Writer's block aka Apathy

Hello everyone

It's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd at least stick something up so you know I'm still aware of your needs. I'm sorry for deserting my (dare I dream of it?) readership, but I've been finding it difficult to write about things...which is what I'm going to write about!

Laziness is something of a big factor here I'll admit, and part of why I can't come up with anything decent for my coursework piece is because I quite often can't be bothered, and when combined with other factors it can be a very big deterrant to creativity.

The second factor is distractions. I have a houseguest to entertain, tasks to complete as well as there being a wealth of entertaining TV out there (since our aquisition of E4, Smallville has become a regular element to my week day. Another distraction is blogging, which requires some creativity and effort, but does give the slight satisfaction of having written and published something.

The third factor is, for lack of a better word, depression. It's easy to get a bit disheartened with a piece when it's not progressing as you'd hoped and when you're very aware that deadlines are accelerating towards you. The (often quite poor) organisation of my course, coupled with external factors (mostly transport related) has meant that i have had much less tutor time than I need to properly develop my work which leaves me in dead space, not knoing where and how to progress. Also since both my main pieces are continuations of what I did last year it's hard to create the piece since i largely know what happens already, I just have to write it out and hope it comes out as I imagined it...which it won't!

The fourth factor is just plain old fashioned writer's block - i.e. I find it quite hard to actually come up with an idea and to develop it, due to the above factors and the internal force that tells me that I'm burned out and that there are no ideas left.

So there we are, that's me done for now- I'm going to go and attempt some writing of consequence, goodnight.

Word of the post - favourite

Keeping it out of the way

Hello

As I'm quite keen on various aspects of Science-Fiction, in particular large franchises such as Star Wars and the Matrix, it is easy for me to rant on about them incessantly. But I don't feel that this is the place for it, this is a place for me to pass on snippets of information you didn't really need to know, but are interesting enough to keep you reading...whoever you are. so babbling on about spaceships and yuuzhan vong and residual self image might alienate people from what is essentially a common day blog about me. Therefore I've set up a new blog for me and for those inclined to like Science Fiction and the like to rant on about it freely without alienating people who might be interested in us personally.

So if you're that way inclined you can find it here at www.bloggathehutt.blogspot.com

Enjoy

Word of the post - evidentialism

The words of Jim Friel

I just thought I'd pass on some words given by my lecturer today as I can't see any other context than an IW lecture, besides a crazy drug trip, that these words might be said. Jim has an excellent knack for showing you the weaker parts of your thoughts and writing whilst making you cry with laughter at the same time. This quote was one of his finer moments - I'll explain the context afterwards.

"Yeah, but she's having five babies..and one of them's a puppy!"

OK, the context was that we were debating about whether a character was in enough danger for us to care whether she lived or died. Someone said that they didn't really have any emotional tie to the character even if she was pregnant and in danger, the above was Jim's response to this.

Word - recapitulate

Mission accomplished

Well I set out a challenge for people to find what kind of weird and whacky blog there are out there and I've finally managed to come up with the four categories I chose. The rules are as follows, keep clicking "Next Blog" until you find all four types of blog earlier mentioned and see how many clicks it takes you. It took me 9 attempts to get all the blogs, see if you can beat me

1. A 'normal' blog - Unleash the freedom - a blog showing the daily dooings of someone who is apparently very chuffed that she isn't in love.

2. A topical blog - Acne Treatments Reviewed - a blog reviewing and testing the best treatments for acne sufferers

3. A foreign language blog - K-996-150 - no idea what this one's about but I think it's Russian

4. A green blog - Joanisms - Whilst not entirely green, it's definitely the primary colour there - the blog is a load of IM conversations with someone's aunt Joan.

Happy hunting folks, but be careful- there's some weird stuff out there!!

Word of the post - axiom

Disadvantages to long hair

1. You occasionally find Spiders in it!!

Most of those who know me will be aware that I have longer hair than most, which can just about be described as shoulder length. Now let's be clear first of all i do take (reasonably) good care of my hair, so I'm not some kind warlock sitting in a big chair with snakes crawling out of my mouth as i summon my evil horde. And this wasn't a tarantula or even a daddy longlegs scale creature I found. What i did find, whilst playing snooker, was that a tiny, millimeter long, blows about in the breeze, Charlotte's Web type baby spider hanging from a web atatched to one of the longer strands of my hair. I detatched the web, hanging it on the door handle and the spider seemed perfectly happy and I went back to me game and managed to fight off the urge to feel very itchy!!

Word of the post - epistemology - totally messed up the spelling on my first attempt, i got this from going to a debate between William Lane Craig and Mike Bogan on "Is God a delusion?" it was a very good debate, though a lot of the words flew past me!

Men of the world take note!

I recently came across a story that both chilled me and brought hope to me for days to come. This scenario could happen to anyone so learn from Mr Svboboda's experiences and prepare yourselves for something that could easily happen to you.

Read his account here: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30310

I know...I'm scared too!

Word of the post - precocious

Book paragraph game thingy

Hello all! This challenge thing has been floating it's way around the bloggosphere for a while so I thought I'd jump in too. I found it on Dan's blog and then linked back to a few others. The rules are as follows:

1. Grab the book closest to you.

2. Open to page 123; go down to the fourth sentence.

3. Post the text of the following three sentences.

4. Name the author and book title.

5. Tag three people to do the same.


"Men may seem detestable as joint stock-companies and nations; knaves, fools, and murderers there may be; men may have mean and meagre faces; but man, in the ideal, is so noble and sparkling, such a grand and glowing creature, that over any ignominious blemish in him all his fellow should run to cast their costliest robes. That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so far within us, that it remains intact though all the outer character seem gone; bleeds with the keenest anguish at the undraped spectacle of a valour-ruined man. Nor can piety itself, at such a shameful sight, completely stifle her upbraidings against the permitting stars. But this august dignity I treat of, is not the dignity of kings and robes, but that abounding dignity which has no robed investiture."

Herman Mellville - Moby Dick

And since three people pretty much encompasses all my readership I thus tag you all - go forth and blindly grab at literature.

Should anyone take interest in my "next blog" game i think I shall formalise the rules so it resembles the more finely crafted game shown above. So my challenge to you all is, in the least amount of clicks possible to find

1. A "normal" blog - someone talking about what they do etc.

2. A themed blog - A particular musician, types of trees, etc.

3. A foreign language blog - It has to have at least 50% non-English content

4. A green blog - just the background, content can be anything

Post the links up on your blog and say how many clicks it took you, and drop me a comment so I can check it out. I'm on my sixth attempt and I still haven't found the first one!!!

Edits: I think I got the amount of sentences wrong but what the hey - also 50 bonus points if you happen to find a blog you already know of!!

"Next Blog"

Don't worry i'm not moving to another blog, though I do have some ideas about expanding my blog collection. Just now I decided to try clicking on the "next blog" icon at the top of the page, thinking it would send me to a blog that followed mine and that each blog is sequentially listed and that it would take me to the next blog in line - not true, this link simply takes you to a random blog!!

I found a Blog containing several pictures of Beyonce, a review of the best acme treatments, a Russian blog entitled k-995 or something to that effect, and the diaries of a lifelong knitter. And just now I thought I'd try again and see if i could find a more average blog, but no - I find a blog containing pictures of someone's online conversations with their Aunt Joan!!

You try it - see what you can come up with!!

Word of the post - deluxe

A good week

Hello

I've had a pretty good few days that I can be very grateful for, and I thought I'd share some of the goings on with you if I may.

