Baxil [bakh-HEEL'], n.

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Below are the 14 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Baxil" journal:

October 1st, 2008
03:47 pm [Link]	Time slips by; (and) Ask me to write! October 1 already? Oy. Another blob down. It's a little morbid, but the sentiment behind the link is also a good kick in the pants. My life is not infinite, and if I procrastinate on the things I want to accomplish, they may not get done at all. So. Writing. Something I ostensibly want to do; time to kick-start it. After staring writers' block, other projects, distractions, and basic laziness in the face for seven goddamn months, I finally pushed through the last 2% of the 98%-done "CSI: Luvine" episode sitting around from February. I'll post it tonight after I leave the office. Also: I'm going to publically commit to this year's NaNoWriMo. I actually have a story I'd like to write, about some kids in TTU sucked into a strange land where magic takes an ... oddly recognizable ... format. Another month to plan it -- and to figure out the most graceful way to put my social life on hold -- and then, hopefully, a novel! And in the meantime, I'd like to give my muse some exercise. ( Will you help me out? ) Current Location: ~spiral Current Mood: ambitious Current Music: Yuko Fukushima, "To The Darkness of Hell," Arc the Lad: TOTS OST Tags: ask me a question, writing (17 comments \| Leave a comment)
March 12th, 2008
06:23 pm [Link]	Comfort zoning I approve of the latest meme going around: "Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it." ... but I'd feel a bit guilty jumping up and asking for suggestions. I'm already maintaining a back-burner commitment to cover these big topics over the next whenever. And my free time is going to be disappearing as the month goes on, in between filing our taxes and starting a two-week contracting job. So let me tweak the meme in a way that requires far less immediate effort: Do I have any old friends-locked posts that struck you as especially profound or worthy of broader distribution? Challenge my comfort zone by prodding me to expose those thoughts to a wider audience. The best way to sift back through my old posts is probably to look by topic; I've been pretty good about tagging my posts. Alternatively, give a brief description in comments and I can do a keyword search through my LJArchive database. Current Location: ~spiral Current Mood: curious Current Music: Disturbed, "Shout 2000" Tags: ask me a question, meme (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
July 4th, 2007
08:43 pm [Link]	AMAQ: (Talkin' bout) Death on the Fourth of July* Here in America, today was Independence Day. Tonight's the night with the boom and the flash and the smoke and the wtf music. I went to an early July 4 party over the weekend at childe_dirk's, and I got my US RDA of fireworks then; as such, I'm skipping tonight's festivities in favor of getting home from work and resting. But while I'm at it, I can offer some reading material for those who (like me) aren't doing anything special for the night -- a long overdue story! That's right -- the average reader might think that I forgot about my aging meme in which I promised to write things based on reader input, but I'm finally getting off my butt and doing something about it! ... "Yay!" I hear you shout. "Ambitious Cat stories!" And, indeed, there is shiny new TTU content so close as to be almost tasteable! But at this point, careful readers of my journal might now be remembering my previous head fake, and wondering whether all this lead-in has a similar intent. Dammit, careful readers! You are too clever for me. But if you'll stop gloating for a few seconds, I'll give you the never before revealed story of last summer's Dramatic Brush With Death -- -- No, this doesn't count. I merely promised to tell the story. That's not at all the same thing as revealing it. Would you shut up for a moment, clever readers? Because here we go ... with *Ask Me A Question: The Late But Epic Edition!* > "Have you ever felt the terror of death grip you?" Contrary to popular belief, staring your imminent death in the face is a very grounding experience. The popular notion of "your life flashing before your eyes"? Total bunk. I'll grant its utility as a literary device, sure -- but outside of the world of fiction, nobody's brain uses impending doom as an excuse for autobiography. The brain's response to imminent danger is to actually try to solve the problem. As unromantic as it is, people's real final thoughts are things like "I'll be safe from that bear up this tree." Or "I hope pulling back on this stick works like it does in the movies." Or "Where's the air? Which direction do I swim to reach the surface?" In my case, it was "If I find a way to brace myself properly, I might not get thrown out until the truck crashes." Then a jolt, a shudder, an uproar of dust as the passenger-side wheels drifted off the road. And a mental footnote: "I'm glad I've been taking pictures; it might help the investigators figure out who the guy in the back was." ( A true story. It started in Onyx ... ) -- * Post title: literary reference. Current Location: Not in Onyx, thank the gods Current Mood: hot Current Music: The Power Trio From Hell, "American Man" Tags: ask me a question, baxwalk pct, best of baxil, meme (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
