favorite line of the day

...most existential dilemmas are caused by not having enough to do.

From Sam's Livejournal - Laocoon's Children Cookie

Word of the Day

squib \SKWIB\ noun

1 a : a short humorous or satiric writing or speech *b : a short news item; especially : filler
2 a : a small firecracker b : a broken firecracker in which the powder burns with a fizz
3 : a small electric or pyrotechnic device used to ignite a charge


Example sentence:
was only a squib in the local newspaper about the student demonstration.

Did you know?
"Squib" rocketed into our language out of nowhere in the early 16th century (some etymologists think it might have developed as an imitation of an explosive sound) and almost immediately flared out into different meanings. Some of those uses still burn strong, but others (like its use as a word for a missile) have fizzled out. "Squib" often refers to things that have a spirited or explosive nature (like short works of satire or firecrackers), but it can also describe things that provide little or no bang for the buck (like news fillers and broken firecrackers). In British English, a "damp squib" is something that fails to live up to expectations. In U.S. football, a "squib kick" is a kickoff in which the ball bounces along the ground.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

A Post-Christmas Song

THE first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight, and so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite! Then with a single cartridge I shot that blasted partridge, my true love gave to me.

The second day after Christmas, I pulled on the old rubber gloves and very gently wrung the neck of both the turtle doves. The third day after Christmas, my mother caught the croup. I had to use the three French hens to make some chicken soup.

The four calling birds were a big mistake for their chatter was obscene. The five golden rings were completely fake and they turned my fingers green!

The sixth day after Christmas, the six laying geese wouldn't lay. I gave the whole darn gaggle to the ASPCA. On the seventh day, what a mess I found -- all seven of the swimming swans had drowned that my true love gave to me.

The eighth day after Christmas, before they could object, I bundled up the:

Eight maids a-milking,
Nine pipers pipint,
Ten ladies dancing,
Eleven lords a-leaping,
Twelve drummers drumming...

(well, I kept ONE of the drummers...)

...and sent them back collect! I wrote my true love, "We are through love!" and I said in so many words, "further more your Christmas gifts were for the..."

Four calling birds,
three french hens,
two turtle doves,

and you can shove that partridge up your pear treeeeeeeeeeeeee!

i am having a bad day

And not just your average bad day, either. No no. This one's a doozy.

I'm trying to figure out why, karmically, I deserve such a day, and I haven't quite put my finger on it yet... I must have pissed off the powers that be somehow though.

Reasons today is sucking (in no particular order):

• STILL NO WORK EMAIL -- and I really need it! Have you tried doing business without your email lately? It's like trying to walk with one leg. I work in IT for gawd's sake!
• Cramps -- 'nuff said
• Projects that I didn't find out about until today, but that should have been finished yesterday, that will probably not be finished before I leave on vacation and what to do about them
• Projects that I have known about for two weeks, but people wouldn't give me the information on until today, so now they are in a huge rush
• My coworker -- yeah, you know the one
• The fact that what comes out of his mouth is "I want to help you out with this" and the next thing that comes out of his mouth is "it will really be easier if you just do it all."
• The fact that he thought it would be a good idea for me to come in at one o'clock IN THE MORNING to run this task he wants me to write. (Yeah, I basically told him where he could shove that idea.)
• Working through lunch because of aforementioned projects that suddenly exploded in my face.
• Not getting invited to go out to lunch for a coworker's birthday.
• The fact that my boss called and said, "I'll just email that to you," and I said, "no, you can't. I don't have email," and he said, "STILL?" like it was my fault. I have NOTHING to do with it buck-o, so get on the horn and get me some EFFING EMAIL!!
• Did I mention cramps? And a headache?? And that it's after three o'clock and I haven't eaten lunch????
• Smorgasbord of doom is still there. Yeah, I ate a piece of candy. Anybody want to say anything about it??? No? I thought not.

I've just taken three very large extra strength painkillers. If they don't kick in soon and make me feel better, god help us all.

...in other news today

Brandon bought a car.

Well, not actually. But he put $500 down so that they would hold one for him -- in ALBUQUERQUE. That's right! His new Scion tC is waiting for him at a lot in Albuqerque. He will be picking it up/buying it when he's there visiting his parents next week, and then he will drive it home.

To California.

He claims he is going to leave Sunday morning and be at the airport to pick me up in it on Monday evening. I said he was crazy. Then he reminded me that he drove from Pullman, Washington to Santa Fe in a day and a half.

Ah.

