Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in jongleur_gerard's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, December 5th, 2009
3:08 pm	Remember remember the 5th of December... Oh wait.. ;) Well, I did miss the 5th of November... ( Read more... ) Current Mood: artistic (Comment on this)
Monday, September 21st, 2009
10:57 am	to post or not to post It's been quite a while since I've posted anything, even longer since it was not a quiz. :P I figured I'd write something, so I'm going with a general update. I'm still at the Inn, working sometimes stupid hours, but it makes getting through the lean months at my other job possible and I'm not feeling like I'm drowning every Aug/Sept. Kind of looking forward to MP, if only for the people and $. I have one other current lead, doing something like transcribing text books? It could be fun, or it could be amazingly dull, but as long as it pays regularly, I can deal with an hour commute... I am also looking into other jobs. I am hoping to get certified to teach English as a Foreign Language so I can hit up China next fall, and am (slowly, as it's on my own through books, CD's and websites and under my own slacker volition) learning Mandarin and written Chinese/Zhongwen. If anyone has any info about certification, cheap/free language resources or TEFL programs, feel free to let me know ;) The Kingston renfaire is May 16th-17th and the 23rd-34th in 2010, and apparently did well in spring this year, though I was unable to join them. I was thinking about getting back in this year. Also, we did a renfaire here at the in last year, but are apparently not repeating that due to dubious ability to make $$. We broke even last year on a good weather weekend, soo yeah. I'm still writing, have tried to focus on specific novels, keep failing, so I have nearly a dozen going at the moment. Mostly, it's former NaNo's. The one I had that was done- or at least drafted, pending a 'final' edit I was part way through, is stuck on my other comp, and I'm investigating getting an external hard drive case to try to extract said novel. I'm also working on some other crafts, including some dice bags, juggling balls and antler necklaces which I may throw up on eBay or Etsy, as well as actually painting from time to time. The webcomic is still in research stages. I just got this neat book 507 Mechanical Movements which has diagrams and descriptions of uses for the gearworks. It is already giving me ideas for mechs in the story. I also came across a company called Van Dykes which supplies materials for Victorian renovations, and has all kinds of mouldings, drawer pulls, corner bumpers and other accoutrement which display the Victorian sensibility and embellishment I hope to incorporate into the imagery and the story itself. I've also been catching up on my TV watching via Hulu and DVD's- some from eBay, others from friendly lends. Just finished season 2 of BSG, 1 of Big Bang Theory and am watching 1 of Alias right now, as well as trying to keep up with Burn Notice, Chuck, Eureka and Warehouse 13 online. That's all I can think of for now. I hope everyone had a good summer. I actually made it out t the beach a couple times, and had my first visit to Water Country, which was mysteriously concurrent with my first sunburn in like 2 decades.. hmm... :P It was worth it, anyway. Now to prepare for NaNo and figure out which of these two stories to go with, since I don't think I'm up to trying a double again... (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
5:20 pm	What's Your Celtic Animal? Your Animal is the Otter You are a supportive, caring person. You value human life, and you think each person deserves compassion. You are optimistic and inspiring. You see what people need to feel complete, and you help them get it. You bond easily with others, and you are especially close to your family. You love to share, learn, and play together. Security is important to you. You are calm, as long as you aren't threatened. What's Your Celtic Animal? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
5:43 pm	Animal Cross(dress)ing http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/confusinganimals/animalcrossdressing.php ... um yeah (Comment on this)
Sunday, July 27th, 2008
8:34 am	'magine that Which Doctor Who are you? this quiz was made by Auntie Krizu(:>) (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
7:05 pm	Weekday update Finally got my car squared away. june was pretty consistently busy, so I hadn't gotten a chance to register/ inspect it, but I did those today, in addition to... replacing the rear driver-side window! I know, at this point it's almost like it's supposed to be missing or something. Funny/scary thing: it got through inspection not just without them worrying about it, but without them _noticing_. I also replaced the alternator this last weekend, as the buggered bit kept me from a 4th of July party I'd meant to attend. At least I was somewhere where I could get help. Ended up watching some Lost and fixing it the next day. I've also been reading through some books on watercolor and was sketching a scene from memory while waiting for my car... My mechanic now wants me to draw his 7 dogs from some photos he's sending