What did I do?

OtherI turned down a typewrite on my list.

It was a $10.25 Underwood Touchmaster.

Okay, there's a backstory here that I should explain.

First, I'm moving in a few weeks, and I don't know how much space I'll have in my new place. Having never seen a TM in person, I didn't realize just how HUGE they are. I have no clue where I'd put it, not to mention even getting it moved.

Second, I only had $10 with me and didn't want to bum money off my mom. (I heart girls antiquing trips though!)

Third: The TM was sitting outside on a table. It wasn't covered, and if the smell off a Sterling I opened was any indication (by the way, what is it with Utah and baby poop brown Sterlings in the tweedish cases?), as well as the fading on the price tag, it'd been out there, and who knows what it'd seen. I've had enough with fixeruppers... So I passed it up.

Sure, some of me is regretting it, because the action seemed to work and the parts were moving.

But, I think that I'm going to stick to portables right now. 
Oh, and in other sightings news:

Couple of standard Royals.

Old Underwood Standard.

Two baby poop brown SC Sterlings

And, at my local shop, a cute 30s Corona Four... Was tempted by it, but I don't know if it works, and money is my limiting factor right now.

Well, sorry for not getting pictures of any of these, but it's been a fun few days! Gotta love summer!

Am in Shock.

http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/node/4189006

I don't know what to say. I enjoy NaNoWriMo, but I love Script Frenzy.

I will be continuing to write. Every April.

THE FIRST EVER UTAH TYPE IN/OUT!

Yeah, you heard it!
UTAH TYPE IN/OUT

We don't actually know where. Or when. But it's happening.

So, if there are any closeted Utah typospherians who are interested in joining us, shoot us an email at arsdecarta [at] gmail.com. We'd love to know that we're not the only ones!

AC

Look what I found in the neighbors' shed last night!

They were amenable, so I am now the proud owner of one militantly ugly electric typewriter.

It's an Olympia International, Electric 45.

Despite years in the shed, it runs like a dream.

My thirteen year old brother is nearly as fascinated with it as I am.

He grabbed the manual to try it out first and five minutes later he's yelling at me to come help him.

It was an owner's manual for an air conditioning unit and he hadn't even noticed.

I laughed over that one.

I threaded some paper for him and we've been arguing over whose turn it is ever since.

I think I'll call her AC.

M on Facebook

Just made my morning:

M:
I finally got my hands on a typewriter!

IT FINALLY WORKED!

A subtle shift

Things are changing around here. In a month, I move out of Utah. I don't know where Ars de Carta as a project is going to go, to be honest. I still have a long list of posts I'd love to write, and I'm still looking forward to the Vignette challenge in July, but beyond that, who knows?

M and I had talked about doing a best of post for our 200th post, but maybe it'll be for 250. Or 201. or 213 or 293. It might happen, it might not. But isn't that where the fun comes in, from the not knowing?

There's a lot of that in my life right now. Things are changing, big time, like I said above. Mike will have to move my little marker thingy to a new state, but, despite what the detractors say, I'm pretty damn stoked.

It's summer now, which means a change of pace for life. More outside, lots less computer. So I'm going to go enjoy that, and we'll be back to you in July, or maybe the fall (yes, I'm suggesting postponing the challenge.)

Enjoy the summer. :)

A

The Verdict

I'm not doing Camp NaNoWriMo.

I started a climbing blog instead.

Camp NaNoWriMo

Should I do it?

That's the question.

It'd have to be June, as I start school in August. Thing is that I don't know if I'll have the time to work this in November, so maybe a trial run would be good? That said, I'm working at an actual camp this summer, and I'm wondering if I'd rather focus on that and climbing... and just see how November goes? That might be more fun, as a computer and bouldering don't really mix. Blood just makes my computer dirty, and packing it on a long approach to routes isn't exactly practical. I've been writing, just not at the pace that I'd need for a summer comp (unless it's a set your own goal sort of thing, in which case, tell me and I'll reconsider.)

Sitting here thinking about it, I'm leaning towards something I wrote about last July (oh, and maybe I should save my writing impetus for July and the Vignette Challenge--I'll give it one last go before declaring it an official flop.)

Here are more awesome videos about bouldering... including some stuff that has kicked my butt recently.

I had a dream.

In which I found a Skyriter.

Now only if it would happen in real life.

What once would have been called an epic journey through academia is now the long slog through a paper on my personal feelings on academia. Like wading through a swamp.

I think the title says it all. At least it's due by midnight, right?

Epic Journey: Flashback

Remember all that writing?

And all that posting?

So do I.

I would love to regain some of that motivation. Paper due by midnight and massive 6 hour final tomorrow... and tomorrow is the 30th.

You may well see "A Slightly Less Epic but still rather Epic Epic Journey" in the next few weeks, as I have one paper to tackle after this one.

