posted 2003/11/30 at 23:30
Well, I was supposed to spend today working on my portfolios for my classes, but first I woke up late and then the Bengals game came on and then I went to Wildwood for a walk and then I had to head to campus to take care of some stuff in the Spectrum office and then I had to go grocery shopping and then when I finally got back here I had to eat dinner and I got tired from my walk and then I finally sat down to write and realized I had something other than my portfolio to work on ... (pant, pant, pant) ... so:
New on Backwash: "Not Real". I really didn't have any idea of what I was going to write about this week, but I got started talking about reality television and I think I may have set a personal record for vitriol in the second-to-last paragraph of this one. And that's saying something.
posted at 16:08
Okay, are the Bengals trying to give me a heart attack now? Good grief, for once in his Bengals career Kitna gets all the pressure put on him at the end of the game and he delivers. Unbelievable. And hopefully the Ravens totally spent themselves against the 49ers today, so they'll be tired next week. Whew.
posted 2003/11/29 at 18:12
Okay, so my big tradition when we get the first real snowfall of the year, for those of you who don't know, is to listen to Björk's Gling-Glo and watch the snow fall. Mind you, that was kind of difficult last night because it was so dark out I could barely see the snow at all, but I still did it. I don't know, I guess watching A Charlie Brown Christmas every Christmas throughout my childhood has kind of made Christmas and light jazz stick together in my head, and of course Bj&0246;rk doing jazz just makes it all the sweeter.
So now not only do I get to see the next two Bengals games on local TV (thanks to the Browns' schedule being so wacky), but Fox -- free Fox, not Fox Sports Net -- is airing a Red Wings game tonight. Had I known that, I would have gotten started on my homework earlier this vacation. I think I'll still be fine, but you know how I like to panic about these things.
posted 2003/11/28 at 21:51
You know, I take three days off here just to goof off and to let myself recharge my batteries in preparation for the big end-of-semester push, and yet somehow I still don't feel like I even did a good job of goofing off. Sigh. What's wrong with me?
I guess there are a couple of factors at play here. First of all, this is the third year in a row where my usual Thanksgiving tradition of watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and eating waffles got curtailed by the fact that most of my MST3k tapes seemed to disappear after the fire. I mean, "Time of the Apes" is one of my favourite episodes of all time, but I'm getting tired of just watching that one over and over again every year, you know?
Secondly, it's now Friday evening and I'm just now starting to do something with RPG Maker 2. And even at that, I've just gotten about half of my intro sequence done; right now there isn't anything to play, just a few seconds of something to watch. I know that creating an RPG is a massively time-consuming undertaking, but I was hoping to be a lot further along right now than I am now.
And of course tomorrow and Sunday I have to get back to homework and get ready for two final weeks of classes, then exam week. Oh, and we're just now getting our first real accumulation of snow for the year, so of course there's a tradition with that I have to follow too. More on that later; I've got stuff to do now.
posted 2003/11/25 at 23:35
And finally, new in the .journal: .org.3 part 3: the .org mailbag. You asked the questions, and now you get the answers.
The bad news about Thanksgiving is that no one in Spectrum was able to come to the party I wanted to hold on Thursday, so I guess I'll be stuck by myself that day. The good news, though, is that I got a big Replay coupon in the mail, so I was able to go back to Media Play and get Prima's RPG Maker 2 Strategy Guide, and now I think I'll actually be able to do something with the game. So I don't think I'll be at a loss for something to do this break.
posted 2003/11/24 at 17:47
Sure enough, I wake up today and it's snowing. The snowflakes were really small, though, and we only had about a dusting's worth of accumulation, but with the heavy winds out there it's been a real hassle to get around campus. It'll get warmer throughout the week, but I've already had more than enough sinus problems today to last me through to the end of the month.
posted 2003/11/23 at 18:29
New in .photography: Wildwood 2003.11.23. It hit seventy today, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to go and get some good late fall pre-snow pictures. Going there while I was sick wasn't so fun, but I figured this was the best chance I'd have to get good pics there for a while.
posted at 02:27
New on Backwash: "Cataloguing Tori". A quick bit of discussion of you-know-who inspired by the release of her latest CD. Please jump in and feel free to disagree with my assertions in the column.
posted 2003/11/22 at 23:05
Cripes, I've got a 4.0 GPA, I wrote my first computer programme when I was four years old (on a Timex Sinclair ZX-80), I've been video gaming my whole life, and even I can't find my way around RPG Maker 2's interface. I can't even find any good tutorials online. Maybe I can work on figuring everything out over Thanksgiving Break, but good grief am I just lost trying to figure it out now. Maybe I just have too much other stuff on my mind right now, I don't know.
posted 2003/11/21 at 22:38
Oh, hi. Yes, it's been that kind of a week, especially since I've been sick and I've had to deal with a sudden twist in the Most Important Situation In My Life Right Now. (I'm not even sure if I capitalized all of that to draw serious attention to it, or to be sarcastic.)
