Tuesday, April 30, 2013

24 Twenty-Nineth Beginning (Nanowrimo 2007) Organizing Aunt Sheila

[Barbara, her Aunt Sheila, and an online friend are participating in Nanowrimo (yes, I know how recursive that is) and are IMing each other as they do a sprint write near the end of the month.]

1BarbaraJW665:  Alright folks.  I’m setting the timer.  We write for one hour.  At the end of the hour we log our word count.  It doesn’t matter what we write.  We don’t have to save it at the end.

4AuntSheila1953:  Sadly, I think I’ll be saving them.

ZoomZoomZZZ: That’s OK.  Oh, did you hear?  Rose is returning for the Fourth series for three episodes!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. BBC confirmed it. No rumour. :D

4AuntSheila1953: cool

ZoomZoomZZZ: O_O oh, hadn't expected you to respond.

4AuntSheila1953: me neither

ZoomZoomZZZ: And 'cool' is such a poor way to celebrate such great news.

4AuntSheila1953: but it's my standard

4AuntSheila1953: I say it so often

ZoomZoomZZZ: I noticed...

4AuntSheila1953: and I'm not sure I want to go backward

ZoomZoomZZZ: You say it so often, it fails to sound sincere.

=)

4AuntSheila1953: I didn't like it when they resurrected Jean Grey

ZoomZoomZZZ: o.o;

4AuntSheila1953: how can it not be sincere when it's typical

1BarbaraJW665:  You know that the word count on the IM doesn’t count, right?

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, Mother.  I’m writing on my desktop, too.

ZoomZoomZZZ: Rose beats Jean any day.

4AuntSheila1953: ah, you obviously never read the original series

Phoenix rocked

ZoomZoomZZZ: What, you expect people to believe you when you have the same response each time...makes it seem automatic.

And no I didn't, but Rose still rules hands down. Gets ready for a debate.]

4AuntSheila1953: a grunt of phlegmatic approval

ZoomZoomZZZ: Dang it, beating me with a word I don't know. =P

I'll forgive you this time.

4AuntSheila1953: ah, so you don't know if I've misspelled it

cool

In honor of the moment, I will write about Medieval humors. 

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol

So uh...

bubblegum.

</random>

4AuntSheila1953:  Although they didn’t start as Medieval humors.  They started as Ancient Greek humors.  Then the Arabs wrote about them.

I miss bubblegum

I think the bazooka is still chewy

regular chewing gum has softened to the point that it may as well not be there

ZoomZoomZZZ: All right.

4AuntSheila1953: bah - and you kids should get off of my lawn

ZoomZoomZZZ: Rose is returning, Rose is returning~

what...lawn..who..kids?

4AuntSheila1953: I hope they don't mess it up

typical old geezer statement

ZoomZoomZZZ: O_O This is Doctor Who we speak of - No folly hath I yet to see.

4AuntSheila1953: it's something that people say to imply that they're getting old and set in their ways

ZoomZoomZZZ: Ah.

1BarbaraJW665:  I knew that.  Get off of my lawn.  Get writing.  I don’t want to beat you both again.  It’s embarrassing.

4AuntSheila1953: Jean Grey was with the original X-Men

Waaaaaay back

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, yes she was.

4AuntSheila1953: Her first death was very moving

And I’ve got the humors and the elements of which they are comprised written out 255 words.  Next I’m segueing into the Medieval Target Diet.  I’ve always wanted to write an essay about that.

ZoomZoomZZZ: Ah, yeah....so you're saying she should have stayed dead?

4AuntSheila1953: resetting things just weakened the whole thing

YES!!

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol

4AuntSheila1953: DEAD, DEAD, DEAD

ZoomZoomZZZ: Well, Rose isn't "Dead", she's "Gone". So, they shouldn't mess it up...

4AuntSheila1953: it was a lovely sacrifice

1BarbaraJW665:  Is the MTDiet in the database.

4AuntSheila1953:  I don’t think so.  It wasn’t something that I thought I would forget about.

I’ve got a spreadsheet on the foods and their humors (and antidotes).  It’s on floppy somewhere. 

1BarbaraJW665:  I’ll make a note of that.  I’ll do the archaeology later.

I’m doing a reverse diary.  423 words.  I zoom by you.

ZoomZoomZZZ: Doctor Who rules, I'm not worried how well it will turn out...

And I’m nearly to 600 words, so hah!

4AuntSheila1953: yes, but they've been mooning over not being able to be together

ZoomZoomZZZ: Well, yeah...and this will be a "Happy" moment.

4AuntSheila1953: are they going to have to moon over each other now that she's back

?

ZoomZoomZZZ: Er, I don't know...

4AuntSheila1953: Is she going to have to die to part them?

