"All the diamonds you have here, in this moment which has no life."

[greygirlbeast]

0. You'd think there's a limit to how dry sinus passages can get, but you'd be wrong.

1. Yesterday, I wrote 1,044 words on "Random Notes Before a Fatal Crash." I didn't get to THE END. There were too many distractions, mainly in the form of email. Ever heard of being "driven to distraction"? Maybe that's a Southern thing.

2. Never rely on spell check. No, not even then. No, not then, either. There are these things called dictionaries. There are even versions of these mysterious dictionary things online. Use them.

3. To wit, someone should tell whoever writes ad copy at Amazon.com about the value of dictionaries (see above). I just saw this ad on Facebook:

"Do the men in your live [sic] drive you crazy? Buy this book and laugh about it, or dump him and get a puppy."

Ignoring, for the moment, the sexism and heterocentrism, focusing only on the text, you'd think that a twenty-two word ad that's going to be seen and read by millions of people would be proofed for misspellings and proper word use. Sure, I make mistakes in my blog. But I have far fewer readers, and my entries are usually about a thousand words long, not twenty-two.

4. I was sort of...I don't know...perplexed at how many people wanted to know yesterday why I hate Facebook. I mean, on the one hand, the transgressions of Facebook are the stuff of internet legend. On the other hand, it's my prerogative to hate Facebook, with or without Cliff's Notes (Really, once upon a time, CliffNotes were Cliff's Notes; the future cannot afford apostrophes or spaces between words; they're so pointless.). And, for what it's worth, I hate Twitter, too, though not as much as FB. Most days, I don't hate LiveJournal. The key is likely substance.

5. New Radiohead! (No, I don't have it yet.)

This town's so strange.
They built it to change.
And while we're sleeping, all the streets they rearrange.
(Arcade Fire)

Off to Fuck the Bozos,
Aunt Beast

Comments

[spank-an-elf.livejournal.com]

Facebook is like sitting in a large, crowded room as people randomly spout out news. At times the news is interesting but most of the time occupying the room is chore. The din is tiresome.

When we pulled stupid kid tricks I remember my mother telling us we "drove her to distraction." It's a pretty funny term and told us to to simmer down. Yeah, that was another one she used, "Simmer down already." I supposed we were in danger of boiling over!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Facebook is like sitting in a large, crowded room as people randomly spout out news. At times the news is interesting but most of the time occupying the room is chore. The din is tiresome.

I'd say the same of Twitter.


When we pulled stupid kid tricks I remember my mother telling us we "drove her to distraction."

Spooky said it's used in New England, too.

[sovay]

Ever heard of being "driven to distraction"? Maybe that's a Southern thing.

Nah; I don't think anyone in my family uses it, but I've known the phrase as long as I can remember.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

My Mother has always used it to indicate a state of great impatience.

[saladinahmed.livejournal.com]

"the future cannot afford apostrophes or spaces between words; they're so pointless"

Indeed. I just learned today that there's an actual term for this very thing-that-irks-me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel_notation

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Oh, Jesus fucking Christ.

Or, is that JFChrist....

[v1ewfr0mbugtown.livejournal.com]

We (my brother, sister and I) drove our mother to distraction for 20 some years and when we were all out of the house my father took up the slack. (I grew up in PA)

I can't believe one needs to explain why they hate Facebook. It is fairly obvious...

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I can't believe one needs to explain why they hate Facebook. It is fairly obvious...

That was my take on it.

Two Weeks Away in the Limbo of Reality

[jessamyg.livejournal.com]

I've just read the last two week or so worth of your filthy world, having meandered my time away in so-called reality while I waited for my internet to come back on. I'll just say that you are a little lifeline for me, entertaining and scary and lovely all at the same time, and one of the worthwhile reasons to have internet access. Thank you for posting "How to Make Love to a Trans Person"; poetry should hurt and reveal and seduce and poke you out of whatever rut you have let yourself wallow in, and this does. Thanks also for the Bigfoot clip. That is truly a bad costume and made me smile.

Re: Two Weeks Away in the Limbo of Reality

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

'll just say that you are a little lifeline for me, entertaining and scary and lovely all at the same time, and one of the worthwhile reasons to have internet access.

Pleased to be of service.

[kurtmulgrew.livejournal.com]

I don't think driven to distraction is a southern thing. Maybe you had it confused with "drivin' on dis' tractor."

New Radiohead!

[oldfossil59.livejournal.com]

It's on it's way.

Re: New Radiohead!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Oh! Thank you.

[oldfossil59.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome! Thank you for sharing so much with us, it truly is appreciated.

[pisceanblue.livejournal.com]

I refuse to participate on Facebook and I do get puzzled reactions from certain people. I suppose part of it is I'm tired of all the lemming-like behavior in regards to social networking. Another part is my horror at contemplating my feelings of violation if certain personages from my past were to find me on Facebook. And those puzzled people say, "Well you can make it so you're totally private." Okay, so then what is the point of being on a social network site if I'm hiding from people? I despise some people making a Facebook account a prerequisite of social contact. If you can't be bothered to email me, at the very least, then I can't be bothered with you either; that's my stance.

I'm sure you can relate to this rant in some part, Aunt Beast.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I agree with all this rant.

[oddmonster.livejournal.com]

...you'd think that a twenty-two word ad that's going to be seen and read by millions of people would be proofed for misspellings and proper word use.

The book I'm currently reading mentioned "sterling-sliver serving trays" on the first page. Page one! I let it slide, thinking okay, anyone can--no, twenty pages later, the sterling-sliver serving trays were back, indicating there is at least one proofreader at Berkley Prime who sees nothing wrong with this. Oy.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Like I said, books – enormous, bloated collections of complex sentences – they'll always have typos. And the typos are as likely to occur on page 1 as on page 435. To people on the outside, it can look awful, and stupid. And it doesn't help that copyeditors and in-house publishing rules often contradict each other and dictionaries.

But...

A twenty-two word ad?

[aliceoddcabinet.livejournal.com]

Refuse. Absolutely refuse the Book of Faces. The Status Updates have never sat well with me. "Hawtchik27 is brushing her teeth!" "Srspoetess is being inspired by Anais Nin!" (I understand just as well as anyone how writing in the third person allows for a certain kind of distance or honesty, but that is something else entirely. Give me a break.)

Twitter I hate less. It feels ... I don't know ... more directed. Less confusing. I also don't follow a lot of people, and those I post things of interest to me. The Bodleian Library Tweets. As does the SFWA. With *actual* information about actual *things*. But then again there is also a "Feral Pigeon" in Trafalgar Square who tweets "Peck Peck" once a day, which I think is hilarious.

Also, no one is playing ridiculous farming games on Twitter.

No. I reject the Book of Faces. It makes my head hurt. I've never seen something silent be so loud.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Also, no one is playing ridiculous farming games on Twitter.

Though I'm far from loving Twitter, this is a big plus.

[insanitybook.livejournal.com]

What's this "substance" thing I keep hearing about? Who has that?

Seriously, as someone who has LJ, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, I love being able to use LJ as a sanctuary. That's nigh impossible to do with Facebook and Twitter. I prefer using those for networking purposes.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I prefer using those for networking purposes.

I suppose the thing is, I "network" (when I do, which isn't often) by email, actual letters, phone calls, and, extremely rarely, face-to-face meetings.

I know. I'm obsolete.

[insanitybook.livejournal.com]

Oh, I still do those as well, especially the face-to-face part. For some reason, though, I'm incredibly phone-shy.

[jdack.livejournal.com]

"Off to Fuck the Bozos" would make an excellent record title.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

An English teacher of mine once got a solicitation from a car dealership, a solicitation full of bad writing, sentence fragments and too many exclamation points, and he corrected it and sent it back (as well as kept a copy to show in class). Ever been tempted to do that?

May have shared this with you before, but my version of that is, in the mid-90s I left under the doors of three student-run publications at my college copies of Pennye Harper's poem "Spellbound (http://www.technofileonline.com/texts/spelrite.htm)." (The poem goes "I have a spelling checker; it came with my PC. It plainly marks four my revue mistakes I cannot sea.") I actually got invited by one of the publications to be a proofreader because of that little stunt.

[alumiere.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on the hating of as I call it failbook. I login every few days because I have to; otherwise I'd miss club events and friends gatherings that I'm invited to. But the only thing I personally post there is a feed of my twitter.

And that includes links to my lj posts when I make them (not often), because that's where I write and have discussions about things. Failbook is decidedly atrocious regarding that. And I hate the fucking invites to pirate games and zombie games and...