Stargate cancelled?

I saw a Stargate SG-1 fan, and the first thing he said to me was, "Have you heard the news?" Well, I couldn't figure out which news: there was no 9/11-type of incident occuring, and there's just so much bad news out there, I don't know what's important sometimes.

And then he told me: Stargate SG-1 has been cancelled. Wow, no surprise there: it was going downhill when some of the actors were scaling back and they added the party slut to the show--I talked about it when I noticed the decline. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to watch it for a while because Comcast yanked it from regular cable, but I doubt I've been missing much. What made the show good was the chemistry of the cast and the interesting storylines and history/mythology.

The problem is, I can't find any official information about the cancellation, which makes me wonder if it's just a rumor. But the guy I was talking to is a big fan, so he probably has acquired a good tip from somewhere reputable.

Online socializing

The future is now. What I mean is, who would've thought, when the Apple II came out, that we would develop social lives through a computer? But it's happening. I found out about a "listening party" at a message board, but had no interest in joining. Then an online friend--someone I met through the message board and chat with (via AIM) occasionally--sent me a PM, urging me to "attend" the "party," and gave me the password. So since I've got nothing else to do, I'm going to "attend". So we're going to put in a CD and discuss it via a chat room.

It's weird, but hey, I'm a social person, and this is a high-tech alternative.

Twee

Sometimes when I see something or think about a particular situation, I tell myself it's "twee." That's not an American word--it's British: "It means excessively or affectedly quaint, sentimental or mawkish, sometimes coupled with words like nauseatingly."

Tonight I was walking around with a couple of friends who were discussing ancient Greek (!) and I saw something that I thought was "twee." Then I wondered why I'm using British words in my head, when I've never lived there (though I visited) and know only a couple of British people who I not only rarely see, but who've never used that word around me.

I love it: twee! It's such a cute word, and so effective! So maybe one day I'll say it out loud--I'm sure other Americans will wonder what the heck I'm saying. Then I can snobbily explain to them, "Oh, it's British. Are you from the States?"

2 years

Well, it's official: I've been blogging here for two years. What's interesting and synchronius (a word I just made up to make "synchonicity" into a simple adjective) is that I just printed out a second draft of a pretty good novel I've been writing, which has about 45,000 words, and the number of unique visitors to this site is almost 45,000 as well. So maybe it's a sign: that even better things are to come. (Well, not really, because I don't believe in "signs"--I was just being an English major-type.)

Here's a list of the lands throughout the world that have visited this year (2006) so far--around 120.

Thanks for visiting!

United States, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, China, Ireland, Poland, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, France, Iceland, Australia, Brazil, Thailand, Taiwan, Belgium, Sweden, Russian Federation, India, Israel, Romania, Malaysia, Austria, Singapore, Czech Republic, Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire), Philippines, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Hungary, Denmark, Mexico, Finland, Argentina, Turkey, Indonesia, Norway, Portugal, Colombia, Egypt, Pakistan, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Peru, Ghana, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Lithuania, South Africa, Senegal, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Ukraine, Chile, Ecuador, Croatia, European Union, Luxembourg, Greece, Ethiopia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Jordan, Guam (USA), Slovak Republic, Morocco, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Tunisia, Moldova, Panama, Qatar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Nigeria, Belarus, Cyprus, El Salvador, Palestinian Territories, Macedonia, Sri Lanka, Monaco, Bangladesh, Algeria, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Benin, Albania, Trinidad and Tobago, Armenia, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Myanmar, Saint Kitts & Nevis Anguilla, Mongolia, Macau, Kazakhstan, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Syria, Polynesia (French), Bolivia, Gabon, Antigua and Barbuda, Virgin Islands (USA), Libya, Bermuda, Netherlands Antilles, Madagascar, Lebanon, Andorra, Malta.

Fret wankery

I saw someone say online that they don't like guitar solos that are "fret wankery." But what does that mean? Does that mean aimless playing, without focus or style? Like a garbled mess? So, for instance, someone is just playing a bunch of notes that don't amount to anything meaningful?

Thai online laugh

People like to use "lol" to indicate laughing online, but I recommend the Thai Online Laugh: 5.

I discovered this at a Thai site that had a webcam on Koh Samui, and there was an area next to the webcam image to chat online. Everyone was chatting in Thai, and I couldn't understand any of it, but I kept seeing the number 5 everywhere. So at one point, I stepped in and asked (in English, of course) what 5 meant, and they said that 5 is "ha" in Thai, so when they want to laugh, they say "555" or however many 5's they want. So to them, "ha ha ha" is "555".

It's so cool, I use it now, and have to explain to people what I'm doing. I think it's something that we non-Thai speaking folks should adopt.

First Sox game

I'm putting this on the record: I'm going to my first White Sox game tonight. I haven't been to a baseball game in a long time, and that was the Cubs. So hopefully, I'll have a victory to report because I certainly need to live victoriously vicariously through something, since I'm not exactly having a lot of success myself. And watching a game with thousands of screaming southsiders is certainly a good way to get my mind off of self-loathing.

So tonight the Sox, tomorrow a return to a shmoe existence.

