Life goes on, right? My husband lost his job yesterday. There’s a lot of stuff that I need to rethink, since my classes at UAB are no longer going to be free. I was already struggling with prioritizing properly anyway, and everything got ever so much more complicated that it already was. I assume I’ll end up back at work at least part time. I’m not giving up on the engineering that easily, though. It just will be a different plan than I originally thought.

When Chris called me to pick him up, I told a few people, made a phone call to a friend who listened to me and I thanked profusely, then I made a quicky post to various social networks. People’s connections will be our best ticket to getting leads and straightening things out. What I didn’t expect was that so many people I knew had already posted images of their arms for me, referring to me as their impetus. I’d already been rewarded for allowing myself to show pieces of me I never usually would let be out there. Then, in short order after I announced Chris’ job loss, people showed themselves ready to help in whatever capacity they could.

Apollo immediately sent me the Mountain Goats’ This Year video. I hadn’t heard that song in ages, but it so appropriately expresses my exact mental state. This year isn’t going to beat me, damn it.

The day progressed, and though my head ached, there were more phone calls, more support, and even friends who came over and hugged me and made me laugh and wouldn’t let me stay down.

And it continues on, even today. One of the people I’ve known the longest, since preschool, sent me a message asking what was wrong? I briefly told him about the state of things as they are right now. Tonight I logged in to write this post, and he’d sent me a picture of his arm, with the word LOVE on it. His caption read, “Supporting an old nemesis.” (I was someone’s nemesis! How cool is that?!)

I’m very glad that I’ve learned to begin to show a bit of vulnerability. Letting people into my emotional inner circle is difficult, but I’m so glad I’ve gotten over that enough to let people in, or else how would they know I needed those little perks? Thank each and every one of you for all you’ve done. Karma will be knocking on your door, I promise.

Who else is going?  We’ll be there at least Saturday and Sunday. We’ve never made it before, but this summer wasn’t so hot for vacating or relaxation of any sort. It’s going to be a bit of a tight squeeze for the budget, but we’re going to make it work. We all need this.

We do have a Braves game we’re going to Saturday night, though. So we’ll miss the aquarium event, which kind of bites, but we’ll have fun anyway.  My Mom is a huge Reds fan, and the rest of my family are Braves fans. (I hate baseball, but I’m a trooper.) So, it’s a tradition to go to at least one Reds vs. Braves game every year.  There’s only one this year. It often falls on the weekend of Dragon*Con, and we see all the people dressed up in their costumes as we drive through downtown and pine for the fjords.

So are you going?  Would you like to meet up?  Let me know.   I’d love to at least be on the lookout for crazy internet people to dying to mug me in a very public, crowded venue.  Plus, there’s gonna be Felicia Day, Bill Shatner, and Patrick Stewart!   And others!  Go look!

Psychological profiling via Twitter!  It’s ultra-scientific! Here’s my TweetPsych profile, based on the 510 updates I’ve given so far. Of course, it would be more accurate if I were more experienced with Twitter.

“TweetPsych uses two linguistic analysis algorithms (RID and LIWC) to build a psychological profile of a person based on the content of their tweets. The service analyzes your last 1000 tweets and works best on users who have posted more than 1000 updates. It also works best on accounts that are operated by a single user and use Twitter in a conversational manner, rather than simply a content distribution platform. For more information read the blog post or follow the creator Dan Zarrella“

Hmmm… very enlightening.  Don’t judge me!

Dashama has started up a second 30 day yoga challenge, and I’m in! It’s not too late to join in with me, if you’d like.  All you have to do is go to youtube and search for her channel, and subscribe.  You check in to see the daily workout.  They’re not terribly long or time consuming, but they can be quite challenging.  The first day was a fast paced variation on the sun salutation that she encourages everyone to do every day of the 30 days.

Day 2 was on nutrition, and today is on meditation. So, there’s not that much you’ve missed as far as actual moves, if you want to hop on in for the month of June. I’ve been a slacker over the month of May, so this is a great kickstart for me to get back to my goals of being flexible and strong.

