Peter
Kong's Webspace
Let me know if you want
to read a copy of my book. I've decided to release it only to people
that I can trust (if you already have a copy then you're probably
someone I trust). Anyone else will have to sign confidentiality
agreements unless I know you personally. E-mail
me with comments. Word count is now: 34,223 (40,000 words or
more is considered a novel by some standards. We're getting there!)
Major changes in latest update(s): I'm still redoing the
beginning. I've written a better description of the academy he was at
and a lot more detail on his activities with his Friend in Houston.
Previously I added 2,632 words (three pages according to my format).
01/24/04
09:00:49 pm
- So I got my backpack back (what a stupid English sentence). The
girl didn't want any reward so I just thanked her profusely and we
parted company. Apparently she had gotten Ryo's e-mail address from a
locker rental receipt in my bag (I'm sharing lockers with Ryo for
this quarter). And she had not noticed my name written in
not-so-permanent marker on the bottom of the bag – that's been
there since early high school I think so it's no wonder she didn't
find it. I guess all's well that ends well (slaps self for not using
original witty line).
And in other news I'm moving steadily forward and I've added yet
even more changes to the book. Creeping past 34,000 now.
01/23/04
11:14:01 pm
- In a disturbing example of how absent-minded I am despite my latest
phase of responsible behavior (as elaborated ealier).... in a
disturbing example of my absent-mindedness, I lost my backpack.
Rather I left it at the skating rink, went to see a movie, then
decided that surely, after two hours or so it would still be there.
Nope. So then I think, wow, this sucks – there's nothing in
there worth pawning so who would steal it? But then, who would be
willing to pick it up and hold it for me? Yeah, my worldview is dark
like that. But then, as I give it up for lost I call one of my
friends who had been with me, Ryo, and he has no idea where the bag
could have ended up. But then, a few minutes later he says he calls
me and says he got an e-mail from a total stranger claiming they have
my bag! Uhh.... wha....? So Ryo e-mailed her my number, and right
now... I'm waiting for a call. Could be any time really since most
people don't check their e-mail that frequently. So we'll see. But
wtf?? Who is she? Maybe she'll like ask ransom for my bag or
something, and maybe Ryo's e-mail address was in my backpack (though
I have no recollection of writing his address down on anything in my
bag...) So so weird...
01/22/04
12:45:05 am
- Scary things are happening – for the first time in my life I
am consistently maintaining and promptly following a regular day to
day schedule. I am doing all of my readings, home work, and going to
all of my classes and not missing a day of work. And I am happily
exhausted at the end of the day. But it's scary. I don't recognize
myself anymore. Is this the death of the lazy, slacker Peter I always
knew and expected? Who knows...
In other news, because of this rigorous schedule I'm keeping I
have very little spare time. I realize now what it means to attend a
top-notch school: dedication to studies. Today was the first time I
added to the book since that last update and what a measly addition
it was! It's a rewrite of the part where he comes back to Houston and
meets his friend. Must sleep now – have to stick to
schedule....
01/09/04 04:40:?? pm - If you look above you'll notice that I've
started rewriting the introduction of the book. I had always intended
to do this, but once I got to New Earth I got swept away by the
narrative and haven't returned until now. To be more specific, the
"introduction" as I call it is all of the story prior to
leaving the Solar System. Parts that I really need to redo include
the following: the attack on the school, meeting his Friend, the rise
of a new state in North America, the journey to Mars, and Mars
itself. After I'm done with that I'll go back to the "traveling"
chapter for more trippy action and then a major character development
moment ie epiphany. That's all for now.
01/08/04
12:39:17 am
- Oh weird oh wow! I was reading someone's Xanga blog today when I
noticed in the upper right-hand corner that I was logged in.
So I thought, huh? I registered for something? But then I remembered
that many months ago I had made a Xanga weblog. I took a look, and
here's what I
found. The latest posting was added just now. Read that first
post at the bottom, what a laugh! Ehehe hehe he... man, I am so
forgetful. I hope I didn't litter the Internet with other random
shite like that. There's enough information pollution as it is. Oh,
and I forgot to mention – those of you that have “traveled”,
I'm looking for your comments especially on the latest
chapter. Alright, got laundry to do – signing out.
01/07/04
11:44:52 pm
- Heilige Scheisse! I just added three whole pages to the book! The
current chapter is almost done, and then a conclusion chapter for New
Earth, and then the Traveler moves on! Stay tuned for more!
