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I was riding my motorcycle and something hit me just below the collarbone. It hurt. I wasn't wearing a jacket and it got wedged in between my skin and the collar of my shirt. I quickly grabbed the offending item and threw it away. When I felt it squish a little under my grip I realized it was a bee and that it had stung me.
Posts: 1993 | Registered: Jul 2009
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Flea bites used to irritate me...in our last round of animals in our family, the fleas were all over the place (despite none of the animals living here).
That's "irritate" as in "when bitten, my flesh would swell up and it would leave a tiny scab that would itch and ache for days," and not as in "annoy."
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This is as good a place to announce that I won't be around for the next week or so---I've mentioned it here and there, but today's the day I actually leave, so I might as well bring it up again.
As I've said before, I "get away from it all" on these twice-yearly vactaions, and "it all" includes my comptuer and the internet and surfing the Web and all that cool hip talk I really don't understand. (Probably "it all" includes any writing, though, on rare occasion, I scribble down a note or type a page or two on the old typewriter I do take with me.)
So you won't see me here till, oh, next Sunday night at the earliest, but maybe not till the Tuesday after that...maybe longer if I go somewhere else beyond my immediate plans.
(Oh, yeah, my immediate plans. Atlanta, Charlotte, Atlanta again, then home.)
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Oddly enough, where I live (altitude 4500+ feet) there are no fleas. They inhabit the environs of low landers.
There are ticks, but they are in much less evidence. The worst affliction my dog (may he rest in peace) was a seed that burrowed in his skin. It abscessed and had to be surgically removed. He had to have one of those ridiculous looking collars around his neck.
sorry all i just got out of the Hospital after 36 days in and out of conscious. i realy dont know what happened but i do know that i have a lot of "HAPPY PILLS" to take, so call off the search for me.
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Wow, one whole day without any random musings...
I'm going to be in Dublin. So that will be a lot of fun! I'm excited.
In other news, I had a sad experience in my fiction writing class this morning. A kid wrote a story entitled "Alien Blood" which was about a little girl who had AIDS, so her parents told her she had alien blood. Then of course the male narrator falls in love with her. It wasn't too bad of a story. But anyway, two of the people in the class, plus the professor, said that when they first read the title, they thought, "Oh, no, not science fiction!"
It made me sad. When I first read the title, I was thinking "Oh, yay! Someone is finally writing something interesting! Maybe we can avoid the dysfunctional love relationship story for once." Which didn't happen, but oh well.
So that pretty much ruined my idea to write a fantasy story for my next assignment. I don't think it will go over well. Guess I'll be writing for my audience...
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Reminds me of an aspiring science fiction writer years ago who expressed shock that some people out there referred to illegal immigrants as "aliens!" She had no idea that the word had only fairly recently been applied to extraterrestrials.
Sometimes connotation moves words into very narrow aspects of their denotations.
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Marita Ann, I think you should challenge your fiction writing class. Write the story you want and do a darn fine job of it. Then challenge them to look at it on its merits rather than its genre. Don't let them push you around. And don't let your perception of what you think they want keep you from telling the story you want to tell.
Of course, this kind of attitude is why I don't work in the corporate world. I get labeled a trouble maker.
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Yesterday I witnessed a car accident. No one got hurt, but I'm still shocked about that. I was driving behind the cab of an 18 wheeler and he was going to turn right on this narrow road. He had to get partially into the left hand lane to make the turn and a van driving the other direction stopped to let him. Well some kid in a huge pick-up came barrelling up behind her--didn't even notice she was stopped until the last second and he slammed on his brakes and skidded across the road and hit an enbankment going at least 55 mph. The whole truck flew up in the air, miraculously didn't roll and that was all. Lots of loud noise, flashbacks to all the accidents I've been in and witnessed, and the kid jumps out and throws his bumper into the back of the truck, and he's searching for other pieces of his truck while the trucker and I are the ones going into shock. Oh yeah--the van he almost hit? She just drove away, looking shaky, but still. I couldn't believe she would just leave. I think that freaked me out the worst.