He's still crazy, just in a different way.

daily drabble

"You're evil," Harry hissed under his breath. "Evil incarnate, the both of you. Why didn't you tell us what they would do?"

George scoffed at him. "Evil doesn't tell."


I'm rather proud of that line too...

Daily drabble

"Oh, my head. What hit me?"

Harry looked up from where he was dressing at Ron who had rolled over and pulled his pillow over his head in defense against the morning sun blazing through his windows.

"The floor, I think," Harry replied unconcernedly. "Fred said they had some trouble getting you up the stairs."

"Those bloody bastards," Ron moaned. "Why didn't they tell us what was in those stupid marshmallow things?"

Harry smirked. "Presumably because that would have spoiled the fun of watching you get toasted on marshmallows."

favorite line of the day

Guy #1: Ah man, last night was a tough one!
Guy #2: Another one of your famous drunken nights?
Guy #1: No. Another one of my not-so-famous sober nights.

holiday smorgasbord of doom

Current contents of the office kitchen:

(2) Gigantic boxes of See's Candy (seriously, one of those puppies has got to be a five pounder)
(3) miniature loaves of pumpkin bread, sliced
(1) miniature lemon pound cake, sliced
(2) bags of chocolate covered pretzles
(2) huge boxes of Aunt Fanny's Pecan Pralines
(1) enormous tray of various cookies including, but not limited to:
- frosted sugar cookies
- frosted gingerbread cookies
- spritz cookies
- snickerdoodles
- chocolate chip cookies
- peanut butter cookies with Hershey's Kisses in
- unidentifiable brown cookie with frosting
- other unidentifiable brown cookie (possibly chocolate?) with frosting
Various assorted truffles left over from previous box of chocolates

All of this is in addition to the regular tub of Red Vines and the laundry sized basket (seriously) of generic chocolate that are always present in the kitchen.

All I want to do is heat up my lunch, and instead, I find myself facing the holiday smorgasbord of doom.

ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod

Yahoo! News - Sixth Harry Potter Book Due Out in July

JULY 16th!!!!

And rubbing her hands together with fiendish glee????????

*Lacy leaps up and does a happy dance right in her cube*

random thoughts

FOUR DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Yay! Although, it's hard for me to get my brain around. I'm not used to this whole working right up until Christmas thing. You have to remember, for most of my life I have been blessed with the two week holiday off of school (last year I was unemployed at Christmas, which doesn't really count as a holiday, but definitely counts as not working). Somehow, it doesn't really feel like four days until Christmas because I am sitting in a cube rather than at home watching daytime television.

By the way, IT Migration Status Update:

- Email? No.
- Digital certificates I was supposed to have on Friday? No.
- Do I care? No.

Well, maybe a little bit, but not really enough to get worked up about.

Virgin Insanity Update:

We have discovered via H., the Japanese fan, that someone in Europe has been bootlegging the album and selling it over the internet. I will be posting a press release from Bert on the site today or tomorrow with information about that and about the official CD release.

Hopefully the site will be up and functioning by the new year. The thing that is mainly hinging on is whether or not I can find a free ftp program for uploading it from a Mac. Anyone know of a good one??

Lucy got my package all the way over in Dover (hee hee!), which makes me happy because I wasn't entirely sure I had sent it in time for it to arrive par avion. We received an ENORMOUS package yesterday from Brandon's parents which Brandon informs me is a cat condo for Cleo. I don't know what to say about that. There is also apparently another package waiting for us at the post office -- not the post office that is three blocks away and convenient, however. Oh no. It is at the post office way the heck up in the ghetto-tastic part of Santa Ana. Joy. But we need to drop off the form for them to hold our mail there anyway, so I guess it's good we have to go.

AND I got ANOTHER early Christmas present from my Mommy! Hooray for celebrating over the entire month of December! Thank you MOMMY!!!

favorite thing I said today

"That's why I leave the drawling and y'alling for when I go home."

Overheard in New York

Overheard in New York

This is too funny. Allison -- this is for you to add to your collection of blogs... =D

daily drabble

Hermione sniffed and seemed to be determined not to acknowledge the fact that she was blushing deeply. "It's no big deal, Ron. It was only because of the dementors..." Ron continued to sputter unintelligibly for a few moments, his ears going a fiery shade of red. "Besides," Hermione added, apparently hitting her stride, "it's not as though there's really anything wrong with that. Harry and I are both adults, aren't we Harry? Really, it was no different than the two of you staying in the same room."

