Date: November 7, 2007
Time: 23:28
Ever accomplish anything? Before you answer, let me explain what I mean.
When I wrote my first story, the Doctor Who story where my friend meets the Doctor, I was so proud when I finished it. Not only was I proud of the fact that I wrote it, but that it took me such a short time in which to write it. I was so proud of it, I found a Kinko’s®, had them make up twenty copies, and had them bound. And none of that spiral binding, or that weird plastic wannabe spiral binding garbage either. No, I went with what they referred to as “Vellum Binding”. It features a clear plastic cover, a vinyl backing, and the pages and covers are riveted together. At the time, it cost $120.00, but at that time I didn’t care much about the price. Well, I did, but I figured it was worth it.
It was. I was thrilled when I got the copies. I gave a few of them away to friends, and I still have a few of them in a drawer. Of course, as I said in a previous post, it will never get published, but that doesn’t matter, it was the first story I ever wrote.
I got pretty much the same feeling when I wrote my first Original Story, but got an even better feeling when I got the notice that it was copyrighted.
So, each time I complete a story, or write a few lines or even a few pages, I feel as though I’ve accomplished something. That’s the thing with me. I have to feel I’ve accomplished something. I have to have the sense of it, I have to know it in my heart and mind and soul that I have done something.
Do you see? This is what I meant. Have you ever gotten that feeling that you’ve actually, honestly, truly accomplished something? If you have, great! If you haven’t, don’t despair, you’ll get that feeling sooner or later.
But I don’t have that feeling right now. I didn’t have it last week either. In fact, unless it has to do with something I’ve written, I’m not getting that feeling. Oh, and before you think you’ve got me trapped by my own words, you don’t. I’m not getting that feeling from doing this blog. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an interesting concept and all, but, like I said, I’m not getting that feeling, that sense, that I’ve accomplished something. And maybe I’m not supposed to get that with this, but I’m definitely not getting that feeling with the job I have, and I most assuredly did not feel it at all in my last job.
Oh sure, one of the managers I had told me how much I had accomplished by learning something we called the “Branch Office Support System”, and another manager told me that I learned it faster than anyone he’s ever seen get trained in it, but I just didn’t feel like I accomplished anything.
I don’t know, maybe I can’t really explain it.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Journal Entry #8: Acceptance
Date: November 6, 2007
Time: 21:17
I am a science-fiction fan, a fan of fantasy novels and movies, and a comic book fan. This means that I do not fit. It means that I find it difficult to find acceptance among those who are supposed to be my peers.
The problem was, when I was growing up, among other things that I had problems with at that time, was growing up. When other guys my age were starting to turn to playing baseball, or basketball, I still wanted to play cops and robbers. Still do.
I don’t think it’s a longing for simpler times, or any other piece of psychoanalytical hoohaw you want to throw at me, it’s just that sometimes, I feel that I never got much of a chance to be a kid, and I’d like to be one again. Or still.
But regardless of all of that, I still love to read comic books. I buy mostly titles published by DC Comics, and some from a little known label called “Moonstone Comics”. I watch cartoons whenever I get the chance, but I try to watch what made me happy growing up. Although I cannot understand how I used to watch “Scooby-Doo” every week. I can almost see people starting to read this blog entry, thinking it’s going to go somewhere else, but, upon realizing it’s not, they’re turning away.
This means, that once again, I have to go elsewhere to be accepted, but that’s okay, I know where those places are, I’ve been there before and I had a good time. The trouble with at least one of them is I can’t get to it, and in another few years, it’s going to go away. That one particular place is a Doctor Who convention in Chicago. At this time in my life, I can’t afford to go, and I don’t have the time to take off. But there is a fan club I belong to, and if I can ever get my schedule and theirs to mesh, I’ll be able to go to the monthly meeting, and there is still the Video Meet near the end of the month that I can attend, as long as it isn’t in upstate New York.
As for the comic book thing, there’s always my friends, and beyond that, there’s the New York Comic-Con to look forward to next April.
Time: 21:17
I am a science-fiction fan, a fan of fantasy novels and movies, and a comic book fan. This means that I do not fit. It means that I find it difficult to find acceptance among those who are supposed to be my peers.
The problem was, when I was growing up, among other things that I had problems with at that time, was growing up. When other guys my age were starting to turn to playing baseball, or basketball, I still wanted to play cops and robbers. Still do.
I don’t think it’s a longing for simpler times, or any other piece of psychoanalytical hoohaw you want to throw at me, it’s just that sometimes, I feel that I never got much of a chance to be a kid, and I’d like to be one again. Or still.
