How to lose 3344 words

So far I've  been holding my own in the NaNoWriMo challenge.  I've met or beaten the daily word goal for the fist 8 days of the challenge.  Today is Day 9 and Houston, we have a problem.

Day 8

 Here's Day 8 of my NaNoWriMo novel. Again I'm disabling comments on these entries. Don't get me wrong, I love feedback and comments, in this case though they would only serve to distract me and cause me to second guess myself.  Finally, this novel is of course Copyright © 2012 Steven Lake & Engen Books. Word Count today: 1702

Day 7

 Here's Day 7 of my NaNoWriMo novel. Again I'm disabling comments on these entries. Don't get me wrong, I love feedback and comments, in this case though they would only serve to distract me and cause me to second guess myself.  Finally, this novel is of course Copyright © 2012 Steven Lake & Engen Books. Word Count today: 1678

Day 6

 Here's Day 6 of my NaNoWriMo novel. Again I'm disabling comments on these entries. Don't get me wrong, I love feedback and comments, in this case though they would only serve to distract me and cause me to second guess myself.  Finally, this novel is of course Copyright © 2012 Steven Lake & Engen Books. Word Count today: 1681

Tis not the season

So this evening when I signed on to my computer I found an invite to a Christmas party waiting for me on Facebook, and I promptly declined the invite.

Day 5

 Here's Day 5 of my NaNoWriMo novel. Again I'm disabling comments on these entries. Don't get me wrong, I love feedback and comments, in this case though they would only serve to distract me and cause me to second guess myself.  Finally, this novel is of course Copyright © 2012 Steven Lake & Engen Books. Word Count today: 1665

Day 4

 Here's Day 4 of my NaNoWriMo novel. Again I'm disabling comments on these entries. Don't get me wrong, I love feedback and comments, in this case though they would only serve to distract me and cause me to second guess myself.  Finally, this novel is of course Copyright © 2012 Steven Lake & Engen Books. Word Count today: 1679

I'm wearing a poppy

Like most do at the beginning of November, I'm wearing a poppy. I thought it was an internationally recognized symbol of remembrance, apparently I was wrong. Twice tonight while working at the hotel, I've had guests ask me what the flower is and why myself and others are wearing it. This surprised me.

Day 3

Here's Day 3 of my NaNoWriMo novel. Again I'm disabling comments on these entries. Don't get me wrong, I love feedback and comments, in this case though they would only serve to distract me and cause me to second guess myself.  Finally, this novel is of course Copyright © 2012 Steven Lake & Engen Books. Word Count today: 1688

Day 2

Here's Day 2 of my NaNoWriMo novel. Again I'm disabling comments on these entries. Don't get me wrong, I love feedback and comments, in this case though they would only serve to distract me and cause me to second guess myself.  Finally, this novel is of course Copyright © 2012 Steven Lake & Engen Books. Word Count today: 1667

Day 1

Alright here it is, the first day's work on my NaNoWriMo novel. I'm going to be posting as I go every day forgive me for this one, but I'm disabling comments on these entries. Don't get me wrong, I love feedback and comments, in this case though they would only serve to distract me and cause me to second guess myself.  Finally, this novel is of course Copyright © 2012 Steven Lake & Engen Books. Word Count: 1686

It has begun

So I've started off my NaNoWriMo and I've hit the daily word target, but it was easily done because I'm working with some preexisting material right now. As I've said before, I've been working on a novel for about 3 years now so I do have a little, and I mean a very little, bit written that I'm drawing on as a springboard to get me started. That material is going to run out fast though, given that the word count is 1667 words a day and I didn't have a lot to start with.

As the veil thins for the night...

Not a big post today, getting ready for the start of NaNoWriMo tomorrow. For now, since it's Halloween, All Hallows Eve, Samhain, etc.. here are a couple of poems I've written about this wonderful season.

Character Development

Well  I'm seven days away from taking on the biggest challenge of my writing skills to date. As I posted before, National Novel Writing Month starts on November 1st, and I'm gonna do my damnedest to write my 50,000 words. That works out to 1667 words a day roughly, I mean I can write, I've proven that here on my blog more than once, but 50,000 words in one month... wow. I've never thought of trying that, I've never dreamed of thinking of trying that, it's insane. Well.. so am I, or so people have told me over the years, so onward and upward.

I have a doppelganger...

There is a theory that everyone has a twin somewhere in the world, a doppelganger if you will. Someone who walks, talks and sounds just like you. Now for most, this person could be anywhere in the world, after all it's a pretty big place and there is room enough on the planet for two people to look alike, take twins for example. But this isn't a theory about twins, this is a completely different person who looks just like you. In my case it seems, this double is walking around St. John's.

NaNoWriMo Madness begins

So it's almost time for NaNoWriMo to start. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's a project for National Novel Writing Month that starts on November 1st. The concept is simple, it's a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000-word (approximately 175-page) novel by 11:59:59 PM on November 30.

Weekend Geekery, Epilogue

Just got home from Atlanti-CON (http://atlanti-con.com/) and all I can say is "Wow! What a weekend!"

