The seeds of a story - Mission: Dawn

I recently found something I wrote in one of my notebooks - my idea book. It was a note for a story idea and it was dated Tuesday September 30, 2003. This is what I had written:

A group of space explorers visit a newly discovered planet. They observe it from a distance, careful not to interfere with its cultures (along the lines of Starfleet Prime Directive, from Star Trek).

A team lands on the planet to observe. Inadvertantly they affect the local culture, who builds a religion around them. When it is time for the team to leave, several members remain behind to try to fix the damage, unobtrusively.

Wow, I hadn't realized that this idea went as far back as 2003.

I am pleased with what this idea has evolved into. Starting with just that idea, I now have a title, a setting, and an ensemble of characters who have names, history, and goals. I have written enough content to fill a chapter.

At the same time I am disheartened that this process is coming so slowly. I mean, after a year of writing, I am still working on the first chapter. At this pace it will take me a decade to finish.

The start of a journey

Several years ago, I'd say around 2001, I had a work assignment downtown, with the City. Sometimes as an escape, I would spend my lunch break at a nearby book store browsing through a novel. Typically I would pick up some Star Trek novel off the shelf and read a couple of pages, or chapters, before going back to the office.

One day as I was walking to the book store, I heard a voice in my head telling me Learn how rich people think. I poo-poohed the idea at first telling myself Why would I want to do that? Rich people are greedy, they are corrupt, they achieve their wealth by stepping on others. The voice persisted though, and told me Just go learn how rich people think; you don't have to become like them if you don't like what you learn.

So on that day, instead of taking my usual mental escape through a Star Trek novel, I picked up a book in the Rich Dad Poor Dad series, written by Robert Kiyosaki. Reading that book opened up my mind to new possibilities, and inspired me to begin my own journey towards financial independence.

Since then, my journey has led to some adventure, drama and excitement; it has also led me to stress, disappointment and discouragement. I have had some achievements of which I'm really proud, and I have had some experiences that I could have done without.

This journey is not over yet.

Test execution begins

Since I started my current work assignment back in February, the team I'm on has been writing test scripts in order to verify the quality of a system the client is developing. This week we have started a new stage, test execution. In this stage we run the scripts we have written to either validate that the system works or find and log defects so that they can be corrected. This stage is pretty intense and is keeping us all pretty busy.

Things are so busy now, I haven't completed my tax return yet. It looks like this weekend will be my last chance to work on it if I want to file it by the end of the month.

My basement tenant has responded to the updated lease I sent him a couple of weeks ago (See Rough week). He has decided not to renew the lease. His last day in the unit was supposed to have been the 15th - the weekend that just passed. At least this should remedy the noise complaints from the tenant that lives on the main level. Of course I now need to find a new tenant for the basement unit.

Discovering Lydian Mode

I was working on my melody for Chord Progression #7. This chord progression is: C G G D Dsus G G C Dsus D7 (see Songwriting Exercise). I had assumed the chord progression was in the key of C major, because it started with a C major chord. However, what really started throwing me off was the presence of the D major, D sus, and D7 chords. A D major chord has the notes D F# A, and there is no F# in the key of C major. Also, when I finished putting my melody into the sequencer software I use and played it back, it really felt like the ending should resolve to a G chord rather than to a C.

Then it occured to me that maybe the piece is using a different mode. I have only recently learned about modes. I had heard the term Dorian mode before but didn't know what it meant, so I looked it up in a dictionary a few weeks ago. The dictionary told me that a Dorian mode is a scale that uses only the white keys on a piano and starts on the note D. In other words, a mode is a scale that starts on a certain note (in this case, D), but uses the key signature of another scale (in this case C major). There is also a mode called Ionian mode, where the starting note and key signature are the same - this is the case for any major scale (for example, a scale that starts on C and uses the key signature of C).

With this thought in mind, I started wondering if this chord progression was written in another mode. With a little research, I discovered the Lydian mode. The C Lydian scale starts on C but has the key signature of G major - that is, an F#. That explains the D major chords.

Completed first draft of Arjay's Reversal

I've finally finished the scene Arjay's Reversal, which I've been working on for Mission: Dawn. The scene feels contrived, but I've spent enough time on it and want to move on.

I've written enough content now for an entire chapter; however, there are a few gaps which I think need to be filled. For example,

1. In the scene Drawing Out Crenshaw, Morgan recognizes that Crenshaw isn't being himself and attempts to draw him out - I should probably write an earlier scene which introduces Crenshaw and demonstrates his unusual behavior.
2. Need a scene that shows the crew's attempts to locate Dr. Kellog Chapman. Need this scene as a setup to the conversation Arjay has with the admiral in the scene Dr. who?
3. Show Linda and Green coming aboard Dawn. (When we first see them, Linda is on Mars and Green is on Space Station; yet later they both appear on Dawn with no explanation given.)
4. I've been wanting to write a scene called The Briefing, in which Arjay briefs his senior crew on their upcoming mission. Perhaps I can address the above points in this scene - then I won't have to write too many transitions.