"Oh, right," Ron replied sarcastically, "no difference at all. Except that you're a GIRL!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Ron. I'm glad you finally noticed."

From Chapter 26 of Sect

favorite line of the day

They stood toe-to-toe for a minute, Remus somewhat towering over her, until Tonks made a face.

"I'm going to start being taller so you can't use that to your advantage," she announced, returning to the table and sitting down next to Harry with a smile.

From Cartographer's Craft by Sam

conversation overheard

VP: Hey, cube neighbor! Your email isn't working!
Cube Neighbor: I know.
VP: I just sent you and email and it came back to me and said it's not working!!
Cube Neighbor: I know. I'm not set up for email yet.
VP: But I needed to send you an email!! When is it going to be working???
Cube Neighbor: I don't know. Whenever [the new company] sets me up on the network, I guess. What did you need to tell me?
VP: Oh, nothing. Email me when you get set up and I'll email it to you again.

*Lacy sighs*

i love corporate logic

The new company assigned email addresses to all current employees, but they did NOT assign email addresses to temporary or contract employees.

4/5ths of the IT department here are temporary or contract employees.

Now that the computer migration has taken place, everyone and his dog has questions about the new computer system, but only one member of the IT staff is an actual employee with email.

Logical, no?

i'm getting the shakes

I have no personal email at work.

I have no work email at work.

I cannot communicate with anyone outside of my four cube radius except by telephone (which is moot because no one knows my extension), blog, or livejournal.

I am beginning to go through withdrawl symptoms.

Please send asprin.

I'm at work on a sunday...

...the new computer systems have gone into effect. I cannot check my mail, but apparently I can blog.

Go figure.

peace, peace, peace on earth

We went last night with some folks from my church choir. It was kind of fun. At one house there was a little girl who couldn't stop bouncing and dancing around and then she asked us to come in, and when her mother explained to her that we had other houses to go to, she broke out into a genuine sobbing wailing fit. It was kind of sad. Then there was the house where they were throwing a birthday party for a three year old, and the very drunk owner of said house insisted -- in very broken English -- that we come in and sing happy birthday to Eddy. So we did. And then there were the catholic nuns who insisted we come in and see their nativity scene -- which was really quite beautiful. But I was uncomfortable with the going in part. I prefer staying out thankyouverymuch. So we went back to Madge's house and she gave us all mulled wine and then I was a happy camper again. =D

The Cubes �

If anyone is looking for a last minute Christmas gift for a corporate flunky, may I highly reccommend The Cubes �.

(I especially enjoy the Job Title Generator.)

P.S. If I get hired for the new company, my title would be IT Technical Specialist. Oh yeah.

my life is about to change...

The company I work for is being bought by another company.

PROS:
-- My boss asked if I would like a permanent position. It would have more responsibility, more power, and more $$.

CONS:
--New company puts internet filters on the computers. FILTERS. On the COMPUTERS. FILTERS!!!!!

Not really a decision, but a very interesting conundrum. What am I going to do at work without the internet? WHAT?? Someone tell me please!!!

Then again, I do work in IT... Maybe I can find a way... er... around it...

*evil grin*

The Letter

I am reprinting part of this email with the permission of the author. =) He is a very nice 27 year old guy interested in Virgin Insanity. =)

Dear Lacy,

Nice to email you.
I am very sorry for my sudden and rude email.
I retrieve Virgin Insanity on Google,and happened to meet your blog !

Is your father Virgin Insanity's member ?
Wow ! that sounds great to me.
I am very surprised and very excited now !!

First of all,I loved the name Virgin Insanity.
Its name reminds me of Arthur Rimbaud's poem.

The music is very plain....but I feel special atmosphere in it.
Have you listened to your father's music ?

I think the reason Japanese love it is Virgin Insanity LP has "Wabi-Sabi".
It is very difficult for me to explain the meaning "Wabi-Sabi".
In my dictionary,the meaning is "mysterious profundity""austere refinement""quiet simplicity".
But the dictionary meaning doesn't go well with what I really want to tell you.
It is not enough.
Have you seen a drawing in India ink(suibouku-ga) ?
To me,the feeling when I see suiboku-ga is the same feeling as when I listen to Virgin Insanity.

If you would like,could you tell him ?

With my very best wishes,
H.

OMG.

Ok, so remember how I told you that my dad is a Japanese Rock Star?

Well.

I just got his first piece of fan mail. No, seriously.

Some very nice person (I believe he is Japanese) found my blog by googling "Virgin Insanity" and sent me a very nice email about my dad and his band.

