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happy new digit //stuff

Without more ablah, the main project for the year 8 is my first novel. Hooray!
I know, I know. That was the last year’s project. So what? It still ain’t done and I still think it should be. I just happen to be the guy who does everything twice.
Keep ‘em crossed, then. And good year to you too.

Bjork-07: The Homecoming //music

Looks like after a lot of beating about Bjork has finally went and became what she always intented to - an arena rock star!

Laugh all you like, but take Tarantino, for instance. Judging by Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, you might think he’s into independend films. But if you look at what he’s done lately, you’ll see that b-movies are more like his archetype.

What cripples Bjork as a metal goddess though is her anything-but-guitars notion. This year it’s brass section and reactable. Can you imagine Joga with brass?

Out of The Sun //tools

The net is, of course, full of personal development recipes and productivity hacks (see stevepavlina.com and 43folders.com for examples). But personal is personal: one size does not fit all and sometimes you just have to face a personal problem only you can solve.
I personally have (or, hopefully, had) a problem ending my workday. I work at home, which only makes it worse, if anything, but I use the inet. It might be ok, if not for me being the junkie material.
Which is exactly why I don't read mags or watch TV or play videogames or smoke pot: it tends to take all my time. You might say it's a mixed curse, since TV, mags and even VG are getting useless pretty fast. Pot might have some use, and I've learned quite a lot from it, but it has it's own downsides. It is bad for my discipline to start with, and I've had way more pot than self-discipline in my life.
Anyway, when its come to getting out of the net mode, the curse become very real and obvious. I'm all over the net. I have five to ten apps on the taskbar, which is usually too much for me to concentrate especially since, obviously, not all of them are related to the task at hand. I open and read the pages compulsively, and since I've banned a lot of interesting reading with my firewall, I end up opening the blogs for apps I don't even use.
Which is exactly where the secluded account come in handy. It has all the toys I need for the real act of writing - or for journalling, or for reviewing my numerous unfinished works, or even messing with my Projects.xls, but not more.
The problem is to get into that account after a day on the net. I finish my salary job at 19:00 to 19:30, but till recently it's been a typical scenario when I logged off from my regular account at 20:30, or even later.
Just the other day I've opened a Wkipedia article. Granted, I was doing research for one of my writing projects. And I've learned some stuff - mostly unrelated to the any project I'm working at. That's ok, I don't want my curiousity to starve but I wasn't really immersed in that article, so I started to do something else. Quite a few things, actually.
The result? I got up from my computer about 21:10, tired, displeased with myself and sick with irrelevant data.
How does it happen? Well, my first mistake was to go to Wikipedia without it being planned ahead. I should know where it ends, being down that road for so many times. Besides, I've got lots of other little things to do if I need to take a break from my job, like doing the dishes, or doing pushups, or drumming, or whatever.
So, if I really think I need to research something (and I do have things to research), I might want to put it down and then maybe let it simmer while I sort out whether it's all that nessesary. No, that's not russian bureaucracy in action, but rather trying to save me some trouble. I've only got one life and one head, both of which are of limited capacity. And I can't read all the time: I need time to write, remember?
Of course you do. On to my second mistake, then.
Which was not stopping when I should have. If my internet time is gone and it's obviously going to take more than 2 minutes to finish the task and it's not urgent, the right thing to do is to put it in my RMilk account and see it tomorrow.
And if it takes 2 minutes or less by the way, I've better finish it at once, without pouring me some tea or making playlists or other tasks or whatever.
There was a third mistake too. Did you know? Why, I've noticed only just, too.
But it's rather important. I was getting bored, I was feeling like I'm getting nothing out of that article, but instead of just dropping it, I kept grabbing at other things to help me through.
Which is both stupid and dangerous. I mean, isn't it a good chance to bore the readers, when I'm not even fully aware when I'm bored myself?
Ok, I'll write about awareness in GTD later. Until then - be aware. Be very aware.