Just to catch everyone up to date on the unimportant stuff that's been going on, I did buy Tales of a Librarian the day it came out, of course, and it's going to inspire my next Backwash column. Then earlier today I picked up RPG Maker 2 at long last, and it will probably consume my every waking moment for the weekend. (Except for late Sunday afternoon, because our local CBS affiliate is carrying the Bengals-Chargers game.)
As far as the important stuff goes, I'm having to keep that under the rug for now, but I will say that I may be screwed here because I'm having people from Spectrum come over next Thursday for a vegetarian dinner, but I just went to my local health food stores and the whole damn city's sold out of tofu turkeys. So either I have to get someone to cook me a real one (not bloody likely), or I have to feed everyone non-turkey-like vegetarian fare. What to do, what to do.
Just as a heads-up, the Q&A is pretty much written already, so there shouldn't be a problem getting it posted Tuesday. Especially since two of my classes that day are canceled, and of course I've got Wednesday through Friday off. Too bad I've got to work my ass of getting stories written and edited for my classes and MFA portfolio over the break, huh?
posted 2003/11/18 at 23:29
New in the .journal: .org.3 part 2: Things are gonna change so fast. I finally get a chance to talk about the big x-factor in my life the past year, and tell you all why I may actually be looking to stay in Toledo for a couple of more years here.
posted 2003/11/17 at 23:33
I'm in the middle of writing the next .journal, but I've got a confession to make here: I've had a real hard time getting homework done these past thirty hours because I've been so busy reading up on what all the pundits have been saying about the Bengals. You have to remember, I only became a Bengals fan after their last playoff appearance, so I've been dealing with over a decade of frustration here with no memories of happier times. Now all of a sudden the Bengals are on the verge of a bigger turnaround than even the Jimmy Johnson-era Dallas Cowboys, and I have to admit to entertaining thoughts of the Bengals going 10-6 and somehow squeaking out a Super Bowl victory. Not that that'll ever happen, but then again who would have thought the Bengals would be in playoff contention at all this year?
posted 2003/11/16 at 22:21
New on Backwash: "Plain Fiction". More of my musings on life after UT, and whether or not going on to get my MFA is the right choice for me.
posted at 17:01
Ladies and gentlemen, your first-place Cincinnati Bengals!!! Holy crap, the Browns game was on Fox so I got to see it too ... wow. I'm actualy considering heading to campus this evening just so I can watch SportsCentre and how they react to it.
Like I've always said, being a true sports fan is sticking with your team through good times and bad, and after so many bad times the past twelve years, the Bengals are finally back, baby.
posted 2003/11/14 at 17:50
Okay, so at this point who hasn't predicted that the Bengals will upset the Chiefs on Sunday? If the Bengals win now, can it really be considered an upset? (By the way, all this attention is pretty much a guarantee that they won't win, so don't look for me to be paying too much attention to the game.)
posted 2003/11/13 at 12:38
To follow up on the last .journal entry, I sent the e-mail out yesterday afternoon. No reply so far, but I expect that if I am going to get a reply, it'll take a couple of weeks. Until then, I've just got to get on with my life as best I can.
And that would take me to the next .journal entry, as the big event that I'm going to write about in that entry is going to take place here in a couple of hours. There's not much I can say right now, except that while I'm aware that my world isn't really flying to pieces right now, it sure feels that way.
Oh, and we're getting our first snowfall of the year right now. There won't be any accumulation, but I just thought I'd note the fact for the record.
posted 2003/11/11 at 03:15
Three years. Let's get the party, such as it is, started:
New in the .journal: .org.3 part 1: Last Chance. A reflection on what the past year has brought to me, which ends up turning into a familiar refrain that you're probably sick of hearing about at this point, but my request at the end is as sincere as I can possibly be. Besides, I promise that the other two .journal entries for the anniversary won't contain any mention of this.
I've got the day off school today, but I will be busy with Spectrum stuff, not to mention what I bring up in this most recent .journal entry, so don't expect to hear much from me today. I promise you, though, we'll have a lot of stuff here for the anniversary, so keep coming back for more.
posted 2003/11/09 at 21:54
New on Backwash: "A Weighty Issue". Probably one of my better Backwash columns to date, as I discuss some of the unexpected repercussions of my most recent spate of dieting. Remember how I used to give updates on my weight loss back before the house fire? There was a reason why I stopped doing that, although now things are ... well, just read. They're strange, that's for sure.
