Nathaniel Gray

Migrating

2010-11-01T16:49:00.000-06:00

FYI,

I'm migrating over to a new blog because by some awesome and strange chance http://nathanielgray.blogspot.com is available, and it looks a little more professional and all as I'm making steps into the real world. So. I guess head that way, because this one is pretty much dead.

Going for it on 4th and Long

2010-10-04T00:28:00.000-05:00

Quick one before I crash.

I'm moving to Portland in a little over 8 days. It's sort of my Hail Mary pass on 4th and Long (football references are surprisingly apt for life situations). This marks the beginning of my final week in town. Trying to make it something of all sorts of epic. This includes catching the Michigan v Michigan State game in the big house, drinking at the Peanut Barrel, running Lake Lansing, probably hitting up Sip n Snack and Tasty Twist. I'm open to suggestions.

I'm very nervous about the move. About going out there with nothing.

The Empire Strikes Back of Life

2010-09-05T11:26:00.003-05:00

I'm not entirely sure what to call what happened to me on Wednesday. It's not exactly fired so far as I can tell. It's not exactly laid off. It's not exactly let go. I didn't exactly quit.What happened was that, as of 5:00 PM Wednesday afternoon I found myself completely unemployed. Here's how it went down...

I graduated in May, but I stayed on with the library because job hunting has been even less than unsuccessful. One awful interview the whole summer (I put in my time, got my piece of paper, where's my job?). So I stayed on with my school job, figuring they'd be willing to work with me come the fall.

Wednesday afternoon I'm sitting in our teaching classroom, a smaller room with about twenty computers. No one ever comes into the classroom, which is nice because it affords me the time to sit around and surf youtube, read wikipedia, and job hunt (usually in that order). My boss comes in with a group of the new recruits to use the classroom and give them a rough orientation on a lot of the software and services our office supports. But before that she takes the time to introduce the couple of people in the classroom already.

When she gets to me she says, “And this is Nathan, but you won't be seeing a whole lot of him because he's not going to be working with us come the start of the semester.”

Ok, I think and offer a perfunctory wave while I'm working on the flyer for some of the classes offered in the fall, that makes sense, I'm planning on moving out to Portland, Oregon and attempting to wing a bohemian life out there with the friends who've already headed out, and that's happening in October, a few months away.

Then I stop. Something doesn't jive with something else. The start of the semester. So I go to the school's website and search Academic calendar. Pull up Fall 2010, and see the starting date for the semester: 09/07/2010. Next Tuesday. Then another thought comes rushing out in an angry, confused fury. I don't work between Wednesday and Monday (and we're closed on Monday for Labor Day) Then the two thoughts jump together. My stomach lurches just to get in on the building shock. I don't work again between now and the start of the semester. Today is my last day. Would've been nice to have a heads up, I think.

I think about, after the class has split, stopping in my bosses office and confronting her, but if this is her way of saying I'm fired, it's really nonconfrontational, and I'm not feeling like stepping it up much and taking the higher road. When I get home I fire her an email asking her if, all things considered that makes today my last day.

“Yeah,” she says, “I guess it is.”

“Oh, ok,” I respond, “can I get a letter of reference?”

“Yep, not a problem,” she responds.

And that was it.

It's put everything else into a desperate perspective. Student loans are about to start rolling in, here with October so close. I'm not finding any work. I'm barely finding any potential, and those that I can apply for are rarely taking the time to write back and say “Sorry, we're not interested.”

I'm a graduate from the Univeristy of Michigan with a marketable degree in information literacy an library services. I'm articulate. I'm young, and driven. I'm stuck so far behind the eight-ball.

I don't know what I'm going to do.

Lost a retrospective.

2010-05-24T12:27:00.002-05:00

Warning to Travelers: Here There Be Spoilers

I was going to make a post last night after the end of Lost, but admittedly I wasn't entirely sure where I stood on it. I got swept up in the instantaneous twitter feedback (just search #lost on twitter) and the spitting ire of everyone who felt they got somehow gypped. Where did I stand on the whole thing? Did I feel two-timed by the writers for not so much reneging on their promise that the whole thing was the afterlife (it wasn't but it's something a lot of people missed because they were too busy being mad and not taking the time to listen)? Did I feel vindicated for the six years that I dedicated to being a fan of the show? It had my head spinning so much that I, instead of jumping into the debate decided to take some time to really mull on it.

I'm not going to do a play-by-play review of the episode. There are enough reviews out there that do that. Besides, I'd rather see you put in the time to finish the series and savor the episode in its context. What this more is a reflection on the series, and the implications on storytelling.

What Lost is, what it's revealed to me in the hours since seeing the finale yesterday, is a first draft novel. Every episode a chapter. The full story not visible until the conclusion. Why a first draft? Because with a format like television, things are written on the fly. Ideas can change or morph. Bursts of brilliance emerge that weren't initially there (Ben Linus going from a cameo to a pivotal character). What you think is so important at the outset might just be a red herring or a tributary away from what's really at the core of the story. When you get to the end what you have is this unruly mound of stuff. There is a shape to it, and in some places there are moments and periods of truly refined brilliance, but it is still at its core a first draft novel. In need of revisions, and shaping, and sometimes of killing your dears for the sake of the story you're trying to tell.

And that's what Lost is. Like a first draft the early parts are refined. That kernel of a story has time to percolate and the opening chapters of the story all bristle and move with an electric excitement that a new story has. It's bursting with ideas and it's just so damn excited to tell you about them, yet it's still nervously hesitant to give anything away because it wants to make sure that you get a whole story. And we as readers pick up on that. When the writer is excited, we're excited. It's why we can read things that turn out to suck, and get through the opening chapters before realizing it sucks. We get swept along with the sheer exuberance of the storyteller.

Something happens to the story though. Maybe a third of the way through, maybe half. The story gets burdened down. The writer knows where the story has to end up, and the writer knows where the story has already been, but the writer is stuck in the middle. Surrounded on all sides by messy loose ends they've got tie up as much as they can. Tie it all together. Things get wandery as the writer has to try things out and find what's important. They have to make mistakes, and they have to get sidetracked by their "babies" until they realize that, while it might be interesting, it's not important in the grand scheme of things. Lost had these moments right around seasons 3 and 4.

Then a threshold is crossed. Maybe the writer just reaches a point where there is so much goddamned weight behind the story they're trying to tell, maybe the writer has just had it and finally liberates themselves of the burden of the middle, and they come screaming out of the shoot like a rocket, barreling full on to what they hope is a brilliant conclusion. A conclusion that they hope is sound. A conclusion that is just so epic that they can't wait to tell it. A conclusion, which oftentimes feels a little inevitable and expected. The problem is that when examined as a whole the ending might not entirely fit (at the moment) with the story behind it. Spiritually it does. It fits, but it's a little wonky. It fits but there some parts hanging out that just don't quite tie up neatly (not that everything needs to). An ending that for the moment leaves the writer satisfied, but is undeniably in need of the craftsman's hands smoothing out the parts leading up to it. Shaping everything, whittling away at the fat and carving in the details. Killing the babies.

That's what Lost was. A first draft novel. A first draft novel where every week for a year the writers release the next chapter immediately, and can't ever go back to rearrange what preceded it because it was always out there. A first draft novel that realized the importance of somethings and the unimportance of other things, and lacked the ability to go back and change it and tweak it before the world hounded down on it. It's a ballsy statement of storytelling and craftsmanship.

When Jack's eye closed for the final time in last night's episode, no one could deny the power of that bookended image, and the understanding that the writers had a rough idea of where they were going, and probably had an ending in sight (I know I did while writing the first draft of my first novel). That the writers weren't entirely sure where it was going in the middle (again I had no idea, and was willing to play out whatever sidetracks were necessary to find the true story). It's also undeniable that the writers were under some of the sharpest scrutiny ever to be leveled on a show because it demanded the viewers and the fans to give more than just their viewing time, but to full appreciate the show had to immerse completely in the culture. It has and still is changing the face of how we approach media, and the television medium. It was daring and it was ballsy. It demanded a lot of its viewers and it proved its very theme, live together, or die alone.

When the doors to the church were opened by Christian Shepherd one last time during last nights finale, and we were all watching breathlessly as the characters we loved moved on, we the viewer were forced to move on too. But we did, as Jack charged the crash victims of flight 815, live together.

Lost you were and are loved, and you will be missed. Thank you for challenging me to think about writing, and about being a fan, and about being a person.

2004-2010

Lost Finale Tonight!

2010-05-23T19:42:00.002-05:00

Watching the two hour recap of Lost in the preparation for the finale of the show. It's making me think a lot about storytelling and about reader/viewer involvement. It's got me thinking a lot about the endings of stories (for obvious reasons) and about letting go.

It's something I have a hard time with, I think, letting go. I noticed it with the musicals back in high school. I'd get to the end of the cast party and then spend a day or two after in this sort of funk because a phase is over. I noticed it when I finished my first read-through of the Lord of the Rings, silly I know, but something like that is a massive time commitment. I noticed it with just about every show I've finished, the LOTR movie trilogy, Battlestar Galactica, the Dark Tower book series, and now tonight, Lost.

