Alphabet meme

[brigdh]

Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter. Write ten words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along.

parallactic gave me 'l'.

Lilacs. I love lilacs; they're one of my favorite flowers, and my very favorite scent. A bush of them grew at the corner of the house I grew up in, and the smell of them, and the heavy humming of the bumblebees that always seem to be littered through the violet flowers always reminds me of spring and summer. There's a huge bush of them on one of the lawns here at campus; I was walking by it at 2am last week and noticed some guy gathering a bouquet of them. You have to laugh to wonder why he suddenly needed lilac flowers at 2am, but it's such a neat idea.

Lemon Candy I hate lemon-flavored candy, but I love banana. Whenever I'm eating something that comes in multiple colors, I always save the yellow ones for last, and then I have a handful of them and I'm stuck debating myself: lemon or banana? Who knows! The only way to find out for sure is to taste them, but if it's lemon, ugh. Why do they even make this flavor anymore? Does anyone like lemon candy? Probably. When I worked in a candy store, we sold maple-flavored things, which is much less strange than lemon.

Language I tend to pick up the basics of a language very quickly, but never reach fluency, mainly because I get bored and stop caring. At the moment, I can have vague conversations in French and Japanese, and am attempting to learn Hindi, but what the hell. Hindi is crazy-hard, just in case any of you were thinking of taking it up.

Latte One of the few ways I will drink coffee. The secret is to add so much milk and sugar that any actual coffee flavor is obscured, and then enjoy the sugar-and-caffeine high for the next few hours.

Lifeguarding I spent one summer as a lifeguard. It seemed natural: my mom had been one for several decades, and I'd spent years on various swim teams and camps and had actually learned to swim before I could walk (no, really. When you're working as a lifeguard and can't afford fulltime babysitters, the solution is to stick your kids in the swimming lessons all day long). But no. Lifeguarding is the worst job I have ever had. It's this terrible combination of boredom and tension; on the one hand, you're staring at a pool for eight hours a day, and no, it's not any more interesting than it sounds. On the other hand, you can't do anything to entertain yourself, including daydreaming, because as soon as your attention wanders, someone could die. I hated that job so much. I did have to save two people, which was sort of cool, but I will never be a lifeguard again.

Laundry I am so bad at this. I never do it until I've started to run out of things to wear, and my approach to laundry is "Dry clean only goes in the normal wash, hand wash only goes in the normal wash, and the whites include whatever won't fit with the darks and is maybe-sorta-kinda pale". It's a miracle that I haven't destroyed my entire wardrobe. Actually, I've been pretty lucky. I've only turned things pink once, and it was such a pale pink that I wore the things anyway.

Labyrinth Remember this movie? I adored this movie when I was little. I rewatched it a few years ago, just to see how much I'd forgotten, and wow. It is so very, very on crack. I can't imagine what people who never watched it as a child, but saw it as adults must think.

Livejournal I used to try to keep journals, but I'd inevitably get bored with them after a few days. I find it much easier to write essays on my current thoughts on the vital topic of why I'm currently procrastinating if I know I can force other people to read it.

Laptop What I love, what I need. I adore being able to take my computer places with me so much that I don't think I could deal with a desktop anymore. Sure, you make trade-offs in speed and memory, but it's so very, very worth it.

Last Thank god, man. This was a hard letter. Or I'm bad at this meme; both are equally possible!

Comments

[kohakutenshi.livejournal.com]

Eh, what the hell. Gimme a letter. :3

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

G.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Oh, so that's what the letter was for!

Because I am the poster child for ALERT and AWARE whut.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*laughs and laughs*

No, actually it's the in thing right now to just shout random letters at people. M, dude!

And randomly, but I thought it'd be rude to say it in the comments to Oyceter's post, but I love your new Konzen icon so much. That is one of my favorite cumming's poems, and it works so well.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Well, it kinda is the in thing, you know. YA RLY. *G*

Thing is, I could either put brain power into that meme, or I could finally get around to a little DVD commentary. Since Para gave me both, I'm banking on the assumption she'd rather have the commentary even if I can't really remember my reasons for things and so the commentary is a meta story all its own.