Posts: 938 | Registered: May 2008
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I've only been in 2 accidents and I have seen 1. Each experience seems almost surreal, I don't know if thats because of the adrenalin going or what, maybe just because it is such an out of the ordinary experience (for me atleast, not seemingly so for the young man in your incident).
As far as the lady in the Van - Maybe she left in shock? She didn't know what else to do, or what she was supposed to do, so just did what first seemed logical- keep on going.
quote:two of the people in the class, plus the professor, said that when they first read the title, they thought, "Oh, no, not science fiction!"...
So that pretty much ruined my idea to write a fantasy story for my next assignment. I don't think it will go over well. Guess I'll be writing for my audience...
I agree with G42. Not only that, if I were to hear such a comment, I'd make it as Asimovish, Nivenesque, Bradbury-like that I could. I don't know about the rest of you but our chosen genre has taken about as bad of a rap as it can. It is unjustified. In my opinion, Sci-fi/fantasy/horror has the highest standards for publication their is. Almost all of the romance you'll read is adverbed littered drivel. Most of the mystery's are filled with shallow characters and are, ironically, predictable. Action/drama's are so unbelievable they become dull. And the fiction they ply on Oprah that makes the best sellers list for weeks? Please, teh characters in them are as aloof as the authors that never need fresheners in their bathrooms.
You paid for the class, correct Mary Ann? Force feed them what you know, what you like, and what feels right to you. Challenge them to give a meaningfull critique other than 'I don't like Sci-Fi'. Writers are supposed to be opened minded. Don't hesitate to throw that in their face.
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Yeah, I might still write a fantasy story, not just to shock everyone, but because I want practice. All the stories I've written are "present day" type of stories. I think I've gotten off way too easy: it's not hard to describe a world that your readers are already familiar with.
The one thing I'm worried about is that writing something too heavily "speculative" might affect my grade. I don't think my professor would do it intentionally, but on the other hand, if he doesn't have a good framework for thinking about and grading fantasy, then I can imagine that it would throw him off. And of course I would love to spend hours and hours writing the best story ever so that he has to give me an A, but I am taking three other classes. Unfortunately. I'm considering writing lighter fantasy, like talking teddy bears or something.
Posts: 35 | Registered: Jul 2009
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First of all I have been gone because I discovered Schlock Mercenary (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/)and decided to read it from the beginning. Didn't think I'd ever see a hard (relatively) sci-fi daily comic. Also didn't think I'd see a hilarious hard sci-fi story.
Anyways.
Everybody keeps saying challenge your class by writing a speculative story. I say challenge the class to write a speculative story.
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According to my second grade teacher, water that gets in the ears shrinks the brain, and the brain can fall out after shrinking too much. She also claimed to have murdered talkative children by suffocating them with an old, moldy sock. Those unfortunate children were then buried under her filing cabinet.
Posts: 1139 | Registered: May 2008
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I lost my mind on main street, in second grade. I've been telling this story for years and now it comes together. (Having happy dreams of zombie second graders.)
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But I want to go to grad school, and they do care about grades.
Something else happened that encourages me to go ahead and write a fantasy story: Junot Diaz came to campus to do a reading, and we were required to attend for our class. He did a question and answer session at the end. When someone asked him something about science fiction, he responded with a little speech about how science fiction, fantasy, and other genres that people tend to think of as "junk fiction" (his words, not mine) actually contain some of the most honest treatments of humanity's uglier issues, like genocide for instance. Mr. Diaz said that he's learned a lot from books like Dune and Lord of the Rings.
The best part is that my professor was there too. I hope he learned something.
Second grade... that was a rather uneventful year, except that my two best friends moved away at the end of it.
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Back when I sold cars, I knew a fellow who was schizophrenic and didn't take his medication regularly. Among the many interesting things he would say was the description of anything that didn't make sense (to him) as being "second-grader". Bad decisions were thus "second-grader" decisions. A person getting upset over something, which happens often at car dealerships, was acting "second-grader". This became a common term among the salespeople, half in tribute and half in mockery.