It's a testament to the power of story, and to the mastery of the craft that the creators of those aforementioned works. To be able to take these fictitious creations and to engage people so much that letting go is hard. That it feels like being dumped. That it feels like the ending of an era that happens with graduation. It's something that I could only hope to achieve with my creations.

~~~~~~~~~~

In other news I'm less than a week away from the Madison, WI marathon. I'm feeling less prepped for it than I did for Detroit. I got sick a week ago and I'm still reeling from the damage. Either way it should be a good time, I'm just hoping that my running time will be better than last. Shooting for a 3:40:00 (ran a 3:55:28 at Detroit).

I'm also still in the midst of the job hunt. I'm not working as hard on it as I should. Planning on stepping it up this week, and maintaining a level of productivity to get the job.

And now Lost is starting, and I've gotta go. Post-Lost reflection when I get done.

Until then, go here and read my book reviews:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3505964?shelf=read

Iron Man 2: First Impressions.

2010-05-06T01:26:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure if anyone else has said anything like this, if they let me know because I would like to read it, but after seeing Iron Man 2 tonight I've walked out with many first impressions and one very important conclusion. Cinematically speaking Marvel Studios and the "Avengers Initiative" has the future of movies standing on a very interesting and probably very dangerous precipice. This is ground that has not yet been tread on before (the X-Men films have kind've done it, but not quite to this extent).

As everyone is no doubt aware at this point, Marvel Studios has a plan. It's a grand plan. It's a plan that now has the financial backing of the Disney juggernaut, hell, the Disney Colossus, behind it. It starts with the Avenger Initiative, but where does it end? For the non-comic reader, what this is is a cinematic reproduction (or adaptation) of the Marvel Universe. What that means is this: Over the last 60+ years of its life Marvel Comics has given us many heroes, initially all were in their own titles, and their own universes, and their ramifications were all effective in their own universes. Much like the early Marvel films of the aughts (including Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Punisher, Daredevil, and the Fantastic Four) each of these films seemed to exist entirely separate of each other. Then in 2008 came Iron Man and everything changed. Not the movie itself. No, the movie was a thrill ride. It stood alone, and it stood proudly (with maybe a bit drunken of a swagger). It came after the credits. Half the audience left by the time it happened. The last credit rolled. The company title. Black screen and then bam:

Samuel L. Jackson. The basis for General Nick Fury in the Ultimate Marvel Universe was sitting in the living room of Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark, spouting off about the Avenger's Initiative, and everything fucking changed.

Comics entered the movie world, and the ball started rolling towards the Avengers. Two years later the Incredible Hulk has come out, Thor is in production, Chris Evans is cast as Captain America, and Iron Man 2 has just come out. And what does all this preface have to do with my review of Iron Man 2? This:

Continuing down the road that we are on with films that rely on established characters, or massive multi-character/multi-movie franchises we are facing what could potentially become the end of traditional cinema. In this sort of visual medium, television shows have always been akin to serialized stories or novels (see any sitcom for the serial, and shows like Lost or Battlestar Galactica for the novel). We have cable, and each week we tune in for another installment of what will hopefully come to a conclusion of sorts eventually (Lost has helped set the stand for future "maxiseries" televised novels (a rant for another time)) unless we fall prey to the Gilligan's Island Syndrome (also a rant for another time). Movies on the other hand are short stories (the well-made ones can be as far as novellas, but are generally shorter stories). We pay our ten bucks (hopefully less, probably more) and we sit down and are told a satisfying and mostly complete story. Sometimes there are series, but each film gives us a complete story. Even Christopher Nolan, the helmer of the current (and IMO, best) Batman incarnation has said that with the third film he will bring it to a conclusion because movies are not comics, and movies have to end. "Au Contraire," says Marvel with their Avenger Initiative. With the cashcow of the Marvel Universe and their established characters all they have to do is build in connections, and let the movie/money machine roll. Thus comes Iron Man 2.

Is it a good movie? Not really. Essentially it relies on a couple of pretty cheap deus ex machina plot devices (many scripts do, sure, but "don't cross the streams!" really?). It builds up a lot, and doesn't really give us the satisfactory ending we deserve. But on the whole it was a damn good ride. Stuff blows up real good. Tony has some funny one-liners. There's a few awkward sexual moments, and AC/DC provides a wonderful soundtrack.

Walking out of the movie my geek side was dancing like a drunken leprechaun inside my head, so pumped for the Avengers movie (2012), but my more mature movie-goer/storyteller mind was saying "wait a minute." The movie itself is a giant two hour preview for the Avengers. We're given teasers. The Hammer. The Shield. SHIELD logos. References to the black-ops. Fury saying he's "the most real person you'll meet." Things to get my comic reading, mythology loving head practically screaming and singing along with AC/DC (which I did considering it was a private screening and there was some alcohol involved). All this preparation for what's coming is great, but someone forgot to remind Favreau that we need Iron Man 2 first, before we can get Avengers, and that this movie needs to stand alone by its own merits.

To harp further on the story, Iron Man 2 confirms a lesson that was alluded to by the rather lackluster ending of the Dark Knight (a rant for another time), and made quantifiable by the trainwreck that was Spider-Man 3. When dealing with superhero films, an intricate story is fine, but what there needs to be is a very focused villain. Rhodey's potential betrayal, Hammer's ineptitude, the US Governments oppressively-presented attempts to acquire the Iron Man suit, Ivan Vanko's rather wasted early appearance and quick resolution. All of these villainous plots serve to muddle a story that can't quite find its focus. There is the beginning of intricate links between them, involving the introduction of War Machine, and drones for 4 out of the 5 branches of the military (what no love for the coast guard?) but then things go all explodey, and it seems like the script-writers were looking for a fast way to tie things up. All in preparation for a scene between Fury and Stark discussing what's to come, and not what's happening.

But am I to sit here and harp and harp and harp about the story, about the occasionally draggy talky spots in the middle, about the way the story sort of drunkenly stumbles like Tony Stark in the Iron Man suit at his birthday party, and have you leave thinking that I walked out of the movie grumbling? Because I didn't. If you've made it this far you need to know that, if nothing else, I had a great time. It drunkenly stumbled and tumbled forward like a good comedian who is better when he's sober, but is still riotous when he's had a few, and I was led along happily to its lackluster conclusion, smiling and laughing, and cheering all the way. What it does, it does well, and what it doesn't do well it manages to slather in geeky nods to the fanboys that warmed the cockles of my comic reading heart. Go see it, if only for AC/DC, the shield, the hammer, and Scarlett Johansson in a catsuit that is almost physically impossible.

The First Day of the Rest Of Your Life

2010-05-03T14:51:00.005-05:00

I graduated on Friday. And again on Saturday. The Friday ceremony was the School of Information ceremony. A more personal one with our individual names being read as we walk across the stage and our families cheer and try to embarrass their graduating children with louder whistles or cat-calls (thankfully no air horns). The whole affair was fun. My grandparents were there, as were my parents. There was a reception after with good food, and a chance to meet the parents of all of the people I went to school with (many "ah-ha!" moments as I could see the evolution of my friends' habits reflected in their parents). It was odd, though, still having the same sensation that graduating from Columbia had.

When I graduated from Columbia there was definitely a sense of celebration, but it was muted with the knowledge that really all that was happening was I was packing up, moving home, and prepping to start school again in the fall at the University of Michigan. Everyone else had this sort of shell-shocked, yet excited sense of being done, but I was just bracing to start the whole process over again. That was how the first of two ceremonies felt.

Saturday was the University-wide graduation at the big house. As you know, it was also the one that Obama spoke at. His whole speech you can watch online.

They had him set about on the 50 Yard Line, and I was out on about the south-side 10 yard line in front of the band. They were saying the audience was upwards of 80,000+ Only the section behind the main stage was empty, and the giant Michigan block-M was visible. It was a pretty mighty sight.

That commencement for me came with a surprisingly bittersweet revelation that this was it. That after essentially my entire life in school that I was finally done with sitting in lectures, staying up late writing massive assignments that I should've factored more time to do, and formal learning. Considering how long I've been looking forward to it, it rather left me with a slightly scared, but more sentimental realization that I'm going to miss it.

I've been planning to sit down and write a reflection of my school career from the end. I might write it soon. More than likely it'll slip by in the wake of everything that's coming up and I'll never do it. Either way, I've been writing it in my head for a while, and the one thought that always comes to mind when I sit down to think about it was that, for me, the most memories of school don't ever come from the times that I'm sitting in class learning, but instead from the times that I was between classes with friends, learning about life. The late nights at the bars. The group projects and learning to give and take. The skipping of classes to go do other things. The memory of school for me will always be the moments between classes. The opportunities to meet people that I'd never meet any other way. The collective experience with hundreds of other people. That I'll miss more than anything else, that I'll remember better than any other part. Not the readings. Not the lectures. The friends.

One of the things lost in the wake of being out of school, and at this point still without a real job, is the sudden surplus of free time. The ability to just get lost in not doing a damn thing. To fight this I'm giving myself an ambitious to-do list to attempt to do each day, in the hopes that I can set a level of productivity to carry me, instead of just getting swallowed in the summer slacking. First and foremost on it is getting a job, but a strong second is editing the novel. I'll be splitting my focus on this blog on both the job prospects and issues facing a library grad, as well as the process of writing, editing, and hopefully publishing. Should be amusing.

Graduated

2010-05-01T18:25:00.001-05:00

It's been about a month and a half. This isn't going to be a real blog post, that'll come when I've had a chance to get my thoughts in order. Mostly just a heads up that I'm still here.

Over the next few weeks this blog is going to be undergoing some changes I think. I just graduated from the University of Michigan with my Masters of Science in Information. The infamous job-hunt is about to begin (well, it's about to restart really...) I'll be shifting focus of this blog a bit away from the writing and lifestyle stuff, and hopefully starting to build a bit of a professional blog tracking what I'm doing in the library world as well as what I'm doing with writing.

More to come. Stay Tuned...

Back to Reality

2010-03-12T15:40:00.004-06:00

I'm back settled in Michigan. It's consistently in the 50s here now, and I'm afraid of being premature and jinxing our good fortune, but I think somebody found old man winter and finally put one through his heart. I'm sure of this because yesterday I drove around with the windows down and the Apples In Stereo playing, and everything felt really good and right.

Coming back from Los Angeles to Minnesota I met a guy named Duncan on the flight and we talked for hours about everything from writing to library senior programming, and the xenophobic nature of mankind. Usually during flights I plug into my headphones and disappear either in a book or into writing until I fall asleep, but this time, when the snack cart came around I took of my headphones and the conversation started up about how clean my handwriting is. It was a welcome change of pace.

I was in Minnesota long enough to get a beer and watch an episode of the Office on the bar's television before I hopped a terrifying little puddle jumper up over the great lakes and then back home.

Now it's back to school, and work, and generally just biding my time for another 38 days until graduation is at last upon us.

Yesterday was errand day. I took care of some library stuff, got a haircut (one that will be good, eventually, but that I look in the mirror at and think "you're not bad, but I'm not happy..") and had lunch with my mom.

I'm also starting to prep for this event much in the vein of NaNoWriMo called Script Frenzy. Over the course of April the goal is to write a hundred page script (Movie, TV, Comic, Stage, whatever). Because I'm going to be in the midst of finals insanity, my friend Duke and I are collaborating on a new idea. I'll be blogging the progress of that over the course of April as well as Graduation stuff.

Other than that I've not been up to a whole lot. Wrote two songs over break (the first new songs I've written in 3 years). For a while there I was worried that this was the end of my song writing days. If I ever get around to recording them, I'll post them, if not then you'll have to come out to Homegrown open mic in Lansing to hear them.

Now I'm stuck at home cleaning my room and watching movies, and thinking about how I'd rather be reading comics.

Documentarians, Europeans, and the Job Hunt

2010-03-03T00:16:00.004-06:00

A post from the city of angels.

Tonight Kate dragged (read "invited") me to the International Documentary Association's Networking Party. This one is timed to coincide with the Oscars (which is Sunday). While there we met Anders and Torstein Nybo, members of the Norwegian production company that made the Oscar nominated documentary Burma VJ, a film about the Burmese Monk uprising in 2007. And let me just say that Norwegians are great people. Very polite, and talkative, and more than willing to buy the next round (which is great when you're a broke library student hobnobbing with the heavily alcoholic filmmakers). But beyond that Documentary Filmmakers are all great people. They remind me of more talkative librarians in some ways. Very conscious of social justice and full of dreams of the good they want to do with their films, and it was very refreshing in comparison to much of Los Angeles.

Time in LA has been great so far. A lot of hiking the trails and the area in and around West Hollywood, and Burbank today. On Friday Kate and a former roommate of Ben's, Sappy, drove down to the area just north of San Diego and did wine tasting at 3 different wineries and topped the evening off with a stop at Stone Brewery.

The other major thrust of this trip out has been job hunting. Now more than ever I'm sure that I want to get out this way, even if it's only for a small amount of time. I've been firing off job applications at anything with a decent pay check and a location in the city. From more traditional library jobs, to a publishing company sales representative position, to a film company's production assistant. Like I said. Anything.

Now to go watch Lost. More to come, and pictures soon.

Go West, Young Man!

2010-02-24T08:19:00.005-06:00

Sitting in Flint Airport waiting for the puddle jumper that's going to take me up, and then immediately down again into Detroit for my next plane that will take me into Los Angeles. Constantly amused by the fact that it's cheaper to fly from Flint to Detroit and then to LA than it is to just fly direct to LA. Proof of the arbitrary nature of flight tickets, I suppose. At the very least the wi-fi here is free. I'm not sure if that's true everywhere now, or what.

I'm spending two weeks (roughly) out in Los Angeles to job hunt, explore, and generally recharge the battery for the last 40 odd days of school that'll be left when I return. There's talks of a trip down to Mexico for margaritas, hiking in the hills around West Hollywood, and probably more than one visit to Santa Monica.

I've been trying to get the brain to focus to get the novel rewrites done by the start of March, but unless I suddenly pull another couple of days out of thin air, it's not going to happen. I'm just starting to rework chapter 4, and I haven't touched that since at least a week ago. Chapter three is one of the more violent and emotionally charged chapters. It's sort of the breaking point where readers are either going to say "Edmund, you're one sick sonuvabitch," and they're going to stop reading because he's wrong, or they're going to say, "I feel so sorry for Edmund, but what he's doing is still deplorable," and then they'll throw their lot in for the rest of the novel. God knows I'm hoping for the latter...

We had a writing group on Sunday, and instead of working on one of the multitudes of half-cocked ideas I have sitting around in notebooks or on hard drives, or floating around my brainpan, I instead started with something new. Something about the underground beneath Chicago. Maybe a war between the topsiders and the underground. Something. I'm not entirely sure what yet, but I'm enjoying the vibrancy of the new idea a bunch right now.

My bag is an inch or so bigger than the carryon cutoff. I'm hoping it doesn't cause an issue, because I'd rather not have to deal with checking my bag and having to wait for it, and worry about whether or not it's actually going to make it to LA anyways. Here's hoping, eh?

PS:
Hilariously appropriate Sleep Talkin' Man sound for the flight
http://sleeptalkinman.blogspot.com/2010/02/feb-24-2010.html

Reviewy things

2010-02-18T19:16:00.003-06:00

Internet is currently shut off, but I've been able to find a pirated signal by sitting on my steps, which I'm doing right now.

I'm in the middle of reading Dante's Divine Comedy right now. It's a spectacular, and obviously very very dense read. The imagery of hell is haunting in ways that I've not seen it before, and should provide some interesting pieces to draw from when I get around to writing again. Writing is something I've not done a lot of lately. I wanted to be done with the Rider by March 1, but at this point I'll be lucky to have finished Act I by then, let alone the whole book by the end of March.

I've finished 2 books so far this year, which is good for me. A friend and I got to talking about books we read last year, and it took me far too long to think of what the last book I finished was. Eventually it came to me. Soon I Will Be Invincible by (I have to look this up) Austin Grossman. It wasn't very good, but it did have moments of success.

So far this year I've read Under the Dome, which was a surprisingly competent and riveting read. The ending was surprising and King's ruthlessness with his characters was very surprising, and refreshing. It took a helluva long time to read, but then again it's a huge book.

The other book was Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse, by Victor Gischler. It was a post-apocalyptic comedy, which is of interest to me considering the story idea I'm working on, Bombed! Go Go Girls was a competent read, but not as spectacular as I was hoping. There are moments of sheer genius (the survival of the Jack Daniels distillery comes to mind first) and there are moments of bland (the rushed climactic battle and rather cliched movie ending). All in all I'd recommend it for its fun popcorn read. It left me with the vibe of an author's first novel. A ton of ideas, and a ton of work, and it'll never be as refined as their later work, but it's the clunky intensity and the sheer labor of love that makes it enjoyable.

Other fun things has been in music. Angels and Airwaves put their album out last weekend, Love. It's one of those that is just so ridiculous and over the top and utterly absurd and intense that you can't help but love it for its many failings. And anything negative I've said about Sleeping at Last's 2009 release, Storyboards, is completely rescinded. That album was a work of pure staggering genius.

Anyways. I leave for LA in 5 days, and I graduate in 59. Life is good.

Happy 3

2010-02-17T17:39:00.002-06:00

Just a quickie while bored in class.

I completely forgot my blog's birthday. February 5th. We're three this year. Real post, reviews, and whatnot to come..

Procrastinating at its best

2010-02-07T16:58:00.003-06:00

This is not good. This is not good at all. I am in the throes of full blown inescapable senioritis. All the symptoms are there. Constant griping about school. Surfing the internet in class. Procrastinating homework until literally hours before its due. When I got my syllabi at the beginning of the semester I caught myself examining them and calculating what I could flub and biff, and still get by with a moderately acceptable grade. If I were performing triage on me, I'd bag and tag myself and move on to less helpless cases.

At this very moment I have a reading response and a 4-6 page paper due tomorrow, neither of which I've started, or have done any of the reading for. Instead I've reviewed a couple short stories, I've religiously checked my inbox, run seven miles for marathon training, done some laundry, made a playlist, and visited my library where I picked up 3 new movies and a couple comics to read and watch and continue procrastinating. Now to go for broke, I'm packing up writing stuff and heading out to the local Biggby for a writing group my friend Duke wrangled, and is asking me to spearhead because of my knowledge of writing workshops from my undergrad. I also wrote a song. First one in a while. It's not finished yet. Maybe I'll work on it tonight.

For being a lazy procrastinator, though, things have been all sorts of insane hectic, which have kept me from doing a proper update for a couple weeks.

First and foremost is the less than wonderful death of my Jeep, Kate. It was a good morning last Tuesday I was making tracks down to Ann Arbor. Smoking my pipe. Stomach full and happy from a breakfast at Sip n Snack. Figuring that it was going to be a good day. Then, about 10 miles outside Ann Arbor she starts to rattle and shake and then dies. I got towed all the way back to Okemos where the guy at the shop took one look at it, said, "yep, it's dead," and have been splitting drive time with my dad's car. More than anything else it's left me angry with this perception of my inability to really care for myself right now. I can't even afford to buy a car on top of other bothersome expenses. Its making my entire move home, which was supposed to save me money, sanity, and allow me a base of cash for when I move to wherever after graduation. That's been shot so hard in the foot that it riccocheted back and hit it in the head.

I had a great rejection letter from a magazine where I actually caused a little bit of conflict between editors, and made a couple of them feel self conscious and pass on my short story. A bummer, yes, but it made me laugh so that was ok. Here's the best part:

"I'm very sorry to say that this story did not pass the review of the entire editorial board.

But I would like to emphasize that I particularly liked this story and the writing. The other editors didn't care for the "dude-based fiction", which seemed hypocritical to me since they are themselves dudes."

And on that note it's time to get my schlock together and go procrastinate further by writing fiction and enjoying myself. 71 Days, 42 Minutes and 5 seconds to go.

Slogging through the editing process

2010-01-26T15:27:00.004-06:00

First actual run of training this morning. Verdict is: I don't like running in the cold. I think it aggravates my old athletic-induced asthma.

The big news is that I'm starting to make some serious headway in editing the rider. A couple weeks back I took the weekend and read the novel from cover to cover. This more than anything else showed me how truly far I still have to go. Beyond the couple of "ADD SCENE HERE" notes there were bad jumps in logic, and wandery, unfocused passages, and just a lot more mess than I thought when I first finished the novel. All to be expected. What was the pleasant surprise was just how many problems had really clear and smart solutions that are easily rectified in the rewriting.

The issues started right away with chapter one. Mort Castle, my teacher and friend from Columbia, was always fond of the idea of starting at the start. He explained this as the writer often times needing a few pages when in first draft to just play around and really get settled in the story before the plot takes off. This was exactly what happened (though I'd sworn before that it wasn't) at the beginning of the rider, taking its gentle time introducing us to things slowly before the ball starts rolling. It was an odd sort of juxtaposition, considering how the novel from then on is one relentless barreling barrage to the ending. So I made about a three thousand word chop from the beginning of the rider, knowing that once things get rolling I could go back and touch more on what's been missing. It's been a very smart move.

Finished chapter 2 today with not much hassle and have started outlining the intricate storyline mess of chapter 3.
The actual events aren't all that confusing, as everything sort of all comes together around the rider and ends with him massacring the lot of them (pretty typical device I've noticed in this story), it's just the intercutting between story lines to make sure that the suspense builds properly.

When it comes to the rewriting process, I've found another of my skills has been sharpened to an efficient point. Procrastinating by web surfing. It's unearthed some great gems.

Like a video shot within the University of Michigan Libraries where I work:

And also this wonderful "viral marketing" website about doll warriors that just has to be seen to be believed.

http://www.dollwarrior.com

That is all.

The Best Kind of Marathon Training

2010-01-25T22:42:00.003-06:00

When June 15, 2009 rolled around and I started training for the Detroit Marathon, I had no idea at the time what I was getting myself into. The furthest I'd run before then was no more than 10 miles, and even that was something I was insanely proud of. Yes I could run double digits. I also didn't think that come October and the race I'd be already docking up my next marathon. What I did know was that I liked the training program Kate (my marathon buddy) pointed me towards. Because on Day 1, the training read:

"Monday is always a day of rest...Let's begin this Monday, the first day of your marathon journey, by contemplating the training that will begin tomorrow."

Hal Higdon

So here on January 5 (now the 26th by the time this thing gets posted) I am again. Resting comfortably with a hot toddy in my basement watching Zodiac. This, long-time readers, is the best kind of marathon training.

Things are a little bit different this time around. When I started last year it was the middle of summer, I was steeped in an internship, just at the end of my first novel. I had a brand new pair of shoes (Size 13 Mizuno Waves). Now it's January. The middle of winter. I'm too broke to buy a new pair of shoes (The ones I have, have at least 460 miles and probably more like 500 miles on them). I'm back in school, and I'm editing the novel that I was finishing. The race instead of training in the heat and running in the cold will be an exact opposite. Training in the cold and running the last weekend of May. Madison here I come.

An interesting fact I discovered: The distance run during training could get me well past Madison (which is only roughly 376 miles).

Tomorrow is the first run distance: 3 miles. A nice casual start.

I was planning on doing a blog on funny discoveries in my journal, that'll wait for tomorrow.

Under The Dome: A Review

2010-01-24T19:01:00.003-06:00

There's two thing that I've learned over the last couple years of reading Stephen King. The first is that Stephen King loves sprawling ensemble casts. He even mentions it in the afterword of his 2009 sprawling ensemble epic, Under the Dome. That 1100 page tome sports a cast of almost 30 major characters, outstripping his other 1200 page behemoth, The Stand. The other thing I've learned is that, as much as he loves these large cast grand epics, he has a tendency to biff these novels by relying on a less than satisfying deus ex machina to shake things up at the end. He is, as I can see, better suited to shorter novels (The Gunslinger, The Shining, Carrie, etc) and short stories. But in Under the Dome, King manages to use his weaknesses to his advantage, crafting a scathing commentary on small town life, politics and fear in a post 9/11 world.

It's mid-October in our favorite New England neck of the woods, not far from Castle Rock, and close enough to Shawshank that the fear of imprisonment hangs over one of the characters in the opening chapters. From the sky their drops down a (maybe inappropriately named) Dome around the town of Chester's Mill. A woodchuck is sheered in half, and an airplane is crushed like a fly on a windshield. The dome is completely invisible, save for where they townsfolk stain it with their fruitless attempts to flee, and polution coats it in a shroud of muck. The dome is also for the most part impermiable. The two-thousand-ish residents are trapped and left to their own devices.

Chester's Mill, like any good small town has its own self-important politics and politicos, and it also has its share of dark secrets. Its darkest of which is hidden in the christian radio station on the edge of town. And its this dark secret which might spell doom for the residents of Chester's Mill. The town also has its own demagogue who is both Dick Cheney and George Bush, who is a bit of Hitler, and a bit of Stalin, who is, as every good King villain is, charismatic, and utterly evil. Cut off from the rest of the world this villain, Jim Rennie, a used car salesman and town selectman, assumes slow power complete with his own burning of the Reichstag. And in true Stephen King form this town will be put through the ringer.

The lines get drawn, and for much of it, Under the Dome turns into a black and white battle of good versus evil. A battle which pit neighbors against neighbors, and family against each other, and for the lion's share of the novel, the dome itself takes a backseat to this gruesome small town showdown. And a warning for those approaching this novel expecting explicit explanations, you should know that in terms of story what you're getting yourself into is more Spielberg's War of the Worlds than Emmerich's Independence Day. These are normal folks caught up in a shitstorm, not scientists and soldiers fighting the good fight. This also isn't a bad thing.

Under The Dome takes its time, showing us the town and surrounding area, introducing us to the people that inhabit it, and putting us through the paces with them. The writing is always the breezy prose of Stephen King, never getting bogged down in thick prose, and always promising us a story. At this point King knows how to handle a large cast spread over a large area without losing the big picture and the geographical locations of all his characters. But King is not without his faults. Some of his descriptions almost too original that they illicit groans where awe should be. The sound of an explosion being described as "God's own vacuum sweeper" had me full of chuckles at the wrong time. And certain conclusions are more appropriate but less satisfying than they should be.

Those few minor complaints aside, Under The Dome is one of King's premier works. We are in the throes of a pulp god, and this is one creation of his that should not be missed.

A Later Evening, and kind of Early Morning post.

2010-01-24T02:19:00.003-06:00

Frontier Ruckus at the Blind Pig was everything it should've been. I had all my closest friends gathered from Portland, Kalamazoo, and elsewhere. My friends from as far back as elementary school, and as recent as grad school were all together, drinks were involved as well as good music, and it was, as Magnet said, "a little slice of heaven."

Now we're watching the Family Guy Star Wars special, drinking hot buttered rums, and I'm wishing I could've finished Under the Dome tonight. I'm thinking tomorrow it'll happen. And by tomorrow, of course, I mean later today.

Surfacing

2010-01-23T09:49:00.003-06:00

Waking up has been very stuttery today. Around 8:30 I was jingled awake by the dog coming around the edge of my door, looking at me and going "woo....woo..." really quietly to let her outside. My first reaction was to want to fly off the handle because I'm waking up, but then I stopped and thought, "she's saving me trouble of having to clean up a 'this is what happens when I'm angry' present in the living room." So I let her out in my pajamas and watched her run around the back yard, and the brisk morning air was waking me up to a point where I didn't think getting back to bed was an option. But still I came back in and laid down. And fell asleep.
Then I rolled over to the sound of my alarm at 9:30. I'd forgotten to turn it off from earlier this week when I have to wake up and hit the road to Ann Arbor for school (86 days left). With that once again off I laid on my back listening to the rattle of the heater stuttering on and off. Thinking, "ok, a few more minutes and I'll get out of bed." And promptly fell asleep again.

Now it's five minutes to 11. It's rather later than I'd like, but because I have the blog open, I'm definitely up at this point. Now I just need to stumble to the kitchen and get some coffee going and attempt to make sense of the day.

Friends from Portland (who were in the first place from here) are back in town for the week. We celebrated their return last night at Dublin Irish Square, a pub that has very little to do with Dublin, and only a passing "hey we have Guinness and Jameson!" fancy to do with the Irish. It was a bizarre evening with a crowd of my Portland friends' friends passing through. We also ran into people none of us had seen since High School (a thing that happens when you go out drinking in your hometown).

Tonight we're going to the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor to see Frontier Ruckus.

Back To School

2010-01-08T18:35:00.004-06:00

I love having a stationary bike in my room near the TV. With training for the Madison marathon still 2 weeks away, and no desire to run in the cold unless I have to, I've been spending an hour or so a night on the bike, riding and working my way through Lost (just started the second episode of season 5). Yesterday I rode 25 miles and through the season 4 finale.

Wednesday was the official start of the semester, and though I wasn't supposed have class until Friday, by some sheer coincidence I found myself in Ann Arbor at noon working for four hours and then going to class. Originally my schedule had me taking two classes on Monday and one on Friday (a graphic design class that I signed up for strictly because there was a lack of other classes that were interesting or in my field). Then at 11:30 PM on Tuesday night an email goes out saying "Hey, we're offering SI:515 on Wednesday from 4-7." SI:515 "Material Culture and the Interpretation of Objects" is more an Archivist class than a strict library science class, but it interested me, and was one that I'd originally wanted to take. And by sheer coincidence, a four hour work shift opened up beforehand. Check out the Open courseware syllabus here.

Yesterday I read the first 200 pages of The Rider, in an attempt to start on the editing process. There having been about 6 months since I finished it, it was like reading a brand new novel, which is exactly what I'd been hoping for. There are some glaringly obvious errors and weak spots. Better than that, there are stronger solutions logically presenting themselves that I can work on over the next couple months of editing. I'm hoping to finish the readthrough (minus note-taking) tomorrow.

I was invited along Chrissie (a fellow SI student and gamer) to start writing for The Indie Arcade, an independent game review and news site. I'll get a permanent link up soon.

I'm also currently reading Stephen King's Under the Dome. It's a lot of super fun. Full review on the way.

2009 In Review

2010-01-06T21:52:00.003-06:00

Alrighty, here's another recap continuing and catching up what's happened over the last year.

All through New Years Eve and the last week leading up to and following the start of the year, there has been an overflowing amount of cynicism and anger to the end of the decade. And I'd be lying if I didn't mention that I joined in with the choruses berating 2009 as being a terrible year. Then I sat down to write this blog, figuring I'd be talking about the strife of my mom's job hunt, or the exhaustingly long semesters, maybe the summer internship that was unpaid, and how I owe my dad for floating me through it with cash, maybe about how my car is sinking very slowly (the trunk wont open, the door had to get welded back on, the wheels have been replaced as well as other stuff underneath that I can't even remember), but the more I started making lists of stuff during the past year, the more and more awesome 2009 turned out to be.

Here's something for each month.

In January I got a random girl's number, and was featured in Neil Gaiman's blog about a library issues post.

In February I flew out to LA. (it was a quiet month (as far as I can remember with my blog) but that's ok). I also had a date at some point during this month (first in a long while).

In March I was in LA, and Chicago, and Kalamazoo, and East Lansing, and Ann Arbor, and just generally living the travel heavy life that I love.

