The Overlook Hotel

« first day (1350 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (3511 days later) »

12:59 AM

@JasperLoy hey, I finally got a chance to get in here and do this! A day late, but oh well.

High school crush:

He opened his eyes to the cacophony of voices. Faces came into focus -- Mr. Jacobson, a man in uniform -- wait, police? -- and a giant towering over him. Was that the truck driver? He tried to clear the fog from his brain as he reached up and brushed broken glass from his hair.

"Don't try to move; you're hurt", someone behind him said. Another face came into view, a man wearing glasses in which flashing red lights were reflected. "We'll get you out of there, hold on", the stranger said.

Hands pulled him free of a jumble of metal and glass, pulled him onto a stretcher. "No wait, I'm …

@KitFox I like the image here that all the guys in the class had the hots for the two women, but what they didn't know is that one of the women had the hots for the other one. Nice. :-)

KitFox

Evening.

Monica Cellio

@KitFox hi, oh she of the blanked-out avatar! :-)

KitFox

It's in the wash.

I'm meant to be practicing, but instead I got sucked down a rabbit hole. You might could rescue me.

Monica Cellio

Ah. Yeah, those "really have to do laundry now" days can be inconvenient.

@KitFox I can try!

What are you meant to be practicing?

KitFox

Fiddle.

Monica Cellio

1:11 AM

Ooh. Do you play as part of a group, or on your own? You're taking lessons?

KitFox

Um.

I played violin very poorly as a child. I took up guitar when I started college and played a long while. My husband plays guitar better than I do. We're of Irish heritage, so we decided to play together.

So I picked up a fiddle.

We'll probably both take some lessons from a guy we know who is an excellent bluegrass player.

But not this year.

Monica Cellio

Cool. I've never been able to wrap my brain around fretted instruments, which is a shame because I like the sound of bowed strings and being able to play guitar would be handy. I had piano lessons as a kid (which has rotted, sadly) and play hammer dulcimer. I had a band for a while, and playing with other people helped motivate me to practice.

Are there differences in the instrument between fiddle and violin, or is it purely a difference of playing style? (By which I don't just mean musical style, but I have the impression the bowing technique might be different?)

KitFox

Mmm, dulcimer.

The instrument is the same. The hold is different.

Well, it can be.

I'm playing like it's a violin, under my chin with approximately correct form.

I have a ... can't think of the word for it. It goes under the body so it props against you correctly, but I stopped using it on the second day.

So that's more fiddleish.

Monica Cellio

@KitFox oh, yeah I think I know what you're talking about, and I don't know what it's called either. It's sort of like a little shelf, kind of.

Do you hold the bow differently too?

KitFox

I don't. Not sure if that's fiddling or not.

<grins>

The fun part for me is that I'm re-learning how to read music and scales and stuff. I don't remember knowing it, so I feel like I'm incredibly brilliant.

Except of course, I did know it, and it's just remembering it now.

Like how I played Twinkle, Twinkle just now. Of course I know how to play it, but I'd forgotten, so I feel like a prodigy.

But I'm too old to be a prodigy.

Monica Cellio

1:26 AM

The benefit of forgetfulness is that you can have new experiences. :-) And yeah, even though I learned to read music with those piano lessons, I had to relearn some things when I started singing in a choir many years later, and I started playing dulcimer around the same time. (I can usually play melodies by ear, but I prefer to have music, and I'm terrible at working out harmonies by ear.)

KitFox

Oh, I know what you mean.

Monica Cellio

@KitFox you're never too old. :-)

KitFox

Do you still play dulcimer?

Monica Cellio

Yes, though not enough unfortunately. We shut down the band because we were all busy (and it was a background hobby, not a play-out-every-weekend thing), and I lost my motivation. But you have motivation -- you have somebody to play with! So you should practice. :-)

KitFox

I am, in between typing messages.

That was I'll Tell Me Ma. I'm sure you recognized it.

I'll play it again, better this time.

