tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20000875980199262602024-03-05T06:12:00.051-05:00Logically IllogicalI am a 22-year-old writer, artist, baker, musician, gamer, and internet fanatic. This is a collection of thoughts and things I find around the internet. I hope that someone out there finds enjoyment in my writing and the many things my mind can produce.AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.comBlogger403125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-79434011138194389932016-05-02T16:54:00.000-04:002016-05-02T16:54:34.075-04:00Moving Right AlongThis will be my last post on this blog. I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I would like to be, and I really feel as though I've outgrown this particular chunk of internet musings. New content will be posted on <a href="http://thegeekycupcake.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The Geeky Cupcake</a>, which I hope will be a lot less mopey and more useful.<br />
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With that being said, I have not updated many people on the events of my life. 2016 has been a very busy year, and I want to use this final post to talk about where things are going.<br />
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I ended my relationship with Will over a month ago. This was not an easy decision, but I feel it was for the best. We need to be on different paths right now, and that's okay. We're on good terms, and our cat Isis has moved in with him. She's happy, and he's taking good care of her.<br />
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I'm almost finished with my first year at Lackawanna College. I do not plan on attending for a second year. In fact, I'm vehemently against it. This college has been a stepping stone for my college career, and while I'm very glad to have met the people here and been involved, I'm ready for my actual degree program.<br />
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I am trying to get into Temple University in Philadelphia. If all goes well, I will be moving with one of my friends to an apartment outside of the city sometime this summer. I will be majoring in secondary education with a focus in classical languages (Latin and Greek). I'm very excited about this, and I hope we hit as few roadbumps as possible along the way!<br />
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Keep an eye on my new blog for new content. It's still a little bare, but it will get there. Thank you to everyone who has always supported my blogging, writing, art, and other stuff!AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-69827273246389545272013-01-20T14:32:00.000-05:002016-09-05T23:06:23.764-04:00Writing Tip #16Blogging's been kind of slow lately. I think it's some combination of being busy looking for a new job, playing too much Skyrim, and having some old health issues act up again. I'm trying to get back into writing some stories and finishing a book, so I'm starting off with a new writing tip.<br />
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<b>Tip #16: Privacy</b><br />
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I just finished reading <i>American Gods</i> by Neil Gaiman. It was one of the best books I've ever read, and certainly quite a bit different than other things I've read. One thing Gaiman did a lot differently than other authors I typically read was giving the characters little to no privacy.<br />
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As the author of your own work, you decide how much readers see of your character. You can cut out the parts where they're sitting in a room doing nothing, reading an old book, using the bathroom, or being intimate with loved ones. You have the power to leave your character alone during those times or let the reader watch every detail.<br />
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One key thing, I believe, is to be consistent and know where your lines are drawn. If you write about your character's restroom trips, for instance, you're probably generally going into very minute detail. In a realistic, vividly described world, it makes it even more real. Otherwise, why would we care? If you only wrote about it once in a 300 page book, why was that one time so significant? The more you do it, the more a part of the realness it becomes, if that's what you're going for. And if writing about that is okay, what do you feel the need to omit or glaze over? Perhaps nothing, if you write for a mature enough audience.<br />
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I think writing the private moments of our characters' lives is an exercise we could all stand to do. Even if all of it gets cut out of the finished product, it can get the writer closer to the characters and really force us to analyze our creations as people, rather than a set of words on a page.AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-10156894841981979022012-12-20T13:27:00.003-05:002012-12-31T00:15:33.572-05:00Trip to Witch CityIn October, Will took me to Salem, Massachusetts to celebrate my 21st birthday. We had lots of fun, nice weather, and bought stuff from the many magic shops dotting the city. We spent three days there (the day before, of, and after my birthday on the 23rd).<br />
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We got there kind of late on the first day, but we had food at a little bakery. The next day he bought me a cake from that bakery, we walked all over the city and shopped, and we spent a good amount of time on the wharves collecting rocks. He found a chunk of what I think is green fluorite, and I found an old corroded bullet. We also got a bunch of rocks with marble. Later that night, we did a candle-lit ghost tour of the city, learning about all the haunted buildings. Our last day was spent attending a presentation at the Witch History Museum, then wandering around doing just a little more shopping.<br />
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All in all, lots of fun, and I'd go again. Here are some photos!<br />
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AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-34914028974925389352012-11-29T00:58:00.003-05:002012-12-20T12:54:07.085-05:00MovingMoving is a weird thing. It's been a long time since I moved into the house I'm now leaving behind in favor of an apartment with my fiancée. He took a promotion at the Walmart in Wilkes Barre, PA, about an hour away. We found a great little place and we're mostly moved in.<br />
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It's odd to have to pack up years of accumulated memories, sifting through what I can take and what I'm leaving, separating the person I used to be from the person I am now and cutting ties with things that no longer hold meaning. Photographs of people I haven't spoken to in years, ex boyfriends, and friends that probably don't even like me anymore don't have a place in my life, and it's kind of hard to let all of that go.<br />
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Will is already living at the apartment and doing his new job. I, meanwhile, am stuck in a half demolished room miles away. It's lonely and depressing, and the empty shelves aren't making it any better.<br />
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I can't wait to get my transfer through so I can get fully moved in. The two nights apart have seemed like weeks. The drain on my bank account has been enormous, and the drain on my energy from constant driving and packing and unpacking is even worse. I'm ready for everything to be done already so I can get on with my life.AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-14670918007802655992012-10-29T01:12:00.000-04:002012-10-29T01:12:33.103-04:00NaNoWriMo 2012I'm once again pushing myself to write 50,000 words in 30 days. It'll go better this year, I promise. I'm completely restarting <i>The Devil's Blade</i>, which I started last year and failed to complete.<br />
