Brief Status Update · 6:36am May 15th, 2014
Hey y'all.
Just wanted to give you guys a brief status update, since "Twilight Sparkle Investigates" hasn't gone anywhere for a couple weeks (and is unlikely to do so this week, either), and my other projects seem to currently be stalled out.
As many of you are probably aware, I'm a PhD student in statistics in southern California, and right now I'm getting hit by a load of stats work at the same time as the region is getting hit by a heat wave. It's after 11:00pm here, and the only reason my apartment isn't insufferably hot is because I just ran out and bought a brand new fan, which is now whirring away in the corner of the room and granting a magical aura of life-bearableness to those around it[1]. I've spent a good chunk of today completely listless—unable to work up the motivation to even do mindless, relaxing things like read for pleasure or watch TV programs[2].
TSI will hopefully get back on track in the near future. I need to finish an assignment by Friday, and then I'll be house/dog-sitting for my advisor, grading advanced inference homework, and working on a couple research projects, but I'd really like to get some more writing in (and I'm sure y'all would like me to do so, as well).
To keep this blog post from being nothing but a litany of excuses, however, let me give you at least a little something—a list of what I've got on deck and the order in which I'm hoping to hit up projects in the coming weeks/months.
So first up are TSI and "Meanwhile, Back at the Palace", which is a Luna+CMC story about Canterlot Castle being set on fire. Next (as I'm sure some of you will be especially pleased to hear) is me getting back to "Bell, Book & Candle" for at least two more chapters and possibly more, since I'm finally feeling like my writing is back up to snuff for re-engaging with it. On deck behind that, we've got three things I'm targetting, but these ideas still need a lot of work and are in some flux: "The Diary of the Explorer Waning Promise", which is Lovecraftian horror with an all-OC cast (and which some of you long-term followers may recognize by name from its mention in an earlier story); and "Of Apples and Alicorns", the follow-up to the Luna+CMC story, which focuses on Celestia and Applejack (since I realized my princess story collection has a distinct lack of Celestia, and I've been trying to build some fun headcanon to make up for that lack).
I've got a number of other story ideas floating around, including Rarity instigating a culture war with the Canterlot elite, fanon Derpy mass-Cyrano'ing the Mane Six, and Cadance using the Power of Love in wholly inappropriate ways[3]. But none of those are particularly on my schedule yet. Here's hoping I can bring some of these to you during the show hiatus to help make everyone's break more enjoyable!
[1] Friendship is magic my ass. Air conditioning is magic. You can quote me on that. And winter is a freaking act of benevolence from on high.
[2] Thus going out to buy a fan. I decided that this constitutes a work-related expense.
[3] Credit goes to Skywriter on that idea.
Full sympathy for the heat wave[1], but...
I have air conditioning. Why don't you have air conditioning? You are from America, land of consumer excess. Surely a piddly little inverse-Carnot-cycle-using device isn't outside your means?
That all aside: More Bradel Words! Grand news! It's all cheering to hear, but the best news is more BB&C.
[1] I'm dealing with eight bloody degrees Celsius and flood conditions. I'm not sure I wouldn't prefer a heat wave.
Sorry to hear about the heat. Great to hear some of these upcoming ideas!
I thought moving up to the mountains and the north here in Oregon would let me escape the heat. But my office hit 100f last summer, and I finally went and bought a portable AC unit. It hit 88f in here yesterday, though it's still cooling off quickly in the afternoons with the fans. If it does that again though, it's time to go haul that AC up from the garage and declare summer officially here. I hate it!
Seriously though, go get one of these.
That sounds like comedy gold right there. I eagerly await. However, if there is not at least one mention of tree sap, I will be disappointed.
2113622
Window air conditioners are a right pain in the arse to get in the window, and cost a pretty penny besides. Especially if wherever you live has funny proportioned windows. They tend to make your electric bill cry as well. That's probably the real killer. Why get AC and pay way extra on the bill, when you can just have a industrial strength box fan running 24/7 right in your face.
AC's do have a pleasant hum though. Not sure which I prefer, the AC or a large, noisy fan.
2113871
I have one of those with a wall-mounted unit and a separate one outdoors. Split-system ductless is the term, I think. Tough to install, of course, but once you do, it works a treat.
2113871
2113891
It must be nice, having windows you can stick things in.
Ooh yes, sounds good
Ah, ya bunch of wuuses. In Kansas, it will start hitting a hundred degrees regular next month and not quit until Sept. To boot, everything goes all black-and-white and we start getting tornados that pull farmhouses to God-knows-where. That reminds me; I need to go spray for Munchkins.
(Disclaimer: I live about three blocks from the Wizard of Oz museum)
2114549
Why would you build a museum for the wizard? Isn't that like Ponyville building a Flim & Flam Museum?
2114592 If Ponyville could sell tickets and collect tourist revenue from a Flim & Flam Museum, it would be there in a second, with Mayor Mare at the opening ribbon and genuine honest to Celestia sample bottles of their elixer and cider sales at unreasonable prices.
"Made from Authentic Sweet Apple Acres apples in the historic Super Squeezy 6000 Cider Press. Get your commemorative cider cup at our gift shop, and don't forget the t-shirts."
2113901
Ah, but there;s the rub! The windows in my house are just nonstandard enough that we can get an AC in them!
Also, no windows?
2113891
Oooh, nice.
2113901
...you live in a bunker?
2114990 2115004 ,
Windows, but not ones that you can install things in. They're screened and the screens are non-removable.
2115016
You live in an area where it is notorious for it's heat, and the windows are designed to not let you have an air conditioner...
Sometimes I wonder what goes through the heads of the people who build these places. That's almost as bad as building a warehouse with a ton of windows built way up high, all made of glass.
2115016
...wow. That is... remarkably stupid. My sympathies. Portable ACs do exist, but they don't really work all that well for obvious thermodynamical reasons.
2115028
It's endemic, that sort of (not-)thinking. My home's plumbing is built with the fascinating assumption that water occasionally flows uphill, for instance.
2115042
2115042
You can coerce water to flow uphill, with a bit of creative plumbing. You can even do it without a pump if you do it right. Every toilet I've ever seen does it.
But I suspect that's not what you're talking about.