I’m also working on my 100 pushups, but I’ve allowed myself to get sidetracked there, too. Next week will be the third first week. I’m trying to get my family involved, too, but if that doesn’t work, then I’ll have to admit it and move on for myself. I’m planning to pair this with the 200 squats and 200 situps programs that are on the page, too.  That will take care of my strength and endurance building for the next 6 weeks.  Thirdly, Sarah has pointed me towards Run University. I’m really inspired by the couch to 10k program, so I’m going to try it.  Again, schedule and family threatens to interfere, so I haven’t quite worked out how I’m going to work this in just yet.  I’m working on it.  Just writing this up should keep me a bit more honest with myself.

I’d love to hear what you’re currently doing, or your plans, or even thoughts about my plan.  For me, all of these goals are pretty ambitious. Am I balancing goals that will motivate me well with a plan that won’t overtax me?  I’m hoping so.  I’m excited, because I’ll tackle strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health.  This is the first time I’ve really come up with a plan that addresses all of those with goals for each.  Also, each of the programs starts small, so I’ll be working my way up instead of crashing and burning the first week. I’m hoping that the yoga augments the others well, by providing my muscles with some protection and counter stretching to all of it, so that’s what I’m using as my catalyst to take care of myself.

School’s out for summer!  Who knows what this will mean for my schedule? I plan many things, but often they are undermined by tricky life. I may be more erratic than usual over the next few months, or I may find that not having to interrupt the flow of my day to meet an 8-3 schedule means that I get more time to write. We’ll see.

Often issues come up that I consider discussing pertaining to my family, parenting, school systems, or religion.  Even though I want to hear other points of view, I am leery of exposing my children in any but the most broad terms. Recently, a local deleted most of her longstanding blog because online persona was directly affecting her children’s lives.  I didn’t read the offending post, but apparently she vented her spleen about something, expecting the anonymity of the ‘net to protect her children, and moved on.  Apparently some very loving and Christ-like Christians (ahem) somehow took it out on her children.

This was one of my worst apprehensions about starting up a blog.  Oftentimes I don’t feel I can be really open about certain issues, so I avoid them. When I want to talk about parenting, or being an at-home Mom trying to work out the particulars of going back to school and work while keeping her place in the family as the coordinator and manager, I always decide against talking on those things.  If I want to talk about my struggles with being surrounded by a fundamentalist Christian family that I feel is overwhelmingly intolerant at times, I cringe.  Certain topics are just taboo in my mind.  I don’t want to inflict any pain on my children because some close-minded people of any stripe decided to use me against my children.  I know that game, because I was introduced to it as a child.

I know I could deal with my family finding the site, but it’s the strangers who would judge me with only this blog to go on, and punish my children as a result.  I know that it’s very easy to “out” someone on the internet, and I’ve been fairly open about my real life identity.  My Facebook and Twitter accounts, which both have real pictures of me, are linked to this website. At times I wonder if I should cut all those little strings leading up to me, but I know that there will still be a trail, somewhere.

Seeing SJ’s blog go down for the sake of her children gives me pause.  While I understand completely why she packed away her writings for a later time, I do think it’s a shame.  More diversity, especially in such a homogenous community, incites conversation and understanding.  So, if I’m disappointed that SJ closed her blog down, I feel like I should not be a hypocrite and feel free to talk more openly about parenting and religion. On the other hand, is it possible to be open and honest without it biting me?

Yes, it’s up and running.  Chris finalized the first blog post last night.  The forums are there too, but they haven’t seen much action just yet. Chris has introduced the Player Characters involved in our current roleplaying campaign.  I know he’d enjoy feedback as to what you’re interested in reading about, and how you feel he misrepresented your characters’ true natures.

Head over there and be one of those rare people who will be able to say, “Oh, I’ve been following Kuralia since Chris made his first blog post, back in 2009.”

As long as I can remember, 47 has been my favorite number, though I never had any particular reason to be drawn to it.  There are now 47 posts on this blog. When I pair that fact with the bit of synchronicity from last week, I realize that the universe has informed me that it is time to write a tribute to the mystery of 47.

I’ve heard of other numbers having followers. I’ve heard there are many people who believe that seeing 11:11 means that the universe is trying to reveal something.  I found that idea very fascinating for a while, but I think the universe must not have anything very special to tell me just yet, since I never randomly look up and see elevens anywhere.  I know several people whose favorite number is 7.  Others pick 13, just to buck the system. But 47?!  47 is my number, I’d always felt it was unique.  Not so much.