01/06/04
03:05:32 pm
- I forgot to mention this to him, but Eric R., having sent me the
most thorough, and up-to-date, critique of my work, more than
deserves the promised meal. So claim it! I'll give you until, oh,
Thursday to do so. After that, I guess it's open season for that
prize. (Argh, must keep adding to book so you guys can't catch up!)
01/06/04
01:12:54 am
- I made a font based on my Superior English Writing System (SEWS).
It uses 26 letters just like the old system (read post below for
details) but the font rearranges letters and most punctuation marks.
Obviously this can be confusing. The solution? Pop off all of my keys
and move them about! The letters Q, F, and V are obviously
unnecessary in my system so I scratched off the printed letters,
gouged my own letters into them, then filled the engraved portions
with ink from my fountain pen. It looks oh so 1337. Now I just need
to learn how to type again. To make matters worse, nobody will
understand what I'm saying unless they look up each letter in the
documentation linked below. Ufln rf oa/mi jd ,wd ugd dflk ej dqk iqy
[Hyrz ey sámpl tw xow haw wyrd it wúd lúk
(Here's a sample to show how weird it would look.)] And I can't
distribute the font for two very good reasons:
I merely modified the Arial font and it comes with a little
notice that any redistribution of their font has to be approved by
the makers (for a ridiculous sum I'm sure).
The biggest reason of all? Who the hell would use this
system! Me... ..... ... and.... shit. I'll go away now.
01/05/04
12:46:49 am
- I'm back!!! Sweet, beloved computer, I have returned to thee! And
in other news, MS Frontpage sucks ass. This web page is over 24
kilobytes when saved under Frontpage. Now that I'm back to my own
computer using OpenOffice and
their webpage maker saves this page as less than 16 KB. That link
back there? That's a plug. Check it out. It's free.
12/31/03 01:23:47 am - Check out the graphic above. I know I said
this site doesn't need graphics, but just look at it! I photoshopped
it to give it a more authentic look. It's a sample of my new
language. It translates to, "Peter Kong says, 'my world is gray
and blue.'" Complete nonsense but it's still a legitimate
sentence written in my very own language, yay! Later I may record
myself reading it in my fluent, native accent and link it here.
Better yet, turn it into some techno track and have it blare from
your speakers when you enter the site! The evil, the evil! I'll be
producing full documentation for the language (in addition to writing
my book) and hopefully publish it here sometime next year. And yes,
the language will be featured in my book though not for many
chapters.
And in other news, let me make something clear: I hate holidays.
They're stupid inventions really. So I say we celebrate Anti-New
Year's Eve tomorrow night, and Anti-New Year's Day the day after.
Here's what you do: instead of promising yourself not to do
something, promise yourself to do something (preferably
something outside of your comfort zone and/or counter-cultural). I
for one resolve to not make resolutions... hmm......
12/31/03 01:20:04 pm - I've developed a new
writing system for English that works far better than our current
system. It's 100% phonetic, it uses existing Latin letters, it's
actually more efficient, and it still uses only 26 alphabetic
letters. Hyrz ey sámpl phor yor perwzul. Duznt it lúk
egzótik? Plus, it wúd by phar yzyur tw lurn - liturusy
wúd skayróket! Phaynuly Ynglix gets tw hábh its
own álphubet! (Plyz downt ymeyl my seyyng wy alredy hábh
awr own álphubet - wybh ben ywzyng dhu Jurmun álphubet,
ánd dherz iz mowstly bórowd phrum Látin.)
12/31/03 01:20:04 am - Found a very cool resource for writers:
www.sfwa.org. It's got tons of
resources for writers with special attention to science fiction and
fantasy writers. My favorite part of it is the list of links
to writer's workshops. Basically you critique other people's
works and in return you get to submit your own for the community's
evaluation. Rather ingenious - it's one of those things that makes
you go, "Duh, what an obviously necessary thing!" But they
are hard to find nonetheless.
12/31/03 01:20:04 am - I removed the "under construction"
notice from the top. The way I see it, this site doesn't need
graphics or a background or even colored fonts. Semi-sweet dark
chocolate minimalism... mmm...
12/28/03 09:15:?? pm - I'm now offering to buy a 20 dollar meal at
the establishment of their choice to the person who first reads all
of the story up to what I have now ("now" being the time of
claiming the prize) and gives me a comprehensive critique of it all.
