It's been a full month since being out of school has really sunk in. It was the time when all my friends who were starting their Masters or second degrees starting going on about their courses or professors, and I was like, I AM DOING NOTHING!

I then proclaimed myself to be a professional. A professional Loafer. It says so on my business cards*.

I've spent the month just getting myself sorted. I didn't do much over the holidays besides eat, eat, and sleep. I didn't even play much Wii, much to my chagrin. Super Mario still sits unfinished, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles sits UNOPENED, and I have a plethora of patients that need saving in Trauma Centre. The latter of those two were gifts from family for Christmas, which was really nice. I got mostly clothes, which I was very happy about (Getting old? Check.) and subtle hints from my parents to get a job. Oh? A nice day planner. Wow, that's a really nice belt and tie. Certainly good to have a nice suit jacket. What are you guys trying to say?

So, January then became loafing AND job hunting.

Oh, and working on my business plan. So, loafing and job hunting AND working.

Needless to say, I have been very busy. Mostly with loafing, but also with the other things. But mostly with loafing.

ANYWAY, I have secured myself a job. It's pretty cool, too. I will designing and implementing information retrieval systems for a large business and helping start a project in that field. I'm pretty excited.

What about now? / No one cares about your job

I am currently in England. I am wearing an England football (not American) uniform. I am eating English chocolates and my English girlfriend is watching English TV. ENGLISH!

Still been catching up on sleep, but last night was a lot of fun. Toni ended up getting me tickets to see Stars at a small venue/bar. It was a pretty solid show, I have to say. In my top ten. HOWEVER, the really amazing thing was we got to go to a small room outside the main area and hang out with the band. We waited until most of the crowd left and I found out where everyone (the band) went and we (Toni and I) followed.

So, there were a couple of people hanging around getting their pictures taken with the band (cheesy) and we waited until Toni introduced herself with "I brought a Canadian, do I get anything for free". The bassist apparently decided that we wouldn't be getting any discounts, but we went on ahead anyway. Introduced ourselves to Torq, Amy and Chris and had a little chat with them. They were very down to earth, nice and weren't too upset to talk for a bit and sign my copy of "Do You Trust Your Friends?". Owen Pallett doing a Stars song? The answer of course was SIGN ME UP. Anyway, yes.

We hung out with Stars. It was a lot of fun, and Torq confirmed that "He Lied About Death" is indeed about George Bush. We talked a bit about Arts & Crafts and doing shows overseas and then we were off! Overall, one of the best Christmas gifts ever.

And now I'm off!

I'm going to try and hang out a bit more to do some critiques. I owe some people big and I still read on occasion on the site, so I would love to do that more than anything else. We'll see.

Finally finished...

Yeah, I'm done. After 5 years, a lot of money, and way too many sleepless nights I have gotten my Bachelor in Computer Science. Managed to make it through this semester and my final thesis with great success and ended up finishing with a good chance of graduating with distinction. All good things.

I'm sorry I haven't been around, in case anyone was looking. I originally intended to stay around periodically, but I made a commitment to finishing this semester as best I could, and when I spent my first week off dA, I decided I would just go for it. Checked my email, but otherwise did not even lurk around. Didn't sign onto AIM or MSN or anything, just went for it. Finished earlier this week, and now I'm feeling a bit better about coming back.

Things

I really don't know if anything has happened in my absence, but since I took off my cap a bit before there were any real replacements officially outed, I'd like to say how proud I am for ^StJoan and ^GunShyMartyr. Thomas and Joan are both really fantastic people, and I really enjoyed working with them when I was a GD and just hanging around. They both know their stuff, and I was absolutely thrilled to find out that they would be taking up positions as GDs. I really hope everyone's playing nice!

Chrismas?

Let me tell you, the consequences of spending money without a job is a very strange one. Turns out money is something that runs out, and VISA and other companies are not lenient when it comes to payment. Who knew?

I have no real plans for full time employment as of right now. I was offered, tentatively, a job with my previous employer, and am looking into a few places. I am also pursuing work with my small business interests, especially one based on the work I did with my thesis, which turned out great and will hopefully generate some market interest.

