Almost there....

Well, Bernard the SG-3 is now gone (but never to be forgotten). To soften the blow a bit, rather than being sold, he was traded locally for an exceptionally clean little script SM3--the first SM3 *and* the first script machine I've ever used or owned. The only real downside aside from having to say goodbye to a favored machine is that it makes me wish I also had an SM3 or 4 in a more standard typeface. A very satisfying snap, that little thing has. Since I still need to pare down rather than adding any more to the stable, you will likely have to put up with many script typecasts as a compromise.

I haven't done much writing lately, even in my journal. All creative energy has been going into unpacking, decorating--and organizing. If the new little house has a fault, it is that it has a distinct lack of storage space. And I'm down one room. Somewhere in the midst of the move, I acquired (temporarily, at least) a live-in sister, so the office is an office no longer, and all my notebooks and papers and desk and typewriters and all are crammed into the bedroom instead. The paring down that began with the move is being forced to new levels.

I suppose Lent is an ideal time to reflect on what really matters, physically and spiritually. I've had to let go of a great deal in the last few weeks, starting with material things. I don't have that many valuable possessions, and therefore I have a tendency to think I'm not very attached to material things. Moving can be a wake-up call in that regard. My things may not be worth much, but that doesn't mean I'm good at letting go.

And then...bringing another person into the mix shows me how selfish I can be with my time, my space, my routines. It gives me new respect and admiration for those of you who work writing and other artistic hobbies around the needs and wants of spouses and children. I love my sister, and it's nice t have someone around to share experiences, to bounce ideas off, to turn to for opinions and affirmation...but there are moments when I feel at sea because I'm not alone, without anyone else affecting my schedule or offering distractions, intentional or no. Again, I suppose it's a time to consider what is truly important, and to (at least some of the time) be willing to put aside my own comfort zones and typical boundaries in order to assist and interact with others.

I'm a creature of habit, and there really isn't a habit that has been left in peace throughout this move. Everything is in transition, everything is in turmoil, there's nothing to grab onto quite yet. At times I'm so overwhelmed I feel like curling up in a corner with my back to the wall and crying. Change is awful hard. But the new little house is wonderful and bright, there are new flowers blooming outside and more on the way, the shelf above the washer and dryer will someday be up, and eventually all the items lost in transit will either turn up or be replaced. The new couch will be in place in a week or so, so I'll have a place to relax. The new route to work will become routine. The dog will calm down, as much as he ever does, and I'll stop worrying about what my previous landlord might or might not be thinking about me. Easter is just around the corner. And I can start riding my bike to work.

Found this poem as I was doing some of the shuffling of old notebooks. It was written during summer years ago when I was particularly depressed, and it's a bit...much. But I kind of like it. And there have definitely been some foggy moments these past few weeks....

Thinkspill

On coveting thy neighbor's mind

This one's for Monda--my way of saying I really liked this post, but I think I hate you for writing it. ;-)

And yes, I do know how to spell shadow. *sigh*

Crayoncast Revisited

Couldn't resist trying this again, making a few adjustments to my method based on MPClemens' last post. I still used a hair dryer on high heat to meld the wax to the paper, rather than the more adventurous toaster oven baking method...but it worked OK! Bernard is MADE for color casting.



Ungh...ironically, I do have a ton of uncorrected tyspos in 'ere. But I guess my point isn't utterly lost.

Inane Monday Night Typecast: Typewriter Bunnies

For the TV deprived or non-Western, here's the commercial I was referring to. WARNING: it's really, really catchy. "Yippee yi yay, mini sirloin burrrrrgers--hyah!"

The fact that I'm watching this while La Boheme plays in the background kind of adds...something. I'm just not sure what.

Typecast: Dishwasher's Meditation

This and that

(In the interest of full disclosure, I do own two guitars now: one is a much less expensive but still mighty fine Recording King RO-127--I can't say enough about these guitars for those looking for something a bit better than dirt cheap, but still in the semi easy-to-replace ballpark. This one goes with me anywhere I'd be nervous about taking the Collings. Best bang for the buck out there, in my opinion.)

