My rodent sensei
Aug. 29th, 2004 12:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greybetaToday, I read a book called The Alchemist by Pablo Coehlo. It’s a Spanish book, translated into English. I highly recommend it because it really touched me as a college student trying to find his way in life.
For dinner, the student association treasurer Phil and the money committee chair (me) went on our usual dinner tradition. Every week or so, we randomly drive out to Tulsa and eat at a random spot. Usually, we try to find places that don’t look to be frequented that often. The best places so far that we’ve found are Jim’s Never on Sunday Greek and Umberto’s Pizzeria. Mmmmm, hole in the wall places.
For fun, I finally saw Godfather, Part I. The most dangerous man to ask a favor from is one who asks, “Why haven’t you come to me before?”
Some of you have commented that you like my blogging style. Well, much like my favorite childhood heroes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I owe it all to a rodent sensei (I think highly of anyone who can teach me something). A ferretty rodent, to be exact. That’s right, my LiveJournal sensei is none other than the LJ mini-celebrity The Ferrett. He’s got over two hundred fifty friends, and he’s the friend of nearly 1600 people. His only caveat is that working to be a blogging celebrity isn’t all that great since you don’t get rich off of it. You can find him on the username theferrett on livejournal.com. I’m too lazy to link to it right now. Plus, his writings are worth the effort of going to search for him.
How did I meet The Ferrett? Well, I’ve actually never met the dirty old man in person. But remember how I said that I enjoy a card game called Magic: The Gathering? I surfed the net for some good strategy sites about it, and I happened upon the best one in starcitygames.com (yes, Ferrett sensei, I know what to do). The editor rodent asked for articles to be submitted for a weekly contest, and he offered fifty dollars in store credit to the winner. I had read the site for awhile, and most people don’t have that interesting of a writing style. Conversely, the interesting writers never write enough.
This was in the senior year of high school, which meant I was undergoing the writing training regiment of Mrs. Kropp. Heck, I thought to myself, I can write better than most of these poor schmoes. But, I was kind of unsure of my writing ability. My pessimism doubted that my first article would ever get published. To my surprise, The Ferrett actually went with it (probably because he needed articles, even terrible ones).
I suspect he published it because I actually take the time to edit my writing. I don’t know, and I never want to know, all the submissions that starcitygames.com receives that is written in haxxor |33t speak. I remember one April Fool’s Day where he published unedited submissions. He said only one was fake, but I thought at least half of them had to be fake. It’s a sad day when you realize people don’t know how to write well (or just take the time to edit their own writing, for that matter).
So while my writing style was terse and boring, he most likely published it because it took him very little time to do the editing for it. If you’re really interested, you can search for “Daniel Tu” in the author search query on starcitygames.com. When I look back on it now, I realize that I was such a newb in magic. Now, I’m still a newb but I’m a newb who knows not to write when you don’t know what you’re talking about. I know I didn’t write well because I hardly ever got any sort of feedback on my magic articles.
Before Darth Vader (that’s what my hardworking sensei calls his boss) promoted the highly esteemed Ferrett to the high title of editor, the eloquent rodent wrote for the general public as a starcitygames.com featured writer. To become a featured writer, you have to write about magic at least twice a week (once you become one, though, you only have to write an article when the editor begs you to). That’s much harder than it sounds. Magic is a complex game, and expressing your ideas on paper and keeping them coherent is difficult to consistently do. It’s akin to updating daily on a weblog.
One day, the Ferrett advertised one of his personal stories on his own website. I clicked the link and it took me to theferrett.com (I wasn’t even eighteen years old when I read his site). Let’s just say that I had to ask forgiveness from the Lord after I read a few stories. So I tried to stay away from the lecherous guy, but something about his writing made me come back. Fortunately, the story of how he met his current wife struck a deep note with me. It literally jumped out, got into my ear, and banged loudly on my eardrum. I think that is one of the few times I have actually doubted my own views on arranged marriage.
He duly noted on his website that most of his writing had shifted to his LJ. Intrigued, I clicked the link and got treated to some of the best writing I have ever seen. He hits a home run just about every single time he writes. To further the baseball analogy, he’d be a .600 hitter with 60 home runs a year (a major leaguer with .300 average and 30 home runs is considered good, and the great Barry Bonds is under .400 and 40 home runs this year). When I write, I can hit the nail on the head every once in awhile, but more often than not I’m going to mash my thumb.