Into The Darkness //tools

I have made an account for writing, by the way. It has no internet connection (no shortcuts to my connections, anyway) and nothing much in Start menu*. There’s no desktop shortcuts either, only a few ones on Quick Launch panel. Those are:

1. EverNote, where I keep my notes. Its skin resembles Media Player 9 and it looks ugly with anything but the blue XP theme, which I never ever used, but I kinda like how it works with tags. Anyway, I’m still to meet a PIM I really like. OmniOutliner looks promising, but I don’t have a Mac for now.
2. A folder (directory) with my texts. BTW, this year’s projects’ subfolders names start with projects’ numbers for extra consistency. Petty stuff, but so is writing.
3. Atlantis Word Processor. Its kerning is ugly and the latest version, 1.6.1.5, has troubles with Russian, but typewriter sounds are a killer feature.
4. Foobar2000. One of the best-sounding player for Windows. They say it’s not the best, but I don’t have a hi-end hardware anyway, and I like the tagging/browsing/renaming features.
5. Projects.xls. It holds a page with my weekly undertakings, so I can review it in the evening and write some tasks for the next day.
6. XNote Stopwatch. I use it for timeboxing when I have to. The other times I simply make a playlist of the needed duration.
7. dailybak.bat. That mama backs up all my projects. I don’t want to relogin to finish my daily session.

That’s it. It’s been about six weeks now, and I must admit it does work. Granted, sometimes I need to look something up on the net, so I have to make a note for myself, either on paper or in EverNote, and research later. But in my experience, the bulk of writing is actual typing or, at least, solitary pondering, and in this secluded account I really can write.

Later on further problems.
______

* I’ve moved all the shortcuts from “c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs” to “c:\Documents and Settings\s\Start Menu\Programs”, which is the folder of my generic, non-writing account.

KR: The First Steps //projects

Here we go. Our little manga has already brought us three throphies in a single festival: an Art Prix by the jury, a prize by MS Entertainment, the biggest russian anime distributor, and another one, by the Wani Magazine and Range Murata himself.
Let’s hope I don’t get too intimidated by the high expectations. There’s quite a lot of writing to do ::)

Hail to the winners //music

I know why USSR and Yugoslavia split themselves in so many parts! Now the splinters can vote for each other on Eurovision all they like, having outnumbered the Western and Northern Europe countries.

I also know who won my heart. The 18th place in the final, The Ark, easily (and somewhat sadly) the only really interesting act in the whole show.

Not that I think glam-rock is the best music style. There ain’t no best music style, and I like a good glam, and those guys get it right. Especially with their last album, and their new keyboardist.

So I think it’s good they appeared on Eurovision this year. Maybe not that good for Sweden*, and it’s hardly done any good to the masses, but good for gals and guys like me.

Thank you Jesus!

___

* That depends on what Sweden wanted to achieve. If it was to help the world with a bit of good music, they succeeded no shit. Bless your big shiny heart Sweden!

Writing Goals 07-08 //growth, projects

For the record: I’ve done a fourth step of 30 Steps to Becoming a Writer, and set my goals for the year ahed (wich, incidentally, started yesterday, may 1st, 07).

Those goals are (in no particular order; they’re all musts):

1. A script for the first part of the Kriegsmarine Romance.
   I might have to write some more if some ifs come True but part 1 is mandatory, come hell and high water.
2. The first draft for the novel code-named D.A.
   That’s the one piece I want to write even if it’s the only thing I write. But since I want it to be good and since I never wrote any novels and since I’ve better keep it real, the first draft is more than enough for the year one, I guess.
3. A Lyadoff & Anchutkin novel.
   Or maybe a novellete. Or a screenplay. Anyway, that’s a much lighter, humorous, pulpish one, which is why I wanna make it my trial balloon.
4. 12 acceptable short stories.
   Acceptable by me, that is. One short story per month can be done, I guess. Even though the stories I did before were no more than 1500 words and took me a month or even more to produce. On the other hand, I wasn’t quite as persistent then as I occasionnaly am now.
5. Some [moonligther’s] work like journalism, copywriting or screenwriting.
   No idea as to particulars. The merrier, the better. Money might help, too.

I might try the 5. in English: is there a better way to learn a language than to go and use it? Might even write a tentative story or two. As for the bulk of my fiction, I guess I’ve better stick to Russian yet. I know it, I feel it, I still got things to improve. A lot of them.

So, I don’t know why I write it all in English :) Maybe I just keep my Russian page for the showy stuff, and unmaterialized ambitions don’t show much. Especially here: russian authors have an unnerving ability to lose interest in their project even as people are willing to buy ‘em.

Good thing I’m a half-Jew, then.