In April I finished up school for the summer and moved back home.

In May I moved back home and officially became a single unemployed 23 year old living in my parent's basement (not good, not bad, but at least there's a deadline at the end).

In June I started training for the Detroit Marathon. I started my internship at the Capital Area District Library in Lansing. But the real whopper of the month was the fact that after 2 years of diligent (that should be surrounded by wacky finger quotations) work on the novel, I finished it with a whopping 117,000 words.

In July I helped protest the closing of the Michigan Department of History Arts and Libraries (MHAL) that was closed by the governor I voted for, Jennifer Granholm... I also went and saw Dave Matthews down in Indiana, and stayed at my friend's, Nate and Justine Bell's.

In August my internship (a massively successful one if I might say so myself) came to a close, and with it was published CADL's teen literary magazine. You can get an issue of it online here, but just please respect the copyright of these kids' hard work.

September honestly just sort of blurs by. It's amazing what school will do to you.

October was the other big month. I ran my first marathon in Detroit, and managed to finish with an admirable 3:55:28.

November was another all school all the time month. As was December.

So all in all it was a pretty good, and very busy year.

Now to look forward: 2010 is going to be even better. I've got graduation in April, which means moving somewhere and getting a real job. I want to be published this year. I also want to get the Rider out in the hands of publishers, and be finished with at least the first draft of a second novel. I've got the Madison Wisconsin Marathon in May, and another sometime at the end of the year. Maybe something in California, maybe the Vegas marathon. We'll see.

10 Albums of and Around 2009

2010-01-01T19:14:00.013-06:00

Ok, so looking back over the dates in my blog it's been about 3 months since my last post, which probably means my readership is toast. One of my new years resolutions (same as last year's) will be to post a little more regularly on here. More on that with my next post (a year in review).

Last year I did a "10 albums that rocked me during 2008" post that you can read by clicking here. So, I figure an inaugural post for the new decade covering the new music that rocked me through 2009 would be good. As I said last year, these albums didn't necessarily come out during 2009 (though many of them did), and, except for my album of the year, are in no particular order.

First off here are a few statistics for the number crunchers. Of the ten albums, eight are from 2009. One is from 2008 and one is from 2007. Four of the 10 different artists are returners from last years list. The ten albums have a total of 127 songs, which equates to about 7.8 hours of music. And with that, on to the albums.

Kicking off with an artist who appeared here last year, Regina Spektor came back strong with her first new release since 2006 (unless of course you count the wasted and phoned in "You Don't Know Me" on Ben Folds's 2008, "Way to Normal"). Far is, in my opinion, her best album to date. From the first few seconds of its strong opening track, "The Calculation" through to the very end "Man of a Thousand Faces," the one strength that stands out above all the rest is the recording. For my ears, this is one of the most perfectly mixed sonic recordings I've ever heard. Each instrument and vocal is clear and crisp and can be picked out while not overpowering the appropriate mix. Standing at the forefront of this album in my opinion, and what would've definitely made a better closing track than the actual album closer is "One More Time With Feeling."

One of the most important part of my writing processes, one that is hotly debated by writers as a strenght or a detriment to the writing process, is a good soundtrack. Ask a dozen authors and you'll get one of two answers: "I can't write without music," or "I can't write with music." A good soundtrack is essential for me. The two major artists that put me in the mood while writing the Rider during the last year both put out new albums during 2009, and both have made the list.

The first of these two bands is Pilot Speed. Their album, "Into the West" was (like much of my music) a random discovery on my iPod. With hints of U2 and Coldplay filtered through a more "indie" sound, their heartwrenching crescendoing compositions became the voice of the bleak arid world that Edmund is riding his motorcycle across. So when a month back I discovered their third quarter release Wooden Bones I was expecting more of the same. What I got was nothing at all like that, and it was freaking great! Still building and layering, their sound has become harder, and Todd Clark's voice more mature. For my money, nothing beats the strong opening track, "Put the Phone Down," but I can't get away without mentioning the way the title track, "Wooden Bones," opens up about halfway through into a soaring epic.

The second band ironically took the exact opposite approach. Paring away the huge string sections and the wall of sound effects, Sleeping At Last has instead taken their introspective and poetic lyrics and let its quiet ruminations on faith, life, and love infect the music with a stripped away simplicity that hides a mature intricacy. Storyboards shows the band's range and their ability to create a truly intimate experience with their sound. I would be lying if I didn't say that I found their 2003 release, Ghosts, a better album overall. That album, more than any other, defined the Rider for me (as can be seen with each song having a playcount well into the triple digits), but Storyboards does come strong and will no doubt grow with my in the coming year. Check out Clockwork from that album.

I Monster was sort of the trojan horse of my music collection. A few years back, Duke put them on my computer, and made me put them on my iPod with the promise that I'd listen to them soon. "Sure, sure," I said until he let it drop, and I probably did listen to it at the time. Or, at the very least, I turned it on and let it play. Whether or not I did, I couldn't remember ever hearing it and enjoying it, but for some reason, it stayed on my iPod. Then, at some point back around August or September I was feeling sort of stagnant with the music I'd been listening to and flipped to a random artist. It was, of course, I Monster, and their 2003 release, Neveroddoreven. It was great! It stayed at the front of my listening for a week, accompanying me as I made my twice a week trips to and from Ann Arbor for class. Of course, not much after, the first thing I did was seek out more of their music. By coincedence or otherwise, when I went hunting for them, happened to be the same week that A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars was released, and what I'd enjoyed in their first album was exponentially increased with their sophomore release six years later. Bending genres like a rolled over semi truck bending fenders across an eight lane highway, I Monster is something like psychadellia, and something like electronica, and something like what lounge music might sound like if Bosch, Dali, and Dr. Seuss had a morbid bastard child lounge singer with a huge libido. Picking a track off this album is tough, but I'll go with my first love and tell you to check out "Dear John." This album almost took the album of the year position.

Mike Doughty is an artist very near and dear to my heart. He's also one of those artists who releases shorter albums more frequently, so last year his 2008 release, Golden Delicious, made my list. He's back with Sad Man, Happy Man, an album that at once feels more akin to his early solo record Skittish, but benefits from the production values of his later albums. The compositions here are more spoken word acoustic rap than before, but his joy of chorus's repeated ad nauseum are not gone. I can't get the drums and driving sound of "Lord Lord Help Me Just to Rock Rock On" out of my head.

One of the two albums not released this year that are making it onto my list is Angels and Airwaves' sophomore release, I-Empire. Knowing that they are band members from Blink 182, The Offspring, and 30 Seconds to Mars, would've been an immediate turnoff for me, but thankfully I was nowhere near a computer when I first heard the album. Like Sleeping At Last, and artists that made last year's list (Coldplay and Snow Patrol), Angels and Airwaves hits you with an epic anthemic wall of sound, sweeping string sections, and balls to the wall driving intensity. Their guitars ape U2 at its biggest, and their lyrics all bleed with craving and intensity. I eagerly await their 2010 release Love, and the accompanying movie. Secret Crowds is the song to check out.

Another returning band from last year's list is The Panderers. Where many of the previous artists rely on chorus pedals and synth fill to bolster their sound and fill them out to a broad sweeping size, the Panderers do the exact opposite, stripping away everything until you have a clean electric guitar, thumping plucked bass, and a drumset that probably has a snare, a tom, a ride cymbal, a high-hat, and a kick, and nothing else. These guys are in your face with simplicity and catchiness that can't be matched. Their first major label release, Mucho Diggo, has a plain stripped away southern rock feel. The kind of music that makes you feel like a badass listening to it. The closing track, The Prison Song, is the one to check out, sounding like something Johnny Cash forgot to record.

Back at the start of the year Zach (guitarist of Ambush of Tigers) introduced me to the band School of Seven Bells. This trio (made up of a skinny guy and two attractive twins) is an electronica group hailing from New York. Their freshman release, Alpinisms, is a fun electronica album with ethereal synths and driving beats. Check out "Face to Face on High Places."

These last two albums presented a challenge for me. Both have been huge on my playlist this last year since I found them, and both are deserving of album of the year, but after much deliberation I've picked one (not wanting to cop out).

The runner up was an end of the summer discovery. Duke got it from his work, and, on the night James left to meet Zach and the rest of Ambush of Tigers out in Portland, we drove around and listened to the entire thing. Owl City is the insomnia-induced project of Adam Young. With its catchy pop hooks, and tight electronic instrumentation, Owl City's third album, Ocean Eyes is their best yet. When we heard it, all three of us (Duke James and I) knew that we were hearing the long sought after second coming of the Postal Service. After a bunch more listens, I can't necessarily say that it was as groundbreaking or generation defining, but the album is above all else, damn good and freaking catchy. By this point everyone knows their single, "Fireflies," but if that's all you've heard, it's just scratching the surface of this album. Veering wildly from its roots in the Postal Service to 80s New Wave and synthpop and 90s dance electronica, Owl City is able to do it all with a mostly straight faced. It's also the only band that could get away with terribly punny lyrics like "I've been to the dentist a thousand times, so I know the drill," and other great zingers. This entire album is great, and that's why it gets the number 2 slot, but the track that really stole my heart was "On the Wing." Make sure to check out his other 2 albums under the moniker Owl City, their quality is just as good as Ocean Eyes.

The Album of the year slot for me was, as I said, a really tough decision. Hell, the ten albums of the year was hard enough (I had 15 on the list when I started this post). But after a lot of thinking, and polling friends, I finally picked one. Returning from last year's ten list, with their newly released Act III: Life and Death, Casey Crescenzo's solo project, The Dear Hunter has managed to take a stonking great project and move it another step further along. Act I gave us their sound, heavily produced, intricately layered, and utterly shameless. Act II showed us their range, veering from harmonies that would sound at home on a Boys2Men album, to tango, to the emo-rock of "Red Hands." Critics of Act II decried the variation as too schizophrenic, unfocused. With Act III, the Dear Hunter takes the range and breadth of Act II, and puts forth a unified and maturing sound. The story takes our hero, The Dear Hunter, and sends him off to war in a situation that is like the worst nightmare of the Great War's western front. The album takes us to the midpoint of the six album cycle, and with its release came the announcement of an even more ambitious nine album project based off the seven colors, bookended by a black and white album. Casey Crescenzo is, as far as I can tell, certifiably insane with work, but his output has been constantly good, and he's not disappointed us with delays or wanderiness (here's looking at you Sufjan). I'm eagerly awaiting his next album. Everything on this album is pure gold. Perfect Production mixes, great lyrics, and gorgeous sound. But to pick one that really took the album and made it stick, I'd have to go with "The Tank."

So those are the ten new albums that got me through 2009, and will stick with me for years to come. Others that didn't make the list included Passion Pit's "Manners," Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago," Styrofoam's "A Thousand Words," Ben Folds' "Way to Normal," and the bizarre Beatle's solo projects mashup pretending to be the new beatles album from an alternate universe, "Everyday Chemistry."

Next up I'll do a recap of 2009 (with pictures) and a sneak peek of things to come in 2010. Thanks for sticking with me.

(note: all images are copyright of their respective whatevers, and are used without permission...if this pisses you off in some way, let me know, and I'll pull em)

8 Days until the marathon

2009-10-10T17:18:00.003-05:00

Still here!

Between the end of the internship, marathon training, and the start of the semester, time has just slipped out from under me.

I still haven't bothered to start the editing of The Rider, but it's coming soon. I'm getting restless, and the levity of having finished the first draft is once again becoming the burden of having an unrefined draft. I've read about 20 pages of it, and I'm already aware of major major redrafting that I will be doing especially with chapter one (More on that in the next post).

School's started back up, and is actually (as I'm posting this) already well into the semester. I know for one thing that the light at the end of the tunnel is definitely real now, and that kind of victory tastes so sweet. I'm enjoying a lot of what I'm doing this semester, except the aptly numbered SI 666 the cataloging class. The cataloging skill is becoming more and more outdated for most librarians with companies like Baker and Taylor doing most of the cataloging beforehand, and leaving whatever we have to do just being minor markups to adjust a record for appropriate collections. I'm also in video games and learning, which is a great education theory course, which made me realize more than anything else that I love education theory.

The marathon is next sunday. Part of the route passes through Canada, over the bridge to Canada, and back through the tunnel, making it the only underwater marathon in the world (check out the route here). It also meant that I needed a passport or passport card to actually do the race. I applied for one past the redline of the 4 week application process, and was starting to get nervous by the end of this last week about whether or not it would actually come. Then, today, while working with my dad on my poor dying jeep, the mail came. My dad had one of his ESP moments where out of the blue he looked up and said, "You should go check the mail, I bet it came today." Lo and Behold there it was!

Lastly I'm getting pumped to try my hand on NaNoWriMo this November. Last year I started a story about a Rock God (read about it here). It didn't get finished, but the chunk that I got done I was really proud of. This year I figured out my story already, I have 21 days to plot and play and think and relax, and then, November 1st it's game on!

Now it's back to pretending to do homework, and waste time before the Michigan vs Iowa game.

MHAL Closing Protest

2009-08-04T14:52:00.004-05:00

In an earlier post this summer I mentioned the executive order that abolished the Michigan Department of Histories Arts and Libraries. In the days that followed things appeared surprisingly quiet. In the next week word trickled down to many of my fellow students at the School of Information and there were a lot of questions being asked about what could be done about this. And until recently it appeared like not much at all. Then I was forwarded this message that I wanted to share with anyone who has been reading this:

“On Wednesday the 5th of August, let's assemble at the State Capitol, on the lawn. We have reserved the North and South lawns, and the steps. Time, 9:45 a.m. The State Senate goes into session at 10 a.m., the only time in the next few weeks we can be certain our legislators will be assembled at Lansing. At 10:30 a.m., we will process/march over to the Michigan Historical Center and form our *Hands Around the Library* -- in hopes of good media coverage! Since the perimeter of the building is a round 1800 feet, it is obvious we can use as many genealogists or friends of libraries/history of all types as possible. Please definitely let your local Society know you are coming for sure, since you can see that we need coverage - flags and ribbons can be held between people as well as hands and arms. We'll stay around the building probably 20 minutes starting at 11:00 a.m. -- then off to lunch, research, or museum viewing!”

Further information can be found at Michigan Genealogical Society's website as well as their official press release which contains the above statement and some more information. While feelings behind the scenes are mixed about MHAL closing (it is helping to streamline some parts), the general inclination is that the implications of this loss will only continue the decay of important social programs in Michigan.

Please again, pass this information along and help get the word out. I hope to see as many people as we can muster at the capitol tomorrow.

Marathon Training Day 47

2009-07-31T00:06:00.003-05:00

Ok...have to admit. Today's training should've been 3 miles. But I skipped it...I also skipped yesterdays training (a 5 miler).

So my total mileage should be 115, but really i'm at 107. I'm making up one of the missed runs later today (a 5 miler). And then hopefully doing a twelve miler either saturday around richmond, or sunday once i get back into town.

Anyways, I'm down in Richmond, Indiana staying with my friends Justine and Nate. I road tripped down here with James to see Dave Matthews for two nights at Verizon Center just north of Indianapolis in a place called Noblesville. It's about an hour and a half from here. Usually James and I see Dave in Wisconsin at the Alpine Valley shows, but that show fell on the same weekend as the wedding of the Wisconsin people we stay with (ironic).

Justine and Nate are great people. She was originally supposed to be flying out to San Francisco tonight, but weather delayed and then cancelled a flight, and Nate ended up having to head back out to pick her up from the airport moments before we arrived at their house. They're pet people, and if my numbers are correct they have 12 pets in the house. 4 dogs, and 8 cats (that seems pretty close, but the litter of kittens with the flu was rather squirmy and hard to headcount). We played Stratego waiting for them to get back, and then went out and grabbed some Steak and Shake (the five miler is definitely important to do now). Now I've climbed into bed, and am having to duke it out with a not declawed cat for bedspace. James is down in their living room sleeping on their couch, not something I envy him of (not so much the couch, but their main floor smells rather of the 12 pets they have in the house.

The upstairs room puts me in the mind of the time when Shadow stayed with Jacquel and Ibis in Cairo. The vintage room. The smell of old house, and the furniture and light fixtures that make it all feel just timeless. It also reminds me that I need to soon continue my run on the American Gods roadtrip entries I've been doing.

Anyways, more tomorrow I'm sure. I've got an idea for a post after reading Gaiman's essay about gender and stories about how I perceive my stories (I see less gender because I have a hard time writing females, and more seasons). Now to fend off the cat with four wheel drive and go to bed.

Marathon Training Day 44

2009-07-28T08:06:00.004-05:00

Today's Training: 3 Miles

Total Mileage: 104 Miles (Not counting the 3 tonight)

Pleasant surprise this morning: Got in to work and checked my work email only to discover that we have our first submission for the Teen Literary Magazine. A couple of poems. This is great, but with the deadline looming (Aug 5) only a week away, I'm concerned about having enough stuff to publish. To help fight against it the marketing department has been extremely supportive and giving in their time and energy to help get the word out. From whipping together fliers to getting an article in the Lansing State Journal, as well as on their website, myspace, and twitter, they've done everything in their power to get the word out to area teens, and now it just falls on the very talented youth to show us what they've got.

When I say talented, it's not an exaggeration. So far I've had two of the writers workshops (July 3, and July 22) 6 were at the first, and 4 at the second (3 returners). All of the participants were girls (of the middle school variety) and there was not a single rehashing of the Twilight plot. As far as that goes, I consider it a win. That is to say, I have nothing wrong with Twilight. I think Kevin Smith in his comments at Comic Con this year nailed the sentiment we should be feeling:

It's definitely something that I've found myself doing in the past (back during Harry Potter I was guilty for it until I read it, and loved it). But beyond that, as far as the writers workshop goes, it pleases me to see people being original with their fiction, and I've been finding that the more original the teens are being with their writing, the better it tends to be.

I've not been doing much on the writerly front as I should be lately. A few measely story starts, reading about 200 pages of the Rider (it's around 520 typed pages). I've been talking a lot about it with friends (writing, and the rider), but it's been one of those dead sort of things of late. Last I checked my spreadsheet (the one tracking all of my short story submissions) everything I've sent out has been rejected. There were a couple close calls, and one story is sitting in the hands (or slush pile) of an editor somewhere, but for the most part I'm being lazy with no excuse.

It's this point in the blog where I should be making platitudinal oaths to write a thousand words a day, or edit my novel by some insanely close date, or submit things, but I wont. Suffice it to say those things I should be doing, and if this writing career is something I want to be doing, I'll start thinking seriously about actually doing it. Really what I should do is just try finishing a brand new short story. Maybe I'll hop on that this afternoon after work and a run.

Marathon Training Day 30

2009-07-14T10:20:00.002-05:00

Today's Training: 3 Miles

Total Mileage : 62Miles (Not counting the 3 tonight)

This post is actually far less about the marathon training and more about an interesting development happening over at the Library of Michigan just a little west of my internship at the Capital Area District Library. It appears that as of October 1st, 2009 the MHAL (Michigan Department of History Arts and Libraries) will no longer be its own entity.

Yesterday (7/13/09) at 3:42 PM Jennifer Granholm signed Executive Order 2009-36. This abolishes MHAL and disperses the library collection and staff. It appears that the majority of the staff will be put under the Michigan Department of Education. Others will find themselves elsewhere (Dept. of Information Technology, Services for the Blind will go to the the Dept. of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth's Commission for the Blind). More details will become available as the budget for Fiscal Year 2010 gets hammered out. The rumor floating around right now is that much of the collection maintenance will be handled by Michigan State University.

Along with the abolishment of MHAL as a department, EO 2009-36 establishes the Michigan Center for Innovation and Reinvention Board. From the sounds of things they'll be occupying the Library of Michigan building as they figure out what to do with much of the remaining library resources, buildings and personnel.

One thing that remains unaddressed that was raised by one of my coworkers is how this will affect the Michigan Electronic Library (MEL).

And on that note it's back to work. Creating instructional handouts for the Microsoft Access Database I made for the business librarian. Writing post to come soon.

Marathon Training Day 16

2009-06-29T08:05:00.004-05:00

Today's Training: 3 Miles
Total Mileage : 31 Miles (Not counting the 3 tonight)

It seems that the service I am providing at the library where I am interning, Book-a-Librarian, is starting to become recognized by the public. Tomorrow for the hour which it's open, 9-10, it's booked solid! Two very different questions should test the range of the service.

I'm starting to feel the itch of not writing now. I've produced maybe 500 words in the past week, and it's frustrating, having come off of the grand-slam swing for the fence that I did when I finished the novel (something like 13,000 words over 2 days). The ideas are floating about. I'm thinking of maybe trying a golden age of science fiction esque short story to send to the eMag, Ray Gun Revival, or maybe a second short story set around the Society of the Miracle Workers (The first of which I read at Twilight Tales last July), or maybe restart the post-apocalyptic stoner comedy novel I've been occasionally writing on, called Bombed! We'll see what the day brings. Really I should be running drafts over some of my short stories, repackaging them and sending them out.

Marathon Training Day 8

2009-06-22T09:53:00.004-05:00

So I'd been intending to update this sooner after the first day of marathon training, and do a sort of day to day update of "this is how much I ran," "this is how much Ihurt," "this is how far I have to go." But that clearly is not the case as it's been a week since my last update. But you know what? I have a great excuse this time! I finished the novel!

Yes, that's right, you read it here, and you read it clear. I finished writing my first novel on Sunday after a really good 6 hour session of sitting at Starbucks that resulted in about 8,000 words getting written (that's not including the 5,ooo that were added the day before at the same Starbucks). This marathon weekend of writing ended me with a completed book. The Rider (as it's being called for now) is about 117,000 words long (which is about 520 typed pages for those who need a better reference). There are still two scenes (roughly) that need to get added in, but in order to do that properly I need to rewrite about 50 pages of the book, so I figure I'll be getting on that here in the next week or so.

This is the part that I was very excited to get to. Gone (at least as far as The Rider is concerned) is the day to day "the writing was good!" or "the writing was shit...why am I even doing this?" sorts of posts. Putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard as it were, is interesting only so far. It's something that we all know how to do. And Stephen King said it best in his book, On Writing (an absolute masterwork of the craft, and a must read):

"A radio talk-show host asked me how I wrote. My reply--"one word at a time"

(King, 151)

That's all writing really comes down to. Just putting one word after another. Story on the other hand takes editing, and a story that really works takes the fine-tuning and discerning eye. Examination under a microscope. And above all else, editing takes time.

The first question I was asked when I finished the novel (other than my friend James who called shotgun in my post-published private jet, to which I told him he clearly didn't know any authors, and could gladly call basket seat in my post-published private bicycle) was when's it going to be published, now that it's done?

"It's not done," I tell them, and they look at me perplexed (especially my dad).

"I thought you said you finished it," they say.

"I did," I say. "Now begins the editing process."

"How long is that going to take?"

"I dunno," I say, "six months?"

"You're crazy," they say.

And irregardless of my sanity, it is this part of the writing process which I find more exciting than anything else. I've mounded up all the clay into a very rough, vaguely elephant-shaped statue. But really it doesn't look like an elephant yet. Now I get to work the clay, chipping away the parts I don't need. Detailing the finer points. Refining the story down until that mound of clay I've piled up looks like a damn realistic elephant. It's here where the real craft begins, and I have the feeling that it is here where I'm going to learn the most about writing.

While that's happening of course, I'm getting started on my next project(s). I'm taking a couple days to oggle stories that I've started and left unfinished. I've got a project with my friend Duke, where we're writing each other stories, and challenging each other to push a cohesive narrative forward. It's steeped in the New Weird (think China Mielville) genre, and it's a very interesting exercise in world-building, and thinking on the fly. I'm also looking at a story of which I have about 100 pages done (most of which are in serious need of a reexamination) called Bombed! I think I've talked about it here before. It's Harold and Kumar meets the Road. Superbad meets Fallout. A post-apocalyptic-stoner-buddy-roadtrip-comedy. Something far lighter than The Rider, which sounds nice after dealing with such a heavy, heavy topic as The Rider was. We'll see what piques my interest.

And on to the Marathon training for the end of this exorbitantly long post.

It's day 8 of training (see the blogpost title). My current mileage is 15 miles. They've been far more grueling than I'd thought they would be (especially the 6 miler on Saturday). I also have rediscovered the importance of hydrating (something I seem to rediscover every time I start running regularly).

Tonight was supposed to be a night off, but because I took yesterday off to finish the novel, tonight is an hour of crosstraining (walking the dog, riding my bike, punching bag, or whatever). Tomorrow is another three miler.

And on that note i need to attempt some more productivity at my internship. More to come later!

Marathon Training Day 1

2009-06-15T08:37:00.002-05:00

"Monday is always a day of rest...Let's begin this Monday, the first day of your marathon journey, by contemplating the training that will begin tomorrow."

Hal Higdon

I'm not kidding you. That's what it says under the Monday slot of the marathon training program (follow the link above if you don't believe me). Best marathon training ever.

For those of you who don't know, I made a point of in my first of the year post about how I was going to train for the Chicago Marathon. Sadly that fell through, as the Chicago Marathon was sold out when I went to register for it in April. So after a quick search of US Marathons in Wikipedia, I discovered that Detroit has a marathon and that, for starters, it is marginally cheaper than Chicago's (Detroit is 75, Chicago is 125), and that there are still spots available. I also managed to convince my friend Kate (who has now run two, maybe three marathons) that she should train out in LA, and then we should run it together (and I was successful). So now begins my mad dash towards the gloried 26.2.

That's not the only big news.

Yesterday I hit 100,000 words in the novel. I'd thought when I set out to finish this thing, that this would be the end, but it's shaping up to be about 110-120k...Not a great prospect, but for a first time novel, I'm ok with that. The goal now (after many sad revisions) is that I can squeak out the first draft sometime this week. Then begins the fun editing process...

And on that note I've got to start focusing again back on the internship.

Internships, Novelling, and Other Summery Things

2009-06-04T08:31:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting in the office of my internship, taking a few moments to update the blog while waiting for my boss to get out of a meeting so we can figure out the structure of my internship. The folks at CADL are pretty laid back about the whole thing. I guess that comes with free labor eh? They've got me working on a series of projects.

Book-A-Librarian has me figuring out the ins and outs of the reference interview, how we can set aside a couple librarians for 1 on 1 time with the patrons helping with things like in depth research, or technology assistance similar to my old job at the Knowledge Navigation Center.
I'm working on figuring out how to implement a teen literary magazine that will be designed, edited, and basically run by teens but facilitated by the library.
I'm also working with English Discoveries Online, a web based ESL program that doesn't get much use by the patrons. Outreach Services has me designing and preparing a proposal for a 20-40 minute class teaching non-native patrons how to use it.

My internship mentor, Jim Maclean, is really intent on giving me a working hands-on approach to the behind the scenes of library outreach services, and not sticking me with dead desk time (like time to update my blog...). We've also spent a bit of the downtime I do have, especially later in the day discussing the future of libraries, something he has a very cynical outlook on.

The internship is interesting, and while I am still excited about libraries, it has worn on me a bit, which brings me to the writing.

Last update here I was at 76k. I'd wanted the novel done by summer. It didn't happen. Now it's June and I'm at 92k. A nice fruitful jump, but not hard or fast enough to bring the book quite to a conclusion. I figure I've got roughly 10-15k more to go before I've finished it. I'm hoping to knock it out this weekend.

I've also made a pact with myself to up my daily writing dosage to 1000 words a weekday, and 5000 for the whole weekends. That output I figure will guarantee novels being knocked out at a regular pace, and short stories by the load. I don't expect everything to be good, but it's time to refine the craft.

Boss just got out of his meeting, so I've got to go. Next up is summer trips, weddings, marathon training, and hopefully the next part of the American Gods Road Trip

Peeking My Head Above the Parapet

2009-05-03T22:51:00.003-05:00

Hello Blogosphere!

It's me, Nathan.

I know it's been a while. It's summer now. I am blissfully out of school. Less blissfully, I'm not getting paid. This comes from the wonderful collegiate institution of internships, coupled with the equally as wonderful flagging economy. But I just have to sit back and keep telling myself that "it's for the greater good!" and "it'll pay off in the long run!" So, with those two thoughts in mind I'm getting ready to begin my summer internship at the Capitol Area District Library. One of said requirements for the internship is a blog, which I'll be setting up soon (not sure if I'll do it here or at another location (seems like a cheap and amusing way of boosting readership)). I go in Tuesday for a meeting with the folks at CADL to hammer out the last of the details needed to get this internship off the ground.

Needless to say, I'm not exactly rushing to get this thing going (as far as I see it I can either not get paid to work, or not get paid to not work (the latter of which leaves me time to write)).

And speaking of writing, I didn't reach my goal of finishing my novel by summer. It has me rather frustrated, that I broke a big goal, but I'm doing what I can to make amends to myself. A quick run on the calculator informed me that I should be able to crank out 10,000 words in just over two hours of straight writing at my average typing speed. While I know this would mean I would have to be in utter prolific mode, where everything that comes out of my fingers is gold that I don't want to lose (a thing that never happens, and never will), the thought of being able to make that kind of push and see that kind of headway with balls-to-the-wall writing is rather tantalizing, and tomorrow, after I do a fair amount of unpacking and a little bit of intern prepping, I'll give a shot at.

I'm at about 76,000 words. I'm thinking the rough draft, when it finally cycles to an ending here is going to be close to 95-100,000 words. A pretty solid rough draft according to most professionals I've talked to. Hopefully (if I can pick it up) I want to have it done by the end of May.

In the news of unpacking, my friend pointed out to me (as we sat around talking about comics and video games) that I am yet again 23 and living in my parents' basement. Not a very empowering thought, until I realize that it is strictly a money saver until I graduate next May. And that's the whole point. After becoming endlessly fed up of my roommates (the ones who smoked in the house, and liked to practice their wicked DJing skills at full bore at 3 in the morning) I pushed for my lease to end, found a sublessor for May, and moved back home. Now I'm in the agonizingly slow state of unpacking. The end result (albeit in my parents' basement) is going to be pretty sweet.

The promised American Gods Road Trip post is in draft right now, and will be finished when I ahve the time to finish fine-tuning it. Still thinking of maybe doing it next spring break (that is unless of course I'm out in LA). It will happen soon though.

On that note I am going to pack it in for the night, read a bit of Soon I Will Be Invincible, which has been so-so, but definitely amusing (especially the evil-doer's story).

Settled Back In

2009-03-18T09:11:00.003-06:00

I took one look at the title I just wrote for this blogpost and realized how horrible of a lie that is. There's nothing settled in about now and the next month or so that's left of school. Projects abound. Traveling back to Lansing probably every weekend. Finding an internship (I've got a line on one at the Canton Public Library). The insanity will ensue, and will keep me from finishing my novel before the end of the semester, and I am very angry about that. Now...a breakdown of things missed:

