I'm in that place where I'm haveing fun with my projects and making good headway in great time, But I also see the deadline of months end coming in at me. It's going to be tight over the next few days and I may not make it through everything I wanted to in time. But Hopefully I will get some of the really important ones set and done and on the way to removing some of the big goals from my master list.
I should also hae the chance to have a bit of fun over the next few days, as each of these days has me meeting with freinds and/or family for some social time.
I'm also wary of that aspect as well. These sorts of things can take hours of time and while fun can slow or een halt progress in other areas. Then it's a matter of which is more important, and that's usually no contest. Invariably I always drop things for freinds and family. Which is all well and good, if you can afford to do that.
I'll do my best to not loose my momentum and continue working on my projects. Hopefully I will get around to reporting some successes in the next few days.
I've got to get myself going but Look for a post by saturday morning.
Take care of yourselves.
Roving jack
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
What do you mean only 24 hours in a day?
I'm trying, really I am but it seems that some of my projects of late have no reguard for the fact that I have only finite time rescources.
I did start, only just, studying the sumerian lexicon. It looks like it will be interesting to say the least. The very first word is a small simple logogram, that has 6-8 differant meanings. Not all of them related in any way. It's starting to look like the meanings of a logogram might be more like reading tarot cards or casting runes. It's dependant heavily on context and more about coveying an idea and less about precision.
On precision, you are likely to note a bit of linguistic jumble and failing on my part now and off and on in the near future. Due mainly to so trick of the mind that make these aspects difficult for me, and time doesn't really permit me to do the nessecary editing all the time. But I shall endevour to do what editing I can.
At any rate I hope to have my pin hole camera up and running by friday, and use it for some holiday pictures. If all goes well another message in a bottle is due to be off at a social gathering on Nov 1st. And I will be starting in to writing my Nanowrimo works this year.
That my readers is but the very tip of the iceberg. But Now I have to get going. I'll write again tomorrow and then likely something friday night.
Take care of yourselves.
Roving Jack.
I did start, only just, studying the sumerian lexicon. It looks like it will be interesting to say the least. The very first word is a small simple logogram, that has 6-8 differant meanings. Not all of them related in any way. It's starting to look like the meanings of a logogram might be more like reading tarot cards or casting runes. It's dependant heavily on context and more about coveying an idea and less about precision.
On precision, you are likely to note a bit of linguistic jumble and failing on my part now and off and on in the near future. Due mainly to so trick of the mind that make these aspects difficult for me, and time doesn't really permit me to do the nessecary editing all the time. But I shall endevour to do what editing I can.
At any rate I hope to have my pin hole camera up and running by friday, and use it for some holiday pictures. If all goes well another message in a bottle is due to be off at a social gathering on Nov 1st. And I will be starting in to writing my Nanowrimo works this year.
That my readers is but the very tip of the iceberg. But Now I have to get going. I'll write again tomorrow and then likely something friday night.
Take care of yourselves.
Roving Jack.
Monday, October 27, 2008
I'm late, I'm Late...
Maybe that would be a good halloween costume. Just get my vest and good clothes on wear a pocket watch and bunny ears. I'd really like to do something else which I think would be better but I'm having a bit of trouble with the finding of costume shops and then what I do find is cheap garbage based off of pop culture or silly things yet costs more then I pay for food in three weeks.
It seems to me we've done a grave disservice to this holiday. And don't get all prncy about it either. The sunset on oct. 31 is one of my holy days too. But that doesn't mean we should crumple up and destroy the fun and adventure of Halloween.
I get pretty snappy when I here the posted times for this stuff on radio stations. The near by big town just had Halloween on sunday ending at 4pm.
NO NO NO. You are missing the point entirely. Next thing you know we will change it so that You put on a costume for the five minutes it takes to photograph you and then e-mail it to all the people you know who then send you candy in the mail.
This is utter garbage. If you have concerns then assemble a party at one location. Potluck your candy. But the point is to get out and connect with the community, to dress up and be something other then the cook, housewife and bussinees man. The kids should be having fun and walking with parents and others to visit neighbors and such.
I think you've all been saved from a complete rant by closing time at the computer labs. I'll post more on the morrow but hopefully on a differant topic. I am not one much for rants, and there is much going on in my little world.
Take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
It seems to me we've done a grave disservice to this holiday. And don't get all prncy about it either. The sunset on oct. 31 is one of my holy days too. But that doesn't mean we should crumple up and destroy the fun and adventure of Halloween.
I get pretty snappy when I here the posted times for this stuff on radio stations. The near by big town just had Halloween on sunday ending at 4pm.
NO NO NO. You are missing the point entirely. Next thing you know we will change it so that You put on a costume for the five minutes it takes to photograph you and then e-mail it to all the people you know who then send you candy in the mail.
This is utter garbage. If you have concerns then assemble a party at one location. Potluck your candy. But the point is to get out and connect with the community, to dress up and be something other then the cook, housewife and bussinees man. The kids should be having fun and walking with parents and others to visit neighbors and such.
I think you've all been saved from a complete rant by closing time at the computer labs. I'll post more on the morrow but hopefully on a differant topic. I am not one much for rants, and there is much going on in my little world.
Take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Muse Ridden
Alright now this is getting crazy. Things are starting to bunch up on me, and it seems absurd that things can go so casually for such a long while and then as things that interest and excite me come along time crunches up and other responsibilities come up that weren’t there before.
My weekend here is about to be gobbled up by errands and activities for several days in a row, and limiting how much of the thing I wanted to get done by the end of the month I can actually do. Then it’s back to work and scrabbling to use every last spare minute to do all those things I can, before prepping for the Halloween visit with family, and then a group thing… maybe. But if I don’t do that then I won’t get the Message in a bottle off on time and in the way I really wanted to (which might not happen anyway if I don’t get some things taken care of soon here).
The deadline for the mapping challenge with the cartographers’ guild is Saturday. So I’ve got a day to get that done and scanned into the computer.
Some of my other projects need to get handled soon too, while I await some things to get me ready to start writing in November. And of all the things that are driving me nuts, the fact that my mind is bent on creating more things to drive me nuts is the worst.
I had two story ideas to play with in November as of June. But since then a story idea muscled its way to the front and left me with three works on which to impale myself. Then in the last few weeks a whole new idea has come screaming forward to eclipse the others and leave me in shock.
There is no possible way that I would be able to type up four 50,000 word novels in one month. Which just annoys me further because there is a part of me that feels obliged to do it now that it’s been stated as impossible.
I’m stubbornly contrarian even with myself. But I also know that if I do even try to do it and am willing to see that it is not possible, I will have to compromise my remaining time which could be used to clear my plate of some of my other goals. I’ve nine things left on my master list to do and they have just about two month to go. If I use that time write four books then I lose it for achieving some f these goals.
Part of me knows what I have to do. I will just have to juggle the story roster to take the Two that will write fastest and that are mostly formed in my mind and plow through them as hard and fast as I can. Harder than I’ve ever done before. If I hit a hurdle at some point switch stories or pick up one of my other projects and plow into that. At the end of the first week I will see where things stand and set the new course based on the success I have at that point.