But, yes, I basically have some time now to devote to finding gifts. Since I haven't thought of a lot of them yet, it's going to be tough.

Sappy stuff

Things with Toni have been a bit of a rollercoaster. It's hard doing the long distance thing, but we've managed, and seen each other quite a bit over the last couple of months. And by quite a bit I mean once or twice, but considering the distance that's quite a bit! She's really doing well right now, and I'm driving her crazy with my complete lack of a plan for full time employment. THAT'S HOW I ROLL, OK. I think in my mind I'm still just graduating highschool.

FUN FACT: I graduated high school AND university during the time I've been on dA.

Weird.

Anyway, how've you been? Is anyone still here?

"We all agree then...colour does have a 'u'."

Toni has taken her leave from my humble abode. It was a really great time, really, when I wasn't up to my ears in homework. We spent some time just hanging around, went to the movies (Knocked Up was really funny) and met up with friends and family. It was just really great, and I was not happy to have her go. We'll be getting together again soon, though, and I'm sure she'll be posting a journal about her time here.

I really haven't spent enough time here, and I apologize.

On that note

Life has been really complicated for me as of late. I've been tied to school, which is one thing, but a lot of people are. It's my senior year, and I've got a lot of people depending on me (group projects) to finish my work to specific deadlines. Less tests than I've had in a long time, I literally have no tests or quizzes besides my midterms and finals, but I have never worked on so many projects in my entire post-secondary career. I am a bit ahead, but I need to stay that way or I'll basically spend all my time just doing work up to the end of August. Then the next semester starts.

Why does this matter to you? Well, because I'm a GD. Obviously, there are responsibilities that I have, things I'm supposed to do, things I should definitely be doing that I'm not. It's not helping anyone that I'm tied up with work, and basically am too exhausted by the time I get free time to work on dA.

This is pretty much the main motivation for me to step down from my position.

There are obviously other things that are causing me a bit of grief that I'm not really able to control, but this combination is just proving to me that it's not fair that I'm here, taking up a position that would happily and successfully be filled by a hundred others.

Now the obligatory thanks and praise:

Obligatory thanks and praise...

I'm not going to walk out with my head hanging down to the floor. I really enjoyed being a GD. It was a lot of fun helping people out, running contests, doing the news, and just working with a lot of the AR and CD staff with little projects that would be a big benefit for literature. I really want to see literature do well, and I know there are a lot of passionate and talented people that can really step up (and will) to make that happen.

`imperfect (Toni) asked me in late '06 if I would take up the position. We hadn't known each other long, we worked on the Halloween competition together, so it was something I took into consideration for a while, and finally decided to take it for December. $Moonbeam13 (Danie) instated me, and informed me later that I would've been a good addition to any part of the team. She's been nothing but a great support the entire time, and you're all lucky to have her running things! That's just an fyi.

It was great working with Toni, and `MinorKey (Paul), and `adrift (Stef), and ^PoeticWar (James). They're all great people and were a big support. Always had a good rapport with everyone, and worked well with them.

Obviously, Toni and I had the most time to work together, and she really had the biggest impact with my time as a GD. She made sure that I did my work (a.k.a. nagged) and really led the team to get things done. And as much as she came off a little strong in that regard, she always was concerned about how everyone felt in their role and wanted to ensure there wasn't any lack of communication, even for the bad thing. It's the same way she treated talking on dA. I got to watch her do a lot for the site, but I think I've said that about a hundred times before.

Of course, the most fun I had on dA was talking with YOU. All of you. Honestly, it is! It's what kept me here for so long. I could go on with names and such, but I imagine there will be four groups of people that read this.

1. People who read it and are like "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT"
2. People who read it and are like "FINALLY"
3. People who read it and are like "Meh."
4. People who read it and are like "GOOD RIDDANCE"

Believe it or not, if you fall into any of those groups, you're ok by my books. I'm not really concerned whether or not people were anxious for me leaving, or hoping, or really hoping I wouldn't. The point is that you are keeping an eye on what's happening in lit, being conscious of what changes are being made, and thinking about what you believe is best for it, or possibly me. That's pretty cool, don't you think?

