Don't name it after a color.
Don't get me wrong, people seem to like the "Pink" line, and I've seen several women wearing articles of clothing from it, and no doubt it is incredibly successful and has brought in more money than I could ever hope to earn if I lived a hundred lifetimes, but here's what I've noticed about "Pink": it doesn't seem to contain a whole lot of pink.
White word on a blue shirt, the word is "Pink" my response (in my head) is, "No, it's not." I don't care if the word is a label or self referential, either way it's wrong. Blue is not pink. White is not pink. Black writing on a black shirt (hard to read unless the light catches it right which it did) "I LOVE PINK" all evidence was to the contrary, her clothing choices all tended toward darker colors meaning even if she had ventured into the red end of the spectrum (she didn't) it seemed that she'd never put on something light enough to qualify as pink. Of course for all I know she has precisely one dark outfit and every other day she'd be wearing nothing but pink, but it's difficult to seriously take that into account given that the on piece of information I do have to go on is that ever piece of clothing I've seen that contains the word "Pink" is decidedly not pink.
We can expand this to accessories as well, the girl with the black on black "pink" shirt had more that made me think she liked dark colors than just every piece of clothing she was wearing. It was everything she carried as well. I don't think any of that said "Pink" but some people did have such things labeled "Pink" and they all had on thing in common: they weren't pink.
Now some of the women here do in fact wear pink clothing, but based on the lack of labeling it would appear that none of it is of the "Pink" line and while I'm sure that the "Pink" line includes many things that are in fact pink, from what I've seen with my own eyes it might as well be named, "Anything but Pink," for the color range it displays.
Clearly the line is successful, clearly people like it, thus my advice is not only unasked for and unwanted, but actively bad as taking it would have gotten rid of a successful clothing line before it even started.
It's just that... if I were to make a clothing line called, "Orange," my first thought on, "What color should it be?" would not be, "Purple, with blue writing saying, 'Orange.'" It just seems wrong. The thing is labeled "[Color]" but it's not [Color]. I don't find it dishonest so much as strange.
So my advice on naming would be that unless you're going for monochromatic, don't name it a color.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
June 2012
General Stories/Ideas for Stories:
Omphalos workers - So, one theory goes that God wanted the world to have that lived in feel, so the signs that it's older than the creationists think are just a result of that. It didn't really happen, it's just that reality was built to look aged. Like prefaded jeans. This is one of the angels working on that talking to another.
Abel's death was faked, an idea I probably won't get back to - Sort of along the same lines as the above in terms of inspiration, but a completely different direction. Cain and Abel find something that couldn't possibly exist, a remnant of human habitation predating their parents who are supposed to be the first humans, in order to investigate without anyone knowing they're investigating they fake Abel's death.
General Twilight based stuff:
Why don't you eat people? - When Bella asks why Edward doesn't eat people he throws the question back to her and is horrified by the fact she doesn't seem to have an answer other than, possibly, that she hadn't considered it before.
Snarky Twilight stuff:
The Most Important Question - Edward and Bella disagree on what that is.
General Left Behind based stuff:
NRA - Are you Rayford Steele - A hopefully more realistic version of the conversation when a soldier is trying to find Rayford in war torn (post mushroom cloud) Chicago.
Skewed Slightly to the Left: Cameron and Chloe during the war - In a moment of peace Verna overhears Cameron call his sister, and Chloe prepares herself for what is to come in the shelter she is to lead.
Left Behind Lacunae - The NRA Traffic Jam - So Buck and Chloe and such are heroes, but everything we see on the page seems to contradict that, clearly what is needed is for us to read between the lines. As is done here.
From my slow trek through .hack//Sign:
Kinds of Power - I use a meeting of Subaru and Sora as an opportunity to discuss the very different kinds of power they each have. Subaru's power flows from an idea she has worked to support, which has made her Subaru, leader of the Crimson Knights, one of the most powerful forces within the game but has left Subaru the individual character with little physical power of her own and also isolated her socially. Sora's power comes from leveling up, making him one of the most powerful individuals within the game, but left him with only violence and the threat of violence as means of persuasion.
Can't give up - Mimiru say's she's giving up, I talk about why her character, her ethos, won't let her do that and compare her to Neoptolomus in Sophocles' Philoctetes.
Color My World - Tsukasa reaches out to touch Aura but before he does he suddenly has a flashback to an unpleasant event in his childhood. Afterward, DVL tells him to imbue Aura with his own color and promises to protect him. I talk about all of this in depth.
From my slow trek through Deus Ex:
Training - Part 9: Final Exam - I go through just some of the myriad ways you can go about completing the task of "Cross the 'river' without getting killed by the robot."
