Older blog entries for marnanel (starting at number 882)

Joel on Coal

Goodness, Joel on Software has branched out into coal mining. I think this will be a miner sensation.

Syndicated 2011-04-01 11:26:50 from Monument

joining the choir = awesome

Tonight I went to my first choir practice. We sang bits of Stainer's Crucifixion and Haydn's Creation, and some other stuff I didn't know; they said they were glad of a new tenor. I'm woefully out of practice, but I need to sing more and I'm glad I joined such a friendly lot. My height caused a small headache for the person whose job is to find robes (she's the one who covers all the basses). Several people offered to drive me home. A good evening!

Syndicated 2011-03-31 01:41:45 (Updated 2011-03-31 01:42:50) from Monument

Recessional hymn

One of my dad's favourite songs is I'll never find another you by The Seekers. He said to me once that the tune would make a good hymn, and I've been turning the idea over in my mind, and here it is. This is a recessional hymn, i.e. it's for the end of a service. I didn't do the bridge, because hymns don't have bridges.

I like the way this came out, because it has the traditional trinitarian structure without explicitly naming names. Obviously it would be difficult actually to use the hymn, because of the copyright on the tune.

When you made this planet,
you saw it at its best,
for a week you laboured
then brought it to a rest;
you designed the whole creation
to rest and labour too,
and my Lord, I pray my life will mirror you.

When you walked this planet
you saw it at its worst,
and in all our troubles
you bore the burden first;
for you trod the path before us
in everything we do,
and my Lord, I pray my life will mirror you.

When you stir within us
you see us as we are;
as we face temptation
your word is never far;
for within our hearts you've written
your message through and through,
and my Lord, I pray my life will mirror you.

Syndicated 2011-03-29 16:28:21 (Updated 2011-03-29 17:52:51) from Monument

That meme

The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really, we may know almost nothing about each other. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Then (if you want to) post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you.

(I have no great confidence that more than a couple of people will ask anything. These used to be really popular back in the day, but LJ is quieter now.)

Syndicated 2011-03-29 14:47:04 from Monument

More triolets

I've been getting a good response from contributors for the quarterly triolet review.

The only publicly-accessible part of triolets.org is the classic triolets (i.e. the ones which are out of copyright). When I release an issue of the quarterly triolet review, those will be added. But there are several triolets which are still live on the site (mostly mine), such as In depths of darkness, which aren't linked anywhere because they don't fall into either category. Of course they'll trickle in slowly if they're printed in the review, but I don't want to make it all about me, and it'll take years to get through them all. Maybe I need a new section for them.

I've added a few new old triolets to the site, including the rather silly The child is father to the man by Hopkins, and All women born by Bridges, which is so misogynistic I almost didn't include it even though it was written by the then Poet Laureate. Then I decided if he had opinions like that, it wasn't really something I wanted to hush up.

If you use Twitter, you can follow @triolets to get a random triolet every day (and similarly for identi.ca).

Syndicated 2011-03-29 14:31:54 from Monument

triolets.org redesign

I finished the redesign over the weekend.

Would you all hit the random button a few times, and let me know your favourites? If you see any breakage, let me know as well, of course.

Thanks, everyone.

Syndicated 2011-03-27 18:01:51 from Monument

RIP, DWJ

Diana Wynne Jones, sustainer of the imaginations of me and a million others, has died after a long illness. I always hoped I could become a famous writer before she died, so I could thank her for being my inspiration.

Syndicated 2011-03-26 11:11:49 (Updated 2011-03-26 11:28:30) from Monument

triolets.org rethink

I'm thinking of redesigning triolets.org and making it into a (probably quarterly) poetry journal, instead of a forum.

As part of this, I want to redesign the look and feel of the site. What do you think of this? (Based on an idea from Rio.)

http://triolets.org/2/t1

http://triolets.org/2/t5

I'm not sure about the menu on the left-hand side. It makes the page longer for little useful benefit, since those links could be on the front page, and the front page is linked from the breadcrumbs.

Edit: Another possible layout, suggested by Fin: http://triolets.org/2/b/

Syndicated 2011-03-25 02:37:17 (Updated 2011-03-25 03:20:36) from Monument

Take a pew

My brother's hairy. I'm a smoother man.
I entered by the exit, without knowing,
They told me off, you know, but I began
considering: do YOU know where you're going?
I climbed a hill when I was in my teens,
And my companion vomited on me.
Still, life is rather more like tinned sardines,
And all of us are looking for the key.
Some find the key, they pull the cover wide,
and eat sardines, so fishy and so fine.
There's still the bit you cannot reach, inside.
Is there in yours? I know there is in mine.
Remember this when life is hard and scary:
that I'm a smooth, my brother is an hairy.

(ref)

Syndicated 2011-03-24 20:42:06 (Updated 2011-03-24 21:23:01) from Monument

marnanel @ 2011-03-22T19:04:00

The job search is going rather well. Thank you to all of you who have made suggestions or talked to people. It's all very appreciated.

Syndicated 2011-03-22 23:06:02 (Updated 2011-03-22 23:06:29) from Monument