Today I was treated to a concert. My dad bought tickets for Stef and her parents visiting from Germany, but they went home early. So I snatched at the chance and am now enlightened by Tchaikovsky. This was the first time that I've been able to judge a piece as not to my liking and have an idea why I didn't like it.
I caught the train with Stef. The performance was at the Opera House, beautiful shining thing on a day like today. I was more drawn to the impressive Harbour Bridge, metal giant. Things took on an intensity today, like everything was a snapshot. We waited for dad and Dennis on the steps to the Opera House. The woman serving at the cafe said "I hope you enjoy the performance." as I took my coffee. It was an intuitive step to get coffee. I didn't want to ruin my attention during the music, but it may have been a good move. The pieces themselves were all fragmented into short stages. I think I spent the entire time concentrating on individual sounds and could scarcely make out a structure to the pieces. They scarcely had any.
The first was Beethoven's Creatures of Prometheus. It's a short piece, only 5 minutes long. Following that was Schumann, which I didn't like. And the main performance was Tchaikovsky's Pathetique. Somewhat disturbing at times, I liked some of the little tricks for individual instruments and occasionally when the trumpets would purposefully clash with the violins while the bass cellos danced to their own tunes. They were like forceful messages that had nothing to do with melody.
I hope I can find some classical music that I love, because that was an experience not to be partaken of often lest I go insane.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
calm days
I left my bedroom window open last night. It's not something that I can usually do because my room opens out immediately onto street level with only hedges blocking people from seeing inside. I thoroughly enjoyed the night air, sounds of birds waking me up this morning. I can't believe I've missed out on it for so long. Stupid modern living. We were not meant to be enclosed in these sorts of shelters! Even clothes are an impedance when you're trying to cool down (though very much welcome at other times).
So I have had a very nice sleep and woken up refreshed, with the only the faint memory of a dream.
Yesterday I played very slow go. It was nice reading out the steps more completely. The time scheme is still difficult - not unlimited - but the people that I was playing against are all really fast players anyway. I anticipated this and made the games unranked, so I could resign when needed.
A side effect of this is that I also scored a phenomenal 1504g in Big Brain Academy. New Record!!! He gave me the new rank (although I was still spinning over 'Leonardo Da Vinci') of 'Film Director' O.O How does he know?!? I'm merely leaning towards my artistic side, I think it is bringing out good things :)
I tried watching Matrix Reloaded yesterday. I had some stuff to do so I could only get the preludes of the story. I'm convinced now that Agent Smith is actually the hero. When you watch it again you should think about it.
Now I'm going back to dad's house for the first time in ages. I have to bring all my clothes there. The most exciting part of it is that I'm going to a concert with Dad, Stef and likely one other on Thursday. More updates to come!
So I have had a very nice sleep and woken up refreshed, with the only the faint memory of a dream.
Yesterday I played very slow go. It was nice reading out the steps more completely. The time scheme is still difficult - not unlimited - but the people that I was playing against are all really fast players anyway. I anticipated this and made the games unranked, so I could resign when needed.
A side effect of this is that I also scored a phenomenal 1504g in Big Brain Academy. New Record!!! He gave me the new rank (although I was still spinning over 'Leonardo Da Vinci') of 'Film Director' O.O How does he know?!? I'm merely leaning towards my artistic side, I think it is bringing out good things :)
I tried watching Matrix Reloaded yesterday. I had some stuff to do so I could only get the preludes of the story. I'm convinced now that Agent Smith is actually the hero. When you watch it again you should think about it.
Now I'm going back to dad's house for the first time in ages. I have to bring all my clothes there. The most exciting part of it is that I'm going to a concert with Dad, Stef and likely one other on Thursday. More updates to come!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
memory loss in action
Feelin' useless. I spent the entire weekend at home. It's not so bad, I've been reading through tutorials about image composition (mainly paintings, but it confers to digital art, photography, sketching, etc.) and playing go of course. I've slowed down my development, the next big leap to 2k is avoiding my gaze. I don't trust that it will be a constant progression into the more advanced go players. Whatever happens will happen instantly!
This is a collection of emotions that should cancel each other but aren't. I'm extra creative and useless. Methinks I'm trying too hard. I should play some blitz games in go and gather my resolve to shut down peripherals for a while.
I baked some very nice cake last Thursday. It was a banana cake, and I didn't get the chance to make icing before my lil' sis and I couldn't resist digging in. I always prefer to do the icing before it's cut. Otherwise it mixes with all the crumbs from the gaping hole and tastes differently (the texture draws your attention to the little crumbs instead of the cake itself).
