Ramblings from the 'goblinn

I've exhausted several other procrastination methods already, leaving an LJ post as the next reasonable alternative.

I'm the ML for Kentucky Elsewhere this year again, and it is going great. I'm even keeping up and ahead on my wordcount thanks to Write or Die and having spent a couple of weeks thinking through a plot/ characters/ outline this year. Even not being able to write Fridays, I am a day ahead on the wordcount now. And my region has some fun people in it. All very cool.

In other news, I can report that Sam Adams Winter Pack has Chocolate Bock and Fezziwig Ale, which rock, Holiday Porter and Winter Lager which are okay, and Boston Lager and Winter Ale which are only good after your taste buds are dead from drinking too much of the others. And Bell's Best Brown Ale has a very inspirational picture of an Owl on the packaging, but as a drink is way too hoppy for me. (Liquid inspiration, all.)

Lastly, a lot of the Firefly soundtrack makes a good Nano soundtrack for me. Not all, just the sad sounding ones.

Hope everyone is having a great November. Anyone else doing Nano? I caught this addiction from some of you on my f-list, you know.

Well, new to me anyway. My Beloved upgraded to a larger screened Macbook, and in the process I am inheriting his very shiny old one. I used to have one kind of like this from work, but when I saw the handwriting on the layoff wall, I quickly moved to buy a refurbished Macbook that would hold all my music and writing and programs. Wee Hob will someday be the owner of my little white Macbook.

This one runs so much faster than my old one. I made the mistake of upgrading the OS recently and it has been sluggish ever since. Once all the stuff I want to keep has migrated over here, we'll probably wipe the old one and reinstall the OS or go back to an earlier version of it. Wee Hob only needs it for Word processing and Very, Very supervised internet use. He'll probably get to take it out for a test drive during Nano.

I'm slowly building up characters and a plot for Nano-- thought I'd try something new this year, and not merely continue stories or launch out on day one with no preplanning whatsoever. I'm finding the asking what if kinds of questions before I actually need them for the story is not unlike how my fanfic stories started-- taking an already built world and idly wondering about an aspect of it. The only difference is that I'm creating the world myself. It's not the epic thing I thought it would be (though perhaps I'm doing it wrong.) It's more just getting glimpses and building up slowly what needs to be there.

As soon as I get the photo on this new machine and download it into LJ correctly, I will share my new desk, with its Welsh Flag front. I've had it a month, but I've been so busy with my new classes I haven't felt like fighting the technology to post a pic out here.

Cheers to all.

Just wanted to share a couple of photos that are not of pianos. The bumper sticker kind of says it all. And the photographer who captured that moment is here, too - Wee Hob in all his caffeinated, cool glory. He is really growing up, isn't he?

I'm still struggling with learning how to post pictures at all on LJ - forgive me for not having placed these behind some kind of cut.

( Pianos update. )
( Nook Study App. )
Finally, since I am more "back" now as a denizen of LJ, I have been casting about for a name for my Beloved. I wanted to call him "Saint Patrick", as anyone who cheerfully drives all over town with an obsessed Hobgoblinn deserves the title, but he objected that such a name put too much pressure on him. He'd prefer "Sinner Patrick." I shall call him SP and let his actions speak for him. Have I mentioned how very lucky I am?

The big day is finally here! More to the point, the Pianos are here! Luke Jerram's public art installation, "Play me, I'm Yours" has come to Cincinnati. Here's a link.

My ambition since I first began hearing about this last month (on the local NPR stations, incessantly) was to play ALL the pianos set up all over town. Looking over the locations now, I may have to cough up the money for a ticket to a Reds game to get to that one, as it's inside the ballpark. But all the rest look fairly accessible.

I hit three today, all within a block of my work. I should be able to get the ones in Downtown and Northern Kentucky by the end of the week. Then the road trips will begin.

And yes, I am still writing on my HP stories, too. I'm not neglecting them while I play with the shiny new pianos.....

Wish me luck. I have until August 27 on most of them, and into September on the rest.

Update: there are 35 up until the 27th, and another 7 from then until September 17th.

For those who care, a revised Chapter 3 and a new Chapter 4 of "No Malicious Haunting," my sequel to "Lost Boys" is up. Ch 3 makes some corrections I got after I posted it. I didn't remember that deleting and reposting a corrected version would make it see the installment as a "new" posting. Ch 4 is new to everyone, though.

Also, anyone who uses Scrivener, have you noticed that it does not catch a lot of spelling errors? I'm seeing them only when I post to FF net, which is kind of sad. I admit, I do use the red underline/ squiggles to alert me to spelling problems. Scrivener gives me some, but by no means all. Any idea why?

