Random thoughts

[Tom]

Switched my final paper from Virginia Woolf to Sylvia Plath, then found out that both of the biographies I need are checked out. And SUNY's interlibrary loan system is hella slow. At least The Bell Jar and her poetry volumes are available.

ARGH. I am thinking about this paper so much I'm dreaming about it--just like you, Brian. The other night I dreamed I was handing the paper in in class, but when my professor took it he said, "I can't accept this, it's just ten blank sheets of paper." I told him no, he had to be mistaken, I had written the paper and it was there, but when he handed it back to me I saw that it was blank. 0.0

 

[kennyc]

Switched my final paper from Virginia Woolf to Sylvia Plath, then found out that both of the biographies I need are checked out. And SUNY's interlibrary loan system is hella slow. At least The Bell Jar and her poetry volumes are available.

ARGH. I am thinking about this paper so much I'm dreaming about it--just like you, Brian. The other night I dreamed I was handing the paper in in class, but when my professor took it he said, "I can't accept this, it's just ten blank sheets of paper." I told him no, he had to be mistaken, I had written the paper and it was there, but when he handed it back to me I saw that it was blank. 0.0

Tons of on-line information these days....

 

[Tom]

Well, I need to cite two different biographies in the paper, to illustrate how two different authors might approach telling the same person's life story in different ways.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

And now comes the day where I trust nothing and no one. I hope whatever fool invented this day is happy, that son of a motherless goat.

 

[Geo]

The perks of teaching undergrads...

In one of my Physical Chemistry lab sessions.

Student X (she is pre med and she likes to talk about it): OMG, why do I need to learn the metric system... why can't we like use oz all the time???

Me: So you don't kill a patient. Fluid medications are measured in ml and concentrations in mg/ml. You need to know the metric system perfectly so you can give your patient the right dosage.

Next day.

Head of department: Student X was here and complained about harassment. She indicated that you're creating a stressful situation in the classroom by telling her she could kill her patients.

This is a true story, and it didn't happen in April 1st.

 

[Zelda of Hyrule]

Have you seen Ganondorf around here?

 

[Velka]

April first as an elementary teacher is a form of torture the Geneva Convention should investigate.

Child: "Miss Velka our table doesn't have any erasers!"
Me: "Okay, I'll get you some."
Child: maniacal laugher "We really do have erasers! April fools! I got you!"

Child: "Miss Velka, my cat ate my homework."
Me: "You don't have any homework, you're seven."
Child: maniacal laugher "I don't have a cat! April fools! I got you!"

Child: "Miss Velka, I have pasta for lunch."
Me: "That sounds yummy."
Child: maniacal laugher "I really have a sandwich! April fools! I got you!"

Child: "Miss Velka, my tummy doesn't feel good, I think I'm going to puke."
Me: sighs deeply and rolls my eyes "Suuuuuure you are."
Child: Projectile vomits

:headbang:

 

[Addison]

I'm dreading the afternoon. I have forty five minutes before my kid siblings get home from school and I am cringing. They're both pre-teen rednecks with attitude and their favorite prank movie is "Home Alone 1-3". Forget verbal jokes I'm worried about stepping outside and getting a brick to the head, or going upstairs and getting paint can to the face.

The dog however is embodying the april fool spirit. She's a smart little mutt. She's sat at the door as if to go outside. I open the door and follow her outside only for her to duck back inside as I'm closing the door. She's crouched as if to do her business inside for me to rush her outside only for her to roll in the mud. And, her best prank today, she comes up and nuzzle like a cute dog then snatches a pen, pencil, or worse papers for the work and takes off. Forget spilling coffee on your work, try putting it together after a maniacal puppy runs five laps around the house with it.

