February, 2010

creative writing / fiction / Project Mintaka / writing — No Comments
20
Feb 10

Fiction: Sa Na

After seeing sa na on the list, Hlau is no closer to finding out what these two syllables mean.

Hlau parked his car close to Toshan Circle and headed to the Sanaya Café to meet Midori, the agent assigned to the case. After seeing sa na on the list, the syllables jumped out at him, especially with the furigana, or the small Phonic syllables above the Universal characters on the sign. However, sa na was also present on several other signs within sight – Hisanaya Bank, Losana Books, Bosanada restaurant. Something told him that sa na had to be something else other than a business, but he could not know for sure. Living in Shusa, he never really paid much attention to the signs attached to buildings, like most people, he only saw them on a cursory level and read the signs he needed to get to. Now he couldn’t help notice the neon tubes bent into complex characters, which was popular a season ago with newer ones made for nostalgic purposes, letters attached to building facades, illuminated at night, banners, old hanging signs with archaic typefaces, and fluorescent light backed hard plastic signs in all colors and fonts. Two commonly used syllables now jumped out at him from everywhere.

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creative writing / fashion / Project Mintaka / science fiction — 1 Comment
18
Feb 10

Fiction: In the Temple of the Muse

Here is someone on Hlau’s list. Kumo is a villainess of this story, and she sees her crimes as a creative act.

In the Temple of the Muse, which was at the west end of the Mall and faced it in an eastward direction, Kumo had come early in the morning to get inspiration from the Nine-Personed Goddess. It was still dark, a few hours before the tourists, eager with their cameras, would come and crowd the large statue, hoping to get inspiration and a picture with her at the same time. The sun would rise soon and those few hardy souls, when the Temple was at its most beautiful, would be soon come to the Temple when it was bathed in the golden sunlight and reflected the pinkness of the morning sky. Kumo preferred to see the Muse at daybreak, but this was the time when she would have the Goddess to herself, before the devotees and then the tourists would take up her time.

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blogging / communication styles / teaching / The Recession — No Comments
17
Feb 10

He’s certainly got Cloutier

For some odd reason yesterday, I found myself in the business section of NY Time‘s website when I came across this interview with George Cloutier, an entrepreneur who gets small businesses out of the holes they dig themselves into. He was full of all kinds of glib, but hard-won business wisdom such as “Fire Your Relatives. Scare Your Employees. And Stop Whining.” He also had a tough style of speaking, which fascinated me. Then I realized who he reminded me of: Gordon Ramsay. Clearly, Ramsay and/or his producers must have been aware of Cloutier’s business and his approach to rescuing businesses and realized they could make good TV out of it. With Gordon’s speech resembling a heart monitor and doing the fixer-uppers for ailing restaurants, he had channeled Cloutier without giving props to the man.

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creative writing / fiction / Project Mintaka / science fiction — No Comments
16
Feb 10

Fiction: The Decryption

This scene takes place in the story’s present, several years (or decades, or cycles of 10 months, in the Mintakan calendar) after Hlau’s initial trip to the House of Wisdom.

Hlau was in the Evek’s office when they were going over the intelligence they got from the Agency of Investigation. The Agency had called them because they needed consultants on a string of computer hacks, all of which were virtually untraceable to any device. The Agency’s computer experts had gone over the evidence they had available and they could not find anything that would identify a computer or a particular user. Without any real evidence, the Agency had come to the conclusion that this series of events was of a psychic nature, which is where priests from the School of Wisdom could help.

            The Evek got up from his desk and walked up to a red-stained teak filing cabinet, and placed his hand at the handle of the top drawer for a few seconds and then opened it. He took out a book-sized box and brought it to the desk and sat down. He drew his finger along the line created by the lid and the lower part of the box and opened it. Hlau knew that the Evek had just unlocked a psychic lock on both the cabinet and the box. The Evek then took a folded piece of paper from the box, unfolded it, and said, “I think you’re ready to see this.”

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blogging / humor / News — No Comments
15
Feb 10

Some Links brought to you by Friendster, I mean Facebook

I’m always posting some interesting links up on my FB profile. I used to be one of those annoying people who linked their Twitter account to Facebook, thus all my friends then get the impression I’m a serious alcoholic or an out-and-about partyer. Then I used Selective Twitter, so no one sees every single tweet, which is now moot since I haven’t tweeted much lately. Getting back to the good ol’ FB profile, I now post a lot of links to express myself instead of giving every little bit of mundane piece of information. However, the links anyone chooses to post can say quite a bit about themselves. In my case, the most of the recent articles shared from the Chronicles of Higher Education point to my malaise about having gone through grad school, adjuncting, and the now anorexic amount of job opportunities (especially for higher degree holders). Also, here and there, there’s a shiny bit of news that catches my attention and I have to share those with everyone too.

