activity logs

[owenroberts]

hi! i've been a big fan of nanogenmo for a while. this year i have an idea for it.

i found out earlier this year a friend of mine has to keep exhaustive logs of all the work activity he does every day. it includes things like "11am-11:15am: Nothing". this really blew me away before i learned that its actually common practice in some positions. i think it could be cool to generate a prose version of it. it might also be really boring. i guess i'll find out.

[pjfpotter]

this is a nice idea

[owenroberts]

i have a repo with a rough working version: https://github.com/owenroberts/2020 hopefully will add sample text tomorrow.

[owenroberts]

here's a sample of what I've got so far:

It's Thursday. In the morning, I don't know what I do for 15 minutes. Then, I do timesheets and write down expenses for 15 minutes. Then, I monitor monitoring for Org 5, e-mail emails and lop clips for Org 1 for half an hour. Then, I email emails, work on assignments for Org 2 and review List 1 for 15 minutes. Then, I do nothing for 15 minutes. In the afternoon, I review info for Org 3 and prep for a call for an hour and 15 minutes. Then, I review legislative strategy for Org 2, prep for a call, do media planning for Org 5, follow up with Person 1 and do some nothing for an hour and a half. Then, I supervise monitoring report for Org 1 for 15 minutes. Then, I work on LOA for Org 12 for half an hour. Then, I meet with Person 2, call in call with Person 3 and email Person 1 for an hour and 45 minutes. Then, I do nothing, post emails and review video for Org 1 for half an hour. Then, I register files, travel to Place 1 and clip clips for 45 minutes. Then, I dress clips and do timesheets for 15 minutes.

it's pretty boring, as expected! there is a bit of randomness/absurdity added by finding verbs related to some nouns using concept net and wordnet, rather than just repeating "work on" for every single task/event, but i think it risks making the text too whimsical. i've thought about adding some random adverbs but that could really put things over the top.

the process is pretty wonky because the source text is mostly fragments with no verbs and complex noun phrases, so the nltk part of speech tagger is not performing well. i thought about training my own tagger but i don't think that's realistic for this project/time period.

i've been struggling with adding articles the past two days. its very tricky and i've also considered a different approach, rather than trying to preserve all the words in a sentence fragment, just extract a noun and verb and then make a sentence. i tried this a bit today but it brings up a whole bunch of other questions so i plan to keep going with the current system unless i hit a dead end.

i had hoped by now to be working on adding some cool stuff that would track the accumulation of certain types of events or interactions with specific entities to add some commentary on things that happen over time but i'm still working on getting the basic sentence structure consistent. we'll see if i get time to do that.

[owenroberts]

i had no idea how hard it would be to add appropriate articles in front of nouns! i tried out the new approach of extracting noun, proper noun and verb phrases and reconstructing a sentence, and ignoring other words in the sentence fragments, and in cases randomly choosing a noun to make the sentence with and ignoring other nouns. here's a new excerpt with that approach, its almost exactly the same but the code is simpler (sort of).

It's Thursday. In the morning, I don't know what I do for 15 minutes. Then, I work on timesheets and write off expenses for 15 minutes. Then, I supervise monitoring for Org-5, e-mail emails and snip clips for Org-1 for half an hour. Then, I email emails, work on assignments for Org-2 and review List-1 for 15 minutes. Then, I do nothing for 15 minutes. In the afternoon, I review information for Org-3 and prepare for a call for an hour and 15 minutes. Then, I review a strategy for Org-2, prepare for a call, plan planning for Org-5, follow up with Person-1 and do some nothing for an hour and a half. Then, I supervise monitoring report for Org-1 for 15 minutes. Then, I letter a letter of agreement for Org-12 for half an hour. Then, I meet with Person-2, ring a call with Person-3 and email Person-1 for an hour and 45 minutes. Then, I do nothing, netmail emails and review a video for Org-1 for half an hour. Then, I register files, travel to Place-1 and trim clips for 45 minutes. Then, I curtail clips and work on timesheets for 15 minutes.

before tuesday i hope to test some more word choices with and decide what do use for the anonymized names for people and organizations etc. i could leave them as Org-1 and Person-1 but i don't think that's very readable. i've been considering either making up random names with a random word generator, or using something A---- like you see in gogol (i think it's gogol) and other fiction. but primarily i have to anonymize and tag the rest of the timesheets and generate the whole novel.

[owenroberts]

finally generated a full version of the text tonight. it took way too much time just to tag everything that's a proper noun in order to anonymize the text, the timesheets thing was a cool idea but this effort was kind of ridiculous, i maybe should have just generated random stuff based on what's in the timesheet rather than using all the timesheets and having to make sure everything is anonymous.

and after all that, the current version is only 29,564 words. not sure how to make up the rest, i'm going to try adding some random adverbs and adjectives in tomorrow.

here's the last paragraph of the current version

Thank god it's Friday. In the morning, I work on staff Org-40 and travel to transit from Place-16 for three hours and 15 minutes. Then, I clean up, dressed a get and work on an etc for 45 minutes. In the afternoon, I mail emails, nip clips, file files, work on a to-do and regarding a diversity for 45 minutes. Then, I do nothing for half an hour. Then, I meet meeting notes for Org-23 and prepare for a committee for Meeting for two hours. Then, I lunch a lunch and work on App-6 for half an hour. Then, I nothing happens for I don't remember how long.

still some rough edges to work out but mainly just focused on increasing the word count somehow and having something done.