Cruising the internet last week, I came across a link to Awkward Family Photos.  As I was giggling my way through the pages of the album, I saw that 47 apparently is an awkward number.  I had to read the comments on that one. They pointed me to the 47 Society’s webpage.  Disappointingly, it appears to be inactive, but I was intrigued, and kept researching.

According to the Ponoma College website, “In 1964, Professor of Mathematics Donald Bentley proved that all numbers are equal to 47.” I feel so vindicated, because that’s exactly how I use it!  Now I’ll know I’m not really exaggerating, as 47 is accurate at all times.

Furthermore, the fascination with the number 47 infected the Star Trek universe.  The number 47 has featured prominently in episodes from The Next Generation’s fourth season forward, because of writer Joe Menosky.  He is a Ponoma graduate, and wrote for TNG, Deep Space Nine and Voyager.  The inclusion of 47 in these series has been tracked obsessively.  Rick Berman was a fellow writer during some of these episodes, and joked about the inclusion, “47 is 42, corrected for inflation.”  Squee!  A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference wrapped up in a shiny Star Trek coating!

I really wonder now if my subconscious got some programming from watching so much Star Trek, or if it’s truly just coincidental.  Will I turn into this guy?

Yeah, I totally just co-opted a Langston Hughes poem.  Don’t take the analogy too far, okay?  Geeks are misunderstood and shunned, but very rarely oppressed beyond high school.   Eventually, many of us work our way up through the eschelons of society and become the world’s leaders anyway.   The Society for Geek Advancement is up and running as of today, promoting “social media for social good.”

Yeah, I know. I am a nerd, and I do play D&D.  I even play Magic, The Gathering on rare occasions.  (Sorry about the nightmares, Kuraruku.)

Still, is that not the coolest?!  I’ve already heard some grumblings about people who are capitalizing on geek chic, but who cares?  Geeks who are self-righteously into non-conformity instead of creativity and excellence are doing it wrong anyway.

Today I read a Paste Magazine interview with Felicia Day.  She is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses. She’s unconventional — beautiful, smart, witty and has gorgeous eyes and red hair!  Yay!  She’s a gamer nerd chick, with smooth pale luminescent skin glowing from lack of pigment and too much computer time.  She’s got freckles!  She was born in Huntsville.  She was home schooled and then went on to college and double majored in mathematics and violin performance.  After she graduated, she moved to California… to become an actress.  What’s not to love?

Felicia has been here and there, most recognizably playing Vi on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But I became really familiar with her through her online work, particularly Penny in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Dr. Horrible is Joss Whedon’s hilarious and wonderful online musical, created during the writer’s strike last year.  Did you ever see the Buffy musical episode?  Dr. Horrible is definitely a close relative.  It chronicles a young hopeful’s rise to stardom in the world of super villains.  It’s only 43 minutes all told. I was a  big evangelist when the episodes originally debuted.  I’ve memorized it by now, because I have watched it at least a dozen times.

As I began researching the actress who played the lovely Penny, I discovered that Felicia Day actually was brought to Dr. Horrible largely because of her experience with her own online project, The Guild. The first season of The Guild was very easy to find Youtube.  I immediately watched them all, enjoying the instant gratification. Before you click “play,” I should warn you there is some strong language.

There, the first one’s free. Actually all of them are. Just travel over to the Guild’s website.  There are only two seasons so far, so catching up won’t be hard.  It’s very different than Dr. Horrible, which created for mass appeal.  Obviously, it’s very much a niche oriented video, with jokes geared toward online gamers.  World of Warcraft players will especially enjoy it.