Seriously, I love being  a nerd. I love the people I've met when attending and working for the conventions here in Newfoundland. Nerds are the most awesome group of people to associate with, there's almost a telepathic bond when they congregate where they instantly understand each other and all the geeky/nerdy/obscure/pop-culture references they make. There's no other social group like it anywhere.

Weekend Geekery Part Deux

Well I'm still in the city of Corner Brook for Day 2 of Atlanti-CON. Yesterday was amazing, I already said how great it was to catch up with friends but I can't fully convey the epicness of it all. The organizers really outdid themselves with this and they should all be very proud of what they have accomplished.

Weekend Geekery

So I'm in Corner Brook this weekend for a Sci-Fi Convention. The drive out was great, we had a disorganized convoy of cars playing catch up across the island at various rest stops. I streamed parts of it to my ustream channel and shared them to YouTube.  It was a fun way to pass the trip and we even found an app for smartphones that turns them into almost walkie talkies so we could shoot voice messages back and forth like texts without having to call each other constantly.

Mythological Mayhem

I've been watching a lot of Gargoyles lately and it's reminded me how much I love mythology and ancient legends.

Untitled Engen Story

Many moons ago I was asked by my good friend Matt LeDrew of Engen Books to do up a short story based in the universe of his "Black Womb" series. I agreed and had a concept in mind that started with a microscopic, sentient parasite for a villain. Then I hit a roadblock, well, a writing block. I haven't put pen to paper in almost a year, I just haven't had any idea of how I'd continue with any of the stories that I'd started.

Then, as I said in my last entry, I started this blog and I started forcing myself to get into the routine of writing something, anything at least once a day. That kick started the neurons in my ol' brain bucket and I've started looking over three stories that I've had on the shelf. So without further adieu, here's the revised start of my Engen universe short story.

Let's try this again...

So when I started doing this I made a commitment to myself that I'd do a blog entry a day.

Philosophical Questions

A friend of mine asked: “Which is better; True love or great sex?”

Self photography rant

Hi all,

Wow, it's been a while since I made a post. I haven't been keeping very well to my 'post a day' promise that I made to myself. Well I'm only human after all and perfectly fallible in my intentions. But I'm back now and we'll see how this goes. Tonight I want to rant about pictures, more specifically people taking pictures of themselves to post online. It's getting ridiculous and the pictures are getting more ridiculous.  I know there are the classic 'my space' style of pictures, changing the angles and striking a pose and looking fake as hell, but that's only half the issue, read on to see where I'm going with this.

Working like a dog

So another night with not much on my mind to turn into a post. Sometimes there are things floating around in my brain, sometimes there aren't. Mostly it's because over the past week and a bit, I've been working flat out. The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition say that; "No good deed ever goes unpunished" and it's holding true.

Missed One

So I missed a day posting, not really sure how I feel about that. I've been doing so well keeping to my own self imposed schedule of making a post a day. Life happens I suppose. Oh well, them's the breaks I suppose, I can only do my best. It just happens that life got in the way and I couldn't make the post. But that's not what I was going to talk about, so onward we go.

People Watching again

I'm back to things I don't understand about things I see people do while I'm working in a hotel. This is part confused observation and part my own little quirk about something common and I admit, that part is all in my head, but it's the lead up I don't get.

Tired today

Getting a little tired today, it's been a long week and it's only going to carry into next week.  Nothing to do but keep my head down and push though it I suppose.

Uphill battles

So in the coming months I'm not gonna be popular with some people. I'm ok with that, I can't be liked by everyone. But this is a case of putting my foot down for something that I believe in and something that is long overdue in happening.

Untitled, just because

I already did the entry about nothing, so I guess this one will have to be about something.

Musical Diversity

I co-host a Blues show every Monday night on our local University radio station CHMR and I got to thinking about music in general. I listen to a lot of different genres of music and enjoy a very diverse cross section of what's out there.  Rock, Pop, Classical, Opera, Blues, Rap, damn near everything except Country, I don't acknowledge that as music and I never will, but that's another rant for another day.  Tonight, I'm gonna talk about Blues. Whenever I say that I co-host a Blues radio show I get the same reaction from people; "I don't like the Blues." Well have you listened to what's out there or are you operating from a preconceived notion?

Sharing and Oversharing

Blogging again has been a wonderful thing. Forcing myself to write something every day is an interesting experience, and it's definitely been keeping me on my toes and forced me to adhere to my own self imposed schedule.

Sleepy McSleeperson

So given that I normally post an entry between 4am and 8am because I work overnights, this entry is a heck of a lot late in getting done.  Well there's a reason for that.

Ongoing Alcohol Experiments

So last week was a fluke, at least that's what the latest bit of research is leading me to believe. Some friends are on vacation so we took the opportunity to flee the city to a cabin and enjoy some downtime that included BBQ, a fire pit and copious amounts of alcohol.