Monday - I had a somewhat fruitless day at Uni, but I wasn't to bothered 'cause I needed to get home and do work. The upside was that when I got in i managed to recieve my transcript (marks) and found I'd averaged 69 for the first semester, which for those unfamiliar with university marking schemes is a good mark!! I even managed to wrangle a first for my novel chapter and I wasn't far off with my screenplay, which is my weakness. All this has brought my overall mark up quite high so I'm guessing that I'll finish 1 mark of a First at the end!!!

Tuesday - Tuesday was probably the best day for me as I passed my theory test. Unlike others my age I find the prospect of being able to drive a car quite boring and not something I need to do. I can drive from A to B perfectly well, but this is one step closer to getting the piece of paper that says I'm allowed to do so on my own - which will be handy I'm sure.

Wednesday and Thursday - I was working these days, which is a good thing for me as I haven't had any work for quite a while and could use some spare change. I work from time to time as a classroom assistant (the official title for 'muggins') in a special needs school, which is always a fun and interesting experience and i know most of the staff an pupils from working there over the years so i always feel welcome there.

Friday - Friday i spent the day at my friend's house playing on his Wii - the new interactive games console from Nintendo. The thing that makes this one special is that the game is controlled partly by your own arm and hand movements, as well as the button pressing traditional to games consoles. It gives you a bit of a workout while your eyes deteriorate and makes for a more fun experience - I haven't had such laugh out loud fun since Lego Star Wars!

Saturday and Sunday were average, but good average. Well that's it from me, see you soon

Word of the post - concordance

Opening lines

They say that the opening line of a book is one of the most important parts. so i thought i'd share some of the openings I've come across recently and see what grabs your attention if anything!

"Call me Ishmael." Moby Dick, Herman Melville!

"There is a wood, the canal, the river, and above the river the railway and the road." Untold Stories, Alan Bennet

"This much I know for sure:" The Affirmation, Christopher Priest. This one cam recommended to me and I've just started reading it. The opening is quite engaging as it sets up what's know as an unreliable narrator - because theres probably a lot he isn't sure of too.

"The words of the teacher, son of David King of Jerusalem: 'Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.' " Ecclesiastes, God. Despite this book's surprisingly Emo beginnings it does go on to offer insight into this world, and also hope and purpose unlike the many bands of today who'se lyrics don't go past the first line of this book.

"John Clark had more time in airplanes than most licensed pilots, and he knew the statistics as well as any of them, but he still didn't like the idea of crosing the ocean on a twin-engine airliner." Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy. I haven't actually read this one yet - but it sets up the character quite well I think.

That'll do pig

Word of the post - parenthesis (had to get a dictionary for this one, almost spelt it with 2 a's!)

Thought I'd share this!!

As I continue in my quest to find a way to upload photos I give you another experiment. My Dad sent me this picture, i don't know where he got it from, some time ago and it's been gathering virtual dust in my folder, but I dug it up as I experimented with phtot programs and I thought I'd pass it on. Enjoy!!



Word of the post - peculiar, reading old books I've come across an older meaning for the word, something closer to 'particular' than to 'unusual' which we usually use it for today

Speaking of snow...

It's chucking it down with the stuff!!! There's a good few centimetres of the white stuff laying about on the ground and there's plenty of those little flakes still floating their way down. I am in fact pretty busy at the moment, but if the snow's still thick on the ground tomorrow i'll find it hard to resist the allure of my sledge!!

One thing I noticed amidst winter's beauty was that weird white sky you get when it snows. Admittedly it's more of a murky gray stuff than a whitewash finish, but it's still quite bizzare and I'm susprised I'd never really noticed it before...probably to busy throwing snowballs I expect! But looking out of my window I can see it, a white haze where clouds and blue stuff used to be - like something out of a sci-fi film.

Enjoy it while you can folks!!

Word of the post - 'noun' it's one of a few words that actually are the thing they describe, other examples are 'word' and 'short' can you think of any?

P.S. You're going to have to content yourselves with a picture of my shoe for the time being. I think I will be trying out the Picasa program since it comes reccomended, but the newspaper I read has already been recycled, plus my shoe seems quite content there.

Ah, the wonders of YouTube!!

Well since my previous post is currently worthless I thought I'd set myself up for another disaster, and that is to try and embed a YouTube video into my blog post. This will likely require fiddling around with HTML, which I know very little of. But I managed to incorporate some music into it via the same route so I should be ok.

Well, keep it short they say so here is my first attempt at YouTube embedation. This is the Mighty Boosh explaining the effects of being alone in the Arctic Tundra...in song form!!



"I'm little Johnny Frostbite moving around. Freezing you up, freezing you down like an icicle" Gotta love it!

Well that seems to work, so that's enough from me

Check ya later homies

Word of the post - endless..ness!

Finish my Su Doku!!

Aha! Now that no one's reading the blog I finally manage to post a flurry of small, readable snippets!! Ah well, when people eventually return to the fold there'll be plenty for them to catch up on eh?!! Before I become too aware that I'm talking to myself I will launch the new interactive side of my blog- which consists of you lot finishing the Su Doku I started on the train. Not that I couldn't finish it, just that I was tired and didn't want to expend too much effort. For those who might be interested it's from the Metro (for people on the move) January the 30th. As for how you'll give me the answer...what am I your teacher?!! You might wanna try www.metro.co.uk though!

Here it is



Ok, so it isn't here - blogger won't upload it I'll try again later! This makes for something of a non-post, but I'll try and figure it out soon!! Right- it's still not working so i might try getting that Picasa thing or summat - any reccomendations? I tried again with a different picture and it seems to be the specific picture of the Sudoku it doesn't like- perhaps 'cause it's a scan or a large file...well here's a picture of my shoe to keep you happy

Bye for now

Word for today is Panorama

P.S. does anyone know how to embed YouTube and such into a blog post, and possibly a better way to upload pictures too? Yes Tim I'm looking in your direction!

The other thing...

I knew there was something else! I was going to draw attention to the new title for my blog (which has now been put in place). I realised the title for my blog was a bit ambigious if not outright weird, so I thought I'd change it to the much cooler title of my now obselete MSN Space, since this 'ere blog has taken it's place.

Thank you

Word - iconoclastic (I've only hear this word spoken so I'm not sure of the spelling)

Is it over?

Well, it looks like I've got to upgrade to a google blog after all (sorry Tim!) as soon as I log in I'm given a bunch of commands to do leaving me with a new account but no idea how to access it or what to do with it, thanks a lot Google!! Anyway, I've finally managed to get it sorted out and I'm here now to talk about, well you know, stuff.

The horror that is Celebrity Big Brother is finally over, and E4 can be reclaimed for normal televisual programmity. We recently moved further into the modern world and helped ourselves to a Freeview set top box ("We" being my family. Also don't you think that 'set top box' is a clunky description, I don't know who thought it would be marketable) with a world of extra channels that only come on after 6pm!! Having E4 was one of the highlights, with extra doses of Friends, Smallville and other such programs to get us through the day - but as soon as we got the box CBB had to go and start didn't it, replacing everything with "Celebrity Big Brother Live" all day!!

There have been some highlights, such as being able to keep up with current music, though the music channels mostly play the Killers and My chemical Romance over and over interspersed with trashy dance videos and reruns of Cheers. And E4 does let me watch Ugly Betty ( a show which I'm cautiously becoming a fan of) a few days early, which is good 'cause I'm out on Friday nights.

There was something else but I forget

Word of the post - 'the'

Tedious link

With the wonder of Wikipedia it's easy to look up interesting things on the internet and suddenly find yourself transported through clicking on the first interesting thing you see and you end up looking at something different. I find I often do this, but I've never really thought about it before- how about you, have you ever looked something up on Wikipedia and ended up looking at something completely different. If so give me a comment or maybe stick it up on your blog.