(Oh, and in the section below, there were two places where I meant to type SG-1 and typed SG-3 instead. You'll see what I mean.)

Jay Respler's contact info:
ADVANCED BUSINESS MACHINES CO.
230 RANDOLPH ROAD
FREEHOLD NJ 07728-1535
732-431-1464
JRespler@superlink.net
http://uweb.superlink.net/jrespler/

Sappy homesickness

This is one of those times of year I end up homesick for northern Vermont/New Hampshire. Yes, I miss them during the most frigid months of the year. And lately I've found myself babbling about night skies to anyone who will listen. Maybe this will help me move on. ;-)

You might be a paper addict if....

Happy New Year!

These thoughts brought to you courtesy of Bernard the SG-3...

NaNo babble

Return of the platen

Random typewriter related happenings

1. With a little help from the Yahoo Portable Typewriters group, I got the platen off my SG3. (It ended up being a matter of unscrewing the knobs. Period. Easy peasy. I feel a little foolish for having asked.) It's off to Ames Supply for new rubber. This is a first for me: I have one or two other typewriters that would likely benefit from the re-covering treatment, but this is the first time I've gone through with it. Now I have to wait a month or so to see how much of a difference it really makes, and how much it ends up costing.

Meanwhile, Bernard is sitting crippled and useless, staring at me with a hurt and accusatory "What did I ever do to you?" kind of a look. Makes me wanna cry. I'm sorry, big guy! It's for your own good, really it is!

And I'm having anxiety attacks, worrying about the thing getting lost or damaged in the mail, leaving me without the use of my favorite typewriter FOREVER. AAAAGH!!

*breathe* *breathe*

2. I'm also shortly to receive an original manual and a cleaning kit from a gentleman on the Yahoo TYPEWRITER list. With that and the newly re-covered platen (and a bit more elbow grease on my part), it'll be practically as if I bought this machine new, back in 1966 when it was born. Nifty.

2. I sold the newer of my two Hermes 3000s today -- the boxy design. Since I'm not a collector (really I'm not!) and they were identical elite typeface, it didn't make sense to keep both that one and the mojo 3000, particularly considering I just spent big bucks on a new acoustic guitar. (Mmmm...new guitar...) Once again, I probably scared the buyer with my over-the-top typewriter love. Once again, the buyer was young (college age), which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and hopeful about the future. He came down with his dad, who good-naturedly declared us both insane. ;-)

I gave him a quick lesson on using the 3000 (including a demonstration of those funky margin setting thingies), provided him with some extra ribbons, and inundated him with links and tips. I hope he falls in love with typing!

4. I need more ribbons before NaNoWriMo starts up. I have one Smith Corona ribbon that I'm hoarding, but I'm out of Hermes ribbons, and more importantly I'm out of Olympia ribbons: the most crucial ribbons of all. This must be fixed. I'm toying with the idea of getting some silk ribbons from Jay Respler of the Yahoo TYPEWRITERS group. I've never tried silk, and wonder if they're really that much better than nylon. They're pricier. It'd be an interesting experiment. Maybe a good NaNoWriMo motivation: I must type enough to make the added cost worth it!

Second draft in progress

Yes, I'm posting too much lately. I'm seriously considering starting another blog as a place to dump thoughts on writing and music practice, without cluttering this blog. The catch is coming up with a name for it and filling in that new blog application form. Commitment is scary.

Moving on...

Based partially on the drafting discussion on Click Thing a few weeks back, I've decided to write at least one more draft of my short story on the typewriter before either typing it into the computer (my usual MO) or attempting to OCR it. I test-scanned a page of text from the new SG3 this morning and was pleasantly surprised at how well it translated. I was afraid the odd typeface would throw the software for a loop: even with the cleanest typeface, I've not had good luck with that particular software (the free program that came with my cheapie flat-bed Canon). There were three minor glitches, and that's it. I may try it. Wouldn't want to scan a whole novel that way, but ten double-spaced pages (less, if I do this right) shouldn't be too bad.