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This year, I've had a year to think of better ways to do it. I have an outline written out. I shifted from a focus on Catholic lore to the Pagan aspects of the lore, though both always were and will be present. I've fantasized it up and stopped worrying about the accuracy of the 1400's.<br />
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It should be quite a bit better.<br />
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I'm also in sort of a competition with a coworker who will be watching my word count closely. There will be write-ins closer to home, so I'll be doing those, too.<br />
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Overall, should be a much better year than last year. For the Wrimos finding my blog through the NaNo site, welcome and enjoy the ridiculous writing tips!<br />
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About <i>The Devil's Blade</i><br />
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Valdius is the Grim Reaper, a collector of souls that have been sold to the devil. Valdius possesses unearthly powers and immortality, quietly following orders to kill while holding onto what little humanity he has left.<i> </i>When he meets Anastera, a mysterious woman with abilities of her own, Valdius must tread carefully to keep her out of the devil's grasp without getting caught himself.AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-87596188891475484322012-09-27T02:33:00.002-04:002012-09-27T02:33:49.370-04:00PinterestI've been spending quite a lot of time over on Pinterest lately. For those of you unfamiliar with the site, it's basically a place for digital hoarders to "pin" links to stuff they like and share it with their friends. It's a nifty way to see what kind of things your friends are up to, find lots of new ideas, and share cool stuff you find online.<br />
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I think one of the best things about Pinterest is the positive atmosphere. Design-wise, the site looks nice. It's not quite minimalistic, but it's far from cluttered. It's bright and pleasantly styled. On top of that, there's the concept of the site itself. The whole premise revolves around sharing things you love. Everyone on the site is on there looking for things that make them happy, then passing that happiness on to their followers. Even if I'm not particularly interested in things my friends repin, it's still nice that they liked it enough to share and added a smiley face.<br />
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It's a refreshing break from Facebook, where you'll get posts ranging from furious to ecstatic and everything in between. Pinterest is a nice change of pace from the drama and low points of life, instead focusing entirely on stuff that's interesting, funny, cute, or clever.<br />
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I think that's a lot of why I'm on that site so much. I love trying new craft projects and finding new artwork, and I always find something I haven't thought of yet. Digging through all that stuff and being really excited to try a new project is a great way to spend an hour after wearing myself out at work all day.<br />
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Go check out Pinterest!<br />
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My Boards -> http://pinterest.com/eternalnight11/AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-67118282910268125092012-06-26T14:13:00.000-04:002012-06-26T14:13:28.709-04:00LGBT Pride Month<div style="text-align: justify;">As I'm sure most people on the internet know, June is LGBT Pride Month. It's a month for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transexuals (among others) to accept who they are, the straight members of the community to show their support against prejudice and harassment, and the closed minded people of the community to lose a couple friends by being jerks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pride seems like an interesting word for this sort of thing. I've heard the argument that it's weird to be so proud of what you were born with when there's the same chance any random person is the same way. The way I see it, it's not a flaunting sort of pride, but rather an accepting one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you grow up getting complimented on your blue eyes in an area where brown is the majority, I bet you'd appreciate having them. If you grow up being picked on for being different, you're going to resent them and wish you could change. Same with being gay. It wasn't up to you, and in today's society, you are, in fact, a minority. You have likely been picked on, oppressed, and shunned. To overcome that negativity and come through it accepting yourself for who you are, getting to the point of liking yourself and readily expressing yourself without fear, is its own form of pride.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I know a big divide is the one between religion and the LGBT community. Screw them. I know gay Christian ministers and I've seen religious figures trying to change the way the church sees things. Remember that no god, whether the Christian God, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or freakin' Zeus, would preach hatred and intolerance. Those are human ideals; not divine ones. If religion is something you want, there are accepting people in every following that aren't blinded by what they're told.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Keep being yourself. Keep liking yourself. The ones who don't accept you aren't important; the ones that support you are. </div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-47152201587064140812012-06-03T14:33:00.000-04:002016-09-05T23:06:23.720-04:00Writing Tip #15<div style="text-align: justify;">I'm participating in Camp Nanowrimo, which is the same as normal Nano, but less formally organized and such. Probably not coming near a 50,000 word novel, but I'm trying, at least. I just kind of fell on this particular idea I hold when I write, and I figured I'd blog about it instead of raising my word count.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tip #15 - Keep love levels realistic.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Assuming you're not writing a romance story, love is something a lot of writers tend to avoid using as the main focus. We typically care more about how our hero's battle with the dragon progressed or how far the adventurers are from home than what was in the letters they sent home to their lovers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Still, having a little love - even just a little attraction or a few sexual encounters - is important and realistic. Romance is a part of life. Very few of us go through life without ever falling for someone, liking someone they can't have, or making a mistake with their best friend.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">When I wrote <i>Among the People Lost,</i> I didn't have a set plot in mind, and all the romance I put in really pushed it in a different direction than what I think I was going for. I think it worked out in the end, but someone reading it for the post apocalyptic setting might not get as much out of it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">If we look at works of major importance, regardless of setting, there's typically always at least a little romance present. It's what gives characters drive to defeat their foes, seek brutal revenge, or find their way home. The <i>Lord of the Rings</i> movies have a wedding after the day is saved, partly symbolizing the rebirth of happiness and peace after the war. <i>I Am Legend</i> (both book and movie) has a main character who frequently has flash backs to his wife and child, both of whom died years ago. Just to shift to video games for another kind of love, <i>Drakengard</i>'s main character is a sadistic psychopath killing to avenge his parents and protect his sister.