Words!

deireanach @ 2009-12-17T00:20:00

2009-12-17T07:20:29Z

I had an epiphany the other night. One of my pieces was being critted; the critter was saying, "I want this and that and the other thing," and I was thinking, "So? I don't *care* what you want. If I gave you what you want--what you expect--you might as well have written the damn story yourself. What I want to give you is something you didn't know you could have."

I need to chew on this thought for a while.

deireanach @ 2009-12-14T00:53:00

2009-12-14T07:53:38Z

I hate the cold. It's -28C (with no wind chill, yay). I hate having to drag the heavy coat out just to dump the garbage and walk two blocks to the newspaper box. I hate having my cheeks freeze in that amount of time.

Not that this particular instance was without its rewards... sort of. The dumpster was full on the one side--unusual for a Sunday, because the truck comes on Fridays. I think the schedule is off because of what the weather has done to this hill (last weekend, a garbage truck was stuck a block away from my place from Friday morning to Monday morning--I could see it from my living room window. Don't know if it was the truck that normally services my building, though.) In any case, since the one side was full, I lifted the cover for the other side, and was lifting the bag when... flutter.

Flutter? I think, and then it came again. Flutter.

Me, thought balloon: Cthulumas!

Actually, it was a magpie, tucked down among the stuff. I guess on a night like this, a dumpster is a decent nap zone. However, inconsiderate human that I am, I disturbed the poor bird. When I opened the lid a bit more, he left. Exit stage right, toward the trees.

I hope he found a decent place to stay. Or that he was brave enough to come back and tuck in again. Either way, I hope he doesn't meet any early morning garbage trucks.

deireanach @ 2009-12-09T23:40:00

2009-12-10T06:40:15Z

http://elfs.livejournal.com/1171919.html

This would explain so much about my life...

deireanach @ 2009-12-02T18:47:00

2009-12-03T01:47:21Z

Clearly, I'm being masochistic lately. I looked up some reviews of my published stories while I was on lunch.

I found one I hadn't seen before, and ... ow. The reviewer called it promising, until it got confusing, and then he wondered if something got lost in the printing. Um... yes. And he wasn't the only one to notice.

That piece is missing three lines from the beginning... three lines which introduce a character, change the place of action, and set a motif. I don't know why it was printed without those lines, whether it was an editorial decision or a printing mistake or something else entirely. If it was an editorial decision, I really wish someone had said, "Shorten it by 50 words, please," because I would have (after having private conniptions first, but hey, we're talking major market and me as the no-name writer. Do the math.) I just wouldn't have shortened it in a way that left people lost.

Grumble.

I sometimes wonder if I should set up an 'official author site' and do things like put up that story in its uncut form, just so I can point to it and say, "That's what I really wrote." Of course, given my privacy issues, I doubt it would be a good website. You know, the kind of site with bells and whistles and an actual person chatting back ...!

deireanach @ 2009-11-25T19:44:00

2009-11-26T02:44:57Z

http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=886
Peter Watts in full cry. Awfully funny. Awfully interesting. Awfully blunt in all the ways I love blunt.

I actually met him at Montreal WorldCon; I was walking and chatting with tL&Hs when H veered off and started a conversation with him of the 'hi, how are you, good to see you again' variety. I tagged along and H turned around and said, "Of course you've met Peter Watts."

Me: "No, but I read his books. They're good."

Big grin from Watts, the obligatory variation on 'aw, shucks' and a bit more passing-in-the-halls conversation, and gone again. Now I'm wishing I had the chance to sit down with a real conversation with him. Some folks are anti-mental rust just by *being*.

deireanach @ 2009-11-02T20:44:00

2009-11-03T03:59:16Z

I was walking down Seventh Avenue looking at the trees the other day. We had a nasty cold snap a couple weeks back, and all the leaves are dead--but still on the trees. They're grey-green, instead of the usual yellow and orange, which is odd, because I keep thinking, "Water them and they'll turn green again."

I was also wondering about fall. With the leaves stuck to the trees, will 'Fall' actually arrive...?