But regardless of all of that, I still love to read comic books. I buy mostly titles published by DC Comics, and some from a little known label called “Moonstone Comics”. I watch cartoons whenever I get the chance, but I try to watch what made me happy growing up. Although I cannot understand how I used to watch “Scooby-Doo” every week. I can almost see people starting to read this blog entry, thinking it’s going to go somewhere else, but, upon realizing it’s not, they’re turning away.
This means, that once again, I have to go elsewhere to be accepted, but that’s okay, I know where those places are, I’ve been there before and I had a good time. The trouble with at least one of them is I can’t get to it, and in another few years, it’s going to go away. That one particular place is a Doctor Who convention in Chicago. At this time in my life, I can’t afford to go, and I don’t have the time to take off. But there is a fan club I belong to, and if I can ever get my schedule and theirs to mesh, I’ll be able to go to the monthly meeting, and there is still the Video Meet near the end of the month that I can attend, as long as it isn’t in upstate New York.
As for the comic book thing, there’s always my friends, and beyond that, there’s the New York Comic-Con to look forward to next April.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Journal Entry #7: Video Games
Date: November 5, 2007
Time: 20:37
There was a time, many centuries ago, when if you wanted to play a video game, you HAD TO LEAVE THE HOUSE!
You could go to a pizza parlor, a stationery store, a discount department store, and at least one instance, a pet shop.
The simplest video game was the auto or motorcycle racing game. The car or motorcycle was a flat piece of plastic that was situated above a screen, then after you put in your quarter, the screen came on and so was the race. It was basically a type of movie that you participated in.
Over the years, video games got more and more sophisticated. What follows is a list of some of my favorites.
NARC – You’re a narcotics agent shooting or arresting members of a gang dealing and selling drugs. You also have to collect any evidence you find to gain points. At the end, you have to destroy the big boss who just happens to be a giant head. After it’s all over, and you’ve won, the game congratulates you and tells you to report to your local D.E.A. office.
R-Type – You are flying a ship through space. You have to collect different kinds of weapons to defeat all the enemy ships you see. One of the best weapons, even though it was futile against this one section where you really needed a powerful blaster, was the rebounding lasers.
Midnight Resistance - You are one of two soldiers infiltrating an enemy base. As you fight, you find keys that let you get different weapons. The value of the weapon depends on how many keys it takes to open the case it is in. When you near the end of the game, it is imperative that you have six (6) keys. These are to let your family members out of their cases. If you are unable to let out all six, when you have finished the game, you will see shooting stars that correspond to a family member that could not be saved. I don’t believe I’ve ever finished this game in the arcade, although I have completed it in the SEGA home version.
Heavy Barrel – You are one of two soldiers fighting against hostile forces. Along the way, you collect pieces of a super-weapon. Once you collect all the pieces, a deep voice calls out “Heavy Barrel”, and the weapon puts itself together in your hands. Unfortunately, this super-weapon has a short life span. This game is like “Midnight Resistance”, except “Midnight Resistance” is what is known as a “side-shooter”, and this is a “top-shooter”.
Quartet - You are one of a group of four mercenaries. You blaze through level after level of all sorts of bad guys and assorted weird creatures. However, you cannot linger in one spot for too long as a stylized figure of Death flies down and zaps you with his spinning two-headed scythe. It’s sort of a “side-shooter” version of “Gauntlet”.
Psycho Soldier – You are one of two characters, one male, and one female. Although in a single player game, you are the female. You go through a ruined city, zapping mutant insects that start as caterpillar-like creatures, and then grow to giant proportions. All the while, your power scale is increasing. If you get the “power-egg”, you turn into either a dragon, or a phoenix. If you are playing with someone, the other character can ride the dragon or phoenix. But be careful when you shoot the egg, you might hit the one that will explode into little caterpillars.
Xenophobe - This game is interesting in that as there are three control sticks, the screen is split into three horizontal parts. The object of this game is to clear spacecraft, space stations, and colonies of alien creatures. The cool part of this game is that all the characters are dressed in “Starfleet” styled uniforms. Note: The best weapon in this game is the laser pistol. But be careful when you throw any of your weapons away, they could explode.
Ikari Warriors - I don’t remember much about this game, or its sequels, except that it was fun to play, even though I never finished it.
Rampage - You’re one of three giant monsters, an ape, a lizard, a werewolf. Your goal: Destroy buildings and other objects, eat food and people, and try not to get killed. If you’re playing with someone else, and their monsters loses all its power it will turn human again and try to sneak off-screen. If you’re fast enough, you can grab them and eat them for more points.
Gauntlet – It’s a kind of a role-playing game wherein you choose to be one of four characters, a wizard, a warrior, a Valkyrie, or an elf. You collect treasures and potions, eat food for health points, but you must kill all the demons, ghosts, and other assorted baddies you find throughout the game.