I lurked on his LJ for a long time, but finally I gave in and started a LiveJournal account because I wanted to donate twenty bucks for the cynical rodent’s blog-a-thon (this is where the sponsor agrees to write an update every half hour for twenty four hours so a bunch of people will donate to a charity of his choice). His uncle Tommy had died due to some complications with hemophilia, so my wise sensei felt strongly about donating to research on hemophilia. For twenty bucks, I could supposedly make him write about any topic that I wanted. I wanted to ask him how and why he chose writing as a profession. He didn’t have time to answer that, or perhaps he couldn’t answer that. Now that I think about it, thinking about something that comes naturally to you is like thinking about thinking. It’s hard to be interested in it.
The seeds were there, and soon I started a xanga account. Shortly thereafter I experimented with my writing style. The biggest help I received was when the loving father Ferrett wrote about how to get comments on a blog. If you’re interested, check out my memories on the LJ account greybeta (sorry, no link because I believe you have to spend some effort to become a good writer). Basically, engage your readers.
I learned that people don’t give a crap about my friends. They haven’t spent the time with them, so why should they care? Most readers want to be entertained, and most of them will have no emotional attachment to random names. I decided then that I needed to pick up the epithets of Homer, the great Greek poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Homer never spoke about Athena or Odysseus, for he spoke about the grey-eyed Athena or the wise tactician Odysseus. Giving little clues like that helps your reader know a little more about the personality of your old friends.
Final thought: I wish that I could meet my sensei’s idea of a good online journal, which is one with two thoughtful posts per day. It makes sense because the breast-loving Ferrett spends a lot of time on the Internet as the editor-in-chief for starcitygames.com. Regrettably, I’m in college so I’m not going to be able to meet that demand. However, in honor of him, I am currently on an update per day roll.
I will have passed the Alaskan rodent’s test only when he friends me back on LJ. This is not to say that he has to, but this is when I know my writing ability is on par with his. You know, the whole-student-has-become-the-master cliché.
For dinner, the student association treasurer Phil and the money committee chair (me) went on our usual dinner tradition. Every week or so, we randomly drive out to Tulsa and eat at a random spot. Usually, we try to find places that don’t look to be frequented that often. The best places so far that we’ve found are Jim’s Never on Sunday Greek and Umberto’s Pizzeria. Mmmmm, hole in the wall places.
For fun, I finally saw Godfather, Part I. The most dangerous man to ask a favor from is one who asks, “Why haven’t you come to me before?”
Some of you have commented that you like my blogging style. Well, much like my favorite childhood heroes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I owe it all to a rodent sensei (I think highly of anyone who can teach me something). A ferretty rodent, to be exact. That’s right, my LiveJournal sensei is none other than the LJ mini-celebrity The Ferrett. He’s got over two hundred fifty friends, and he’s the friend of nearly 1600 people. His only caveat is that working to be a blogging celebrity isn’t all that great since you don’t get rich off of it. You can find him on the username theferrett on livejournal.com. I’m too lazy to link to it right now. Plus, his writings are worth the effort of going to search for him.
How did I meet The Ferrett? Well, I’ve actually never met the dirty old man in person. But remember how I said that I enjoy a card game called Magic: The Gathering? I surfed the net for some good strategy sites about it, and I happened upon the best one in starcitygames.com (yes, Ferrett sensei, I know what to do). The editor rodent asked for articles to be submitted for a weekly contest, and he offered fifty dollars in store credit to the winner. I had read the site for awhile, and most people don’t have that interesting of a writing style. Conversely, the interesting writers never write enough.
This was in the senior year of high school, which meant I was undergoing the writing training regiment of Mrs. Kropp. Heck, I thought to myself, I can write better than most of these poor schmoes. But, I was kind of unsure of my writing ability. My pessimism doubted that my first article would ever get published. To my surprise, The Ferrett actually went with it (probably because he needed articles, even terrible ones).
I suspect he published it because I actually take the time to edit my writing. I don’t know, and I never want to know, all the submissions that starcitygames.com receives that is written in haxxor |33t speak. I remember one April Fool’s Day where he published unedited submissions. He said only one was fake, but I thought at least half of them had to be fake. It’s a sad day when you realize people don’t know how to write well (or just take the time to edit their own writing, for that matter).