I was inspired by "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga. I don't want to include any spoilers until I actually write a review, but it's a book about slavery and mental cages. It has powerful messages and yet seems so simple. The storyteller truly believes the doctrine he shouts. It'd be good to read what Aravind Adiga actually thinks of his own work.
Mum rented a bunch of mediocre dvds, I'm going to watch them, and I have expectations above what I know to be realistic (statistically speaking :P)
This is a collection of emotions that should cancel each other but aren't. I'm extra creative and useless. Methinks I'm trying too hard. I should play some blitz games in go and gather my resolve to shut down peripherals for a while.
I baked some very nice cake last Thursday. It was a banana cake, and I didn't get the chance to make icing before my lil' sis and I couldn't resist digging in. I always prefer to do the icing before it's cut. Otherwise it mixes with all the crumbs from the gaping hole and tastes differently (the texture draws your attention to the little crumbs instead of the cake itself).
I was inspired by "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga. I don't want to include any spoilers until I actually write a review, but it's a book about slavery and mental cages. It has powerful messages and yet seems so simple. The storyteller truly believes the doctrine he shouts. It'd be good to read what Aravind Adiga actually thinks of his own work.
Mum rented a bunch of mediocre dvds, I'm going to watch them, and I have expectations above what I know to be realistic (statistically speaking :P)
Monday, March 15, 2010
casual magic
I am cutting back on coffee and hoping that I can get back to a normal sleeping pattern. Currently I'm waking up at around 10 each day because I go to sleep at 2 or later (a step away from what I want, I used to go to sleep at around 1:30). It can't continue. I need to get a job and a life.
I woke up today at 7:38 and felt decently awake. That would have ended in disaster if I had actually gotten up. I am too light sensitive at that time and it affects me to the point that by 12 I'm falling asleep again. Instead I went back to sleep and had a great action dream, with casual magic :)
Last week I met an old-timer, although he doesn't look or even feel it. He's 60 (I guess it's not that old considering the age of my own parents) and so active. He bike rides bicycle a lot and golfs. He and his wife, (Ken & Judie, I hope I remember their names correctly) have been everywhere traveling. When I went over there yesterday they showed me all these pictures from India, China and Vietnam (along with various other S-E asian countries). Their house is full of books, it's incredible. Most of the rooms are difficult to walk into because of all the the normal stuff that has been displaced by books onto the floor. It was great to meet them. I'm going over there on Friday to play chess with Ken and teach him go.
I woke up today at 7:38 and felt decently awake. That would have ended in disaster if I had actually gotten up. I am too light sensitive at that time and it affects me to the point that by 12 I'm falling asleep again. Instead I went back to sleep and had a great action dream, with casual magic :)
Last week I met an old-timer, although he doesn't look or even feel it. He's 60 (I guess it's not that old considering the age of my own parents) and so active. He bike rides bicycle a lot and golfs. He and his wife, (Ken & Judie, I hope I remember their names correctly) have been everywhere traveling. When I went over there yesterday they showed me all these pictures from India, China and Vietnam (along with various other S-E asian countries). Their house is full of books, it's incredible. Most of the rooms are difficult to walk into because of all the the normal stuff that has been displaced by books onto the floor. It was great to meet them. I'm going over there on Friday to play chess with Ken and teach him go.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Kevin's 50th
Yesterday Kevin, my mum's partner, turned 50. It was an awesome party with good music. For the first time I found myself sitting around with all the same people for the entire night. Usually at parties I do what nobody else has the guts to and properly socialize. I also usually get a bunch of weird looks, like I'm intruding.
My brother's friends, it's hard to tell whether they're a bad influence or he is. They were the bad kids at school but no longer part of the outcast regiments. I told them that I drink now occasionally. Cameron's face lit up. He said 'You have to come to my next party!' He holds them at his house and I take it a lot of people turn up at various stages of the night and get mightily hammered. Werll... I probably will. I hope I can find somewhere to fit in.
I'm reading a book, "Virus" by Sarah Lanagan. It's really deeply scary. She puts a lot of effort into her characters and they each have realistic quirks that are, for me, a little bit confronting. They are psychological quirks from people who would be psychopaths if it weren't for their inhibitors and social upbringing. The supernatural element has only just begun. I'm going to enjoy reviewing this book.
My brother's friends, it's hard to tell whether they're a bad influence or he is. They were the bad kids at school but no longer part of the outcast regiments. I told them that I drink now occasionally. Cameron's face lit up. He said 'You have to come to my next party!' He holds them at his house and I take it a lot of people turn up at various stages of the night and get mightily hammered. Werll... I probably will. I hope I can find somewhere to fit in.
