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

heheh.

Hey, I've had a brilliant idea! Serve the delicious fish meal on a 3d Fisherman Plate!

Or serve any meal on a 3d plate! The fresh fruit could be on the 3d fruit plate, but don't try to eat the ceramic grapes.

The cottage pie could be on the pastoral scene, with cottage.

Is cottage pie the same as shepherd's pie?

Have to add some 3d sheep to the pastoral plate, just to cover options.

Whatever the combination, there'd be something peculiarly interesting to look at when the meal is finished.

Not good for the washing up aspect, though.

OK end of brilliant idea.



Heatwave here, expected to reach 27C later. Well, that's a heatwave for us.

Last night I had a dream that was very vivid, and seemed to pack several lifetimes of detail into each scene.

I briefly woke to consider this journey through timezones, galaxies, eons and possibly a garage forecourt of uncertain origin.

I wondered how it all squeezed into probably about a minute, decided to think about it again in the morning, and went back to sleep.

Naturally, this morning I can't remember a thing about it, apart from a suggestion of a garage forecourt of uncertain origin. Not the actual image, just a suggestion. Funny how dream images can do that, they can leave just a suggestion...

3D plates? Didn't know those were widespread?

Portmeirion is a village in Wales, but the pottery is famous for its detailed, realistic pictures of flowers, fruit, insects etc.

https://www.portmeirion.co.uk/

Thanks!

i may have one of their plates somewhere.

I like the Portmeirion. Just checked, the designs are amazing! I like especially the botanical garden design.

A garage forecourt...

"in a filling station, a forecourt is the area where the pumps are present. It is the area outside the salesroom or the convenience store of a gas station when customers park their automobiles for filling fuel. It can either be manned or unmanned."

Ah yes. Filling station.

Do you call filling stations garages also?

Sometimes, here, the garage forecourt will be used to display second hand cars, usually being sold for cash. Maybe my dream meant we're going to buy another car, for cash, in another time and place and dimension, in a filling station far from here.

Or it could be to do with the classic pic I have of C on a garage forecourt, near to where my parents lived. Its taken in a strange black and white pen and ink type effect. The garage shop and cafe behind him are called On The Run ..

Personally, I call a convenience store with gas pumps a convenience store, but I don't remember any without gas pumps.

If it has gas pumps, a rack of tires, a bay to repair cars, and a small office with a cigarette shelf, I call it a gas station.

We only have forecourts in tennis and infrequent jousting contests.

Ah, OK. Maybe my dream was about an infrequent jousting contest. That's quite interesting in fact.

Nice description of the gas station. Now I want to go there. In a dream.

Someone once told me you can request dreams, before you go to sleep, if you really really believe in the dream faeries. Or, erm, if you know how to prompt your brain.

I've often tried it, but the dream faeries don't believe in me.

I've never had a lucid dream, either, which I think is where you kind of catch up with yourself in the dream, you know you're dreaming. Or maybe it isn't. It's something like that.

I think they have jousting contests on the site of the Battle of Hastings, just outside Battle, here in Sussex.

Or if not there, then there are definitely jousting contests go on in this 'ere district. Or did. And will do again. I don't think you can socially distance, whilst jousting. Unless you take out the other bloke quite rapidly, then you're on your own.

"Someone once told me you can request dreams, before you go to sleep"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLRutnikSBg

To have a lucid dream, it can help to practice "reality checks" frequently during the day so that you can remember to do them when you are dreaming. As a quick check, I try to put my hand through the wall 15 or 20 times a day. It never works when I'm awake. When you are dreaming your hand will go right through the wall so you know immediately that you are having a lucid dream.

heheh. I like it. Good advice. And also a great start to a Firecloud short story, I'd say. What a fine paragraph.

Hmm yes, not a good idea to punch the wall out of dreamtime, I have learned, from experience.

Even a relatively ladylike punch really crunches up the knuckles. And then there's the wall repair.

I think I might faint.

Oooh thanks for the link, paul.

Will check later, when I'm not late for my other life. heheh.

Oh, and folks, I'm in a right old tizwaz fliff flaff with Post commenting. I'm not at ease. I'm fliffed. I'm flaffed.