I remember how I felt in April when I wrote five scripts. I know I will have even more nights where I am wiped out and my brains feel like moosh. But at the same time it’s exciting and when I do bounce back the energy levels are higher and the creative platue is broken through and I get to greater heights.
It seems a cruel dance I am trapped in with my muses. Where we spin in and out of darkness and those moments in the sun are fiery hot and blinding but invigorating and beautiful.
Blast but sometimes I feel like a horse being ridden, and none too gently.
Well I’ve got to go optimize my time and see what I can achieve in a few days time to lighten the load to four novels by November. That sounds absurd even to me.
Take Care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
My weekend here is about to be gobbled up by errands and activities for several days in a row, and limiting how much of the thing I wanted to get done by the end of the month I can actually do. Then it’s back to work and scrabbling to use every last spare minute to do all those things I can, before prepping for the Halloween visit with family, and then a group thing… maybe. But if I don’t do that then I won’t get the Message in a bottle off on time and in the way I really wanted to (which might not happen anyway if I don’t get some things taken care of soon here).
The deadline for the mapping challenge with the cartographers’ guild is Saturday. So I’ve got a day to get that done and scanned into the computer.
Some of my other projects need to get handled soon too, while I await some things to get me ready to start writing in November. And of all the things that are driving me nuts, the fact that my mind is bent on creating more things to drive me nuts is the worst.
I had two story ideas to play with in November as of June. But since then a story idea muscled its way to the front and left me with three works on which to impale myself. Then in the last few weeks a whole new idea has come screaming forward to eclipse the others and leave me in shock.
There is no possible way that I would be able to type up four 50,000 word novels in one month. Which just annoys me further because there is a part of me that feels obliged to do it now that it’s been stated as impossible.
I’m stubbornly contrarian even with myself. But I also know that if I do even try to do it and am willing to see that it is not possible, I will have to compromise my remaining time which could be used to clear my plate of some of my other goals. I’ve nine things left on my master list to do and they have just about two month to go. If I use that time write four books then I lose it for achieving some f these goals.
Part of me knows what I have to do. I will just have to juggle the story roster to take the Two that will write fastest and that are mostly formed in my mind and plow through them as hard and fast as I can. Harder than I’ve ever done before. If I hit a hurdle at some point switch stories or pick up one of my other projects and plow into that. At the end of the first week I will see where things stand and set the new course based on the success I have at that point.
I remember how I felt in April when I wrote five scripts. I know I will have even more nights where I am wiped out and my brains feel like moosh. But at the same time it’s exciting and when I do bounce back the energy levels are higher and the creative platue is broken through and I get to greater heights.
It seems a cruel dance I am trapped in with my muses. Where we spin in and out of darkness and those moments in the sun are fiery hot and blinding but invigorating and beautiful.
Blast but sometimes I feel like a horse being ridden, and none too gently.
Well I’ve got to go optimize my time and see what I can achieve in a few days time to lighten the load to four novels by November. That sounds absurd even to me.
Take Care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
thought for the day
It occurs to me when reading some of these things of late that story telling has changed greatly.
I’ve commented before on Tolkien with family, stating that it’s entirely likely that at least the Hobbit would never make it into print today. No editor would take it in its current form. I get the same feeling from Treasure Island. So far the story is not terribly fast paced and is so anecdotal that it’s not much of a story just sort of an idea shared from author to reader.
The Cyclops was a pretty big disappointment for me. But it was really meant, from what I understand to be the equivalent of an episode of the Simpsons to early Greek listeners. A sort of comic absurdity based on current events and pop culture.
I’m not saying there is nothing well written, it just seems that some of the classics wouldn’t make the cut today, and some of today’s works that make it would not ever be thought as classics in the future.
While the latter point should be no surprise (after all not every work is immortal) the former seems surprising to me. It reminds me of the story about a farmer who wished to breed a horse that was superior for jumping. So he built a fence and jumped the horses. When he had found which ones jumped best he kept them and got rid of the rest. Then he raised the fence. The long and the short of the story is that he kept raising the bar to get the beats horses. But eventually no horses made the jump.
I wonder if that is part of what we see in the market place. That we have raised the bar and prevented so great works from being seen. If you take my point about Treasure Island or the hobbit and imagine that there are some of these out there in trash cans by editors desks or hidden in somebody’s desk with the rejection slips out of embarrassment, then you must feel as sad as I do. But at the same time there are other works that arrive on book store shelves that I swear are just meant as decorative tissue paper.
I’m puzzled by the standards that the publishing world works by now. I’ve read some great and powerful stories online by people who can’t get published in this world and I’ve bought books that should never have been allowed in prints of more than ten total.
If they are using some sort of standard, the fence for the horse, it almost seems they changed their mind and want to see a horse do the limbo.
What is to be done about this? I don’t know, but increasingly I find myself drawn to internet writers and those that don’t put themselves to the strange standards of the publishing world. Yes you find loads of garbage that way, but you are equally likely to find truly precious gems that otherwise would be missed.
It’s sort of how I look at the world. A bit of a scavenger mentality. Everybody and their kin can point you towards the most commonly accepted ‘quality’ works in stores and such. So you shouldn’t have to search there much. But now you can find things that others are missing.
Just my thought for today. I’ll likely be back for tomorrow night as I have a fair number of errands to run and figure I’ll hit the labs after that and do a bit more Tinkering with HTML and get some more stuff done before the start of Nanowrimo.
Until then Take care of yourselves.
Roving Jack.
I’ve commented before on Tolkien with family, stating that it’s entirely likely that at least the Hobbit would never make it into print today. No editor would take it in its current form. I get the same feeling from Treasure Island. So far the story is not terribly fast paced and is so anecdotal that it’s not much of a story just sort of an idea shared from author to reader.
The Cyclops was a pretty big disappointment for me. But it was really meant, from what I understand to be the equivalent of an episode of the Simpsons to early Greek listeners. A sort of comic absurdity based on current events and pop culture.
I’m not saying there is nothing well written, it just seems that some of the classics wouldn’t make the cut today, and some of today’s works that make it would not ever be thought as classics in the future.
While the latter point should be no surprise (after all not every work is immortal) the former seems surprising to me. It reminds me of the story about a farmer who wished to breed a horse that was superior for jumping. So he built a fence and jumped the horses. When he had found which ones jumped best he kept them and got rid of the rest. Then he raised the fence. The long and the short of the story is that he kept raising the bar to get the beats horses. But eventually no horses made the jump.
I wonder if that is part of what we see in the market place. That we have raised the bar and prevented so great works from being seen. If you take my point about Treasure Island or the hobbit and imagine that there are some of these out there in trash cans by editors desks or hidden in somebody’s desk with the rejection slips out of embarrassment, then you must feel as sad as I do. But at the same time there are other works that arrive on book store shelves that I swear are just meant as decorative tissue paper.
I’m puzzled by the standards that the publishing world works by now. I’ve read some great and powerful stories online by people who can’t get published in this world and I’ve bought books that should never have been allowed in prints of more than ten total.