Blogs matter

Sometimes I hear writers from the MSM talk about blogs, as if they're some silly cultural phenomenon that they have to tolerate. Some think it's quaint that people want to write in their blogs, but I don't think they understand the importance of them.

First of all, we can't all be paid columnists for the shrinking print media, but we like to write. Are we supposed to wait around for someone to approve of us before we communicate with the world? Sure, we don't have the thousands of readers the print media columnists have, but we're communicating with the outside world.

I wonder if those columnists would blog if they didn't have their columns. It's easier to keep writing when you have a paycheck coming and have readers' emails and letters and editors' opinions to bounce off of, but those bloggers who don't have many commenters or emails from readers (such as me) are motivated to write, because we like to write and communicate.

What's weird is when columnists decide to set up a blog after they've had an established column. It's like they're looking at the trends, and they're thinking, "Whoa--all those youngsters are blogging, I should too." It borders on being fake and insincere, because I think they're "settling" with it, because they might as well join the commoners rather than fight against the uprising.

Blogs take the expressive and creative power away from the few folks who used to be given the platform to speak out. Only a handful of blogs have huge readerships, but at least we no longer have to wait for someone to speak to us, and we can interact with the writers. Before, if you wanted to communicate with the columnist, you'd be lucky if they even read your letter. Now we can go to a blog, leave a comment, and know that it's being read by at least a few people. And chances are the blogger will respond.

I guess it's a kind of virtual cafe where the intelligentsia are allowed to congregate away from the MSM Tower.

Radio is like...

I thought about this today, but don't know if other people have said it: Working in radio is like being in love with someone who doesn't have time for you.

That's how I would describe what I read in The Cash Cage (check out the free excerpt) before I started working in The Biz, and I've discovered that type of situation as well.

If you are even thinking of working in radio, I highly recommend the book. The author, Corey Deitz, has been through a lot, and even though other people won't have the same experiences, it still serves as a kind of warning. It's just better to go into something with your eyes open, no matter what industry you're working in.

But I think I should read the book again--I'm sure my perspective will be different.

Update: I emailed my "Working in radio is like..." statement to Deitz, and he replied: "Well said!"

French building words

I was searching for a French term and found the definition I was looking for in a French Building and Renovation Jargon Guide. It's from a site that helps English speakers survive in Languedoc-Roussillon, which is in southeast France.

So if you want to know various terms that have to do with building or renovating anything, or are just curious about what household words are in French and English, check it out. I've never been to France (though I want to go), but even if I do go someday, I doubt I'll need to know all these words. But they're handy.

the Odge

Here's something that I came across when I was looking up a French phrase online: The Odge, which stands for Online Dictionary German-English. It has more than 400,000 entries. All you have to do is enter the word that you're looking for, and it will provide the translation.

You can also add words, so if enough people participate, maybe the dictionary will exceed a million words by the end of this year.

They also offer you a way to enter letters with umlauts (ä ö ü) and an esszett (ß), so you don't have to worry about digging it up from your computer's keyboard. Just click on the letter, and it's entered into the search box. Handy!

It was odd to discover the site on the way to translating a French phrase, but hey, Europe is more united now, so it makes sense. However, I stopped at this detour long enough to forget the French phrase I was looking for. Oh well.

Give blood

I've been to a few hospitals in just over a month: one in the western suburbs, one in the northern suburbs, and one downtown. Each reason was different: I visited one person who was dying, I took another to the emergency room a couple of times, and I visited another who was suffering after I took them to the emergency room the week before.

It was the last person that made me decide to give blood, because they were getting a transfusion. Some kind soul out there decided to give blood so that the ill person could feel well again, and it worked! If it wasn't for that blood, who knows what would've happened? Many people have been helped because of other people's generosity!

If you ever see people revived because of others' blood, then maybe you'll feel inspired enough to give blood. But even if you haven't, think about doing it--it could save someone's life!

So I'm going to set up an appointment to give blood, and intend to do it regularly.

Methinks

I mentioned the word behooves, and how it's odd that people are using it today--hundreds of years after it was common in the English language.

Here's another word that I see people use, just in written form, usually in comments in blogs: methinks.

Now what is up with that? "Methinks that he should have a different policy." Why not say "I think"? Is it so difficult to do that, or do people want to sound clever? I can see a dude type out "methinks," then stroke his scraggly beard, like, "That was a good one. Let's see what they think of *that*," and then chuckle to himself before he downs another Pepsi.

Like "behooves", methinks comes from Old and Middle English, and it shows up in Hamlet:

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

Well, that's fine for Shakespeare, but come on, do people really have to resort to his language when they're telling someone they're wrong in a flame war?

Behooves

This word sounds weird and is archaic, but I've heard people use it. Why? Why resurrect such an odd word? I have a hard time listening to someone after they say, "It behooves us to take this into consideration." It just sounds so prissy and proper, as if we're living in Victorian England (though the word is a lot older than that):

Middle English behoven, from Old English behOfian, from behOf
transitive verb : to be necessary, proper, or advantageous for
intransitive verb : to be necessary, fit, or proper

I wonder if German has a variation of this word, since Old English sounds similar. I don't know German well enough to be able to pluck it off the top of my head. All I know is while people, especially Americans, are speaking in a straightforward style, the use of this word is like a stuffy anachronism.

