Below are the 15 most recent journal entries recorded in wyborn's LiveJournal:

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Monday, July 28th, 2008
9:22 pm	My brother came up and visited for about a week and a half. We had a pretty good time, too - got some gaming in, went to the Royal Ontario Museum, went to Canada's Wonder Land, walked around Toronto a while, went to the zoo. Fairly good times. Got some pictures of the animals and some dinosaur bones, too, and I'll post a link to those whenever Monica uploads them to her album. We're mostly moved in to the condo now, though there's a bunch of stuff which still needs to be unpacked. I have no idea how much of this we're ultimately going to have to throw away, but it seems like there'll be quite a bit. We just don't have this much space. Final Fantasy IV DS is really good. More or less everything that I had hoped it would be. I'll talk more about individual things that Monica and Peyton and I did in later entries. See the 2 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
8:35 pm	Argh my layout! What happened?! You will rue this day, LiveJournal updates! See the 10 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Friday, January 18th, 2008
3:27 am	It's snowing It's just barely freezing outside but it's snowing, big old flakes larger than the words on this page. Sometimes I type funny things - I was trying to explain to someone that my grandfather raises "beef cattle", because he does, but it came out "bee cattle". With luck this will end up being a small-scale meme, or by saying that I've jinxed it: either outcome is swell with me. This is not a good drawing, but it's the best rendition I could make of "bee cattle" using Paint and a laptop mouse. That's hardcore in its own way. All right I know it's not a picture but I thought it was amusing and I don't really have another picture right now. I managed to get through to the next round of RA assessment. Which is good! Now I have to live through the interview process. That shouldn't be too bad I guess. Not a whole lot to report on right now. More tomorrow, probably. Goodnight, everybody. See the 6 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Monday, January 14th, 2008
3:56 am	Another entry Hi everybody. This isn't a great picture: there are several levels on which it is not a great picture (even though it has a great model). I took it when me and Monica were at Harvey's: Harvey's makes a really good hamburger. They put cheddar cheese on it, and you always get exactly what toppings and condiments you want because you ask for them as they make it in front of you, kind of like Subway. Also: their onion rings are great. Me and Monica like to eat there from time to time, usually at least once every couple months. Edit: This is not about people writing in friends-only journals, it is about clique mentalities, I just used an unfortunate comparison here: One thing I don't like is social exclusivity: that's part of why this journal is open for everyone to read. Nothing wrong with making friends-only entries, lots of people write lots of things they wouldn't be comfortable with other people reading because those other people can't necessarily place thing in a context conducive to understanding. What I don't like is that sort of clique mentality where someone or a group of someones knowingly or even willingly excludes people from participating in their group for reasons that aren't anything but social. I do not care for your exclusive clubs, sirs! I do not care one whit. I realized today that I am still deeply connected to what I assume is a primal fear of loud noises coming from things I can't see. I was walking down a one-way street near my residence a few minutes ago (it is very late; I only have classes starting at 2:30 tomorrow) when I heard this slowly building roar. I looked back up the street to see if anything was behind me, and I realized it wasn't a car so I looked back down the street when I realized that whatever it was it was coming from beyond the building, where I couldn't see it. it kept building and building, and it didn't sound like a helicopter, it sounded like an angry jet engine but it was way too close to the ground and for one brief second I felt like I could bolt if I saw the thing. Then the biggest snowplow I've ever seen in my life trundled on by. I actually jumped when I saw it. I need to relax more. Goodnight, everybody. See the 8 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Friday, January 11th, 2008
9:13 pm	So I'm sitting in my room, surfing the internet, when I hear loud music and somebody shouting "CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG" This is not something that is supposed to happen, you see. So I go over to a resident's room and there are lots of people in there, and I ask them what is going on. "Is it too loud?" one asked me. "Well, yeah," I said, "but what was all that shouting? Who was chanting 'chug chug chug'?" "No one!" replied the first resident. "Why, there is no one shouting here." "We're chugging water!" says another, holding up an empty, crushed water bottle. Now it needs to be noted here that in most cases I would have assumed they were lying, but this is my floor: they're the kind of people who would do that just because they think it's funny; they probably were just chugging water. That's my floor. I'll post more tonight, with a picture (not of my floor). See the 1 standing there / Step into the sunlight