If they are using some sort of standard, the fence for the horse, it almost seems they changed their mind and want to see a horse do the limbo.
What is to be done about this? I don’t know, but increasingly I find myself drawn to internet writers and those that don’t put themselves to the strange standards of the publishing world. Yes you find loads of garbage that way, but you are equally likely to find truly precious gems that otherwise would be missed.
It’s sort of how I look at the world. A bit of a scavenger mentality. Everybody and their kin can point you towards the most commonly accepted ‘quality’ works in stores and such. So you shouldn’t have to search there much. But now you can find things that others are missing.
Just my thought for today. I’ll likely be back for tomorrow night as I have a fair number of errands to run and figure I’ll hit the labs after that and do a bit more Tinkering with HTML and get some more stuff done before the start of Nanowrimo.
Until then Take care of yourselves.
Roving Jack.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
A long wind comes through
There are so many things to do and only one lifetime to do them in. Sigh, priorities, priorities. The struggle ensues to figure out where to go next in the field of opportunities and it’s complicated by my tendency to interweave all my projects.
For example I want to build a pin hole camera because the photographs they take are very artistic, but it turns out they are also the ideal way to photograph miniatures due to the focus characteristics of a pin hole lens. Which got me thinking of an idea I had had some years back about working with miniatures, and if I wanted to do outdoor scenes mini trees would be cool. So I have on my list of things to do, Make an action figure, grow bonsai, create and use a pinhole camera.
But If I were to make a web comic it would be important to understand how to manage a web page. So I wanted to go back a bit and learn more about computers and programs, which I used to be fairly good with until I abandoned that pursuit.
The Ability to create and manage web pages would also be handy in managing a store where I could sell some of my handmade jewelry…
Well this could get tedious to explain but the point is that I’ve got this list of interconnected things that form this giant circle. And for a while the hardest part was figuring out where to start. Now I’m diving in at several locations and enjoying the accomplishments I have been working at, and I’m stumbling a bit from time to time but that is okay (with all the interconnection I’m liable to come back to it from a different angle anyway).
Now it seems like I can’t get things to happen fast enough for me, and exciting new things keep filling in the spaces in my life. Spaces that used to be used for taking a deep breath and thinking quietly. I’m going to have to keep my notebooks handy these days because I’ve already forgotten a few interesting ideas that I should have written down.
So at once it’s all going too fast and taking too long. I think I need people. Hole me up in a studio and I will produce great amounts of interesting ideas and projects without end, and then let my people sell it and contact the right people and arrange the supplies and such. But who am I kidding I’d just pick up more projects to fill the time that gives me.
One of the funniest things about this is that if you had asked my family and friends some years back, they would have said I was laid back and casual about everything, to the point of being frustrating to some of them.
More than likely now they just shake their heads at the fact that I seem to have gone off like a hand grenade, scattering in so many directions.
Oh well, I’m a little stressed but I’m enjoying the creative aspect of it. Now if only I could find a way to sustain myself on that aspect. How does one earn a living being … well whatever my type of person is called? Polymathic, tinker, dreamer, roving jack.
Well I’m going to likely be done with Treasure Island by Thursday night; I’ll be tinkering with images in html over the next few days to get a feel for it. And trying to restrain myself from running into that steampunk project I now see some great potential in (I’m learning some HTML tools that would be incredible for this and it would allow me to showcase some of my maps and maybe even handmade jewelry and I might be able to transfer and sell some of it as t-shirts in my store and…).
I’ve got to get my second of the message in a bottle projects out soon… so, perhaps I ought to finish that one up. I’ve got friends and relatives to get together with during my favorite time of the year, now. And I should finish this month’s mapping challenge at the cartographers’ guild. I’m sort of waiting to hear back from another cartography commission. And I’m getting myself ready to write for Nano. This reminds me that I really ought to type and edit some of my August stuff so I can start submitting it. And this weekend I need to sit down and start reviewing the material for the Sumerian cuneiform.
This reminds me of one of those ideas I had recently, about my working with Egyptian hieroglyphics, cuneiform, Ogham, runes… and a few others. It wonders into the handmade jewelry and T-shirts and such.
But much of these things should be done or mostly done by Monday. That is the goal anyway. Then it’s another week like this before I slam myself down for a truly ambitious Nanowrimo this year. Then I need to try and polish off the Master List for Big fun scary challenge by year’s end.
This might be a bit of a relief before I do it all again next year… only stepping it up a bit.
So come join me in nano, or in BFSC, or just fall into a creative project or two and see where it takes you. Ask yourself, ‘How much can I create in one day, one year, one lifetime?’
I’ll write again tomorrow. I’m still juggling the schedule around a bit to figure where things fit for now.
Take care of yourselves.
Roving Jack
For example I want to build a pin hole camera because the photographs they take are very artistic, but it turns out they are also the ideal way to photograph miniatures due to the focus characteristics of a pin hole lens. Which got me thinking of an idea I had had some years back about working with miniatures, and if I wanted to do outdoor scenes mini trees would be cool. So I have on my list of things to do, Make an action figure, grow bonsai, create and use a pinhole camera.
But If I were to make a web comic it would be important to understand how to manage a web page. So I wanted to go back a bit and learn more about computers and programs, which I used to be fairly good with until I abandoned that pursuit.
The Ability to create and manage web pages would also be handy in managing a store where I could sell some of my handmade jewelry…
Well this could get tedious to explain but the point is that I’ve got this list of interconnected things that form this giant circle. And for a while the hardest part was figuring out where to start. Now I’m diving in at several locations and enjoying the accomplishments I have been working at, and I’m stumbling a bit from time to time but that is okay (with all the interconnection I’m liable to come back to it from a different angle anyway).
Now it seems like I can’t get things to happen fast enough for me, and exciting new things keep filling in the spaces in my life. Spaces that used to be used for taking a deep breath and thinking quietly. I’m going to have to keep my notebooks handy these days because I’ve already forgotten a few interesting ideas that I should have written down.
So at once it’s all going too fast and taking too long. I think I need people. Hole me up in a studio and I will produce great amounts of interesting ideas and projects without end, and then let my people sell it and contact the right people and arrange the supplies and such. But who am I kidding I’d just pick up more projects to fill the time that gives me.
One of the funniest things about this is that if you had asked my family and friends some years back, they would have said I was laid back and casual about everything, to the point of being frustrating to some of them.
More than likely now they just shake their heads at the fact that I seem to have gone off like a hand grenade, scattering in so many directions.
Oh well, I’m a little stressed but I’m enjoying the creative aspect of it. Now if only I could find a way to sustain myself on that aspect. How does one earn a living being … well whatever my type of person is called? Polymathic, tinker, dreamer, roving jack.
Well I’m going to likely be done with Treasure Island by Thursday night; I’ll be tinkering with images in html over the next few days to get a feel for it. And trying to restrain myself from running into that steampunk project I now see some great potential in (I’m learning some HTML tools that would be incredible for this and it would allow me to showcase some of my maps and maybe even handmade jewelry and I might be able to transfer and sell some of it as t-shirts in my store and…).