Thanks! I was debating that one or "deathful flesh," but that would actually better suit a split Konzen-Sanzo icon, I think. And the new Konzen images are so pretty, I had to do something with one of them. *G*

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Well, I would definitely rather see the commentary meme, and am not above encouraging you to do it for purely selfish reasons. The letter one is mostly just to fill time, but I love DVD commentaries. I think I'd do it myself, except I'm sure I would never be able to shut up once I started. Which story are you doing?

They are really pretty. I desperately wanted to be able to fit the swirl of his hair into an icon, but leaving that much of the image in kept making things blurry when it reduced down to 100x100. Sometimes I wish livejournal allowed bigger images, but on the other hand, there's something appealing about fitting everything into such a tiny box.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Right now I'm doing "My Heart a Hunter." I have down requests for others, but I'll be lucky to make it through this one before a story idea distracts me. *G* And I'd love to hear DVD commentary on your work, especially since then I won't be the only one blabbing. ;-)

I love that swirl of hair, but you really do have to hone in on specific details with icons. The graphic equivalent of drabbles, really.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, good choice. I'd love to see what you have to say about that. When did you take requests? Did I miss the post, or was it long enough ago that I've forgotten?

Heh. Any story of mine you'd like to see in particular? I'm having the opposite problem as you- I can't get any story ideas- so something like this might prove inspirational.

That's a neat way to think of it. They've even got limits of exactly 100 on both!

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Well, prolly I should have done it way back when it was requested, because now I'm scrambling to remember my reasoning for things. I did take requests, and you actually requested commentary on "Hair's Breadth." Though, you know, if you'd like to request something I wrote more recently, you might get a more accurate commentary out of it, though not necessarily a more entertaining one. *G*

And just to prove my approach of enlightened self-interest, I'm going ot request commentary on "No Missionary Zeal," because it was written for me. *G*

I've long thought of icons and drabbles as roughly equivalent forms.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Dude, I missed this meme completely and totally. Or else I'm now an amnesiac, and am going to be very embarrassed to learn that I requested something. So I'm delighted and relieved to hear that somebody did request commentary for "My Heart a Hunter," because I want to see it too.

I love the whole idea of DVD commentary. We never get enough substantive story discussion on LJ; making the author do it herself is one way of getting around everybody's shyness about it, as well as being fascinating for its own sake. The letter meme is fun and all, but commentary! commentary! commentary!!

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Looks like I took the requests in November of '05. You didn't request anything, but I'm trying to remember how well we knew each other then. I don't think it was very well. *G* If you'd like to make a request now, you're more than welcome to do so.

I love the idea of DVD commentary, and I certainly can talk interminably about my writing. However, the sort of talking I like to do doesn't seem to quite mesh with the commentary, and the result is too much like work. Or maybe that's just because the story's on the older side, and I wrote it in such a rush that I can't remember most of the process behind it.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I'm always looking back on old stories of mine and going "Now why did I do that? I know I probably had some reason..."

I'm very willing to go with the entertaining commentary, even if it's mostly made up. *grins* Besides, I'm still interested in the story, so it's all good.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, when I do remember? I usually didn't have a reason. Or not a good reason. Oh, well. *G*

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Any story of mine you'd like to see in particular?

I'm coming in late, and you didn't even ask me, but I think that you should pick a story to do commentary on. You'll know better than any of your readers whether there's one in particular that's filled with stuff that you're dying to talk about. Or where readers' reactions suggest that people saw things that were different from what you thought you were doing, or went beyond what you thought you were doing, or where everybody seemed to miss some of what you'd meant. That is, one that you wanted to talk about but didn't because it seemed silly to talk back to reader response.

And off in another direction: I so envy that ability with languages. The only ones I can deal with at all are the dead ones, and even then it's like trying to swim in glue.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

You're right, of course. Though it seems like the ones I've most wanted to talk about recently were the remixes, which I did make extensive notes for. I'll have to go back and look through my stories, and see if there's any one in particular that strikes me as interesting.

