All entries written in July, 2007
July 25, 2007 at 9:07 am · Filed under On My Influences, Thoughts
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on here yet, but I was an Asian Studies major in college. School Kids SG was actually one of the first things that led me to discover Asian Studies, Daoism and philosophy in particular, because after stumbling into a Chinese fiction class on a whim freshman year, I realized that a lot of the ideas behind those stories would fit well into my stories, like gears turning together. It was as if I’d been writing towards China all along. You might not be able to see it so much in The Gauntlet, but then again The Gauntlet was already pretty much done when I started college.
There were many things about Asian Studies that interested me, though philosophy was chief among them. One of the other topics that made me raise my eyebrows was Chinese literary theory…it’s so much the opposite of Western literary theory in that it believes the meanings of words aren’t fixed, and that words are inherently limited in their power to convey ideas. I always related this back to the philosopher Chuang-Tzu, who said that the writings of great men are their dregs, because the best parts of them can never truly be passed on. Then again, the same literary doctrine believes that writing is the one true path to immortality, because in your books you leave a piece of yourself behind. Unfortunately, the small class I was going to take on Chinese literary theory got canceled, but I managed to retain enough of the big concepts to stay intrigued.
I’ve tried over the last few years to make my writing more and more driven by what isn’t said, although in the case of School Kids SG the pacing is also way up the list of important things. But what got me thinking about my studies today was my attempt to write the first part of a Megaman retrospective I’ve been planning to post here in installments for a long time. With all the videogame articles I’ve posted so far, it’s amazing that I’ve managed to hold back on my two favorites, Megaman and Sonic, for so long, and I’ll probably hold back on Sonic for even longer just because it’ll take more time to prepare (it’s not just about the games). Like most of the games I’ve played, Megaman games are an experience to me, but in thinking about the way I see things because of videogames, I’ve started to realize that a lot of the earlier Megaman games were also wordless stories to me. And in thinking about how to describe them in a post, I’ve added words to them! And as I add words to them, I feel the value of the experience they describe being diminished.
It’s really quite amazing how much I’ve come to believe in this stuff. Thought really is bad in a surprising number of cases, at least as far as I’m concerned. Better to let things wash over you and understand them in a way that doesn’t need language, a way that’s actually obscured by language. I’m still going to try to write this thing, but it’ll have to be in a different form, and like almost any piece of writing it certainly won’t be as good as the original thought that spawned it. I’ve come to except that–there are certain things you just can’t capture. You have to use the words to suggest around it as best you can, sort of like the way fresh-fallen snow suggests the shape of the things underneath it.
This Friday brings us the final chapter of The Gauntlet, and then Monday will have a sort of epilogue. After that, this site will enter it’s first intermission period, which will be as much of an experiment for me as for you. I promise that the times between serialized stories will be interesting, too…you’ll see what I mean next week.
July 23, 2007 at 9:05 am · Filed under Personal, Thoughts
The first two weeks in my new apartment have certainly been an adventure. I’m getting there, but I still don’t quite have everything set up. And whatever you do, never shop at the value store called Jembro! (With several locations in the tri-state area). A friend and I discovered the place in high school, and we were wooed by the low, low prices and especially the eclectic selection, but it’s not worth it. As overjoyed as I was to find a full set of cutlery for under $20, almost all of it has begun to rust already from regular use.
My father says that he keeps expecting the (admittedly nice, in my opinion) shower curtain I bought there to disintegrate any day now, and then I’ll find a tag on it that says, “Made from corn and corn by-products.” At least that would be better than his original assessment of the thing as a couple of garbage bags taped together.
Keep reading….
July 18, 2007 at 9:02 am · Filed under Reviews, Thoughts
My mom wasn’t that into it—I was surprised, she and my father both having been fans of shows like LOST or 24, whose genres seem to have found a meeting point in Traveler.
“Everybody’s too young!” she said. “And too similar-looking!”
Keep reading….
July 17, 2007 at 9:47 pm · Filed under Announcements
Turns out I got the Internet turned on in my new place faster than I expected. Thank you, cable company! Tomorrow’s post will feature my thoughts on the show Traveler, and Friday will be the new chapter of The Gauntlet, as usual. I’d have bumped Traveler to Friday, but the season (series?) finale will have run by then, so it would no longer be relevent.
