Laundry and other things
May. 28th, 2007 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katiefooleryIt’s been quite some time since I last updated my LJ… and even then, it was just a ficlet. This is mostly because I suspect that not many people want to hear about my exciting morning doing the laundry or the thrills of standing over the central heating vent in the kitchen in order to defrost myself (usually after coming in from taking the laundry to the dryer – non-stop thrills!).
I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
And of course, it’s around this time that LJ tells us they’ll be providing permanent accounts for sale soon. I’ve longed for a permanent account since just about forever but I don’t think I could justify it if I’m only updating once a fortnight. If that. Of course, irony will ensure that I’ll start updating like mad the minute the permanent acccount sale is over, but I’m prepared for that.
So, what have I been doing?
Apart from the laundry?
Well, yesterday, I spent quite some time wailing, yelling and swearing at my iPod mini, due to the fact that it decided to die. Again. CURSED PIECE OF PINK RUBBISH.
No, I take that back. Well, not the bit about its being pink… but everything else. I adore you, little (unfortunately pink) iPod. Won’t you consider coming back to life? Again?
Because if it doesn’t, I’m seriously going to consider smashing it into many, many pieces with the nearest available heavy object. Or perhaps I could take it outside and throw it against a wall – either way, I’m sure I’d feel better after getting all that frustrated rage out.
So I have no iPod and my iriver player is still being daft, on top of having the worst shuffle function in the whole of existence. Oh, it’s nothing but angst around here.
In less angsty news, it seems as though our landlords have decided not to sell right now. How much this has to do with the fact that a developer has put in an application to build four townhouses directly across the road is anyone’s guess… but my guess is that it was a major factor in changing our landlords’ minds. Of course, this means we’ll have to put up with the sound and disruption of construction but I’d far rather do that than move.
Then again, I’d far rather coat my head in honey and stick it in a bucket of ants than move, so that’s not saying very much.
The rest of my time seems to be taken up with being a beta. Which I still love. If I could do that and be paid for it, then I’d be very happy indeed. I very rarely find my brain falling asleep during beta-ing. And I never have to deal with the sort of students I was dealing with last Thursday when I’m beta-ing. That’s a huge appeal all in itself.
And that is why I haven’t been updating. Unless you want to hear all about commas and how fascinated I am by the way people use them.
I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
And of course, it’s around this time that LJ tells us they’ll be providing permanent accounts for sale soon. I’ve longed for a permanent account since just about forever but I don’t think I could justify it if I’m only updating once a fortnight. If that. Of course, irony will ensure that I’ll start updating like mad the minute the permanent acccount sale is over, but I’m prepared for that.
So, what have I been doing?
Apart from the laundry?
Well, yesterday, I spent quite some time wailing, yelling and swearing at my iPod mini, due to the fact that it decided to die. Again. CURSED PIECE OF PINK RUBBISH.
No, I take that back. Well, not the bit about its being pink… but everything else. I adore you, little (unfortunately pink) iPod. Won’t you consider coming back to life? Again?
Because if it doesn’t, I’m seriously going to consider smashing it into many, many pieces with the nearest available heavy object. Or perhaps I could take it outside and throw it against a wall – either way, I’m sure I’d feel better after getting all that frustrated rage out.
So I have no iPod and my iriver player is still being daft, on top of having the worst shuffle function in the whole of existence. Oh, it’s nothing but angst around here.
In less angsty news, it seems as though our landlords have decided not to sell right now. How much this has to do with the fact that a developer has put in an application to build four townhouses directly across the road is anyone’s guess… but my guess is that it was a major factor in changing our landlords’ minds. Of course, this means we’ll have to put up with the sound and disruption of construction but I’d far rather do that than move.
Then again, I’d far rather coat my head in honey and stick it in a bucket of ants than move, so that’s not saying very much.
The rest of my time seems to be taken up with being a beta. Which I still love. If I could do that and be paid for it, then I’d be very happy indeed. I very rarely find my brain falling asleep during beta-ing. And I never have to deal with the sort of students I was dealing with last Thursday when I’m beta-ing. That’s a huge appeal all in itself.
And that is why I haven’t been updating. Unless you want to hear all about commas and how fascinated I am by the way people use them.
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no subject
on 2007-05-28 07:27 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-28 07:28 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-28 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-28 07:57 am (UTC)Riiiiiiight.