ZoomZoomZZZ: You're ruining my excitement.

4AuntSheila1953: DEAD, DEAD, DEAD

And the two perfect foods that can be used to temper all other foods into alignment with the human body’s humors are . . . wait for it. . . sugar and pork fat.

Are either of you old enough to remember Covert Bailey’s Target Diet?

ZoomZoomZZZ: Maybe he gets stuck in a parallel universe again.

No on the Covert. 

1BarbaraJW665:  What kind of parent names their child Covert?

4AuntSheila1953: mebbe

ZoomZoomZZZ: and before they can be together again, he gets knocked back into his.

4AuntSheila1953: If they do it right, it will be good

ZoomZoomZZZ: >:) They will do it right. Mwuahahahaha.

4AuntSheila1953: If they're doing it as fan service, they might mess it up

ZoomZoomZZZ: I don't think so...

o.o;  I’m going to steal the name Covert.  With a name like that, he has to be an assassin.

4AuntSheila1953: It will depend on the script

If they had a good script idea, that's all well and good

If they just wanted her back and fudged a script to do it . . .

. . . I'll let you watch it first

oh, and are you writing about the school for assassins again?

ZoomZoomZZZ: She's only in it for three episodes.

So...that's not really getting her back. ^^

And, yeah.  The happy-go-lucky school.

4AuntSheila1953: Martha left, right?


ZoomZoomZZZ: Though, theoretically it could mean "Three episodes of the fourth series, and all episodes of the fifth series." because they only said she would be in the fourth series, but didn't elaborate if she might leave after that...

Martha will return halfway through the fourth series...

4AuntSheila1953: So who starts it out?

Other than the Titanic?

ZoomZoomZZZ: Donna Noble

4AuntSheila1953: The comic?

ZoomZoomZZZ: They will have a guest companion for the Titanic special.

Kylie Monogue...or however you spell her name.

4AuntSheila1953: Douglas Adams wrote a computer game called The Starship Titanic

I think Kylie is the comic

the mouthy one

ZoomZoomZZZ: o.o;

1BarbaraJW665:  do not buy that shirt.  especially do not buy that shirt and expect me to wear it. 

4AuntSheila1953: Terry Jones took the computer game and wrote the novel

ZoomZoomZZZ: You're confusing me, so I will resort now to smiling and nodding. nod, nod, smile, smile.

4AuntSheila1953: Eric's advice

Also Dave's

not buying shirt – got it

ZoomZoomZZZ: Wahoo...

4AuntSheila1953: about the diary – are you starting with today and going backward?

1BarbaraJW665:  No.  I’m popping around randomly.  BTW who was it that you sent to pick me up from the airport.

ZoomZoomZZZ: That's always good...

Er, go on?

Or are you saying smiling and nodding is their advice, in which case you weren't very clear.

smiles and nods

4AuntSheila1953: It's what they tell people to do whenever they think I've said something that doesn't make sense – also known as S&N

And it was Bear Bear that picked you up from the airport.

ZoomZoomZZZ: Ah.

4AuntSheila1953: I tell them they need to learn to keep up

and they smile and nod

1BarbaraJW665:  I haven’t met him since then right?

ZoomZoomZZZ: The question being, do you confuse people on purpose?

4AuntSheila1953: no

not usually

ZoomZoomZZZ: So you aren't laughing maniacally in your head?

4AuntSheila1953: no

1BarbaraJW665: nearly 777 words

ZoomZoomZZZ: I figured as much. (and I think I’m still ahead on the words, but I’m not going to stop and count)

So, what would you say is the cause of your confusion?

4AuntSheila1953: I'm not the one who gets confused

ZoomZoomZZZ: Aha! So you blame the confused people! I rest my case...

lol jk

4AuntSheila1953: Although I may not have made myself clear – sometimes I’ve gone over things in my head enough that they’ve become familiar to me – and then I leave out necessary bits of intermediary explanation.  Only passing 500.  I’m editing myself too much for a sprint.

ZoomZoomZZZ: ^_~ Tis fine.

Hmm...so...explain the reasons for your latage uppage?

4AuntSheila1953: uppage?

ZoomZoomZZZ: latage uppage = late up.

For being up late, basically.

4AuntSheila1953: haven't written today

feeling guilty

want to check it off my list before I head for bed

ZoomZoomZZZ: Ah.

Olivian Spark.

I had a dream about a boy named Olivian Spark, a boy who had chefs for parents...a boy who was called Olive by them.

A boy, who was often outcasted for the very name his parents so lovingly gave him.

Poor boy.

He hid in the Headmaster's bedroom, don't ask me why.

