Congrats, Seska! And {{Buffista pets and pet-owners}}

Heh. My mom called, and we chatted normally, and it was going great—she wasn't even bitter and sarcastic about the fact that she called me instead of the other way around—and then she said, "So have you cooled down?"

Ha ha ha ha. "What do you mean, cooled down? I'm fine." YOU'RE THE CRAZY ONE, LADY.

"About keeping the necklace in your wallet if you're not going to wear it."

"I haven't even picked it up," I said, "and I'm not going to make a special trip to pick it up."

"You have to," she said.

"I don't have to," I said, "and I said we're not talking about this anymore, so can we not talk about it anymore, please?"

So of course she asked me how it was going with the potential future wife, and I said I hadn't had the "time or the interest" to respond, and I continued to be evasive until she said she would talk to me later and hung up normally. Which was a step up!

I was going to call her today and was dreading it, but at least it's over with now. Until the next one.

Cricket, I think what javachik meant was that we only bite consensually. Yes.

Yes, what amych said! We might not all agree on how to pronounce "amych" or "amyth" but we all agree on bite protocol.

ETA: Getting used to typing on this new keyboard will take a while.

Good for you, P-C!

We just got back from the museum, and I am exhausted, but TCG really wants to see The Road, so we're headed there in a bit.

I was just going to say, we don't bite...unless you ask. ammitch. ammith.

Congratulations, Seska, both on your confirmation and on the non-flammatory nature of the ceremony.

Gentle yays to Lucy-cat. And all good thoughts to the spotty pup and her folks.

Bev, are those short or long "a"s?

Man, I have one big monologue in this play, and there is one line that's a complicated complex sentence with polysyllabic words and it's killing me.

It's so hard to enunciate simple words! Apparently I can't say "heard a rumor" without slurring.

Double mms mean short a--as in as, at, am. Amych, for example, rhymes with PB&J sammich, and amyth is an abbreviated amethyst. Right?

::looks on with great bemusement::

P-C, first, I meant to say good for you on being strong during your phone convo with your mom. It's already so much different than it was even a year ago--at least from what you're reporting here. Whatever progress you've made, it's all on you, because you're doing all the work. Good onya.

About the dialog thing, what always helped me was reading it walking. Slow it down, take it a syllable at a time, each beat to a step. It sounds stupid while you're doing it, but it sort of imprints the consonants and the vowels in a way so you can recall and recite them. Like singers learning a song in a foreign language phonetically. Once you have the dialog down and can say it clearly, you can add emotion to it later.