However, talking about it really helps and I need insights please!

I've posted this in the Post also, cos it was good to write it down. Reads like this ..



Hey folks!

Following the Ed's guidance on commenting in the Post, I'm feeling confused, and I need to talk about it.

So I'm going to perhaps post this hopeful little statement into the places I've commented on this week, and see if I can reach some clarity.



What has been my approach to the Comments Box?

Well, sometimes I will enter a comment of my own, which either starts off a conversation, or stands alone.

Sometimes I enter an existing conversation. Someone else has entered a comment with a title, and I follow on, perhaps to add an insight of my own.



However, out of respect for the Ed's guidelines, contrary to the organically developing conversations which I love and encourage, particularly in my journal, I feel in this context I need to sharpen my approach.

How do I do this?

My instinct is to want to contact the contributor directly, acknowledge their contribution, and offer a few insights.

Essentially, I need to keep my focus on their work.

This really matters to me.

I could title my comment, To The Contributor.

It might feel strange to do this, because it then sounds like no further conversations are welcome.

However, I want my message to get through, even if the contributor doesn't want to respond, that's fine.

I want them and their work to feel recognised. A personal message from me.

Sharpness and focus seem to be my key words.

Perhaps also, if they want, a contributor could attach a directive paragraph to their work, like, 'I'd like some feedback on .. (certain area)' ..

However, I guess that might be too much like a workshop.

Don't know. Help!

Obviously with the caption contests its a bit different, but I still need to focus on finding that elusive caption. heheh.

I'm hoping writing this down will help, and it would be great to talk to someone!

Have to pause my other life for a minute, (rofl> jot down a further few thoughts, a bit of extra fliffing and flaffing.

I don't know how the Post commenting set-up works in relation to other websites, because I don't go anywhere else.

I know there's always comments on YouTube, I think they can get quite hilarious and wacky, maybe other emotions also? Perhaps a song changed someone's life or something.

I don't know about Twitter, the Vogon Civil Service sounds quite hilarious.



Perhaps I'm getting too intense about everything, but I do think that h2g2 has potential in the commenting area that represents the unique nature of the site.

There was the AWW, more like a workshop set up.

The video thread is now a good place to discuss and profile work.

And there is the b/w photo challenge in the Post.

And probably other similar spaces, with a particular focus.

In these contexts I have wanted to acknowledge the contributor, but always say I'm not qualified to offer comment or critique, cos I don't know anything about technical stuff.



I think can be quite a big deal for a contributor to offer work to the Post. When I first offered writings and photos there it was like, yikes! still is , but a challenge also, and that, despite my shyness, is a constructive thing.

This fuels my need to want to acknowledge the contributor.



I, of course, am always in a fliff flaff about what I want from comments. The comments I have received here have always been so special to me, not raising up my work or knocking it down, more like poetic and unusual and help me see my work from different angles.

I do get times when I can't deal with the spotlight, I'm kind of in a shade space right now in fact, but that's OK also, doesn't stop me wanting to be involved in some way ...

really late

Mr Sandman, bring me a dream.

That's a fine soundtrack to this question, paul! Very delightful, I've heard the song before but I've never heard of the Chordettes, oops sorry Chordettes.

Its soooo hot today. I almost melted queueing for the fruit and veg shop. Bought two huge chunks of watermelon, going to devour mine right now. Slurp slurp.

What about the watermelon then? An amazing miracle of nature. I guess a melon is just a huge seedpod, to protect the seeds within. I wonder why it has to be so huge? Fine by me, though. slurp slurp.

Actually, I decided what I need to do about the commenting question.

This will be my way of honouring Ed's guidelines.

I'll open up a comment with a new thread, so then I can begin with a direct communication with the contributor.

I think this is the main element for me, that focus of communication.

Then, if the thread develops into a conversation, that's fine.

And its also OK if the contributor thinks 'oh no! not 'er again', haha, and doesn't want to open a conversation with me.

Its just getting it right for me, and this feels like it.

If the contributor adds a directive, like, could I have some feedback on (photographic technique/writing technique etc), I'll just say, like I used to in the AWW, well, thanks for your contribution, I'm not qualified to give you the feedback you need, but someone will be along soon!

Sorted!