Anyway, here's the links i went through about five minutes ago. I was doing research on types of boats for a piece I'm writing for Uni and i noticed a type of small boat called a cuddy, which I wikied. This lead me to the character Lisa Cuddy, and then to the medical drama House which she is a part of. This then lead me to the director Brian Singer who exec produces the show, this lead me to The Ususal Suspects and then to Kevin Spacey and then on to K-PAX which i watched on Film4+1 (which consists of whatever was on Film 4 and hour ago!) recently, and then to an article about the book K-PAX, which I'm looking at now - a far cry from the research on boats I'm supposed to be doing!!!

Anyway I'd better stop now 'cause I need to do work. I'll continue with the Impolito story (since you're all clamouring for it!) when I'm not so busy.

Another wiki link just lead me to my word of the post -anarchism

More from my travels

In the never ending quest for comments I will continue with the short snippets from my journey to Impolioto. I plan to make this a weekly thing, as long as it will stretch, with snippets about my current affairs in between. But there's not much that I want to talk about at the moment so on with the journey

Customs and exercise

After perfecting the technique of falling asleep whilst on an extremely uncomfortable surface that like to jolt around, changing speeds constantly and occasionally stopping to eat some grass, I finally arrived at Impolito. Or so I thought, but before going into the city itself you must first stop off at the outpost village of Rood, where rigorous customs checks are performed. They take this very seriously as apparently a lot of people want to bring explosives into Impolito, and after a short stay in Rood I counted myself among them.

The people of Rood have decided that the best way of opposing any would be felons is to accuse everyone of everything as they pass through, and then delay them while they search through their intimate belongings in front of everyone else. Then just to be sure they make everyone wait several hours in the open until everyone's really frustrated, which usually makes any villains confess just so that they can leave. But for the rest of us it's something of a bad start to the holiday.

I hopped off my camel and went up to the customs queue, which was beginning to peter out as the plane had arrived some time before me. I went up to the nearest customs officer, hoping to get my baggage through quickly so I could find a place to sleep that didn't have a mind of it's own. I hoped in vain.

"Anything to declare?"
"Um, well, there's some sugar, coffee..."
"No, any crimes to declare. Drug smuggling, armed robbery - come on let's get it out"
"But I haven't..."
"Of course you haven't, you just stole some sweets when you were little and things got out of control, we understand."
"But I'm telling you I've never..."
"Look mate, we already know about the bomb in your bag so you may as well give it up now."
"What the"
"Oh! A rude one eh? Well I just think we'll have to go through all your belonging just to make sure now won't we."

Before I knew it they'd taken my bag from me, emptied the contents onto the floor and then ripped the bag to check for hidden compartments. Finding nothing, they tossed everything into a cheap bin bag, which stretched so much it turned white and told me I had to wait for security clearance. When I asked what there was to do they pointed my to the gym, which consisted of a square room with mats on the floor, and a CD player with C&C Music Factory's "Gonna make you sweat" (more commonly known as "Everobody dance now") on repeat. Well they certainly weren't gonna make me sweat and as the drone of the rapper, clearly a relative of the tour guide, came on I slowly drifted off to sleep.

Word of the post - quintessential

My travels

Hey y'all

Sorry for not posting and all that, I'm gonna try and make it up to ya by posting a log of some of my travels recently, I wanna avoid doing long posts so it's gonna have to come piece by piece so that you're little minds can cope with reading it. So without further ado...

Travels

It was with a weary heart that I made my way to Impolito, one of the least desirable tourist locations anywhere (as described by Go There travel magazine) and booked myself in for a weekend stay. I went there for two reasons, firstly I had gotten myself lost and secondly I was grabbed with the innate curiosity about this place which seems to be the only reason people ever travel there, as I gathered from asking other tourists. The reason for this is that the only information available is word of mouth, and there seem to be no official sources available to describe this place (CheapSeat magazine’s brochure for Impolito just reads NO REFUNDS!) Well, I will attempt to correct this.

Impolito is a small country in the far reaches of the world; the reaches are so far in fact that you can never quite tell where it is until you’re there, and when you get there you’re too tired to remember where you came from. And when you leave you’re in such a hurry to get away from it you soon forget the way back, and in fact you’re quite glad of this in the end. The people of Impolito run the tourist agencies themselves and they like to tell you, with an uncanny combination of enthusiasm and a nasal drone, all about their country, which manages to sound dull and depressing even though they’re clearly quite chuffed with it. This soon sends you off to sleep, and is the reason why most people can’t remember how to get there. I heard a tale of a man who brought a barrel of Red Bull for the ride to try and help him remember, but he caused so many toilet stops that they kicked him off. But thankfully he had enough energy left to run the whole way back.
After a few hours on the bus it stopped having completely left civilization and I got off and then rode a camel the rest of the way. There was actually a plane to take you there, but the only thing to do on that ride would be another guided tour, and the seats looked so tatty I might not be able to fall asleep even. And when I found out that the in-flight movie was Home Alone 4 that sealed the deal. The camel guy told me that going by camel was a great adventure and was just as good as flying, and to be fair I did spend much more time in the air than I did on the ground. And after a bone jarring ride through hills and hillocks and the odd mountain I was finally there.

Word of the post: ficticious

Jus' a quick one (YourSpins)

I'm reliably informed that it is better to post short snappy entries then the lengthy tomes that I have been bestowing upon you, and that a briefer piece is more likely to induce comments from the masses, and so I resolve to do so.
If you scroll down you will find a media player device which, when clicked, will play "Lift me up" by MOBY remixed by none other than myself. Through visiting the Faithless website I discovered this fun interactive music website. Those among my readers who have money to waste..er spend on things such as Logic Pro 7 will probably scoff at the technology it provides- but for the rest of us who don't know an awful lot about music- being able to change the bass from "dub" to "moogy" makes the music a lot more fun.
The site also has a community base, where people can listen to, comment on and rate each other's music. The layout is a bit like MySpace only...good, and people leave comments, make friends bladibladibla. This whol community thing usually bores me, but having the music mizes to focus on makes it a lot more interesting to talk to weirdoes I've never met and never will. Their third party terms aren't as rigid as I'd like them to be but otherwise the site seems pretty ok, and after spending an hour mixing on the Faithless site I wasn't going to complain!!

So if you fancy it come and join me making some music

see you later

The Figleaf

YourSpins homepage www.yourspins.com

My Page

Faithless website - you can remix their new track from here, but you won't be able to save it without joining YourSpins

Still alive...just

Hi y'all

Sorry to have neglected you my friends- i have no excuse to bring before you only my apologies and hope that you will return to me in grace...or something. The comments drought of the past few months put me off- plus the fact that I seemed to have killed off the Carey teens blog with my last post!! But i'm sat by my computer, in desperate need of something remotely creative to do to ease my conscience from the burden brought on by not having done enough work. I don't blame this entirely on myself- the University are to blame I say!!! They have introduced a special series of "student lead workshops" for the duration of the third year- whereby we as students, because of our independence and skill are supposed to be able to run our own lectures once a fortnight without any guidance or support whatsoever- the result: no one turns up and no one does any work!!
As one of the few faithful who turns up to every lecture I should feel proud and snobbish, but the lack of enthusiasm among my peers, as well as the wasted journey time has a serious drain on my ability and desire to produce work- and when the room we're s'posed to be in is locked it doesn't help much either!! All in all it drains me so I don't feel like doing much at all, and am left without a sense of purpose as I struggle to do the best I can for this third year.

Sorry to unload on you all like that- I should really be encouraging you to read my stuff rather than dump a load of my grievances on you, not particularly funny ones either! Other than this, life is decidedly average, so for something positive i'll give you my current reading material and adig up a positive post from my MSN blog to c 'n p for you!