Revolution X – This is a game that is rather unique in that it features famous people. It has to do with the rock group Aerosmith, and an organization called New Order Nation. It seems that NON wishes to abolish music in all its forms, starting with rock, and take over the world. To that end, they kidnap all the members of Aerosmith. It’s your job to first, find their car and play the message. Once you do, you have to choose one of three places to go to next. It’s like one of those shooting gallery type games, except instead of grenades, you fire CDs at the bad guys.
P-38 – You’re the pilot of a plane in what I think was World War II. You destroyed troops and other planes and assorted weapons. All the while, you’re picking up points and power-ups to help you on your way.
RYGAR – This was an interesting game. You are a warrior with a kind of a yo-yo weapon. You used it to vanquish the bad guys, and foil any traps. As with most games, there were “power-ups” and treasures to find. The “power-ups” in this game would give the yo-yo weapon different abilities.
KLAXX - This was an interesting variation of a “Tetris” style game. The player has to make stacks of blocks, all the same color, to get points. The difficult part comes in that the blocks are flying at you, and if the blocks reach a certain height before you can get rid of them, you lose.
Gyruss - A game that takes place in outer space, way, way, out in outer space. The ship you are piloting can move around the entire screen in a circle. Your ultimate goal is to reach each and every planet in our solar system, and each planet has other levels.
Forgotten Worlds - You are one of two warriors fighting your way through strange enemies. You pick up coins of varied sizes and worth for use later when you want to upgrade your weapons when you enter the “shop”. This was one of the few games that I have completed.
Truth be told, with the exception of a few, NARC in particular, I have never finished any of the games I’ve listed here. Hey, it took me $15.00 in quarters to finish that one. I got pretty far with some of them, and others I didn’t do too well at. Regardless of the outcome, completed them, didn’t complete them, it wasn’t important. I just had fun playing them.
There are others, whose names escape me at the moment. There was this one game, and it was a shooting gallery kind of game, where the object was to invade enemy camps, while firing a machine gun and tossing grenades, and rescue hostages. (I have since remembered the name of this game as “Operation: Wolf”.) The next one was another shooting game, but this one involved the destroying of aliens. However, you collected different kinds of grenades, such as one that froze everything. It even had a pedal you could press to back up. The third game was what is called a “top-view shooter”. In this game, you had to kill these blob-like alien creatures. (I remembered the name of this game as well, “Alien Syndrome”) The fourth game, whose name I can’t remember involved firing this really cool laser gun. Well, the character you controlled was doing the firing; all the player really did was press the fire button. The character I always played had a green laser weapon. This was not through choice; it was just that in a single-player game, that was the player I was given. When you collected the “power-ups”, your weapon increased in strength, and range. What was meant by “range” was that the “beam” was a little bit longer and the field of firing was wider as the beam was fired from the gun. There was a fifth game which I took to be a sequel to “Ikari Warriors”.
Time: 20:37
There was a time, many centuries ago, when if you wanted to play a video game, you HAD TO LEAVE THE HOUSE!
You could go to a pizza parlor, a stationery store, a discount department store, and at least one instance, a pet shop.
The simplest video game was the auto or motorcycle racing game. The car or motorcycle was a flat piece of plastic that was situated above a screen, then after you put in your quarter, the screen came on and so was the race. It was basically a type of movie that you participated in.
Over the years, video games got more and more sophisticated. What follows is a list of some of my favorites.
NARC – You’re a narcotics agent shooting or arresting members of a gang dealing and selling drugs. You also have to collect any evidence you find to gain points. At the end, you have to destroy the big boss who just happens to be a giant head. After it’s all over, and you’ve won, the game congratulates you and tells you to report to your local D.E.A. office.
R-Type – You are flying a ship through space. You have to collect different kinds of weapons to defeat all the enemy ships you see. One of the best weapons, even though it was futile against this one section where you really needed a powerful blaster, was the rebounding lasers.
Midnight Resistance - You are one of two soldiers infiltrating an enemy base. As you fight, you find keys that let you get different weapons. The value of the weapon depends on how many keys it takes to open the case it is in. When you near the end of the game, it is imperative that you have six (6) keys. These are to let your family members out of their cases. If you are unable to let out all six, when you have finished the game, you will see shooting stars that correspond to a family member that could not be saved. I don’t believe I’ve ever finished this game in the arcade, although I have completed it in the SEGA home version.
Heavy Barrel – You are one of two soldiers fighting against hostile forces. Along the way, you collect pieces of a super-weapon. Once you collect all the pieces, a deep voice calls out “Heavy Barrel”, and the weapon puts itself together in your hands. Unfortunately, this super-weapon has a short life span. This game is like “Midnight Resistance”, except “Midnight Resistance” is what is known as a “side-shooter”, and this is a “top-shooter”.
