It's been a while again. I'm sorry about that. It's not that I don't like talking to you guys, I just suck at blogging on time (if at all). I was going to say that you'd have to imagine me complexly to comprehend how difficult it is for me to blog on time (if, indeed, at all) but seeing how much blogging has been going on here this week, I'm sure you'll understand :)

Talking about imagining complexly, you guys remember the wallpaper I posted a few weeks back? You know, the one of my BobbleJohn Green with an "Imagine me Complexly" button in front of John's twitter?
Well, this week I felt like doing something crazy...
I acquired http://imaginemecomplexly.com  :D
My first idea was to just use if for e-mail, but I figured I could also put something on there. For now I've put a landing page on there with the wallpaper as background and a bit of text. (I've also experimented with Typekit. If you look at the website in Firefox or Safari, the text should be in a cool font. Otherwise you'll just get your plain old websafe font.)
Being the lazy (and cheap) guy I am, I didn't buy any hosting for this "website", I just uploaded my html as a file on the Ning and had my host redirect the website in a frame (thereby leaving the url imaginemecomplexly.com in place even though you're really looking at api.ning.com/files/craploadofrandomcharacters/imtocheaptobuyhosting.html ) If you know anything about making websites and stuff, you know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, back to this mail thingy. I decided to use Google Apps to organise my mailserver, which I'm quite happy about. The standard (free) version of Apps allows up to 50 different users, each with an inbox that's 7GB (just like a regular Gmail) and up to 30 nicknames (other e-mail addresses from the same domain that arrive in your mailbox) per user (though the total number of nicknames for entire domain is limited at 500). Still, that's 49 users and at least 470 nicknames more than I was going to use.
So I decided to hand them out. $7 a year for a domain is little money for a cool e-mail address, but if I can make other people happy with one along the way, I'm happy to do so. So far I've given out 9 user accounts to people who wanted an @imaginemecomplexly.com e-mail address.
If any of you want one (you don't even really need to use the mailbox, you can just configure it to forward everything to your actual e-mail, that's what I do :P), drop me a line (and mention what username and possibly nicknames you want.)

Nanowrimo is going so horribly that I don't feel like doing it anymore. School is keeping me really busy and it's just frustrating, I suppose. And Nanoshamo (National No Shaving Month) isn't going well either. I haven't shave yet, which is good, but I have a bald spot. on my neck! I can't even grow a proper beard. I suck. I'm trying to figure out what it is I do that makes my beard grow less on the left side of my face. Hope it's fixable, I'm starting to look ridiculous.

And I realize that I've been talking about nothing but me (again). God I'm egocentric :P

Meh.


Tom/Friday/Sunday/WhatevermydayisIdunnoanymore.

Well, from the Shanley Hotel in Napanoch, NY. But still...

Research: Paranormal is currently on a week-long investigation of the Shanley. We arrived today and are settling in for our stay. The road trip actually started yesterday with a stop in Gettysburg. We stayed the night, met one of our fans (OMG! We have fans. That's strange to say), and then spent some time sightseeing at the battlefields before leaving for NY.

After a long trip (with a malfunctioning GPS and a lot of tired people) we arrived in Port Jervis where we appeared on a really cool Cable Access TV show called "Create Your Reality", then made our way to the Shanley.

Sal, the owner, is an awesome guy. We'll be here through next Monday, so we'll have some massive investigation time. Hopefully, we'll have plenty of evidence to share. I'll definitely update everyone next week. And, be sure to keep up with the Research: Paranormal page on Facebook because I know Mike will be updating regularly this week.

This is the first moment I've had free to write. Unfortunately, that means my NaNo has suffered as well. As soon as I finish typing this, I'm moving on to that. I'll be happy if I break 10K tonight (only 500 away).

Since Madison had the only blog to respond to, most of these are from Twitter:

Madison: This is going to sound hokey, but the only way to fail at NaNo is to not write at all.
Tom: You know, I was inadvertently participating in NoShaveNov before the road trip. I hadn't shaved since Saturday night. Then, I shaved and screwed the whole thing up. Oh, and
MOST. EPIC. E-MAIL. EVAH!!!!!!!!!!!
Elayne: You are just killin' NaNo! Good going.
Madi: I used to fake a Scottish brogue quite well. Probably still could. It's fun.

Oh, and Madison, if you think that report card looks funny, you should see my last full semester from N.C. State:
Intro to Film Production: A
Linguistics: F
Literature: F
Language: F
Calculus: F

I don't fully remember the exact classes I was taking (might be part of the problem, eh?), but the grades are right. I then managed to compound the problem by creating a fake report card to show my parents with all passing grades. It worked until the university sent home an official transcript (the practice for students on Academic Suspension o_O).

Ah, the follies of youth.

And with that, I shall leave you for another week.

As always, this is your Wily Wednesday,


William


Madison, we'll see you tomorrow. Remember to bring your broom for Shenanigans.

So, yeah. It's NaNo time. I've actually been writing, which is a massive improvement over last year. And though I'm behind right now, I've also been busy. I had unexpected company on Sunday, drove him to his home and also drove myself to New Bern on Monday (along with registering for classes, more below), and of course, helping out the folks around the house and hanging out with some of the New Bern crew.

The main reason I had to come to New Bern was because my Dad had an impacted wisdom tooth removed and he needed someone to stay there and drive him home afterwards. I have been jotting down bits of novel that hit me when I'm away from the computer (like in the waiting room earlier), so I'm keeping a writing flow going.

Current word count: 3,799

I hope to reach 4,000 before bed, but I don't think that's likely because I'm fading fast.

Okay, now let's talk Halloween.

For the first time in a long time, I was really excited for Halloween. Our Wednesday night group had talked about it and we were all pumped to go out Saturday night. I think I mentioned it, but J and I went as Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues, the Blues Brothers. And, to be honest, I was a massive hit. Complete strangers wanted their pictures taken with me because they said I looked just like him. This is true, I've always known this, but it's fun when other people finally catch on. Here's a picture:



We all got together; it was the Blues Brothers, She-Ra, a Ghostbuster, Betty Boop, Barney Stinson, Silent Bob, Lady GaGa, the Dude, Erin E-Surance, Ash Williams, Bubba from Night of the Scarecrow, and went to two Halloween parties. Then, we hit downtown Wilmington for the rest of the night. Front Street is insane on Halloween. We spent most of the night at a cool bar/theatre called the Browncoat (the owner is a huge Firefly fan). They had karaoke...

...and J and I performed "Soul Man". Click on the picture of the two of us to see a brief video:



That was an amazing experience.

It's weird, but that's the most fun I think I've had in a long time. I just let go. I don't think I realized how much I was holding back, on everything. I've been different ever since Saturday night.

Madison: I decided to wing it for NaNo this year as well. I think I'm doing pretty well, even if the story is a jumbled mess at the moment. Good thing it's just a rough draft. And don't worry, you'll be great!
Tom: I thought the Halloween banner for the ning was a nice touch.
Elayne: My fault. Duly noted.
Madi: I really dig that plot! It sounds awesome. Also, I only glanced your song list, but I like what I briefly saw.

So, like I said, I registered for classes on Monday. I'm going back strong with a load of 15 hours. My classes include: Intro to Professional Writing, Writing for Teachers, and Literature for Young Adults

*crosses fingers*

Here's hoping John and Maureen are on the reading list.

So, with that I will leave you to go back to writing.

As always, this is your Well-Written Wednesday,


William

Madison, we'll see you tomorrow