Kitchen Floors and Nano Rhinos

On Friday, my wash rack was closed. It didn't matter too much, at least not at first, because I was taking the Meter Reader Test. (It is a HARD test.) In the afternoon, I swept the floor, did the cardboard and cleaned three grease barrels.

Saturday was even better. A few weeks ago, my mom put new flooring in the kitchen. Well, it was lunch time, and I was looking for something to eat. In my socks, I lost traction, and was brought to the floor by my new best friend, gravity. It wouldn't have been so bad if the baby hadn't been right behind me. In midfall I twisted and ended up landing on my right wrist.

I had to wear a brace, and it cut down on my words per minute. My actual WPM is something like 30-40, even though those dumb sites say I type about 2. If I can do 300-400 words (or more!) in ten minutes, then I can certainly do 30 in a minute.

About the Rhino: My story just took a new turn. I decided last week that I would write about Rider's adventures as he travels across the New USA. God's Sister in Law told him too.

Well, I was reading the dare thread on the NaNoWriMo website, and I came across one that works perfectly.

There's this new religon. People worship "The Author." Pens and pencils are sacred. And The Author actually resembles me. So, for my story, The Author is God's Sister in Law. He married her sister, Muse. The are taking a couple thousand years for their honeymoon (I guess). So The Author is looking after all the planets God made. And messing them up.

"Oh, I just thought the human population was too big."

But this isn't necessarily true, it's just what some people believe.

Radio Stations and Love Letters

Okay, first to Crouchingtiger16 (boy I wish you had a shorter name *LST*) and Chris Shard: the reason I didn't say Mix 92.5 in my last post (the Tale From the Washrack) was copyright issue. I didn't want to get sued. But, yeah, that is their idea, a 'phrase that pays.'

And to Shard and Jeri, no and yes. I did write a letter to Mitch Elliott. Not a love letter, but a "I love your show, come read my blog!" letter. I really did. ANd in the next five minutes, my blog had a hit. I was excited all morning. Maybe it wasn't him, but I bet that it was. He told me I had a great idea, that they really should post their lyrics on their website for idiots like me. (Okay, he phrased it much more nicely. He said, "That's a great idea!"

I do plan on writing him a love letter. Not a "I'm a Stalker!" love letter, but a "If I ever saw you in person, my crush would disenigrate" love letter. After all, in a crush, somebody ends up crushed. And it won't be me!

About the "fire dude" as he has been dubbed. Often, the fire trucks fill up at the gas pumps behind my wash rack. Wednesday, I was washing away when one came by. Usually, I'm too busy to pay much attention to them. But one guy caught my eye. He smiled at me. I smiled back (he was cute!). He blushed. I blushed.

I told everyone that he had checked me out. My teacher told me, "Check him out. Get his social security number."

And maybe I will. Or at least his phone number.

Tales From the Washrack

The Following is an urban legand, passed down from car washer to car washer. (Okay, not really.)

About once a month at work we have an all-hands meeting that is suppose to raise our moral. This month, we were talking about our motto. I had spent all morning listening to the radio, to Elf 100 point 5.

I always hated coming into the lunch room to talk about dumb things. It was a waste of my time. Plus, the boss always picked on me, saying "I bet our car washer knows!" In fact, once we were talking about how to make another's co-worker's day. The boss was saying, "And what's a great way to greet your co-workers in the moring? I bet our car washer knows!" and I replied, "Leave me the Hell alone!" But that's a different story.

Today we were talking about our motto. Mr. Boss Man stands in front of all the workers, and says, "I'll bet everyone in here knows our motto! In fact, I'll bet our car washer knows!"

Someone snickered.

"No, really. I'll give everyone in this room twenty bucks if she doesn't know. Come on, kid, give us the Phrase the Pays!"

"Elf 100 point 5 is my favorite radio station," I say, and then turn bright red. See, on the station, they always ask calleres to give the "Phrase the Pays." He certanly phrased that question wrong! I still haven't lived it down.

She Says (Broken Radio Version)

This is the last of the parodies I wrote last week. It is a parody of "She Says" by Howie Day. Remember, I wrote this lamet when my radio's batteries were dead.

And when she says,
"You've won one million bucks"
I hope you know
She doesn't mean you
And when she comes along
And plays a new song
You'll never hear it
Your radio's broke
Yeah, yeah

"Mitch Elliott"

Okay, this one, I only knew the first line. It's to the tune of "Chariot" by Gavin Degraw. Mitch Elliott, for those who don't know is the best DJ on the Mix 92.5.

