Asrai Devin's Blog, page 18

Interspriation #1212012

Does your writing echo? It's not a good thing. http://bit.ly/vZWbZt

There was a Friends episode where Phoebe had a spirit in her who wanted to see everything and did. Me too: bit.ly/yujlhP

Yummy first kisses. http://bit.ly/A7PuaV

Snow day. http://www.prudencemacleod.com/2012/01/snow-day.html

Lay Weird Alga? http://bit.ly/xzrk1q

Someday i'm going to attend a Creative Dreamer class from ABCCreative. http://bit.ly/yZqaSL Plus Andrea is gorgeous.

 

Tagged: Arts, Recreation, Social network, Writers Resources

Computer facist

I was reading The Crayon Fascist which was on Fresh Pressed earlier this week on WordPress.com

I was reading it and I recognized myself.

Not with crayons.

With MY computer.

Not the current one, but my first one. It was a Compaq Presario my mom bought me in 1999 as a graduation present. At the time I was posting bad poetry on-line from our school computers or from my dad's because he had Internet. And I had met the most wonderful boi from England who I was conversing with via E-mail as often as possible.

He introduced me to IRC, which is short for Internet Relay Chat. It was like Twitter. You joined a server, connected in a chat room that was labelled by a hashtag #vampire was my very first IRC hang out.

Anyway, most of my friends did not have Internet, so they would come to my house and want to use my computer.

I would hover and make sure they weren't harming my baby.

I think it was more I was jealous, I had friends over so I wasn't allowed to be on the computer but they were.

People stopped asking to use it or would do so quickly.

Tagged: Asrai Devin, Chat, Chat room, Clients, Compaq Presario, England, Internet addiction, Internet Relay Chat, IRC, Twitter

House Tuesday: No Heat Edition

In our previous house we had the original 197* furnace, and two or three years ago we replaced it. Then we moved. Our new place had the furnace installed in 2001. Not that old.

We had one issue back in October or November. It wasn't that cold.

Yesterday morning it was -30 C(-22 F). And our furnace would not start.

Called the heating guys, they came and we needed a part. It was no where to be found in the city it had to be ordered and would not come until the next day.

We pulled out mattress into the living room and turned on our oil heater, electric fireplace and a couple desktop heaters. My power bill should be really nice next month.

This morning it was -44C (-47F) with windchill it was -38 without. And we were cold.

I called the school to say my daughter wasn't attending and they asked me why. No buses were running and neither was I. I think if I had gone outside I never would have warmed up.

Despite turning on the taps and having heat tape, our water froze.

The heating guy came around 11:30 and got us running. And then took a big check.

We are feeling warm now.

Which is good it is supposed to be -50 C overnight with the windchill.

So what is the weather like by you?

Tagged: Asrai Devin, cold weather, Construction and Maintenance, freezing, Furnace, Heater, Materials and Supplies, Oil heater

Change your habits: the emotional side

Welcome to a quick 4 week, change your habit help line based on Chip Heath and Dan Heath's book Switch.

Week one

Week Two

This week is about the emotional side of changing habits, which is probably what most of us struggle with when we try to change. And yelling at yourself or getting tough are not the answers.

1. I gotta feeling. This is best summed up as SHOW don't tell. We are creatures of immediate gratification. It makes me happier right now if I play Farmville then if I do the hard work of writing. Except tomorrow I will feel crappy that I wrote nothing and made no progress on my goal to becoming a best selling author (or even to write 500 words a day). Besides, writing those 500 words will make me happier in both the short and long term.

2. Break it down. This is basically the same as think small from last week. When we have a monumental task before us like write novel, we get freaked out. If we break it down until we are no longer scared to take that first step, we can do that. So if you can't commit to writing 500 words today, how about 100 or 50 or writing for just one minute. You can build on it tomorrow.

3. Learn to do better. This might be learning specific skills, but most of the time it's just cultivating the mindset of "I can do it." There are two types of people: those who believe abilities are innate and unchanging and those who believe that abilities can be learned.

Guess who are more succesful?

Those who believe they can learn skills. Believing you can do something or that you can change is the first step.

Do you need to work on the emotional side of change? Can you see steps here that might help you make a switch?

Tagged: Asrai Devin, Book Writing, change, Flylady, goal setting, goal tracking, goals, Learning, making change, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Writers Resources, writing, Writing Exercises

#Row80 Jan 15 Checkin and meal plan

I've been feeling like a chicken with it's head cut off, or someone who is trying to do too much. I'm trying to read as much as I can to fulfill my 50/50 challenge, then try to squeeze a movie in when an hour long TV show is a better fit for my schedule. And then blogging somewhere in there.