 

[kennyc]

*On Fear*

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Frank Herbert - Dune - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.
- T.H. White, The Once and Future King

I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
- Sarah Williams

"I saw how men died. I saw how they bore pain. I saw what hope looked like, fear and relief; I saw the dark lines that despair drew on a face; I saw courage and steadfastness. I saw faith shine in the eyes of those who trusted in what I could only think was an illusion and I saw the gallantry that made a man greet the prognosis of death with an ironic joke because he was too proud to let those about him see the terror of his soul."
- W. Somerset Maugham

"The future was uncertain, absolutely, and there were many hurdles, twists, and turns to come, but as long as I kept moving forward, one foot in front of the other, the voices of fear and shame, the messages from those who wanted me to believe that I wasn't good enough, would be stilled."
– Chris Gardner The Pursuit of Happyness

 

[Heliotrope]

Kenny... Did you somehow know I was being tested for uterine cancer today? Not even kidding. I'm at the hospital. I open up MS on my phone and I find this.

Divine intervention.

 

[kennyc]

Kenny... Did you somehow know I was being tested for uterine cancer today? Not even kidding. I'm at the hospital. I open up MS on my phone and I find this.

Divine intervention.

Oh My! Of course I didn't know. I'm sending hopeful soothing thoughts though!

 

[Addison]

I've always been aware of the varying headaches and creative wrestling matches writers face as they write. Until this morning I never understood the insanity that comes with it. I've been banging my head and cursing my notes thanks to a few edits and paranoia about my beginning scenes. Are they in order? Could there be a better order? Is that scene pertinent? It's at a point where I feel like either throwing my work against the wall, including my laptop. Or, the most extreme and the MAJOR clue that it's getting big, deleting all the work and starting all over.

 

[kennyc]

I've always been aware of the varying headaches and creative wrestling matches writers face as they write. Until this morning I never understood the insanity that comes with it. I've been banging my head and cursing my notes thanks to a few edits and paranoia about my beginning scenes. Are they in order? Could there be a better order? Is that scene pertinent? It's at a point where I feel like either throwing my work against the wall, including my laptop. Or, the most extreme and the MAJOR clue that it's getting big, deleting all the work and starting all over.

Don't do that. if anything just let it sit a while and come back to revisit it in a week or so....

 

[FifthView]

Today I've been thinking of on the nose.

On the nose dialogue.
On the nose description.
On the nose action.
On the nose plotting.
...

 

[Heliotrope]

Yep.

What exactly are you thinking about it? How to avoid it?

 

[kennyc]

Today I've been thinking of on the nose.

On the nose dialogue.
On the nose description.
On the nose action.
On the nose plotting.
...

Sorry but I can't help but think of other things that might be on the nose....

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Sorry but I can't help but think of other things that might be on the nose....

Are they brown things?

 

[kennyc]

Are they brown things?

And greenish things....

 

[FifthView]

Yep.

What exactly are you thinking about it? How to avoid it?

Mostly, I've been thinking that the term can be used to explain so many things I dislike in my reading experience.

My trouble is that I'm not 100% certain the term can be applied so liberally, whether it is the right term for an across-the-board

Edit: Also, if the term is right, then what is the inverse, and how can I use this idea of the not-on-the-nose to improve those various areas in my own writing.

 

[FifthView]

Sorry but I can't help but think of other things that might be on the nose....

You see, that's just it!

In a novel, two characters might be speaking.

FifthView: Lately I've been thinking of on the nose. On the nose dialogue. On the nose description. On the nose action. On the nose plotting...

kennyc: Yeah, I've thought about those also. People nowadays write so directly! Everything takes such a logical step, from A to B to C, precise and unveering. To the point. Characters say exactly what's on their minds and do not veer from topic. Description...A character needs to walk down a hall to get to the next exciting conversation, so the author–not wanting a blank environment–has to say, "She walked down the hall to Clarice's room." Mind you, absolutely nothing else about the hall needs describing. It's utilitarian. Oh, maybe she'll be thankful that the hall is carpeted, because it's a cold night and she doesn't have any slippers. Yeah. I know exactly what you mean!

VS

kennyc: Is it a mole? Queen Mab? I woke up one night with Mab, and let me tell you...her breath doesn't smell like apple blossoms! She also had this itty bitty mole on her nose, with a hair growing out of it. I couldn't sleep for a week.​