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Love of all kinds is a great way to make a point, especially where missed chances are concerned. Killing off your main character's love interest before he has an opportunity to tell her how he feels is the perfect way to ruin his life for a little while. It can really help make a point of the sacrifices involved in going off to save the world or being too lost in finding himself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Like everything, I think it's all about balance. You'll have some characters who will abandon the quest to start a family, some who will fight side by side with their partners, and some who will never have any interest in any of your other characters. You'll have the over-protective and the tragically unrequited. You'll have romantic and platonic and fraternal. To some degree, though, you'll have it. </div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-50504569232751770672012-05-30T19:36:00.000-04:002012-05-30T19:36:19.886-04:00Forgotten Tunnels<div style="text-align: justify;">I had a pretty miserable year most of 2011. There were some highlights, sure, but most of it was downright bad. It was bad enough that it leaked into 2012, with January and February seeing the worst depression I'd had in a while, if ever. I was starting to think I was completely losing my mind and all fragments of myself, and I wondered often if I'd ever see the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe it was a tunnel that only went down into the dark, or it was a dead end. It might never open up again.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sometime around the 10th - 12th of March, Tim and I were at Denny's for dinner. When we were leaving, I asked if we needed anything from Walmart, since it was late and that was one of the few things open. I just really felt like going, I guess. I like wandering around Walmart. Well, we went, and we met up with a friend I had worked with at Target. She was also a seasonal hire there, so, like me, Target dropped her when the season ended. She told me to apply.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I can't explain the draw I suddenly had for Walmart, and if I tried, it would sound so absurd. I'm sure not many people look at Walmart and say, "Oh my God, I absolutely positively want to work there. That seems like the best idea I've ever heard!" I hadn't even been actively looking for a job. I was still way too busy being sad that I existed, but I went home, got on my computer, and applied.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Needless to say, I got the job, and that was probably the best spontaneous and stupid decision of my life. Because of my job, I'm far healthier, both physically and mentally. I posted about the end of my relationship with Tim and the beginning of one with my coworker Will, and almost a month of officially dating later, we're doing great. We're both wonderfully happy to be together, and I think we're improving each other's lives a lot without even really trying.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at this guy. He's adorable!</td></tr>
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Because of the hours of my job, I barely see my family anymore, which means much less stress at home. I wake up, Will gets me for work, I enjoy a day of unloading trucks and moving things, and then Will returns me to my house, where I usually make him food and we talk for hours about very random things like lemon turtles. He's there for me when I'm too tired to scoop my own ice cream, and I'm there for him when he's hacking up a lung and needs soothing tea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was just looking back over my blog earlier tonight and saw all the posts about being very depressed. It feels like that tunnel I was in is now a lifetime behind me, completely overgrown and hidden away. It feels like everything has settled into place, like everything is where it should be, and like this is how it was supposed to be all along. </div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-59780875783361191052012-05-03T11:25:00.000-04:002012-05-03T11:25:36.439-04:00Love and Stuff<div style="text-align: justify;">I'm mostly posting this for the friends on Facebook who are probably very confused about the change in relationship status. Well, it's going to get more confusing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tim and I have known for a months that there was a very strong possibility he would be moving to Florida. There were times I really wanted to go with him, and times I really wanted him to stay. Sometimes I felt like he was abandoning me or pushing me aside, even though I consciously knew that there was so much more to it than that.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The people he knows in Florida are very important and special to him. He'll have a far better life down there than he's known up here in Pennsylvania all his life. At the same time, the life he's going into just isn't a life for me, and a large part of me has always known that. We've seen a break up coming for a long time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He decided not too long ago to make a visit to Florida, and we decided that would be a deciding factor. Obviously, he decided to move down there, so we ended our relationship.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here's the other big chunk of fun. It's called Will.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">About two weeks before Tim would be leaving for Florida, I started talking with one of my coworkers. I'm not a very outgoing or social person with new people, but I opened right up to Will, and we got really close really fast. We were texting constantly and started going out to lunch together at work.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">When Tim went to Florida, Will was my ride home most of the week. Sometime during that time, whether it was in my kitchen while I cooked him dinner or at the table where I talked to him about work, we got really damn attached.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Everyone at work noticed, of course. There were lots of jokes about it, and we didn't care. It was better to laugh about it at work than try to hide it and go home unhappy. There's no shame in admitting you care about someone. Still, there was the return of Tim looming on the horizon, and we had only a vague idea of where things would go from there. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As it turns out, Tim found his calling in Florida. He found everything he could have ever wanted, all rolled up in one little town. When he came home, we talked for hours about our situations, laughed over the absurdity of it all, and mutually decided that everything had worked out far better than either of us had expected. We decided that his place is in Florida with his friends, and mine is here, with Will.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm sure that all seems to be some combination of stupid, sudden, and bizarre. In the end, we all know what we're doing is for the best. I'm very happy with Will. It's the kind of happiness that kind of overuled all other happiness and even took away the attraction I had for Tim. I've never experienced anything like it before. Tim's calling to Florida is the same. In that one week, we found where we need to be, and we're completely okay with the fact that our places are taking us in different directions. It's sad to see a long relationship end - it always is - but we'll stay friends, and there are absolutely no hard feelings on either side. After a long time of uncertainty, everything feels right, and in the end, that's what matters most.</div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-76827685524543455452012-05-01T14:39:00.002-04:002012-05-01T14:39:29.854-04:00Where Life Is Headed<div style="text-align: justify;">
