When it rains... (Update 10/21/14) · 4:32am Oct 22nd, 2014
Hello everyone.
I don’t have anything new to report on the medical front just yet. I still have the symptoms, still have the nightmares, and everything else I’ve been talking about.
I do, however, have an update on the housing front. Unfortunately, it is not good news. The inspector finally came around, and we ran into a giant wall of red tape. Due to a small mistake, it looks like I won’t to be able to move until at least January.
Now, let’s back up a bit and let me explain the full situation.
Our landlord is trying to build a new structure on a different property. This new house has a detached garage that is already mostly built. Over this garage is a one bedroom loft-style apartment. We’ve been trying to move into that for months.
The problem comes in with some technical classifications on the building permits, and the fact that this is a detached garage with a loft over it. (It would be easier if this was an attached garage.) Now, this can be corrected, but the city is fairly backlogged, and getting it done is going to take until at least January.
The main building, sadly, is nowhere near as complete. The loft needs gas, Internet, a small amount of work in the bathroom, and some appliances. After that, it’s done. The house itself, meanwhile, may not be completely sealed and insulated by the time the cold weather rolls around. We’re getting close to that point, and I’m even helping the install of the insulation since that’s something that doesn’t hurt my hands, but we have a long way to go. If the weather turns especially cold before it is fully insulated, we will have to shut off the water to both the house and the loft.
Even if we pull off the insulation in time, it is not legal for us to inhabit the loft space. At least, as a residence. Now, we might be able to move in anyway, and just accept the punishment if some inspector does come around and finds out about it. There is no criminal violation there as far as we can tell. That being said, as I am a permanent resident and not a citizen, we are trying to be especially careful.
There are a number of regulatory tricks we can employ here, but none that will get around the wait time the city currently has. So, the priority is to get the house completely sealed and insulated so we can keep heat and water active. Then, we are going to focus on finishing a particular corner of the house that has a suite. Worst case, we can move into that suite first before any of the others are ready. That, however, probably won’t be until spring.
As such, I’ve been looking to find a middle ground. It’s become clear that I’m not going to be able to type any time soon. Any typing I am doing is either through voice dictation, like this blog post, or on my phone. As you can probably guess, using a phone for typing out a story isn’t exactly something that’s viable.
Unfortunately, I still don’t have any privacy here. There are times during the day where I am the only one here, and that’s what I’m trying to utilize. However, it isn’t always viable to do so. I often have other things I must do during these times. In addition, I’m probably going to have to seek out a part-time job fairly soon, which will cut my available time even more. (The doctor gave me clearance to work provided the cash register isn’t too high up physically.)
Even without having to pay for health insurance, things are still really tight. There are a number of factors going into this, but the truth is that we are starting to run fairly low on funds. Fortunately, even a part-time job, as long as I actually get hours, would be enough to stabilize things. I don’t even need to work a huge number of hours. An honest, reasonable, part-time job would probably stabilize things enough. (Even though I dread the idea working retail.)
We’re also trying to work something out so that I can use my voice to try to write a little bit more frequently. The current idea is to transform the loft into a kind of office. The law says that I cannot stay there as a residence, but it says nothing about sticking a computer in there and using it to write. I just have to go home to my normal place of residence to sleep. As long as there is heat and water, this should work.
Now, this won’t be without some kind of investment on my part. In order to pull this off properly, I’m going to have to re-purchase the voice dictation software. The voice software that I’m currently using is on the desktop computer. (This needs to stay at home because my wife often needs it for work.) The desktop computer is a PC. My laptop, however, is a MacBook Pro. A fairly old MacBook Pro. I’ve tried running Windows on it in the past, and it is outrageously slow running Windows, and it also chews through the battery extraordinarily quickly. Even just booting into Windows is going to guarantee at the laptop also runs rather hot. I’d also need to re-buy Windows to pull that off. (I do not like using pirated software.)
Thus, I would have to repurchase the voice dictation software. Now, the dictation software built into Mac OS X is actually the same algorithms that I’m using right now. But it has a lot of the features stripped out. Features that I am going to need if I’m going to be writing fiction. So, I do need to repurchase and hope I do not get the problems talked about in customer reviews.
The MacBook could also stand to see some upgrades. It’s a model from mid-2009, and it’s certainly starting to feel its age. Its battery is also basically toast. Thus, it would make a lot of sense to replace the battery, and also upgrade the hard drive to a solid state drive. Those of you out there who are running their operating system on a solid state drive know the difference it can make. Not only would it breathe new life into the machine in terms of speed, it would also help its battery because solid-state drives have no moving parts and use far less power than a hard drive.
So right now the idea is to try to upgrade the laptop and get it the software necessary for voice dictation. In addition, we have rescheduled the plumbing and gas inspection so we can at least get heat to the loft and eventually the house as well. As long as I have water, heat, and electricity, I can treat the loft as an office. I’ll pack up my laptop in the morning and take it to the loft to do some work in privacy. I’ll even pack up my modified desk/table/thing and chair and take it over there. Purchasing a microwave would also probably be a good idea.