I'm reading a book, "Virus" by Sarah Lanagan. It's really deeply scary. She puts a lot of effort into her characters and they each have realistic quirks that are, for me, a little bit confronting. They are psychological quirks from people who would be psychopaths if it weren't for their inhibitors and social upbringing. The supernatural element has only just begun. I'm going to enjoy reviewing this book.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Recovery
I've begun to recover from this dastardly virus. Yep, I was happy with the string of awesome dreams, although it's hard to call all of them dreams. Sometimes I felt like I was simply letting my mind roam while still awake during that first night when the cold was the worst. Last night/this morning I had a dream where I had to give my friend guns (he was bigger) so that he could crowd control the HSC students taking exams. It was a market city, sandstone and stairs everywhere.
At least I now have part of my mind back. It's like a constant interruption into your thinking ability when the virus was in place. Thankfully I had Faerie Lord by Herbie Brennan lying around. It's a bit of a children's book but at least it's structured in such a way that it's always entertaining. Only because of that I was able to get about 2 hours of peaceful reading without the constant sneezing and feeling like my head is about to meltdown and kill everything in a 5km radius (a small blast. It's not that radioactive). I was so confused when Henry gets teleported, but it sort of makes sense in the scheme of things. There's some heeby jeeby fate/destiny bs undertone throughout the novel, but the characters seem to know that and figure, 'why not?'
Aside from that the only thing I was capable of doing yesterday was drawing Tyranids on my wacom tablet. They are sexy beasts. Of course this did not come without an understanding of what Tyranids can do on the tabletop gameplay. I am confident I could create a very useful army of them. It's just really difficult to know what's good now that the rules for shooting have changed so drastically. It's impossible to hide tyrants and such so the big monsters are really not worth the ridiculous points cost. I would prefer to have an army of warriors. Of course they're only really useful in close combat and to get them there you need backup of Genestealers and termagants. Tyranids lack long range weaponry. Their best bet is Zoanthropes with warp blast, but that's only 18" range and somewhat easy to avoid if you're fighting a tank with heavy weaponry (although troop transports are dead against it). I don't know how to use them and actually I think I prefer Eldar a lot more if only they had cheaper squad units.
Anyway I'm glad to be coming out of this sickness. I will be happy when it's all gone and I can take my dog for a walk again. My body was so weak yesterday. Scary how suddenly it comes on.
At least I now have part of my mind back. It's like a constant interruption into your thinking ability when the virus was in place. Thankfully I had Faerie Lord by Herbie Brennan lying around. It's a bit of a children's book but at least it's structured in such a way that it's always entertaining. Only because of that I was able to get about 2 hours of peaceful reading without the constant sneezing and feeling like my head is about to meltdown and kill everything in a 5km radius (a small blast. It's not that radioactive). I was so confused when Henry gets teleported, but it sort of makes sense in the scheme of things. There's some heeby jeeby fate/destiny bs undertone throughout the novel, but the characters seem to know that and figure, 'why not?'
Aside from that the only thing I was capable of doing yesterday was drawing Tyranids on my wacom tablet. They are sexy beasts. Of course this did not come without an understanding of what Tyranids can do on the tabletop gameplay. I am confident I could create a very useful army of them. It's just really difficult to know what's good now that the rules for shooting have changed so drastically. It's impossible to hide tyrants and such so the big monsters are really not worth the ridiculous points cost. I would prefer to have an army of warriors. Of course they're only really useful in close combat and to get them there you need backup of Genestealers and termagants. Tyranids lack long range weaponry. Their best bet is Zoanthropes with warp blast, but that's only 18" range and somewhat easy to avoid if you're fighting a tank with heavy weaponry (although troop transports are dead against it). I don't know how to use them and actually I think I prefer Eldar a lot more if only they had cheaper squad units.
Anyway I'm glad to be coming out of this sickness. I will be happy when it's all gone and I can take my dog for a walk again. My body was so weak yesterday. Scary how suddenly it comes on.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
It's the virus that's writing, not me!
Now is essentially 4 hours before any reasonable bedtime judging by my internal clock. Nevertheless some form of virus purports to throw it out of whack. My entire day has been a mixture of grumpiness and serenity, an insight into the obscure shadowy world of people who do not involuntarily analyze every waking moment.
