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NaNoWriMo postmortem
They say failure is the best teacher. Things I've learned from failing NaNoWriMo:
- November, at least this year's, was a bad month for lots of free time. Work, remodeling, and illness eat up a surprising amount of time I thought I had free.
- Unless it is critical to me, once I lose ground on something I won't generally double-down on efforts to catch ( Read more... )
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NaNoWriMo, first flashback
NaNoWriMo has more or less been kicking my ass. Which is ok, I'm used to not doing so well on things I'm new at. The free time I thought I had is less in reality, and the productivity I thought I'd have in said free time isn't quite where I thought it would be either. Ah well. I'm still enjoying the effort. Failure is it's own reward. Right?
First ( Read more... ) -
NaNoWriMo, day one
None of my planning happened. That's just how I roll. Instead, I decided to leave my novel (such as it is) up to fate and improvisation. I'm using the Science Tarot to steer the characters and plot. I'm going into this knowing only a vague setting: gritty sci-fi (more Firefly, less Star Trek). The rest... we'll see.
Initial three-card spread:- Past: ( Read more... )
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On Conversion, Deconversion
People who get to know me find out that I like to talk about traditionally controversial topics. Politics. Religion. Alternative medicine. Ketchup vs mustard. I have opinions and beliefs about how the world works that I think are correct, and of course I want to share them with people I disagree with, just the same as others want to share their ( Read more... ) -
Thoughts on Everyone Draw Muhammad Day (May 20)
Religion is weird. One of the weirder things I know of, perhaps the weirdest. For one thing, it seems terribly subjective, with adherents of even the same religion, in the same sect, unable to agree on what their faith tells them. That's just at one point in time, too. If you go back through any religion's history, you quickly find that many ( Read more... ) -
a conversation from vacation
Gilbert (from France): You have Sarah Palin in Minnesota?
Me: No, that's Alaska.
Gilbert: Ah yes, Alaska.
Me: You hear about Sarah Palin in France?
Gilbert: Oh yes, we do, but only as joke.
Me: I wasn't aware that there was any other way. -
five sure-fire ways to ensure I won't take your argument seriously
I like arguing with people. I don't see politics and religion as things to exclude from polite conversation. Complex, important topics should be talked about. But there are a few things that I just can't stand, and they crop up often enough to result in this short list:
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Unclear on the concept
Via Pharyngula, I saw this rather confused release from the Roman Catholic Church. Go read it first.
They seem a bit unclear on the concept of "not believing". Why would I want to "move towards God" if I didn't believe? Isn't belief in something required before you could reasonably desire to move towards it? I'm open to evidence that gods exist, but ( Read more... ) -
Minnesota Food & Wine Experience, 2010
Two things about this year that will reduce the usefulness of this post: I didn't take very good notes, and I wasn't really in a focused frame of mind.
I hadn't even intended on going this year. Shelley and I had attended the last three years, since it falls near her birthday and tickets make a good gift, since we're both foodies if not wine ( Read more... )