State Of The Thingie

The words dribble out of the finger tips once again, as I come to the keyboard without any well-defined plan. Sometimes there are plans, and sometimes not. There is no predicting the Quirky Muffin, especially after a hard few days of Kriss Kross puzzle compilation. I never really understood how complicated a process that might be, but it's done now, with nineteen shape names wrapped up into a not-too-difficult puzzle with a unique solution. It's the 'unique solution' part that really gets you, for managing to slot all the names together is hard enough as it is!

One really fantastic and useful thing to take out of a mathematics doctorate is a proficiency in the typesetting language LaTeX, which facilitates most of the high-quality handouts and documents I produce for students, friends, and occasionally ex-comrades in arms. It's a wonderful thing, and there's a template for practically every type of document you will ever need. Even KrissKross puzzles are supported, as part of a crossword compilation package, and it's all free! It's really important to be able to make puzzles and games for younger students, and for it not to be too difficult, once the roughing out on squared paper is done.

Getting back to this magnificent blogging challenge, now past the seven hundredth post, it seems clear that two of the stories have become far more interesting to write than the others: 'The Ninja of Health' and 'Wordspace II'. The other stories might pause or even be formally cancelled if a clear direction doesn't come to mind, although an epic session of plotting with pen and paper might clear it all up. Yes, it's time to get physical with the source material. It's almost impossible to do anything but maintain the status quo while writing on a computer. The mind really focusses when using paper, and also the eyes take far less of a battering, which is very much an issue when your optician changes your prescription. Mutter mutter.

Coming attractions here will include writings on 'The Time Tunnel', Mark Twain's 'Joan of Arc', 'Magnum PI', 'Star Trek V' and Wilkie Collins' 'No Name'. How does that sound?

O.