♫ It's The Holiday Season ♫

My deepest of apologies for not posting in so long, but you see, my time has been sucked up like jello by Bill Cosby. First it was nanowrimo (which I did... kind of. I didn't finish, but I did write some!), and then it was/is that great killer of social lives... SKYRIM. Still playing it, and Rocksmith, the VGA's, all that jazz. BUT! I'm posting now, so that's all that matters, right?

Anywho, I got this great fountain pen in November, a lamy safari. I loved that pen so much, I spent three days handwriting stuff and changing the way I write just to have it look nice. I say loved because *sniff* I lost it thanksgiving night at my grandmothers house. Now, the reason I bought that specific pen is because I can use my bottled ink with it, and it is relatively cheap so if I lost it it would be NBD, right? Right. Except I only had that pen for three days before it disappeared in a room full of people. I'll have to buy a new one, but I have it on pretty good authority that I'm getting the slightly better model as a Christmas gift, so I'll wait a little bit to see. Once I get my new pen, I'll up a scan of my new (for lack of a better word) font.

On that same thread, I really need to start writing this years Christmas cards, I've got a whole stack and haven't even started -_-

Enjoy this Christmas season! Look forward to another post soon, but right now I'm off to try my hand at making fresh pasta.

Recursive

I feel like I always post about the same things over and over. I like a new girl (when don't I?), I just got something artsy done (which I haven't), I think something is cool. And, when I actually do have something good to write, I forget about it or put it off until "later" because I'm doing something, even though my laptop is like a foot away. It's kinda annoying me, and so from now on, I'm going to try my best to post whenever I feel like posting (and sometimes even when I don't), about whatever I feel like posting, regardless of what I'm doing. So, hopefully, you'll be seeing more of me soon.

Rhythm

I had a revelation today. I'm sick, so I'm sitting at home bored. I decided to try and finish a song that I'm writing (still no title) and thought of a song I wrote last year around this time. Then I tried to record it in February, and celebrated single's awareness day. I wrote some of my book in March. Wanted a relationship in April, was indifferent about May, had the camping/music bug in June and July, wanted to ask a girl out in August and September. Wrote more book in October and November, and got excited, then bored, sketched, did art projects, and had an idea for more songs in December. It's been this way since at least my Junior year of high-school. I've fallen into a pattern, and I need to break out. I like my artsy moods and all, but they're holding me back from making much headway in any one thing. Thing is, I have no clue how to go about breaking the funk.

Hodgepodge Of Junk

Hey guys! It's been a while. I was doing NaNoWriMo, so forgive me. I didn't make it to 50,000 words though. It got to a point where, even though I enjoy my book, I knew I couldn't make the word count. Which is why I've returned. Not much went on this month, building a comp for a friend, got some new apps, did a lot of thinking and questioning and wondering, pretty much everything I always do.

On another (potentially related) note, I've made a discovery about myself. I've discovered that when I really want to know the answer to a question, I can put off asking it, but it always returns. It's like most people with anything they crave, but don't want to partake in yet. They occupy themselves with other things, maybe even succeed at forgetting about it. But then, it comes back. And, in my case, sometimes the answers come to you without having to ask. A fleeting thought, a passing whisper, a loosely veiled question. Sometimes that "answer" isn't what you want to hear. Sometimes it is. Sometimes you have a hard time believing your answer, and sometimes you don't. And, at the end of it all, sometimes you still want to get your answer from the source, but still choose not to. It's rather maddening.

Anyways, I'm off to document some cool guitar riffs that spawned this month. Enjoy your Thanksgiving.

PS: To Lexa on her perf hour video: I LOVE those "Crap, I messed up" moments. Makes me feel... Good. Knowing I can still get better.

NaNaWriMo

So, its been about 1 year since I started Aurora. I have a lot done in the planning department, but not so much in the writing department. As such, I'm gonna be doing the NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month) 2010! Every day in November I'll be heading over to their website, and writing my 1667 words for the day. At the end, that adds up to about 50,000 words in a month, or (roughly) a novel. I'll be irritable, want to quit like three days in, and think my writing is crap, but I'm gonna try my best to stick it out the whole month. If I can, that'll be a pretty huge deal for me. So if I don't post much, (which I'll try and do) you'll know why. I hope to have a lot of fun with this, and I really hope you'll stop by and read some of my work. I start writing on Monday, so wish me luck!