Quartet - You are one of a group of four mercenaries. You blaze through level after level of all sorts of bad guys and assorted weird creatures. However, you cannot linger in one spot for too long as a stylized figure of Death flies down and zaps you with his spinning two-headed scythe. It’s sort of a “side-shooter” version of “Gauntlet”.
Psycho Soldier – You are one of two characters, one male, and one female. Although in a single player game, you are the female. You go through a ruined city, zapping mutant insects that start as caterpillar-like creatures, and then grow to giant proportions. All the while, your power scale is increasing. If you get the “power-egg”, you turn into either a dragon, or a phoenix. If you are playing with someone, the other character can ride the dragon or phoenix. But be careful when you shoot the egg, you might hit the one that will explode into little caterpillars.
Xenophobe - This game is interesting in that as there are three control sticks, the screen is split into three horizontal parts. The object of this game is to clear spacecraft, space stations, and colonies of alien creatures. The cool part of this game is that all the characters are dressed in “Starfleet” styled uniforms. Note: The best weapon in this game is the laser pistol. But be careful when you throw any of your weapons away, they could explode.
Ikari Warriors - I don’t remember much about this game, or its sequels, except that it was fun to play, even though I never finished it.
Rampage - You’re one of three giant monsters, an ape, a lizard, a werewolf. Your goal: Destroy buildings and other objects, eat food and people, and try not to get killed. If you’re playing with someone else, and their monsters loses all its power it will turn human again and try to sneak off-screen. If you’re fast enough, you can grab them and eat them for more points.
Gauntlet – It’s a kind of a role-playing game wherein you choose to be one of four characters, a wizard, a warrior, a Valkyrie, or an elf. You collect treasures and potions, eat food for health points, but you must kill all the demons, ghosts, and other assorted baddies you find throughout the game.
Revolution X – This is a game that is rather unique in that it features famous people. It has to do with the rock group Aerosmith, and an organization called New Order Nation. It seems that NON wishes to abolish music in all its forms, starting with rock, and take over the world. To that end, they kidnap all the members of Aerosmith. It’s your job to first, find their car and play the message. Once you do, you have to choose one of three places to go to next. It’s like one of those shooting gallery type games, except instead of grenades, you fire CDs at the bad guys.
P-38 – You’re the pilot of a plane in what I think was World War II. You destroyed troops and other planes and assorted weapons. All the while, you’re picking up points and power-ups to help you on your way.
RYGAR – This was an interesting game. You are a warrior with a kind of a yo-yo weapon. You used it to vanquish the bad guys, and foil any traps. As with most games, there were “power-ups” and treasures to find. The “power-ups” in this game would give the yo-yo weapon different abilities.
KLAXX - This was an interesting variation of a “Tetris” style game. The player has to make stacks of blocks, all the same color, to get points. The difficult part comes in that the blocks are flying at you, and if the blocks reach a certain height before you can get rid of them, you lose.
Gyruss - A game that takes place in outer space, way, way, out in outer space. The ship you are piloting can move around the entire screen in a circle. Your ultimate goal is to reach each and every planet in our solar system, and each planet has other levels.
Forgotten Worlds - You are one of two warriors fighting your way through strange enemies. You pick up coins of varied sizes and worth for use later when you want to upgrade your weapons when you enter the “shop”. This was one of the few games that I have completed.
Truth be told, with the exception of a few, NARC in particular, I have never finished any of the games I’ve listed here. Hey, it took me $15.00 in quarters to finish that one. I got pretty far with some of them, and others I didn’t do too well at. Regardless of the outcome, completed them, didn’t complete them, it wasn’t important. I just had fun playing them.
There are others, whose names escape me at the moment. There was this one game, and it was a shooting gallery kind of game, where the object was to invade enemy camps, while firing a machine gun and tossing grenades, and rescue hostages. (I have since remembered the name of this game as “Operation: Wolf”.) The next one was another shooting game, but this one involved the destroying of aliens. However, you collected different kinds of grenades, such as one that froze everything. It even had a pedal you could press to back up. The third game was what is called a “top-view shooter”. In this game, you had to kill these blob-like alien creatures. (I remembered the name of this game as well, “Alien Syndrome”) The fourth game, whose name I can’t remember involved firing this really cool laser gun. Well, the character you controlled was doing the firing; all the player really did was press the fire button. The character I always played had a green laser weapon. This was not through choice; it was just that in a single-player game, that was the player I was given. When you collected the “power-ups”, your weapon increased in strength, and range. What was meant by “range” was that the “beam” was a little bit longer and the field of firing was wider as the beam was fired from the gun. There was a fifth game which I took to be a sequel to “Ikari Warriors”.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Journal Entry #6: Books
Date: November 4, 2007
Time: 20:06
As much as I love to write, I probably love to read even more. There were times, when I was growing, when that’s all I was allowed to do. When I was old enough to start getting real textbooks for English classes, I was always baffled by one thing; the books would weigh about 4 or 5 pounds, and course they were very thick, but we would only read maybe 1 or 2 short stories, at most, a single play, and then get swamped with homework.
