Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
But certainly not the people who write instruction manuals (or
possibly I'm just thinking of the translators of the manuals).

Scrooged... that was my first thought. But I've been focused a lot on
the animal cruelty thing lately, as the book I'm reading tends to go
into a bit more detail than I'd like on the results of certain animal
testing. <ick, cringe>

Jen B - They've a few hiding spots I can't reach; behind the
fridge/stove, underneath the living room shelves, in my bedroom closet,
and behind the 'mouse shelves', near their food. And sometimes I see
one or the other scurry across the floor from one room to the next.
Then I dive, nearly catch it, miss, and discover that I have injured
myself somehow (it's happened 3 times now!).

My high school counselor looked over a bunch of placement tests and
decided that I would be happiest as a journalist (1st), a musician
(2nd), or a secretary (3rd). Poor thing seemed disappointed that I
wasn't interested in doing anything that would guarantee me in insanely
grand paycheck. 

Dan - the story could be made more interesting by featuring a musical
theatre performer who is also on the wrestling team.

squeaks, who was one of those in high school... and often had to
explain why.
  

    
Heh, all this talk of musical theatre, antlers, and the reminiscence
of high school stuff is reminding me of a photo of me that made my
senior yearbook. At the time, to say I loathed it was an
understatement. Now I'm going to have to fish it out of storage and
post it for everyone to laugh at.

squeaks, who still must get revenge for the 'reindeer sisters' photo
  

    
Email from Mary Roane:

Stagewalker--didn't you know?  The Hedgehog can never be buggered at all.

Sorry, it's a Terry Pratchett joke.

                           Mary (reading"Beauty" by Sheri S. Tepper)

P.S.  Len--that salmon joke was nearly as bad as this.  Even better that
this is Holy Week (or Holy Hell Week as we musicians call it).  Hee, hee.
  

    

Michelle - my career placement test said, based on the similarities
between my answers and those of people in the indicated careers, it was
imperative that I become an advertising account executive and should not,
under any circumstances, consider a job as a forest ranger.
  

    
Hmm...I have a question.  If EVERYBODY should go to college and get a
"good" job as my high school would have it, who on earth is going to do
unskilled labor type stuff?  Big problem if you ask me.
  

    
Angelina -- it would be the unskilled labor type faeries that would
take care of that wee little problem...
  

    
Oh, thank god for the faeries!
  

    
 Yeah, Bill Murray gave me the idea for the antlers thing. But I knew
that I wasn't going staple them. We also got them for my dog at the
time. This year, I'll have to find something for the cats....

re carreer placement. I'm one of those rebels who decided to do things
the hard way. My two main interests in life have always been writing
and film. I don't want to be a journalist or a Lit teacher so I didn't
see any point in college. I thought about going to film school, but
they're all way too expensive...I'd be broke the rest of my life. My
parents were so angry that I didn't want a high paying career that they
sent me to Military school and then a Quaker school and a psychologist
throughout most of highschool, The psychologists thought I was
depressed and prescribed me lots of weird drugs. Oddly enough, I don't
remember any teachers of counselors having a problem with what I wanted
to do; they encouraged it. It was the parents. My dad still calls me
with ideas on how I can have a "better, happier life." First it was
joining the navy. Now, he says that I have a voice for radio and should
be a DJ. It's amazing how he wants me to be everything but what I want
to be....

Angelina- re riots- that's so sad. All of the black people up here are
all ashamed of what's going on down there. I hope everything is okay.

My rabbit used to hump my cats. Someone tried to convince me that they
would have Cabbits. That would be a strange and cool miracle..
  

    
We already don't have enough unskilled labor to go around, and what there is
pays way less than it takes to live more often than not.  It's not something
I'd worry about: we're not going to run out of unskilled laborers however
much we stress education.  Certainly not unless the schools all get
magically good.
  

    
Martha - hrm... tech poets... for some reason "Data's" poetry comes to
mind. *shudder*

Michelle - were you on the wrestling team or doing musical theatre, or
both??

On Guidance Counselors - now that I think about it, I seem to recall
my guidance test from my Freshmen year saying that I should be a cook
or a hairdresser... and anyone who has seen me try to prepare a meal
would find the former hilarious. I can't think of anyone who likes the
idea of me with sharp metal things in my hands...

Mary - that is so odd... I'm actually reading the Wyrd Sisters right
now... 
Hope you're enjoying Beauty. I remember reading that years ago...
nifty book... strange.

Erynn - My parents have finally given up on me. They've pretty much
realized that I'm a freak who can't be counted on to be a responsible
adult. This is a good thing for them, I think. 
  

    
Stumbled across a kind of silly job placement personality test thingie
the other day, and thought I'd share the link in view of the current
conversation:

http://www.cmi-lmi.com/kingdom.html

It's based on medieval vocations...

I particularly like the bit where they say, "even though we now appear
to have the freedom to explore many different career alternatives,
each of us still has a medieval vocational personality within us. This
personality, properly identified and understood, can motivate our
success but, if ignored, may set the stage for our ultimate failure."

Benevolent Ruler Mel

PS -- Erynn, I went to school with a bloke called Cabbit, and am now
having bizarre mental images.  Thanks. =P
  

    
Dan - both... tho' too many injuries kept me from actually being
anything more than a statistician (boo hiss). I think I really upset
some teachers during spring when I would take off for a weekend on tour
with the show choir, come back and then have to leave early for track
competitions. :D

Erynn - My friend Rabbit likes cats... now I'm wondering just how much
he likes them... 

