Odd Collections

Project 52: 7/52

For some reason I had the urge the other night to collect obscure NHL player trading cards, bought cheaply at Dollarama. The idea would be to buy these packs - which presumably are leftovers, misprints, etc that the trading card company deigned not to include in the "real" packs - and sort through, collecting players who are virtually unknown to the common fan. There would be bonus cards as well for players in the wrong uniform for the current season (see: Rick Nash in a Columbus jersey - or Radek Bonk).

To be honest, I have no idea why this urge washed over me. I know when it came: I saw a package of extra hockey card inserts at Wal-Mart. Naturally my first thought was, "gee, I would love to collect hockey cards nobody wants!"

In hindsight it's completely silly. I know this. But even now I still kind of want to do it. What would I do with these cards?  I feel like I would most likely start a blog and post about these obscure players in a "where are they now" vein.

This is intriguing me even more, now. It's grown from a completely ironic idea to a legitimate idea. Obviously this means someone has already done this, no doubt. Don't expect to see anything from me too quickly.

Here's the one example that started the thought process of all of this:

Android on the iPod Touch?

I was browsing a forum sometime last week (this forum: Notebook In Hand) and there was a topic about iPhone / iPod Touch owners.  I mentioned that I had an iPod Touch "1G", and that while I was looking for an upgrade, it was still serving me quite well.

That triggered a response of "Well you should jailbreak it!  AND install Android!"

Wait, what?  Android on an iPod Touch?  What a crazy world!  It turns out that it's fairly simple to do this, so last weekend, I fiddled around with my iPod, and, lo and behold...

Now don't get me wrong - this is not a very functional version of Android.  It doesn't make calls, but it does connect to wifi perfectly fine and you can browse the web, etc.  But it's slow.  Way slower than the iOS.  And it overheats and causes the iPod to shut down. 

But it does one thing very well: it gives me the opportunity to play around with Android in a way that's sort of similar to using a tablet.  And it's not permanent, as I can switch back to iOS very easily.

And it ALSO speaks to my penchant for doing geeky things with my devices, like installing Android on a platform not designed for it.  Woohoo!

New Challenge

I'm still working on that pesky short story anthology - hopefully by the time this is published, I'll have everything assembled and will just be in the process of turning it into a readable ebook.  However, I decided that I don't want to be stuck in an uncreative period - I want to keep turning out new stuff.  With that in mind, I've thought up a new challenge for myself.

It doesn't have an official name or anything like that, but it's fairly simple: write 15,000 words in a month.  That works out to 500 words in 30 days, assuming I pick a month with 30 days.  So it'll be 15,500 if I pick a 31-day month.  That sounds simple enough, but probably a little too simple.  So I've come up with a few rules.

1) I can't have any "cheat" days - I must write at least 500 words every day.  In other words, I can't write 1,000 words in one day and take the next day off.  Extra words are bonus.
2) I can't start a new story idea until the current idea is finished.  Sure, writing isn't exactly the most linear endeavour out there, but I think it would be easier for me to come out of this challenge with something concrete if I make sure I have finished products at the end of it.
3) If I meet my monthly goal early, I don't stop.
4) No editing until the end of the month.  This will not be fun later on when I decide I want to do something with these stories.

Just a further note to number 2 - this doesn't mean that if I start writing a novel I have to finish this novel before moving on.  Not quite.  I am going to go on the assumption that I am just writing short fiction (or non-fiction, depending on the day I guess).  Honestly I don't feel like I have the time to commit to creating a full-length novel.

I'm not sure when I'm doing this but I know for sure it's not going to be March.  I wouldn't be surprised if I start this in April.

*** EDIT - Not quite done the anthology.  BUT I have made headway.  Also I have until June something in order to get the CreateSpace reader copy, so I have a little time.  But things are coming together.  Promise.

The Roommate

I haven't seen this new movie coming out, nor do I intend on watching it.  However, I keep hearing audio previews on the Local Radio Station and this one thought keeps popping into my head.

Let me start by offering a brief synopsis of The Roommate, courtesy of Wikipedia:

A college freshman, Sara (Minka Kelly), is randomly assigned to a dorm with a girl named Rebecca (Leighton Meester). They start off as friends, but things turn deadly as Rebecca begins to obsess over Sara's life, including her friends and family.

A few things not mentioned here that pop up in all of the previews: the movie seems to be about Rebecca's attempts to take over Sara's identity.  I have no doubt that is probably NOT a central plot point in this movie, but regardless it is what caused the wheels in my head to spin.

Obviously the idea is that Rebecca wants to become Sara for some reason or another.  My thought was that instead of just obsessing to the point of stalkerish and law-breaking, what if Rebecca was really some sort of monster and was literally becoming Sara?  She has some sort of monster magic and/or voodoo that erases her from existence, and assumes her new identity as Sara - ready to consume her next victim later on.

I guess my idea is sort of that Rebecca is some kind of creature that preys on other living beings and constantly changes identity to keep a low profile or whatever.  I don't know.  I just think that my idea is probably a lot more interesting than what the movie will turn out to be.