Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Home DNS burp.

You are clearly the favorite.

Or at least the strangest. Now I need to know what he said. Jesus, I'm back in high school. And that was NOT my best age.

Tim said that it varied, could be 8 days, but that he wrote Out of Gas over a weekend...and the room gasped.

I can't quite wrap my brain around this, either. Dayum.

There was sort of a running joke at the end, when students asked about spec scripts, and if it's okay to spec something that isn't on the air. Tim said probably not, choose a show that is fresh but not another Veronica Mars or Sopranos, since there are thousands of them.

He suggested writing something like an I Love Lucy, if you're spec-ing for a half hour comedy. It's unusual and will get pulled from the pile. Especially if it's an hour long I Love Lucy where she gets an abortion.

Later, he said it'd be even better if it were an I Love Lucy where she gets an abortion...and it lives.

And was at this point that it occured to me, and I'll whitefont so Tim can't see...Firstly, this is something I realized long ago, that it seemed that writers and sometimes fans, are incredibly intimidated by Tim. And I never really understood the why of it, because I don't feel at all intimidated. All the people I love in my life were love at first sight people. First time I met Jesse, I was just all, "I love her and she will be my friend until we die." Seriously. It's not a large circle, but there's a click in my "oh, I just love you" center and that is that. And that's what happened when I me Tim, Kat, lori, all those people. So, never any intimidation.

But I've seen it with mine own eyes, and someone yesterday said to me that he feels like his IQ immediately drops 10% when he opens his mouth to talk to Tim, and it's all about, "I'm talking to someone so much smarter, funnier than I will ever be." In a room full of writers who haven't quite gotten anywhere, yet, and wanted to learn how to get there, Tim was who they all wanted to be (well, not so much Tim, but his career, I guess), so that adds some amount of wistful awe, of course.

But then there's the Tim of it. He's so lovely, breezy, and so fucking quick-witted that there was a sort of need to impress coming from some folk. Plus, when the class was stuck and couldn't move forward, Tim would just toss something gently out and say, "what if we do this?" And then the room would break into delighted laughter and applause as he pulled the story forward a little at a time. Most of the class would be stuck (which is to be expected, not that they were dumb, they all asked really smart questions) and he just sort of did it in a way that was as natural and easy as ita landing a kick, Kat raising an eyebrow, or lori putting together Ikea furniture. It sort of reminded me of the way msbelle will throw her head back and laugh out loud. The way he just pulled the breaks out was startling and natural all at the same time.

And this is something that so many people found difficult. And for Tim it was like a sneeze, completely one of those physical reactions that you can't even help. He acts like it's not rare at all, that it's nothing, and I think probably because despite his protestations to the contrary, that it is as simple as a sneezing, or giggling when someone tickles you. It all just propelled out of Tim's head and on the whiteboard and it was effortless. That's what talent is, and he's got it in spades. And maybe that's a little intimidating, but mostly it just made people want to be around him, even if they couldn't say anything, hoping that maybe they'd catch a little of it, like it's pixie dust.

I was just terribly proud and more than a little honored that this guy calls me a friend, even though I tease him mercilessly. It sounds all terribly ass-kissy, I'm sure, but that's not where I'm coming from. I'm just so fucking proud of this person I adore. I'm gushing, yeah? I'll stop. He'll be so embarassed. Good thing he can't read the whitefont.

Now I need to know what he said.

Drop off a pie on top of the mailbox at the corner of Vermont and Franklin. If I see any cops, my memory of what he said will die. Once I'm out of range of the snipers, my memory of what he said will be delivered to a location I will not disclose until I am safely out of the country.

Drop off a pie on top of the mailbox at the corner of Vermont and Franklin.

Can I make it an explosive pie? Because if so, ita would probably deliver it for me.

Re: your whitefont

[link]

O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?

Which, I think, is what it's all about: finding the thing you can do, the thing in which you cannot tell yourself from the work.

ita should not be driving, Betsy. Jesus, you're merciless.

Oh, alright, I'll tell you.

I asked about something I didn't understand that he posted yesterday, and he said, "It's from Carousel, Betsy will understand...we really need to introduce you to musicals." I was going to make a comment that I'll do musicals when he learns to appreciate hip hop, but then he asked if I'd ever met you and what you were like. I said I had only spoken to you on the phone and complimeted you but can't remember what I said, and so that was that.

I know, it's terribly exciting. All that build-up, and Rosebud is a sled.

Didn't we meet at the LA F2F? I remember your bright vivid face.

Dear god I should have coffee. See how schmoopy I am before caffeine? Pathetic, I tell you. God forbid there's ever a Polgaraverse. I'll be writing poems in her honor.