Scribblings of a Lost Mind
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
kereminde's LiveJournal:
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| Friday, July 10th, 2009 | | 3:17 pm |
Gaming: Nethack 25, Me 0
In yet another attempt to play the game, it was going quite well. Then I needed to append some notes to self: - Fire ants are deadly. - Giant ants are deadly. - Don't mess with the floating lights. - Eat anything not poisonous. - Don't drink from the fountains. - Don't mess with the sinks. - Don't mess with the sinks. I'd enjoy the game a lot more if there were save files, but then it wouldn't be the masochistic pleasure it was meant to be. | | Monday, July 6th, 2009 | | 1:16 pm |
| | Friday, July 3rd, 2009 | | 11:38 am |
Computers: Repair? Nuke it from orbit . . .
So the saga begins when my brother came down and hooked himself into the network. He started himself downloading music from Limewire along with other things; the network load had me groaning a lot because it would consistently cause anything I was doing to time out if it so much as stressed the network. I raised a concern about viruses on his computer, and he waved me off. "I can spot them easily - if my computer runs slow, I delete the download and it's no problem anymore." It turns out, wonder of wonders, this approach doesn't exactly provide security. The trouble reached an Incident three weeks or so ago when his computer suddenly decided it hated him, and started doing weird things on boot. Specifically, a virus masquerading as a AntiVirus program installed itself and prevented him from starting anything except itself. Then it tried phoning home. He declared the computer dead, and I offered to fix it up if he'd want me to. He said he could do without computers, and I let the matter drop. Then he moved to my mom's PC for his email and "My Yearbook" work. Oh, yes, and he apparently was downloading his music library from his computer to hers to listen to. Last weekend I took a stab at fixing my brother's PC and after 24 hours it had gone back into terrible tantrum mode. Starting with his audio drivers (really, no other explanation for what he was having shown; yes, item is installed and working properly. No, it won't show as available in the sound mixer). Then mom's PC decided it didn't like people either; now it refuses to take an IP address and insists everyone is telling Norton AV to shut down on startup. And it had much worse items on it as far as I could tell. Had? I mean HAS. Because we haven't had an opportunity to devote a full cleaning process to it, and I lack any real tools yet for virus-breaking. She's been using Norton, but it's out of date. I don't have other AV software, and I lack actual transfer media to get the programs over there. I have two computers, one of which I'm in the middle of fixing (and needing to wait for my Windows install CD to get back to me for a repair). And I'm being asked questions which aren't my responsibility. "Why isn't mom's system backed up?" Not my job to do that. "Well did you expect her to know how to, when did you plan on teaching her how, what about that other HDD we left in there empty . . .?" Not my computer, not my department, don't lay it on me. The real sad part is my initial reaction to watching both infections at work was: "Nuke it from orbit and reinstall. Only way to be sure." I determined this because I came up with 30-60 infections and the bulk of them were registry entries. I get scoffed at by my dad since "A format and reinstall is the last step to try." "No, dad, it's second to last. LAST resort is purchasing a new computer system." In the end, I know I'm right in my choice of action but trying to explain it winds up pinned between someone who doesn't know enough about computers and someone who knows slightly more about computers in the historical sense. I dunno, I just thank whichever force looks out for me, and decide now is an excellent time to make a backup of my personal data . . . | | Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 | | 11:50 am |
| | Thursday, June 25th, 2009 | | 8:37 am |
| | Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 | | 11:14 pm |
| | Monday, June 1st, 2009 | | 4:51 pm |
| | Thursday, May 14th, 2009 | | 10:17 am |
| | 1:20 am |
Writing Project #14 - Writing on the Wall
So, once again, hopping back to another realm and its continuity which has a jagged and uneven sort of feel. Entirely my fault, but I don't really finish scenes in any order or any particular line of interest. As for why this isn't getting updated as often? It's relatively difficult to find time to sit and write something which makes sense when every time you do, you're perceived as "not doing anything" and are free to be disturbed. ( Read more... ) | | Monday, April 20th, 2009 | | 7:17 pm |
| | 10:01 am |
As forwarded to me
by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lhuhikwdwoo In all seriousness, I know there's a few people out there who might like this. I know it's piqued my interest . . . | | Monday, March 23rd, 2009 | | 4:21 pm |
Brief Update
Brain and attention too scattered and fragmented to really devote to adding posts here, let alone the fragments of writing which have been issuing forth. Far too much to get done and not enough energy to get it done . . . | | Thursday, March 12th, 2009 | | 9:35 am |
Writing Project #12 - Guild Wars fiction
So, I play GuildWars and have a good time with it. I'm in a fairly low-key guild alliance which is a lot of fun and I have a blast playing in it. The writing of the lore and storylines aren't always something to write home about but they are handled really well. Better than other MMOs I've played in, which had a nice history with the "retcon button". Certainly there are some points where minor quibbles seem to happen but they make a certain kind of sense. But it tickles my writing sense, and while there are really good writers who put together and polished the lore I had to take a crack at this mostly to start myself going with some other writing concepts. Mostly, yes, about my character . . . but also about whomever happens to share the limelight so to speak. Enjoy the reading! ( Read more... ) | | Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 | | 11:04 am |
