Category: general

Posted in general, Politics, rant

Helping Others

Posted on by sokorra

A subject came up today on Facebook, and I felt like making my own post about it.  For those of you who didn’t know, I’m an American, therefore my knowledge base and information tends to have an US bias.  So this is more focused on my fellow Americans.

Often times, when a foreign group of people require our help, the phrase “We should help those who need it here first!” comes up.  I hate this phrase.  Why?

Because this is just an excuse by some people to not help anyone.

During the rest of the year when the crises of the world are not in our mind’s view, when things seem to be going alright, why aren’t these people actively trying to keep people thinking about the homeless or the other many needs of Americans?  If you only care about your ill-treated Veterans when someone else’s needs are being broadcast, you don’t really care.  You are just making an excuse not to help.

Right now, in Flint,  Michigan, there are many people sick because of bad water.  Its hard to believe that in this day and age, in such a affluent country, that we are reporting this.  And it was done to save money.  Yet I haven’t seen half the amount of posts about this subject as I have seen about *not* helping the refugees.

Why is this?  Why is the care of our citizens only important to people when it comes to saying we shouldn’t care about those outside our country?

I know people who said this and who *are* actively seeking people’s attention to the needs of their fellow citizens, but it seems like the majority are just seeking ways to not help and not be considered compassionate.

We are one of the richest countries in the world.  There is no reason we shouldn’t be able to help our own citizens AND help those in need elsewhere.  If you have the resources to help, you should do so, and if you don’t, it takes very little time to pass the information along to those who do by social media, or just by keeping the subject in the conversation.

For those of you who want to know how to help more those in Flint, Michigan, here’s an article on MIC about ways you can help.

And if you live in the greater Pittsburgh area, you can donate to Operation Safety Net, a program supported by Mercy Hospital to give out medical care to the Homeless of Pittsburgh.

 

Posted in fanfiction, general, writing

Writing deadines

Posted on by sokorra

I decided to try posting from my phone as I won’t always be with my laptop.   This app is new to me so I’m not sure how to access my drafts to give you the next part of my fandom starter kit series.   But I will talk about writing.no

Writing is my hobby right now but part of me wishes I could do it as more then a hobby.   To write professionally.   However that would mean being about to put out more then one book per decade.  I have many ideas but sadly not many get past the preproduction stage.

One of my goals this year is to stop procrastinating and get some stories done,  both in my original collection and in my Fanfiction group.   If I ever want to make it to being a credible author I must be able to finish something and not leave people in a lurch 12 chapters in.

One of my tasks this week will be taking an inventory of my works,  both in progress and completed.   Then making a list of stories that need finished.   Probably in order of how complete it is.

And I also need to find beta readers who can keep on me about deadlines.

So hopefully when next January comes around I can claim I finished a lot.

 

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Unless Max decides I can not.
Posted in celebrity news, general, Uncategorized

Alan Rickman 1946-2016

Posted on by sokorra

I didn’t think I’d be writing two memorial posts in a single week.  Or that I would loose two parts of my childhood at the same age, from the same thing.  Alan Rickman passed away this morning at the age of 69 from cancer.

As with David Bowie, I grew up with Alan Rickman in films.  I remember my sister’s favorite film for awhile was Robin Hood: Price of Thieves  where Rickman played Nottingham and threatened to use a spoon on a Robin because it was dull and thus would hurt more

One of my favorite adaptations of Jane Austen had him as Colonel Brandon, an older man who falls in love with Marianne.

Coming out of High School there was Dr. Lazarus, from Galaxy Quest, Harry from Love Actually,  and Marvin the depressed Robot from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

For many of my friends who liked Kevin Smith Films, he was also Megatron, the voice of God from Dogma.

However, I think for a entire generation he will always be Professor Snape. While over the years my love of Snape had decreased due to realising how much of creep he really was, Alan Rickman had me loving the morally grey character.

Also apparently he was the bad guy in Die Hard, but I’ve never watched Die Hard so I can’t really say anything about it.  But now I have a reason to watch it.

2016 is taking a lot of legends in their field.   Rest in Peace, Mr. Rickman.  Thank you for your decades of Entertainment.  You will be missed.

 

Posted in general, history

This Day in History

Posted on by sokorra
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This is supposed to be for Linux’ birthday, but I like penguins so there. Source: Pixabay

Today was my birthday, and I was interested in finding out what actually was happening in the world the day I was born.  So a quick google brought me to the New York Times website which apparently has summery pages on various days of the past.

