Spelling lesson
This is a mini-spelling rant about homophones, words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean separate things. If you want to avoid impending bitchiness, bail out now.
LIGHTNING: the zig-zaggy stuff in the sky that often accompanies thunderstorms, as in "greased lightning." LIGHTENING: when you make something lighter in color or weight, as in "lightening the load."
PEEK: a stolen glance. Yes, it rhymes with "sneak," but there is no "a" in this word. PEAK: the top of a mountain, or the pointy top of something. As in "snow-capped peaks" or "egg whites whipped into soft peaks."
BEAR: to carry something, as in "to bear weight" or "to bear a grudge against someone"; or to give birth to, as in "child-bearing years." And, of course, the animal (grizzly or teddy). BARE: to expose, as in "bare naked" or "bare your soul."
And no, you can't use the first word to mean the second just because you think the rest of the world is wrong and you're right, or because you want other people to work to figure out what you mean. (That means you, Ivan.) Messing with the language that way means you don't want to communicate what's on your mind, and if that's the case, then just don't say anything.
Now go out there and use your vocabulary properly. End of rant.
LIGHTNING: the zig-zaggy stuff in the sky that often accompanies thunderstorms, as in "greased lightning." LIGHTENING: when you make something lighter in color or weight, as in "lightening the load."
PEEK: a stolen glance. Yes, it rhymes with "sneak," but there is no "a" in this word. PEAK: the top of a mountain, or the pointy top of something. As in "snow-capped peaks" or "egg whites whipped into soft peaks."
BEAR: to carry something, as in "to bear weight" or "to bear a grudge against someone"; or to give birth to, as in "child-bearing years." And, of course, the animal (grizzly or teddy). BARE: to expose, as in "bare naked" or "bare your soul."
And no, you can't use the first word to mean the second just because you think the rest of the world is wrong and you're right, or because you want other people to work to figure out what you mean. (That means you, Ivan.) Messing with the language that way means you don't want to communicate what's on your mind, and if that's the case, then just don't say anything.
Now go out there and use your vocabulary properly. End of rant.
Ba-rock the casbah
So The Husband and The Boy went to caucus for Barack Obama today. Here in Extra-Blue State, the Democratic Party is assigning delegates according to which candidate wins the caucus process. We have a primary, but it's pointless -- your primary vote doesn't get counted in the delegate-assigning process. (The state Republican Party assigns half its delegates at caucus, half through the primary.)
But apparently The Husband waited too long to head out to the caucusing place. He says there were cars parked in every side street, every parking lot, for about two miles around. And you reallyreallyreally don't want to walk that far with a toddler. In the rain.
So he gave up, and called me to rant about how he's tempted to sue the state Democratic Party on the grounds that the process is economically biased against anyone who has trouble participating (need to work, need to find a babysitter, etc.). He talks about suing a lot, but this is because he is Lawyer Spawn.
[See, this is the difference between him and me. I would've parked illegally, gotten a button or sticker or some such for The Boy, taken pictures of him and the crammed parking lots, and then grumbled my way home.]
So this sucks, but on the upside, there are so many people caucusing that Extra-Blue State might line up for the Audacity of Hope.
But apparently The Husband waited too long to head out to the caucusing place. He says there were cars parked in every side street, every parking lot, for about two miles around. And you reallyreallyreally don't want to walk that far with a toddler. In the rain.
So he gave up, and called me to rant about how he's tempted to sue the state Democratic Party on the grounds that the process is economically biased against anyone who has trouble participating (need to work, need to find a babysitter, etc.). He talks about suing a lot, but this is because he is Lawyer Spawn.
[See, this is the difference between him and me. I would've parked illegally, gotten a button or sticker or some such for The Boy, taken pictures of him and the crammed parking lots, and then grumbled my way home.]
So this sucks, but on the upside, there are so many people caucusing that Extra-Blue State might line up for the Audacity of Hope.
Altered notebook commission
I have a new commission -- sort of.
A new client wants to buy an acid-free version of this notebook I have up on Etsy:
Which would be fairly easy to make, since the original's staring me in the face and I should be able to get the acid-free notebook. (It's like the one I used for this commission, only without ribbons.) But there's a slight problem: I've used up all of the paper I used for the background. Googled it and called the store where I originally purchased it, but it's no longer available. Arrgh.
So I've emailed the client to let her know, and attached photos of some papers I think would work as substitutions. The finished piece will be a gift for an artistic-type guy who also thinks very linearly.
Manly enough? What do you think?
UPDATE: All is well.. it turns out one of the other papers meshed perfectly with the interests of the gift recipient. I'll see the client next week!'
P.S.: Now stressing about whether I'm charging too much. I emailed her an estimate of costs and The Husband said it was too much. So now I'm thinking the client will back out. I won't find out, likely, until Monday or Tuesday. We're supposed to meet at the beginning of the week. [whiny fussing baby sound]
A new client wants to buy an acid-free version of this notebook I have up on Etsy:
Which would be fairly easy to make, since the original's staring me in the face and I should be able to get the acid-free notebook. (It's like the one I used for this commission, only without ribbons.) But there's a slight problem: I've used up all of the paper I used for the background. Googled it and called the store where I originally purchased it, but it's no longer available. Arrgh.So I've emailed the client to let her know, and attached photos of some papers I think would work as substitutions. The finished piece will be a gift for an artistic-type guy who also thinks very linearly.
Manly enough? What do you think?UPDATE: All is well.. it turns out one of the other papers meshed perfectly with the interests of the gift recipient. I'll see the client next week!'
P.S.: Now stressing about whether I'm charging too much. I emailed her an estimate of costs and The Husband said it was too much. So now I'm thinking the client will back out. I won't find out, likely, until Monday or Tuesday. We're supposed to meet at the beginning of the week. [whiny fussing baby sound]