The Fox Inn

[Anonymous @]

@Theconsultingdoctor hello there and welcome to you -this is Puro’s son. You mentioned “being in school now?” Are you a teacher? You must be because you write extremely well. Unless you’re in Year 12 and are extremely good at writing and synthesising (apparently that’s my real weak spot  ). I think we have a whole hour a week in year 12 where we look at things like job applications and choices. I know that when mum taiught at a local school and also in my school there were talks every week for the year 12s from a variety of people. They had medicines de frontiers (Ican’t spell that right) as well as police, nurses, legal secretaries, small business owners, catering, -all sorts of different people which mum is telling me right now (I should be finishing history but I have done the same damn question over and over and can’t find or need 8 more sources to answer “what were the reactions from aus soc.about conscription?” Im really tired of conscription. I never want to hear about it again 🙂 ) .

These groups seem to really help the kids. Thing is, Mum is always saying that she meets kids at the shops who STARTED  uni and then said “no, not for me. I couldn’t get organised.” Mum thinks that they’re spoon fed by some teachers and parents and so when they go to uni their whole life falls apart. Also whilst I like a gap year some of the studetsn just don’t ever go back to the uni anyway. Their ‘gap’ is permanent. Mum went to her local café yesterday where she met a nurse who had been working OS and then when she came back can’t get into any jobs here. Instead she’s still working at the local café -which is upscale. Thing is she said “maybe I need a new job. Maybe I will be working here for ever.” MUm went “but why is cooking great food and serving people during hours you choose really that bad?”

I think it’s good -the baker next door owns his business and he’s now 30 and loves his job though reckons its hard. There’s another guy who runs his own fish and chip business (pretty pricey coz of the area) and so there are many options and not burger “flipping” as @arbutus mentioned yesterday.

I think all schools need the amount of focus on those things we have. Also, journalists come to the school to talk too. We need good investigative jouros to analyse the things @pedant said about smoking in the home. Here, where we live, no-one smokes. Anywhere. I can go two weeks from malls to bus stops and not see a single person smoking. When I go OS to the UK at the end of the year everyone tells me it’s really different there -smoking is everywhere. And it gets in clothes, hair and coats and things.

Ick.

Yes, your’re right @stitchintime about the experience you have-that is impt because its documented. This is a newish word for me in History assignments.

@missy that’s OK. We all start things that are hard to stop actually. Its OK/

Thanks Puricle

[Anonymous @]

@puroandson (to Puro’s son)

Thank you so much! That means a lot, especially considering the fact that I hope to become a published author and am working at becoming an English teacher (although, knowing that, does it make my writing seem a bit more amateur than it should be?). Either way, it is a pleasure to meet you. 🙂

[Anonymous @]

@Theconsultingdoctor

That’s wonderful. I think schools need a lot more dedicated teachers. Especially iN English. That your writing a book is fantastic too and I hope you are able to let us know when it is published. Mum would love that too. There’s another published author -s on this forum-place and its exciting definitely.

Weve had student teachers in our school and you can see how tired they are and how hard they have to work to achieve a decent passing grade. Some are better than the teachers we have -they are interesting and funny and enthusiastic as well and we like that.

Puro’s Son!

[Anonymous @]

@puroandson

If the other writers don’t mind, could you tell me who they are? I love talking about my craft with people who have the same interest and goal.

I think I have a long way to go before any of my stories are published,  but your words have motivated me. Thanks for that. I seem to have a problem of starting multiple stories without finishing any.

[Anonymous @]

@Theconsultingdoctor

I think I shouldn’t do that as Mum said it’s a privacy issue? If they do say something on this thread then that’s great but I wouldn’t want to as Mum knows this only from private messaging and conversations over the past two years? I hope that’s OK/

Thank you,

Son of P.

[Anonymous @]

@puroandson

I completely understand. Your mother is right. That’s why I said you should only give names if the writers don’t mind. I guess I’ll just leave that decision up to any of them who may be reading this. 😉

Well, I’m signing off for the night. 🙂

[TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros]

Hello @puroandson

I think there may have been a case of mistaken identity! Were you meaning @thedentistofdavros or @theconsultingdoctor when you replied to my post about the lack of teaching on the jobs front, if so then I’m glad to hear that your school does so much to inform it’s pupils of life after school, our school does the bare minimum when it comes to teaching us about what to do when it’s time to leave.

