So, I have a story for you

Sat., Oct 31
For some reason today I imagine that I'm consuming to much caffeine. Entirely too much. Now, I'm not one of those anti-caffeine types. Quite the contrary. But I did feel like I was perhaps having too much of the stuff. It might have been the third in four days iced coffee. It might have been the half a pot that morning. Who knows? And it wasn't a health thing as much as it was a test. A test and a challenge. A test, challenge and sorta cleanse. All designed to once against bestow on caffeine the zoom it once had. Anyway, I decide that Monday is just the day to start this project. New week. New month. New thingy.

Sun., Nov. 1
Today's the last day with caffeine, and I'm not planning on going soft or easing into this at all. Coffee in the morning to start my day. Then an iced coffee prior to dinner. For the final flourish, I limited myself to a single cup of coffee with dessert. Time to start the redux.

Mon., Nov. 2
Morning. Ah morning. No problemo here. None at all. Renee has convinced me that full on stop isn't necassary, so I have a cup of Lipton tea when I get into work. But around noon I start to feel a headache. I've done this before, so I'm expecting the headache. Then then headache is joined by sluggish. If sluggish means nearly falling asleep at my desk. Literally, can't keep my eyes open. Monday night rolls around and its a struggle to even stay awake from about 8 p.m. on. I skip working out. I fall asleep even though there is a Phils game and a Monday night football game to keep my attention.

Tue., Nov. 3
This morning I go with decaf bags. I don't know if this upset the energy gods, or the caffeine gods, or the tea gods, or what, but the sluggishness really hits. Again, it sneakily waits till after noon. From about 12 to 2 its bad. But from 2 to 4 its nearly unbearable. I'm functional on a minimum basis only. For the second day, pain relievers do little to stem the broad, expansive, dull pain in my brain. Websites helpfully point out that caffeine is a great pain reliever, and when taken with NSAIDs can up their effectiveness by 40%. Thanks for nothing. The dull headache, achy feelings, tiredness - its like having a hangover. Except without any of the fun the night before as a partial reward. Plus, I'm a touch irratible. I guess its the withdrawel. Though it could be because I'm having such a wonderful day. I revolted even at the thought of playing my video game.

Wed., Nov. 4
I wake up feeling great. Absolutely invigorated. And its a good thing: today's deadline today. Unfortunatley, its at 2 p.m. I work the morning, and again my afternoon sucks. A softer, but still there, headache. Now I'm more achey than before. I do my usual lifting. Its not much, and I'm feeling a little better after dinner, though I still feel somewhat hungover. I fall asleep during the Phils game - again - and head to bed after I wake up.

Today, Nov. 5
I wake up rested once again, but again, it doesn't last. By noon I'm getting tired again, though not nearly as bad, and by 2 I'm barely awake. But I fight through it and by 3 I'm starting to feel better. By 4 I'm feeling fine. Maybe a tinge of tiredness remains, but its hard to tell. What's the new normal and what is the withdrawel? No fewer than twice today I walked past the coffee maker and thought about how nice a cup would be. Ditto my tea cupboard.

The future
Thanks to the results of a google search, I know that all my symptoms (headache, tiredness/exhaustion, hang-over-like symptoms, agitability, achiness), are pretty normal for caffeine withdrawel. I also know the symptoms set in after 12 to 24 hours (about right), and that caffeine is entirely out of your system after 9 days.

I'm not planning on quiting caffeine entirely. But what was supposed to run through the weekend will now run through mid next week to hit that 9 day line.

I can already taste that first cup of coffee or tea.

Is it bad that the idea of reading books makes me sick?

Cause right now, it does.

News - OK.
Periodicals - OK
Books - gag.

Quick updates

I wrote last night for the first time in a while in anticipation of having to have my work completed by month's end. Not much. But it was a start. And I think I got over the block that was preventing me from going forward. We'll see.

Also, I'm thinking of ginning up either a Week of Double Daily Quotes. I would post one that I like and one that I don't or that is challenging and leave them for discussion. Or maybe I'd do this as like Quotation Monday or something.

I'm also kinda considering taking quotes from Rand and Jefferson and working up a dinner conversation between the three of us exploring various issues, where they stand on them, where I stand on them, and where, perhaps, you stand on them. Kinda my tribute homage to them. Plus, I thought it would make a neat (if tedious and labor intensive) project. I'd have to find the damn things, sort them, then make the entire thing light (as light as Rand gets, in any case) airy (ditto), fun and readable.