Other fiction related stuff:
Mirror's Edge and my playing of it was the last post of the previous month, it was designed to be a spoiler free version of a Mirror's Edge post. As such it kind of goes hand in hand with two of the first posts of June:
Mirror's Edge Spoiler Post 1: The plot - Exactly what it sounds like. A post describing the plot of Mirror's edge in some depth.
Mirror's Edge Spoiler Post 2: What I would do differently - Again, exactly what it sounds like. The changes I would have made had I the power to have done so.
Game Stories and a desire to go of the rails - Because of the nature of the way one interacts with a game it is theoretically possible (though perhaps not economically feasible) to tell a story in which the choices you make can send the narrative spiraling in directions other than the default. I want to play these stories.
Why the destruction of the first Death Star doesn't leave most mourning - It is my long held belief that what we don't see is as important to our judgement as what we do see. The dog that didn't bark in the night solved a case for Sherlock Holmes. Not what did happen, but what didn't happen. It is my contention that what didn't happen in Star Wars is the reason that the destruction of the first Death Star isn't a source of great moral ambiguity.
Other Stuff:
Viewing the Transit of Venus - My sister and I viewed the transit of Venus, I couldn't get a picture of Venus, so instead I have pictures of my sister and myself in welder's helmets.
My sister has radicalized - I'm not in favor of hoping that a victorious Romney will run the country so far into the ground that it will spark a revolution. I'd rather try to make things get better, not worse, in the here and now. My sister, at least at the time of me writing the post in question, was not of the same mind.
Today was not a good day - Trigger warnings for rape apologia and abusive relationships for a start, plus the general crap that comes with being a part of my family as a sort of background radiation for the stuff that stood out most.
Why you should always vote, even when you don't like the options - My take on the matter.
Proper subsets, the size of infinity, and the Trinity - Started with a discussion of theology, someone brought math into it, this is my contribution. It's about how something can be only part of something else, and yet be equal in size to it.
When in doubt, Comment - How else will I know if anyone particularly likes what I'm doing on here? I can see how many pageveiws something gets, but not what the people viewing the page thought. For all I know everyone thought it was the most worthless thing they had ever read and wasn't worth the time it took to read. If you don't feel that way, comment. It will not start the zombie apocalypse.
Happy 2π day - I wanted to return to my irrational defense of pi by making a video called Defending Pi on Tau day. Life intervened and instead I just wrote a recap.
Index making, is there (free) software to help with this? - The answer seems to be no, but you could click over to see exactly what I was talking about and maybe it will turn out that you do know of something.
Omphalos workers - So, one theory goes that God wanted the world to have that lived in feel, so the signs that it's older than the creationists think are just a result of that. It didn't really happen, it's just that reality was built to look aged. Like prefaded jeans. This is one of the angels working on that talking to another.
Abel's death was faked, an idea I probably won't get back to - Sort of along the same lines as the above in terms of inspiration, but a completely different direction. Cain and Abel find something that couldn't possibly exist, a remnant of human habitation predating their parents who are supposed to be the first humans, in order to investigate without anyone knowing they're investigating they fake Abel's death.
General Twilight based stuff:
Why don't you eat people? - When Bella asks why Edward doesn't eat people he throws the question back to her and is horrified by the fact she doesn't seem to have an answer other than, possibly, that she hadn't considered it before.
Snarky Twilight stuff:
The Most Important Question - Edward and Bella disagree on what that is.
General Left Behind based stuff:
NRA - Are you Rayford Steele - A hopefully more realistic version of the conversation when a soldier is trying to find Rayford in war torn (post mushroom cloud) Chicago.
Skewed Slightly to the Left: Cameron and Chloe during the war - In a moment of peace Verna overhears Cameron call his sister, and Chloe prepares herself for what is to come in the shelter she is to lead.
Left Behind Lacunae - The NRA Traffic Jam - So Buck and Chloe and such are heroes, but everything we see on the page seems to contradict that, clearly what is needed is for us to read between the lines. As is done here.
From my slow trek through .hack//Sign:
Kinds of Power - I use a meeting of Subaru and Sora as an opportunity to discuss the very different kinds of power they each have. Subaru's power flows from an idea she has worked to support, which has made her Subaru, leader of the Crimson Knights, one of the most powerful forces within the game but has left Subaru the individual character with little physical power of her own and also isolated her socially. Sora's power comes from leveling up, making him one of the most powerful individuals within the game, but left him with only violence and the threat of violence as means of persuasion.
Can't give up - Mimiru say's she's giving up, I talk about why her character, her ethos, won't let her do that and compare her to Neoptolomus in Sophocles' Philoctetes.
Color My World - Tsukasa reaches out to touch Aura but before he does he suddenly has a flashback to an unpleasant event in his childhood. Afterward, DVL tells him to imbue Aura with his own color and promises to protect him. I talk about all of this in depth.