~~~~~~~~~~

Los Angeles:

By far one of the best and most busy weeks I've spent in the city of angels yet.

Early flight out of Detroit to Minneapolis. Then straight out to Los Angeles. Spent day 1 in Burbank. That town or neighborhood, or whatever you want to call it, was one giant mall more or less, but it was fun meeting everyone Kate worked with. Day 2 I was able to hook up with my friend Sam for lunch and then hiking Griffith Park up near the Hollywood sign, though I didn't see it. Day 3 was a walk out to the La Brea tar pits and Page Museum. Day 4 was intended to be a mad dash out to Las Vegas with Kate, but Ben, Kate's husband, put the kebosh on that (tee hee). Instead we drove down to San Diego and the wineries out there, finished off with a stop at Stone Brewery. That night was a joke made into a party called St. Nathan's Day (it was Ben's idea). Day 5 was mostly loafing around the house in La Mirada. Day 6 was out to Santa Monica with lunch at an "authentic" british pub. Day 7 was a failed attempt at homework. Day 8 was a walk out to Hollywood, followed by a ridiculous short film festival. And then on day 9 it was an early flight to Atlanta and then up to Detroit.

I got back to Michigan and spent Thursday and Friday in Ann Arbor before swinging home for the weekend to see my family and friends, and The Watchmen (which I didn't enjoy very much).

Back to school for a few days, and then last friday, went to Kalamazoo, and then to Chicago Saturday morning, back to Lansing sunday night, and back to Ann Arbor monday afternoon.

Now it's Wednesday. I'm in Ann Arbor until Friday and then it's up to Lansing for a spaghetti dinner with my buddy Duke and some other folk.

I tell this timeline to people and they look at me like I'm insane, but really this is the one thing keeping me sane.

~~~~~~~~~~

In terms of writing I heard back from GUD, another dud (I'm a poet and I don't know it). I've put maybe a couple hundred more words on the novel, but that's it...It's really frustrating, but we can't do everything I suppose. I keep trying to remember to go look for a short story I'd written a while back that no longer exists on my harddrive but every time I'm home it's usually long enough to do homework and pass out before waking up and hitting the ground running again.

That's all I've got for now. Next post will definitely be the House on the Rock post of the American Gods roadtrip

The Travels and Travails

2009-03-12T09:02:00.002-06:00

I've been on a near constant move since Spring Break (between Los Angeles, Lansing Ann Arbor, and Chicago this weekend). A full post is coming soon with pictures and thoughts and all, and then a post on The House on the Rock, continuing my American Gods Road Trip planning. Until then I leave you with a little snippet I started writing on the flight back from Los Angeles to Atlanta. Dunno what it's going to become.

~~~~

You put on your toothy customer-service smile and while the prerecorded voice dispenses advice that no one listens to, you go through the motions that no one watches. Point to the exits. Two to the side. Two to the rear. Fasten the mock safety belt, tighten it down. Always smiling. Put on the mock oxygen mask and give it one good, bag-swelling breath for show. Then the captain, who always souds like a failed radio personality assures everyone about the weather, the plane and the arrival time. Then you take your seat with all electronic devices off and seats and trays in their upright and locked positions for take off. Always smiling.

The girls like to talk. About their kids, always just in college. About their husbands. About some prime time TV show, or the new Oprah Book Club book. Not me. I sit and read. Mysteries, sometimes classics, maybe some science fiction. Anything I can get my hands on between flights. Mostly I keep to myself.

Home is a duffel bag with some casual clothes and an extra set of work clothes. If pressed about where I'm from I'll say I pay state taxes in Illinois, but the last time I was there was a stopover in Chicago before a redeye to Portland.

I live in a constant state of limbo. Shifting time zones and perpetual jetlag. Everything at a distance. The ground far beow me. The people at arms length. Always smiling. It's the closest thing to living off the grid without having to exert any real effort to hide. If I'm not flying I get a hotel to get me through the night, and if I have a couple day's layover--something they force on me from timme to time--I go for long walks.

It's not much of a life, but it passes the time.

~~~~

And with that I'm going back to paying attention in class, and trying to catch up on homework. Real post soon.

Spring Break - Day Thre

2009-02-23T10:09:00.003-06:00

Already it is just day three of spring break, and I'm going to declare this the utmost of break victories.

This weekend I chipped away 2500 words on my novel, leaving me at about 68,000-ish. Just about got Edmund out of the frustratingly slow situation he was in and back on the road where he should be. Spent most of this time hunched over my laptop at the Magic Johnson Starbucks in East Lansing.

Saturday night I went with my friend James out to the kick off party for an up and coming nonprofit called SCOUT BANANA (Serving Citizens Of Uganda Today Because Africa Needs A New Ambulance). Their website can be found here. It makes me extra happy because it is the continuation of an Eagle Scout project, helping to build necessary medical and educational infrastructure in Uganda. For the educational/informational part I put them in touch with the Community Informatics Corp, a student organization through SI interested in spreading information technology and infrastructure to communities both domestically and abroad. CIC's website can be found here. Best part of the kick off party was a guy in a banana suit rapping. I guess his rapper name was Philthy...

I've been able to enjoy some time to read also. Finished Neil Gaiman's The Sandman for the second time ever, and enjoying it even more this time than I did the first time. I'm also working my way through Alan Moore's Watchmen again in preparation for the movie. Early reviews I've read have said good things, but I still can't shake the nervousness of this so perfect and epic comic becoming another flub on the screen (see all of the comic to movie creations of Alan Moore's others, with the exception of V, which became a fun thing of its own).

Tomorrow morning bright and early (probably not even bright, judging by the departure time) I'll be flying out Los Angeles for the rest of the week, and most of next week. Out there I'll be writing, and relaxing and carousing with friends. Blog updates and pictures and twitters definitely to follow.

Now I have to pack up for lunch with my friend Scott from the Capitol Area District Library about a potential summer internship. More to come.

American Gods Road Trip: Lakeside, Wisconsin

2009-02-18T09:06:00.004-06:00

Back in mid-November I made a post titled "American Gods Road Trip: A Proposal." The idea, in a nutshell was to plan out and execute a road trip that loosely recaps the major locations of the book. The trip wouldn't necessarily adhere to the chronology of American Gods, but instead would distill all the major locations in one massive north to south run.

The problem with road trips gleaned from works of fiction goes hand in hand with the first rule of storytelling, "Never let truth get in the way of a good story." And Mr. Gaiman gladly accepts that rule, and freely admits it at the beginning of his novel in a "Caveat, and Warning for Travelers" :

"This is a work of fiction, not a guide book. While the geography of the United States of America in this tale is not entirely imaginary--many of the landmarks in this book can be visited, paths can be followed, ways can be mapped--I have taken liberties. Fewer liberties than you might imagine, but liberties none the less...

"I have obscured the location of several of the places in this book: the town of Lakeside, for example, and the farm with the ash tree an hour south of Blacksburg. You may look for them if you wish. You might even find them."

Gaiman, Neil. American Gods. New York: Harper Perennial, 2001.

The problem presents itself almost immediately with the northernmost stop of the trip, Lakeside.

A quick search of Google, and of Wikipedia places Lakeside, Wisconsin about as far north and about as far west as it is possible to get in Wisconsin. The Website, Only the Gods are Real, works from this premise, and for what it's worth, the thought process makes sense, but that didn't stop a niggling doubt in the back of my mind. My doubt was confirmed by the quote "But this is the farthest south and east of the yoopie you can get pasties" (Gaiman, 266). A further search of the text revealed these facts:

Lakeside is south of Rhinelander and Eagle River.

"'Up north of Rhinelander? Nope, that's Eagle River" (Gaiman, 295).

While there is a White Pine River in Minnesota, around 35 miles from the actual Lakeside, Wisconsin, There is a Pine River south of Rhinelander, and near a few of the locations I will later propose as the factual Lakeside.

"On one memorable occasion he watched an eagle snatch a silver fish from the middle of the White Pine River" (Gaiman, 363).

It's west of County Road Q.

"She refilled his coffee. 'You ever gone east on County Q?'" (Gaiman, 366).

It's 20 Miles east of Camden, a nonexistent town. There is a Crandon, WI.

"'Darren managed the Motel American over in Camden, twenty miles west of here'" (Gaiman, 299).

South of Ironwood. North of Green Bay

"'I reckon he was driving up to Ironwood, maybe down to Green Bay'" (Gaiman, 299)

North of UW: Stevens Point.

"'Darren Olsen met Marge at U.W. Stevens Point and he brought her back north to Lakeside'" (Gaiman, 299)

Building from these facts alone (I'm sure there are more that I've overlooked) I've narrowed down roughly three towns.

Pelican Lake

which fits most all of the facts

Pine Lake
Parrish

which fits many of the above facts, but doesn't have a lake..

These are, of course, not the only options. Certain glances make me wonder if Elcho, or Enterprise, or maybe some other place that I am missing may be the actual Lakeside. Or could this fictional town be (as most fictional towns are) an amalgamation of many of these towns, created solely to tell the story that Gaiman wanted to.

In the next installment of this series I'll be examining The House on the Rock, providing a brief history, and from there to Madison, Wisconsin.

The Comings and The Goings

2009-02-17T18:03:00.004-06:00

My job is better than yours (at least for any college students reading this). Tonight, so far, I've been paid to do Monday's crossword in the NYT (finished it), figure out the homework I'm not going to do, and surf the blogosphere for other blogs I read (such as Gaiman, Mike Doughty, Janet, and Duke Kimball). Plans for the rest of the evening include working on the novel, and working on homework. And I'm getting paid for this.

After a brief stint of almost banging my head against the wall with my novel, I've managed to work out the kinks (at least for a first draft) of a scene I've been sitting on for a couple weeks now. The rider, my force of nature ball of energy character has been locked up in a cell, and mum's the word. He's been interrogated by just about anyone within arm's length and is playing the big strong silent type, meaning the scenes, which I'm convinced right now, have to be in there. The scenes are, for the most part, boring. But now, after a long weekend at home there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Some action and adventure and intrigue again. And the end is getting ever closer.

Next week I go out to Los Angeles. I fly out Tuesday, and will be out there until Wednesday. Long needed escape from the never ending winter. This will be year three of the tradition. Year One never got properly blogged. Year two is here, here, and the return trip here. Because I'll be missing St. Patty's day, Ben and Kate are throwing a St. Nathan's day party.

And for amusement here is a picture of one of the Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor I found.
http://twitpic.com/1je6w

Birthday Blog

2009-02-11T23:08:00.003-06:00

Holy crap!

I totally missed the birthday post for this thing. We are now 2 (as of February 5th).

12 Days until California.

Haven't touched the novel (school is swallowing my soul).

All is still quiet on the Western Front.

One of Those Rambly Going Nowhere Posts

2009-02-08T21:31:00.003-06:00

Sitting in Starbucks, dealing with slow internet. Figured I'd make a blog post because I've hit a wall with the writing.

The novel is currently hovering around 64,000 words. The writing was good tonight. I've been sitting on a scene with Loki, and Daniel, and the Freewalkers for a week or so now, and it's almost finished. I know this kind of thing is rather cryptic to talk about. Bantering names for a story that not many people know a lot about. Maybe it's enticing.

I came back to Haslett this weekend to learn how to do taxes with my mom, hang out with the guys, and get ready to dive into the homestretch before spring break (18 days until I fly out). Last night was a banana pancake dinner, with eggs, and sausage, and rum and orange juice (a new fun combination). Then we watched Dumb and Dumber. Also saw Coraline, which was very very good.

Tomorrow is pack up and back to school. Going to be very glad when it's done done done.

Right. Starbucks is closing. Time to pack it up and head back home to watch Arrested Development, read Graveyard Book, and sleep.

More Library Things

2009-02-06T15:40:00.002-06:00

It is historically understood that library use increases in times of financial need. The library represents the communities access to the information infrastructure, and now with internet being so necessary and prevelant the need for libraries is increasing. With that in mind I got this note from ALA HQ, and figured I'd pass it on again.

Calls to ALL Senators are needed IMMEDIATELY to protect $200 million for libraries, community computing centers and related institutions in the original language of the Senate stimulus bill, H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We have just been advised that Senators Kent Conrad (ND-D) and Lindsey Graham (SC-R) are expected to introduce Senate Amendment 501 which would strip funding for libraries and broadband to put additional funding in FDIC. If introduced, the vote could take place this afternoon.

The message is: keep the $200 million for libraries and broadband in H.R. 1 - defeat amendment 501. Libraries provide information on jobs, employment skills, and all other types of job-seeking information. More people are using libraries during these difficult times and the demand for broadband is greater than ever.

ALA Office of Government Relations will keep you updated as the stimulus debate continues on the Senate floor. Please watch the District Dispatch for updates.

Please if you feel so inclined, call your senators! Whether or not you are a regular user, for many who are feeling the blows of this financial crisis, the library is a lifeline to necessary programs.

A Learning Experience

2009-01-31T08:10:00.002-06:00

I suspect that it may be the case with all first novels, but The Rider (tentative title of my first novel) has been one epic humbling and learning experience. It was started with the same gusto and blind excitement that I'm sure every first novel is started with. It's been through ups and downs. And now, almost two years later I'm seeing that light at the end of the tunnel.

I've got under 30,000 words to go if things continue on the course they are now. It's around this point where suddenly everything has to start coming together. This is a very frightening experience. I get the sense that I made everything a lot easier on myself by just tossing everyone towards a big showdown in one location. A whole bunch of forces are about to collide and I already have a sense of who is supposed to come through. It's like cheating.

In early draft's I'd had a character Loki, and his buddy, a boy, Daniel, who got slashed back in October when I was trying to really figure out the essence of the story. Now a few months later it turns out that they are necessary for the story. It's funny how it was like I almost knew what I was doing. Maybe that is the inevitability of the story driving itself.

There was a point, I suspect it was October when the heavy thinking took place, where I'd reached the point where just slinging ideas together was no longer going to cut it, and bringing it to a close was important. It resulted in sweeping cuts, some of which are still happening. Over winter break I chopped about 10,000 words off, which I, only a couple weeks ago, made back up.

By far the greatest strength, which wasn't utilized in the early sections of the novel, was journaling. This feels a bit like eating my own words, because I was always terrible and angry at journaling. By just having a notebook that I could work thoughts out on paper gave me a concordance and commentary that I could draw from, and an understanding of exactly what I was thinking at the time. This is becoming endlessly important facing down the climactic battle of Beulah which is just before the denoument of the story.

I'll be blogging more about this sort of thing I suspect in the coming weeks as I really start to bring this beast in for a landing.

10 Albums of 2008

2009-01-28T10:53:00.005-06:00

I'd been meaning to do a post on music for a while. The ten albums (not necessarily) from 2008 that really made the year for me. It was going to be written over break, but then I never actually got around to it. So here at long last is Nathan's list of the 10 albums that made 2008 for me.

We'll start at the beginning of the year with a little promo that I got from my friend Duke. Jason Anderson's sophomore release, Tonight actually came out in 2007. With only 8 tracks one would think it's a light release, but he breathlessly plays out pop gems that run almost 10 minutes each. His sound (supposedly a marked departure from his more stripped down acoustic) verges on motown and classic songs of the later 50s. Favorite song is "July 4, 2004"

Following not long on those heals was a release I'd been dearly waiting for. Mike Doughty's fourth release (Fifth if you count Smofe + Smang) post-Soul Coughing "Golden Delicious." Following his first two albums, Skittish and Rockity Roll, Mike filled out his sound with a band reminiscent of the Dave Matthews Band minus the horn section. Scrap on Bass and Pete on drums, and from time to time other artists. For this album they added a fourth, Dan Chen on keys. Favorite Song is "I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing"

Earlier last year Mike Doughty started a record label The Snack Bar. The first band he signed to it was a little group called the Panderers. I don't know much about them other than that they are the most badass sounding group I've ever heard, and I wish I could find more. They have a self released album called "Songs That Bang" that I've never heard, and from what I've found is nearly impossible to get a hold of. But their 4 song EP, Hotshot's Boy, has been rocking my iPod for a year. Their song Shane is the inspiration for one of the bad guys in my novel. It's also my favorite song from the album.

Duke plugged me into Cloud Cult with their album, The Meaning of 8, but it didn't stick with me. While his brain was exploding over interesting lyrics and even more interesting instrumentation I was left hanging and saying "ok, now what?" Then this last year he tossed me "Feel Good Ghosts (Tea Partying Through Tornadoes)." My brain finally exploded and I learned a real appreciation for this band. And it's more than just their music that hooks me. They are the most "green" band I've ever heard of, conscious of the environmental footprint they make and managing to reduce it to zero. Check out "No One Said it Would Be Easy."

Regina Spektor is one of those discoveries of a lifetime for me. I'd vaguely heard her those few times I listen to pop radio, but never actively. Then over spring break while out in LA I heard her album "Begin to Hope" on an 8 hour drive north to San Francisco. Back in Chicago I sought out the rest of her sound, and it's now a staple of my iPod. My favorite song is not off this album actually, but is still good "Us"

I have a large music collection. It makes every listening a discovery. This is true for the next two artists who I discovered on my iPod during my week up at Houghton Lake. The first is the Dear Hunter. This is the side project of the former frontman of The Recieving End of Sirens, this is a massive undertaking to make a 6 album concept with an overarching story. The sounds range from Beach Boys harmony, to the post punk sound that is popular on many alternative stations, to dabblings in Sergeant Pepper's brilliance. I couldn't pick an individual album of the first two acts that are out because they are such a cohesive unit. I eagerly await Act 3, due out sometimes soon. Song to check out is "Smiling Swine" off of Act 2.

The other artist I discovered was equally as sporadic with his sound. Magnet is the moniker of Norwegian born Even Johansen. Also discovered on my iPod during my week at Houghton Lake. His sound ranges from a very Jason Mraz-esque folk rock sound, to covers of Bob Marley and dabblings in an almost Rat Pack jazz. Off of his album, The Simple Life, definitely check out the opening track, "The Gospel Song.

There isn't really a whole lot more that I can say about Coldplay's recent release Viva La Vida. It's been topping the charts. It's the best album they've put out yet, filling out their airy synths with more textured and full string sections. I'm in love with the title track.

I recently saw Frightened Rabbit in concert at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. They played most of their entire album, The Midnight Organ Fight. The first time I heard the album I fell in love with the first track, "The Modern Leper," but in listening to the album in preparation for the concert my favorite song would have to be "Good Arms vs. Bad Arms." The singer has a very unique voice flavored by his thick scotish accent.

Snow Patrol has created a sound that I've been in love with since I started college and was introduced to their album, Final Straw. Eyes Open, their sophomore big label release blew my mind with the sort of title song "Open Your Eyes." Now on their third major release, A Hundred Million Suns, they have reached a level of awesomeness, building on the sound they were perfecting in Eyes Open. Their ability to texture and layer and create slowly swelling songs that turn into sweeping arena epics are second to none. My favorite song is the first movement of their big CD closing epic, "The Lighting Strikes: (1) What if this Storm Ends?"

And that is the 10 albums that moved me through 2008. Download them. Love them. Let me know what you think.

Less Writing More Spaghetti

2009-01-26T16:30:00.003-06:00

This is one of those "how's the writing" posts that can be kind of boring, because when it's good it's good, and when it's bad it's bad. And short of just doing it on a regular enough basis there is nothing else you can do, but just deal with it when it's bad and hope that getting something...anything on paper will allow you to get to the good stuff.

A great example of when it's good was when I wrote "I'm Just A Boatman," a short story that is currently (hopefully) on somebody's desk at Doorways magazine to get either published or rejected. The story started as an exercise in Tina Jens's fantasy writing class my last semester at Columbia. She brought a whole range of fantasy reference books, mythology dictionaries and what not, laid them out on a table and said, "ok, grab a book, find something interesting and start a short story." I managed to stumble across the article about Charon, the boatman who ferries the dead across the river styx. Across the table a friend was reading the Zombie Survival Handbook, and somehow the two ideas coalesced into a short story. In a few short hours after class I'd hammered out a complete first draft. Concieved, written, and finished in one massive sitting.

Then there are days like today. Sitting around this morning, an idea hit me for the climax of the novel, which is probably still about 10-15k words away. I get in front of a computer stoked to start working and then BAM! Brick wall. I managed to squeak out about 1200 words, but very few of which I'm happy with.

I am about to start a two hour shift at work that will undoubtedly be dead as a doornail, and that being so, I'll probably end up just working on it there, hopefully working out the issues.