And hey, the Bengals have doubled their win total from last year. Now all they need to do is beat Kansas City next week. Yeah. You know, if Cincy had just beaten Arizona last week like they were supposed to and had gotten up to 5-4, the Bengals/Chiefs game would have a lot of intrigue going for it; now it just seems like an ass-kicking waiting to happen.
posted 2003/11/08 at 23:38
Well, the conference in Bowling Green went well, although I left early (there was a reading and open mic after the small sessions that I didn't go to) because I thought I'd have plans elsewhere tonight, but then that didn't pan out. I did, however, stop and get Afterglow on the way home, although even though I've been back home for several hours, I've still yet to play the CD. And given that I woke up at 0600 this morning, I think I'd better get some sleep here before I listen to it.
I was surprised that I was able to get to BGSU and find the conference on my own; I'd been down to BGSU a couple of times in the past, but I've never driven there by myself. One thing I noticed, though, is that if I do decide to go to BGSU for my MFA, I'd better get an apartment closer to campus. It's about a half-hour drive from my house to there -- without rain or snow to deal with, mind you -- about 98% of which is highway driving. My car is close to twenty years old, and while it still runs well, there is just no way it could possibly stand up to doing that trip ten times a week. Mind you, I've kind of been given a very compelling reason to stay at home after UT in recent months, but I've got to save the specifics on that until later. You'll find out soon enough, though.
posted 2003/11/07 at 22:02
Okay everyone, I'd been hoping things would move along faster than they have been, but they haven't. I think I've just now gotten recovered from the craziness of last week, and all the crap that came up this week. But now I've got to get up at 0600 tomorrow to attend a writing conference at Bowling Green State University, where I'll be sucking up to some people who will hopefully be my professors this time next year.
So here's the deal: there will be three .journal entries this month to commemorate three years of the .org. On the anniversary date this Tuesday I'll do my long-form reflection, and then later in the month I'll do the Q&A. There will be a third entry somewhere in there, I'm just not sure when at this point, having to do with a major change coming up in my life very soon. In addition, I will try (and I cannot emphasize that word enough) to update every other section of the .org at some point this month. It seems the least I can do.
Oh, and you probably won't be hearing anything about my GPA anymore. I'm sure you can guess the general why, and let's just say that I don't want to go into specifics at this point. That's one of the big reasons I haven't been around much this week.
posted 2003/11/04 at 23:58
Well, I voted today. Aren't you all proud? I thought so. Good day for it, too; this is the latest in the year Toledo has hit eighty degrees. Of course, we'll be into the mid-twenties for lows during the weekend, and that just makes me so glad that all that global warming stuff is a bunch of blah blah blah.
I'd been hoping to start .org.3 tonight, but I've still got a lot of stuff on my plate now. I promise, though, I'll start the anniversary festivities soon.
posted 2003/11/02 at 21:41
New on Backwash: "Make Up Your Own Title". An admittedly unintelligent bit of rambling about all of the crap going on in my life right now. Sorry, but the combination of physical tiredness (I am so fucking sore right now) plus lack of sleep has left me in a near-vegetable state, but I wasn't about to go two weeks without writing anything for Backwash, so I did the best I could. Which wasn't much.
I was hoping that this week would be less hectic than last week, but I have the feeling that this week I'll be just as messed up trying to catch up on all the stuff I didn't get to last week. However, with the .org's anniversary coming up here, I will have stuff here for you. I don't have a choice in the matter.
posted 2003/11/01 at 20:07
Well, the good news is that we won Mocktails. The bad news is that because of the way things worked out, I wound up bankrupting myself buying the stuff for it, then I wound up having to carry seven gallons of milk, plus other things, halfway across campus when some people bailed on me. And most of that didn't even get used because turnout at Mocktails was much lower than expected. Plus while I was there my purse got overturned, and I wound up losing something of importance to me that I won't have the money to replace for some time.
But yeah, we won. And since we won, here's the recipe for you:
THE AMAZING COLOSSAL COCOA
8 oz. skim milk
1 Tbsp. Hershey's Cocoa
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Dash of cinnamon
5 Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 caramel candy (pref. Milk Maid)
1 miniature Snickers
Heat milk; while milk is heating, put all other ingredients except Snickers bar into cup. When milk begins steaming, pour it into the cup, stir, then add Snickers bar.
Not for diets, I know, but hey, Spectrum just won a kick-ass pizza party because of that recipe.
Just a reminder, you've got until midnight EST to get your questions in for the anniversary, so if you haven't sent them in yet, you'd better do so now.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon