The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

[GrantBricksly]

Well...it's a scorcher out there today...but...all I have for today is paying some bills, packing for my trip tomorrow, and tying to get some writing done.

All of my baking for the Farmers Market is DONE!

And Nobody in the house really likes fireworks, so we aren't doing anything for the 4th.
Once the kids are awake, I'll go pay the bills, then back to writing for the rest of the day. I'm going to finish re-writing Ch. 5, and then I can move on to starting Ch. 6.

I have one more person who has volunteered to take a look at Ch. 2-3 for me before I post it, so I'll give them a chance to read it through. But I've got the go ahead from my Wife, after I fixed the errors that were found by the first volunteer...

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Congratulations getting the story out!

Mine waits 'til after the fifth. I have things to do in the mean time, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about what I might do to strengthen the story. Are readers going to understand Alex? (I figure he's good to go) Does the climactic scene need to be fleshed out? (another paragraph would help) Etc.

There were 163 new stories posted today! I guess I picked the wrong day for my story to get a lot of attention ...

 

[NotWise]

There were 163 new stories posted today! I guess I picked the wrong day for my story to get a lot of attention ...

But you're on the first page of the New list and you have the red H. You should be getting attention.

I've been checking the numbers of new stories because I suspect they're dropping. Average for the last week is 182, so 163 new stories today isn't bad. Yesterday's count was a little over 200. When I was keeping track in 2017 Lit averaged around 80 stories/day.

I think the norm a few months ago was well over 200/day. Writers and potential writers may be finding other things to do.

 

[NotWise]

I finished all my water supply predictions and started to assemble two database tables each containing twelve X 850,000 64-byte values. I got 3/4 of one table filled and started on the second. The process slowed down, and the last, never completed and never returned.

I left it running for three hours while we celebrated the 4th with family. I figured that the most favorable outcome was that I'd filled the disk, and the worst was that I'd triggered some disk error that wiped the database. I killed the process when I got home and now I'm at a loss. None of the disks are full (I don't know which one held the database) and the system is reporting no errors. I'm vacuuming the database now.

I'm nervous about the potential for losing twenty years of work.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

@NotWise - I think my amazement was that I was comparing apples to oranges. I always counted new stories in the Lesbian Sex category and yesterday I counted all new stories and didn't realize the difference when I posted.

It's going to be another hot and muggy day today but my discomfort at that is nothing compared to all of the families who sent their little girls off to summer camp and are now facing the strong possibility that they are dead. I'm tearing up just thinking about it ...

However, there's a Coffee Shop to take care of, so I've got a pot of coffee brewing and the teapot is hot and ready for use. I've got some chocolate chip cookies and orange creamsicle cake on the counter.

I'll be over in the corner trying to get some writing done while surreptitiously refreshing my Authors Control Panel to check on my new story ...

 

[Duleigh]

Wrote over 7,000 words yesterday. Of course it wasn't in anything that I NEEDED to write, like a summer lovin' entry or the next chapter of Stormwatch, but it was something I loved to write so I pressed on with pride

 

[NotWise]

I keeping my fingers crossed. I vacuumed the database, backed it up, and finished the job that hung last night. The database manager was very busy when I finished last night so I kept my hands off. I can only guess that it was doing some kind of internal management.

Press on, I guess.

I might submit my WIP tomorrow, but when it's published I could be where I can't fret over it's crash and burn. Alternative would be to wait a few more days.

 

[iwatchus]

In my novel length WIP, I had a major plot point I had finished (took place on a Friday night). I had a minor plot point I knew I wanted to go for happening on the Saturday night. I was trying to write a little bridge to cover the day. Now. I am 5K into the day and only up to just past noon. And I need to adjust many of my later plot points to account for what just happened.

Planning, what's planning?

 

[NotWise]

In my novel length WIP, I had a major plot point I had finished (took place on a Friday night). I had a minor plot point I knew I wanted to go for happening on the Saturday night. I was trying to write a little bridge to cover the day. Now. I am 5K into the day and only up to just past noon. And I need to adjust many of my later plot points to account for what just happened.

Planning, what's planning?

For me, planning usually shortens things.