I do know there was a crime...

now was he hiding for that very reason? Did he commit it...I did not ask. I did ask his name...it was Olivian Spark.

smiles and nods I feel quite pleased with my observation. This boy who oft pretended he was a girl, to avoid the laughter when his parents called him Olive.

It was darkly humorous though, that it was quite obvious he was a boy, and so he was made fun of doubly.

Any inspiring dreams on your end, or are you simply not there? poke, poke.

4AuntSheila1953: hmmm

sorry

thinking about the irony

of sugar and pork fat being perfect foods

so perfect that they temper other foods into safety

ZoomZoomZZZ: Um...what?

4AuntSheila1953: that's why I didn't see the message right away

ZoomZoomZZZ: Please elaborate.

4AuntSheila1953: Humors and elements – or, rather, qualities:  Melancholic (black bile - cold and dry), Sanguine (blood – warm and moist), Choleric (yellow bile - warm and dry), and Phlegmatic (phlegm - cold and moist)

ZoomZoomZZZ: I got it now.^^

I don’t know what to do with it, but I’ve got it

and this is why phlegmatic slipped into your comments earlier

4AuntSheila1953: yes – phlegm, by the way, is mucus aka snot that hasn’t been expelled from the body yet.

ZoomZoomZZZ: ew

1BarbaraJW665: so it’s another locational noun.  like meteor, meteorite, meteroid.

4AuntSheila1953: oooo Alton Brown – and I’ll have to think about the locational thing,  Look it up.

did you check out the t-shirt, Z?

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, yes I did. Very cute...did you check out my messages?

4AuntSheila1953: about the dream of a new character?

I think it's cool that you're getting messages from beyond

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol whut?

4AuntSheila1953: maybe I missed something

didn't you say you were dreaming of olives?

(I kid)

ZoomZoomZZZ: I didn't claim to be a medium?

I was dreaming of a boy named Olivian Spark, who was often called Olive...I got his full name as I woke up, quite oddly...but he was called in the dream Olive.

1BarbaraJW665: don’t look it up now – 1,221 words

4AuntSheila1953: not afterlife beyond

ZoomZoomZZZ: What, beyond the vegetable life? XD

4AuntSheila1953: land of dreaming beyond

ZoomZoomZZZ: OH

lol

4AuntSheila1953: Have I ever inflicted The Sandman on you?

ZoomZoomZZZ: No, you haven't...you keep insisting you would, but you never do.

4AuntSheila1953: It was a comic series by Neil Gaiman

ZoomZoomZZZ: No.

Stop there please.

1553 words

4AuntSheila1953: it is THE best comic series that was ever written

ZoomZoomZZZ: You have explained this all ready. ^^

4AuntSheila1953: ever

ever

1BarbaraJW665: you may have more words, but I be I have more capital letters

ZoomZoomZZZ: You told me it was the best comic series you've ever read, by Neil Gaiman, and how it is pronounced GAY-MAN not Guy-min.

4AuntSheila1953: The first story arc is kinda gory - but it sets things up

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, you said that too.

And you loved the whole "Dream" aspect or something...

Dream was a person/being I think you said.

Though Chris Baty pronounced it Guy-min too, so I am suspicious.

and capitals are overrated

we are the IM generation

Sent at 12:38 AM on Friday

4AuntSheila1953: When Neil pronounces it, he says Gay-mun

ZoomZoomZZZ: How many times have you heard Neil speak his name?

4AuntSheila1953: He's on tape

reading his own stuff

ZoomZoomZZZ: And for the record, you know Neil is not a very serious person.

4AuntSheila1953: ??

ZoomZoomZZZ: I mean, he could have been joking. Or his accent could have thrown the pronunciation off...

But I suppose the owner of the name is the most reliable source.

4AuntSheila1953:??

ZoomZoomZZZ: Did I say something odd?

Spark isn't a surname. Sparks is...Olivian Sparks...sound any better or worse?

Or should I not argue with this character on it's name?

4AuntSheila1953: No matter how flip he may be, I think he knows how to pronounce his own name

Spark or

Sparks would work

1BarbaraJW665:  the first night I was here – did you get up in the middle of the night and clean?

ZoomZoomZZZ: o_o was that sarcasm on your part, or am I over-analyzing?

4AuntSheila1953: which part?

and, no – no late-night cleaning

I wish.

I was way to tired, then.

Z - No matter how flip he may be, I think he knows how to pronounce his own name

ZoomZoomZZZ: Oh, well it looked like it. ^^

but since it isn't I won't put another thought into it.

4AuntSheila1953: k

starting to fall asleep

ZoomZoomZZZ: You know, I should right my own book on "Things to say to make people make an excuse to leave."

Which is supposed to be a joke, but I think I failed in execution.

4AuntSheila1953: that might sell

ZoomZoomZZZ: I say something that may seem odd or uncomforting, and suddenly people have to go...is that coincidence?