Monica Cellio

1:32 AM

Nice. Oh, good save from that one note -- a slur is a musician's way of saying "I meant to do that". :-)

KitFox

Oh it was a transposition error. My husband wants to play it in D.

And I'm having a hell of a time finding C#.

Monica Cellio

@KitFox oh, yeah, transposing on the fly is a PITA. And C#s must be rough.

KitFox

Hahaha.

I picked it up again last week, I think, so the fact that I've got G, D, and C scales down (sort of) is not too shabby.

Monica Cellio

In one week? Nice!

KitFox

Well, I mentioned that I've done it before...so it's not as impressive as I'm pretending.

Do you still sing in choir?

Monica Cellio

1:44 AM

Yup. It's an SCA choir, so we sing renaissance (and occasionally medieval) music. We practice every Monday night. We've just gotten some new members and are up to 20 now, wowza.

Stack Exchange

Q: About Page of Website: Critique, Clichés, Commas/Dashes

I replaced a comma between "simply" and "preserving" with a dash because I felt that A) isolating "We design our products simply" was effective, and B) I wanted to break up and clarify the sentence. Did I choose correctly? Where might commas/dashes be used most effectively in the following two s...

KitFox

@MonicaCellio Oh wow, that's sounds like so much fun. I've thought about trying to get involved in our SCA, and that was one of the things I thought I'd like to do.

I wish I had some rosin.

Monica Cellio

@KitFox rosin is hard-core; our choir just uses water.

KitFox

I meant for my bow, right now.

Monica Cellio

I've found that SCA choirs are very welcoming and friendly -- if you want to sing, come join us, seems to be the attitude.

@KitFox I figured, but I couldn't help but notice the juxtaposition with the previous message. :-)

KitFox

1:49 AM

<grins> Twas rather ambiguous.

Do you have a writing blog?

Also, does this sound at all like Leaving of Liverpool to you? The notes sound all wrong to me, but maybe it's just the way I'm playing them.

Monica Cellio

@KitFox I have an everything blog, but not writing-specific. (It's linked from my profile.)

@KitFox 'fraid I don't know Leaving of Liverpools, sorry.

KitFox

Eh. The squeaks are telling me it's time to put it down for the evening.

Thanks for keeping me company.

Monica Cellio

2:05 AM

You'e welcome! Have a good rest of evening.

1 hour later…

Monica Cellio

3:10 AM

To put this another way, 4 votes implies the mod writing the post, the other two mods, and 2 other community members. That's a poor basis for a major change to community policy. SO: Have an opinion? Please vote. Conflicted? Please answer or comment with your thoughts. Bored out of your mind with discussing critique questions? Hey, let us know that too. — Standback ♦ 21 hours ago

Folks, please weigh in on this. Our meta participation doesn't tend to be very high, but this is important. Thank you.

7 hours later…

user116848

10:01 AM

hi all

Matt Эллен

user116848

hehe Matt you are hanging around here?

user116848

I didn't know :)

user116848

Apart from Tuesdays what do you guys discuss here?

Matt Эллен

not much. I'm usually in here lurking, rather than chatting :D

user116848

10:05 AM

Ya I know you are in lurking mode most of the time in chat :p

Stack Exchange

11:17 AM

Q: Best way to yell

What is a good way to make a character "yell" without doing all capital letters?

book

5 hours later…

Stack Exchange

4:29 PM

Q: Program or other for plot building

I plan to write a series of books set in the same universe, with a major plot about war destruction, murder, killing, love, betrayal etc. But I am having problem getting the big view of my universe plot and each seperate book plot. Does any one of you know of a program, tool, anything that can h...

plot software

4 hours later…

Stack Exchange

8:17 PM

Q: Where can I find co-authors willing to share writing duties for a fiction novel?

Writing has turned out to be lonely profession. After a successful career of working with collaborative teams on technology projects, I have just completed the story development for my first fiction novel and it is time to start writing. I would prefer to collaborate and co-author with a like m...