Lounge II (The Lounge Strikes Back)

[aeromancer he/him]

 

Title really says it all, but this is an hour of Brandon talking to to Shad Brooks who hosts a YouTube channel called Shadiversity which discusses medieval and fantasy weapons. In general, Shadiversity is a great place for writing tips on swords and the like, but this is a great hour-long interview. The topic is on the intersection of realism and fantasy in wordbuilding, but it takes a while for that to come up between the various discussions of cutting wedding cakes with swords and Last Jedi discussions. 

[Robinski he/him]

Thanks for that, Aeromancer. I shall aim to watch it over the weekend. Comments to follow!

Edited August 22, 2019 by Robinski

[Robinski he/him]

Project 75192: Update 15 - Bags No.10 - "Roundabout Plug in A Round Hole"

So, I'm just uploading some pics from pre-WorldCon, which I would have done during WorldCon if I'd had more than 2 minutes of time not hopelessly and rapturously immersed in the whole bally thing. Ergo, there is some catching up to do.

Firstly (1), an overall update. Then we start on the housing / under-building for the side sections between the curve of the stern and the 'prongs' (3,4,5), which are then installed on the underside (5). The next bit is a delightfully satisfying formation, very nicely modelled to be an excellent approximation of circular (7,8,9). In addition, there is the connecting mechanism (10) and some canon (construction not shown) which cover up the 'glass porthole'. Finally, the circular element goes into place  (11) and the long connectors enable connection (duh) to the upper part of the frame (12).

      

      

      

[Mandamon he/him]

1 hour ago, Robinski said:

Project 75192: Update 15 - Bags No.10 - "Roundabout Plug in A Round Hole"

Yay! Back to progress pics.

[Robinski he/him]

Hey folks,

So, Reading Excuses has a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/readingexcuses/)!! Who knew?

If you have any writing announcements, and you want them shared, let me know here (I guess) and I can do that. Chances are I'll see them anyway on FB or TW, but I don't always know what peeps might want to share / promote.

Also, any ideas for posts that are not your stuff, but general promotion of RE (if that's a thing), or anything else that's important from the writing viewpoint, I guess.

[Silk she/her]

11 hours ago, Robinski said:

Hey folks,

So, Reading Excuses has a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/readingexcuses/)!! Who knew?

I did not!

[Robinski he/him]

Just now, Silk said:

I did not!

Yeah, I'm not very good at 'running' it, but it does have 142 likes, but there's not that much engagement.

[Silk she/her]

40 minutes ago, Robinski said:

Yeah, I'm not very good at 'running' it, but it does have 142 likes, but there's not that much engagement.

Well, I'm one of them now for whatever that's worth, but I do try to minimize my engagement with Facebook as much as possible, so...

[Robinski he/him]

Project 75192: Update 16 - Bags No.11 - "Back End Cover-up"

This time around, the top sections of the side 'pods' with suitable surface detail (2,3,4). Then, Fin and BB-8 in action!!! (5)

Moving on to one of the Falcon's signature details, the big round vent-y things on the top / back, constructed of grey quadrants (6,7), curve sections and many, many, many black 2x1 grille pieces (8). First a central section at the back (9), then two side 'arc' sections at the back one vent each (10,11,12).

      

      

      

[Mandamon he/him]

Yay! Another Falcon update!

[Silk she/her]

Oh man, @Robinski, I meant to ask you if you saw the Lego displays outside the art show at Point Square!

[Robinski he/him]

7 hours ago, Silk said:

Oh man, @Robinski, I meant to ask you if you saw the Lego displays outside the art show at Point Square!

I did! Weren't they awesome? I saw some incredible stuff when Brick Live came to Glasgow couple of years back, and the Dublin displays were right up there.

Some favourites:

 

[Silk she/her]

On 9/7/2019 at 10:51 PM, Robinski said:

I did! Weren't they awesome? I saw some incredible stuff when Brick Live came to Glasgow couple of years back, and the Dublin displays were right up there.

They really were! I see we had similar favourites too. Although I also enjoyed the Stranger Things demagorgon.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Silk

[Robinski he/him]

Project 75192: Update 17 - Bags No.13 - "All in all, it's just another wedge in the pie"

Covering over sections at the back. There are well established themes, running through these bags, as you can see from the pictures! There are some fun and novel bits coming up. The last chapter is in sight as we come down towards the glitzy stuff like canons and the antenna  

      

      

[shatteredsmooth]

My brain is not adjusting well to the start of the semester, and I've been completely overwhelmed. I am teaching twice as many classes as I did in the spring. Tabling at a con last weekend didn't help. My mental health is kind of shaky, though I hope it regulates soon.

 I'm sorry I haven't gotten to the submissions. I'll read them all eventually, but it's going to take a little time to work out when I'll have time to read. I'm also incredibly frustrated with myself because I have two chapters left to submit for Junk Junction. One is written but needs a little work before I send it in. Originally this chapter was supposed to be the end, but it's not, so I need to write one more. I had meant to have these last two subs ready to ahead of time, but I don't and now I'm not sure if I'm going to get to them before I start getting edits for contracted work. 

I'm going to try my best to get caught up on reading and get those last two chapters done. 

