So, Zion Andrews (the book I was working on a few years ago during my first Nanowrimo and posted a few scenes from) is now published as an ebook! See my book at:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/263876

Join me on Twitter and Facebook at:

Follow @ZionAndrewsBook


and

Facebook

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So, I was just roughing this goal out after seeing these gorgeous dogs. Thought it might be intersting, plus... you'll see the accountability notation. ^_^

I want to go from:



to



There are a couple things that I need in order to reach this goal:

1.) A border collie
2.) Time to train said border collie
3.) A border collie club
4.) Training and supplies for dog

Things that I need to do in order to reach my goal

1.) Exercise dog every day (border collies require about two hours of exercise a day. They thrive on challenges and quick starts and stops that you find in agility, flyball and disc.)
2.) Train dog regularly (Frisbee, agility, what eves, three times a week per sport, I would think, depending on the health of the dog).

Concerns:
- I am concerned that I will not want to go out as much as the dog needs
A: I am just going to have to suck it up. It's a commitment, not a choice.
- I am concerned that I will not be initially talented enough to entice and manage a border collie's big brain
A: Maybe it would be wise to train another dog before getting this one. I have trained a dog before, but it might increase my confidence to train another dog as an intermediate step. That way I could learn more about dog behavior before I have a dog rocket science reading my movements.
- I am worried that I will not have enough time in light of my other goals (going to graduate school, becoming financially independent, kicking out my novel and getting my black belt)
A: That is a legitimate concern. In two years, two of those goals (becoming financially independent and graduating from graduate school, come due. Maybe I can postpone the more aggressive parts of my goal for two years and make the deadline for that goal a little later, say "six years from now, I will have a trained disc border collie that I am taking to trails and doing tricks like the man in the photo"

The SMART Goal:

Specific: I want to enter and win a disc dog competition
Measurable: I will win the disc dog competition
Attainable: It has been done before and I am giving myself quite a bit of time to make it happen.
Relevant: Due to relevance, this goal has been postponed two years. At that time, it will be relevant, because I will be contributing to bringing the athleticism of a dog to its full potential. In otherwords, I will be contributing to a thing of beauty, gaining insight and knowledge into a new thing, acting as a leader to another creature and showing how an intelligent creature can become a thing of beauty if properly challenged and exercised.
Time bound: After the two year postponement, I am giving myself four years to complete this goal.
- year 1 acquiring a dog
- year 2 first year of basic training
- year 3 the dog is a year old and can be training in more physically demanding sports without injury to its joints. Trails begin.
- year 4 the dog and I will have enough talent and synchrony to achieve a high level of dog sport achievement.

What I am going to do now in order to make it possible for my goal to start in a few years:

- Get involved with local dog sport clubs including agility, flyball and disc dog clubs
- Depending on how quickly I achieve financial independence, I may or may not get another dog. This dog would have to be lower energy, but still be have a high prey drive and be willing to chase balls and the like.

Accountability: Well, now all of you know, so you can bust my chops about it if I don't make it in six years ^_^

Reassessment: This goal is due for reassessment at the start date: November 30th 2014

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I think I finally understand why some people don't want to learn English... but slog off to classes anyway. This use to baffal me as a teacher. "Why WOULDN'T you like to learn English! Oh the opportunities!" and while I knew I was being naive, there was no real evidence for me to understand how exactly I was being so.

It's like this: some people just don't like English. Now, you may be asking yourself (probably not, but humor me) how did she come to this miraculous conclusion. It's like this: I don't really like Spanish. Stop! Stop! Don't shoot! I know, I'm a pain in the ass. It's the inner hipster in me, I suppose. Spanish is already cool, it's not like it's some great discovery that you can get in on the ground floor of. If you go into a room and say, "Quick! Who knows Spanish, it's an emergency!" chances are at least four hands will shoot up and if they don't at least half of the people will say "Well, I took some Spanish in college" and give it their darndest. There is nothing novel in that. Still, it occurs to me, as it does to many ESL learners, that Spanish could be fairly useful. With more and more of our immigrants coming over speaking only Spanish, learning Spanish will help me help these people find their way in our society. I know how grateful I was to have Koreans who spoke good English while I was there. I knew I should have learned Korea and quickly, but the fact of the matter was that I moved before I learned and it put me a little behind the eight-ball. Besides, working in an English speaking environment meant my progression in Korean was slow at best. So, in a way, I owe it to the Spanish speaking immigrants to get a little more familiar.

