stunt_muppet: (round thing)
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"Productive" is somewhat loosely defined at this point, of course, but there are still things I could be doing and am not. For example, I still haven't unpacked all the way.

First day of classes today. Nothing too strenuous, as it was the first day, but I've got both my sciences on Monday withing five minutes of one another, so switching gears is going to be interesting. Ecology is first, followed by Genetics; while Ecology isn't a field I normally enjoy all that much, the professor at least seems enthused about his subject, so that might help. I'm hoping that Genetics will be something of a break, after my past two Bio seminars. I hesitate to call it easy, because it's Collegeland, but I'll have probably covered at least some of the material we learn there in my seminars, so the memorization and exams might be a little less taxing this time around.

I'm also not getting off to a great start with this whole "getting organized" business, as evidenced by my post title, but I am for now optimistically attributing that to first-day back-from-break blahs (I'm not one of those people that can hit the ground running) and hoping that I'll get better about that in the coming days.

Fortunately, for only the second time in my college career I have a semester with no 8:30 classes - my earliest is a 10:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I woke in a panic this morning at 7:59, frantically calling my mother and telling her that it was okay, I was awake now, she didn't have to call me again...only to be reminded, in a bemused voice, that I'd asked her to call to wake me up at 8:20. It's going to be one of those weeks, I can tell. Oh, sleeping in until 8:30. It is such a luxury and I am so not used to it.

I also woke up in the middle of a dream for the first time in ages, so I actually remembered it for a while before getting distracted by things like breakfast. I never usually remember my dreams.

Since I got back, I've been mostly catching up with friends, watching movies (usually also with friends - we watched WALL-E last night and will probably watch The Dark Knight tomorrow), staring into space, occasionally writing, and reading the Target novelization of The Three Doctors, since I need to get back in the habit of reading things and what better way to do that than with the literary equivalent of cheap chocolate. I'm typing up more complete thoughts on it and on the Target novelizations, but it was an interesting way to spend 45 minutes to an hour, anyway, and I still get a little geek joy out of owning the things to begin with.

Also, speaking obliquely of writing, a quick question: is it too cheesy/gimmicky for the narration in a story to cut out mid-sentence or mid-word to indicate something...unexpected happening to the POV character? The narration in question is limited-third-person rather than first-person, and since the unexpected thing would literally cut off said characters powers of observation/narration without them ever seeing it coming (so I wouldn't be able to say "he winced in anticipation" or "she heard, in the distance, the whistle of a small brick succumbing to gravity" or anything like that). It seems to me like it'd be a nice fourth-wall moment that could be freaky if I pulled it off properly (and I'm not sure I could), but I've also always had a tin ear for gimmicks, so I'd like some additional thoughts before I actually try it.


Also, I have an Inksome account, since it's said to be a good fandom-friendly alternative to LJ in case LJ Mysteriously Vanishes Into The Night (which I don't think it will, but it never hurts to be careful). There's literally nothing on the page yet, but I'll be setting up my profile and backing up my journal and things like that soon enough. If you'd like an invite code, I'd be happy to give one; just leave me a comment and I'll PM you the code. Also feel free to link me to your journals here so I can friend you at some point; I could go back to the links you've already posted, I know, but I'm a terribly lazy person and like it when other people do the work for me.

At some point, I will update sometime other than just before going to bed.
Music:: "The Stamen of the Shaman" - Shpongle
Mood:: 'guilty' guilty
location: the hidey-hole
There are 9 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
ext_23666: (Ducky)
posted by [identity profile] eryaforsthye.livejournal.com at 07:24am on 13/01/2009
 
posted by [identity profile] stunt-muppet.livejournal.com at 12:21am on 14/01/2009
Duly noted, and thank you!

(I still haven't got around to editing the thing, since I've been scheduling appointments and updating and stuff,ubt one day! One day! *shakes fist dramatically*
 
posted by [identity profile] stunt-muppet.livejournal.com at 12:30am on 14/01/2009
Duly noted, and thanks! I still haven't updated the thing at all, since I've had Things to Schedule and whatnot and all in all life's just been a bit crazy, but one of these days...
 
posted by [identity profile] rainbowstevie.livejournal.com at 04:13pm on 13/01/2009
I have never said this before, but...I'm actually sort of jealous of your science classes. Not that I could ever actually wrap my head around anything beyond basic genetics, but it fascinates me, and ecology is the definition of why I liked science in elementary school.
 
posted by [identity profile] stunt-muppet.livejournal.com at 12:43am on 14/01/2009
Hee, I'm much more of a micro than a macrobiologist, myself - I'm interested up to the organismal level, but once we start getting to populations I usually tune out. I just find all the trillions of tiny Rube Goldberg machines that have to function perfectly every single time they work for us to even be viable as beings...so much more fascinating. I don't know why.

But I should stop now, before I witter all day at you about genetics. :) I appreciate ecology in a sort of objective way even if it's not my thing as much, and hopefully this professor's enthusiasm will catch a bit.
 
posted by [identity profile] primsong.livejournal.com at 05:15pm on 13/01/2009
I somehow missed the existence of inksome - must go investigate. Best of luck as you transition to your new lot of classes - it always takes a while to get back in the swing of things.

I don't know about the cutting off the narrator concept - the only ones I can think of off the bat are like television teaser lead-ins (i.e. "Come back next week when Mr. Ed says...."), in comic-books ("Batman grabbed the popsicle but - !) or in 'storytelling' settings where the narrator is someone telling the story and then interrupts themselves for a side explanation. (a movie version of this might be the grandfather in Princess Bride - "The eel doesn't get her!")

On the other hand, I'm currently reading Thackery's Vanity Fair and he pulls the reader out of the story on a regular basis, though it's to add side-commentary or exclamations over the foolishness of what the character is about to do. In that case it comes across rather like you're 'watching' the story with someone else 'watching' it too and it's rather enjoyable. But he uses it by sort of bobbing up and down out of the narrative - surfacing to exclaim and then going back to the action - rather than interrupting it for dramatic effect so I don't know if that applies.




 
posted by [identity profile] stunt-muppet.livejournal.com at 12:51am on 14/01/2009
If it strikes your fancy, let me know so I can send you an invite code! And thanks so much for the good wishes!

That's mostly what worries me about that particular narrative trick - the narrator hasn't been a character in their own right for the rest of the story, and still isn't even in this moment; it's just that the point of view character is suddenly, specifically, cut off. Cutting off the text seemed like a way to indicate that without foreshadowing it (in an intentionally jarring way), but I'm worried that might come across as more like the comic-book example, which could end up unintentionally comic in what's supposed to be a creepy moment.

I don't know. There's a safer way to make that transition within the story and it'd probably be less confusing anyway, but on the other hand...Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'll see how it sounds once I've actually written this part. XD
 
posted by [identity profile] viralmancer.livejournal.com at 01:34am on 17/01/2009
As regards the mid-sentence-drop-off, I think I'd have to actually see it in context. Is it written? :D

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