June 22nd, 2007
03:23 am [Link]	Ask the Advice Dragon: The naming of names I still get a fair amount of feedback on the Draconity FAQ (long overdue for an update, though I think it's handled the passage of time well). And of the questions I get asked, one pops up time and time and time again: How do I find my dragon name? I keep re-answering this to people individually via e-mail; I can't find my notes from the last few times I wrote up suggestions, so I'm going to copy and paste my latest answer here as notes-to-self for the eventual FAQ update. If you have additional comments/questions/suggestions on the topic, or on the answer I gave, feel free to add them in comments. N.b.: Pretty much all of this applies to any search for a "true" name, draconic or otherwise. -- It's always hard to know how to offer suggestions for something so personal, but I'll pass on a few methods that have had good results for other dragons: First of all, keep your ears (and your heart) open. If a particular name is lurking in your subconscious, when you hear it, it'll just feel right. Someone might tell it to you in a dream, or a magically inclined friend might suggest it to you. If it resonates, there you go. (And if this works out for you, consider yourself lucky. `:)`) Sometimes playing with random letters can help jar your memory. Sit down with some Scrabble tiles, or an Ouija board, or a random syllable generator such as Yould (http://ygingras.net/yould). The point isn't to sit down and come up with The Real Thing on the first pass; the point is to find little bits and snatches of it that leap out at you, then play around with combining them, rolling sounds through your mind, giving your brain space to process it all and let it kick back an answer at its leisure. Also, don't be afraid to take a "temporary" name -- an Internet handle or a descriptive word or somesuch -- while you're waiting for inspiration to strike on the One True Dragon Name. Names are a matter of identity, and just having something to call yourself while you're looking for "the real thing" may be enough to settle you into your own skin (as it were) and let you identify with your dragon self. Besides, sometimes names have a power all their own, and end up choosing you - and something you picked as a temporary handle might end up having enough deeper meaning that you decide to stick with it! Current Location: ~/brainstorm Current Mood: insomnia Tags: ask me a question, draconity, magic (6 comments \| Leave a comment)
June 8th, 2007
02:04 am [Link]	The write stuff Alright, time for a break from the unintentional morbidity ... It's time for ~~ART~~ TTU WRITING MEME! To quote summer_jackel: You give me a brief idea, scenario or just a word, and [optionally] specify which character(s). I will come back with a quick ~~sketch~~ ficbit. The characters you can use are listed below. ... I will take the first 10 or so, or until I get tired of it. I don't insist on meme spreadage, but if you're an artist/writer and want to, pass it on. If you include it, let me know so I can tag you back. :) ( Further details ) ( character minutiae ) Current Location: ~/brainstorm Current Mood: calm Current Music: POTUSA, "Peaches" Tags: ask me a question, ttu, writing (13 comments \| Leave a comment)
October 3rd, 2006
02:27 am [Link]	A momentary lapse of reason: Special hiking edition One thing I'm remembering about face-to-face customer service jobs -- after not having worked one for a decade -- is the learning experiences that come from interacting with hundreds of strangers at a stretch. They broaden you, expose you to passions and outlooks and ways of thinking that you wouldn't see if you weren't being paid to smile and talk with folks while separating them from their money. I've got a few anecdotes perhaps worth relating, but one from Sunday morning stands out just now. That's because sometimes these interactions can reach far beyond expanding your view of humanity, and offer you an illuminating view of yourself. Case in point -- * * * A man came to my register to buy some groceries, and was chatting with the female behind him in line (they seemed to know each other, but I think they ran across each other in the store and started chatting while shopping). I don't recall at all the conversation that preceded it, but I believe he was trying to illustrate some broader point when he turned to me and asked: "So what about you? What do you do when you're not stuck here behind a register?" This caught me completely off guard, so I answered the only way I could think to: Completely honestly and spontaneously. "I write," I blurted out, part of my brain cringing