I am a pupil and not a teacher but I think I’ll take that as a compliment! Thank you for your kind words!

@theconsultingdoctor Good luck with your book, I wish I could have a dedicated English teacher but it’s seems my teacher lost her passion for English a long time ago! You’re very well spoken too and I can tell that you’d make a good writer and teacher!

[Anonymous @]

@thedentistofdavros

Thank you so much! That truly means a lot.

[Anonymous @]

@thedentistofdavros

I think Son was replying to both of you -as far as I can tell (we are the hybrid and it’s hard work! -Bowie riff there)!

Yes, Son is a pupil too, and doesn’t enjoy his English teacher this year though last year was different.

He likes English but doesn’t always enjoy reading -he does enjoy good lyrics and excellent movies which is a help. Since yesterday he watched some of the MR James’ movies -seemingly they’re freely available. Reading the youtube comments is hilarious: “a somewhat 70s feel with a leftist bent which is understandable.”

Clearly the commenter is a fascist. But then right now I’m listening to Radiohead and The Sex Pistols both of which I love. As well as Motorhead (@Whisht not sure if you’re a M’head fan at all -some of it is pure indulgent repetition which is OK. Could be worse. Could be Elton) and so everything seems fascist right now.

But yes, there’s a lot out there and the school’s guidance counsellor should be available for free appointments – as many as you want helping you find as many job choices and technical colleges/standard colleges/apprenticeships followed by as many work experience things you can do.

I know that at Son’s school students in year 10-12 have work experience twice a year. If they want more they can do so on their own time on weekends or an early morning -starting at 7 am and finishing at 10 am. Your G. Officers should give you options about that so you have as much info as possible on this front?

Kindest,

Puro Solo

[janetteB @janetteb]

@theconsultingdoctor though you would not suspect give my usually half garbled posts here I am also a writer. I have a growing collection on unpublished work, which I now despair of ever getting published. At the moment, however, the household are work-shopping ideas for a sci fi audio drama. So many ideas, so little time to get them all down. I need the regenerations of a time lord.

@puroandson and @thedentistofdavros. My sons’ school gave career guidance but no help at all with actual job seeking. The elder two completed year 12 with no idea of how to actually apply for jobs. When I was at school, a few years ago now, (and a few years more), we had a subject, (which I despised) that taught us “life skills”, ie how to buy a house or car, organise a holiday or apply for jobs. I was too busy daydreaming to learn anything useful at all however. There was a careers office which succeeded in putting me of the concept of “career” for life. When I said I wanted to be a costume designer they told me to look at secretarial work or nursing. I “gave up” and opted for teaching. They told me there was a glut of teachers and I would not get work at which point  I decided that travelling might be my best option. Fortunately I had an inspirational year 12 English lit’ teacher who convinced me to aim for University.

Cheers

Janette

 

 

[Missy @missy]

@arbutus

It seems that they aren’t bringing in the non-smoking law over here – it was media hype. Just as well, as i wouldn’t adhere to it. When they constantly advertise alcohol and gambling on Televsion, but ban cigarettes, I tend to be a little cross!

ttfn

Missy

[Anonymous @]

@janetteb

Sorry to get back to you so late, both late since your message to me and late at night.  I am glad that I am not alone in my struggles as a writer.  I have notebooks full of story ideas, but not a single full length novel completed. Imagine how many stories there are that have yet to be shared with the world.  I sometimes wish I could take all the time that I need writing stories in the TARDIS and getting them all published as if no time has passed at all.

[Missy @missy]

@theconsultingdoctor

Now wouldn’t that be nice. close the doors and write – and back for dinner.

Do you find that you would do almost anything, make any excuse, to avoid working? I mean getting stuck in to your writing? If you do, then you are in good comapny. Quite a few writers’ have suffered from this ague.

ttfn

Missy

[Anonymous @]

For some reason this discussion about writing reminds me of the stand up comic who said, “I am a writer. I write cheques–they are mostly fiction.” 😉

I too write. I had a column years ago in a local newsletter but it didn’t last long as they could not continue to pay me, and so I stopped. As well, I have written fiction (scifi and fantasy mostly), poetry and songs (music and lyrics). I entered the Big Finish story contest that they held a few years ago and lost (the contest, not the story). I have also collaborated with three other people on a song and several writing projects on line (Doctor Who and a fantasy), which was quite a bit of fun.

