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Good News: I finished my Ex Machina redlines! The world may conga with me now. I've been slogging through those suckers while working on other stuff for what feels like forever. At the end, though, I had an epiphany with the help of my husband's commentary. I was able to make it make sense to my brain, rearrange some things, and I think I've come out with a far stronger piece than I went into with the redlines. At the very least, I'm far happier with it. It's not your normal cyberpunk world, but I think that's still just fine.
Bad News: I am still getting over this nasty cold/light flu thing I've got. I haven't felt feverish today, but any little thing can send me over the edge into "I can't deal with this!" mode.
Bad News: The ball joint is going out on my car.
Good News: I discovered this when I took it in to be checked over before its warranty ran out. The entire thing is covered and paid for. :)
More Good News: I have found a nifty school for my boys. We all went to look at it Monday, and the appliations are in. It's a charter school, and everything about it seems like it'll be a huge improvement for them both. They have a hydroponic greenhouse, and they gave us produce to take home, including a huge head of lettuce and a 2 ft. long cucumber. Ye Gods.
More More Good News: I can officially afford my trip to GTS!
It's also time to get back on the question horse again. Today's Contributions are from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
adamjury and trollbabe.
From Adam:
1. You just had a birthday. What's your fondest birthday memory?
Hmmm. Most of the time, my birthday's always gotten passed over. It falls just soon enough after the holidays that people are usually broke, so I don't get to have big parties or anything. Add in my unfortunate unpopularity as a child, and I can't say there are a lot of really good birthday things that have happened. There is one, though...
I was a teenager, and I absolutely loved the theatre. I was a sucker for old movies anyway, especially musicals. I'd gotten to see a little bit of theater on school field trips, usually educational stuff like adaptations of classic short stories or something, but I was so hooked. I wanted nothing more to run up on stage and go with the actors, wherever they were going next and whatever they were going to do, just so long as they'd take me with them. I could have died happy doing that. Not that it was ever actually an option, of course, but if sheer desire could have made it happen, I would have.
Anyway, West Side Story was playing in a nearby community theater, and for my birthday my mom got tickets for she and I to go. I didn't get anything else that year that I remember (maybe clothes or something), but I went to lunch with my mom, then went to a matinee of West Side Story. That was the best birthday I ever remember having. Ever.
2. You seem to have pretty strong emotional reactions to some movies, but I don't remember you mentioning ever having such a reaction to a book. Do you ever get really emotional over a book? - not counting anger towards projects you're working on, of course. . .
Oh yeah. Not usually negative ones, but they're there. I don't read Steinbeck because he always gives me one depressing, gross and disturbing visual that stays with me for the rest of my life. The Red Pony, The Black Pearl, The Grapes of Wratch, Of Mice and Men... ugh. I don't read a lot of horror for the same reason. If it doesn't all turn out okay in the end, it's usually not worth the journey it took to get me there. Another famous visceral reaction was when I was reading Yukio Mishima's short story, "Patriotism." We were reading it aloud in a class on death and dying, and in the suicide scene, my teacher sent me from the room because I'd turned such a worrisome shade of green and looked like I was about to pass out.
In general, though, I'll laugh or cry or grin or otherwise be totally immersed. It doesn't take me as long to recover from it with books, though. I get even more caught up in movies, and can take a few days to get over, at least if it's a negative emotion. I think I just never learned how to properly distance myself from what I read. This is both a good and bad thing, but what can you do?
3. You post embarassing stories about your kids on a regular basis. Do you think this will scar them as they grow older and realize that any stranger on the internet can read about them?
Nah. They'll have a surprising number of friends in the same boat. :)
4. Are there any particular authors who you would like to work with, but have not had the chance to yet?
Um... This year has answered a lot of those for me, actually. I'd love to do more licensed work that might give me a chance to meet some non-gaming authors, and I'd really like to work with some of the big D20 guys like Monte Cook and Mike Mearls. Other than that, though, I'm just enjoying what I have coming down the line.
