October 31st 2010: Part 1

Person 1: "Yeah, so... what is going on, is there a convention or something?"
Person 2: "..."
Person 3: "..."
Person 4: "..."
Person 5: "..."
Person 6: "..."
Person 7: "Um... Halloween?"
Person 1: "Ooooh... is that today?"
Person 2: "Dude, what rock have you been under, and is there any room for me?"

_________________________________

Voltaire.  This guy is so awesome.

Also, we carved our pumpkin.

'Night

Overheard on the Subway

"Yeah, I kinda got in trouble for touching the art."

"Dude, you don't touch the art."

"Well I didn't realize it was art!"

"What do you mean you didn't realize, it was in a museum."

"Yeah, but it was, like, a glass box around a little red ball.  I thought it was just a glass box to protect it and that the ball was the art.  Apparently it was the whole thing."

Intrigues

Mercedes Lackey's most recent book, and the second in the Collegium Chronicles, expected to be a trilogy.

I was unsure coming into this book, because the first in the series, Foundations, was actually pretty boring. It was a nice set-up, and hinted at greater things, but not much actually happened. I was hoping the next two books would pay off those hints.

Well. Let's just say the third book HAD BETTER BE GOOD. Otherwise, I don't know what this crap is. Yes, I said it. And I say this despite Mercedes Lackey being one of my favorite authors... perhaps she's just more focused on the Secret World Chronicle podcasts/books, because those are pretty fun, but this series, so far, is just not worth buying.

Intrigues went nowhere, only hinted again at the same things hinted before, and I still can't believe the climax was in its final draft. The characters all suddenly do and say things completely against their established personalities, and then later apologize to the wrong people and/or apparently develop amnesia and... poof! everything's back where it started. The end.

Halloween

And it has, yet again, been quite a while. That's what I get for having a life... or rather, that's what you get. Oh well.

Busy day today. Ran all over the place, getting lots done, including practicing for the Photoshop test. Practice consisted of creating this:

This was originally your basic, yellow rubber-ducky. Isn't he so much cuter now?

After practicing our practical skills together (because, come on, what's more practical than being able to dress your digital rubber duck for Halloween?) we went out to get dinner and study for the written part of the test. Then we had the test. I think I did pretty well.

I came home to Halloween cookies. Yum!
And Sunday, I'm off to Salem.

I think I like this holiday.

Good Earplugs Make Good Neighbors

Drums, drums in the Deep.
no...
drums, drums all around,
while I'm trying to sleep.
I'd like to smash that drum,
melt that horn,
snap those strings -
no...
it would not do
to do any of those things
it just would not be fair
to the drum, horn, and guitar,
and as for the band -
it'd be too good for them by far.

written 10/16/10 @ 2am

I still prefer wine

As I write this my laundry hangs next to me drying so slowly that I hope it finishes before I run out of things to wear. It's going to be a close one. Luckily I got a box of sweaters in the mail today, so at least I don't have to worry about running out of shirts (Thanks Mom!).

Wednesday's class was good - we watched Helvetica and talked about the designers we'd researched. We finished early, too, because the professor was sick & wanted to go home to bed. I'm glad I got a chance to talk to him before class - he was more awake then. I think I understand better now what I'm supposed to be concentrating on for the final project. Our next bit of homework is idea sketches for the postcard & poster we'll make - should be fun.

Today's class was cool too. Our professor brought a guest lecturer - the associate manager of domestic rights for the publisher she works at. Our topic for today was, needless to say, domestic rights. Cool, right? And the two of them told us they're looking for interns, and will be represented at next week's internship fair. After class, I asked for advice on how to juggle work & an internship, and she seemed impressed I was thinking that far ahead - she said they'd had interns quit after a couple weeks because they were broke (and that those interns could expect to never get a job there again). I am so going to the internship fair, with updated resume, and looking for a summer internship. She said I should start now if I want to get an edge.