From my slow trek through Deus Ex:
Training - Part 9: Final Exam - I go through just some of the myriad ways you can go about completing the task of "Cross the 'river' without getting killed by the robot."
Other fiction related stuff:
Mirror's Edge and my playing of it was the last post of the previous month, it was designed to be a spoiler free version of a Mirror's Edge post. As such it kind of goes hand in hand with two of the first posts of June:
Mirror's Edge Spoiler Post 1: The plot - Exactly what it sounds like. A post describing the plot of Mirror's edge in some depth.
Mirror's Edge Spoiler Post 2: What I would do differently - Again, exactly what it sounds like. The changes I would have made had I the power to have done so.
Game Stories and a desire to go of the rails - Because of the nature of the way one interacts with a game it is theoretically possible (though perhaps not economically feasible) to tell a story in which the choices you make can send the narrative spiraling in directions other than the default. I want to play these stories.
Why the destruction of the first Death Star doesn't leave most mourning - It is my long held belief that what we don't see is as important to our judgement as what we do see. The dog that didn't bark in the night solved a case for Sherlock Holmes. Not what did happen, but what didn't happen. It is my contention that what didn't happen in Star Wars is the reason that the destruction of the first Death Star isn't a source of great moral ambiguity.
Other Stuff:
Viewing the Transit of Venus - My sister and I viewed the transit of Venus, I couldn't get a picture of Venus, so instead I have pictures of my sister and myself in welder's helmets.
My sister has radicalized - I'm not in favor of hoping that a victorious Romney will run the country so far into the ground that it will spark a revolution. I'd rather try to make things get better, not worse, in the here and now. My sister, at least at the time of me writing the post in question, was not of the same mind.
Today was not a good day - Trigger warnings for rape apologia and abusive relationships for a start, plus the general crap that comes with being a part of my family as a sort of background radiation for the stuff that stood out most.
Why you should always vote, even when you don't like the options - My take on the matter.
Proper subsets, the size of infinity, and the Trinity - Started with a discussion of theology, someone brought math into it, this is my contribution. It's about how something can be only part of something else, and yet be equal in size to it.
When in doubt, Comment - How else will I know if anyone particularly likes what I'm doing on here? I can see how many pageveiws something gets, but not what the people viewing the page thought. For all I know everyone thought it was the most worthless thing they had ever read and wasn't worth the time it took to read. If you don't feel that way, comment. It will not start the zombie apocalypse.
Happy 2π day - I wanted to return to my irrational defense of pi by making a video called Defending Pi on Tau day. Life intervened and instead I just wrote a recap.
Index making, is there (free) software to help with this? - The answer seems to be no, but you could click over to see exactly what I was talking about and maybe it will turn out that you do know of something.
-
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
"Should I be worried?"
Still sad, and somewhat tired in spite of sleep seeming to go well.
Apparently it shows because that (the title) is the question I today from my mother. I'm of two minds regarding how to answer that. The answer that I did give assumes relativity, Should I be worried in a way that I have not been worried these past 10+ years you've been having treatement resistant/untreated depression? In that case, no. Not a bit.
I been through fucktons worse than this.
She's seen me go through things like this and worse for the past ten years. There's nothing particularly new or special about me and sad and tired being in the same place at the same time. The same could be said of me and apathy, me and dread, me and anxiety, me and lack of energy, me and any number of bad things.
If she wasn't worried about me last week, last month, last year, last decade, then there's no cause for worry now.
On the other hand, what if I didn't assume relativity?
Should she be worried? Quite possibly. I have a fucking mental illness called depression that, for much of my life, definitely more than a third, perhaps more than half, maybe even the vast majority, has refused to go away. Every treatment we've tried has failed. It's kept me largely isolated, it's kept me from doing the things I wanted to do and made my life a series of broken dreams, most of them didn't even make it to the "attempt to start" phase before the depression smothered them.
I've had this illness for so long that I don't even remember what I was like without it. I don't have a firm grasp on the things that made me happy before depression set in, I don't remember them. Those diagnostic questions they ask, "for the past two weeks have you found it difficult to enjoy things you used to enjoy," when did I used to enjoy? Don't remember that.
Except things that last for but a moment and then are gone. If I can get lost in the moment then emotions might flow, but once the moment ends any positive emotions do too.
So should she be worried? I don't know. I kind of think that there might be cause for concern in there somewhere.
Not that I would have said yes. Her worrying would improve what? There's no benefit to me, just something to weigh her down. So regardless of whether or not she should worry, I'd prefer she didn't. I see no benefit in making others feel worse.
Apparently it shows because that (the title) is the question I today from my mother. I'm of two minds regarding how to answer that. The answer that I did give assumes relativity, Should I be worried in a way that I have not been worried these past 10+ years you've been having treatement resistant/untreated depression? In that case, no. Not a bit.
