Gwen’s Little Spot

It’s a big party... with fish!

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:30:00 +0000

I’m kind of excited: it looks like next Tuesday I’m taking a little field trip down to Palo Alto to participate in some research. They’re doing a study at PARC about collaborative building in Second Life, and I’m one of the participants.

PARC, formerly Xerox PARC, is kinda a Big Deal. They were largely behind such things as the mouse, the modern GUI, WYSIWYG editing, the laser printer, ethernet. You know, stuff a lot of people take for granted every day. So ya, honored to help them!

Right now, though, I’d be happy to get some rest. The temps have crept up the last couple days, and while I’ve been trying to turn in an extra hour earlier, I’m ve not exactly been benefitting from that extra hour.

Oh, and before I forget, a belated birthday to StarStraf. Sorry for my tardiness!

Oh no. Capricorn.

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:52:00 +0000

Just a quick coming up for air. Sorry I’m not being very substantive lately. Been a lot going on and my time has been limited. I am regularly twittering, though. The time crunch should change soon, I hope.

I got to meet Jenn Dolari and her girlfriend Emily visited on their grand semi-National tour from Texas to Washington. Was great to finally meet them both in the flesh. They’re both great folks, and they also both compliment each other quite well.

I have some fresh intel about a job I want, and am working up my cover letter and yet another revision of the résumé. My inworld boss, too, has set a goal of getting me out of my day job and into a full time Second Life content creation position with her company. As she’s done it before, I know she has the potential to do it again.

Did I mention I hate cover letters? I have to talk myself up, for one. That is hard for me. I’ll talk other thigns up, but myself? Ugh. Also, I have the trouble of trying to determine how much is too much to say. I’ve done a lot, I’ll admit, and it can be hard to condense it to a couple paragraphs.

Anyway, back to typing reports. More as I can.

Even in the quietest moments

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:52:00 +0000

Some days I feel just fine. Other days, I want to just find a hole to crawl into.

Today is the latter kind of day.

Now, if only I could add in all the links to go with this entry...

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:41:00 +0000

This morning, buoyed by a spin of The Seduction of Claude Debussy, I decided to peek on the web and find out what The Art of Noise was up to nowadays. In the course of doing so (and reading their rather tumultuous history), I came across one of the possible references in their name: The Art of Noises (L’arte dei Rumori), penned by Luigi Russolo in 1913.

The ideas themselves were not new, but combined with the Seduction album, followed by a chunk of the Funkunfusion compilation by Ninja Tunes, I began to ponder the concepts of The Art of Noises, and consider how this manifesto’s ideas have become a part of modern culture.

At the same time, I considered, in some other fold of my brain, the initial subject that led me to this: the history of Art of Noise the group, and how the musical ideas of Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley, and other AoN alumni have crept up both in music I like, and music in general.

I find I love these sorts of intellectual pursuits, and looking at how things mesh and fit together. Ever since I discovered James Burke’s Connections series in my high school days, I’ve found I like thinking around corners and spotting both the unexpected ways things tie together, as well as how the times shape their cultures.

It’s actually one of the things I’ve enjoyed about living in this digital revolution of the last couple handfuls of years. It is fascinating to see how our culture is shifting into something new and different in an era of cell phones and iPods, Web sites and virtual worlds. As I remarked on Twitter the other day, we live in the first era where you can say “You typoed the URL” and make perfect sense to many, if not most, listeners (assuming the English language, of course). But I digress.

When I find something good to chew over, time stops. To use a geek-level reference (that itself being a geek-level reference), I begin to feel like I’m shifting out of phase, akin to the Traveler in a first season Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. Anyone else find themselves feeling this?

It made some of the work today go better than anticipated, as it involved tasks more physical than mental.

It also reminds me of one of the oddest inadvertent compliments I was ever given, that I can burn ants with the sort of focus I achieve. I’m good with that.