What you do is, you write a paragraph or so and then the other writer or writers writes one and so on. Sometimes you even try to put the characters into an impossible situation and then the next writer has to figure out how to get them out of it! This can lead to some fairly zany results but also stimulates creativity.

I partly got the idea for the collaborations from what I read about, Judith Merril, who wrote a successful science fiction/fantasy novel with another writer through such a collaboration, although it was also written to impress a particular publisher she and her collaborator knew quite well. They sat down and figured out what kind of science fiction novel that publisher would like and proceeded to write it by taking turns. One of them had a day job and the other worked nights and so they actually did it separately. One would write a section and the next would read what had been written already, re-write it and add the next piece and then the next one would do the same. The novel is called, “Gunner Cade” (published in 1952), although Merril (1923-1997) was best known as an anthologizer and editor. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted her in 2013.

The first I heard of her, she was doing a kind of commentary at the end of the showing of the Doctor Who episodes I watched in the late 1970s, which impressed me quite a bit and I eventually looked her up and read a biography that started as an autobiography but was finished by her daughter after her death. I haven’t seen it for a while, but I think it is called, “Better to Have Loved: the life of Judith Merril.” I would highly recommend it. Also, Wikipedia has quite a good article on her here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Merril#References

[Missy @missy]

@stitchintime

Your tale puts me in mind of a game called “consequences” – ever heard of it? Good fun.

But, you havne’t answered my question? I’m genuinely interested to know.

Ttfn

Missy

[Anonymous @]

@missy

the thing with smoking in the home is that if affects people around them  in a different way to people, say, having two drinks at dinner -whereas smoking like that in the home WILL have an effect.

But I understand gambling is an enormous problem and heavily advertised during the footy and the cricket. Then there’s the ‘sexy’ alcohol advertisements. Kids will still drink though and smoke -though there’s a lot less smoking as far as I know.

Thanks,

PuroSolo

[Missy @missy]

PuroSolo

Yes, there is a lot less smoking now, and that isn’t a bad thing. One of the reasons for tighter laws is the fact that some people dump their fag-ends anywhere – disgusting!
I am a smoker – you may have guessed – but I always carry an ashtray with me and keep well away from people when I have a smoke. I can appreciate that smoke can cause distress in some cases of respiratory problems (or should I say ‘issues’ word of the year *rolls eyes*) so I make sure I don’t cause any distress.

As to a couple of drinks not being as bad as say, a couple of fags? Ten to one it’s the drinkers saying it. *grins*
However, a couple of fags before driving home, or anywhere, won’t cause an accident, a couple of drinks could.
Not smoking in restaurants, pubs, cinemas etcetera, is a great idea. there is nothing worse then being in a smoke filled cafe/pub/cinemas and here speaks a smoker.
Just do not tell me not to smoke in a park, well away from people, that’s bordering on paranoia!

Ttfn

Missy

[Anonymous @]

@missy

interesting…..thing is smoking has caused many an accident whilst driving. Smoking in a car with people is obviously bad and I’m sure you know that.

As for parks, you don’t need smoke in them if you can smoke on your porch, your deck or your kitchen/lounge! 🙂

[Anonymous @]

and @missy

drinks –  like a couple with a Saturday/Sunday night dinner or a small glass of wine at dinner (80ml or thereabouts) during the week with a meal is much better than any smoking  whether it be 1, 2 or 4. We know this is so. It’s a scientific fact!

It’s more addictive, it’s responsible for just about every cancer imaginable. I suppose I’m reaching the stage that whilst our health system is unbelievable and I’m happy to pay large taxes, I do worry that medicare (essentially my money) pays for those in hospital -to the tune of $2 million per person -with smoke-related cancers. It has to change and very soon.

Not that I’m saying “oh, you’re bad” -not at all. People still have the right to do what they need to do -and I guess smoking falls under the category of ‘need’.

And there are worse things!   🙂

PuroSolo.

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

@puroandson- I’m an ex smoker. (Well, I vape) and while I agree about the effects of second hand smoke, I do have a different perspective over the expense of smoking.  In the UK, tobacco is very expensive. A huge chunk of the cost of it is duty paid, it’s tax. It’s quite a lot of tax. Given that not every smoker require substantial NHS treatment- and that, at the same time, smoking does reduce the life span of a lot of people, which means less money spent on pensions, and later life care, I don’t feel that non smokers are paying for smokers exactly.

