Saturday, March 27, 2004

Mâvarin, Illustrated; Thought for the Day


Saturday, March 27, 2004
12:03:00 AM MST
Feeling Happy





Mâvarin, Illustrated

(note updated picture of Del/Carli above)

Woo-hoo! Suddenly I've got text controls! Maybe I can go back and do my Otherworld entries in color now.

Above are a couple of preliminary versions of Mâvarin character portraits I commissioned sf/fantasy artist Sherlock (Sherry Watson) to do for www.mavarin.com. I just got them by email today.

In other news, I learned today that Sarah Kishler, one of the froodiest people on the Prodigy Hitchhiker's Guide boards a decade ago, has a short story collection on i-Universe, called Spark Stories. I ordered it on Amazon today, because I like Amazon and they have my address already.

Karen




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(Note: the two pictures were originally shrunk down into a tiny YGP box.)

Tuesday, March 30, 2004
9:47:00 AM MST




Thought for the Day

A propos of a large number of George W Bush's policies, I offer this quotation from my old literary hero and acquaintance, Harlan Ellison:

<<...After all, there was a war on. But wasn't there always?>>

from "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman,"
Paingod and Other Delusions


More quotes on my recommended authors page: http://www.mavarin.com/authors.html

and my favorite quotes page:

http://mavarin.com/quotes.html

Karen

[The last link has been updated to being on mavarin.com instead of AOL. Links at the bottom of that page will be changed as I get everything moved over.]

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Tuesday, March 30, 2004
1:18:00 PM MST
Feeling Happy
Hearing NPR





Obsessing About Rani
He's on my desktop at work, and he'll be on my desktop (along with the other Mâvarin characters) when I get home tonight. He's Rani Fost, the protagonist of Mages of Mâvarin, beautifully drawn by the well-known sf/fantasy artist Sherlock. Read about Rani (and see a bigger version of the picture!) at http://www.mavarin.com/ranifost.html.

Karen


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Thus ended March, 2004 on Musings from Mâvarin. And thus ends my first evening of moving all this stuff to Blogspot. - KFB

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Googling for Dollars (sort of); Late Night at the Office

Thursday, March 25, 2004
11:51:00 AM MST
Feeling Happy
Hearing NPR

Googling for Dollars (sort of)

I spend a lot of my time at work - such as now - looking up contact info and such on Google. Usually it's clients or vendors, but not always...

A week or so ago I took a call from a newspaper reporter, who wanted to know the correct spelling of a place mentioned by one of our agents in connection with a classical music package. The agent wasn't there, so I pulled up Google. The place was Ile Ste-Hélène. The reporter evidently had Google in front of her also, but couldn't make sense of what she saw. In sans serif lettering, it looked like lle Ste Helene. She couldn't figure out what "LLE" stood for.

"It's Ile Ste-Hélène," I told her, and spelled it (without the accents). "It means St. Helen's Island." She thanked me and hung up.

Is it unreasonable of me to feel that a newspaper reporter should have been able to figure this out without consulting a travel agency bookkeeper?

Karen

Written by mavarin . Link to this entry
This entry has 3 comments:

That's what curmudgeonly, yet omniscient, copy editors are for!

Seriously, the reporter's desire and ability to divine the meaning of the vexing "Ile" would likely depend on a couple of things: her interest in the subject matter and her eye for foreign languages. Maybe she wasn't interested in the subject. Maybe she was ignorant of French and couldn't connect "Lle" with "Ile" and "Ile" with "Isle."

Verdict: Unreasonable. But that doesn't make you a bad person.

Comment from eeyorehmg - 3/28/04 4:30 PM


I think the reporter was having a brain glitch, been stressed and busy. Even so, it's hard to see the place name "Ile Ste-Helene" as an unfathomable mystery. --KFB
Comment from mavarin - 3/25/04 11:18 PM


Karen,

You are now a reporter's resource. Possibly she was on deadline and couldn't focus on the data, or she wanted to be sure.
Comment from pagadan - 3/25/04 5:28 PM


Thursday, March 25, 2004
9:18:00 PM MST
Feeling Happy
Hearing Walk Through the Fire - from Once More, With Feeling





Late night at the office

Okay, I admit it. I'm posting this now just so I can truthfully say I'm listening to a Buffy CD instead of no music at all.

I'm just at the office for a bit because my class let out early. Schoolwork has cut into my office time, so I've been making up for a little of it. That's the end of Intermediate Accounting, and not a moment too soon. I can do this...I can do this...!