Life's been a little insane lately, to say the least. I've got a lot going on in quite a few different areas, and there's a lot I want to balance out and get done.</div>
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<b>Life</b></div>
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Personal life has some major shifts, which there will be posts about later. They've taken effect already, but it's just that they're such a huge change, they'll need a post all their own.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Gardening</b></div>
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I have plants growing! Sage, oregano, spearmint, and habanero peppers, to be exact. They're doing so well. It's happy-making. :)</div>
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<b>Writing</b></div>
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I'm considering tackling the sequel to <i>Among the People Lost</i> and getting it done already. Not sure if that's what I'll do, but that's an idea. I've still got the prequel to finish writing and a few other major chunks of literature concerning the characters, and that's a lot of work. In other projects, I have <i>The Devil's Blade</i> and my futuristic cyborg dragon story to write.</div>
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<b>The Dragon's Claw</b></div>
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I really need to sit down and come up with a game plan for this thing. I really want to get back into it, but it's really hard to do all the work myself when half the point is getting people to submit articles and such. I have enough time to put it together each month, but writing five articles an such makes it tough work.</div>
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<b>College</b></div>
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I'm putting it off at least another year because (and you're going to think I've lost my mind) I love working at Walmart too much to quit.</div>
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<b>Work</b></div>
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I'm really loving my job in the back room at Walmart. The people are great, and it's like getting paid to go to the gym. I've put on a lot of muscle, likely gained some weight, and generally gotten a little healthier.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Art</b></div>
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I'm going to be doing a lot of photography soon just because of how nice the weather should be getting and everything. I'll keep fractaling, and I haven't had much time to do drawings, but I have a bunch I need to finish and I'd like to do more speedpainting practice. Craft fairs are sprouting up this time of year, and I would do more if I had stock, but as it is, I mainly need to sit down and have a jewelry-palooza.<br />
<br />
<b>Summer</b><br />
My friends are rebooting their gaming series Snack and Fitzgerald, so I imagine I'll be spending a good chunk of my summer days off filming videos. It should be a good excuse to get lots done and play lots of board games. </div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-79215838087499843062012-04-19T14:56:00.000-04:002016-09-05T23:06:23.775-04:00Writing Tip #14<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is one of those things I think of every time I see something I consider to be poorly structured, and something I think is a requirement for long prose.</div>
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<b>Tip #14: Learn how to use hated punctuation.</b></div>
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Semicolons, colons, dashes, and ellipses must be the loneliest punctuation marks out there in the big world of English grammar. I use all of them on a regular basis; they're pretty handy.</div>
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<b>Semicolons </b>are a comma/period hybrid, even in appearance. They're way easier to use than most people seem to think. The semicolon is used in those awkward sentences that would be a run-on if you used a comma, but would seem broken up if you used a period. Examples:</div>
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<i>"It's not that it's too heavy; it's just bulky." </i></div>
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<i>"I didn't get a chance to wash the dishes; they're still there."</i></div>
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<b>Colons </b>aren't quite hated, but they're certainly misused. I think the biggest rule about colons is they never follow a verb. <i>"The following items I need are:"</i> is not a proper use of a colon, yet that's the way many writers use them, from what I see around DeviantART and such. Proper usage of a colon actually varies quite a bit because the examples are so specific, so if you're curious, take a look over on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_(punctuation)" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>. Just for the record, I don't like the use of a colon in independent appositives. I think a semicolon looks much more intelligent. To me, using a colon seems like you aren't really sure what you're doing. I've never seen it in published writing.</div>
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<b>Dashes </b>are, in my opinion, a really good way to establish a voice in your writing. They can break up a sentence for more impact, whether something is just that important or it's being said or thought by a character whose thoughts happen to be very muddled. They're another punctuation mark that has lots of uses, but in prose, they're really good for one thing - cramming extra stuff into a sentence. Examples:</div>
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<i>"I went to the store - without you, I might add - and got those billion things you wanted."</i></div>
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<i>"Every time you laugh - even when you just smile - it takes my breath away."</i></div>
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<b>Ellipses </b>are one of my favorites. They're another that adds voice to a piece of writing. Let me get this basic, simple, stupidly easy rule out of the way: <i>three dots</i>; no more, no less. I get where a lot of amateur writers are coming from when they make an ellipsis with twelve dots. It's a longer pause in their head, so it should be more dots...right? No. English (most languages, probably) doesn't work like that. The rules on spacing varies, but as a general rule in writing, as long as you're consistent, it never really matters too much. I never use a space on either side of the ellipsis, but there are a multitude of spacing options considered grammatically correct. Ellipses are used to indicate a pause, but they're different from commas. A comma indicates different clauses and should never be used solely for a verbal pause; ellipses can pop up anywhere. Examples:</div>
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<i>"I just don't know...which one do you like better?"</i></div>
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<i>"I...you...I don't even know what to say." </i></div>
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<b>Ellipses</b>, unlike a lot of other punctuation, can also be followed by another punctuation mark in certain cases. I've often seen an ellipses followed by a period for a total of four dots in a row, which I've done myself after seeing it in a lot of published books. Personally, I feel an ellipsis on its own isn't really a closing punctuation mark, but that opinion varies, and grammar rules are a little loose there. That's different than making an ellipsis four dots just for the hell of it. Examples:</div>