at the cliché of it all ... news flash: unambitious mook working lowly retail job harbors aspirations of literary greatness in off hours! ... and so tried to extend my answer somehow. Of course, most of my other personal pursuits tend to soundbite in ways that derail conversations completely, so this left me groping for something else "safe" to share. So I fell into the deeply unfortunate but hopefully understandable trap of conflating life with work: "And, um, sometimes I fill in at the newspaper I used to work at." "Why'd you leave the newspaper?" he asked. And the Duh Hammer nailed me squarely between the eyes. "For my Pacific Crest Trail hiking trip." "You walked the Pacific Crest Trail?!?" he asked incredulously. "Well, about a thousand miles of it," I said. We ended up having an animated and terribly worthwhile three-minute talk on hiking -- an eternity in customer service time. But what stuck with me was that Duh Hammer moment. Here was this gigantic multi-month odyssey that I only, oh, upended my entire life for, that I've only been wanting to do since my college days, that took me halfway across one of America's largest states. A journey that took me to the continental U.S.' highest point and spanned distances some people can't even imagine covering without an airplane. A trip that, even in "failure" to accomplish my stated goal, still ranks as an accomplishment few would attempt to rival. And now that I'm stuck back in a daily routine, it seems so far removed from my life that a mere two months after my trail departure it doesn't even cross my mind on a list of interests without a little helpful prodding. I really don't know what this says about me (would the charitable explanation be that my life is so full of casual greatness that I can't see a thousand-mile walk as a big enough deal to alter my self-image?), but in any event, I'm pretty sure I'm embarrassed about it. * * * Speaking of the hike, I received two relevant questions from my Ask Me A Question poll. (No, I haven't forgotten AMAQ!) I was planning at some point to do a AMAQ: Baxwalk Edition, so this seems as good a time as any to revisit the meme. First, a reader asks, "How was your trip? Do you plan on resuming it anytime soon?" I never bothered to publically and officially say so until now, but my last day of actual hiking was August 1. From April 27 to August 1 -- 97 days, of which 58 were spent wholly or partially on the trail -- I covered 916 miles of the PCT. 877 of those were consecutive, from the Mexican border to Lake Edison; the remainder was the leg near our house that kadyg and I walked during my July stall-out. I cut my trip short due to medical issues, having developed patellar tendonitis in the high Sierra. (Insert irony here.) I probably could have returned after a few weeks of healing and at least limped over the 1,000-mile mark, but my financial reserves just ran too low while my knees were recovering, and I had to give myself some closure so that I could look for a job and start pulling in some income again. As far as the injury, my knees just refused to heal even slightly for about three weeks -- and then my physical therapist, getting as frustrated as I was, prescribed a regimen of intense stretching, which did the trick, and the pain and swelling cleared up within 7 relief-filled days. I enjoyed it. I loved the experiences, I love the stories, and even though I didn't finish the PCT or even the JMT, I did get through THE DESERT and climb Mount Whitney, both of which are major accomplishments. The scenery was incredible, the camaraderie was intense, the solitude (when I had it and had the time to sit back and appreciate it) was affirming, and you'd better believe I am not done with this trail by a long shot. This season's hike is over. I've made commitments that will keep me from anything so ambitious for a few years -- most notably, I'm following through on my agreement with Kady that once the season's hike was over, our next goal was to put her through cooking school -- but we've both agreed that I really ought to get back out in the backcountry in about 5 or 10 years for Baxwalk-PCT Take 2. I haven't decided whether my next attempt will pick up where I left off, or whether I want to start from the border again and re-walk those 900+ miles on my way to doing the whole thing in one season. I probably won't decide that until the next hike rolls around. Another reader asks, "Have you ever felt the terror of death grip you?" The answer is, yes, I have. The reason I mention this here is that the full explanation is one of my wildest trail stories, at which I have so far merely hinted. It deserves a special post of its own, so I'm going to keep you all in suspense for a day or two. After some sleep, I can clean out my links file and then devote some writing time to it. Current Location: ~computer_desk Current Mood: tired Current Music: "Reel Big Mario OC Remix," JAXX and Kaijin Tags: ask me a question, baxwalk pct, meme (7 comments \| Leave a comment)
September 3rd, 2006