It's mostly just a memorization thing; I have uncanny recall abilities when I want to. When I was in plays, I used to memorize my entire script overnight, and tended to already have several scenes down pat after watching them a few times while sitting through auditions. The flip side is that, once I lose interest, I forget everything as quickly as I learned it, so once I stop practicing a language, my skills in it go to hell within months.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

D! This comment was brought to you by the letter "D", and the punctuation mark "!"

Yes, I would rather you do the DVD commentary meme than the alphabet one. Ignore the letter meme! It never existed! There's no proof it ever existed! Er, once I get around to deleting it in my power mad bid for LJ dictatorship.

Although if the DVD meme is giving you trouble, you don't have to do that one either. I command you not to do anything you don't want to do! Bwahaha!!!

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Really, just about every comment I make could be said to be brought to you by the letters W, T, and F. *G*

See, my lackadaisacal approach to memes means I probably wouldn't have done it anyway, but you tossing a letter at me reminded me there was this other meme I kinda did mean to do, so maybe I should get on that now that I've finished the current project. Of course, I've waited so long that I'm making up half of what I'm saying, and I reserve the right to get totally distracted as soon as Ginji's ready for some hot springs smuff. ;-)

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Heh, there are some comments I've made where I was barely coherent.

Since this is fandom, teh shiny takes priority over everything else. And, this reminds me that I still have to do a rant meme post. I should probably scrap the idea of adding links, and just do it.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Rant meme post?

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

I promised someone I'd write a rant about the problem with genficcers AND smutficcers (or whatever you call people who write NC-17/R sex fics.)

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Genners and smutters, I suppose, by virtue of being lazy and not wanting to write out the longer versions each time. *G* And usually I'm not just talking about the writers, there are also the readers and fanartists and vidders and such.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Eek, I'm sorry I gave you a hard letter.

I like lemon candy, because I like tart things. I'm envious over your ability to pick up language. If you don't like the taste of coffee, but want the caffeine + sugar kick there's always tea (black tea has a higher caffeine content!), or soda like Mt. Dew. I also liked the Labryinth. It's such good, fairytale crack. For some reason, I have no problems rambling about my personal stuff in a paper journal, but clam up on LJ. For the alphabet meme, I thought I was going to eventually get personal as I ran out of h-words, but I ended up just doing fandom stuff.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Heh. I doubt it was the letter's fault; I'd probably have had a hard time coming up with ten words with any letter.

I usually do drink tea (though I prefer green to black), the latte's just for when I get bored of it. Or when I start getting embarrassed that every single person who works at my local coffeeshop knows what I order. *grins*

It seems to make more sense to me to be shyer on LJ than a paper journal, so I don't know why I'm the opposite. I just like having an audience, I suppose.

I kept trying to think of fandom things, but couldn't come up with any for L. Light from Death Note is the only one I'm familiar with, and I don't have much to say about him, so I gave up and went with a bunch of random words instead.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

I was stumped for words that started with the letter H, before I realized that a lot of characters' names I liked started with H. That was a surprise.

I primarily drink green tea over black as well; I'm not sure if it's a preference so much as green tea is all I have available at the moment. Although I prefer coffee as my caffeine intake of choice.

I once tried to make an lj post about a bad week, but ended up rambling about crossdressing shoujo. Seems like I haven't gotten the hang of venting on lj.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It's definitely a preference for me. Black tea, like coffee, is much more bitter than I like. Though occasionally I like other things that are coffee-flavored; I adore tiramisu, for instance.

Heh. I occasionally rant on LJ, but I tend to find that the act of doing so inevitably results in the problem clearing itself up immediately afterwards, or I'll wake up the next day, see the post, and be so embarrassed that the whatever I was angsting about no longer seems like such a big deal.

