f13.net

I don't want to hear about part time contracts.  What projects linger in your mind that you hope to take sometime for either in the near (2007) or distant future (5-10years) ?  Projects that really speak to your creative energy that you have a passion for...

Near Term:  Fantastic Voyage

I am just getting a clinical study off the ground - which is almost there if ethics cooperates - that will use a camera the size of a vitamin pill that patients will swallow.  It will provide real time color images of the intestinal tract and how these patients respond to a drug.  I designed this fucking study - even if I am no longer with the pharma company that is funding it.  So I will do it as a hobby with luck over the next year with the docs involved - or so I hope.

Longer Term (5-10 yrs):  Brain Imaging of Music

I spent many years as neuroscientist before moving into investments and then pharma in private sector.  I would like to go back to my roots of basic research someday.  Currently, I am very ignorant - but I am intrigued about doing a brain imaging study (functional MRI - brain activity) of global changes in a person's brain in response to music - and how that changes over time as they become familiar with the music and their emotional response to it.  Hard to get funding for such basic research oriented project - so raising financing for this will be just as challenginging as designing the study... if I pursue it.

Longer Longer Term (my life):  Memory Transplantation

I have dreamed about this since I was a kid.  It's pretty audacious - so just as well I post under anonymous handle in a non-medical group.  It's a really crazy idea I fully confess:  is it possible to transplant a brain region impllicated in learning a task into the corresponding region of a developing brain - and see if the memory is functioning in the recipient (test subjects rats or cats).  It would turn every idea we have of basic neurocircuitry on its head over night.  The obstalcles are huge here - in every sense.  Metaphorically, I wonder whether we should envision memory storage as a "seed' (in the sense of a crystal) rather than something that becomes "hard wired' from trial and error.  Again, this is not something I have mentioned to any former colleague - it is pretty fucking crazy.

Uh.....I'm way out of your league. Damn dude, pretty serious stuff :)

I have about seven albums worth of song material sitting around. I'd like to cut one album's worth all on my own. Then I can be one of the cool kids that posts his own music on MySpace.

My setbacks have mostly been financial/technical. Not creative.

Other than that, I was kind of an aspiring actor several years back. I got bored (and frustrated) with some elements about it, and pulled out...But I've grown up a bit since then. I'd like to at least get in on other people's projects in the coming year. Nothing serious. Just for fun.

I have no projects. I am not creative. At all.

The closest I am to a project is trying to figure out how to arrange all the stuff in my jail cell-sized room. It's not working out too well. I've been living here since February, and I still have 2 boxes of stuff in a storage room, my room is a mess, and my clean clothes pile is larger than the pile for dirty clothes.

I have a number of game ideas kicking around that I keep threatening to implement, but I haven't managed to get any of them past the design stage, much less start coding any of them.  One is a first-person puzzler, one is a 2D shooter/puzzler/crafter, and one is a browser MMO.

I'm a musical dabbler and every now and then think I'd love to write a song or two, but I think that's even less likely to happen than writing the games.   :-P

I build websites for fun and profit so most of my ideas are realized within a couple months. I don't like pimping myself but you asked so... one of my newest 'pet' sites is viewable here (http://www.theflowergod.com/).

I don't have a post mortem written up yet but I've done all the website hosting/backend/frontend/graphics and the video filming/production/lighting/set/dvd for the project. Thankfully, standing in front of the camera isn't one of my jobs. So far it's cost about $150 and around 100 hours over a ~65 day period plus ~13 hours of filming. That's starting from scratch on day one to it's current incarnation (existing infrastructure not included).

Completed additional filming this past weekend for our second DVD.

Pass my comps and write  my damn dissertation.

What's your dissertation on?  (legal lay person here - so be gentle)


I don't believe your comment about creativity.  What are your passions?  I can guess gaming - anything else?