Now, most of my mental health clients are schizophrenic. Fortunately, I monitor their medication, so none of them act "second-grader".
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I dont remember 2nd grade, then again i cant remember anything before 7th grade, and that is blury at best. Hell i cant realy remember being in Afghanistan and that was the funnest 15 months of my life and it was only a year and a half ago when i got back. i realy dont remember what i did yesterday and i was not drinking.
My second grade teacher misspelled "peninsula." Or have I mentioned that before.
On aliens, illegal and the other kind...my big dictionary is about thirty years old, and the definition of "clone" in it involves plant cultivation, and does not mention what we would think of...
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Robert, I just finished watching The O'Reilly Factor, and Steve Doocey (sp?) won the trivia challenge for a "Robert Nowell(sp?)". I'm sure there are hundreds; were you the one?
Posts: 2003 | Registered: Jul 2008
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I saw it too...my parents asked me the same thing...near as I can tell, this Robert-pronounced-"Noll"-by-O'Reilly was from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I'm resident in Cape Coral, Florida, and I pronounce my name in two syllables. (O'Reilly needn't know that---I can't recall any correspondence with him, but I have blasted off brief notes to Fox News on other matters.)
There are assorted Robert Nowells, Robert Nolls, Robert Knolles, Robert Knowalls, and Robert Noels scattered around. I seem to, at least, be the only active Robert Nowall who hangs around online. (There might be another one in England, not active online, but it may be a misspelling.)
(Far as I can tell, I'm related in some way to everybody with the last name "Nowall" in the United States.)
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Well, I would prefer straight-up news at that hour, which is usually when I get up out of bed (but not this week owing to being on vacation). But even Headline News abandoned that...O'Reilly is merely the least-worst of the choices on hand.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I saw Rocky Horror Picture Show when I was in second grade. It was the most traumatic experience in my life up to that point. (I wasn't that young really but who am I to argue with Leit Motif?) Luckily, I have had way more traumatic experiences since then. (That sounds a little off I think.) Also Tim Curry was wearing a gallon of makeup so I didn't realize it was him so I could enjoy him in a host of other movies. (Like Congo, Home Alone 2, Pirates of the Plain, Oscar, Muppet Treasure Island, Clue, The Three Musketeers, et al.)
We should make a movie based on our random musings.
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I've seen Tim Curry in a lot of things, but "Rocky Horror" was probably the peak of his career. If you've got a part in your movie or TV series that requires an almost inhuman flamboyance and intensity, he's the guy for it.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Not to detract from Rich's randomness, but Curry played "The Lord of Darkness" in Legend. I believe Cruise's mane was played John Franklin, who played Cousin Itt in The Addams Family movies. I believe Rich got confused with It from the Stephen King movie, in which Curry played the title role. I can clearly see the confusion though - Itt vs. It.
Posts: 2003 | Registered: Jul 2008
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I stand corrected regarding the actor playing Cruise's mane. Now if I only knew who played Clint Eastwood's hair in DIRTY HARRY, I'd die a happy man. (A shock of hair in that flick; I think it had its own personal assistant.)
((And I have no idea why I suddenly have this fixation on men's hair. Best not to think about it too much, and hope it...blows away.))
quote:Now if I only knew who played Clint Eastwood's hair in DIRTY HARRY, I'd die a happy man. (A shock of hair in that flick; I think it had its own personal assistant.)
It was one of the Fry Guys--originally hired on as a stunt double--moonlighting.
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I guess the Tennessee Plowboy lived and sung in vain, then...
Of course, I remember "Hey, Arnold!" fondly...I very nearly wrote fanfic for it...had a terrific idea for one, but I wasn't writing it at the time...but only a couple months later, I was writing fanfic for another show...
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Yeah, I might still write a fantasy story, not just to shock everyone, but because I want practice. All the stories I've written are "present day" type of stories. I think I've gotten off way too easy: it's not hard to describe a world that your readers are already familiar with.