HOW COOL IS THAT????

I've asked him for permission to reprint part of his letter here, because it really is nifty.

And this is before I even have the web site up and running... Wow...

So, at 1:15, my boss sent our department an email that we needed to have a meeting and that he would come and find us when he got back at 1:30.

It is now 4:11 pm and we have not had said meeting. I go home in 49 minutes.

And I can hear him. He's sitting in his cube, typing, and shuffling papers and things. He's been there for almost an hour.

None of us has reminded him about the meeting...

favorite line(s) of the day

"Desiderata"

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.


Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.


Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.


Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.


You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.


Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.


With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.


Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

if anyone is thinking of going off sugar...

...just go eat a praline. Seriously. You won't even want to look at anything sweet again for at least a month. At least.

*dies of single-praline overdose*

favorite line of the day

Nobody ever mentions the wild camels.

From Letters in Praise of Emptiness by Ignipes

daily drabble

Harry bent forward to get a better view of the photo, but he couldn't see anything special about it. Fred and George were sitting on the floor in the front making bunny ears over each other's heads, Mr. Weasley was standing in the back with his arms around Bill and Charlie, Percy was standing next to Mrs. Weasley, who was sitting in a chair holding Ginny in her lap, and they were all smiling happily at the camera.

"But," Hermione said with a small frown, "where's Ron?"

"Wait for it..." Fred and George said in unison.

Suddenly, from outside the frame, a five-year-old Ron came streaking into view -- literally. He ran past the camera without a stitch of clothing on except for one green sock. In the photo, Mrs. Weasley leaped out of her chair and began chasing after him as the little twins dissolved into fits of pointing and giggling while Percy frowned and the older boys chuckled.

"BRILLIANT!" George crowed happily.

"Gets funnier every time I see it," Fred said, wiping his eyes mirthfully. Ginny was giggling wildly, and Hermione's eyes looked as though they were about to pop out of her head.

"I HATE YOU ALL!" Ron screamed from another room.

"Going to give us an encore, Ronnikins?" Fred yelled back.

"Don't forget the sock!" George added.

From Chapter 25 - A Very Weasley Christmas

Who the Hell is Edwin heaven?

THROX - THREE SOCKS for when you lose one.

In a perfect world, all socks would be throx.

christmas in southern California

Last night, as I was driving home from work, I passed the church near my office and its

DRIVE THRU NATIVITY

...

word geeks

Lacy Said: Should it be "she became anathema to him" or "she became AN anathema to him?"

Kris Said: (a) predicative nominative: become anathema.
Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have studied linguistics rather than neuroscience, then I remember that linguistics department is full of a bubnch of arrogant, self important twats, whereas the neuro folk are fascinating mad scietists with a penchant for modelling things on computers and cutting apart skulls... :)

Lacy Said: I think I'm just overly fond of the alliterative onomatopia of "an anathema." =)

*enjoying the fact that you can use the words "predicative nominative" and "twat" in the same paragraph*

My GOD we're geeky.

unnatural, I tell you

I am feeling almighty accomplished this morning. It is not yet 9:15 AM today, and already I have:

a) worked out
b) organized a list of holiday gifts, including who they are for, what they are, where to get them, and whether or not I have gotten them, wrapped them, shipped them, or packed them
c) ordered presents (online and over the phone) for five people on my list

DAMN! What has gotten into me? Who is this woman and what is she doing sitting in Lacy's chair?

I am entertaining thoughts of actually putting together a holiday notebook for next year where I can keep gift ideas, my list from this year (so I don't do any duplicates), recipes, etc.

I am about to print off an address list for my holiday cards to be addressed and mailed this weekend (God willing).

I have an ENVELOPE in my planner with all my receipts in it from my Christmas gifts.

Honestly, what have I been smoking, and how can I make sure I act like this on a more regular basis?????

daily drabble

He wanted desperately to ask more questions about Professor Lindell, but Professor Dumbledore had started reminiscing about a time when he'd choked on a peanut and Hagrid had broken three of his ribs doing the Heimlich Maneuver.

From Chapter 24: Silent Night

favorite line of the day

The trick is to write them (males) realistically, but get the story out in spite of them.

Metalumai on Lacy's LiveJournal, talking about the meta of writing male characters (in fan fiction and not).

