I honestly don't understand how some of you do it - post so regularly, and so much. I don't even have time to read my Friends Page most of the time (you may have noticed a couple of comments from me posted because I just did finally manage to do that).

Chatting in Chatzy's different - choppier, no need to organize anything.

So - much as I would like to say, "I will post more often in the future," I know I won't do it, and so I won't say it.

I am looking around the living room, where I'm sitting, and pondering all the things I need to do just in this room; and then multiplying that by all the other rooms in my house; and then having palpitaitons.

As you may know, last Christmas I bought my high-school-aged nephew a copy of The Thief, and my college-age niece copies of all three of the books. As far as I know, they haven't read them (at least, they hadn't the last time I asked, and I have received no messages from them that say, "Oh, beloved aunt, thank you for giving me the opportunity to read these magnificent works of literature!")

So, I need something to prod them. The list that somebody posted on Sounis was good, but far more impersonal and serious than is needed for my purposes.

Wanna help? Post as a reply a message to my nephew or my niece (or both). And I'll force them to read the messages, at least!

Let's see what happens with multiple cuts.

( For Jade: Are You from Alabama )

( Why the Military Branches Can't Communicate With Each Other )

( Which Branch of the Military is Best? )

( Expensive Veterinary Services )


( Housekeeping Tips )

HOW TO SING THE BLUES... A PRIMER

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning..."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the
Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next
line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face
in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line
right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes...
sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in
town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in
town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher, and she weigh
500 pound."

4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a
ditch, you stuck in a ditch--ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and
broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos,
BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues
transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound
train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools
ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part
in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin'
to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues,
"adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric
chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in
Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in
Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical
depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are
still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot
have the blues in any place that don't get rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A
woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg
cause you were skiing is not the blues. Breaking your
leg 'cause a alligator be chomping on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in a office or a shopping
mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking
lot or sit by the dumpster.

10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass

Bad places for the Blues:
a. Nordstrom's
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses

11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a
suit, 'less you happen to be a old ethnic person', and
you slept in it.

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues?
Yes, if:
a. you older than dirt
b. you blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied

No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived
d. you have a 401K or trust fund

13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of
bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Sonny
Liston could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on
the blues.

14. If you ask for water and your darlin' give you
gasoline, it's the Blues.
Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. cheap wine
b. whiskey or bourbon
c. muddy water
d. nasty black coffee

The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast

15. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun
shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a
jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the
electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a
broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you
die during a tennis match or while getting
liposuction.

16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling

17. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie

18. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie,
and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many
men they shoot in Memphis.

19. Make your own Blues name Starter Kit:
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple,
Lame, etc.)
b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit Lemon,
Lime, Kiwi, etc.)
c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson,
Fillmore, etc.)
For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Jakeleg Lemon
Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe
not "Kiwi.")

20. I don't care how tragic your life: if you own even
one computer, you cannot sing the blues. (DAMN!)

Yours mournfully

Limpin' Melons Lincoln

I was discussing this in Chatzy with Hebe; so, Hebe, if you're reading this, you might want to just skip it!

There is a really marvelous series of books by Jane Duncan about the Camerons - Camerons on the Train (1963), Camerons on the Hills (1963), Camerons at the Castle (1964), Camerons Calling (1966), Camerons Ahoy (1968).

The eldest Cameron, and narrator of the books, is Shona, followed by her brothers Neil, Donald, and Iain, or Nink, who is mentally handicapped.

I recommend the books, especially Camerons at the Castle and Camerons Calling, but I have a major complaint:
the author selectively aged her characters in a way that drives me batty. The inconsistency is annoying; and, as I shall describe later, in at least one instance it affects the characterization, as well.

Train is set during the Christmas holidays.
Shona is 13, Neil 10, Donald 6, Iain 3
This is the first time the children have traveled alone by train to their aunt's.

Hills is set during Easter holidays.
Shona 13 1/2, Neil 11 "and a bit, that made him nearly 12", Donald 7
Presumably it's the Easter following the first book; but Shona writes, "When we were younger, Father, Mother and our little brother Iain used to come too, but now they come only for the long holidays in the summer, and at Christmas and Easter we three travel up to Aunt's by ourselves on the train. I wrote a story about the very first time we travelled on the train by ourselves, when we had a very exciting time, but the journeys since then have been very ordinary and, indeed, quite dull. Things often become dull when you become used to them." So just when have they been making all these trips that have become so dull and ordinary, if Shona's aged only 6 months? Of course, everybody else has aged a year. Maybe Shona's supposed to be 14 1/2, but that's not what it says.