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on 2007-05-28 09:07 am (UTC)*hugs*
maybe if you bake the iPod in the oven for a while - it worked for Clare's phone, at least for a while :D
no subject
on 2007-05-28 09:22 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-28 11:12 am (UTC)Mmm, commas. You want me to use them more, you pesky non-Brit you. *hugs her empty spaces where you don't really need commas unless you want the text to look polka-comma'd*
And you should really consider finding work as a copyeditor. Enthusiasm and love for the work were two massive factors, I reckon, that helped me secure my job, and you've got them in buckets.
no subject
on 2007-05-28 11:20 am (UTC)Heh - usually, I would have made all of those comma tags red but I just made them suggestions instead. I seem to sit half-way between British and US comma use myself, so I try to adapt myself to the style of whatever I'm working on. And your style definitely said "I have enough commas, thanks", so I didn't want to force any more on you. :D
Thanks for the encouragement! That's actually kind of cheering, really, considering all I really have is a Bachelor of Arts (and my writing major, I suppose).
no subject
on 2007-05-28 11:25 am (UTC)Basically, you'd be surprised what will help you get a job. Don't feel like you're committed to one career path. Do see if there's any more experience you can get -- if I see any more fiction magazines asking for slush readers, I'll let you know; they crop up every now and then.
no subject
on 2007-05-28 11:42 am (UTC)It seems that it doesn't matter what you put in this here lj, you know exactly how to deliver it, so that even the laundry can sound like headline news. Keep it up puh-lease
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on 2007-05-28 12:37 pm (UTC)And commas. *hugs them* They're such tiny little things to cause so much controversy, yes? For me, commas:writing::breath marks:flute playing. Maybe not always necessary (because really, we know when we need to breathe, right?) but sometimes they keep us from turning blue before we reach the end of a phrase. :-)
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on 2007-05-28 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-28 12:51 pm (UTC)Thank-you muchly for your lovely words, good Tanya. *hugs*
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on 2007-05-28 01:04 pm (UTC)Good to have you back, even if it's only to curse the pink mini Ipod. :)
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on 2007-05-28 01:04 pm (UTC)Not that I have any money to throw around like that. :(
Ooh, you're a flautist, too! I do like that analogy there. It's just a matter of balancing that phrasing with the dictates of grammar - and it's so frustrating when they don't agree.
(I'm just doing a final pass on your story at the moment, by the way. Hopefully, I should get it to you before I go to bed.)
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on 2007-05-28 01:13 pm (UTC)Commas are quite fascinating, really. It's so hard to say exactly what's right and wrong when using them, simply because different English-speaking countries have different rules.
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on 2007-05-28 01:58 pm (UTC)To be honest, my use of commas was an area of stability and certainty to me until I was introduced to the Internet.
These days I find myself constantly questioning my grammar because I have been exposed to so much that is, shall we say, less than perfect.
It's confusing.
no subject
on 2007-05-28 02:02 pm (UTC)I'm so pleased you don't have to move babe! Mostly because it means that there is no excuse for you not to come and visit us here! Hooray!!!
(Selfish be my middle name :D)
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on 2007-05-28 02:20 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-28 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-28 09:43 pm (UTC)My comma situation is exactly the same as yours - the internet seems to have corrupted me into picking up different rules and half-employing them in my writing.
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on 2007-05-29 04:12 am (UTC)There is something so satisfying about getting laundry done that no other mundane home task offers. I've been doing a lot of it as well, though it's often a perilous affair as my washing machine has been known to randomly spit parts out across the room during its cycle.
A pox on that misbehaving iPod. :(
no subject
on 2007-05-29 06:04 am (UTC)stupid pink evil thing.
And I like how you like the beta-ing... it means if I ever finish something you can't say you won't edit it for me, because HA! you've just admitted you like it! :P
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on 2007-05-29 06:16 am (UTC)I have a grammar question! It just occurred to me to ask you, as it was puzzling me earlier today... Not about commas, though.
Which is correct:
China and it's one child policy...
or
China and its one child poilcy...
?
I always thought that if the policy is China's, then it belongs to China, and so needs an apostrophe... My textbook and Word say differently. I don't trust Word though :P I trust you! :D
:D
no subject
on 2007-05-29 06:43 am (UTC)China and its one child policy...
This is because "its" is the neutral equivlant of words like "hers" and "theirs" (which also don't require apostrophes). The best thing to do in situations like this is to see if you can substitute "it is" for the "it's". If we try it on your sentence, it reads like this: China and it is one child policy... Since that doesn't make any sense, then you know to leave the apostrophe out. :D
Thank-you for trusting me over Word! (Even though I'm actually agreeing with it this time. :D )
*hugs the Rilla*
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on 2007-05-29 06:57 am (UTC)I quite liked the iriver, apart from the shuffle thing and the bit where it decided I wasn't allowed to put songs on it any more. The problem is that I'm addicted to buying music from the iTunes store and even though I know how to get iTunes-bought songs onto a non-iPod player, it's still fiddly and takes time and... the effort, yeah?
I'm sure the pinkness has contributed no end to its evilness, though.
Hey! You weren't meant to hold that against me! I'll edit for you if you cook for me. :D
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on 2007-05-29 06:59 am (UTC)I find laundry quite satisfying, too - I'm very glad I'm not alone in that. And I'm quite glad my washing machine doesn't try to attack me the way yours does.
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on 2007-05-29 07:06 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-29 07:23 am (UTC)(It's so good to have you back on LJ, Naelany.)
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on 2007-05-29 07:24 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-29 03:43 pm (UTC)Glad to be back ^_^
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on 2007-05-29 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-29 09:35 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-29 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-31 11:11 am (UTC)*hugs the Bunne*