My train book is Moby Dick by Herman Mellvile, a great Leviathan of a book, but very readable- I remember struggling with it when i started reading it at school (it was shortly after i attempted War and Peace, so i was put off big meaty books for a while!) but now I can't put it down, except when I need to get off the train!! Even when he pauses in the middle of the narrative to give an in depth description of the distinguishing features of the different species of whal known to man it's still gripping!!

I'm also reading Untold Stories by Alan Bennet (well I've read the introduction!!) my lecturer reckons it's good so i should really get stuck in!!

I'm now doing some damage to Psalms, book five by King David/God, i recently read Psalm 119, three pages long, 176 verses and all thoroughly worth reading.

OK- the rest of the content of this post is from eons ago and is purely to fill space until I find something decent to write about- enjoy.

The word of the post is posterity

Elan, wonderful Elan

I was sitting here thinking- what does this blog need? What would make it truly complete so I could look back one day and say "yes, wasn't that all worthwhile!". And then it struck me (or more acurately she struck me!) the answer to all my trouble- I hadn't talked about Elan!!! It was so simple and yet so fundamental, what kind of blogger am I if I don't talk about Elan?

And so, slightly ashamed, I compose this entry about my friend Elan, mostly because I like her partly because she can pinch you hard enough to make you bleed! Elan is a truly wonderful person, funny, kind, pretty good at pool too, or maybe I'm just rubbish!! Since leaving school, Elan more than anyone else has been the force of unity amongst leavers of our high school, she works harder than anyone else to bring us all to a pub where we can meet over a few drinks and have exactly the same conversation as last time!! She'll always make you laugh- mostly because she is just laughing incessantly herself and can make pretty much any conversation seem hilarious.

See you soon- word of the thing, virrulent

The Figleaf

Ok, she's gone now- what I really think about Elan is...

Reading...amongst other things

Hello viewers

I had my second day of University, which turned out to be worse than the first in terms of being valueless and frustrating. Once again i spent the day with Edd, which softened the blow somewhat, especially as we decided to go bowling after the induction. I now know less about what's going on than I did before!! I don't know which subjects I'll be studying or why and I'm not even sure when I go in next!! I think I'm doing Prose and Screenplay like last year, and I think I'm going to do what's been called the "Samurai Module" and get involved in a writing project for children with learning disabilities... if they said it right!

Right- onto reading, I once posted up a reading log on this 'ere blog o' mine and I believe I will continue as it is the kind of thing we are encouraged to do at University and you never know you may find it interesting. I've recently finished a collection of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe ( as in 10 minutes ago) so this has prompted me to post up a list of my chosen literature of late. I'll post up what I've read recently, what I'm reading currently and what I hope to read soon- not that 'recently' will encompass anything I've read over the past few months that I can remember well enough to write about.

But first, a little on my methods. I'm quite methodical when it comes to reading in a number of ways, for example if I read I will read a chapter, a whole chapter and unless I've got plenty of time for more I won't read on- I hate leaving a chapter or short story unfinished and if I have to do this because of inconvenient things like eating then I will rush straight back to my book so I can finish it. I also tend to read set books at set times, I usually have a Train Book which I read, surprisingly enough, on the train- to and from Uni. This tends to be a classic novel so i can fill my brain with good literature before entering the lecture room and it also means that since I have nothing better to do I'm more likely to read it and get through it, rather than at home where I'm more likely to find something else to do. Lastly if a book is in a series I absolutely MUST read that series in order- I consider it my highest literary crime to read book 3 before 1 and 2, and will only do it if I have to or don't know- and then I'll rush out and buy the preceeding books! As you can see I'm quite fastidious (ooh- that'll be my word thingy!) when it comes to absorbing literature.

Right, on with the list shal we?

Stuff I read recently

Oliver Twist: Charles Dickens - Undeniably an excellent novel, though Dickens doesn't half know how to ramble on about things!! Despite this I found the story a gripping and very entertaining one. I don't need to tell you what it was about, but it was interesting to note differences between the novel and the musical and film adaptations, as well as seeing the patterns in the "installments" when it was originally published in newspapers before being bound up in book form.

Starship Troopers: Robert Heinlein - I've yet to see the film, but the book is excellent. It describes a future, military based, society and is an interesting look at how humanity might be if spread out across the stars. Set against the backdrop of the war against the bugs, this book goes deep inside the mind of a soldier from boyhood to leading an elite platoon into battle. It had a clear, understandable style clear of unnnecessary technobabble yet also in a clear futuristic setting.

High Rhulain: Brian Jaques - The Redwall series, should not be mistaken for just being children's literature about talking mice and squirells. These books take the genre and take it seriously, creating stories about wars and heroes in a world much smaller than our own.

Ex Machina, volumes 1 and 2: Brian K Vaughan - I actually commited crime number 1 and read the second volume first, but I coped since this is an excellent series, possibly the greatest superhero series ever written since the classic days of Superman and co. It centers on Mitchell Hundred aka The Great Machine, bestowed with the ability to command any machine to do his bidding. But he decides that he'd do more good as Mayor of New york instead, and so the story centers on his political life while revealing his superhero background in the process. Fantastically written, excellently illustrated- recommended to anyone who can cope with a fair amount of swearing and the odd gory bit.

Selected Tales: Edgar Alan Poe - this falls into my 'train book' category, even though I haven't used the train in a while. A master of words, though also fond of using them rather liberally he also helped create and establish several genres, for example his character Dupin was one of the first detective characters in fiction, and Poe wrote very elaborate mysteries for him to solve, one of which was based on an unsolved murder in Americe, Poe turned out to be right in his assumptions as to who did it and how it was done!! He also wrote some terrible nonsense, such as the Imp of the Perverse, which is about the most boring thing I have ever read, it was an essay on the blatantly obvious fact that human beings like to do things even though they know it's wrong (it's called sin genius!!) and then described the actualy story in about two paragraphs!! But on the whole very readable.

The big four: Agatha Christie - Poirot takes on international super-criminals in this excellent book. I bought it on audio for my dad and then quickly borrowed it as soon as he'd finished with it- I quite like hearing books though I'm more prone to drifting off, then i have to wander across the room to rewind the tape!!

Stuff I'm reading now

With Poe out of the way, a substantial amount of my reading is done, but there are a few things still on the go and I'm certain I shall soon start others.

Cat Amongst the pidgeons - A lot less action than the previous book, yet somehow just as gripping- I think the fact that I have no idea what's going on, and neither do anyt of the characters, makes me enjoy it more- but that may change when Poirot shows up!! Again I'm listening to this one- it's good for when I'm resting my eyes from books and computering

Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines : Karen Traviss - The second in the Legacy of the Force series (don't worry I have read the first, I just forgot to mention it!!) and quite entertaining. The galaxy is falling apart (again) but as once friendly planets attack each other it's hard to to tell who are the good guys and the bad guys, and this makes it much more interesting than alien invasions or superweapons- plus Boba Fett's back!!

The Book of Psalms: God et al - Besides being the infallible word of the Lord Most High this is quite a readable book, it is interesting to see the Psalms that don't always get quoted and how king David and others trusted God not just when they were 'in the valley of the shadow of death' but in quite specific places, battles and situations too.

Stuff I'm going to read

Well, I'm quite tired now so you'll have to find out in my next post on reading

Goodbye on and all

Me

Word: Fastidious

First day back

Well I'm officially back in that schooltime extension that is university. I travelled in with my good friend Edd to enroll, and my what a waste of time that was! An hours worth of travelling, £2.60's worth of tolls, about the same in bus fares around the city, a walk up the biggest piece of hill in Liverpool all for something I could have done over the phone. I recieved my results....again! Then I got back a load of paperwork I'd already filled in myself which now bore an LJMU stamp, then I went up to enroll, which took all of a minute, since I don't have a student roll- if you don't have one of those glorified beer tabs the office people don't want to know you, and before I knew it I was back out the door, managing to compare results with a few of my compadres on the way.

