Parallax

Hey - just a little note to let you know I've been feverishly working on our story @ every available time. I thought I should tell you in case you were thinking I'd been abducted by men in black suits or something. 😛

Talk soon!
Phoenix

p.s. It's not ready yet. lol. In case that wasn't obvious, which it was. 😛

lol...I'm glad you're relieved. Tomorrow (day off - yay) I will reply to your other post, which I enjoyed reading. It's fun getting to know ya.

I'm beginning to get a little panicky because I'm finding that I'm not as fast a writer as you are, plus I keep going back and changing things or tweaking things and I think that's also slowing me down. I should just write away and not be constantly editing all the time. (I used to sometimes turn in my assignments late in school, for the same reason. You'd think I'd have learned by now. lol...) Anyway I'm sorry it's not finished yet. I'm working on it as we speak.

(Please don't hate me for being slow.) (Smile...)

I've made a lot of progress. Still not quite done, but I can't imagine that it will take me more than 2-3 more days before it is. 🙂

How is your vacation going?

"Such a pleasant gift waiting for me today on my first day back to work. A brand new Phoenix post on my computer."

Funny, that's the same way I feel when I get a new Parallax post. 😛

I'm glad you had a great vacation. I love log flume rides!! LOVE them! Did you get really wet? And what is this ride you speak of where you sit in a chair and get whipped around? That, I might actually be scared of. lol. I love all rides *except* ones where you're being spun in the air, hanging from a string. Oh, and *except* insane, give you a blood clot in your brain scary-ass rollercoasters. All the other stuff I love. Actually let's just ride the log flume thing over and over again. 🙂 I agree, it is a nice feeling when you've made a kid happy. I used to really enjoy being in charge of little kids and teaching them how to dance at little daycamps ("kiddie camps") and stuff.

I still like to write with pen & pad too, except if I'm writing a story, and then I tend to find typing faster. I always write poetry on real paper though. And short stories, I write those on paper too. I think scribbling out does count as editing, but I'm more than happy to pretend it doesn't, if that would make you happy. 😛

Franny and the others are more than welcome to come back in the story, in fact I was hoping they would. I'm at the point in my chapter now where I'm trying to bring them in. I like the going back and forth in time thing, quite a lot. And I like the mystery of even myself not being sure yet what is real for Abigail and Killian and what is not. Or....dun dun dunnnnnnnn - whether it's ALL real. 🙂 I'm so curious as to where you're leaning with it; what you think their reality is...but then, maybe we shouldn't tell each other what the other one thinks, we should just see what naturally unfolds.

I really, really also appreciate all the hard work *you* have put into our story. 🙂 It's been amazing and I know it's just going to keep getting more amazing.

I wonder if you being a Cancer and therefore a "cardinal" sign, which as I understand it means that you're good at initiating and giving momentum to projects, and me being a "fixed" sign, which supposedly means that I keep things steadily going along course...helps us as a writing team. I would think it does. Hmm, just a little thought I had. I'm off to work more on the story now...very nice chatting with you.

Arg, and I really still am going to reply to your other post, which I cannot find, but I'll come back to do that at some point. Just didn't want you to think I forgot about it. 🙂

By the way, thank you for not rushing me with the story, that really calmed me down when you said there's no rush. Not that you ever rushed me before, I think I was rushing myself. But anyway, thank you for being like, you know, a little bit of valium but in human form. 😛 (What a weird thank you)

🙂

(Sorry about the pen not showing up too well.)

Made a lot more progress. I'm struggling with how to keep Abigail an interesting character in the midst of the other colorful characters at the hospital. I keep letting Franny steal Abigail's thunder with dialogue, and we just can't have that. lol.

Haha...the little people. I'm little too, but you already thanked me so we're good on that. 😛 (I mean, I'm not...abnormally little. lol. 5'4/5"5, depending on how good I am with the tape measure @ the time.)

I'M ALMOST DONE with chapter 8. A couple more pages that I'll write tonight and I'll be done. Whew.