I been through fucktons worse than this.
She's seen me go through things like this and worse for the past ten years. There's nothing particularly new or special about me and sad and tired being in the same place at the same time. The same could be said of me and apathy, me and dread, me and anxiety, me and lack of energy, me and any number of bad things.
If she wasn't worried about me last week, last month, last year, last decade, then there's no cause for worry now.
On the other hand, what if I didn't assume relativity?
Should she be worried? Quite possibly. I have a fucking mental illness called depression that, for much of my life, definitely more than a third, perhaps more than half, maybe even the vast majority, has refused to go away. Every treatment we've tried has failed. It's kept me largely isolated, it's kept me from doing the things I wanted to do and made my life a series of broken dreams, most of them didn't even make it to the "attempt to start" phase before the depression smothered them.
I've had this illness for so long that I don't even remember what I was like without it. I don't have a firm grasp on the things that made me happy before depression set in, I don't remember them. Those diagnostic questions they ask, "for the past two weeks have you found it difficult to enjoy things you used to enjoy," when did I used to enjoy? Don't remember that.
Except things that last for but a moment and then are gone. If I can get lost in the moment then emotions might flow, but once the moment ends any positive emotions do too.
So should she be worried? I don't know. I kind of think that there might be cause for concern in there somewhere.
Not that I would have said yes. Her worrying would improve what? There's no benefit to me, just something to weigh her down. So regardless of whether or not she should worry, I'd prefer she didn't. I see no benefit in making others feel worse.
Monday, September 17, 2012
I'm sad
Not unusual for someone with depression, I suppose, but that's the situation. I'm sad.
I'm not apathetic, I'm not in a state of dread or anxiety, I don't feel dead inside or hopeless. I'm just plain sad.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably a fairly normal level of sadness that people who have no experience with depression at all are quite familiar with.
So, in a sense, it's a perfectly healthy emotion to be having, the goal was never to be one of the shiny happy people who never had a down moment. The trouble is that there's no apparent reason for it.
I can't identify a source, I can't deal with it. And so I am sad and look to remain that way until, hopefully, just as inexplicably, my mood changes to something else. I could turn to introspection, but I know what that way lies.
You see I have a lot of things to be sad about, and if I try to tackle them all at once I'll be crushed beneath the weight of it all. I can't afford that right now. I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep.
I have two classes today that it would be nice to be ready for, and two classes tomorrow that I'm already behind in. On the one hand I'm sleeping better, not sure whether credit goes to the new sleep aid or one of my classics teachers promising to send Hypnos my way, either way I'll take it, on the other hand I'm still tired and motivation is still proving problematic.
Regardless, now is not the time to go search my soul for what is making me sad at the moment because I can't afford to be a sobbing wreck. Not right now. It would have been better if this sadness had arrived on Friday. I would have had time for it then. I could afford to waste the whole weekend since I didn't make any progress on anything anyway.
And so I'm sad.
I'm sad, I don't know why, and if I put any real effort into trying to find out why I'll find so many things that should make me said that I'll only get worse.
Sorry that I have no joy to share today.
I'm not apathetic, I'm not in a state of dread or anxiety, I don't feel dead inside or hopeless. I'm just plain sad.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably a fairly normal level of sadness that people who have no experience with depression at all are quite familiar with.
So, in a sense, it's a perfectly healthy emotion to be having, the goal was never to be one of the shiny happy people who never had a down moment. The trouble is that there's no apparent reason for it.
I can't identify a source, I can't deal with it. And so I am sad and look to remain that way until, hopefully, just as inexplicably, my mood changes to something else. I could turn to introspection, but I know what that way lies.
You see I have a lot of things to be sad about, and if I try to tackle them all at once I'll be crushed beneath the weight of it all. I can't afford that right now. I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep.
I have two classes today that it would be nice to be ready for, and two classes tomorrow that I'm already behind in. On the one hand I'm sleeping better, not sure whether credit goes to the new sleep aid or one of my classics teachers promising to send Hypnos my way, either way I'll take it, on the other hand I'm still tired and motivation is still proving problematic.
Regardless, now is not the time to go search my soul for what is making me sad at the moment because I can't afford to be a sobbing wreck. Not right now. It would have been better if this sadness had arrived on Friday. I would have had time for it then. I could afford to waste the whole weekend since I didn't make any progress on anything anyway.
And so I'm sad.
I'm sad, I don't know why, and if I put any real effort into trying to find out why I'll find so many things that should make me said that I'll only get worse.
Sorry that I have no joy to share today.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
.hack//Sign: Bad Therapy
.hack recap: We last saw Mimiru discovering that you can't be logged in for more than a few seconds without overhearing a rumor about Tsukasa.
(I recommend actually buying
.hack//Sign since my words don't really do it justice. One can
get either the
DVD this episode is on, or the
full series as a set.)