4AuntSheila1953: I'm not sure

I'm sleepy enough that it probably wasn't

or was

B – how much time left on the timer

ZoomZoomZZZ: Hmm.

4AuntSheila1953: I’m going to put on Pushing Daisies in the background

ZoomZoomZZZ: Well, I didn't mean anything bad by asking if you were being sarcastic...sarcasm is good. You know? =D

1BarbaraJW665: 27 minutes to go in Writers Stadium

4AuntSheila1953: PD it's making me want to make pies – Iron Chef comments aren’t dispelling the urge

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, I get the same urge...

1BarbaraJW665:  sorry

4AuntSheila1953: and I do sarcasm from time to time

Don’t apologize for saying something that makes me want to cook.  Any stimulus to action is good, even food related ones. 

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes.

4AuntSheila1953: hard to tell sarcasm online sometimes -  with no vocal inflection or emoticon

ZoomZoomZZZ: Did you know, the majority of times I am sarcastic someone finds me serious and answers me as such, and the moment I am serious people answer as if I was joking?

4AuntSheila1953: hmmmm

ZoomZoomZZZ: e

Ever happen to you?

4AuntSheila1953: and how does that make you feel (fake shrink accent)

and yes, it happens to me

ZoomZoomZZZ: Now, I wonder 'is being sarcastic under the radar a good thing, as I don't get in trouble with anyone, or a bad thing because then people think I am stupid for saying what I said?'

It makes me feel frustrated. (Fake crazy accent.)

1BarbaraJW665: over 2000

and I need to pick a new day

4AuntSheila1953: also, I'm often taking David seriously and then he says he was being sarcastic

ZoomZoomZZZ: my mom asks, "How are you doing with your book?" As in how many words?

4AuntSheila1953: the nanowrimo ‘book’?  over 20,000

and the characters keep starting new conversations in my head

ZoomZoomZZZ: "Cool."

4AuntSheila1953: but I'm not getting them down on paper

ZoomZoomZZZ: Hah

I am so used to character's popping up at random intervals...usually in convenient moments...or story ideas, little tidbits of inspiration...how this or that plotline can work...so I finally got that small composition notebook I've shown you.

*in inconvenient

I find, as long as I take the voices in my head as bits of inspiration, instead of all the insane things I could take them as, that I am not crazy.

4AuntSheila1953: maybe tomorrow – I’m mean maybe tomorrow, I’ll work on the nano. 

Barbara, have you written an entry for the first day we went shopping?

ZoomZoomZZZ: And so we're clear, that was sarcasm...just not "rude" sarcasm.

4AuntSheila1953: cool

ZoomZoomZZZ: I watched the P.D. episode a couple hours prior.

4AuntSheila1953: David thinks that there's not supposed to be any change in voice for sarcasm

I contend that the voice tags the statement as sarcastic

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yep.

And unfortunately I have such an unreliable voice I don't know half the time what it sounds like.

I am constantly told different opinions on it...it's very inconvenient.

It conveys things I am not feeling. Grr. =P

4AuntSheila1953: to my mind there is no such thing as situationally obvious sarcasm

1BarbaraJW665:  the day we bought the computers?  and met Vernon?  and Grumpy Gus talked me through the network linkages?

ZoomZoomZZZ: haha. Sure.

and I’d better concentrate on writing for a bit – she’s catching up

4AuntSheila1953: David contends that there is

ZoomZoomZZZ: I think there is.

Go David.

lol

4AuntSheila1953: and that if I miss it, that's my bad

ZoomZoomZZZ: yes, yes...

4AuntSheila1953: no - if you do sarcasm without the vocal tag - that's lying

sort of

ZoomZoomZZZ: "I like throwing things. Yesterday I threw the world into chaos, and just last week I threw time out the window."

Er, "Lying". Since when does the debate on sarcasm have to discuss such a serious topic as lying...then people's feelings get hurt, and I always feel bad seeing someone hurt...='(

4AuntSheila1953: lying may be overstating it

ZoomZoomZZZ: ^^

Good, I can return to my blissfully happiness and my deniability of pending doom.

*blissful

4AuntSheila1953: chuckle

And, Barbara, I was thinking of a day or so after that when we went out buying clothes and shoes.

ZoomZoomZZZ: ^^

I'm writing that one down.

4AuntSheila1953: I'll wait – oh, no, I won’t.  I’ll write on my essay, since you children are pushing ahead so far.  “cutting things into bite sized bits (aka hacking to gobbets) or grinding things in a mortar allow the tempering agents to marry more completely with the food, transforming it more completely into something safer to eat.”

ZoomZoomZZZ: This is why I like the composition notebook.

