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Wilde_Guess

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Status Updates posted by Wilde_Guess

  1. I managed to get a new iMac I didn’t want to buy yet a hop, skip, and jump before the old one died.  My “old” version of Office won’t install on the new one.  I’ve tried “Pages.”  I’m a lot less unimpressed than I was before trying it.

    1. BronxWench

      BronxWench

      Microsoft is brutally awful with older versions of Word. Basically, they want you to buy a subscription to Office 365, so they make it incredibly difficult. I had to uninstall Office on my old computer, and still couldn’t reinstall it on my new computer. We don’t want to talk about how hard it is to actually buy a new copy of the standalone program.

      I’m not an Apple user, so I can’t comment on Pages, but someone told me you can save Pages documents as Word documents, so that might be helpful if you really need the Word format. 

      But anyway, congrats on the new Mac! :lol: 

    2. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      Microsoft will still sell Office “outright” instead of the “crippleware that only works with an Internet connection,” for about $240, but you have to buy it straight from Microsoft, not the Apple App Store.

      And, it isn’t the “Intel vs Apple Processor” issue, either.  The current Mac OSX, even the “A chip CPU” version, will run older “Intel era” OSX programs via an emulator.  However, the Office install program claims that I already have a “newer version of Office installed,” and I haven’t been able to find out anything about what exactly the Office installer says that it sees.  This computer was new out of the box, and I had not installed anything on it.

      But, at least it “plays nice” with my iPhone.  And all, or at least most of the websites that were “broken” on the old iMac work just fine with this new one.  I’m tolerating the Bluetooth keyboard with no “forward delete,” and I bought a Logitech MX Anywhere 3S Bluetooth mouse to replace the POS mouse it came with, along with a USB hub and a DVD burner.

      Thanks.

    3. BronxWench

      BronxWench

      I wound up buying Office as a digital download, and got the product key via email, which is the least secure method for purchasing software ever. The biggest issue was getting past the zillion “Are you really sure you don’t want Office 365 because it’s neat and you can save everything to the Cloud and everyone will think you’re completely awesome and we get RMR which is our dream scenario because we don’t have to do a damned thing to get your money every month” sales pitches.

      Of course, the installer was suspicious about my older version of Office that had lived on my 10 year old Dell, despite my having uninstalled it. I was lucky enough to get someone in Tech Support who actually knew what they were talking about, rather than just reading from a canned script. It was a miracle...

  2. Dame Maggie Smith dead at 89 according to published reports.

    1. BronxWench

      BronxWench

      The Dowager Countess has gone to her rest. :cry:

    2. Desiderius Price
    3. GeorgeGlass

      GeorgeGlass

      And Richard Harris, and Robbie Coltrane. It’s getting to be like a Hogwarts faculty meeting up there. 

  3. Annikin Skywalker has truly lost his voice.  US Actor James Earl Jones dead at 93 according to published reports in Variety and other news sources.  Fair winds and following seas.

  4. In honor of a recent chapter I’ve posted, here’s a musical interlude…

     

  5. I suppose the recent spate of spam posts in “Report Trolls/Flamers/Spammers” are almost on-topic, since that’s the area where you’re supposed to report their garbage.  Elsewhere, it’s just plain annoying.  Perhaps they’re trying to join the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, while doing it on the roof?  Oh, well...

    1. Show previous comments  4 more
    2. WillowDarkling

      WillowDarkling

      I am supposed to be in charge of nuking the spammers, I’m afraid. Things have just been bananas up over here, with half the fam having been made basically homeless due to the volcanic eruptions and my former hometown now being abandoned, and then the stress of the family needing to find housing, and myself having been unable to renew my lease on my apartment, and then needing to find a new place to live. And all of this has not been beneficial to the mental health of any of us. 

      BUT, thankfully, the fam has now found (and bought) new permanent homes, the parental units are already moved in, baby sis and her units are probably moving near the end of the month, and I will be moving into a permanent home around the middle of next month :D  

      So, to recap, everyone’s in or getting into new permanent homes, and therefore my mental health is getting back on track and I’ll do better around here, I swear   :blush:

       

      Edit: But, yes, they do make it lovely and uncomplicated whenever they just go right ahead and post directly in the Trolls/Flamers/Spammers forum. That way I don’t have to go far to find them :D  

      And sadly, the report function does seem to still not be operational, but please keep hitting the report button if you see those posts, because who knows, maybe it’ll work one day. 

