Life in Georgia is like a game of backgammon

Everywhere I go, I see people playing ნარდი (“nardi”), known in English as backgammon.  Men and women, children and the elderly–everyone knows how to play, and just about every family owns a backgammon set.  It’s popular everywhere in Georgia, but it’s especially popular here in Kutaisi, where it’s not uncommon to see clusters of old… Continue reading Life in Georgia is like a game of backgammon

What’s your backup?

So I just got back from Easter vacation in Turkey, at Trabzon and Lake Uzungöl.  It was pretty awesome–I’ll definitely be blogging about it in the next couple of days!  First, though, I wanted to share something interesting that happened on the way back. While I was hanging out in Batumi with some other TLG… Continue reading What’s your backup?

What I’ve been up to recently

I thought it would be a good idea to do a quick post explaining what I’ve been up to the past month or so, since a lot of things have changed and I’m sure they will be changing a lot more in the future.  So, here’s what’s up: As you may or may not know,… Continue reading What I’ve been up to recently

Random late night thoughts

I’ve been going on a lot of late night walks lately, just wandering restlessly around Provo.  Tonight I had some interesting thoughts about how much I’ve changed in the last year.  Surprisingly, I’ve grown a lot. Last  year at this time, I was all geared up for World Fantasy Convention.  I had just finished Bringing… Continue reading Random late night thoughts

Decisions suck, writing is awesome

Whew!  I just finished revising through almost 9k words in Desert Stars.  I’ve only got three more chapters and an epilogue to go, and man, I am so excited about this story!  I have no doubt it’s my best work yet. Of course, I might be biased. 😉 Star Wanderers is also coming along very… Continue reading Decisions suck, writing is awesome

Let the job hunt begin!

All right, I just updated my resume to account for the last year or so, and I’m ready to start looking aggressively for work.  Given the state of the economy, I’m not optimistic that it will lead anywhere, but hey might as well give it a shot. The ideal job would be something part time… Continue reading Let the job hunt begin!

Difficult choices and keeping perspective

So I have some news, and it’s probably going to freak my parents out a little bit…I decided to turn down the full-time job offer that I mentioned a few weeks ago. The company is great, they treat their employees well, I got along well with everyone there–so why not take the job?  Because it… Continue reading Difficult choices and keeping perspective

Story Notebook #5 (part 2)

For those of you who don’t know (or can’t remember, since it’s been so long), I’ve been doing this ongoing thing where I go through my old story notebooks.  Last time, we covered my last semester of classes at BYU; this time, we’ll cover my time in Washington DC, when I was trapped in an internship from… Continue reading Story Notebook #5 (part 2)

Writer’s angst & post-convention ennui

In spite of the title of this post, I’ll try not to get too emo.  Not sure how well I’ll succeed, but at least I’ll try. Worldcon was great, but it put me into something of a writing slump and I’m not sure where to go next.  I was planning on writing the as-yet untitled… Continue reading Writer’s angst & post-convention ennui

The Obligatory After-Conference Marriage Post

So in case you didn’t know, General Conference was this past weekend.  General Conference is this huge semi- annual conference broadcast live from Salt Lake City, where the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ talk on a number of topics and issues relevant to the church.  This year, one of the main recurring themes… Continue reading The Obligatory After-Conference Marriage Post