Writing Project #11: Oracle v2.1
Okay, what with some mild insanity around here and my creative energies bent elsewhere, I haven't found writing to be working. Literally every time I start something going there is a minor meltdown which takes my attention away. So it's been a question of various other projects or the writing. I've opted for other projects. One of which is working on a story and setting which I'd used two years ago, and have about 95000 words written in currently. A lot of it disjointed and not exactly in order; I haven't had motivation to try to mesh it all together and it defies me when I try. But I want to get it working to make a good story. Soon as I figure out how to get things to make better sense weaving it all together . . . In any case, enjoy the short segment. Those who have read my stuff all along may recognize some phrases. I hope so anyway. ( Read more... ) Current Music: Peter Gabriel - And Through the Wire | | Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 | | 8:36 am |
| | Friday, February 13th, 2009 | | 6:48 am |
Writing Project #9: Coffee with Marie
So, it's been a trying week; sleep has not exactly come easily to me and I keep waking up way too early in the morning for no apparent reason at all. That's made it hard to focus on what I need to do around the house in addition to actually writing. I've started four different little writings but none of them got beyond a paragraph before I lost my muse. Of course, this got a little spurred after I took some time to relax with some DVD boxed sets, a movie or two, and in general relax my mind. (Tangentially, I'd recommend "Firefly" to people who like decent character writing. Decent, not stellar, but that's better than most shows which are on television of late. It's a lot better than "Heroes" lately . . .) In any case, this goes back to some of the other writings, meshing together in ways. I think underneath all this I've worked out the setting and how things connect. I suppose that means I need to settle into a chair sometime and pound it all out into a short story for another attempt at submission. I think the next one is going to be different entirely in scope. Probably another fan-fiction piece, because those really do relax my muse. ( Read more... ) | | Saturday, February 7th, 2009 | | 10:02 pm |
Writing Project #8 - February 2039
This is particularly based off two games which I vastly enjoyed ten years ago. X-Com: UFO DefenseX-Com: Terror From the DeepIf you're familiar with them, good. If not, all you need to know can be found out by following these links. What follows is something which sort of constructed itself as I was preparing to start yet another game in X-Com: Terror From the Deep (If you intend to play these games, learn this lesson well: there ARE no such things as "overkill" or "too much firepower" during colony missions). So, anyway, what follows is an in-universe concept which came out of considering what the heck my team from the first game was doing when the second one started. Well those who lived anyway. ( Read more... ) | | Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 | | 12:13 am |
Writing Project #7: The Things We Do
An old work, revised slightly to try to help some flow . . . It came as I was trying to figure out a character in another roleplaying chat scene I was involved in, and after I wrote this he just didn't feel quite right for the scene. Which is okay, I just wish he would have made me happier by staying in the role which had been put upon him. ( Read more... ) | | Monday, February 2nd, 2009 | | 9:58 pm |
Writing Project #6: Letters from another world
So there was this setting for a Dungeons and Dragons game or three which I've spent roughly 3 years working on. I've taken a lot of shortcuts with putting things together, borrowing out of history and fictional interpretations of that history in order to base things on. I've taken a couple dozen cliches and well-known devices of fantasy writing, and made use of them while working to get something together which I could look at and go "now THAT looks good". Not "cool" or "awesome" but "good" or "serviceable". End result, I have a lot of time which has been sunk into a history which has grown around some concepts which are perhaps used before . . . but I tried to study and adapt them to my own use. One of these was the idea of a "lost civilization" which would on the surface represent a past which is not reflected in history books. The real world parallels are, naturally, intended. But once you enter a fantasy realm . . . the end conclusions might potentially . . . differ. What follows is an in-character rendition of what today would be called archaeology. I don't know if that was an actual term back in the period this particular world is modeled after, but that isn't important. What is important is how it is handled inside the world's eyes . . . ( Read more... ) | | Monday, January 26th, 2009 | | 10:01 pm |
Writing Project #5: The Gate
I almost didn't put this up, if only because it connects to some older writings I was doing back in college for creative writing. They were judged by two different teachers, and they gave completely opposite criticisms. After finding the box of my work and the copies, I decided "what the hell" and stopped to make some connections and decide how to approach it. I don't like it too much, because it lacks . . . something. I'm not sure which word would meet the sense. I know there's not enough background to this; ~1075 words isn't a lot to work with for the backstory which this hangs on. I'll say this though; pinning it on some threads of other works this month helps. Eventually I'll wind up with something to seriously consider as a short story rather than a writing exercise. ( Read more... ) |
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