National Novel Writing Month

I am going to give it a try but it means about 1600 words a day if I am going to write 50,000 words by the end of November. Given all the papers I have to grade over the next month, that could be tricky, but I like the motto of the whole program--quantity not quality. I am not going to worry over what I write, just write and write and write. Wish me luck.

This Mid-season finale thing stinks!!!!

I have to say that I can't wait for some new episodes, at least to find out who is the fifth hidden cyclon in the human fleet. The vision of a burnt-out earth was a little frightening as I have always wondered if, to quote Charlton Heston from Planet of the Apes, "You (we) finally did it. You (we) finally blew the damn thing up." I like the director's guts to have earth fried up but it is depressing at the same time. Guess it would have been too pretty if they had traveled all that way and found the 13th colony and life would have been hunky-dorey, but where the heck is this going to go???

Guess I have have to wait and see.....

So much new in the last few episodes of BSG

Well, the fifth Cylon remains a mystery and three of the four almost went out an airlock, but they have now been revealed. This is interesting since they have had no desire to kill the humans. Why were they suddenly activated with that Stones tune? Was it just to get all of them to earth and if so, who activated them? And now, just look at earth. A barren rock. The hint seems to be that we all killed ourselves off and now the humans and the cylons have nothing to live for any more. Darn shame. If this is the mid-season finale, as Scott Ian's blog calls it, then where do they go from here? Lots of questions and not many answers.

Battlestar Galactica

OK, so it looks like Kara Thrace is NOT a Cylon but the ONLY way she could be back with a new ship is if she was cloned and sent back by the Cylons. Now why on earth, or should I say the 12 colonies, would they do that? If she is the 5th cylon, or the 12th, depending on how you count them, then why are they trying to throw us off of that? Are they just messing with us? And why did all those ace pilots take off with her on a wild goose chase instead of staying around to defend the fleet? Wasn't that why they were trained in the first place?

Now let's move on to Baltar. Frankly, I am sick of him. I almost wish they had found him guilty in the trial and spaced him. He is an interesting character but this new cult thing which has Roslyn practicing Bush-like tactics with civil liberties is getting old. I am GLAD he appears not to be a Cylon but I think they should just revive Deanna and ask her. She was whacking out before the deactivated her line, that is a strange thing for Cylons to do, but maybe she will be better now or turn on all of them and wipe them out. :)

So what about our dear Roslyn and Adama thing. She has the admiral reading to her and now Lee is in politics driving her crazy. I wish he were still a Viper pilot. This whole politics thing is getting old as well. I guess I long for the days when they all went out and had a firefight with the Cylons.

And what about this idea that the robots are now sentient? Half the skin jobs want to lobotomize them and half want to treat them as equals. Six gets on my nerves a bit and what is it with the real hair now? Is she the same as a six with platinum blonde hair or not? And one line subdivide now?

And last but not least, what of Tyrol, Tigh and Tory? Are those T's just a coincidence? Must be or Anders wouldn't fit. I like how Tory is into being a Cylone, Tigh is in denial and Tyrol is just whacked out. I don't think he is long for this world. I am thinking he will space himself pretty soon if he can't get a handle on his identity.

Well, that is enough speculation for now....

Battlestar Galactica

OK, so the previews they are showing on both the Sci-fi channel and Scifi.com are really starting to confirm that Starbuck is the fifth Cylon. The clips are so short and fast it is hard to tell, but it looks like her husband is calling her a Cylon and as I said in a very old post, that should explain why she survived. It is ironic given her torture of Leoben and her hatred of the Cylons but it sure makes sense given her "abilities" that her mother and others have talked about. It makes a lot of sense given her "maelstrom" drawings and everything else.

All for now...

Postponing the Sabbatical

I am going to postpone the sabbatical for many personal reasons, but I think I will be able to get some writing done this summer if I don't teach three classes like last summer. That was just too much as it left little time for writing while watching the kids during the day and teaching at night. I was pretty burned out over the summer instead of rested and adding that to a new prep for online teaching for the fall just became way too much. I think just watching the boys this summer and writing when I can will be a great way to recuperate. I can always apply for the sabbatical again in the future.

All for now...