Castle is set during the summer holidays and starts in July.
Shona is 14 years 8 months, Neil nearly 13, Donald 8, Nink 5
So - Everyone has aged 1 year this time, which is consistent (if you ignore the problem of Shona's age last time).

In Castle, Aunt and all four children go to Castle Vannich. Somerled Macdonald, the Macdonald of Vannich, is, in order to save it, opening Castle Vannich as a hotel. He's 21 (Tall. Gorgeous. Charming). The book is told by Shona in the first person, so she never comes out and says she has a crush on him, but you'd have to be completely clueless not to figure it out (and you can't blame her in the least). The whole thing is Fraught with Possibilities. Being a sucker for romance, I was delighted to find that the next book, Camerons Calling, also featured Somerled.

Calling is set during the summer holidays.
Shona is nearly 16, Neil is 14, Donald 9, Iain 6. Aging is a bit wobbly - shouldn't Neil be "nearly 14"?" Still, not too bad.

But, as I read, I got slightly cranky. Suddenly, Somerled is 25. That would be annoying enough, but making him that much older also spoils his character a bit. In Calling, he goes crazy about a spoiled, loathsome, but very pretty singer, and acts like an idiot. Which is understandable if he's 21, but by 25 he should have a bit more sense, at least, and so it ends up making him seem a less mature and admirable character. And for those who'll argue that 25 isn't that much more mature when it comes to a man making a fool of himself over a pretty girl, some of the other things Somerled does, unrelated to the girl, are also somewhat immature. (A 21-year-old acting like a 21-year-old is fine. A 25-year-old acting like a 21-year-old isn't). Also, in the course of the book he also shows some jealousy that Shona seems to be getting along rather well with a boy her own age; which again would be fine if he's 21 but is bordering on creepy if he's 25.

Ahoy is set during the Easter holidays.
Shona is 16, Neil 14, Donald 10, Iain 7. So this is, presumably, the next Easter. In other words, about 20 months after Castle began, and maybe 8 months after Calling. The Camerons were all thrilled to be going to Castle Vannich again in Calling.
Now, we get: "When Neil, Donald and I were younger we thought that Aunt and Jennyville and Castle Vannich and Angus and Somerled were the best people and places in the world. . . Some years ago, we all got together and turned Castle Vannich into a luxury hotel. All this was very exciting and, at that time, as I have said, Neil, Donald and I thought we would never want to spend our holidays anywhere except at Castle Vannich . . . but it is rather sad how one grows out of things. . . . And we had even grown out of Castle Vannich a bit."
And, regarding Somerled: "although he is nearly thirty and stands six feet two, [he] behaves like an overgrown schoolboy most of the time, according to Aunt."

I was frothing at the mouth. Thirty! And all the Possibilities completely gone (which, if he is 30, makes sense; but he's *NOT*!) There's barely anything made of his first appearance. And I don't think he's acting like a 30-year-old, either. The whole flavor of the books has changed.

I was expounding this theory I have to Hebe. Duncan (a pseudonym) based the children in the books on her own niece and nephews - I think she even used their names. I theorize Miss Duncan got mad at the real Shona, and decided that Shona didn't *deserve* Somerled.

Or maybe Duncan decided that Somerled, or whoever she based the character on, wasn't good enough for Shona. (Hard to believe; he's wonderful, at least in Castle, and if you assume he's still only 22 or so in Ahoy).

Of course, another possibility is that Shona rebelled against it. Maybe she didn't like the character of Somerled. Maybe her real-life boyfriend was 5'3", dark-haired, weedy, and charmless, and didn't like the inevitable "You have to be kidding!" when he was introduced to people who had read the books.

Whatever. If Duncan didn't want to develop the embryonic romance any further, I suppose (very grudgingly) that was her prerogative. (It isn't, actually, but I'll be big about it). BUT PLAYING MERRY MAYHEM WITH AGES ISN'T FAIR!!!!!

That should be the first thing that authors have to do when they become authors: Sign a pledge that says, "I will not drive my readers loopy by being shamelessly inconsistent."

