Velociraptor Gun

Really, even if you're not the least bit interested in writing a novel during NaNoWriMo this November, you should check out this wonderful discussion on the forums:

Guns, Shooting Velociraptors Out Of

If you don't find this interesting, I despair of you.

Today's Refrigerator Poetry

While we were on vacation last week, I picked up a new set of fridge poetry magnets. Now we have twice as many words to play with, so it was not surprising that some new poetry appeared on the fridge today. In a household where the ages range from 8 to 44, with many comings and goings by friends and family as well, it is always interesting to see what turns up. They are, as usual, anonymous.

#1

wedgie
evil
for
good
plot

#2

bring me books
to show your love
these strange devices of
spine and page and word
story chemistry
language mystery
beautiful worlds
and I will open
the library of my heart

The Chocolate Oracle

So many things I'm trying to catch up on, but I'd also like to stop ignoring my blog. Today I have consulted the Chocolate Oracle for some insight...

What Your Taste in Chocolate Says About You

You are sophisticated, modern, and high class. Your taste is refined, but you are not picky. You are often the first to try something new. You are down to earth and lovable. A true friend, you're very tolerant and understanding. In fact, your friends' biggest problem is that they don't like each other! You love new adventures and activities. You enjoy living a full life, even if it is chaotic. You feel lost when things are quiet. You rather not think... you prefer to just do!

The Chocolate Oracle

Tagged! Seven Random/Weird Facts

I've been tagged by amusing to do this meme, but I'm trying to think of seven such things I haven't already revealed about myself in this blog. (The rules, if in turn you find yourself tagged by me, appear below.) Well, here goes:

1. I sometimes get ganglions in my wrist. They are little more than a nuisance but can be tender, and if a person happens to smack one against something (say, for instance, the rim of the washing machine) and cause it to burst, the pain is momentarily blinding but then the ganglion has disappeared entirely.

2. I have read thirty of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels and am currently reading my thirty-first.

3. I have weak joints in my little fingers and sometimes they almost, but not quite, get dislocated. My maternal grandfather was missing this joint on at least one hand so I think it might be hereditary.

4. I have a younger sister who was born on my fifth birthday. If I remember correctly, we both weighed exactly the same at birth.

5. I have a very poor long-term memory but a good short-term one.

6. I'm currently taking bellydancing lessons.

7. I can wiggle my ears.

In turn, I am using the magical NaBloPoMo Randomizer to tag:

Angela
semba08
CynaraJane
Jennifer
Melissa

At this point in the tagging process I had a run of at least seven people who have already done this meme this month. Thus I have added these two not via a random process but just out of sheer orneriness:

Helen
Krista

Interestingly, quite a number of blogs I visited through the Randomizer belong to folks also doing NaNoWriMo.

The aforementioned rules of this meme:
1- Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2- Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.

3- Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

4- Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

A little self-expression...

I was visiting my friend Nancy's blog the other day and it was sporting a shiny new widget that lets one splash paint around a la Jackson Pollock. Here's the masterpiece I created. I rather like it. My first try, I wasn't keen on the colors I was randomly assigned, but this one attracts me.

I won't get into the "is it art?" debate because in essence, the question doesn't much matter to me. I think what matters is that it's personal expression, which is to be valued for its own sake. Goodness knows there are enough people in society whose outlook on life might be vastly improved if they expressed themselves through the arts once in a while. I also tend to try and take a larger view on these issues--is anyone going to care in a thousand years if it was art or not?

Yes, I am rather opinionated lately, aren't I? I'll blame it on the whole posting every day thing. But maybe both self-expression and posting every day are good for the soul.

FreeRice.com

I know I had an idea for a brilliant blog post this morning...but now that I sit down to write it, I have no idea what it was. Sigh. Maybe it will come back to me overnight, perhaps in a dream.

Instead, I'm going to mention www.freerice.com, a site which launched on October 7, 2007. It works like this:

It's a vocabulary-building game--you're presented with a word and four choices of definitions. For every definition choice you get right, a donation of 10 grains of rice is made through the United Nations food program. The rice is paid for by sponsors who place ads on the site.

Now, ten grains of rice may not sound like very much. However, it builds up quickly. I was up to 900 grains after playing for maybe ten minutes. The site totals are impressive: to yesterday's date, 1,008,771,910 grains of rice had been donated. Yes, that's over one billion.

My only worry is that it will be too successful--that sponsors will pull out if the donations get too high. I hope this won't happen. Innovative ideas like this make me think there's hope for the human race yet.

Procrastination with a purpose--two purposes, in fact. I love it. I
think it's already had an efficacious effect on my vocabulary, too.

"Chew On This" Meme

I'll admit it--I went deliberately looking for a meme to do today. It got kind of funny actually, as I was surfing lists of memes and half of them are out of date or gone altogether...what does this say about the state of memedom on the Internet? But I digress...

