My newest Examiner temporal anomalies article is really about predestination as it impacts time travel.  It’s called The Time Traveler’s Wife part 7:  just say “No”, and considers the ramifications of Clare’s rejection of Henry’s marriage proposal, which she immediately changes to acceptance.

It strikes me that it’s easy to think that life is rough when you are focused on what you think you should be doing and other people think you should be doing something else.  Today, though, a large part of the roughness came from things I thought I should do that I couldn’t do because of other problems–like that New Jersey decided to shut down motor vehicles offices on Mondays from now on to save money. I went to the near one, and when the sign on the door gave its new hours including closed Monday, I drove half an hour to another, which had the same sign.  So I lost too much time on that, and on a couple other fool’s errands that amounted to time spent accomplishing nothing.

This leaves me too short of time to complete today’s work or do everything else I’m expected to do, so I’m not sure how I’m going to handle it from here.  That, though, seems more and more to be the norm, so I’m going to have to adjust to it somehow.

–M. J. Young

I am one who opposes change for its own sake.  If something is to be changed, it should be because the new is clearly an improvement over the old.  I am at this point hoping that this be the case at The Examiner, where I presently publish my temporal anomalies pieces.  They are upgrading to a new system, and during the upgrade I’m experiencing a lot of downgraded usability.

Of first note, they have always offered a “basic” and an “advanced” editor.  The “advanced” editor allows the writer to compose entirely in HTML–or, in my case, to pre-write the fully coded page, check it for errors, and then paste the full text with all coding into a window on the date of publication and publish it.  The “basic” editor requires that one either type or paste plain text into the window (or actually, into a pop-up window that in turn will paste it into the text window), and then using a point and click highlight and buttons system with more pop-up windows individually add all text formatting and links.  Thus on the day of publication, the “basic” editor demands several times as much time and effort to get an article published as the “advanced” ever did.  I do not count this an improvement.

Second, although I am not certain whether it is a function of the basic editor or a supposed improvement, it use to be that it was possible to preview the article just before sending it to publication.  Now you have to hope that you have everything right, or go back later after it has been published to edit it.

Third, and again I can’t say whether this is a flaw of the new system or of the basic editor, although it was always stated that articles might take a while to appear on the site, they never did.  Immediately upon posting, a link was made available along with quick access to Twitter and Facebook to get the articles announced.  For the last two or three articles, I have had to wait near half an hour for the link to be live, which is a serious dent in my day, because I have to leave the task and return later.

I’ve also noticed that perhaps a month’s worth of the most recent comments posted by readers are absent from the index of comments I can access.  I was looking for one today, hunting through articles in search of a comment posted by someone claiming to be the author of a book that addresses time travel.  I could not find it.

Finally, the transition of my old articles to the new system has played havoc with some of the coding in the titles.  The old system accepted a non-breaking space code for a space in the title; the new system not only does not accept these, but in transitioning all my old articles, nearly all of which have a non-breaking space after the colon in the title, it has included   in every one of them.  It’s ugly, and the system won’t let me fix it.

So I’m annoyed at the changes being made to a system that worked well before the changes were initiated, and can only hope that once they finish what they’ve started it will work again.

Meanwhile, I managed to post The Time Traveler’s Wife part 6:  a future problem, addressing what happens when a time traveler leaps into the future and then returns to his own time.  I also managed to adjust on the fly to plans that changed half a dozen times related to transporting someone whose plans were not entirely in his own control.  What I seem not to have done, though, is bounce back sufficiently to get focused on today’s work.  Hopefully I’ve crossed that barricade and can move forward.

–M. J. Young

What was to be a quick couple of errands morphed into six hours of dinner and dessert with a friend in the next state.  That is not a complaint, but only an explanation; the explanation should also state that it is within the realm of possibility that I will be taking someone to the hospital within the next couple of hours, so I might not finish everything anyway.