I’ve got to get my second of the message in a bottle projects out soon… so, perhaps I ought to finish that one up. I’ve got friends and relatives to get together with during my favorite time of the year, now. And I should finish this month’s mapping challenge at the cartographers’ guild. I’m sort of waiting to hear back from another cartography commission. And I’m getting myself ready to write for Nano. This reminds me that I really ought to type and edit some of my August stuff so I can start submitting it. And this weekend I need to sit down and start reviewing the material for the Sumerian cuneiform.
This reminds me of one of those ideas I had recently, about my working with Egyptian hieroglyphics, cuneiform, Ogham, runes… and a few others. It wonders into the handmade jewelry and T-shirts and such.
But much of these things should be done or mostly done by Monday. That is the goal anyway. Then it’s another week like this before I slam myself down for a truly ambitious Nanowrimo this year. Then I need to try and polish off the Master List for Big fun scary challenge by year’s end.
This might be a bit of a relief before I do it all again next year… only stepping it up a bit.
So come join me in nano, or in BFSC, or just fall into a creative project or two and see where it takes you. Ask yourself, ‘How much can I create in one day, one year, one lifetime?’
I’ll write again tomorrow. I’m still juggling the schedule around a bit to figure where things fit for now.
Take care of yourselves.
Roving Jack
Monday, October 20, 2008
Writing to say I'm writing again
This puts me in mind of the time a freind stopped by to tell me he couldn't stop by. Or the letter I got from the IRS that said they couldn't deliver my tax return to the address because mail couldn't be delivered to that location (despite any facts to the contrary).
But I am writing to say that in november I will be writing again. And this time the charity is the offices of letters and lights, the founders of the Nanowrimo.org and the young writers program. = http://www.firstgiving.com/rovingjack1 .
Speaking of links, I tidied up my minisite web page with all the spiffy new HTML I'm learning. To think in one hour I learned enough to fix all those little things that made the page presentation so poor before. I'll be tinkering with that and a neopets page to get the practicals in on my learning of HTML. But in the near future I plan to apply it to a new site for the steampunk group that hopefully will get bigger and more interactive as time goes by. Right now we are just a single topic on a webboard.
I will be creating a map, and using it as a central location from which you can travel the setting and connect with other people into the same aspects of the genre. From roleplaying, to story writing to costuming and acting, and if I get my say, a a few real steamjacks (tinkering with steam powered projects in the real world).
In other news I read the translation of the satire 'The cyclops'. It was less interesting then I'd hoped and failed to enlighten me much into the mythos of the Satyrs, though I did pick up a bit of interesting material on the Cyclops'.
Tonight I think I will explore treasure island, and that may take me a night or two, with my mornings for HTML and my days being for work. Once that is done I will persue redwall a bit further but I think I've got my answer as far as that one goes. My Nano story that I considered somewhat like redwall is completely differant.
Then after midway through the week I should be getting the chance to play with the pinhole camera building again.
It amazes me to think that of my master list of 24 Big Fun Scary projects for this year I've seven remaining and am looking to knock that down by a few by the end of the month.
I did finally finish up the panelist form for connecticon, though that wasn't on the master list. and I'm making headway toward some other important things.
There is a lot to talk about as I get ready for Nano, and I am going to be much more talkative on here over the next month or two. But big things are happening.
I'll be back tomorrow.
Take Care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
But I am writing to say that in november I will be writing again. And this time the charity is the offices of letters and lights, the founders of the Nanowrimo.org and the young writers program. = http://www.firstgiving.com/rovingjack1 .
Speaking of links, I tidied up my minisite web page with all the spiffy new HTML I'm learning. To think in one hour I learned enough to fix all those little things that made the page presentation so poor before. I'll be tinkering with that and a neopets page to get the practicals in on my learning of HTML. But in the near future I plan to apply it to a new site for the steampunk group that hopefully will get bigger and more interactive as time goes by. Right now we are just a single topic on a webboard.
I will be creating a map, and using it as a central location from which you can travel the setting and connect with other people into the same aspects of the genre. From roleplaying, to story writing to costuming and acting, and if I get my say, a a few real steamjacks (tinkering with steam powered projects in the real world).
In other news I read the translation of the satire 'The cyclops'. It was less interesting then I'd hoped and failed to enlighten me much into the mythos of the Satyrs, though I did pick up a bit of interesting material on the Cyclops'.
Tonight I think I will explore treasure island, and that may take me a night or two, with my mornings for HTML and my days being for work. Once that is done I will persue redwall a bit further but I think I've got my answer as far as that one goes. My Nano story that I considered somewhat like redwall is completely differant.
Then after midway through the week I should be getting the chance to play with the pinhole camera building again.
It amazes me to think that of my master list of 24 Big Fun Scary projects for this year I've seven remaining and am looking to knock that down by a few by the end of the month.
I did finally finish up the panelist form for connecticon, though that wasn't on the master list. and I'm making headway toward some other important things.
There is a lot to talk about as I get ready for Nano, and I am going to be much more talkative on here over the next month or two. But big things are happening.
I'll be back tomorrow.
Take Care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Scattered efforts
Okay I’ve really got to start using my lists of things I need to do. I get things written down and then pursue them haphazardly. I’ve been working on a simple panelist application template for connecticon for months now, where as in a few days I breezed through my studies of elementary mathematics. That seems a bit backwards.
I’ve just got to spend a few hours finishing my pinhole camera and taking some pictures, but somehow I manage to do everything but that. And since I’m prepping to do another message in a bottle by the end of the month I understandably found myself reading my book on Egyptian hieroglyphics despite needing to get going and even being interested in getting going on Sumerian cuneiform.
I need to go through and prioritize these tasks. Set up a day to be my polish off day, where several tasks needing only an hour or so of time to finish off can be done. That could clear my plate some and then I can get down to the goals that require sustained efforts.
The other thing I need to work on is my cringe factor. I know that getting two or three of these things done simply require me to commit and move forward, so why do I flinch back from completing them. It’s like my book of hand drawn mazes over on bookhabit.com. I only needed 120 in total to put them up on the web (granted I hadn’t found bookhabit.com yet) but at the rate of one maze a day I flinched over and over again until I had more than twice what I needed before I managed to make myself do it.
This sort of self sabotage is simply unacceptable. I am not going to have the future of my projects and adventures derailed by such absurdities. And it’s slowing everything else up.
These little bottlenecks keep forming and that doesn’t help me much at all. Sigh. Maybe I’m being a bit hard on myself with that. But it’s hard not to be. I mean I know these things are doable, and they all interest me enough to start. It should just be a matter of tying things up and letting go to be free to move on to other projects if I’ve lost interest, but I haven’t lost interest yet I avoid them.
Hmm, maybe I just stumbled on the point. Perhaps I don’t want to be done with them. Who says blogging never help anyone?