I finished Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card. All that's left now is to check out his website, listed at the back of the book oscIGMS.com
I'm not giving a book review here, I'll do that properly when I feel like it and have the time. Instead I'll give an update on writerly insights (because I absolutely love his work). There's a passage, about two pages worth that is completely taken up by developing internal conflict, within a timeframe of a heated beration by Allessandra's mother. He only concentrates on the history, what it means to A, and the resultant course of action. There was certainly a lot to consider. Much of it was cool objective calculation, something that at the time required a precise weight measurement so that it could be placed against the personal feelings of herself and other people involved, which were aggravated and hard to pinpoint. He included as much as possible in the introspection and gave it a certain structure that flexed under the pressure of observation, as it should, resulting in something that was entirely uncertain but a decision nonetheless. To unassuming readers this may seem like no great feat, but base decisions happen all the time in other books and this is a good benchmark to set as an 'adult' fiction - the degree of explanation. Often motivation can be gleaned and/or is not welcome in the flow of the book (especially if you're only dealing with minor characters (the sheer concept!)). But motivation is a fleeting specter, never entirely understood even by the decision-makers.
Orson Scott Card wrote at the end of his book that the format for creation was first to present a novelette to his friends and then improve on it and factor in several opinions. I had never truly conceived of this method, thinking that it went from strategic plan to complete scenes and language refinement instead of small scale to scene refinement. I like the idea, and intend to use it, soon. It ought to make many things a lot easier, quicker, more manageable in chunks but never losing sight of the overall picture.
I was at a bookstore yesterday and slightly overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of books being printed. How can anyone hope to read them all? That's one of the things about common culture, when a book really takes off then everyone reads it and can comment, similarly with movies. I find it a little disconcerting that so many books will go through life untraded, simply because anyone that has read the book has a low probability (hah, even less considering how many people actually like to read) of finding someone else who has also read it, and if they do recommend it to someone then there's often a time gap etc. ugh lots of trouble. I never get to discuss any of my favorite books. We may be doomed to be steeped in the classics until end of days.
Aside from writing novels, what else is there?
* Team up with a manga artist.
* Write for a newspaper, interact with your readers.
* Magazine articles. I wonder how many people like to read those. At least depending on your area of expertise you'd get a readership of like-interest people.
* Movies
* Plays and theater
* Song lyrics
* Poetry
* blogs :P
* Speeches?
Okay, there are decent options everywhere. What I choose to do will end up to be a fluke of circumstance or a natural ability - something that I love. Food for thought.
I finished Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card. All that's left now is to check out his website, listed at the back of the book oscIGMS.com
I'm not giving a book review here, I'll do that properly when I feel like it and have the time. Instead I'll give an update on writerly insights (because I absolutely love his work). There's a passage, about two pages worth that is completely taken up by developing internal conflict, within a timeframe of a heated beration by Allessandra's mother. He only concentrates on the history, what it means to A, and the resultant course of action. There was certainly a lot to consider. Much of it was cool objective calculation, something that at the time required a precise weight measurement so that it could be placed against the personal feelings of herself and other people involved, which were aggravated and hard to pinpoint. He included as much as possible in the introspection and gave it a certain structure that flexed under the pressure of observation, as it should, resulting in something that was entirely uncertain but a decision nonetheless. To unassuming readers this may seem like no great feat, but base decisions happen all the time in other books and this is a good benchmark to set as an 'adult' fiction - the degree of explanation. Often motivation can be gleaned and/or is not welcome in the flow of the book (especially if you're only dealing with minor characters (the sheer concept!)). But motivation is a fleeting specter, never entirely understood even by the decision-makers.
Orson Scott Card wrote at the end of his book that the format for creation was first to present a novelette to his friends and then improve on it and factor in several opinions. I had never truly conceived of this method, thinking that it went from strategic plan to complete scenes and language refinement instead of small scale to scene refinement. I like the idea, and intend to use it, soon. It ought to make many things a lot easier, quicker, more manageable in chunks but never losing sight of the overall picture.
I was at a bookstore yesterday and slightly overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of books being printed. How can anyone hope to read them all? That's one of the things about common culture, when a book really takes off then everyone reads it and can comment, similarly with movies. I find it a little disconcerting that so many books will go through life untraded, simply because anyone that has read the book has a low probability (hah, even less considering how many people actually like to read) of finding someone else who has also read it, and if they do recommend it to someone then there's often a time gap etc. ugh lots of trouble. I never get to discuss any of my favorite books. We may be doomed to be steeped in the classics until end of days.
Aside from writing novels, what else is there?
* Team up with a manga artist.
* Write for a newspaper, interact with your readers.
* Magazine articles. I wonder how many people like to read those. At least depending on your area of expertise you'd get a readership of like-interest people.
* Movies
* Plays and theater
* Song lyrics
* Poetry
* blogs :P
* Speeches?
Okay, there are decent options everywhere. What I choose to do will end up to be a fluke of circumstance or a natural ability - something that I love. Food for thought.
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