I did manage to upload today’s temporal anomalies article to The Examiner, continuing the current series with The Time Traveler’s Wife part 5:  the artist and the librarian, in which the original romance that brought Henry and Clare together is considered.  Despite the fact that in the film Clare has known Henry all her life, their first first meeting has to be the one in the library; Henry does not travel back to meet Clare sooner until later.

Hmmm…I’m realizing that I’m getting pretty beat already, and have more to do than just the forums; but let me see where I am and what’s going to happen.

–M. J. Young

I’ve been to see a doctor a few times lately, and the diagnosis seems to be that I’m allergic to anything that touches my skin, if it does so enough.  So my allergy meds have been upped to deal with this.  My computer has also gone to see its own doctor, and now there is a new theory to pursue as soon as I have time to do a few home tests.  My home time has been limited, though–I’m not the only person who is ill here, so there are additional demands on my time.  On top of that, the water system started leaking, and it seems it’s not just a pipe junction but a main pressure tank.  The plumber is plumbing it now, and hopefully it will be plumb within the hour, but to the tune of a substantial number of clinking metal discs.

And it happens that last Thursday’s post was the 911th in this Blogless Lepolt series, so it seems a good time for trouble.

Speaking of trouble, the latest entry in the temporal anomalies series at The Examiner addresses the first trip Henry de Tamble made to the past, the first time he made that trip–the time when there was no future from which someone could come explain it to him.  That history is discussed in The Time Traveler’s Wife part 4:  the first time is the worst time.  It was also a bad first time for me, because the site is changing to a new system, and in the process they have disabled most of the tools I always use to post my articles and left me with the supposed user-friendly interface for those who are content to have their articles formatted by point-and-click.  It took longer for me to do that (my articles are written in HTML and post quickly if I can post in HTML), but I got it done.

I have been pushing to get everything done, and not doing so most days; but perhaps today will be different.  In fact, the water’s back already, the computer seems stable, and I’m not yet exhausted from the early start.

–M. J. Young

Well, things are not quite running smoothly.  In fixing my computer the shop found a flaw in the primary hard drive, which meant replacing it, reinstalling the operating system, and then returning it to me with the task of reinstalling all the other programs I use week in and week out for e-mail, FTP, documents, spreadsheets, and stuff I can’t now even recall.  What’s worse, it’s only a little better.  Something is still seriously wrong with it.  I might have to replace the whole machine–which is not something I can reasonably afford to do at present, so we’ll have to make due.

On the bright side, the new temporal anomalies series at The Examiner is doing better than the last one.  That’s not going to pay for the computer, mind, but at least it keeps my in computer paper.  The Time Traveler’s Wife part 3:  the first time is the first time constructs a timeline, pulling together fragments of clues on the timing of events and the ages of the characters to fit it all roughly to a credible if in some ways fantasy calendar.

On the dark side, I’ve had a long day, not all trying, some of it pleasant, but enough of it behind that I want as little as possible ahead.  Thus I am short circuiting whatever is left to the minimum necessary and putting this tired brain to bed.  If the world is still here tomorrow, I will deal with it then.

–M. J. Young

This Blogless Lepolt entry is the one after nine-oh-nine, if anyone knows that reference.  At least, it is if my numbering has been maintained accurately all these years.

I will be without a computer, probably from late this afternoon probably until late Sunday afternoon.  The memory increase and RAID driver (that’s probably a redundancy, and I hate redundancies like “PIN number” (may have have your personal identification number number?) but I don’t know with certainty that the “D” of “RAID” stands for “driver” and not “drive”) have not resolved the issues satisfactorily; it is not clear they have helped at all, although the heat of the past few days has contributed.  I am frantically attempting to get as many things situated before I shut down as possible, having gotten an early start on the first cool day of late, but am certain I am forgetting something.  I might have access through computers of other family members, but I won’t have access to the files and reference materials that are so essential to so much that I do, nor will I be able to reach my e-mail.  I will be able to send Tweets via cell phone, if there is anything significant to report–at least, I think I will, and I expect to test that when I’m done here, by way of announcing the computer absence to those few who follow me there.