[So just a short post for today, I've
got two pretty decent nights sleep behind me, but given how long my
sleep was lacking before that I'm still not exactly up to … normal?
Sufficient? Awake? Whatever. Plus, as I type this I realize that
I'm already passed the deadline I had hoped to meet by half an hour.
So expect this to be low on content,
and low on polish.]
.hack//Sign, Episode 4: Wanted, 6:00-6:51
We begin with Mimiru in the place of
mountain and cloud, sitting on a wooden bench looking down.
BT enters:
Have you got rocks in your head,
or what?
I had to look up the expression “rocks
in your head”. Initially wondering if it might be something
translated literally from the Japanese. I mean, I'm familiar with
“beans in your ears” but “rocks in your head” I've never
heard of.
I wondered if it might refer to
Mimiru's obviously down state. Rocks in one's head would presumably
weigh the head down and contribute to an always looking down thing
that tends to accompany certain forms of depression and sadness. The
downward tilt of her Mimiru's head is part of how one can tell she's
not exactly in happy joyous mental places.
It does not.
The phrase, which is English, appears
to have two origins separated by centuries. The more recent one is
simply the idea that you have rocks instead of brain. The other
refers to a practice from the middle ages of conning people with
mental illness by claiming to treat the problem by removing rocks
from the person's head. (Make a small incisions, use slight of hand
to 'remove' rocks, take person's money.)
So either it's a slang term for being
stupid, or it's a slang term for mental illness wrapped up in a
history of exploitation via misdiagnosis.
Or to put it another way, she either
said, “Are you an idiot, or what?” or, “Are you crazy, or
what?” It's not just slang, it's insulting slang. On the one hand
we have her positing that Mimiru lacks a brain, on the other we have
her positing that Mimiru is among the mentally ill by using a phrase
that originated from the exploitation of the mentally ill.
The dub simply has her say, “You're
pathetic,” and, given that BT is very clearly not referring to
pathos in any technical way, leaves a lot less open to
interpretation.
The point here is this, one sentence in
and BT is already putting Mimiru down.
Now Mimiru doesn't have rocks in her
head, but she definitely needs someone to talk do, and in the absence
of a friend a therapist might do, BT doesn't qualify. Failing that,
I've heard that some people go into the woods and talk to the trees,
but you've got to be careful, you never know who else they might
tell. After all, look what happened with the whole Midas affair and
the barber was only whispering into a hole in the ground, which are
traditionally much more reliable secret keepers than trees.
Anyway, before we get into anything
else, there's a question to be asked about why she doesn't have a
friend to talk to:
Mimiru: H-huh? Where's Bear?
BT: The old man couldn't come.
Mimiru: Why?
BT: I don't know. The mail I got
from him read, “I'm sorry, but tell her I have to cancel my promise
to see her today.”
We last saw Bear talking Subaru and, to
a lesser extent, a mostly disinterested Silver Knight. He was saying
that he didn't think the problem would be solved by chasing a
character around on the net. He's believed this for a while. He
also, from the conversation, learned that Tsukasa had at that time
been logged on continuously for the past ten days. That may be the
first time he got a definite start date for Tsukasa being trapped
within the game, regardless he isn't here right now.
Mimiru: Drat. I wanted to ask
him something, too.
BT: Is it about Tsukasa?
Mimiru: Yeah.
While
Bear and Mimiru do appear to do things together beyond think about
Tsukasa, before the matter of Tsukasa brought them together as the
only two people actually trying to help
Tsukasa, Mimiru was a solo player.
It's
a fair bet that anything she wants to talk to the point of
disappointment when she can't is going to be about Tsukasa. If
nothing else he's the only part of their relationship that isn't part
of a game. Any playing they do together doesn't really matter,
except to them, when they're not playing. But Tuskasa is the one
thing in the game that they've encountered that keeps on mattering
well after they've logged out.
Until
Tsukasa can log out as well, his problem will be there 24-7. Mimiru
and Bear don't have to worry about what happens to their characters
when they're not playing, but they do have to worry about Tsukasa,
because he's always playing and can't stop.
And
now people are taking notice of him.
BT: There are rumors springing up
everywhere.
Mimiru: So you've heard them too.
BT: There's no need to listen
carefully if he goes and does something so flashy.
It's
noteworthy that all he seems to be doing is roaming freely and
letting the Guardian protect him. He may not even know that everyone
is talking about him. He can't check the message boards, and keeps
his distance from other people, so he really has no way to know
what's going on in the rumor mill.
Mimiru: I wonder what's up with
him.
BT: You haven't heard from him
since?
Mimiru: Nope. Not at all.
The last time would be when Bear showed up in her place, Tsukasa tried to share his wondrous achievement of
getting the guardian under control (at least apparently so) and
basically got lectured at until he felt the need to beam out.
