ishyface | (no subject)

What I learned at work today:
The downside to polishing a window upside down is that you get glass cleaner in your eyes.
I'm becoming a bit of a Dear Abby at work. I have no clue how that happened- maybe just because I'm so quiet, so people think they need to fill the silence up with something- but whenever I'm working alone with someone they go on long rants about the things that are going wrong in their lives. Tonight the girl I worked with had an emotional fucking breakdown, man. It was way uncomfortable.
My first instinct, when people cry, is to get as far away from them as possible. Possibly this is because when I'm sad I'd prefer (most) people to keep their distance. More likely it's because I am crap at dealing with emotional situations.

I want to read this book.

There were feathers on the wind, and Alice decided to follow them.
That's a part of a something that's in my head. I don't know who Alice is, though.
I met a character a few days back. She- I thought she was a boy for a while, until she told me otherwise- is named Jennifer, and would rather you call her that. Not Jen, and certainly not Jenny.
Her last name is Boats. I don't know why.
And when she goes out walking she takes a flashlight, because you never know when you might have to peer into some dark corner somewhere or search the sky for falling stars.
I love it when characters occur like that. It hasn't happened in a while- the last one who did it was Jezebel, and that was two years ago. I haven't done anything with her yet.
I hope I'll do something with Jennifer. I like her.

... This song is dirty. My God.

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I like this Jennifer Boats. What else do you know about her? (If you feel like sharing that info, that is.)

The downside to polishing a window upside down is that you get glass cleaner in your eyes. Very true, but an odd mental image nevertheless.

I know she wears hooded sweaters, but that's not very interesting.
She has a little brother, but I'm not sure what he's called, and her mother's sad a lot of the time. It makes her angry because she doesn't know what to do about it.
Her father lives far away and she still has his jacket. Denim. It's far too big for her, of course, but she wears it anyway.
And I think she might own a pocket knife.
She can't swim.

Yeah, in my mental image of her, she does have a pocket knife.

Does not being able to swim scare her?

I've had a few characters show up lately. Must do something about finding them a good home...

It does, but she would never tell you that.
There's something in there about a rope, but I'm not sure what it is yet. A broken swing, maybe.

How old is she? I have a guess, but I'm probably off. She seems a bit like a contemporary of one of my characters.

She seems like she spends a lot of time alone and a lot of time outside. Am I right?

She's... ten, I think. Most of the girl protagonists I have are pretty young- I'm not sure why.
Yes. And yes. More than she used to.

I was off by a couple of years, then. Mia's fourteen, I think.

Did/does her dad spend a lot of time outside? I get the impression it's something she associates with him. And does she ever see him anymore?

It's not really something she associates with him. More like what he's left behind- all that upset. She wants to get away from it.
She doesn't see him, although he does call sometimes. She wishes he wouldn't.

When I picture all this, the sky is always overcast. Or it's windy and cold.

Any idea what she's going to find?

Something new.

...in a wardrobe-to-Narnia way? Or will it be more down-to-earth?

Thanks for indulging my curiousity, by the way. I rather like the process of verbal sketching...

Hey, this reminds me of something that I've been meaning to ask you for a while. Have do you anything with Under the Stairs lately? At least I think that's what it was called. Not sure since you haven't talked/mentioned it a long-o time.

Oh, God. No, UtS is still just a rough draft- and I think it's going to stay that way. It was satisfying at the time, but I think if I was to go back and edit at this point I'd be pulling my hair out.
(Plus I doubt there're any publishers who'd get excited about a children's book filled with murder, gore, and lesbionic undertones.)
That's four books I've written and then left alone. The fifth one I'll try to do something with. I hope.

There should be publishers who are interested in children's books filled with murder, gore, and lesbianic undertones. That exactly what I needed to read when I was in junior high.

Four books? You are awesomeness. I've only written one, and I haven't had the time to go back and revise... the world has changed so much since I wrote it last and so much character development...

They were all pretty crappy books, though. The first one I wrote when I was twelve and had just gone on a huuuuuge Tamora Pierce binge. It had no point and no plot, and for some reason even though it was a sword-and-sorcery type thing, everyone was Catholic.
I think that was the longest one, too.

Glass cleaner in your eye? Ow. And... how?

... This song is dirty. My God.

Yes, yes it is.

Well, at work we have these big glass cases and the fronts swing upwards, and sometimes the insides get dirty. So I decided to clean it, but when I opened it it was just above my head so I had to bend at this weird angle and... yeah, gravity went to work. And I got glass cleaner in my eye.

that's crazy. <333

Sometimes when you post, I reflect on the things you say on and off for a few days. I don't always agree entirely with what you say, but I do invariably come to the conclusion - due to your emotional response to situations, perhaps, or maybe the way you phrase things - that I like it.

This is one of those times.