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<i>"We're going where...?"</i></div>
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<i>"She's just...I don't know...." </i></div>
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So there you have it. A few rules on some very neglected and misused punctuation marks.<i> </i></div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-60705315810276002292012-04-11T05:04:00.002-04:002012-04-11T05:06:16.855-04:00The Fear Has Been Doubled!<div style="text-align: justify;">On Easter, I slept in pretty late, and since I needed to wake up for work the next day at the early hour of 1 PM, I decided to take a sleepy pill and get to bed early.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I dreamed I was in a field on a clear, sunny afternoon. I don't know what season it was, but everything was yellow. The leaves and grass, all yellow. The real life equivalent of this field is actually at the end of my street, where there's a pond on the right, woods to the left, and a highway. In the dream, though, all traces of man were gone. There were no power lines, no light posts, and no road. Just a grassy, yellow field. I had the knowledge in the dream that some sort of catastrophe had occurred, and I was one of very few survivors.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My mom was with me, walking through the grass, and my friend Travis was off in the distance. My mom left to go to Travis, leaving me with that big wet field area to my right where the pond is/was. In that area, there was a guy probably about 20 years old, and he was afraid. He only liked me. No one else was allowed near him. I gave him food and helped keep him alive.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I gave him a bundle, started towards Travis and my mom, and then decided to explore instead. I turned around to go the opposite direction. After this point, my mind stopped including Travis, my mother, and that guy in the dream. I found a very quick way I could have gone to give the guy that bundle of food instead of the way I took, and I was pleased that next time I wouldn't have to travel over thick underbrush.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then ghost children started pouring out of the woods.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They were lead by a little boy, about ten years old, with short, dark hair. I don't remember was he was wearing, but his shirt definitely didn't have sleeves. That's important. I also feel he may have been very dirty, but I'm not positive. I know for a fact that his hands were dirty, with yellowed nails that had dirt under them. I knew in the dream that he had been my son, and that he and the other children behind him - several dozen - were dead.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The boy mentioned something about the parent suffering as the children had suffered, and how I would feel the pain they felt. Using his right hand's middle finger, he tore a very deep gash in his own left arm, starting near the shoulder and going down about three or four inches. It must have been half an inch deep.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I felt a searing pain in my own arm, and I clutched at it as I backed away from them. Typically, pain will wake anyone from a dream, but not when sedatives are involved. I chose a bad night to have sleeping pills in my system. I don't remember if my own arm bled, but it definitely hurt a lot.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I turned to run, and when I turned around, a little girl - about six or so and in some kind of ruffly dress - was standing there. I knew that she was another ghost, and also my other deceased child. She didn't do anything. She just stood there, as I was panicking and unsure of which direction to go.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some part of my mind recognized that I needed to escape, and even that I needed to wake up, in a very primal, basic sense. I turned again to face the boy and his followers, and since I was clutching my arm, I lost my balance and fell. As I was hitting the ground, I woke up.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I woke in a room that was not my bedroom. It was another dream. The room was a perversion of my bedroom in my old house, which had my bed on one wall, a closet on the opposite, and a window on the wall to the left, with the door on the wall to the right. Only the layout of the room was from memory; the rest was created from nothing.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My bed was a black bunk bed with many pillows, and there was a nightstand near the door with a purple lamp. The room was dark, with a purplish glow from the lamp. It looked like it was sunset outside by the lightness of the sky, though I suppose it could have been dawn, too.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I knew instantly that it was not my bedroom. It wasn't where I was supposed to be, and again, that primitive need to escape surfaced. For those of you unfamiliar with lucid dreaming, breaking free of a dream is like clawing your way up through tar. It feels like you're drowning and struggling to break the surface. Doing it while sedated is even harder.<br />
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I managed to break through the layers of fog to wake in my own bed, in my own, real, physical bedroom. Too tired to know any better, I went back to sleep a minute later.<br />
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I had a dream about children with their parents on some strange kind of elevator made of chairs. It's strange and mostly unimportant, I think.<br />
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I woke up in that dream bedroom again, and it was even more horrifying. There was a large panda plush, and this time Tim was there, holding this panda and telling me to go back to sleep or something. I don't honestly remember, but I know he was there and talking to me. Once again, I had to pull myself out of that dream world to fully wake up.<br />
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Over the course of the night, I ended up in that freakish, demented bedroom a few times, and it was always slightly different. I don't know how many times I was there in total. Most notable about the night was a painful dream of creepy ghost children in a destroyed world, and a distorted bedroom.<br />
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It was not a fun night. </div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-46700335106434003272012-04-06T14:04:00.000-04:002016-09-05T23:06:23.711-04:00Writing Tip #13<div style="text-align: justify;">It's been a while since I've done one of these, and my laptop is pretty much the only entertainment I've got all day, so I'd better get some writing in. This is something I think should be pretty obvious, but sometimes we writers get so wrapped up in our epic battles and raging gunfights that we forget about stuff like this.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tip #13: Write vignettes for practice.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Vignettes and flash fiction pieces are quick pieces of writing that are not exactly "stories," as they lack a specific plot, conflict, and conclusion. They give a short glimpse into everyday life when your characters are interacting simply to interact, rather than to save the day and advance the story.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Writing vignettes has several purposes. First off, it helps with character development. Anyone following my blog at all should know how high I value that particular device. We all know how our main hero responds when someone points a gun or a sword at him, but what about his days off? Would he ever just go for a walk to enjoy scenery, or does he have people he talks to and jokes with when he's not off saving the world?