It is April, and yet, I'd been writing "March Sweeps" at the top of each of my blog posts all week (what's worse, when I changed it to "April Sweeps"--on the TENTH of April, not sure why I'm telling you now instead of then--I originally misspelled April . . . and even left it wrong for the first two days).
Yesterday, I heard mention of an old story called, "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come For You, My Lad." I had never heard of it, and looked it up (eating up a big chunk of my library time in the process). It was written by M.R. James in 1904, and tells of a scholar who discovers an old whistle in some ruins, and blows on it, despite there being a Latin warning engraved in it.
I was fascinated by this idea, and thought I might kill a few hours by recording the story and presenting it on my podcast.
However, since it's a British tale, I wondered if I could do it justice (M.R. James was famous for his ghost stories, and put out at least four collections of them in his lifetime). In looking it over, and seeing that it is in the public domain, I realized many other folks must have recorded it already.
And indeed they had. YouTube alone had two versions that came up immediately. So I chose to listen to one, to ease my headache. But I couldn't focus on it and fell asleep promptly. When I awoke, much, much later, the sky beginning to lighten, I couldn't remember any of the story, and started it again. And fell asleep instantly.
So, this morning, awakening before my alarm went off, I started the file over again, with no memory of any of yesterday's listenings. And . . . well, I got nothing. I'm afraid it's one of those old stories where the language is too artful, the narrative too literary, and I didn't glean even what the Wikipedia article told me about the tale.
Sad.
Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In April: 400
I recorded two more sections from my now-17,000 word "Meet the New Clerk." I'm nearly at the end, and if I record a part of it tonight, I'll probably be finished.
I got to this bit where, despite having been called "Michelle" by Mrs. Bice for months, Meeshelle finally corrects her, and then, having stood up to the old bat once, really lets her have it. It's not a scene with any basis in reality, despite Constance Bice being inspired by a real boss of mine.* But in the Lara Demming story I just finished, she meets this Senior girl who keeps calling her Lori, no matter how many times she corrects her. And at the end of the story, she loses her temper and tells the girl (Waverly, if you can believe it) that not only is her name Lara, but it's NEVER been Lori.
They say you need to pack it in as an artist when you start to repeat yourself, but I'm not sure if they're right.
Push-ups Today: 156
Push-ups In April: 427
By the way, they say you need to pack it in as an artist when you start to repeat yourself, but I'm not sure if they're right.
Words Today: 312
Words In April: 1913
*There was this lovely, friendly girl at work named Chantal (sounds like Shantelle, just with more make-up) who had two jobs, both part time, and had been told by our boss that she'd be made a full-time employee soon. So, she quit her second job, and came to work, only to find that somebody else had been given the full-time position and that hers was still part-time. She made the mistake of confronting the boss about it . . . and that was her last day.
I remember telling my mom about it that night or the next day, and my mom saying two things: 1) You're boss is one of the more terrible people I've known, and 2) You never stood a chance with Chantal.
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