Archive for January, 2010
Oh so busy.
I went shopping today. I also had a meeting in the morning.
The outcome of the meeting was that we have some work to do.
Shopping, on the other hand, was surprisingly productive. I got a couple of presents, some cards to send out and Mass Effect 2, which was almost as much as I could’ve hoped for. My friend was I think equally as successful as I was. Except that we’re both the poorer for it.
I thought about quite a few things along the way. I think I know how I want my current project to feel, for instance, a thing that was eluding me for quite a bit of time. I also have to sort out a couple of things in my life, and though it’s only got more confusing, I think we have to attack the confusion for any semblance of truth to emerge.
I have not had enough sleep, thus explaining why I sound like a drunkard.
I have so many things to do this week. I have readings, mainly. Many readings. I have a project to sort out. And I have a number of other chores. How will I write? I suppose this is where I get tested. And perhaps it would be fair to say that I’d expected this challenge to come a little bit earlier. Nevertheless, hello, pleased to meet you, Challenge. Let us try to overcome one another. I will win. Just saying. Play fair.
Tomorrow’s a pretty long day. But I’m less concerned about that and more concerned about the things outside of the lessons. The work’s really not in the lessons themselves, is it?
Time to get prepped for tomorrow.
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What I did in a day and a half.
Or thereabouts.
Approximately in chronological order.
- Came home.
- Showered.
- Wrote an email for a project. Fairly lengthy.
- Ate dinner. It was soup with Enoki mushrooms and some salmon.
- Uploaded a photo.
- Spoke to a couple of friends about something at length.
- Prepared somewhat for a tutorial, though not really.
- Wrote about 1000 words.
- Slept.
- Woke up and replied a lot of things.
- Went to sleep again for half an hour.
- Woke up again and showered.
- Ate breakfast, which was loh mai gai.
- Watched Kang Xi. Or rather, half of it.
- Printed an assignment out. Looks scary.
- Research for said project. Found about a dozen handy articles.
- Printing of said articles.
- Did a Sociology reading. Found it challenging.
- Lunch. Zup fan.
- Returned to the reading, completing it but feeling quite unsure about myself.
- Did second reading. Slightly better.
- SMSed a friend. Always nice to hear from her.
- Composed half of a reply to my pen-pal, and with much joy.
- Planned some English ‘lessons’. More like simply help, really.
- Read some news.
- Wrote another 500 words.
- Yumcha’d.
- Showered.
- Small dose of Mass Effect. More fun than the last time, I think. Progressing faster too, I believe.
- Dinner. More Zup fan.
- Watched 20 minutes of the telly.
- Uploaded photo.
- Blogged.
And that’s where we are now. What do I plan to do for the rest of the night?
- Print some notes.
- Pack my bag.
- Do up some kind of shopping list. Going shopping on Thursday!
- Sleep.
- Any bonus time will be used for whatever work I still can chip away at, be it writing, readings (from any one of the three subjects), lesson planning, research, tutorial (just to feel more secure), et cetera.
So, there. That’s how I spent my day and a half. I hope you spent yours fruitfully.
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Word Count
So I’ve been writing. Write, write, write. It’s taken a bit of adjustment, balancing this with the school work and all other things. In the past, I’d do one thing at a time. In fact, I’m still adjusting, though signs are that it’s working out. I’m pretty much on schedule, and learning where best to spend my energies in every given situation as I go along. This experience will definitely come in handy in the future when I’m no longer schooling.
I’m pretty much on schedule. That is, some completely imaginary/arbitrary schedule that I impose on myself. Usually, I have a daily goal and a mid-term goal. The mid-term goal tends to be for a deadline within the month or the next, and also tends to be either content-based or word count-based. If I have a good idea of what I’m doing, then it’ll be content-based, in the sense that I tell myself to finish this section or that by the deadline. If I don’t, then I imagine a number and tell myself that it would be nice to hit that number this month.
It’s all arbitrary. I pick these objectives out of the air. Whatever looks nice. And I adjust it as I go along.
I’m sure all of this looks very shallow, but the word count is one of my best friends because it reflects to me that I’ve actually done something. I don’t make it a point to make any section a particular length or endeavour to meet certain hard requirements; I’m actually very okay with just about anything, as long as it works. And frankly, it’s not a priority at all. The priority is to make sure that I don’t write trash. This comes a little lower down the list. (I probably chop and change the most of it eventually anyway.)
But you know, when you’re there, alone, at work, in for the long run, the word count is a very friendly thing to look at. It keeps you going. It’s like a marathon buddy. He (or she) can’t run for you; and if you take it the wrong way, you might feel as if you have something to live up to. But a buddy’s great to have in a marathon because she (or he) can cheer you on, crack a joke or two, and remind you of how far you’ve run (in a positive way, of course).
So I think that’s the reason I like to set some of these goals. I don’t actually get too disappointed if I don’t meet a deadline, but it reminds me not to slacken off and let everything die some kind of awful slow death, which used to happen a lot when I was much younger.
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That’s because he’s dead.
Two
Wednesday was a great day. I enjoyed my morning lecture; I spent some time with a couple of friends; I visited the National Museum; I was happy to hear from a friend (albeit about school); I figured out some stuff about the writing; went for some shopping; and there was a great football match to end it all off. Yesterday wasn’t all that great. I felt sad for some unidentifiable reason. Managed to do some work, though not too much. Maybe it had a little to do with Wednesday being all-around excellent.
And now it’s Friday. Time waits for no man, yes, but sometimes you can’t help but hope. It’s the end of Week Two already. School marches on.
Egypt
The National Museum is having an exhibition on ancient Egypt right now. There were some fairly interesting things, but I can’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed. I think I was disappointed with the scale of it, really. It just seemed somewhat on the small side, and there was always this feeling that I wanted to see just that little bit more.
That said, there was a kid and his mom at the exhibition, and they were looking at one of the coffins, which as you will know resemble the people inside them. So the kid asked: Mommy, why doesn’t he get up? Mom said: That’s because he’s dead. Kid: Then why are his eyes open? Mom: They’re painted on. Kid: Why aren’t my eyes painted on? Mom: Because you’re not dead.
New And Novel
I think I’ve figured out how this novel is going to work. Before yesterday came along, it was all a jumble of things, trying to cover quite a bit of ground thematically. Some things just fell into place yesterday, and there’s a certain unity that it seems to be approaching. That said, it’s still a long ways away, but I have a much better idea of how it’s going to succeed now. If it’s going to succeed at all. So in a way, it’s all looking very good, if young.
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A Link Rojak
Hello. Here are some random things.
Turn Left
A number of Doctor Who scripts by Russell T. Davies are available for download here. [via The Writer's Tale]
Theatre, Not TV
Adrian Pang is leaving MediaCorp to focus on his efforts in theatre. [via The Straits Times] I suppose this means I should forget about that idea of writing a drama series with him as my lead.
The (Not-So-)Quick Brown Fox
Jumps over the (not-so-)lazy dog.
Unnamed
“There are two poles — one says we’re just this machine, and the other says, what a piece of work is man. I did not want to come down on one side or the other. It’s possible that this poor guy, with enough research and enough time, could have solved his problem — but essentially, the mystery at the heart of his entire being can never be solved.”
Joshua Ferris talks about his new book, The Unnamed. [via The Barnes & Noble Review]
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