You figured me right, I do love amusement parks. I think its awesome that you like them too. Some men are really weird about amusement parks and don't like them. Or don't want to admit they like them. 🙂

People were stuck upside down for 40 minutes? I would have a nervous breakdown, that would be terribly traumatizing. I'd probably never ride a rollercoaster after that again. Although, someone was killed on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (one of my fave disneyland coasters) a year or two ago and I rode it, knowing that. Then, after we got back from vacation, the same coaster had two more crashes. No deaths, but injuries. I'm starting to wonder whether I should ride it again...ever...lol.

Haha, I remember saying that, the ruining of the human experience thing, but I don't remember what or who I was talking about. lol. I'm glad my word usage appeals to you, thanks.

I think your follow-through is excellent btw. But you really are a master of getting the ball rolling, also. Yes, I like the way our energies work with each other too. I definitely notice it. It's inspiring.

You like my penmanship? Why thank you. I was thinking it was looking kind of unreadable there. That's the way I write when I'm not "trying to have really good penmanship", if that makes sense. You know...you have your "sign here please" penmanship, and then you have your "filling out a job application" penmanship. Two entirely different things, aren't they. 🙂 Anyway I thought, "Parallax and I are friends, no need to try to make it perfect". He'll except me. And you did. 😛

I think it's awesome that you printed it out. 🙂 Save it forever, will ya?

Off to write more...

and by "he'll except me", I mean "he'll accept me", of course. lol, wow. I hate those kinds of grammatical errors. Or would that be a spelling error? *end Virgo moment*

🙂

pssst. I finished chapter 8. I'm really not happy with the fact that it's not as long as your chapter 7, but I had to cut out a lot that I thought was superfluous. Hopefully you will enjoy it and that will make up for the fact that it's not as long as yours. *crosses fingers* 🙂

By the way...

I know you were just kidding, but I actually think that would be really sweet if you *did* put it under your pillow. 😛 (I might have a shamefully sentimental side, too maybe possibly...)

I'm so glad you loved it.

Oh, and if you *were* to pull a Jack Kerouac, I would be more than happy with that. I wouldn't consider it torture, not in the least. Quite the opposite. For some reason, this time around I had a harder time pinning down exactly where I wanted my portion of the story to go. You gave me outstanding material to work with, and so much of it, it was great. I think next chapter will be easier for me.

I really did like the replacements' lyrics. I know, it seems like every truly good artist has a tragic, chemically dependent side to them, doesn't it. I don't know what that's about, other than maybe it's because they feel so different from the rest of humanity because of their extraordinary talent, that they have to dull the intensity of that feeling, and try to fit in, and they feel like they can't fully fit in if they're so "out there" so they medicate themselves and dumb themselves down, to be "understood".

Haha, was I being mysterious?

Alright - I definitely *do* have a sentimental side. Example. I was given roses by my first "love" (although, who knows if it really was love, you never know until you have a lot more life experience under your belt, right?)...and I dried them and saved them in a vase in my bedroom and kept them on my windowsill for like five years. Long past the relationship, etc. lol. I'm sure I have other similar examples. I just woke up though, so I can't think clearly @ the moment. 😛

You really must let me know, if you do, or did. There's only so much mystery I can handle. 🙂

Thank you, for the compliment ("adorable") - that was very sweet. I so wish we had a blushing emoticon! lol. *hides face in Parallax's chest* (at first glance that's going to sound weird, but then upon thinking about it, it makes sense. I promise. lol)

So you don't mind the sentimental thing...good good. I like it too. I think a lot of people are really pretty numb to things like that, and it's unfortunate. I think a lot of life has to do with trying not to allow yourself to become numb. Which can be difficult. But at the end of it all, I think what will be important is not that we avoided pain by being unaffected by everything, but that we experienced the worst pain and the best love (and all the stuff in the middle) by allowing it to affect us. (In my mind, it doesn't sound so philosophical and info-mercialistic. lol.)

I still hear from my musician friend from time to time, he's getting more and more busy though with two jobs and the band, constant performances, etc. They have released 2 EPs, the first was called Surgery and the second Chemistry and their third is due to come out in early 2005, I think. Yeah, it sucks that we don't talk quite as often anymore, but there's nothing I can do about that other than get over it. It does make me sad, though. I feel kind of left out because he's way, you know, down there and by the time he gets to email me, he's at work so he doesn't have a lot of time, so it's real short, to the point, you know. 😢 lol, enough whining though. Thank you for asking about it. I might want to emotionally vent to you about it a *teensy* bit more tomorrow (it's 2:45 am here, can't sleep. lol.)