Ironically, I never liked the reading assignments, I guess it’s because it was assigned. I did, however, read a lot of the rest of the book on my own. There was one textbook where I read the play, “The Miracle Worker”, the story of Helen Keller. There was another where I read the original play of “Visit to a Small Planet”, which was later turned into a film starring Jerry Lewis.
Some of the short stories I read were so obscure, that I’d never heard of the author before, or since, except maybe for one. The story was entitled “The Letter ‘A’”, and the author was Christy Brown. Now, some of you reading this might not know who Christy Brown is, or was, but if you ever heard of a little film called “My Left Foot” starring Daniel-Day Lewis, then you have most certainly heard of Christy Brown. There were others whose titles and authors’ names escape me at the moment, but I intend to find them someday.
Of the kinds of books I like to read, my tastes vary. I mostly read science-fiction and fantasy, some mysteries, some suspense, and I’m now reading re-prints of what used to be called “Pulp Fiction”, and I don’t mean that movie by whatsisname. These were books that sold for 10¢, or as much as 20¢ at the time, and considering that time was the late 30s, early 40s, ten and twenty cents was a lot of money. The books usually featured the adventures of characters known as “The Shadow” or “Doc Savage”. Sometimes, they would be a series of short, little, detective stories.
The suspense author I read most is named Clive Cussler. His most famous novel is called “Raise the Titanic”. In the fantasy vein, I read a series of books that takes place in a world called “Xanth”, written by an author named Piers Anthony. Xanth is a place where magic not only exists, but almost everyone who lives there has at least one magical talent. For instance, one of the characters can transform a person into a tree, or any other object for that matter.
There is this one detective series that I like to read whose lead character is a young woman named Mary Russell. The author is Laurie R. King. Now, while there may be some of you out there thinking “So what, a woman detective.” I should tell you that the stories take place in the mid-1920s, and her partner in her adventures is this guy named Sherlock Holmes.
I’ll talk more about books later on, for now, I think I’m going to get some dinner.
Time: 20:06
As much as I love to write, I probably love to read even more. There were times, when I was growing, when that’s all I was allowed to do. When I was old enough to start getting real textbooks for English classes, I was always baffled by one thing; the books would weigh about 4 or 5 pounds, and course they were very thick, but we would only read maybe 1 or 2 short stories, at most, a single play, and then get swamped with homework.
Ironically, I never liked the reading assignments, I guess it’s because it was assigned. I did, however, read a lot of the rest of the book on my own. There was one textbook where I read the play, “The Miracle Worker”, the story of Helen Keller. There was another where I read the original play of “Visit to a Small Planet”, which was later turned into a film starring Jerry Lewis.
Some of the short stories I read were so obscure, that I’d never heard of the author before, or since, except maybe for one. The story was entitled “The Letter ‘A’”, and the author was Christy Brown. Now, some of you reading this might not know who Christy Brown is, or was, but if you ever heard of a little film called “My Left Foot” starring Daniel-Day Lewis, then you have most certainly heard of Christy Brown. There were others whose titles and authors’ names escape me at the moment, but I intend to find them someday.
Of the kinds of books I like to read, my tastes vary. I mostly read science-fiction and fantasy, some mysteries, some suspense, and I’m now reading re-prints of what used to be called “Pulp Fiction”, and I don’t mean that movie by whatsisname. These were books that sold for 10¢, or as much as 20¢ at the time, and considering that time was the late 30s, early 40s, ten and twenty cents was a lot of money. The books usually featured the adventures of characters known as “The Shadow” or “Doc Savage”. Sometimes, they would be a series of short, little, detective stories.
The suspense author I read most is named Clive Cussler. His most famous novel is called “Raise the Titanic”. In the fantasy vein, I read a series of books that takes place in a world called “Xanth”, written by an author named Piers Anthony. Xanth is a place where magic not only exists, but almost everyone who lives there has at least one magical talent. For instance, one of the characters can transform a person into a tree, or any other object for that matter.
There is this one detective series that I like to read whose lead character is a young woman named Mary Russell. The author is Laurie R. King. Now, while there may be some of you out there thinking “So what, a woman detective.” I should tell you that the stories take place in the mid-1920s, and her partner in her adventures is this guy named Sherlock Holmes.
