Gift Exchange Mark 2

OK then -- it seems like enough people might be in to make this entertaining, and I will solicit some of the non-LJ folks as well. But there were two different plans suggested: One in which we just did the thing for the Winter Holiday Season and then stopped, and one where we did the thing for a year, and we'd send each other stuff on birthdays, anniversaries, and just sort of generally throughout the year when we felt like it. So I said, "Let me consult my demons..." And here I am. What do you guys think? (Not that you're all demons, of course...)

Also, please don't vote unless you want to be in. Thanks!

[Poll #608615]

Gift Exchange Mark 2

OK then -- it seems like enough people might be in to make this entertaining, and I will solicit some of the non-LJ folks as well. But there were two different plans suggested: One in which we just did the thing for the Winter Holiday Season and then stopped, and one where we did the thing for a year, and we'd send each other stuff on birthdays, anniversaries, and just sort of generally throughout the year when we felt like it. So I said, "Let me consult my demons..." And here I am. What do you guys think? (Not that you're all demons, of course...)

Also, please don't vote unless you want to be in. Thanks!

[Poll #608615]

Just in case you thought that my life was somehow more interesting than yours

Last night, I made a crucial decision. I had written earlier, in adammaker's comments that I was considering whether to rush right out and buy the new Martin book in a fit of literary passion, or pretend to disdain it until I could one day buy it in paperback, under the cover of darkness, preferably with no witnesses. I thought I could hold out against the temptation, but I am weak, and I had a 15% off coupon at Borders, and so I bought the thing on my way home. I had no thoughts but of cracking it, preferably shortly after arriving at my house, but it was not to be.

For lo, it was my night to cook dinner, and I did cook something that was entirely edible involving chicken, yellow rice, red bell peppers and garlic. And then, lo, I was distracted, for I had remembered that I was going to make saffronhare a "pajama ambassador" icon. So I sat down and began to google. And I googled 'nightgown' and I googled 'pajamas' and I googled 'sleepwear' and there was nothing there that would help me in my task. And suddenly, something else dawned on me. There was no porn! You can google for anything, anything at all and get porn! Winnie the Pooh porn, Harry Potter porn, Little House on the Prairie porn, donkey porn, turnip porn. But there is no sleepwear porn. I related this to the rest of the household, and there was shock and amazement.

"Maybe there's just less porn on the internet," we thought. kittenpants tested the theory. "Wisconsin," she said, "I googled Wisconsin, and there's no porn."

I looked over. "That's because you spelled it wrong."

"Dammit." She corrected the spelling, and suddenly, there it was. Porn. On the first page.

At this point, it became very funny. Now it was a game. Type in something innocuous in the google image search and see how many pages it takes you to get a porn result. Anything that does not yield porn in ten pages of images is considered "safe". This got funnier and funnier for a while. "Ack! Furry porn!" was heard to echo around the office on a number of occasions. "Is that a carrot or a sex toy?" was asked. And then, zylch arrived. The office window was open. She hallooed at us. We hallooed back. "Come on in," we said, "We're playing the google porn game!" The neighborhood really wanted to know that. She hung out a while and suggested some search words. You will be pleased to know that "spork" is safe.

Then, just as I was returning my thoughts to the Martin book, kittenpants reminded me that I hadn't finished reading fionnabhar's manuscript yet, and we couldn't do any editing or critiquing until I was done with it. So, I was forced to put off the Martin book yet again, this time in favor of the were-children. Which was, overall, quite good. Later today, I will send fionnabhar some preliminary notes, and then, kittenpants and I can really get to hacking on it.

So, the book remains unopened, although I did open to the last page while I was in the bookstore to see if this would be the last book in the series or not. It will not, which is good for me, but bad for triadruid, who has sworn never to start a series unless the author was either finished with the series, or dead. I expect it will be a long time before I can discuss plot points with him.

Just in case you thought that my life was somehow more interesting than yours

Last night, I made a crucial decision. I had written earlier, in adammaker's comments that I was considering whether to rush right out and buy the new Martin book in a fit of literary passion, or pretend to disdain it until I could one day buy it in paperback, under the cover of darkness, preferably with no witnesses. I thought I could hold out against the temptation, but I am weak, and I had a 15% off coupon at Borders, and so I bought the thing on my way home. I had no thoughts but of cracking it, preferably shortly after arriving at my house, but it was not to be.

For lo, it was my night to cook dinner, and I did cook something that was entirely edible involving chicken, yellow rice, red bell peppers and garlic. And then, lo, I was distracted, for I had remembered that I was going to make saffronhare a "pajama ambassador" icon. So I sat down and began to google. And I googled 'nightgown' and I googled 'pajamas' and I googled 'sleepwear' and there was nothing there that would help me in my task. And suddenly, something else dawned on me. There was no porn! You can google for anything, anything at all and get porn! Winnie the Pooh porn, Harry Potter porn, Little House on the Prairie porn, donkey porn, turnip porn. But there is no sleepwear porn. I related this to the rest of the household, and there was shock and amazement.

"Maybe there's just less porn on the internet," we thought. kittenpants tested the theory. "Wisconsin," she said, "I googled Wisconsin, and there's no porn."

I looked over. "That's because you spelled it wrong."

"Dammit." She corrected the spelling, and suddenly, there it was. Porn. On the first page.

At this point, it became very funny. Now it was a game. Type in something innocuous in the google image search and see how many pages it takes you to get a porn result. Anything that does not yield porn in ten pages of images is considered "safe". This got funnier and funnier for a while. "Ack! Furry porn!" was heard to echo around the office on a number of occasions. "Is that a carrot or a sex toy?" was asked. And then, zylch arrived. The office window was open. She hallooed at us. We hallooed back. "Come on in," we said, "We're playing the google porn game!" The neighborhood really wanted to know that. She hung out a while and suggested some search words. You will be pleased to know that "spork" is safe.

Then, just as I was returning my thoughts to the Martin book, kittenpants reminded me that I hadn't finished reading fionnabhar's manuscript yet, and we couldn't do any editing or critiquing until I was done with it. So, I was forced to put off the Martin book yet again, this time in favor of the were-children. Which was, overall, quite good. Later today, I will send fionnabhar some preliminary notes, and then, kittenpants and I can really get to hacking on it.

So, the book remains unopened, although I did open to the last page while I was in the bookstore to see if this would be the last book in the series or not. It will not, which is good for me, but bad for triadruid, who has sworn never to start a series unless the author was either finished with the series, or dead. I expect it will be a long time before I can discuss plot points with him.