BTW, I was hungry when I wrote this. Also, yes, the lyrics changed, but only so that it'll make more sense.

Mitch Elliott
I ate his brunch
And now I must
Buy him lunch
Mitch Elliott
He's thinking out loud
He'll drive us
I provide us
Lunch

"Almost"

This is the first song that I made up when my radio's batteries died. See, the radio station that I listen to (Mix 92.5) sometimes plays versions of songs that go with what they're talking about (though half the time I have no idea what the subject is, song or no).

So I only remembered the first line to their parody of "Almost" by Bowling for Soup.

I almost went broke at the gas pump today
When I almost filled up my old Chevrolet
I almost went in to hold up the store
But decided I wouldn't when I tripped in the door
I almost moved on to buy laced lemonade
And I almost got crushed by the Macy Parade

(All 'cause I) Almost bought gas
But that really doesn't cut it
Almost bought gas
I almost wish I hadn't seen the price!

Reposting in the Near Future

I wanted to let everybody who scrolls down know that I am resposting the song lyrics that I sing at work, and adding a few new ones. I'm doing this because Shard asked me too (but he wouldn't say why).

So each song will get to include a short history. Like, who it was orignally by. So I'll have Almost and Mitch Elliot reposted, plus one new song and two bonus songs! (Maybe . . . the bonus songs are ones that I made up with NO help at all. This means they are NOT paradies and that I MADE the tune up.)

So . . . I'm gonna go ahead and start typing up Almost.

Characters: Again

About Orion and Rider . . . huh. Are they friends, or what?

Not really. And, at the same time, yes. They're co-workers. And while it is okay to be friends with co-workers, you cannot invite them to your birthday party.

Actually, you can, if you really want to. But Orion would not want to. Besides, she's about 30 years younger than him.

I know Orion sounds a little defensive in the interview, but, well, she was. And it would sound different if you heard it in person. She has a bit of a sense of humor, and so when she says stuff like, "I just used you as an excuse to stay," she's smiling. She's not kidding, but she's joking about it. Orion feels like she needed an excuse to stay behind when everybody was migrating to New York. And while she had lots of reasonable excuses, she mainly "blamed" it on Rider. Who, in turn, is kind of angry at Orion for staying just because of him.

Also, as a note, Orion didn't beat Rider up. That was a joke. I guess. I wonder what I was thinking when I wrote that . . . hmm.

Also, if you're one of those people bothered by spelling errors, don't do Nano. It'll really slow you down. That's why the interview is full of typos that I'm just now noticing. Also, if they sound a little out of character (which, believe me, they do) it's not only because I'm practicing writing fast, but also because I'm still tweaking their characteristics. I'm doing lots of prompts to get inside them. So maybe in a week or two I'll rewrite it to make them sound a little more in character. And make Orion calm down a little (was she having a bad day?)

Any, more prompts to come! And possibly, come November, novel.

NaNoWriMo Interview

Reporter: So, who do you think is the most importaint character?
Orion: (looks around) Um, you know, in at least 2/3 of the novel, I'm the only character. Not just the only char, but the only person period. If I'm not the most importaint, I don't know who is.
Rider: Just because I'm going to leave doesn't mean I'm anyless importaint.
Orion: Right. It makes you a dead beat.

Repoter: Oh, so Orion must be the author's favorite.
Rider: No. Orion stayed behind because of me. If I didn't do have the stuff I'm going to do, Orion wouldn't even be alive to tell the story.
Orion: I just used you as an excuse to stay.

Reporter: Do you think you got what you deserved?
Orion: Hey, you. I dunno who you think you is [sic], but I'll have you know the story ends before it's all over. Rider will never find out the truth about what happened when he left until next year's Nano!
Rider: What truth?
Orion: Never mind.

Reporter: How will the story end?
Orion: Oh, Rider comes home and I beat him up for leaving me.
Rider: Orion! You're not suppose to give it away!
Orion: New flash! Nobody cares how it ends! Besides, all you have to do is read the beginning to see how it ends.

Character Prompt: Interview

This is Orion's Interview for the City car-washing job. I wrote just under 250 words in the time it took to play "Old City Bar" by some orchestra that I can't remember. TSO is their initails. I could look, but I'm lazy like that. The song lasts 6:17.

