Bang them keys!

Bang them keys!
Must love the writing life...

Friday, January 27, 2012

Blah! I won't be buying a USBTypewriter Kit...

Awe! Jack Zylkin got back to me ASAP and emailed me the following:

"Thanks for your enthusiasm about my invention!  Unfortunately, I don't think the kit will work on a Hermes, because the Hermes has a solid steel frame underneath it -- you can't access any of the mechanisms without taking apart the typewriter.  Sorry!"

(That's okay, Jack. Thanks for letting me know. Thank goodness he let me know about it right away. Guess I better tell Gary. Man!

Only way I can get a USB Typewriter is by cheating on my Hermie. I can't do that! Can I? Is owning two Typewriters over-kill...because I do find underwoods attractive...? Sigh. I may just bid on one on eBay...and get the kit... blah. Why can't stuff be easy. Or am I making it complicated? Too bad OCR doesn't let you edit... I do have my Doxie coming...

I may be buying a USBTypewriter Kit!

Omg! Just got off the phone with my typewriter repair man, Gary. I nearly fell back in my seat when he told me that the USB Typewriter kit is something he could do! He does amazing work as it is, but I know that this is the very first time he has heard of such a thing as a USB typewriter; at least I think so? So I wanted him to see for himself what it entails and referred him to www.usbtypewriter.com. He says he has the tools. I know he can fix anything, so I hope it works out. My heart is beating soooooooooo fast! I seriously can't imagine getting any of the other USB ready typewriters, even the beautiful underwoods Jack Zylkin has in his store right now, because I'm monogamous to my Hermes 3000? Can one be monogamous to a typewriter? Sigh. Does Jack Zylkin really have 57 cats? http://www.usbtypewriter.com/contactAnywho. Gary is awesome! If anyone needs great typewriter repair and service, I recommend Gary's Typewriter Repairs at 833 E. South St. Long Beach, CA. 1 (562) 423-0157.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

I got a scanner!


Finally! I purchased a DoxieGo+Wifi scanner and paid extra for an AC adapter as I don't like charging via USB. I'm so excited. I finally get to scan the work I do on my Hermes.  You can find the scanner here: 
This is my last semester of school, and I'm actually taking a creative writing class. I need to develop a thick skin quick before I show myworkshop group a thing! 
Yesterday, Dr. Cauthen split us up into groups so we could find weaknesses in a poem he just happened to find online. The criticism was brutal. All I could come up with was "cheese." I was corrected by a fellow classmate to not use that word as it is insulting and not specific to be constructive. She said to use the word, "vague." I smiled and said, "You are right. That's exactly what I meant when I said 'cheese'."  Sigh.  It's gonna be a LONG 15 weeks.  
Dr. C. had us go purchase a Moleskine. Dear Lord. Seriously? 19.99? Worst part is it looks like this:


Now, I love Star Wars.  But I don't LOVE Star Wars; you know?  I just replaced my R2D2 phone with an iPhone.  But this just stamps NERD on my forehead.  (The poster is cool though).  

When I open it, it says the following:



  
I don't need to see this when I already have a very bad feeling about what I'm about to show in workshops.  Sigh.  (It was the only hard cover the store had).  And Dr. C. wants a hard cover.  And I'm such a nerd that I just have to do what Dr. C. expects.  Ya.
Anywho.  I'm going to use my Doxie scanner to upload all the garbage that comes out of Freewriting on my Hermes onto the cloud, so that I can highlight any potential gems for future use and upload them to myEvernote account instead of hiding them under my bed.  Because there is some scary stuff that comes up that I don't want anybody else seeing.   And I will use it to upload my work here... which is the real reason I got this scanner ;)
BTW.  Dr. C. told me to forget about Bukowski and aim higher intellectually for the course.  Sigh.  Why do academics look down their noses at Charles Bukowski?  Is it because he has poems called, "The night I fucked my alarm clock," or "I taste the ashes of your death," or "I have shit stains in my underwear too"?  Too gritty?  Too Low-Brow?  Too Realistic?  I think the man is a genius.  Maybe I should do my dissertation on him.  But I cannot use his writing as an example in this course.  So I wrote in my journal about my not understanding why academics won't accept him, and that if I can't use his works, then maybe I can use his advice on writing.  So I wrote a bunch of his quotes down about the writing life to get me through plateaus.  Of course, my Professor will read this.  Sigh.  But ultimately, IT'S MY NERDY JOURNAL!
Can't wait for my scanner to get here...  :)