Project 365 compatriots.
You probably already know that I am excitedly participating in Project 365, taking a photo a day for a year. But what I am really excited about is that four of my favorite people are also participating! Here are their photos for the first day of 2012 … Are you participating too? Post a link to your set in the comments! ETA: I have created a Project 365 bundle for Google Reader so you can subscribe to all of our RSS feeds at...
Read More“The Sugarplum Favor” — a Christmas story by Tad Williams
I hope you are enjoying the holiday, Festivus, Winterval, or whatever you consider this period of time. I am spending it mostly unplugged, an important thing I do not do often enough, but I had to plug back in to share this with you. I have been an avid fan of Tad Williams since discovering his Otherland saga, a science-fiction series I regularly recommend while never being able to adequately describe it. So when Deborah Beale, Tad’s co-conspirator and wife, tweeted about a new short story of his available for bloggers to post, I was absolutely thrilled to volunteer. And through the magic of the Internet, here it is. Tad Williams’ new short story collection, A Stark And Wormy Knight, is available now, worldwide, as an ebook, $4.99 (or equivalent) for...
Read MoreI left something in San Francisco.
Maybe it was my heart. No, my heart was there, for a time, spread out in beating chunks across the hills and Muni lines and friends and restaurants and libraries and moments I thought I would never survive and the moon so full reflected on Ocean Beach. San Francisco, you taught me what it meant to expect beauty down every little alleyway, to believe in magic because living without it is dying a little every day. You taught me never to assume that I was alone because I felt lonely. You taught me patience with frustration, and when patience ran out you taught me how to curse it colorfully so I felt that at least I was doing something. San Francisco, you gave me serendipitous meetings by the truckload if only I would look up from my books. You gave me ridiculous...
Read MoreDon’t stop believin’, a lip dub for FunkyPlaid.
After 299 emails, 5.09 GB of movies, weeks of very little sleep, and so much iMovie-bashing, I present my birthday gift for FunkyPlaid, a lip dub of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”. Thanks so much to everyone who participated, who lent moral support, who tolerated my dithering over the choice of song, and especially to the Gamescape crew who stealthily set everything up to show him the video at the store tonight. (He was floored.) I regret not being able to include more of everyone. There was just too much rock for one video.
Read MoreTwitter Lists make happy tweeters.
Twitter fatigue: you follow a ton of fascinating people on Twitter, but how can you reasonably keep up with that much information, even in 140-character blasts? I use Twitter Lists, which are supported on the Twitter website and in most Twitter clients. Say you follow a bunch of musicians, like I do, but seem to always miss when they announce a new album or tickets going on sale because their tweets get lost in your timeline. Create a list called “music” and add them to it, and then when you want to read the latest from your favorite musicians, view that list. Here are the steps to creating your own Twitter Lists. (Updated on 7 March 2012 for the Twitter redesign.) Step 1: Go to a musician’s Twitter page and click the “person”...
Read MoreLife after Facebook.
Last Friday, I deactivated my Facebook account. I have been complaining about Facebook for a while now, so it was time for action. I opted for deactivation first before deletion because I wanted to see how a trial breakup would go. As it turns out, Facebook will still keep and mine my data! So hooray. Except the opposite of that. To be clear, Facebook isn’t evil, but it is a deeply flawed tool, and my use of it was making me more negative, paranoid, passive-aggressive, and a whole host of other things I do not want to be. I feel sad yet certain that I need to add this disclaimer: this post is about me and my opinion of Facebook. Perhaps you will relate to it, and perhaps not. I am not advising that you quit Facebook. Your comments, as always, are...
Read MoreDesiderata
Eighteen years ago, I first read Max Ehrmann’s prose poem “Desiderata” in the room description of a MUD. It resonated deeply with me, and I tend to revisit it when my life feels like an ill-tailored suit. Desiderata Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep...
Read MoreIt’s My Phone
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Hawk and I went to Anchor & Hope for dinner. It was a wonderful evening: we crossed off #48 on 7×7′s 2010 Big Eat SF list, plus I told a story that made Hawk laugh. He mentioned that I might want to lead with the story next time. So here I am, not leading with the story. After work and before I was due at Anchor & Hope, I headed to Westfield because, despite it being a large collection of stores I avoid, it has one thing I love: Maido, a lovely stationery shop filled with fountain pens and notebooks and tiny stickers shaped like frogs and kittens and wheelbarrows and what appear to be smiley-faced boogers. I kicked around Maido for a while, checking out the happy booger stickers, and then did something I rarely...
Read MoreThe City of Stolen Time
If you don’t live in San Francisco or care about city infrastructure, skip this post. I am compelled by my own impotent rage to document the abject absurdity of commuting in this city. This is anecdotal and subjective in nature; for statistics, please see Joe Eskenazi and Greg Dewar’s excellent SF Weekly article, “The Muni Death Spiral”. Today the N-Judah train I was riding during rush hour stopped at Church and Duboce due to “train control problems”. (For those of you who do not commute in San Francisco, that stop is the last above-ground stop for the N, meaning that all the commuters trying to get downtown and to the Caltrain station are out of luck.) Above-ground, all the F-Market trains and shuttle buses were packed. I did...
Read Morea letter to the reason
On his birthday, I wax poetic on what FunkyPlaid has come to mean to me.
Read MoreNestcam
The cam was last on Friday, May 4.
Hello What
I am Halsted, a/k/a cygnoir, and I do stuff with words.
My favourite things to do with words are keeping this diary, writing stories, and organising information.
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Scribbling
2,322/4,000 words
1,987/4,000 words
3,593/4,000 words
Reading
Listening
- Done Processing
Gridlock
22 hours and 21 minutes ago - Atomontage
Gridlock
22 hours and 28 minutes ago - Re/Module
Gridlock
22 hours and 32 minutes ago
Plugging
