Radio silence

Because I have a ten to fifteen page term paper due thursday.

Or because I have to be completely moved out of my dorm room by noon on saturday, even though my flight home isn't until 8:59 that night.

Or because I have a final later this week.

Or because my cousin had a baby and I'm spending all my time looking at pictures on facebook and grinning.

Or because tumblr is addicting.

Or because I've been trying to write.

Or because I can't think of anything worthwhile to document on my blog.

Or because I swear I really am planning to get back to this later I just don't know when.

I didn't know what this blog post would be about when I started typing it and I still don't.

So, I'm not really riled up about anything at the moment so this post is going to be more a logging of miscellany. As much as I'd love to do part two of last time's conversation ("Having minority characters does not make you diverse"), I'm going to hold off on it because I had a really good conversation about it in private and... unlike complaining about female characters, when I start talking about race people start looking at me like "You're white, shut up." So it's going to wait. Along with a discussion on why claiming certain people don't have the "right" to write certain character types is bullshit. All that and more... in another post.

I'm kind of amused that, two weeks later, most of my pageviews are still coming from links posted on fansites... but also mildly weirded out. Are you guys reading the rest of my posts? Or are you just looking at that same post, OVER AND OVER AND OVER again??? Because, um, if you're just using that link to get back to the blog so you can read other stuff... I have two separate methods of following in my sidebar that don't involve inflating the pagecounts on one post. And if you are just reading that post over and over again... is it really that fascinating???

I finally actually started to do some serious revision work on Like a Dog in Space yesterday, figuring out where I can add things back in and what I need to do to get it back to somewhere around its original length. Because I cut so many characters, I've got significantly less to work with in general, and changing the structure for the better means my opening moves faster - but also that I've just got stuff that used to take fifteen pages to happen happening in about seven. Which is good, because it gives me more time to mess around once that does happen... I just have to think of things to put there! Ivan and Valeri can only have so many awkward conversations, and the biggest thing I need to bulk up is their connection... which I actually think I need to build up before Ivan even comes to life.

The other thing I can do to take it back out to full length and put some coherency and world background in is add some of Mister Papers's long speeches back in, but that's easy. He likes to talk and even if I had to start over from scratch, he'd be easy. I could write that character forever. He'll probably turn up in another play given enough time. He can do that.

(Sometimes I try to think about how any of my plays would be connected/in the same universe. But there's no overlap between Florida and an unspecified town in New England, so it's like... even if Other People's Garden Gnomes and Allan Chang is a Totally Bogus Ghost were in the same universe... who would ever know?)

Anyways, I'm planning to do a more work on that today (Lies. When I don't have deadlines, nothing gets done.) and also figure out what kind of cool adventure we're going to have on Friday. I've wanted to go down to the Space Center for a long time, but I went in fifth grade and after looking at their website I'm not so sure if it's worth it... it kind of looks like it has't changed much since 2002. I think they're even still playing the same IMAX movies. But the price has gone up! So... maybe it'll be the Alligator Farm again. We haven't been there in a while. Or perhaps the Zoo.

Unless anyone has any suggestions about adventures? :)

Also this amuses me.

Break's Over, the Take Over

So, I spent a week or two doing nothing, which I think is perfectly within my rights when I've just finished a production - time to get my thoughts in order, right? But then last night I had a dream about three pretty important people telling me to get off my ass and get back to work, so I think maybe that was the sign I needed. In the name of starting slow (I'm still not feeling up to messing with Dog in Space again... too much of a good thing?) I'm probably just going to spend the next few days getting Other People's Garden Gnomes to a place where I can submit it for possible publication.

God, I shouldn't be nervous about that prospect but I am. Maybe it's because I interned there. It's not even that I'm scared of rejection - I'm scared of putting my work out there. Which is a stupid thing for a writer to be scared of, I mean, I've done it before.

It's begun to ash. Like, as in a verb. The wildfires have been going so long that it's falling from the sky. The smoke is really, really thick. It should be blue out today but it's more white. I can't even see the sun and the light is coming through orange, even at midday. It's almost like an apocalyptic movie if not for the fact that we're all cozy in our air conditioning and the plants are still green. Like, we're not scorched at all... but somewhere the world is burning.

Well, back to work!