~~~~~~

In other news:

I had a spaghetti dinner this weekend. Good turn out, good times. My boss was among them, which was massively awkward, and also funny. Especially when she walked away with my dirty martini...

Friday was spiffy. This blog got mentioned on Gaiman's blog. You can read the original post here.

And that about wraps it up for now. If writing gets boring at work, I'll probably make the post I've been meaning to make about Lakeside from Neil Gaiman's novel, American Gods, and the road trip I'm planning. You can read the first post about it here.

Scary Library Shit

2009-01-23T07:45:00.002-06:00

I just got this note through my email and it's very important so I figured I'd post it here and try to help spread awareness. I twittered about it earlier.

January 22, 2009

Dear Nathaniel,

A public meeting was held January 22, and Cheryl Falvey, General Counsel for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), stated that a decision should be made by the first week of February regarding libraries. She advised libraries not to take any action at this time, and we are hopeful that the Commission’s decision will exempt libraries.

Even with her assurances, we must let the CPSC know how important an issue this is to libraries. Please call the Acting Commissioner, Nancy Nord, at (301) 504-7923. When you call this number, wait for the automated directory to give you directions to reach Nancy Nord’s office. Explain to the Commission that it is simply impossible for libraries to remove all children’s books from the shelves and/or ban children under 12 from the library and still provide the level of service that is needed.

As always, thank you for all that you do. The only way we will be successful in ensuring that children will have access to safe books is with a strong grassroots effort. Your comments to the CPSC need to be submitted as soon as possible, so please tell all your friends and family – we need as many people as possible to communicate that this oversight could have lasting ramifications on our children and our communities.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 has been interpreted to include books as a product that must be tested for lead. While it is understandable that the CPSC must protect children from toxic materials, publishers have already tested the book components and found that the lead levels are lower than the regulations require three years from now. Additionally, all book recalls in the last two decades have been because of toys attached to the books that posed a choking hazard, not the books themselves.

Making these testing regulations retroactive would require both school and public libraries to take drastic steps to come into compliance. They either would have to ban children from their libraries or pull every book intended for children under the age of 12 from their bookshelves at the time children are fostering a lifelong love of learning and reading.

In order to allow children and families to continue accessing critical library materials, please either exempt books from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, accept the component tests that have already been done, or exempt all books currently in school and public libraries. This will ensure that our children continue to have access to safe and educational library materials.

Thank you for your continued support of libraries!

Sincerely,

Kristin Murphy

Government Relations Specialist

American Library Association - Washington Office

1615 New Hampshire Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20009-2520

Phone Number: 202.628.8410

Fax: 202.628.8419

kmurphy@alawash.org

Dreaming of Manifest Destiny

2009-01-20T14:28:00.003-06:00

Listening to Mike Doughty makes me want spring time something fierce.

I'm 34 days from heading out to Los Angeles again. The need for it is starting to grow in me something fierce.

One thing that I've been trying to do (and thus far failing miserably at) is to write every day, to maybe have my novel done by spring break. 34 days means I have to write about 900 words a day to hit the rough word count that I was aiming for. It's one of those tasks that make it all seem so doable, yet I keep putting it off.

I've got a rough direction, and while I've got a couple stumbly scenes to figure out between now and the end, I've got a pretty solid direction.

It's sort of scary. The idea that I am really now teetering at the end. That all the pieces are set. That all the players are moving towards the big show down, the big shoot out, and after that the denouement or requiem or whatever you want to call it.

I've also got to rip out something to send Duke's way for our monthly writing challenge that we've set for ourselves.

I'm already slacking my way through the semester. This is both not surprising and endlessly frustrating.

Ok so, I put a break where I was at, and picked up where I wanted to. I can always go back in and fill in the blanks. Anything to get this story done.

And back to the writing I go.

HAAAAAAAVE YOU MET TED?

2009-01-10T21:29:00.002-06:00

I just got a number from a girl in the bar...

Now let me justify this:

I go to Old Town with my friend Bryan (he's a winter admit to SI) to get a couple brews, shoot the breeze. A nice end of the week unwind.

I'm just getting done with my first beer, and Bryan orders a second round. A little while later the waitress approaches with one beer, a second round that looks more like my Labatts and less like his Bell's Winter Ale. And she sets it down in front of me.

"It's for you," she says. "From the redhead in the corner."

And I'm thinking that this has to be some sort of a joke, because this never happens to me, and never happens in bars. Right?

Of course I turn to look and see who is scoping me out, and I realize right away that I'm completely unattracted to her.

So my friend and I laugh about it. He gives me hell because this never happens to him, and he's a handsome looking dude.

Then towards the end of the night redhead gets up with her friend to leave. They walk over to the table and she slides me her number and says:

"I've seen you around. My friend and I are leaving, but I wanted to make the first move." She smiles, maybe a little curtsy, maybe not, I've had a few beers at this point. And then she leaves.

And I'm thinking "Holy shit that never happens in a bar in the real world. This never happens to me," and "how the hell could she see me about? I'm a hermit most of the time..."

So that was that.

So This is the New Year

2009-01-07T09:16:00.003-06:00

Wrote the title and then stopped, went back to my blog, checked last year's first post and realized that I'd also titled it "So This is the New Year." And then I sat down to read over what I'd written a year ago and see where things are.

I was thinking of doing another resolution post today. List the goals, talk about them, you know the drill. And last years post I did the exact same thing. So instead here is what didn't happen:

I didn't finish the novel
I didn't get lastingly in shape
I didn't give up soda
I didn't spend less

So we'll reset those goals and try again.

Now about the novel. It got as far as 60,000 words last December, and then a sudden realization of the story I was telling after a conversation with my friend Duke (his blog here) cost me about 10,000 words, of which I've recovered about 5,000. So the approximate word count (without actually looking at the document) is around 55,000 words. I'm figuring that by the end we're going to be looking at something close to 80-90,000 words.

For those of you who hear word count and have no idea what that means here are some references:

The Lord Of The Rings (~470,000 words)
The Hobbit (95,022 words)
The Gunslinger (55,376 words)
American Gods (183, 222 words)

(source)

So ~85,000 seems a pretty acceptable venture for a first time novel (that and there is no point in pushing the story further than it wants to go.

I've also decided that (after years of being wishy washy) that this year is the one for doing the Chicago Marathon. Going into training for that as soon as I have an understanding of my schedule (next week).

Duke and I started a sort of accountability on writing to ensure that we get stuff done. The goal is one short story a month. At the end of each month we send that short story to each other to do a first edit as we begin on next month's short story.

Should be good. And with that back to work and to class

Good things come in Threes

2008-12-17T22:36:00.003-06:00

Three Things I've realized about the novel:

Creation is an acknowledgment of destruction
Every page I write is a page closer to killing Edmund
Every storyline in the book is a mirror of some part of Edmund

Full entry to come. Yay semester is over

WiFi refugees

2008-12-06T14:48:00.002-06:00

Ah the joy of holiday season at school.

Outside the snow is coming down (another 2 fresh inches on the ground from the looks). And I'm at the library doing final projects and homework.

It looks like a refugee camp in here on every floor of both the Hatcher and the UGLi. Hundreds of students huddled around any available space near a plug. Piles of coats and winter gear. Tables stacked high with papers, coffee cups, and food wrappers. This is the final week of class for the undergrads, and for us Grad Students it's the final week of classes period. This is the final push when everyone is doing absolutely everything they can before the mass exodus to whatever home town they come from.

I catch snippets of conversations of people talking about their first time driving in snow, and it makes me smile.

I walked to the library today in the falling snow, listening to the Vince Guaraldi Charlie Brown Christmas album, smoking my pipe, and reveling in the wonderfulness of the christmas season.

Other than that not much has been happening. There was a breach of student privacy by a faculty member at SI, which I'll talk about later when I have time to make a fully thought out post. I also printed out the 260 pages of my novel that's finished, and seeing that stack of paper is really a wonderful thing.

And on that note it's back to school work. One final push. One final mad dash to the finish line.

*BANG!*

And their off...

A Post From Turkey Break

2008-11-29T02:01:00.002-06:00

Thanksgiving Break is anything but (well it is Thanksgiving, but it is sorely lacking in the latter part of the title). This is, of course, not all true.

Things I've done over break:

Went to the Stationary Set and the Hallows concert at Small Planet
Played Fallout 3
Sat in the hot tub while drinking hot buttered rum
Spent time with friends
Ate lots of Thanksgiving food

Things I still have to do before break ends:

Finish reading the Lord of the Rings (I started it back in August and I'm getting antsy to start something different)
Finish reading for class
Write a 5 page paper
Play a show with my band Anomaly
See other friends I haven't yet

Actually looking at those lists it would appear that Thanksgiving break has in fact been a break. But faced with the looming of the end of the semester and that final push to make awesome one the scholastic front, the list doesn't quite do justice to where the weight of the priorities need to be focused.

I wanted to work on my novel and I haven't done that.

Mostly it's the fault of Fallout 3, which is, in the next couple days, going to become not a time threat. This is mostly due to the fact that it has to go back to the rental store, and I have to buckle down on school.

Redundancies abound redundantly.

Next post is going to be a followup to the American Gods roadtrip post I made earlier. Going to start looking at the possible location of Lakeside.

Writing is what I do

2008-11-20T16:53:00.002-06:00

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I decided to give it a shot again this year, thinking I could rip something out in 30 days, giving myself a month off from The Rider. I decided to not stray too far, attempting to adapt a story about a guy who gets seduced by the devil, based from Meatloaf's Bat out of Hell album trilogy (an idea I've mulled about for a long time).

10,000 words and two weeks later I found myself thinking again and sitting in front of my laptop working on the rider. Edmund will not leave me alone.

I went to Chicago last weekend to see my old roommate graduate, and also to have a whirlwind trip through the town that I hated at first, but now miss so much. I saw a few, but not all of the friends that I wanted to. I ate at a few, but not all of the restaurants I wanted to. But nonetheless it was much needed and a very cathartic send off to the end of my first Semester at SI.

On my last day there I got a call from my writing buddy, Lane. He's now down at SIU doing his masters in creative writing, and teaching an undergrad course in the English Department. We've been unable to get back together on the couple of trips I made south, and spent a long time catching up on writing and what we're doing. He mentioned the rider alot, using his actual name, Edmund, which was very endearing, and I ended up walking away from the conversation charged up to start writing again.