Anyway, I’ve got to get some things square before I close out here for the night. I will NOT post Until Monday night (remember that you day time folks should look on Tuesday unless you plan to watch for midnight posts) because any time I do get will be used to take care of a few of the things I have committed myself to tidying up. Monday Night will have the information on how to support me in this year’s Nanowrimo.org fundraising.
Until then Take Care of yourselves.
Roving Jack
I’ve just got to spend a few hours finishing my pinhole camera and taking some pictures, but somehow I manage to do everything but that. And since I’m prepping to do another message in a bottle by the end of the month I understandably found myself reading my book on Egyptian hieroglyphics despite needing to get going and even being interested in getting going on Sumerian cuneiform.
I need to go through and prioritize these tasks. Set up a day to be my polish off day, where several tasks needing only an hour or so of time to finish off can be done. That could clear my plate some and then I can get down to the goals that require sustained efforts.
The other thing I need to work on is my cringe factor. I know that getting two or three of these things done simply require me to commit and move forward, so why do I flinch back from completing them. It’s like my book of hand drawn mazes over on bookhabit.com. I only needed 120 in total to put them up on the web (granted I hadn’t found bookhabit.com yet) but at the rate of one maze a day I flinched over and over again until I had more than twice what I needed before I managed to make myself do it.
This sort of self sabotage is simply unacceptable. I am not going to have the future of my projects and adventures derailed by such absurdities. And it’s slowing everything else up.
These little bottlenecks keep forming and that doesn’t help me much at all. Sigh. Maybe I’m being a bit hard on myself with that. But it’s hard not to be. I mean I know these things are doable, and they all interest me enough to start. It should just be a matter of tying things up and letting go to be free to move on to other projects if I’ve lost interest, but I haven’t lost interest yet I avoid them.
Hmm, maybe I just stumbled on the point. Perhaps I don’t want to be done with them. Who says blogging never help anyone?
Anyway, I’ve got to get some things square before I close out here for the night. I will NOT post Until Monday night (remember that you day time folks should look on Tuesday unless you plan to watch for midnight posts) because any time I do get will be used to take care of a few of the things I have committed myself to tidying up. Monday Night will have the information on how to support me in this year’s Nanowrimo.org fundraising.
Until then Take Care of yourselves.
Roving Jack
Connections
Well, some exciting things going on in the world of Jack. If all goes as planned I will see about posting some pictures of some of them soon. Until then I will continue to be all mysterious about it all. It’s fun.
In the meantime I’m going to touch on some interesting development for my life recently. Namely that I am finding that I’m more connected to the people and places around me then I ever knew, and that I find myself … um I guess networking would be the term for it… more then I would ever expect myself to become.
I’ve joined a cartographer’s guild; I’m a part of the Big Fun Scary Challenge community, which is a subset of the Nanowrimo community. I’m becoming more integrated into the different aspects of Connecticon. I’m connecting with other writers on the Nano boards and one or two sound like they could become online communities for the topics being discussed. I’m particularly enchanted with one group of steam punk fans that is starting up and I’ve put forth the idea of taking it past the fan and writing stage and seeing if people would be interested in doing illustrations blue prints and similar things as we expand the idea into a full blown group.
I’m also helping out a friend, who is a former co worker, through a rough patch in his life. I’ve sort of committed myself to a regular get together for a movie, board game, activity ect.
Part of me feels kind of caught out in the open. I’m not saying I’m not enjoying some of it’s just that it’s a bit of a departure from the way I have been living up until now.
I’m used to being quiet and secluded for much of my free time. I get out and I friendly to the people I encounter regularly but I’ve always enjoyed my solitude. I’m a Roving Jack, I tend to wander into some peoples’ lives and you can expect me when you see me. I get along great with almost everybody and enjoy interacting. It’s just not something I crave or actively seek out. But for some strange reason I’m finding the strands of my life weaving themselves deep into these other areas now.
I would be fascinated if I didn’t find it so strange for myself. I do wonder where this is all taking me, and what kind of companions I will have with me for the adventure.
I just hope this doesn’t cut too deeply into my other adventures.
Oh and sort of tangentially connected to this is the fact that about the end of this month I plan to release the second of my message in a bottle project out onto the world. If you haven’t heard about it you could dig through my older posts (or just wander over to http://groups.google.com/group/mess-n-bot ).
Hopefully that was a bit better of a topic tonight. I’ll post again tomorrow night, Saturday I might not make it, and I’ll be working an extra shift at work to raise a bit of money to cover some of those big things I mentioned.
I’ve gotta get going, but you take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
In the meantime I’m going to touch on some interesting development for my life recently. Namely that I am finding that I’m more connected to the people and places around me then I ever knew, and that I find myself … um I guess networking would be the term for it… more then I would ever expect myself to become.
I’ve joined a cartographer’s guild; I’m a part of the Big Fun Scary Challenge community, which is a subset of the Nanowrimo community. I’m becoming more integrated into the different aspects of Connecticon. I’m connecting with other writers on the Nano boards and one or two sound like they could become online communities for the topics being discussed. I’m particularly enchanted with one group of steam punk fans that is starting up and I’ve put forth the idea of taking it past the fan and writing stage and seeing if people would be interested in doing illustrations blue prints and similar things as we expand the idea into a full blown group.
I’m also helping out a friend, who is a former co worker, through a rough patch in his life. I’ve sort of committed myself to a regular get together for a movie, board game, activity ect.
Part of me feels kind of caught out in the open. I’m not saying I’m not enjoying some of it’s just that it’s a bit of a departure from the way I have been living up until now.
I’m used to being quiet and secluded for much of my free time. I get out and I friendly to the people I encounter regularly but I’ve always enjoyed my solitude. I’m a Roving Jack, I tend to wander into some peoples’ lives and you can expect me when you see me. I get along great with almost everybody and enjoy interacting. It’s just not something I crave or actively seek out. But for some strange reason I’m finding the strands of my life weaving themselves deep into these other areas now.
I would be fascinated if I didn’t find it so strange for myself. I do wonder where this is all taking me, and what kind of companions I will have with me for the adventure.
I just hope this doesn’t cut too deeply into my other adventures.
Oh and sort of tangentially connected to this is the fact that about the end of this month I plan to release the second of my message in a bottle project out onto the world. If you haven’t heard about it you could dig through my older posts (or just wander over to http://groups.google.com/group/mess-n-bot ).
Hopefully that was a bit better of a topic tonight. I’ll post again tomorrow night, Saturday I might not make it, and I’ll be working an extra shift at work to raise a bit of money to cover some of those big things I mentioned.
I’ve gotta get going, but you take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
I swear
Someday soon I will be ahead enough again in my projects and research that I will start to review and edit my posts before I stick them up. I know there are clumbsy mistakes through many of the latest ones. It has to do with the trying to catch up on things before posting here.
That's sort of a bit of an apology. On to other things.
I discovered something wonderful. It's called sesame oil. Now I have had sesame oild before but that was back in the day when I was able to eat almost anything. Now that I have a repetuer of maybe 12 things I know I can eat safely, it's wonderful to discover new things.