Also, my blog hit counts are basically back to what they were pre-YPF. Told you it was temporary. ;)

I'm flattered, guys. I really am.

What. What. What is this.

This is more hits in a single day than I usually get in a month. From more countries than I have ever been viewed in. And lets talk about that bizarre spike. I mean I know why I have so many hits and it's because those pictures and not because of me but this is seriously unreal. Because over 600 hits. In a day.

I'm flattered. Really.

But I know that it's temporary.

Were you looking for me?

Don't think I can't see it when you start googling my blog with weirdly specific search terms, guys. I think that the most recent round of weirdness must have come from my family (You searched the URL of the blog plus a really specific phrase... what are you up to?), but it's still sort of weird...

If you guys are weirding out over whether or not there's personal information in this... well, this is a personal blog? If there's ever anything on here that concerns you, though, please feel free to, you know,

USE THE COMMENT BOX

instead of just lurking like the creepers I think you might be?

You are fair game if:

• You know I blog.
• You read my blog.
• You are related to me.
• I have known you for an exceedingly long amount of time.
• You are famous.
• There is a noteworthy event involving you.
• You are involved in amusing anecdotes I feel comfortable letting my mother read.

I will not blog about you if:

• You don't know I blog.
• You don't read my blog.
• I just met you and you are not famous.
• You don't read my blog yet but might in the future.
• I think you would be kind of weirded out if you knew I was blogging about you.
• You asked me not to.
• Anecdotes involving you are not mother-appropriate. (Like, if we got drunk together... I wouldn't blog about it.)

So, basically, by reading this post you are FAIR GAME.

Also Jesus Christ on a cracker, the roomies and I watched this tonight and it is amazing. I want to make movies like this.

Correction to previous post:

After some fact checking with other relatives, the award my grandfather received was a bronze star. While I still think there was a story about the purple heart, my dad says he's never heard it before, though he did know my grandfather had been recognized with a service-related disability, which he thought was just pneumonia but which I'd been told was due to some substance he'd been exposed to/inhaled. (Dad also informed me that Bill later had to have a part of his right lung removed in the mid-1950s, which I hadn't known.)

Dad also had a bone to pick with my terming Haym Solomon a "Revolutionary," explaining that he'd funded the american revolution but was hardly a "revolutionary."

To which I respond, I liked my word better!

On a side note, I've been watching my page views and I've noticed they've been approximately twice my usual amount (63 yesterday, 74 so far today, compared to between ten and thirty all throughout last month.) I attribute this mostly to the link being tossed around by family members, but I've hardly got 70+ relatives! I've got my comments set to "Anyone," so don't be afraid to leave me some feedback or follow me. I love to hear from people!

-Leez

Where are all these people coming from?

I just recently discovered that I can actually see where in the world the hits on my blog are coming from, so I decided to check out what kind of international fanbase I've got. For some reason it will only show me things from the last six months or so, but it's looking like people are checking in from the US, Canada, Israel, Brazil, Argentina, the UK, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Thailand, and...

...Iran.

I am so confused right now. Who could possibly be watching my blog from Iran? Did I flag their government search engines or something? I mean, I can account for some of these hits based on where I have family/friends/where people I know have traveled recently, but I have really got no idea how I pulled in hits from Norway and Latvia.

It's cool, though. :D

And then, Aliza was a superhero.

So my friend Caleb of the newly-minted and absolutely fantastic Does This Make Me Look Hipster has given me a blog award. A sort of tag thing, actually, I think, but it comes with the condition that I fill out an interview and tag more people and stuff like that so hey, let's have at it! It'll be fun!

1. Thank the blogger who gave me the award.

Hey, Caleb, you are pretty cool! Thanks for being a friend and an inspiration for crazy and a source of great stories and one of my biggest fans. You rock!

2. Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience using five words

Here today, gone tomorrow. Maybe.

3. Pass this on to 10 other bloggers that you feel have a substance in their blogs.

I don't /know/ ten other bloggers, but I'll give it a shot.

Max @ Jumbo Sized (uhhh... my brother.)

Ryu @ Eldritch at Home

James @ Arbitrary Musings

Roma @ Roma's art blog

Snikki @ Snikki's Say

I made it halfway to ten. That's good enough!

We had a fire drill tonight. Excellent way to start Halloween weekend. Not.