me. I told him I'd see what I could do, but interestingly enough, he has a sketch of a previous set of dogs( only one of the 4 is still with us) on his wall and I had considered doing something similar for him before, but decided not to after not finding any proper models on my own. I hadn't realized then that they weer his dogs, so it seems more appropriate now to have waited, just odd. ;) I had my first Dept of Education meeting yesterday at work. It was interesting to be part of the discussion/process of making those decisions. It will help immensely when training to be able to give some reasoning for the DOE decisions beyond "that's what they decided." I have been writing a very little, and painting a bit, though more acrylics-treating them more like oils, thick and heavy- rather than the water-color like washes, which is what I plan to try soo. The renfaire is coming along. We've a storyline, one pair of combatants(two knights, myself and the visitor) and are working on costumes and armor. Plate mail is the plan. I've already begun training for that, which will ramp up the farther we go into summer. I hope all are well. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
11:17 pm	TV List Meme (meem) From anonymous_greg via caitirin Bold means you've seen every episode (or nearly every episode), Italics mean you've seen the show at least once. 50. Quantum Leap( 49... ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 25th, 2008
8:25 am	Here, there, and everywhere. I've been really bad at posting, so I'll recap with what I'm up to... Work is going fairly well, with more effort on management's part to get me work now that they're "invested" in me- ie, I've been told enough to sometimes know wtf is going on, and can be useful in a wide range of positions, for the Reading content area, and now, Science as well. I've been QACing this year, which mean choosing training materials, and even training questions. It's a good thing I've improved my speaking-in-front-of-dozens-to-hndreds-of-people-with-little-to-no-preparation skills through theatre and the renfaire. I'll be training 4 questions this next session, one to about 70 people, the others to about 30-40, depending on which 'half' I end up with. The fact that I've already seen _some_ of those questions was happenstance. In the aforementioned theatre area of my life, TAC (Touring Actors Company) on the board of which I serve, is moving house to Rollinsford in the next couple of weeks, into the mills there. We think it will be a much more engaged community, as the mills are already filled with artists of all types, painters, drummers, dancers, wood workers, and even another theatre group- whom we know and have no real conflict with as they do dinner theatre mysteries, where we usually do kids shows for schools and recreation centers, summer camps, etc. The move will be a challenge, especially in the summer, but good overall, with new opportunities, lower rent, and hopefully new friends. I've started walking a bit again. Back in the day, I used to walk every day, often numerous miles. I wouldn't call it 'hiking' as it was generally roadside, or through woods which were basically my backyard, though they could lead one to the other side of my town, and I never really planned or brought supplies with me. During these walks, I've seen small trees in the most inconvenient of places, places where in another time, more accepting of such things, and aprpeciative of their beauty, they may have grown into natural bonsai, but these cliff faces and crannies are in conflict. Primary succession will be thwarted by men with weed whackers and riding around in street sweepers. These are the gutter trees, which may get to a few inches or maybe half a foot tall before doom rains down upon their doomed leaves, and I now have 9 of these refugees set up in modified jucie mix canisters on the back porch. Most are maples, have yet to get around to looking for the id of the others. Something about their plight touched me, I think, not being entirely different from my own, but somehow there are never enough people with juice mix containers around when you need them. On these walks, I've also been keeping an eye out for possible locations for current and future films I've begun discussing with other interested parties. We have a few short scripts to start off with, which have been performed in conjunction with TAC, and some full-length scripts in production right now. I'm working on a supernatural horror movie, and others are working on zombie, comedy and twilight zone-esque pieces. - Which reminds me, if anyone has an in with a funeral parlor... lemme know, I could use a look around for a possible location... Writing in general has taken more of a hit since I've been working nmore regularly and getting into all these other projects my NYR is woefully behind, and unlikely to see success, at least in the fullness of one story a week being sent out. In order to do that I'd have to start busting out 2/week or more for a while, and if anything I'm going to be having less and less free time. I ahd also planned on a full re-write of my frist novel by the end of June, but I can't see how that will happen at this point... Maybe I'll boost up my motivation and surprise myself, but between the above mentioned projects, another film project, the renaissance faire in Kingston to prep for- rehearsals begin Jun 1 and will likely be Sun afternoons for a while- and looking for a part time position I can jump into in August when MP stops having work, and maybe assembling my jester character, which may not be needed by the NHRF(Kingston renfaire) for use/ hiring out elsewhere, and looking at the possibility of taking a class or two this fall as my day job will be out and I need some 'professional advancement,'((I neeeds me some maths and physics, amd maybe some engineering)) I might be a bit swamped... a bit. Guess that's most of everything for now. Scripts to write, costumes to make, etc, etc. Hope you're all well. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 16th, 2008
4:43 pm	gaming fri 5/16 In light of having to get up even earlier than I thought tomorrow for Lilac Fun Fest(TAC is performing), I believe I will call off for tonight. I need to collect myself (and costumes, etc) for the audition at any rate. I do look forward to some celtic punk tomorrow evening, though. Thanks for understanding, hope to see you all soon. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
4:06 pm	Gaming Fri It looks like we're going to be down elaby and caitirin for Fri, 5/16. I know Rich's schedule has been whacky, and other things are going on all about. If I could yay/nay from Rich, Seth and Sarah, we could easily determine whether it's feasible to play. I think even one more nay puts us to calling it until next time around. That wouldn't really hurt my feelings as I've been pretty wiped this week by work stuff and allergies, so I could use some time to chill. If the rest of you're all up for it, though I'll be there. Please leave a comment as to your desire/ availability to play. Thanks (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
6:04 am	Gaming and request So, as I recall, we'll be playing in Somnuran tonight, moving ever closer to saving the world from apocalypse and really bad postapocalyptic movies. As always, if you're not planning on being there, a note would be great. As to the other, I have a bit of something I could use help with. I know some of you have spiffy cameras, and I just got an open casting call notice for a show called... dun dun dun... "Vampire Nation." The initial intent is to be a film shopped around at festivals, but also to be pushed at studios and TV stations as a potential pilot for a series or a full on higher budget feature. It sounds like fun, and brings up the possibility of seeing some movie-making friends from that neck of the woods :P (Providence, RI) The problem? I need a suitable headshot... for Sunday... It's not a Huge deal, but I'd Really like to go try this, so if anyone who has a decent camera has the time and a cool printer ( or something I can bring to Kinos or some place to get a print made, digital media-wise) that would be Soo cool. Thanks, have fun, gotta go get ready for work. EDIT:  Oki, since there are so many calling out, obviously, we'll have to postpone. Have a great weekend. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
7:09 pm	Paradox? or laziness of definition? I picked up a book about Fuzzy Logic at the library today. in the midst of teh first chapter, it proclaims that "paradoxes abound" and gives some examples. I can't help but think of these " famous paradoxes" are easily solved, and as lacking in insight as the alleged quandry about the chikcen and the egg. ( The egg, of course, came first, in case you have not worked this one out. Why? Because the egg is a broader case. Many creatures lay eggs, and the ancestor of the chicken clearly did, but somehow failed to qualify as a chicken. Therefore, the first chicken arrived from an egg, which came from something which was not-quite-a-chicken, unless you're going to pull intelligent design out of your hat and say that the first chicken was made out of Adam's nosehairs.) At any rate, some examples of these somewhat laughable "paradoxes" are( with apologies in case they were poorly stated in the book and somehow may be faulty due to wording there.) Falakros, which appears to state that you can pluck every hair from a man's head, and though after the first few he may well e bald, even after they are all gone he is not... except that the meaning of the word bald is that the man has no hair on his head, so you have achieved a state where he is in fact bald. The real question here may be what is the point at which one can claim he is bald? which of course, would be fuzzier.. or less so, in this case.  