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another good use is to develop your setting. Take your characters on a little adventure. I have friends who have explored a nearby park and gone diving off a small waterfall. There's an even closer park with big tunnels that go beneath the interstate. I think a lot of people in the area must know that area like the back of their hand. Even if the reader never sees any of these little adventures your characters have, you at least have the locations in your mind and can draw upon them when you need to add a little padding to your main plot.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Vignettes are also great for focusing on characters who don't get much attention. I often notice that I end up with a few characters who have only a small handful of appearances, and that makes them harder to write when I feel they should come up. It goes along with character development, though this is more for determining their mannerisms and how they carry themselves rather than how they respond to stimuli.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Perhaps the most fun part of vignettes is releasing them to your readers after they've finished your novel and want more writing. It's fun to read about our favorite characters outside of the main plot. It gives us more information on what it would be like to know them, or even to <i>be</i> them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Overall, I'd say vignettes are a great way to practice. I must have a dozen at least, and I plan on filling in enough gaps in <i>Among the People Lost</i> to eventually combine them into one book.</div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-22093077631210511602012-04-02T01:02:00.000-04:002012-04-02T01:02:32.704-04:006 Language Things I Want to Learn<div style="text-align: justify;">I did really well with languages in school. I pick up on grammar rules really well, and I'm good at spelling. There's lots I'd like to know if I had the time to take classes. I'd teach myself, but I have a hard time learning from a text book. I'm better off when I can hear people talking and such. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. Latin</div><div style="text-align: justify;">More like, finish learning. I have to pick it back up and remember what I've forgotten, then get in all the stuff I missed out on in school. Latin was and still is hugely important to me.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. German</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I just want to know it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. Greek</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I barely even know the symbols' names.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. Norwegian, Swedish, or Finnish</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Because I want to go to Scandanavia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. Spanish</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I can't understand what my coworkers say when they talk to each other in their native tongue, and it seems like something I should mostly be able to understand. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">6. The Daedric Alphabet</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just to be that kind of person that memorizes video game alphabets.</div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-83218683910119700892012-04-01T21:33:00.000-04:002012-04-01T21:33:41.662-04:00Appreciation<div style="text-align: justify;">We all have the desire to be appreciated. We want our efforts recognized and our accomplishments known. We want to feel like we've made a difference to someone or something we've worked on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I've drawn all my life. I was always better than average, but never super great. My art was appreciated among family, but really paled next to classmates work. I guess it just wasn't my strongest point. Writing was. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I started writing in sixth grade. It was for a school project where we would write a story and put it in a nicely bound book. I remember being in the spotlight through that class, between the books I wrote (smaller than a chapter of my published novel, but at the time, very lengthy), the six foot long scroll I made on a history of dragons, and my published poetry. I can't even begin to imagine how often my friends told me I should be a writer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">By the time I was writing <i>Among the People Lost</i>, friends were in college. To a lot of them, it probably seems like a really stupid thing to do. Why spend a couple hundred hours writing a book when I could be learning how to make thousands as a doctor? It was just generally ignored, for the most part.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The people who really appreciated it and kept me writing it were people on the internet and Tim. Tim read over every chapter as I wrote it and helped make sure everything was clear, well-written, and not stupid as hell. Halfway through the book, I started posting it to DeviantART, since by then, I knew how the rest was going to go and I was confident that I wouldn't have to backtrack and change the beginning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I had several people tell me they were really enjoying reading it, and that meant a lot. It helped dull the fact that at least 98% of my friends didn't even care enough to read a chapter. When I learned how easy it was to self publish on Kindle, I decided that if the people reading it enjoyed it, it was good enough to be my first published novel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even after I put the book on Kindle, most of my friends didn't seem to be too impressed. I must have at least eight people that said they'd pick it up and never have. It's disappointing to think that very few people are actually willing to put in a few minutes to read a bit and support your work.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">When I applied at Target in November, the interview was a series of questions on accomplishments and team work and all sorts of things that really don't indicate how well you work a cash register. I used my book publication to answer a question about a big project, and the guys interviewing me seemed really impressed. I've mentioned it to a couple coworkers at Walmart, and they seem really damn impressed, too.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The people I'm getting the most appreciation out of are the people who wish they could have done the same thing rather than going into a job unloading trucks or asking nervous people tons of questions. I imagine that once all my friends are done with school and hating their careers, they'll look at me continuing to do my art and my writing, and some of them will wish they hadn't given up on their own personal goals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A little appreciation really goes a long way. I've barely gotten any, and it's still been enough to keep me going on this path lined with words and painted trees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Among-the-People-Lost-ebook/dp/B005F620IY" target="_blank"><i>Among the People Lost</i> on Kindle</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My recent digital paintings:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglVlRNWiR-qIELWSe4Ry37gk2aeSI3r2IDKirqQgDkIUQcLvvKMnvIDtMOPIOvUWdPkqJDyjZjJwP58eUzk_OxlXPAUojY-quqN2Uhd-nhn2iaCfMgRseOCzKxvQK_X_i_LKa5KLm7pAym/s1600/Forest+Speedpaint.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglVlRNWiR-qIELWSe4Ry37gk2aeSI3r2IDKirqQgDkIUQcLvvKMnvIDtMOPIOvUWdPkqJDyjZjJwP58eUzk_OxlXPAUojY-quqN2Uhd-nhn2iaCfMgRseOCzKxvQK_X_i_LKa5KLm7pAym/s400/Forest+Speedpaint.png" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwBMA6LEQWQiwYx417RSv6rfjhS5dTK50gecGblogLTW-uSKYeuhEu9RqR8RZSBEpODwF0fAn5OxdpXS5hRainGfuqT3Syu0w5-fzJ0CSznOWu0duv0xt7I-fYxfFn1gzItB1wrInKlEyg/s1600/Fall+Forest+Speedpaint.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwBMA6LEQWQiwYx417RSv6rfjhS5dTK50gecGblogLTW-uSKYeuhEu9RqR8RZSBEpODwF0fAn5OxdpXS5hRainGfuqT3Syu0w5-fzJ0CSznOWu0duv0xt7I-fYxfFn1gzItB1wrInKlEyg/s400/Fall+Forest+Speedpaint.png" width="400" /></a></div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-42735470338350992752012-03-30T05:58:00.000-04:002012-03-30T05:58:42.992-04:00Things I Did This Week1. Ate fish sticks! I've never had fish before in my life. Seriously. XD<br />