The only food I can eat at the kitchen is my usual stirfry that I prepare for myself and it is cook for me at the grill. Well the grill was closed yesterday and so I had to wait longer to get to prepare my own food, and when it came time to fry it up... there was no canola oil. I finally found the sesame oil and desided to try that. Oh man was that good. The nutty flavor it added to the select veggies that I can eat was devine. Now I'm wondering what other oils I might make use of.
I seem to remember that coconut oil had an almost buttery flavor (it doesn't have the coconut water/milk in it) that was tasty, so I may tinker around with variations of stirfries that include differant oils and eventually maybe some herbs and spices. You just have no idea how wonderful this was to be awakened to.
And of all the things to write about that may just have to do it for today, I'm sorry I haven't said anything deep or overly thoughtful the last few posts but I will get there. And you are sure to be curious about happenings during november as I wrap my brain around the adventure of writing for http://www.nanowrimo.org again. And true to form I'm pushing myself even harder this year, though I'm not going to say how hard just yet.
Keep an eye out here as November first (the starting line) approaches. I should post up a link to those that would like to sponsor me for this one in the next week. The donations go to support the nanowrimo and it's young writers programs I believe. I'll post all the details in the next week.
I promise to write something more interesting tomorrow night.
Until then Take care of yourselves.
Roving Jack
That's sort of a bit of an apology. On to other things.
I discovered something wonderful. It's called sesame oil. Now I have had sesame oild before but that was back in the day when I was able to eat almost anything. Now that I have a repetuer of maybe 12 things I know I can eat safely, it's wonderful to discover new things.
The only food I can eat at the kitchen is my usual stirfry that I prepare for myself and it is cook for me at the grill. Well the grill was closed yesterday and so I had to wait longer to get to prepare my own food, and when it came time to fry it up... there was no canola oil. I finally found the sesame oil and desided to try that. Oh man was that good. The nutty flavor it added to the select veggies that I can eat was devine. Now I'm wondering what other oils I might make use of.
I seem to remember that coconut oil had an almost buttery flavor (it doesn't have the coconut water/milk in it) that was tasty, so I may tinker around with variations of stirfries that include differant oils and eventually maybe some herbs and spices. You just have no idea how wonderful this was to be awakened to.
And of all the things to write about that may just have to do it for today, I'm sorry I haven't said anything deep or overly thoughtful the last few posts but I will get there. And you are sure to be curious about happenings during november as I wrap my brain around the adventure of writing for http://www.nanowrimo.org again. And true to form I'm pushing myself even harder this year, though I'm not going to say how hard just yet.
Keep an eye out here as November first (the starting line) approaches. I should post up a link to those that would like to sponsor me for this one in the next week. The donations go to support the nanowrimo and it's young writers programs I believe. I'll post all the details in the next week.
I promise to write something more interesting tomorrow night.
Until then Take care of yourselves.
Roving Jack
Monday, October 13, 2008
Seconds to go
Here I am again with bare moments to post. But much on my mind.
I never really understood what people meant when they used to say there was never enough time. But for the last year it almost always seems that I have more to do and lists to complete then there are moments to my day.
They amount I'm getting done is great, it's exciting and I'm proud of so much of these projects being realised. But they are just a fraction of what I seek to do in my time. It seems to me more and more, that the simple limits of physics are holding me back.
Why can't I just think this entire post into being in a blink and then use what time this is now taking me to create this or learn that.
Blast you progressive timeframes. It is your fault that I must start at the begining and work through the steps to get to the end.
I'm not sure I even have time to...
Take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
PS. I'll post again tomorrow. Hopefully with more information on my current and coming projects.
I never really understood what people meant when they used to say there was never enough time. But for the last year it almost always seems that I have more to do and lists to complete then there are moments to my day.
They amount I'm getting done is great, it's exciting and I'm proud of so much of these projects being realised. But they are just a fraction of what I seek to do in my time. It seems to me more and more, that the simple limits of physics are holding me back.
Why can't I just think this entire post into being in a blink and then use what time this is now taking me to create this or learn that.
Blast you progressive timeframes. It is your fault that I must start at the begining and work through the steps to get to the end.
I'm not sure I even have time to...
Take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
PS. I'll post again tomorrow. Hopefully with more information on my current and coming projects.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Well I'm here, that counts for something right?
The cold wasn't so bad and I got a little time to read up on my mathmatics and read a paperback novel. I did some cleaning and a few other little projects too.
The thing that amazed me was that there was a nice little tool mentioned in the math book that I wish I had learned about before. It's called the Sieve of Eratosthene. Using some pretty standard memorisation techniques I should be able to use a 10x10 version of this to help me better remember multiples and primes and devision and well everything. It's just a chart from 1-100 in rows of ten. But by using it to figure the prime numbers You see patterns of multiples and it's 10x10 organisation makes it startlingly easy to do visually in your head. This thing could have saved me so much trouble when I was younger.
Most of the rest of the math was just a refreshers on the techniques used for certain functions. The chapter on number theory was some what helpful. It's amazing that they ever tried that "because I say so" approach of rote learning. It failed me greatly I think.
Hopefully this is the start of fixing that.
Now I'm thinking I will hit the book on HTML programming. It is a bit easier to try my hand at and definately more useful in the immediate future. I can use it to work on my web page and a few other things around the web. I have ways of immediately trying things out and learning as I go al0ng.
I'll try to go thorugh this with relative speed, so that I'm not made to wait too long for trying my mind on the summerian cunniform.
Then I've got next weekend to do some pleasure reading and research of style and technique of stories that have something to help me get ready for my writing of novels in November (NaNoWriMo.org).
I gotta get going but I'll post again monday night (in time for tuesday readers).
Until then Take Care of yourselves.
Roving Jack
The thing that amazed me was that there was a nice little tool mentioned in the math book that I wish I had learned about before. It's called the Sieve of Eratosthene. Using some pretty standard memorisation techniques I should be able to use a 10x10 version of this to help me better remember multiples and primes and devision and well everything. It's just a chart from 1-100 in rows of ten. But by using it to figure the prime numbers You see patterns of multiples and it's 10x10 organisation makes it startlingly easy to do visually in your head. This thing could have saved me so much trouble when I was younger.
Most of the rest of the math was just a refreshers on the techniques used for certain functions. The chapter on number theory was some what helpful. It's amazing that they ever tried that "because I say so" approach of rote learning. It failed me greatly I think.
Hopefully this is the start of fixing that.
Now I'm thinking I will hit the book on HTML programming. It is a bit easier to try my hand at and definately more useful in the immediate future. I can use it to work on my web page and a few other things around the web. I have ways of immediately trying things out and learning as I go al0ng.
I'll try to go thorugh this with relative speed, so that I'm not made to wait too long for trying my mind on the summerian cunniform.
Then I've got next weekend to do some pleasure reading and research of style and technique of stories that have something to help me get ready for my writing of novels in November (NaNoWriMo.org).
I gotta get going but I'll post again monday night (in time for tuesday readers).
Until then Take Care of yourselves.