Now, since I’m not actively writing, and editing is going so slow, I’m not able to have a Patreon account at this time. I’m going to have to spend an awful lot of time practicing with voice dictation in writing before I can really get up to speed. That being said, I am looking into how to set up a PayPal tip jar up in the bio. Once I manage to figure it out (last time I tried I couldn’t quite get it and just said send it to cvbrony [at] gmail [dot] com) I’ll put it up, but at present I have no plans to constantly advertise about it. It’ll just be up there in the corner. The hope is that soon I will be good enough with voice dictation software to get up to speed with writing again, or somehow I’ll be healed enough to resume typing. At that point I can set up a Patreon account properly.
I should have another blog coming up soon because my next doctor’s appointment is tomorrow. Hopefully things won’t be cancelled and moved again.
I also want to thank everyone who sent me positive comments or private messages in the last few months. Well, last several actually. I know I haven’t been able to respond to you guys because I’ve been trying to avoid doing typing. I want you all to know that is very much appreciated. Many of them were incredibly personal and heartfelt and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’ll see about trying to get back to you guys at some point.
A few people have also mentioned the idea of switching keyboards or keyboard layout. I do have a rather new ergonomic keyboard that I have been using. It isn’t enough to simply use that and watch the pain go away. I tried using it and the pain just got worse. I think the injury is bad enough now that no matter what keyboard I use it is simply going to get worse if I do a lot of typing. Switching to a different keyboard layout would also necessitate a rather lengthy adaptation period. The amount of time it would take to get used to a new layout is honestly probably similar to the amount of time it would take to get used to voice dictation. Since voice dictation has an extraordinarily low chance of furthering the damage to my hands, I’m going to be using that.
Again, thank you all for your incredible patience. It means the world to me. You guys are amazing.
-Cv
Well, I think it's a good thing you have a plan, at least. I wish you luck with both its execution and your medical situation.
I feel like an idiot suggesting this since, as someone whose job is software and the use thereof, you likely already have looked into this, but… if you haven’t already, check the terms of the license; it may cover multiple devices as long as they’re owned and/or used by the same person. Failing that, you might be able to upgrade the license to cover more than one machine for a fraction of the price of buying another copy altogether.
Regarding Windows, considering Microsoft’s monopolistic and anti‐competitive practices odds are damn good that they’ve already stolen from you in some fashion; if you simply want to remain within the law, that’s fine, but don’t feel morally obligated to pay them.
We're amazing? You're the one persevering through this. Good luck! And if you do end up getting a part-time job in retail, I hope it's not too terrible... but considering the holiday season is coming up... well, there's nothing like Christmas shopping to bring the lunatics out of the woodwork. Maybe a coffee shop or something, lol. It'd keep your hands warm in the cold weather, at least.
I've said this before to other authors in crappy situations: we, the fans, will wait. We can wait. You're giving us a quality story for free. I know you're using Rites as practice for paid writing, but the important thing right now is to take care of your health.
I'm glad to hear you have something of a plan for the future, even if it isn't ideal. I wish you all the best for the future.
^ I loled
What voice software do you use? Maybe I can help you out a bit with rebuying.
Re: Patreon
You can set up a Patreon account in such a way that patrons are paying per-month instead of per-content. The only thing you need to be aware of with this (AFAIK, this info is before Patreon did their recent back-end update) is that you need to make at least one post per month which is marked as paid content so the billing for that month will actually trigger.
Quite a few artists I support are doing it this way actually since it's much easier for both patron and content creator to calculate their monthly expenses and income (respectively).
At any rate, thanks for your paypal address, will keep in mind.
Things will get better, trust this Old Wolf on that.
as for the housing. I got room and board for a couple years by being a resident watchman for a friend who owned a factory, he needed someone to be there 24/7 because of thefts happening. so he made me a simple one room place, and I had free rent because I was technically working all the time.
might be something to look into with your landlord, he must have some kind of property he'd like to have someone watching for him.
I'll keep you in my thoughts
Keep persevering. But having a plan like that will definitely help. We can wait for the story, right now the most important thing to us is you. And things will work out. Have faith.
"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:19. Whatever is happening, God will make a way. Until then, keep living to the best of your abilities; put your needs first, not our wants. I'll be praying for you.
-Spirit
I don't know if this means much to you, Cv, but I'll be praying for you two.
Whelp, that's bureaucracy for you...
WTF, you already paid for it, just pirate it if there's some bs restrictions. Especially since you're already talking about breaking regulations, some piracy is perfectly fine.
Note: although you should still be careful, look for people with a good reputation, I don't recommend torrenting since technically you're easy to track (even though the majority of rights holders don't bother), google "warez-bb" if you want a good repository of working links to 'one click hosters' (mediafire & friends) where you cannot be tracked.
I'm sorry to hear about all those problems CV. I hope you can resolve them. Rites of Accession may have some problems in my eye but i LOVE the story and hate to see it stay incomplete.
All the luck CV.