After nearly dying of boredom and getting inspiration while shelving books part time, I began to write a story again.
It is going okay. I am not as enthusiastic as I was for Nanowrimo, but I've definitely gotten a good start. I wrote 3200 words in the afternoon. Going for another thousand today, hopefully. Doing useful something in the economic downturn makes me feel a tiny bit better.
Today, I'm focusing on some different tools for this blog, including Google Analytics and Google Webmaster's Tools. I'm also trying to work with Twitter, but it might not be for me. It also keeps timing out on me.
Exciting blog business!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Curious Case of Benjamin Button being nominated for best picture..
...because really, it is not that good. More like terrible. And I like boring, let's-think-about-it-movies. I turned it off halfway through because I didn't care what happened.
This is coming from the girl who was riveted by The English Patient. This movie is not good. This movie does not deserve awards, or mentions, or anything like that. It is just bleehhh. That is all it deserves.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
My slow descent into listening to country music
I used to hate country music. A lot. It separated me and my immediate family from our extended family.
They all loved country music. Every single last one of them.
Then, it happened; I discovered alt country. Almost without me noticing it, I was listening to twangy guitars, melancholy and broken hearts. The only thing that reassures me now is that my family would hate the "alternative" part of alt country.
1.
All of my friends were into Wilco. Jeff Tweedy, lead singer, was from Belleville, IL -- about a two hour drive from where we lived. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot became extremely popular when I was in high school. At some point, someone burned me a copy and I bought Being There and Summerteeth. It was a slow process, even with Wilco. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is more alternative than country, and once I became a fan, I started to get into their back catalog, which is more country than alternative.
2.
Oh, Ryan Adams. Rose to temporary mainstream fame in the days after 9/11 because of New York, New York. Nobody Girl was probably the most country song at the time for me -- an epic melancholy ballad of the most country "feel sorry for yourself vibe" I had ever heard. I listened to it repeatedly.
3.
Unfortunately, there were no Youtube links to the most country song I enjoy by the Old 97's, "W-I-F-E" with this lyric:
"I've got my wife, the other women, and the whiskey killin' me
the first two make it so that I see red
the third one makes it so's that I can't see
If I had half a brain left after my debauchery
I'd give up the other women
and the W-I-F-E"
This is real country, complete with "woman" problems, drinking, and twang.
4.
And then to top it off, I don't just have one country love, but two. Its true, both the Old 97's and Bright Eyes skirt around the country label, sometimes twanging and sometimes simply strumming with limited country roots.
But the damage has been done. For someone who once said, "I will never listen and enjoy country music," I listen to a hell of a lot of it.
I am not one of those people that says, "I listen to everything but Rap and Country" because I can't.
They all loved country music. Every single last one of them.
Then, it happened; I discovered alt country. Almost without me noticing it, I was listening to twangy guitars, melancholy and broken hearts. The only thing that reassures me now is that my family would hate the "alternative" part of alt country.
1.
All of my friends were into Wilco. Jeff Tweedy, lead singer, was from Belleville, IL -- about a two hour drive from where we lived. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot became extremely popular when I was in high school. At some point, someone burned me a copy and I bought Being There and Summerteeth. It was a slow process, even with Wilco. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is more alternative than country, and once I became a fan, I started to get into their back catalog, which is more country than alternative.
2.
Oh, Ryan Adams. Rose to temporary mainstream fame in the days after 9/11 because of New York, New York. Nobody Girl was probably the most country song at the time for me -- an epic melancholy ballad of the most country "feel sorry for yourself vibe" I had ever heard. I listened to it repeatedly.
3.
Unfortunately, there were no Youtube links to the most country song I enjoy by the Old 97's, "W-I-F-E" with this lyric:
"I've got my wife, the other women, and the whiskey killin' me
the first two make it so that I see red
the third one makes it so's that I can't see
If I had half a brain left after my debauchery
I'd give up the other women
and the W-I-F-E"
This is real country, complete with "woman" problems, drinking, and twang.
4.
And then to top it off, I don't just have one country love, but two. Its true, both the Old 97's and Bright Eyes skirt around the country label, sometimes twanging and sometimes simply strumming with limited country roots.
But the damage has been done. For someone who once said, "I will never listen and enjoy country music," I listen to a hell of a lot of it.
I am not one of those people that says, "I listen to everything but Rap and Country" because I can't.
The Application Process: 538
FiveThirtyEight is offering an unpaid internship in DC for the next three months. I starred it on Google Reader as soon as I received it. Then sat on it and debated.
An unpaid internship at a point when my cost of living is the highest its ever been? Not even a tiny $100 a week stipend?
But to work for FiveThirtyEight, a widely read and respected blog...to actually be doing something that matters, that would effect people on a much higher level than temping and working at a bookstore. Plus, it would only be for three months.
As Dan put it, its cheaper than a lottery ticket. I can imagine this new life for myself, this life where I get this awesome internship and budget my way through it. I prove myself as an awesome reporter for the website and everyone has to admit that I have a way with words.
After that, Barack Obama wants me in his administration to write the White House blog. Or to do legislative research. Or even to enter data, because I am a fast, focused typist.
Finally, I'd be doing something I like: writing for a living.
An unpaid internship at a point when my cost of living is the highest its ever been? Not even a tiny $100 a week stipend?
But to work for FiveThirtyEight, a widely read and respected blog...to actually be doing something that matters, that would effect people on a much higher level than temping and working at a bookstore. Plus, it would only be for three months.
As Dan put it, its cheaper than a lottery ticket. I can imagine this new life for myself, this life where I get this awesome internship and budget my way through it. I prove myself as an awesome reporter for the website and everyone has to admit that I have a way with words.
After that, Barack Obama wants me in his administration to write the White House blog. Or to do legislative research. Or even to enter data, because I am a fast, focused typist.
Finally, I'd be doing something I like: writing for a living.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Digital Television Switch still awesomely confusing!
Exciting! Everyone proclaims this a failure!
Or, "Not the government's finest hour."
Good enough for me. Someone should have made the post Superbowl special about how to make yourself digital ready.
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