I found this interesting meme over at Monday's a Bitch, because well, it is Monday and they're actually up-to-date over there. And I thought a couple of the questions were fun. So...

1. Did you need braces when you were younger?

I may have needed braces, because my bottom teeth are sort of crowded, although not in a really horrible sort of way. However, I don't remember it ever being discussed, and I'm not sure that financially it would have been an option anyway. I don't regret the lack of them, at any rate.

2. If you had to choose between being bitten by a vampire or a werewolf, which would it be?

Now, this is a tough one. I have a deep-seated fear of vampires, likely dating back to some ill-advised vampire-movie-watching when I was in high school, and Stephen King's Salem's Lot. However, the idea of immortality has immense appeal for me. I'd miss the sunlight, of course. As a werewolf, on the other hand, one could conceivably continue to lead a close-to-normal life much of the time, with only occasional lapses into horrible beast-ness. Hmmm...I think the immortality would swing me to the vampire side. Although I'd like to be unconscious when either bite occurs.

3. When was the last time you bit off more than you could chew?

It could quite possibly be this year's NaNoWriMo coupled with NaBloPoMo. I'll have to hold off on that verdict until the end of the month.

4. Have you ever chipped a tooth?

No, I don't believe I have. I had a dentist pull the wrong tooth one time, though. I think it was a perfectly good tooth. Later, another dentist filled and saved the one the first dentist intended to pull.

5. If your smile had a name, what would it be?

This is hard to answer, since I don't know the names of any other smiles for reference.

There And Back Again

Well, we're home from our vacation and as it's plain to see, there were no blogging opportunities on the road. I do have some musings to share, which I think I'll get to over the next few days, but tonight my brain just wants to do fun things like check on my friends' blogs and do Internet quizzes. Like this one, the Book Quiz:

You're The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!

by C.S. Lewis

You were just looking for some decent clothes when everything changed
quite dramatically. For the better or for the worse, it is still hard to tell. Now it
seems like winter will never end and you feel cursed. Soon there will be an epic
struggle between two forces in your life and you are very concerned about a betrayal
that could turn the balance. If this makes it sound like you're re-enacting Christian
theological events, that may or may not be coincidence. When in doubt, put your trust
in zoo animals.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Which is a fun and interesting result, both because when I first read the Chronicles of Narnia all the theological stuff was completely lost on me, and because I have very recently had encounters with many and varied zoo animals.

43 Pieces

For the last 43 days that I'm 43 years old (that is, starting today), I'm doing a self-portrait art/photography project over at Flickr. Each day I'll be posting a photograph, art piece, or whatever else strikes my imagination. If you're interested, you can visit me at flickr. Who knows what might show up?

Sherry likes to...

I snagged this hilarious meme from my sister Krista--in fact we just spent a long time on the phone doing these for all our family members and laughing about the results.

The instructions: Go to Google and type in quotation marks your name and then "likes to" (ex. "Tom likes to"). Post the first ten things that come up. Does it sound anything like you?

1. In her spare time, Sherry likes to read, forage for mushrooms, canoe, hike and quilt. (um, I do like reading and hiking...)

2. Sherry likes to play the banjo and collects tacky antiques, such a lamp of 2 frogs kissing! (er...no)

3. But Sherry likes to go at her own speed. (true enough)

4. Sherry likes to be random. (maybe sometimes...if I understand what this even means)

5. Sherry likes to be "on the edge," as she describes it. (don't know if I'm really very "edgy")

6. In her spare time, Sherry likes to paint and she also sings in the Arkansas Chamber Singers. (I'm a long way from Arkansas!)

7. Certainly, Sherry devotes himself earnestly to the study of Conrad, but Conrad remains a giant whose feet are the only thing that Sherry likes to look at. (okay, that's just frightening)

8. Sherry likes to be asked to do things by the teacher. (actually I always was a bit of a teacher's pet...)

9. Sherry and Terry like to ride their bicycles at the playground. (my husband's name is Terry!)

10. Sherry likes to teach each client how to protect their own energy field. (errr...)

Time for...an Image Meme!

This one is a bit of work, but it sounded like so much fun I had to try it. I snagged it from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

The instructions: Plug your answers into Google Image Search and post the first image that comes up.

1. Your age on your next birthday.


2. Your favorite color:


3. Your middle name:


4. The last meal you ate:


5. Your bad habit:


6. Your favorite fruit or vegetable:


7. Your favorite animal:


8. The town you live in:


9. The name of your pet or last pet:


10. Your SO or best friend's nickname:


12. Your crush's name:


13. Your occupation:


14. Your birth city:


15. Your favorite song:


(Apparently there's no #11. I'm not sure if that's deliberate or not.)