4:49 am	Hm. I do not really have a picture to post today. I'll get one up tomorrow, though. Moni, remind me, please. Having a camera is pretty cool, really. Staying up late at night is only productive for me when I have something to do like a book to read or a videogame to play or someone to talk with. Most of my games are over in Monica's room right now and most of my books are textbooks that I need to read at specific times, so sometimes I'm not left with a lot to do. I don't think I'd ever describe myself as being bored, but when I don't have much to do I tend to occupy my time in small ways. It's a good thing my metabolism is the way it is, because I tend to stave off boredom by eating. I could go for some onion rings. I had an order earlier tonight, from the campus grill in the Lazy Scholar. They fry them up right there, very hot and very crispy, and that's how onion rings are best to me. Kinda thin breading, but crispy enough to be fun to eat. Man, I love onion rings. Thursdays are my best days for class now, I think. I may have mentioned that last entry: I have one class, which I like, at four in the afternoon. That's aces. I think I'm going to Wal-Mart on Saturday. That'll be good. Hey, maybe I'll do it tomorrow. Got some things to buy. Anyway, that's all for now. Goodnight, everybody. See the 4 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
3:54 am	So here I am! I am off to a good start. I took this picture this morning when I woke up (it was pretty late, I admit). Click the tiny picture to see a bigger version. It's not the best quality since I had to take it through my window, but that's the view I wake up to every morning and it really is quite nice. The lake is a lot bigger than the picture makes it look - the shore you see in the distance is not indicative of the width of the lake, but it means I have one of the most scenic views on the entire shore. And that's really cool. See, Mama? Puttin' my camera to use, just like you said. It's back down to being freezing, which is comforting, I guess. This morning there was a hellish windstorm, which is what actually woke me up, and it's been pretty windy all day. Dunno what the windchill is. I only had one half-year course last semester, and I made a B in it. I'm gonna shoot for higher in my other courses. I have an assessment day for applying to be an RA on Sunday, which should go pretty smoothly if it's anything like the assessment for being a facilitator was. I still wish I could draw. Maybe I lack the proper perspective or even the necessary ability to make a statement like this, but sometimes it seems like trying to communicate powerful ideas through the written word sometimes rings hollow when weighed against other media like music or drawing or what have you. It might be a greener grass type of syndrome, but it seems like the one thing I have even a modicum of talent at is the thing least capable of resonating with the people around me. I think that's enough for today. Goodnight, everybody. See the 2 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
4:39 am	I told my grandma I'd start writing in this again once I got back to Canada, so I will. Today a person asked me what talent I would wish for if I could. I said drawing, and that'd be killer - but I'd also like to be able to write and play music. I didn't have the patience to learn when I was young (that's true of a lot of things) but I think I do now and it's something I'd like to pursue at some point. I'm listening to the piano version of the Coin Song from Final Fantasy VI and that's the kind of thing I'd really like to play. I have a nice digital camera now, given to me by my parents at Christmas. Starting tomorrow I'll accompany each update with at least one little photo from somewhere and sometime in my day. Funny bit about the weather, and I mean that in the "odd" sense: it is raining outside, and nearly fifty degrees. A week ago it was eight below zero. This is some weather we've been having. Wonder when it'll get cold again. Goodnight, everybody. See the 3 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007
4:00 am	It's snowing Snow's falling outside, the first "real" snow. Winter's started, I guess. Snow on the ground... Crap I don't have my snow tires on yet. Gonna need to get that done this weekend. I'm feeling pretty good about myself. Dunno why, but I do. Part of it may be this Bob Dylan song I'm listening to - "Things Have Changed". I'm one of the only people on the planet who likes Dylan's voice more the older he gets, and his skills as a songwriter don't depreciate over time. Good stuff. Goodnight, everybody. See the 3 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Monday, November 19th, 2007
2:19 am	I ran a blackjack table as part of a house event tonight, a sort of Casino Night, if you will. I ended up taking all the money of so many people it's a shame. Never gamble. In the end, the house always wins. I know - tonight I was the house. More to come later. Goodnight, everybody. See the 2 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Thursday, November 15th, 2007
2:15 am	Just posting to let everyone know I'm still here. So, you know! I'm still alive. I'm swamped with work but I'm still alive! Goonight everybody (still alive) See the 2 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
