Because it’s been awhile since I spammed you with Frames-related media–and I’m supposed to be asleep right now anyway–take a look at this video of Josh Ritter and the Frames playing “Come and Find Me” as an encore at the concert I attended in October. Yes, some of those flashes of light are mine.
Archive for January, 2006
This is the second time in three days that I’ve had a post erased because I hit the wrong button on my keyboard or mouse and Firefox went back in its browser history. I’ve got slick AJAX stuff all over my WordPress dashboard. So where’s my autosave? I’ve found one plugin that offers that capability, but, of course, it hasn’t been updated to work with 2.0. Expletive deleted! I was thisclose to hitting “Save and Continue Editing” both times this has happened, too.
After Joen brought up donating blood a month ago and I discovered that I had reached eligibility status, I’ve been waiting for a blood drive to happen on-campus. I got my chance today. Being a walk-in, it was about an hour and a half before I was finished (and I ended up being twenty minutes late to class) but it was worth it. Apparently I shocked the nurse taking my blood by filling the pint so quickly. No complications so far, which is nice. Next time I’ll try scheduling a bit more time and doing a double red blood cell donation. They seemed to be wanting more of those type of donations.
It’s only a little thing, but it makes me feel rather ridiculously good about myself, perhaps because I’ve waited so long to be allowed to give.
I was a Girl Scout. My eight happy years as a Girl Scout only ended when I moved to Germany at thirteen. (We could have tried to find a troop there, I suppose, or a group of Girl Guides, but, frankly, it wouldn’t–couldn’t–have been the same, and I really had enough of that with band.) Having quite likely sold more than a thousand boxes of Girl Scout cookies in those years, I felt that I had a pretty good handle on what the names of the cookies were, particularly the classics like Thin Mints, Caramel DeLites, Peanut Butter Patties, and Shortbreads. But in moving first to Michigan and then to Ohio, I found myself confronted with foreign names for familiar cookies. How in the world, I asked myself, could they call this a Samoa or that a Do-Si-Do? The names sound ridiculous and convey no meaning whatsoever. A Tagalong gives no indication that the cookie contains peanut butter; Peanut Butter Pattie does.
These differences, of course, only fueled my flatmates in calling me a redneck. It’s as though they find my appreciation for cornbread and Girl Scout cookies with names that make sense a bad thing.
In the end, however, I have victory. I knew (having had so many of those multi-colored boxes pass through my hands) that Girl Scout cookies are made for the Girl Scouts of America by licensed bakeries. Today, though, I learned that the bakeries name the cookies. So, to an extent, my flatmates were correct in supposing that it must be a regional difference. There are two bakeries licensed to produce Girl Scout cookies, and individual councils choose which bakery from which they purchase their cookies. I grew up with cookies from ABC Bakers–who, incidentally, have been making Girl Scout cookies the longest of the current bakers. (Take that, Eric and Mark!) At the end of the day, though, we’re all right. The only thing that could make it better is a few of those boxes of cookies.
And now, as promised, I bring you, the new S-S.N. I encourage you all to take peek. Some points that may be of particular interest:
- The bootlegs page, which contains some mp3s of (surprise!) Damien Rice, Glen Hansard, and the Frames as well as links to places where I’ve found other bootlegs I enjoy. A real highlight there, though, is that I have the entire show that the Frames played in Seattle in October 2005. I’m hoping to put the LA gig up there, too, but we have to see how the bandwidth goes.
- Lots of story excerpts. I don’t think anyone bothered to wade through them as I posted them here, and I can’t blame you because there’s around 25,000 words here. But there are some excerpts that are completely new, in the sense that I’ve never posted them or shown them to anyone before. Among those are scenes from Nandiealmae’s, Ilarwyn’s, and Jeassinae’s childhoods; a scene with Natasja escaping from Arman; and one of my favorite stories from Jeassinae’s adolescent years, which, though old, is not something I’ve shared before. Check them out, and please let me know what you think!