The Kriegsmarine Romance begins //projects

It has begun. Master Steerpike has posted the first four pages of Kriegsmarine Romance. The idea and art are by Steerpike, the script is mine.

The story (pretty long one) takes place in 1944. The Twilight of The Gods is setting. The World Serpent is tumbling and raxing, shaking the stars off the heavenly dome. The nations drown each other in blood. The Winter of Winters is over, and the wolf Skoll is preparing to swallow the Sun.

A submarine, known as U-200 in the Kriegsmarine HQ, sets off to Antarctica carrying the body of Hitler, successfully murdered by capt. Stauffenberg.

But those trying to ressurect the Fuehrer, know another name for the boat: Naglfar.

Here’s an imminently rough translation of dialogue (I’m not that good at American dialects yet):

page 1

Jenkins Sr: And I say it’s a fish!

Jenkins Jr: But it smells of meat. Not too fresh one either.

Jenkinks Sr: Fresh or not, it’s alright for pigs.

Jenkinks Sr: And what pig won’t eat, we’ll make into dung.

Jenkins Jr: Right, like we’re short on shit.

A voice: Jeremiah Jenkins!

page 2

Jenkins Sr: Reverend Mosers!

Mosers: What an ungodly monster is that?

Jenkins Sr: It’s a fish, Reverend.

Jenkins Jr: It’s a whale!

Mosers: It’s a Leviathan!

Jenkins Jr: Cast off on the beach this Thursday. It’s already stinky, and the belly is bloated.

Mosers: ‘In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.’

page 3

A voice: Amen!

Jenkins Jr: Da-ad. Seems like the darn whale is fit to burst.

[it does burst]

Voice: Look!

Voice: Still breathes, I guess.

Voice: ’s a wonder we still breathe.

Voice: He’s quite a kid.

Voice: …but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah.

Voice: Why, ain’t that a Wild Bill Donnovan’s customer? Someone should send him a line, methinks.

page 4

Caption: first, the music…

Caption: then…

The ‘Bad’ interrogator: How long are we here?

‘Bad’: A week, dammit! A friggin week, and not a word from you, not a single one!

‘Bad’: Not a bloody word.

That’s it for now. Four pages was a minimum for the festival. There’s definitely more underway.

The Power of Goodbyes //growth, tools

What the fuck am I doing? It’s not as though reading my friends’ blogs is my solemn duty. It’s not as if bloating out on the random bits of humanity’s thought is my long-term goal. It’s not as if my rss reader is doing much for me, except for wasting my time and jamming my radar.

I shagged it, then. My rss reader doesnt’ support cancelling the account, but I changed the password to something I don’t remember. I can retrieve it, of course, but that would take way too much dedication.

Anyway, for the next step I’m about to try creating another Windows account with access to Atlantis, EverNote and foobar2000 only.

page sweet page //tools

They’ve made a Remember The Milk module for Netvibes. Alas, too late.

I was among those who asked for it. But since then I dropped Netvibes as my homepage, in favor of The Milk itself.

Netvibes is the best personalized homepage I know but I just don’t seem to dig that kind of apps. When I run my browser and see a list of task, I know where I am and what to do. When I look at a bunch of tasks sticky notes weather reports rss feeds podcasts whatnots all I know is I’m multitasking. I don’t need a multitasking tool. I need a tasking tool and maybe an unmultitasking one (oh yes, I do want a Mac).

Scrivener //tools

Have the guys at Literature & Latte finally got the writing right? And do I have to buy the Mac, after all? Hmm.

