Blankshield

For those who haven't yet heard through other channels: Raven and I are the proud parents of a healthy baby boy, Danyel Jason. Here, have a virtual cigar. 7 pounds 12, born at 5:31 PM today, other details exist, I don't recall them. 10 fingers, 10 toes.

Ask Raven for gory details, if you're so inclined; I'm going to sleep while I've got the chance...

:)

James

Less tired today; more sore. Went to kung fu last night; I'm again officially a yellow belt. Or, since I don't think belts ever go away, it might be more accurate to say I'm again at a yellow belt level of proficiency. Spent the last half of the lesson doing light sparring, which is always a lot of fun. Skill class involved a lot of hopping, so I have sore calves today.

It's interesting how the body chooses to remember things. While sparring, I did a number of things I haven't relearned yet, as a matter of course. Name them? Not a chance. Do them from stance, as an exercise or form? Iffy. Use them in practical application to hit or block? I'm all over it baby.

Tomorrow is I-day. I'm trying not to be stressed about it, because Raven doesn't need my apprehensions piled onto her own, but they're there just the same. Pray for us, if you're so inclined. Else wish us luck.

James

I am tired.

Part of it is my own damn fault - I don't sleep enough, I know I don't sleep enough, and it isn't going to change in the near future. I'm not the guy I was a decade ago - I can't routinely get by on 6 hours a night. But I've got too much of my self invested in those extra hours to give them up willingly, and so, like a half-hearted dieter I go for days without enough, and then gorge until I'm sated. I realize that this is the pattern most of the western world approaches their sleep with, but that doesn't make it any less stupid.

Part of it is not my own damn fault, except in a circle-coming-round cosmic balance kind of way. I have children. These children suck up an enormous amount of my time and energy, especially when I and they are sick. You probably came here from reading Raven's blog, so you know about our night of doom. I got to sleep midnight-ish, after dealing with Kalen, and from 2 until about 5, I was awake, dealing with Kalen, or listening to Kalen being dealt with. 5 until 7 seemed to be alright, I think I slept the sleep of the dead, but from shortly after 7 I was dealing with Kalen again until I went to work about about 8:30.

The one saving grace is that work is slowed down again, and Lazy Coworker is back, so I'm able to drag my feet at work and still get things done. Work is otherwise still being frustrating as hell and a notable source of stress in my life.

Grump grump grr.

James

Nice tits.

Didn't go to Kung Fu last night. I'd meant to, but when I got home from work there was an e-mail sitting for me from Ken (well, James Sterrett, actually, but it was Ken-related). Ken had phoned me last week to talk about things Attack Vector, among which was his rather burning need to have someone take over the short fiction piece for the finished product. Roland had been working on it, but until recently, had dropped off the face of the earth; a combination of health reasons and other commitments, I believe. Anyway. Ken had too many things on his own plate to take it up, so wanted to know if I could pick up that particular torch. Yes, I could.

Then I got sick. Gentlemen, please take this advice: Do everything that is humanly possible to avoid being extremely sick while your wife is extremely pregnant. It does not a harmonious household make.

I poked at it a little bit on the weekend, only really getting started on Monday night. Last night, (to get back to the point) I got an e-mail. Boiled down it said "I need this by Thursday." Urk. So I sat down like a troll in my basement cave and pounded out about 3000 words of fiction last night. NaNoWriMo done good things for me, I guess. Fired off the first draft to Ken at around midnight and staggered off to bed, still sick. If I'm not accompanying Raven to a hospital tonight, I may have a chance to do some revision.

This morning I find myself studiously avoiding the question "Did I send Ken a load of drivile, or am I going to be published soon?" Or possibly worse - both.

James

Happy commerically generated occaision, everybody!


-This message sponsored by the people behind Valentine's Day. Go spend money.

Did two hours of kung fu back to back last night. Ironically, I hurt less today than I did last week. Less time was spent on kicks.

It's a tribute to, and telling anecdotal evidence of, the whole idea of muscle memory - that your muscles remember things they have repeated a lot. It's the same phenominon that lets you get back on a bike after a decade and still know how to ride, or that lets you turn off the alarm clock or answer the phone in your sleep. Your body does it often enough that at some point X, it decides it is a better use of resources to store that pattern in permanent memory than to think about it.

I'm finding it very interesting that, as I relearn things, the bad habits I have are the same bad habits from 10 years ago . The bad habits I managed to correct 10 years ago are still corrected. In learning forms (simple ones, at this level, of course), I'm shown it once or twice from start to finish, and do not need to be shown again - I'm doing it correctly. Except of course, that some of the forms have changed slightly in 10 years, and I'm doing it the old way.

I'm also taking a certain amount of pride that my next lesson will be my yellow belt test. They had alloted 18 hours to the yellow belt portion of my program... I've used 3. A tribute to muscle memory, and my past instructors.

James

Just stumbled across this article: Five Geek Fallacies.

Read them, know them recognize them. I know I've certainly exhibited some of these in the past. I like to think I've grown out of most of them, but sometimes I backslide.

James

Didn't do two hours of kung fu back to back last night. That's ok, I still get to hurt today.

Ow.

James

Oh yes, workload. Workload is currently at 31 open calls. It slowed down a bit towards the end of last week, and I worked some overtime on Friday such that I was able to deal with my paperwork. But other than that, nothing has changed. I pity the poor bastard who's got to fill my shoes in a week or two when I go home to help with the newest addition to our little genetic empire. Happy Co-Worker Guy is still at home (3 weeks running, now) dealing with the complications of a severely sprained ankle. Apparantly he can't put weight on it yet. I'll confess that while such injuries can indeed be very bad, and put a serious crimp into one's life, I'm not feeling much sympathy for him. This would be because when he did come in for 1 day last week he:
1: did one of the 4 (easy, no significant movement required) tasks that I had sitting on his desk)
2: spent the rest of his day bitching and re-telling the entire tale of his tragic situation to any- and everyone who would listen, singly or in groups, in person, on the phone or via e-mail. Several of these things involved him voluntarily going down the hall to reach groups who hadn't yet heard the tale.

I'm going to shut up now before I become a bitter, angry young man.

James

posted by James  # 1:10 PM

Spent the weekend indoors, pretty much. Went out Sunday and bought a new printer for Raven, but that was about the sum total of my ambition. Stayed at home, no one came over, it was like a Snow Day, except that I didn't get to miss work. Much domesticity got accomplished. Laundry was washed, floors were mopped. Children remained unstrangled.

Last night I fled the noisy game in the basement and spent a quiet hour at the Whitemud Crossing libary and actually accomplished some writing (yes, I put my laptop back together before I left the house). Only a few hundred words, but I got over the timing hump that was making me wonder if I was going to have to throw the whole story out the window. Let this be a lesson for you: If you are ever writing a science fiction story, do not try and mesh it to a pre-existing timeline. Or at least, pick a timeline that was developed coherently, not one established by about 8 people role-playing, all with different opinions on reasonable travel and communication delays. Grr.

Tonight, I get to find out if I'm up for two hours of kung fu back to back yet. Tomorrow, I get to feel pain.

James