5. Does the new car have a name yet?
Hamster. It is the Hamster.
And now, from Thorn.
1. Where were you born, and where did you grow up?
I was born in Kingfisher, OK, which is my mom's hometown. It's a small town about 45 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. I spent from birth to 3 years old living in various places in northern Oklahoma, then in Oklahoma City for two years (which is were most of my earliest memories start) and then from there to Temple, OK (home of a whopping 1100 people) around 6 yrs old. I lived there until I graduated high school (and am there currently).
2. Describe your Ultimate Breakfast Platter. (okay, so I'm hungry... ;) )
Hmmm. Fresh strawberries and nectarines with real sweetened whipped cream, whole wheat toast with fresh butter and honey or good orange marmalade, eggs benedict OR a bacon/veggie omelet, bottomless orange juice, and ice water.
3. Pretending we're all with the super-buffness around here, what "Extreme Sport" would you take up and why?
Hmm. I'd have to say snowboarding.
4. How did you feel when you first learned you were going to become a parent?
Panicked. Good soon after, but panicked nonetheless.
5. Given unlimited resources to do so, what subject would you study/research and why?
Hmm. I think I'd take myself to Europe and study either classical languages and linguistics, or else Elizabethan literature/theatre and its effects on society at the time and on the authors and playwrights that came after it.
THE RULES:
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
Bad News: I am still getting over this nasty cold/light flu thing I've got. I haven't felt feverish today, but any little thing can send me over the edge into "I can't deal with this!" mode.
Bad News: The ball joint is going out on my car.
Good News: I discovered this when I took it in to be checked over before its warranty ran out. The entire thing is covered and paid for. :)
More Good News: I have found a nifty school for my boys. We all went to look at it Monday, and the appliations are in. It's a charter school, and everything about it seems like it'll be a huge improvement for them both. They have a hydroponic greenhouse, and they gave us produce to take home, including a huge head of lettuce and a 2 ft. long cucumber. Ye Gods.
More More Good News: I can officially afford my trip to GTS!
It's also time to get back on the question horse again. Today's Contributions are from
adamjury and trollbabe.From Adam:
1. You just had a birthday. What's your fondest birthday memory?
Hmmm. Most of the time, my birthday's always gotten passed over. It falls just soon enough after the holidays that people are usually broke, so I don't get to have big parties or anything. Add in my unfortunate unpopularity as a child, and I can't say there are a lot of really good birthday things that have happened. There is one, though...
I was a teenager, and I absolutely loved the theatre. I was a sucker for old movies anyway, especially musicals. I'd gotten to see a little bit of theater on school field trips, usually educational stuff like adaptations of classic short stories or something, but I was so hooked. I wanted nothing more to run up on stage and go with the actors, wherever they were going next and whatever they were going to do, just so long as they'd take me with them. I could have died happy doing that. Not that it was ever actually an option, of course, but if sheer desire could have made it happen, I would have.
Anyway, West Side Story was playing in a nearby community theater, and for my birthday my mom got tickets for she and I to go. I didn't get anything else that year that I remember (maybe clothes or something), but I went to lunch with my mom, then went to a matinee of West Side Story. That was the best birthday I ever remember having. Ever.
2. You seem to have pretty strong emotional reactions to some movies, but I don't remember you mentioning ever having such a reaction to a book. Do you ever get really emotional over a book? - not counting anger towards projects you're working on, of course. . .
Oh yeah. Not usually negative ones, but they're there. I don't read Steinbeck because he always gives me one depressing, gross and disturbing visual that stays with me for the rest of my life. The Red Pony, The Black Pearl, The Grapes of Wratch, Of Mice and Men... ugh. I don't read a lot of horror for the same reason. If it doesn't all turn out okay in the end, it's usually not worth the journey it took to get me there. Another famous visceral reaction was when I was reading Yukio Mishima's short story, "Patriotism." We were reading it aloud in a class on death and dying, and in the suicide scene, my teacher sent me from the room because I'd turned such a worrisome shade of green and looked like I was about to pass out.
