I briefly flirted with emacs this evening. It was not pretty.
Year: 2015 (Page 3 of 5)
I’ve always written in notebooks. I’ve never kept a proper journal or diary. There is no coherence to them. I often don’t even go back to the old ones. In fact, I tossed a great number of steno pads when I got a divorce from my first wife.
However, writing in notebooks is an old habit to break. I jumped on the moleskine bandwagon and haven’t looked back, though I was dragged into using them kicking and screaming. Okay, not exactly, but I gave them a try and I liked it. Since it is a high quality notebook I decided it was time to up my penmanship game. A little research showed me that fountain pens were the way to go. I gave up on expensive pens long ago because I kept losing them. There are cheap fountain pens, Pilot Varsity is an inexpensive disposable fountain pen and they are quite nice.
Writing with a fountain pen is different than a ballpoint. The ink flows more readily. You really need to write in cursive, so now I need to up my cursive game. My handwriting isn’t always the most legible. [Note-when I was learning how to write in cursive Russian I couldn’t write in cursive English for a while. It was weird.]
I was hip to the idea of using my iPhone for taking notes and writing but have given up for now. There are people that can do it. I even own a bluetooth keyboard. Writing longhand gives me clarity. It reduces distractions and leaves me to my own thoughts. It gives me more time to ponder as I put down words on the page.
I’m looking at other notebooks. Moleskines are pricey though paper in general is getting more expensive, so I’m looking at other brands. Rhodia seems to be another popular brand amongst aficionados of writing by hand. I’ll have to try one out. I have to use the technology that matches my thinking style. Touchscreen devices will improve and become more reliable and secure but until then pen and paper is my preferred aberration.
Just returned from our second trip to Australia. We only went to Melbourne and Sydney this time. We did a bus tour of Melbourne; last time we did a walking tour. In Sydney we did walking tour of the The Rocks and visited the Maritime Museum. This time we got to go on board the replica of the Endeavor (which is seaworthy and sails on an irregular basis).
Sunset over Sydney
I still did not get to see any flying foxes nor either of the Magellanic Clouds. We ate at a really good Thai restaurant near our hotel in Sydney and a really good Turkish restaurant in Newtown. In Melbourne our first stop after checking into our hotel on Lygon street was to get sims for our devices and then hit Brunetti for their amazing pastries.
ANZAC War Memorial in Sydney
Another Hugo Awards ceremony has come and gone. I watched a good chunk of the pre-show (Ustream.tv) and a good chunk of the award ceremony until the John W Campbell Award was given out. I then followed it on Twitter. The best part I saw was Robert Silverberg’s prayer invocation and compared the events of the 1968 WorldCon with 2015. The only speech I missed was Connie Willis’. I’ll have to watch it later when the full ceremony is posted.
If you’ve been following this year’s Hugos you will have heard of the Sad & Rabid Puppies gaming of the nomination process. They were routed last night, but had pre-declared a rout as one of their victory conditions. Go figure.
Much digital ink has been spilled since the nominations were announced and more will be spilled over the coming months. The Hugo Awards were damaged but not destroyed. The polarization will continue because that is what some people want and the Internet echo chamber provides a negative feedback loop to boost it.
No one knows what the future will hold for the Hugo Awards. They are the Oscars of the literary science fiction world and thus the most prestigious (though technically the Nebulas more resemble the Oscars as they are voted on by their peers). Very few people actually vote on them (even this year) when you consider the size of the readership.
My only hope is that fans love of science fiction will outweigh their politics.
Just got back from our vacation to Alaska. We did an overnight train trip to Denali. Didn’t spend much time in the park. Saw bits of Denali but not the whole mountain. Did see the top of Mount Foraker. Then we went back to Anchorage. Next day we were shuttled to Whittier and put on the Pacific Princess for a seven day Alaska cruise. Long story short. It was great. Saw Mount St. Elias and probably Mount Logan. We saw lots of glaciers and some whales. Sailed into Yakatat Bay and saw Hubbard Glacier. Next day sailed into Glacier Bay National Park picked up park rangers who gave us a tour of the bay. We sailed all the way up to Margerie Glacier and saw bits of it fall off. Saw lots of spouts but not the actual whales. Saw them later. After that we stopped in Skagway road the White Pass train, then stopped in Juneau went to Mendenhall Glacier. Stopped in Ketchikan and went to Saxman Native Village then two more days of sailing the inside passage to Vancouver where we ended ended our cruise. We spent two days in Victoria then two days in Vancouver before flying home.
I may post a more detailed log of the trip.
While in Victoria we got a ride in a convertible Mustang saw Mount Rainier and Mount Baker. Also saw Rainier and final approach to Seattle. We flew from Tucson to SEATAC then to Anchorage. We flew home from Vancouver to Phoenix then Tucson. Our luggage didn’t arrive with us but we picked it up the next day.
Things we did NOT see in Victoria: Butchart Gardens nor Craigdorrach Castle. We did go to the Royal BC Museum. We did go to Gastown in Vancouver and rode the hop-on hop-off bus. I don’t feel too deprived that we didn’t do a bus tour of Denali National Park and see attractions in B.C. because we saw and did a lot of stuff for the first time. I hope there’s another trip to Alaska and Victoria in our future but this one will keep me satisfied for a few years.
Glad to be home.