July 17, 2007 at 9:07 am · Filed under Announcements
Hi, everyone. Just to let you know, this week’s new chapter of The Gauntlet will post tomorrow, 7/18, instead of the usual Friday. Why? Thank my cable company. It’s a long story…maybe I’ll tell it later.
We’re coming up to the end, though! Only two more chapters and then the epilogue, and The Gauntlet will be done! Don’t worry, though, that’s not the end of the site–far from it. I have lots more stuff planned that I’ve either been putting off or waiting for with baited breath. You’ll see in a couple of weeks….
In the meantime, be sure to tune in tomorrow for the final showdown with Donovan!
July 16, 2007 at 9:03 am · Filed under Personal, Thoughts
It took me longer to get settled in my new apartment than I thought it would. With all the anticipation and months of searching, I thought that when I finally found a place, I’d be jumping for joy. This was before I’d witnessed the experience of the move, AKA the mad dash to find furniture, pack the car, line up friends to help, and making 50 trips up and down three flights of stairs. After that, there was still a couch from Ikea to put together and a bed to wait for in the morning (I got that delivered…no way I was lugging it up the stairs, as if I could). On top of all this, I am forced to admit that I got more attached to my family in the last year than even I realized…it was an adjustment breaking away.
But now I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. It helps that I love the place: I was lucky enough to find an apartment that I could afford (without a broker, no less) , and I’m a big fan of my landlord and management so far as well. Don’t get me wrong, I still need things like the Internet…I’m typing this on my laptop somewhere with wifi, and not having a connection at home is simply unacceptable. But I plan to get that squared away as soon as possible.
It’s interesting, really. No matter what’s happened to me since graduation, I still feel like I left my heart in the little college town of Annandale-on-Hudson. That is my home, and I think I can say with certainty that it always will be. Certainly, the town I grew up in, the one where my parents still live and where I stayed for the past year and two months, is a part of me as well…I guess there’s nothing that says I can’t have more than one home. But my college and the area surrounding it, and more than anything, the people who orbit it, are very special to me, and I credit them with revealing to me who I really am, and for being able to remind me of that whenever something makes me forget temporarily. That is what home means to me–happiness, knowing yourself, being known as yourself, feeling you belong and being told so to boot. I was phenomenally lucky to find that place, and I’ve done my best to take it with me as well as go back as often as I can.
But like I said, there’s more than one kind of home, different degrees of home, and each home means something different to a person. I may not be in college anymore, but I am now a resident of New York City, one of the great hubs of the world…and a sizable chunk of my friends from school have moved down here, too, so I’m not alone. With my school as my center and this place as a landing pad, it’s finally time to see what I can do with my life.
And as of this week, I’m getting started.
July 11, 2007 at 9:09 am · Filed under Personal, Thoughts
Hey everyone, I’m moving into a new apartment this week! (Incidentally, if I don’t respond to emails as quickly as I usually do, that’s why). To celebrate, I’m going to share some of my photography with you…I’m hardly a photo major, but I don’t think I’m bad, either. Here are three photos of the last place I called home:
July 9, 2007 at 9:03 am · Filed under On My Influences, Personal, Thoughts
Ever want to know why so many reviews of video games pop up on a site that’s supposed to be centered around prose fiction? Click through below to find an essay that explains why. This was originally written as a final essay for a college class called Cultural Reportage, in which I learned how to write the sorts of reviews and commentaries that I post on School Kids SG. In fact, it’s pretty much true that this one class inspired me to create that whole portion of the site, and it had a very big effect on my writing style in general, for fiction and nonfiction. So I guess this is the proper place to acknowledge my professor, Peter Sourian, for being so good at his job, and to me.
And without further ado….
Keep reading….
July 4, 2007 at 9:01 am · Filed under Announcements
Have a great fourth, everyone! Tune in this Friday for another new chapter of The Gauntlet!
July 2, 2007 at 8:19 pm · Filed under Announcements, Personal, Thoughts
Well, it was pretty silly of me to write a post about an image and then forget to upload the actual image, now wasn’t it? It’s fixed now.
An aside: for those of you who saw the post before I fixed it, the “AAA” is a quirk I’ve developed over the years as a writer who works primarily with word processors. Especially Word 2002 has a tendency to lose any special formatting you might apply (I type in Times 14 and use a lot of bold myself) and revert to “Normal” with absolutely no warning. Unless, of course, something is quickly typed to hold the formatting whenever you stop. So, from doing that, “AAA” has come to mean “where I left off.” True story.
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