based' section breaks (such as hyphens) and disallowed centring except through their editor. Worse, they've swept these out of fics that have already been posted - in the past, their code restrictions have left old stories intact, but not this time. So, all section breaks, without which some stories are nearly incomprehensible, are gone. Of course, they eliminated proper html section breaks ages ago. The only way now, really, to get a fic to appear properly is to upload as html and then edit it with their text editor.
It's going to take hours to fix all my fics. Fortunately, I have all the original html files, but I'll have to convert them to ansi (ffnet will no longer take anything in unicode) and fix a whole slew of relics that ffnet no longer allows in html coding. Then, once I've got the chapters uploaded, I've got to finish fixing them with the ffnet editor.
- Thîr:
angry
At some point last night, I had a revelatory moment (either that, or the milk had gone off). Writer's block has plagued me for months now - I think I've written a total of twenty words that might see a finished story. I've realised, however, that all the rest of the crap I've written is the problem.
We sometimes write a scene or description or bit of dialogue and fall in love with it. It's clever, or funny, or just poignant enough, and translates perfectly the picture we have in our minds.
And then our characters refuse to do the scene.
We push words around and prod and write pages of unnecessary prose, trying to work it into the story, but no matter how much padding we pack around it, the characters keep sending it back for a rewrite.
The trouble is, they're right. No matter how much we love our ideas, they don't fit. They might be slightly more sophisticated than the protagonist in a Mary Sue, but the conceit is the same. The violet eyes must go.
We sometimes write a scene or description or bit of dialogue and fall in love with it. It's clever, or funny, or just poignant enough, and translates perfectly the picture we have in our minds.
And then our characters refuse to do the scene.
We push words around and prod and write pages of unnecessary prose, trying to work it into the story, but no matter how much padding we pack around it, the characters keep sending it back for a rewrite.
The trouble is, they're right. No matter how much we love our ideas, they don't fit. They might be slightly more sophisticated than the protagonist in a Mary Sue, but the conceit is the same. The violet eyes must go.
- Thîr:
bloodthirsty
Misty
1995-2008
- Thîr:
sad
By this time of night a month ago, we were already getting results in Colorado, and we're two time zones later than Ohio. Folks, it's midnight in Columbus, and you're holding up the whole country.
- Thîr:
impatient
I would not like it on my car,
on the street or
in my yard.
I would not like it,
Sam-I-Am,
I do not like this snow in March!
Yesterday, it was 74° (23° C). Today, we have ( this. )
But I come bearing gifts! Some seventeen years ago, I saw an REM video in which Michael Stipe sang a cover of 'Wichita Lineman' that was just amazing. I would have killed to have an audio copy, and now, through the wonders of Yahoo Music, I do. Try it (and buy it - it's on the Bittersweet Me EP):
REM - Wichita Lineman (YSI mp3 2.99 mb)
( And speaking of Dr Seuss, how obtuse can people get? )
on the street or
in my yard.
I would not like it,
Sam-I-Am,
I do not like this snow in March!
Yesterday, it was 74° (23° C). Today, we have ( this. )
But I come bearing gifts! Some seventeen years ago, I saw an REM video in which Michael Stipe sang a cover of 'Wichita Lineman' that was just amazing. I would have killed to have an audio copy, and now, through the wonders of Yahoo Music, I do. Try it (and buy it - it's on the Bittersweet Me EP):
REM - Wichita Lineman (YSI mp3 2.99 mb)
( And speaking of Dr Seuss, how obtuse can people get? )
- Thîr: cranky
- To our great disappointment, Hillary proved viable in our precinct and snagged one of our five delegates. With 20% reporting, Obama is winning in Colorado two to one. Only half of Denver has come in, and none of Boulder - I'm guessing Boulder will fall toward Obama, being a university town. I'm not sure about Denver - Obama hasn't done as well among Hispanic voters, and that's a huge chunk of the population. Pueblo hasn't come in either, and it has a large Hispanic population. Aurora, on the other hand, has a large black population and is also yet to report.
- Since my precinct is basically DU, most of the voters were voting for the first time. The kids were great, however - our precinct captain never appeared, and a couple of them more or less stepped up to run the whole thing. We had 53 show up, which is as many as all seven precincts combined saw in 2004.
- I left a quick note at the NPR blog lest the world think we're as stupid as Virginians. (Remember, these are the people who passed the Marshall-Newman Amendment.)
- Just in: Obama picked up Connecticut, believed to be an easy Clinton state, along with Minnesota.
