The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

[MrPixel]

I'm going to switch to anthracite

Oh? Switching him to the hard stuff? For shame.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Finally submitted the last part of the story intended for last year's Pink Orchid. It wasn't meant to be a trilogy - if it were, I wouldn't have done the middle one last!

I think I need a new computer - shutting down unexpectedly, every time I use it, has to be a bad sign, right?

 

[NotWise]

Finally submitted the last part of the story intended for last year's Pink Orchid. It wasn't meant to be a trilogy - if it were, I wouldn't have done the middle one last!

I think I need a new computer - shutting down unexpectedly, every time I use it, has to be a bad sign, right?

Very bad sign. I've had some luck in the past improving that behavior by cleaning the chassis with canned air, but I live in a dusty environment.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Very bad sign. I've had some luck in the past improving that behavior by cleaning the chassis with canned air, but I live in a dusty environment.

Chassis? I took it out of the case a couple years ago, I think to fit a new hard drive in...

You know the saying, tailors' kids are in rags and the cobbler's children go barefoot? I have the computer-tech wife version. I should copy my parents approach - every time they have any problem with a computer, they go to the store and buy a new one. Which does, in fairness, fix their problem without having to learn too much about inner workings. Which are roughly magic, nowadays. Mum stopped understanding computers when they stopped using punch cards, Dad was a great Fortran guy in his day, I got paid by computer companies in the days before C was overtaken by C++. Give me a proper file structure, damnit!

 

[YmaOHyd]

I'd look into programs that monitor temperatures; that could be a cause of seemingly-random shutdowns, and it's one that you might be able to address with a canned-air cleaning.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I'd look into programs that monitor temperatures; that could be a cause of seemingly-random shutdowns, and it's one that you might be able to address with a canned-air cleaning.

Temperature is fine. CPU, possibly not so much.

 

[MrPixel]

Aside from temperature checks, if it were me I'd be re-seating cards and connectors. My (half-) vast experience is that interconnects are the first point of failure.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I just picked up What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. I read it maybe twelve or fifteen years ago, before I'd started writing, and I'd forgotten everything in it.

Right now I'm aiming at increasing the distance I run, so speed is less of an issue. As long as I can run a certain distance, that's all I care about. Sometimes I run fast when I feel like it, but if I increase the pace I shorten the amount of time I run, the point being to let the exhilaration I feel at the end of each run carry over to the next day. This is the same sort of tack I find necessary when writing a novel. I stop every day right at the point where I feel I can write more. Do that, and the next day's work goes surprisingly smoothly. I think Ernest Hemingway did something like that. To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm. This is the important thing for long-term projects. Once you set the pace, the rest will follow. The problem is getting the flywheel to spin at a set speed - and to get to that point takes as much concentration and effort as you can manage.

 

[NotWise]

I didn't feel like starting a new story right away, and I have a long list of to-dos. The top item on my list was something the common wisdom says to never do. I'm editing an already-published story.

No-one but me may ever notice, but I was disappointed in the climax sex in "Escape from Cimarron," and I want to fix it. I let the length of the story become my priority when I was writing and I left the last sex scene short and dry just to keep it from spilling over to page four.

Hell, let it spill.

 

[MrPixel]

I was disappointed in the climax sex in "Escape from Cimarron,"

Plot bunny for the @office/work event - about shenanigans in a bakery, "Escape from Cinnamon". Or something like that.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Plot bunny for the @office/work event - about shenanigans in a bakery, "Escape from Cinnamon". Or something like that.

The only way to escape the Cinnamon Challenge is via successful completion of some sort of sexual challenge. Or maybe we begin in the middle of a game of Truth or Dare, the dare is the Cinnamon Challenge, and the forfeit is something low-level sexual that escalates into amusing shenanigans.

 

[NotWise]

The only way to escape the Cinnamon Challenge is via successful completion of some sort of sexual challenge. Or maybe we begin in the middle of a game of Truth or Dare, the dare is the Cinnamon Challenge, and the forfeit is something low-level sexual that escalates into amusing shenanigans.

Umm, the female character in the original Mission Impossible was named Cinnamon Carter, and played by Barbara Bain. I had a huge crush on her. That puts Cinnamon Challenge in a different perspective.

 

[MrPixel]

Umm, the female character in the original Mission Impossible was named Cinnamon Carter, and played by Barbara Bain. I had a huge crush on her.

Emma Peel for me.

 

[Belegon]

Those old biplanes would also fly with a dead pilot.

My father-in-law owned and flew a DeHavilland Tiger Moth. It's a post-WWI open-cockpit biplane. My wife loved riding in it. Like the WWI planes, they weren't fast, but it was easy to keep them in the air.