Crazy janitor guy has now taken to winking at me. And so the other day I couldn't get around him, had to walk past him to get out the doors for a smoke break...and he does this big exaggerated wink. (bleh...) So I just kind of laughed and said, "I hope you're not expecting anything back, because I can't wink". Which isn't entirely true, it's just that I *don't* wink. lol. Especially not at him. So that was stupid of me to say, because now whenever he sees me he gets RIGHT up in my face and winks like an inch from my face, and I am not exaggerating. An inch, well, maybe two inches, from my face. :/ I should tell him I have a terrible communicable disease and shouldn't be within 6 inches of anyone, ever. Tuberculosis, yeah, that's it. 🙂

He's so icky. It's borderline time to tell the security guard guy I was originally going to tell. But I won't do that unless he touches me one more time. That will be my deciding factor. No touching. lol. Does that sound reasonable?

I have four days off in a row. Yay! Except, my paycheck isn't going to be "yay". lol. And it's kind of bad timing for the lack of hours because, sigh...I have this looming charge for my stereo that I put on my credit card. I definitely won't get into trouble with it or anything, I've never made a late payment or missed a payment or anything, but nonetheless it stresses me because I'm thinking about how long it's going to take me to pay it off. I did get my interest lowered, though, so that's good (but it's still somewhat high, seeing as how it's my first card and I've had it less than a year). I learned a lesson, though, from this...never charge something unless you already have all the money in your checking account to pay it off asap. lol. I mean, I'm making more than the minimum payments, but jeez, it's stressful...it's just THERE, still, every time I see my statement. lol.

Oh boy it's late, I'm sorry to ramble.

How is the weather over there?

It's chilly at night here, but sunny and warm during the day. Soon, we will go into our never-ending until May rainy season. 🙂 😢🙂😢🙂

So, did you ever call your Gemini ex?

You know, I don't think I'm feeling well. It's 3 am and I'm not really that tired and I keep sneezing. lol. What the ...?

I'm going to try to go to bed now. Cigarette first, though. I'm such a health-nut, I can't stand myself. lol! 😛

Goodnight...

What a strangely cool dream! I bet I'm going to have one now, somehow involving you, because your dream is now going to be in my subconscious. 🙂 If I do, I'll definitely tell you about it.

You didn't embarrass me at all with your compliment. The whole hiding my face in your shirt thing was more an affectionate, cuddly, bashful thing. lol. (Feel free to vomit now, because of all the sentimentality. 😛) I thought what you said was very sweet.

The macing comment made me laugh, lol. I have some pepper spray actually. It's of the keychain variety. It's about ten years old though so I'm not sure if it would still work. Also, I know someone who had one of those and accidentally sprayed it on herself and is traumatized now because of it. lol. What I would like to have actually is some sort of knife that has a button that makes the knife spring out when you push it. There has to be something like that, somewhere. Something that wouldn't look like a weapon, that I could carry in my hand in the parking lot. (So then I could have one hand on my cell phone, making a phony call, and the other concealing a pop-out knife thing. How big of a paranoid nerd am *I*? lol)

I decided for now, not to vent about the whole long-distance friendship thing. I think it'll just make me feel worse; not to mention bore you. The fact is that he isn't here, he's getting to be well-known and busy, and I'm just going to have to deal with it. Sob, whine. lol. But I am sure at some point in the future, I'll get sad about it again and be like..."Parallax...help." 😛

