Of leftovers and gauntlets

Shh... I'm watching the game. But I need something to distract me else I'll chew every last fingernail or scrub the enamel clean off the tub. I usually pace, but that's not doing the trick today.

Here are a few leftovers that didn't find their way onto the page this week.  Not because they aren't worthy little pieces, but because I plumb forgot them:

Did you know that areas of the rainforest in Washington State receive SIX FEET of rain a year? Awesome.

(second half just beginning. United are down 1-0. Very nervewracking.)

Librarians reverse names.  It works like this: when I write a book, it will be called

Of Something Wonderful   

Stories in Fragments 

By Tess Lighthouse.

A librarian sees that book thusly:

100 10  $aLighthouse, Tess.
245 00 $aOf something wonderful :$bstories in fragments/$cby Tess Lighthouse.

You see how that worked?  The first line which gives author information reverses first and last names, while in the title area, my name is given straight on.  Also, librarians are choosey about capitalization.

Now and then I come across a name that makes me giggle. (I make no pretensions of maturity) Some are funny because, well, they could go either way. Names like Robert Michael, or Scott Jack.  Some are funny because, well, they just are.  For example, Mr. Rupert The, who would become The Rupert.  That's worth a giggle, isn't it?  My all-time favourite library name, though, comes by way of the great cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, whose name in library catalogues becomes Ma Yo-Yo.  I can hear young children arguing - "It's ma yo yo!"  "Is not, it's ma yo yo!" That delights my inner child no end.


Also at work this week, I cried three times.  Once was listening to Someone like you, by Adele. I've heard it countless times, but that day it sunk deep into my hormones and had me sniffling into a hanky. (Hanky sounds nicer than Kleenex)  A second time was looking through a book about fathers of sick children, and the third was while roughing out a post for another blog I write for. I think it's good that readers don't see the rough drafts of finished pieces. Tear splotches and coffee stains and crossed out lines would, I fear, tarnish the fantasy that writers are able to pull complete manuscripts out of the ether of their imagination.

Cooking the Pantry update.
It took me all week to finish the Hint O'Chicken Casserole. I must try to think of something interesting to do with the Asian style frozen veggie mix I seem to keep buying, though I never like them once they're cooked as they turn out limp and damp no matter how I prepare them.  Ideas greatly appreciated.

(United lost the match.  Heart is broken for Giggs.)

Have you ever podcasted?  I'm thinking of trying my hand at a podcast.

And now for the gauntlet:
To any of you writers out there, I think it would be fun to attempt a real-time writing challenge together.  We'd select a set time to meet online, we'd be given a challenge - a word or theme or style - a deadline, and then regroup after to share the results.  What say you?