Very Important Question

[brigdh]

Okay, someone explain the | thing to me. Why do you have to invent new slang while I'm not around to learn it, LJ?

Also, I'm surprised by how much I want to write a story, any story, though that's rather hard at the moment, since I don't have a working computer of my own (plus, you know, no time, but if I'm willing to make pointless LJ posts while I'm pretending to be working, I'm sure I could suspend my morals long enough to do so for fic also).

And, oh my god, I want some new music so badly. I'm just not sure if downloading music onto a public computer would be a good idea, even if I was careful to delete it immediately afterwards.

Comments

[threewalls]

It's not slang I'm familiar with-- I haven't even seen | in use, so I'm curious as well.

As for 2, I'd suggest trying longhand. It's not my preferred method, but I will when that's all that's available to me.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

My guess is it means something like 'yay!', but I'm not sure. I've seen it several times in the last few days, but the only place I remember in particular in the comment by cityofdis in this post (http://wordsofastory.livejournal.com/304217.html).

I could do longhand, but the idea I'm currently most enamored of is a drabble, and I hate trying to make the wordcount on paper.

[threewalls]

It's funny you should say that.

I don't often write longhand, but I carry notebooks around for note-taking and outlining. The right size of notebook for me is the one where I know from experience that what I can get on one page is a good size first draft drabble. I end up with drafts with paragraph word counts down the margin and page word counts at the top right corner. But I *adore* word counts.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hmm, maybe I should try doing a first draft at least, then. I was just thinking that whenever I write drabbles, I tend to agonize over word choice so much- going back and forth and back and forth over the difference between "a" and "the", for instance- and that I'd just end up with a written page completely covered in scratch-outs and replacements.

[threewalls]

At the least you'll get some of the words/concept out.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yep. Which would be good, as I tend to forget things like this if I don't get them written down soon.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Are you by any chance using a Mac, there in your Cypriot exile?

If by some weird chance you are, that line is perhaps nothing more than the old familiar heart symbol. Some browsers just render it that way on a Mac (or at least, Firefox does it on my machine). And it confused me horribly until the day I got a comment notification email for a comment where somebody'd used it. The email rendered the heart symbol just fine, and ever since I've translated accordingly.

If that's not the answer, the line is new to me, too, and I hope you'll tell me what it is when you find out.

Have I mentioned that we miss you? Keeping up with your adventures through Racheline's journal is far better than nothing, but not nearly as good as having you checking in yourself.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh! I am on a Mac. Well, that explains everything. I wondered how a new symbol could be popping up everywhere so suddenly, and why I couldn't find an explanation.

Thank you. It was really strange to me to write letters, since I haven't done it in years and years, but it was actually rather fun. And it was so cool to get them, of course, though there were lots of people would have liked updates on, yourself included.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Letters are fun, and there are times when I regret no longer writing them. I used to have ridiculously decorative handwriting, too, and its grace has deteriorated significantly simply because it's no longer in constant use. But then I stop and remember that the reason it was so decorative in the first place is that writing for long has always made my hands cramp, and the quality of line was nothing more than the result of finding letter shapes that didn't hurt as much as the standard ones. And I remember that even those still hurt after a few paragraphs. And I think, no, sad-but-true, electronic communication is better. At least, for values of 'better' that include actually communicating, and not merely thinking that I really ought to do it.

As for updates, I'm not sure you've missed much of anything from me. I have been buried in work, and panicked, and barely visible; I think I've probably posted approximately twice since you've been away. One story about a speeding ticket and one heavily-filtered thing with a fragment of a WIP in it; really, it's kind of pathetic. And I have meta and stuff that I want to get to all stacked up in my head, but first, well, I have very important panicking to do! Which I had better get back to, right now, before I get to the part of the day where I'm ready to chew my own fingers off with anxiety.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I never had very nice handwriting, so I merely strive for 'legible' when I write. It can be quite an art, though, and a decorative style can make the appearance of a letter so lovely.

Oh, well, I will have to go and check out that WIP! That's a very exciting sort of thing to come back to. Are you still panicking about the same thing you were when I left, or have there come new and stressful things to panic about?

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Still panicking about the same thing. I expect that it will only get worse from here in: not only do I have to do the substantive work, but I have to think about all this business-related stuff, which is both unpleasant and intimidating. Right now, this instant, I am contemplating a package from the show that wants a response today. They want me to think about advertising. And mailing lists. And web pages.

And you know, this was an amusing thing I picked up during chemo, because my brain was cooked and my vision was shot to hell and I couldn't paint tiny little intricately-detailed things in tempera, or think about the law, or do anything useful. How did all this happen?

Also, advertising? I mean, you know me. I can't even bring myself to cross-post my fic to relevant communities. Advertising? How, I ask you, am I supposed to cope with something like that??

Ack. Enough of the angst all over your journal. I'd better go back to trying to figure out what to do about this stuff, before it's too late and I've made the decision to do nothing at all by default.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't call it angst. Or at least not uninteresting angst.

Because, really: advertising! I don't think I could handle making decisions about advertising, and I am willing to crosspost and link and so on. But real advertising, how horrible. Do you even have to make decisions about the design and what pictures or fonts or so on to use? That would make me certainly want to avoid thinking about the entire thing, though I hope you came up with something before the deadline.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Or at least not uninteresting angst.

You're too kind. And I totally mean that, because I find it sadly dull as angst, and if my angst bores me, how am I to think that anyone else will be less bored with it?

But no: it's not as bad as all that. I don't really have to do anything, and I've decided I'm pretty much not going to -- they were just offering me the opportunity. Which meant I had to actively think about it and decide it wasn't worth my time and misery, as opposed to being blissfully unaware of the entire thing. Of course, I should stop and think about it all later, when this is over (assuming it isn't a total disaster): Serious People take steps to make themselves visible to the public, and it does matter. Only, I hate the very thought.

I don't have to think about it now, though, and I won't have to again for at least another few weeks. Thank God, thank God. I'm still panicked, but I'm doing it so much more cheerfully now.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It's only boring to you because you've been doing it for so long; it's all fascinating and new to me.

I'm glad the crisis is at least temporarily averted. The horror of advertising should wait at least until after all the business of getting ready for a show. Is it soon, then? And are you at all excited, or is it just nervousness and panic for now?

[whodamoss.livejournal.com]

Do you listen to French songs? I recommend Les Wriggles; they're really good!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I should listen to more. Thank you! I have to download some of them.

[whodamoss.livejournal.com]

hmm..you don't have to download them; you can listen to them online at "radioblogclub.com". That's where i listen to it 'cuz downloading stuff causes my comp. to lagggg =P

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, neat! Thanks for that link; my computer is way slow with how much stuff I have on the harddrive already.

[whodamoss.livejournal.com]

aaah, and you're very welcome!~