I finished the rough draft of this story night before last. It was *very* rough -- I had decided the most important thing was to push myself to finish. Last night, I went over the whole thing with purple pen. I was brutal. On careful reading, the most obvious problem was my tendency to babble: often I take many times longer than necessary to express a thought. I chopped off whole *pages* that just slowed the little plot down. I also changed a major part of the plot (killed the husband of one of the two characters instead of leaving him dying...), which made her motivation a little more logical. The ending is still a bit fuzzier than I'd prefer, but the changes I've made should bring that into better focus this time around.

I'm pretty pleased with my progress! I'm not sure I could do this sort of in-depth editing and revision with a full manuscript without resorting to the computer, but it does make for better prose. I'll probably do one more draft after this one. Gives me excuses to play with the typewriter, for one....

Random writing thoughts

Some pictures added!

From the side:


From the front:


And, just to show how gargantuan Bernard really is, look at how he dwarfs my SM-9 -- which isn't exactly petite!

I think I'm in love....

Ack! One last edit! I think the typeface is actually 11 pt -- it's just taller and more open than my other 11 pt Olympia typeface (Stinky's), so it seems bigger. Closest match I can find in the typeface files in the Yahoo group is Senatorial, but I'm not 100% certain of that.

I guess I just accept it for what it is, without my usual over-analyzing. Whatever it is, I like it!

I'm off to pick up an SG-3!

I'm soooo stinkin' excited.

It looks to be elite (I'd prefer pica, but oh well) and pretty grungy, but apparently all the pieces move, and it's not like these come up often.

It's also pouring rain. And starting to get dark. But I know I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I didn't run and get it. Come to think of it, I may not sleep much anyway, if it ends up needing a heavy-duty cleaning session.

The things we do and the lengths we go to for this obsession....

Watch this space!

I have a confession to make....

I'm a serial hobbyist.

I have a lot of interests, but I have trouble with combining them, with the exception of crocheting and writing, which seem to go hand in hand -- every November I do NaNoWriMo and crochet up a storm. But other than that, I tend to pursue one interest at a time with a completely obsessive focus.

So...lately it's been music. I went to Kamp Kaufman back in June, and I've been to various jams since then, plus one bluegrass festival (and counting -- hopefully I'll make a few more of the small ones before the season is out. There's an Irish session in town that I want to start going to. I've also been hanging out on FLATPICK-L, and playing my guitar. A lot. Usually a few hours every evening, sometimes more. I play for a bit when I first get home, just sitting on the couch. I play while watching TV, both while watching shows, and sometimes try to pick out the melodies during commercials, just for practice. (Anyone else ever jam with the freecreditreport.com guy? Don't answer that....) I play along with CDs, especially since I picked up a nifty little program called Amazing Slow Downer (cheesy, but descriptive) that lets me adjust pitch and speed. Mostly I've been working along with Steve Kaufman's Four Hour Bluegrass Workout, which has backup tracks for a whole bunch of fiddle tunes. Very nice. I still have to learn about nine-tenths of them, but hey, it's a start.

The sad thing is that I'm only *just* getting back to where I was last time I obsessed over guitar. I spent a few years way back when being a total guitar junkie. Then in 2002, a lot of things happened: my mother passed away, leaving me (legitimately or not) feeling like I was partially responsible for helping out with my youngest siblings (littlest sister was 12 at the time). Also, many of us spent much of the summer working toward and then attending World Youth Day in Toronto. Then my job was eliminated (remember this was right after 9/11), and I got more into playing the mandolin (though it's never had quite the draw guitar has, for no logical reason), and that November -- maybe the biggest reason my focus changed -- I participated in my first NaNoWriMo. Guitar fell by the wayside. I lost five years worth of potential practice time. There's no going back, and I'm really kicking myself for it. I'm determined not to let that happen again. I ain't getting any younger, and I really want to get to the point where I can participate in a jam without embarrassing myself. Maybe learn some swing, too.

Now the trick is to keep writing in the picture, too. If I could stay away from this here Internet thing, I'd have a better chance! Hence my love for typewriters....

Speaking of which, although I've told myself I'm *not* going to buy anymore, there's currently what appears to be an SG-3(?) on Craigslist. I don't have a desktop model yet. If I can ever get the seller to respond, I might have to make an exception for that one. If. Twenty-four hours and counting. What's up with that?