The thing is, what can I do to turn this sort of interest into employment? Certainly I don’t get it here. I’d love to have something that allows me to use my artistic skills, my social skills, and this interest into some sort of job that can pay my bills.

While I’m here, let me shift gears and give a few updates.

• I’m having a great deal of fun with the iPhone. Granted, 90% of my time with it is in non-telephony pursuits. I rather enjoy being in the car pool home, checking traffic, tweeting on Twitter, texting with my sister, or grabbing e-mail. Glad all those minutes roll over.

• I’m looking forward to the visit of a couple friends of mine, including one who I’ve known—but never physically met—since 1993. Should be fun.

• I finally have taken to the Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog. I’ve not been the big JW fan that many of my friends are—I watched some Buffy The Vampire Slayer, never could really sink my teeth into Angel, and have not seen a single episode of Firefly. Still, what a fun story. If only network television would do something like this. Then again, it almost seems too clever for the networks. Case in point: Arrested Development.

• In theory, we should have our third typist back next week, after a two-month medical and bereavement leave. I’ve been sticking with this job with the intent of leaving when she got back. So now is yet another time to look over the finances and see if a jump is in order. Last night I was given some good advice—and some very useful intel—about a job I would prefer. Now to implement it.

• I’m also still hot on the trail of inworld content creation, though my boss there has been a bit tried up in a book project. I’m hoping this gets back into forward motion soon. The book is an important project for her and me, as well as the rest of her staff: it could help secure a number of future contracts.

...and now, back to typing for a living. These welding reports won’t type themselves.

But what about pointed sticks?

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:54:00 +0000

Briefly coming up for air.

The department at the day job is still running at half a staff. We should have three production typists (who also do timesheets and other duties) and a filing clerk (who also does phone coverage and the Friday mail). Instead, we’re two production typists handling all of the above. No wonder I feel exhausted all the time.

Meanwhile, I’m also working on a major build in Second Life, at a pay rate higher than the other job. I really need to get more hours doing this work. Of course, to really do that I need to not have the other job. I'm holding onto the main workplace because, well... I’m not sure. It’s a steady paycheck, really, and I worry about jumping off into the void. It’s not something I’m all that comfy with. Nevertheless, you can see where I'm going.

Anyway, I didn’t come here to kvetch about the job. I came here to talk about my birthday. It was a week ago. We did not really do the big birthday celebration this time out — we learned our lesson last year, Bon and I, and know no one would have shown up.

I did get some rather nice gifts out of the deal, though. A number of inworld friends got together and surprised me with a nice collectable doll I’ve been eyeing for a couple years, and Bon took me to the Apple store for an iPhone 3G. That was an adventure.

You see, the iPhone seems to be popular. After an initial false start on my birthday proper, Bon and I headed to the local Apple Store last Saturday at 7:00 a.m., an hour before the store was slated to open for iPhone sales. When we arrived, there were already 30 or so people ahead of us. The line eventually stretched to roughly 60 people, with two varieties sold out before we even opened.

Five hours later, I had a 16GB iPhone 3G in my hand. Yes, five hours for a phone.

It’s a nice device, though. While I still grumble about being tethered to a phone, I do enjoy the wide range of features it provides. I especially like the GPS and other features of the Map. It makes a great iPod. The web browser is nice. I particularly like the ability to add onto the phone with third-party applications.

Oh, and the phone is pretty clear, too.

Anyway, I’d best get back to these timesheets. In theory, we get another typist next week, and I should get a chance to breathe again. I’ll also make some decisions then about my future.

“Tell me a story of stem and stone”

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:26:00 +0000

I know that many don’t like reading what others dream, nevertheless, I’ve found myself ruminating long about one I had the other night. It did not necessarily fit the patterns for my dreams. I have described before the peculiar nature of such, and will pass on repeating such yet again.