I’ll talk more about books later on, for now, I think I’m going to get some dinner.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Journal Entry #5: The Stories So Far
Date: November 3, 2007
Time: 22:58
In one of the Online Discussions, I mentioned that I’ve copyrighted 3 original stories, and in one of my blog entries, I mentioned writing a Doctor Who story. Since I’ve hopefully piqued the interest of some people who would like to know, not only what I’ve written, but what I’m also working on at present. Here goes.
The first Doctor Who story I wrote is called “An Impossible Adventure.” In it, a friend of mine meets up with a man who calls himself “The Doctor”. They travel in time and space, and then my friend comes back to tell me the story. It was inspired partly by something one of the actors from the program had said in an interview, and partly from an idea of my own.
The second Doctor Who story I wrote deals with The Doctor, and how he handles the death of a close friend. His companion at this time is his great granddaughter. He also meets up with the physical representation of Time, and Death.
I’m working on a third story right now. It’s a crossover between Doctor Who, and the American science-fiction drama, “Quantum Leap.” When the show Quantum Leap ended, I hated the way it ended. I had never been so angry with a television series’ producer in my life. So, I hate the ending, and I always had the idea that maybe I could’ve done it better. Now, for those of you who don’t know a great deal about the program Doctor Who, I’ll explain a little something. The being known as “The Doctor” comes from a planet called “Gallifrey”, and on this planet lives a race of beings called “The Time Lords”. Now the Time Lords feel that no other race in the universe is capable of possessing the knowledge of traveling through time. The reason they feel this way is because while all of the other races would get it into their heads to go back in time to change things, or forward to find out things that will benefit themselves in the present, all the Time Lords want to do is observe past and future events. That said, I’d always wondered what the Time Lords would have thought of Project: Quantum Leap.
This gave me the opportunity to not only end Quantum Leap the way I thought it should end, more or less, but it would also give me a chance to not only tie up some loose ends that were created by the series, but it gave me a chance to give an origin to that loose end in the first place. You see, during the show’s five-year run, we get introduced to a rival project. Only, it’s not so much a rival as it is an “anti-project”. While the character of Sam Beckett is leaping around, trying to fix things, the other project is doing their level best to foul things up.
I haven’t quite finished it yet as I’ve been working on it in sections, and I’m not quite sure how to link all of the sections up. The one bad thing is, I already have the ending in mind. Now, while some of you might think that that’s a good thing, I don’t. Well, if I have the ending, then I have to lead up to it, but the difficulty lies in not leading up to it so quickly.
The first of the three original stories are, “The Death of Childhood”. It tells the story of the physical embodiment of Childhood, and how it is dying, and of some of the people who have gone to Childhood’s Domain to pay their respects and say good-bye.
The second one is titled “The Beginning of the World”. It’s the story of an archaeology professor, who, when he goes on an expedition, finds a tablet that bears a riddle, and if he solves it, the world would benefit greatly from his findings.
The third story I had copyrighted is called “The Family of Man”. It’s the story of a newspaper reporter who finds more than he bargained for when he went to a zoo to do a “fluff piece” on the birth of a baby gorilla. It’s told in a first-person narrative, and it has a bit of a Twilight-Zone style twist at the end.
The stories I’m presently working on, when I have more than three seconds to breathe, when I am inspired to write, and when I feel like, are as follows:
The Doctor Who/Quantum Leap crossover, a series of detective stories featuring a detective who specializes in the paranormal, while still carrying out regular investigations, my autobiography, which I’ve entitled “Thursday’s Child”. I call it that because that’s the day I was born. And I just started a new story to give me a break from one of the detective stories. It’s about man who wakes up one day and is told by the person who woke him that he is that person’s imaginary friend. I’ve gotten to about 3 or 4 pages with that one.
And that’s how things stand with me and my writing at this point.
Time: 22:58
In one of the Online Discussions, I mentioned that I’ve copyrighted 3 original stories, and in one of my blog entries, I mentioned writing a Doctor Who story. Since I’ve hopefully piqued the interest of some people who would like to know, not only what I’ve written, but what I’m also working on at present. Here goes.
The first Doctor Who story I wrote is called “An Impossible Adventure.” In it, a friend of mine meets up with a man who calls himself “The Doctor”. They travel in time and space, and then my friend comes back to tell me the story. It was inspired partly by something one of the actors from the program had said in an interview, and partly from an idea of my own.
The second Doctor Who story I wrote deals with The Doctor, and how he handles the death of a close friend. His companion at this time is his great granddaughter. He also meets up with the physical representation of Time, and Death.
