Things you don't know about me

[dragonyphoenix]

Over on Facebook we're posting things you don't know about me. My niece, whom I now officially believe is evil, gave me the number 12:

1. The second time I went skydiving, after I landed, my parachute caught the wind and dragged me across the ground.




2. I am currently participating in the National Novel Writing Month and, as of this posting, am up to 32732 words.




3. I write fanfiction. My most unusual crossover was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Seventh Seal, and Flaming Carrot comics; sadly it's a terrible story. My most popular is a crossover between the Harry Potter and Batman fandoms and came from the most fascinating prompt: Snape moves to Gotham City and everyone thinks he's a supervillian.




4. I've memorized Allen Ginsberg's “Sunflower Sutra” although I probably could not get all the way through reciting it from memory today.




5. I sometimes think I'm the only person who would call Nadine Gordimer's “Once Upon a Time” a fantasy story.




6. I had a horseback riding accident when I was a teen and I still don't remember what happened during that time when I had amnesia.




7. My favorite tv shows are, in no particular order: Firefly, Babylon 5, Defying Gravity, and The West Wing.




8. My favorite movie is The Fisher King. It is one of two movies, that I know of, in which Robin Williams uses the line “Gravity works.”




9. I used to get frustrated when I dropped things and so I started saying “gravity works” to joke myself out of being annoyed. It worked. Butterfingers no longer bother me.




10. Even though I'm not Christian, I absolutely adore Advent calendars and keep my favorites from year to year. Some of my favorites include Winnie the Pooh, one from Germany brought back by Doreen, and a calendar based around Renaissance painting which has text describing the symbols in the painting such as there is a peacock in the painting because its eyes represent the ever watching eyes of God.




11. I also adore Christmas music although I do think the radio starts playing it much too early. My favorite holiday album is Barenaked for the Holidays by the Barenaked Ladies. The songs range from gorgeous to hilarious to cheesy. It is the most awesome album. My favorite holiday song is Lorenna McKennitt's “Dickens' Dublin (The Palace)” which intersperses a child's rendition of Jesus' birth and persecution as an infant with McKennitt singing as a homeless person in Dickens Dublin, someone looking for a home, someone whose prospects are getting dimmer and dimmer. It's beautifully haunting. I only own one Pagan holiday album, This Winter's Night by Mother Tongue. It is a delightful album. Sadly a lot of Pagan music just isn't that good. “Jingle Bells, Cast Your Spells”? Really? And Dar Williams' “The Christians and the Pagans” is a guilty pleasure because, while I do enjoy the song, it does pick on Christians a bit more than I think it should given that its message is one of accord.




12. I will never, ever like the song “Christmas Shoes”. I know there are people who find the song personally meaningful, but still. No way. Never. It is an atrocious abomination of a song and I despise it. The first time I ever heard Paton Oswalt ragging on this song, I nearly peed my pants I was laughing so hard, but WARNING, this link is really, really rude.

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I love Advent calendars!

(And I don't believe any story you've written could possibly have been terrible. You are a terrific writer.)


Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Advent calendars are cool. I'm not sure where mine have vanished to. I went looking for them and they weren't in the place they should have been, which pretty much means I'm going to have to CLEAN to find them. *sigh*

Thanks, but some of my early stories were not that good. I've improved over the years.

[futterwackens.livejournal.com]

OMG ROTFLMAO, I have always hated the song Christmas Shoes. I mean think about the holidays has the most suicide rates... And these foolscome out with such a depressing song. Dude my Hubby whose a minister hates that damned song.Someone once asked him to play it in church and he said and I quote " HELL NO!" From the pulpit no less. lol.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Good for him! And I love that he said "HELL NO!" from the pulpit.

And I hadn't even thought of it from a suicide PoV. I find the song to be terribly manipulative. I think the only thing they could have done to make it more so would be to have someone kick the kid's puppy.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I'd have been fine if they'd told us to just pull on the ropes because that'll shift the chute enough that the wind will pour out rather than catch in the chute. And someone came pretty quickly to stomp on the parachute so it ended fairly quickly.

Have you ever seen Patton Oswalt ragging on "Chrsitmas Shoes"? Incredibly rude but also incredibly hilarious. I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants. No kidding.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I did post it then, yes. And I did just watch it again and it is still just as awesome! ;-)

[baudown.livejournal.com]

Wow, you're doing NaNoWriMo! And really doing it! Go you!

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Thanks. It is so exhausting! I am very much looking forward to being done. Actually I'll have my word count in today. I was going for 2000 words per day so I'd be done before Thanksgiving. I think I'll keep going with it until the end of the month, but maybe reduce my word count Wed. and Thurs.

This is my first novel. The first draft will be 75 - 80,000 words apparently. I had about 25,000 done before I started NaNa. So not only is the end in sight for word count, it's also in sight for the first draft. *does happy dance*