Sunday Six

[extrapenguin]

Because why not!

Spaceship Rental end-of-August word count: 37 152 words (as per gedit, which counts Black-Cloaked as 2 words whereas AO3 counts it as 1; count includes scene directions), to which I've added over a k already!

Today's snippet, which I hopefully haven't shared already:

"In a post-scarcity society where everything comes to you at the snap of your fingers, most people prefer to stay at home and actualize themselves and build communities."

"But not you."

Li Si snorted. "I'm the crazy one with a taste for adventure. My – relatives – were very upset when they heard I'd go seeking about the galaxy."

"I'm curious – you're smart and inquisitive, surely you could've had better job opportunities than going to rental retrieval. Or is it a highly respected career?"

"My automated translator module hasn't been certified and it's only been cobbled together by a context-based neural network instead of true translations," Li Si warned him. "Any inconsistencies in this conversation are due to that, as it is not up to the task. That disclaimed, there aren't that many opportunities for travel, as even post-scarcity has its limits. The galaxy is mostly mapped beyond the need for surveyors, and this way I get to travel to all sorts of exciting places and stay there for longer than the time to set up a planetary reconnaissance probe. Download the latest entertainments, meet new beings, see new sceneries, be a tourist on company dime."

Zhao Yunlan shook his finger at her. "Truly a genius!"

Li Si laughed in a manner a distant observer might even consider human. "I'll be sure to tell my superiors about your opinion. But tell me, how does your project go?"

I've also been testing the Guardian OST as writing background music. So far, 笃念力 works, 默守 sort of works, stuff between them doesn't (either too attention grabby or too sads), and I'm now testing 归.

Comments

[clevermanka]

I like the language oddities in her speaking, and the reason for it. Neat!

Yeah, I tried using the OST for background writing music and I think it'll work for some stuff but, as you say, SADS. I was actually just complaining to jo_lasalle about the absolute sadist who titled some of those tracks. I mean, "A Little Sincerity," are you kidding me? Jesus. She said you might know if the title "Ten Thousand is Not" got cut off in the translation? I was wondering if it was some sort of colloquial metaphor, or if it just meant something like ten thousand is not ten thousand (i.e. ten thousand is not that many). Can you shed any light on that?

[extrapenguin]

Language is imo an underutilized Thing in SF, so I decided to do something with it. It mostly serves as a reminder of her alienness - just like her body language does - but it's there, unlike in many other alien contact things.

Re: track titles, I'm convinced the popular translations floating about were done by Google Translate. I have a post with better translations and some notes. Power of Remembrance and Confused Heart's Song are perhaps the most useful ones for me, though maybe someday I should make a post on the writing background music I use.

[clevermanka]

I appreciate the link to that! I'm adding it to my resources post, thank you.

[forestofglory]

Yay for more space ship rental! This makes me like Li Si more than I did already.

[extrapenguin]

Yay indeed! I think I wrote, like, 2k yesterday. And Li Si is a very fun alien to write.

[jo_lasalle]

I've found some of the Guardian tracks really useful for writing when I use my noise-cancelling headphones, like for writing on planes. (I generally write in silence at home.)

Good job on the writing progress!

[extrapenguin]

I am a delicate snowflake from the depths of the forests who can't handle traffic sounds (they always meant "Guests are arriving! Time to prepare!" before) so I need something to block them out with. Especially if I have to keep the windows open to ensure an appropriate indoor temperature.

[jo_lasalle]

I know they're pricey, so they are a bit of an investment (or you might already have some), but if you're very sensitive to noise, noise-cancelling earphones might be a worthwhile idea? I didn't think they'd do much but I tried out my wife's one time and I was stunned how well they work.

Just a speaking-of note!

[extrapenguin]

Yeah, I ... probably should try some. Ideally I'd want to go try them on at a store, though, since I have a ridiculously wide head and have been getting headaches from my regular earphones due to the pressure on my head. /sensory issues suck, don't get them

[jo_lasalle]

I swear I'm not a Bose salesperson... I'm just thorough in my explanations. ^_^ I actually have the in-ear ones. The over-ear ones are probably even better in terms of noise reduction, but for sleeping on planes (my main reason for having them besides writing) and for non-sweaty ears, I wanted small ones. Some people find in-ear ones uncomfortable, of course, but the head width shouldn't be an issue. (At the price, testing them out first is not a bad idea in general, though.)

[extrapenguin]

Alas, I can only use over-ear stuff due to having ridiculously tiny earholes that stuff plain doesn't fit into, and also getting wax buildups at the drop of a hat. So over-ear it will have to be.