So while my writing style was terse and boring, he most likely published it because it took him very little time to do the editing for it. If you’re really interested, you can search for “Daniel Tu” in the author search query on starcitygames.com. When I look back on it now, I realize that I was such a newb in magic. Now, I’m still a newb but I’m a newb who knows not to write when you don’t know what you’re talking about. I know I didn’t write well because I hardly ever got any sort of feedback on my magic articles.
Before Darth Vader (that’s what my hardworking sensei calls his boss) promoted the highly esteemed Ferrett to the high title of editor, the eloquent rodent wrote for the general public as a starcitygames.com featured writer. To become a featured writer, you have to write about magic at least twice a week (once you become one, though, you only have to write an article when the editor begs you to). That’s much harder than it sounds. Magic is a complex game, and expressing your ideas on paper and keeping them coherent is difficult to consistently do. It’s akin to updating daily on a weblog.
One day, the Ferrett advertised one of his personal stories on his own website. I clicked the link and it took me to theferrett.com (I wasn’t even eighteen years old when I read his site). Let’s just say that I had to ask forgiveness from the Lord after I read a few stories. So I tried to stay away from the lecherous guy, but something about his writing made me come back. Fortunately, the story of how he met his current wife struck a deep note with me. It literally jumped out, got into my ear, and banged loudly on my eardrum. I think that is one of the few times I have actually doubted my own views on arranged marriage.
He duly noted on his website that most of his writing had shifted to his LJ. Intrigued, I clicked the link and got treated to some of the best writing I have ever seen. He hits a home run just about every single time he writes. To further the baseball analogy, he’d be a .600 hitter with 60 home runs a year (a major leaguer with .300 average and 30 home runs is considered good, and the great Barry Bonds is under .400 and 40 home runs this year). When I write, I can hit the nail on the head every once in awhile, but more often than not I’m going to mash my thumb.
I lurked on his LJ for a long time, but finally I gave in and started a LiveJournal account because I wanted to donate twenty bucks for the cynical rodent’s blog-a-thon (this is where the sponsor agrees to write an update every half hour for twenty four hours so a bunch of people will donate to a charity of his choice). His uncle Tommy had died due to some complications with hemophilia, so my wise sensei felt strongly about donating to research on hemophilia. For twenty bucks, I could supposedly make him write about any topic that I wanted. I wanted to ask him how and why he chose writing as a profession. He didn’t have time to answer that, or perhaps he couldn’t answer that. Now that I think about it, thinking about something that comes naturally to you is like thinking about thinking. It’s hard to be interested in it.
The seeds were there, and soon I started a xanga account. Shortly thereafter I experimented with my writing style. The biggest help I received was when the loving father Ferrett wrote about how to get comments on a blog. If you’re interested, check out my memories on the LJ account greybeta (sorry, no link because I believe you have to spend some effort to become a good writer). Basically, engage your readers.
I learned that people don’t give a crap about my friends. They haven’t spent the time with them, so why should they care? Most readers want to be entertained, and most of them will have no emotional attachment to random names. I decided then that I needed to pick up the epithets of Homer, the great Greek poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Homer never spoke about Athena or Odysseus, for he spoke about the grey-eyed Athena or the wise tactician Odysseus. Giving little clues like that helps your reader know a little more about the personality of your old friends.
Final thought: I wish that I could meet my sensei’s idea of a good online journal, which is one with two thoughtful posts per day. It makes sense because the breast-loving Ferrett spends a lot of time on the Internet as the editor-in-chief for starcitygames.com. Regrettably, I’m in college so I’m not going to be able to meet that demand. However, in honor of him, I am currently on an update per day roll.
I will have passed the Alaskan rodent’s test only when he friends me back on LJ. This is not to say that he has to, but this is when I know my writing ability is on par with his. You know, the whole-student-has-become-the-master cliché.
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no subject
Date: 2004-08-29 12:46 am (UTC);-)
no subject
Date: 2004-08-29 11:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-29 01:31 pm (UTC)The Ferrett always said if you leave interesting comments, they will come. Or something like that.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-29 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 06:42 am (UTC)