(no subject)
Underway life is starting to make me want to shoot myself in the face. I s'pose I handle it pretty well, though, considering that this only started around 2 weeks before the end of the patrol. Next time I should be able to make it all the way through without wanting to stab someone. I'm sure it'll be better when I'm fully qualified and can do things like read a book or watch TV.
I tried to write a poem the other day. It didn't work out very well, but I got a few images down well enough that they stopped pounding at my brain. I guess if I ever want to write the stuff, I should start reading more of it more studiously. I can't ever seem to get down any prose anymore. It used to be my favorite thing to do. Now I get down two sentences and it just feels like I'm writing absolute shit. I have ideas in my head, but I can't seem to get them out in any halfway concrete form. It's kinda like I want to cook a meal, and I have the meat, the vegetables, the spices, et cetera, but neither the stove nor the oven will turn on when I flip the switch.
It probably boils down to the same problem. I need to read. I need to read all the time. I need to read for at least 3 hours a day. Read for 3, write for 1. That'd probably work out pretty well. Bob Arthur once said that a full-time writer needs to be spending at least 4 hours a day doing nothing but writing, and should read at least one book a week. I s'pose I can cut that down for part-time work.
Tonight I went out to the fantail after work and looked up at the stars. It's the best thing about being underway, I think, to be able to see them so clearly. So much so that I'll probably say so about fourteen more times before I decide that I've said the same thing too many times and stop. Then I'll probably forget that I decided to stop and talk about it some more.
I was looking up, and saw the most beautiful meteor. It was gigantic and bright and lasted about a full second. It had a long tail and a wide aura and everything. I never saw one like that before. I involuntarily shouted "Holy shit!" and the guy in front of me turned around and looked up saying "What?". He missed it. He told me to make a wish. I did. I wished to know the stars. Then I looked down at nothing for a second. When I looked back up again, I was gazing directly at a constellation that I'd never noticed before. It said Phoenix. I wonder if it really is the constellation Phoenix. It looked like a bird or dragonfly.
I think I'll go to sleep now.
I tried to write a poem the other day. It didn't work out very well, but I got a few images down well enough that they stopped pounding at my brain. I guess if I ever want to write the stuff, I should start reading more of it more studiously. I can't ever seem to get down any prose anymore. It used to be my favorite thing to do. Now I get down two sentences and it just feels like I'm writing absolute shit. I have ideas in my head, but I can't seem to get them out in any halfway concrete form. It's kinda like I want to cook a meal, and I have the meat, the vegetables, the spices, et cetera, but neither the stove nor the oven will turn on when I flip the switch.
It probably boils down to the same problem. I need to read. I need to read all the time. I need to read for at least 3 hours a day. Read for 3, write for 1. That'd probably work out pretty well. Bob Arthur once said that a full-time writer needs to be spending at least 4 hours a day doing nothing but writing, and should read at least one book a week. I s'pose I can cut that down for part-time work.
Tonight I went out to the fantail after work and looked up at the stars. It's the best thing about being underway, I think, to be able to see them so clearly. So much so that I'll probably say so about fourteen more times before I decide that I've said the same thing too many times and stop. Then I'll probably forget that I decided to stop and talk about it some more.
I was looking up, and saw the most beautiful meteor. It was gigantic and bright and lasted about a full second. It had a long tail and a wide aura and everything. I never saw one like that before. I involuntarily shouted "Holy shit!" and the guy in front of me turned around and looked up saying "What?". He missed it. He told me to make a wish. I did. I wished to know the stars. Then I looked down at nothing for a second. When I looked back up again, I was gazing directly at a constellation that I'd never noticed before. It said Phoenix. I wonder if it really is the constellation Phoenix. It looked like a bird or dragonfly.
I think I'll go to sleep now.