Then a bus went by and its wake blasted freeze-dried tree dandruff in my face. *ptuf*

Ahem. Yes. Yes, it will.

Collective nouns -- the supernatural edition

2009-10-31T22:10:29Z

I really like 'a lunacy of werewolves', but I do think it should be 'a rattle of skeletons'. YMMV.

http://wondermark.com/566/

H/t to Jay Lake.

deireanach @ 2009-10-28T20:15:00

2009-10-29T02:28:05Z

Earth was struck by a meteor October 8, and this is the first I've heard of it. Considering the number of cheesy news sites I skim over in the course of a day, I'm a bit surprised by the utter lack of tabloid interest. The thing blew up over Indonesia with the force of about 50 atomic bombs, scaring the hell out of the locals (they thought it was an earthquake) and setting off nuclear test detectors all over the place. The event was noted 10,000 miles away--which, given that the circumference of the planet is around 24,000 miles, really means 'all over the place'.

What was happening October 8 that kept the newsies away? Let's see... the wedding episode of "The Office"... A bus crash... The President's Cup matches...

Oy.

I feel even more badly informed than usual.

Check out www.spaceweather.com for more details.

deireanach @ 2009-10-26T20:31:00

2009-10-27T02:43:11Z

Saw a bald eagle today. He was flying along the river from St. George's Island west toward Prince's Island; he went by directly over my head, maybe twenty feet away.

I've heard that the range of bald eagles goes this far north, and that they can be seen in Shouldice Park (where 'the only stand of virgin Douglas fir forest east of the Rockies' exists.) I've been down to Shouldice a few times, but I've never seen a bald eagle there--and yes, I've looked. But today, I was watching the female goldeneye in the middle of the river, and the flock of seagulls whirling up from the point of St. George's. And then this dark bird comes flying along the river, and after running through the usual silhouettes--duck, goose, crow--I realize, "Raptor." And then, "Is that a white head?" And, "Yes. It is."

The last time I saw a bald eagle in the wild was last spring, on the coast of the Quinault penninsula. The time before that, Glacier National Park. But in the middle of Calgary...? Only at the zoo.

I hear the zoo lets their raptors out to fly, sometimes. I don't know that I believe that, but... maybe. Just maybe....

(Put Cool Title Here)

2009-10-19T03:50:05Z

I hate coming up with titles.

A title, IMNSHO, should sum up the story on some level--theme, plot, motif, etc. BUT... if I could do that, I wouldn't have written the bloody story in the first place...!

Grr.

*goes off to beat head against wall for a while*

Dove

2009-10-12T01:36:38Z

I have a headache. Ergo, I am going to distract myself with silly memeage. Be forewarned!

Stolen from that 'Pryde person, of course.

1. Put Your iTunes on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write down the name of the song no matter how silly it sounds!
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name.
5. Tag at least 10 friends <-- This one ain't happenin'. Do or do not, there is no tag.

What do your friends think of you? "Testify" Stevie Ray Vaughn (Uh, right.)

If someone says, “Is this okay?” You say... "Senza Luce" (A Whiter Shade of Pale) Paul Potts (That's not what I say. That's what I *am*.)

How would you describe yourself? "For Lovin' Me/Did She Mention My Name" Gordon Lightfoot (Apparently, I'm a mash-up.)

What do you like in a guy/girl? "Eistigh Liomsa Sealad/Listen To Me/Saor Reprise" Afro Celt Sound System (Listening and liberation... I can deal with that.)

How do you feel today? "I Can't Tell You Why" The Eagles (Tho' I suspect my glasses...)

What is your life’s purpose? "My Immortal" Evanescence (Vampires pas!!1!)

What is your motto? "Running on Faith" Eric Clapton (Uh, right.)

What do you think about very often? "Tailor's Daughter" The Rankins (Uh...)

What is 2 + 2? "Oh Darling" Supertramp (Buh. Just... buh.)

What do you think of your best friend? "Tubular Bells, Part II" Mike Oldfield (This is the one where the instruments are introduced. Um...!)

What do you think of the person you like? "What's It Gonna Be" Bryan Adams (Snicker.)