Meanwhile, I have posted today’s Examiner temporal anomalies piece, suggesting that under fixed time theory Clare is not the big event of the meadow, making the film much less romantic.  Thus we have The Time Traveler’s Wife part 2:  a fixed time heartbreak, and a reason to explore replacement theory as an alternate solution.

I will see you, Lord willing, Monday or possibly late Sunday, one place or another.

–M. J. Young

Before we get any further, let me observe publicly that today has been eight-nine-ten, and no one mentioned that in my hearing.  Usually people get all excited about odd dates of that sort, but they happen often enough I suppose.

It has been a rough weekend.  As mentioned, I sent my computer out for diagnostics and repairs.  They increased the on-board memory four-fold and upgraded a driver that manages the drives, and it’s still freezing and crashing and restarting, although I’m not certain whether it is doing so less frequently.

Not having a computer, I took the time to put The Time Traveler’s Wife into the player and look for anything I missed–specifically, anything at all that would help me tie Henry’s life to a calendar, or his age to Clare’s, or anything that would cement the timelines in a way that solidified them.  Good in the sense that I’m glad I didn’t miss it, I found it–which is bad in the sense that I had to hand-edit the printout of all twenty-two articles in the series, and then last night when the still-defective computer returned to its proper place on my desk, to make all those changes in the articles themselves so that today I could upload the first, The Time Traveler’s Wife part 1:  a fixed time gem, to the temporal anomalies section of The Examiner.

I got swamped with a heavy load of Monday e-mail, but that would have happened anyway, I think.  It was bad enough that something I really wanted to read (from a friend in the Christian music world) I sent to the printer and will take with me later when I expect to be cooling my heels somewhere.

I have several other projects looming over my head, but at least this one is good to go.  I dropped a dime–actually, closer to two hundred dimes–to buy a copy of Hot Tub Time Machine, the promised promotional copy never having materialized, and wondered whether I’m in the black for my writing at the moment or not.  All the good things I’ve heard about this movie make me hesitant to watch it, and the fact that the big deal with the copy I bought is that it also includes the unrated version does not encourage my expectations, but at least I already have stated that I don’t watch director’s cuts because it is theatrical versions that tell the story that was ultimately told, so I have my defense ready.

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all that comes to mind at the moment.  Oh, I did read Eric Ashley’s latest installment, Cereal Novel:  Eleventh Bowl, which still determinedly refuses to allow its main character, or the reader, to get oriented to this strange world.  Fascinating, in that way.  I can’t remember a fantasy that didn’t make a valiant effort to connect the reader to the world somehow.  I’ve often thought about running game worlds that were that disorienting, but I seldom actually do, and even then I think I impose a bit more order on them than is really good for a disorienting world.

–M. J. Young

Finally, actually full since your visit to this strange land of men in kilts, which now includes you, you sleep hard. Waking the next day, you look again in the bath for means of a wash, and spot a button high on the white wall, the same color.

Crossing your fingers that it does not unleash some horror, you push it. It goes no where, but the mental intent is all that is needed.

A tiny closet opens cracks open from a secret, no concealed door, and you see a dozen small water jets on all sides. Stepping in, the door closes, and you barely have space to breathe. Which becomes harder a second later as a sudsy misting fog jets out and soaks you gently. Gagging on soap in your mouth, which tastes just as foul as the soap in your home world when your mother washed out your mouth for using bad language, you are relieved to feel pulsing jets sweep away the soap. Then thumpety-thumpety-thump from all about, and air jets that have replaced the water jets in their sockets forcibly dry you in about a minute.

Total elapsed time before the closet reopens, two minutes. And an unnoticed until then jet in the ceiling retracts as the door shuts. Even your hair is squeaky clean. Which is probably bad for frayed ends, but you’ll take it for now.

Feeling empowered, you don the ridiculous kilt, and sligtly less silly tunic, and put on your regular socks and shoes.

