why is everybody hip but me?
I'd rather have painted the house. I'd rather have painted the neighbor's house.
Who is the President of Mexico?
Bonus question: name three states of Mexico.
(Come on, you can do this. Mexico is our neighbor! Hint: there are, if I have made the right list, 32 Mexican states to choose from. I'm not even going to ask for capitals.)
Don't send me your answers. This is just a little way to expand your horizons. Honest.
Sunday night at the party for Mike at Buca di Beppo, Brent mentions this guy "Tom Green" and I'm like, "Who dat?" I'd never heard the guy's name before. Everybody at the table, who's seen Tom Green's show, explains Tom Green to me.
Then yesterday, Pamie mentions Tom Green.
Today, Stee (who also made the Nicholl quarterfinals--yay!) mentions Tom Green.
I'm sensing a groundswell. I'm sensing the big time.
I still don't wanna watch his show.
It's a good thing the Nicholl letter came yesterday. Because today I got one metric heap o' damnation with faint praise.
I had lunch with Michele over in Beverly Hills--we ate at Hamburger Hamlet, where you can set a spell and they refill your glass for free--and went over the last chapter I sent her. She started off by saying, "You know I think you're a great writer. You're a great writer. Honest."
At which point I said to myself, Oh dear.
I knew the chapter wasn't great. But she went after it with both barrels. Ouch. I nodded, I agreed, I said I was going to write a synopsis of the book next and she said that was a really great idea, so I went Ouch some more.
The same chapter got reviewed in class tonight. Many people liked it better than my first chapter, because it had scenes with interaction and dialogue and stuff. They liked the main character a lot, though they don't understand why, if I only use her POV, I don't write in first person. (Answer: whenever I write in first person, I start writing a journal entry.)
Then Jerrilyn weighed in. She started off by saying it was a great chapter. She then proceeded to tear it apart with a chainsaw. She spent so much time on it that I began to wonder if I should be flattered by the amount of energy she put into this. No one else got this level of detail of criticism.
Or maybe everyone else is a better writer.
Darin said I should feel flattered by the amount of time I got, because I absolutely hate it when I get no feedback at all, and he thinks I write better when I get negative feedback. I think he is trying to set up a mental pattern for me without it actually existing.
(Note to people giving feedback of any kind to anyone: whenever you want to say a good thing and a bad thing to someone, do not phrase it as "I really liked x, but..." The "but" ensures your listener will only hear the second half of the sentence. It completely negates the first half. Use and instead.)
Maybe I can't write fiction. Maybe I should be writing in first person. Maybe I should just crawl in a hole and eat Ben and Jerry's Phish Food until I feel better.
The answer to yesterday's question:
The provinces of Canada are
- British Columbia - Victoria
- Alberta - Edmonton
- Saskatchewan - Regina
- Manitoba - Winnipeg
- Ontario - Toronto
- Québec - Québec City
- New Brunswick - Fredericton
- Prince Edward Island - Charlottetown
- Nova Scotia - Halifax
- Newfoundland (& Labrador) - St. Johns
And the territories of Canada are
- Yukon Territory - Whitehorse
- Northwest Territories - Yellowknife
- Nunavut - Iqualuit (on Baffin Island)
And the capital of Canada is Ottawa.
I had two Canadians--Scott and Megan--helping me on this, and they disagreed slightly. (!!!) Scott said the province was called Newfoundland & Labrador, and Megan said it was Newfoundland. I suggest insults at dawn, followed by square dancing and a whole heap o' berry pie.
Nunavut is a new territory--it was carved out of the Northwest Territories as a homeland for the Inuit peoples. Evidently there was a referendum on what to call the remainder of the Northwest Territories, and a strong contender was "Bob," but the committee left it off the ballot. (It is entirely probable that Scott is pulling my leg about this, but it sounds like a Canadian thing to do.)
Darin and I got British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. I got Manitoba, he got Ontario and the Northwest Territories. I don't think either of us got any of the capitals. I guessed all the "obvious" ones, like Vancouver and Montréal. So much for my knowledge of our neighbor.
Best to keep an eye on them, though.
And that's enough Canada for now.
|
|
|
|
Copyright 1999 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com