J says that I am unfocused and try to do "everything all at once". I can see why she would think that - even my previous blog posts show me going from one topic one day, to another topic the next day, from music to creative writing to real estate. Well, that is actually how I like to work - it must be ingrained in my personality. I like to pick something up, work on it for a while, then put it down and work on something else for a while.

Songwriting exercise

I was in a bookstore a couple of weeks ago, and happened to be skimming through a few books on songwriting. One of them had an exercise that I thought would be useful to try. The book listed several chord progressions - the exercise is to write a melody for each progression. Just for the record, the progressions are:

1. Bb Fsus Cm7 Eb Bb Fsus Cm7 Eb
2. Eb Bb E/B Bb Cm Eb/Bb Bb Eb
3. Bb Gm7 F Eb Bb Gm7 F Bb
4. G D Em C C Am Bm Em - G D Em C - G Am Bm D G
5. G G/C D7 C D G C/G D7 G
6. F F Bb Bb F F/A Bb C
7. C G G D Dsus G G C Dsus D7
8. G C G/B D7 G C G/B Dsus Em C G
9. G C D7 D7 - G C D7 D7 Em C G
10. G C D7 D7 G C D7 D7 C D G
11. A A7 D A7 Bm7 G G D/F# A7

Given the context of the chapter, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that these progressions belong to songs I know. I don't recognize any of these progressions, but there's only a few songs that I would recognize on sight - most of them I'd have to hear.

I've started playing with Progression #7 on my keyboard, and it is suggesting a melody to me already.

Silly thought for the day

I can never remember if it's feed a cold - starve a fever, or starve a cold - feed a fever. My preference would be feed a cold - feed a fever. This could be a shibboleth for the underweight.

Rough week

Last week was a rough week. It's been stressful since Easter weekend. I also caught a cold but fortunately it didn't get too bad. There is a school of belief that all physical illness is actually manifested from our emotional state. Given how last week went along, I could certainly believe it.

Things are pretty intense now at work. We've got a deadline coming up with a lot of work still to do. After that, we enter a new stage with a schedule that we've been told is aggressive. It's taking up a lot of my mental energy.

I haven't done anything with my will questionnaire. I did send an updated lease to my basement tenant last week but he has not yet sent me back a signed copy. Now I'm wondering if he has changed his mind.

Part of me is frustrated that I seem to be making such slow progress towards my goals. Another part of me is saying Don't be so hard on yourself, be compassionate; make sure you're taking care of yourself and you'll be alright.

Running for Board of Directors

J ran for a position, this week, on the Board of Directors for a condo she owns. The building has recently been registered, so a Special Meeting was held to elect a Board of Directors. J expected about 20-30 people to be there. Turned out there were 70 people. She felt a little underprepared when it was her turn to give her why you should vote for me speech. Although some people did vote for her, she didn't get a position.

Nevertheless, I am proud of her for actually running. She says she will run again next year. I hope she does, and I am sure she will get voted in next time.

The joy of socks

Sometimes you just have to stop and appreciate the minor victories in life, even if they seem small or banal.

I did a load of laundry this weekend. I did the socks. Put them in the washer, washed them clean; put them in the dryer, dried them dry. Then it came time to match them up and put them away.

Every single sock matched! What are the chances of that? It's not the first time this has happened either. The last several times I did my socks I attained a 100% match.

I call that a victory.

First quarter reflections

When I was in university, life was measured in four month cycles called terms. The year was divided into three terms. Two of these were regular school terms. The third term was the summer term for regular students, or a work term for coop students.

Although I have long ago left the school world and joined the working world, I still perceive life in cycles, but now the cycles are called quarters instead of terms, and there are four cycles per year instead of three. The end of March represents the end of the first quarter of 2005, and so it serves as a good time to reflect on how I've spent this year so far, and serves as a good time to decide on any course corrections in going forward.

In reflection, I see that I have spent the first quarter attaining a major relationship milestone - getting engaged; I've focused my extracurricular time and energy on various creative endeavours - music, creative writing, and video production. I've also remained faithful to my fitness commitment - I am pleased to be able to say that I have done the stairs every day at work since I started my current assignment at the end of February.These are endeavours I think of as important but not urgent.

Going forward into the next quarter-year, I have some financial goals that require my focus. I need to complete and file my 2004 income tax return - that's coming under the category of important and urgent. I still need to complete my will, and get the new lease out to my tenant. I also see that my relationship with my parents is in need of some work.

The journey continues - stay tuned for Act 2.