2947: You Forgot All The Words (While I Still Remember The Tune)
I added the line as the average WPD goal, to show my [non-]progress. I know there are "WRITE OR DIE!!!1" tools out there to encourage the process, but they're impractical for what reason or other, including that they're too conspicuous for work and that I have to be able to stop to check mail periodically to see if Ash sent me something new to do [--excuses!]. Mostly I don't want to feel pressured to do it, even though that's not the idea.
I squandered my day off, as it happens--I woke dreadfully late due to the Warm Bed vs. Cold Air BATTLE FOR TEH AGES!!!1, then I drove up to Frederick for another Neojank harvest [still looking for a stupid Hallowe'en JubJub to finish the S4 collection, and I'm not inclined to eBay it unless it's on the selling end] and, since I was there, to check out the other Beyond Comics outlet.
It's a HUGE store! =o Like Dream Wizards, but taller! [okay, most of you don't know Dream Wizards... but they're BIG comic/game stores, trust me!] I mean, after the "class warfare" bullshit of the election, I have a diminished concern for small business,* but I do like comic stores, even if I don't really buy comics anymore [sans Usagi through TFAW, though I really should undo that and get my comics in person]. As such, I felt inclined to pick up the "Collector's Edition" Death Note hardcover and Flight #5 [note I don't have 1-4], the latter because Reagan Lodge has stuff in it, and it's as good a decision maker as any. Yeah, I can get all my books through Borders, and sometimes for a discount, but I'm never going to have a reason to specifically buy from Borders or any other chain, unlike the limited Neojank at Target/Walmart/Toys R Us =/
*At the risk of the usual "After I transcribe my opinion, something changes my mind" dilemma: Starting businesses, in my attempt-at-unbiased opinion, always face an uphill battle in terms of competition. Established businesses already have contacts and supply connections to do the job efficiently, especially large businesses. Small businesses run the risk of failure due to aspects such as failure to predict the market, inefficiency, failure to get good market presence, etc., and really only have the advantage of doing better than XYZ Big Business known to suck because they haven't yet been broken by the clientele.
Small businesses known to fail: video game stores.** Small businesses known to succeed: restaurants. There may be a few other good examples I can't think of at the moment, but in general a big business is more likely to persist than a small one, for a number of reasons including that they can get more for cheaper and run huge sales and promotions that would cost small businesses dearly. It's pretty much only when smaller = better that gives the newcomer the advantage, when there is a shorter line between the owner and the patron through which less can be diluted [see virtually EVERY COMPLAINT I'VE HAD ABOUT RETAIL].
**Excerpt: If anyone could run a video game company, video game retail stores wouldn't have a 95%+ failure in the first year, and Sega (which produces some of the finest games in the world) wouldn't have lost money for 5 straight years. Try getting a loan from a bank to open a game store, they'll pretty much just laugh at you and say they've never loaned money to a profitable one yet.
So, um. Yeah. Back to writing, oops =p