Yet another reason that censorship is stupid

So, apparently, Microsoft has finally decided that blogging is here to stay and has therefore built its own blogging tool called MSN Spaces. Unfortunately, however, it's been discovered that MSN Spaces actually censors words in blog titles and in the blogs themselves.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong here, but the very nature of blogging, to my mind, is in the enormous freedom a person has to write and publish his or her thoughts. They may not be thoughts that anyone else reads or, indeed cares about, but they are the blogger's thoughts. To me, the act of censoring these thoughts pretty well defeats the entire purpose of blogging.

Don't get me wrong. This is not me saying that internet pornography is a good thing or that curse words have a place on every blog, but honestly, if you're going to make a web tool specifically so that people can self-publish their thoughts, what exactly is the point of censoring them? Why not take it to the next step and give them an editor who also gives them tips on their grammar and spelling, because honestly, some of the poor writing out there offends me a lot more than the occasional curse word.

This article on Boing Boing called MSN Spaces: seven dirty blogs points out the inherent stupidity in computer based censorship anyway (watch out, there's some pretty dirty language in this article, but it's all in the interests of science...). To simplify the argument, it's back to the time when libraries were installing internet filters on their computers that blocked things like the word "breast" so that children couldn't look at pornography, but also so that patients couldn't look up information about breast cancer, and chefs couldn't look up recipes for chicken.

*SIGH*

Does anyone remember that commercial for the very first apple computers in 1984? It had a woman running into a huge room and smashing a TV with the image of "Big Brother" on it.

Nah. I'm not feeling superior because I just bought a Mac (I still have a hotmail account after all), I'm just shaking my head at the stupidity of a system at the hands of a corporation -- like Microsoft -- that still believes we all want to live in ignorance.

Thanks, but I think I can figure out what smut is for myself, if it's all the same to you.

useless mutant ability

So, a long time ago, I used to read this series of books by Piers Anthony about this magical place called Xanth. In Xanth, everyone is born with one magical ability, but unfortunately, most people's abilities are what they call "spot on the wall" talents, or quite frankly, pretty useless, like the ability to make a yellow spot appear on a wall.

There were, of course, some people who were born with very useful magical talents like talking to animals, or growing plants, or making illusions, and they were the rulers of Xanth.

In the X-Men series, all the mutants have pretty useful mutant abilites (except maybe Toad), but I would imagine that if that were to ACTUALLY happen, most people would get pretty useless mutant abilities.

As a matter of fact, I think it's already begun.

I have, as far as I can tell, TWO completely unrelated, and wholly useless mutant abilities.

The first is the uncanny ability to discern smells. That's right. I have a peculiar alacrity for scents. Somebody sniffs and says, "What's that funny smell?" and I'm there with an answer. "Broccoli," I say, or "tacos," or "skunk." But, on the whole, unless I wanted to get a job with a perfume manufacturer, it isn't a terribly useful talent, is it?

The second, and altogether less impressive of my mutant abilities is the ability to always pick the longest line. That's right. In a supermarket, at the bank, going through a toll booth, you name it. If there is a choice of two or more lines, I will always ALWAYS pick the one that will take longer. Even if one line has twelve people and the other has two, if I pick the line with two people, the first person will have to write a check, and the second will need a price check on diapers, and by the time I get through, all twelve people from the other line will be long gone. As a matter of fact, I have even noticed that if Brandon asks me which line to pick, he will pick the opposite of my choice. It is invariably a good decision. So, you see, it is not, in any sense of the word, a useful mutant ability.

I can't be the only one who has noticed this. There must be others of you out there, somewhere, harboring your useless mutant abilities.

So I ask you, what's yours?

For the dad who has everything

The Heretic - Luxist - www.luxist.com

daily drabble

One entire wall of the living room was taken up with one of the largest Christmas trees Harry had ever seen. Or perhaps it only seemed huge because of the way it dominated the room. Either way, it was a magnificent sight, hung all around with what looked like hand made ornaments from the Weasley children's childhoods, floating candles, real snow and shining icicles, little red Cardinals that chirped and flapped their wings, tiny furry squirrels that darted from branch to branch watching Harry with their bead black eyes, and garlands of popcorn and cranberries. Harry put his finger out to touch a green Christmas tree ornament cut from felt with a tiny photo of the twins at about seven or eight years old, each with a giant bow stuck on his head.

From HP and the Sect of the Serpent, Chapter 25 - A Very Weasley Christmas

favorite line of the day

I apologise to all those chimpanzees out there, no matter how dominant you are or how much sex you have, no sperm insurance for you!

From krislaughs

second omg in one day!

We are about to go watch a DVD in BED on our NEW COMPUTER!!

Oh, did I mention that we got a new computer?? Cause we did.

=D

Feel the love.