If my comments seem off  like I seem over sensitive to your comments on my story, please don't take it personally. My head just isn't in a good place at the moment, and I don't want to just vanish from the group. If my comments on your pieces don't make quite as much sense, or if it seems like I'm struggling to give constructive feedback, know that it is temporary and eventually, I'll be more myself again. 

 

[Robinski he/him]

4 hours ago, shatteredsmooth said:

If my comments seem off like I seem over sensitive to your comments on my story, please don't take it personally. My head just isn't in a good place at the moment, and I don't want to just vanish from the group. If my comments on your pieces don't make quite as much sense, or if it seems like I'm struggling to give constructive feedback, know that it is temporary and eventually, I'll be more myself again.

Take your time. We'll still be here, ready to read your subs and receive your comments. Twice as many classes sounds pretty rough. That's going to take so assimilation. In fact, maybe that's the solution, just Borg all those students and teach them through the hive mind! Seriously though, no pressure here  

[Mandamon he/him]

5 hours ago, Robinski said:

10 hours ago, shatteredsmooth said:

If my comments seem off like I seem over sensitive to your comments on my story, please don't take it personally. My head just isn't in a good place at the moment, and I don't want to just vanish from the group. If my comments on your pieces don't make quite as much sense, or if it seems like I'm struggling to give constructive feedback, know that it is temporary and eventually, I'll be more myself again.

Take your time. We'll still be here, ready to read your subs and receive your comments. Twice as many classes sounds pretty rough. That's going to take so assimilation. In fact, maybe that's the solution, just Borg all those students and teach them through the hive mind! Seriously though, no pressure here  

Agreed. Don't risk your mental health for us, @shatteredsmooth. It's fine not to be caught up, and any comments you do add are always helpful!

[shatteredsmooth]

6 hours ago, Robinski said:

Twice as many classes sounds pretty rough. That's going to take so assimilation. In fact, maybe that's the solution, just Borg all those students and teach them through the hive mind! Seriously though, no pressure here

LOL It is an adjustment, especially after having August completely off, but I've had much much worse semesters. 

One Fall semester I was tutoring at  least 25 hours and teaching 18 credits (6 classes) scattered across three colleges, and did my first NaNoWriMo...so I really shouldn't complain about 19 hours tutoring and teaching 12 credits (4 classes). But last spring, I had my 20 hours tutoring, but enrollment was low I only taught 6 credits (two classes), and it was sooooo nice. 

The pressure, of course, is all from myself.

2 hours ago, Mandamon said:

Agreed. Don't risk your mental health for us, @shatteredsmooth. It's fine not to be caught up, and any comments you do add are always helpful!

Thanks! 

Writing and my mental health are very tangled up. I always need to have a WIP, and by now, I'd been hoping to have the one I was sending you guys ready to send out to alpha or beta readers so I could forget about it a while and go back to working on the next installment in my Evanstar Chronicles. Starting messy first drafts with familiar characters are perfect for when I'm really busy. But I don't think I'll be able to focus on any other books until I finish draft 2 of this one and get it sent off to alpha or beta readers. 

[hawkedup]

As Rick Sanchez would say, don't even trip, dawg! We got you.

What classes do you teach?

[shatteredsmooth]

1 hour ago, hawkedup said:

As Rick Sanchez would say, don't even trip, dawg! We got you.

What classes do you teach?

English Comp 1 and a companion course for students whose placement tests scored their writing as below "college level." This semester I am also teaching a class called Reading, Writing, and Reasoning, which is a 6-credit reading and writing course for students placed as below college level for both reading and writing. I'm good at teaching writing. However, I find teaching reading very difficult, probably because I don't teach it often. 

[hawkedup]

Do you get to choose your own reading material?

 

[kais]

@shatteredsmooth no worries at all! We all have been there and completely get it. Take care of yourself. We'll always be here!

[shatteredsmooth]

9 hours ago, hawkedup said:

Do you get to choose your own reading material?

 

I do. I have a lot of freedom and very little supervision. Which means I can make my students read and write about dystopian fiction. They can compare social justice issues in the dystopian world to present day social justice issues.  I think it's great. I'm not so sure about the students. But in the past, when I used book length non-fiction or traditional textbooks, I got very very bored. Granted, my reading class is the only one reading a whole book. My comp 1 read articles I assign at first, and then when they  get to the research paper, they choose their own reading material.

 

 

[Silk she/her]

On 9/21/2019 at 4:48 AM, shatteredsmooth said:

Which means I can make my students read and write about dystopian fiction.

Whole-heartedly approve. If only I'd had this choice when I was TAing... but alas, teaching assistants don't get to set our own syllabi.

But yes, absolutely, take care of yourself first! We'll still be here when you're ready.

I'm afraid I'm also going to be a bit slow to critique for a while, despite never having managed to get caught up in the first place. I'm currently "enjoying" the symptoms of what is almost certainly a pinched nerve somewhere, so I can't sit down or stand up comfortably for any length of time. It has not exactly done wonders for my productivity.

[Robinski he/him]

14 hours ago, Silk said:

I'm currently "enjoying" the symptoms of what is almost certainly a pinched nerve somewhere, so I can't sit down or stand up comfortably for any length of time.

Oh no! That's rubbish. Sorry to hear it.