So here I am, almost through November, failing again at NaNoWriMo, and not really caring because I am further into the rider than I've ever been.

~~~~~~~~~~

I tried something new, realizing I had a large number of unwritten or unfinished short stories. I took wall tack and 3x5 cards and on each card wrote a one sentence synopsis of the short story idea, and a hook if I could come up with one. Next I stuck the note cards on the wall in no particular order.

My plan is, starting in December, to take one card off the wall on the 1st, and by the end of the month have a first draft of a short story finished. Do this for each month, if only as an exercise to keep my skills sharpened while working on the rider's story.

American Gods Road Trip: A Proposal

2008-11-18T15:44:00.006-06:00

I first discovered American Gods in the summer after my Senior year of high school. I was taking my baby steps into the world of comics, reading some of the newest staples, the Ultimate Universe, DC New Frontier, Earth X, and one story titled Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman (at the time I thought it was pronounced G-eye-man at the time). The writing was sharp, the story fresh, and the art was eye catching. So naturally I returned to the catalog to find what more I could by this author, and it was then that I stumbled upon this little (har har) book called American Gods.

I don't usually do audio books. I'm very picky about my readers, and there is something about having someone else's imaginings of characters swirling in my head. Reading is a very personal thing for me. I get emotionally involved in the characters and their stories. Audiobooks sort of shatter that illusion. But on some unexplainable whim I got my hands on the behemoth 19 disk audio recording of American Gods read by George Guidall.

It was a chance worth taking. George Guidall breathed a life into the book and characters in a way I've yet to experience since. His gravelly, almost world-weary drawl fit Gaiman's wandering organic pace perfectly. Since finding the book I've added a copy to my iPod and have listened to the story on an almost constant repeat, and can now quote extended passages verbatim with Guidall. But I do have one nasty secret to admit... I've never actually read the book on paper. Every time I try, I end up starting it once more on my iPod, not wanting to lose the essence that Guidall brings to the story.

Almost as long as I'd been listening to the book, I've been dreaming of doing a road trip that explores most of the major areas in the story. It is a road trip book. A long, picaresque, wandering story that stretches up and down the midwest with stop overs all across the US. It sees many locales that are off the beaten path, and really gets at the heart of America.

So with that preamble I propose a modified version of the American Gods road trip. In a nutshell this trip would follow a more linear route, north to south, of the path that Shadow and occasionally his companions followed.

As an initial reference I am using a site that I stumbled to through the Wikipedia article. Only the Gods are Real has an interesting, but incomplete geography page (the above picture comes from that page). It breaks Shadow's journey into three major legs. Examining these maps reveals a central area down the midwest around the Mississippi River where the bulk of the journey takes place.

The trip I am envisioning starts at the fictional town of Lakeside (Through examining geographical references in the text I've found a town that seems to match the location (This will be discussed in latter entries) and make my way all the way south, ending at Lookout Mountain in Georgia

Along the way we will hit major stops from the book. These include (in a rough order)

The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Chicago, Illinois
The Center of the US in Lebanon, Kansas
El Paso, Illinois where Shadow picks up Sam Blackcrow
Red Bull, Illinois where they stop for lunch
Cairo, Illinois

Other thoughts were maybe ending in Fort Pierce, Florida, but that would require an extra day's worth of travel for a very minute part of the book. Once itineraries get hammered out, we'll see where that leaves us. The above list was generated using the rough travel plan made on the website only the gods are real.

The trip as envisioned would last roughly a week (hopefully less if I can swing it). For cost saving most nights would be spent camping, or if cost is really an issue (and time) shifts could be taken for driving duties.

In upcoming entries I'll start to take on the nuts and bolts of the journey. Route plans, locations, and more. I'll do entries about major stops covering history and how it relates to the book. For the next entry I'm going to discuss the search I've been doing for "Lakeside" Wisconsin, and what real towns have turned up to be the most likely.

Until Next Time!

Turning the Safety on Usually Helps

2008-11-11T11:16:00.002-06:00

I shot myself in the foot (figuratively)

I've been reaping the fruits of my labor (or lack there of). Dropped the ball once this weekend on a group assignment, but I did manage to salvage it, and I think we're fine there. Got an assignment back from a week ago and it was a 60%. The middle of my semester has been one giant slack fest, and it's now coming back to bite me in the ass.

Now at the end of the semester I'm staring down the sights of hopefully 2 A's (one of which is a pass fail) hopefully 2 B's (low, but hopefully a B) and probably one C (well, we're not sure, but we're in bleak mode right now).

It's one of those reap what you sow situations, and i sure sowed a lot of crap. So now I've sprouted a crap tree.

It's time now to buckle down and rock the shit out like I always do.

In writing news I started a NaNo, but I doubt, unless i can organize my time for the rest of the semester better, that I'll be able to finish it. I've also not touched the rider since the start of Novemeber...

I just have to keep telling myself that this semester is almost over, and I can step it up over the next 3 to do alright.

And the beat goes on.

Still here

2008-10-27T17:11:00.002-06:00

My only excuse is that I don't have internet in the house. That's the only standing excuse that I can come up with. Otherwise I really should make sure to update this thing more often.

It's almost November, and we are entering the final sprint to the end of the semester.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing something wrong with grad school. Not taking enough opportunities? Or maybe I am going have this report card with EPIC FAIL written in large friendly letters. The semester started with this unnerving sense that the worst was yet to come. I spent every waking moment wondering if this was it. If I was about to be ambushed by assignments and paper and a massive wave of work. It hasn't happened yet.

I know that I'm not really doing the readings any more, and that might be part of it. But if that's the overwhelming wave of work then they've no idea the program I came out of. I blow off the readings and still do well on the papers. I feel challenged in some respects, but in others this has been a cakewalk compared to the last 2 years of the grueling swamp of homework and assignments (even if they were creative writing instead of essays).

I was talking to one of the second years I've made friends with and I mentioned that yeah I've been able to be very lax in my work, watching television at leisure, playing games, and generally just enjoying myself. She looked at me with jaw dropped surprise. With wonder that I could even be thinking about relaxing. "The first semester is the hardest," she insisted, and maybe at the end of the semester my grade will reflect it. God knows I haven't been able to find anything to say in mt 500 discussion section. And chances are that's going to hit me hard come the end of the semester, but the GSI knows my name, so that might help in being forgiven.

But there is a little part of me that says, "No, Nathan. There is a reason this is going easy for you. It's because you kick ass. And when you graduate this is going to reflect upon the awesomeness of the well paying job you're going to get." But that of course is worth a lark because I'm going into Library Science. That's not a place to make money!