This one involved me working a somewhat menial job in a older style (but modern equipped) brownstone style building. During the time I was there, many of my co-workers began to develop quirks and behaviours much unlike them, as well as suffer through fugues. I also began to have such, typically finding myself in a much earlier time period (judging from the horse-drawn streetcars and rutted roads, probably close to the turn of the previous century). Eventually, as I began to try to figure out what was going on, I found a hidden space in the building, a hidey hole with a number of items in it. I assembled the others in the office so we could go through whatever I could pull out together.

As I pulled out individual goods, they triggered personality changes in those who saw them. A complete personality shift to a different identity and time. One was an artist who was in love with a former tenant of the building, and who died in his studio, well-known but broken. Another had taken his life after killing a relative of theirs (I don’t recall the relationship). Each collapsed onto the floor — either passed out or perished — at the conclusion of their live’s sad stories. One co-worker, a larger woman of Afro-Carribean descent became agitated when I began to reach for hers, acting like a very spoiled and angry child. She was screaming at me, and poking me hard in the sides. She eventually poked me hard enough to wake me. I never made it to my own part of the story, as it were: though I did fall back to sleep and into that space, the story I had been living there had concluded.

What strikes me about this dream was that it had a beginning, middle, and end (which was cut off). It was clearly paced and plotted, which is highly unusual for me: My dreams are usually very freeform, recurring environments I inhabit and explore, not “stories.” Also striking (literally!) was the woman who poked me. This did hurt as if I was poked hard to the ribs, and that pain persisted until I did fully wake up, some hours later. Odd to have “dream pain,” no?

Anyone have any insight or thoughts? Am I just crazy as a sh!thouse rat?

Anyway, I just wanted to put that down. I’ve much more I want to jot here lately, but a combination of the half-sized staff at this job right now (this being one of the things I want to write about) coupled with a rather bad case of what seems like carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist (another thing I should really bring up) has kept me from doing so. So more soon, as I want to talk about the increase in my Second Life content creation work (for real places and real money!) and many other things. Perhaps even a story of cabbages and kings.

Welcome to eternity

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:21:00 +0000

I’m a bad person.

You see, when I heard that Jesse Helms has passed away, the first thing I did was watch a copy of the old “Jesse Goes To Heaven” Frameline short and have a good laugh.

Info dumping

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:37:00 +0000

So, so many things to catch up on. Lemme hit the highlights.

On Saturday I officiated a wedding. It’s one of those skills I don’t normally get to use. My sisters, Heather and Christine, got hitched over the weekend, and I was asked to perform the ceremony. What an honor!

The wedding was great, the brides (and the rest of us) had to fight back many happy tears. I wish them nothing but success!

Late last week, I got a somewhat cryptic note from my dad, asking if I was going to be busy this weekend. I did let him know that, yes, I was going to be, with the wedding officiating and all that. So I get home from the wedding, and there’s a reply from him, letting me know he was staying in Livermore and wanted to come by and visit. Thanks for the heads up.

So he calls the next day to firm up plans. Well, he called a couple of times, but we were at the market, with Bon only catching the last call as we bounced in the door. I wish I’d gotten it, as he was with his living-in-sin mate, Dorothy. Thankfully, she stayed in the car when he did come over, perhaps knowing I did not wish to see her darken my doorstep.

That sounds bad, I know. I’m sijmply not going to be a party to deceit. So many things would make me okay (or at least better) with this, but the subterfuge is unacceptable.

Anyway, he did not stay long as he knew I was busy (and he likely had to get back outside), and I was. I had my first project with another firm in Second Life, as well as final preparations on a couple other builds of my own. I’m slowly trying to build my way into a different job.

Speaking of jobs. At the ol’ “day job,” we’re down by half our staff. Our temporary assistant from summer, 2007 decided to leave a couple weeks ago, and a replacement for her proved to be less than useful. It was bad. Meanwhile, one of our three typists is out on a medical leave of absence that was initially one month, and is now two. There is a lot of speculation that she will not be back, given the nature of her particular condition.