[owenroberts]

first attempt to increase the word length: adding random adjectives and adverbs to 33% and 50% of common nouns and verbs respectively. the results adds a lot of goofiness to the text, but i find it actually emphasizes rather than overwhelms then mundaneness of the text, which i had feared might be the case. it does give it a bit of a madlibs vibe but at this point i don't have time to tweak this more, and phrases like "unwittingly do emergent nothing" are a worthwhile tradeoff.

i went with all of the possible adverbs (3621) and adjectives (18156) in wordnet rather than use lists of like the 100 most common adjectives or something. that means there's a lot of obscure words but the also adverbs like "con brio" that are quite nice.

I have a case of the Mondays. In the morning, I hilariously mail emails, dress clips for Org-2 and prepare for Org-7 for an hour and 45 minutes. Then, I dial con brio a call for Org-1 for half an hour. Then, I turn a release proof for Org-9 for 15 minutes. In the afternoon, I digitally do nothing, scheduling accordant meetings, pathetically e-mail cataphatic emails for Org-7, clip clips for Org-1 and review noncombatant a pitch for Org-136 for an hour and 15 minutes. Then, I aesthetically work on Org-10 for 45 minutes. Then, I do nothing for 15 minutes. Then, I don't know what I do and quickly work on a proposal for Org-5 for an hour and 15 minutes. Then, I review Org-137 and work on Publication-5 for an hour and 15 minutes. Then, I work on Publication-5 and promptly call Person-7 for 15 minutes. Then, I don't know what I do, unwittingly do emergent nothing and work on Publication-5 for 45 minutes. Then, I take note notes for Org-10 for 15 minutes. Then, I do nothing for I don't remember how long.

but it only adds about 3k words, current total is 32,754.

[hugovk]

A quick hack to get 50k: do a part I and part II, each from a different run.

Possibly throw in some variation for the second output or do something very silly like put each word in each sentence in alphabetical order. Or make an index of every sentence. Or change "for 15 minutes" to "for 15 minutes (let me count them: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)".

Or do like https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2020/issues/31 and append thousands of meows to get over the line! (47k in that case!)

[owenroberts]

another update, added some randomly generated names for the various anonymous entities referenced in the text. this adds a bit to the silliness. i tried to make the name generator make obviously fake names but with a particular formula for different types of things. i considered a markov generator but i think this would add even more silliness, though the most recent version produced "The DIE Organization".

It's Thursday. In the morning, I home at a home for The DIE Organization for 45 minutes. Then, I work on YTJQ Times, plan malposed planning for TVUM Gazette, email tidal a call with N— and don't know what I do for an hour and 45 minutes. Then, I hopefully work on Organization LSFXIV for an hour and 45 minutes. Then, I work on together The DIE Organization for half an hour. In the afternoon, I cosmetically address clamatorial a call for The KQP Organization for half an hour. Then, I work on a strategy for Company VJO for an hour and 45 minutes. Then, I send emails and don't know what I do for 15 minutes. Then, I lunch synergistic a lunch for 15 minutes. Then, I work on The KQP Organization, scheduling unrouged meeting and call in ibsenian calls with with Mx. V for an hour and a half. Then, I do nothing for 15 minutes. Then, I budget ad val a budget for The DIE Organization for half an hour. Then, I don't know what I do for I don't remember how long. Then, I monitor despairing monitoring for The YMY Organization for an hour and 45 minutes.

this adds another ~2k words, current total 34,857.

[owenroberts]

update, added the first bit of daily meta commentary, two sentences based on the hour the day ends and the relative amount of stuff done that day.

Pretty normal load today. I'm ready to get out of here.

Didn't do too much today. Not a bad day.

I have way too much to do. I'm watching the clock.

That only added another ~3k words, up to 37,199.

have to teach class now and feeling a bit burnt out, though its fun, not sure i'll make it to 50k tonight.

[owenroberts]

A quick hack to get 50k: do a part I and part II, each from a different run.

Possibly throw in some variation for the second output or do something very silly like put each word in each sentence in alphabetical order. Or make an index of every sentence. Or change "for 15 minutes" to "for 15 minutes (let me count them: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)".

Or do like #31 and append thousands of meows to get over the line! (47k in that case!)

thanks! nice ideas, i like the idea of part 1 and 2, maybe from different timelines. maybe do part 2 in reverse.

[owenroberts]

yikes, turning it in at the eleventh hour. there's a few things i want to tweak, but doing part 2 as a reversed version of part 1 was a good solution for the length issue.

2020 by James code

[hugovk]

Like a sort of mirror! Congrats on finishing!