Short term project: Finish up the metal work on my airplane (fuselage is about half way done!)
Medium term project: Figure out the electrical pieces for my plane (avionics, wiring, lighting, AHRS, MFDs, armament, etc)
Long, long term project: Build a home in (or start) an airport home community.. somewhere

Pretty boring for folks not into the whole "aviation" thing.

More exciting projects? Well, maybe not exciting, but we hope to pop the roof on our house and build a master bedroom + study in the next year or two. I also want to repaint and refurbish my Comet sometime next year.

As far as work goes, there's a ton of "evolutionary" stuff I hope to do this year to get us out of the dark ages and actually functioning like a software development company that cares about how it's customers view our products. But it's all boring internal processes and application rewrites. Yay.

What you should do when it's done is check back with your school's library each year, to see if anyone is actually able to make use of all your hard work.  :wink:


I looked through one of the dissertation sections at my school once...most of them never get touched or checked out. Oddly enough, I was only in that section because I was actually using one of them in a paper.

Not set yet but I am leaning towards a particular informal institution created under the Environmental Species Act. I'd be more specific but dissertation topics are jealously guarded secrets.

Short Term: I got tired of my wife car's shitty headlights so I'm retrofitting Xenons into it. I can't understand why stock headlights are so shittastic, its brand fucking new car.
Mid Term: Re-start my martial arts training, it was postponed long enough. Re-examine investments.
Long Term: Kill every single one of you while you sleep.

Short term:
    Learn how to use Blender; it's annoying trying to render stuff in the shareware version of Maya and I'm getting too out of practice.
    Brush up on Java; hopefully not fail comp sci 101b despite having taken 101a almost four years ago and not using it since.

Mid-term:
    Get better at drawing.  I suck at everything else, dammit, I should be able to be good at one fucking thing.  Work on my comic, make it suck less.
    Something game-y.  I keep wanting to apply for a game design career, but I have no experience, so I'll have to write some shareware thing myself, just so I can get rid of that blank spot in my portfolio.

Long term:
    Get real degree, get real job, move out of parents basement already, for crying out loud.

Build an actual money bin with crumpled bills that I can go swimming in.

That, and go part-time by time I hit 40, and completely retire 15 years after that. Best case scenario, part time at 35, then retire at 45.

So I'm selfish. I have no aspirations of changing the world, I just want to live in it comfortably.

I've got a world in development, to which I keep adding characters and plotlines, and eventually I'm going to sit down and write a number of stories for it.  I'd rather not go into much detail about it right now, because it's still mostly bare bones.

I am buying a house next year, and looking forward to it.  Currently I can do lawn care like no mans business, along with pool care.  Electricity and computer networking are 2 other masteries I have (relatively!).  So my house will be the main pet project.  I do lack in one area though, and it will probably make a post here:

Wood.

I want to start getting into woodwork.  Shelves, desks, etc.  Wood work will be a major pet project of mine, along with certain areas of culinary. 

Cheddar, my new pet project is to get you to make minimalist videogame/dvd shelving with ridiculous capacity. And ship them to Arizona.

I'd like to learn how to play some basic tunes on guitar (2007), I don't have much hope though; it kills my hands and back and my hands are musically retarded. Hundreds of hours in a previous attempt resulted in naught, pure masochism.

Getting out of debt (2007ish) would be great, not much hope there either, yay!


That sounds like a great project, I think some similar studies have been done, but go for it!


I believe in nonviolence but if I saw someone doing such a thing to cats there is a good chance I'd loose it and try to royally kick the shit out of them, if my eyes didn't burn holes in them first. Happy new years!

Hopefully within the next 5 years I can begin hormone treatments and start on the road to becoming a real woman.

Short Term - Lasik surgery to get rid of my glasses until presbyopia sets in.

Mid Term - Become competent at piano, I can read music and work my way through some of the simpler classical pieces.

Long Term - I have the skills to do a Youtube or a MySpace or a Craigslist now I just need to come up with a billion dollar internet app.

