Reading & Writing for 6/17/2008
I’m reading two differnt books now, the first one is The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Here is a bit from one review of the book that I really liked.
The titular Oscar is a 300-pound-plus “lovesick ghetto nerd” with zero game (except for Dungeons & Dragons) who cranks out pages of fantasy fiction with the hopes of becoming a Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is also the story of a multi-generational family curse that courses through the book, leaving troubles and tragedy in its wake.
I’m almost doen with this book, in fact as soon as I get some time to sit and read I’ll finish it.
The book gets a 5 out of 5 rating from me. Amazing story, characters, writing, etc.
However, this is not the only thing I’m reading. Before I go to sleep I (re)read some of The Lord Of The Rings, byJRR Tolkien
I read about 10 pages or so per night, and I’m on about page 40 now (this is a recently formed habit.)
I currently have three writing projects that I juggle.
I try to write at least 150 words per day (note: I said TRY meaning I don’t always do this). I’m someone who’s mood really affects the way he writes, which is one of the main reasons I have three different writing projects… Doing so allows me to have something to write no matter what kind of mood I happen to be in.
If you want to see one of the projects go over to Email As Art there you will see a story that I’m writing (or at least attempting to write) as a series of emails.
If all is goign according to plan each email could be read alone, but if they are read together than they from a larger story.
The focus of the story is sort of how people life very strange lives now-a-days where they can be very connected by technology, but very alone at the same time.
The characters are all sort of looking to figure out how to live, and how to die in the modern world.
-N
Tagged EAA, email as art, neil gorman, reading, writingReading and Writing stuff…
Ok,
I’ve NEVER said this on the net before, but I want to be a writer. Meaning I want to make a living as a wordsmith.
I’ve never said this because I have always thought that if I did that people would start asking to see the things that I have written, which I’m super critical of.
Today I’m getting over that. Well I’m attempting to.
I want to be a writer.
I try to write something every day (currently I have three writing projects going on that are fiction, zero non-fiction)
If you want to see the stuff that I have written email me and ask to see it. I’ll send you a file. Then you can read it and give me feedback. Bad feedback, good feedback, whatever.
Next topic…
One of the reasons that I don’t write as much as I could is that I also am a huge reader. Everyday I read a hell of a lot more than I write. I know lots of people who say that they are writers, but they don’t like to read when they are writing. I don’t get how a person could do that. I need to read every day. I mean I NEED to. If I don’t I’d go nuts. I read RSS feeds, and books.
So I have a sort of idea…
NGdO has never really had a theme, and I don’t know that it ever will. It is jut my small little bit of web space that I use to display whatever I want to the world. So I think I might start to use it (at least for a bit) to show people what I’m reading & what I’m writing.
[side note: in a perfect world I’d love to create a roup blog of writers who all post about what they are reading & writing. However my attempts to start a group blog prior to today have all ended in horrid failure.]
And… and nothing I guess. I think I’m done for the moment.
Take care.
-N
Tagged group blog, reading, writing5/31/08 @ 1:15pm
I’m in a pizza place, which is located in a old building that use to be a fire station. I sit and try to hear the echo of time is I stare at the old tile floors.
A kid, who can’t be more than 12 just took a bite of food and I think that it burned the insde of his mouth. He jumped up coughed and spit the food into a napkin. People sitting near by, even the woman who I think is his mom, look at him with annoyed looks, and for some reason that makes me sad.
I don’t know if the kid does not see the annoyed looks, it does not seem like he did. Maybe he did see them but just ingored them, maybe he saw them and he forgives the people right away.
I don’t know.
-N
Tagged kids, life, true storySongs that I can’t live with out.
Today as I was wondering around the web I thought it would be interesting toGoogle the popular writer Nick Hornby and see what came up. It turns out that Hornby does not have a blog or anything (which I think is sort of surprising, but whatever)
Update: Hornby does in fact have a blog which you can visit for your reading pleasure by clicking here.
but I did find that a list that he made which I think is really cool.I was introduced to Hornby the way that I think most Americans were, through the movie High Fidelity. Which I believe is the #1 grade A+++ best mother fucking movie about relationships EVER!
“High Fidelity” (Touchstone / Disney)
This movie is based on a book of the same name that Hornby wrote. If you have not see it or read it you really should.
“High Fidelity: A Novel” (Nick Hornby)
I have seen this movie more than 30 times (no lie) and I love it each time. So when I googed Hornby and saw a link that stating that if I clicked it I would be auto-magically transported to a list of 10 songs that Hornby can’t live with out. I clicked the link and started to read. i liked what I saw there, even though it was not the list that I would make, it seemed like a solid list. then there was a problem…
The list only has the first five songs. This would make it a top five list, not a top ten list. What the fuck yo? The god damn list is broken. Shit.
I read some of the comments on the post and I saw that there is this book written by Hornby, and published by the team of pirates over at McSweeneys it is called Songbook and it is a buch of non-fiction essays written by Hornby about music.
I have decided that I really need to have this book in my collection. Perhaps when I have money I will buy it.
Also, I think I will make a list of top five songs I can’t live with out, because making top five lists is fun.
Peace.
-N
Paper in Paper
Today I wnet to make copies of some hanouts for students. I needed a total of nine copies. But the machine only made four because it was out of paper.
This was not a problem, because I’m a kind of smart guy, and I discovered boxes of paper near the copy machine. I also figured out where how to open the copy machine, and put the new paper in.
The funny thing was: that the reams of paper are wrapped in paper. I don’t know why I thought that was so strange.