Also, I'd have to mediate and resolve the fist fight I keep envisioning as the result.

You call it derivitive parroting of others' works; go ahead and say I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. I call it an adult and creative exploration of my beliefs and heroes.

So neener neener.

Today Ain't As Bad As Seems, Take II

You'll hear (if you listen) a great many people complain about how sexualized today's culture is. About how teens are dressing sluttier. About how they are wilder than they used to be. Primarily this comes from the older generation of "I walked to school up hill both ways" types, but sometimes from younger activist doomsayers as well.

Well, a CDC study vai reason.com comes along with this tidbit...

... teen pregnancy and abortion rates are both at historic lows. The pregnancy rate for teenagers fell 40 percent during the 1990–2005 period, to 70.6 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19 years. This rate was the lowest reported since 1976.

More good news from the same source:

The overall decline for teenagers is reflected in significant declines in rates for live births and induced abortions, with much steeper declines for abortions (down 53 percent) compared with live births (down 32 percent). The pregnancy rate declined much more rapidly from 1990 to 2005 for younger teenagers 15–17 years (48 percent) than for older teenagers 18–19 years (30 percent). Pregnancy rates declined by 47–49 percent each for black and white non-Hispanic teenagers and by 23 percent for Hispanic teenagers.

You might expect a hypersexualized culture of elder ignoring, morality evading, rude ignoramouses slouching toward idleness to get pregnant, and then to abort it. So, hyper sexualized culture or not, that isn't happening. That means either A) the hypersexualized culture is pretty smart (about pregnancy and sex, anyway) or B) maybe the 'hyper' in sypersexualized is either overrated or overplayed.

Just remember when ever an elder tries to tell you how life is going to hell in handbasket (or any time you might think some such) that "the good days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems."

Write fast or suffer the consquences

If you're like me, you probably have a problem not only sitting down to write, but once you're in your space, you also have a problem actually doing some writing.

Dr. Wicked's lab's Write or Die has a cure for that last one.

You can set the parameters, which is kind of cheating, but here's the basics: You set a word/time limit, and give the good doctor a personality of sorts (either forgiving, strict or evil [bwaaaahahahahaha]). Once that's done, you set the Doctor's persuasive method for Gentle, Normal, Kamikaze or Electric Shock.

Gentle mode prompts you if you stop writing. In Normal an unpleasant sound is played. In Kamikaze, well, the program "unwrites" your work, so you better get to it. It doesn't say what consquence Electric Shock mode provides, and I don't care to think about it, frankly. *

You can't save text from this program, forcing you to copy and paste what you've done, but thankfully, the newest version prompts you if you try to wander away, saving you from quickly checking a word's definition at dictionary.com and losing all your work.

The site promotes it as a great way to get to the 1667 words for NaNoWriMo or for writing on lunch breaks.

Which got me thinking. Has any author of any note, or even any published author at all, ever relied on a gimmick like NaNoWriMo? I'm curious about both NaNoWriMo itself, and whether it has ever spawned anything of any actual worth.

I'm just about in a place where I can start a second novel, and I've already shown that I'm better when I have someone else's expectations to meet, so I'm thinking maybe this year I'll take up the challenge of NaNoWriMo.

* CORRECTION: For close readers, it is noted that the site does indicate what occurs in Kamikaze mode: The program increases difficulty by decreasing your actual word count.

So what's the truth, why don't you tell me?

"Giving parenting advice is a lot like giving writing advice. You can say a lot of things that sound very intelligent and thoughtful, but when it comes down to the actual act, it's mostly intuition and the inescapable fact of who you are." - Michael Agger

I'm both 100% sure this is dead-on correct, and at the same time 100% sure its wrong.

It seems to me you have a "voice" that is yours and that is hard to jump out of or alter without sounding affected. Sure, in a chapter or character, you may be able to ignore that style or voice you write in. But generally, itsn't that voice the sum of your years of writing and reading and learning and accumulating.? Plus, its probably somewhat inborn. Don't we arrive at our voice or style by adopting the voice or style that happens to coincide with that which we find pleasing and like ourselves? Even if don't conciously realize it?

If you have a talent for writing biographies, or crime thrillers, for fantasy fiction, you'll probably like those things because you'll succeed at them. Perhaps that isn't exactly on point, but I think it speaks to the "innateness" of the voice.