The second such paradox listed is "The Paradox of the MIllet Seeds" which starts with a false premise: a single millet seed makes no sound as it strikes the ground. Of course it does, It may be too quiet to hear easily, but it does make a sound. Futhermore, this particular 'paradox' compares dropping one seed to dropping a bushel of seeds, in which case the seeds would not only resound against the ground/ floor, but also each other, so that's just bad science all around. The paradox of Theseus' Ship offers that a ship is the same ship with one plank replaced. I suppose this depends on how loose your definition of 'same' is. I would say as soon as you replace parts, it's different; the more parts, the more different. Similarly, something called "Wang's Paradox"( which sadly has nothing to do with http://www.penny-arcade.com/ ) Tries to say that if a quantity represented by X is small, then X+1 must also be small.. but by definition, then, you could continue to add +1 to each successive "small" number until X= infinity, or twelve, whichever comes last) the point being that you apply a subjective parameter such as "small" with no true bounds, because it's comparative, too loosely and end up with an unmanageable equation ( which I realize is also the point of its rpesence in the book as an example- BUT- it's faulty in the same way you can start with a beam of light with a 700nm wavelength ( red) and decrease the wavelength by 1nm, then another and call it 'red' the whole way, even as it gets into the range of 475nm ( blue) and still arbitrarily call it 'red.' The only difference is we have sensory markers which tell us that we've just seen orange yellow and green even though there's some logician jumping up and down with a sign that reads "red!!" Without a comparator, the label 'small' has no meaning in the first place. Getting back to the chicken, we have "Woodger's Paradox," which alleges that an animal can belong to only one taxonomic family, and therefore, to use the chicken and it's ancestor, that which laid the egg and that which hatched from it must be in different taxonomic families. Of course, what this example fails at is the logic behind taxonomic relations and evolution in general. A splittnig of a genepool by having two halves of a herd go their separate ways will create small changes in the expression of certain genes, the sutiability fo certain traits, adn over many generations, not one leap, create from what was once one herd, two different genus, and over a logner span, two families.  The intervening creatures which appear more closely related give way to the new species, and old disappear, less able to adapt.  Woodger seems to suggest that such deviations as wholesale as a girraffe suddenly growing a neck twice or three times as long as its predecessor in one generation, which _is_ absurd, if for other reasons. A child and parents may be inseparably part of the same family, but line grows dim when we speak of 4th cousins twice removed. Regardless of the naming conventions and need for a setpoint represented by these "paradoxes," I can't really see any way around the fact that the millet seed issue is just poor observation/ lack of scientific knowledge. Hopefully not everyone fell asleep during this mini-rant. Just don't let me get started on physics... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
6:25 am	random 4/8/8  First, I would just like to say, after having looked at the light/ fan hood thing over the oven that I think if a company named "Fasco" were to ask me to make them a logo, I would probably try to avoid a vertical line passing between the 'F' and the 'a'... ie, say, a triangle wih one of its edges in that position.  (( Looks a bit like this:  FIasco ))( and for those unable to follow my 6:30 am logic, de-capitolize the 'I' for.. 'fiasco', aka 'clusterf___'). Just sayin'... unless thye pissed me off and I thought I could get away wiht it.. mwhahah. Received 3 more rejections for stories over the last week, 2 with some personal notes. Some of those are useful, and I'm sure will lead me to experiement with leaving behind dreams of character development and setting in pursuit of more "boom" can I consider "boom!!" a theme? in this age, probably... MP is going all right for the moment, though my break-out Quality Assurance Coordinator role will be shorter lived than advertised as we'll probably be done wiht this project by Friday at the latest, instead of the middle of next week. Hopefully that means I'll get in on the project starting next week. My current supervisor is some combination of very cool and supportive. I just hope he's not overplaying how well I'm doing and I don't find myself scoring next week...  We have some kind of Red Sox celebration thing today. They're bringing in hot dogs and such for lunch on the company. They had originall scheduled this for 12:30... right _after_ the normal scoring floor lunch break, but when someone pointed out to the pointy-haired bosses over in the other building that such a time may not work out, they did move it up to 12. It should be interesting, anyway. I'm pretty sure the only room we have that's big enough to fit everyone is the scoring floor, and I doubt they'll be grillin' up dogs amid banks of computers. (Comment on this)
Friday, April 4th, 2008
6:07 pm	Apr 4 Gaming There is a game tonight. I'll be leaving in 15-20 min, depending shifting motivations. It's been a kind of hectic week, and all. (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 27th, 2008
