HMHS Britannic

Everyone knows about the RMS Titanic, but do you know about her younger sister, Britannic?  I'm currently researching the topic as I continue working on a fiction story involving the doomed liner.  She was the third in a trio of ships designed by Harland and Wolff to be the next stage in the evolution of transatlantic travel.  There's evidence that her name was initially supposed to be the Gigantic, but after the Titanic disaster, White Star and H&W decided that Britannic would be a more suitable moniker.  Just as Titanic had been slightly larger and a little more luxurious than Olympic, the first of the three sisters, Britannic was designed to be larger and better than the Titanic.  Among the enhancements: A second-class gym, a fourth elevator, a more luxurious swimming pool room, a children's play room, and a pipe organ.  After the Titanic sank, the improvements expanded to the area of safety.  Titanic was fitted with larger davits called gantry davits to accommodate the additional lifeboats that were installed.  The hull was also reinforced.

Unfortunately, many of the luxurious enhancements to the passenger areas were not utilized because Britannic was requisitioned for service during the First World War, serving as a hospital ship for Britain.  White Star planned to put her into service as a transatlantic steamer after the war ended, but it was not to be.  Britannic didn't survive past 1916.  In November of that year, she sunk off the Greek island of Kea. 

I've been using Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Titanica website for some of my research, but the real treasure trove of information I'm finding comes from a website called The Hospital Ship Britannic.  There's a wealth of information here, including photos, diagrams, and artists' renderings of Britannic.  If you're at all interested in the history of the Britannic, I strongly encourage you to check it out.

Hipsters

According to some people, I've been living under a rock because I didn't know what a hipster was before Monday.  Well, I haven't been living under a rock, but I've been in grad school for the past two years, which is close.  Monday, I was awakened to the large social dialogue surrounding hipsters.  On the surface, hipsters are young people in their late teens and 20s who dress in retro style and hang out on the indie music scene.  But it's not as simple as that.  See, hipsters don't readily identify themselves as such, which creates a problem with determining who they are.  Apparently, it's an insult to call someone a hipster ... but if you're called a hipster and deny it, you're even more suspected of being one.  I think.

From everything I've read, they're a counter-culture without a cause, and most people are annoyed by them.  They don't really annoy me; I'd never even heard of them until three days ago.

But now that I know who they are, I think I know one personally.  I think my sister is one.  She wears Chucks, vintage t-shirts, and loves indie bands.  I think we have a winner.  I think I'll give her the ultimate test and ask her if she's a hipster.  If she deny's it, it's the ultimate confirmation; if she looks at me like I'm crazy and asks what the heck I'm talking about, there's still hope.

Seriously, though, I don't really understand why there's so much conversation about hipsters.  Let them dress how they want and listen to the music they like.  My sister's cool, and even if she is a hipster, why should I care?  We love to put people in categorical boxes in this country.  That makes for one boring existence.  You can't sum a person's loves, likes, dislikes, or existence up with a category.  Give it a rest!

NaNoWriMo?

A few days ago, I wrote a blog post for work about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).  I think NaNoWriMo is a great way for both experienced and amateur writers to flex their writing skills.  Unfortunately, it presents a problem for me.

I'm too serious.  Way too serious.

About writing, I mean.  And other things, as well, but especially about writing.  One of the things about NaNoWriMo is that it's expected for the finished product to be silly or not make any sense or to be complete rubbish.  I mean, come on - do you really expect the next NY Times Bestsellers or Oprah Book Club selections to come out of this endeavor.  Highly unlikely.

I don't know if I can write knowing that this would be my outcome.  When I write, I put so much effort into it, it's almost like a second job.  Come to think of it, it is a second job in my eyes - I just don't get paid for it ... yet.

Anyway, I just don't know if I could devote that much time to writing something that will likely make me cry upon a second reading because it's so bad.  That isn't the only thing keeping me away from NaNoWriMo.  I'm also working on a slew of other creative projects that I'd have to separate myself from for a whole month in order to complete NaNoWriMo.  That's a tall order for me.  Do you realize that this is the first time since high school that I've been able to work regularly on my fiction this late in the year?  In college, I was resigned to only working on my material for three months in the summer, three or four weeks in the winter and fall, and maybe spring break.  All the other times of the year, I had to concentrate on school work.  Now that I'm a bonafide adult and have a full-time job, I can play in my little fantasy worlds year-round!

I'm not going to completely give up on NaNoWriMo just yet.  I can't do it this year.  I'm trying to get my other projects reorganized, and I'm planning a wedding for December.  Besides, I've already missed three days of valuable writing time. 

But next year is another story.  Things should have settled down on all fronts.  If I prepare by doing all my research and getting my notes together before November, I should be able to pull off a 50,000-word novel in 30 days.  Even if I don't, I could finish in December, during NaNoFiMo (National Novel Finishing Month).  And if the end result is crap, I can simply carry it over to March for NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month).

Introduction and Welcome

I'm not in college anymore, but I'm an eternal student.  I'm a writer (fiction), and I often do research to support and enhance my content.  I ususally find something that will benefit my stories, but I also run into a lot of information that's interesting but wouldn't really fit into my story anywhere.  This is information that I find totally interesting but would probably bore the people in my life to pieces if I tried to tell them everytime I ran accross some interesting little morsel.  I've got to have somewhere to vent!