I think once I get used to this pace it will work out. And once my son is not sick with this cold. He's so congested it sounds like he's choking and it wakes him up several times a night. It's a step up from the 3 day fever from early last week.

I should apologize to Kristy K James for her rushed guest post. I will hit her up for another when I have my head on straight.

Onto the goals.

Edit 1 hour per day, 5 days per week.

I think I did 5 days last week. There were 3 for sure, 2 are hazy.

Guest posting:

Got one in this month so far. Requested a second. I haven't had time to think about posting for someone else, I'm quickly running through what I have written already. I used to have a month or so backlog. The spreadsheet has been all but abandoned.

Get outside 5 days a week.

Nope and we won't get there in the future. It's -33 C with the wind chill right now. And that's what the next few days look like. I'm even going to have to drive my daughter 3 blocks to school. Life on the prairies right. Windy.

Exercise with EA active

4 days a week working out. I don't have to think about it.

Plan meals 

meatloaf

tortellini

oven fried pork chops

hamburger soup

soup and sandwich

chicken thighs

I only have 6 meals, I cannot think of a 7th.

Read one book and watch one movie a week as per the fifty-fifty challenge.

I read Across the Hall by N.M. Facile. The story line was good, the conflict was good, the characters were okay. It was a nice look into the mid-20′s (that I never experienced) and it reminded me a lot of my book Second Chance Romance. My only beef was there was too much telling instead of showing. I skimmed by so many pages thinking, "she could have showed all that and I would be far more interested in what happened."

My daughter and I watched Twilight. She finds it amusing when I make fun of Edward's facial expressions. I love R-Patz but sometimes I think he went to the Joey Tribbiani school of acting. When Bella walks into biology and he smells her, it's more like the video below.

Interspiration #1142012

Barry Crowther reminds me about Bookrooster. And gives tips on how to get your book up for review. http://bit.ly/xIi73R

I think I might watch Zen habits clutter webiner for inspiration. When our clutter was in storage the house was clean. http://bit.ly/wP5jri

This is amazing news. RT @ebookpubtutor: Important update ITIN US tax nightmare over now get EIN over phone http://t.co/b2pT2bZa

What do tetris and being original have in common? http://bit.ly/AjJPcd

Could you write with your  husband. http://bit.ly/wR9Ias from @sheilaseabrook

The Question you should ask before "What If . . .?" from storyfix. http://storyfix.com/the-question-you-should-ask-before-you-ask-what-if

Writing when you are ill. A few tips. http://bit.ly/wPC3AN from @LynetteMBurrows

So you wanna adapt a book to a screen play? http://bit.ly/xolukV

Money amplifies your art. http://bit.ly/wr9mOz

Tagged: Asrai Devin, blog links, Facebook, Interspire, link mash-up, link mashup, links, mash-up, mashup, Twitter, Zen Habits

Anders Vs Edward

I started following Adam Howden, he's a voice actor who did the voice of Anders in Dragon Ages 2. And his bio on Twitter says "I'm like the R-PATZ of computer game voice overs…."

SO if he's R-Pattz, who is Robert Pattison who plays Edward Cullen in the Twilight series movies, I guess that makes Anders equal to Edward. And I started realizing the two characters have some similarities.

They both sparkle.

They both have an incredible amount of angst and self torture.

They both get frowny when things don't go their way.

They've both been waiting for the right person to come along.

awww.

Tagged: Asrai Devin, comparisons, dragon ages, dragon ages 2, Dragon Ages Anders, Edward, Edward Cullen, R-Pattz, Robert Pattinson, Twitter, voice actors, voice overs

Cell Phones, Social Media and Romance by Kristy K James

I love Kristy's blog. Usually she makes me laugh, but on occasion she will post something that makes me go HMM. You can check out her blog. You can check out her blog at: http://kristykjames.wordpress.com/ now that I'm done singing her praises you can read her actual words:

A relative of mine got married yesterday.  Well technically it was yesterday, but I keep screwy hours and, even if I don't fall asleep until four in the morning, it won't be yesterday to me until I wake up again.  Not that it matters for this particular blog, other than the fact that I'm just a hair on the sleep deprived side (what else is new…), with a daughter running a temp of close to 103.  Can we say 'Not catching up any time in the near future?'

Okay, so why am I writing about a relative's wedding?  Because there are already reception photos on Facebook.  Posted by her.  Just hours later.  And I just saw that she accepted a friend request a few minutes ago, presumably from her cell phone since there usually aren't computers at weddings or receptions.  At least none I've ever attended.