[clari-clyde.livejournal.com]

Language: Ditto. I have the basics of german and my parents’ languages down but I can’t hold an intelligent convo in any of the three languages. For me though, I know my frustration comes from not speaking those languages as well as I can English in oh, two seconds — not communicating is extremely frustrating to me.

Laundry: I too am extremely lazy about laundry. I wash everything in cold water and I never separate my clothes. My tactic? Buy clothes and wear clothes in color families.

Laptop: Yes! I have PocketPC phone now and it is so underpowered yet oh so nifty. I have figured, that when it comes to portable computing, all I need is a contacts manager to replace my little black book, a thumboard to type, a word processor to write notes, some sort of media player, and a web browser. Any other sort of computing task would require more attention than can be paid when on the go. As for the laptop, I like being able to carry this where ever I want to be inside the house. I can’t ever go back to a desktop.

Last: I think some letters are harder than others. That said, it’s difficult because no matter which letter you get, thinking within limits is something people don’t like to do. It’s like trying to design a cassette or CD cover. “If only I had the space of a 12" record sleeve!” I thought “a” would be an easy letter but I had to think about it for a few days after ren_aleria gave it to me.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I get so excited when I first start to learn a language, and can understand and create simple sentences. But then you get to the point where you're learning different tenses or a million synonyms for 'to go' and it all seems so boring and small.

Laptops are seriously the best invention ever. Your PocketPC phone sounds neat; I keep trying to decide if I want something like that or not. My cellphone can check email, so I have the basic necessities down anyway, but it'd be nice to be able to write things on it.

It seems like everybody has trouble with this meme, no matter which letter they get.

[clari-clyde.livejournal.com]

I agonized a while about my recent cellphone. My choices were either the T-Mobile MDA or Sony Ericsson 810. They both have removable flash storage and media players and internet (at EDGE speeds) and email capabilities but, I went with the MDA for the thumb-pad.

If I didn’t SMS so much, I prolly would have gone with the 810 since it’s smaller. I think the question is, how much do you intend to or want to type? If it’s occasional, a 9-pad with predictive text is fine. But if it’s a lot, then that gets annoying and it’s time for a thumbpad.

Pocked Word wasn’t on my list of features but, now that I have it, it’s really nifty. I used to have a notepad and with stickies all over the pages but, no more.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Oooh, a letter please.

I always wondered if being a lifeguard was as dull as it looks, and now I know. I totally agree with you on the lattes too.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

S.

Some people seem to like being lifeguards, but it was very much not for me.

[tadity.livejournal.com]

Latte: Absolutey agree...especially because I'm craving one.

Letter please? :)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Lattes are excellent.

R.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I love lemon-flavored candy, but can't stand banana or pineapple, which make me gag.

Hmm. Are you a super-taster? Can you eat grapefruit or is it too bitter?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I don't know; I've never heard of super-tasters before. But I do hate grapefruit. I don't understand how people can eat that, even when they put sugar on it.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Super-tasters (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2880471.stm). (What the article doesn't mention is that super-tasters frequently can't stand coffee or grapefruit -- what's pleasantly tangy or tart to tasters is just too bitter for super-tasters.)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you, that's so interesting! I want to try the experiment myself now; i'll just have to find some food coloring.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Heh, you're not that late. I just posted this last night. N!

Yeah, maple flavor is even worse than lemon, but I didn't complain about it because it's much rarer.

Ha! See, I don't have the full-laundry basket problem because I won't fold anything. I just stick it on hangers, which is much quicker.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*DIES*

[murasakisilver.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I always have the opposite dilemma with yellow candy... I save it for last and then pray it's lemon and not banana.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee. We should get together and trade: you can have my lemons, and I'll eat your bananas.

[kessie.livejournal.com]

Letter me!

I bought Labyrinth on DVD a few weeks ago, when I saw it on sale. Was so happy. :3 David Bowie and teenaged Jennifer Connelly. It doesn't get any better. :D

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

N.

*grins* I still have it on video from when I was little. I watched it again when I was bored last year, and was so surprised by how totally on crack it is. I'd forgotten a lot.