OTOH, there is a certain amount of work that goes into writing. By by "certain amount," I mean giant, brown, steaming, heaping piles of the stuff. Its not exactly like walking, is it? No. Walking, well, just about anyone can do it and there really isn't a "proper" way to do it. Its innate in us. We don't have to watch film of ourselves walking or study to learn to do it better. But only the most select of authors can write good, clean copy straight through without the need for revision. But is that because the author's innate voice fails, or because enough effort hadn't been put in? Certainly, the written word, even after self editing, can be improved by the "very intelligent and thoughtful" comments of others. Then again, I've seen editors change a perfectly fine story to conform to some entirely arbitrary "standard" that amounts to not liking the "voice" it was in. Both stories were fine - the first just didn't have the "voice" the editor expected/liked.

I really do think that sometimes editors go overboard. Sometimes their style becomes the style. Its not bad, per se. But I think it does limit creativity and deprives readers of another voice. Maybe not a familiar voice, but a voice. Not everyone has to write the same way, and forcing them to do so to comply with an arbitrary standard insults the reader. But that's another story for another time.

So which is it? Is there an innateness to writing; or is the intuition bit just a lazy cop out? Is it a choice between "you've got it or you don't" and "with enough work, anyone could do this?"

- Incidently, the quote is from a story written by a Slate writer who has traded places with his writer wife. She's going into the office, he's staying home and writing. Its interesting, and almost worth a read, even if its not really related to this post.

Clinging to Clingstone

Ah, Clingstone.

Bought for a mere $3,600. That's cheap in our area. Its cheap in the depths of poverty in Mississippi. Heck, its cheap in Mexico. It's probably even cheap in the parts of Iraq where Americans would disappear.

103 years old. 65 windows. 23 rooms. For those who might think that a bit too conspicuous... solar panels for heating the 3,000 galllon cistern of rain water. Wind turbine for electricity. Composting toilets.

How much do I love Clingstone? I've wondered if maybe, just maybe, a greenhouse on the roof would be doable and make it more livable.

Oh, and its replaced Portland, Ore., as the place I'd most like to live in addition to claiming top spot on the "Favorite Residence That I'm Not Currently Residing In."

I guess its not a big surprise that I would fall in love with this place, based on this post about my interest in seasteading and all. Or my 1.5 year fascination with houseboats as a mode of living. Oh, houseboats, welcome to #3 on the "place I'd most like to live" list.

So, about that $3,600 price tag. The house was for sale after decades of uninhabited neglect following some damage caused by a hurricane. It was a pretty good deal for a house with no roof or glass in its windows, considering it was for sale for $5,000.

As to what attracks me to it. I love the engineering and ingenuity of man overcoming nature. To me, its very Fountainheadesque in its architecture. Owning something like that - something that is such a design & engineering accomplishment, such a force of man bending the will of nature - that attracts me. It's got great views, as one can imagine.

There is an individualistic calling to it for me, as well Along the lines of the suggested "Going Galt" movement ala Atlas Shrugged that has some zones of the InterGoogle Tubes atwitter.
Plus it would be cool.

And just think: If the horror movie scenerio of zombification of the world ever plays out, Clingstone would make a pretty easily defended fort. Forget Will Smith's mansion in Washington, D.C. I'd take a cliff-surrounded island with 23 rooms any day. Good fruits and veggies would be in short supply, but that would happen anyway, wouldn't it? And fishing strikes me as easier than hunting, given the need for ammo and probably gasoline to fuel your salvage vehicle. Fishing requires a pole, line, and a hook. None of which are too hard to come by, and are much more easily rigged than a gun and ammo. Gas oxidizes and would useless in a month or four. No such problem with a sailboat.

On the other side of the ledger, even ignoring the zombie invasion scenerio, its probably not easy to reach for those of us who don't have well-upkept boating skills. Its probably an absolute pain to get groceries in. Not to mention supplies of other kinds. And it makes going out for a night on the town a bit of a trick. But honestly, with 23 rooms, I can probably have most of the people I want to see over on a pretty frequent basis. Who is going to turn down a chance to stay there?

In the even of Zombification, winter would be a small problem.

Other than that, the near constant upkeep required to prevent it from being reclaimed by the ocean (you have to secure the doors open or closed lest the wind - relatively quickly - bash them to pieces) and the realities of such isolation, I think I'd love it.

Anyway, that's what I think is beautiful and cool at this time.