So, in essence, she hasn't heard from
him since she stood him up. That her designated stand in pissed him
off probably doesn't help. Tsukasa doesn't actually seem to hold that against her, but Mimiru doesn't know that.
-
I'm probably going to leave it there
for now, but I would like to note BT's general demeanor.
Before Mimiru even sees her:
Have you got rocks in your head,
or what?
Insulting, condescending.
After
Mimiru says what's troubling her:
There are rumors springing up
everywhere.
There's no need to listen
carefully if he goes and does something so flashy.
Dismissive
of Mimiru's concerns.
Finally:You
haven't heard from him since?
This one is interesting to me because it's information that might be useful to BT. It's not an insulting question, it's not conveying factual information while giving away as little as possible. It's a question that seems to be asked because of a genuine interest in the answer. It's hard for me to not see this as BT getting some information she can use out of the conversation.
This one is interesting to me because it's information that might be useful to BT. It's not an insulting question, it's not conveying factual information while giving away as little as possible. It's a question that seems to be asked because of a genuine interest in the answer. It's hard for me to not see this as BT getting some information she can use out of the conversation.
That
seems to be her guiding star: what's of use to her.
-
Verna's Perspective
[Originally posted at Slacktivist, page 2]
Original text:
-
Verna first met Cameron Williams in the midst of the world altering catastrophe that the event had been, her boss gone she'd stepped into the role of organizer because if the Chicago office hadn't relied on battlefield promotions no one would have been in charge and anarchy and panic would have been allowed to reign. She couldn't let that happen because it was vitally important, especially during disasters, that the news got out. Into that Williams had walked and taken offense at her for shouldering more responsibilities than anyone had ever asked of her.
She was glad to be rid of him when he was gone and under her the office did it's job and did it well. The battlefield promotion was made official and she didn't give a second thought to Cameron Williams until he fucked up a major assignment in New York.
Assigned to cover a high level meeting at the UN he never showed up, the meeting became a major news story when it unexpectedly became the scene of a murder suicide. The deaths of either of those involved would have been a major story that shook geopolitics even if the world weren't already in the midst of the the worst turmoil in human history.
Any member of nearly any news organization would have given nearly any body part to have had a reporter in the room when it happened. And GW was supposed to have.
Rather than admit his failure Williams had lied, tried to claim that he was in the room and did cover the story even though none of his facts lined up and everyone agreed that he was not.
In the aftermath of that, when he should have been fired, he was sent to her. She'd tried to find a place to fit him in her team even though she neither wanted nor needed his help, and moreover, even though she had little use for a reporter she couldn't trust.
He responded with insolence and rather than go through channels he insisted that she take the matter straight to the top. Partially to humor him, partially to test to see if his "after hours number" for their boss was correct, she'd done just that. The resolution was imperfect, it was clear that emotions were at play, notably a strong fondness for Williams, but it at least got him out of her hair. He would work from home independent from her office.
And that, she had hoped, would be the last she heard of him.
Then freedom of the press died. All media was consolidated under a single entity, and that entity served at the whims of the newly forming one world government. As everyone had to make difficult decisions about whether to quit in protest or remain in their role in hopes that they could make it something more than just state sponsored propaganda, one figure emerged who would head this new one word media.
When she heard it would be a reporter she by turns thought maybe it was a good thing, and wondered who they had found to so completely sell their soul as to lead the end of free media. That figure: Cameron Williams.
With all of the world's media to push around she had hoped he wouldn't have time to bother her further, but now here he was, kicking her out of her office.
-
Or something like that.
-
[Left Behind Index]
Original text:
Buck had had innumerable run-ins with Verna Zee in the Chicago office. Once he felt she had overstepped her bounds and had moved too quickly into her former boss’s office after Lucinda Washington disappeared in the Rapture. Then, when Buck himself was demoted for ostensibly missing the most important assignment of his life, Verna did become Chicago bureau chief and lorded it over him. Now that he was publisher, he had been tempted to fire her.Vermic's response:
I would really, dearly love to read a Verna's POV version of this paragraph. Everything about this one positively screams "unreliable narrator".My attempt to provide it follows, though I note that I was so focused on the filling in about the past that I sort of forgot to work in that this is when he's kicking her out of her office during World War III. You know, when she, as a news person, would be kind of busy.
-
Verna first met Cameron Williams in the midst of the world altering catastrophe that the event had been, her boss gone she'd stepped into the role of organizer because if the Chicago office hadn't relied on battlefield promotions no one would have been in charge and anarchy and panic would have been allowed to reign. She couldn't let that happen because it was vitally important, especially during disasters, that the news got out. Into that Williams had walked and taken offense at her for shouldering more responsibilities than anyone had ever asked of her.