Time to go home.

Karen

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The next three entries from Musings can be found on Messages from Mâvarin, and therefore won't be reprinted here:

Otherworld Journal Entry #1 - Crel Merden

Otherworld Journal Entry #2: Fayubi the Seer

Otherworld Journal Entry #3 - Crel

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

The First Day of Musings, Reposted

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

7:13:00 PM MST
Feeling Hopeful
Hearing Nothing



Hi there!

See what you started, Shelly? This is just a quick hello and placeholder. Tonight I have to look over some team homework, do individual homework and start on a take-home final, all in Intermediate Accounting. I'd much rather be reading a Buffy/Angel novel, watching Season 3 of Dick Van Dyke and eating the turkey roll that's got another hour to cook. Chances are I'll do all of those things before the night is over.

Karen



Written by mavarin.
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heh. Not only is blogging addicting, it's also contagious. Who knew? :)
Comment from shellys555 - 3/23/04 8:10 PM



Tuesday, March 23, 2004
7:24:00 PM MST
Feeling Hopeful
Hearing still none

Lent

Growing up Catholic, I was used to the concept of "giving up something for Lent." As an adult Episcopalian, I don't always do it that way. Sometimes I add things rather than take things away. Or do both.

This year, pretty much everything I've tried to "give up" for Lent, such as cheating on my diet, hasn't worked out well. I'm doing better with the additions than the subtractions. I'm working my way through the Gospels (and probably Acts), and reading a book called Girl Meets God. A schedule of three chapters a night on the Gospels tends to make me rush a little, cutting down on comprehension when I'm already tired (I do this at bedtime). Funny how much of it seems a little unfamiliar, even after all these years, partly because I read New American Bible at home, NRSV at church.

Karen


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Tuesday, March 23, 2004
7:38:00 PM MST
Feeling Hopeful
Hearing the fan on my Compaq






Googling Mâvarin

I check the site statistics on www.mavarin.com often. It's interesting what I find. Traffic isn't heavy (nor do I expect it to be), but certain pages get a fair number of hits. A lot of people find the recommended authors page, either by looking for that kind of page or by searching for literary quotes and/or for specific writers. The tribute page for my mom gets people looking for people named Funk or Johnson, or for psychologists. At least one person got there Googling WW II parody songs. Mom wrote parody songs, and I mention WW II, but the two references don't go together in this case. Google doesn't care whether such juxtapositions are accidental or intended, so people find themselves on plenty of unlikely or unhelpful pages!

I was a little nervous writing pages about the magic system in my Mâvarin books, and about the variety of religious beliefs reflected in that fictional world. People have found those pages looking for "immoral magic" and for "sample real magic spells." So far, I haven't received any hate male from either end of that spectrum, for which I'm grateful.

Karen


Testing...

This is to test the IM/Buddy List feature of this journal. Here goes nothin'!

I've looked over the team homework, eaten dinner, updated the Mâvarin home page, and listened to two Dick Van Dyke episodes while doing the other stuff (same ones I watched last night). Now to do some actual homework!

(The answer is: it's not a full-featured entry, but can be edited after the fact. Big deal.)


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Quick Rundown of Miscellaneous Opinions

Top reason I'll never vote for George W Bush: I disagree with virtually everything he says, does, or believes.

My opinion of gay marriage: the marriage of two men or two women does not in any way invalidate, impair or cheapen more traditional pairings. So how does forbidding same sex marriage "defend" the institution? It doesn't. This is a civil rights issue, fought against more for emotional reasons than ethical ones.

On the Middle East: "an eye for an eye" is the worst possible approach to solving the many problems over there, as evidenced by the constant retaliation and terrorism. So why is that pretty much the only alternative ever tried?

On religion: if you think you have all the answers, you probably haven't asked all the questions. You may think one answer (e.g. "There is no God" or "It's in the Bible, so it's true") covers the lot. I respectfully disagree.

On Buffy: Spike's much more fun than Angel, but Angel clearly wins over Spike in the "Buffy's True Love" contest.

Karen

This entry has 1 comment:
    Karen,

    I agree with you about Angel , but I loved Spike. 'Course he had some great lines.
    Comment from pagadan - 3/25/04 5:30 PM

And that was it. My first day of blogging. In reproducing my AOL-J entries from 3/24/04, I've added italics and my beloved circumflex in the word Mâvarin, removed links and junk code, and taken the pictures out of the YGP boxes (which I always hated, anyway). But the words are the same ones I posted then. - KFB