Writing Thoughts

This may sound like a stupid revelation to you, but I really used to hate how whenever you read a story or watched a movie or something, there is almost always something that happens that's too good to be true to keep the story going. Like someone's going about their business in a mall or something in New York, and they never go there, and someone that they haven't seen in years who lives on the other side of the world happens to be there and bam, your story starts to unfold. It just seems so unlikely! Now, onto the revelation: without those one-in-a-million things "constantly" happening in entertainment media, we'd never have any entertainment media that was fiction. The stories most people read are full of those "what're the odds" moments. And so, even though it bugs me, I guess I can let it go.

School

Hey guys. Haven't been able to post this week because of school. Ugh. Quick update on that: My math class is so boring. 3 hours a day every Monday and Wednesday. Then econ, which is pretty fun. Tuesday's and Thursday's I have philosophy (of which my teacher is an anarchist) and then writing. Now, enough of school. I've started getting up earlier so that I can write more of my book every day (gotta start devoting good time to that), and finally got a whiteboard for brainstorming on. Also finished cleaning and setting up the bass that I purchased, among other things. I hope to have some character outlines for you soon. Well, that's it.

Upcoming Stuff

So I didn't do my daily word today because it was still beach. Annoying. Anyways, Cornerstone is coming up next week, and I plan on taking many pictures, writing many posts, and working on my novel and my ocarina skills. Yay! Also, I might be going to the carnival tomorrow (which should be fun), and am probably going laser tagging on Saturday. So, things are looking good right now. Now if only I could figure out if the one that I may or may not be interested in is interested in me, I could probably put this down as the best upcoming week ever.

Rant: Beach

Wasn't the word for yesterday tide? Man, it's like the dev got lazy or something. stupid dev. Yeah, write about the beach. Pfft.

Tide

Blue and white waves begin to roll in, wash­ing sed­i­ment up onto the island, untouched by man. The tide’s com­ing in.

Bleach

The world stained, a small blip on the face of pure cloth… Grab the bleach, human­ity is imperfect.

New Direction

Hey guys! So, I've decided to scrap The Arts Friday's.In its place is going to be what I shall call "The daily word". It goes along with the new oneword.com link in the blog list. The idea is, (almost) every day I will hop on one word, and complete the prompt. The concept behind the site is this: you get one word, and have 60 seconds to write whatever comes to mind. I'm hoping that this will stir up more writing juices, and will give me something to blog about, leading to more updates, all that jazz. This will run starting tomorrow, and will continue indefinitely. It will however, be interrupted by this:

CORNERSTONE!!!

Yes, Cornerstone is just one week away. Now, I won't have internet access, but I'll write a post to publish everyday, and post it when I return. I'll also be writing and (attempt) sketching. Should be fun!

Words

Hey guys! This is more of a response blog than anything else, seeing as Lexa over at Cardiac Outbursts removed her comment function. The blog I'm responding to can be found under the title "You're the one I have decided who's one of my kind...". Note to Lexa: you still haven't changed the link on your blog to my new url. Just saying. Anywho, you can read the whole post over there, but I'm specifically responding to these few lines:

"Why do we all hide behind cryptic lyrics, quoting them to people, enamored with how they sound?/ Songs are so powerful, words are powerful, we are powerful. We hold all this power and so few of us learn how to use it to our advantage. Too few of us speak our minds and stand up for ourselves./ I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and stop hiding behind your words!"

Now, while there's nothing wrong with these words (they're pretty spot on about most people, actually), they do create a small issue in my mind. The problem is that not all of us hide. True, I used to hide behind those cryptic phrases, and sometimes I feel like using them time and again just for kicks, but most of the time I wield my words. They have become a sword, shield, and sanctuary. They can express what I think, defend what I believe, and create imaginary worlds of bliss.  For those of us that, as mentioned, actually learn to speak our minds, words become a powerful tool, and are no longer something we fear and avoid, quoting our interpretations of another persons phrases to make our point. In this way we do "hide" behind words, but can we truly hide behind words when we choose not to wield them? Just something to think about.

Strung Out

I'm still deciding on what I want the new layout to look like for the blog. And what the new title should be. But I'm not so sure yet. So this is the temp. layout. I've also been wondering (again) about how the narrative of my book should be, because right now I have to jump through hoops just to explain stuff, whereas with other styles of narration it would be so much easier. That, and I need to sit down and write out a whole storyline, because while I like just writing and letting the story flow, I also would like to leave those subtle plot hints that when someone re-reads a book makes them enjoy the book that much more. I hope I can do it.

