What? – Random Ramblings

I keep coming across random posts online (in different places and I never remember to save those sources) about how people don’t really smirk or chuckle in real life and so you shouldn’t use those terms in writing (whether in original work or fanfiction.) Today I came across a post on Tumblr (where I am not a member, but like to randomly cruise through now and then for fun posts and random rants about history that all check out when I want to check for authenticity) that said,

those posts criticizing common writing patterns in fanfiction are so ******* harmful and they ruined me

so like yknow what??? People tell you to avoid “smirk” and “chuckle” as descriptors because no one does those things (???) but then when I need to use those words I have a ten minute crisis about how I’m a ****** writer. So heres my unwarranted writing advice: If you want your characters to smirk and chuckle ******* let them and don’t let anyone tell you that no one smirks or chuckles because I do both on a daily basis whenever I tell a ****** pun, bye  –rowdyravens

I sat there for a moment and remembered running into all of those posts from before that say not to use smirk or chuckle and was really confused. For the first time, I realized that people genuinely think that no one smirks or chuckles in real life. I had not realized this before and had thought that those previous posts were jokes (or I was really tired when I read them and didn’t really take in what they were saying.)

Because quite a few of my family members genuinely smirk all the time. My dad does it (though he won’t admit to it) and he chuckles a lot. My eldest nephew is a pro at smirking (which is just all kinds of unfair, because I’m one of the few in my family that can’t do that at all) and has the deepest chuckle that I have ever heard in my life. (Which, again, is saying something because both of my brothers have some of the, previously believed to be, lowest voices in my family and they chuckle more often than they laugh. (How my 15-year-old nephew went from soprano to bass in his vocals seemingly over night, I will never know. Seriously, that kid didn’t have a voice that cracked even a little bit! My niece’s voice cracked a little when it change from first soprano to first alto/second soprano! That gangly kid is something else…)

So I hadn’t realized before this moment that many people believe that smirking or chuckling is something that only exists in literature rather than in real life.

I had to even stop and share this with my nephew and he didn’t believe for a moment because he is either being a straight man or sitting there smirking like a little brat.

And the chuckling! Over 90% of my life hearing my dad when he’s doing some kind of laugh has been listening to him chuckle! He doesn’t really laugh, he just quietly chuckles.

This is just really throwing me for a loop!

I- I must go do something else before I expend all of today’s energy being confused and ranting at posts on my computer.

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Moment in Time – Random Ramblings

So you know that one scene at the end of one of the Harry Potter books where Dumbledore tells everyone that the exams are cancelled and Hermione has a melt down because of it? I’ve had something like that happen to me before, so I kind of understand where she’s coming from.

Have you ever had a teacher detail a very important essay project that will be the largest part of your grade for a unit and let the whole class know that you have to use this very specific book as one of the sources, but that the only hard copy of it is available downtown at the university, but can’t be checked out because its one of the university’s course books? Everyone in your class (and the other periods that have that class too) have to use the book. (This was back before the internet had really taken off (and doesn’t that make me feel old) so you couldn’t really get another copy of a university’s textbook unless you went to that school. Keep in mind that we were also just teenagers who hadn’t really gone through most bookstores for university texts.) I don’t remember how long it was supposed to be or anything like that, but it seemed like a huge project to be given at the time.

We also had to have it done before the next big break in class.

Which was something like two weeks away (at most.)

Most of my class was hyperventilating or just staring at our teacher in horror.

Now me, it’s not that I’m particularly cool under pressure or anything like that, but I am used to having limited time to do something that seems pretty impossible or at least improbable. I’m used to chaos happening and having to make some kind of sense or even just a rough draft of a plan and then working with it like it’s never going to be more than a rough draft until I come across something that makes me have to change the plan.

So I’m sitting there thinking up ways this will work out because I’m already in after school classes downtown three times a week anyway, and it won’t be a problem with my mom if I head up to the university (which is also downtown) on the public transit on Fridays after the class to get info from the book. I’m rearranging in my head how to fit working on the essay itself and looking up other sources in the amount of time I have to work on it alongside the other extra classes that I’m taking (so that I can graduate. You try missing three quarters of your Junior year of high school because of health and still wanting to walk with your class and not take all the extra classes that you can. My Senior year of high school I was technically a student at three different high schools: the Electronic High School for my state (I don’t know if it’s still up and running or if it’s been absorbed by other programs by this point), my own high school that I went to for the day (and before school started for a before-school class there as well), and the high school downtown that did the after school class in conjunction with several other programs from throughout the county. I had three different student IDs that year.

Good times. Good times.

Anyways, I’ve got a pretty good plan on how to get this all done in my head when my teacher lets us know what the next unit will be.

It’s on Stress.

Let that sink in a moment.

The whole reason we were having to push this essay project was because we had run into timing problems and so had to fit a good month and a half worth of lessons into two weeks before the next unit we were supposed to be starting.

Which was about Stress.

The whole essay was nothing more than an example of the kinds of things we can and will run into all over the place once we leave high school (supposedly. I had been dealing with this kind of life for my entire life already. This was not a new thing for me, which was why I had a Plan. It was a good Plan!)

(breathes slowly)

Sorry. Even well over a decade later, I’m still easily worked up about this subject.

So my class, for the most part, let out this large sigh of relief when they realize they don’t have to fit this seemingly ridiculous project into their lives.

