Tag: vacation

VACATION DAY ONE COMPLETE

On By Luther M. SilerIn life, PhotographyLeave a comment

So we left on our vacation yesterday.

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Today was a Driving Day; get from northern Indiana to Louisville, with a stop in Bloomington along the way.  I haven’t been in Bloomington for years, so it was great to get back into town.  Also, we got to explain what “college” is to the boy.  We only really had time to eat lunch and tour the southwestern part of campus, but that’s where most of the fun stuff is so it worked out.

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Wright Quad!  The window to the left of the door there was my dorm room the only year that living in the dorms mattered.  I considered trying to swing by my apartment my junior and senior year and then realized I probably couldn’t find it without thinking hard.

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Some things never change; there are still shoes dangling from damn near every overhead power line.  Don’t ask.IMG_5923

Some things do change:  The Von Lee used to be a movie theater.  The building is still there, and it’s still the Von Lee, but it’s apparently a Noodles now?  Which I feel may be a bit of a demotion.

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Sample Gates, the unofficial doorway to campus.  My favorite Sample Gates story has nothing to do with me: my brother was going to propose to his fiancee (now wife) there, but had to rapidly abort and find another location when someone else was already proposing when they got there.

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Most of the buildings on campus are made from southern Indiana limestone.  I always enjoyed this quote, especially the odd hyphen in “master-spirit.”

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My wife, a journalism major, poses with Ernie Pyle, an IU grad.  The boy appears less certain about him.

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The Student Building.  It’s not called that for any clear reason that I was ever aware of, but I’ve always loved the clock tower.  IMG_5926

Herman B. Wells and his Missing Cane.  This statue and the flowers around it are new since I was there.  The pained look on the boy’s face is because that’s a bronze bench and it was hot outside; to his credit,  he allowed us to photograph him before remarking that he was partially on fire.  IMG_5929

Immediately behind where the last picture was.  IMG_5930

The mighty Jordan River!  Shut up it is mighty.IMG_5931

I am aware, intellectually, that I have the sky and clouds at home, and that the sky at home is the same sky that I look at when I’m in Bloomington, but I swear the skies are prettier down here anyway.  God, I miss this town.

We swung by my mom’s childhood house in Bedford at her request and I managed to stealth a couple of pictures of the house without the current homeowners noticing.  I remember this hill being a lot steeper and taller, but that’s what 30-year-old memories will do for you:

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I played on this rock a lot as a little kid.  Couldn’t resist having the boy take a picture there.  IMG_5969

WOO KENTUCKY.

Today, I shall pet a giraffe.

Meet Joey Car James

On By Luther M. SilerIn Photography3 Comments

Joey here will be conveying us around for the next several days.

Okay so maybe I had nothing all week long too

On By Luther M. SilerIn Work3 Comments

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The story of the last two days has been racing my wife to see which of us can fall asleep quicker after putting the boy to bed when I get home from work.  There has been no time for bloggery.  There has barely been time for conversation.  It’s 7:36 as I write these words; I got home with the boy at around 4:30, she was home minutes afterwards, and I think I’ve been asleep in my recliner for the entire intervening period of time.

This weekend, I shall finish the final story in Tales from the Benevolence Archives, which is still Coming Very Soon.  Then I shall work for Saturday and Sunday, as is my recent tradition, and then– wait for it– I’m on vacation for a week, marking the first time in my adult life where I’ve chosen when a vacation was going to take place, which is kind of fascinating.  We’re visiting friends in Louisville and Kansas City and are probably swinging by my brother’s place in Chicago on the way back home.  There will be a lot of driving, but I’m excited about it, although I’m sure I’ll get cold feet and try to cancel the whole thing at least once between now and then.

I am seeking guest bloggers for that week, by the way, so if you have had a piece in mind that you’d like to share, feel free to hit me up in comments and let me know about it.  There are at least five days available– Monday to Friday of next week– and in the unlikely event that I get more people interested than that, I’ll either double some days up or fill a weekend day or two.

Anybody wanna do a guest post?

On By Luther M. SilerIn Blogwanking7 Comments

Short notice, I know, but:  I’m out of town for my brother’s wedding Thursday through Sunday of next week.  If anybody has anything laying around (or stuck in their brains) that could make a good guest post, either hit me up in comments or drop me an email.

Taking the day off

On By Luther M. SilerIn Blogwanking, MusicLeave a comment

I’ve got a fairly busy afternoon ahead of me and screwed off all morning, so don’t expect fireworks around here today.  Buy a book, if you like; January has to redeem itself somehow.

Meanwhile, this song has been running through my head all morning, but I don’t know any of the lyrics, so I’ve just been wandering around the house mumbling about young dudes.  This behavior will no doubt make me popular while I’m out in public in a bit.

Before

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Tufts of dog hair and other grossness deliberately left for comparison purposes.

   
 

In which I am terrible at vacation

On By Luther M. SilerIn idiocy1 Comment

I have actually gotten some stuff done in the last few days– Benevolence Archives 9 got written and submitted to Lightspeed Magazine, and by the end of the night Starlight ought to be cracking the 10K word barrier, which is kind of a big deal psychologically, even if it took way too long to get there.  There have also been various errands run and deeds accomplished, in addition to going slowly insane from job-related stress.

I have also been watching this man beat Bloodborne, in its entirety, every boss, using only the gun.  Which by rights ought to be impossible.  And yet he does it.  I know!  He has like 12 hours of videos uploaded to YouTube and over the last couple of days I have watched (or, at least, had running on one monitor while I did something with the other– I love having a dual-monitor setup) every second of it.

Every.

Second.

People appear to be sending him money while he is doing this, by the way.

Video game streaming culture is interesting.  Part of me wants to run screaming because of the timesink aspect and part of me thinks this is a way cheaper way to stay current on what’s going on out there.  I think I probably need to choose “run screaming,” but who knows.

Benevolence Archives, Vol. 1 is now indisputably available in print, just in case you’ve spent the last fourteen months chewing your fingers and hoping.  Order away, if you like– just remember it’s also in Sanctum, and you get a better deal if you buy Sanctum.

The best part is that he’s learning

On By Luther M. SilerIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

(Context for the title. You should all watch Archer.)

So I’m starting to enjoy fiddling with Scrivener.

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I spent a chunk of last night sleepily going through the (rather impressively detailed) tutorial that they include with the program, and got through about half of it.  It does an impressive job of using the program to teach the end-user how to run itself, and by the time I was halfway through the thing I was fully in the okay it’s time to start writing now and figure the rest out later stage of working.  And, well, as you can see I’m actually accomplishing things.  Mostly.  Sorta.

So far I’ve been on summer vacation for eight hours and nineteen minutes if I start the count from when I got up this morning.  During that time I’ve received fifteen emails and four phone calls– one from my assistant principal, and her summer vacation started a week ago.  Each and every one was about stuff that I really shouldn’t have been needed for.  But whatever, at least no one has asked me to come back in.  Yet.

It’s cloudy outside.  It’s been cloudy outside for a week or two now, and that telescope that I acquired at the cost of high personal drama hasn’t been outside the damn house yet.  Tonight will be the peak of the Jupiter-Venus conjunction, and if I can’t see it at least with naked eye because of the clouds I’m going to be pissed.  It cannot possibly stay cloudy all summer long, but I have a feeling that it’s going to try.  The forecast is showing a clear window between 9:00 and 10:00.  That ought to be enough, as sunset’s at 9:23, but keep your fingers crossed for me.  I’ll take pictures if I’m able to get set up at all.