Scraps for a sickly Monday.: seanan

Scraps for a sickly Monday.

1. I am sick, yes, even unto death. It's this stupid cold. I've been fighting it off since I got home from Conclave, and then yesterday, it just walked up behind me, hit me over the back of the head with a plank, rifled through my pockets, and took all my stuff. I spent all of Sunday on the couch, sniffling, drinking orange juice, and watching Criminal Minds. Oh, and sleeping. I slept a lot. I feel better today, but that's like saying I'm happier now that the lizard has been removed from my ear. Still miserable, just less lizard-y.

2. Yes, I am watching Criminal Minds. But as I have now seen the first three episodes of the first season, please don't ask me if I was crushed when character A died in season three. I haven't been able to be crushed yet, and I'd like the opportunity to mourn when I get there.

3. Assuming this cold backs the hell off, I am still going to be at OVFF this coming weekend. If you're waiting for a shirt from me, and are going to be at the convention, please let me know so that I can package your order for hand-delivery. If you don't tell me, clearly, that you'll be there, your shirt will not be coming with me. I don't have the suitcase space for guesses.

4. I am about 4,000 words from the end of Ashes of Honor, which is good, since I expect to receive my Blackout page proofs any day, and need to be able to focus on going through and writing STET a lot. ("STET" is editorial for "no, do not make this change." I use it to argue against people who don't believe in the Oxford comma, and people who try to standardize my use of "Miss" to "Ms.")

5. I am too sick for a list of ten. Now is when I fall on my face and die.

Catch you when I wake up.

priscellie

October 17 2011, 15:23:57 UTC 5 years ago

New comment

But... "Miss" and "Ms." are completely different things. They're not even pronounced the same way. Also, Oxford commas are a bastion of civilization.

amberfox

October 17 2011, 15:33:39 UTC 5 years ago

Yes, exactly! I don't understand why Oxford commas even became an issue; they add precision and visual continuity to writing. (I tried to come up with a third thing so I could use commas, but I didn't have enough time free to devote to the matter; I'm on a quest for my sister's textbook for her evening accounting class. Yay, education!)

kyburg

October 17 2011, 15:50:04 UTC 5 years ago

If I'm an idiot for using Oxford commas, I'm an idiot. Whoop-tee-dee.

batyatoon

October 18 2011, 00:53:50 UTC 5 years ago

Precision, visual continuity, and style.

seanan_mcguire

October 19 2011, 17:28:05 UTC 5 years ago

Yessssssssss.

trialia

October 17 2011, 16:51:42 UTC 5 years ago

Frankly, I would have a great urge to slap anyone who called me "Ms." - the way I grew up, Ms. is for divorced women while Miss is for girls and women who've never been married, and I do not fall into the former category.

kyril

October 18 2011, 00:39:36 UTC 5 years ago

I've also seen "Ms." used in business settings where your marital status has no bearing on anything, just like you get called "Mr." or "Mister" even if you're not married.

October 18 2011, 00:58:24 UTC 5 years ago

Exactly! I always thought the point of creating "Ms." was to have a standard title for adult women regardless of marital status.

Sadly it doesn't seem to have worked out that way in general usage.

October 19 2011, 16:44:26 UTC 5 years ago

And that, I am okay with. It's the refusal to acknowledge that the other forms exist that chaps my cheese.

archangelbeth

October 17 2011, 17:07:01 UTC 5 years ago

The Oxford Comma is the ONE TRUE WAY! Convert, all ye heretics!

nightfalltwen

October 18 2011, 00:58:02 UTC 5 years ago Edited: October 18 2011, 00:59:27 UTC

Then there are people who are like me. I will edit the entire structure of my sentences to avoid using the serial/oxford/harvard comma. My writing is heavily influenced by the UK... where it isn't the "one true way" (at least in non-academic writing.) LOL.

:D

October 18 2011, 20:28:19 UTC 5 years ago

I know someone who was converted to the Oxford Comma by the sentence, "I'd like to thank my parents, Jesus Christ and L. Ron Hubbard."

The defense rests.

October 18 2011, 23:24:42 UTC 5 years ago

Then there's "dedicated to my mom, Robert, and my kids" indicating that the mom's name is Robert. Sorry. I don't believe in the Oxford comma at all. :)