[Side note: Some people might be wondering where I'm getting time to write this whole thing. I'm in class with the wireless broken, so I have a bit of time before it comes back and I can start a CORBA tutorial.]

There are a lot of people who have been community members that have made a big impact on my time here, good and bad. `triptychr has been all like "You're doing a good job!" and I appreciate that. So have a lot of my confidants on site, and everyone in dAlit and such.

Most of you know who you are anyway. You've probably been in my journal many once or twices.

I also want to thank the staff on dA. You're all great. Really. My interaction with people has been positive, pretty much, in private, so it's been great having chats and such with everyone. There's a lot of people who have been a big help to lit. $chris, `robert, $lolly, $spyed, $chix0r, *spot, :dev... lots of people!

I've also met a lot of people who've been great to just shoot the proverbial shit with. Mer, Todd, Jon, Thomas, Chris, JB, etc, etc. I'm writing in a rush so don't be all moody if I didn't write your name! I don't know a lot of people by their first name, anyway! I just pretend to.

Everyone's been great. I'm sorry if I drove anyone crazy or made anyone mad, it was not my intention!

[EDIT]: I forgot to give some very big congratulations to those within the literature community that have received seniorship. `GunShyMartyr, `pickledeer, `GeneratingHype, `Jon-Law AND `SparrowSong. I've had the pleasure of working with almost all of these guys, and it's really great to see a little bit of a stamp for them that shows what they've done for the site and the lit community. Mad props, yo.

Okay, nice, but what does this mean for me?

I'll be stepping down from the position within a week or so. Going to finish off a few things that I want to do before I step down, and help kick start the new folks moving in. I'm very excited to see some new blood 'round here.

You'll get some more active support on site. New people with new ideas and you'll probably have a better connection with some of them. It's all good stuff.

Where will you go?

No where. You can still drop me notes (I'll start forwarding DD request to the necessary person), I'll still be posting, I'll use some free time to maybe, I don't know, WRITE. I'll also still be sponsoring contests if you bug me enough. I get too many notes that I often lose ones about contests after reading and moving all the DD ones. I'll still be hanging out, but I just won't be with hat.

However, make a note that I will have less of an entourage. There's no real reason to try and be my friend anymore, unless you get along with me. That is not as easy as you think!

Okay, so, tell me...what's the real reason you're leaving?

I'll tell you as long as you don't tell a soul.

Okay?

Good.

...

I can't live in a world that doesn't have !vivus.

I will insight some laughs with that one.

But only by a little bit. You know what my favourite news article is? Number 30005. I know you may not be familiar with this article, and all its splendour, but you should be.

New Literature Reader Tools

Definitely some cool new toys to play with. It's been a long time coming, and I'm really glad that it's come to pass. Occasionally, people do listen, you know.

Non-lit things!

I've got about 5 days to prepare for a guest. Which means I've really got to start cleaning and such. I've gotten a lot of work done over the last week in order to make sure that I'm ahead on my school work. I don't want to get so tied up that I basically can't sleep. I'm sure Toni will feel bad if I'm falling back.

I am buying some Brazilian coffee for her. I heard she likes it.

That may or may not be true.

Less Given Up

I'm going to be posting a new LGU soon. If there's anything of note you'd like to see put in it please let me know.

coshdaddy is alive

Yes, I am. The last few weeks have been really rough for me in terms of getting things sorted. Life and otherwise. It's been wild, but I'm finally feeling like I'm landing safely.

One thing I need to make sure gets done is addressing things that bother people. That's kind of what journals are for sometimes!

Most of you who read the forums will have read this forum thread regarding the DD situation for literature, among a few other exposure related things for lit. Let me just say that I do agree that some (a few) changes are needed. One of which, of course, is more damn DDs (especially of the prose variety). That's my focus right now, and will continue to be so.

Some of you might also wonder how to suggest a DD.

Well.

Send a note with the subject line that includes the word DD in it to myself or ^PoeticWar (he's good for poetry). Make sure you include a link to the deviation and the username of the author. Also, if you can, include a short write-up describing the piece or its qualities that made you nominate it for a DD.

For me, you might not always get a response (sometimes I get a few on a day when I don't have time to respond) but I do read them all.

