Moved to Conductor Pat's Perspective: Conductor Pat's official blog, discussing the writing industry, pop culture, book reviews, and his writing. Welcome.
Hey folks,
before we begin, I'd like to dedicate this post to the late Congressman John Lewis, and Chadwick
Boseman. We lost two great people this year, and let us not forget to keep fighting for equality in all
fields, entertainment and in our government. Rest in Power gentlemen, rest in power.
Welcome back to the Tramway,
and welcome back to another update post. I must say, it's good to be back on campus, in particular having internet.
For those who don't know or missed my last post, my family recently moved and we haven't been able to afford internet at our new house yet. So my only way to go onto the internet was to walk through the July heat to a place with WiFi. Now that I'm back on college, I can be more active again.
I was thankful to move onto campus early to work, as part of the Campus Activity Council, and we held several events for the freshman during New Student Orientation week. Which didn't always go to plan.
Our first event, a scavenger hunt, got rained on, which made holding the paper for the hunt pretty hard. However, we persevered and everyone had a fun time.
That was a lot more fun than helping freshman move in. From 9-1 pm, upperclassmen carried bags, laundry baskets, mini fridges and suitcases to elevators or upstairs. By the end of the event, I was exhausted.
The next event, and highlight of my weekend, was bubble soccer. Bubble soccer was comical, as freshman bumped into each other trying to score. We had a smart bullhorn and we played music across it when a team scored.
One of the Bubble Soccer games. Image Ⓒ Patrick Webb
I didn't participate myself, but I did help get the ball when it went through the goals (see above), so that way our players didn't have to run awkwardly in it. The teams had pretty good names, like Team Pineapple. One was team Covid! When the other team played against them, they were saying to each other "All right, we can't let Covid win.
Covid didn't end up winning, and all around it was a fun event. We thankfully were able to keep everyone wearing their masks, and we had a lot of people participate and watching. One of the highlights was some freshman who commentated the games over the bullhorn. That was hilarious to watch, as they played it straight.
Me and most of the members of CAC after the event. You can see me on the left with the white and pink hat. (Names withheld to protect their privacy)
In other news, adjusting to life on campus has been pretty good. I'm living in the apartments this semester, which's a BIG improvement over my last dorm room. I also appreciate my apartment mates, or as we call ourselves the "Soviet Republic of the Lad's Den."
Don't ask me how we got that name.
All right, fine. We started as the Lad's Den, then Jeremiah decided that (since we're sharing food) that qualifies us a communists. Hence our name. I certainly am not going to complain about it, I think the name is hilarious, and I hope you do as well.
Today was the first day of class, and I had two classes: Writing for Media and War and Peace in 20th Century Europe. Both classes implemented social distancing in the classroom (Writing for Media has been split into two groups, and War & Peace has two students zooming in). Both classes had the desks 1 per person, and we all had to wear masks.
I thankfully have a comfortable mask, though it was weird to wear it for so long. I was used to not wearing one because I spent most of my summer in my house, though I am adjusting quite well to it.
All right, let's go back to updates for writing.
Over the summer I finished/started writing a few projects just for fun. I wrote a few Urban Fantasy Detective stories, a slice of life urban fantasy (lotta Urban Fantasy, I don't know why), and my Thomas & Friends inspired series. I also worked on a homage to Samurai Jack (and maybe Star Wars?) plus Usagi Yojimbo, plus a short story in the same universe of the former.
I'm withholding the names at present (no offense readers, I trust you. It's the REST of the internet I don't trust). Most I wrote on paper, so I need to type them up before I can work on them further.
Currently, I need to work on research and editing of Lady Luck, my senior project. To do the research, I got "They Called us Enemy," written by George Takei of Star Trek fame. As I've mentioned before, because my story is set in the 1940's, I felt it would be immoral to not discuss the Japanese Internment that the US inflicted onto Japanese Americans.
The main concern for me is portraying it accurately and sensitively. I'll probably reach out to my college community and see if there's any Japanese Americans who are willing to be sensitivity readers of my book, to make sure I get it right.
There's also several topics I need to do more research on, such as 1940's culture in Oregon, where I base the fictional town of Jenkville, along with African American cops in the 1940's, weapons, etc.
If you have any suggestions for books to read about WWII, please let me know in the comments or on one of my many social medias.
All right, I think that about wraps up recent events in my life. I hope you all are doing well. Are you adjusting back to campus life, or regular life? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook. If you'd like to connect with me professionally, please consider connecting on LinkedIn, mention that you came from Tug & Tram Blogging.
Thanks for reading everyone, and I'll...
You didn't really think I was going to forget my third topic did you? 😝
Jokes aside, I wish to give a shout out to my friend Cristina Jantz's company tidbitediting.com. Tidbit Editing is a service for high quality editing. Cristina offers a fair price for proof reading, $4 per page for novels, $3 for short stories, stage plays or picture books, $2 for blog posts and $5 for screen plays.
I can personally recommend Cristina's editing skills. She helped me with a lot of my papers and projects during college. Without her, one of my short stories would not have been published. She knows how to raise your stories to the next level. You can find her email and contact information on her website above. Best of luck with your business Cristina!
All right, that will truly be all for me this post folks. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you on the Tramway!