What is your life story? "C'mon" Blue Rodeo (Double snicker.)

What do you want to be when you grow up? "I'm Not Sayin'/Ribbon of Darkness" Gordon Lightfoot (I never answer questions like this straight on. So this is a good result!)

What do you think of when you see the person you like? "Hill Farmer's Blues" Mark Knopfler (*cracks up*)

What will you dance to at your wedding? "Out of a Deeper Hunger" Gowan (I'd better have a *small* guest list...)

What will they play at your funeral? "Calling Elvis" Dire Straits (*CRACKS UP*)

What is your hobby/interest? "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House" Garth Brooks (Depending on the metaphor you use to interpret this result, this could be depressingly apt.)

What is your biggest fear? "Go Daddy-O" Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (...)

What is your biggest secret? "I Could Never Be That Man" Blue Rodeo (Well, duh.)

What do you think of your friends? "Who Will Take Care of Me" Jon Secada (*facepalm*)

What will you post this as? "Paloma" Jesse Cook (Apparently, this whole exercise is for the bird.)

This one's for 'Pryde.

2009-09-29T01:22:20Z

She knows why (and probably already knows the link, but hey. This way *I'm* sure she knows the link.)

www.glutenfreepasta.ca

Marking Time

2009-09-19T23:10:44Z

There are a half dozen things which I should be doing, but I've already done (pieces) of them all today, so... I am now trying to figure out how to create rose applique blocks for quilting.

I can't point a finger and say, "That's why I'm doing this, right now." It is just the thing that has seized control of my attention, and I'm amused enough at the idea that I'm not willing to wrest control back from it. Such is my life.

Most applique blocks can be sorted based on symmetry: none (usually realistic images, or very complex images), one axis (usually vertical, but sometimes diagonal; very rarely horizontal), and two axis (usually diagonal, but sometimes vertical/horizontal). The one and two axis symmetries may be partial symmetries, where several elements may be symmetrical but where one may not be, such as an extended branch, which may give the resulting image an illusion of spinning in place.

My attention today is on two axis diagonally symmetrical blocks. Baltimore Album quilts are a classic case where these would be used, and I love the complexity of Baltimore Album quilts... maybe talking about the process will assuage any urge I am developing to actually do it. (I have enough UFOs flying around my workroom...)

The basic block can be divided in gyronny (heraldic language ftw!) with the diagonals providing the axes of symmetry. The individual triangular pieces are mirrored across the axes. Breaking symmetry, as in a branch extension as mentioned above, would be designed in the left or right hand triangles, which would affect the direction the finished block would seem to spin. If you were making a paper template, it would probably be easier to begin with a square one quarter of the size of the finished block, and design just the one quarter, then mirror it to form the whole block. IE, for the classic Rose of Ohio block (central flower with branches reaching out to each corner), you would crease your square along one diagonal. Opening it out, you would place a heart one quarter of the size of the central image with its point in the corner which will be the center of the pattern. Line up the edges with the edges of the paper. If you want a two-color rose, lay another heart on top of the first, lining its point up on top of the first.

Lay out the stem of the branch along the diagonal fold.

Leaves and sepals are simple double-pointed ovals (think of the intersection of two overlapping circles). Two leaves are placed about halfway along the branch; the two sepals are placed at the tip. A quarter circle is placed behind the sepals, to provide the rosebud.

The quarter is done. Once it is mirrored and copied to the other three quarters, a round dot, representing the stamens, may be placed at the point where the hearts join.

Some simplifications: make the design first, then adjust shapes. In the Rose of Ohio above, the central flower would be easier to apply if it were cut as one piece, instead of four hearts.

Some variations: make branches instead of simple leaves at the halfway mark on the stem. Make buds on those branches (smaller than the main bud). Extend one branch and curve it toward the top of the design to create the illusion of spinning.

Some places where this would be a right royal pain to sew: the inner point on the top of the heart. Any outer point (such as the tips of leaves.) Anywhere where multiple layers have been appliqued over each other.

Order of applique: probably best as: leaves, stems, buds and flowers, sepals, inner flower (if doing two color flower), stamen dot. This allows one pointy tip of each leaf to be hidden under another element. Also concealed: ends of stems, points of buds.