Then you clamber up the plastic wooden steps, and open the door you had dove into several days past. A quick step outside into the sun does wonders for your spirits, and your lips curve into a grin. Seeing a guy in a kilt walk past the end of the alley, and then another couple guys in kilts who are arguing with each other in deep baritone voices makes you decide that perhaps this kilt thing was not as silly as all that. After all, by their standards, you had been a man dressing as a woman.

This church had been very nice. They took in a transvestite dirty bum, and fed and clothed you.

Now to see the city, you decide.

Then you hear a whirring noise.

“Halt, lawbreaker.”

A police mini-chopper about eighteen inches long is dropping out of the sky. You lurch back, and a dart buries itself into your leg.

Instantly woozy, you step into the door you had just left.

“Sanctuary.” The police chopper says sadly from the other side of the door threshold as it hovers two feet away in your face area.

“Please sit down, citizen lawbreaker. The sedative will compel sleep shortly, and the New Vespucian Police has no desire for your permanent injury.”

Feeling wobbly, you do sit.

“Sanctuary.” You mutter. “Not Sank you Arab. Much more sense.” You say to the step laying under your face as you doze off.

I find myself racing against the expectation that the computer is going to shut down once again.  The temperature in the room has been creeping up–only the middle of the eighties at the moment, but I’ve had several cold shutdowns, forced restarts, and freezes, despite setting an ice pack against the lower intake.  With all still ahead of me, that’s not encouraging, even with a second ice pack in place.

So during one of the crashes that have interrupted this writing, I have arranged to take the computer to see a professional, hopefully to be diagnosed and treated between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.  Here’s hoping.

Also not encouraging is that I have been less than entirely healthy this week.  It might be partly psychosomatic, but when they want to biopsy skin from sensitive regions, they first stab you several times with a needle and then come after you with razor blades, and if it doesn’t take you a couple days to recover from that you’re made of sterner stuff than I.

Also frustrating me is that I not only have not finished the Examiner series on The Time Traveler’s Wife.  Worse than that, I’ve written sixteen columns and am not at all certain how many more I need to write, or even whether I will have to insert one or more near the beginning.  But if I can hold the computer together today, maybe I can do more tonight.  I did post another about Primer, this one considering whether fixed time might resolve any of its problems, appropriately entitled Primer question 5:  fixed time theory.  I’ve also started tracking daily traffic to the Examiner articles, although the information available to me is only total views of all articles, so it doesn’t tell me what’s popular.

I know that the forum people are missing me.  I have been keeping up on the non-game posts, which I still maintain are the priority, although at this point “non-game” seems to include a lot of games in which I am not a participant but merely an overseer of sorts.  I have enjoyed what I’ve read, and particularly since these don’t require as much time or work from me even when they move fast.  Hopefully the computer will remain stable so that I can get back here in a couple hours and finally catch up on those, and then maybe even figure out what remains to be discussed for the temporal anomalies stuff.

–M. J. Young

Yeah, you probably recognize the saying, and it’s so cliche I don’t want to say it; but it does seem to be true at the moment, and I can’t even clearly explain what all it is I have had to do or why I don’t have enough time.  This will be the second day in a row that I push a significant chunk of the forums into tomorrow–including the part that I pushed into today–because there just isn’t enough time to get to everything.  I also have not yet finished the series on The Time Traveler’s Wife slated to start a week from today, and not at all certain how I’m going to find the time to do so.

I’ve been running from one thing to another all day today, but I did manage to include in that the posting of the latest Examiner temporal anomalies article, and announcing it in various places.  This is a sort of aftermath discussion, The Lake House Questions 1:  Assorted Questions from Fred & Doc, and it ran the gamut from why I’m doing a replacement theory analysis instead of a fixed time analysis to what films I might be doing in the future.

Despite kicking work into tomorrow, I still have a few things I must do tonight, and a busy slate tomorrow as well, so I’d better run.

–M. J. Young