So here are some interesting links from the past few days:

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creative writing / fiction / Project Mintaka / Resplendence / science fiction / writing — 2 Comments
14
Feb 10

“Project Mintaka,” etc

On Friday, I quietly posted the beginning of a work in progress. It’s been a while since I’ve posted creative writing on ShindoTV, much more longer than some other things. I started again mainly to get myself writing again. The intro and the list in question are parts of what I’ve dubbed for the time being “Project Mintaka,” but I’ll come up with a better title later. Also, these pieces of the story in progress are subject to revision later and I’ll definitely work them into a more coherent form when there’s enough to get a book going. That’s the intent anyway.

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creative writing / fiction / Project Mintaka / science fiction — No Comments
13
Feb 10

Fiction: Hlau’s List

In “The Paper,” we meet Hlau and the piece of paper. While his memory is rapidly deteriorating, he writes down this list on a piece of paper. However, with his memory gone and very little context afterwards, Hlau is faced with the mystery of the list.
 

I HAVE BEEN VIRUSED. I MUST REMEMBER.

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creative writing / fiction / Project Mintaka / science fiction — No Comments
12
Feb 10

Fiction: The Paper

This is part of a longer work I’m working on. It takes place on a world that orbits Mintaka, a world 1000 light years from Earth. The people are human, or very near-human, with Itán being one of the dominant nations. Much of their cultures are similar to ours, but it’s also been shaped by the existence of human telepathy and the supernatural. Mintaka here is in their equivalent of the 21st century.

That piece of paper that Hlau held in his hand…

He wrote things down so he could remember, a rough analog backup for the things that were being wiped from his memory. Hlau tried to remember names, places, people he knew at the Agency of Investigation, cases, but more information vanished quickly than he could conjure it and scribble the characters. At the moment, he wasn’t even sure if he knew how to write in Universal.

He looked at the paper and hardly recognized what he scrawled. He was sure there was more he needed to put down, but he also knew he had to get out. He folded the paper, put it inside the inner breast pocket of his jacket, and ran out to the Agency’s lobby. Someone would be after him soon. That was not memory, but instinct cultivated by decades of practice as an agent. He wasn’t even sure someone would come after him, but he had to get to somewhere safe. He stopped, quickly wrote down SEEK SANCTUARY, SCHOOL OF WISDOM, and ran out to downtown street to catch a taxi. If he had arrived at the Agency’s parking structure in a car, he now couldn’t remember what color, shape, and manufacturer. A taxi moved past the Tchon embassy across the street. Hlau frantically waved it down, ran across the street, and was nearly ran over before he crossed the street. He opened the back door on the driver’s side, got in, and pulled the paper from his pocket. “The National House of Wisdom,” he shouted at the driver before he would forget.

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blogging / college / scams / teaching — 2 Comments
12
Feb 10

Yes, I Burned My Hand on the Stove

Usually, I don’t need articles on some journal website to tell me what to think. However, they can confirm thoughts and feelings I have, like some of Thomas Benton’s articles on the Chronicles of Higher Education, especially “The Big Lie About the ‘Life of the Mind,” “Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go,” and “If You Must Go To Grad School.” Perhaps if I read these articles before ever throwing together a portfolio to apply to a graduate creative writing program, I would not have applied at all. Actually, I’m more stubborn than that. I’m the type who has to put my hand on the stove and get burned instead of listening to someone who tells me that it’s hot. Continue reading →

blogging / career — 2 Comments
10
Feb 10

2009, 2010, you’ve taken my voice away. Now go frak yourselves!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Considering that everyone’s been affected by this economy, I’m no exception. After getting laid off last semester from the adjuncting, I felt a variety of emotions, ranging from relief that perhaps I wouldn’t have to do this anymore to anxiety about where my next dollar was going to come from. Apart from that, I couldn’t break into the library field with the city in hiring freeze and other places perhaps putting my resumes in the digital bin. To add to those injuries, I lost my MacBook during last autumn and that also knocked the virtual wind out of me. Long story short, it has been an extremely painful and disappointing year and I retreated into silence on this blog. On some level, I might have done myself good by not posting my anger about the situation. I let these situations take away my voice. I don’t want them to continue to do so.

Recently, I have been more active on my Facebook and Twitter accounts, but neither is any substitute for blogging. On Facebook, I have expressed myself more through posting interesting links (at least interesting to me) and some of those can be interesting jumping points for topics. I’ve tried to keep the twittering up, though it’s not something I do every day now. Last week, I recently jumped off the iPhone train, so I’m not going to post lunches or anything else as frequently. Unfortunately, my fingers still itch to touch a glass screen and text updates. I feel like I’ve given up cigarettes.

On the plus side, a friend loaned me one of her Macs, a PowerBook. It does the job, but I’ll be happy to have my own computer again, especially one more “modern.” I’m also working (which I won’t discuss*) and I’m teaching a night course (which also won’t be discussed*). And, I have a few good friends, a valuable resource in hard times.

I’ve been reading plenty and I’ve been working on some fiction. But, I want to get the momentum back in writing, which the posts should help. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, no flight plan, no problem. All I need to do is fly.

*not to be discussed at this time. I know, it limits my topics, but CYA.

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