-N
Comic Progress
I have the first comic done. I saved it as a .png file, but I still have no idea where I’m going thing. At this point it does not matter because until I have at least 10 of the things done I’m not going to let any of them see the light of day. (The idea is that I would release at lest one per week, maybe two… so I want to have a bunch in the can before I move with this.)
Does anyone know of a way that I could display a comic on the net in an effective way?
-N
Tagged web comicLots of Moving and Shaking Going On.
Lots of moving and shaking going on today.
I plan to write a web comic, well I’m going to try to write one, it will offend people I think.
I have always wanted to be a comic writer, and in this day and age where technology has made it so very easy for a person who has even the lightest bit of creativity to be “published” and expose their work to any other person who happens to have a internet connection, I see no reason why i should not give it a try.
Stray thought: I think that many people have several internet connections. I have three. One at home, another at work, and a third on my iPhone.
The plan for the web comic is go use some pictures that I took with my laptop’s built in camera, a program called Comic Life (created by a company called Plasq.) and insert some words that I happen to think are kind of funny. I say it will offend people because I know that thinks that I happen to think are funny have been known to offend people. I don’t think that everyone will be offended, but I’m sure that someone will be. Know what I mean?
I blame a few people for my wanting to do this.
1. Julien Smith because he sent me a great book on creativity that I have been reading.
2. Warren Ellis because his tendancy to create works of genius on a regular basis is an inspiration. (Ellis also frequently blogs / emails large numbers of people about what he is doing… like I’m going now.)
3 & 4. A Softer World created by Joey and Emily because every time I read that comic I think to myself “I should try to do something like this.”
I have no idea where the hell I’m going to hose the thing. Should I do it here? Maybe. Have to work that out. I worry that if I do it here my boss will see it, and be offended. (The place that I work for is one of those places that checks up on what your doing via the internet… so I can’t be one of those idiots who does [crazy / stupid / things that would get me arrested / etc] then puts them up on the internet for the world to see. I’ll sort this issue out by the end of the day.
I have to pick up a pair of new glasses today, I don’t think I’ll like them. I thought that I would when I ordered them, but now I’m thinking I will hate them. I have a wired shaped head and almost no type of glasses look good on me. I sucks.
I fucking hate -HATE- cooking. I hate it a lot. If I can’t make it with a microwave, or a toaster, than I want nothing to do with it. Because of this I end up eating out more than I should, which has not really been a problem or anything, but now I’m going to buy a house and I have to find ways to save money. One of the ways that I’m doing this is by buying more food, that I can make with a [microwave / toaster / or just eat out of the box]. This is another thing I have to do today.
I need to buy plane tickets to Canada for PAB 08 today. That will cost a bunch of money… which will make me sad. But I’ll have everything ready to do go PAB which will make me happy.
If I can et the oil in my car chaned today I’m going to do that. I should have done it… a bit ago. But, because it is Sunday I don’t think any oil changing places will be open. If I changed my oil myself I’d be saving more money, but I don’t have a garage, or ramps, or other stuff I would need to change my own oil.
I need to throw out a TON of stuff. I’ll be moving soon and I need to start going through all this stuff now. (I have managed to get lots of things that I don’t need during the 5 years I have lived in the house that I rent now.)
This blog has become a to-do-list. Hmm. I did not intend on that.
Time to get moving.
Peace.
-N
flirting…
A few months ag I was sitting in a bar, I had nothing else to do, other than sit at home and wish I had something better to do. (I have a fucking rock ‘n roll life style!) My room mate Corey was also in the bar at the same time, but I did not know this until he saw me on his way to the bathroom and said hi to me. When he was on his way back from the bathroom he stopped and told me that he was there with a few people who he worked with, and said I should come by and say hang out with them.
I said I’d come by in a bit. A bit of time came and went. Then Corey was back, and this time he brought a few of the people he worked with over to me. One of these people was a girl.
This girl asked me: Am I more attractive than X? (X=this other girl that I we both happened to know.)
I looked at the girl, considered her questions and answered: No. (Because the attractiveness of X was > the attractiveness of this girl… by a lot.)
This girl: got a look of total shock on her face. I think she decided that I was a total ass hole at that moment.
After that I joined Corey and his other coworkers, and as it turns out one of these coworkers was REALLY attractive. She also knew about obscure Canadian indie rock bands, and French writers. Those tow things made her even more hot (at least to me).
At one point, when she was laughing at something that someone said, she totally hit her face on a big beer glass. And she did not hit it just a little bit. She it that beer glass fucking hard as hell. So hard that I heard the THUNK sound, and this was a loud bar.
I felt bad for her, and I got her a glass of water and some Advil. I guess this was also a form of flirting. A really wired ass way of flirting, but hey… I suck at flirting… so whatever.
I wanted to ask for her number, but I did not because I was sure that she would have a boy friend. It turns out that I was right. Investigation (asking Corey about her) revealed that she does have a boy friend.
So then tonight when I was fucking around on the internet Corey walked in the front door, and this hot chick who hits her face on beer glasses was with him.
I say to the hot chick: Hi. Are you single?
She says: No.
I say: Do you love your boy friend?
She says: … He’s all right I guess.
I say: I bet I’m better.
She says: I’ll take your word for it.
I say: No. You can’t JUST take my word for it. You have to let me prove it to you.
She says: (nervous… well I think it was nervous) laugh.
Then her and Corey left.
Like I said. I suck at flirting.
-N
Tagged crash and burn, flirting, hitting on people