But it wasn't too bad as I had Edd with me and we spent a fairly pleasant day in the city wandering around our usual haunts. Our first stop was Forbidden Planet a shop for all things Sci-Fi or comic book, I checked out a few items to compare in price with it's chief rival World's Apart on the way back up. Then we stopped off at Eddie Rockets, the city's authentic 50s diner- where I got probably the biggest hotdog I've ever eaten (and good too, considering the price!) and also discovered that I don't like Kraut, whatever it is! I also had one of their ultra big, ultra creamy vanilla milkshakes- it waswell worth going just for that!! Having filled ourselves we left to find that Save the Children were on lunchbreak and made a quick getaway down the street.

We wandered through the shops and I analysed the contents of each and mulled over what would be worth getting and where it would be best to get it from- HMV's student discounts usually put it in first place, but you never know where you might find half price CDs. We made our way through the shops- Edd purchased and has now joined me in Matrix Online . Through these we proceeded to the Liverpool docks to make another museum trip- this time to the Maritime Museum, a haunt of my childhood, still fresh in my memory- and checking which parcels have drugs in, and sitting on the firing ends of cannons never lose their charm. There were also very informative sections such as a recreation of the interior of a slave ship, being in such a cramped dank and uncomfortable space showed how warped you can get when you think of human beings as 'cargo'

But we returned into the sunlight and made our way back into the centre of commerce- I made my purchases- the chief of which is the new Scissor Sisters album Ta-Dah. An excellent piece of work in my opinion- I loved their debut album and was glad to see the return of this quirky, talented and unbelievably catchy band. I'd heard "I don't feel like dancing" on the radio, but wasn't too sure what the rest of the album would be like, but then I saw a live concert on TV the night before and was totally conviced that the band were as strong as ever. With the second albums of many groups being released this year, we will see who is destined to 'make it' - I sincerely hope the sisters are among those that do. My favourite songs are I don't feel like dancing, She's my Man, Kiss you off and Everybody wants the same thing- but in terms of lyrics, track 3 "I can't decide" takes the cake- imagine one of the chirpiest songs you've ever heard- then put these words to it

"I could throw you in the lake
Or feed you poisoned birthday cake
I won't deny I'm gonna miss you when you're gone
I could bury you alive,
but you might crawl out with a knife
And kill me when I'm sleeping that's why..

I can't decide whether you should live or die
Oh you'll probably go to heaven please don't hang your head and cry
..."

Right- Lost is on, so here's some quick C 'n P content for you all

"

Me me me

Hello everyone

I thought I'd stop moaning for a while (fat chance!) and tell you all a little bit about myself- this is what you're s'posed to with one of these things right? Don't worry i'm not going to give you my life story or go all serious on you- that's just not my style kids! For now at least I'm just going to skim over the little factoids I've given you over the past entries and expand on them a little.

I think I've mentioned my being a student and also being something of a writer a couple of times, and for those of you who don't know- the two go together. I'm nearly done with my second year at John Moores University in Liverpool (a very scary thought!) where i study Imaginative Writing- is it all making sense now? Now just to clear up what imaginative writing is, as some people get confused, especially when I use the shorter title 'creative writing'- thinking it's a course on caligraphy or something! No- IW is about using your imagination to create a short story poem, film script or something else like that!

Personally I'm in it for the prose or stories side of things, though I have enjoyed things such as Screenwriting and some of the more conventional academic modules. First year we got a taster of all different kinds of things, short story writing, poetry, writing for stage, studying the arts in general and observation and discovery which taught us to take inspiration from the world around us through some fun excersizes. There were also some optional choices such as Writing from Myth which was very enjoyable as we got a story time at the end of each lecture!

Now we've narrowed it down a bit (I've dropped poetry) and we tend to do more workshops, which I've already described, pretty much constantly. These are beneficial, especially if they're looking at your story, but can also get a bit tiresome and can leave you feeling like you haven't learnt anything. But the point of them is to prepare us for a potential career as pro writers, and workshop groups are a very helpful tool for any writer.

I may have also mentioned trains sometime recently- this is because i am what is known as a day student- that is to say I travel from home to Uni each day. When I say each day, that is each day I'm inUni, which isn't very often because the course requires you to do a lot of work by yourself, my total currently amounts to 2 days a week lecture time and it will probably be about the same next year when we run our own workshops and do portfolios.

This makes me reliant on trains, which of late has not been a good thing, but I've said enough on that I think! You may wonder why I chose to be a day student and miss out on all that fun, i will attempt to explain here. Firstly I couldn't care less about the staying up all night, avoiding eye contact with the girl in the next room, ordering pizza because my toast burnt again lifestyle. I've never really dug parties per se, I prefer a quiet one or doing something that is actually fun with mates, and somehow i survive.

The second major reason, and the one i use most, is the student debt issue, as a day student I will leave Uni with a debt totalling up to £0.00 or thereabouts! Not needing to pay for accomodation, electricity, food, copious amounts of alcohol etc. means I won't have the student debt that hangs over most graduates heads. I have a job with the Playschemes in Flintshire, providing safe, free places for children to play accross the county, and this funds my occasional CD purchases etc. I'm not loaded, but I'm not in the red either.So far it's working well and i hope it continues to next year. The only drawback is not being able to spend as much time with people in l'pool but I've still see them relatively often and I've still got mates at home.

Right, that'll do for now- Dr Who's back soon, woohoo!

Word- Rambunctious"

Goodbye

The big reveal

Well I seem to be keeping up with this e're blog, but it may disspoint some of you that I haven't posted any images of myself. To be fair I would imagine all of my readers know who I am- but there may be one or two of you dropping by wondering who could come up with the material on this 'ere weblog, well I am, shal we say, cybershy... or something like that, seems like you can stick "cyber" in front of pretty much any word to make a new meaning- but I digress. Anyway, I may not know you, you might be the maniac next door who can't take the far out nature of my blogging and have an axe hanging above your bed, waiting for the Figleaf to reveal himself...or maybe not- but anyhow, I generally keep myself to myself when it comes to this online business, but I'm going to trust you all to put your axes down and accept my vision for the time being. And in the spirit of MSN and (spit on it, spit on it, spit on it till it drowns!!!!) MySpace display pictures, featuring three or more people so you have no idea who you're talking to, I'm going to post up a few pictures of people who aren't me, all images courtesy of Wikipedia and other such sites.

















George W Bush, 43rd President of the United States... just in case you got us mixed up
















Philip K Dick - I want to be like him, in terms of writing amazing Science Fiction at least.












Thomas Mittlewerk of the Hanso Foundation














Gil-Galad, high King of the Noldor elves



















Donatello, of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles













Darth Krayt, leader of the new Sith Order

















The terrorist/hero known as V








Tank, former Operator of the Nebuchadnezzar











Blinky, the three eyed fish

Well I hope that cleared up some things for you, and perhaps subtly revealed some of the things I'm interested in. But I think you've waited long enough- here it is, finally a picture of the real me exclusively for you, the people who were so bored they kept clicking next so they could browse through everyone's blog.

Here I am!!
























Hope that was enough to satisfy y'all of my true identity- 'cause that's all you're getting!! OK, now some more copied content from my old blog! A list of the world's largest snuffleducks- essential readin i assure you.