5:34 am	I was outside a bit ago - it's crisp, not exactly cold, about forty-five or fifty degrees, and the moon is half-full. There's a halo around it so big that it took up most of my field of vision. It was very beautiful, so much so that it made up for the fact that I can't really see the stars in Kingston. I was supposed to make a post about the nature of the divine in my story, but I just got done editing something of my sister's and I'm very tired. I'll write it up tomorrow. Sorry, Andy. Go out and look at the moon sometime, everybody. It's good for you to just go out and look at pretty things sometimes. Man I'm tired. Goodnight, everybody. Current Mood: entranced See the 6 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Friday, October 26th, 2007
4:29 am	Not much has been going on lately. Been going to class, studying, that's really about it. I'm due for having an English 292 quiz soon, maybe as soon as tomorrow, which is kind of scary because I wouldn't be ready for it but kind of not because they only count the best four out of six quizzes so it wouldn't affect my grades much. Tonight the cafeteria had turkey legs - actual turkey legs, mind you, so big that when you sit down to eat one you want to wash it down with a flagon of mead and bawdy stories. It's not really cold here just yet, but it's getting there. It's close. I'm going to talk about my book for a second, so if you're the kind of person who wouldn't be interested in that then you don't have to read this. It's lately occurred to me that the common fantasy conceit that any sentient species is capable of speaking some common language regardless of how different they are from humanity is absurd. It's almost like the capability of human speech is some kind of rarely acknowledged yardstick with which we measure the idea of sentience in a fantasy context: if you can't speak "Common" then you're obviously sub-human. But that doesn't make any sense - spoken language is a decidedly human phenomenon in the first place, and if spoken languages did exist in nonhuman species (dragons would be an extreme example) then they should have modes of speech more fitting to their biology. It's not classical, it's not something that should be allowed to exist because it's fairly common, it's just sort of a dumb idea that tends to live on in writing that is, in itself, sort of dumb. Along those lines I was thinking about Gaiman's Anansi Boys, in which a meek British man speaks often with ancient and terrible African gods. Now obviously these African gods don't actually speak English - I probably can't even pronounce the name of whatever language they're actually using. It occurs to me that these gods, then, must not be communicating solely through words: they have to be communicating intent, like they're transmitting their thoughts through a radio and the brain of the person receiving them decodes them into speech that they can understand. Bird, literally the archetype of all birds, is not speaking English: she is speaking her own language, but uses her power to be understood. I like a similar idea for my story. All of my three peoples are so far removed from each other biologically that entertaining the idea that they could come up with some kind of common language is silly; the three races must similarly have an inborn ability to make themselves be understood. The power here is that of being understood, mind you, but it might also extend to understanding something coming from the outside: obviously the Khuutra do not speak English, but if you were to speak to one you would hear them as speaking English and they would hear you as speaking in their own tongue. In addition to all of that, it should theoretically be within the power of some to disrupt that magic so that they can only be understood by someone of their own race, so all of a sudden all the Khuutra would sound like vowel-heavy growling and the Thatir would sound like rasping hisses and clicks. I don't know why I put that out there, but I did. Me and Monica are going to invest in Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii. Anybody else have similar plans? We could play together online. I will rock your face in The Devil Went Down to Georgia. Lord but it is late. Goodnight, everybody. See the 10 standing there / Step into the sunlight
Saturday, October 13th, 2007
5:21 am	It is thirty-four degrees outside right now. Ladies and gentlemen, my year in Canada has actually started. I don't know why I'm up right now. I'm going back to bed. Goodnight, everybody. Step into the sunlight
Friday, October 12th, 2007
4:41 am	I wrote some. I started writing a scene where the three brothers go and see a fortune teller. I rather like the scene so I think I will continue it for a while, though I'm not entirely sure where in the book it would go. I'll keep going with it. It's pretty interesting. It's thirty-five degrees outside. Finally down to near-freezing. Tomorrow's high is fifty-two degrees and it will rain. Saturday's is forty-seven and it will rain. I don't think the freshmen are going to be able to keep warm long enough to cause any real trouble on Aberdeen street at the homecoming party. I don't know whether that's good or just kind of sad. I'll be working key duty between seven PM and eleven PM eastern time, which means I'll be checking keys to make sure people aren't bringing complete strangers into residence. This policy to me seems a bit harsh, but after what went down in 2005 I can understand the need for the precaution. Still, what a pain in my butt. Something just occurred to me - it's the kind of thing I wonder about other people. When I was small, I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. For anyone reading this who would like to reply: what did you want to be? I'm pretty tired. Goodnight, everybody. See the 9 standing there / Step into the sunlight