An update, by which people might be informed

About a week ago my laptop gave up on being useful. Today it has been partially repaired. The problem with the adaptor has been fixed but the battery is still nearly useless, so until I can get that replaced I am still confined to wherever I can plug in. But this is still an improvement, definitely.

Today was also a jobby sort of day. A local city library likes to come in once a year to collect resumes and quick, informal interviews from senior students they may want to employ casually. While waiting and immediately after I thought of some more ways I could improve mine to be more comprehensive, appealing, and still less tainted by filler. I do think it went okay though, and while I don't expect to be called upon, it still helps to have a bit more interviewing experience and to be reminded that I am possibly employable.

In conclusion, cats are adorable.

(no subject)

I'm annoyed by the idea machine intelligences cannot be predictable, that only organic life and especially humans have the magic spark of spontaneity. It did not come up directly in this, but parts definitely reminded me of times it had in what little I've seen or heard of the series.

Is that so?

Today, walking to class, I passed a person wearing a t-shirt which had stylised - as commonly seen on restroom signs - representations of a bride and groom on the front. The groom I saw had a sad expression, and large text on the shirt read "Game Over".

I am continually puzzled by how much (straight) men seem to hate women and marriage and relating to women. It astounds me that people could hate women so much and still claim they want to have heterogendered relationships.

Naming, titling

Before I sleep I want to finish reconsolidating my presence on SHARDS / Melantha, now that we're back. Bringing back over that which was worked on elsewhere and setting everything to its proper place.

While I was in exile my fingers were itching to be writing, not having done so for a couple of weeks at that point. Unfortunately the story I should have been editing all along was locked away here and I could not get power on long enough to transfer elsewhere (this sort of calamity makes me appreciate having moved to mostly web-based services for many things), so instead I began work on the next story I wanted to write.

Now it is back here, but not without complication. The next two stories, I wanted to trial them on Celtx and yWriter (only one for each) to see if I would find software designed for the task to be convenient for me. So I have just installed the newest version of yWriter and am transferring the aforementioned newly begun story from Google Documents.

The new project wizard is opened.

Step 1: Please enter the project title

Not very good with names or titles.

Ummm...

*struck by a minor inspiration*

"A Library Fox"

There. Kind of like it, even.

Step 2: Next, please enter the author's name

Did I mention not being good with names?

uhhhhhhhhh

Oh crap.

uhhhhmmmmmm

Help? This is harder than writing the story. Who am I today? What is my name this time? If 'my' and 'name' even go together and aren't one trying to claim a unitary authority which does not belong.

No, no, no. Those names are all taken by people you know. Memory misfires; let one of yours surface, if a name must be named. A compound, nearest approximation of that particular weight and shape which would feel right. Let it for now stand.

Step 3: Now specify your project folder

*pause*

*type type type*

*stretches*

So we begin.


[Note(ish): occurrences of pronoun 'I' often a discomfitted concession to not knowing what would fit better there]

Following note

Having surmounted the hurdle that is 'author name', actually transferring the story to yWriter went very easily and very quickly.

The program seems to have undergone significant evolution since my previous stalled (for reasons unrelated to yWriter) attempt to use it some years ago; I look forward to poking at some of the tools and finding out which are useful to me. Some seem likely to be overkill for a project this small. Others might never get used (don't normally do rating of things) but that seems okay.

And now sleep, because being able to function seems important for being productive. Plus, inexorable and all that.

(no subject)

Probably a bad thing that Senator Barnaby Joyce is reminding me of nothing so much as the impressions of Tony Blair on Dead Ringers.

Sometimes I think

when government or other organisational members speak of wishing to block 'child pornography' online what they mean is 'pornography from being viewed by people under the age of 18' (and in at least this context, everyone else too, as well as a whole lot of other material).

Edit: To follow up the above, under the proposed scheme everything rated MA15+ or above would be subject to mandatory blocking from everyone in Australia using the internet. You can see what that means here or look at the classification guidelines directly here. For easy reference, it is similar to prohibiting everyone from being able to access material with a US 'R' rating.