Largest snuffleducks

Enter the information for the item you want to add, and then click Save to add it to your list. * Required information * Name: Web address: Description: Item Description Lesser striped snuffleduck (2m) A striped snuffleduck that is snaller than another type of snuffleduck Medium striped snuffleduck (2.5m) A striped snuffleduck that is large, but not the largest Large striped snuffleduck (3m) A striped snuffleduck that is large XL striped snuffleduck (4m) The largest striped snuffleduck Meduim to Large striped snuffleduck (?m) No one knows is this exists, but legends tell of a striped snuffleduck that is larger than a medium striped snuffleduckm but not as large as a larger striped snuffleduck Tartan snuffleduck (50m) A huge snuffleduck that makes the rest of the list pointless There are no items in this list. To add an item, click Add an item.

Thank you for reading

The Figleaf

Word of the post - Superfluous

Pressing on

Well I said I would so I will- I'm going to bring you more and more content from my officially deceased MSN space along with various comments from myself interspersed with out of date content. As for now, I recently attended Contagious aka Bible Bootcamp! Quite easily one of the best weeks of my year, loads of fun with great friends studying the greatest book ever written by the most wonderful author in the universe. This year we studied the cross, the central event of all history- it was a priviledge to learn so much about this incredible act of mercy and love, and a huge encouragement to me personally- the website (HERE) has some info on the week, as for the rest go into any bookshop and ask for a Bible, they'll have one somewhere.

OK, now here's what you're really after- some ancient article i dug up from behind the sofa, well here it is my pretties, here it is...

"A teen no more!

Greetings Address book people!

I am now 20 years of age, having had a birthday recently- I have left teenagerdom behind and am now a typical single twentysomething. Fortunately I am still a student so I don't have to be counted as a mature adult yet, but as I'm no longer a teen I have to drop the mood swings and the ASBO! On the whole, being 20 is a lot like being nineteen, though we'll wait and see how the year develops. I'm still at the stage where i think I'm 19 (well actually 18!) .and keep forgetting to tell people that I'm 20, but that always wears off eventually. I won't tell you what I got- we wouldn't want burglars to get wind of it would we! With this jolly birthdaying going on I'm in something less of a grumpy mood, so I might even talk about something more ordinary/positive.

I've officially finished lectures for the year (I'm shocked too!) I was suddenly informed that we would not be returning after the easter holidays untill May, when we hand in assignments, which kind of defeats the object of having an easter holiday as I see it, though I'm not complaining!! We finished the year by having an exam- how nice of the lecturers!!! You see, us writers don't have it easy all the time! However, it was nice to have pretty much all the students in one room together as we've largely been scattered around due to timetable changes this year.

I guess i should probably say something writerly, what with the post where I said I would and all that. I'm at the point where I've got to edit all my work ready for submission in May. I find this extremely tedious and sometimes painful, and I usually end up with some sort of disease at the end of it!! A lot of writers find it hard to cut into their precious creations and I still find it hard, but I don't have to much of a problem with it at the moment. This is helped by the workshop, when a roomful readers point out a problem to you, it's easier to see the need to cut that section out, change that paragraph around, or start again if necessary.

A recent workshop showed me that my screenplay isn't as great as I thought it was and the tone is changing very much in the next one into what will be a darker and hopefully much better story by May. I don't have to be as drastic as that with my short story as I got the verdict I got last time which is essentially good... for a first draft. Last year I was quite cautious, but this year I've gone all out to create the best, original mind-blowing science-fiction there is, and while i don't quite achieve that mark (yet!) aiming high seems to let me succeed without the fall being to far.

But now I'm on my own, just me and the computer screen, my eyes tired after an hour of gaming, ready to improve my work word by word untill I can bear to look no more at the bright lights and changing words and collapse into bed yet again. So I don't mind cutting my work to pieces and building it into something better as long as I can play master sowdsman and then ace sculpter, but while I'm clipping word after word off a bonsai tree, which looks almost perfect, but is missing something I can't quite see- that's what I hate!!

Well I guess I had start complaining at some point- but this is more about life, and giving advice to anyone else who might like to be a writer- not that I'm an expert or anything! You might think what you've written is great and your idea probably is, but in reality the chances are that your first draft needs some work on it. Don't despair, go to it- throw out the garbage and bring in the good stuff- treat it as though you are creating a new story, not destroying and old one, get some advice, keep the essential elements of your story, but shape them into a better creation. I imagine you have a computer- use copy and paste, keep a copy of your story, then take the new copy and fiddle around with that one, and make another copy if that one doesn't work. Computers can be handy- use them!

Hope that was useful and, if possible, interesting

The Figleaf

WotW- Heinous (A heinous crime) sounds great dunnit!"

See you soon everyone- try not to die or anything yeah?

The death of a blog- the birth of another

Fear not blogspot users- I abondon ye not! It is of the blog that is MSN based of which I speak. For some time this fine weblog, entitled "The Place that is" was the centre of my conversations with the world, but sadly it is rolling over and slowly dying a painful death, whereas this mighty piece of literary excellence is flourishing by comparison...well people read it at least! So I say adieux to that piece of work, I will be posting the rest of the contents here in quick succession and bidding farewell to that project and focusing on this from now on- but there will still be plenty of C 'n P to come- the Ratfish post has inspired me to find random content from the web and bringing to your eyes by virtue of the Copy 'n Paste functions.

A few people have been kind enough to draw attention to my blog- so I feel i should return the favour and highlight a few blogs that are worth a glance.

Program Filez My creation: A fansite for the Matrix and more specifically the Matrix Online MMORPG- if neither of these interest you it's probably better to pass this one over.

Teatime My mate Tim's blog- Tim is one of the best bloggers I know, he blogs hard fast and says lots of things about his precious bike

Life's Student Caleb's blog, he posts long deep serious posts and they've all got Dr Who in them somewhere!!

Pasta Davey My most regular commenter as of now- posts about his lovely permanent holiday in France, where he happens to be a missionary- lots of pics, lots of links to BBC news!

That'll do for now- I'll just hunt for something to paste in- goodbye my pet monkeys!!

"

Trains!!!

OK, so you want to know more about me huh? Well listen to this- I HATE TRAINS!!! When I made the decision to become a day student, a decision I am still pleased with on the whole , I have become reliant on trains for transport, which can often mean problems! I have just had my second problem in as many days and am currently very disgruntled. The main problem is Bidston (Noun- nowhere, centre of:) registered charity number N12358876D. The meeting place between two trainlines and the conection to the city of Liverpool- you'd think they'd make an effort to accomodate the unfortunate souls who have to wait there wouldn't you- well they don't!

Bidston has got to be the least accomodating station I've ever set foot on. To be fair my home station is little more than two platforms, but there's only one train to catch there. Besides a few chairs and a "heated" waiting room there is absolutely nothing to satisfy the trains customer on a cold wintry night when the train's 10 minutes late (again) and the wind is howling around your legs as you struggle to remain upright from exhaustion. All in all, not a nice place to be waiting when something goes wrong. as has happened recently- let me go into detail-

Day1- Due to a cow being on the line, the Wrexham line train was delayed to the point where they gave up trying to run the train, and therefore kindly presented a bus for us to use. Seems reasonable- but it ain't, firstly buses take twice as long to travel as trains and escondly buses, like trains are never on time, so after waiting for ages for this bus I hopped on and was slowly driven home, arriving only two hours after I'd left. The only comfort of this was that the bus was quite warm and there were other people to moan with- nothing like the trains to bring people together!!!

Day 2- I arrive at Bidston to learn that there's been a fault on the train that will cause major problems (they helpfully tell me this after the train home has left, leaving me stranded at wonderful Bidston) i decide to stick it out and see what happens- the train is a full 40mins late, by which time I've decided that it's not worth the risk and then go home after waiting for the next train home, which surprisingly runs on time.

So you can see- despite being helpful fast and cheap transport, trains and train station are not reliable in the slightest- so be warned traveler. I would just not that this is not a slight on the people of Bidston, I'm sure your town is a wonderful place- but your train station isn't!! I may take a photo or two of the desolation to show you, and you can send in your money- just £2 a month will get us a radiator!!