I've been collecting the various Nancy Drew movies and TV shows from over the years, and I heave a heartfelt sigh as I wonder: Why on *earth* can't they *ever* get it right???

Let's start with Bonita Granville, who did four Nancy Drew movies in the 1930's; two loosely based on The Haunted Staircase and The Password to Larkspur Lane, two not based on any books. Her Nancy is a silly, scatterbrained, careless, overexcitable teenager who pretty much stumbles onto the solutions to her mysteries by pure luck. I'll grant you that she is stubborn and sticks to the cases, but she's such an immature, giddy thing that you almost wish she wouldn't. Ned Nickerson: boy-next-door kind of friend (not our dashing college football hero), and constantly getting pulled very reluctantly into Nancy's cases. His attitude toward Nancy is one of sort of disgusted contempt, and, really, you can't blame him much. The book Nancy is gracious, mature, responsible, calm, and competent. Not this one.

Then we wander on to the 1970's, with Pamela Sue Martin in the Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries (in the first season they alternated weeks; in the second season there were some crossovers and the alternating-weeks thing wasn't in effect). This Nancy is truculent and strident. In the books, when Nancy is condescended to because she is young, or a girl, or both, she simply smiles, solves the case, and impresses the socks off of the condescenders, who generally end up acknowledging how very wrong they were. Martin's Nancy argues (in a really whiny, annoying way), apparently not having grasped that the way to make sure you're respected is to earn it, not to try to talk people into it. Partway through the second season, Martin left the show and a new Nancy, Janet Louise Johnson, took over. She was no improvement; her Nancy was, by and large, a wimp, and completely useless. Ned in the first season: nerd assistant to Nancy's father the lawyer. Ned in the second season: hotshot lawyer from the big city (played by Rick Springfield, which at least makes him a pleasure to look at), whom she has never met before. Way to maintain continuity, guys!

Now I'm watching a series made in 1995 or so in Canada. They've aged Nancy; now she's 21, off at college (allegedly, but she only seems to be involved with the school in like two or three episodes). The mysteries are okay, and the show isn't bad when looked on as simply a show, but it isn't Nancy Drew. For one thing, the whole ending the show with a sort or moral as Nancy ponders on the meaning of life, pretty much, causes me to grind my teeth. For another, why age her? And why, why, *why* must we attempt to make her more rounded and human (I assume that was their goal) by making her, not tenacious, but blindly stubborn, and completely thoughtless and inconsiderate? As, for example, about Ned. Quite a good-looking actor, though very boring; and he resents Nancy's mystery-solving (not to mention her always wanting to have her own way about absolutely everything else), and tells her so. And she ignores it. He flies in from Africa for her birthday, bringing her a present, and she, suspecting (because he was attacked) that it might contain a clue of some sort, rather than using her brains to discover what it is, drills holes all through it, ruining it - and only after accidentally dropping it uncovers the clue, by sheer dumb luck. And then we have the whole skin-crawling they've-obviously-been-living-together thing.

So far I haven't seen the movie that just came out, but I'm not sanguine about it, since the clips that I saw looked rather campy.

Why? Why why why why why can't anybody do it right? Fine, do it as a period piece, set in the 1930's (gradually moving on through the 1940's and 1950's, etc. - that could be fun), but leave Nancy as perfect as she is. Fine, call her a cardboard character, but bear in mind that that cardboard character's been selling books for 75 years. Focus on the *mysteries*, guys, and keep Nancy as admirable and near-perfect as she has always been, to the point that I know I can't possibly be more than 18 years old because if I were I'd be able to do more things than Nancy Drew can; and I can't!

(Also, none of them look right. Granville wasn't too bad, because Nancy was originally blonde, but the others were all hopeless. I think a young Elizabeth Montgomery would've made a great Nancy Drew).

I had to vent. Sorry 'bout that.

A study conducted by UCLA's Department of Psychiatry has revealed that the kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle. For example: If she is ovulating, she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features.

However, if she is menstruating, or menopausal, she tends to be more attracted to a man with duct tape over his mouth and a spear lodged in his chest while he is on fire.

No further studies are expected.

I just made another fascinating discovery: If I click on "Friends Page" I see things that my Friends have posted! Imagine that!