Four Things

Hurrah! My sister Krista has finally started her blog, and now I have a new place to snag memes. Well, she actually tagged me with this one (she's tagging anyone who reads it, and I qualified). I shall have to put my thinking cap on for some of these...

Four Jobs I've Had:
1. Writer
2. Lawyer
3. Community Recreation Coordinator
4. Preschool Teacher

Four Movies I Can Watch Over And Over:
1. Mystery Men
2. Alex and Emma
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Galaxy Quest

Four Places I've Lived:
1. Sydney Mines, NS
2. Halifax, NS
3. North Sydney, NS
4. There is no #4!

Four TV Shows I Love:
1. Firefly
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Wonderfalls
4. The Dresden Files

Four Places I've Vacationed:
1. Nassau, Bahamas
2. Milwaukee, WI
3. Ingonish Beach, NS
4. Prince Edward Island

Four Of My Favourite Dishes:
1. Lasagne
2. Steak...on the barbecue...mmmmm
3. Fish & Chips
4. Birthday cake

Four Sites I Visit Daily:
1. www.scribbletalk.com
2. www.cbc.ca
3. http://com4.runboard.com/bthewritersblock
4. www.helenparocha.com

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
1. On a writing retreat
2. At the library
3. Anywhere warm with a beach
4. Actually, it's quite nice right here...

Four Bloggers I'm Tagging:
(Let's see, who's commented on my blog lately...)
1. Helen
2. Karen
3. Alan
4. Let's just say, anyone else who happens to read this.

Okay, now that I've finished, I'm wondering, where is the section for: "Four Books I've Read Lately"?? I mean, it really should be there, shouldn't it? So I'm adding it.

Four Books I've Read Lately:
1. Forty Signs Of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson
2. Storm Front by Jim Butcher
3. Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
4. Work Work by Bruce Holland Rogers

There, NOW it feels finished.

A Big Fat Lie

I snagged this from Helen's blog (isn't that where I find most of my memes? oh, well). Below I am going to tell five true things about myself, and one big fat lie. It will be up to you to guess (and please leave a comment with your guess) which one is the lie. Sound like fun? Here goes:

1. I have a photo of myself wearing a live snake around my neck like a tie. It was taken on my honeymoon.

2. I was the valedictorian at my high school graduation.

3. Even though I spent six years in university living away from home, I have never been drunk (maybe tipsy enough that I wouldn't drive a car, but not DRUNK).

4. I have hiked up mountains in two Canadian provinces, and stood on a glacier in a third.

5. I have at various times been bitten by a horse, a rabbit, a dog, a cat, a guinea pig, and a mouse.

6. I once entered a dance marathon but didn't make it into the top ten finalists.

Which one is the big fat lie?


And now for the truth...

1. TRUE! Here's the picture:


2. TRUE! I probably still have the speech around somewhere. When I think about it now it was likely rather sappy and sentimental, but at the time I was very pleased with it.

3. TRUE! I've never really understood folks who need to get "loaded" to have a good time. I also like being in control (although I don't think I'm a control freak).

4. TRUE! I've hiked mountains in Nova Scotia and also Gros Morne in Newfoundland. Here's me standing on the glacier in (I think) 1981. It's the Athabasca Glacier, part of the Columbia IceFields, and the picture was taken in Jasper National Park, Alberta.

5. LIE! I've been bitten by a horse, a rabbit and a cat, but never by a dog, a guinea pig or a mouse, although they've all had opportunities. The horse attacked me while I was riding another horse, grabbed me by the side and pulled me right out of the saddle. I had to get a tetanus shot. The friend I was riding with laughed so hard he fell off his own horse.

6. TRUE! The dance marathon was a fundraiser in high school, but my erstwhile boyfriend and dance partner turned up drunk so we didn't get very far. That was also the end of the relationship and probably part of the reason behind truth #3. ;-)

Bonsai Story Tree

This is soooo cool. The Bonsai Story Tree takes some of your text and transforms it into...something quite different. Garbled, and yet making a strange sort of sense, with some bits of real beauty mixed in. I pasted in a few thousand words from The Seventh Crow and here's a snippet of what I got back out--some strategically placed line breaks and it's quite poetic, really:

Well, and gleaming with the rhyme,
muttering the other six crows, gold...
she searched for the horses to eat,
and a flash of rock on the side
regarding her
Just you and me.
Well, and all three crows,
a small clearing, and done,
but her feet closer to the front of her
and a thought,
or the memories
away for about ten minutes ago

I also particularly liked this sentence: "She walked with a polished glow in the long curved sword, perfectly balanced."
Very intriguing to play around with!

Monster and Cyborg names

Just for fun I followed the link from Helen's blog to find out my Monster name, which turned out to be:

Get Your Monster Name

And then, of course, I had to follow the further link to find out my Cyborg name:

Get Your Cyborg Name

Don't know about the "yelling" part, though. I'm not much of a yeller! ;-)