Practicing Gallifreyan

I've been practicing my Gallifreyan. It's quite fun. But there are some aspects of the not-quite language - it's really more of a code - that make it difficult. For example, a lot of the "rules" are purely aesthetic. How the dots look on the letters, or how long the lines are, can vary depending on mood or your particular style of drawing. It might, however, allow for the Time Lord version of "handwriting" I guess. I also find that the hard part of making sentences (and paragraphs, etc.) is the spacing of the letters. Some groups of words just seem naturally suited to each other. Others are less so. One strategy I've been using is to make the words separately to get an idea of what they look like. Then (because the size of the words can change to make them fit together) I will sketch the rough shapes out to try to get them all to work together.

I also attempted to cut out the shapes, but since you can't really change their shape or slightly move the letters around to make them fit together, it wasn't very helpful.

I have also tried using the computer (PowerPoint, if you must know, as my Photoshop skills are nil) to make the shapes. They are much cleaner, but lack the rough, artistic look of the hand-drawn characters. This one says "Gary." I hope :)

So here are my first to basic attempts at writing full sentences in Gallifreyan. This says "Give me liberty or give me death" (more or less).

And this one says "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first, invent the universe." Also more or less.

I highly recommend learning it. The alphabet/code is an easy learn and there are lots of resources online (http://timeturners.wikidot.com/circular-gallifreyan). And it looks cool. At very least, all you Whovians should figure out how to write your name!

The Clock Winked

So I published a book.

I highly recommend trying it - for anyone who thinks they can make it all the way through to the other side of the revision stage. But honestly, the most difficult part for me was making the cover.

Now, obviously, you can hire people to do your design for you. And sometimes you can even find people to do it for free - but in that case, you're asking a lot of someone, especially if you want to do it in a specific time frame. So after poking people around a bit, I did it myself.

I went through a wide variety of versions - blue, black, orange, different fonts and font sizes. I stuck with the clock image throughout the whole process, however, because I liked it. I asked different people I know for feedback - which versions they did and didn't like and why and eventually I got bored.

I get bored very easily. So I made one final version that was completely different from the others, and then said, "That's it, it's good enough."

This was due in large part to a piece advice from a coworker, which was not intended to be advice and spoken in relation to something entirely unrelated to my book. The advice (paraphrased into my own words) was this:

There's something to be said for perfection, and there's something to be said for getting it done. Sometimes you need to just get it done.

And for your own enjoyment, I will post the old versions of the cover here, and you can decide which one you like best. Oh, and you can buy my book, too. It's on Amazon: click here.

Plants in a Bubble

Hydroponics on the Destiny. Image credit.

In Stargate Universe, there is a hydroponics lab (see right). What is hydroponics? you ask.

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. Simply put, the necessary nutrients for growth are put in water, and the roots absorbs them without ever touching soil. The Stargate version has the plants growing towards a centralized light source while spinning slowly and watering the roots at the base (which you can see in the image). The water is of course filled with the necessary nutrients. You can find more information on this system here.

The Boston Fern is
named Franklin.
He's cute.

I have more recently been interested in plants, especially the live kind that grow (as opposed to the dead kind that don't). My new(ish) apartment actually gets light during the day, so I have found warm and wonderful spots for my plants. Here they all are in a row, happily out of the snow (left). 

When I no longer have an apartment and am also not living with relatives or in a van (this assumes that I can afford a house at some point in my future), I would like to build a hydroponic garden. I have to get to it before the hipsters, though. My other option (if the whole house thing falls through) is to build an ecosystem in a bottle. I guess I could do that anyway. Look at this guy. He appears incredibly happy. I imagine I would also be happy if I had an entire ecosystem that I could hug.

David Latimer, hugging an entire ecosystem.
Photo credit.

Now, if I were to grow an entire ecosystem in a bottle, I would include fairies. In fact, maybe that's what genies are - fairies trapped in one ecosystem that is somehow contained inside a magic lamp. That is probably why genies are always grumpy - weeds are constantly taking over everything! If you don't believe me that genies are grumpy, read Arabian Nights.

At any rate, until I can afford a house and power tools, I guess I will have to stave off my impatience by growing real plants and doodling pictures of plants. Maybe some plants hanging off of walls, or plants stuck inside bottles (see image to right) or even plants that can fly! Plants that can live in outer space! Plants that are intelligent life forms!

And then, of course, I will share my plant pictures with you.