...All right. The urge to do one of these has eased--just the thought of dealing with pointy tips in applique is doing it. (Relief!)

deireanach @ 2009-09-15T19:30:00

2009-09-16T01:43:07Z

Yesterday I walked to the grocery after work, and then back home, and both ways I saw the ants. The flying ones were out, swooping dizzily or marching along the sidewalk, or across the road. Wings... and those without wings, and those too small for wings. One wingless one carried another wingless one, the second still wiggling.

Today, I saw no wings. A few scuttlers. One marched uphill with me, before I left it behind. It bore something small and white and round.

I have to wonder if there is a smell in the air, a pheromone, that tells all of the ants, "Today, you fly." They're gone now, like the gophers. The crows are gathering in increasing flocks... any morning now, I expect to see them pass overhead by dozens and hundreds, and then be gone in their own turn.

The white rabbit is gone. He used to lie under the privet on the edge of Edmonton Trail, or feed on the green grass of the traffic island two lanes away. One day, I found his flattened body on that island, spreadeagled. Within a few more days, he became a tatter of hide, feet still attached, though all else was gone. A scatter of white fur marks his dying, like someone had a rabbit-fur pillow fight there, and one of the weapons burst.

I wonder how much of him the ants got?

deireanach @ 2009-08-29T23:23:00

2009-08-30T05:31:13Z

Asked a question at ConVersion of one of the guests and GR, who was hovering behind my shoulder, said, "That's easy!" Whereupon I said, "Probably, but my math isn't good enough to both develop the data and check it for errors."

He said, "Ah," went home, and emailed me a spreadsheet... then another, and another. In the third, I *did* spot an error (Epsilon Eridani is only 0.5 ly from Sol? Uh...) which GR corrected. So... many thanks to him! I now have a spreadsheet full of data of the distances between the 100 nearest stars to Earth, and I have been analyzing it ever since (and thus amusing the hell out of myself, as well as gathering notes for the story that started this whole thing off with the need for the answer to the aforementioned question.)

Result: yes, I do need two separate means of FTL star travel. I could get by with improvements to one means, but I think it might be more useful to the plot for those improvements to arrive within the story and to the side which uses that method, as a reaction to the side that uses the other method.

More research. Oy.

deireanach @ 2009-08-24T19:47:00

2009-08-25T01:51:44Z

'Cause Troutkitty wants more posts... have a link!

This is one of the funniest webcomics I've seen--even considering my rather stunted sense of humor. And it updates regularly!

http://www.daniellecorsetto.com/gws.html

Read from the beginning... it does explain why 'Girls With Slingshots'. Which is its own bundle o' rah-rah!

Meme thingie

2009-08-02T22:24:57Z

I like the idea of this one, although I'm not much of a joiner, so I'm going to shamelessly mangle it. The original is on the livejournal community 'glompalicious', for those who want the real and true and original.

Snitched from bentarc

1: Post a comment with your username
2: Post the link to your thread on your journal

(I'm skipping the above two steps, and counting this post as my thread.)

3: Your friends/random people/I can comment on your thread with what they think you should write next.
4: Anything goes. This is mainly a fanfic meme, but other things like poetry and original fiction are okay to suggest too.
5: PIMP THIS THING.

I don't do fanfic, so if you suggest it? I will probably blink at you in a blank fashion. If you know what I'm currently working on, I'll probably post a paragraph or two of new text. And if you suggest something new, I'll... um... try to get it done. (Yes, Andrew, I know I still owe you something from lo, many moons ago...)

deireanach @ 2009-07-28T20:10:00

2009-07-29T02:26:11Z

They're digging up the pathway along the south side of the river on both sides of the Langevin bridge. Recently, they've cut all the trees down for a couple of hundred meters of riverbank, and man, does that make the place look bald. I've seen some artists' renditions of what the stretch is supposed to look like when the developers finish playing in the dirt, and extra-wide sidewalks, benches, lamp posts, plantings, and pavers on paths and walls seems to be a lot of it. I'm hoping a decent set of replacement trees is part of it, too.

