I’ve used the Vigilance template for little over a year and it got old. For a while, I reverted to Colors, the one with all the color pencils. It did the job for a bit before I came out of my hiatus. And then began the search for a minimalist template that didn’t look like it was a WordPress default, and I found Cleanr, which really lives up to its name: a white background with clean, bold sans-serif headers and legible Roman font. Even with all that prefab wonderfulness, I still have to clean some things up, such as my links page and a few other things. Sometimes I think about tweaking a few things, such as link colors, because I prefer to have links in pale violet blue (not to be confused with lavender). Overall, it’s an attractive and efficient design, so I have no complaints.
shindotv
5
Sep 09
Privilege for $200
It’s been a while since I’ve reflected on my experiences in my MFA program. One very significant figure, whom I’ve discussed in previous posts, was Professor Joseph K, who served as my early mentor, friend, boss, and later silent tormentor. This post is Part 21 of If You Want To Go To Grad School.
We’re at a party early on for the University’s MFA program and I mention working with Professor Joseph K. You ask me what he’s like and I’ll try to give you a sound byte answer. After all, this is a party, and the conversation’s not supposed to be too deep. So, here’s what I say: Joe’s a good guy and I work very well with him. I also enjoy his workshops a lot.
My answer would change much later, as I was only one year into my academic and professional relationship with Professor K. Being his secretary didn’t pay much, but I liked it better than working in the supermarket. There, I was paid better and I had benefits, but with Joe, I had keys to the mail room and his office, and I had a code for the English Department copier. I had a place to hang my coat, to read, to study, and even to write. I even had my own desk so I wouldn’t use his. What I had lost in practical terms, I gained in privilege. Which is essentially the case with anyone who goes into something arts or humanities related. I also harbored great hopes that my association with Joe would benefit me in the future. Perhaps I would become an editor or a professor, or even an editor-professor like Joe.
1
Sep 09
An Update
It’s been a while since I’ve done a personal update post. Here are some things that are going on with me:
4
Jan 09
Trying These On For Size
This Prismacolor-like template has been very reliable ever since I migrated the blog to a hosted site using WordPress. It’s quirky, suggests an artistic temperament, and is easy to use. However, I don’t want to use this one forever, so I’ve tried a few templates on for size. I want to switch to a minimalist white background, black Helvetica text WordPress template I can plunk a header image into.
3
Jan 09
So Much For The Afterglow
Just a tagline I’ve recently adopted to describe my post-MFA life, but it fits. This blog is essentially my MFA creative writing afterlife. I do my stories and rants, and then reveal how I watch too much television. I get my writing community, this time stupidity free (most of the time). It’s part of my writing practice. As I’ve mentioned earlier, it’s my online magazine and my broadcast. It’s the best way I can spin my blog since it is about me and what I put up here.
For this year, I plan to keep on going with the blog. I’ve had my blog-ennui already. Plus, everyone (including yours truly) is hooked on Facebook, and I’m waiting for that moment where they get super-douchey and yank the carpet out from under the biggest Internet party ever. It may never happen, but one should always be prepared for the aftermath. For me, that’s keeping my lovely crayon-adorned channel (or whatever appearance I adopt) because my words are mine here.
2
Jan 09
The Year of the Write
I took this iPhone screenshot at 8:09pm for the visual pun.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s entry, I want to stop procrastinating. It is my goal for this year, even if I might not cut out all of my bad habits. The idea is to start.
One manifestation of living on Procrastination Street is writer’s block. It is easy to put off writing because the rewards aren’t so immediate. Twittering my time away or posting witticisms on Facebook get more response, but those sentences are sent out on the quick and don’t take much process to make it into a story or a poem that expresses an idea.
1
Jan 09
Happy New Year’s from ShindoTV!
It’s a new year, and hopefully a fresh start (of sorts). I’ve got my health, I’ve got work, but no telling how long either’s going to last with the economic downturn carried over from last year. However, that’s as much pessimism I’ll commit to text.
This year, I would like to deal with procrastination, which is the core of many new year’s resolutions. I could name all my goals, but it all boils down to this issue. I’ve always put things off, and it’s a miracle that I’ve even finished high school, especially in my senior year. When I was in college, activities such as cramming for exams and last-minute term papers were such time honored traditions that I kind of felt normal. In graduate school, I found that such behavior almost killed me.
When I was in my first year of the MFA program, I took an incomplete in a lit seminar on the condition I’d eventually turn in my paper. Of course, one has a year to fulfill the incomplete, so this essay I was supposed to write was a monkey on my back. I thought about it every day and I kept putting it off until I absolutely had to write it and turn it in, which was in the last few days it was due. Needless to say, I would not ever do it again.
But, I do stuff like that paper all the time in my life. I let clutter pile up until it’s unbearable, I put off grading papers or making lesson plans until the last possible hour, I intended to go to the gym and not gone, and I keep meaning to get myself into a writing routine. I then hate myself for not following through on these things.
So, I think you get an idea of what I want to get done. However, dealing with procrastination is the start of breaking a multitude of bad habits, even if they don’t all go away in 2009.
With that said, “Happy New Year’s.” I hope you find a fresh start this year as well.
24
Dec 08
Holidays on Ice
Last night, I went out with my friend Scott to ice skate at Horton Plaza. It’s an annual tradition in San Diego; however a lot of people here can’t skate. I just do the San Diego thing and deal with it – for a while.
Happy whatever festive occasion you choose to celebrate. Happy Holidays from ShindoTV.
