From the bad writing contest - for some reason I thought Nilly might appreciate this:

Creeping slowly over the hill, the sun seemed to catch the small village nestled in the valley by surprise, which is a bit unusual really, as you'd think that something with a diameter of 865,000 miles and a surface temperature of 5780 degrees Kelvin, and which is more normally seen from 93,000,000 miles away, wouldn't be able to creep anywhere, let alone catch anything by surprise.

This made me laugh:

As usual, Mr. Riddle came home from work, and, as usual, took the toy poodle, Fluffy, out for her walk, and, as usual, Fluffy "did her business" at the usual places, first at the bush, second, on the sidewalk, and third, in the grass, so that there, on the pavement, was evidence of Fluffy's evening sojourn: Mr. Riddle's little poodle's middle piddlle puddle.

That reminds me of this writing assignment that was read on, of all places, Car Talk.

The internet provides...

In-class Assignment for Wednesday

Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. One of you will then write the first paragraph of a short story. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back and forth. Remember to reread what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached.

The result... [link]

Oh I love that contest. Such gems.

Barb, I think Usuva and Zhulin may have been physically the most ideally-matched pair ever to skate. Dance. Not pairs. You know, right? Yes, I know he was a beast and deserves all manner of ill things, but together on the ice they were just sheer magic, one single line, always. May he rot.

Jess, I hope the rest of the hives have disappeared. Stress can do really odd things to a body.

And now I must go in search of moar coffffeeeee.

I've given up trying not to wear black and black to work. I hope they match well enough.

Hope with me!

Hopes with Allyson.

Barb, I think Usuva and Zhulin may have been physically the most ideally-matched pair ever to skate. Dance. Not pairs. You know, right? Yes, I know he was a beast and deserves all manner of ill things, but together on the ice they were just sheer magic, one single line, always. May he rot.

Yep-- absotively. I'm basing the ex-husband in my skating story on Sasha Zhulin. The rat bastard.

My new favorite blog.

I like that blog too!

The hivemind may need a couple of weeks, but eventually it great minds think alike.

Creeping slowly over the hill, the sun seemed to catch the small village nestled in the valley by surprise, which is a bit unusual really, as you'd think that something with a diameter of 865,000 miles and a surface temperature of 5780 degrees Kelvin, and which is more normally seen from 93,000,000 miles away, wouldn't be able to creep anywhere, let alone catch anything by surprise.

Hee.

Of course, it creates the image of that little (hey, in astronomic terms it is not that big) sun trying to go all "boo!" from behind a wall, stepping all a-character-from-a-cartoon-ish quietly up until it gets there, and disappointed when all the people not in village say "made you look" because they already saw it.

There are awesome clouds here, puffy cotton behind dark spiderwebs.

There are awesome clouds here, puffy cotton behind dark spiderwebs.

I love it when the sky actually has depth (or height, I guess) - when it's possible to see that above the clouds there's not just that blue empty whatever, but rather a whole lotta space, thanks to the other clouds that have enough room to roam there, too.