Felicia had tried to sell The Guild as a more traditional show, but it was too much of a niche market.  Too many people didn’t understand the jokes.  So she turned to where the audience that would appreciate her work hangs out all day every day, and began making Youtube shorts.  By the end of the first season, the donations that were pouring in actually made it possible to pay the actors.  For the second season, after much wooing from many angles, the perfect solution to return to her pet project and actually make money while retaining her creative autonomy.  From the Paste interview:

Then, Xbox and Microsoft came in and were like, “We love the show, we want you to do what you do with it, we just want to help you produce it and make it and roll it out really fast.” They created a revolutionary business model, because not only did they get a sponsor on board, but they distributed it over all the Microsoft platforms so you can download it for free off of Xbox live and HD which is basically like downloading a TV show. So our little independent, shot-in-my-shed show is essentially one click away from 30 Rock.

How cool is that?  She had the idea for a nifty show about gaming, got rejected everywhere, and decided to go ahead and do it.  And now she’s enjoying incredible success by turning a small independent venture into something that is reaching the whole world because niche marketing actually works so well on the internet.  Joss Whedon was right to seek her simply for her skills as an internet guru for Dr. Horrible.  The fact that she can actually sing and act was simply a bonus.

At last, I’ve reached the end of the ImagiCon brainstorm. This is the conclusion to my earlier article about publishing options.  Typing and sharing each of these has been great fun, and hopefully I will get many more opportunities to learn like crazy and share it with the world.

Whenever I hear someone is self-published, my mind immediately cringes.  Vanity publishing is the derogatory term to describe small presses that will publish anything for a fee.  Professionals who have a quota of books to be published as part of their job description have been known turn to vanity presses when traditional professional and educational publishers reject their works.  The vanity publisher makes money by selling the author the physical version of his own work.  When I was studying for my degree, my professors repeatedly warned us all never to use a vanity publisher, no matter how tempting it might be just to get published.   The general view is that the work isn’t worthy enough to be commercially viable, and it hurts an author’s later chances with a well-respected publisher.  Vanity publishers also have a reputation for predatory contracts that strip authors of the rights to their works.

While a vanity publisher makes their money by selling books to the author, self-publishers now have options to pay very little to nothing up front. Taking on the role of both writer and publisher can be an attractive alternative that really allows great amount of flexibility and freedom to the artist. Self-publishers can simply hire a press to print and bind a book, though ideally the author can find a team of individuals willing to do the work necessary to edit, publish, and distribute the work. PDFs are cheap and easy to produce and distribute.  Very little investment is necessary beyond the sweat equity of creating the finished product. Instead of having to rely on print copies and bookstores to distribute the books, more of the money from a work can go directly to the author and publisher.  A writer who chooses to write and publish on a website or sell an ebook or PDF can actually completely cut out the issue of printing altogether, unless demand for physical copies becomes great enough.  If that’s the case, they can find a press to print on demand, and if not, there’s no need to print.  Obviously, there are plenty of pitfalls to avoid.  An author who self-publishes does not have the infrastructure of any publishing house backing him.  Many self-published works are simply awful due to a lack of even the most basic editing.  The onus is entirely on the author to advertise and promote the work. A certain amount of net savvy is necessary to make electronic media work.   Anyone with something to say can publish it very easily, and there is a whole world of competition.  The market has to glean the wheat from a whole lot of chaff, and people are necessarily skeptical about actually paying for any electronic content.

Historically, self-publishing didn’t carry a stigma.  If someone wanted to get a message out, they wrote pamphlets or books up, hired a printer, and distributed the work as they could.  The publishing business has become a filter for the public.  Bookstores tend to only carry books published by reputable publishers, because those books have been preapproved to be worth publishing.   Self-publishing has been the norm for poetry and other niche markets, and now the model of a reputable publisher being a necessary part of a work’s success is becoming outdated.  As the internet and other electronic media replace paper, newspapers are losing customers to the professional and amateur self-publishers of bloggers, news aggregates, and online magazines.   In this new, changing market, many traditional publications are simply not keeping up with the changing times and going bankrupt, while others adapt and thrive.  The same is happening with books.  For example, most of my book club group is reading A Clockwork Orange online right now, rather than visiting a library or buying the book.  Any online work is self-published.  It might not be returning a profit, or even remotely commercially viable, but anyone reading this already reads self-published content.  You may not directly pay to read your favorite web comic or news pundit, but we’re all participating in the shift in how the world gets its written word.  More and more people are beginning to build companies and making incredible incomes because self-publishing is reemerging as a useful and acceptable means of creating income and distribution of work.