She was glad to be rid of him when he was gone and under her the office did it's job and did it well. The battlefield promotion was made official and she didn't give a second thought to Cameron Williams until he fucked up a major assignment in New York.
Assigned to cover a high level meeting at the UN he never showed up, the meeting became a major news story when it unexpectedly became the scene of a murder suicide. The deaths of either of those involved would have been a major story that shook geopolitics even if the world weren't already in the midst of the the worst turmoil in human history.
Any member of nearly any news organization would have given nearly any body part to have had a reporter in the room when it happened. And GW was supposed to have.
Rather than admit his failure Williams had lied, tried to claim that he was in the room and did cover the story even though none of his facts lined up and everyone agreed that he was not.
In the aftermath of that, when he should have been fired, he was sent to her. She'd tried to find a place to fit him in her team even though she neither wanted nor needed his help, and moreover, even though she had little use for a reporter she couldn't trust.
He responded with insolence and rather than go through channels he insisted that she take the matter straight to the top. Partially to humor him, partially to test to see if his "after hours number" for their boss was correct, she'd done just that. The resolution was imperfect, it was clear that emotions were at play, notably a strong fondness for Williams, but it at least got him out of her hair. He would work from home independent from her office.
And that, she had hoped, would be the last she heard of him.
Then freedom of the press died. All media was consolidated under a single entity, and that entity served at the whims of the newly forming one world government. As everyone had to make difficult decisions about whether to quit in protest or remain in their role in hopes that they could make it something more than just state sponsored propaganda, one figure emerged who would head this new one word media.
When she heard it would be a reporter she by turns thought maybe it was a good thing, and wondered who they had found to so completely sell their soul as to lead the end of free media. That figure: Cameron Williams.
With all of the world's media to push around she had hoped he wouldn't have time to bother her further, but now here he was, kicking her out of her office.
-
Or something like that.
-
[Left Behind Index]
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Edward: Not in the least, are you finished giving me one word-- Shit.
Bella: What?
Edward: I just realized that the book says I am finished for now.
Bella: And you always do what the book tells you to do, don't you?
Edward: Your father will be home soon.
Bella: I've not forgotten.
Edward: But the book says-
Bella: I don't care what the book says, I'm not going to forget that my father exists until you remind me. It doesn't work that way. Now, how late it is?
Edward: It's twilight.
Bella: It's always Twilight.
Edward: No. Not Twilight the book, twilight the time of day.
Bella: I could tell that just by having my eyes open, why would you feel the need to share that?
Edward: It's the safest time of day for us. The easiest time. But also the saddest, in a way... the end of another day. The return of night. Darkness is so predictable, don't you think?
Bella: Clearly you've never met the Vashta Nerada. Predictable is not the name that comes to mind. The darkness hides from us a whole new world right here on earth, the desert comes to life, the forest can finally bustle, the bats come out. Have you ever stood in the dark on a dock under the canopy of stars watching the bats fly all around you as they kept the insect population under control? The water calm below you, only the gentlest of waves rocking the dock and disrupting the near perfect mirror of the stars above. The milky way like a stain across the sky, a million pinpricks of light, each of them another sun, except for a few that are in fact galaxys, just so far away they appear as little more than stars to us.
Bella: Without the dark we'd never see the stars. It's a shame that there's nowhere in the entire continental United States without light pollution. I'd love for it to be dark enough to get a really good view of the stars.
Bella: Not that you can see the stars here at all, on most nights.
*Edward laughs*
Bella: Yeah, it's always funny when something that gives me joy is kept away from me.
Edward: Charlie will be here in a few minutes, so unless you want to tell him that you'll be with me Sunday...
Bella: Sure, why not.
Edward: Uh, that's not what you're supposed to say.
Bella: Since when do I say what I'm supposed to say?
Edward: The writing makes clear that we're supposed to be keeping this a secret.
Bella: And you always do what you're supposed to do, don't you.
Edward: Yes. And you should too. We're characters, not the author.
Bella: Who says I can't auth?
Edward: I don't know... REALITY maybe?
Bella: Whose Reality?
Edward: Screw it, I'm getting out of here and -- Not good.
Bella: What?
Edward: Another complication. *Edward starts to leave. A different car pulls up* Charlie's around the corner.
*Edward leaves*
Jacob: Hey Bella!
Bella: Jacob?
*Jacob gets out, Bella looks in and sees Jacob's father. Charlie's car pulls up.*
CHAPTER BREAK
Charlie: Billy!
Charlie: I'm going to pretend that I didn't see you behind the wheel, Jake.
Jacob: I'm going to pretend that I'm not shocked and appalled by your lack of knowledge of when we get our permits on the reservation.
Charlie: Crap. Sorry.
Billy: Besides, I have to get around somehow.
*They all get into the house by various means*
Charlie: This is a surprise.