~~~~~

I've been working on the novel a ton lately. Redrafted a portion of act I and have been attempting sorely to try and dive into act II. It's a very tiring process, and I find myself more and more afraid to write more. Maybe it's a fear of success, or just a fear of getting it wrong. Either way I am determined to make some serious headway to finishing it.

~~~~~

I also got nominated by a friend I met at the beginning of the semester for the Vice President position of the School of Information Student Association (SISA). And maybe this is just what I need. Get busy with applying myself and finding things to do! Could do me some good.

HULK SMASH!

2008-10-08T17:45:00.002-05:00

"That F***ing thing is going to kill you," my friend Mike told me today when he asked me about my novel and I said that I was facing a lot of thoughts about what the story was about, what I have already on paper, what I need, what's unnecessary. It's a daunting and almost debilitating thing. And as I spend day after day replotting, restructuring and thinking thinking thinking I start to agree with Mike that it may in fact kill me to bring this thing to close.

I don't know why. I don't know how novelists do it. The ones who push them out so fast. Maybe I'm afraid of completing it. Success? Maybe but it seems implausible. Failure? Seems more likely. I mean Bam! this is crap they'll tell me and then my dreams are quashed. Sure but I mean I've sent things out already.

The rider's story should be an easy one to tell. I mean it has a direction. East. It has an end. He gets home. It has a focus. He spreads chaos. There. You have point A and point C and the bloody trail of bodies that represent point B and the space between. There. Story done. Now where does my problem come from?

I spent the last month exploding the story. Balancing a bunch of stories of characters who I want to be important eventually, but not until later. So what I did was send it out to a few friends to have them read it and toss their two cents my way. They have been. And it's been very helpful. But it's causing me to really figure out what I want to tell, and causing me to go swinging the broadsword of my editing ability and rebuild from the ashes of destruction.

back to the drawing board

2008-09-29T10:24:00.003-05:00

Just got a rejection back from Greatest Uncommon Denominator. That was a very fast turnaround, only a matter of like two weeks.

They said that I had some interesting ideas "but the storytelling lacks punch." It's a problem I think I can see. It's a rather sedate feeling story, I think. So I guess what I'll do is go back for an overview of it here, and see where I can send it out next. Let it get rejected once or twice more before I make some major major changes to it.

So that makes rejection #3 ever. As a number it feels good to actually see myself making some headway.

Anywhoo that's all on that.

I'll be back later with a more in depth post about the reshaping of the Rider I've been doing over the past couple of weeks. I'm at a point where I think I really know what's going on with him.

A Page turned

2008-09-28T02:02:00.002-05:00

There are a lot of interesting phrases being thrown around that have me, a bizarre combination of fledgling and long-time fan of the University of Michigan's football team, scratching my head in both contemplation and hopeful agreement.

Things like "comeback" and "epic" and "team" all focusing around one central theme: The dawning of a new era.

That's the rumor. Saturday's game against the Wisconsin Badgers, that was supposed to be a blowout, and looked like a textbook blowout, turned into what Mitch Albom called "A comeback for the ages." My friend, when I called him after the game, to see if he was interested in celebrating our joyous upset, told me that he was glad that I could be at the game, and said much the same thing that Mr. Albom said about this being the dawn of the new era of Michigan football.

I guess I don't really know what that means. In the years that I've been around, I caught the tail end of the legendary General Bo Schembechler, Gary Moeller, Lloyd Carr, and now Rich Rodriguez. Of those, I can only remember Lloyd Carr, the man who led us to a win at the Rose Bowl and a National Championship. He is like a walking god in my mind, deified from the years of my youth of my dad sitting before the television every fall Saturday and bellowing with all his heart as if his screams from Spartan Country could in fact help the outcome of the game away off in the Valhalla of Ann Arbor. With every touch down he'd get me riled up singing a rousing chorus of The Victors, the fight song which John Philip Sousa, the master of the march, declared was "the greatest college fight song ever written" (for citation see the wikipedia article). That was Michigan football for me. My dad called it smash-mouth. A battle in the trenches.

So when talk of Lloyd Carr's retirement became fact last year, and this was accompanied by his replacement with Rich Rodriguez, there was a natural fear. A fear of change. Lloyd has been god of this hundred yards of battleground for over ten years. He knew Michigan football, having apprenticed under General Bo himself, may he always watch over us. This new guy was--well, new. And in a buck of tradition he brought this dreaded "spread offense."

Now I won't go into a lot of detail on the spread, other than that RichRod more or less pioneered it, and it is utterly unlike Michigan Ball. It wasn't dirty and in the mud and the pushing and the grunting and the helmet to helmet smashing. It relied on spreading out the opponents defense and passing, and for the last couple years it had been wrecking havoc on our defense. As a response they brought Rich Rodriguez and with him the spread offense. As Albom said, an "experiment" that "wasn't working."

After a devistating loss to Utah, which brought with it tremors of another Appalachian State massacre, and another loss to Notre Dame, all hope was lost. In the fan section the cheers of "Hail to the victors" was replaced quickly with jeers about Threet's wonderful passes to the opposition, and a growing call to bring back Lloyd (one that I gladly picked up). Our offense could be summed up as "Threet and out," followed by the traditional and nearly impenetrable Michigan defense.

But then came the last Saturday in September. A cloudy and cool day, one of the first real fall days of the year. There wasn't a hope in the world--at least that is what everyone was saying. If you go by the first three quarters of play I'd have agreed with you. In the last twenty minutes of play we managed to go from nothing to a victory. And for the first time we looked like a team. "Now that's the Michigan team I know and love," my friend Zach texted me. I couldn't call him, not because I didn't want to, but because by the end of the game my voice was shredded from cheering and yelling along with the thousands in the student section.

And thus with the bellowing cries was a page turned and Michigan Football came into its new era. "We're one and oh in the big ten," our coach said.

The Donut of Life

2008-09-15T19:02:00.003-05:00

Updates are infrequent because I don't have internet in my house, and won't until I can get this whole "in-state" "out of state" tuition thing taken care of.

Until then here is a brief conversation I had with a friend contemplating the nature of people as it relates to donuts. I think Homer would be proud.

My friend

i'd say, we're two different vectors of weirdo, in two different directions, pointing away from this one collective blob of averageness

Me

that sounds far too mathy for me

i like the idea of a donut

all the boring people are the hole

most everyone else is bursting with flavor

My friend

so you've contemplated hyperspace and hyperdonuts

Me

and then there are the sprinkles

i like to think i'm a sprinkle

i'm above the donut

My friend

flavor? shape?

Me

donut shaped

wait

My friend

the sprinkle is donut-shaped too? deep

you mean what shape is the donut?

or the sprinkle

sprinkle

My friend

the you!

Me

the sprinkles are a happy mix of whatever

i liked the dinosaur ones

My friend

excellent

what about you?

what type of sprinkle are you?

or are you just doughy?

My friend

good question

it's like contemplating your navel

but more homer simpsony

My friend

the caveat is that, regardless of where i am on this hyperdonut of existence, if i start walking forward in any direction, i'll eventually find myself right in the middle - exactly where i didn't want to be!

or, i could just stay in one place, which is even more boring

unless you're walking around the outside ring

there is a trail that will keep you far from the center

My friend

but to find that exact path seems so hard to do!

fuck up one parameter and i'm in the middle again!

but you're still outside of the dough

and unlike the empty middle

you have space

and color

and sugar

My friend

sugar!

the spice of life?

the kryptonite of diabetics

My friend

and i always thought that salt was the ruler of spicitude

it was until they discovered that it is found in abundance in the sea

suddenly the salt trade was over

but remember

My friend

shit!

we're talking about the donut of reality here

not the bagel of being

My friend

you know, in the world of math, it's possible to turn donuts inside-out

hahaha

My friend

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Inside-out_torus_(animated%2C_small).gif

i feel like that would shred the donut-coffee continuum and bring the whole Dunkin Donuts of Reality crashing down

My friend

this is why most people aren't mathematicians!

but if you notice the donut still ends up as a donut

which

helps me to conclude

that maybe that's already happened

My friend

maybe that's the midlife crisis?

and instead of the chocolate icing and sprinkles being readily available and visible for all to rejoice about their instead buried deep within the dough of normalcy

thus meaning that to really find your inner sprinkle you have to bite deep through the averageness

My friend

which ultimately begs the conclusion: damn, it must suck to be a diabetic.

print "nom" * 3

2008-09-10T17:17:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting in my computer programming class. I'm taking my baby steps into to program writing world, learning Python, which a friend of mine told me that it was a "beautiful language." I like that idea.

I feel like a child first learning how to speak and read. Everything is far more amusing to me than it should be.

Every time I open terminal I invariably write this funny line of code

print "nom" * 3

and what that prints is

nomnomnom

Fly Be Free!

2008-09-09T18:17:00.002-05:00

I just sent a finally finished short story, "Just Jazz" off to GUD Magazine. It's a hybrid online print magazine that's been around for about two years now. Usually I am skeptical of the whole online market, the fluidity of it, and other tenuous reasons. There is something professional and serious about actually having a real and tangible magazine in my hands that I can read and carry with me. This is only further been solidified (har har) by my MLIS classes and the transience and general distrust surrounding the whole digital media world.

But after further reading from Duotrope and other online sources I'm intrigued by GUD's ideology. They appear to be on the cutting edge of how e-markets and print on demand is going, and their payment plan seems to make sense in embracing the changing market.

So that's that. Another baby away into the wide world to get mocked and ridiculed and hopefully at some point loved for the redheaded stepchild that it is.

Finders Keepers

2008-09-08T16:07:00.002-05:00

The Law Quad is the perfect place to read on the first day of fall when the skies are gray and the temperature is not quite warm, but not quite cool. And that is where I found myself today after a morning of pointless stress.

I was doing reading for class sitting in the reference room of the Hatcher Graduate Library (which itself is a beautiful room). It was all technical mumbo jumbo that I'll never use beyond the confines of grad school. The Mathematical Theory of Communication was the paper that I didn't read. I started it, and then my brain began to ooze slowly from my ear. My mind began to wander and to try and make problems where there were none. Homework so far is just reading, which itself is a task, but still easy, and when should grad school be easy? Money is ugly, but isn't it always? Everything seems to be fine, but why should it be? Shouldn't I be stressed and grizzled and exhausted? I must be doing something wrong.

But I guess that maybe I'm not.

So with those thoughts running heavy and hard through my head I decided that enough was enough. That I was caught up far enough that I didn't need to stress anymore. I went back home and made a lunch, ate it, and then returned to campus. I was going to do some me time.

And that is how I found myself wandering over the Law Quad.

I'd seen it on my bike ride to work and to class, but never had I wandered in. It looked beautiful from the outside. The building old with brick buildings tall archway entrances and a green lawn visible beyond. Like the ideal college image.

The inside is a large plaza of green lawn intercut by a small grid of paths paved by flat stones. There are large, old trees with wide roots. The buildings have tall spires with intricate fringe work, huge wooden doors, and old windows. I took a seat against one of the unoccupied trees (many of the others had students with books and papers spread before them). And it is there that I discovered the perfect place for reading the Lord of the Rings. Beneath a gunmetal gray sky. A soft breeze. A warm cup of tea. Occasional squirrel bounding by in the grass. Students with thick backpacks and stacks of books in their hands. This is what a college is supposed to look like. I think I could easily fall in love with a place like that. I may head back there again, with a picnic perhaps, smoke my pipe, whittle away the hours contentedly. This is the collegiate experience.

Fall is coming fast upon the heels of a long summer. It was the season I hated most for the longest time, but I find myself relishing its existence now. When the leaves change. When the days grow shorter and cooler. It's always this time of year I find myself engrossed in adventure stories. Sometimes wishing for an adventure of my own.

"I'm a ninja warrior when it comes to CTools."

2008-09-03T17:40:00.003-05:00

Making a quick post sitting in the back of my 502 computer class.

My teacher reminds me of Bill Engvall. He's very awesome, and a very interesting lecturer. He's very promotive of Open Access, and Open Learning. He's exactly the kind of teacher with the perfect pedagogy for modern learning. Here are some quick links about 502, and Open Education.

http://www.si502.com
https://open.umich.edu/
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

Grad School Begins

2008-09-03T13:12:00.003-05:00

I told myself that I would try to not make posts about my writing process that involved phrases like "writing was good today," or "everything i put on paper today was absolute rubbish." But I'm going to break my own rules because it's my blog.

Writing was absolute rubbish today. Everything has been a strain to get out, the characters feel flat as cardboard, their dialog stilted, and the tone of the narration completely different and unrelated to everything that preceded it. I'll probably throw it away and start from absolute scratch the next time I sit down, with the only thing taken away from this sitting is a clear example of what not to do.

~~

Now here's the rest of the post.

I started class yesterday. I had one in the morning, and then the rest of the day to myself. The lecture was interesting, but even walking in a minute late I felt like I was completely out in the dark. On the upside they'll be posting a podcast of it online as well as the slides, so I'll be able to catch up and/or review what I missed. I also won't be late for class tonight.

I start work tomorrow at the Knowledge Navigation Center (KNC). It's a really awesome department in the library that's aimed at instructing graduate students or teachers in different software. Problem is that I'm not educated in a portion of the software they're teaching. Upshot of which is they will teach me to use all the software. This is going to look good on the resume, and it pays well.

The School of Information is really awesome. My class is small (150ish people), and the school is promotive of group work, and of creating a real sense of team. They offer lots of opportunities for internships and jobs that are all in my field of study, and support in tailoring everything I do to reflect what it is that I want to take out of SI.

Thus far homework has been light (considering I've only been to one class that's not surprising) but I can help but feel like this is the calm before the storm. That seems to be the idea that I'm getting from most of my friends who are second year students here.

Game day is something else. The Big House holds over 100,000 people, according to the announcer on Saturday we had over 108,000. There was a flyby before the game of four fighter jets. When the student section cheers it is stunning. The volume is so loud, and there is such intensity in the cheers that the hair on my arm stood straight up.

Tonight I have another class, and then tomorrow is my full day, running for almost 12 hours. with an hour break from 4-5.

Call Me An Ambulance I'm Fading Away

2008-08-23T22:27:00.002-05:00

I fucking hate retail

Ok, so I'd written this line in the blog at some point before I left for most of the rest of the evening, and I feel like I have to do some justification of it. I'm not going to go on a tirade like I did yesterday expounding the awesomeness that isn't my current retail job (for that just follow this link). It would get rather boring if I did that after every day of work. Instead I'll tell you what I did do this afternoon.

I got out of work at 2, came home, wrote this line at the top of the page, called my dad and asked about a few application related questions, filled out a new job app for Ann Arbor District Library, promptly went over there and turned it in. Later I spent some time with my friends Evan and Brett, playing board games, watching Olympics, discussing the finer points of our political views and listening to angry people calling themselves Christians lambasting people on the street. All in all it was a good evening full of not working retail.

I don't have to work retail tomorrow. Instead I'll write, maybe go to the women's soccer game over in Yspilanti. I may also do laundry and clean my room. And when I fold my clothes it will be for me, and not for some big tanking company. Part of me hopes it closes before I quit so I don't have to deal with the guilt of leaving so soon.

Retail Sucks

2008-08-22T17:56:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting in my basement bedroom looking up to ground level and at the very dark very gray sky above, listening to it boom and thunder, watching the tree limbs whip in bursts, their weakest leaves being torn away, and I'm worried that when the rain does come (as tomorrow it is supposed to) am I going to be flooded in my basement. Logic tells me no, but after two flooded basements at my parent's house I tend to be a little leery on the whole subject.

I've also learned a very valuable lesson tonight. Retail sucks. I worked an eight hour shift today (9-5) which was monotonous and full of folding clothes and organizing cubes of folded clothes. Unlike the library gig of reshelving and shelf reading (it's funny, reshelving is not a word my spellcheck is telling me (neither is spellcheck...)) I'm not allowed to have my iPod on me to listen to books or music. I'm hoping tomorrow, in the moments before I go to work, I can be at a place in The Rider where I can be spending the long monotonous hours dictating passages of interesting prose to myself, which I will then scurry home to record from memory. I realized I had to work tomorrow and I groaned. First day on the job and I'm already groaning.

I'm hoping that if a work study job comes through (or this awesome library gig over at AADL) I can take it, because I'll quit at Steve and Barry's. The people are nice, don't get me wrong, but the work is just dreadfully boring. With every shirt I fold I ask myself, "Nathan, you have a bachelors degree. Why are you folding shirts for minimum wage?"

I'm at about 65 pages into the Rider rewrite right now (say that three times fast). The chapter I'm editing is one that got workshopped at Columbia in their Fiction Seminar class. I wish I could find the notes from there because a lot of really good things got said. I think I've got some of them jotted in my journal from class discussion.

I need to go grocery shopping, but I'm terribly nervous about spending money until I am sure that my loans are in place to help bolster the paycheck in paying for rent.

So instead I'm going to make a PB&J and watch the UM Women's Soccer play Notre Dame online.

Beginning Grad School

2008-08-21T16:02:00.003-05:00

I still have one week to go.

Things are looking up a bit from where they were just a couple days ago.

I came home yesterday from Haslett and went over to Steve and Barry's (inexpensive campus clothing) and applied and immediately got a job. Then I've got 2 emails from different places about possible Work Study jobs. One is over at Michigan radio doing something called "Development Assistant" which I think means glorified go-for. I've got an interview for that next Friday.

Loan stuff got hammered out, and though I'm going to be further in debt I at least feel a little safer starting the year this year, and I'm hoping and praying that it rubs off on post grad school career in terms of making money and paying debt off quick.

I had a random idea strike me when I was biking in to Steve and Barry's today. Haslett is not terribly far from here (an hour on the highway). So just a moment ago I google-mapped it (amazing how google has become a verb) and I discovered that it is only 57 miles when not on the highway. But why, some of you may ask, would you not want to drive the highway, Nathan? It's easy, I will tell you. I have a bike. I like to bike. I like to do random things. I think one of these times, when I have a nice large block of nothingness for at least 2 if not 3 days, I may take a trip back home to visit my parents, via a bicycle. It's about a day's ride one way, and unlike my lake shore rides I would do in Chicago, this one has a very visible finish some 57 miles later at home. I'll keep you updated as the plans flesh themselves out.

I'm also starting to do some hard core work on rewriting the first 200 pages of The Rider that I've got done. I finished the section introducing Shane, I'm hoping that it may be good enough, and enticing enough to publish as a standalone short, a sort of dabble into what is coming. I sent it to a teacher to take a look at and get an opinion on. More on that later as things come back.

Now I'm all excited about biking, I'm going to figure out what it would take to go to Chelsea Michigan and back tonight (if it's too far or what). Have a good night

A Nervous Post

2008-08-19T10:37:00.005-05:00

I shouldn't be doing Grad School right now. It something I keep feeling more and more sure of as the days go by. I'm almost $100,000 in debt and that's just the undergrad. I don't have means for paying this. I don't know if getting this masters will really get me the means to pay it later. I keep having these terrifying visions of drowning in mountains of money that I owe other people, and I wonder why people do this? I want to help people but in order to do so I've got to cripple myself because I am terribly unprepared. And trying to find real help to get prepared to deal with this whole financial thing is so confusing. The people are so nonchalant about everything. It leaves me with the distinctly serious feeling that I SHOULD NOT BE DOING THIS.

My parent's are very sure otherwise. Don't worry about it now. You have to spend a little to make a lot. But it's not like I'm going into an exactly lucrative career. It's not like I'm going to be making large sums of money to pay back the even larger sums of money I owe. The amount I owe is going to be disabling me from really doing the good things that I want to do.

I keep thinking that on this one I really should throw the towel in. I really should call it a day, and just go find a way to earn money until I've paid for a large portion of my undergrad. Like 40,000 or so. Just knock it down by a fair amount and then, once you have to footing necessary to stand strong, go back and kick ass.

I'm very scared. I'm very out there. Things are out of my control and it has me terrified.

Put Stickers Everywhere

2008-08-18T15:15:00.002-05:00

I just saw some wedding pictures from a girl who had a crush on me a few years back. I told her that I couldn't date her because of her proximity to an ugly situation with an ex. Now two years on she's hitched. It's not that I have feelings for her or anything, but there is this little nagging sensation that I may have missed out on something there.

I canvassed the town for jobs today and got about 10 applications out. I figure it's like spaghetti. If you throw enough soggy noodles at the wall, eventually one will stick. Lets hope I've cooked them long enough. Other than that I ran some errands to different locations on campus (Registrar's office, Student Financial Services, etc) and I got to see a lot of the buildings I'm going to be in and around. It has this bizarre feel of being in Animal House. It made me happy to be getting the college experience, something I never thought I'd be craving.

For my hard work I rewarded myself with lunch at the Fleetwood Diner, a little hole in the wall place on Ashley Street. It's the diner of my dreams. The quiet cook in the back making food. The waitress hustling you for tips. The grease of the food so thick you can see it in the air. It's 24 hours. It's exactly what I've dreamed of in my Interlude story and in The Rider. It's so awesome.

I also saw a bumper sticker on a wall today that said "Put Stickers Everywhere." I thought it was ironically funny.

I've also started writing again. I'm doing a redraft of what's done of The Rider to fit in with my reformatted synopsis. So far it is a lot of copy and pasting, but eventually I'm squeezing in the new character, Shane, and his ghastly exploits. More to come.

I'm going home tonight to do dinner with the family, pick up the speaker wire so I can plug in my electronics and throw away the electronics box and finish cleaning my room. Very exciting these happenings. I can't wait for school to start. Sitting around makes me bored and overthinky.

I Lost Weight?

2008-08-17T22:03:00.003-05:00

I biked most of the northeast side of Ann Arbor today. Saw a large chunk of North Campus (though I'm still unsure where my buildings are). I'm now sitting and watching some of the Women's Triathalon via www.nbcolympics.com. It's only slightly more exciting than the marathon, which I watched yesterday with my roommate Adam.

While biking today I saw a couple funny things that I didn't snag pictures of. The first was the Prickly Pear Cafe (It's uhhhh.......). I also saw a robot repair shop. Not entirely sure of the roads I found myself having made tracks all the way to the south side of town. I also passed over the Huron river.

My room is starting to take on a semblance of roominess and no longer messiness.

When I made dinner (a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some carrots) my roommate, Adam walked in and for a second my mind kept throwing up warnings that I was intruding in someone else's home and I should be ashamed for getting food out of the fridge. Here I am a rent paying individual living in this house and I feel like an outsider. I hope I can shake this feeling in the next day or two, or else eating is going to be a rather awkward task.

Here's something else that's kind of funny. In the basement bathroom there is a scale, I'm assuming my roommate's. I went and stood on it just before taking a shower just for the hell of it. At the beginning of summer I weighed myself out at about 175ish. Today I clocked in at around 160-162ish. I can't believe I lost almost 15 pounds. I guess that's what happens when you start running, though I have to admit I've been eating like shit all summer long. I'll be interested to see what happens to my appetite now that I'm reformatting it to be a little more healthy, and when I start lifting after school starts.

2008-08-17T11:07:00.002-05:00

I would've made a blog post last night, but by the time I was able to connect to the internet I was sitting in a chair watching Michael Phelps go for his 8th freakin' gold medal. At that point I'd packed up a trailer, drove to Ann Arbor, unpacked the trailer, assembled a desk a futon and two bookshelves, unpacked maybe 4 boxes, and walked a couple of miles. Needless to say I was exhausted.

This morning I've been unpacking. Just like the last time I realize that unpacking stuff in one room amounts to pushing it around in circles over and over again until those piles disappear. It's a very slow and grueling process but I have definitely made some serious headway.

I think I am going to stop for a while now and go explore Ann Arbor a bit, maybe figure out some loan stuff, and then come back once the weather gets bad (which it's supposed to do today).

And Away I Go....Again

2008-08-15T23:56:00.002-05:00

Ok, except for the next couple weeks of getting settled and moved in and finding jobs and other such preschool nonsense, summer is over.

I spent the majority of today packing my stuff up (which actually translates into watching a lot of Olympics, getting breakfast, and reasoning myself into sitting some more) and moving it out to the garage. It's now sitting in a meager pile waiting to be loaded onto a trailer and moved to Ann Arbor tomorrow. I'm not sure of what stuff I'm going to need, of what stuff my roommate's have, if my roommates are cool, or even if they are crazy axe murderers and I am only days away from a bloody gruesome worthy of Saw VII death. I just keep telling myself something my dad always says to me.

He likes to tell me, "Nathan, you have the ability to fall into shit and come up smelling like roses." I like to believe that's true, and I like to hope that things are going to work out (because they do always have a tendency to do just that) but it doesn't stop that slight niggling doubt in the back of my mind.

I've decided to fight it by being efficient in my first few days in town. Move in tomorrow and also catch a Men's Soccer game in Ypsi, and then Sunday and Monday start aggressive job hunting/finding loans for school. I've also decided above all else that I am going to put myself into a very aggressive exercise/weight training program. As a UM student I've got access to world class weight facilities, pools, and running paths. Just to see what I can do, I'm going to have my dad take a picture of me tomorrow, and then again in May so I can see the progress of a year. It's something to do, and another goal to shoot for.

Speaking of goals I was looking at an earlier post where I was laying out my plans for summer writing domination. And I'm ashamed to say it hasn't panned out even remotely at all like my original intentions. The only thing I actually finished was one short story, edited and almost ready to go. SO this fall, if my load doesn't prove too daunting (great little caveat I can use as an excuse), I am going to ramp up my writing productivity.

And on that note I've got to crash because I still have so much work to do tomorrow. Pack clothes, load trailer, disassemble Xbox, drive to Ann Arbor and unpack everything... Just remember, I fall into shit and smell like roses.

Not A Happy Post

2008-08-12T20:27:00.002-05:00

I don't really like making angry posts. I've liked trying to keep a mostly neutral air about my life and keep the focus of this strictly on the goings on of writing and trying to write and trying to get published. Maybe an update here or there about where I'm at in my travels, a bit about school, but above all my writing. But I'm taking a minute here to gripe and complain about the awesomeness of some people in the world.

A few weeks ago I got hit by a car. It wasn't a fun experience. It was exciting. I've still got a bit of pain in my rib, and my left hand still has limited grip from time to time. The scars on my right hand have almost healed, and for the most part I'm back to normal.

I took my bike in today to get an estimate about the repairs and it came out to a fairly pricey replacement of both wheels. So I decide to call up the woman who hit me and see if she could help pitch for the cost.

She was rude. Told me that there was a big dent in her hood and that if she is going to pay for my bike I would have to pay for her hood. Or we could call it a wash. She hit me. I totally had control over the damage my body made to her car while flying over the hood and on to the cement. People are fun.

2008-08-10T11:22:00.002-05:00

Pirating internet at the Fowler's in Wisconsin.

They went to Madison to pack their daughter's apartment up to prepare for her move next weekend, and left James and I alone at the house. We're eating cereal and watching the Olympics, and we're thinking of popping over to Starbucks for a pick-me-up.

Last night's concert was a lot of fun. We had lawn seats in about the same spot that we did last year. It was nice this year, a little cooler, and no mud. James ended up dancing with a girl that he met (and I think was rather inebriated) for the entire night, and I got heckled by the most obnoxious and most shit-faced bro ever. Tonight we have reserved seats, so I'm hoping the cost is enough to whittle out the annoying people. If I can figure out how to get a picture off my phone and on this computer I'll upload what pictures I can (though most of them are explosions of indiscernible color because my camera isn't the most advanced).

Right now women's quadruple sculling is on the Olympics. It's not anything I'd normally watch. More than anything it makes me hope that Chicago gets them in 2016. I'll go down (if that's not where I'm living) and spend a couple weeks there watching the games.

James just finished his cereal, so we're heading over to Starbucks. More later (maybe some writing this afternoon).

Off Again

2008-08-08T06:41:00.002-05:00

Just popping in for a quick one.

Leaving for Wisconsin today for two days of Dave Matthews concerts.

I stuck a note on my door asking my parent's not to wake me up. They woke me up over four times this morning. I guess that must make today opposite day...

Ok now I need to pack and get really ready to go.

Back Home

2008-08-02T09:20:00.003-05:00

Alrighty! I am back home and have internet.

I got in yesterday evening and discovered the internet was down, and by the time that it popped back up it was so late that I didn't really have the energy to go make a post. So, a day later, here I am.

This last week was (as it seems to be every year) one of the highlights of my year. It has, as it did last year, left me recharged and also very exhausted. I've got a lot of things to do to get ready for the move to Ann Arbor and beginning Grad School. But here are the highlights to my break.

I ended up driving up late last Friday because I agreed to pick up my friend, Ben from Lansing Airport. My family and our friends from Wisconsin were already there when I arrived. We played three days worth of volleyball this year, instead of five, and my team lost this year, which is ok because we swept them last year. We ran about seven miles twice while I was there, and I realized that in terms of endurance and stamina I'm in the best shape I've been in years. We had hobo pies. I edited a short story. I got really tan. We water skied and went camping on Sleeping Bear Dunes.

I realized when I went camping this last week that it is high time that I sit down and examine just exactly what I need in order to properly camp. My tent was in shambles and is far too large for a hiking back pack. My sleeping bag is good if you're not hiking and if you're going to be spending time at the north pole. I need a multi stage bag, like the military one my old roommate has. Something with the zip out insides to make it an all weather all purpose (and very light) bag. So the quest now is to find the bags and equipment I need.

I've got a wedding to go to later this afternoon, and a trip to plan with James for the Dave Matthews concert next weekend (our annual escapade). I've got to figure out my work schedule. Tomorrow I get my laptop back (I had to take it in when the keyboard mysteriously stopped working). I also have to get my suit ready for today.

This was a rather wandering post... Sorry about that. Expect something a little better soon. Maybe some pictures or some links or something.

And Away I Go

2008-07-25T14:22:00.003-05:00

Heading up to my cottage for a week later tonight.

I seem to have been roped into a new roll as of late. Airport Taxi Service. Not that I mind, of course. It's fun being able to pick up friends coming and going and have some one on one time to talk to them, and hear all the crazy things they've been up to. Tonight before I disappear north I'm picking up my friend Ben from Lansing and bringing him home. He's been in Florida all last week at a band camp training percussion. Next sunday I'm taking my other friend Kate down to Detroit to fly back out to California. She's in town this week for a wedding.

I was down in Ann Arbor last night paying for a place. I've now got the keys, and I am officially moving down on the 16th. Orientation is ten days later. And then begins the great quest for my masters.

While filling out the stuff for orientation I think I found a second specialization I want to go after. Community Informatics (CI) is the name of it. It's focused on the social and political application of Libraries and information centers, and how to better bring it to the people.

And with that (and a lack of anything more interesting to say) I'm off to pack, clean out the car and then skedaddle up to Houghton Lake, from which I will return a week later with a tan, maybe in better shape (if I remember to go for runs), and good memories and photos. See you in a bit.

I Used To Be King

2008-07-22T23:59:00.003-05:00

I found an apartment today! Well. Ok let me justify that. I found a basement room in a duplex today! It's pretty awesome. I go down to close the deal Thursday in the evening. Life is good. It's a great deal and it's really close to Central Campus, and not far from North Campus.

While driving down there today I saw the Big House for the first time ever. If I wasn't limited by gas I would've made my pilgrimage to it, but alas, it will have to wait for another day.

Other than that everything is getting around and together for the move down there, and also my week-long vacation up at Houghton Lake next week. I'd warn you that I doubt I'll be able to make any blog posts up there, but I'm notorious for forgetting long stretches of time.

In other random news, to make this blog post seem semi worth-while, I got my hands on the new Coldplay album, Viva la Vida. It's amazing, and the title track is phenomenal.

Ok, I've got nothing... To bed I go.

Crazy Random Happenstance

2008-07-22T08:09:00.002-05:00

I got hit by a car yesterday.

Now to justify that claim.

I did in fact get hit by a car, but the worst damage I got was a cut up knuckle and (as it's appearing now) hands with limited gripping abilities. As such this probably won't be a long post because it kind of hurts to type.

I was on my bike coming back home (on the sidewalk (which I found out is not what your supposed to do, but you try riding on those roads, it's dangerous)) and I see this lady rolling through her stop looking the other direction. I go because it looks like she's stopped all the way at one point. She goes (not looking in my direction) and BAM! Up onto her hood and then I'm thrown from it onto the cement. There was so much adrenaline in my system at this point that time was moving very slowly. I remember thinking that I have no helmet on and I'm going to need to protect my head, hence why my knuckles are scraped up.

I'm lying there on the cement. The wind is knocked out of me, so my sternum has tightened up, and I'm hoping I haven't broken a rib (I didn't). She pulls around the corner and stops. Two other guys stop their car and come to check on me. I see one of them walk my bike out of the road, and the back tire isn't spinning. Across the street people have lined up to watch (everyone loves an accident). Then a cop shows up. Then an ambulance shows up.

It was quite an experience. But typing is not a very comfortable activity at the moment, so I'm going to bring this post to a close.

Thinking Thinking Thinking

2008-07-20T10:21:00.003-05:00

I just saw Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog last night. If you read this today you need to go check it out now before you can't get it for free after midnight tonight. It's a very funny 40 minute web musical faux video blog in the vein of lonelygirl15, but with higher production values and Neil Patrick Harris singing.

It got me thinking heavily about new-media. Dr. Horrible was made by Joss Whedon with money from his own pocket. He and his collaborators wrote and made it during the Writer's Striker earlier this year as a way of saying to their fellow writers and actors and other non-mucky-muck Hollywood friends that it is possible to do high profile media without the attachment to a major studio. You can read Joss's own words here. After tonight it can be downloaded for a nominal fee from iTunes, which I highly recommend. You can do that here. There is also a DVD with a supposed "musical commentary" and extras coming out.

Ok commercial done. Sorry about that. And back to my thinking brain.

Watching it got me thinking about new-media, indie films, and the accessibility of the internet. It got me thinking, more than anything else, that we (by which I mean myself and my many filmmaking friends at Columbia) can be doing this. We could be making this. Low-budget, high traffic, the internet is rife with opportunities.

So I'm hoping this week to get together with my cohort and collaborator, Duke, and start to think seriously about a story. I'm already putting the feelers out for potential interested film people. I have a producer in mind who may be interested if she's not too busy.

And that's the idea. Make something flashy and interesting that people can download. And if they like it, maybe they'll buy t-shirts, or something, I dunno. Maybe make money, would like to break even at best. But mostly just want to create and get my name out there.

I'll keep this place informed.

Jobs, Rain, and Vacation

2008-07-16T23:34:00.003-05:00

I'm about a week and a half into my job at McAlister's, and it has confirmed for me, once and for all, that I am not meant to be in the food service industry. Especially in the food service industry that is fast. So on that note, tomorrow I am heading down to Ann Arbor to apply for a job at the Ann Arbor District Library. We shall see how it goes.

The temperature has been wonky in ways that make me look at all the people who deny the existence of global warming like they're telling me that green tinted poodles are falling from the sky. It was a balmy and humid 75 for the past couple weeks, and then just over the last couple of days it skyrocketed into the upper 80s lower 90s. Then tonight we got hit with heavy and hard storms and lightning like so many camera bulbs.

It's funny because right now I'm reading my way through Kim Stanley Robinson's Science in the Capitol Trilogy. I'm at the very end of 40 Signs of Rain, and the characters are going through much the same weather fiasco that we're facing. It's not great fiction, per se, but it's a wonderful medium for his theories on how to best restructure the government to be more apt to face these looming crises.

Next Friday I'm going up to my cottage for our yearly week long vacation. I can't stress enough how excited I am to get away and get to write and run and eat hobo pies and sit in the sun, and generally just decompress one last time before diving in to grad school.

Long Overdue...Again

2008-07-12T22:17:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I got rather busy between the reading and now, and here, 2 weeks later, I am finally making the massive catch up post.

First off, the reading.

It went very well. I ended up reading only two stories, Just Jazz, which was received very well, and is now being cooled before going through rewrites before an eventual submission somewhere. And I also read an excerpt of The Rider (I think that is going to be the official title now). The Rider was received well, but because it was a middle of the story excerpt they didn't know entirely how to take it.

I've decided from this reading that I need to brush up on my public speaking skills. I also need to stop drinking coffee before a reading, and start drinking something more quenching. Like a Gatorade. I was up there and my mouth got really dry. The caffeine made me really nervous, and one eye teared up. And I was sweating like a madman. Most people said that it was a decent reading but I felt like crap while I was up there.

And congrats to the other readers. Martel Sardina read her story about Zombies and Chicago's notorious "vote early and often" saying. It was a very clever tale. The other was Joshua Doetsch who read excerpts from his upcoming novel "Strangeness in the Proportion" which won a publishing contest through White Wolf and will be available (according to his myspace page) "sometime in the near future." He has an amazing mastery over words and the ability to turn a phrase.

~~

I went up to my cottage for the 4th. It was a weekend of running, geocaching, drinking, and fireworks with the family. We accidentally had two fireworks (very LARGE fireworks) go off on the ground, which was a rather disturbing experience.

~~

I also got a job at Mcalister's deli. It's funny, I never thought that I would be working in food service. It was always one of those menial jobs I'd managed to avoid through high school and most of college. It helps being able to tell myself that it is just a summer job that will pass.

Really I miss working in libraries this summer. It was nice being in that field of public service and not in a private industry that is more concerned with resource conservation and anything in the name of a buck. I felt like I was doing actual good, and now I'm just working.

~~

I'm still apartment hunting in Ann Arbor, but I have my hands on a few interesting places. Now I need to get the time off of work to head down to Ann Arbor for a few hours to check it out and do some job hunting and generally try to make like a progressive college student.

~~

Other than that life has been fairly quiet. I've not done nearly the writing that I wanted to. I've only written one short story this summer. Goals are made to be broken and I am a pro at doing it.

On the good side I did go to the coffee shops around the area the last few days and have managed to more or less hammer out a cohesive outline for the Rider. It's raising some interesting questions and taking the story in a few different directions than I'd initially intended, but so far it isn't anything I'm too worried about, and the outline isn't set in stone. Maybe I'll go finish it tomorrow at the Starbucks in the mall.

And with that I'm going to go curl up with a beer and a book and fall asleep.

Pretentious Drivel

2008-06-28T12:50:00.004-05:00

I finished the first draft of "Just Jazz" yesterday at a Starbucks in the mall. It took about 4 more hours of writing than I'd planned. Today the story is out with a couple of friends and a former teacher. They're doing read throughs on it and hopefully giving me some feedback.

Every time I finish a story these days I keep stepping back and wondering if I've written something good or if I'm just spouting pretentious drivel. It's something that is very easy to do, especially with a theme of fate, and destiny, and the interconnectedness of everything.

I could be going to Chicago tonight, or more than likely tomorrow morning. I'm hoping tonight, but fate rests in the hands of Duke.

Interview and Graffiti

2008-06-24T22:21:00.004-05:00

After a few days of glitches there's an interview up at Twilight Tales. Just follow this link.

I had an interview at Target today. It turned out to not work even in the slightest with my schedule. They wanted to hire me for temporary work starting in mid-August through September. Exactly when I couldn't work because I'll be prepping and moving to Ann Arbor. So in the end that puts me all the way back to square one.

I saw the greatest graffiti in the world today. It was a stencil sprayed onto the ground that said "I Love Waking Up With You." It made me smile.

Duke is coming with me to Chicago and to my first reading. We're staying with my friends Kristy and Lisa. I haven't seen either of them since I graduated and got back to Michigan, and Kristy I haven't seen since January.

Now I'm going back to watching Battlestar Galactica with friends.

Another Micronation

2008-06-23T11:05:00.003-05:00

People will never cease to amaze me.

A little over a year ago I made a blog post about this thing called a micronation. You can read that here. It was about a little weapons platform off the coast of Britain that got claimed by some rich people and turned into their own micronation called Sealand. I laughed and used the article as the basis for a novella idea which has since been maybe abandoned and probably eventually turned into a short story.

Today I'm skimming Yahoo News, a tradition I do every morning after reading up on all the blogs I've missed and webcomics, and I stumbled on an article titled "Tiny Shetland Island Declares Independence." (Note that most Yahoo News links tend to be very transient and may not work).

How tiny? you might ask. One Hectare (which translates to 2.5 Acres or 107,639.1 square feet). I went and did a little research on Wikipedia and discovered a full article about the country of Forvik. And from there was a link to the Declaration of Direct Dependence.

The population of the country is 1. A man named Stuart Hill, which, if wikipedia is to be believed, goes by the nickname "Captain Calamity."

It seems that the once glorious United Kingdom is falling apart. One acre at a time.

God save the queen.

PS:

Sealand has a website that can be accessed here
According to Wikipedia the rebel government of sealand's website can be accessed here

Catch Up

2008-06-22T23:36:00.004-05:00

I'm back from the great white north.

I went up this weekend to Gaylord to visit my Grandparents for their fiftieth wedding anniversary. We had a party for them, my mom and my aunts put it on. It was all in all a very good time. Full of turkey and beer and more cream puffs than any one person should eat. The mornings that we were up there we were greeted by the roaring motors of airshows from the airport just south of town (I saw a parked F-18 when we left there this morning), and in the evenings we were annoyed by the obnoxious thump thumping of a concert which (according to my grandparents) was over a mile away, but prided itself on the volume of its music, which we could hear clearly.

I figured out what I'm reading at my first reading next Monday (see my previous post for more information). I'm doing a short excerpt from The Rider, all of Interlude, and all of another short story I've yet to finish titled "Bern Corwyn and the Society of The Miracle Workers," though I'm thinking of shortening the title to "Just Jazz." Now I actually have to finish that story, let it cool for a couple of days and then run a second draft over it before I read it. And this is how I still procrastinate even when I'm not at school.

There should be an interview up on the website at http://www.twilighttales.com in the next few days.

I have an interview with Target on Tuesday for a super early morning job (4am-8am) stocking shelves or some nonsense. It's crazy, but it should pay well, and it'll line my coffers while I attempt to really do this thing we call writing.

First Real Reading

2008-06-19T09:57:00.004-05:00

Whoa! Sorry about the long drought of posts for the past couple weeks. I'd tell you that life has gotten the better of me and I was doing stuff, but it's not true. I'm still here. I'm still (mostly) unemployed. I'm still broke.

I had a relative die the other day, and so have spent the past few days doing funeral stuff. But that's all done now.

In better news we're a week and a half away from my first non-school related reading! Pop on over to Twilight Tales for more information. specifically their schedule section.

Monday, June 30

Joshua Doetsch
Martel Sardina
Nathaniel Gray

Tonight's event will be held at The Fixx Coffee Bar, 3053 N. Sheffield. Just three blocks from the Belmont El Stop!

I think it's free, but don't quote me on it. It might cost a few bucks at most (not to pay us, but to pay the group and pay for the venue). I'll ask around and let you know. A brief interview should be appearing on the front page of Twilight Tales in a couple days talking about what I plan on reading and such.

The Best Laid Plans

2008-06-04T23:42:00.003-05:00

So maintaining this strict regimen has been (unsurprisingly I would bet) laughable at best. I've been running fairly consistently (though I haven't in the past few days). Writing on the other hand has been an entirely different story. I need to kick it back up a notch and embrace this absolute lack of schedule conflicts.

I started going to Cappuccino Cafe to write and read and drink coffee. I've been getting a fair amount of work done there, but it is still not enough.

Tomorrow is going to be job hunting day, followed by a resounding afternoon of work at the cafe. I want to start reexamining the plot I've got for the Rider, and look at scenes I've created in Bombed. At the very least I can get the ground work laid out for the rest of summer.

And on that note I'm going to crash without having run today. Tomorrow I think I am going to eat a breakfast and then try to do the lake. We'll see...

Summer Slow

2008-06-03T08:44:00.002-05:00

My sister graduated this weekend, and my grandparents came into town, so I've been busy entertaining the family. After that I don't have much excuse for not posting other than that I've really not had a whole lot to write about.

Last night I went to Dublin Square with Duke and we sat and talked about writing among other things. I've got him reading the first hundred pages of Bombed. He helped me figure out a few problems that I've known were arising in the last probably 30 pages of the book and how to nip them in the bud before it kills the book.

The problem that has arisen, beyond the usual figuring out of character things, is the lack of funny. I started out funny. I planned to barrel on with the funny. I also wanted to be aware of the gravity. And the gravity weighed me down. It seems like every event is now: they go somewhere, get shot at, get safe, get sentimental about the fact that things suck now. So Duke told me to change it. Throw in something absurd or funny. That I've got enough root in reality that the absurdest things that happen will still be believable. What that means is today I'm going to the coffee shop again with my laptop and I'm going to kill an afternoon reformatting everything.

Ran 7 miles last night. Finally I am back to what I used to do.

Other than that all is quiet. Still job hunting. Still putting off figuring out grad school hooplah... Probably shouldn't put either of those off anymore. And now I begin my day.

Older

2008-05-29T23:30:00.002-05:00

Holy delay, Batman!

It's been a lot longer from my last post than I'd intended. And here is my excuse...

I went to my cottage last weekend, so I had been without internet Friday-Monday. Than I was just busy Tuesday through today.

Yesterday (seeing as it is now past midnight) was my birthday. Yay. I'm 22.

Real post tomorrow (or today as it would technically be).

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

2008-05-20T23:47:00.003-05:00

This is something I need to keep telling myself.

So far the regimen is working pretty well. I ran twice today. A 2-miler and a 3-miler. I feel great too. I tried to do pullups tonight but my abs were in pain so I let it go.

I wrote only about 500 words today, so tomorrow I have to pick it up a notch. And I need to start reading.

I think my room smells gross, or it might be the fact that my sister hasn't changed the water in her fishbowl. Either way I'm opening my window tomorrow and burning incense until my room smells good again.

Tomorrow I get my ears lowered! And then my barber, Tom, who has been my barber since I was 4 is retiring. I'm not sure what to do.

I Am The Million Dollar Man, Somebody Catch Me While You Can

2008-05-19T23:56:00.003-05:00

Ten points to the person who knows the artist who sang those lyrics...

Ok. It's summer. I have time and as of yet no job. So here's the plan.

I have a few goals this summer. They are as follows

Write one novel (Bombed)
Write 6 short stories
Get in shape

Now here is the plan itself. I'm going to start running every single day at least twice a day for a half hour each time. As the summer progresses I'm raising my evening run beyond a half hour, while keeping my morning run the same. I need to figure out the schedule for the weight room at Haslett High School, and then start coordinating time to go there at least three times a week to lift and work muscle groups. Do what I can on the machines at home and pullups.

In terms of diet I'm slowly bringing it around, eating better as I can stand (not exactly a vegetable guy) and eating out far less (except for Sip and Snack (we all have to have a vice)). I'm eating less more often to help promote a faster metabolism.

Now in terms of writing I'm setting a lenient schedule. 10,000 words a week until the novel and at least 3 short stories are done, and then I'll shorten it and use the other time to start rewriting. On top of that I'm going to make sure to blog every day, and start sending more and more stuff out every chance I can.

And this is all while hoping to have a job I can be working at least 20-40 hours a week.

I want to keep a very rigorous schedule to ensure that everything gets done. And to make certain that my life now beyond the intensive writing drive of Columbia is still productive. I also want to start reading more across the board.

That reading is going to start focusing on research for my Jack novel, getting my hands on anything and everything and inundating myself with American Folklore so that when I get finished with Bombed I can get started right away on Jack and get that written.