I am aware that I am being rather moaney on this blog, and while the main purpose is to relate my life and to have an attempt at being at least vaguely funny- it's probably be a btter idea to look at some more positive aspects of life the universe and everything.

I went to the cinema on Saturday to see V for Vendetta- I don't know what the critics are saying about it yet, but in my opinion it's an excellent film. I bought the comic series on which it was based and was blown away- I'd never know that writing of such quality could be found in comics. And I was glad to see this reflected in the motion picture. What's really cool about it is that the main hero, V, constantly wears a mask throughout the film, and that mask has a big smiley face drawn on it- so no matter what he feels, anger, sorrow, happiness, he is always smiling. I think it was incredible of the actor (Hugo Weaving aka Agent Smith) to be able to convey emotion and feeling through this character. What I also like was that it was an American made film set in Britain and British culture (they've finally realised that other countries exist!!) and that it was set in modern times, yet and insane terrorist is the hero- on the whole very refreshing!

Like I said, I really enjoyed the comic book writing and have even attaempted to turn my hand to comic writing. I can't draw at all, but I've been making a comic script and i'm getting along quite well with it, though annoying things like coursework keep getting in the way! Since I'm studying Screenplay in Uni, visual language and description are something I'm quite used to, and i find writing a comic quite similar to writing a script so it's reatively easy to get into. Initially I came only to write prose, but I'm finding that I quite enjoy other forms of storytelling so watch this space- I still won't do poetry though!!

Word of the bleh- Porochial, this charcter in Oliver Twist keeps saying it!!

So go and see V for Vendetta, also Firefly and Serenity are highly recommmended, but i'll come to that another time.

See you soon readers"

And that's goodbye from me...

Blogspot Exclusive- The Ratfish!

Oh yes bloggers I now bring you something that has only ever been and only ever will be seen right here on blogspot.com/my website . A few (well one!) people have been asking about the Rat Fish featured in my museum trip pictures- and in true c 'n p style with the help of my good friend google i bring you the top information about the mighty Spotted Ratfish

Just in case I get sued for plagiarism or whatever I'm at least going to acknowledge the source- this info comes from Elasmodiver a database on all things shark. There you are guys, a bit of advertising for ya- I scratch your back you don't steal the meager savings carried in a rag bundle off mine...ok?

Elasmodiver is an image database of sharks, skates, rays, and chimaera's from around the world. It began as a simple web based field guide to help divers find the best places to encounter different species of sharks and rays but it has slowly evolved into a much larger project containing information on all aspects of shark diving and photography. There are now more than a thousand shark pictures and sections on shark evolution, biology, and conservation. There is a large library of reviewed shark books, a constantly outdated shark taxonomy page, a monster list of shark links, and deeper in the site there are numerous articles and stories about shark encounters.

SPOTTED RATFISH

View all available Spotted Ratfish Pictures in the SHARKIVE

Common Names: Spotted ratfish.

Latin Name: Hydrolagus colliei

Family: chimaeridae

Identification: Broad, flat, duckbill shaped snout containing incisor shaped teeth. Large eyes. Prominent, venomous spine at leading edge of dorsal fin. Tapering tail constitutes almost half overall length. Coloration brown or grey with white spots. Skin smooth and scaleless. Can give off an iridescent, silvery sheen. Triangular pectoral fins well developed. Fins grey or dark.

Size: up to 97cm in length.

Habitat: Sand and mud bottoms and sometimes rocky reefs. from 0 to 3000ft.

Abundance and distribution: From Southeastern Alaska to Central Baja. Common from British Columbia to Northern California.

Behavior: Swims slowly across sand in search of prey. Crushes clams, crabs, and shrimp etc. in forward facing "incisors". Food located primarily by smell. Uses its pectoral fins for locomotion.

Reproduction: Oviparous. After elaborate courtship rituals the female lays a spoon shaped egg capsule. The extrusion process can last 18 to 30 hours and the capsule is retained on thin tendrils for between four to six days until finally caught on the seabed or planted in the sand.

Observations:

Photographs: Ogden point ( ratfish), Maple bay (egg capsule), Vancouver Island, Canada.

Similar species:

Reaction to divers: During the day moves slowly. With patience it is possible to get quite close. Although able to inflict a mildly toxic wound, it is not aggressive and prefers to maintain a safe distance.

Diving logistics: In British Columbia this Chimaera is quite easy to find. One very nice dive is off of the Ogden Point breakwater. This is a 1km long jetty that runs away from shore into about 120ft of water. From about 2/3rds of the way along, the water is deep enough to support ratfish. To find them simply take a compass reading away from the breakwater and head directly out into the sand. The terrain is fairly featureless and unappealing but supports a reasonable number of ratfish. I have seen about 10 ratfish within a few minutes here at about 80ft in November. Ogden Point Breakwater has a full service dive shop at its base and offers air and nitrox fills. The walk out can be a bit challenging in full gear. The breakwater itself offers excellent shore diving with opportunities to see wolf eels and giant pacific octopuses. Spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) may be encountered at the far end of the breakwater but this area is deep and current swept.

Other diving locations submitted by readers:

References:

• Pacific Fishes of Canada - J.L.Hart. Fisheries Research board of Canada. Ottawa 1973.

Pretty awesome huh?

Catch ya later dudes and uncool people

The Figleaf

Word thingy- chronology

Catching up- writer's blog

Ok, well since all I have to do is copy and paste things into this blog I figured it's time i actually did it, here's another time-irrelevant blog entry for you all to read. This does actually lead me to wonder what will happen when this blog catches up/overtakes the other- hmm, we shall see. Apparently a few people are taking an interest in my blog so I guess I'll have to post up some stuff for them to read- I know it's a bit naff now but if folks wopuld be so kind as to post comments it would spur me on to post more content.

Here goes:

"Writer's Blog

Greetings world!

Word thing- peripheral

OK, my lecturers and the books they publish and try to make us buy (The Writer's Workbook- an excellent helpful read available at all good bookshops ('cause the bad ones don't sell it!)) advise their students to make a writer's journal. Apparently it's something really helpful to do, so while i'm still studying Imaginative Writing and can still, to a degree, call myself a writer I'll have a bash at it.

I recently went through the ordeal of having a writer's workshop- that is to sit in a room with your fellow students and listen to them rip your precious beloved story to shreds for an hour!! What pleased me was firstly that everyone in the room thought it was a good story (this doesn't happen to everyone!) despite it having some mistakes and places that could be improved upon. Secondly the fact that it was wacky mind-bending Science Fiction didn't stop people understanding or enjoying it, which has happened in the past (they just don't share my vision man!!) But this time everyone got on fine with it, though as always there were areas that could be improved upon- I'm not perfect yet! And as Ernest Hemingway excellently put it- "first drafts are S**t!"

Having a workshop is a good process to go through, especially if it's done by other writers who know what they're talking about, and aren't afraid to tell you what needs working on- constructive criticism and all that! But despite it being a bit boring/ unpleasant sometimes it has been one of the things I've found most helpful, because you have to realise that you're not gonna get it perfect first time and that if you want to take writing seriously you well.. have to take it seriously!! It turns writing from a hobby to a passion and a possible career as you learn to accept criticism and to learn how to be absolutely brutal to a piece of writing to make sure it's the best it can be.

This does have a negative side (though it is ultimately a positive one)- it makes it very difficult to write just for fun because you find it harder and harder to just write without correcting or destroying what you've just written. Ultimately this is what makes you a good writer I suppose, but in the mean time it's hard to write something wihtout it turning into a project of some kind. For example I started writing a comic strip (script only, no pictures) to see what it was like and I'v ended up editing it and spending ages trying to figure out how best to convey emotion etc.