Short Term: Finish a textbook that I've been working on.  I've edited a number over the past decade, but writing one on my own was a feat I had wanted to tackle for a long time.  Now that I'm up to my ass in it, I wish I had never started.  Funny how that is.  I also have 7 manuscripts that are 85% finished on my desk.  Time to get those out as well.

Mid Term: Diversify my research.  The work I've done over the past decade has focused largely on development of better DNA biosensors and the development of anticancer drugs with increased specificity.  I've been giving a lot fo talks and travelling more the past year and it has helped me find some new directions in the areas of pharmacogenomics, alternative treatments for Alzheimer's, and development of agents able to enhance drug delivery.  Breaking into new fields has always been a challenge I enjoy. 

Long Term: I'm mid-career and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.  I find that I'm becoming far more interested in ethics and behavioral psychology after having been a medicinal chemist for years but don't know if there's a way to pursue those areas without starting over.  Funny how the other side of the fence always looks greener.

Short term: going back to school to finish my Masters of Accountancy and get my CPA liscense.
Medium term: finishing the novel that's at 35% currently
Long term: Holding some sort of small public office in city or state government.

Short term: Buy house (March '07), then promptly try to save $5K for a trip to Japan in '08.
Mid term: Finish my cookbook, bear Genius Progeny #1. Genius Progeny #2 will be considered, depending on results of Genius Progeny #1.
Long term: Retire early/wealthy, open Happiness of the Katakuris-style bed and breakfast (sans grisly murders. or perhaps avec grisly murders, depending on my mood.)

Short, Mid and Long Term: Just get my novel published.

Short Term:

Finish out the Hedge line along the neighbor's fence so I don't have to weed-wack his goddamn grass as it grows into my yard anymore.  Reseat the brick edging in the front garden, as the heavy rains this late fall/winter blew a few bricks out.

Mid:

Install the Crown moulding & chair rail in the dining room and paint.  Finally decide on a color for the gameroom and paint it.  Maybe install a tile backsplash in the Kitchen.  Purchase & install the other half of the closet organizer layout for our Master WIC, so my side looks like the wife's.

Long:
Sell the house in a year or two, repeat the above.  Maybe work on getting licensed as an Architect since I paid for the professional degree and all.

Good job setting the bar so high right off the bat.  My dreams have devolved into things that orbit parenthood.  While these are indeed noble goals, they aren't flashy nor would they likely have a huge impact on the world.  Unless, of course, my long-term goal of having my son conquer the world in my stead comes to fruition.  Short-term, I'm hoping to get through January's minefield of special events with a minimum of stress-induced drinking binges.  I'm also hoping to get a promotion, but since all I can do is hope at the moment, I choose to not think about it.

Mid-term, I'm looking forward to getting more free time once my son is in proper school, which should be fall of 2009.  I have various home improvement projects I would like to tackle.  Realistically, however, I expect that I will have even more to do once my son starts real school.

I am planning on getting into home brewing soon. If I can quit playing EVE and M:TW long enough to get started.

Magic: The Wanking?

Short: buy a house/condo

Medium: get more serious about my photography.  Having an indoor place to work is part of the reason to buy a house.

Long: yea right, planning stuff a year in advance is a breakthrough for me.

Short Term: Move to Phoenix or Don't Move to Phoenix.   Also: work on my backhand. I'm this close to going back to a two-hander now that I know how to properly hit one.

Mid term: Procreate. Children would be nice, just.. not right now.

Long term: Do nothing.  Professionally.

I agree.


Yes.

Wife getting lippy again?  :evil:

I don't get the whole Phoenix thing.  I was offered a ridiculously high paying job in Tempe and I declined because I couldn't even imagine living there.  Old people + weather so hot you can barely go outside half the year = no thanks.  Maybe growing up in cold climates has ruined me. 

Air conditioning + women in skimpy clothing year 'round makes it pretty tempting.

If you're into senior citizens, yes.  If you want to see younger women, I recommend southern CA.

Old people? What? In Tempe?!