Roving Jack
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
I may lay low for a day or two
I'm going to likely stay home tomorrow, get some extra sleep and help get over this cold faster. I'm sorry that there isn't much here tonight but I am very into some recent activity on the Nanowrimo boards where discussions of writing ideas are flying around and generating great ideas.
But I've also joined a web board for cartographey hobbiests, and it's looking to be a great community of folks. I'm really enjoying it.
Though I won't be in connection with them either for a day or two that is good in a way. I need to do some studying of my materials (Math and sumerian and computer programing) and figure out if I want to worry about finishing Thus Spake Zarathustra right now or just put the good Germany philosopher away for a bit. He has some good ideas but much of his thoughts and attitude clashes a bit with some of mine.
Much to do and less energy than usual to do it with. But it's still fun to challenge myself to this rapid growth and learning.
Look for a post By Sunday morning at the latest. I'll shoot for by midnight friday but no garuntees.
Take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
But I've also joined a web board for cartographey hobbiests, and it's looking to be a great community of folks. I'm really enjoying it.
Though I won't be in connection with them either for a day or two that is good in a way. I need to do some studying of my materials (Math and sumerian and computer programing) and figure out if I want to worry about finishing Thus Spake Zarathustra right now or just put the good Germany philosopher away for a bit. He has some good ideas but much of his thoughts and attitude clashes a bit with some of mine.
Much to do and less energy than usual to do it with. But it's still fun to challenge myself to this rapid growth and learning.
Look for a post By Sunday morning at the latest. I'll shoot for by midnight friday but no garuntees.
Take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Yes I have a cold
Todays scintilating topic is my cold, nah, I don't even care about that. I'm actually more intrested in playing with some thoughts here. I trying to work out where I'm going with some of my projects and what sorts of things are holding me back.
I do want to make a living in some of these creative projects of mine but it seems that I'm not used to and not farmiliar with how to make some of this work, but it's also interesting to note that when an opportunity does present itself to me I have a tendancy to flinch.
I have no idea what that is all about.
It's good that I've noticed it because it helps me to force myself forward and eventually take things to the next step. It just seems a silly natural instinct.
I'm also struggling with finding an audiance for my material. It's sort of a selling myself issue. I can and have made sales before that surprise people when I tell them about it, but they really where not anything I was invested in.
My map making is a good example. As an artist I love making and creating these things, but when it comes down to the finding buyers, and pricing the item and drawing costumers I'm confused. How much does a person ask for hand made custom cartography, and to whom should I pitch my services?
My best Idea so far is to get myself out there to the RPG gamers and publishers of fiction... but how do I do that? Once I do, what do I ask price wise?
I don't mind seeing it as work I just don't know how to do that part yet, I'm not so deluded to think that If I make it they will come. I know that it's about supply and demand. I'd just sort of like a model on which to base my actions. Something that says "The best way to get noticed is to do this." The pricing on these types of objects generally run from _ to _ "Once you have things up and running this is how you run your freelance bussiness."
Instead it feels a bit like making it up as I go along. If I'd not already spread myself out among so many other projects right now I might be able to figure out and research the scattered peices and come up with some sort of trial plan. But Time as it seems to be most often these days is at a premium.
And on that note I've got to get going. I'll post again tomorrow. Until then
Take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
I do want to make a living in some of these creative projects of mine but it seems that I'm not used to and not farmiliar with how to make some of this work, but it's also interesting to note that when an opportunity does present itself to me I have a tendancy to flinch.
I have no idea what that is all about.
It's good that I've noticed it because it helps me to force myself forward and eventually take things to the next step. It just seems a silly natural instinct.
I'm also struggling with finding an audiance for my material. It's sort of a selling myself issue. I can and have made sales before that surprise people when I tell them about it, but they really where not anything I was invested in.
My map making is a good example. As an artist I love making and creating these things, but when it comes down to the finding buyers, and pricing the item and drawing costumers I'm confused. How much does a person ask for hand made custom cartography, and to whom should I pitch my services?
My best Idea so far is to get myself out there to the RPG gamers and publishers of fiction... but how do I do that? Once I do, what do I ask price wise?
I don't mind seeing it as work I just don't know how to do that part yet, I'm not so deluded to think that If I make it they will come. I know that it's about supply and demand. I'd just sort of like a model on which to base my actions. Something that says "The best way to get noticed is to do this." The pricing on these types of objects generally run from _ to _ "Once you have things up and running this is how you run your freelance bussiness."
Instead it feels a bit like making it up as I go along. If I'd not already spread myself out among so many other projects right now I might be able to figure out and research the scattered peices and come up with some sort of trial plan. But Time as it seems to be most often these days is at a premium.
And on that note I've got to get going. I'll post again tomorrow. Until then
Take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
Monday, October 6, 2008
Well some news anyway
I was hoping to hear back from one contact today, but I think I just have to be patient. I keep forgetting that while I'm running around in hyper drive other people (normal people) have things to do and will get around to responding to me.
Still I'm antsy for the reply, especially if it is a good one, it could lead to some good things for me.
But On another front I have some potential good coming at me. I took a bold step and spend some money on a laptop from an auction site. It's used and is missing the ac adapter and keeboard but otherwise is supposed to be perfectly functional. With an external keyboard and a $15 investment in a power cord it should be fine. The specs on this are the exact same as my dieing desktop which takes up six times as much space. So If I can make this work for me it promises to be a good deal. What's more is that I have a wireless card with the drivers to get it to run on the operating system needed. Provided the hardware is compatable I might be able to access the net from my room rather then relying on public access computing at the Uni.
I know that seems like a lot of ifs, but it wasn't really that expensive, it's not even my monthly food budgets worth or money, and it's a risk I'm willing to try in order to make some of these projects easier for me to take care of.
I've got to get going. I'll post again tomorrow.
Bummer think I'm getting a cold, take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
Still I'm antsy for the reply, especially if it is a good one, it could lead to some good things for me.
But On another front I have some potential good coming at me. I took a bold step and spend some money on a laptop from an auction site. It's used and is missing the ac adapter and keeboard but otherwise is supposed to be perfectly functional. With an external keyboard and a $15 investment in a power cord it should be fine. The specs on this are the exact same as my dieing desktop which takes up six times as much space. So If I can make this work for me it promises to be a good deal. What's more is that I have a wireless card with the drivers to get it to run on the operating system needed. Provided the hardware is compatable I might be able to access the net from my room rather then relying on public access computing at the Uni.
I know that seems like a lot of ifs, but it wasn't really that expensive, it's not even my monthly food budgets worth or money, and it's a risk I'm willing to try in order to make some of these projects easier for me to take care of.
I've got to get going. I'll post again tomorrow.
Bummer think I'm getting a cold, take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Learning some new things
Well last night I began studying mathmatics again, in an attempt to do for myself what the school system never was able to do. I discovered a bit over a year ago that while I can't remember exactly how to figure the circumferance of a circle after nearly a year of traditional geometry class, I can pick up the basic idea of fourth dimensional Geometry in about an hour of self study.
So with this new idea of studying to learn, and to know, I am trying to learn math from the start. I've a few books and resources to help me out and I will say I made some rather good breakthroughs last night in understanding. But lest you misunderstand me, it was because I was so annoyed by the methods used by the education material I had come by.
