Catching Up

[liralen]

I've gradually been catching up with life since the camping trip. Just reading, knitting, playing Okami with Jet. Yeah, it's like the seventh time I'm playing Okami all the way through, and it's fun to do again. Inspiring for painting, too. I need to take pictures of the ink painting I've been doing, and I need to do more.

Neat thing is that this time through Jet's playing most of it, and I get to knit on his sweater. I'm already done with the body and shoulders and am doing the sleeves. Kid sweaters are faaast.

Also, I've been spending too much time on IM, and my upper body and hands have been telling me that if I don't at least cut down, I'm going to get the buzzies and the numb hands again. So I'm backing off a bit. Folks that have been used to seeing me on IM, I'm sorry. I'm not going cold turkey, but I will be cutting down on my time, significantly. *sigh* Writing doesn't mess with my hands nearly as badly as the quick response needs of IM, just so you know. *hugs*

It's been freeing some of my time up for other stuff.



I spent a couple of days on Chapter 20, and I was very happy with how it turned out. And today I started actually, physically, plotting out the plot and everything that has to happen to get to the end. I used my pencil and graph paper and started just placing all the things that I wanted to happen not just in the story but what else was happening at the same time. It's all been in my head up to this point, so I thought I'd actually start writing things done, and it was kind of startling to figure out there's really five parallel things going on, if I consider everything. It was also startling to know that I have the next clump of chapters firmly in my head, but then it gets kind of fuzzy until the end. And most startling of all was getting five pages of really dense stuff and having to it lengthwise on the paper rather than widthwise, as I had so many things going on at once.

The ending is now crystal clear in my head, and so I just started there and started ticking off all the things I really need to get there... and it's fun to see what I really want. It really helped me fill in the other plot lines that aren't being shown in the story, except through the forces that touch just peripherally on the students in the Academy. It would be funny to write this entirely again from another viewpoint... but there are now a couple of points I really want to make with Daisuke again, so that might be fun.

Caught up with the latest chapter of Bleach, xxxHolic, and Tsubasa RC and loved them all for entirely different reasons. Seeing all of Ichigo's folks up and powerful again was sweet. xxxHolic was as subtle and graced as ever. Tsubasa was so *cute*. I loved seeing kid Yukito and Toya being his usual self. Hee. It was lovely.

Starting to get a few chapters into Death Note, Naruto, and Loveless even as I'm reading Jim Butcher's latest Dresden Files book Small Favor. I love Dresden. *grin* It's definitely the act as fast as you can method of dealing with adversaries.

When I think I'm moving Jyuushiro and Shunsui too fast, I read one of the Dresden books and realize I haven't even touched on how fast things can move, develop and change. Yeesh.

Ever since being up on the mountain, I've really started going hard at the exercise. Pretty much biking and/or swimming every day. As expected, since I started really exercising, just before Florida, I've gained weight between that appointment and now, but it's only been two pounds out of the fifteen I've lost. And those size 10 Levi's I was so proud of fitting into before Florida? Well, they literally fell off my butt while we were camping. I had forgotten a belt as I'd assumed the pants were going to fit and stay on. But I guess my butt and thighs are condensing or something, and I was bent over to get something and I had to hastily drop it and pull my pants up or else I would have had all the 5 through 9-year-olds on the floor over Jet's momma losing *her* pants the way Jet lost his. Yeesh.

So it's been a pretty cool couple of days.

Comments

[bloodthirstylt.livejournal.com]

I'll just have to poke at you through LJ and ygallery. It's cool I completely understand about the ouchie hands....I spend too much time on IM myself. Hope to hear from you later. Much love.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

(hugs) I'd like it if you did keep popping up here and on Y! It's good to know how you're doing.

Thank you!!

[bloodthirstylt.livejournal.com]

I shall do so. *hugs*

[incandescens]

I quite understand about the hands. You need to take care of yourself!

(scold scold scold)

[liralen.livejournal.com]

(blush blush blush)

I do. I'm really bad at it, too. *grin* Not my default behavior, I'd rather just follow where my mind leads.

[r0ck3tsci3ntist.livejournal.com]

I've never read Dresden Files but I've heard a lot about them. Maybe I should put it on the list.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

It's like Marlowe meets the Fairy Queens in all their Brothers Grimm and Catholic Church glory. Not the cleaned-up fairy tales one tells to their children, but the blood and gore and nasty tales that used to be passed as warnings between grownups on morality and faith.

It's set in modern Chicago. It's probably the fastest paced series I've ever read in my life. I can't catch my breath until I'm done, and usually each novel covers, maybe, a week. There's a year between each one, on the most part, but you don't get any down time at all between 'em. I borrow 'em from the library, but every once in a while I'll buy one or two of 'em just to sit and revel in the fast decision loop glory of the things.

There's a very cool military strategist I've been following through amberley and others, that is also a great management strategy, which is to always keep the opponent off-balance by doing quick short-time view, analysis, and *ACT*. and that even at the lowest levels, everyone knows that they're expected to act when they can, and if they can't to pull in what they need. They understand their situation the best, so they need to do what they know best. Right then and there.

They need to understand the high level goals of the organization in order to decide what to do, which is quite a trick in itself, as it has to include values as well as goals; but once they know that general direction, the strategy, they are responsible and empowered to carry that out.

And the theory is the faster you can see, the faster you can act, the faster you change the situation out from under the enemy's nose, the less they'll know, the faster you can react to what's real again, the more likely you are to win. Keep the loop short and you'll always be ahead of what the enemy can do.

And the Dresden Files, Butcher's Fury series as well, and all of the Lois McMaster Bujold books have this concept in *spades*. With the plotting, I'm realizing that I'm not pushing that so hard with respect to the Students as I suspect that Yamamoto still thinks of them as... well... kids. But he and Daisuke may need to step up their own side of things...

[ginnyvos.livejournal.com]

Ahhh that sounds so nice! ^^
You making Jet a sweater reminds me of how my grandmother would knit us sweaters. No matter what was 'in' atm, we would be walking around in a hand-knitted, one-of-a-kind sweater with just that on it. It was absolutely awesome and the other kids would be SO jealous :P My grandmother kicks ass and so, apparently, do you ;)

I really, really need to scrape time together to read twin-souls but it just isn't working atm... Sorry.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Mmm... sweaters. You have a very cool grandmother.

I mostly make socks for all the kids in the neighborhood, and they're all unique. *laughter* But Jet likes his sweater, and he picked the colors and everything.

The latest chapter is a monster, so I don't expect people to read it quite as fast as the previous ones. When you can, when you can, no rush on my part.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Oooooooo! I just finished playing Okami for the first time on the Wii-- what an amazing game! The mythological and historical references are like a Nihonophile's candy overdose: so much to see, going by so quickly. I've collected all but three of the Stray Beads, and those are going to be a pain to get, I can tell.

Repeating: what an amazing game.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they're a *royal* pain.

I got all of 'em!! Happy happy. *grin* I have a game that I'm starting with the whole bead necklace and a bunch of other stuff as well, and I have a friend that doesn't want to play but wants to see all the Pretty. So it's a lot easier this way.

I love all the references, yes. It's really beautiful and gorgeously graced with so many legends.

I'm so glad you're enjoying the game, too!!