IDEA - write - IDEA - write.

not IDEA - where's my pen? - IDEA - I think the dog ate your paper...

you know?

4AuntSheila1953: cool

there's a candy store opening across the street from the Pie Hole

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, it was a great episode.

P.D. is ze bomb.

I was hoping for some more singing, but all in due time.

4AuntSheila1953: cool that you saw it

ZoomZoomZZZ: I told you above that I had saw it a couple hours prior to this conversation.

*seen

4AuntSheila1953: I believe you

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol

going to do an exercise.  I’m walking into a cafe' full of character's I thought up and see what happens.

(On WrimoRadio a woman suggested doing this.)

4AuntSheila1953: cool

sounds like a great exercise

ZoomZoomZZZ: yep

It also counts as word count. :P

Well, I'll be here if you wish to speak with me. Enjoy the show...

Sent at 1:10 AM on Friday

4AuntSheila1953: they're fighting

well, the pie man isn't

I wouldn’t have thought of folding peripheral writing into the nano book

I’m not sure that I feel that’s legal

ZoomZoomZZZ: yeah, I love that part...

I love all the parts...I love Pushing Daisies...

4AuntSheila1953: a little more than half way through

ZoomZoomZZZ: Almost halfway through...

that should be 23...25...minutes in.

4AuntSheila1953: Olive and Chuck are breaking in

ZoomZoomZZZ: Oh, that's 27 minutes in, excuse my Klatchian.

lol

4AuntSheila1953: rats (and nice use of Pratchett)

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, quite literally.

Charlotte and Olive rule~

I half suspect the name Olivian came from Olive Snook.

4AuntSheila1953: a pink head poked up

I would believe it

1BarbaraJW665: 15 minutes to go – are you sure you want me to write about that – it was sort of embarrassing

ZoomZoomZZZ: Olivian Spark > Olive Snook.

However, they are too different characters. I can tell that.

Right, go back to your show.

*two

4AuntSheila1953: they're so cute

Oh, almost time to start plating

I can remember a time in my life when I had never heard the word plating. 

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, yes they are.

4AuntSheila1953: oh, he's going to find the body in the pink

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, yes he is.

Charlotte and Ned = Cute Romance.

4AuntSheila1953: touch

ZoomZoomZZZ: A relief from all that relationship drama in other T.V. shows.

4AuntSheila1953: yeah

you killed my brother

and, Barbara, you don’t have to, but someone said something about writing being easy – you just sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.  You have to be able to write about the embarrassing.  Not that you have to right now.

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol yes

Bad Ned, Bad, bad.

1BarbaraJW665: speaking of bad – is someone watching TV AND IMing when she’s supposed to be doing a writing exercise?

Naughty, naughty

May have to give you detention

4AuntSheila1953: they're visiting in jail

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, an equally hilarious scene.

Er, um...how to say this...

4AuntSheila1953: now the morgue

ZoomZoomZZZ: Mind...er...watching your show...and...uh...letting me get to my writing?

4AuntSheila1953: I like Emerson Cob – and it isn’t TV if you watch it on the computer, from the abc website. 

ZoomZoomZZZ: And how did the scenes progress so fast?

4AuntSheila1953: Time flies when you’re having fun – and no commercials to speak of.

ZoomZoomZZZ: it is Cod.

4AuntSheila1953: write, author, write

ZoomZoomZZZ: thank, AuntSheila, you.

lol

1BarbaraJW665:  10 mins

Sent at 1:20 AM on Friday

ZoomZoomZZZ: Man, Olivian is confusing.

He keeps changing the reasons for things over and over. xD

4AuntSheila1953: not a straightforward wort?

ZoomZoomZZZ: yes

4AuntSheila1953: sort

ZoomZoomZZZ: He is missing his left eye.

He isn't too consistent on how he lost it, or if he lost it.

4AuntSheila1953: ah - an unreliable narrator

or character

ZoomZoomZZZ: Now I am to the point where he is claiming to be a Principle. He has to feed on inspiration, because he can't consume human food.

4AuntSheila1953: I love the main character of Snow Crash

his name is Hiro Protagonist

sounds like a Breatharian – I haven’t heard about them for a long time

ZoomZoomZZZ: He's the reason artist blocks and procrastination happen...and why inspiration goes away.

4AuntSheila1953: he lies - he should be stripped an flogged

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol?

4AuntSheila1953: or tickled

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol

4AuntSheila1953: Hiro = Hero = Protagonist

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yes, I get it.

4AuntSheila1953: as Agonists go, he is Pro rather than Anti

ZoomZoomZZZ: Olivian says. "I've been living for centuries. Kind of boring really after the Big Bang." I laughed at this thought.