Still, I'd rather learn Swedish. I learned Swedish before it was cool. Hipster out.

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I think I have revised my opinion on Fan Fiction. For a long time, I felt like Fan Fiction was not a very polite way of showing your appreciate of an author. The Harry Potter erotica fics being the highlight of these examples. However, I think I have finally worked my brain around copyright law in a way to argue that fan fiction is, in fact, fair use. This is the text I'm working from. The statue states that, in order for something to be fair use, it must consider these things:

1.) The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
2.) The nature of the copyrighted work
3.) The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4.) The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

Typical exclusions include satire and educational use. For instance, in satire, you can borrow heavily from the work you are making fun of. The nature of the work inhibits your ability to ask about it. In educational settings, you can copy chapters out of a book so long as it is only for educational use.

So, for fan fiction to qualify under fair use, you must simply see it as an educational exercise wherein the nature of the work places it under a special status. Fan fiction is a way for a novice writer to practice emulating the written voice of another person. This is very important in developing your skills as a writer. The online forum is a way for that developing skill to be critiqued and molded. Therefore, if you are writing fan fiction only for the purpose of enhancing your ability to write, I would say that you are within the fair use agreement. When you start selling it and/or impinging on revenue of the original author, you have become a big author and you need to get your own ideas.

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So, Zanzi and I were trying to find an owl. See, up until this scene, I had been the Doctor (from Doctor who) and there were some very compelling shots where we ran by some neon street signs and then another where we shot up from the bathtub looking at the actors and then some vague impression of this highly emotive scene wherein Dr. Who sent a message to the future generation which was, of course, Zanzi and I.

We snuck into my old art professor's office (the one I always thought would make an excellent private eye), and he was hanging around in a kind of creepy way. We were trying to keep him occupied while we tried to get the secret information out of his desk. I think I did some juggling to distract him. I was sure I could do it, too, but just like it does in real life, I missed the hand-off somewhere and the ball went skittering across the room (so embarrassing). So, finally he left and turned into a more shrunken weaselly looking teacher like the one in the fairly odd parents and we ended up making off with the information that led us to the owl.

Now, the owl could talk, but we didn't want him talking in front of regular people, because then they would know we were wizards... SO, we made our way to a puplic bathroom in the subway station (which was surprisingly clean) next to a cabini (in South Korea). He spoke telepathically, so I held him very close to my ear, his fuzzy feathers pressing into my face, He said something snarky, I can't truly remember what, but I made a point to look awfully cross at him before he continued. That was when-

My alarm went off. I looked fuzzily at my ipod and through my blurred vision, slide the clock into the off position and, fighting desperately against the pull of sleep, lost and woke up a half and hour later. I need to watch less TV.

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The intersection was a steely gray. Cars drove and stopped in accordance to cycles of the lights. A truck and a rickshaw start at the same time.
�Okay, stop it,� Dow said, �hold it right there.�
�I�m not sure what I�m looking at,� Cicero objected.
�Okay play it,� Dow replied.
The truck continued on its path as did the rickshaw, but right before the inevitable collision, a blur of light whispered across the screen. A halo of light and a figure dressed in black appeared in the space surrounding the rickshaw. The truck drove through the space where the rickshaw had been and the rickshaw appeared on the curb at the other side of the intersection.
�Teleportation!�
�No,� Cicero replied.
�You, vampire, creature of the night? �No,� he says, �it couldn�t�. That�s what I keep telling you, secrets keep themselves, they don�t need us,� Dow groused.
�Why do I feel like this means we�re going on a roadtrip,� Cicero groaned raking his face with his hands.
�To China!�


*many apologies for the political YouTube ads that are probably going to be at the beginning of this.

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