Leslie, the terminally clueless

I just noticed (amazingly, I've overlooked it all this time) the link at the top of the page that says Messages (45). What messages, I wondered, so I clicked on it and realized that it was replies to my journal posts. I also realized that I hadn't posted since May. How neglectful of me, I thought (overlooking the fact that I never shut up in Chatzy or Sounis).

So: What fascinating stuff can I post?

How about some jokes or funny stories?

"It is reported that the following edition of the Book of Genesis was discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls. If authentic, it could shed light on the question, “Where do pets come from?”

And Adam said, “Lord, when I was in the garden, you walked with me every day. Now I do not see you anymore. I am lonesome here and it is difficult for me to remember how much you love me.”

And God said, “No problem! I will create a companion for you that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will know I love you, even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish and childish and unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourself.”

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam. And it was a good animal. And God was pleased.

And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and he wagged his tail. And Adam said, “But Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and all the good names are taken and I cannot think of a name for this new animal.”

And God said, “No problem! Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG.”

And Dog lived with Adam and was a companion to him and loved him. And Adam was comforted. And God was pleased. And Dog was content and wagged his tail.

After a while, it came to pass that Adam’s guardian angel came to the Lord and said, “Lord, Adam has become filled with pride. He struts and preens like a peacock and he believes he is worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught him that he is loved, but no one has taught him humility.”

And the Lord said, “No problem! I will create for him a companion who will be with him forever and who will see him as he is. The companion will remind him of his limitations, so he will know that he is not always worthy of adoration.”

And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam. And Cat would not obey Adam.

And when Adam gazed into Cat’s eyes, he was reminded that he was not the supreme being. And Adam learned humility.

And God was pleased. And Adam was greatly improved.

And Cat did not care one way or the other."

Catholic Horses

Mitch, a hard-shell Southern Baptist, loved to
sneak away to the race track. One day he was there
betting on the ponies and nearly losing his
shirt when he noticed this priest who stepped out
onto the track and blessed the forehead of one of
the horses lining up for the 4th race.

Lo and behold, this horse-a very long shot-won
the race. Mitch was most interested to see what
the priest did the next race. Sure enough, he
watched the priest step out onto the track as the 5th
race horses lined up, and placed this blessing on
the forehead of one of the horses. Mitch made a
beeline for the window and placed a small bet
on the horse. Again, even though another long shot, the
horse the priest had blessed won the race. Mitch
collected his winnings and anxiously waited to see which
horse the priest bestowed his blessing on for the 6th
race. The priest showed, blessed a horse,
Mitch bet on it, and it won! Mitch was elated!

As the day went on, the priest continued
blessingone of the horses, and it always came in
first. Mitch began to pull in some serious money, and
by the last race, he knew his wildest dreams were
going to come true. He made a quick stop at the
ATM, withdrew big money and awaited the priest's
blessing that would tell him which horse to bet
on. True to his pattern, the priest stepped out
onto the track before the last race and blessed
the forehead, eyes, ears and hooves of one of the
horses. Mitchell bet every cent, and watched
the horse come in dead last.

Mitch was dumbfounded. He made his way to the
track and when he found the priest, he demanded,
"What happened, Father? All day you blessed horses
and they won. The last race, you blessed a horse
and he lost. Now I've lost my savings, thanks to
you!!"

The priest nodded wisely and said, "That's the
problem with you Protestants .... you can't
tell the difference between a simple blessing and
the Last Rites."

Each simile listed below was [allegedly - I can't vouch for it!]
actually used by high school students in their various essays and short
stories.

He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy
who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those
boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at
high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one
of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to
dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door
open again.

The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling
ball wouldn't.

McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled
with vegetable soup.

>From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,
surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and
"Jeopardy" comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.

Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.

Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry
them in hot grease.

Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie,
this guy would be buried in the credits as something like "second tall
man."

Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers race across the
grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left
Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at
4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on
a Dr Pepper can.

They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that
resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had
also never met.

The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of
metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.

The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.

His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like
underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

Emerald and Rowana already had to listen to me on this topic in Chatzy, but I want sympathy from everybody, so I'm posting it here. I've copied and pasted what I wrote there, editing out the wonderful support from Em and Ro.

I need some book lovers' and librarians' sympathy right now!!!!

The NCA team - the guys who accredit our school - have been at our school for the past three days. Today they held their outbriefing. They told us at the beginning, "We're not here to evaluate the staff." And then in the outbriefing they announced that "children aren't reading on their reading levels because the library books aren't labeled by Lexile levels."