What?

You seem to be forgetting ASU and it's larger than the state of Wyoming enrollment.  I'm not sure what state stereotype pamphlet you picked up, but you were fed bad information.

How about some pictures to rectify this grave error in factoid information?

As a professor, I wouldn't be allowed to dip into that well were I there... shame that.  Also, you assume I've not spent a LOT of time in the Phoenix area. 

I thought all the oldies were in Scottsdale.

Short: get some stuff done, change jobs

Mid: do some more stuff, make sustainable income for self and friends, wonder how far along Lum's game is

Long: rework playerep, do some other stuff, play Lum's game, bitch :)

Damn you people, and your damn ambitious dreams and such.

Well, I guess I only have one I guess...

 - Gain a commission from the USAF. Preferably as an Air Battle Manager, or a Navigator on a fighter. Unfortunately, the process is mostly a waiting game. And then, if/when I get in, graduate extremely high in my OTS class so I can choose to go overseas to Yokohama for the start of my training (about 2 years).

It's either that, or teach in Japan if it falls through.

Short: Get rid of my ADHD-like inability to write a story longer than 20 pages without getting distracted by a new idea. I'll start by trying the write everyday thing and settling on a genre once and for all.

Medium: Finish a novel. Just one damn it!

Long: Become an author and write books about how it's never too late to start. Finish my epic trilogy. Have "Tolkien who?" on my gravestone.

Seriously. Scottsdale is the old rich folks (still a lot of hotties too), but the closer you get to a college campus, the better the viewing.

Just read an interesting book on the subject.  http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Brain-Music-Obsession/dp/0525949690
Man, grab one of those Fostex MR8HD units I just got. They are great. Not sure what your financial constraints are, but one of those plus a cd burner in your pc is all you really need for a basic cd.

In fact, that's one of my pet projects for the year (we'll call it 'short term'): recording a cd of actual finished tracks. Actually, finishing a track is my first goal. I'm really bad about that, I like to do one take and live with it. So far the track list is: Can't Be Satisfied by Muddy Waters, All Your Love by Otis Rush, Kind Hearted Woman by Robert Johnson by way of George Thorogood's slide version. I probably won't finish my spanishy jam by the end of the year, and it wouldn't fit the songlist anyway.

Another short term project is building an uberpc in a couple months (without using all the money I've saved for a mortgage!).

Viin - I almost bought a house bordering a private airstrip. Thought the planes would drive me nuts. :P

My middling term projects are many and varied. Buying a house is my main thing, and has been for a while now. I don't make a lot of dough, so I qualify for a SONYMA dealie where they pay closing costs and get me a sweet rate. So hopefully that'll happen this year. Along with the house is fleshing out my nascent recording setup into a more serious studio to do some projects for myself and others. Also with the house is a woodshop (Hi Ched!). I want to start out with mostly handtools, make some furniture and whatnot. Nothing fancy, a lot of rough wood and stumps. Finally, garden. I miss my garden-fresh veggies and herbs (not that herb you degenerates, though I would if I could!). In another ten years, sell that house and buy a place in the country with some forested land that I can't afford now.

Long term, just enjoy my hobbies. Hopefully retire some day. Viking funeral plus Irish wake.

I still have my trusty old PowerMac for recording, but I sold my mics awhile back. And I'm picky about mics. Almost as picky as I am with guitars. The only thing I can record right now is MIDI/synth. I've yet to put this amp I have in a recording, and that's what I want to do (the Fender VK I posted some time back). As for the songs I have on the backburner, they were all recorded with a handheld and either an acoustic or my cheapo Vox. Just scrapbooks really.

I have some older stuff on file that I used to do for my brother's multimedia firm, and an old demo album for a friend's metal band too. I'd post them, but I'm not too proud of that stuff. It's not really me ;).

Meet me at camera three. (the guitar thread ;))

Short | Get back in shape for some heavy hiking.

