Posts made by Auspice

(The OP wanted a PM, so we may never know! But this does keep the thread bumped. :D)

Willa?

@sparks said in NaNoWriMo:

I remember the Seattle group being pretty good about three or four years ago, but I haven't really involved myself in the bigger NaNo community the past couple of years. I just haven't had the time or the energy for the bigger meetups. I'm sad that you had bad experiences with them.

It seemed to be run by a few bffs around college age. All write-ins / meetups were downtown and their opinion on non-downtown gatherings were 'you can plan it but we won't put it on our calendar or help you get the word out in any way because it's not OFFICIAL'.

The chat site they used was just garbage and not secure at all, so I suggested 'Hey, such a big region, you guys should check out chatnano. It's an IRC approved by OLL, you can register/secure your login, and MLs get access to a special room. The word war bot also lists all wars ongoing, so people could hop to another region's room if there's no one local to war with.' I got chewed out for 'daring' to suggest something was wrong with their decisions.

And it was just sort of annoying to see such a huge region basically focus just on downtown Seattle. They didn't give a shit about any of the surrounding areas. Someone needs to just contact OLL and step up to ML Eastside (anyone can do this; suggest a new region if they think there's the numbers for it).

My biggest piece of writing advice: stop in the middle of a sentence or paragraph. I've found it does wonders for me. I don't write until the 'thought' (as it were) is done but I stop while I still have ideas. It gives me a place to dive in the next day without hemming and hawing over 'what' to write. Once you're in the groove, it's easier to keep going.

I learned this from one of the classic authors. I forget which, tho. But it totally works.

I'm in the 'cheerleader' boat (I'm writing/polishing a spec script this month; not conducive to NaNo). Austin's NaNo crowd is great!

Far better than Seattle's, tbh. I didn't participate last year because of school, but the year before I didn't because the Seattle NaNo group was so unwelcoming.

But I graduate in the spring, so next year I'll be back to fully participating (I began around 2000/2001 and even ML'd in SC for 6 years).

Ghostface KILLAH?

@cupcake

Other than the one job where they passed after gushing over me and discussing benefits in depth, I haven't been upset in being passed up on. Not other than the general 'damnit, still no job' sense at least.

One of the biggest pieces of advice I got when I was 18 was: 'The worst they can say is no.'

But the issue here is I feel nothing anymore. I feel no hope. No drive. Just sort of an empty, fatalistic sense of 'why bother?' As if I'm only applying to jobs and going to interviews because it's become habit.

And logically, I know, I'm risking that coming through in my interviews... which will only hurt things more. But the well is empty.

Nutella?

Back on the interview train. Phone interview today (should know in a few days if I'll get an in-person). Interview with a recruiter on Monday (was supposed to be today, but I was still too sick).

I can't find it in myself to feel hopeful at this point. I'm just going through the motions.

@ghost

JOHN CENAAAAAAAA

@ghost

Gila?

Leela?

Tigra?

She-ra?

DIE HARD CHRISTMAS BOOK

Maybe it's a 'men in bowling alleys' thing because at my job... they ignored the urinals and just sort of treated the floor like a trough. Like, mopping wasn't needed just for the general cleaning of the floor.

And there were a decent number of women who would bowl, but I never had a majorly bad mess to clean. Maybe I was just lucky over those months.

Though nothing, nothing is as bad as the day I was cleaning and found an ash tray (we had one night a week they could smoke in the place; worst night I'd work... could barely breath for how bad the smoke would get) on top of a vending machine.

I'm short. Had to stand on my toes to reach it. The thing tipped onto me and it was... spit, from chaw.

At least most of the guys were 'kind' enough to spit into empty soda bottles and leave those for us to clean up. Whatever asshole did that decided an ash tray left on a vending machine was the way to go.

NOOOOOOO

Skype on Mac auto-updated to the garbage.

Heard back from one classmate I reached out to. The prof. was belittling and condescending to him in the written feedback (he didn't do a phone conference) and pulled a similar move of 'I'm being really generous with your grade' as he did me.

Thankfully for me it resulted in a 72. For this guy, it was a 38... So that line is just even more cruel.

And like me, the classmate has zero drive or will for the class anymore. He sent a scathing letter (that he shared with me) back to the instructor. But if he (he's ex-Navy) is that upset, I feel more justified in my own anger.

@surreality

Well, listening to the lecture, I think I've found one person to ask to file the complaint with me.

Student: "I don't appreciate the way you keep saying you already told me three ti-"
Instructor, cutting him off: "I have!"
Student, forcing back in: "I am asking a specific question for a scenario and you're not giving me an answer."

This after the instructor tried to demand he stop asking and ask him outside of the class. The guy is trying to find out if he'd be marked off for writing something a specific way (re: formatting). And the only answer he's getting is 'Write it how you want.'

This guy takes mansplaining to the extreme, I swear. Listening to the Q&A part of the class now and he's just over-explaining and talking to everyone like they're children.

@surreality said in RL Anger:

@auspice said in RL Anger:

Someone joined the online conversation who said she now works at a television network and owes her success getting into the industry to <instructor>.

...did they verify this was an actual student or a real person? Because it's not like the world hasn't seen sock puppet accounts popping up to do damage control for someone before.

Double-post as I listen to the week's lecture recording.

That person may not have ever had a one-on-one with him. In the lectures he's a bit brusque and intense, but not cruel.

@surreality said in RL Anger:

@auspice said in RL Anger:

Someone joined the online conversation who said she now works at a television network and owes her success getting into the industry to <instructor>.

...did they verify this was an actual student or a real person? Because it's not like the world hasn't seen sock puppet accounts popping up to do damage control for someone before.

I have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I'll revisit the idea of a formal complaint in a couple days when I'm not fighting strep.

From my advisor:

"This class is very challenging and <instructor> is known for the brusque manner displayed during your conference. I’ve personally heard from quite a few students with similar experiences, and at the same time there have been a few who expressed an appreciation for the toughness that he does bring to his classes. So, I’ve heard it both ways. At a graduation ceremony I attended some time ago, a Creative Writing graduate related the following… on social media students were vexed and really venting about this Instructor. Someone joined the online conversation who said she now works at a television network and owes her success getting into the industry to <instructor>."

He did provide the details to follow up on a formal complaint, but come on. 'Quite a few students' that he's heard from personally? Just because one person attributes her success to the guy doesn't mean he's doing it right.