Thursday, March 31, 2011

We together make a limb

I don’t know when UTS got some many hipsters – I guess the undergrads are really rolling it out this year.

Anyway. Greetings! I have survived another week of tertiary education. I'm setting quite a precedent. Good news is we’ve gotten an extension on our second editing assignment so it’s now only due after the break, yay! Well, I still have to do it before anyway, since I won’t be here, but I don’t have to worry about handing it in – skipping class that week as we’re flying out to shaky Christchurch in the morn. Everybody wins.

All’s quiet on this front, really. Some of my classmates still seem incapable of understanding the difference between en dashes and em dashes, leading to my generally just wanting to stab myself in the eye with my pen, but other than that it’s plodding along uneventfully. My writing project is in a bit of shambles after I wrote the most shocking first chapter. I read it over before going for my meeting and was just horrified. So I’ve decided to chuck it out and start all over again – going back to my beloved first person. I think I’m way better at writing in first than third. I only try out third because I feel like I have to give it a shot. Like it’s somehow more…well literary, I guess. But fuck it, I’m tired of working so hard for my moments of glory. Writing in first takes me half as long as third does. I’m already 2,000 words into my second take and I started it at 10pm last night *shakes head*

Not that first doesn’t have its limitations – that’s why I flirt with third in the first place. It’s easier to do multiple characters in third and give a better overarching view of a story, whereas first obviously narrows you to one person. You could do alternating chapters of first, I know, but I’m not willing to try that on with five separate characters. Coming up with five distinct internal voices will liquefy my brain. So yes, I’m sacrificing good bits of story by limiting it, but I think I’m making my characters work more for me. Maybe. I don’t know. See how it goes, I guess.

Um. What else? Oh, had a lovely evening catching up with R after uni on Wednesday. Topics of conversation included Supernatural, Jared Leto, books, the trip, and the trip and Supernatural as a combined entity, haha. Sample of the quality conversation – ‘Why am I Sam? It’s because I’m emo, isn’t it?’

It was so overdue, it felt like eons since I’d last seen R. And M, who I am seeing tomorrow morning. Yay, socialness! But yes, there was pizza, what I call ‘the vampire show’ and brainstorming of grand ideas for our gap year adventuring. This has morphed slightly from ‘move to the UK, get jobs and go from there’ to ‘let’s go EVERYWHERE!!!1!’ Motto: it’s time to get your Kerouac on, you’re only young once.

Although Kerouac is probably too hipster for us

But you know, there’s plenty of time to be responsible later. And R and I don’t exactly have the most conventional aims in life. A year of travelling and writing (and starving) seems kinda perfect. Well, if it can be wrangled. So, large scale logistical planning operation is go. Maps, pins, books, brochures. Let’s rock and roll. Eight months and counting.

Pretty busy weekend lined up so not sure I’ll manage a top 10 today. I’ve got writers’ group tonight, breakfast with the girls tomorrow, dinner with mum’s work friends, and then mum’s birthday on Sunday – we’re going horse riding. Mum’s trying to decide if she wants to come on the Lord of the Rings ride with me in NZ so I figured a trot around the park would ease her into it.

Oh and somewhere in there, I will finish season 1 of Brothers & Sisters and sneak in a few more SPN eps. It’s been like 5 days, I’m having serious Cas withdrawals.

“This is a den of iniquity. I should not be here.”

Music: Red right ankle - The Decemberists

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