At the Tam afterward, I had my first full beer. I've discovered that the carbonation doesn't bother me as much in dark beers, so that's what I had, and I was able to finish it. And, even better, I was able to enjoy it. I also discovered that a friend and I read a lot of the same stuff online. He gave me a hug for recognizing the name of a fanfic writer and being able to name what she wrote. We also started quoting webcomics. Moral of the story? Even the world wide web is a small, small world.

Tomorrow's a reading at the Brookline Booksmith, which I may or may not go to. The timing's not the best, and I don't know what the reading's about, but I have been wanting to find the Booksmith for a while now. It's one of Boston's bigger independent bookstores.

Saturday's the bookfest. I can't wait! It's practically across the street from Borders, which means I can go on my lunch break. One of my friends is working at it, the rest will probably be there, and directly after work at one of the tables I have my interview for fiction reader for the Redivider! They didn't forget me!
Plus, apparently there's an old costume sale Saturday, which some of us might be going to, and... Obama will be in town? However, if we can make it back home through the presidential security, we might have some friends over for a literary party!

Fwoosh

Naked Heat

Heat partners "Malcolm and Reynolds"... I love Castle's ghostwriter.

I wonder... was editor "Mitchell Perkins" intentional as well? Maybe not, but I was happy.

Queen Jillian

So unfortunately, I did not save the fish picture. Here's a new one though, that's not quite as cool-looking but took a lot more time. I figure this is the American equivalent of looking at the king and sitting on his throne. Which Jilly would so do.

Friday I went ahead & used the store credit & personal shopping day on top of my employee discount... which worked exactly as I am sure was intended; that is, it tempted me into buying stuff I didn't need, but made me very happy. Then I met a friend at the library, for a homework party - but we were distracted by the books I had just bought, and then by the food in the cafe, and then by the library closing. So we had our homework party at the graduate student lounge (and were proud of ourselves for finding it). I got a lot done, and it was fun too :-)

Reading: I haven't read any bestsellers recently, because I've been distracted by shiny things. Specifically, an anthology of dragon stories which included one by Tamora Pierce, the newest Castle book, and a new Valdemar novel from Mercedes Lackey... book reviews will resume in a bit.

Fun Classes

So... having a test does, in fact, wake one up to the fact that grad school is supposed to be hard. Sort of.

But moving on. Learning various tricks in Photoshop is so much more fun than InDesign was! I made a cool swirly whirlpool of fish following a stream of water out of a photo that was originally just a lot of fish swimming under water, with a swirly bubble pattern.

Today's class will start with the mock sales conference presentations. I picked Carrie Vaughn's Kitty and the Midnight Hour. We'll see how it goes... I don't really know what average numbers are for a mm scifi/fantasy. I tried to look up an average first print run for fiction online, but all I found was bragging/astonishment at print runs of hundreds of thousands of copies, and complaints/disappointment at print runs of a couple thousand. I don't know what the normal is - presumably somewhere in-between.

On a side note, apparently the first print run of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was 1,000. Funny how that worked out.

Some Random Questions

Well, it's been a while. So let's see...

Does the fact that I found the comment "That's why we can't have nice things" especially entertaining to hear in real life (in a bar, following the sound of breaking glass) rather than reading it online make me a nerd?

Does buying a beer without getting carded make me old?

Does being able to tell a customer the exact shelf placement of a book (oh, it's section x, the first bay, middle of the bottom shelf...) without even looking mean I've been working too much?

Does the fact that the entire window shade (mounting and all) fell off the wall when I tried to close it mean we need a new one?

Does the first quiz in grad school actually wake you up to the fact that you're supposed to be studying, not going "Oh my gosh, so fun, I'm in grad school!"? (...check back in a few days for the answer to this one)

The Secret

A truly beautiful book - physically.

The content was something like this:
If you expect to be happy, you will be. If you expect to be miserable, you will be.

Just that - and it's a sentiment I more or less agree with. But it was expressed in mystic mumbo jumbo and repeated ad nauseam.

Still, if you don't bother reading it... a truly beautiful book. I loved the design.