4AuntSheila1953: yeah, I guess everything else would be anticlimax after such a big thing

never considered that

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol

Maybe the End of the Universe might brighten things up a bit XD XD XD

4AuntSheila1953: maybe if there's enough mass to cause it to re-condense into another bang

but it there's not enough mass, it will continue expanding as the stars slowly wink out and everything becomes cool and slow

ZoomZoomZZZ: mhmm.

4AuntSheila1953: sometimes known as The Heat Death of the Universe

or

The Final Triumph of Entropy

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol

don't ask me why I'm laughing, just sounds funny.

1BarbaraJW665: 5 min

4AuntSheila1953: it's late

past a certain hour everything is funny

ZoomZoomZZZ: So true.

4AuntSheila1953: especially things in Capital letters

ZoomZoomZZZ: So true I don't see the point in pointing it out. =P

lol

4AuntSheila1953: the cactus is drunk and calling for a cab

no capitals

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol


ZoomZoomZZZ: snuckle

4AuntSheila1953: just to show that I wasn't making that up

1BarbaraJW665: TIME – count up

Sent at 2:03 AM on Friday

ZoomZoomZZZ: is it possible to be developed with an underdeveloped eye that has to be removed, or no eye at all?

*born

developed = born.

4AuntSheila1953: I don't see why it would have to be removed

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol, 'don't see'.

4AuntSheila1953: unless it was open and the wet parts were dripping out

ZoomZoomZZZ: He doesn't either lol

4AuntSheila1953: no pun in 10 did

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol

1BarbaraJW665: 3593 – I was rambling at the end

4AuntSheila1953: but I imagine there are a lot of eye-related congenital mishaps

you haven't heard that joke before

ZoomZoomZZZ: All I know is Olive doesn't have a left eye, and I am trying to think up a non-sad reason.

4AuntSheila1953: The eye fairy took it?

898 – but they’re QUALITY words

ZoomZoomZZZ: I don't want him moping over it, so I even gave him very supporting family members.

4AuntSheila1953: Guy entered a pun contest, really wanting to win

ZoomZoomZZZ: Eye Fairy....ooo...

1BarbaraJW665: Oh, Quality!  Along with TV shows and webcomics.  I see the quality. (sarcastic smilie)

4AuntSheila1953: so he sent in ten entries, assuming that with so many entries, at least one pun would win

unfortunately, no pun in 10 did

Fairy could have left him a gold coin under his pillow

or his first knife

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol

I think.

Possiblh.

*possibly.

that.

3114

you may have beaten me this time, but next time I’ll get you, my little missy!

4AuntSheila1953: or a grenade

hopefully not when he was so young that he'd pull the pin accidentally

or try to feed it to his pony

looking at what I just typed

I think I need to go to bed

ZoomZoomZZZ: There are not enough eyes in the world, and sometimes an Eye Fairy is sent in to collect an eye from a person who doesn't really need it, to give it to a person who is currently eyeless. In exchange, they get a nice little magical present. His present, was a black hole for an eye (no pun intended) and a job as inspiration collector.

Possibly.

1BarbaraJW665:  there are not enough rolleyes in the world. 

4AuntSheila1953: cewl

ZoomZoomZZZ: Black hole, meaning...he can gravitate inspiration towards it, and suck it up. Yum.

Inspiration Collector.

4AuntSheila1953: I can accurately say

that idea sucks

without being derogatory

ZoomZoomZZZ: xD

So you don't mean, it's a bad idea...you mean it sucks things up...?

No? yes?

4AuntSheila1953: no - it sucks in the inspiration

gravitationally

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol

4AuntSheila1953: schwooooooooooo

(that's supposed to be the sound of sucking)

ZoomZoomZZZ: Um, I got it.

Go to bed.

4AuntSheila1953: If I were being zen, I'd ask what was the sound of one lip sucking

ZoomZoomZZZ: o_O

4AuntSheila1953: it's a good thing that you can't see me laughing over that

ZoomZoomZZZ: Wow...that sounds...um...odd.

4AuntSheila1953: you've heard the koan about the sound of one hand clapping, right

?

ZoomZoomZZZ: I think you told me it...?

possibly?

looks around for a way out.

Sent at 2:17 AM on Friday

ZoomZoomZZZ: I inadvertently made Olivian friends with the Tooth Fairy.

I joked about it, and he liked the idea...

Though I think it might be a "Tooth Collector".

"Tooth Collector." "Coin Fairy." Different departments...

4AuntSheila1953: they could go out in pairs

and argue

ZoomZoomZZZ: Yep.

His friend is a Tooth Collector.

Maybe he'll also be friends with a Coin Fairy.

I don't know.

He doesn't like Eye Fairies, or Eye Collectors.

or maybe the system of eye snatching is different.