    3. DemonGoddess

      DemonGoddess

      I’m on EDT, as is BronxWench, so if something comes in the middle of the night my time I won’t attend to it.  But, will do as soon as I see them.

    4. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      Just to be clear, I was going for humor, and not criticality or passive-aggression.  The garbage “shows up,” and it also goes away quickly.

      @WillowDarkling, I’m glad to read that your difficulties are almost solved.

      Thanks to all who run this system (both the story archives and the forum site) for all of your hard and effective work.

      Cheers!

  6. I’m also not terribly fond of having to check my story calendar for full moons.  But in the Rowlingverse, needs must, I guess.  That is unless I want a werewolf pandemic in my story.

    1. Show previous comments  3 more
    2. GeorgeGlass

      GeorgeGlass

      See, this is why writing fanfic is not easier than writing original stuff. You can’t play with someone else’s toys without playing by their rules. Or you can, but then they’ll take their ball and go home, or...Where was I going with this?

    3. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      Thanks for the laugh, @GeorgeGlass.  If anyone said that fanfiction was easier than original work, it sure wasn’t me.  It’s not harder, either; but the challenges to write well in either one can vary.  Fanfiction for “non-episodic” canon stories almost always involves changes, along with either following canon, or explaining why you took a different path through the story itself. 

      That’s why I’m working on Chapter 12, and I’m only putting Charlie Weasley on the Hogwarts Express.  While I’m effectively having to write a compressed story just to get to the ‘Harry Potter as lead protagonist’ part of my story, the other alternative would be a literal cosmic ass-pull, since Harry, Ron, and Neville will have changed that much by September of 1991.  It was tricky enough demonstrating that Petunia Evans had changed that much in Chapter 1, simply by choosing a different husband.

    4. Desiderius Price

      Desiderius Price

      A serious fanfiction requires some level of effort… heck I consult the above even in my originals too.

      For instance, lots of canon characters are very underdeveloped, so you gotta flesh them out into fullness that’s in line with canon (or in line with your premise).  Original characters… I actually have those developed better in my story than some of the canon!

      However, if it’s a short fluff bit...well, you don’t have to work too hard if you’ve got something of Fred’s & George’s backfiring to fill all of Hogwarts up with daffodils.

  7. I hate having to write “storyline calendars” for fanfiction, especially when the original author could care less.  But not writing the calendars is even worse. (Sigh.)

    1. Desiderius Price

      Desiderius Price

      Ages ago when I started my main potter fanfic, I did write up a spreadsheet.  And when I came back to it after a decade hiatus – it’s been a godsend for trying to remember how things were setup, what to elaborate more on, etc.

  8. “Len, don’t become a drunk.  Otherwise, stick to ale.  After all, ale will never lock you out of your own house and bust up all of your belongings in the front garden just ‘cause you’ve had another pint!”  Would you expect to read this in a “T” rated fanfiction?

    1. Show previous comments  2 more
    2. Desiderius Price

      Desiderius Price

      I’d think a “T” rating would cause some of my stories to implode into clouds of nothingness, or at least lose a lot of their impact.

    3. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      Of course, that depends on the story itself.  “Yankee” is plot-driven, and sex isn’t necessarily needed.  The original story where I ‘borrowed’ the Dvoraks from, though, is a different story altogether in more ways than one.  It won’t be appearing on the originals side of St. Elsewhere.  Ever.

      Cheers!

    4. Desiderius Price

      Desiderius Price

      My potter fanfic is similarly plot driven.   That’s why even the “cleaner” version is substantial at 631k right now.  However, the “explicit” version stands at 1765k, with sex, incest, slash, nudism themes mixed into it.  Something like “Jefferey” would have some parts that could work in a sexless “T” rating, the nudist aspect was part of why I wrote/developed the character, as Jeff’s needed for the main protagonist’s swim instructor.

  9. Armed Forces Day is for those who are serving the nation.  Veterans Day is for those who have served.  Memorial Day is for those who died in service of the United States.

    1. BronxWench

      BronxWench

      For all who have given their lives in service to the United States, you are not forgotten.

  10. “And graven with diamonds in letters plain There is written, his fair neck round about:  Noli me tangere, for Caesaris’s I am, and wild for to hold, though I seem tame.”

    1. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      This quote appears a little more than halfway through Chapter 38.