Mid | Finish the short story I have got banging around in my head and then figure out if I want to tackle a novel

Long | Pick a location to open a coffee shop and retire

Short Term: Finish my basement and lose 10 pounds (I need to lose 60, but this is a good place to start).

Mid Term: Get 3 promotions so that I can work from home (I want my 5 1/2 hours per day back dammit).

Long Term: Get my patent law degree, start a family, move back to CO.

Next door to me.  Please.

Short:  Buy some sort of machine that makes me thinner every time I use it. (like one of those bicycles or walky thingys)

Mid:     Use the machine.

Long:   Outlive the rest of my family.

Since Sauced and I joined a gym in November, I've lost 2.3% body fat, 3.5" off my waist, 2" off my hips and 1.5" off each thigh (for a total of only 7 lbs). I've been doing a lot of weights and getting very tight and buff. My triceps are so cut, yo! Too bad I didn't think to do this before the wedding, but whaddyagonnado.

The elliptical machine is my favorite because I hate running and it allows me to watch tv. It's amazing how fast 1/2 hour of cardio goes by when you're watching the food network.

It should have a little table attached in front so you could eat while you sweat. 

There's more than one way to accomplish that...

Short -

Start a martial art to lose some weight while enjoying myself instead of being bored senseless at a gym. I've found a convenient place that does Muay Thai. Once I get a bit fitter, there's also a Gracie Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu place not far from the Muay Thai place so I'm thinking of doing both in parallel. Being able to physically destroy people if needed is also a nice byproduct as well.

Build a new kickass computer.

Buy a bunch of other useless shit that I'd like to get. Full-sized Star Wars Helmets, a couple of Roman and Ancient Greek helmets, that sort of thing.

Pay off debts.



Medium -

Build or buy a house

Maybe go back to Uni and start a masters so I can go on to a doctorate later on. Might look into that in more of the shorter-term timeframe. Dunno.

 
 
Long -

Um, not sure yet. I reckon I've got enough in the short and med-term stuff to take care of.

Do you mean that you want to make your own martial art?

The transformation won't be complete unless you also look like a bald ape ;)

(http://lutamania.net/loja/images/wanderleisilva.jpg)

Short - Write undergraduate thesis, sit exams, get a highly classed degree

Medium - Apply and get on to a Masters programme (preferably Cambridge but probably not)
             Get my Dive Leader qualification so I can do some more fun SCUBA diving.
             Finally do the whole driving licence thing.

Long - Not sure right now, guess I need to decide on a career. Either getting into law and becoming a barrister or going into something high paying and soul sucking in finance. Either that or try and put things off by becoming an army officer or doing a PhD (depending on how the Masters goes). Lots of options.
         Guess also learn a foreign language of some sort, got a basic knowledge of a few and would like to master at least one other at some point.

Short: Unfuck some mistakes.  Quit smoking.  Future is doubtful.

Medium:  Get a house this year. 

Long: Not looking past my 5 year plan.  Things are too in flux currently.

Short term: Get a Job

Mid term: Write something and sell it.  Anydamnthing.

Long term: have a long term.

No, just know how to hit people properly and how to break them into little bits if I'm on the ground.



Yeah, those MMA fighters are an overall ugly bunch. Except Frank Mir. He's purty.

Short-short term :

Finish this history paper I keep putting off.

Short term :

Study my kanji more
Try and not forget all the CS stuff I spent 3 years learning

Medium term :

Try and find a job with a combo of CS and a Japanese degree
When that fails, try and get a Masters in CS through some place with a notable name

Long term :

Try and get a good job with a Masters in CS and a Bachelor's in Japanese
When that fails say 'fuck it' and become a professor of one or the other.
Maybe spend a year with JET or one of the many many English schools here.  Maybe.

Btw, the guy in that pic is Wanderlei Silva. Probably the most successful Muay-Thai/Jiu-Jitsu fighter at the moment.

Muay Thai clinch plus Jiu Jitsu takedown = Little you can do about it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbDgmf8uikA).