I don't know. I didn't ask.

4AuntSheila1953: dang - reruns of Let's Make a Deal are on

talk about nostalgia

I'm waiting for the goat

(and btw, not writing at the moment)

ZoomZoomZZZ: lol

4AuntSheila1953: instamatic cameras and S&H green stamps

ZoomZoomZZZ: <-- never seen it.

4AuntSheila1953: very seventies

ZoomZoomZZZ: Ah.

4AuntSheila1953: people dressed up on odd costumes

ZoomZoomZZZ: *in

though, that did make me laugh...

4AuntSheila1953: then they had to guess whether to take the instamatic camera or what's behind the big box

ah, now it's what's behind the curtain

and it's coffee plus what's behind the poster

ZoomZoomZZZ: o.o;

4AuntSheila1953: what was behind the poster was balloons

ZoomZoomZZZ: o.o;;;;;;;

4AuntSheila1953: and there was $1500 in the camera box

which was worth more in the seventies

ZoomZoomZZZ: it's still alot to me. :P

4AuntSheila1953: Good Eats is doing dumplings

ZoomZoomZZZ: YUMMY

4AuntSheila1953: looks like dessert dumplings

in something called a grunt

I don't think I'd want to eat something called a grunt

ZoomZoomZZZ: Hrm.

Sent at 2:30 AM on Friday

ZoomZoomZZZ: what eye colour do you think goes best with gray hair? (Random question)

4AuntSheila1953: feeling the blue at the moment

goes well with grey

ZoomZoomZZZ: thought so.

Sent at 2:37 AM on Friday

ZoomZoomZZZ: Normal Number.

Hmm...not that cool. Kind of funny...sort of...

Trying to think up a name for Spark's friend, the Tooth Collector.

"Number" I like that word. Hmm...maybe "Number One." lol.

4AuntSheila1953: hmm

ZoomZoomZZZ: just being random.

So far, I'm calling him "Tom" until he tells me his name.

4AuntSheila1953: that should work

bed now

night

ZoomZoomZZZ: nighty night

4AuntSheila1953: zzzz

ZoomZoomZZZ: zzzzzzz

I'm naming him Daniel! :D

Sent at 2:57 AM on Friday

ZoomZoomZZZ: It was readily apparent what made this night different from any other. In fact, apparent was the exact word to describe a sort of fairy thing, and apparently going somewhere were the exact words to describe the fairy’s actions. It was not readily apparent however as to where the apparent fairy was going. Apparently it did not wish to reveal its destination, as it blinked in and out of what could be called existence, towards a cluster of what could be called red roofed residential houses.

^-- when you wake up, can you tell me if I got the 'were' and 'was' right?

I am trying out a new style of writing, and trying to make it sort of like the narrator on pushing daisies...

Sent at 5:03 AM on Friday

Sunday, April 28, 2013

23 Twenty-Nineth Beginning (Nanowrimo 2007) Organizing Aunt Sheila

[If you're not starting at the beginning, this is going to be confusing.]

    [Not that it won't be confusing if you do start at the beginning, just that you'll have a better shot at knowing why you're confused.]


[Oh, and some really vague notes between the last post and this have been skipped, but the conversation between Barbara and her Aunt Sheila continues.]


experiencing power
making a strong impact
having vitality
creating miracles
becoming energized
feeling vigorous
being creative

no, that’s not a poem.  That’s a procrastination list. 
Then this probably isn’t a poem either.
Even after leaving the group and ceasing its consciousness-altering practices, this habitual, learned response tends to recur under stress.

Cowardly reading in the face of stress.
Reading as a controlled substance.
Preferred form of mind altering.
I want the Book of St. Albans 1486 - yes, it's a collection thing

Are you sure all of those sentences go together? 

Are you alright?

I’m feeling very tired suddenly.

Reading and cowardice.  Does it sound like that’s doing it?

Yes.

well, that’s significant

do you want to go back to the van?

not yet. what was that labeled?

It was labeled reading.

Odd. 

I’m going to leave the rest of these alone.

I appreciate that.

Odd.  We’re making good progress. 

I’m going to put them all under projects with a keyword for procrastination.

Thank you.  That feels like we’ve finished something.  What more is there.  I’m enjoying this, in it’s own nerve-wracking way.

There’s a copy of a book called Tristram Shandy. 

That’s literature.  I downloaded it from the Gutenberg Project, which I will introduce you to. 

I’ll make a note – not in the database.

There’s a pdf of something called godsdebris.

God’s Debris – by the guy who writes Dilbert.  It was a free download.  I got a little further into it than into Tristram Shandy.

I’d want to keep those, but not necessarily enter them into a database.