Now, speaking of health. The hours of typing in the day followed by nightly metaverse jaunts are taking their toll. A major flare up of carpal tunnel or some such took out my right hand last week, forcing me into a rare day off. Not good at all!

Now then, through this week and on to pride weekend!

It was a one-eyed, one-armed, flying purple paper hanger

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:55:00 +0000

A little late with a weekend wrap-up. It’s been busy here. Between a lot of work on a number of issues in Second Life, a house guest, and a very stressful work experience right now, I've been well past my comfort zone, and into hiding under the pillow. I hope the aforementioned guest wasn’t too put off my the occasional retreat into the other room to have a cry break now and then.

As bad as that sounds, I have managed to resolve some things, turning an issue that seemed like a guaranteed failure into a big win, while gaining and/or strengthening the respect of many. I also did enjoy visiting with my friend, who had come into town on business -- and to take Clango Cyclotron and B.O.B. (two of my old computers) home with him, Ironically, in preparing Clango for the trip, we found out what it's trouble was: a defective fan on the graphics card. I felt bad that I was cutting into his “visit time” with my own “work time,” but I couldn’t plan on things getting so heated.

Without going on a bit of a whinge about work, I should note that we’ve lost two of the four co-workers in our little reports pool. Our file clerk/reception desk reliever/mail clerk has moved on, and one of us three report typists has gone on a month’s leave of absense — but it is very unclear if she will be coming back at all. She's had a lot of health issues recently, and none of it looks good..

Also, thanks to some fine tracking data from NASA, via Jenn Dolari, Bon and I got a Chance to watch the Space Shuttle and ISS fly over. That was all kinds of cool.

More soon — and also check out the Twitter thing. It’s interesting, trying to fit a thought into 140 characters, sometimes.

Be kind, rewind!

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:42:00 +0000

Insanely busy on a lot of fronts right now... but here’s some friday links for you! Any theme to the below is purely unintentional.

•The Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show! (Flash required)
•This will make you tear up.
•Who put the goat in there? (Flash required)
•I’m sure everyone saw this already, but I enjoyed it. (Flash required)

“Oh my god, was that a ninja?” “More like a ‘non’-ja. Terrible what passes for a ninja these days.”

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:31:00 +0000

An up and down weekend, mostly highs over lows.

Things started on Friday: Bon had the previous week off, which meant I came homw to a wonderful griled chicken dinner. This was especially good after what had been an especially challenging week at the workplace. We spent much of the rest of that day staring at the walls — but it was truly all good. Sleep was needed.

Next was Saturday and, as usual, it was time for the provision run. This one had a twist, however, because when we made it to the bank I opted to check my previously re-filled tire. It was looking a bit low, again.

I had previously not found a hole during an all-too-brief examination a week or two ago, but I found it this time. If by hole, I mean the complete separation of the tread from the backside of the tire. I’m damn lucky I hadn’t faced a very serious accident. I’m also lucky that there was a tire place right across the street from El Banco de Wells Fargo.

The downside of such a pitstop is that it means a lot of sitting and waiting for repairs. They had about a two-and-a-half hour backup, which meant a bit of sitting and waiting after we'd played out the “let’s go get lunch” and “lets do some window shopping” elements. I don’t know if it was the strees of the last week coupled with the stress of the tire troubles, the fumes of fresh rubber, or just a reaction to the general punishment I put my body through, but by the time the car was de-shopped, I had a raging migraine going. I limped through the rest of our shopping day, then quickly found myself down in bed for a few hours.

This had all-but-passed by Sunday, and while a bit of the headache remained, I was determined to not let it rule the day. Bon and I had plans, you see.

After slowly making our way out of the house, he headed for BART and zipped ourselves to San Francisco. After the all important lunch and Sanrio store stops (new Hello Kitty jewelry for me, Tenorikuma plush for Bon), it was off to the Imax theater in the Meteron for a matinee showing of Speed Racer.