I don't think it's awful that you haven't called the gemini. I think when/if it feels right, it feels right. If it doesn't feel right or if the timing feels off, follow your feelings. Of course, you're talking to someone who happens to be really not into the phone thing, but, of course it's not just about picking up a phone, it's about where you are in your life, where she is in her life and how the two are compatible or incompatible. By the way, I'm very disturbed about the blood transfusion thing. I am all for respecting people's religious choices, but that would absolutely be a deal-breaker for me, in a relationship sense. I'm actually not even sure I would be able to have a real deep friendship with someone who thought that way (about not letting the children have a blood transfusion). It just bothers me. It would even bother me that whatever person (hypothetical Jehova's Witness boyfriend that I will never have) wouldn't have a blood transfusion himself, if he needed it. I hope I'm not sounding close-minded or judgemental. It's just that I can't understand that way of thinking, and I couldn't be with anyone who did. (Or maybe I could for awhile, but inevitably that fight would definitely happen, and then we'd break up.) Also the excluding of outsiders thing, freaks me out a little bit. You know, like it or not when you've been dating someone a while, you end up spending time with their family at some point, and so you have to accept your significant others' family, to a certain extent. Unless they've done something horrible to you, or your significant other.

It sounds like you have a good sense for money also (and you don't sound anal at all, btw - our minds work similarly in this respect) - I'm still trying to understand how it is that sometimes, when I charge something, it's on that month's bill, but sometimes, it's not on there until the next month's bill. lol. That's the big mystery for me right now. Hey, out of curiosity, what's an E-Z Pass? Your parents sound like they've got it all figured out. Money can be a huge sore spot for a lot of couples, I've noticed. I suppose I did have some fights with my ex over money, but it was because he would be really, really irresponsible with it sometimes, and then other times he would be really tight-wad-ish, about important things like TIRES. You know, those things that can

Oh and by the way...good one about the politicians stealing my collection hat. lol! Oh well, it's the thought that counts. That was very thoughtful of you to take up a collection for me. lol.

You really make me laugh.

Hey Parallax.

I will post a lot more in response to you later tonight, but the reason I haven't posted in the last day or two is that I'm having a really rough time - my cat who I've had since I was ten has suddenly become sick, really sick, breathing troubles, wheezing etc. We took him to the vet today and the vet took X rays...he has a tumor in his chest near his lung and the vet basically said it doesn't look good. We are giving him prednisolone (sp?) to see if that helps...he's too old to really try to operate on (14 years old!) so we're hoping the pred (anti-inflammatory) will at least make him feel better while we basically bide our time. It's upsetting because this is the animal I've had the longest in my whole life. And he's always been super-energetic and more kittenish than any kitten I've seen, even in his old age. He was in excellent health and suddenly this. I'm not happy...I know I'm lucky to have had him this long, but I didn't think this would happen so fast. I always consider my animals as family members, but this one I've had so long, and I have a special bond with him.

I'm kind of praying for a miracle, hoping for a miracle. I will come back later tonight. Take care...

Wow, I just went and looked at a live webcam of the Tapan Zee Bridge - it looks really big. Lots of lanes. lol. Not too much traffic though, for this time of night (well, morning I suppose). Is it really congested during the day? I can't see the river unfortunately, because it's dark (4:15 a.m. your time!) but I'll check it out during the day. Do you know I've never driven on a bridge like that in my life? Sleepy Hollow...really! That is incredible. Have you been there?

Thanks for explaining the toll thing to me. So, where does the money end up going? I'm curious.

Sidewalks, lawns, churches, parks - sounds like where I live. Except, I really think almost all the houses here are in the ranch style . Except for the very ritzy areas which are usually toward the outskirts of the city, for the most part. (At Christmastime, I used to like to drive up there and look at all the elaborate Christmas lights - I love that part of Christmas. All the decorations. Haven't had anybody to do that with though, in a while.)

How cool is that, that your mom is Scottish. Now I remember reading that in a post of yours a long time ago. And on the Queen Mary!!

I am nerdishly fascinated by the whole accent thing. 🙂 Thanks for putting it into more perspective for me. I can't remember if I already told you this but, for awhile I wanted to be a "linguist" (I think that's what it's called...) but one of my teachers my senior year told me that I wouldn't like it, and that all the men I'd meet would be big huge nerds. lol! I'm not even kidding, he really said that. I thought that was terrible, but funny. 😛 I'm still interested in it, no matter what he said. 🙂

Well, thanks for taking my mind off of stuff for a while...whether you meant to or not. You did. 🙂

Ugh, how many smiley faces can I possibly use. :/ lol...