Did ONE SINGLE ONE of the visiting team ever talk to me (the librarian) about the matter? Ask me about my reasons? Have the common decency to hear my side? NOT!

Our kids' reading test scores are excellent. We have leveled books available - the textbooks and the accompanying classroom libraries, and classroom libraries from previous textbooks. But they want me to label books according to an INACCURATE scale that puts Brave New World ten points below Blueberries for Sal.

And even a single child can read at different levels depending on whether it's a subject with which he's familiar or in which he's interested.

It infuriates me that they insulted my professional judgment without giving me a chance to defend myself. And they did it publicly. I'm outlining a several-page rebuttal letter right now, which I plan to send to the entire team (if I can get e-mails for all of them), the entire staff, the district office, and anybody else I can think of.

Send me comforting messages, everybody. I am absolutely distraught.

I've just finished - mostly - transfering the beads from an antique purse from the crumbling-to-dust silk to which they were sewn, to a nice, fresh, not-quite-the-same-color-but-almost silk.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s78/aged_crone/beadedpursetransfercompletex.jpg

Next I have to gather it at the edges and sew it to the purse frame, which is green glass rods (same stuff as the green beads) wrapped in gold filigree.

But the beading was the most work.

> NEW ELEMENT DISCOVERED
>
> Investigators at a major research institution have discovered the heaviest
> element known to science. This startling discovery has been tentatively
> named Administratium (Ad). This new element has no protons or electrons,
> thus having an atomic number of 0. It does however, have 1 neutron, 125
> assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons, and 111 assistant vice neutrons,
> giving it an atomic mass of 312.
>
> These 312 particles are held together by a force called morons, which are
> surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since
> it has no electrons, Administratium is inert. However, it can be detected
> as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.
> According to the discoverers, a minute amount of Administratium causes one
> reaction to take over four days to complete when it would normally take
> less than a second. Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately
> three years; it does not decay but instead undergoes a reorganization in
> which a portion of the assistant neutrons, vice neutrons, and assistant
> vice neutrons exchange places.
>
> In fact, an Administratium sample's mass will actually increase over time,
> since with each reorganization some of the morons inevitably become
> neutrons, forming new isotopes. This characteristic of moron promotion
> leads some scientists to speculate that Administratium is formed whenever
> morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical
> quantity is referred to as the "Critical Morass".
>
> You will know it when you see it.
>

A very merry and blessed Christmas to all my friends.

Leslie

Someone sent me this and I thought it was hilarious (especially #9 - I work in a school)

Christmas Carols for the Emotionally Challenged...


1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?

2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are

3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas

4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and.....

6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me

7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire

8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why

9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy oooh look at the froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?

10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle, Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells.

By KoA, Attolia's ladies are very obviously on Eugenides's side. Quite a shift from QoA, when they were firmly against him (except for the undecided Phresine). Presumably they figured out that their queen loved him and was happy. I started wondering how long it took them to swing from one viewpoint to the other. Seconds after she came floating happily back to her rooms after the last scene in QoA? Sometime between then and the wedding? After the wedding?

Regarding Eugenides' attendants, and everybody else who at the end of KoA has figured out that he has been pulling the (goats') wool over their eyes: I wonder what percentage of them are going to think, "He deceived us! How dare he?" and be even angrier with him than they were before.

In both cases - Oh, I would love to read some scenes from the POV of the people who are seeing Eugenides with new eyes!

And I wonder about the ladies that Lady Heiro mentions to the king, and what they talked about when she visited him. Were those ladies just ones she knew were harmless? Knew they saw the same things about the king that she did? Or were secretly very influential and he needed to get them on his side?

Leslie

I'm going to try doing a cut-in post so I don't hog the page. Thanks to Checkers for sending me the link for the directions. Let's see how badly I can botch them up.

( I was thinking about the fact that the king and queen both wept on their wedding night, and trying to envision how it happened. )

Well, let's see how this works!

Leslie, who is very relieved that lj is up an working again

I am now, in a spirit of scientific inquiry not unlike standing in a lightning storm flying a kite, going to try to post something here and see what happens.

...He either fears his fate too much
Or his deserts are small
Who dares not put it to the touch
To win or lose it all...

Leslie