 

[Duleigh]

Planning, what's planning?

Usually when I write a story I have the beginning and end in mind. I know exactly what I want to say in those two points. The rest just happens when I start writing.

 

[MrPixel]

...the families who sent their little girls off to summer camp and are now facing the strong possibility that they are dead. I'm tearing up just thinking about it ...

I've been following the reports. Most recent says that 24 are still missing. This tragedy is a gut punch.

 

[MrPixel]

I keeping my fingers crossed. I vacuumed the database, backed it up, and finished the job that hung last night. The database manager was very busy when I finished last night so I kept my hands off. I can only guess that it was doing some kind of internal management.

If it were me with two very large processes like that, I would have halted and then restarted the DB manager after the first process completed. My bad experiences with large dataset work like that, especially those dependent on background tasks you can't directly monitor, is they tend to provoke the memory leak monster. If either the first or second merge/purge (or whatever you are running) did in fact bump up against a capacity limit in its internal scratch storage, it could have left things in a tenuous state.

But wadda I know, you know? Best of luck with your task!

 

[NotWise]

If it were me with two very large processes like that, I would have halted and then restarted the DB manager after the first process completed. My bad experiences with large dataset work like that, especially those dependent on background tasks you can't directly monitor, is they tend to provoke the memory leak monster. If either the first or second merge/purge (or whatever you are running) did in fact bump up against a capacity limit in its internal scratch storage, it could have left things in a tenuous state.

But wadda I know, you know? Best of luck with your task!

If I'd thought of that, it would have been the easiest problem to check. I've been using Postgresql for a couple decades without seeing that problem, but a memory leak or some other memory buffer run amok would explain what happened.

Anyway, models are done, the tables are complete, the associated GIS analysis is done, and the whole mess is being distilled as I type into an easily-understood table for the Board meeting. It needs some sanity checks and a few illustrative figures.

I'm not far from the point where I'd love to read my WIP again.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Feed me coffeee - pleeeease - I just got back from a way to loooooong and intimate meeting with my dentist.

It was a root canal on an eye tooth that was done a couple of years ago, Somehow it got decay halfway down the root and that caused an abscess and the base of the tooth had a crack in it as well - so el dentisto said no option, must remove tooth. "No way I can fix THAT baby, Chloe," he said. "We must remove that, Chloe," he said. "Should only be 20 minutes," he said. "Quick and easy" he said. "You won't feel a thing" he said. So I was in this morning at 9am to have it out.

Liar!

So after he'd tortured me with the knives and loosened it up, he started to extract it, and worried at it like a terrier with a rat until I was being lifted out of the dentists chair by one tooth - "It's a little tough to extract," he said. "I don't think you need to worry about any teeth falling out on their own," he said. "Give me a hand here," he said, to el assisstanto. Sof course when he pulled it, it broke where the crack was.

"I thought that might happen," he said. "We may have to cut the gum and go in sideways," he said. "Only a few stitches but we'll use the dissolving ones," he said. "But that's the fallback. Lets just see if we can get what's left out before we try that," he said.

He had to take the rest of the root out bit by bit and some of it had adhered to the bone or something so then the drill came out...."Aaaaaaggghhhhhh," I scream, orgasming from the pain (not). "Hmmm," he says. "I thought I numbed you there." "Aaaaghhhhhhh," I contribute. "Maybe not," he says. "A little more painkiller I think," he says. "Guggghhhgugghhhh," I reply eagerly. Half a dozen injections later, suitably numbed to the eyeballls and beyond, we proceed. Bit by bit, the rest of the tooth slowly surrenders.

There was an abcess inside the gum so he pared some of the abscess away to speed up the recovery process. ONLY a two hour struggle session and half a dozen shots of extra painkiller, and I felt like a rat shaken by a terrier by the time he was done, and on top of that I looked like a killer vampire who'd just finished dinner but minus one blood-sucking fang!

It was a quite delightful experience, and when I find the guy that invented local anaesthetics I am going to buy him (or her) as many drinks as they can handle LOL

In the meantime, I'm knocking back shots of extra strength tylenol in my coffee, chased by advil and with ibuprofen gummies to suck on. LOL

The good thing was, I had two hours to work on my story in my head while the bdsm session was underway.