~~~~~~~~~~

In other news I applied for two jobs at Ann Arbor District Libraries today and got signed up to be a sub at any of the Capitol Area District Libraries. I went to the bar with Duke and we talked a bit, and he gave me an amp that he had lying about, so now I can hear what my Baritone Guitar sounds like. I went and saw Ironman again and I picked up GTA:IV.

~~~~~~~~~~

One last announcement.

Plans are set now with Twilight Tales. I'm going to be reading there on the 30th of June. They are no longer at the Mix, but have moved to a new location called The Spread. I'm just waiting to get a questionnaire back from them and all the final details which I'll then post here and probably email everyone about a million and a half times.

Yay.

Now I sleep and tomorrow I begin kicking ass!

First Day Home

2008-05-18T10:11:00.001-05:00

I found a fortune cookie on my parent's counter. It says

"Listen these next few days to your friends to get answers you seek."

It kinda creeps me out how applicable this is

Thoughts From After The Fact

2008-05-18T00:04:00.003-05:00

Straight up, I don't know what to think.

I graduated today, and here less than twelve hours later I'm back in Michigan no longer living in Chicago. I'm not sure what to think of it. I know that as of right now, I don't like it. I don't like it at all. It feels like such a massive step back. A dropping of all the good and awesome things I had going and a picking up of all the old and problematic things I'd left behind. It's not that, I know. It's really just a return to a holding pattern as I circle once again waiting to land. But like an airline I feel like I'm just preparing to land at another port, pick up a bunch of people and just take off again leaving the previous load behind.

For the two years I was in Chicago I kept telling myself, "make no roots, get in get out get done," and then, just within the last 5 months or so I really started to settle in. I started to meet people I respected, started getting comfortable with people, making real friends, getting situated, only to have it usurped. Have a life that I was growing to really really love just get pulled away. And I don't understand me, but it is never until afterward that I really savor what I had. The glory of my routine last fall where I was being UBER productive, reading, writing, exercising, and just generally kicking ass in my setting. And this semester, though i griped about the work and the stress and how much I couldn't wait to get done, I am now savoring the moments I had. Seeing my friends as I was moving couch to couch. Long talks and gripes and many many beers with Lane. Preproduction sessions including lots of smoking with Mike and Andrew and eventually Sam. Long nights watching Lost with Lisa and Dan. Lots of good things not savored enough until they're gone and I'm on my own again.

Moving down to Columbia was an interesting situation. Fresh from a breakup that had a lot of strings attached and a lot of pieces to pick up. I'd planned on doing my time and getting out (which made that great opportunity sound like a prison sentence) and the feeling stuck for the first year. The summer started to fix it, being in a new apartment with a new roommate. Then in the fall my friend Kristy finally dragged me out and forced me to be sociable and it's been all uphill since then.

Only to hit this frustrating bump of switching tracks and having to start running on a new direction. It feels like a step back when it shouldn't.

I talked to my parents a bit about this on the way home, and it helped a bit, but not really. I've just got to figure out what I want and where I want to be. Some of it, I'm convinced, comes from being single. Some of it comes from having a fairly lax plan. Some of it is just life, man, I mean that is what this is I'm dealing with, just that next step in life.

Dan Rather spoke at our graduation. It was very interesting. He had lots of good things to say about being the now. Not just the future. I liked that.

This summer is going to be a writing summer. If I'm stuck at home then I'm going to be productive. The idea is 6 short stories and 1 novel by the time school starts in the fall.

I don't know where I want to end up after. And I know that is a lot of thinking ahead, but longer plans feel so much safer and more malleable than figuring out how I'm going to deal with this move.

My friend Lane called me not long after I crossed the Michigan border and was asking about when I planned on coming down next. He sounded bummed that the soonest I was thinking was end of June, and he talked about how we should shoot to get together sometime in the next month. It hurt. It hurt knowing I've made these friends that are built on so little time to just turn around and say goodbye to them again.

That's really all the thoughts I've had. Lots of thinking in circles. Trying to figure what I want and who I want to be around. Sorry if this post was so rambling. Back to the writing tomorrow.

Yay I'm graduated.

Done

2008-05-15T08:09:00.003-05:00

I'M FINISHED!!!

Really that is all this blog post should say. I should wrap it up here and go back to working my last day and be happy with being able to say I'M DONE!

But I won't.

Yesterday my last class, with Tina Jens, got out and I went straight to the bar and proceeded to drink myself embarrassed. Then I went to bed, slept till 7, showered, came to work. And I have no right to feel as good as I do right now. In fact I should be in massive amounts of pain. But I'm not because I have an iron constitution (and I got rid of most of it). More than anything else I was surprised at how loud my iPod was from the walk home. I stepped out the door this morning, put the earbuds in hit play and tore the earbuds out of my ears because it was on full.

Now I have to go work my last day, but I'll make a real blog post later...

At The Desk....Again

2008-05-12T09:54:00.002-05:00

It's starting to feel like I never leave this place, the library. Once written and looked at, the idea of never leaving the library doesn't seem as bad of a problem as it did when I wrote it.

It's Monday. The last Monday of Columbia. That sounds like a great apocalyptic story title. "The Last Monday Of Columbia." Maybe I'll write it once I get my free time. It would have as a main character the Columbia of the Chicago World's Fair.

I'm feeling punchy because it feels like I got out of work, went and watched a couple of episodes of Family Guy, fell asleep, woke up, and was back here a half hour later (which is all in fact true).

Homework is almost done. Semester is almost done. Living like a bum is almost done. I need to shower.

I started trying my hand at a Cthulhu story, but I feel like I need to read more. Haven't been writing much else though in the last couple of days.

Now back to work

The Last Sunday

2008-05-11T14:04:00.002-05:00

I'm working at the library all day today. In a nutshell this means I'm sitting at the desk working on homework while around me students bustle and hurry to do their last minute homework also. Sunday is quiet enough that the most complicated question I've got is about printing and Oasis, the wonky page that allows classes to be somewhat internet based, that's if it ever worked.

I just sent a short story to Doorways Magazine, the one that Mort edits.

Also I'm hammering out the details with Twilight Tales about being their featured reader in June. The date is currently looking like the 30th of June, which would be very good because it falls on the same weekend as the Wizard World Chicago. So maybe I'll make a long weekend of it and come down and get my geek on.

I've got less than 7 days left here in Chicago and it really hasn't set in yet. I've been so busy just living on the road between couches and friends houses and the craziness of actually getting projects rolling and submitted that the fact that by next Sunday I won't be living here anymore has not set in. I know I'm going to need to start making serious plans to see as many people as I can before I finally bug out and off to the future.

In writerly news I'm still hammering away at Bombed, a post apocalyptic stoner buddy roadtrip comedy (the current word count is 18,000 words). I'm thinking about some major usurpations I'm going to be doing to the Rider's story. I'm working on finishing first drafts of a couple of short stories and I'm doing some preliminary research on a short story involving Yig the serpent god of the Cthulhu Mythos and the creation of Man according to the book of Genesis.

And now I'm back to figuring out what piece of work I can regurgitate for my History of the American Working Class final project.

The Goings On

2008-05-10T16:19:00.002-05:00

Sitting at the Library right now ripping DVDs and working on the final rewrite for my Advanced Class.

Tonight I'm going to be sleeping on a couch just south of Wicker Park with my friend Anna. She's a more traditional Artist who I am hoping to collaborate with on a sort of comic tomfoolery that I wrote back in Mort's class and have been meaning to get out and published eventually. And conveniently enough Anna has a magazine she's getting started called The Happy Collaborationists.

Mike expressed interests in directing an animated adaptation of my short story "I'm Just A Boatman." And we're beginning to figure out the necessities for getting that going this summer. I also just heard back from Mort on that, so I'm getting ready to send that out his way.

Tomorrow I am working at the library all day, which in a nutshell means I'm going to be doing homework while sitting at a desk and telling people the proper way to print.

Library is closing soon so it's time for me to start packing up and get ready to roll out to Wicker Park.

The Vagabond Life

2008-05-09T18:19:00.002-05:00

I went out West to La Grange last night with my friend Lane. I met his dog, the now legendary Charlie, who was the basis for the dog in his novel. I met his mom and his brother. I visited the La Grange public library. It has an amazing graphic novel selection. I read the majority of Infinite Crisis, which was just ok. Afterwards we went to the bar and I had a french dip and far too much to drink and spent far too much money. I also met Lane's girlfriend for the second time, and I'm 2 for 2 for meeting her while I'm inebriated. Then we went back to her house and I fell asleep on her couch.

The floors of her townhouse are very loud. One of her roommates, who wakes up early for work was stamping around the house (by which I mean she was stepping as lightly as is possible) and into the living room to get something off the coffee table near where I was sleeping. It was after 6:30, so already I was in a half conscious morning-after daze, unsure of most everything except that I'm on a couch, and the roommate makes enough noise to jilt me a little further awake.

"Sorry kiddo," she says.

Now, quick aside. The only person who has ever called me "kiddo" is my mom, and she does it very often. Back to story...

So I, hearing kiddo, and still feeling a little spin from the alcohol look around more scared and surprised and had to stop myself from asking loudly, "Mom?!" It was the first time ever that I had a "where the hell am I??" moment.

I'd left my phone charger and my toothbrush at Ryan's apartment, so when I got back into the city I went up there to pick it up, and also borrowed his shower. And now I'm sitting in a Panera, waiting to hear back on a couch for the night.

-----

So this post is going up later than I planned. When I went to hit the send button last night and put it up for you all to see I got this warning that I had used all my available peak time. And the above was all that was saved from the post before the internet decided to stop.

Afterwards I went with my friend Sam over to the house of my director and his Gaffer/DP, Mike and Andrew (respectively). We smoked a lot, drank a lot, and got Sam signed up to produce Mike's independent film, currently titled "The System." Then Mike and I stayed up very late talking about Star Wars and actually good movies, and future project ideas. I crashed on the couch there and now I'm at the library with Andrew discussing a potential future comic/mock movie preview for our hero, The Purple Magnificence. We're thinking of getting it together and squared away to have as something that can be passed out at the Chicago Comic Con either 2009 or 2010. More to come on that later.

Now it's time to do homework

Coming To A Head

2008-05-08T19:54:00.002-05:00

I'm out in La Grange with my friend Lane, staying on his girlfriend's couch tonight. Right now I'm at the library reading DC Comic's Infinite Crisis. The big event from a year or so ago. It's pretty good and Geoff Johns is my favorite writer (see his work on the Green Lantern volume 4 (Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War, and the upcoming Blackest Night)), I've just never been a big fan of DC's big events, and most of the Crisis events have been a let down. Except Identity Crisis, which is some of the best comic writing to date.

Things are starting to come to a head with school. I have 6 days left. One story is out circulating, and, for a grade for my Fantasy class, and for the sake of getting things out, a second story is entering its final draft and getting ready to head out.

A little over a week ago I had my reading with the fantasy class at Twilight Tales. I posted about it here. And I just got an email from Mike Martinez from Twilight Tales about being a featured reader in June. When I work the details out I'll be posting more information.

And with that I'm back to reading comics.

Interesting Quote

2008-05-06T08:35:00.004-05:00

I saw this quote in an article in the news yesterday. You can get to the article here. The quote has been zinging around my head for a while and I'm trying to figure out what to do with it.

It has to do with the Fritzl incest case. One of the kids who had been locked in the basement for his entire five years saw the moon for the first time when the cops came and let them out and he asked the cops, "Is that God up there?"

There is something about that awe and wonder in the article that has been sitting with me. Maybe I'll do something with it later.

Quick Addon:

Miles Kurosky is starting to put out his solo stuff!!!! Check it here!

This is my musical second coming...