Tag Archives: fiction

Episode 2: In Search of Coffee

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*Yawn*

Olaf rubbed his eyes. He got out of bed, turned on the computer, and shuffled down the stairs to the kitchen. Must have coofffeeee… Olaf thought. Another late, late night kept awake by the thought of the end of the semester.

Coffee. He prepared the stove top espresso machine. His body went through the motions of the actions of opening up the machine. Dump the coffee grounds. Add some water in the bottom. Add new coffee. Olaf, eyes half-opened scanned the kitchen. Nothing on the countertop. Opening one cabinet, Olaf reached in to grab the coffe jar. His hand grabbed the air. He shuffled downstairs, into the basement. The same result. Olaf aggrivated and slightly more awake, walked back up to the kitchen. He then began a detailed cabinet to cabinet search.

Why, is the coffee always in the last place you look. Olaf sigh, and went back to his comatose state. Add new coffee. Set on stove. Wait. A few moments later, Olaf turned off the stove, steam whistling machine, and poured a bit of the thick, dark liquid into a small cup. He stirred in two teaspoons of sugar into the fresh espresso.

Nope. Drinking coffee not helping. He shuffled half-awake back upstairs. He sat down infront of the computer, and started his e-mail program. 12 Messages!!! Olaf snapped painfully into an awake state. 12 messages, and all about school work. Olaf started reading the litany of wishes and list of work in each of the e-mails.

Even Sunday feels like a Monday. Olaf sighed and braced for the onslaught of the day.

Originally posted: Sunday, December 3, 2006 @ 05:52

Author’s comment: Oh, those last days were hell for me. Nothing beats the hell out of me, like a stack of writing that needs to be done. And due dates… I like them. Especially, the sound of them whooshing by. And yes I am addicted to coffee. I later wrote about an interesting theory of the connection between the amount of caffeine in my body, and how smitten I would get. Interestingly, this story describes how I start my days. Oh, and before you ask. Yes, I did read your email… I just have not gotten around to answer it.

Episode 1: Quantum Computing for… Dummies?!?

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2

Olaf squinted at the text document. He tilted his head. Scratched it twice, and yawned.

Crap. No matter which way he approached the problem, it seemed like a mountain. One of those mountains, that looks like a molehill at a close distance, but you walk into like you would into Mount Everest. The problem being an article about decoherence in quantum computers.

Olaf tilted the swivel head on his LCD monitor. Nope, no idea. The window with an open document typed in OpenOffice stared back at him. How embarrasing, thought Olaf. I have done this before. He glanced at the clock. 22:00. Six more days at most. Crap, why the hell did I pick quantum computers as a project for the science writing course? Olaf smiled. Earlier this semester, he read one of his earlier edits to the class. The blank point-blank stares. The yawns. There he was. Facing the class, stressed by the thought of a barrage of complaints, bothered by the zombified expression of his classmates, and struggling with the words. Olaf realized later, that he was one of the few students who had some sort of science background. Dude, do you expect a bunch of English and Writing majors to grasp the complex concepts behind quantum mechanics, networks, digital cryptography and quantum computation in a single article and keep awake?!?

In the end, they liked it. With a bit of editing, the class liked his other articles. Only one last hurdle remained. “Its too long and too much information.” said one of his peers. I bet they suffered mental overload with that one. Olaf chuckled.

Six more days to the end of the semester. And nine more assignments. Olaf sighed. He stared at the screen. OpenOffice stared back at him. Olaf stuck out his tongue at the window. The program stared back at him.

“Screw this!” Olaf exclaimed. He already wasted most of the day on this one edit. All he really need was an half decent intro. Maybe he could reguriate an intro. Olaf smiled. He did just that.

Originally posted: Saturday, December 2, 2006 @ 18:51


Author’s Comment: That is how I felt rushed at the end of the semester. But will never forget reading my first professionally written piece infront of my writing class. I was surprised by how well received it was. And the compliment from my classmates. They understood everything I wanted to explain. Its was like hitting them over the head with a textbook in terms of the amount of facts and my boring narration. The professor, Guy Allen, who read an earlier, crude edit was also amazed how much I progressed. For the rest of the semester, I just kept on raising the bar for myself. And stressing out about it. 😉

Oh to my fellow classmates, forgive the comment of “overloading”. You guys taught this stuck-up science student more about exciting scientific writing, then almost anyone else. Except Guy, who we all agree is like a god in writing. 😉 I love you guys.

A Requiem for a Blog

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Introducing the One-Time Trash Pad

Greetings victim err… I mean reader.

You stumbled across this strange journal, about the life of a frustrated writer. It mildly resembles my own life. But only superficially. So if its not about me, then why does it exist?

The journal serves two purposes. Firstly, I get to throw around angst, frustration and stress, which is great when I get writer’s block. The second and inadvertent purpose is to assume you, with random humour.

Enough already with the introductions. I find formalities stuffy. Anyways, enjoy the ride. If that is ok… ok with you… that is… ok sir? Or is it ma’am? Kind of hard to make out your face, especially if I never actually see it.

Posted on: Saturday, December 2, 2006 @ 18:41

And thats how in my madness one December evening, I started a new blog. The idea of the blog, was to spend my irritation before editing my final pieces for my Science and Writing course. I picked quantum computers for my project of seven articles. In hindsight I should of picked something that would not have boiled my brains so often. So I wrote a number of crazy posts about me writing, as an antidote.

The One-Time Trash Pad was supposed to be a cooperative writing project. The name comes as a joke about digital cryptography. The blog resembles a one-time pad… but it is really just trash my brain threw together. Just it is nice readable trash.

Unfortunately, the project is dead, and I will close down the blog in a few days.
No one wanted to contribute, and I don’t have time to write two blogs. Before I close down that site, I want to post my work on this blog. So don’t be surprised by the apparent randomness. Its all part of the scheduled program.

That said… viva la blog! The one-time trash pad et morte!