Do I have a problem with the Facebook updates?  Nope.  There's not a thing wrong with it. Not at all.  It just struck me how different things are today than they were even ten years ago.

Kristy K. James' cell phone

If my cell phone wouldn't get so fidgety when it sees my camera, the picture might have come out better…

With cell phones able to access the internet, people can keep everyone up to date on every aspect of their lives now.  Got an emergency, great price on gas, delicious meal at a local restaurant?  With the touch of a few keys on your phone, you can let everyone in your Facebook and Twitter accounts know almost instantly.  Even at your wedding you can keep everyone who wasn't there in the loop.  I understand one groom even updated his status on both accounts…just before he kissed his bride (which was taking it to extremes in my opinion).  ( the link is:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34381748/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/death-weddings-seen-youtube/ )

Experts like to say that we're losing something with social media.  Namely the skills to function socially, face-to-face.

Except, truth be told, I socialize more since getting on Facebook than I used to do.  Mostly because a lot of my family, and a fair number of friends, are on it, too.  People I'd see once in a blue moon (at the annual reunion, funerals, etc…) I now 'talk' to on a pretty much daily basis.

But updating statuses at weddings?

Why not? 

I might not have been there tonight, but I got to see a little of what was going on, which I enjoyed tremendously.    Add YouTube to the mix, and I can see what happened at the weddings of perfect strangers…like my all time favorite:

I love this video.  Even though I have to make sure no one is around when I watch it because it brings tears to my eyes and makes it hard to swallow.  I always knew I turned to mush at parades when marching bands and veterans passed by.  Who knew I'd do the same thing over something like this?  A random YouTube video…

Anyone else react that way when you saw this, too?  And what is your opinion about updating statuses at weddings and receptions?  Does it take away from the moment, or is it just another way of allowing others to share in your special day?

Now pardon me because I need to watch the video again.  :)

Row 80 Jan 12 Check in

Writing goal: Edit 1 hour per day, 5 days a week.

I did edit Sunday but not Monday or Tuesday so I have to go hard the rest of the week to meet this goal. I didn't edit Monday because I was researching EIN information (you no longer need a ITIN to get an EIN to qualify for tax exemption in US earnings). Tuesday my son had a fever (still does actually), so I'm not getting a lot done either. He's fine with fever reducer.

Guest posting: One guest post out, one in. Requested a second. Have to pitch a second yet however.

I haven't gotten outside at all this week. I hate cold weather. I have exercised with EA Active, so we do get moving. And I started my meal plan for the next week. I think I'll post my plan on Sundays instead of a Row goal post.

I watched most of definitely, maybe with Ryan Reynolds (gosh he's pretty too!) and am slowly making my way through The Happiness Project. I have so many things on the go, I spend most of my day distracted by things. I have to get Yahoo answers blocked right now, it sucks my time.

Change your habits: dealing with the rational

I recently read the book Switch by Dan Heath and Chip Heath, which gives tips about smoothing change in your life and making them stick (made to stick is their first book).

You can read my introduction from last week.

The first part is dealing with the rational part of yourself. Sometimes this part of us gets bogged down in researching and recording data, there are some ways you can get around this.

1. Look for what works. This could be habits you've instilled yourself over the years, how did you manage to keep those habits. But more than likely you need to look outside yourself. Talk to people you know or search the internet. The world wide web is full of blogs by people who have made any number of changes in their lives, and they are dying to help someone make the change.

Not everything everyone else has done will work for you, but you can try out any number of ideas.

2. Think small. Too often we see the big picture when we are making changes. What exact change are you going to make? This step is similar to making goals that are trackable.

In my life, my goal is to write more. That's a HUGE goal and if I stuck with just that ideal I would write occasionally and generally feel like a failure. So instead my goal is to write 500 words, 5 days a week. That is trackable. At the end of the day I can look at my word count tally sheet and see that I wrote 523 words more than yesterday.

3. What is the end result? Why are you trying to get the end result?

Again with my "write more" goal, that's not the real result I want. I want to finish a novel, or X number of short stories. Why? Because once I have a novel I can move one step closer to being published, or self-publishing.

I know many of my blog readers and people's whose blogs I follow are doing Row80 this round. I know Row80 follows many of the ideas in Switch.

How are your resolutions going this year? Could these ideas help you make a big change this year?

Tagged: Arts, Asrai Devin, Chip Heath, Dan Heath, Fiction, goal setting, goal tracking, goals, motivation, Online Writing, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Word count, writers, Writers Resources, writing