I’m working on a third story right now. It’s a crossover between Doctor Who, and the American science-fiction drama, “Quantum Leap.” When the show Quantum Leap ended, I hated the way it ended. I had never been so angry with a television series’ producer in my life. So, I hate the ending, and I always had the idea that maybe I could’ve done it better. Now, for those of you who don’t know a great deal about the program Doctor Who, I’ll explain a little something. The being known as “The Doctor” comes from a planet called “Gallifrey”, and on this planet lives a race of beings called “The Time Lords”. Now the Time Lords feel that no other race in the universe is capable of possessing the knowledge of traveling through time. The reason they feel this way is because while all of the other races would get it into their heads to go back in time to change things, or forward to find out things that will benefit themselves in the present, all the Time Lords want to do is observe past and future events. That said, I’d always wondered what the Time Lords would have thought of Project: Quantum Leap.
This gave me the opportunity to not only end Quantum Leap the way I thought it should end, more or less, but it would also give me a chance to not only tie up some loose ends that were created by the series, but it gave me a chance to give an origin to that loose end in the first place. You see, during the show’s five-year run, we get introduced to a rival project. Only, it’s not so much a rival as it is an “anti-project”. While the character of Sam Beckett is leaping around, trying to fix things, the other project is doing their level best to foul things up.
I haven’t quite finished it yet as I’ve been working on it in sections, and I’m not quite sure how to link all of the sections up. The one bad thing is, I already have the ending in mind. Now, while some of you might think that that’s a good thing, I don’t. Well, if I have the ending, then I have to lead up to it, but the difficulty lies in not leading up to it so quickly.
The first of the three original stories are, “The Death of Childhood”. It tells the story of the physical embodiment of Childhood, and how it is dying, and of some of the people who have gone to Childhood’s Domain to pay their respects and say good-bye.
The second one is titled “The Beginning of the World”. It’s the story of an archaeology professor, who, when he goes on an expedition, finds a tablet that bears a riddle, and if he solves it, the world would benefit greatly from his findings.
The third story I had copyrighted is called “The Family of Man”. It’s the story of a newspaper reporter who finds more than he bargained for when he went to a zoo to do a “fluff piece” on the birth of a baby gorilla. It’s told in a first-person narrative, and it has a bit of a Twilight-Zone style twist at the end.
The stories I’m presently working on, when I have more than three seconds to breathe, when I am inspired to write, and when I feel like, are as follows:
The Doctor Who/Quantum Leap crossover, a series of detective stories featuring a detective who specializes in the paranormal, while still carrying out regular investigations, my autobiography, which I’ve entitled “Thursday’s Child”. I call it that because that’s the day I was born. And I just started a new story to give me a break from one of the detective stories. It’s about man who wakes up one day and is told by the person who woke him that he is that person’s imaginary friend. I’ve gotten to about 3 or 4 pages with that one.
And that’s how things stand with me and my writing at this point.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Journal Entry #4: The Blank Page
Date: Friday, November 02, 2007
Time: 21:36
I have read this and heard this from different professional writers and authors and now you get to hear it from me. The hardest part of writing is that blank page.
The blank page doesn’t care who you are, or who your mother is, or was. It doesn’t care what kind of a day you’ve had; it doesn’t even care if you’re depressed that it’s raining out. All it cares about is sitting there and mocking you. The blank page will sit there and mock you and taunt you and draw a line in the dirt, double-dog dare you to write something on it. And it will do that until you screw up your courage and put a letter or a word or a sentence on that page.
But the blank page isn’t finished with you yet. It looks at what you’ve written and it scoffs at you. “You wrote that?” it says sneeringly. “I could do better than that and I’m only a piece of paper.” it says before you can answer. So you grab it out of the typewriter and crumple it into a ball, all the while you hear it laughing at you.
And then you look at the wad of paper, and you see the power you have over it, and see nothing of the power you thought it had over you.
And then you begin to write.
Time: 21:36
I have read this and heard this from different professional writers and authors and now you get to hear it from me. The hardest part of writing is that blank page.
The blank page doesn’t care who you are, or who your mother is, or was. It doesn’t care what kind of a day you’ve had; it doesn’t even care if you’re depressed that it’s raining out. All it cares about is sitting there and mocking you. The blank page will sit there and mock you and taunt you and draw a line in the dirt, double-dog dare you to write something on it. And it will do that until you screw up your courage and put a letter or a word or a sentence on that page.
But the blank page isn’t finished with you yet. It looks at what you’ve written and it scoffs at you. “You wrote that?” it says sneeringly. “I could do better than that and I’m only a piece of paper.” it says before you can answer. So you grab it out of the typewriter and crumple it into a ball, all the while you hear it laughing at you.
