h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What an eventful conversation that 5D was! But first, if you have never been to the Atelier before, please be welcome! This is what it looks like, where you are: http://www.asterlil.com/h2g2/aplannew . We salonistas are mainly in the salon, but there are plenty of workshops and a hot tub, as well as a library with its very own fFordean rift. And the maidbots will tend to your refreshment needs.

Just for fun, I'm introducing an optional bit of creativity for this conversation: have some fun with the subject lines! We can use them to tell a story, line by line. As each person posts, they have to add a clause or short sentence to the subject line. Or, if you don't want to do that, just insert a little thought, but separate it from the story, using square brackets. And if you don't want to do that, just say "5EXth conversation at Lil's." Got it?

First, a welcome to those who arrived during the last conversation. I'll introduce dw2 again since he changed his handle not long after he got here at the end of the 5CXth conversation. dw2 is Courtesy's brother, and a graphic designer.

Atled we don't know so much about; he/she/it/they didn't really say anything about themself or selves and hasn't been back lately. Same with Silunaka, and Mr. Cyde, who proffered strong opinions on doughnuts and then fell silent.

Stinkywigfiddle, a positively appalachian handle! He's also an artist, of the deviant sort.

And Aeschlepius, Z's flatmate, has just joined us toward the end of the most recent thread. Welcome to you all! I hope you can keep up with our backlog.

~~Reappearances and Intermittent Sightings

Spelugx:, sea, typolifi, and Carmel Bunny all dropped by, brought us up to date on their real lives, and then dropped out again. But we forgive them. Greydesk and Coely (failed lurker) were also both oversome by the need to contribute. Good. It is a part of our cunning plan. Professor Tonks was with us to start with and then disappeared. He is probably painting the utility room. Carmel had been gone so long that she was re-introduced to the new salonistas!

B4 is taking online courses at the University of Phoenix and therefore has no virtual life. Wolfgang looked in briefly but saw that we weren't very hungry and moved on. BB was away on holiday for most of the thread.

We're hearing regularly from Toccata, but Munchkin just tosses calling cards in our general direction, although he did tell us how he got to see Jasper fForde live. Lucky sod.

~~Discussion Topics of Note:

The HEAT
Customer Service (stories inspired by Hypatia's bizarre experience with book-returners)
Driving -- Greydesk mentioned the accident in which an elderly man in the US managed to kill and injure a number of people when he drove into a market stall, and this led us to driving lessons (Z), test-taking, pet peeves and the Swindon Roundabout.
Relaxation Techniques
Krispy Kreme Donuts
Coffee
Costco and bulk shopping techniques
Bread Machines and Bread Making (re-apply for recipes)
Tea stains on carpets
Elephant Poocams
Francis Bacons
On Being a Heterosexual Hit Up by a Homosexual
May-December relationships (Kutcher/Moore not mentioned)
Smileys, community art and art software -- Hypatia, did you ever find an app for clothes design?
Why do techies like to cook?
Fighting Fish
Storm Stories (collected by Ben)

~~Best Quote

"USA Today is the rice cake of newspapers." - FG. And if I'm going to scan for best quotes I'll be looking for suggestions from the rest of you...

~~Movies Noted

T3, Pirates of the Caribbean, Seabiscuit

~~Books Noted

We talked a lot about books! In fact, we wound up with a Bonfire of the Bores! It began with talk about what a chore it was to move books, and developed into some serious self-examination about why we lug them around from home to home, and why we would chuck some and cling to others. Even our resident librarian was seen to throw a set of Sir Walter Scott (with fused spines) onto the fire!

~~News

Phil got a job, after 18 months of searching and self-doubt. Courtesy moved. GL moved too, while he was away on holiday. It was Sol's first wedding anniversary (she gave husband a camel) already. abcBen found her Hootoo work noted in the Guardian, and Caerwynn & H bought a Vauxhall Astra convertible, for which she began secretly taking suggestions for names. Amy the Ant survived several inspections, for gas appliances and for family. MR visited Marv, while d'Elaphant went on vacation, read Cryptonomicon and sent us a postcard.

MR witnessed a very serious accident, and stopped to help. I found myself and the whole town of Lincoln immersed in tourists for the annual pageant and parade. Marv attended a wedding and was moved to poetry by the bride, a woman he had once been attracted to. We also had more poetry from abcBen.

Solnushka is considering moving back to England to teach English, and was researching what it would take to do that: she got lots of advice and links from Ben and Coely.

Marv has been stressed out both chronically and acutely for months over his job. He knew that his employer was moving his job overseas, but it was still a shock when he got the news of redundancy, especially on top of dissension within the team. We have all been discussing what he should do next, and chef training appears to be at the top of the list.

Z was also stressing, studying for a psychiatry exam. When did they start proffering multiple choice tests in England! I am shocked, shocked and dismayed. Anyway, consequences were mixed; Z failed by just a couple of marks but wound up getting a lot of reassurance from his coordinator...

And so it was a busy and interesting conversation. May the coming thread be even better!

* with Ripley hanging around her neck*

Are we first?

*sits down to read intro*

Best Quote? Awwww....

::eyes Ti's FTTF mug with envy::

Nice sum up Lil!

I could never do that - that's one thing I always failed to do at school, writing reviews of books we had been reading (mine always turned out too long)

I have lots of news but I'm catching up all over the place. See you all this afternoon.

Wow! This is the closest I've come to the begining of a new converstation. At least since the very early ones.

Simulpost, Lil, but it looks like our great minds were thinking alike.

Close but no cigar ..... great sum up Lil ..... congrats T.

Courtesy

*brings Titania a FTTF mug full of champagne*

*jumps*

Uh - thank you, Matina... could Ripley have a FTTF bowl of spinache?

*thinking to herself that she had forgotten about Matina being a registered researcher*

*sits quietly on the sofa*

[]

Wow, conversation blog along with title storytelling. This is going to tax teh mind.

Just been watering the garden, I love that smell of water on parched earth.

I really don't think I have seen Lady and the Tramp, FG, but then my memory of my early years is not good. When I get to 70 perhaps I shall start forgetting things that happened yesterday and remember whether I saw Lady anf the Tramp!

T, congrats on the mug.

Z, if I actually had TIME to read all of the stuff I am supposed to read, I'd be set. As it is, I am also teaching this fall, which takes up inordinate amounts of time. Which is why I am trying to do it now, but we'll see. I also have to translate a whole bunch of Latin, but that shouldn't be so bad.

[BB]

off to the pub

"Vini Vidi Vetinari"

[{Courtesy}]

New quiz. I am an historian.

http://tinyurl.com/jch2

Work just got a wee bit stranger.

I'm a historian too - I was obviously slain by a random knight while making a documentary about King Arthur and the quest for the Holy Grail