Orion stood in front of the new City building. She was trying to get a job as the car washer, at least temperaroly. She just really wanted the money. She knew that if she could get a job with the city, she could move up, which meant that eventually, she would make enough money to move out of the Slums.

She walked in, a little nervous. Was this the right place? Oh, please, let it be the right place. If it was wrong, she couldn’t get the job. She had not ever really left the Slums. She lived on the corner of L and A streets. This was as far away from her house as one could get and still be in the City.

“Hello,” an oldish man said.

“Hello,” she said, and took his hand firmly, as she had learned from the Mexicans who lived nearby. She nodded to the other man.

“My name is Orion.”

The younger man opened his mouth, but Orion beat him to it.

“Yes, like the constellation.”

He opened his mouth again.

“Yes, I get tired of hearing that.” Not entirely true. She didn’t tire of people asking what she was named after, but asking if she ever got tired of it.

“Um, this isn’t a real formal interview. We just have some questions . . . do you mind getting wet and dirty.”

“Oh, that’s fine with me. I can tolerate it just fine.”

My NaNo User Name

My Nano user name is TheMaskedCokie

Why The Masked Cokie? Well, that's a 50k story in itself. This blog probably the only thing not under TMC. And I've seriously thought about changing it from time to time. I mean, everyone calls me Roo excepting my mom, but I always sign things as TMC. And by "things" I mean "graffitti realated," not offical "give us your initals" thing.

Actually, I think I will. Hold up a second.

I Got It!

I got a title! I was reading some of NaNoWriMo's forums, and came across a random title generator. It was so cool. I came up with several random titles that I thought might work: Dying Shard, The Final Storms, Last Tears, and The Forgotten Ones.

Dying Shards was really weird, because in the original RPG, the guy who worked in water was Chris Shard. (I bet nobody knows how my friend Shard fits it!) Anyway, I was thinking that shard was a good part of a title. So I thought of Orion talking with Rider:

"We're kind of like shards. Shard of a society. The last shards."

And so, I came up with a working title: Last Shards.

Tell me what you think!

What I Do At Work

I sing. Songs. Poorly.

I can't remember the lyrics so I make up my own.

Here's my favorite, a parody of "Almost" by Bowling for Soup.

I almost went broke at the gas pump today
When I almost filled up my old Chevrolet
I almost went in to hold up the store
But decided I wouldn't when I tripped in the door
I almost moved on to buy laced lemonade
And I almost got crushed by the Macy Parade

(All 'cause I) Almost bought gas
But that really doesn't cut it
Almost bought gas
I almost wish I hadn't seen the price!

My other favorite that I sing is about the morning DJ on Mix 92.5 "Seattle's Best Mix", Mitch Elliot. It's to the tune of "Chariot" by Gavin Degraw:

Mitch Elliot
I ate his lunch
And now I must
Buy him brunch
Mitch Elliot
He's thinking out loud
He'll drive us
I provide us
Brunch

NaNoWriMo

I just signed up for National November Writing Month (or something like that). Basically, I need to 50,000 words in the month of November. That's a little under 1667 words a day.

Is that possible? With my full-time job, and school? Well . . . I guess we'll find out.

Plant and Human Life

What affects did the Haze have on life?

Plants were generally affected in a good way. Despite the block on sunlight (which Washington plants rarely see anyway), they grow very well. In fact, better.

One of the new plants to sprout up was the famous "Bubble plant." This plant resembles suds, like when one is washing cars and gets some on the cement (bet you never guess where I got the idea . . .). It is a very fragile plant that you can leave footprints in. It grows on cement, esp. in the cracks.

Animals seem relitivly unaffected by the Haze, esp cows. Apes, however, were too much like humans. Some humans who were immune (like Orion) or saved and kept indoors (like Rider). Other affects are unknown. They haven't been around it long enough. Maybe they'll suddenly get superpowers (but don't count on it.)

The Weather In Lakey, Wa

There's a reason it's called "Lakey." Maybe.

In Lakey it rains nine months a year. Kind of like Seattle (See it all?). Some years it rains non-stop, but most years it just rains at least once a day. The rains can start anytime in September or October, and end accordingly, to the day.

The other three months it is hot. June, July and August. The temperature rises and rises during these months reaching 80+ degrees. It cools quickly in September.

I am now feilding new ideas for Lakey. (The actual RRG won't be up until I get some free time, say the weekend, AND I've got all the info I need to make the homepage. If you're interested in helping, please let me know.) Anyway, if you've got any questions about LCH, let me know.