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All responses Most smiled responses
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OH MY GOD, DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW YOU TALK LIKE THAT? Also, blue.
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I'm old; What exactly is a slam pig? Lemme just Google... Oh my god, DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW YOU TALK LIKE THAT?
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I like that this question assumes I have a "fav spandex". And boy classmates.
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I like that this question assumes that I have a "fav spandex". And boy classmates.
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No, I'm not, idiot who sent me this question.
I'm seriously still getting these things. It's kind of amazing, and I don't even know how, considering that I've Googled my name and Formspring in combination and not seen anything even remotely suggesting that I own it.
But random death threats from strangers are always a nice reminder that you're still on the Internet, sometimes with certifiably crazy people. -
No (FEK?), I think it's more that many people on the Internet are literate enough to understand individual words--like "Formspring," "Spiers," "has," "a," and "profile,"--but not nearly literate enough to understand what those words mean in combination.
I call these people the "Dan Brown target demographic." -
This is the only normal one I've gotten amongst the last 50 questions.
Also: Glassworks, the expanded edition. (I saw Signal perform it a few weeks ago. Very nice.) -
I'd almost assume that Times piece on Formspring was responsible for increasing the number of people who send stuff like this to my Formspring page, but I don't believe that people with obvious reading comprehension problems are likely to read the Times. But on that basis, I wonder if use of the Ask function would make the same idiots think I created Tumblr.
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People keep sending me this stuff because their reading comprehension skills are so low that they think I own Formspring, but *I'm* the idiot, apparently. (Also, I must have missed all of these Formspring-related suicides. You'd think they'd make the news or something.)
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Krucoff doesn't actually exist. He's a meme perpetuated by the New York creative underclasses.
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Adventures in Formspring, cont'd. Homonym displacement disorder edition.
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So apparently people still think I own Formspring. I'm still getting emails about it--some from parents who suggest their kids will get bullied anonymously thanks to the service and that Formspring should be sued if that happens.
I don't want to be unsympathetic to kids who are getting bullied anonymously over the Internet, but neither do I think Formspring is responsible for that. When I was a teenager, plenty of anonymous bullying took place without the Internet (which we didn't have at my school and I didn't have until college), mostly via handwritten anonymous notes left in lockers and whatnot. I don't remember anyone suggesting that Mead should be sued for it, though. -
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asked by dereon7o6
I keep getting emails and Formspring questions from people who seem to think I invented Formspring. But that reminds me: I keep meaning to start a Tumblr called "Rude, Perverted and Childish."
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I don't have a problem with specialization and I think it's necessary in certain industries, but one thing that has really helped me professionally is having a diverse set of skills. I didn't intentionally plan to develop them, but they've come in handy when different parts of the job market have imploded.
So if I were looking for a job right now, I'd look for one where I have the potential to learn how to do a lot of different things. (Startups are usually good for that, by the way.) And I'd work on developing at least one technical skill outside of my primary area of interest and employment. Think of it as a hedge. If your job at the teeny tiny literary magazine implodes, you can still code in php. (In my case, when magazine writing falls off a cliff, I can build a valuation model for one of my old hedge fund clients or make wireframes for a web client.)
It may not seem worth the investment now, but going forward it's the only thing resembling job security that this generation is going to have. My dad has worked for the same company for over 40 years and even he thinks those jobs don't exist anymore. So you have to be flexible and versatile.
I'd also recommending finding a job that won't prohibit you from pursuing some small alternative means of income on the side (as long as it doesn't interfere with your primary job, of course), even if it's just writing an article once a month or having Etsy store. It probably won't save you if you lose your job, but learning to monetize your other skills is important if you want to do anything with them long-term. And the best time to experiment is when you don't need to--when you already have a fairly secure job and don't need the work. -
My answer is usually "all sorts of things" because it's the truth. Business plans, blog posts, print columns, etc.
I think if it's a question of prestige, the answer is probably "books"--partly because people assume the medium is more labor-intensive/difficult and the paying gigs are harder to come by. At any rate, I see a lot more vitriol and jealousy directed at people who have seemingly undeserved book deals than people who have undeserved magazine columns or jobs at commercial blogs or newspapers--which I read as an indication of relative prestige, however baseless.
Personally, I'm medium-agnostic. My question wouldn't be "what do write?" but "what do you write about?" I appreciate the work that goes into good books, but I'd be more impressed by intelligent blog writing than crappy book writing. But given relative demand for the jobs mentioned above, I think I'm in the minority. -
Hilaire Belloc was nasty Catholic reactionary whose political writing I don't care for. But I love his "Cautionary Tales for Children" wherein the children in question commit minor offenses and then die gruesome deaths. (See "George, Who Played With a Dangerous Toy and Suffered a Catastrophe of Considerable Dimensions," or "Matilda, Who Told Lies and Was Burned to Death.")
You can read them here:
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=belloc&book=cautionary&story=_contents
And Harcourt published a great Edward Gory-illustrated edition a few years ago. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Cautionary-Tales-for-Children/Edward-Gorey/e/9780151007158
If you're interested in Belloc, A.N. Wilson wrote an excellent biography of him. I got it used off the Internet. I don't think it's available here.
And the Cautionary Tales play a minor part in my novel which is why it was my avatar at one point. It still is on Twitter. -
Because they're too busy answering random questions on formspring.
(Or they do finish, get edits back and send revisions, which is where I am at the moment. Also, I write fiction very slowly.) -
No. Watching Balk squirm uncomfortably is a reward in itself.
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I sometimes refer to my dog by names other than Lola. "Poopy," "$500 Vet Bill" and "Stop It!" come to mind.
I'd suggest "Allergen" or "Cat" in favor of the descriptive but animals register pitch and tone more than actual words. So maybe you should pick a pitch and tone for your cat--a specific musical note, for example. When you wish to summon your feline friend, hit a solid high C, and your cat will know that you're talking to him. Or her. Whatever.
Barking a name at an animal seems a little barbaric anyway. Wouldn't much more pleasant and civilized to whistle a little tune?
Sure, your friends and neighbors will think that you're the crazy cat person who sings to his pets, but that's because they're all incorrigible conformists with hearts of stone and no sense of beauty.
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