My plan for the future right now involves gradually evening out the amount of DDs given to both sides of lit (prose and poetry) and that plan doesn't involved phasing out poetry, I swear! I've also read the concerns about making lit stuff hot topics, since that seems to have been quelled a bit lately. Remember that you control what makes it to the front page of the news with your +heart, but yes, more can be done for exposure.

There are a few changes in the pipes for lit, and you'll start seeing some of them soon. Keep an eye open, there's a lot going on. And, if you can, start a fire.

coshdaddy reads

I've finally gotten through Todd(`alienhead)'s book A Scythe Torpedo (Okay, that might be my worst parody title yet. Or my best). Of course, I mean A Life Transparent, his first book (that I'm aware of!) that he's published via Lulu. I promised him a short review, and so it follows.

It was hard to read through this book for me the first time for a very simple reason, I connected it with the author a bit too strongly. I understand that this is a very personal book, but I had to disconnect from that a little bit so that I could tackle the prose at the best level that I could.

The story revolves around a protagonist (Donovan Candle) who has been afflicted with a particularly dismal existence that begins to drain him in more ways than one. He starts to literally disappear from the Earth, but only he is noticing it happening. He starts to find solace in the few people he contacts through his telemarketing job (also the source of his draining) to talk about just anything, until one particular customer sets off events that alter his life and the life of those around him forever.

It's a very short story. Not that it is particularly lacking in size, but the events of the story happen in such bursts that, before you know, the whole chronicle is over. The description and language is very strong, and gives you a good sense of the environment and the thoughts of the protagonist and just how he is dealing with the extreme circumstances.

My prose work has always involved this: normal person + extraordinary circumstances. It's tried, true, and for some it's boring as hell, but this takes an interesting spin on the whole thing and gives you a new perspective. It's one of those moral stories. Don't be dull.

It's a very raw piece, in essence. I don't feel we're given enough time to care about Candle, or understand that, yes, his life is that boring. As much as he's stuck in his situation, it never seems that hopeless. There's a lot of borrowed in terms of his influences. I can smell Pahalniuk, I can read the Reznor and Office Space does kind of creep in at the start. It's a tapestry of the author's influence and own life experiences. No matter how you disconnect it, even reading the words from the author at the end of the book allows you to connect the characters within the story to the life of the author.

It's wildly entertaining, however, and does present not only a good story, but a good story told well. It's not hard to pick up, and it's something you'll consume completely before putting down. I easily recommend you giving it a try if you like `alienhead's work. It's general fiction that borders on sci-fi, but gives you an alternative perspective on the world that we all live in. A little action, a little banter, a lot of thought and sex. We can all be happy for that.

Support your local artists. The internet makes him like your next-door neighbour. Borrow some sugar than buy his book.

SIGNED COPIES

He'll only be selling signed copies for a couple more days. Until the 31st, actually, so get buying. It's a worthy cause (his wedding) and a good book, so go for it.

coshdaddy is actually a GD

The 12th (that's twelve) edition of the Literature Gallery Update has been put out. It's exciting! It's expensive! It's elongated! E words!

There's a lot going on and you should check it out. There's even more that'll be coming in the next one, which is due in about a month. In the mean time *litNEWS knows what the haps are.

coshdaddy has a life

School is for fools. I've realized this. I do all this work and for what? A silly piece of paper! Seriously, let's all just become rock stars, guys? Who wants to play bass?

This semester has been more foreboding than any of my previous. I'm using some cool technology I've never tried before. I'm studying AI, using ASP.NET and JRuby, making my own search engine and maximizing results and algorithms (That's a tough course) and all kinds of other fun stuff. Still no PHP, so I'm useless as a web programmer. Stop calling me!

I'm trying to convince Toni to come see me. I'm pretty sure she's not here already because she's embarrassed by the fact that I write Dinosaur Comics fan comics. That and I am becoming huge from overconsumption of Dairy Queen's Blizzard.

Who could say no, though? Honestly.

I went paintballing yesterday. I got shot in the back of the head and the hand. Man, that hurt!

coshdaddy actually posts his own Dinosaur Comics

I'll add this later when I'm finished.

UPDATE:

We are all philosophers!

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