Wow.

That is one big, flashy movie — and even bigger and flashier on that screen. It’s not Shakespeare, but it's a heck of a fun ride. We enjoyed it.

After this it was time to head for the Embarcedro: Bon and I went to Houston’s for dinner. It’s one of our “fancy dinner” places, where we splurge a bit. You know, for special occassions. She had a rack of pork ribes, while I partook of fliet mignon. It was really nice — so nice that we left our Sanrio goodies there at the end of our meal! They're holding them for us.

It was still fairly early, so we decided to walk back to BART. First stop was the Filbert street steps. I have firends in the area and while we did ponder stopping in on them, I was unable to reach them by phone. I’m not the sort to pop by unannounced. I did enjoy the gardens up there, though, and even caught a moment with the prettiest of purple flowers right up off Napier Lane. Simply beautiful. That photo, and the parakeet one below, are linked to bigger copies, should you wish for more detail. A lot more, in the case of the flower.

After heading back down a hundred steps or so, we zig-zagged over to the Linden Lab building for a little hand lovin’. I remind you that you knew we were geeks when you signed up for this excursion, so it is too late to back out now.

And yes, I did have fun with the camera while we were out. Why do you ask?

Anyway, it was twilight, and the Telegraph Hill parakeets were out in force. These were remnants of birds who had either excaped their owners, or were let go, many years back. They have since “gone native” and done quite well for themselves. A couple hundred birds roam the airways of SF. Here, a pair posed for me in a nearby tree. They were quite friendly.

Back home, where I learned that a friend of mine in Second Life had passed due to heart failure. Let it not be said that a virtual memorial lacks the power, emotion, and “connected-ness” of a real one.

Monday was pretty quiet, otherwise. We stayed in for the most part, with a day only punctuated with Bon grilling up some brats, and the cops having to visit the neighbors across the street again (loud car stereo plus loud car alarm being deliberately set off).

...and now, back to work.

I’ve altered the pool. Pray I do not alter it further.

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:56:00 +0000

Sorry for the quiet week! A couple boss types have been out of the office this week, which has meant that their work has “trickled down” on all us.

But how about some Friday fun, nevertheless!

Let’s begin with this asshat, a fellow who has learned two important lessions: don’t post embarassing photos to the internet, and if you do, don’t leave phone messages to the people who end up mocking them.

Now then, a bit of fun!

• Obsessive fan or stupid fun? (Flash required)
• This made me laugh.
• Stores like these seem to have heavily influenced my taste in buildings.
• What, no Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader?
• Very, very cool music video (Flash required)

Have a great weekend, everyone! For Bon and I, it's our 16th wedding anniversary weekend. We still haven't managed to destroy marriage! Slackers.

I’ve seen this Twilight Zone episode, before — do I have to live it, too?

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:16:00 +0000

My G-ddess, it’s been hot here. around 80 degrees when we went to bed last night. Not fun!

I did get one very good piece of news last night: thanks to the CA supreme court, my sisters-of-choice Heather and Christine are going to make honest women out of each other. I’ll be officiating. I’m so very excited for them! More on that soon.

Meanwhile, it’s Friday. Here’s some fun, starting with an asshat. A precious little snowflake stepped in some dog poo. This mother’s reaction? Sue the city!

And here’s a few fun links to finish out the work week:

• Your kids will glow with delight!
• Because who hasn’t been kidnapped by lesbian pirates?
• The only endorsement that matters.
• Related to the last link
• This must be where I first heard of Philip Glass (Flash required; thanks, Jenn!)
• Now this is a catalog I’d like to shop in!

And now, I wish ya’ll a fond weekend! Also, I’ve started to use the ol’ twitter — if you want, you can follow my exploits there, too!

No sooner posted...

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:15:00 +0000

Woot!

OVERTURNED!

Sing along, okay?

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:07:00 +0000

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait...