I have survived my first week of classes, which included tensors, NASA talks about exploring Titan, and encouragement (not least in the form of an application fee waiver) to apply to Notre Dame for graduate school. Jessica is gone this weekend while Google courts her; Eric is at Sci-Fi marathon; and Mark and I are enjoying a bit of Fry and Laurie in the form of Jeeves and Wooster, interspersed with more House because one can’t go wrong there. I haven’t any proper homework yet. It’s a good weekend.
Title: Memory’s Paths
Arc: Faerie
Rating: R for violence
Written: 2003?
Summary: Ilaria learns about some of her mother’s darker memories.
Author’s Note: This piece begins with a quote from Ilaria that is a part of some random asides on her life that I wrote in memoir format. The comment intrigued me so much that I wrote this short story, in which much about Jeanne’s life is revealed after her death to her chervari. In particular, I like the scene detailing Jeanne’s challenge to Veklond and the death of Róenon (Nijole’s brother) in Dreskara.
These characters, stories, and ideas are the original, copyrighted work of Nicole Sharp and are protected under a Creative Commons License.
Title: A Much-Needed Excuse
Arc: Faerie
Rating: PG
Written: Summer 2003
Summary: An excerpt from the newest version of The Fairie’s Daughter in which Jeanne learns the truth about her mother.
Author’s Note: This re-introduction to Jeanne’s mother is actually much different from the original. Although I like this version quite a bit, I do lament the loss of one detail. The original piece included reference to a nightmare Jeanne has immediately before meeting her mother. This was, in fact, a tribute to the nightmare I had that originally inspired the Faerie stories.
These characters, stories, and ideas are the original, copyrighted work of Nicole Sharp and are protected under a Creative Commons License.
Title: Disappointed
Arc: Faerie
Rating: PG
Written: Summer 2005
Summary: Richard considers the effects of Adryana’s absence.
Author’s Note: In the first draft of The Fairie’s Daughter, Richard was an abusive father. When the story was redrafted, I needed a more sympathetic Richard, but I had to be careful to keep him from turning into his brother, Marcus. This piece, inspired by the lyrics from The Frames‘ song Disappointed, was one that I wrote on a whim while listening to the song, but it soon became the cornerpiece of the new Richard’s character and motivation.
These characters, stories, and ideas are the original, copyrighted work of Nicole Sharp and are protected under a Creative Commons License.
Title: Where Have You Gone?
Arc: Faerie
Rating: PG-13
Written: Summer 2003
Summary: A short piece from Nijelyn shortly after Jeassinae’s disappearance.
Author’s Note: Of the many pieces I’ve written that focus exclusively on Jeassinae and Nijelyn, this one is my favorite, most likely because of the imagery. This was written during a phase when I was playing a lot with the language of Faerie; it contains, therefore, many comments from Nijelyn in Faerie. Translations follow in square brackets [].
These characters, stories, and ideas are the original, copyrighted work of Nicole Sharp and are protected under a Creative Commons License.
Title: Tales And Toy Soldiers
Arc: Faerie
Rating: PG
Written: 2001?
Summary: Jeassinae finds herself a figure of legend even to her nieces and nephews.
Author’s Note: This has been one of my secret favorites for a long time. When I wrote it, I was struggling to express the difficulties Aderana and Jeassinae were having in relating to one another as Jeassinae grew older, but this seemed to capture the tension perfectly. And it introduces their nephew Quenin, who is probably my favorite of the second-generation Faeries.
These characters, stories, and ideas are the original, copyrighted work of Nicole Sharp and are protected under a Creative Commons License.
Latest Comments
RSSWell Behind at Curious Notions
the canadian, Bernadette, Amy, Steph
Nicole, Bernadette, Nicole, Joe, Steph, Bernadette
Greg
Nicole, Bernadette, Nicole, Bernadette, Bernadette
Joe, Nicole, Joe, Nicole, Joe