Hey, you liked my news stories? Awesome! Thanks for the witty thing...the feeling is very mutual, as a good friend of mine would say. 🙂

This has not been a good week for me. My cat is very up-and-down in his health. Today was a bad day for him, I watched him wheeze and have trouble breathing for about five minutes (that's the longest it's happened yet). I could do nothing but comfort him by petting him and telling him "you're alright." It's very upsetting...takes everything in me to not cry. But then, yesterday he was running around doing somersaults and playing with his toys like he used to(!). So, we're going to give him a few weeks here to see what's most consistent. I want you to know that your support really means a great deal to me. I can see that you understand what it's like to lose a pet that means so much. Hopefully we won't lose him. I had a very hard time when my dog died suddenly of a tumor that we didn't know he had that collapsed his lung (that was a few years ago). I've done better when my cats have gotten sick, just because the illnesses they've had have been the kinds where you know pretty much exactly what's happening to them as time goes on. I have an easier time saying goodbye when I know they're suffering too much and it's only going to get worse (if we don't take them to the vet, and...you know the rest).

Oh how annoying, I have to share the computer for awhile. I'll be back soon. 🙂 Sorry...I don't think you're here right now anyway, but still. Sorry. lol.

I'm back.

Haha...that was funny, about it being dark at one end of the bridge and daylight at the other. 😛

Interesting about the toll money. It always disturbs me to think of where money like that *really* ends up going. Prostitutes? You think? 🙂 It's possible. A lot of Big Macs, I'm guessing. Also definitely booze. 🙂 jk. I'm sure a fair amount goes where it should. I think I'm going to look up some pictures of NJ on the net. Just to see what stuff looks like. It would be interesting to see where you're from, see the stuff you see every day, etc.

"I try to take a different route home from work every night so I can check out how different houses are decorated."

(P.S., I feel better that my smiley face extravaganza isn't annoying you.) 🙂

Oh, and I'm glad you thought my news stories were funny. You're right, there is definitely a sickish element to them. lol. I don't know why, but I often like to add a little bit of that to my short stories. Gives them a little spice. 😛 You liked my apple joke? Right on. That particular story was, I thought, riding on that line of "way too much going on", too many details, etc. lol. But I like elements of good & evil, sick & twisted, you know how it is. 😛

Hi guys, sorry about the janitor thing kid. Hang in there. Just a short note to say that it warms my heart to see two neat people like you becoming such close friends And that you can do what you are, writing together like this. That is so very cool. Just please promise to let me know when it is done so I may be able to read it (or get a copy when it goes to print as I am sure it will). It would be such a special thing to have and keep for me. ok. bye and goodnight,

lol, you're so sweet twinflame!

Yeah, it warms my heart too actually, what's going on here. It's almost too cool to give it proper words, you know? I can't describe the way I feel about it, at the moment. It's one of those things where I feel like any words I could use wouldn't really adequately describe how cool I think it is. (I love how *articulate* I become in the wee hours of the morning) lol...

*applauds Parallax for making a smiley face*! 🙂

The Apple thing is interesting. I have to agree with their decision to go back to court. At first glance it would probably seem petty to most people, but a ruling is a ruling, not to mention that I don't want the image of the Beatles and APPLE and you know, that whole mental imagery thing to get muddied up with high tech gadgets. It just wouldn't be right. lol. Really though.

Good job on your research on the Queen Mary and the London Bridge. You saved me the trouble. 😛 I appreciate the email address which you absolutely did not have to give but generously offered. I will have to email you, you realize. You know, just to get the website address. That kind of thing. 😛 Expect a little something in your inbox, soon enough. BTW I completely get the Batcave thing, and would never dream of asking you to divulge its super secret location. Even in an email. 🙂

Snootch to the Nootch!! We are *so* going to the movies to see that. 😛 (It'll be so exciting, we'll smuggle in contraband Doritos, or your choice of obnoxious snack food) *I can dream*. 🙂

I have read your new chapter, and it is, not suprisingly, excellent. I'll be rolling up my sleeves and getting to work on the next chapter soon. And yes, I'd love to read more of your other story.

Alright, my eyelids weigh eight thousand tons right now, so I should go to bed. Sweet dreams!

And goodnight twinflame. 🙂

Thanks Parallax!