One of H.P. Lovecraft’s lesser-known works, “The Eldritch Quaternion”

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:50:00 +0000

Where to start.

Shortly after getting home on Monday, an altercation sprung up outside. Turns out my next-door neighbor had called the cops on one of the “kids” that hangs around on the street and the cops who responded found ecstasy and needles on his person. Not sure how he intended to use one with the other, of course. Anyway, said neighbor was being accused of “racist hate crimes” for calling the cops. I’m sure I’d be accused of the same for calling the cops over this incident, too.

Anyway, I head for the car yesterday to head into SF, and discover that one of my tires is flat. Not the best way to start my day. A trip to the local drugstore for some Fix-A-Flat — which I don’t like using all that much, but it was the best option given the circumstances — and I was on the road.

My first stop — well, after a brief pit stop for happy feline goodness — was the home of Carolene Marks. She’s the wife of former Sen. Milton Marks, and has his own political cache. She gathered about 10 folks from transgender and health related fields to talk about issues of health care for transgender people, largely focused on cancer issues for same. A really healthy discussion followed, no pun intended. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Ms. Marks is also a very gracious hostess, cut from the old school. I felt very welcomed in her home.

From there, it was an F line ride down near pier 17, and I headed to another couple of friends. Well, first I took a stop at a small coffee and sandwich place on Battery Street, and took a few photos of the business across the street while sipping a thai iced tea. Because I’m a geek. The business in question is Linden Lab. It’s a beautiful brick building, and I do intend to use some of those photos to make for some nice brick textures for use within their product, Second Life.

Anyway, my friends live off Filbert Street. This is not a street in the conventional sense, but a series of steps leading you up the sheer side of Telegraph Hill. It’s really a gorgeous place up there, even if that walk is a bit of a workout. Lord and lady know I need it.

I was a bit early, which was expected, and enjoyed their deck for a while. The view of the San Francisco Bay was stunning, especially on what was a beautiful spring day in Sodom by the sea.

After their arrival, we had a lot of fun catching up — with a twist. We socialized both in the real world and within Second Life, while also blogging and/or twittering. It’s interesting to have several different levels of interaction going on at the same time. I imagine that if one had not spent the amount of time behind keyboards as myself and they have, it could have been difficult. They were gracious and fun, and I look forward to times around them in the future.

I could get used to this

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:06:00 +0000

I’ll do a proper update soon, but I had to post this now.

I am currently sitting on the porch of a house on telegraph hill, overlooking the San Francisco Bay. It’s about 65–70 degrees out here, and fairly clear. I’m in a cozy spot of shade. There’s remarkably little traffic noise — the loudest things around me right now is a flock of wild parrots that strafes me from time to time.

This I like.

You take the good, you take the bad, you take the rest and then you have... my weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:15:00 +0000

A mixed bag o’ stuff.

Had a knock on the door on Friday night from East Bumblefuck’s finest. A neighbor’s house was broken into while he was away, and quite a bit of stuff was stolen. Johnny wanted to know if we’d seen or heard anything which, no, we did not. An hour later another neighbor came to call, to let us know several things:

1. This was recent break-in #4 in the neighborhood,

2. The houses across the street are illegally being rented to section 8 renters,

3. Some of same are selling drugs,

4. A neighborhood girl was stabbed at the local (around the corner) pool, possibly by some of these same folks,

5. The HOA is doing nothing about this, and

6. There’s a meeting on Thursday to try to force eviction precedings.

Sounds like we might be busy on Thursday night.

I also had an IM conversation with a friend who is a former employee of Preferred Job #1. The conversation started with, “I got to see a position announcement at my current job the other day and thought of you. I didn’t know if you’re looking. Are you?” I let her know that yes indeedy, I am. I’ll likely be meeting up with her tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, if I may jump out of chronological order, I’m taking it off. I’m actually — hold onto your hats — involving myself with some local transactivism work. First time I’ve dug into that in two years. I guess I’ve missed it, a bit. We'll see after tomorrow.