- Thîr:
excited
From the inimitable Berke Breathed, ( a cartoon for Super Tuesday: )
I think I'm going to walk to the polling place - we have to be there by 7:00 tonight, and I'm afraid that if I drive, I'll still be looking for a parking place at 7:00. It seems like a fair distance, but it's only five minutes farther than my walk to the train station.
I think I'm going to walk to the polling place - we have to be there by 7:00 tonight, and I'm afraid that if I drive, I'll still be looking for a parking place at 7:00. It seems like a fair distance, but it's only five minutes farther than my walk to the train station.
- Thîr: fervorous
- Thîr:
sleepy
Well, no Obama for me. Instead of giving priority to those with e-tickets, it was first-come, first-serve and I got within twenty paces of the doors before the fire marshall closed them. And the 'party wonks' I didn't want to hear turned out to be Caroline Kennedy and future Hall-of-Famer Rod Smith. ::cries::
- Thîr: crushed
Obama is coming here! Not just here, as in Denver, but here, as in the campus sports arena twenty feet from my parking lot. I almost passed it up, thinking of how busy we are at work, and the tedium of listening to all the party wonks, but I realised I'd be kicking myself if I did.
And, because no one did political satire better than Berke Breathed, have a ( Bloom County cartoon )
And, because no one did political satire better than Berke Breathed, have a ( Bloom County cartoon )
- Thîr: excited
Wednesday night, I noticed that it was rather cool in my condo. Granted, the temperature was hovering in the single digits (about -13° C), but still. I felt up the radiator and discovered that it was stone cold - not just sort of lukewarmish and burbling, as it usually is, but dead. I ran into the building manager's boyfriend on my way out Thursday morning and was relieved to hear that a few others had complained of cold, meaning that the problem was not in my condo but in the building's heating system.
I returned home that night to learn that the heat was out and would be fixed by Friday at 5:00 pm - if not, then not until Monday - which is what happened. No heat since Wednesday. Fortunately, we've had one of our seasonable warm fronts come through, and Saturday and Sunday were sunny and topping 50° (l0° C) - otherwise, we would have had pipes bursting. It was sort of disappointing - I'd loaded up with soup and hot chocolate and several books and planned to spend the weekend huddled under the covers with the cats. (Okay, I did that anyway.) Hopefully, it'll be fixed today, as the weather's turning colder tonight.
I returned home that night to learn that the heat was out and would be fixed by Friday at 5:00 pm - if not, then not until Monday - which is what happened. No heat since Wednesday. Fortunately, we've had one of our seasonable warm fronts come through, and Saturday and Sunday were sunny and topping 50° (l0° C) - otherwise, we would have had pipes bursting. It was sort of disappointing - I'd loaded up with soup and hot chocolate and several books and planned to spend the weekend huddled under the covers with the cats. (Okay, I did that anyway.) Hopefully, it'll be fixed today, as the weather's turning colder tonight.
- Thîr: mellow
I planned to spend yesterday writing and cleaning and have done little of either. But, I have excuses!
- The Great Ice Field of University Park, otherwise known as The Glacier That Ate My Parking Lot. This vast expanse of ice stretches from the back door to the dumpster, making any venture out of doors a great peril. I'm hoping to sell it to Antarctica - I hear they need ice.
- It was too cold to clean: a cheery 2° F, or -17° C. Plus, it was overcast and The Precipitation That Shall Not Be Named was falling, which made me even less enthusiastic about braving the ice. Or doing anything but eating soup and snuggling under the covers with the cats.
- I don't need to clean. Eilian's new hobby is pulling the (my) hair out of the bathtub drain with his claws. It sort of makes up for the hairballs I've been picking up for years. You may not be able to eat off my floors (or my plates, for that matter), but I have clean drains!
- On the writing side, I am currently entertaining writer's block of thermonuclear-resistant proportions. I write bits. Good bits, really, except that the prospect of getting them to gel together into something resembling a story is almost painful. Also, it was too cold to type, and I couldn't find my gloves with the ends of the fingers cut out. Of course, if I cleaned, I might find these gloves (and the other twelve pairs gone missing - I once drove to work in -12° F - which is Pretty Damn Cold in Celsius - with mismatched socks on my hands).
- Thîr: January sucks
In an article profiling the gang that killed Bronco CB Darrent Williams, a source mentioned a home in Connecticut owned by one of the members. His intent: to use the profits from drugs to retire. It's a new twist on the American Dream, which has become inaccessible for so many.