One problem with the ‘my money paying for someone else’s choices’ argument, is where does it end? Does it include obesity? Does it include having a child with someone when you know there is a significant choice that the child will have a disability, and thus cost the state quite a bit of money down the line? I do understand your frustration, and I’d suggest a higher tax on tobacco might at least mean that the smokers themselves are paying for the effects of their habit. Every so often people talk about a tax on fatty food, a tax on sugar. In a way the high taxes on things like tobacco and alcohol, and the suggestion of extending it to unhealthy food (though first we’d need a consensus on what is unhealthy food, sugar seems to be the only solid one) feels like an attempt to control the behaviour of the poor (the rich, who can afford it, can apparently regulate their own health.) But it can raise money to offset the effects of it.

the $2 million is an alarming figure. It’s never quite registered to me how much cancer costs to treat, despite losing a father to it (not smoking related as far as I know, that is, he never smoked, and had cancer of the bone and blood.)

I’m rarely able to limit myself to a small glass of wine or a couple with dinner! I don’t drink every week anymore, but I’ll confess that’s more to do with my waistline, and losing ability to concentrate first thing in the morning after than my health. Although I suppose it’s all related…

[Anonymous @]

@miapatrick

interesting. You dumped me in it -and you were right. I never use the “someone pays for that ‘terrible’ habit” argument probably because I use the flip side -“if a person is well educated then we all use that particular blessing/ability/knowledge”.

Well, to quote Ainsley Hayes, “you’ve reversed my position”.

And I’m glad you did. I was getting flipping pompous!

Cheers to you and glad you are…whats it? Vaping? 🙂

PuroSolo (if I get uptight it’s usually Puro without Son who needs a slap upside the head!)

[Anonymous @]

@missy
“Your tale puts me in mind of a game called “consequences” – ever heard of it? Good fun.”

OMG! I had forgotten all about that game. Thanks for reminding me, as I do remember having a lot of fun with it many years ago.

@missy
“But, you havne’t answered my question? I’m genuinely interested to know.”

I regret that I did not quite understand the question.

@missy
“However, a couple of fags before driving home, or anywhere, won’t cause an accident, a couple of drinks could.”

Unfortunately, research has shown that smokers who drive are 1.5 times more likely than non-smokers to be involved in car accidents whether they were smoking at the time of the accident or not, although it appears that no one has shown why this is so.
http://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/3-18-smoking-motor-vehicle-crashes-and-other-injur

[Anonymous @]

@stitchintime @missy

Stitch, yes, I too have seen these statistics. However, the reasons as to exactly why aren’t easy to pin down.

There are some deductions, I suppose? Other than lighting the cigarette, or chucking it out the window (means rolling it down/up -now with a  flick of a button. Unless some still have manual roller windows?) there’s also burning ashes dropping on one’s lap as well as the stimulation caused by inhaling -heart racing leading to rapid but incorrect driving responses.

Certainly at Defence, no driver was permitted to drive whilst smoking and in the end it was a requirement that no officer could be a smoker  -unless it was probably weed which wasn’t something anyone particularly cared about in personal time for kicks and as long as it didn’t effect one’s working hours. Though it probably might!  Weed leads to paranoid attacks and neuroses due to how it’s cut. Anyway, most people know this trivia..

Still, I don’t want to sound like some ‘superior’ twit because I don’t smoke. It’s an addiction, hard to stop and some people happen to enjoy it.

I know my brother loved smoking -taking it up at about 40 years of age in between 1st and 2nd marriages. He’d smoke on the patio because his new wife (an ex-smoker and the worst kind of zealot) disliked it and yet he’d only smoke four a day.

When he quit it happened within a week and that was that. I think my father was the same although my mother was ‘old school’ -wanted to stay slim, so drank a bex with her black coffees (breakfast) and had several cigs before Dad was up for his full cooked breakfast and before I was dressed. She believed her husband should see her fully dressed with cosmetics and salon-prepped hair.

Hmm…interesting….Still, she made all our clothes, cooked from scratch and kept an unbelievable house. We were very lucky. She could dance and sing beautifully and sewed the most creative, diaphanous ball gowns, made her slippers for the ‘ball’ and her own clutch purses and beads.  She wasn’t defined by her smoking or other addictions: there was much more to her.