the depth of my Sith //growth

Awkay, now's the time for you to know how badly organized I am.
It's been almost two weeks I decided to wrtite a long-pondered novel this year and all that came out so far is one page and a few notes. Ok, the maybe the plot needs some clarification anyway, but there's more. There's also a manga scenario I should: I want to be working on. And the only thing I've done for that lately was buy some runes.
It's not that I shouldn't rehearse for my writing, it's just that I shouldn't be doing a lot of other stuff. I spend much more time on the net than I do on my projects. I play games that I thought I abandoned in September. I procrastinate on my not-really-that-promising job so it keeps slipping to the later hours when I'd better to be working on the projects that should get me out of it.
I probabely should come up with some numbers, but I don't even measure my time decently. SlimTimer is a terrific app but I keep forgetting about my timers all the time.
I lack both focus and self-discipline. As often as not, after I made a decision I do quite the opposite right away.
I've got other nasty habits. I'm much more used to reading, watching and listening than to writing or drawing or something. I've got writer's block as well as talker's block. I can't usually keep my attention still for 5 minutes. I don't eat healthy and I don't exercise much so my energy is low. That hypostasis is everywhere: in my music lessons, in my relations, in my spiritual growth. It's a deep pit I'm in, and my dreams are way too high.
It's gonna be a lot of good fun to get up there.
I don't know if I come across some unique insights or recipes. I mean, Steve Pavlina, David Allen or Merlin Mann, to name the few ones I know, are way ahead with that kind of stuff. If I do, anyway, I'm gonna post it under 'growth' tag.
I'm also going to post some tedious everyday data under 'log', in case you're that curious. And I'm looking forward to some major climbing.
So help me God.

2007 primary project //growth, projects

I was ready to decide it anyway, so Steve Pavlina’s article was just about right on time. And the primary project is a novel that I’m contemplating for five? seven? eight years?

There’s probabely more writing to be done this year, but the novel is the must.

Smoke on The Water //music

During one of these lost and searching days, I awoke one morning in my room at the Europe [hotel] and, in that moment between sleep and wakefulness, with eyes still closed, heard myself say the words “smoke on the water” to the empty room. Opening my eyes I wondered if I had actually said it out loud or had I been dreaming? No, I concluded, I’d actually spoken those words. Mentally filing it away I thought nothing more about it until later, when I told Ian Gillan. “Sounds like a drug song,” he observed, and since we were devoutly a drinking band, we dismissed it.

Roger Glover

Here’s some trivia on what is easily the most renowned hard rock song.

• The lyrics are telling about a fire that actually happened while they were trying to record the Machine Head album that includes the song.
• At the time Deep Purple thought of Smoke On The Water as of ‘just another song’ and didn’t even choose it for single.
• It was the last song from Machine Head to make it into live set.
• In an 1997 remix you can hear Gillan say ‘Break a leg Frank’, which sounds somewhat dark because by the time of recording Frank Zappa did break a leg in London, pushed off the stage by a jealous fan.
• They say in an instruments store in Moscow there was a notice that run ‘Thank you for not playing Smoke On The Water on guitars!’

Fear leads? //music, growth

I am afraid. I’m 31, that’s ridiculous. All the good drummers I know started at 5 to 15. Most of them are pretty big men, too. I’m 31, featherweight, and rather lazy.

Am I lazy, brothers and sisters. Ever bubbling with new ideas, too. No wonder I’ve dropped most anything I ever tried, including the drums 9 years ago, having no money to pay for education. Not what you’d call unstoppable.

Sure, I’d like to be a supa-boopa-drumma, and it would be fun to find out that a guy can learn to become a professional musiciant starting in his thirties. But just finding it out takes a great deal of time and money. Ok, nevermind the money, they come and go, but haven’t I wasted enough time already without any achievement to talk about?

Then again, I learnt to drum, or rather, attended the lessons, longer than anything. Longer than my universities took, which was a year and a half among both of them. Damn, it seems I disliked the technical stuff all this time, where was my head? All this bumping around - db programming, videogames, translating books, back to games, then to internet ads… so much pain, so little gain.

Aww, what the heck? All this bumping around made me versatile and schoolable. It’s a second month I’m taking lessons again, and I’m seemingly doing ok. It’s ok right now, ok, whichever ways I took in the past brought me here. I like it here.

Not that I have much to lose, anyway. I tried boring stuff, I tried playing career games, but I think it’s time to look back and say I suck at it. Why not trying something fun, maybe that’s what I’m for?

I am afraid of course. But fear lead to darkside and, anyway, I’ve been following it for too long. Now the fear may follow, if it dares. After all, a drummer is a leader.

ps. Randy knew…

the rule of machine is nigh! //stuff

My browser almost guessed it this time.

Which reminds me. I’ve been to forums where you had to enter the sum of two numbers to post a message. Were they trying to filter out humans? Has it already began?

tomato beat //music

Dance mixes remind me of people who eat everything with ketchup. Come on, guys. We Are The Champions? Fire Water fucking Burn? What do you love about them after you’ve smeared all the flavour away?

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