Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: somewhere close to Tampa, but closer to the beach
2,035 posts, read 5,036,650 times
Reputation: 1099
Advertisements
Just curious,.. not quite sure if this fits under this area of the forum but id enjoy hearing a few if you have em' ..I'll share a couple a little later
My grandaddy from a small town in Alabama was giving me advice one day about breaking up with someone. He said, "If you are going to cut a dogs tail off, then just cut it off. Cutting it off in pieces hurts the dog more."
Mine's something along the lines of " you'll be amazed how at much less you know if you don't try to develop a 360 degree point of view of people and the world around you" And also "we define life based on who we are" --- something like that *confused*
My grandaddy from a small town in Alabama was giving me advice one day about breaking up with someone. He said, "If you are going to cut a dogs tail off, then just cut it off. Cutting it off in pieces hurts the dog more."
I think it is pretty good advice.
Good advice for writing too. If you want to do something bad to a character, just DO it. Don't beat around the bush and write like you're trying to weasel out of doing whatever nasty things you really want to do. The more you weasel the less believable it becomes.
I suppose this also applies to doing good things to your characters, but those don't generate a 'reluctance to shock the reader' that doing nasty stuff sometimes does.
When I complained to the Contracting Officer that I was almost run over twice while transporting very hazardous materials in vehicular traffic with the government-provided flat dolly, and can I please have the van back because the contract requires that I use the government van, her response was, "No." Followed by, "Unfortunately, you carry less weight than the cargo you are transporting". Her assistants wanted use of the van to make coffee and doughnut runs. (Cappuccino can be addictive to some.)
My statement to the federal judge in this case where the CO ordered me to transport flesh-eating bacteria, hygromycin B, acrylamide and numerous explosives, inflammables mutagenics, teratogenics and carcinogens in opened boxes on a flat dolly in vehicular traffic - "Never attribute to stupidity that which can be easily explained by malice, but don't rule out stupidity". (My inversion of Hanlon's Razor - "Never attribute to malice that which can be easily explained by incompetence, but don't rule out malice.")
I followed that up with Gray's Law: "Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."
The judge in this case ruled that the government Contracting Officer acted reasonably.
I am currently appealing the decision.
Someday, I really should write a book about this, maybe titled, A Day In The Life Of A Lab Courier.
My mother's "Cast your bread upon the waters and it comes back chicken salad."
Mine "Nothing succeeds like success"
My Pastor "Volunteering means to submit to do what you are told and not assume what I need"
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.