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

So, how is the final week going?

N - a former Speckly

Hey Speckles! good to hear from you!
Not sure. Feel a bit weird. Student a week tomorrow .
The books came through the other day and a little 'fill this in but it isn't really a test' thing. Well hello? Not a clue! What exactly is a present perfect continuous when it's at home? And how many colours does it come in?
Aside from that tiny problem am having quite a fun time. The surprise party (that I know nothing about as if Patrick isn't going to tell me everything!)is gathering momentum. Most of the guest list meets with approval and even Patrick doesn't know what's on the menu but Angela just can't keep secrets either!
Am bogged down with writing a florists diary at the mo. Promised Miss corporate that I would do a years guidlines of things to do when. Up to July and 16000 words but a fair bit of it is tables. Quite good discipline though and I can use the bones as part two of the other book 'From Pygmalion to Flowers girl'. Will need a heavy rewrite but am doing the eggs, pebbles, sand, water bit at the moment. Ravager pup has insisted that I can't ramble forever.
He's having fun bless http://www.hardyhemmingway.com.
If you'd like to look at the diary I can lob it over.
How's things with you two?
take care
boots

Lizardy says present perfect continuous is a tense. Huh. The nice thing about being a school dropout is that I have a good excuse for not knowing these things. She says hi, she's busy killing computer generated vampires with a shovel. Bless.

'surprise' party sounds like fun and you are a witch! I have been reading the columns, though I had no time to comment on the latest one. Work is busier again now - they fired half the staff then took on a vodafone customer services contrace silly s, so we're horribly overstretched. Directory enquiries is just not the stable employer it used to be . Not too worried. Call centre jobs are easy to come by if they go belly up so we'll be fine for bread and butter money.

We're thinking about branching out into television criticism. Lizardy's fault. She has to write an essay on the use of music in television. Reading around the subject and academically it is a relatively new field so we might be able to break into it and get a few essays published for actual money...well it's something to look into. We're good writers and critics and we need to start thinking seriously about turning that into our day job.

Doing the grown up and structured thing doesn't mean you can't ramble too. And being a student is . I have stopped in on your puppy's travels a few times and I am deeply jealous. I'd love to travel but she's the stay at home type. When we're less poor I'll make her take me places!

Do lob away.
N

Sort of figured out the tense bit...came over all twitchy. Just couldn't figure out what tense how or where!
The call centre sounds like a good place to bury oneself, perhaps I could do something like that for a while? Will have to find something by April.
Television criticism eh? Now that sounds interesting. How would you go about it? local papers? Nationals? Magazines?
What about plays? Radio 4 are always looking and I bet you could do a 45 minuter standing on your head!
Puppy obviously having far too much fun. No update to site since tuesday. He did call though which was .
I think it's a bit rich that everyone is calling me an old witch!
Diary lobbing
take care
boots

For the type of essay we'd write it would have to be academic magazines and journals or critical anthologies. Might be a good idea to find out the market for less academic stuff too though. We're still at the thinking about it stage, it's a pretty new idea, and I don't know how much money would be in it or if I could spare the time from the novel.

I think the lizard should be putting herself about more but she's remarkably lacking in gumption. And I don't do the script thing. Well that's not quite true, I may not write them but I do a lot of the plotting for her scripts, and our stuff will be co-credited once we're off the degrees because everything we do is collaborative. Our crony John writes and records a fabulous radio comedy (I play god in it!) and he too refuses to send it off. We are a house full of creative wimps. Maybe I should just steal copies of their scripts and send them off without telling them.

And I'm a fine one to talk, though I'm more lazy than scared. Mslexia is looking for horror stories, I might be able to find something that fits with that.

And why aren't you doing more with prose? well besides the obvios not having enough time! The doghouse tails represent a sizeable body of work that could be expanded and shaped into a book or restructured as a 'glossy' column. You could do that standing on your head! You have the enviable ability to slide between prose and script and you write in a style which evokes a world that invites the reader in and makes them part of the narrative.

N

Hope the last day and surprise went well. I'd say something encouraging and friendly like but I'm lacking brain space. Dumb lizard cooked valentine dinner and gave me food poisoning.

anyway,
N

It went. Patrick snoring behind me in spare bed which is in office. Best bro-in-law in other bedroom..also snoring. Party was party but not nearly as much fun as the secret 'they don't know we know' game. It should have been at the house as Patrick said. We will have another. Sad times, new times. Everyone says I am very brave hound to dive of diving board into new river...doesn't feel that way. Patrick and Lady Sheila are so much braver than I. They are dealing with the certainty of death, I am merely fudging the uncertainty of life. hey ho...

Not so. No fudging, just choices. There most certainly is bravery in making choices in the face of uncertainty. How is it brave to make a decision that you absolutely know is right? You're doing well and it's fine to give yourself space to panic a bit. Go right ahead, wallow a little even. When the time comes you'll pick up the threads and get on with it, make choices and changes, and that's the brave bit.


N (and Fatty)

Well it's finally arrived. The first day of my new life. It could after all be quite an adventure.
Don't know how much time I'll have for hootoo over the next four weeks but will keep you posted when I can. Take care you two and thanks for being there...I feel like I'm in the departure lounge at Heathrow and they've just called the flight!
take care
boots

Don't forget to enjoy yourself. We'll be here.

N + Fatty

Just caught up on your journals...you've been having an interesting time. How did teaching practice go?