In general, though, I'll laugh or cry or grin or otherwise be totally immersed. It doesn't take me as long to recover from it with books, though. I get even more caught up in movies, and can take a few days to get over, at least if it's a negative emotion. I think I just never learned how to properly distance myself from what I read. This is both a good and bad thing, but what can you do?
3. You post embarassing stories about your kids on a regular basis. Do you think this will scar them as they grow older and realize that any stranger on the internet can read about them?
Nah. They'll have a surprising number of friends in the same boat. :)
4. Are there any particular authors who you would like to work with, but have not had the chance to yet?
Um... This year has answered a lot of those for me, actually. I'd love to do more licensed work that might give me a chance to meet some non-gaming authors, and I'd really like to work with some of the big D20 guys like Monte Cook and Mike Mearls. Other than that, though, I'm just enjoying what I have coming down the line.
5. Does the new car have a name yet?
Hamster. It is the Hamster.
And now, from Thorn.
1. Where were you born, and where did you grow up?
I was born in Kingfisher, OK, which is my mom's hometown. It's a small town about 45 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. I spent from birth to 3 years old living in various places in northern Oklahoma, then in Oklahoma City for two years (which is were most of my earliest memories start) and then from there to Temple, OK (home of a whopping 1100 people) around 6 yrs old. I lived there until I graduated high school (and am there currently).
2. Describe your Ultimate Breakfast Platter. (okay, so I'm hungry... ;) )
Hmmm. Fresh strawberries and nectarines with real sweetened whipped cream, whole wheat toast with fresh butter and honey or good orange marmalade, eggs benedict OR a bacon/veggie omelet, bottomless orange juice, and ice water.
3. Pretending we're all with the super-buffness around here, what "Extreme Sport" would you take up and why?
Hmm. I'd have to say snowboarding.
4. How did you feel when you first learned you were going to become a parent?
Panicked. Good soon after, but panicked nonetheless.
5. Given unlimited resources to do so, what subject would you study/research and why?
Hmm. I think I'd take myself to Europe and study either classical languages and linguistics, or else Elizabethan literature/theatre and its effects on society at the time and on the authors and playwrights that came after it.
THE RULES:
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-02-27 08:12 am (UTC)From:Alternative schools are simply public schools that use some alternative means of education theory, whether it's Montesorri or grouping ages together, or something like that. They usually have smaller class sizes, but don't depart too heavily from the standard curriculum.
Magnet schools happen when a large school district takes failing schools (generally in poor neighborhoods) and turns them into specialty elementary schools that focus on things like engineering, math, writing, arts, that sort of thing. The goal is to lure bright students and help revitalize the neighborhood. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
The last version, charter schools, are only available in some states. Oklahoma does not have them, so far as I can tell, but Texas does, as an example. Basically, someone (or a group of someones) can come up with a charter, an official document noting the ways in which they intend to teach the children of that school. They then submit that to the state department of education, who determines that the kids should be able to keep to the education standards of the state, and that nothing too wierd is in the charter.
If the department of education accepts the charter, then the school opens as a public school. Charter school have to meet certain testing requirements and such to stay open, but as long as the kids are keeping up with the kids in other public schools, there isn't a problem. If the children test poorly for a few years in a row, the charters are pulled and the school closes.
Charter schools are where you get some of the more untraditional ways of doing things. In this one, for example, the kids spend a lot of time in mixed age groups, it focuses on the use of computers in the classrooms, it has a lot of science stuff going one... discipline is running laps around the play ground or timeouts for the youngest students, and older students can earn estra days off from school for good behavior.
Other semi-common things are school uniforms, non-traditional discipline requirements, alternative class arrangements, alternative teaching methods, alternative curriculums... it's really a vast spread. Charter schools can be nearly anything.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-27 10:12 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2004-02-27 11:11 am (UTC)From: