Keep Moving - interactive with Neil Gaiman
This is a promotion he's doing with Blackberry, but it sounded interesting. Alas, I do not have a Twitter account. I watch a few people but damned if I don't feel like I'm listening to one side of a phone conversation and I can't restrict myself to 140 characters. While I tried his prompts, I forgot about them until after he wrote his Calendar of Tales from the ones others submitted. But they were intriguing, and so I tried...
#keepmoving
Why is January so dangerous? #JanTale
Overpromising and inevitable underdelivering. I try not to promise anything anymore.
What's the strangest thing that ever happened to you in February? #FebTale
Beginning to leak amniotic fluid while on the phone to a friend during an El Nino storm. First child induced the next morning, a month early, spent a week in NICU. Labor is very strange; so are breast pumps.
What Historical figure does March remind you of? #MarTale
Caesar is obvious; and I suppose Wikipedia is cheating. March is in like a lion, symbolized by kites - Benjamin Franklin?
What is your happiest memory of April? #AprTale
Vague memories of Grandma's egg hunts in Penn Park in Whittier, for all the neighborhood kids she babysat.
What is the weirdest gift you've ever been given in May? #MayTale
The sight of my soon-to-be husband being wrapped up like a burrito in a medieval Scottish kilt, in front of all our guests on our wedding day. Weird but wonderful.
Next question: where would you spend a perfect June? (reply with #JunTale.)
Warm but not hot, and no bugs. No weddings, either. Somewhere to snorkel with pretty fishies - My daughter's namesake town on Catalina Island would be wonderful, and still close to home. I've never been there with my family.
What is the most unusual thing you have ever seen in July? (I'm tracking these with #JulTale)
King-of-the-salmon coming up with trawl-nets full of hake, back when I was a fisheries observer on a Polish factory ship. And drunk captains full of cheap Canadian whiskey.
Your next question. If August could speak, what would it say? #AugTale
White seabass opens on the 15th; so does various fishing gear you need to keep track of…Do I have to tell you EVERY YEAR?
Tell me something you lost in September that meant a lot to you. #SeptTale
My brother; I've never felt so betrayed. To completely reverse what you'd said since dad died, and in front of my kids who look up to you?
What mythical creature would you like to meet in October? (&why?) use #OctTale
October is often hot where I live, a preface to winds and fires. Some Asian dragons are said to bring rain - I wonder about making friends with one, who could visit them. I don't think I could actually know, for this too work though; I don't think dragons take kindly to ulterior motives. And know I feel like I should go re-read R.A. McAvoy's Tea with the Black Dragon.
What would you burn in November, if you could? #NovTale
Any Christmas decorations, music, lights that show up before Thanksgiving. Excusable arson, except for in July as a joke, or you purposely just left them up all year. Example: Runsmuck used to tell about a friend of his who left up Xmas stuff all year long; he used to rib him thusly:
"So June 25 must be a big celebration day for you, huh?"
"Why?"
"That's when your decorations go from being up late to up early."
Who would you like to see again in December? Don't forget #DecTale
Like anyone else, I wish my mom could spoil her grandkids at Christmas, my best cat Bob to plot Yule tree assassination, my dad, uncle, my grandma, my husband's brother. I'm getting to be an age when that list is becoming more populous than I'd like.
...................
He's written his Tales now (downloadable here), and the next step is art to go with them. Hmmm...I'll have something more to read on the bus, looks like...
#keepmoving
Why is January so dangerous? #JanTale
Overpromising and inevitable underdelivering. I try not to promise anything anymore.
What's the strangest thing that ever happened to you in February? #FebTale
Beginning to leak amniotic fluid while on the phone to a friend during an El Nino storm. First child induced the next morning, a month early, spent a week in NICU. Labor is very strange; so are breast pumps.
What Historical figure does March remind you of? #MarTale
Caesar is obvious; and I suppose Wikipedia is cheating. March is in like a lion, symbolized by kites - Benjamin Franklin?
What is your happiest memory of April? #AprTale
Vague memories of Grandma's egg hunts in Penn Park in Whittier, for all the neighborhood kids she babysat.
What is the weirdest gift you've ever been given in May? #MayTale
The sight of my soon-to-be husband being wrapped up like a burrito in a medieval Scottish kilt, in front of all our guests on our wedding day. Weird but wonderful.
Next question: where would you spend a perfect June? (reply with #JunTale.)
Warm but not hot, and no bugs. No weddings, either. Somewhere to snorkel with pretty fishies - My daughter's namesake town on Catalina Island would be wonderful, and still close to home. I've never been there with my family.
What is the most unusual thing you have ever seen in July? (I'm tracking these with #JulTale)
King-of-the-salmon coming up with trawl-nets full of hake, back when I was a fisheries observer on a Polish factory ship. And drunk captains full of cheap Canadian whiskey.
Your next question. If August could speak, what would it say? #AugTale
White seabass opens on the 15th; so does various fishing gear you need to keep track of…Do I have to tell you EVERY YEAR?
Tell me something you lost in September that meant a lot to you. #SeptTale
My brother; I've never felt so betrayed. To completely reverse what you'd said since dad died, and in front of my kids who look up to you?
What mythical creature would you like to meet in October? (&why?) use #OctTale
October is often hot where I live, a preface to winds and fires. Some Asian dragons are said to bring rain - I wonder about making friends with one, who could visit them. I don't think I could actually know, for this too work though; I don't think dragons take kindly to ulterior motives. And know I feel like I should go re-read R.A. McAvoy's Tea with the Black Dragon.
What would you burn in November, if you could? #NovTale
Any Christmas decorations, music, lights that show up before Thanksgiving. Excusable arson, except for in July as a joke, or you purposely just left them up all year. Example: Runsmuck used to tell about a friend of his who left up Xmas stuff all year long; he used to rib him thusly:
"So June 25 must be a big celebration day for you, huh?"
"Why?"
"That's when your decorations go from being up late to up early."
Who would you like to see again in December? Don't forget #DecTale
Like anyone else, I wish my mom could spoil her grandkids at Christmas, my best cat Bob to plot Yule tree assassination, my dad, uncle, my grandma, my husband's brother. I'm getting to be an age when that list is becoming more populous than I'd like.
...................
He's written his Tales now (downloadable here), and the next step is art to go with them. Hmmm...I'll have something more to read on the bus, looks like...