Well those are books you’ve never read.

true

did you finish the Romulan Dictionary?

I didn’t memorize any of it, but I did read it.

I’ll put it under bibliography.

No books I’ve read.

No.  That’s not pretentious enough.

Good to hear.

There’s a bunch of medieval stuff.  I’m going to lump them all into history.  But I have to ask about two.  One is titled Pure dog dung.

That’s about tanning.  I know where I can get sheepskins..

Sounds like fun.  I’ll put that one under projects, then, shall I?

Yes.

The other is Latin, but it’s short

Ecce Eduardus Ursus scalis nunc tump-tump-tump occipite gradus post Christophorum Robinum descendens

That’s the first line of Winnie the Pooh, translated into Latin. 

Barbara mouthed the words, turning her head sideways.  It’s the bit where Christopher Robin comes down the stairs and Pooh is dragged behind?

Yes, very good.

Here’s another speech.

Fellow toastmasters Welcome guests

My name is Sheila Long and I’m an engineer.  This is an appropriate way to introduce myself, even though there are many different ways that I could describe me.  It’s appropriate because of an old joke.

It’s not a joke, really, more of an amusing comment that academic folks make.  They say that Engineers are the opposite of Physicists.  Physicists study things in great depth.  They have to focus their study in one area to allow them the time to study it deeply.

Engineers, on the other hand, study many things, but only deeply enough to use them when designing.  So the saying is that Physicists study more and more about less and less, until they know everything about nothing, while Engineers study less and less about more and more until the know nothing about everything.

Self-help author Barbara Sher says that some people are delvers and some are scanners.  I am definitely a scanner.  It’s a dangerous thing for me to enter a bookstore too soon after payday.  I have my library card number memorized. Anything that I don’t know about, yet, is very interesting. 

You can describe me in many different ways, but that’s the main recurring theme in my life.  I want to know things.  I enjoy knowing things that other people don’t know. 

I’ve gone to those human resources classes about dealing with other people, you know, the ones that divide people into four groups.  Each class divides people different four ways, but there’s always a socializer and there’s always a director.  Then there’s either a thinker or an organizer and there’s a relater or consensus seeker.  That last one is me.  So that means that I want everyone to be happy, and I want to bring them all odd tidbits of information. 

I took the Strong Interest Inventory while I was in college.  It said I was an RIA.  That means I’m mostly interested in real, material things, first, information or investigating things second, and artistic things third.  The other possible categories were Social, Entrepreneurial, and Clerical.  Finding out that there were three large categories of things that I wasn’t interested in was a relief to me, because up to then I was afraid that I was interested in everything. 

In high school, I had been looking forward to taking the SATs because I was interested in both science and math and writing and ideas and I was going to choose my college major based on the results.  Unfortunately, my math SAT scores were exactly the same as my language SAT scores.  Exactly.  It was no help at all.

The  Inventory also had a side category – it had a funny little name that I’ve completely forgotten.  The score there was used to determine if people had enough tolerance for library research to get through grad school without going insane.  I scored very high in that little side category.  No one who knows me well would be surprised at that.  I’m the kind of person who could be locked in a library, alone, for months and I’d be perfectly happy as long as someone was throwing sandwiches through a window three times a day. 

Myers-Brigg Personality Type says I’m an INTP, most days.  That stands for Introverted, theory-loving, thinking, procrastinator.  Actually, the P doesn’t stand for Procrastinator.  It stand for stands for perceiving.  It means that you want to understand things more than you want a quick conclusion.  I will make no decision before it’s time. 

So if you want an odd piece of information tracked down, please don’t call me.  I won’t be able to leave it alone and I’ve got way too many things going.  This is November, which is national novel writing month and I’ve still got 26,000 words to go before the end of the month.  One of my friends has asked for a recipe that a Crusader might have picked up while traveling through southern Spain and I can’t beg off of digging that out because I already have the cookbook and this would be such a good opportunity to read through it. 

In fact, I don’t have time to put a conclusion on this speech.  Hey, conclusions aren’t my strong point.  This has been proven scientifically.  Instead I’ll tell you about the Myers-Brigg Personality Consultant that got thrown our of her own class.  Seems the boss was too quick to come to conclusions and needed to practice getting more information before making proclamations.

The opposite of the P for Perceiving is J for Judgment.  She lost him when she told him “You have too much J-ness and not enough P-ness.”


So that’s not the first time you’ve told that joke.

Nope.  For some reason it tickles me enough to stay in my mind.  I tell the jokes that I can remember.

Were you really an engineer.

For awhile.  It’s sort of a painful subject.  Could you find it a category and just file it for now?
[The conversation is not over, but it looks like we've reached that point in November when I switch into more speed, less coherence mode.  So if I keep posting this, it will get spottier.]