At the moment, I think they're laying pipe of various sorts. They've dug a trench along the line of the path and different colors of PVC piping are strewn about. I imagine some are water (drinking, sewer, storm) and some are other things: laying pipe so that you can pass electric and other cabling through it seems smart, yes. But... in the process of digging, they've exposed a number of concrete ... things, and now I'm wondering what those things are.

They appear to parallel the river. Retaining walls, maybe? The footings of them, anyway? Put there to keep the river where it is? Or are they the remnants of old buildings, long since knocked down to make way for the green strip along the river?

Probably the latter. There are two different types currently visible: a smooth wall, not unlike the concrete walls of basements I have seen, and a more complex wall, with foot-wide 'posts' every ten feet or so. The first looks recent to me; the latter does not. And I can well imagine someone building right there at the edge of the river, way back when. I don't think the Bow has ever been considered a navigable waterway, but it is a world-class trout-fishing stream, and between that and the convenience (and sheer purty-ness) of having water just feet away from your door...

And yes, there are fish there. I was walking across the Langevin bridge a week or so ago when I heard Ploop! I looked, and caught a glimpse of silver splashing back into the water just ahead of the rocks beneath the south pier. I raised both eyebrows, put my hand on the rail, and Ploop! Another one, ten feet or so away. Then, Ploop! A third one, jumping into the air, curving to splash down again.

It was raining a bit, just dots on the pavement, really. I wonder if the fish were striking at raindrops, mistaking them for insects landing?

Kneejerking

2009-07-12T23:26:18Z

Yesterday I finished reading Charles Stross' GLASSHOUSE. Decent book; a variation of 'The Prisoner' done in Stross' inimitable SF style. I did have one heck of a 'BWAH?!' moment in the last third of the book, though...

Our Hero has a rape-revenge fantasy, which comes true in gory detail. I found it stunning because in this universe, people can be backed up; ie, you have a form of serial immortality. With the proper equipment, no one dies. Then again, with the proper equipment, no one remembers anything they don't want to remember, either, meaning that one can edit one's own head. This is an important plot point, in several ways, to this book, which makes me wonder what the hell Stross was trying to say with the scene.

The revenged-upon character 'had it coming', so to speak, having done multiple dispicable things to another character who could not defend herself. Her rescue played out in rather cliche fashion, with Our Hero bluffing her way in to see Our Victim, then having her sidekicks attack and distract Our Villain while she found out What Had Been Done (tm). Horrors! Upon Horrors! (tm)

Me, I'm looking at the way the scene was set up: mess outside, worse mess inside, worst mess around Our Victim. Our Villain was straight out of some B flick; sloppy, shows up in his underwear, beer can in hand. Smelly. Rude. Crude... and giggling. Even before seeing Our Victim, I'm thinking, "Serious failure to cope happening here. The problems Our Hero is dealing with? They've crushed this guy." This is later borne out when OH catches OVill doing unto OVic in a completely unsecure location. OVill would *have* to be off his nut to be doing that there.

Our Hero has been tossing off-the-cuff psych reads at the reader through the book, letting us know that he's an expert at off-the-cuff psych reads. HE COMPLETELY MISSES THIS ONE. His reaction is to torture the guy to death in spectacularly showy fashion.

Me, thought balloon: Dude. You pointed up the lynch mob as bad kim chee. Then you turn around and have OH become a one-man lynch mob? WTF?

Seriously, Stross. MAKE UP YOUR MIND.

Unless, of course, this is one of Stross' kneejerks.

We all have our blindspots, our unquestioned assumptions, our bigotries, our kneejerks. Pretending otherwise just means that you get pointed out as a hypocrit when your kneejerk rears its metaphorical head. Methinks Stross has one of 'Rape Bad. Make Big Scary Example of Rapist, Make Right.' Whereas, given the world he created, why would his hero character react that way? Even given the limitations OH is under at the time, why is his reaction that visceral? That foul? The worst crime, and he says as much in the book, is not rape. It isn't murder, either. It's identity theft! Next in the list is non-consensual memory editing!