Things that happened the day I was born

  • Reagan made Americans disappointed when he decided to bring sanctions against Libya. Needless to say, many of our Allies and Libya’s allies were not happy either.
  • Reagan wanted to sell government loans to private collectors to make government smaller. To be honest I’m not sure how this works in making government smaller other then saving paper.
  • An antiviral substance called Interferon seems to work against the Common cold.  WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS?!?  I looked it up and all I got was that later betaseron was developed from it and that is used to treat MS. Wait, a more specific google search turned up a 1985 paper detailing a study using the substance.  Basically it can reduce the cold, but it causes more blood in your mucus and doesn’t seem to keep others from getting it from you.
  • Gorbachev introduces a unemployment program because modernizing Russia’s economy means a temporary increase in unemployment.
  • A group of Jewish slave laborers win a settlement against German munitions factories that used their labor.
  • Unemployment was down to 6.8, the lowest in 5 years in the United States. (Current unemployment is 5.5, so we are doing much better now)
  • Kodak stops selling their answer to Polaroid after loosing a case.  Although I couldn’t find out if January 9th was the day they stopped producing it or the day they were taken to trial.

And I found a video with the top 40 songs for January 9th.  Oddly enoguh I only knew about 3 of the songs.  But at least I knew the #1 song the day I was born.  Pet Shop Boys’ West End Girls.

 

Posted in Art, bookit, general, history, writing

Resolutions & Goals

Posted on by sokorra
new-years-day-1054594_640
Source: Pixabay

Every New Years, a popular tradition is to make a set of resolutions for the coming year. And its almost a tradition to fail at keeping them too.

This year I’ve decided I’m not making resolutions.  I’m making goals.  While its not really all that different, when you say “Goal” that puts less stress on meeting it while still being a motivator.  It also allows you to be more flexible.  If a goal needs altered, it feels less like a failure.

My goals for 2016 are as follows.

  • Write on this blog every day.
  • Write on 750words every day.  For those who don’t know, 750 words is a website that is dedicated to keeping people writing by setting a daily goal of 750 words.  You go on there and you get points for keeping up with your writing.  It also gives you statistics on the mood of what you wrote, how many pauses and breaks you took (basically any break in typing over 3 minutes) and various other data.  Its a good tool if you have trouble getting yourself writing.  Its also a good place for brainstorming because it saves all your entries for the month, so you can go back and see what you wrote when you just sat down and wrote for 30 minutes or so.
  • Revitalize my graphic design portfolio.  Revitalize my love for graphic design.  Start an Etsy store and start earning income for what I went to college for.
  • Get a new day job.  My current job gives me too much stress for not enough money to pay all my bills.
  • Read 52 books. My friends and I have a yearly project where we try to read at least 50 books in a year.  I decided to make it 52 this year as there are 52 weeks in the year.  As I have only once made it to 50, we shall see if this was a good idea or not.  The basic premise is that I will read books available in (e)print  (ie Fanfiction doesn’t really count, sadly) on their own (so book on short stories is one book, you can’t count it by story).  Also it needs to be primarily reading, so math text books don’t count either.

    It will effect this blog as I will do a review/end notes for each book I read this year.  I will also keep a page listing all my books for the year along with links to their review/commentary post.  This will be tagged/categorized as bookit  (Does anyone else remember that program?  I hope it still exists.)

  • Read a book on each president so I know one thing about each of them other then they were President at some point.  So far I’ve only done Washington, and of course I know all the presidents Post Reagan.  I might make this a running post of mine.  Perhaps that is tomorrow’s Post topic – What I learned about Washington.
  • Draw each day.
  • Finish an original novel.  Also finish a couple of my fandom related projects.  Get my WIP list down to under 10 (its at 30+ right now)
  • Learn to drive.

 

I don’t know how many of these goals I will manage to achieve, but I felt that writing them all down on a post might give me more motivation to keep it.  After all, I told everyone I would do it, didn’t I?

So here’s me keeping at least one of my goals for the day.  Now to just do my 750 words writing and start reading Jane, Stewardess of the Air Lines  by Ruth Wheeler which is an old novel.  The copyright inside my copy reads 1934.

Posted in food, general, history, Uncategorized

Ancestry & Tradition

Posted on by sokorra

As an American it is difficult to find oneself connected to any particular tradition.  I know some of my friends who have parents or grandparents who are recent immigrants have a stronger connection to their past then I do.  My family has been here for awhile.  And there are so many groups of people mixed in there its hard to really connect to any of them.

My last name is German. However, the most recent member of my family to not live in the US was actually Greek, so does that make me more German or Greek?  And do I actually have any traditions or family recipes that come from those links?

My family also contains people from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, England (yep, we have the UK down. Definitely Anglo), Poland, and apparently a French Jew although I never had that one particularly explained.

I suppose when I think about it, I identify as “American” first  (for that is what I am) and if I have to go into something connecting my family history I go for German-Irish.   There is alot of Irish in my family, but that is not unusual for someone living in the US.  And like I said, my last name is German.

The tradition my family has of eating pork and sauerkraut for New Years is believed to be a German tradition, so I suppose there is that.  Although apparently in the US it seems to be more of a Pennsylvanian tradition then one held country wide.

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Sausage, Sauerkraut, and Potatoes. Source: pixabay

Sometimes I feel odd, not having that connection any tradition or what feels like culture.  I know that there are probably many things I do that are uniquely American in nature, and someone from another country might observe that as my ‘culture’.  But sometimes I just feel like I should be more knowledgeable about the places my family came from.

