Oh, I forgot to tell you that I read the wrestling match in the first chapter to the Professor–the first I have even looked at the book while it’s stewing, but I couldn’t resist.
And I felt good about it. I had some minor tweaks that I wanted to make, but I liked how it sounded.
Amazon claims I have a copy of The Ghost Writer out in the mailbox, but I don’t want to put my shoes back on to go get it.
I guess I should just buckle down and work on the quilt.
I swear we talked about this once, and sussed out the differences, but I’ll be damned if I can find it. Am I imagining? I thought Bridgett had some insights.
Anyway, I want to think about it again, the differences between signs, omens, and portents.
I think an omen is something recognizable by everyone with the same superstitious mindset (not using ‘superstitious’ in a derogatory manner, mind you). So, if we are of a group who believes that a ring around the moon means someone’s getting married, when we all see a ring around the moon, that’s an omen. We all agree it means someone’s getting married. That’s how I think of it anyway.
But then I think of a sign as something more specialized. Like, we’re all of the same superstitious mindset but I’ve noticed that seeing three crows means car problems are coming. But that doesn’t mean that you seeing three crows means car problems are coming. Maybe you seeing three crows means there are crows in your back yard. I don’t know. A sign, to me, seems like a more personal (or familial) language between you and the supernatural.
But then I can’t decide how I understand ‘portent’. Is it a sign of some magnitude? Is it more ominous than a sign? I kind of think it is.
The dictionary is no help. It just shows them all as synonyms of each other. But I don’t feel like that’s quite true. I don’t feel like that’s how I use them anyway.
But I don’t know. What do you all think?
I really should just move from Yahoo over to Google, but I have had my Yahoo account for so long that I can’t quite believe that I can’t just reform it into something that doesn’t suck.
But I have to complain anyway. I have gotten at least 30 emails since the College Professor emailed me back on Friday. None of them were from an actual human being. None of them contained anything I needed or wanted to read.
I honestly feel like the only time I’m not being marketed to by something is when I am asleep.
Blah.
1. Elias is talking some more about our Old Friends and how those archetypes haven’t really left us. I’m wondering what kind of line you can draw from Tyr to the mechanized men of our time–Iron Man, the Terminator, Robocop, what’s his face in Blade Runner, the Bionic Man, maybe. Hell, even the Tin Man’s missing a heart, right?
2. I’m going to assume it was Jim Ridley who wrote the subhead–“Reporter Dennis Norwood’s Vagina Monologue Isn’t a Hit”–on my post. And I am jealous. That is perfect.
Tiny Cat Pants 