after the laughter

So, November was a record month for me in terms of output, both at work, in personal life, and here on the internets.

Since then, I’ve more or less been in a holding pattern. But in the month of December, I think that overall I was a more rounded Human Being. I left the Temple a lot, went out a great deal, socialized, met new people, strengthened relationships with old people, and reconnected with freinds long gone.

My original plan of analyzing a similar novel to my own work was noble in practice, but it made it very difficult for me to read the book for enjoyment. It was a good book in and of itself, and after two chapters of detailed analysis, I was able to determine that a) the first two chapters of that book were massively overwritten, and b) they needed to be.

The first few chapters of a novel are the first 30 to 60 minutes of your time with the reader. (ed. I personally favor a reading rate of about 100 pages an hour, which takes me a bit further into the book than this. I can read much, much faster, but I feel The Work “suffers’ from that rate. YMMV) At the end of that time, you’ve got them, or you have annoyed them.

I think that my first two chapters do this. In them, there are characters, concepts, and themes introduced, the sprinkings of two major plots and one sub-thread, and the introduction of almost every major player in the piece. As previously recorded here, Chapter 4 is the real meaty one, and could almost stand alone as a piece of Short fiction. Consequently, Chapter 5 is suffering somewhat, for although I have a killer ending, the revision I made to the front half of it is somewhat hard to write. I know where it is supposed to go, I know who is supposed to be “speaking”, and to what ends. But the words are not coming at the speed I want them to, and I’m more or less stuck there.

Myself, there are only two books I have ever started and not finished (Marching Through Georgia by S.M. Stirling, and Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond) The first really pissed me off, and I did not get to Chapter two. The latter is interesting, but as boring as dishwater. After half a book of “and in the next chapter, you will see why this is true,” I really got tired of waiting for things like, you know, Facts.

Theories abound in that work, and although I was very interested in learning about domestication of food plants and animals, and migratory paths of early peoples, I really wanted to know more about the advantages of a technological society over a balanced, ecologically sound culture.

In particular, Mine. Or rather, My father’s. I was a very , very angry person a decade ago, and that most likely colored my appreciation and expectations of the work a great deal. It could be that I would gain greater benefit from it at this point in my life. For as the next paragraph shows…

Several others (God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert, and The Last Witchfinder by James R. Morrow) took me a long time to re-address after I put them down. Once I did, I enjoyed them thouroughly. It took me almost two decades to properly appreciate GEoD, but now that I grok it, it stands as my favorite volume of the opus. TLW is Morrow’s most commercial work to date, and as a result, my least favorite book of his catalog. The last quarter was Pure Morrow, but the first half felt more like half-assed Gaiman. Whom I revere, have no illusions. It just wasn’t what I wanted, and I needed 8 months or so to reconnect with the book.

Since I put down the pen, I’ve plotted a work of non fiction, and the dreams keep coming, so new plots for short works are abounding. I may need to go write something else for a while, but the specter of the Book will be over me for a while. I keep wanting to re-outline the work, and I think that will be necessary before I can make any more real progress.

It’s January, 2008. Two years ago, I decided that I needed to no longer be a gigantic fatass. During that month, I noticed that I had not had a beer in a few weeks, and decided to keep that trend up. At the end of the month, I was up in Canada with freinds, and noticed that I had not lost the 20 lbs that usually accompany that particular abstinence. Indeed, I was up to 296 lbs, and my estimate is that I was up around 310 before I began the Plan.

It’s been almost a year, and even through holiday excesses, I’m more or less right on target. I keep doing very physical things, and working out sporadically. Since my muscles” remember” being tuned up, they are quite happy to get back into proper form, and every period of more than average exertion leads to a few more pounds of lean muscle mass. I like the person I see in the mirror, but am not as happy with the person I feel like when I sit down to type.

This morning’s outmeel was delicious, in case you are wondering. remaining for the day are Pastrami Sandwich, Lean Ground Turkey, and Chicken. All of which exist at my home, and two of which can be easlily procured while out shopping this afternoon.

A note on shopping. I have a shitton of stuff. Several of my numerous purchases in December were related to the cataloging and organization of said stuff. This month, I’m going to be clearing a couple debts, powering through the substantial backlog of DVD sets and features on my “to watch” list, and continuing my beautification efforts around the casa.

Next month, there will be HD Tivo, and HD DVD. Although the former will come first, I’m not entirely convinced that the latter is really necessary (my current players AND television upconvert) So the odds are exceptionally high that at least one of my TIVO boxes will be recycled in a non-TIVO household, and that I may also be picking up a second desktop or laptop computer to server as a primary workstation, leaving my existing machine to be a media fileserver.

Becuase, really, I need more stuff. Honest, I do.

Over the winter gift season, I picked up 3 puzzes for myself, and received a wicked cool 3 Dimensional puzzle as a gift. I loves me the puzzles. I love the calm, relaxing time putting them together, listening to the patterns as they “speak” to me, and putting myself into a near timeless state of creativity.

I bought another one yesterday, but somehow managed to get out of the store without too much damage. Even though there was a sale on Puzzles. Go figure.

I can go on, but today needs to begin. I have a no-stress, walkabout day planned in and around Capital Hill. If you are interested in joining the magical mystery tour, give us a shout out, and we’ll try to hook up.

I’ll also be attending RustyCon next weekend. I do beleive I’ve become again the person who goes to Conventions for fun, and to be around smart people. That’s a good feeling. Plus, I’m no longer the angry young man, and after considerable effort, I’m also not the bitter, disillusioned adult.

I Just AM. Good days and bad, I am. Hope that works for the rest of you, I really don’t want to change. Realizing why I am the way I am allowed to me overcome a few obstacles, so that I could see the other ones in my path.

Hope that’s enough catchup for you folks what needed your Bhagwan fix.

P.S. This is the most I have written in three weeks, that was not related to Math. Go figure.

P.P.S. The sickness has had me since 12/26. I get better, then I get worse. Today is more or less a good day, but I’m still having difficulty breathing.

P.P.P.S. The anti-caffiene and artificial sweetener campaign continues. I’ve taken to drinking 4 or so cups of red tea a day, and I only miss Sodas a little bit.

My joints and lungs miss them A LOT. Go figure, again.