 

[MrPixel]

At least you're still in good humor about it! What an ordeal! Great play-by-play, BTW.

Closest I can come to sharing that experience was a wisdom tooth extraction 50 years ago. Root grew-in hooked under the adjacent tooth. Tray of discarded instruments grew so tall I was afraid all the sharps were going to fall into my lap! Thank God he didn't have to pull it out in bits and sideways like yours! Wowee! Good thing back then was dentists could prescribe "the good stuff" painkillers. I was loopy for a week, but suffering? What suffering?

 

[Rustyoznail]

Oow... I had something similar a few years ago. A very petite dentist with her knee in my chest trying to lever the remains out of my jaw.

Mixed feelings about that...

 

[Candy_Kane54]

@ChloeTzang - I've had several root canals but nothing like you experienced. Wow!

My heart is bleeding hearing about the missing girls, some as young as seven years old. What a tragedy ...

I've got a fresh pot of coffee going and the teapot is ready. There are donuts and danish on the counter.

I'll be over in the corner despairing about the reception of my new story. Only 2500 views and no favorites in two days. I'm starting to wonder if I still have it or if I should find another hobby ...

Oh, well, I'll finish the story I've started and re-evaluate my life choices then.

 

[NotWise]

@ChloeTzang - I've had several root canals but nothing like you experienced. Wow!

My heart is bleeding hearing about the missing girls, some as young as seven years old. What a tragedy ...

I've got a fresh pot of coffee going and the teapot is ready. There are donuts and danish on the counter.

I'll be over in the corner despairing about the reception of my new story. Only 2500 views and no favorites in two days. I'm starting to wonder if I still have it or if I should find another hobby ...

Oh, well, I'll finish the story I've started and re-evaluate my life choices then.

Hang in there CK. I know the reader's response is a big motivator, and motivation tends to slide when the response disappoints. There was a time before you ever had meaningful feedback when you wrote anyway--when you wrote your first stories. There was a reason for writing then, and maybe you need to look for that reason now. For me, it was the simple fact that I enjoy writing. It's something I want to do.

There are a few other things to keep in mind. I think traffic has been low recently--especially over the holiday. My older stories have been pulling in votes at a very low rate, and I noticed long ago that traffic on Lit seems to be low on family-oriented holidays like the 4th. Also, your story's title and short description don't imply sexual content at all. Readers--especially on the New list--may overlook stories without a titillating title or short description.

 

[NotWise]

I've suspected for a long time now that my office computer, which is on the desk behind me now, has a virus. I kept it permanently on at work and at some point I started seeing (and hearing, which got my attention) hard drive activity at times when there shouldn't have been anything going on. Viruses are rare on Linux systems, and I've never identified a virus on that one.

Yesterday, while trying to diagnose the problem with my database, I found a long list of loop devices active when there should have been none. A Google search told me there are no known viruses that use the loop device, but I may need to look into that further. That computer is off now when not in use.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Oww! Oww! OWW! Poor Chloe!

I'm going to have a shot of single malt painkiller in my coffee, just in sympathy.

 

[Duleigh]

@ChloeTzang , swing by my place, I've been taking some "boosted" tylenol for a back injury and I may have a spare or two laying around. They can make an Eastern New Mexico summer pleasant, they should take care of your teeth.

 

[yowser]

Whenever I hear someone start to get antiquarian nostalgia and express romantic urges about living in medieval times, 'the Age of Chivalry' and all that, I just smile and say two words:

Dental care.

 

[Duleigh]

Whenever I hear someone start to get antiquarian nostalgia and express romantic urges about living in medieval times, 'the Age of Chivalry' and all that, I just smile and say two words:

Dental care.

I would add two more


Open sewers

 

[ChloeTzang]

I would add two more

Open sewers

Tetanus. And all sorts of other diseases. Childbirth was a huge killer too.

The Extra Strength Tyenol and Ibuprofen works really well.

 

[NuclearFairy]

The Aztec's believed that women who died in childbirth went to the same afterlife as warriors who died in battle.

Research kicks can teach you the weirdest things.