And then you look at the wad of paper, and you see the power you have over it, and see nothing of the power you thought it had over you.
And then you begin to write.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Journal Entry #3: Writing
Date: November 1, 2007
Time: 20:45
Typewriter vs. Computer/Word Processor
Back in 1995, I came into possession of an electric typewriter.
One day, I started writing with it. I wrote a story based on the world of the British science-fiction series "Doctor Who". At the time, I was working a 3-day work week, and the schedule was Monday through Wednesday. I mention that so I can explain why I only wrote on the weekend, I wrote the story on my days off.
The story was about a friend of mine who meets this person called "The Doctor". They go off on an adventure and my friend comes back and tells me about it.
I was so proud of it, I went to Kinko's and had twenty copies printed up and bound. Unfortunately, it can never be published as it breaks many rules that have been set down by the BBC.
But the title of this blog is "Typewriter vs. Computer/Word Processor", and this is why it's titled that way.
I don't know how many of you have ever tried writing on a typewriter before, but I can honestly say that it's a feeling that can never be duplicated. You're sitting there, pounding on the keys, and the words are coming to life before your eyes. Right there, on the paper that's unrolling before you are the words that came out of your head, through your fingers, and onto the page.
Words that you write on a PC, or a word-processor? To me, they're dead. Dead words on a dead screen. But what's that you say? "You can print them onto the paper." Yes, you can, but it's dead words on the paper.
You see, when you see the words appear on the paper as you write them in "real time" as opposed to printing them later, it gives you a sense of power, and then, if you make a mistake and have gone too far to correct it with the correction ribbon, or some form of white-out, that is the moment when you can play G-d.
You take the paper out of the typewriter and look at it. You see the mistake you made. You take another, clean sheet of paper and put it into the typewriter, and then you start to copy what you wrote up until the mistake.
But then, you suddenly realize, maybe a different word would be better, or a different phrase, or better still, a completely different scenario. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the moment I spoke of, the moment when you can play G-d. You make the decision to do one of those three things, or not.
It just can't be done with a PC or a word-processor. Or, it's not the same with a PC or a word-processor. To change anything with a PC or word-processor, all you do is delete the word, replace the word, or highlight all that needs changing and you change it. And what you've changed from is gone forever, but with the typewriter, even if you've torn it up or shredded it, those words are still there, and they can taunt you into thinking what you did was wrong, but remember, it's your story, your characters, and you do with it what you will.
Time: 20:45
Typewriter vs. Computer/Word Processor
Back in 1995, I came into possession of an electric typewriter.
One day, I started writing with it. I wrote a story based on the world of the British science-fiction series "Doctor Who". At the time, I was working a 3-day work week, and the schedule was Monday through Wednesday. I mention that so I can explain why I only wrote on the weekend, I wrote the story on my days off.
The story was about a friend of mine who meets this person called "The Doctor". They go off on an adventure and my friend comes back and tells me about it.
I was so proud of it, I went to Kinko's and had twenty copies printed up and bound. Unfortunately, it can never be published as it breaks many rules that have been set down by the BBC.
But the title of this blog is "Typewriter vs. Computer/Word Processor", and this is why it's titled that way.
I don't know how many of you have ever tried writing on a typewriter before, but I can honestly say that it's a feeling that can never be duplicated. You're sitting there, pounding on the keys, and the words are coming to life before your eyes. Right there, on the paper that's unrolling before you are the words that came out of your head, through your fingers, and onto the page.
Words that you write on a PC, or a word-processor? To me, they're dead. Dead words on a dead screen. But what's that you say? "You can print them onto the paper." Yes, you can, but it's dead words on the paper.
You see, when you see the words appear on the paper as you write them in "real time" as opposed to printing them later, it gives you a sense of power, and then, if you make a mistake and have gone too far to correct it with the correction ribbon, or some form of white-out, that is the moment when you can play G-d.
You take the paper out of the typewriter and look at it. You see the mistake you made. You take another, clean sheet of paper and put it into the typewriter, and then you start to copy what you wrote up until the mistake.
But then, you suddenly realize, maybe a different word would be better, or a different phrase, or better still, a completely different scenario. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the moment I spoke of, the moment when you can play G-d. You make the decision to do one of those three things, or not.
It just can't be done with a PC or a word-processor. Or, it's not the same with a PC or a word-processor. To change anything with a PC or word-processor, all you do is delete the word, replace the word, or highlight all that needs changing and you change it. And what you've changed from is gone forever, but with the typewriter, even if you've torn it up or shredded it, those words are still there, and they can taunt you into thinking what you did was wrong, but remember, it's your story, your characters, and you do with it what you will.
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