  11. You should never, and I sincerely repeat never write without first writing an outline of your story—ever!  My story, and my protagonists, have had a new band member foisted on them by the plot-bunnies!  You’ll see him around Chapter 38 or so.  😉

    1. Show previous comments  8 more
    2. Desiderius Price

      Desiderius Price

      Most of it was rewriting, expanding a bit on old.  Though there’s some additions too.  Now, I’m into virgin material (at least for a while), it’s technically filling in what had been a four-year gap in the character’s development, which is the underlying theme to the episodic serial.

      Ironically enough, now outlining and trying to figure out what I want for this next episode.

    3. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      Andy is really not happy with me right now.  He’s dyslexic, barely avoided being forced to join a monastery at gunpoint, and just got stripped naked and spanked almost hard enough to need medical attention in front of a yard full of people he’s barely met.  And he also got disowned by his father in front of the same people.

    4. Desiderius Price

      Desiderius Price

      Whereas… Jeff’d be more embarrassed if he was forced to get dressed, didn’t mind showing up on live-television interview (annoyed they censored out bits of him), and basically disowned by his mother instead (during a court proceeding)

  12. Have you ever been hit with “chapter mitosis?”  Well, I’ve been hit with it again.  Chapter 36 is ‘skinny’ again, but should be fattened up enough to post before the end of the week.  Chapter 37 is bigger, but has a ways to go before it’s ready.  Oh, well…  Just another ‘first world problem.’

    1. Show previous comments  4 more
    2. Desiderius Price

      Desiderius Price

      While ago, I experimented with short chapters too and one pass for proofreading.  Kept them to 2k… and boy, the story really moved in writing speed.

    3. GeorgeGlass

      GeorgeGlass

      Nothing wrong with splitting up an overstuffed chapter, especially if there’s an obvious place to split it. 

    4. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      Chapter 36 just got uploaded at 6885 words that hopefully read well.

  13. While I’m working on Chapter 36 and continued editing and revising elsewhere, here’s some more incidental music.

     

  14. It fought me tooth and nail, but I revised and updated Chapter 1 of Riding the Lincoln Way.  Again.  It only grew by about 1700 words or so.

    1. pronker

      pronker

      Excellent – I hope to update some of mine, too. I’m glad the site works once more.

  15. More ear candy for you all, courtesy of the kids in Mokena.  Danny might play this in Chapter 37.  The RL artist doesn’t actually finish it, but his improv is still beyond cool.

     

  16. Here’s some “ear-worm candy” for all of you to go along with mine.

    A very newly formed teenage rock band performs a cold-read “spite-set” during a live appearance before an audience because the band’s leader totally misunderstood a criticism offered by a performer he invited in to listen to them.

    The set consists of: Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin,) Nights on Broadway (Bee Gees,) Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin,) Babe I’m Gonna Leave You (Led Zeppelin version,) transitioned directly into 25 or 6 to 4 (Chicago.) 

    The band hasn’t performed any of these songs as a complete band before, and have no sheet music in front of them.  They literally put the set together in a two minute conversation before playing it live. 

    Yet they’re good enough that only the few people who know the band pulled the set out of their asses on the spot even realize that the set was anything other than a well-rehearsed performance.  This was their second set of the night.  The first set, which the band leader didn’t think they rehearsed well enough, was also very good and well received by the audience.

    1. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      The set ended up with six songs.  They inserted Steely Dan’s My Old School between Nights on Broadway and Immigrant Song.

    2. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      And Tim just stuck So In To You in between My Old School and Immigrant Song!  Help!

    3. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      … and Chris decided to stick Brandy by ‘Looking Glass’ between So In To You and Immigrant Song.

  17. Switching between two different projects can get frustrating. :think:

    1. BronxWench

      BronxWench

      I’m switching between editing and a new project. I think I prefer two projects if i have to switch. Editing needs focus. 

    2. Wilde_Guess

      Wilde_Guess

      Agreed.  “Lincoln” Ch. 19 is giving me just a little bit of trouble, since I haven’t paid attention to it lately.  “Bond” is mostly being “brought over” from St. Elsewhere.  It needs some editing and revising.

    3. Desiderius Price

      Desiderius Price

      Usually, I just have to focus on one project, or the other.  So, now, I’m focusing on Jefferey again, which, cross my fingers, should be until a particular point when I can start working on the main protagonist’s story.  There is a threat in there, a plot bunny that’s agitating.

  18. I’ve posted two “Harry Potter” fics over here from “St. Elsewhere.”  One is SFW, the other one will eventually “earn” its warnings, but not right away.

    http://hp.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600099685

    http://hp.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600099686

  19. I’ve posted Chapter 15, “June Bride Again,” to “Riding the Lincoln Way.”

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