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[fadeaccompli]

1) I have been editing all of the fanfic. And having reached the end of the story sequence I was editing, I picked up on the WIP at the end, and kept writing... I'm not sure this is the best use of my time over the last few weeks of summer, but it's some sort of writing and editing practice, and it's deeply emotionally satisfying. So be it. I still hold myself to finishing daily/weekly wordcount on my Real Novel before I get to go play in the fanfic pool, so I don't think it's actively harmful.

2) Everyone is going gaga over Welcome To Night Vale, which sounds like it is totally my kind of thing, and is...a podcast.

I don't do podcasts. I've tried, I really have, but they don't work for me. I can't multi-task them, I can't pause and pick up easily like with text, they want all my attention all of the time if I'm going to follow them at all but they don't move as fast as reading text so I end up going ARGH at them a lot. But...I've seen text pull quotes from the podcasts float around occasionally.

So. Is there a set of transcripts for the episodes? Fan transcripts are fine! Being several episodes behind is fine! I just want a way to follow along that doesn't require spending loads of time being mono-focused and frustrated about it.

3) I am very glad to have my spouse back home.

4) I wonder if it's too early to run down to the co-op and start buying textbooks for next semester? Because, y'know, textbooks. SO EXCITED.

Comments

[anne]

Go to the co-op IMMEDIATELY, lest they run out of your books. Happened to me more than once. (Possibly because people like me went and sharked the interesting books from other departments. #notevensorry)

[anne]

OMG I LIVE IN COLLEGE-LAND NOW, I can go shark ALL THE TEXTBOOKS. OMG. (and then carry them home by hand. Uh.)

[fadeaccompli]

SHARK SHARK SHARK.

*hums the Jaws theme while walking through the co-op textbook aisles*

[fadeaccompli]

Ha. Well, the thing is, the co-op often doesn't even get in the books I need until a week before class. Or two weeks after... So I will make a trip a few weeks before classes start, and one the first day of classes, and then order online anything they haven't acquired by then.

...I. Er. I also shark interesting books from other departments. I got a really good Catullus book that way!

[aamcnamara]

I cannot speak to the quality of any particular transcripts (since these podcasts have weirdly been working for me, even though I am not typically a podcast person), but this is the most comprehensive transcript list I've seen:
http://rubato.tumblr.com/post/55558758191/welcome-to-night-vale-transcripts

[fadeaccompli]

Oo, comprehensive is good. Thank you! I think I'm going to try starting out with the podcasts and a transcript at hand, and then swap to one or the other alone as seems best.

[aamcnamara]

No problem! I have been enjoying Night Vale greatly, so I am happy to be an enabler.

[neogrammarian]

You're the only person I've met who also struggles w/podcasts, and for a similar reason- I thought I was the only one! It can be very frustrating.

[fadeaccompli]

I did successfully listen to podcasts once! It's when I had an eye injury and the doctor told me to sit quietly in a dark room for as much of the day as possible, not focusing my eyes on anything at all. So I lay on the bed and listened to some amusing podcasts that didn't require much focus. And...that was pretty much the only time they worked for me.

[rikibeth]

Not the only one, not at all! I absolutely had to start out with simulatneous transcripts for Welcome to Night Vale.

Then I discovered that I can focus on it pretty effectively if I listen while doing dishes. IDKwhy. But it works.

It doesn't work as well for my AAPC lectures. I've given up dealing with them, as mostly they recap the textbook anyway.

[lizvogel]

Fanfic is Good For You. There's nothing wrong with writing something just for fun once in a while. (And I'm not just saying that because I broke down and wrote RED 2 fanfic this morning, either.)

Podcasts don't work for me, either; my brain wants more to do than just listen, and then it wanders off and I realize I haven't heard a word for fifteen minutes. But I've discovered that doing on-line jigsaw puzzles while listening to podcasts is perfect; gives the non-listening brain-parts something to keep them happy, but doesn't distract the listening parts at all. It still takes a pretty good podcast to hold me, though.

[fadeaccompli]

Fanfic is good practice for many types of writing! But it doesn't help me with packing in emotional weight, because using pre-existing situations and settings makes that so much easier. Still. It helps with voice and style, and a bit with plot, which is certainly something.

And, huh. There are wacky little puzzle games that I play online a bit. I will have to try using one of those while listening to a podcast, and see if it works.