I looked through some old posts about milestones and kudos, and found this one of my own from 4.5 years back: https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog-entry/62570/milestone. It seems almost quaint, talking about pushing over 100 Kudos and such. My latest off-dashing, Still Another Dress Code, posted last Tuesday, zoomed up to 100 Kudos in a couple days, and is now at 126.
Just now, I had reason to search, "cowgirls don't get mad". Along with the (single) result that I was looking for, the search system offered this suggestion: "cowgirl donut get mad".
I was surprised that the single result was a Bru story. But it had the sequence I was looking for.
I've just finished a story -- a real story, the first in a couple of years at least, and I'm supposed to wait a couple weeks, then go back and revise the story. At least that's what I've advised everyone else. But the very idea of this makes me really antsy.
Rising before the sun: a bright Venus. The first time I saw it, it was next to the moon. At 7am, the sky was possibly still twilight, but definitely blue. I saw the moon, and Venus in the blue -- not nearly as bright or big, but a distinct white point.
High in the sky in the other direction, almost opposite the sun. A *very* bright pink Mars. The first time I saw it a few days ago, I'd gone outside for something, and spotted that very bright pink dot. Did something go supernova? No, just Mars.
Electric potential is also called "voltage" as in the number of volts. Electric current is sometimes called the "amperage". Power, especially electric power, is sometimes called the "wattage". Area when measured in acres is sometimes called "acreage". Have I ever seen "poundage" as in weight in pounds?
So what is "garbage"? There's also "suffrage," by the way. "Universal Suffrage".
NPR has an interview about Dr. Anthony Fauci. The interviewee is Michael Specter, writer for the New Yorker and bioengineering instructor at Stanford University. He also wrote about Dr. Fauci in "The New Yorker".
The latest about experts, "experts", and talking heads leads me to risk having my head chopped off again, about scientific consensus.
Specifically, I refer to the consensus of scientists working in the subject matter at hand. Consensus means at least 90% agreement -- not mere majority agreement, and especially not "majority rules". 90% agreement, maybe more. (There are always, for various reasons, holdouts.)
You develop the proper empathy for a person's situation, and become a good and understanding listener. Later, you are in the proper position to take advantage of it.
Reversal Rings 3 -- Lost and Found
by Morpheus, as are the following two
Steve, depressed and overweight, living in the doldrums of an inescapeable life, finds the ring that was previously dropped by the 6yo girl who found himself in 14yo Jamie's body. Putting it on, he finds himself in Ross's girlfriend, Shiela.
This is quite a positive development for Steve. Shiela, once she tries calling home and hears her own voice, decides that she never really was Shiela but instead was always the overweight slob Steve. So she decides to get on with his life.
These were incomplete comments about a video about "Starlift" that was suggested. I added a few things, but it's nowhere complete as a review of the video.
Whenever I encounter a story involving science fiction transformation gender-changing, specifically involving changing one's DNA, I have serious trouble suspending my disbelief. I've always had trouble describing why, but I finally figured out how to describe the problem. (The explanation could never be a sound-bite.)
"... Great artists steal." -- Attributed to Igor Stravinsky
Someone at http://www.wattpad.com borrowed my story "Our Daughter's Prom Date", and made superficial changes before posting it as her own. She wimped out at the end, regarding who was taking whom to the Prom.
I clicked on a solo that looked interesting ("Okay Okay" by Andrea von Tease), and noticed some interesting stats:
Comments: 11
Total views: 1,111
Of course, this happens often in fiction with a humorous bent. The movie "Murder by Death" had a Mr. Lionel Twain, living in a mansion with the address, "22 Twain". A radio episode of Abbott and Costello, guest-starring Peter Lorre, featured a sinister (hospital?) where they visited, at midnight ("when the moon is down"), at the address, "1313 Grave's End Road".
Here's a situation: I've named a certain character Orville. Yet for some reason, I always think of him as "David", and have to forcibly correct myself.
Has this happened to others? Does it often happen?
I gave myself a challenge here, to finish the first (clean) draft of a story that evening and sit on it a week before revision. Clearly I didn't make it, but the first draft is done now -- only off by three and a half weeks.
Now let's see if I can avoid looking at it for a week or so (six days might suffice) before reading and revising it.
Watching the news out of a quarter-eye, as TS Harvey drenched the city, I saw several discussions of a rotating system at the southwest part of the Gulf of Mexico. The consensus was that nothing would come of it, but they were monitoring it just in case.
A couple weeks later: Hurricane Katia had formed from that system, and hit Mexico. Its remnants emerged into the Pacific Ocean and reformed into Pacific Hurricane Otis.
I've just inched across another milestone: my first story to reach 10,000 hits, "John's Living Nightmare", just inched across today. It's the story with by far the most views, although very low (0.72%) kudoage.
2nd: The first four parts to "A Bikini Beach Summer" with over 5000 hits.
3rd: "BB: A Boy's Visit" with over 4000 hits.
4th: "The Family Council" inched over 3000 hits two or three weeks ago, IIRC.
5th: "Our Daughter's Prom Date" might reach 3000 hits in a few weeks.
I was reading (and commenting on) Haylee V's hilarious flash, "The Mandela Shift", and I was flattered to catch this near the bottom:
The first sixteen parts (five postings) of my long Bikini Beach story are considered "more like this" even though there's absolutely no resemblance to this story.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