Anyway, it was otherwise a fairly low-impact weekend. A fair amount of Second Life as well as some time spent watching Independence Day (plot holes you could fly a UFO though, but still as fun as always) and Cars (obvious plot, but still very likable). Downtime, but all-too-short downtime.

Oh, and today I had my first annual evaluation at the place where I’ve been for two years. I “meet or exceed standards.” Go me! It was telling, however, when my boss said, “I’m happy to have you here — but I don’t think you’re happy to be here.” Hmn.

“I want everything to be ‘sparklicious’”

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:42:00 +0000

I wrote up this big, long, somewhat whinge-y post yesterday, and then lost it in a dramatic copy/paste disaster. Emergency crews from five different counties were called in. Honestly, you did not want to read it anyway. I know I didn’t.

I had a good meeting inworld the other day with another, major content creator. I’ll be working with her team on a build for a major university. It’s all pay on completion, and the ink is still wet on the contract, so this is still some time off yet. My primary business partner also has a couple big contracts in the pipeline. This is a good thing but, too, is not gonna happen right away. I was also having a wee bit of a crises of faith last night, being unsure if I’d even be able to pull of the particulars with the university job.

The position I’m gunning for is one I’ve been told many times will require some poking and patience to get, with 12 weeks from tendering a résumé being considered typical — and a high tendency for cracks to be fallen into.

All the while, things continue to get interesting — in a Chinese curse sort of way — in my day job. Not much I can really share, however.

I’ve been tired this week, too. While I still have a hot spark in my hands, my body is largely disagreeing with the use of same. I now know the origin of the phrase “bone tired,” as I’ve been feeling weariness that deep below the flesh. Yesterday evening, I could hardly move, as my right hip had all-but-seized. Not good.

Time Sheets for No One

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:43:00 +0000

I am so beat today. I feel like I could sleep for days. I knew I pushed it this weekend, but I had no idea how much!

Anyway, timesheets and reports await. We seem to be nearly caught up here at the ol’ day job, which might mean some down time this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed. Of course, this means I’ll simply spend that time prepping content for some mock advertisements for one of my Second Life clients. That's the fun stuff, though.

Been having an odd problem with one of my web clients, too. I’m seeing all their content updated, but they’re still seeing the old version. I’m assuming they must have a heck of a cache on their side of things.

One of these days, soon, I need to do some webwork for myself. I’m very, very behind on posting my Transmissions columns!

Now, on to timesheets. Tra la.

You’ve got to hide your lag away

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:25:00 +0000

Lesee...

We did the provision run as per usual, but with an added stop at the annual Mustang Show and Shine. While I am a dyed in the tuck-and-roll vinyl Rambler kind of girl, I always wanted a ‘66 ‘stang as a kid — and given that this show is all of a mile from home, how could I not take a peek!

Shoe photos will come later, I hope. They’re on my camera still. Take my word for it, there were some nice looking cars. There was a gorgeous, fully restored 1968 California Special Mustang that caught my eye and would not let go. Bon noticed that said vehicle was gold with a white top, which might explain the fascination.

I do have to wonder what the market thinks of some of our purchases: amongst other items we had tortillas, chilies, kosher salt, macaroons, gumbo file, and greens. Why stick to one cultural dining option?

I spent much of the rest of the weekend talking. Well, typing, but after more than a decade of newsgroups, AOL chat rooms, bulletin board systems, weblogs, instant messaging, and talking in Second Life, it feels as natural as utterances across lips. I was mostly talking to current and (hopefully) future contacts about a job I’m eyeing.

Speaking of workstuff, Bon asked me more than a couple times this weekend when I might be giving my notice. I think she’s serious! It’s put me in the surprising position of being the one who is defending my current job. Ironic, perhaps, but I tend to have a strong leaning towards loyalty. I don’t understand it either.