4:13 pm	UNH Gaming Ok, so I can't be all fancy shmancy and make a poll because I'm a poor slub with a free account, but there is a vote on the table about tomorrow (3/28)'s game( should we not be snowed out.) I'm posting here because to the best of my knowledge everyone will see it, and if not, then between templarwolf 's post and mine, we should manage it. The thing is this: templarwolf is planning on starting up a Firefly/ Serenity(esque?) game using the Fading Suns system. There is the question of doing character creation on 3/28, or running my D&D/ Somnuran game. Please comment with your vote and any input regarding ths matter or any related gaming issues. Thanks. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
9:35 pm	even more computer BS Either I just got hit by a time bomb, or one of the emagazines I was looking at in hopes of sending them a story has a rather nasty cold, by the name of 'braviax.' Thus, instead of writing last night and this, I was hunting down spyware killers and tutorials on removing this pox upon my digital landscape. I believe I have slain the beast. I say I believe, for I am not certain, and in fact, suspect I am incorrect, as I still have a suspicious desktop icon. I will ahve to attend to that tomorrow, for now I must sleep. Work again tomorrow, if only MP, and only 2 days, but then a week of evening shifts next week, one job or another. We are still waiting for a verdict there. After that, full time or mostly so for a few months while I continue to look into other sources of $. Right now, I've got 6 stories out there, one of which is getting pretty ripe, I think, and approaching the average response time for acceptance, already ahving passed said time for rejections. Never know, though. Things could just be busy there. At least that magazine has a high rate of feedback. Either way, some degree of win, though I think I've been improving and have at least some handle on what's being looked for- though that's diff for each pub. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
10:56 pm	Should have expected this, I guess... But I was just on the MSNBC site, linked over from an article about physics to some videos of interesting topics. They advertise (falsely) 39 videos vailable for review, stuff about clonging and computer models fo cell processes and using monkeys to test robotic interfaces. Cool. Except for the false bit, which comes in where a good number of the videos refuse to play. You click on them, it thinks about it, and goes to the next one. Or the enxt after that. You'd think Microsoft would have their computer crap together. Way to disappoint again, Billy. (Comment on this)
9:08 pm	Thanks Many thanks to those who responded to my last post. I appreciate your thoughts on that subject. That is, afterall how we determine reaonable reaction, is it not? By watching and comparing how other people react to events? Right now, I'm also trying to determine what elusive little factors go into stories which current scifi and fantasy magazine editors are looking for. I'm getting a handle on it, I think, via reading these magazines online and analyzing what I have that hasn't worked ths far. At the same time, I keep hearing about this new 'keep it real' paradigm infecting sci fi, ie, what they're calling "mundane" sci fi, which seems kind of like caffeine free Mt Dew. No ray guns, or faster than light travel, aliens of any kind or antigravity allowed. It's all about short term future "what could happen tomorrow"- and not like Tomorrow, but tomorrow, Thurs, March 13 2008. I'm not saying it's impossible to write given those restrictions, but I get the sense that this new fad is gaining interest like a weed which will eventually take over the whole garden. This would be a tragic loss, for what of wonder? What of being able to take a running leap at the future and spin an amazing world from red thread that falls from the sky or the twisted paths of starships bouncing from system to system? It feels like someone's attempt to keep us from dreaming, to me. And if we stop dreaming, we become trapped in the world "they" make for us: hopeless, gray, and futureless. (Comment on this)
Monday, March 10th, 2008
3:11 pm	For all the stuff I remember ... off the top of my head while talking about/ runing a game in Somnuran, it's funny when I run across a folder of stuff on my computer with huge chunks of data I had forgotten. This must seriously be one of the most fleshed out/ involved and back story rich worlds I've ever heard of ( after maybe, maybe Star Wars + Star Trek). And here I am slacking away on book one of one of the series... I could write a book a year until I die( assuming an average lifespan) and not be done actually writing all the stories already sketched/ planned/ begun.  How does one person chronicle 10,000+ years of world history, culture and development? Gah *overwhelmed* (Comment on this)
Friday, March 7th, 2008
11:55 am	UNH Gaming Oki, so, as far as I know, we're no for tonight. I shall endeavor to be there between 630 and 7pm. If there are issues, please comment here and hopefuly I'll get a chance to check my email at my friend's house, as I'm leaving this house until then..... now Have a good day all. As a side note, this could possibly be the last time we play?(at least in this day/time slot) As I am currently in the interviewing/ application process for a position which would run 6pm to 230am M-F. Nothing is solid yet, just a heads up. Thanks, hopefully if that happens we can find another time convenient for everyone. (8 Comments |Comment on this)