N

Don't ask! Apparantly I have a 'great rapport' with them...shame I can't teach! Done six TP's (Oh my gosh she's using the jargon!) so far and have two more to go next week. I'll just have to try and work it through.
I love it though. The foreign students are just the best, my fellow students are fab, we have the most fun, and the tutors (gods) are awesome!
One of the students had the temerity to ask me a grammar question yesterday in the middle of TP. Well I nearly died! I looked at the tutor who was observing and he just fell about and left me to it. The wading through teacle that followed meant I didn't have time to complete the final activity. Tutor says 'never mind there's no one after you today so you can do the next hour if you like'
'Cheers mate' I thought (I'd done a board game for them). Ten minutes in and Tutor says 'You can manage without me can't you?
No! I can't manage at all! Off he b****rs leaving me to fill 45 minutes with no plan! It was good though. Not sure I'm supposed to join in the games but I just love a good board game!
Actually really like the whole student bit which is most odd.
There's a job going in Peru and God of Gods suggested I apply but my eyes keep veering towards the MA courses on the board. Don't be daft boots you couldn't do an MA you couldn't even do a C and A!
Have to teach for a year and then apparantly can go on MA course...IF I get through next week that is. Still a mountain to climb and bad weather in the shape of a heavy grammar assignment closing in....
take care
boots

Sounds wonderful, and terrifying, but the wonderful is the important bit. I have always thought that the human contact part of teaching is the most important...you can't teach anything if the students aren't listening. I bet you're brilliant and if you can already wing it for 45 minutes with no supervision you *must* be bloody good. The grammar stuff, well ouch, sounds like the horribly technical end which I can't be doing with either. All I can suggest is that you bull through it, you probably won't need much of it once you are out of the classroom. I live in dread that the clever writer types on my course are going to find out just how much of my grasp of the english language is instinctive.

Of course you should do an Ma. Studenting is a blast and I have no doubt that you'd do brilliantly at it. What sort of courses are tempting you? Peru sounds good too. I'm so glad this is working out for you, that your leap of faith is paying off.

N

Hey you. How's teacher training treating you?

N

Well, I'm your polisher for 'tomorrow is too long'.

It's at A2528101

I've put it into guide ml but haven't made any changes to the text, nor do I intend to.

Do you want the letter at the end put into a blockquote? It will be more visibly a letter if there is a bit of a margin around it. Up to you, obviously.


N

How cool! Reeally glad you got the sub's gig. Blockquote sounds good.
Hope all is going, 'well' I suspect would be too much to hope for with your current problems. Life is a strange battle not so? Good times and bad times.
Say hi to the lizzardy one for me.
take care
boots

Things are a bit better with J. But a fresh hell looms in the form of a uni deadline this week. They always turn up sooner than expected.

Will put blockquote in shortly. Is there anything else you think it needs? If not I'm happy to pass it back to Jodan. It's an excellent and powerfull piece and I think it would be criminal to tamper with it. I got the polishing of this because I asked for it, precsely because I didn't want it messed with.

How is Life treating you? More good than bad I hope, you deserve biggest heaps of good.

Lizardy says Hi right back. She almost came over to chat with you last week but chickened out. She is the biggest wuss about speaking to people. Makes me terribly glad that I'm not shy. She's all excited about possibility of partnership law being passed next year and wants to go to Lesbos for honeymoon.

What do you think about trying to organise a hootoo literary trip to hay-on-wye sometime? Or Bath. Bath is nice, but antiques cost more than books!

N

Darlings, Bath is almost my home town! Spent eight years incarcerated there as a young and tender flower and, having gone through the last and most dreadful year, returned on a solo trip to prove I could do solo. Great place for a meeting of free minds! Lets set up a meet. I'm sure Ben and possibly Caerwynn would be up for it, Caerwynn has as many unhappy memories and as many good ones as I do, but what matters is the future...at the very least, the present.

The only thing I would say about 'Tomoorrow' is that the letter was truly Baby boots' and should perchance be in italics...she is so much more erudite than I...(but I did birth her so that is cool!)
take care
old boots

Excellent. I've only been to Bath once and adored it Lizard has been a few times and is similarly smitten. The Lizard and I keep saying We Must Go There together but haven't yet.

I can't do any great organising this week because I'm planning a writerly and discrete nervous breakdown. But we only work Thursday, Friday and Saturday now and given a bit of notice shouldn't have any trouble getting time off so we can fit in with just about anything. Do you think Pin could be crowbarred down or should it be a girlie thing?

I think it's clear in the text that the letter is Baby Boots' but no problem to italicise if you want. Let me know once you've checked how it looks without then I'll put it into italics and you can compare and see which you prefer.

N

Omigosh decisions, can't do that. leave it up to you, girl, you're the one doing the masters, not I . Pin in Bath? well we could try, Ben are you lurking? This should be good!
OK off to bed now.
Had a pants day today but a really good evening, Patrick and I live in a very similar and very different space. He lost his loved one, to a girl (nightmare for him) eleven months ago. I lost my loved one to his god (end of my world) eleven months ago and we have finally squared the circle. We can at last be best friends for the time he has left. We finally understand each others pain. He understands that he is terrified of dying and that I am terrified of living. It is a truly strange relationship but one I am most grateful for. I will sorely miss him when he dies and am so jealous that he will see Ravager and party with him before I do, but I am so glad that he will be able to tell him how much I miss him, Ravager that is. They will have such a good time. Don't you dare touch his thigh, Patrick! he's mine!
take care
boots