Ottoman wisdom

One time, I was talking to a neighbor about all types of people who steal from the till, whether they're poor or not (because humans are far from perfect). Then she told me that her father, who was Armenian and spoke Ottoman Turkish, shared this saying:

"The man who works with honey will sometimes lick his fingers."

True! That's a great one--effective imagery that sticks.

Luxury withdrawal

Jane Fonda mentioned an interesting phrase in her memoir (which I've thankfully finished): luxurium tremens. She said that James Taylor created it, meaning "the sudden loss of luxury." I suppose it's a spinoff of "delirium tremens" or DT's, which is what people experience after alcohol withdrawal.

Unfortunately, there's nothing about it online, so this will be the first instance of it. But that shouldn't be--if he indeed did invent that phrase, then it should be somewhere.

Well, I will never suffer from it because I don't live in even a sliver of the type of luxury that rich people such as Ted Turner have. But then again, compared to the typical poverty-striken third-world inhabitant, I *am* living in luxury.

Accomplished

My goal for this week was 40,000 words of the latest draft of a novel that may never see the light: I now have more than 42,000 words. So just a few thousand more, and I'll be at my original printing goal (to print out 45k instead of the 40k I settled on a couple days ago). I reached the goal yesterday, but I was too disappointed about a non-writing pursuit to blog. Today I have overcome the disappointment, but unfortunately didn't write anything.

But at least I have made a very important decision: Captain Sisko is my favorite Star Trek captain.

A lot of people like Captain Picard, but he's quite cold. Sure, he's in charge and is sophisticated, but I like Sisko's hands-on approach. He's more down-to-earth, but he also has the strength and savvy that is needed for successful diplomacy and leadership.

I wonder if there are other people who like him. As I'm not a Trekkie or Trekker or Star Trek freak (whatever they call those folks), I'll never find out. But at least I've been able to make that decision. Now I just have to get the rest of my life in order.

Almost there

Last year, before Nanowrimo, I wrote 40,000 words of a novel that's more mainstream than my previous [unpublished] one. Then I put it aside to write 50,000 words for Nanowrimo, and after that, I took a break from writing fiction because stuff was developing on the radio front.

Then I resumed the novel a few months ago, and decided to totally rewrite it. I would've finished the rewrite sooner, but my radio life was crazy, and then my friend John died. So I resumed writing this week, and I'm almost at the 40k mark again--just a couple of days away. And that's 40,000 words of fresh stuff--pure rewrite.

I want to wait until I get to 45,000 words to print out the draft, but I'm running out of steam. The problem is that the story is out, but I have to deal with the annoying details. I don't want to dig that deep--I just want to do general stuff and move on. But I can't. And the worst part of it is that there is no one in the biz who's expecting it--I'm just going to be one of those idiotic, naive hopefuls that's going to be sending out query letters. And I can't do that until I create a decent draft.

This is one of those times when I would email John and he would email back some interesting advice or tidbits from his own writing. But he's gone for good! I can't believe it!

So I'm bummed because of his absence from this world, having writer's block, and the fact that I'm not a published writer. I'm still a wannabe.

Chrenkoff published

I decided to check out Arthur Chrenkoff's blog, just in case he'd posted something (even though he had to give it up last year because of work), and he had an announcement about his upcoming novel!

A couple of years ago, he checked out the Metrofiction site, and asked me about it. Even though it's a Chicago-based group, I invited him to be an honorary guest because he was a huge blogger and seemed like a nice guy. Plus, he had some Chicago connections via his relatives, so I considered him an "honorary" Chicagoan, even though he's an Aussie.

I remember him "telling" me (via email) that he'd tried many times to get his novel published, but couldn't. Meanwhile, his blog was read by thousands of people every day. So at least he'd found an audience for his writing that way. He was really successful.

Meanwhile, he emailed me the first part of his novel, and it seemed interesting, but I had no power to help him except through the site. So I posted an excerpt, and let it sit there all this time.

And now he's getting it published! The same story I saw! He totally deserves it!

Essplain to the Mexican

I just saw something that is not available anywhere else: a show on CAN-TV (Chicago public access) called "Essplain to the Mexican."

Unfortunately, there's no information about it online, and I think this is the first mention of it anywhere. But what makes it so Chicago and American is the variety of people who called in and the content of the show, as well as the freedom to do it.

A woman, who is half Mexican and half Guatemalan, sat in a chair and threw out questions about random things, asking the television audience to "essplain" to her what they mean and why the exist. So she asked about such things as water polo and polo, seltzer water and soda water, and other stuff. Then she waited for people to call in to "essplain" them to her.

The callers were typical of Chicago: white, black, ghetto, educated, gay, straight, single, married, and other urban variations. In between calls, she talked to her sister on her cell phone and read text messages. It was like a video blog--that's the best way to describe it.

I wouldn't be surprised if she gets more viewers. It's just so odd, it's fascinating, and something that we can't see elsewhere. Even in the 'burbs.