Friday
On self-publishing: "[Upton] Sinclair then wrote a letter to the readers of The Appeal asking for pre-paid orders so that the weekly might publish it in book form. When he received twelve thousand orders..."
And that was in 1905. Webcomic authors talk like they invented the idea, but it is not a new business model: Publish weekly for free, publish the first edition of the compiled work pre-paid, later editions to follow if it sells well.
Claire has asked me to draw comics of her and the cat. I am not sure to what this request will lead.
Monday, third week of unemployment
Consideration: While unemployed I should start to spend a lot less time playing videogames and a lot more time programming videogames (and, ugh, testing suites, which I'm procrastinating on in writing this). Maybe blogging? I'd be nice to get back on track with Milleverbium, and even nicer to learn to draw.
Tangent: I can sorta draw, and I can watercolor pretty nice, but I can't paint for beans. Maybe I should also get back into printing, but, uh, so expensive, I'd have to sell the art to make it worthwhile. I think I'm just jealous of people who have already toned their talents. But today is M*$^#~! Monday, and Claire and I have plans to art. And go to the gymnasium. So, you know, no wishful thinking there. There's a reason it's called M*$^#~! Monday.
It's just, I have so many ideas! Perhaps if I start to blog about it, it will be easier.
That seemed way less monstrously idiotic before it was put into words.
twenty days before the wedding
I just went Wiki-surfing. I started out looking up info on an advertised television show on the SciFi Channel called Haven, and ended up reading about the Miller Test, which governs obscenity. This came by way of the I Ching at about midpoint; there was also a side-branch that led to the Cantor Set.
I find myself a little nostalgic for "surfing the Internet" -one more thing Google has ruined forever. An unfair accusation, but a true one. The matter remains, however, that such surfing is now almost non-existent: websites just aren't built for it these days. Link pages, once the greatest resource for getting around online, have been rendered (even more) unprofitable by Google's page rankings, and Web 2.0 applications have reduced the demand for them.
Call me sentimental. Sometimes I go back to old, old websites - remember, the Internet never forgets - and click around. But it's not the same - the thrill of discovery is gone; these are archives, artifacts, the motive forces that made them now departed. Not depressing, exactly. More in the line of homesickness.
I guess I've never really taken to Web 2.0. I'm not going to say anything blindy cantankerous like that it's no good; it is good. But I'm an elitist, I guess. I liked the pride of being one of the producers in a world of consumers, and being able to connect with others such on a level above the masses. Now the masses are the producers as well, and the webmasters are just middlemen. That is, "just" as in I have scorn for them, the key characteristic of an elitist. The internet, always a lonely place, seems more so now that everyone's invited.
Enough complaining. I will now spend the rest of the afternoon trying to deny the urge to write soothsaying software, and also buying cupcakes.
the day after my birthday
"I'm starting to get addicted to treasure now." -Ana, 2/24/2010
For my birthday, my roommates got me a pie and a forty of Red Stripe. Hoo-ray!
This week I've been gearing down on the census -I've barely been- and working on various household projects, doing wedding stuff, and playing lots of video games. Next week I gear up for Summer Lab, hopefully get some more projects done, and definitely done down the video games. It's nice to have a short break every now and then, though.
Thursday, Alumni Weekend
"I'm Chinese, we eat anything... except tomatoes." -Nancy Chang, 3-22-10
Well, the website's back up and running. The wedding website is up and running as well, but not finished. We just sent the proofs back in this morning, with a couple changes, so it will probably be about a week before we get the invitations, and hopefully only a few days after that until we put them in the post. Weddings loom nigh...
But the three-year plan looms closer. The first of many reunions kicked off last night when Alex, Anna, and I paid an old-times-sake visit to Giordano's. Victory, in the form of spinach stuffed pizza, was had.
Feast of the BCP
"I will build additional cupboards to hold more bowls. I love decorative bowls." -Claire 5/14/2010
In other news, Smallhouse will shortly be residing again at the 3feet domain.
the eve of the Day of the Ascention
Claire, on Law & Order: SVU: "You can always tell who the bad guy is, because he's the best actor on the show."
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