Wee Hob is coming back today from a SAREX with his Civil Air Patrol buddies. We are so awash in acronyms these days in the hobgoblinn household. Stands for "Search and Rescue Exercise." He's doing well. There's some drama in the scout troop, but I don't want to go there now.

Happy weekend to all.

First, for anyone who cares, I have gone back to another WIP and put out another installment. It's the sequel to "Lost Boys," the one with Ghost Snape and David Dursley, called "No Malicious Haunting." On this one, I am trying to see if I can take material already written and round it out, as opposed to doing an epic adventure as it was originally conceived. I am really surprised at what I wrote over a year ago, (at how decent it is) and I'm not sure if I can continue that level given how far I've drifted from the fandom in the intervening time. At any rate, the link is here.

Second, we got Wee Hob this morning, and-- Wow. I am so proud of him. Several of Troop 21's leaders came up to us while the boys were unpacking the trailer, telling me what a great son I had, what a joy he'd been to have around all week, how he was a "fine young man" and a "self starter" and a "great role model for our younger boys." Not only that, the boys themselves were making plans for him to come with them again next year. They all really liked him-- you could see it in their interactions.

Except for the "self starter" thing I knew all this, but it meant more than I can say to hear others say it, especially after all the problems he was having just a couple of short years ago. It also reassures me-- yes, at times here at home he may well be lazy and unmotivated and mouthy-- but out in the world where it counts, he can function. If he can reinvent himself out there, I can deal with redirecting a little boundary testing here at home. And I know he loves us and is not deliberately trying to be disrespectful when he pushes. All in all, a successful week. I think his own troop leaders will be very proud of him, too. And I am so happy for him, that he was able to go off on his own and make friends like this.

That's about all for now. He's out with friends at a local Church festival. And now that it's getting late and a bit cooler out, I'm thinking about taking a celebratory walk. I have posted on two different stories in the same week. Go, Hob.

Well, my week of vacation is over. I managed not to use too much time trying to revamp my classes, which means tomorrow may be more exciting than I'd like. But I think well on my feet, and I do have some ideas about how to tackle persistent problems.

( I got some things accomplished that I meant to. )

Oh-- for those who care, the link to the continuation of "In Loco Parentis" is here.

Wee Hob just got back from the Great Lakes Region South Basic Encampment (Civil Air Patrol). He spent a week in a highly militarized and structured environment, and not only did he do okay, his flight (cadets in his little company of 10) was selected as the honor flight - best at the encampment. He has been regaling us nonstop since his return with tales of the great week he had and all the cool things he did. We can only hope he will begin to apply all the organizational skills to his own bedroom. (He did just cut his shower time from over 30 minutes to less than 2-- cool.)

He is not a little boy anymore, and while I am proud of him, it also makes me sad. I had the past brought home to me a little yesterday when one of my students had her little granddaughters with her, and the 2 year old decided she loved me. She and I conversed very gravely about matters of import to her, and at the end, she gave me a hug, and I remembered what it was like when I used to see my little birth daughter, or what it was like when Wee Hob was small. I don't know what it will do to me, honestly, when I am a grandmother myself. I missed so much. And those small kids I hold in memory now, are nothing like that now. And I won't ever get that back, even if they come looking for me.

I bought this Joseph Curiale CD last night; I heard "Wind River (I am)" on WGUC Cincinnati, and the only way to get it was to download the whole album, which is wonderful. It's not on iTunes: I had to buy it from CDBaby. Great writing music, and Wind River itself is reminiscent of both Copland and some of the Star Trek music (DS9 especially)-- the trumpet solo is reflective of that ideal of the West and of the Star Trek universe, of beings, human or not, who rise above. Who overcome with dignity and grace. I don't know if I can explain it.

But I will issue, not a fic rec, but a short story rec: James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," which I love even more every time I teach it. This time I realized: the Blues is born of sadness, but people who are defeated do not sing them. The Blues is a type of music for survivors-- for people who are going on. I pointed out to students, when I asked them to describe the blues for me, how many of them were smiling as they remembered some blues music they knew. The Blues is not about wallowing in the depression, but about living through the pain and rising up again in spite of it. They got it. Some of them.

I need to start writing again now. I have the week off, my grades are all in but one class (where some irregularities require input by the Powers that Be), and I don't set foot in a classroom again until July 6.

Have a good night, everyone.

One of the major Plot Devices of "In Loco Parentis" is the Age Regression curse ( Cut for spoilers. As if anyone cares. )

Among the many ways I have neglected this story, I have never named this curse. If anyone has ideas or resources along these lines, I would be forever grateful.

And no, I am not procrastinating on writing: the next couple of scenes are written with no name for the curse. But if a good name comes to me from somewhere before I finish editing, I would love to swap it in.