Customer Disservice

This story started last week with the entry I made about upgrading my connection from normal DSL service to Aliant’s FireOp service.  Getting nerdy for a min, it means in increase in my service from 7Megabits Download / 512 Kilobits Upload to 15 Megabits Down/Up.  A really, really nice increase for the service.  So I get off work at 8am yesterday and come home and make sure that the house is ready for the install and the tech won’t have any access issues.  My landlord even temporarily pulled back the siding on the house for access to where another cable comes into my apartment so the tech just needs to slide the FibreOP wire in alongside it.  So far, so good.  Then the fun began.

A Novel idea

So I'm writing a book, well I've been writing it for the past two years. It started at a Sci-Fi convention. One of the authors, a friend of mine asked those of us on the committee if any of us would be interested in writing some short stories for a collection from the convention.  We said yes and Sci-Fi From The Rock got published.

Retail Ranting

Had what I thought was an unusual experience yesterday morning. I stopped into a Big Box Retailer to pick up a few things and went to the check out. That in itself is normal enough. Now as the clerk was checking me though, the first thing the clerk asked was "Are you paying for this with 'Store Branded' MasterCard this morning?" I answered no, mainly because I don't have one and really don't want one, but I settled in for the sales pitch anyway, and waited to hear all about the benefits or points to earn or rewards to work towards. Here's the strange part, it never came. No sales pitch at all. She just scanned my items, asked if I was using cash or debit and completed the transaction.

Nothing really...

I got nothing.

Usually I have an idea or a story or something on my mind that I can turn into a posting, but tonight I got nothing. That in itself I suppose is something, after all if I can talk about nothing then it becomes something. There's content in talking about nothing, so then it must be something instead of nothing, or is it something else?

People watching

People are amazing, some are astounding. In my job I get to sit and watch a fair cross section of the population and they never cease to amaze me. Weary travelers who just want to get to bed after a long day of flying, business execs on one night stop overs, vacationers getting ready to leave on trips, brides and grooms celebrating their nuptials, twenty something's looking for a party. I see all that and more in the lobby of my hotel. 

Ghost Sightings II

Welcome back to the Lounge, gather round, settle in and get comfortable.  Everyone's drinks alright? Good, good. I'm going on with another ghost story tonight so I'll dim the lights just a bit more than normal to set the mood.

Ghost Sightings

Let me start this off by saying that I believe in ghosts, spirits and things that go bump in the night. I believe in magic and dragons too, but those are stories for another night.  Tonight I'm going to relate some of what I've seen in my life that I just can't explain in any other way but to say that I've seen a ghost.  If someone can prove otherwise with a logical, reasonable explanation for the things I've seen, then yes I will change my point of view. I don't need to prove that what I've seen is a ghost, science needs to help prove that it wasn't.  Now with that said, on with the show.

Mid Week Booze

I rarely drink during the week, well unless there's a holiday, or I'm off, or there's some occasion, or friends get together, or we're celebrating the fact that it's (insert weekday here).
As I've said, I work overnights and this week my two days off happened to fall on Tuesday night and Wednesday night. A friend asked if I'd like to stop over for a couple of drinks and by virtue of some twisting of my rubber arm, I agreed.

Hangouts and Hangups

So I'm trying to expand my online presence, problem is that I don't trust most things online (as any good tech-geek shouldn't)  The more that you put out there, the more that can come back and bite you in the ass, depending on what you choose to say.

Oh Hello, I didn't know you were there

So apparently I have readers. Hello readers, welcome to my little corner of the net, my piece of insanity that is The Stylin' Lounge.

I suppose an introduction is in order.

A NOS injection for teh interwebz

Who's got two thumbs and is getting FibreOP next week?

This guy! :-)

Random thoughts at 7am

Ok, try and follow me on this and see if it makes any sense.

One of the worst things that can happen to a guy when he's interested in a woman, is to be relegated to the "Friend Zone." Once there, that's it. There's no chance that a romantic or sexual thought will ever be attributed to anyone in the "Friend Zone." You're essentially a living, breathing teddy bear.

You're done. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.00, don't ever think you're leaving. End. Of. Story.

But...

GPS Follies Part Deux

Well that was anticlimactic...

GPS Follies

So I have this GPS app on my iPhone, NavFree by name. I don't really need GPS in St. John's, I know my way around as well as most people but I figured I'd give it a shot and it's free and I never know when I'm going to be traveling, so what the hell.

Drinking and Podcasting

But not at the same time.

Went out with friends for a few drinks last night, had a great time and sang some karaoke.  It's the first time in a long while that I've been able to get out.  I work every weekend so finding something during the week has been the problem, but Thirsty Thursday at the Bella Vista = Problem Solved.

Unspecified Neurons Firing

Over a month between postings, not a bad record for a guy who has gone 5 & 10 years between posts. Before July, my last post was that long ago that the templates system hadn't been thought of, let along implemented on this thing.

What D&D Character am I?

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Sorcerer (5th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-15
Dexterity-14
Constitution-15
Intelligence-14
Wisdom-17
Charisma-16