Anywho, I picked up some new CD's the other day. They're all good, and I thought I'd make mention of them here. My Paper Heart by Francesca Battistelli, which has a rather unique sound that I like, The Invitation by Meredith Andrews, a Chicago artist that puts out some good stuff, and even though I don't listen to Paramore, I picked up the Paramore Piano Tribute CD by the Piano Tribute Players and the Strung Out On Paramore tribute CD by the Vitamin String Quartet. It's a good bit of acoustic rock, and you should check it out.

There's a bit more, but if I post it now then I won't have anything to talk about later! And who knows what I may be crazy enough to post when I come back home Friday tripped out on twelve shots of Novocaine and a few lung-fulls of Nitrous Oxide?

Boredom

So I've been really bored lately. I should probably fill that time with writing, but I HATE it when my mom bugs/interrupts me while I'm writing (mostly over how to spell stuff and telling me I should be doing something besides whatever I'm doing), and so I prefer to write when she's not around. Not much interesting happened today, but I did finish up learning how to play kiss from a rose by seal. Just the one guitar by itself sounds a little empty at certain points though. Oh well. That's it for today. Hope I find something better to post tomorrow.

Roses are #FF0000

Newness

So I'm thinking of a new title for my blog. I still think too much, but I'm not the same brooding Jon that I was when I started blogging. Which makes me feel kind of good. And so, I want my blog to reflect that. Right now it's showing (thanks to my banner) a beginning of new life (or a new heart). And so, I want the title to change.

Anywho, I did some tracing today to work up my art skills. I'll do more tomorrow. And possibly write. Possibly. Well, I'll see you guys in the morning.

Roses are #FF0000

Uhh... [Insert Good Title Here]

Good evening guys! Kind of a late post today, but meh. So, I got my haircut, and pictures of that will be up in the morning. Also, my scanner started working again! Yay! So I will work especially hard on a sketch for you guys, and will have it by Friday, I promise. That, and if I finish the sketch soon enough maybe a short story. But that I don't promise.

[Insert laying in bed with eyes closed trying to think of something interesting or profound to say, and then having mind wander off into sketch ideas for ten minutes]

Well, that's all I've got. Maybe I should've posted when my brain was working a bit better.

Roses are #FF0000

A Note To My Readers

Hey guys! Do to the fact that I have indeed begun working more on my book, my time to sketch and write short stories has gone down exponentially. In light of this, The Arts Fridays will now only occur once every two weeks, so as to give me more time to work on something that I can actually post as opposed to just my book, which I will post no more excerpts of. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope that you continue to visit my site.

Roses are #FF0000

Summer Checklist

Hey guys! So I've decide to make a summer checklist for myself, of things I wanna do before the summer is over. I've never made one before. So here goes:

- Get at least halfway through writing my book.
Note: the following is tricking from freerunning, NOT parkour.
- Learn to palm flip
- to palm spin
- to wall flip
- to wall front flip
- to Kip-up
End tricking
- to cartwheel (I still can't do one. At all.)
- Run a 6 minute mile (sprint speed, not average speed)
Begin parkour:
- to Kong Vault
- to Speed Vault
- to Dash Vault
- to run up a 10' wall (I can only do a 9' or so now, whatever height Mike is with his arms raised above his head plus 6")

And that's about it. On paper, it seems like I should be able to do it. Realistically, once I get some of the tricks the rest will follow, but I expect the most trouble from the wall run, and the mental issues with a Kong and the flips, although as I said once I do one flip I expect to have gotten over that, save for the front wall flip. Here's hoping I can do it!

Random Nothingness

So there's actually a number of things going on, the first of which is that I'm thinking of new development company names, studio names, stuff like that. Finding a name I like is hard. Second of all, I got some more of my book typed up (read: I write my book on paper, and then edit it as I type it). Third: I'm really sorry about dallying on those pictures, but my scanner still doesn't like me. Sorry! And finally: I got Final Fantasy XIII! Yay! From what I've played so far, the voice actors are good, the game itself is visually pleasing, and the story is something I could get into. And have. Well, I must now get back to gaming. See you tomorrow!