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2. Started unloading trucks at Walmart. It's kinda fun. :D<br />
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3. Learned how to speedpaint from watching a very good tutorial.<br />
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4. Ran out of money from Target and tax returns.<br />
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5. Got my first Walmart paycheck to replenish that money.<br />
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6. Made chicken marinated in whiskey. It had lots of flavor.<br />
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7. Took nice portraits of Tim.<br />
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8. Tried Nutella. Not as tasty as everyone thinks it is, in my opinion.<br />
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9. Started eating bagels with peanut butter instead of plain.<br />
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10. Pulled super heavy pallets ALL OVER WALMART.<br />
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11. Made a meal schedule to incorporate more variety and healthiness into my diet and Tim's.<br />
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12. Spent minimal time on Facebook and maximum time being productive.<br />
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I guess this is a spring for getting in shape, getting healthier, and lots of food. :PAJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-56097713270756405182012-03-25T19:56:00.000-04:002012-03-25T19:56:14.690-04:00Art Features<div style="text-align: justify;">I just found a whole ton of super crazy awesome art, and I want to share it, so here's a list of arts. :D Be sure to check out the artists' sites for the rest of the photos in the series.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/guy-5-600x401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/guy-5-600x401.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Book Carvings by Guy Laramee</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's a bunch of books that have had the pages carved. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.guylaramee.com/index.php?/previous-projects/the-great-wall/" target="_blank">See More -></a> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles10/411457/projects/3014353/hd_e22956771f7ce8b0af75d5c4974fdb85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles10/411457/projects/3014353/hd_e22956771f7ce8b0af75d5c4974fdb85.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Flower X-Rays by Brendan Fitzpatrick</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.brendanfitzpatrick.com/41864/401395/gallery/floral-x-rays" target="_blank">See More -></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/braun-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/braun-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Finger-painted Charcoal Mural by Judith Braun</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/03/a-finger-painted-mural-made-with-charcoal-dust/" target="_blank">See More -></a> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1grwtFRF91ron71wo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1grwtFRF91ron71wo1_500.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ink in Water Photos by Alberto Seveso</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.behance.net/gallery/a-due-Colori/3367841" target="_blank">See More -></a> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/adey-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/adey-7.jpg" width="353" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Pinned Skin Collages by David Adley</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">All the pieces of paper used are cut from magazine photos of people and pinned to form a collage.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.davidadey.com/DAVID-ADEY" target="_blank">See More -></a> </div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-72828821544372084152012-03-25T02:26:00.000-04:002012-03-25T02:26:00.344-04:00Daily Art - Closed Doors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">An abandoned building at the baseball field across the street from my house.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL4Okl0nqFvZ3uQMkdCaj0RcYhFH0uTMV3pvYEj4e8_MOYn5evm7j0kYRTDk_3JfrfSIGoDt2Yyl5jzGMt_JNNgeCNXCqUGop3Pn_5QM_hKIuuFPW2c4fuXe9g46NjOldurRpMaETvu8FM/s1600/Piles+of+Photos+021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL4Okl0nqFvZ3uQMkdCaj0RcYhFH0uTMV3pvYEj4e8_MOYn5evm7j0kYRTDk_3JfrfSIGoDt2Yyl5jzGMt_JNNgeCNXCqUGop3Pn_5QM_hKIuuFPW2c4fuXe9g46NjOldurRpMaETvu8FM/s400/Piles+of+Photos+021.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZYv5DDe0D590AvAqqvGZpS0bX3D4EAH-b0uJ-erRrrArZtPtfAwuJWv9MVon2L23P0k1ZEiU7qAFGOTPQF2Qf6ZjPw1zQyDN35AFh4Kp3zX4rCO5ICe4WEGzbE4dJSxXMbi29zW4d0PtQ/s1600/Piles+of+Photos+025.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZYv5DDe0D590AvAqqvGZpS0bX3D4EAH-b0uJ-erRrrArZtPtfAwuJWv9MVon2L23P0k1ZEiU7qAFGOTPQF2Qf6ZjPw1zQyDN35AFh4Kp3zX4rCO5ICe4WEGzbE4dJSxXMbi29zW4d0PtQ/s400/Piles+of+Photos+025.png" width="400" /></a></div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-11651348857883855682012-03-24T02:25:00.000-04:002012-03-24T02:25:00.123-04:00Daily Art - Field Painting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2VAk3FVSzIP0MuRpmWk6orb8Exo_U7mUmWw48USdmuA_CGgZhmcMbOTJVEY3bINwvlZEn1Vr5OPWwMmZTx-64kGKgZ2PQcOy1_ZU_Vcx0lZnSeUw_MkSIb9OM1EnRdfb1nWC86YZzCr8h/s1600/Field.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2VAk3FVSzIP0MuRpmWk6orb8Exo_U7mUmWw48USdmuA_CGgZhmcMbOTJVEY3bINwvlZEn1Vr5OPWwMmZTx-64kGKgZ2PQcOy1_ZU_Vcx0lZnSeUw_MkSIb9OM1EnRdfb1nWC86YZzCr8h/s400/Field.png" width="400" /></a></div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-66746768149053490562012-03-23T02:24:00.000-04:002012-03-23T02:24:00.656-04:00Daily Art - Famine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmNegLrGxZpuhheSTjbHVlCEGBaNriCrz4J5v97y3Ll25DtGNZ1eX6czi5EvuRwvrd4iKGx7WmHG9ZLXNwBBLl0PNQ98WF4qWOCwicoqONahjCTQZ_nVt_qNBzZxYP1WVWd8XJLiH7Ocm/s1600/Famine.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmNegLrGxZpuhheSTjbHVlCEGBaNriCrz4J5v97y3Ll25DtGNZ1eX6czi5EvuRwvrd4iKGx7WmHG9ZLXNwBBLl0PNQ98WF4qWOCwicoqONahjCTQZ_nVt_qNBzZxYP1WVWd8XJLiH7Ocm/s400/Famine.png" width="400" /></a></div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-60710374544633449532012-03-22T16:21:00.000-04:002012-03-22T16:21:25.277-04:00Skyrim Love and Hate<div style="text-align: justify;">I like lists, so let's take a moment to list some very good and very bad features of Skyrim.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>Things I Love About Skyrim</u></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. The world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I think Bethesda did a really great job building the landscape and scenery of Skyrim. It's not as sparse as previous games, and it's very uneven and mountainous.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. The people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The people look pretty great. I'm not super fond of the altmer, but otherwise, I think they did a great job - especially with the khajiit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. The Morrowind references.