And that’s the important part and Son agrees.

Kindest, Puro and S.

[Anonymous @]

@miapatrick

OK, vaping: “vaporous” from the Greek?

So it’s the vaper which is the new ‘smoking’ as a way of either stopping or for the lack of pulmonary effusion.

Puro

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

@puroandson – well, purosolo at first – ah, I probably would not have commented if I had thought it was the kind of position you tended to take. Thank you for your gracious response.

As for vaping- it is, if not harmless, considerably less harmful than smoking. Less antisocial (the vapour disperses where smoke lingers). Less addictive, weirdly, I sometimes go a couple of days without it, and only realise because I become- either agitated or unpleasant. Recently I’ve been using it quite a lot, but hopefully my stress levels will go down now. There is a worry of younger people taking it up- it’s cheaper, liquids come in all kinds of exciting flavours (I stick to menthol) – including people who might not have started smoking properly. But teenagers not taking up smoking is A Good Thing, so I suppose it is a balance. It’s all gone rather nerdy, you walk into a vape shop and its full of men in their thirties and twenties talking about ‘coils’ and technical jargon, the kind of people who usualy talk about ‘sub woofers’ etc. So at least it’s never going to be seen as ‘cool’…

[Anonymous @]

I never use the “someone pays for that ‘terrible’ habit” argument probably because I use the flip side…

@miapatrick

Yes, that’s what I meant -I don’t like to use, “someone will always pay for these terrible addictions or problems in society” -some have merit, some do not.

That’s probably clear as mud too 🙂  But I meant what I said about my mother -and all those brilliant things she did. The fact she smoked never entered my head. It was the times, I suppose -that and other circumstances.

[Anonymous @]

@puroandson
“There are some deductions, I suppose? Other than lighting the cigarette, or chucking it out the window (means rolling it down/up -now with a flick of a button. Unless some still have manual roller windows?) there’s also burning ashes dropping on one’s lap as well as the stimulation caused by inhaling -heart racing leading to rapid but incorrect driving responses.”

The accident rate has got nothing to do with whether the smoker driver is smoking while driving or not, the fact of being a smoker by itself is associated with the higher accident and death rate.

@puroandson
“Weed leads to paranoid attacks and neuroses due to how it’s cut.”

It has nothing to do with the way it is cut. Pharmacologically it is classified as a hallucinogen and some of these altered perceptions may lead to paranoia. Like nicotine it is also a stimulant, hence potentially heightening irritability and impulsivity in some people, among other things. But the effects vary a lot depending on the person, the amount and how often the individual uses it.

[Anonymous @]

@stitchintime

I was responding precisely to what you clearly wrote. Mate.

whether they were smoking at the time of the accident or not….

Geddit?

As for how it’s cut -oh dear, I’m afraid it has a lot to do with how it’s cut -that, until about a year ago was my job. Well, one of them. You see?

You have a way with words. “It has nothing to do with” when, actually, it has “something to do with”.

🙂

Kindest,

PuroSolo

[Anonymous @]

@stitchintime

Don’t mind me -I guess I’m being oversensitive. If Son were here (he’s on H/W duty)  -we are The Hybrid -his response would be, “don’t write anything else and don’t wind yourself up.”

And I did wind myself up to an extent, so I’ll go and listen to some Brahms instead (‘always good for the nerves and ague’ -a statement from a student of Brahms, as it turns out, and only recently discovered)

Kindest to you,

PuroSolo.  Son? Where art thou? 🙂

<doing my damned presentation on Conscription. Still>

[Missy @missy]

@puroandson

As for parks, you don’t need smoke in them if you can smoke on your porch, your deck or your kitchen/lounge! 🙂

Can you see me and my family going off to a park with the grandchildren for a picnic, and after a couple of hours I fancy a fag, so nip off home to have one? Come on, be reasonable. *smiley face*

[Missy @missy]

@miapatrick
the $2 million is an alarming figure. It’s never quite registered to me how much cancer costs to treat, despite losing a father to it (not smoking related as far as I know, that is, he never smoked, and had cancer of the bone and blood.)