03:36 am [Link]	F15htank QOTD I'll kick this short entry off with a relevant AMAQ question -- aknitwit asks, "Why do you spell 'fish' that way (f15h)? It looks like a password..." ( Short answer: L33tspeak. ) At any rate. kadyg and I were talking tonight, the conversation turned to fish, and on the prettiness of our p1ecostomus: B: Well, some people would say plecos are ugly. K: Boing's very pretty. B: I think so too. But some people would disagree. Let's face it, plecos are shaped like ... like mandolins. K: giggles Okay. If we ever get another pleco, I think we have to name it "Mandolin" now. B: No ... we'd have to name it *( dramatic pause!* ) Current Location: Feeding Boing at the f15htank Current Mood: fishy Current Music: "FF7 RedXIIIRedux" OC Remix Tags:** ask me a question, meme, pets, wordplay (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
August 31st, 2006
03:53 pm [Link]	AMAQ: Responses 2 (GMTA edition) Thank you all for your responses to my freshly revived Ask Me A Question poll. I'm up to 20 submissions (some of which I'm saving for last because they'll require extended explanation), and will keep answering them until I run out. If you haven't had a chance yet, feel free to pitch me a question at the original post! I'm starting to wonder if some of my readers are telepathic. I've had a few sets of responses where, within hours or minutes of each other, two people have asked me virtually the same thing. So, today's answers: *The Great Minds Think Alike metaquestion edition!* A respondent asked, "What question did you want to answer that wasn't asked, and what would your answer to it be?" ... and then, shortly thereafter another respondent asked, "What is the one question you really want someone to ask you?" If I had written this post yesterday, my hoped-for question would have been simple: "When's your next TTU story coming out?" Having people pester me to write more, after all, would be a nice egoboo. But! About 12 hours ago, a respondent read my mind, and asked, "How much TLands writing have you done recently?" So it's no longer unasked and doesn't count. ( Three answers ) A respondent asks, "Why don't you ask me a question, instead? :>" ... and immediately afterward, another respondent says, "Congratulations! You ... have just won the opportunity to ask me one question … (snip lengthy repetition of my original wording) ... What is your question?" ... thereby proving that my friends are not only telepathic, they also have warped senses of humor. :P I am extremely tempted to respond to at least one of these by pawning off a certain smartass Ph.D. candidate's question to me.* (Namely, "Prove $[Math equation; view image for details]$ ." Except the question was phrased as a series of LaTeX directives and I had to use HotEqn to decipher it.) ( An answer and two questions ) In fact, come to think of it, why don't I open that one up to the floor. I'd like to ask you all: What are you most proud of having written? I'll think it over and offer my answer to that in comments, since I'm sure someone's going to ask me anyway. -- * I did promise to preserve anonymity, but that doesn't mean I can't also be a smartass about it when necessary. I know lots of Ph.D. candidates; I still have plausible deniability. Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: hungry Current Music: Homer's Barbershop Quartet (The Simpsons sndtrk compilation) Tags: ask me a question, meme (14 comments \| Leave a comment)
August 28th, 2006
06:20 am [Link]	AMAQ: Responses 1 (photo edition) Thank you all for your responses to my freshly revived Ask Me A Question poll. I've gotten 13 questions so far, and will keep answering them until I run out. If you haven't had a chance yet, feel free to pitch me a question at the original post! I'm going to do a little cherry-picking for my first replies, because that will allow me to group them thematically. Today's answers: **The 3,000 Words (And 16 Colors) Edition!*** * Technically 3,271. To start us off, ounceofreason says, "What's the deal with the 'stache? It totally screams 'gay biker.'" ( Picture! ) chipuni says, "One of your interests is 'tilting at windmills.' At what windmills have you been tilting, recently?" ( Picture! ) soreth says, "So, why haven't you ... beaten the Great and Illegible Literature puzzle yet? ;)" ( Colors! ) A responder says, "How many attacks of the Mold Monster from the Fridge have you suffered since you made your documentary?" ( Picture! ) Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: creative Current Music: "Euthema," Fledgling Tags: ask me a question, meme, riddles (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
August 27th, 2006