Didn't last all that long, because my father-in-law flew a borrowed stunt plane into the ground at an air show about six years before I met my wife. They say there are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots. All but one of his flying buddies died within the span of a few years, all flying. The one that lived stopped flying.

Never flown in a open cockpit or a biplane, not even as a passenger. I've flown Cessna 152's and 172's, but most of my time is in the air. A lot of my frat brothers in college were there for aviation and among the things they needed were instruction hours, so good ol' Bel got to come along up in the sky, get handed control of the plane and told to follow a country road or a highway. Rarely was taking off and landing included in my lessons... must have been something that wasn't tracked. Brother Marty taught me how to do a preflight checklist and would sometimes let me take off, but I only have one landing. Never stopped me from tagging along, I really enjoyed flying. I've thought about saving for a plane over the years, but I never went and got more lessons or my pilot's license.

@Rustyoznail - I'm not sure HP's dragon likes the bituminous coal I'm feeding him. He seems especially grumpy so I'm going to switch to anthracite for a bit to see if that helps. Unfortunately, I haven't got any writing done for a few days and with company coming today to stay for a week, I doubt I'll get anything written until after they leave.

Remember, if we get in a dragon-food bind, I'm in coal mining country and might be able to grab some at a discount....

 

[NotWise]

Emma Peel for me.

Her too.

 

[Belegon]

I submitted my first poem since coming back, but it's not really one of my better efforts. Came out kinda forced. Prose, I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writer.... but my best poetry is even more unconcious and unorganized. Probably 90% of my poems here came out all in a rush, as quick as I could get them on paper, parts of a conversation with myself.

It's why I write free verse and don't worry much about format or forms. Can I write to traditional forms? Yes, I'm sure I could write a sonnet if my life depended on it. But it doesn't feel organic to me. It feels constructed rather than inspired. The purpose of my poetry is almost always to create an image. Sometimes a mental image, an actual picture in the reader's mind, but more often an emotional image... I want to create a feeling.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Another beautiful sunny morning and it feels like winter is finally on the run. Except for a few snow piles in the Mall's parking lot, the snow is all gone. In any event, I've got a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the teapot is hot. There are various pastries (not pasties) on the counter.

HP's dragon seemed to like the anthracite so I threw another piece down the stairs into the cellar. I've got visitors for the next week so I'll be on my way. I'll check in if I can.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

t's why I write free verse and don't worry much about format or forms. Can I write to traditional forms? Yes, I'm sure I could write a sonnet if my life depended on it. But it doesn't feel organic to me. It feels constructed rather than inspired. The purpose of my poetry is almost always to create an image. Sometimes a mental image, an actual picture in the reader's mind, but more often an emotional image... I want to create a feeling.

I agree on creating a feeling. Personally, I hate about 99.999% of poetry. It's just some prose with line breaks shoved in, to make it look pretentious. Some of the words may evoke feelings well, but being 'poetry' doesn't add to that. IMO.

But just sometimes there's some poetry that works for me as a structure, where the restraints of the structure add to the words. Some sonnets, which also have the advantage of being short. I remember Og's anecdote about producing a villanelle - he was the only person in a creative writing class to manage to write one. At some point I want to try that.

There's a quote I don't know where it came from, about how the more restrictions you place when producing art, the more beautiful it becomes. Not always, but it's interesting to play with. I've always thought it described bondage rather well, too.

I'm feeling that relief from getting a long-term project published. Now I can play around with any of my dozen ongoing stories - but not ones that are too emotionally demanding, right now,
I think.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I think this is the fifth or sixth day in a row I've slept late. This is a fucking bad habit.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I think this is the fifth or sixth day in a row I've slept late. This is a fucking bad habit.

If you're still recuperating, it may be what you need.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Just popped in to make sure there was a fresh pot of coffee and the teapot is hot. There's some donuts on the counter. I'll try to pop in later to make sure @Duleigh didn't leave an empty coffee pot on the burner ...

 

[Belegon]

I think this is the fifth or sixth day in a row I've slept late. This is a fucking bad habit.

I do that too, but it's really a result of being awake until three in the morning. move the eight hour slider from 10 pm(6 am) to 3 am and 11 am becomes the eight hour mark.

 

[Belegon]

coffee coffee coffee... and thanks for the generosity on the donuts but I already have brown sugar/cinnammon pop tarts. I'm a traditionalist in pop tarts. I like BS/C and strawberry, no icing.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Well, I got another shot of gunck killer today.

If you're still recuperating, it may be what you need.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I got up at my normal 5:00 am today. But took a nap when I got home from the doctor's.

I do that too, but it's really a result of being awake until three in the morning. move the eight hour slider from 10 pm(6 am) to 3 am and 11 am becomes the eight hour mark.