There's sorta a meme out there amongst my LJ about typing with your eyes closed without hitting delete, so I'm giving that a shot. For this entire post.

I've gotten some great expressions from friends and family when they aske (stupid e) me a question while typing and I look up to chat at them while my fingers do the walking. *smirk*

But that wasn't really what I was going to post about. It's about that time, late at night, when one reviews one's life and the present state of afairs. Lucy spent the weekend with me and is off to her next rotation. I spent time with friends this week. I sang with gusto. I've done some crazy-hard work at the office, which will continue into this week, while also doing part of my former boss' job since he's on vacation.

Once in awhile, when I'm feeling exceptionally grateful for where my life has been and where it is going, I think of a song from my early teen years (when things weren't hot at all). I threw together a bunch of photos, ears ago, just to put faces to the felings.

I'll come back to edit this post with the video, if it is still on the interwebs. Clearly I should make a new one sometime with all the fabulous friends I've made since then.

Anyway, how'd I do with my blind typing?



PS It's the same one, naturally, that I've posted three or four times before, but I like to remind myself from time to time.

I can't wait for the day that our games evolve like they did in Ender's Game, so long ago. Well, except for the creepy psychoanalysis and stealing childhood pictures to populate your enemies with faces you know.

http://gar.eecs.ucf.edu/

Earthenwood: what kind of adventure did you get into this morning?
atdt1991: oh boy
atdt1991: it's a story, that's for sure
Earthenwood: wow
atdt1991: I'm leaving for work, and the car feels a bit sluggish, and I wonder if a tire is low. I pull into the gas station and confirm my right rear tire needs air, and fill it up all proper-like. I head out and my car has a serious shake. Hoping it's just a seal that needs to pop into place, I get on the freeway, where it is clear that the Self Destruct Sequence has been initiated. I immediately get off the freeway and call work, telling them I'm taking the car to the dealership.
atdt1991: I get a half-mile down the surface streets and BOOM! - it is clear that my tire has gone splodey.
atdt1991: Pulled into a lot, put on my donut, drove to the dealership, chatted up the lady who sold me my car and waited ... for them to tell me to come back at 4 to get my tire replacement.
atdt1991: At least, with my tire warranty, it's free.

Engagement Party Photos

"The sky was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel" - William Gibson, Neuromancer - So it was a bright blue sky, right?

What other ways did technology change stuff authors did not (could not, maybe) anticipate?

"But wait, there's more! Do you like breasts? For only 9.95 you can get to see the breasts of our favorite 50 girls for free with Girls Gone Wild! You get to see them naked! We've seen millions of breastss, and these are our favorite!"

You have to admit, it does get right to the point. "Do you like breasts?" pretty much lays it right out there. So, [+] for "Do you like breasts?" and a [-] for "you get to see them naked!" cause it's 2009 and there is not a soul in this world who could see that stupid commercial and not know that naked chicks play a prominent role in their "production".

Yes, it is 3:30 am.

Apparently, it'll hit a wide swath of "the heartland."

You with me?

The Steorn steory (hehe) is finally over. The independent jury of scientists that Steorn asked to review its technology (reputed to create "free energy") has come back after two years and said that they've produced no credible evidence that it works (see this statement by the chairman of the jury.).

There were three possibilities - Either they were right, they were a fraud, or they were mistaken and delusional. The last option seems to be the case.

R.I.P. Steorn. Perpetual motion is debunked for the thousandth time.

We're having a good time on our trip across the wilds of Ohio this week. We started at Lucy's parents', watching Star Trek with her sister (second time for both of us, but worth it). Afterward, I let Lucy in on a few secrets, like the Red Shirt thing, the Dilithium Crystals thing, and the "Bones means doctor" thing, which isn't really so much a Star Trek thing as an English thing.

We went to Lucy's 5-year reunion for college, which is like an "All-years renion with 5-year highlights". We slept in dorms, which was as dormtastic as you expect, with drunk 25-year-olds leaving messes on the lawn and everything. We ate fantastically with Vanessa and Ryan (alum) as well, and took a 3 mile trek through the forest next to their Field Station... which turned out better than I thought it would. See, I thought I might die, and I did not!

We left Cleveland for Anne's, and toured their used book store while we waited for her to get out of work. We left with no less than a dozen books, including Larklight, a young adult steampunk novel that I've been interested in for a long time. I also picked up a paperback copy of my first chapter book ever, Under Plum Lake, so I can give a copy away. :) I wish I had more copies, heh.

Let me just say that this is the warmest and dampest vacation we've ever taken. The book store was the worst - our will to live was crushed by having to wade through the humid heat.

We ate at The Winds, one of those swanky restaurants that serves arugula, and hung out with Anne for the rest of the evening. After sending Anne off to the airport the next morning, we headed to Cincinnati and Vanessa and Brian.

We stopped at the Air Force museum and marveled at some of the first airplanes to fight in war. As always, I was way more interested in the torpedoes, rockets and space ships. We picked up Chocolate-chocolate chip Astronaut Ice cream, which was way more delicious than flavored melty styrofoam has a right to be.

Our time here in Cinci has been full of games and merriment. We exposed Lucy to Grosse Pointe Blank, Tremors and Star Trek II: Khaaaaaaan! V & B bought an air conditioner for our room this weekend, which was so sweet and, as it happens, a lifesaver in this heat.