02:59 am [Link]	AMAQ returns I'm suffering from a surfeit of desire to journal and a lack of drive to write anything in particular. In between that, and realizing that it's been well over three years since this particular meme made the rounds, I think it's time to resurrect this one for a sequel. Congratulations! You, as a reader of my journal, have just won the opportunity to ask me one question, to which I will respond as honestly and completely as ability and time permit. Some questions may be responded to in a separate, friends-locked post, but all honest questions will be answered. When you fill out the form below, your question will be considered anonymous unless you specify otherwise. Start it with an asterisk, , if you want me to attach your name to it. If you don't have a Livejournal account and don't see a form to fill out, you can also add a comment to this post -- comments will be screened so only I see them. (Again, anonymous unless you specify otherwise.) Poll #807848* Ask Me A Question II: Attack of the Clones Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 16 Ask me any one question, to be answered fully and honestly: n.b.: If you can't think of anything to ask me because you can't think of any secrets I might be keeping ... well, don't let that stop you. Ask me my opinion of something among our mutual interests. Or to expand on a subject I've touched on recently in my journal. Or to say something on a subject I haven't covered in my journal enough. Half the fun of this meme is coming up with the questions! n.b. #2: If I get any sufficiently interesting questions, I reserve the right to answer one of them via comic strip (ref. My Afternoon: A Dramatization). Is that any extra incentive? `]B=8)` Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: ambitious Current Music: The Palladinos, "In My City Heart" Tags: ask me a question, meme (4 comments \| Leave a comment)
January 23rd, 2003
04:14 am [Link]	The Answers, part 2 Point the first: I am taking off tomorrow morning, and will be attending Further Confusion for the entire weekend. If you're going to be there, look me up -- I'm helping out as a staff member, so swing by ConOps to track me down. If you're not going to be there, see you soon, and enjoy yourself while I'm gone. Point the second: I am being my usual procrastinative self, but I did finish off the second batch of answers to my "Ask me anything!" challenge. They took me a little longer because all of the profound and thought-provoking ones came in late, and also because I've been screwing up my work schedule so I could arrange for FurCon. However, without further ado: Drawing on everything you've experienced, what's the most important piece of advice you think you could give? ( And other such queries ... ) Current Mood: productive Tags: ask me a question, meme (11 comments \| Leave a comment)
January 8th, 2003
12:30 am [Link]	The Answers, part 1 You still have a chance to get in on the fun! Ask me a question, and I will answer it fully and honestly -- as I'm doing here. ( Color, happiness, cake, etc.: The first eight ) Current Mood: optimistic Current Music: David Nelson Band, "Long-Gone Sam" Tags: ask me a question, meme (10 comments \| Leave a comment)
January 6th, 2003
03:26 am [Link]	Because I have to make a new entry to add a poll Poll #89363 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 17 Ask me any one question, to be answered fully and honestly: See previous post for context. Current Music: Whatever MP3 Audion likes at the moment Tags: ask me a question, meme (Leave a comment)
02:34 am [Link]	Damn you all for being so quiet. Alright. I know that everyone's still recovering from the holidays and all, but this is just too much. Or, rather, too little. It's quiet; too quiet. My friends page has been thin for several weeks now; traffic on my site forums has dried up; my mailbox has gone nearly silent. With all those gone, it's like I'm getting free time again. I can't have that. It would ruin my reputation as the too-perpetually-busy-to-respond-to-anyone guy. So I'm going to resurrect an old meme. Congratulations! You, as a reader of my livejournal (this isn't my journal, it's my LJ), have just won the opportunity to ask me one question, to which I will respond as honestly and completely as ability and time permit. When I've seen other people do this before, they've provided a poll-thing for it so that the questions could be submitted semi-anonymously. However, I'm not actually a paid member (hint, hint to anyone who wants to get me a late Christmas present!), so you're just going to have to do it the old-fashioned way and leave a comment. Some questions may be responded to in a separate, friends-locked post, but all questions will be answered. EDIT (1-6-03, 3:03 a.m.): Never mind that bit two paragraphs up; account has been upgraded, and questions can now be submitted via handy poll-thing. All questions asked this way will be considered anonymous -- I'm the only one who knows your identity, and I'll keep it that way. SECOND EDIT: Oh, yeah. I can only add polls to new journal entries. Alright; at the risk of spamming people's friends lists, I'll do that. Apologies. Current Mood: Convalescent Current Music: Oingo Boingo, "Reptiles and Samurai" Tags: ask me a question, meme (5 comments \| Leave a comment)

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