Since you mentioned it, a woman died a couple of years ago in her sleep just short of her 100th Birthday.
she smoked 60 a day (shudder, makes my 12 a day look positively harmless, which it isn’t)) I didn’t read this, I knew the lady for years. An aunt of our best friend , whom I didn’t know – died at 42 of lung cancer. she never smoked, was single and didn’t live or work in a smoke filled attmosphere. If one scientific fact is wrong, then one should not generalise.

ttfn

Missy

[Missy @missy]

@puroandson

PuroSolo (if I get uptight it’s usually Puro without Son who needs a slap upside the head!)

And there speaks one who disagrees with ‘slapping.’ Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Ttfn

Missy

[Missy @missy]

@stitchintime

Oh gawd! Experts again! *sigh*

Ttfn

Missy

[Missy @missy]

Nictotine is a tonic – a stimulant – good for brain work, in moderation. It certainly doesn’t make me moody or irritable. Unfortunately, it’s the rubbish added to the tobacco that can do the damage to heart and respiration.
I wish I didn’t enjoy it so.

ttfn

Missy

[Missy @missy]

@stitchintime

All right, I’ll come clean.
My question is: Do you ever have days when you would so anything at all rather than write?

If not, I do. If so, we are in good company.

ttfn

Missy

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

@missy – sorry for the attempt to convert you, but have you considered e-cigarettes? If you get a good one (and tolerate a fair amount of waffle about coils) the effect on inhalation is very close to cigarettes. The chances of second-hand inhalation are far far smaller, and as I far as I can tell only carry the dangers of inhaling small amounts of nicotine. Unlike cigarettes, the evidence disappears in under a minute, they are very much cheaper. I’ll admit I’m not prepared, as yet, to do without nicotine but I’m glad to have those other chemicals out of my life.

I know there are lifelong smokers who escape any damage and non smokers who get lung cancer. But to me its all about the effects. I cut down on drinking when I began to feel the effects the next day. I’m glad not to smoke because I don’t wake up during stressful times in my life with my mouth throat and lungs feeling decidedly unpleasant and my teeth look better. We both know smoking makes the brain feel better. But it’s a dependency. There was a scene in the first series of Mad Men where one of the company owners says to the other ‘you shouldn’t smoke so much, it’s a weakness’ because if you end up in a negotiation situation with someone and cannot smoke, you will end up keener to get out of the room than someone who does not smoke.

This is a proper pub isn’t it! Debates can get a little intense. Only with that sometimes nerve-wracking sensation of loading comments into a void and waiting for a response and not being able to check peoples facial expressions and make eye contact. (Which I’m only just getting the hang of anyway, to be honest.)

@Missy- displacement activity? My mother used to have a fridge magnet that said ‘writers have immaculate houses’. (not true in her case.) Nowadays, however, I think ‘writers have a lot of forum discussions’ might work better. That’s why, when I’m doing a course, I tend to disappear from here for a while (except when I feel like a bit of a public cry, as you know!) But also baking. I do a mean Plum and Ginger cake when deadlines are looming…

[Anonymous @]

@missy you’re not moody? You sure?

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @pedant]

@missy

Try not to be a twit.

[Anonymous @]

@missy
“My question is: Do you ever have days when you would so anything at all rather than write?”

Yes, of course, and so do most writers I think. Indeed, I think most people in any occupation, even if they really like what they do have times like that.

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@missy     Outing myself now as one of the ranks of the great unpublished, I would have to say I haven’t had that experience, as I have only rarely had the good fortune to be required to write anything (not counting uni assignments and so forth here). My problem is more that if I allow myself to get going, it ends up being to the detriment of the other tasks that I am meant to be doing (feeding my family, etc.).

But I have often gone through long periods of not writing because I didn’t have the mental space for it due to viewing it as secondary to my main responsibilities. I expect that if I was a professional writer on a deadline, it might be different! Writing is for me a bit of luxury as it doesn’t usually earn me any money.   🙂

[ichabod @ichabod]

@stitchintime  Thanks for the background info on “Gunner Cade”.  That was the first SF novel I remember reading, and I loved it (I was about 10, maybe, and I thought it was kind of simplistic but loved it anyway), but I had no idea that Judy Merrill was in part behind it.  There’s a nice library collection of SF dedicated to her in Toronto.  She was one of the ancestral gods of the field . . .

[Missy @missy]

@miapatrick

You know I have considered the e-cigarette, are they expensive? I must have a look in a chemist and give them a try. I’ve got nothing to lose.
My excuse is that i haven’t got any other addictions, like wine, chocolate or gambling. Gawd, I’m so boring. *grins*
thank you vewry much for mentioning this, and I don’t feel that you are trying to convert me. Why not, it’s a good idea, a sensible idea.