Obviously I'm getting a bit desperate here. Ryo
appears to be the closest at the moment - he's read up to the arrival
at the Chairman's place and has given me a pretty solid critique. I
will outline his points in a later update so you guys can look for
the same problems and know what's already been covered. Mel seems to
be reading it too but I don't how far you've gotten yet - let me
know. Besides those two I think Nicole has read a little of the
beginning, as has Colwel, but come on! The beginning sucks! It's
obviously my first bit of writing in a long time! My writing gets
better (I think) with each page, and dramatically so after he arrives
at New Earth. Argh... I'm ranting now - must shut up.
12/27/03 03:02:?? am - I added four freakin' pages to my book.
That's the most I've written in the single stretch since I've
started! Sure I'm uber-depressed because no one's reading it, but
still, I sure can churn that shit out!
12/13/03
11:23:31 am
- Shutting down my computer for winter break. I'm packin' light so I
can't take my baby with me. And yes, I'll be in Texas tonight. The
webpage and the book will continue to be updated, however. So stay
tuned! Yay.
12/12/03
05:07:38 pm
- Wow, maybe I should move
to Canada.
12/09/03
08:54:32 pm
- If I had more of an ego this
would send me over the top. One guy said if I were a girl he'd do me.
Damn, I wish you were a girl too.
12/09/03
03:50:59 am
- Added new
section to the site. But do beware, beware! Go inside if you
dare! Evil lurks there. Muahahahaaahahaaa!
12/08/03
05:19:55 pm
- So yeah. I've been leaving my computer on now for over 4 days. I'm
running Windows 2000 Professional. My goal is to keep it going over
winter break. Think it's possible? Well consider that I'm running a
firewall, anti-virus software, aim, and various file-sharing apps
24/7. In addition to these I frequently use multiple web browsers
(with multiple windows per each), Minesweeper, Day of Defeat,
OpenOffice, several image-editing programs, e-mail proggies, iTunes,
media players, and a host of other random applications. Already
performance is a tiny bit choppier than usual. Below are my specs:
·
AMD 2.4
·
512 DDR
·
Radeon 9500 Pro
·
res 1280 x 1024 true color
·
60 gig and 40 gig 7200 rpm drives
·
shared T1 university connection
This webpage is hosted by the university so when my computer
finally dies this page will not be affected so the uptime posted at
top is a shaky value.
12/08/03
12:59:12 am
- Sometimes I sit back and just smile at my
pink desktop. I made it myself - custom colors, wallpaper, etc.
Nice, huh? Here's
an action shot.
12/07/03
02:49:47 am
- Here's a
trailer of a project by a friend that I'm helping with.
"Painstaking" should read as "painfully slow".
12/06/03
09:03:23 pm
- This
is why I decided not to do CS as a career. Office Space
anyone?
12/06/03
01:55:57 am
- "How can the Have-Nots have a win when the Have's have F-16s
and M-16s, and the Have-Nots have not?" - Dr. Seuss
12/04/03
06:05:15 pm
- This
is some ridiculous shit. And this
is just too frighteningly cool.
12/04/03
04:07:25 pm
- My first slashdot
post! And you can find it on the front
page too!
12/03/03
08:07:08 pm
- Often, Mr. Yang said, Western art collectors failed to comprehend
the deep confidence Chinese artists now have in their culture. "They
think we are doing our work for them. We're not. We're doing it for
China," he said. "The purpose of going abroad is very
simple. You take a look at what the world is doing and then you come
back and you do it yourself." Quoted
from this New York Times article.
Scared little middle-class boy says, “So does that mean that
China isn't going to nuke the US? Does that mean China is a country
with freedoms like the US? Does that mean China has a strong economy
and high technology? That China is starting to produce world-class
ART?? NOOO!!!! We're BECOMING IRRELEVANT!!!
Yes White Boy Young Republican Timmy, that's right. There is
nothing special about the US and in a few decades China will be the
Big Man of Earth and make America its bitch the way we've been doing
to Latin America for the past few centuries.
“But... but... dirty Mexicans are so poor, and I treat them
so badly. There's no fucking way some slanty-eyed heathen from China
will treat me like that!!
Okay, look here closet-KKK boy, I'm tired of your shit. I'm moving
to Canada! Who's with me? And then a nice sweet retirement in Korea!
YAY!!
Woah, that was a tangent. (The rant above does not mean I hate
white people. It means that I hate middle-class, closet-KKK, Young
Republican, etc. - you get the idea.)
12/03/03
03:58:51 am
- Oh look, an update. I found something interesting. [12/07/03
09:05:08 pm
update - had to remove file because university was bitching about its
size. For those of you that missed it, it was a Japanese guy beating
Mario World 3 in 11 minutes. I still have the file and you can
request it via the address at top.]
Obligatory link to University
home page that was here by default.