Billy: It's been too long. I hope it's not a bad time.
Charlie: No, not at all. I think that the beginning of a chapter is always a great time to show up. Do tell me you'll stay for the game.
Jacob: I think that's part of the plan, otherwise I have no idea why the author decided to break our TV.
Charlie: Say what?
Jacob: Everything was going fine and then all of a sudden, after ignoring our very existence for chapters on end, the author made it part of the story that our TV was broken last week.
Billy: And, of course, Jacob was anxious to see Bella again.
Bella: I'm leaving this room in the only way a woman is permitted to leave. I'm going to the kitchen. And I'm doing it on the pretense that it is for someone else's benefit rather than my own. Are you hungry?
Jacob: Sorry, but no. We ate before we came.
Bella: Charlie?
Charlie: If it'll make you more comfortable, I can be as hungry or full as you want me to be.
Bella: Thanks, Charlie.
Charlie: What are parents for if not to blame your own decisions on when the culture tells you you need a justification beyond, "It's what I want"?
Bella: I'm sure you have use beyond that. Enjoy the game.
*Bella walks to kitchen, Jacob follows. Charlie walks to TV room, Billy follows.*
Jacob: So, how are things?
Bella: Pretty good. *smiles* You know, for once the book and I agree. Your enthusiasm is pretty hard to resist.
Jacob: Does the book say any other nice things about me?
Bella: Loads, but a lot of them play into racial stereotypes.
Jacob: *somewhat glumly* Why am I not surprised?
Bella: *in an obvious 'let's change the subject tone'* How about you, did you finish your car?
Jacob: No, I still need more parts, but thanks for the Master cylinder. We had to borrow the car we came in in.
Bella: If you can make a list, I might be able to scrounge up what you need for yours. It's one of those catch 22s in life that it's far easier to do the traveling necessary to find the parts to fix your car if your car works to bring you the places to look for such parts, but if your car works then it doesn't need to be fixed.
Jacob: Yeah, I've noticed. Speaking of, is there something wrong with the truck?
Bella: Huh?
Jacob: I noticed you weren't using it.
Bella: Yeah, I wish I were. I got a ride from a jerk.
Jacob: Jerk had a nice car, does the jerk have a name? My dad seemed to recognize him.
Bella: The Jerk is named Edward. Edward of the sparkly Cullens.
*Jacob Laughs*
Jacob: Well that explains it.
Bella: Explains what?
Jacob: Why he's acting so strange.
Bella: Not a big vampire fan?
Jacob: I think I mentioned at some point that I dismiss all those suspiciously specific legends as superstition and in no way believe that I'm descended from a werewolf or two and thus, do not put stalk in... who the hell am I kidding?
Bella: Well I thought you were doing a good job until you said "put stalk in" instead of "put stock in".
Jacob: Thanks. No. He's not a big vampire fan.
Bella: You think he'll say anything to Charlie?
Jacob: No. Charlie has been known to irrationally take the Cullens side to a disproportionate degree for no apparent reason at the slightest provocation and this reunion is supposed to be about mending the rift one of those past times caused. I don't see the Cullens names being mentioned at all.
Bella: Ok. That's supposed to be good for some reason that is completely lost on me.
Jacob: You know, nothing you or I say from here until the end of the game is actually recorded in the book.
Bella: We're off the edge of the map.
Jacob: Here there be monsters.
Bella: Is there anything you'd like to talk about.
Jacob: Uhhh....
Bella: So that's a yes.
Jacob: So, what my dad said...
Bella: Which thing?
Jacob: The one about me and why we came here.
Bella: That you wanted to see me again?
Jacob: That's the one. It's true, but I was worried that it might have come across as a bit misleading.
Bella: It did have me worried a bit to, but I thought I made things pretty clear last time.
Jacob: You did. Interested in me as a friend, not as a suitor. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that I remembered that. Boundaries are clear, I wanted to see you again because you're my friend.
Bella: Good
*Jacob looks away, becomes sort of uneasy and vulnerable*
Jacob: That said... you wouldn't happen to... happen to know how Jessica's interest falls, would you?
Bella: Sorry, but no. I have no idea.
Jacob: Because I thought we made a real connection, but maybe that's just because we both thought Mike was being an ass, so I have no idea where we stand and...
Bella: You're going to have to ask her.
Jacob: Oh, I'd love to, but I don't have a car.
Bella: Give me a parts list, I'll see how fast we can get your car fixed, but beyond that this is a conversation that has to take place between you and Jessica.
*Pause*
Bella: Or, you know, I could set up for the two of you to trade phone numbers or something. But fixing the car probably involves less effort on my part.
Jacob: How is that less effort?
Bella: I have to talk to less people. I'd rather drive to Seattle to buy books than talk to a librarian long enough to request a book via inter-library loan.