White Knight Squeaks, who once had a white goldfish named White Knight
  

    
Dan/Erynn - A couple of months ago I said to my mother "Can David (lil
bro) be the one you talk about and are proud of and can I be the one
where you say 'Oh, well, she's ... okay...'?"  She just looked at me
funny, but that's the way it's going to be.

Mel - I am a Dreamer-Minstrel.  That was fun.  I should go through and
rank things in the opposite order.  That gave me Engineer-Builder. 
Odd, I am definitely into dreaming and creating and the aforementioned
lil bro is going into Engineering.  I wonder if that means anything.

Jen.
  

    
Dreamer - minstrel here as well...

Got some fun news today. Some church in Houston used a piece I wrote
some seven years ago in their Easter service today. (Back in my
ecclisiastical years I wrote and directed for a church drama group and
have made those old scripts available on my site, and some of them are
being reposted at another site, apparantly)

I'm quite excited about this, because it was the last thing I wrote
before leaving the church and never got the chance to produce it. 

Dan
  

    
another Benevolent Ruler here Mel, we should share kingdomes sometime.
Ever make it out to Chicago?
signed... BR Dave
  

    
"You are an insatiable explorer of people, places, things and ideas.
You thrive on constant change and anything new or different."

Aye, 'twas fun.

Of course, anything that affirms my already-formed self opinion is
deemed a good thing.
  

    
Dan-- congrats!

Len, the Dreamer-Minstrel
  

    
Email from JaNell:

Neil: Regarding the following - ...In the meantime, jaNell, GHASTLY BEYOND
BELIEF was the name of the first book, not a description of the drawing
style...

Lord, Neil, you have to remember: not having taken the Gaiman Purity Test,
a good guess is that I'm still about 95% pure. So I'm ignernt (yes I meant
to spell it that way, as a pronunciation guide to those of you who are
unfamiliar with E. Tennessee dialect). I mean, does this go on my
permanent record or something?
  

    
Email from JaNell:

Neil:  Thank you for answering such a lengthy post, especially sweet since
I obviously haven't contributed any to your son's college fund by buying
your books (yet). Congrats on his getting into college; only four more
years 'til my oldest goes.

    So, no drinks or dinner after the signings? Ah well, back to plan one
- drive home, unless there's something fun going on in whatever town I
make it to for a signing.

    Oh, and Krista, one of the Apocalypse Fairies from ConCat (the one who
slammed the ConSuite door in your face), says hey.
  

    
Len--My my my, you really have your ear to the ground!  Yes, I have
helped prepare many many drafts of Tick Tick Boom for the last four
years.  It looks like I'll be at the opening which is tenatively
scheduled for June 15th.  

Seth--Actually, thank you for sharing that.  I will pass that on to
the Larsons.  I worked pretty hard on that case for a good year.  I
don't think any of us realized at all the precedent that it set. 
Interesting...

Dan--I have gotten the same response from people my entire life when I
tell them that I am an actor.  "Remember me when you're famous."  What
does this mean?  And I have many people who have the same false faith
in me even though they've never seen me perform.  "You're going to be a
star!"  I mean, I appreciate it and all, but it feels like it's for
all the wrong reasons.

Adriana, also Dreamer-Minstrel
  

    
adriana - no problem.  yeah, i figured folks in mosts of the well
studied cases don't realize how studied their cases are.  weird.

dan - congrats on the use of your writing.  it must feel good to know
that something your wrote a while back still has meaning for folks
today.

  --  seth, who joins mousey in the ranks of white knight (being
compared with don quixote, joan of arc, the lone ranger, and crusader
rabbit ain't the worst that can happen to a guy)
  

    
Dan -- 898 -- if you buy a copy of Wendy Cope's book Making Cocoa For
Kingley Amis, you will read a poem called ENGINEER'S CORNER which will
make you feel happy, and you will nod your head wisely.

And yes, you should write your story.

jaNell -- not to worry. There is no permanent record. 

(Which reminds me -- Martha, did we ever figure out whether all those
years of babble from the Genie Neil Gaiman topic was ever archived
anywhere? )

... Nobody ever says to writers "Remember me when you're famous." I
guess it's because you can't nudge someone when a writer comes on TV
and say "I knew him when he was a nobody".

...

You remember my comments about Spring in the journal? Well, it
unsprung. Snow and freezing winds. I'm just pleased I'm going to
England on Friday, where it will not snow and all I have to worry about
is overzealous Farming officials murdering my pet goat.
  

    
Neil-- you're going to England with your goat?

Adriana-- I do try to keep track of new (and new-ish) projects, and
I'm very interested in JL's non-rent stuff.  Do you know if TTB is sold
out?
  

    
Neil - noted. I'll be sure to get a copy of it. My copy of Martha's
book just came from Dreamhaven (along with the Dave McKean Dustcovers
and my Endless figurines (I shouldn't be allowed to shop alone)), so
that's next after I finish the other three books I'm reading.

Adriana - It's so peculiar. Actually, I would prefer to remain "not
famous", but doing "great work"... I want to be able to do lots and
lots of good work on film and stage without ever becoming the focus for
a tabloid... There's a great story about Katherine Hepburn visiting
the Group Theatre and being asked to join. She refused, saying "I don't
want to be an actor, I want to be a movie star!"

Neil - chuckle... maybe so, but now you've got people in these
conferences casually mentioning to friends "Yes, well Neil recommended
this book to me and it's quite good."
  

    
Email from Jo Simons:

Neil - have fun in the UK. Do you miss it living in the US? Even though
all my friends over there are complaining about the weather and the F&M
outbreak I still wish I could visit again. I'm in that fun stage after
University where I started working, and all my friends seem to be overseas
doing their OE and having too much fun. Sigh.

Jo the shepard

vigilant, reliable, dependable, empathic

hmmm ...