I screamed.

Quietly.

Or, well.

Mostly.

It was a very stressing moment to realize that I had put all of that work and rearranging and such in only to have it all be for nothing! I’m not exactly made of energy over here!

I’m quite honestly surprised that, other than my right arm spasm-ing and then freezing in a claw (which was painful, let me tell you) nothing worse happened.

Now imagine having to actually use said Plan for several weeks and then being told that the essay project (or exam) that you had been slaving away for so that your grade wouldn’t tank was then waved away with the assurance that it wasn’t needed, but that they hadn’t told you that until after all of the work that had gone into it.

So, yeah, I kind of sympathize with this fictional character having that happen to her.

I was just sitting on my bed and minding my own business while reading through a random fanfiction that hasn’t even updated in three years (doesn’t mean it won’t be. I have hope!) when that part of the story hit me and I had to pause and write this down. Mostly so it won’t vanish on me later and then stalk me whenever I’m trying to work on something else.

I have learned this.

Family Surprise! – Random Ramblings

Have you ever realized that moment when everything was fine and then it suddenly wasn’t.

And then you spent an hour calming youself down and then you were okay, you were cool, chill and all that.

And then Mom called and let you know that the trumpet that needs to be taken to the fix-it shop wasn’t just Great Granny’s trumpet but either Great Great Grampa’s or Great Great Great Grampa’s trumpet.

“And that’s when you realized you were turning into Dad, wasn’t it?” my brother asked us today.

Yes. The answer was yes.

The trumpet’s okay, but only someone who knows what she’s doing is allowed to touch that antique now and we’re all very greatful that our younger sister has a newer-ish trumpet that she’s willing to let our nephew borrow for band. (And also that it’s mouthpiece doesn’t jam every single time you put it in the lead pipe.)

(*Dies*) – Random Rambling Snippet

Excuse me while I go die on my bed.

We got railroad ties to make the fencing for the pig pen (it should actually keep them out of the goats this winter) and there is so much digging going on as we hurry to put them in the ground so they have time to settle before we put the rest of the fencing up before we get the pigs later this month.

We really need to get something on wheels that hauls heavy things from the front of the house to the very. Back. Of. The. Lot.

In other news at least it’s no longer sweltering here at night.

Not Born Alone – Random Ramblings

We must all be alone right by each other. –from Spamalot

 

I’ve heard that people are alone no matter what they do. That they were born alone and that they will die alone.

But…

But that can’t be right…

When someone is born they have to at least have a mother with them, right?

Where else would they have come from in the first place?

Why you do this?! – Random Ramblings

Was all ready for bed.

Mom was getting ready and glanced out her window.

That faces the back.

Where the goats live…

“Martha, I can’t tell if the goats are in our yard or on the other side of the back fence.”

“(sighs) I’ll go check it out, Mom.”

(*Puts on robe and slippers, the goats are probably just at the very back of the lot and the kids aren’t home from youth activities yet.)

(Gets to the back gate and realizes that only three of our goats are still in the yard (excluding the three that are in the buck pen and therefore unable to get out) and immediately breaks out into a run.)

“Why you do this, goats?!”

Thankfully most of them came back in quite easily.

Most of them.

Two of the goatlings ran up and down the fence freaking out while their mothers just stood next to me trying to get them to come in under the hole they’d all dug in the fence. It still worked out because my neighbors who live behind and slightly to the side of us helped me get those last two back in.

The Last – Random Ramblings

Was watching “Star Wars: Episode VII” for the first time (it’s April at the moment for me) with my nephews. Every time they mentioned the ‘last Jedi’ I had to stop myself from singing about “The Last Jedi Knight.” (Using the song “The Last Unicorn” as the music for it.)

Explanation on Revisits – Random Ramblings

My readers have probably noticed that I’ve been revisiting a lot of the older Dungeon Prompts recently. I like to go back over some of the prompts (read: all of them) and see what else I can ‘dig up from my soul’ as the prompts say. I’ve found that not only has my style of writing changed slightly since the first time I wrote for the prompts, but also that I can end up writing about something completely different from what I wrote before.

It’s interesting, to me, to see what different stories or poems or even reminiscences lurk within my mind and what will spring forth in response to the Dungeon Prompts that Sreejit has given us. I like to discover parts of myself that I didn’t know about, or maybe I did, but only in quick passing.

After all, is it not fun to revisit old friends?

Family Time – Random Ramblings

I sit here in the living room, listening to my sister teach her youngest how to make biscuits from scratch, just like our mother did with us. I listen to her teach him how to cook sausage with water first and then browning it after its cooked all the way through. Then I hear him inform his mother quite seriously that he already knows how to make scrambled eggs.

Breakfast is going to be all the most delicious when it’s done just listening to them work together in the kitchen.

Ruler of the World – Random Ramblings

So I have this problem with the game Risk. I spend two hours systematically destroying all but one of my opponents until there are only two of us left (usually my youngest brother) and we’re these titans on the board and it’s going to be a glorious battle to see who will be the ruler of the world. We both have mighty armies and vast resources at our disposal.

There’s also a 50-50 chance at that point that I’m still super aggressive and willing to take my rival down or go all passive and capitulate before we have another pass at the board.

This is why my younger brother likes it when it’s just the two of us left for the final battles in Risk, because there’s a 50 percent chance that I’ll go passive and he’ll win by default.