Now if I can resist blowing my load at Ikea and Home Despot maybe Japan will acually happen.

See...this would sound totally different if a man said it.

Anyone catch the Louis CK thing on HBO? My poor girlfriend. Last week I was telling her every sentence ended with "in your vagina", until I didn't have to actually say it, just look at her. She'd ask "Do you want to have lunch?" and I'd crack up. She'd roll her eyes and walk away. Thanks to Louis CK, this week's silent ending is "and then jizz on it." Doesn't work as often, though. Might have to go back to "in your vagina."

The only vagina thing I remember from Louis CK was the "duck vagina" bit.

Err..Well, that was his standup. Haven't seen the sitcom.

No, the "in your vagina" was my thing. Louis tells some story where he beats a guy up. And then he adds "and I jacked off on him." "What? Too much?" From his new standup on HBO, Shameless. He reminds me of me about ten years ago.

Oh...Well....You've got to see his standup then.

He talks about weird foods from different cultures, then segues into how he saw a bucket of duck vaginas for sale in Chinatown.

I just said it was his standup. Including duck vaginas.

I liked when he was talking about what an asshole his 4-yr old daughter is, and he wanted to kick her out a window.

Anywhere but Home Depot. They were #1 or #2 in GOP contributions in 2005, if memory serves.

Tme to dump those shares, then, methinks.

Yes I own stock in Home Despot. I bought it when the housing prices were at an all-time low, thinking I'd make my fortune in people fixing up houses. I always liked Lowe's better anyway.

Short term: Read more. Up until college, I read a book a week. Now I'm lucky to read one every three months. (Real books, not manga...)

Medium term: I'm designing a play-by-email 4X space game. More specifically, I'm doing a ground-up redesign of a friend's game to focus less on building and blowing up fleets and more on strategy, economics, and roleplaying. I'm about halfway through the manual (~150 pages).

Long term: Save money. No one in my family has any savings. We're all working class, and have always lived hand-to-mouth. I have a tendency to live that way too, though I could save a little each month. ATM, I only have about $1000 in the bank (I had twice that much, but then Stuff Happened) and about twice that much in a retirement plan. Not much of a disaster cushion.

Short-term: I'm working on a paper exploring some methods of attribute reduction in time-series data, using genetic algorithms. It'll be my first publish, assuming I get it to do anything worthwhile.

Medium-term: Write my thesis, get my Master's.

Long-term: Space, man. Once the space elevator is up, I'm taking me a trip.

Much like Stormwaltz.

Short: Read more to further myself. I haven't done that in forever.
Medium: Make a game. Within the next 2 years. Something fantastic.
Hard: Save money and make f13 a full time job for at least 1 if not 12 people.

SS Rank: Sometime between Short and Long, I'd like to learn myself some useful skills. Like making arcade sticks or my own furniture.

Why 12? Should be 13. Then you can be the f13. Like the fantastic four or something. But not quite as fantastic, maybe fabulous. Or whatnot.

Schild would be either #1 or #13, depending on mood.  I assume he meant to use the word "other" in there, with himself a given.

My short-term is now focused on doing Very Little That Does Not Need Doing.  The Winter Hell is finally over.  Things that need doing include changing two light bulbs, having two prescriptions filled, picking up my contact lenses from Sam's Club, closing gaps around the basement wall, replacing the basement doorframe, and maybe fixing up some HVAC exhaust vents.

Medium is to finish some games, like a couple Shin Megami Tensei, FFXII, etc.  And do the taxes.

Long is to get the boy into college.

Change the light bulbs so you can find the perscriptions and you might have the energy to do all that work around the house, Four Eyes.

I bought some extry, so I'm really Fourteen-Eyes.

Short:  Learn proper usage of the semicolon.  Finish the quarter with a better GPA than last quarter.  Read the New Testament in Greek for practice.
Medium: Finish Undergrad crap.  Learn to drive myself around.  Read Creative Work to people outside of my friends.
Long: Get published.  Build a house.  Convince the UFC they need to sponsor a Special Olympics branch.  Profit.