This is a proper pub isn’t it! Debates can get a little intense. Only with that sometimes nerve-wracking sensation of loading comments into a void and waiting for a response and not being able to check peoples facial expressions and make eye contact. (Which I’m only just getting the hang of anyway, to be honest.)

Yes, that’s the trouble, you can’t see a person’s face or hear their voice, hence one can upset people unintentionally.

Oooh! Ginger cake, my favourite. My house is not immaculte, there are more intersting things to do.

Thanks again for your tip.

Ttfn

Missy

[Missy @missy]

@pedant

That’s nice! What brought that on?
Ttfn

Missy

[Missy @missy]

@stitchintime

Thanks, I was just curious as I’ve heard this before, and wondered whether you too avoided working at times.

ttfn

Missy

[Missy @missy]

@arbutus

My thanks to you too. I understand what you mean.

Ttfn

Missy

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

@Arbutus- I have found studying the only way to force me to work, especially the creative writing modules. I’ve just finished one and trying to keep going with the writing until the next module starts. I love writing, but not always while I am doing it. Sometimes people say things like ‘Oh I’d love to be a writer’ and I think, especially when I’m finishing a piece ‘well if you were, you probably wouldn’t.’ Which is partly what I think you mean by mental space. A writer is a writer, published or not, but extrinsic motivation does seem to play an important part- practical reasons, like making money or finishing an assignment. I have actually made money out of writing now- I won £500 for my level two Creative Writing module- which isn’t the same as being published but it’s a pretty nice feeling 🙂

 

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

@missy- so very much cheaper, around now at least. The ones in the chemists tend to be the ones that look like cigarettes, aren’t refillable and aren’t very good. Most shops that sell cigarettes sell basic kits for about £12, and they’re OK but not great. If you’d brave the vape shops, with all their nerdiness, or I believe the VIP brand is quite good and have their own outlets in towns, you can get one for between £20-35 (but think of the cost of a single packet of cigarettes) and a couple of bottles of liquid which can cost up to about £10, but if you only smoke about twelve a day, as I think you said, that lot could last you weeks, for the cost of what you probably spend in one week, and after that the costs are pretty low as  you only have to refill the liquid. If you get the basic kit, you have to replace the head for every bottle of liquid you use, which is about £5, less hassle, with the more expensive ones, you can just take them into the shop and the vape-spotters will usually be very nice and change the stringy thing they keep telling me the name of.  Now I’ve made it sound very hard work! If you’re interested, I’d go into a vape shop and ask. I’m making fun of them but the people who specialise in selling them are very evangelical about the whole thing, and every shop I’ve gone into, they’ve been lovely.

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

@missy – yes, I’m very proud of my Ginger cake. I’m actually trying to cut down on carbs and sugar, because they make me tried. And my boyfriend is trying to lose weight because he can’t burn a lot off anymore. So I only make it when we have guests, but it never lasts very long. Yes, there are many distractions in the world, one really doesn’t need to resort to housework!

[Missy @missy]

@miapatrick

Thank you so much for the information – yes I only smoke 12 a day, down from 25, I cut them in half.
thing is, what on earth is a vape shop?

As to the ginger cake, I also make a sticky ginger cake (when the mood takes me, which isn’t often) and it’ use by date never comes close. *grins*

Housework? Who needs it. I’d rather be on here, or working out cryptograms, crosswords, reading or watching favourite DVD’s – oh, and listening to Audio books whilst doing a jigsaw.

ttfn

Missy

[Anonymous @]

@miapatrick

I quite like housework: and I might be the only one. I like moving the things I have around? I do have a thing for nice cushions. Last week, needing something to go with silky grey, I found lime. Pleasant colours around the dining table. Then there’s the sort of new kitchen -which I’m re-designing.

Thank you for defining ‘vaping’.

I should add @arbutus that I didn’t answer your question! Yes, there’s a weird new fridge which has a computer on the front -hence why the Hybrid was talking about the code in the fridge -and being able to “code” only that.  🙂

So, it’s fun to polish up wood, for instance, re-sort all the DVDs and in dusting, discover new books.

@pedant! I will check out izombie again (I know, wrong thread!).

PuroSolo.

[Author]

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