OMG!!

I HAVE A NEW COMPUTER!!!!!

Powerbook G4 and it rocks my world, baby! Yay for Mac! Down with Bill Gates!

*happy happy happy happy happy*

Love it so hard it hurts...

I've been seeing some discussion on the flist lately of what keeps a good story going, or what drives one to finish a story, and I don't think you can say it's one thing for all people, but I know in my case it's pretty simple:

Love it. Love it so hard it hurts

Amen, Sam.

daily drabble

"How do you spell magnanimous?" Harry asked, propping himself up on one elbow from the end of his bed.

"Just like it sounds," Hermione said without looking up from her reading. "Why? What are you being magnanimous about?"

Harry smiled. "I'm telling [Remus] that I'm very put out that he decided not to turn back up in this country for Christmas, but that I'm feeling magnanimous and therefore sending him his Christmas present anyway."

Hermione snorted and shook her head. "What did you get him?"

"A book." Harry felt himself blush slightly. "And socks."

Hermione looked up. "Socks?"

"Well, his have got holes in them. All of them. I saw that week it was me and Ron's turn to do the wash over the summer. So I got him some nice wool ones." He yanked the lid off the box next to him. "They're part cashmere, so they're really soft, and they've got these everlast charms on them so they won't shrink or stretch or get holes or any of that."

Hermione smiled at him as he held up a pair of soft grey socks for her inspection. "They're lovely," she assured him. "I'm sure he'll like them."


From Harry Potter and the Sect of the Serpent, Ch. 24

P.S. Anyone who knows why the gift of socks is an important symbol here gets a cookie. Not you, Kris.

favorite line of the day

Talking about the Crazy Psychic from the last episode of the TV series LOST:

The child cannot, under any circumstances, be raised by someone else. This means no adoption. No dropping the kid off at the police station. No leaving him in the Home & Garden section of K-Mart. If the child is raised by someone other than Claire he will ... he will ... he will ... he will nothing. WE NEVER FIND OUT! The psychic never explains what will happen. We're simply left with grave warnings. What is it, Mr. Psychic? Do we have another Jeffrey Dahmer on our hands? Is it the second coming of Yanni? What?!

From Film Fodder's The Lost Blog

favorite line of the day

Ah, my friend, you must be careful to not confuse speed for getting to where you want to be. Time is a funny thing, though people rarely share its sense of humour.

Alim Sahdra from Paper Wings, Chapter 6 by KrisLaughs

Curiouser and curiouser...

I just got this review, posted annonymously on one of the fan sites:

You have an exceptional vocabulary and you seem intent on using it all in thisstory. At time it seems you just like dropping large words for no purpose, e.x.isochronal malediction. I think the contrast with your use of the word wanker in
a previous chapter is terrible and you should concentrate on trying to get your
point across more succinctly.

My question is, did this person think that "wanker" or "isochronal malediction" was the better way to go? Which is more "succinct?" Also, isn't the whole point of making use of an advanced vocabulary that one be more succinct in chosing words that mean exactly what is meant? Am I wrong about that?

Maybe I should just go around saying "wanker" more.

(In my defense, the "isochronal malediction" bit was meant to be a joke, but whatever.)

This person goes on to say:

The idea of the Owl Post chapter of just letters was both original and novel, tome anyway, however I don't think it worked and I pray you don't try it again.Letter after letter became 'isochronally' mundane.

Not to nitpick, but how can it be "original," "novel," and "mundane" all at the same time? Maybe he/she is saying that the idea was original and novel but my treatment of it was mundane? That's actually pretty harsh... If I weren't so confused, I might be hurt...

Or not. =D

favorite line of the day

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

From Monty Python and the Holy Grail

P.S. OK, I realize this isn't from a story, but it came up in conversation on an LJ, and it was just too funny to pass up.

Daily drabble

That night, Lily sat up long after everyone else in Gryffindor Tower had gone to bed, clutching her sketch pad and pencils in her lap as she sat on one of the window seats, gazing out towards the forest, hoping for another glimpse of the majestic creature, and drawing furiously, as though her life depended on it, desperately trying to capture some of his magic on her page.

From The White Hart, a work in progress.

my coworker is a wank

...and yet, I don't hate him. I have every reason to, but I don't. And do you know why? It's because I refuse to expend that much energy on my relationship with him. He is less than meaningless to me, and if he could be just a face in the crowd that I forget as soon as I see, so much the better.

Ah, apathy... What can I say? It keeps me sane and out of jail for murder.