Short term:
I'm working on building a new bedroom set. All oak and black satin paint. Doing a six drawer dresser, two night stands and a bed.

mid:
Eventually i will get back into school, Fall hopefully, and finish a degree in something worthless like photography

long:
I'm working on teaching my self html, php, and asp. Considering I work on it about once a month it will take ages

Still working on my tactics/card game. It is *really* hard to program all day at work and then program when I get home. I also got stuck for a long time on a resource model but I think I'm past that.

Short term:  Finish my CCRN (Critical Care Registered Nurse) certification.  Play VF5, F1 and Crackdown until my eyes bleed.  Spin records while eyes recover.

Mid:  Actually distribute my music somehow... maybe.  Finally buy a Nord Modular G2 and have sex with it.

Long:  Build a modular synth.  Work as a flight nurse for at least a couple of years.

Short: 'Finish' my four stall garage.  By 'finish' I mean decor, wiring it for internet / cable, finding a decent used oven to put in there for parts baking, find old style Coca-cola vending machine that works for cool beer storage :)

Mid: Finish the build up on the 302 that is going into the '68 Mustang Fastback that I am off frame resto-modding,

Long: Finish resto-mod of the '68 Fastback

Short term I want to figure out what I want for breakfast, make it, and eat it. Nothing else I want to do can be classified as short term. :P EDIT: Short term goal accomplished: Crunchy Nut Clusters were prepared and eaten as required.

Mid-long term I want to learn more about music and musical theory, as well as learn an instrument or 2 (though mostly as a way of gaining insight). I've been scratching the surface quite a bit lately and have found it pretty interesting. Plus I have a whole bunch of questions that I want answered like exactly what is a 4/4 beat? Now I know its 4 quarter beats to the bar, and I can tell you what it looks like in sheet music, but what does that mean?

Long term I'd love to study, formulate, and write philosophy. Mostly as a personal exercise to examine the philosophical workings of my own mind, and to refine my political and ethical beliefs. I also think it would be amazing to have other people read about and debate a work of philosophy I'd created.

Short: Finish the goddamn downstairs batthroom which still looks like somebody threw a 'nade and closed the door (should be short terme but ended up long term)

Mid: Make a mark at my new job (start on the 1st - I'll be writing again)

Long: Write a book. Any book.
         Learn some close-up magic - I want a skill I can impress the kids with (apart from just being cool dad)

Going to be tough, the old coke machines I remember had 8oz bottles.

Mine have been slightly clarified:

Short: Finish my writing research: On Writing by Stephen King (some of his advice is very, very pratical and this is the first book I felt like actually helped my writing) , Elements of Style, and Hero of a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.

Medium: Stay with my commitment to write a minimum of 10 pages a day. Finish a book by next Fall

Long: Get one book published, minimum.

Are you sure?

One of my dads friends had one in his garage, and I could swear it worked with beer bottles.  But hell, that's been...20 years?  So my memory might be a little fuzzy.

Okay, my real pet project?

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/spaeschke/Tattoo1.jpg)

I've been doing this for about 2 months now, tattooing myself and friends.  I started out damned shaky, to where I need to eventually repair the early work I did on myself (the line work wasn't good), but I've improved dramatically.  I figure I'll keep on this path, tattooing friends, and eventually open up my own shop.

I knew a methhead bass player in Frisco who did tats with a gun he made himself. He was the total McGuyver of tattoo. He came over one day, asked for an old tape player, a pen, , duct tape, a guitar string and some india ink. He put the tape motor on the pen, ran the string through it, dipped it in ink and started tattooing himself. He was actually quite good at doing aztec glyphs.

I had a laugh when my singer decided to see how it felt and tattooed a line on his finger.

You only need at most one person doing it full time, it much better to pay-per-article to editors.