The Problem with E-readers

...they're useless when you can't find the power cord.
*facepalm*

Done

It's done, or mostly so. Sure, there are a few places that I'll be expanding, a few conversations, etc, but it's done. I just wrote the last dream sequence. It's a bit short, hence the expansion, but wow. This is a great feeling.

Script Frenzy Day 6

Okay, so I'm kind of in a strange place right now. I've never been this close to actually finishing a script during script frenzy. Not talking 100 pages finishing. But finishing as in having a story that makes sense, where it flows, and where I maintain continuity. Now I just got to write the last three scenes without psyching myself out--I've been putting them off, because they're the biggest scenes of the movie.

Script Frenzy Day 4

Halfway there.

Woot.

Scoreboard

Toothpaste: 2. Nicotine: 0.

In other news, the cat refuses to come down from a tree.

In which I realize that ITAM is over, CLUB is starting, and I don't know how much I care.

Yup, another long title.

February and ITAM is over... I typed on a typewriter once, it acted up again, I put it away, and didn't touch it or any of my other machines for the rest of the month.

But I did think about it.
And I thought about the Typosphere.

Then the news came from M and it brought back a lot of memories for me, and I've spent time with them, rather than the blog. My apologies.

Now, it's time for Celebrate Local and Used Bookstore Month, and I don't know if I'm going to do anything for it. My life has changed in these past few months, and it's put a lot of things into perspective that I hadn't thought about before.

So I'm sorry for neglecting this space, for not posting typecasts or pencasts or even the beautiful letter to my great aunt that is sitting in my desk, just waiting to be transcribed and posted. Maybe we'll get back on track, one day.

We'll see.

A

Existential

In the gracious words of my little sister that are posted on the fridge even as I write this...

Cancer

It takes just
six small letters
to make a hero of
a well functioning
Liver,
and the previously unknown
location of the
pancreas
becomes obvious:
It's in the back of the mind
near Hope,
just below "What's For Dinner",
and next to
"How Does One Say
                           Goodbye?".

~ G

This is the best explanation I can offer for my long and not exactly sporadic absence.  The woman who can call down the hummingbirds to her welcoming fingers, who loves an exasperating man and raised six exasperating sons and one stubborn daughter, who taught me stillness and pies, who gave me dainty ankles and dimpled cheeks, her middle name, and hatboxes on my birthday, will be gone before long.  I haven't a moment to lose.

Spring Tension

Anyone have a suggestion on how to determine the proper spring tension for a replacement spring on a Silent Super? I keep trying to cannibalize springs from other sources, but can't get it to type more than half of a page before the problems start again.

Maybe I should write

Maybe.

Just maybe.

ITAM already?

it's here again?

hmmm.


special.

Bookprint

I discovered this last night. Its an interesting thought; give it a read!

Book Matters: What is your bookprint? ksl.com

Chew on this

Couple days ago, I pulled a post I'd written because honestly, you guys made me mad. All you could do was sit and bash on Vegas (justifiably, I'm sure), without making a case for the opposition. Sounds like a pretty poor defense to me. But, the again, that's how a lot of people work. Bash something but don't really defend the alternative--let it shine on its own, they say, but screw anyone who dares voice a protesting opinion--use your vehemence to shut them down before they even start.

I don't give a damn that Vegas is hot as hell--I'd be more likely to avoid the Pacific Northwest for 300 cloudy days a year. How the hell do you people deal with that? Heat is easy--clothes are meant to be taken off. But lack of sunshine? In the words of my coworker, "fuck, man." I'll be stuck in a building a lot of the time anyway... why would I want somewhere that I can't play when I do get the time to go outside?

I'm not going to ask my question again, because this whole deal made me realize that I don't really give a flying rat's ass. I'm sure one of you would chime in in defense of the desert, so sorry for pulling it, but it was better this way. I'm going to go where will be the best for me.

Cheers

The Truth?

This would affect us too!!!

I'm just not feeling writing. Maybe it was December, but here I sit again, with assignments due and a blog wanting, and writing is one of my last choices of a diversion. Whoda thought that the person who posted 20+ pieces in a week would feel this way.

So I'm going to go back to staring at my computer screen and my notes... I'll be back, I promise. There were a few ideas that I'd thought about writing and they might not be totally dead yet.

until then...

Let's work to keep our blogs free, to allow us to post and share work and things we find cool or just plain handy. 

I'm not a code wizard who could figure out how to black out (aside from the really cool elephant background) our site, but I can still take a stand.

Learn more:

http://americancensorship.org/infographic.html 

We may be the ones that are all about the retrotech, but the high tech is what makes our community possible. Without it, we'd just be isolated enthusiasts, and the typopshere would be little more than a dream.

And Now...Back to Our Scheduled Programming

Sorry folks...graduation hit, then Christmas, and then the virus to end all viruses which left me with an ancient desktop that couldn't summon the energy for anything remotely as complicated as Blogger.  A blank white screen was the best it could muster.  But my laptop has been de-bugged and I PROMISE...that life will be getting back to normal now.  I missed you all...