Right, my time is up- I hope you enjoyed this insight into the world of a writer to be, untill next time..

Goodbye"

Enjoy- comment I dares ya!!

Netiquette, or the MSN rant

Hello everyone

First of all- my word of the week sort of thing:

Perfunctory- adj superficial, hasty, done merely as a matter of form, half-hearted, perforemed carelessly, indifferent.

What i really like about this word is that is has a definite meaning, yet sounds ike a word you'd make up just to sound clever- I had to check the dictionary just to make sure it was real. I certainly believe that this adjective has often been used without it's meaning coming across at all.

OK, back to business, my chance to yabber on at the hand that feeds me- MSN messenger. While MSN is certainly a very cool device it has a number of annoying quirks, as do the people that use it, myself included though I like to think that I'm immune to all that! I originally did this as a series of small articles on MSN and its use- but I present them to you in complete form

Section 1- Microsoft Network Messenger, the stigma and ignorance surrounding MSN

"Are you on MSN?" I heard for once again, knowing that now MSN had come into our brief summer relationship, it wouldn't last much longer. "OK then, what's your mobile then?" Blinking back the tears I explained that I didn't posess a mobile phone, she looked back at me startled. I hastily added that I did posess an e-mail adress, which seemed to cheer her up slightly- knowing that I wasn't a total trogladyte, but inwardly i was sighing. She was of a different generation to me, yes she'd e-mail at first, but she was used to the brief, letter economical texting or instantaneous conversation online- she wouldn't want to write long meaningful e-mails to me, no- i was just as well saying goodbye as "Keep in touch"
Now this tale, for those who are breaking out the hankies isn't true, or at least the romantic implication of it isn't true but there have been plenty of potential mates that I have met over the summer, had a great time with, and never spoken to again because e-mail is to much hassle. Now I have obivously joined the MSN generation, but i still feel there is this oppresive element to it- like a great international clique that you can only join if you've downloaded this one specific messenger.
Because MSN has been spread across the world as THE messenger, though other brands may be of equal quality, likely even superior. But since it has been packaged into our brousers, included on our PCs, everyone has it and expects that others should join the club. So the question is not- "do you have a messenger?" it's "do you have MSN" . I don't mean to diss MSN as it is a handy service , though as I've mentioned it can be very annoying. I'm just saying think about those people who don't have this device and make sure you don't ignore them because they're not part of the club- and don't bully them into joining either- it's hard, having been on the other end i know.
But the question "do you have MSN" exposes a great ignorance- people don't actually know what MSN is. MSN rather boringly stands for Microsoft Network- basically anything that Microsoft provides on the internet- such as search functions, websites and yes messenger is incorporated into MSN, yet the word has come to mean a way to instantaneously communicate across distances online and through text.
So the next time you (or I) ask someone "do you have MSN?" just think about what you're asking- what do you really mean when you ask this question- and what would you do if they said no?

Section 2- The Software

Now we discuss the program itself, the workings and manerisms of the MSN software. I have long held that MSN (Messenger) is the "Small Child" of software- Microsoft built software that is. Not to say that other devices are necessarily better, I'm just saying that Microsoft built MSN with annoying the general public in mind. This is mostly a marketing/advertising thing, 'Soft want you to buy and use their product therefore, like any company, they throw it in your face.
Computers come with MSN (and a whole load of other software you might not want) installed- Internet Explorer (which come as standard) has a little MSN icon at the top telling you to use it- come on, all you have to do is click (then sign up, maybe get a new e-mail adress, tick a load of boxes permitting them to advertise to you 24/7 etc. And you get a handy little gizmo, easy as that.
But the problem is, once you've installed it, MSN still isn't happy- in fact it insists on being in your face all the time. MSN is programmed to appear when you log on to your PC, sign itself in, give you useful information like MSN Today (what is that about!!) and advertise updates to you incessantly. Now these features can quite easily be turned off, but the point is that off the shelf MSN comes with annoying as standard.
For example- the auto-sign in feature was my fault- I clicked the button that made it sign in by itself. Why did i do such a thing? why did I end up with MSN signing in when I wanted to do work, so I was disturbed by well meaning people who thought I wanted to chat- why when I played a game and finally quit did I find six people who had thought they could talk to me- but thought I was very rude not talking back- why would i sign up for that? I'll tell you why- because every single time I logged in to MSN a little message popped up advising me to turn on this feature, it got such a pain that I gave in, not knowing how much worse it would be.
As i said these features can be turned off, and I will instruct those who have to deal with this junk as to how in a minute, but let me reiterate MSN's childishness. Compared to an old wise program such as microsoft Word "Are you sure you want to delete that?" MSN pops up every morning saying boo! Look at me use me use me! Too much hassle to sign in, I'll do it for you, I can handle it honest! You obviously know nothing about the outside worl so here's some celebrity gopssip for you to read. eventually it'll start talking to your mates for you- you come on to do some work and before you know it you've blackmailed your best mate and asked that girl you met last week to marry you!!
OK, basic instruction in how to make MSN slightly less annoying. First i will detail the features that are troublesome with MSN.

1. Auto sign-in- I think you've got the picture
2. Popping up- most people don't mind this, but you may not want MSN to appear on your screen every time you log on
3. MSN Today, a thing that pops up with news events and quick access to your e-mail- I can' t see any decent purpose for it, so you'll probably want to get rid of this
4. Those annoying alerts and sound- again works for some

OK, to adjust all of these- open the MSN main program, go to the top and select TOOLS and then OPTIONS, you should see a screen which is entitiled "Personal" and has your screen name etc. Cycle through the different options and you will see various check boxes which you can tick/untick to remove or add MSN's features.

1, 2 and 3 are covered in General, and 4 in Alerts and sounds- I hope this makes MSN usage a little more pleasant.


Section 3- LOL

Why?! Why?! Why do people have to say 'lol' all the time on MSN?!!! Now in general I will admit I don't have a problem with people saying this so you don't need to go on a mega guilt trip for saying this- though if you decide to change your ways I applaud you. But this is mainly due to it being such a common part of conversing (ooh, I love that word- I'll look it up for next time maybe) on MSN that you hardly notice it- but that for me is part of the problem. This is starting to get a bit personal- but hey, it's my blog is it not?
When I started utlising MSN Messenger ("MSNing" is NOT a word ok?!!) I entered at the end of the period when lol was correctly used. LOL, for those of you blessed with ignorance of the word, stands for "Laugh Out Loud". So it used to be typed in when someone heard something of such hilarity that they literally did laugh out loud, needless to say i heard this quite a bit, and they needed to type something to show they heard and enjoyed the joke without having to type "hahahahahaha!!" or something like that.
But over time "lol" developed into a way of expressing the slightest degree of merriment. LOL became a standard reply to pretty much anything said since MSN is generally a forum for mildly amusing conversation as it is extremely lacking when serious talk is needed- due to people talking over each other etc. So lol is used all the time and is even starting to creep outside of Messenger usage. And Lol's original purpose is lost- this is visible from the fact that phrases such as LMAO and ROFL (I think) are being brought in to replace the original meaning of lol. Lol has become a trigger reflex, something that is said without though or meaning and this is what irritates me about it, the fact that people are saying I'm funny yet not meaning it in the slightest- just typing something they know fits- I DO have feeling people!! I think something needs to replace this system so we can have a system that actually fits the conversation- till something better comes along I'm going to stick with "hehe" it expresses that I am amused and in the appropriate degree.

I think this topic has had it's runtime so i will find something new to bemoan (ooh that's a good word too- long and completely pointless!) or perhaps even praise, whadya know I might even talk about my life.

Enjoy your lives folks

The Figleaf