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Right, short journal entry. See how that goes. Probably looking at an aberration here.
I was thinking about principles and how they can get you into trouble. In general, they are good to have. Good to believe in something. Stand by something. Have standards, will travel.
No, I'm not going to bother trying to define what I'm talking about outside of saying principles are things felt strongly about. Willing to make decisions about life, the universe and everything based on them. Stand up to people because of them. Go with people on principle.
The best part of my little test of LibreOffice last week was that wasn't even close to what I had planned on writing about. I had actually had something on my mind. Sure, just one of those things that probably wouldn't interest anyone other than my own little self but that's hardly the point. I had actually had something I thought I could ramble on about, which doesn't happen as often as I might like. It's that whole dilemma I refuse to stop going on about.
I want updates on my website. Stagnation is death and all of that. Sure, I've got no reason to believe that anybody is paying attention to the website; therefore, it don't matter none if it's updated. Hardly the point. Stagnation is death, as already stated at the beginning of this paragraph.
However, I don't want updates just for the sake of updating. That's even worse than stagnation. Boring people out of their minds with the shear triviality of the updates. Good way to drive people away even faster than a stagnated site.
Trying out LibreOffice for the first time so this may not be the most spirited or interesting journal entry that I've ever posted, which is a good way to start these things off, by the way. Don't worry. Nothing to read here. Move along.
Or, stick around. Hear the tale of how I discovered LibreOffice. Got to love that name. Wasn't planned, I understand. Just sort-of happened, but I'm not going to tell you the story of LibreOffice.
I've been using OpenOffice.org for those people who haven't been keeping track. Just didn't want to spend the bucks on the latest and greats version of Microsoft Office. I've been quite vocally of the opinion that Microsoft Office really kind-of peaked with Office 97. It's all been downhill since then what with one improvement and modification after another. Simply can't leave well enough alone. I limped along with Office 97 for years and years and years. Refused to upgrade. Couldn't stand what they had done to the place.
I don't like travelogue. Those long descriptive passages in books that may or may not be there to add character development. Sometimes, they exist purely to be cool or to show the hardships that the cast and crew must overcome. I don't know. Some people like travelogue to pieces. Nothing wrong with that. It is purely a personal bias against travelogue on my part. I just hate it. I hate travelogue with an unnatural passion that defies all logic and reason, and I just have to learn to live with that.
I also can't stand overly obvious or exposed plot mechanics. The form and design of the work shouldn't be so close to the surface that the bones actually stick through the skin. Sure, a story is very likely going to have an introduction, development section, rising action, crisis and conclusion, and I don't have a problem with any of that. While these are not in fact required elements, chances are very likely that any odd story is going to include them. Things should feel like natural developments. The plot points should feel like they occur because of the characters or events on the ground. They should not feel external or injected onto the cast and crew of marry pranksters that we have learned so well.
If I can pinch the first quarter to third of the pages of a book between thumb and finger and notice that the first big development or whatnot has just occurred, that's an obvious plot mechanism. If I can divide the book in half and something really big or important has just happened that may or may not change everything or results in an increase of excitement or tension, then that is also an obvious application of plot mechanics. Also, if I'm reading along and can tell from way off that there is going to be a big revelation or event or whatnot and it happens exactly when I predicted it would happen, that is once again exposed plot mechanics.
Surprisingly enough, I'm not going to make a habit of this. I'm actually kind-of shocked that I've written so many journal entries in a row. Well, not exactly in a row, but you know what I mean. Didn't know I had enough on my mind that I could pound so much into my poor defenseless little computer keyboard. It's good exercise, I think. Dusting off of cobwebs. Giving me a bit of a notion of how much I can write in about an hour without too much forethought or planning. I mean, sure, I knew there were a whole bunch of topics I wanted to go over, but I really didn't know how it was going to all turn out. I mean, seriously, I thought I was going to get one journal entry out of the whole mess. I was not expecting to still be writing random sentences more than a week after I started.
So, ignoring the Shakespeare project for the moment, which I really do not want to go into in any more detail than I already have because it simply can't be that hard for people to figure out what I'm doing and beat me to it especially given the rate at which I'm working on it. Stupid day job. Also, I guess I've needed the time to realize that the story is far more involved than I was hoping to get away with. I need to really think about what I'm up against. I need to plan. I need to think. I need to take the proceedings far more seriously than I was hoping to get away with. What can I say? I just like the clash of ideas that I've strung together, and I really, really want the adaptation to work.
I really don't want to comment on the fact that it is an adaptation and not something wholly original. I mean, fuck it. I don't want to just rehash. I don't want to remake. I don't want to just go with something that's been done before from a lack of any good ideas of my own. This is the kind-of thought that does still worry me about my chosen project. Sure, I'm only doing it because I'm worried about what can be sustained. I'm worried about what I can continue without becoming overly invested in the project, which I've basically failed at, I guess. I mean, just look at me. I'm already insane over the project. I'm already obsessed with the style and format of the proceedings.