I don't think OH came up with that revenge fantasy, because, living in that world, OH wouldn't. Stross, however much his characters live there, does not himself live there, and that is all the difference. And I have to wonder if he even realized that he stumbled in this scene.

Which got me to wondering about other bigotries and things, especially my own, which I have held (and sometimes changed) over the years. I recall, for instance, all the usual anti-Other jokes from my teens: making Pakis and niggers and Ukrainians and Pollacks and faggots and (fill-in-the-pejorative term) the butt of various jokes, catcalls, and stuff-to-call-people-who-piss-you-off. It was there, it was generally accepted that this was all okay, or at least okay within the peer group. Sometime between then and now, which covers three decades or so, all of that went away. I think some of it was intentional ("I shall not use the word 'nigger' because it is a word black people despise") but certainly not all of it. The closest I get to a personal revelation regarding any of them involves a co-worker named Ted, who had the reputation of being gay. After several weeks of the other six guys on our shifts ragging on him, I got sick of the henpecking and faced off with the shift captain.

Captain: (Latest snotty gay comment re: Ted)
Me: What are you afraid of? That he'll jump out from behind a door and rape you?
Captain: (Defensive sputtering)

This stopped the comments. Yay.

But... back to kneejerking. The shift captain was kneejerking, assuming that everyone on the shift felt about gays the way he did. Maybe he continued the comments when I wasn't around, after that confrontation; in fact, I assume he did. But since Ted and I were partners more often than Ted and anyone else, or I and anyone else, I didn't care. I sure as hell didn't care if Ted was gay, and don't know to this day if he was or not. It was irrelevant to how we worked together.

I had Fox News on one day, some months ago, because it followed something I'd been watching and I was too lazy to change the channel. Then my jaw dropped when the anchors made loud, noisy fun of a Hindu marriage custom. Right there, on the eleven o'clock news. It was the sort of conversation that a cliche writer would have two hicks doing, sitting on a front porch with jars of moonshine, going 'Haw haw haw! Lookee them doofus foreigners! Haw!"

...Except this was two polished, poised news anchors. His and hers business suits. Ultra-brite smiles.

Gawd-DAMN.

But what do I kneejerk on? I'm looking at some of the stories I read and shows I watch and I find myself tuning out (putting the book down, turning the TV off) when the main character is about to humiliate himself. Lots of tension in those moments: am I short-shrifting some of my characters by tuning out at such moments? By finding ways to Not Go There (tm)?

That way lie-eth Mary-Sue-dom. Methinks.

Ugh.

However, after all is said and done, I do recommend Charles Stross and his novel GLASSHOUSE. I just think that he tripped in that scene, because while the man has some mind-blowing ideas, he's still a man of his own time and place. And there's nothing wrong with that.

(And it's not like a little cognitive dissonance isn't good for the presumptions, either.)

deireanach @ 2009-07-03T21:02:00

2009-07-04T03:18:31Z

I did a long road trip on Wednesday and thoroughly messed up the body, due mostly (I think) to me forgetting to drink any water for the entire first half. On a day that was sunny and cloudless and varying between 13 and 22 degrees C, this was dumb.

It was a remarkably disastrous day, too, for critters and people around me. I hit a bird on my way out of Calgary. Didn't mean to, but the thing veered out of the path of the car beside me and WHAM! It bounced off the top of the windshield and landed on the road behind me, where a truck avoiding running over it. But since I was going about 110 km at the time...

Hit a gopher between Shelby and Great Falls. Sigh. Dude? Running across the road with your tail sticking straight up does not count as flagging down traffic.

Then, in Great Falls, I was watching this gold car. He seemed to be in a hurry, so I got out of his lane. I'm pulling up beside the truck in front of him when CRUNCH. I'll admit, it was a stop-and-go part of of a busy day, but I think his little more go meant a lot more stop in the end.

Hit rain and hail going through Claresholm on the way back. I slowed down for that; the idea of driving through fresh ice and water on new pavement struck me as a time to be careful. I will admit that the combination worked very well for cleaning bugs off the windshield. And I feel no guilt whatsoever for those tiny disasters, and especially no guilt about the one that ended up as a bloody smear.