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My God, I'm so thrilled about all the Morrowind references. All the subtle references to things like Gnisis and House Telvanni, the mention of Red Mountain, and the things like draugr and werewolves that carried over from Bloodmoon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. Dual wielding.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The best. I kind-of-sort-of do it in Morrowind with a mod, but my off-hand sword just works like a shield, so not really. I love that I can use two weapons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. Chickens.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The farm animals in general. I was happy with the sheep in Oblivion, and I'm very happy that there are adorable little chickens and cows sitting around in towns.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">6. Dragons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I love how the dragons look. My only complaint is that I can't ride one, and I'm sure there is/will be a mod for that.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">7. Smithing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Why didn't they do this sooner? This is wonderful!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">8. The soundtrack.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Best music so far compared to the other games. I'm also really happy about some of the Morrowind music being recycled. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>Things I Hate About Skyrim</u></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. It's glitchy as hell.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My graphics break all the time. There are tons of little bugs and things that break that they really should have caught before release.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. The skill revamp.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">No attributes? No birthsign? No more acrobatics and athletics? This is not okay. I miss the old skills.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. Lydia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">She's always in my room eating my sweetrolls! Get out! >:O</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. Nighteye.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I liked it in previous games. I don't like it in this at all. It makes vision worse, not better.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. The menu.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What is this mess? It's easier to use the keyboard arrows, and even then, it's a big pain to sort through lists instead of seeing a nice table or having a scroll bar. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">6. Buttons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I don't understand why R is used for somethings, E for others, and F as a reject action button. I miss the days of Morrowind where space did everything. I also don't like that I can equip things while trying to put them in a chest. I'm in chest store mode, not inventory mode. That shouldn't be an option in my opinion. It seems like they couldn't decide which controls to use half the time. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">7. The alchemy downgrade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I want my fourth item, damn it. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">8. One ring.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two was most certainly not too many. I would like to wear one on each hand, please. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>Things I'm Mixed On</u></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. The cities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Solitude is the best thing ever, but why the hell is Morthal even a city? It's, like, the same size as Riverwood. Some of the cities just really should have been bigger, being as important as they are.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. Marriage.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sure, there are benefits, but it's sort of obnoxious having a guy in my house telling me to make myself at home and to let him know if he can be of any assistance. Also, someone really needs to get on making khajiit and bosmer marriable. I'm forcing bestiality on my poor dunmer husband.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. Cooking </div><div style="text-align: justify;">I love that we can cook, but I'd love even more if the food items were also alchemy items. If I want to mix sweetrolls and daedra hearts, that's my business.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. Kill cams.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meh...? They're cool, but I generally don't like things that break the flow of the game like that. I'm iffy on them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. Equippable magic.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Seems like a step backwards to Morrowind from Oblivion. Morrowind required your hands to be in casting mode, and in Oblivion, they eliminated that by simply having a cast button, so you could use magic while using your sword and shield. I hate that I have to have magic on one of my hands instead of just casting it. Sure, you can cast with some things, but why not all? It seems kind of weird.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">6. Nirnroot.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I like that it respawns, but it's really not supposed to, so I wonder if that was even intentional? If it is, doesn't that defeat the purpose of it being super rare and all that? </div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-75077455964830569412012-03-22T02:21:00.000-04:002012-03-22T02:21:00.443-04:00Daily Art - Lelouch Trace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I traced a screenshot from Code Geass in an attempt to study all the layers of shading and how everything is put together. I learned that it's way more than it looks like. :P</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqt_HsOX7-C5XWvnmY0qf0dFyjIbyCJjlhw2RgYZokcjOM__90a2N1eErNrDPNS_it1SG0QnsaSPJ_li0QLp5h1QJssVfY4xM5InoBoKRclp_-qa3H4UjW_hImsJHCNlWxupl6pKTbPHYN/s1600/Lelouch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqt_HsOX7-C5XWvnmY0qf0dFyjIbyCJjlhw2RgYZokcjOM__90a2N1eErNrDPNS_it1SG0QnsaSPJ_li0QLp5h1QJssVfY4xM5InoBoKRclp_-qa3H4UjW_hImsJHCNlWxupl6pKTbPHYN/s400/Lelouch.png" width="400" /></a></div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-74507039898560277452012-03-21T02:20:00.000-04:002012-03-21T02:20:00.142-04:00Daily Art - "Sinew"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzW88Jqduqb5OffxX3JJ7bKriYX2Q3LqX_2BK3lYM4EJrdM7u0uBeKQldVNRuJAHnLzwkdCx-8JhXlVv90PiRCfOe8T8AVg2G4UPBzWfEKvwyTEBwh7opmt6vcOdOFNW3CTk5KKX393UVf/s1600/Sinew2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzW88Jqduqb5OffxX3JJ7bKriYX2Q3LqX_2BK3lYM4EJrdM7u0uBeKQldVNRuJAHnLzwkdCx-8JhXlVv90PiRCfOe8T8AVg2G4UPBzWfEKvwyTEBwh7opmt6vcOdOFNW3CTk5KKX393UVf/s640/Sinew2.png" width="480" /></a></div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2000087598019926260.post-43383603322161730662012-03-20T02:19:00.000-04:002012-03-20T02:19:00.026-04:00Daily Art - "Cloud Arcs"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJKFgluJ_KX12ah05rW0VJY8-zrZbXOxPpHZl4fnK_fX91KsW6VBG5JfOp5J_h9Pu1utrcVEobV5c2YH39waXudLXSS5UHjvpFm9XKdSMw2Mo3gP_fqG2CAgKIYbYI231DlOc5Ewu6nSCp/s1600/Cloud+Arcs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJKFgluJ_KX12ah05rW0VJY8-zrZbXOxPpHZl4fnK_fX91KsW6VBG5JfOp5J_h9Pu1utrcVEobV5c2YH39waXudLXSS5UHjvpFm9XKdSMw2Mo3gP_fqG2CAgKIYbYI231DlOc5Ewu6nSCp/s400/Cloud+Arcs.png" width="400" /></a></div>AJ Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761589458935223698noreply@blogger.com0