Although I once read on a website that my family comes from a part of Germany that keeps switching hands with the Danes so…maybe I’m Danish too.

 

Posted in general

Happy New Years

Posted on by sokorra

Hello Everyone, Its been a long time.

I have decided as part of my new Years goals (I’ve done away with Resolutions, because I never keep them) I’m going to start posting on this blog more often.  I’ll be writing about various subjects, from writing, to reviews, to various subjects that have come across my screen.  My only goal is to have a post a day.  And hopefully not just to fill the space.

The last two years I’ve been using a blogging service called Bubblews, and it recently met its slow demise, but it had alot of my Star Trek rewatch that I last posted about.  I have not yet decided if I am going to continue it, and if I do if I will begin anew or just start where I last was (Season 4 of Voyager).

I also (at the moment) don’t intend on deleting my earlier posts, which include various things, including fanfic and art.  I may decide to delete some posts later after I go through them.

So I hope everyone is doing well, and that you will enjoy what is to come on my blog.

 

Posted in general

Ethnic Identity and Me.

Posted on by sokorra

I’m an American, as many of you might have been able to tell.  I have a mixed ethnicity so its always been a little hard for me to identify as any particular group other then straight-out American. To make a list of the (confirmed anyway) groups I have in my family:  Irish (Scot-Irish most likely), Welsh, Scottish, English, German, and Greek.  For awhile my family thought they had found a Cherokee relative, but that seems to have been disproved and I keep hearing Poland in the mix, though I can’t seem to find out which side claimed that.  Currently my great-aunt’s research has a possible relative whose a French Jew (although whether this person is a Frenchmen who is Jewish by religion or a Jewish person who moved to France, I don’ know).

My Uncle believes that we are related to the people who guarded Constantinople (Great job, guys) and a ‘Vampire’ (If only I could unsee what I googled there).  I know my friend found our family coat of arms, so that disproves the Vampire Theory (of which I am glad)

My one friend is Irish-Italian.  Her family (especially the Italian side) are very much in touch with their ethnic heritage.  I don’t really have that same connection.  My aforementioned Uncle likes to claim he’s Greek while forgetting the rest.  My Father (his brother) likes to claim the German.  My mother’s family is primarily Irish but they don’t really celebrate in any particular Irish way.

I kind of wish I had that connection, those traditions.  Sure, my family has a set of their own (like Pork and Sauerkraut  with mash potatoes at New Years and watching the Christmas Claymation movies) but it doesn’t have that history.

I suppose since I’m mostly Irish, I should connect with that more, but I don’t.  Nor German, and I sometimes forget I’m Greek too (why couldn’t I have inherited those genes?  Would have liked not to be so pale).

My sister and I joke that we are Euro-mutts as we pretty much the UK and two other European countries.   I guess there is too much there to hold on to any particular group.   So I suppose I’ll stick to being just a plain American for now.

Posted in book reviews, essay, general, School related, writing

The 2010 Book-it

Posted on by sokorra

Remember when you were younger and the library had special summer reading (or during the school year sometimes) that if you read so many gooks, you’d get a gift card to Pizza Hut (or whatever)?  Well, my friends and I, seeing a similar non-organization based version of it, decided last year to have what we called ‘The Fellowship Book-it”.  The Fellowship is a nickname we gave our group after seeing LOTR.  Don’t ask.  Anyway, the point of the Book-it is to get back to reading.  And reading something that isn’t on the screen of one’s computer (Basically that news article on Britney Spears doesn’t count).   If you have a Kindle, or an ebook program, that’s different.

The Goal: 50 books during the year.  That is basically 1 book per week, with two weeks off.

Time Frame:  January 1st – December 31st.

The Rules (of the fellowship version, its not exactly a standard):

– This is not a competition, its a goal line

– The story you read must be able to be found by itself somewhere.  So a packet of short stories doesn’t count as five books.  You can count it as one book (But point it out that its a group)  If its an exceptionally long short story, an exception might be made (like the 28 page excerpt of St. Augustine I read last year.  I counted that by itself)

– Text books count if there is reading involved.  Math books do not count, there are more numbers then words. 

– A book counts once.  If you read it twice in one year, it still only gets counted once

– You can count books you’ve read before, as long as you actually read it again and don’t count it twice in the same year. 

– If you start a book in 09, and finish it in ‘10, it can count.

Most people just keep a list of what they read.  We are using a facebook group thing to keep track of what is what, and when someone reaches 25 we *plan* to have a pizza party.  (we kinda forgot last year).  Some people write reviews as they go along, and that is what I’m going to try to do

So I’m off to read.  Expect my first review to come soon.  Also, I read alot of Fandom fiction (movie novelization, spin off books etc) so expect some fandom talk as well.

If anyone would like to do this and has questions, feel free to comment or email me.  Its just a fun thing to do.  There is also a movie and TV episode versions I’ve seen, and I;m doing the 100 movies in a year one.  Its my first year.  So far so good, except I keep rewatching movies:)