Some brighter notes: lots of hawks--Swainson's and redtails, a couple of kestrels. Saw a weasel (!) cross the road north of Fort MacLeod--it held its tail straight up in the air, like the above-mentioned gopher, but it was a lot longer. I was thinking 'furry snake' watching it cross in front of me.

And I saw a pronghorn antelope south of Sunburst. I don't recall ever seeing a pronghorn out wild before.

An interesting day. Exhausting, though, which is why this comment is two days late.

The Vorpal Bunny of Bridgeland

2009-06-23T04:52:21Z

Seriously.

No shit, there I was, ambling along Fourth, enjoying Saturday afternoon and wondering if I'd get to the bakery in time to get a ciabatta (I was! It was cheese. It was GOOD.) Anyway, on the way there, I'm looking at people's yards, looking down the streets... and I see a rabbit cross one of those streets. I make that mental check mark: tick! Saw a bunny today.

I might have walked on, but there was a moving truck on Fourth, taking up a driveway and all of the sidewalk and part of the street, too, and I figured I didn't want to walk around it, but maybe I could get another look at that rabbit...

Halfway down the block, an older gentleman and a beagle on a leash were both looking toward the place where I figured the rabbit was. The man was grinning; the beagle was pointing. I swear, I've seen pictures, but I've never seen a real live dog point before. His target, of course, was the rabbit, which was sitting on the grass being... well, a rabbit.

The man and I struck up a conversation, marveling over the oddness of the rabbit sitting there, in the presence of two humans and a beagle. He told me a story about a rabbit in the neighborhood that chased dogs---including the bull up the street. (Bull? Bull terrier? Bull mastiff? Pit bull? I think bull terrier...) I hadn't heard of it before, and he wasn't sure this rabbit was that rabbit, but it was a really interesting story, wasn't it?

Then the rabbit started chasing the beagle...!

The beagle was thoroughly discombobulated. The rabbit would head for his tail, and he'd duck behind his human, and the rabbit would stop, and the man would laugh, and the rabbit would head for that tail again, and the beagle would run away, and we'd both laugh, and the rabbit would stop...

Brown rabbit. Looked like the mommy rabbit from about four blocks west of that street; how big are rabbit 'territories'? Do they have territories?

When I walked away a couple of minutes later, the gentleman and his poor, beleaguered dog were going the other way, and the rabbit was still chasing that tail...!

Beware, Bridgeland! Especially if you're a beagle.

Cliches and Mary Sues and sheer laziness, oh my.

2009-06-16T03:55:59Z

A while back, tor.com had an article on Mary Sues which I found less than enthralling, although it was informative enough. I guess. It's just that it didn't say anything new, or at least, didn't say it newly enough, and I went blah, and thought about commenting, then about posting, and then about whether another dozen rounds of computer Solitaire was a good thing or a bad thing or just a thing that feeds my inner obsessive compulsive.

Well, of course, the Solitaire won. Meanwhile, all that stuff about Mary Sues sank to the bottom of the mind and composted.

I was thinking about cliches again the other day and how they're shortcuts, and how some writers use them as cheats. Cheats are okay, once in a while, if they're clever cheats, but face it, cliches are cliches not because they're clever, but because they're colorless. Clever and colorless aren't words that go together too often.

And then today the compost burped and I said to myself, "Hey. Mary Sues are a form of cliche. They're cheats, too--character cheats, whereas a lot of cliches are descriptive cheats. A cliche is a descriptive phrase (the burly detective, the silken-maned stallion, the (adjective/noun buzzword cluster)...) which is supposed to write the story for the author, so all he/she has to do is enjoy the praise. Ditto the Mary Sue: she's supposed to enthrall the reader for the author, so that all he/she has to do is enjoy the praise.

I don't really have any objections to Mary Sues or cliches--I use them in my own stuff on a regular basis, and I see them all the time in the work of various people, including published writers, many of whom I enjoy tremendously. The thing is, the ones I enjoy aren't cheating--the phrase or character is there for a good reason: it is pulling its weight. It might be a short-cut, but it doesn't have a spear-carrier following it around with a banner saying, "Pay No Attention To The Plot Hole Behind The Curtain."