If this is how they teach math these days, it's no wonder so many people resort to calculators and such. The book takes the approach of rarely if ever using actual numbers. Everything is done in actual counted squares. Admittedly it helps visualise some processes like exponents but seriously. Most of the time it just made it harder to understand. The Text is meant to be for 4th to 8th graders, but it's either best suited for dyslexics or illiterates. But By reading this and struggling to get what on earth this looney woman was trying to convey I can come to a point where I can say, jeez that would have been so much easier to understand if she had just done it this way. And you know what, my alternatives to the method that is so wrong for me is working so much better for me right now. I do hope that this silly block system will have some value in the geometry area.
Once I'm done with this collosal book I'll use another couple I have to help me flesh out my understanding all the way through trig.
But that is not all that I'm studying this month, this is also the month I'm going to be working on learning a computer language (HTML, Basic or both), which I have yet to start with, and Sumerian cuniform.
I'm actually kind of antsy to get to the cuniform. I've got a sumerian lexicon and 109 of the most common cuniform symbols and their phonetic values printed and ready to help me out.
This promises to be a bit of fun. I'm also doing some reading of other sorts (Cyclops by Euripedies, treasure island RLStevenson, and Redwall) for research purposes, and a few works for just plain fun. But admittedly the research is fun too. I'm such a nerd.
Over the next few days I hope to get some good news of one type or another, and as soon as I do, I'll post on it. Expect to hear back from me for sure on Monday night.
Until then take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
So with this new idea of studying to learn, and to know, I am trying to learn math from the start. I've a few books and resources to help me out and I will say I made some rather good breakthroughs last night in understanding. But lest you misunderstand me, it was because I was so annoyed by the methods used by the education material I had come by.
If this is how they teach math these days, it's no wonder so many people resort to calculators and such. The book takes the approach of rarely if ever using actual numbers. Everything is done in actual counted squares. Admittedly it helps visualise some processes like exponents but seriously. Most of the time it just made it harder to understand. The Text is meant to be for 4th to 8th graders, but it's either best suited for dyslexics or illiterates. But By reading this and struggling to get what on earth this looney woman was trying to convey I can come to a point where I can say, jeez that would have been so much easier to understand if she had just done it this way. And you know what, my alternatives to the method that is so wrong for me is working so much better for me right now. I do hope that this silly block system will have some value in the geometry area.
Once I'm done with this collosal book I'll use another couple I have to help me flesh out my understanding all the way through trig.
But that is not all that I'm studying this month, this is also the month I'm going to be working on learning a computer language (HTML, Basic or both), which I have yet to start with, and Sumerian cuniform.
I'm actually kind of antsy to get to the cuniform. I've got a sumerian lexicon and 109 of the most common cuniform symbols and their phonetic values printed and ready to help me out.
This promises to be a bit of fun. I'm also doing some reading of other sorts (Cyclops by Euripedies, treasure island RLStevenson, and Redwall) for research purposes, and a few works for just plain fun. But admittedly the research is fun too. I'm such a nerd.
Over the next few days I hope to get some good news of one type or another, and as soon as I do, I'll post on it. Expect to hear back from me for sure on Monday night.
Until then take care of yourselves,
Roving Jack
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Paper blasphamy
I may or may not have mentioned that I have been known to do origami from time to time, and that this year I've committed myself to doing a new design each month. Originally this was intended to be for me to come up with designs of my own, but having twelve ideas for things you want to make, and figuring out how to make said designs in a months time while doing other things are two entirely differant things.
So I sort of settled for an intermediate step. Where I fold something I've not folded before and then think on ways to use it differantly, in new designs at another time.
Well I was doing just that when I came across a word that origami folders of some groups cringe at. I'll give you a hint, it starts with a C ends with a T and has a U in the middle.
One of several new designs I was exploring was asking me to take scissors to the nice little square before me. It was shocking, and disappointing and... well admittedly amusing.
Here I was with a square of paper, thinking on ways to create interesting and intricate designs with it and I was agast at the idea of cutting that paper.
It seems silly to some but part of the beuty of origami is that once unfolded the integrity of the square or rectangle (or in some other complex foldings any number of shapes) is intact and uncompromised. It's taking the rigid form defined by hard straight lined borders on a nearly two dimenional basis and creating wonderful three dimensional (or four depending on your views of including time) sculpture. Cutting is like cheating.
But it does make me think that perhaps I need to allow myself more exploration of form changing in some of these ideas I intended to create. I should look into more modular origami (forms made by using multiple squares of paper) and perhaps even Kirigami (which if memory serves is the name for paper crafting that involves cuts). As artforms in their own right they may have something for me.
It's funny how sometimes we get stuck inside those little squares and forget that you can learn and use other things too.
Modular still appeals to me the most though, if for no other reason then that with a single peice of scrap paper I can make many squares of paper and fold them into forms (singly as origami, or together as modular origami) without the aide of having to carry scissors, razors, glue, tape or any other such things.
The simplicity of the relationship, between material, creator and form.
I did end up cutting that pattern, and the world is still here. Some ways to play with the design have come to me and it may help me broaden my thinking some in the future.
All this from some simple squares of paper. Perhaps if more people prcticed this art we might all benefit fro the things these squares have to teach us.
So I sort of settled for an intermediate step. Where I fold something I've not folded before and then think on ways to use it differantly, in new designs at another time.
Well I was doing just that when I came across a word that origami folders of some groups cringe at. I'll give you a hint, it starts with a C ends with a T and has a U in the middle.
One of several new designs I was exploring was asking me to take scissors to the nice little square before me. It was shocking, and disappointing and... well admittedly amusing.
Here I was with a square of paper, thinking on ways to create interesting and intricate designs with it and I was agast at the idea of cutting that paper.
It seems silly to some but part of the beuty of origami is that once unfolded the integrity of the square or rectangle (or in some other complex foldings any number of shapes) is intact and uncompromised. It's taking the rigid form defined by hard straight lined borders on a nearly two dimenional basis and creating wonderful three dimensional (or four depending on your views of including time) sculpture. Cutting is like cheating.
But it does make me think that perhaps I need to allow myself more exploration of form changing in some of these ideas I intended to create. I should look into more modular origami (forms made by using multiple squares of paper) and perhaps even Kirigami (which if memory serves is the name for paper crafting that involves cuts). As artforms in their own right they may have something for me.
It's funny how sometimes we get stuck inside those little squares and forget that you can learn and use other things too.
Modular still appeals to me the most though, if for no other reason then that with a single peice of scrap paper I can make many squares of paper and fold them into forms (singly as origami, or together as modular origami) without the aide of having to carry scissors, razors, glue, tape or any other such things.
The simplicity of the relationship, between material, creator and form.
I did end up cutting that pattern, and the world is still here. Some ways to play with the design have come to me and it may help me broaden my thinking some in the future.
All this from some simple squares of paper. Perhaps if more people prcticed this art we might all benefit fro the things these squares have to teach us.
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