Meanwhile, have I mentioned that k.d. lang has some new music out? I positively love her cover of Hallelujah. It makes me swoon. Then again, she has a tendency to do that to me. She simply has such a beautiful voice!

Oh, and one more thing. http://twitter.com/gwenners. Anyone else?

I’ve been to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU, but I've never been to me

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:33:00 +0000

Ya, so given how many actual content posts I’ve had this week, why not a couple links to end the week. You know, for fun. On Friday. What a novel concept.

And hey, here’s a thought. Let’s start it off with someone who did something really dumb. I know, I’ll call them an asshat, just for fun. I’m thinking of, oh, anyone who bought this watch. Because when you’re going to pay that kind of money, it had better tell time.

Now the fun:

• Some old favorite Kids in the Hall. I wish I had a downloadable copy of this.

• The Nightstalker had custom stationary?

• Death of a meme... or a beginning?

• A wise concept, well worth a ponder

• One very cool Mac Mini

And that’s that, at least for now! Have a good weekend!

Short sharp shock

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:10:00 +0000

I don’t know where it came from, but this afternoon, I have felt more energy in me than I have in years. Felt like I was gonna blow the light bulbs, ya know?

Programming note

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:52:00 +0000

I’ve discovered my feed solution, and am moving this blog to a different, more reliable RSS solution. As has happened before, I expect this to end up duplicating content from this blog into various places — most notably LiveJournal and Facebook.

This should be the last time I’ll have to do this in a Good Long While.

The feed address? feed://www.gwensmith.com/weblog/rss.xml or feed://www.gwensmith.com/weblog/atom.xml

Make a note of it, as they said on 411.

“Where would we be if we didn’t follow the correct procedures?”

noreply@blogger.com (Gwen) — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:57:00 +0000

I should be typing right now. Come to think of it, I am — I’m just on break. It’s Beltane, and historically I’ve taken the day off. I didn’t get the chance this year and, when I think about it, I’ve not gotten much of a chance over the last two years to take off the days I’ve typically taken off.

For the record, those days would be April 16th, May 1st, May 23rd, July 22nd, October 31st, and November 20th. That’s two birthdays, and anniversary, two religious holidays, and the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Last night, Bon asked me a question, “have you given your notice yet?”

I told her I hadn’t — as if she would not be amongst the first to know. I’m gun shy of just up and leaving without at least something to back me up. I have the Second Life content building, but as someone who has freelanced for more than a decade, I know what a cycle of feast or famine that can be. I want something a bit more stable than that, ya know?

That’s why I keep doing this job, typing my day away with stories of weldments and concrete slumps, on reports that will be forgotten as soon as they’re processed and sent. It feels very dystopian, like a cut scene from Brazil staged within my cubicle.

It all comes down to a paycheck. That, to me, is something sad. I feel a bit trapped into it, though. We’ve got to pay the rent, the bills, and all that.

Aside: I was trying to find a reference to put in there (about depriving an American of money causes them to act as a lunatic), but instead came across this classic bit of R.A. Wilson. He was a smart man. I wonder what he’d say about the passing of Albert Hofmann.

Bon, meanwhile made it clear last night. She doesn’t like to see me this stressed, this down, this exhausted.

Really the biggest issue with this place is that it is simply not a good fit for me. I can and do the job, but it lacks the ability to be creative. I cannot show my passion here. I can type — my high school typing teacher, Mr. Nissley would be shocked — but I can do so much more. I need more of a challenge. I need a position with some level of social interaction.

Ironically, my work-fu has been strong this week. All the while I fret over my résumé, firmly ensconced in a stack with a billion other people who are most likely as equally passionate as I am about the position.

Anyway, enough time on all that. It is Beltane, and while I did enjoy some time with a virtual bonfire last night, I am looking for more. The wheel turns, and I’m turning with it. It is a time to be bold, to cast off my doubts... and dance.

“And now I’m dancing, and all the blood in my body has turned to music.” — R. Cowell