Perhaps the most profound words spoken by Dr Martin Luther King Jr concerned not race relations but poverty:
People who have no stake in society blow it up.
Perhaps the most profound words spoken by Dr Martin Luther King Jr concerned not race relations but poverty:
There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.This is the side of King many would rather not remember. Toward the end of his life, he turned his attention to peace and poverty, alienating many of those who had embraced him. As the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, King's words become a warning. Through peaceful resistance, he brought the South out of apartheid and made equality the law, if not entirely the reality, of the land. In the absence of such a leader, the US moves ever closer to a police state, in recognition that sooner or later, the have-nots will turn from preying on one another and look toward the haves.
People who have no stake in society blow it up.
- Thîr:
contemplative
In my excitement over Colorado's early caucus (meaning that we'll actually get to participate in the selection of the party nominees for once), I somehow missed California's decision to move its primary to the same 'Super Tuesday'. The states that moved their primaries up did so in part because they wanted to vote before California because the number of delegates for that state effectively ends the campaign.
( In other words, the whole thing could be over in four weeks. )
( In other words, the whole thing could be over in four weeks. )
- Thîr: contemplative
- Thîr: happy
- I'm in love with Luna Lovegood.
- This particular installment brought some rather difficult characters to screen quite successfully: Luna, Dolores Umbridge and Bellatrix Lestrange. All three could easily have gone over the top. Natalia Tena also gave us a nice picture of Tonks in the very little screen time allotted.
- Let us all take a moment to rave about Emma Thompson.
- Unsung excellence: David Bradley as Filch.
- I'm slowly warming to Michael Gambon. He'll never have Richard Harris' presence, but he seems to be more comfortable in the role now.
- A couple of key parts missing from the film: I don't really care that they simplified Occulomency, but the pensieve (sp?) is going to be important in Deathly Hallows. Second, Snape's role in warning the Order of the 'attack' on Sirius is important for both Harry and Snape - perhaps they plan to pick it up in the next film?
- Luna!
- Thîr: calm
By 5 PM this evening the snowfall should eventually let up.
Well, there's a solid forecast for you. Still, we were supposed to get a dusting yesterday evening (when I had to be out). By 3:00 am, when I went to bed, it was still dry. They're not predicting anything in the way of a blizzard, mind you, but still, it's easier to enjoy the snow knowing I won't have to drive in it tomorrow (but maybe I can finally make use of the Wellingtons I bought last year). And it's very pretty.
I plan to spend the afternoon watching March of the Penguins, writing and taking a long winter's nap with Eilian in his kerchief and Misty in her cap. Hope the day is as restful for everyone else.
Well, there's a solid forecast for you. Still, we were supposed to get a dusting yesterday evening (when I had to be out). By 3:00 am, when I went to bed, it was still dry. They're not predicting anything in the way of a blizzard, mind you, but still, it's easier to enjoy the snow knowing I won't have to drive in it tomorrow (but maybe I can finally make use of the Wellingtons I bought last year). And it's very pretty.
I plan to spend the afternoon watching March of the Penguins, writing and taking a long winter's nap with Eilian in his kerchief and Misty in her cap. Hope the day is as restful for everyone else.
- Location:Home
- Thîr: content
First rule of troubleshooting a recalcitrant USB device: unplug all other USB devices and try it alone. Quite by accident, I found that my Maxtor external drive was the source of my troubles with mp3 players. Without the drive plugged in, all four players (including one that is supposedly not compatible with Vista) were immediately recognised and working properly. Plug in the drive, and the players went dead.
I keep all my data, including my music, on the external drive - I don't like keeping it on my primary hard disk in case I do something stupid and have to reformat. So, for the moment, I've disabled the USB 2.0 controller (oddly enough, the drive will share 1.0 root hubs quite happily). A new external drive is a much cheaper fix than a whole new computer - I was feeling like I'd bought a snazzy new car, only to discover that the radio was broken and couldn't be fixed.
I keep all my data, including my music, on the external drive - I don't like keeping it on my primary hard disk in case I do something stupid and have to reformat. So, for the moment, I've disabled the USB 2.0 controller (oddly enough, the drive will share 1.0 root hubs quite happily). A new external drive is a much cheaper fix than a whole new computer - I was feeling like I'd bought a snazzy new car, only to discover that the radio was broken and couldn't be fixed.
- Thîr: ecstatic
...I will diminish, and go into the West.
- Thîr: relieved
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