The room that we're in is fairly large, with immense windows all around. That means that when the intense lightning storm struck, Lucy was instantly downstairs. I felt like I was in an observation bubble as rapid lightning rolls lit up the sky and my room.

I got to sleep anyway, though, and Lucy eventually came back upstairs so that, at 7 am, we could enjoy together the sounds of construction workers scraping an immense garbage trailer against the concrete outside. While they finished that at 8 am, we could not sleep through the direct striking of the sun upon our faces, which was much like an instant sun tan.

So we're up! And that's our week so far. We'll be headed back to Cleveland early tomorrow, where her parents are holding an engagement party for us. My mom is coming up, and so are three of my favorite chikas (my side of the wedding party!), so I am geeked. :)

Thanks for reading!

If you're looking for the picture from my previous post, it's here:

A friend of mine from Lansing is missing, and I'm concerned, like everyone else (please see my next LJ post for photo).

If you've seen her since 6:30pm on Tuesday, please contact the Lansing Police.

Meanwhile, I'm in Cinci, played Wii Rock Band 2 with Lucy's friends Vanessa and Bryan. He's playing a funky anime combat game on his new PS3 while we're chilling before bed.

This week has been nice for me, without any major requirements on our time. I will be sad to see it go, even though I'm anxious to get back into the new studio at work.

At karaoke. Got a message indicating I removed someone from lj. I assure you, I haven't! Ill investigate when I get home.

Okay, as usual I will mutate this meme to my satisfaction.

Reply with 5 words that remind you of me. I will reply with A) my thoughts on what those 5 words mean to me and B) 5 words for you.

You can then either reply in my journal with what those words mean to you, OR you can post them in your own journal and perpetuate the wordity.

My words came from (a slightly different meme by) greybeta:

1. Photography
2. Michigan
3. Role-playing
4. Engagement
5. Focus

1. The moment I picked up a camera, I found myself passionate about it. After getting over some creative jitters ("am I hip enough for this? am I allowed to try this?"), I started taking photos of gatherings and, eventually, models. My best advice is to take as many photos as humanly possible and to read, watch, compare and experiment. Not having a digital camera at the moment, I take an order of magnitude less photos than I used to. Perhaps I should pull out grandma's 35mm (one of my favorites).

Anyone interested in videography as a profession should also spend some time doing photography. Everything you learn will be useful, and there is much more room for patience and repetition.

2. Oh boy, what does Michigan mean to me? On the one hand, 90% of my favorite people are here. We have real seasons with amazing leaves, tons of trees, great fruit, lots of lakes. We are generally amiable, and we're known for getting our asses on the dance floor. We have an exploding film industry. On the other, soul-crushing joblessness, disappearing social services, frustrating voting record, newly draconian border-crossing rules ...

3. Now that's an interesting one. As a teen, I went for D&D and the White Wolf series of games, though I tried out a bunch more. I play WoW and Fallout 3 and other adventures. I would say that I am in love with the intersection of storytelling and gaming.

4. Lucykins! My sweetie and I will be spending a week together shortly, which will be nice - half the time lately, we're both too tired to even chat about our day. As for our wedding, I'm focused on trying to be down-to-earth about it - formal tradition means much less to me than whether it means something to each of us, and to our audience of friends and family.

5. Focus. I wonder how that was meant, but I shall put it in my own terms. I think one of my best traits is that I really, really want to understand, to learn, to adapt - for the pleasure of it. I am almost never too tired to put in that kind of effort, because it makes me happy. If I could bestow that pleasure from effort on other people, I think it would be the greatest gift I could offer. Even though some people find it annoying as all hell. ;)

Your turn!

EDIT: First, for those of you who'd rather not read this, go to Hammerpants Flash Mob!

Something that popped into my head during a discussion about religious doctrine in another journal led me to want to ask:

What is the accepted answer for why the bible continues to change as it is "updated", and for why the church makes new decrees regarding what is and is not a sin, and what degree of sinning it is? Why were there parts of the bible, if I am not mistaken, discarded during an initial gathering of holy men?

I understand that men are considered imperfect beings, but the christian God is infallible, right? In the christian way, is this considered intentional - that God expects humanity to live through an imperfect Word, perhaps behaving by the declared letter of the law that could be wrong?

Is it considered more important to follow whatever rules are laid out in your lifetime by other humans interpreting the word of God than it is to follow his actual Intent? Is his intent considered flexible - that when those doctrines change, it is through his intent to have those rules change (vs a mistaken understanding)?

And if that's the case, is his word perhaps less eternally static than a mobile definition that changes as our cultural values change?

The content that brought this up was a discussion about whether people believe marriage is for a man and a woman, two individuals, or multiple people, which led me to this humorous but incendiary ( article from 2005 about marriage: )

You know your day is cruisin' to be weird when you've brushed your teeth with mouthwash (at least I didn't have to use my finger) and are wearing baby powder for deodorant.

This week is going to be crazygonuts. Wish me serenity, eh?

I'm curious who the "A reader" is who tipped Cory Doctorow to Catherynne's Young Adult chapter project. I feel like it was probably someone I know.