I think I'll go back to compos(t)ing now.

Time wastage

2009-06-14T20:52:22Z

I'm trying to get words onto a screen, so of course I'm reading LJ instead. I think it's traditional.

Snagged from infintepryde, a meme (one I've never done before, because during its last go-round, I didn't have music on the computer): Randomise your playlist. Write the artist and title of the first 15 songs that come up (no editing, no cheating).

1. Rattle and Burn - Jesse Cook
2. Fallen Angel - Robbie Robertson
3. No Education - Apocalyptica
4. Rocks of Merasheen - Great Big Sea
5. Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
6. Saor/Free/News from Nowhere - Afro Celt Sound System
7. Don't Stop - Fleetwood Mac
8. Feeling Good - Colin James
9. Blues Piano - Blue Rodeo
10. Out of a Deeper Hunger - Gowan
11. Strathspey/Reel Set - Slainte Mhath
12. Chafe's Celidh - Great Big Sea
13. Fare Thee Well Northumberland - Mark Knopfler
14. Casual Conversations - Supertramp
15. Brio - Jesse Cook

Hmm... that almost looks like the outline to a story: A problem, the complications that arise thereof, a major obstacle, things go to hell, Get Out Now!, scraping up info, more running, got a clue?, realize it's still going to hell, decision to Do Something, busy preparations, first tries, lose a friend, the opposition gloats, pull a win out with luck and cleverness.

Double hmm...

More urban wilderness stuff

2009-05-07T01:33:16Z

There was a presentation today by the Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation (www.burrowingowl.com) at work, due in large part to work giving them a generous donation. There were presentations on environmental preservation practices used by the company and commended by the Foundation, and lots of stories about raptors, strygiforms, and people, and how they interact.

I got to pet a burrowing owl. :) And hold a Great Horned owl (24 years old!) :D

The star of the show, though, was Spirit, the Golden Eagle (yeah, well. They *do* depend on donations for their running budget...) Spirit was found on the side of a road. The woman who found him thought he'd been hit by a car, so she picked him up, put him in the back seat of her van, and drove him to the rescue centre. The head of the centre had a photo of the bird in the back seat, taken because he couldn't believe how calm Spirit was--nice, polite passenger, him. Eagles aren't exactly known for their biddable natures...

Anyway, it turned out he'd been shot and partially blinded. He will never be released as a result, because he can't see well enough to hunt, let alone defend himself. However, he's still pretty calm and polite, which is why he's now got a career as a teaching bird. He's got big talons (each as long as my little finger) but he doesn't bite and he will let people pet him. And it's an interesting experience, being that close to a bird that's as big as your torso.

The American kestrel, also in the room, evidently thought so, too. He panicked every time Spirit spread his wings for balance. :)

One thing I noticed: Spirit was always turning his head, back and forth, constantly. When I was standing closer, I noticed that he'd start to turn his head and then suddenly the movement would go flat and smooth, like a machine. I thought, "I do that, too, when I'm watching the floater in my eye," and when I asked, the guy holding him agreed that the bird likely had floaters in his eyes.

Connect!

*********

Saw my first bumblebee of the season today, wandering around a patch of dirt in front of the gas station at the corner of Edmonton Trail South and Memorial Drive. "Too early," I told it, because the people running the station don't plant that patch with wildflowers until after the long weekend... just like the rest of us.

Saw my first wasp on the weekend, though, and I Windexed it good (not as fast as Raid, but just as effective!) It was on the wrong side of the window, and there was no way I was going to encourage its relatives to come visit, too. I've had wasps on the deck two of the past five years. Dammit, no more.

Saw baby bunnies the other day, three brown ones and a white one. Mama is black-brown. Encouraging, but I'll only consider spring to be here when I see the gopher pups come out. Consider this my official 'I've got my fingers crossed' notice.

Awright...!

2009-04-15T01:27:40Z

This has got to be one of my favorite conversion toys evar...!

http://www.unitconversion.org/unit_converter/length-ex.html