Random Rants 94 I rant at the thread title and shake my fist menacingly.

Authors have to be all the characters. And sometimes those characters can reach out and surprise you by saying and doing things you'd never planned when you first created them, or in the case of fanfic, planned for the story based on whatever original source you're using.

Sometimes a fan can influence an author to change their mind about what they'd planned. This is obviously a tricky thing for professional authors because of the danger of plagiarism (the reason why, in the TrekLit forum at TrekBBS, we are absolutely forbidden to mention fanfic or even story ideas or requests in that subforum - that's where the pro authors hang out and they can't risk being sued because they'd never be able to prove an idea was theirs first).

But when it's a fanfic fan and author who get into a correspondence, sometimes nice things happen. I've been following a Harry Potter story for well over a year now (Chapter 125 was posted a few days ago), and I've gotten into some interesting discussions about the story, the themes in the story, how they relate to RL, how different cultures treat the same topics (she's in England, though she is somewhat familiar with Canada), and we've covered topics from serious to silly, in her writing and mine.

In her story, Hermione marries Arthur Weasley (Molly was killed in the Battle of Hogwarts), and by this point, they have a baby. For a few weeks the author was teasing us about names, asking suggestions, musing back and forth about what to use as she hadn't quite decided if the baby would be a boy, girl, or twins.

And just when we thought the names were finalized... it turns out that she named the baby after my dad. In one of our conversations I'd mentioned some geese we had. They were payment-in-kind for some repair work my dad had done on someone's vehicle (this was in the '60s and he had an automotive repair business on our acreage). Instead of eating them, we kept them... an adult gander, two adult geese, and a male gosling. The gander's name was the same as my dad's middle name, so I was telling the fanfic author about these geese, how we'd tease my dad for sharing a name with a goose, how they were better than any watch dog, and how they'd imprinted on my parents (they went for a walk down the country lane one night and didn't realize that all of the geese were following them, walking behind, in single file; the neighbor lady said it was one of the funniest things they'd ever seen; I missed seeing this because I was in BC with my grandparents).

Well, this story evidently made an impression, as the name shared by my dad and the gander is what she named Hermione and Arthur's baby. When I told her later that I was surprised by the name, she said outright that she'd named the baby because of the story I'd told her. :)
 
Found a sick hedgehog yesterday... warmed it up, offered honeyed water and cat food. Did seem to get slightly better originally, but poor critter did not survive the morning... no idea what was wrong with him :(
 
So this morning a woman flags me down and says she was supposed to meet up with this woman who lived in the house she was out in front of today. She could not get the woman she was trying to meet on the phone, and she didn't answer the door. She hadn't brought her trash cans in, even though no other cans were out on the street. Her mailbox hadn't been emptied. A dog is going crazy inside the house. So I call the police. No one answers the phone. So I call the fire department. No one answers the phone. So I call the 911, and someone does answer, and I explain what's going on. And so eventually they send out a police officer, who doesn't get an answer, so files a report and goes away.

Now this woman could be lying dying on the floor there. Or she could be already dead. And the police won't force the door for 3 days. In which time, if she's in need of help, she'll die of thirst. Or, if she's already dead, the dog will die of thirst.

Feels really kind of horsehockey to try to do the right thing, and this is the best outcome you can get from it.
 
Liability rules.
 
In NM one can ask the police to make a "health check" on a person who has not appeared as normal.
 
Is it because that responsibility is with the fire department and EMTs instead?
 
I had a date earlier today, and I am not feeling it.
Given that I manage to get on average 1 date per year (already 2nd this year, so super successful!!!), this is just causing an incredible amount of frustration.
Soon for me the official time to buy a red sports car will start, and I am not ready for this.
 
Discovered today that my second monitor has been at 89 hz this whole time for some reason. I have it vertical and don't really do anything on it that would benefit from the full 144 hz (I think), but still annoying.
 
That's an hour every two weeks!

At our lower latitudes here, it's a slower rate, so it's still a very wet and cold winter.
 
It's only about an hour every month up here, but yeah, the days are definitely getting much shorter now.
 
Can opener gave up the ghost today. I bought it 2003 iirc while flatting age 24.

RIP Turny you did your job o7.

So much fun that year maybe best of my life.

Bugger.
 
Can opener gave up the ghost today. I bought it 2003 iirc while flatting age 24.

RIP Turny you did your job o7.

So much fun that year maybe best of my life.

Bugger.
Get a new type, they are loads better.

Spoiler Youtube about it :
 
1. Someone at the office likes to put knives into the dish strainer point-up and blade-out. I mean, if you're trying to get someone to cut themselves reaching for a spoon, then well done. You didn't get me today, but keep plugging away, mysterious assassin, there's always tomorrow. :yup:

2. When I get the Infinity Gauntlet, Melissa Benoist will be moving in with me and all personal cars will vanish from my metro area and be replaced by a wide variety of excellent public transport options. Almost got hit yesterday by a donkey driving a car through a red light like she was alone in the world. ~5m people here, woman, try looking around once in a while. Was she looking at her phone? Singing along with a Chappell Roan song? Who can say? And that was just yesterday. Who knows what kind of traffic-related grievance today will bring.
 
1. Someone at the office likes to put knives into the dish strainer point-up and blade-out. I mean, if you're trying to get someone to cut themselves reaching for a spoon, then well done. You didn't get me today, but keep plugging away, mysterious assassin, there's always tomorrow. :yup:
That is really dangerous.
 
Top Bottom