The Life Experience ~ Fall '10

[bloodyrosemccoy]

What I Learned Since The Autumn Equinox

• The song played at Bilbo’s birthday in Fellowship of the Ring has a name: “Flaming Red Hair”
• The Sea Organ is a concrete construction on the beach in Zadar, Croatia, as a way to mitigate mess made on the coast during World War II. It’s got a resonance chamber under its marble steps and a Series Of Tubes. Thus, when the wind and the waves move through it, it makes music!
• While I kew about the tragic story of Judith Barsi, the voice of Duckie in The Land Before Time, I did not know she had a marker saying “Yep, Yep, Yep!” That makes me feel slightly better.
• There is a nifty food co-op in Salt Lake City!
• The best kind of pie is cheese-and-mushroom.
• Verjuice, an acidic juice made by pressing unripe green grapes, was a condiment widely used in the Middle Ages.
• You no longer need assistance for red paint at those pottery-painting studios.
• Anything is possible when you smell like a monster and know the word “on.”
• My synesthesia still applies to music notation. Not to musical notes themselves, but to reading music—the notes are the same colors as their corresponding letters.
• Wearing a wrist brace actually can make your whole arm feel better.
• The Na’vi language nerds are doing double-time to catch up to the Klingon language nerds. Paul Frommer has a blog and a posse!
• People have a tough time keeping promises when those promises go against obsessive thoughts.
• The Australian sleepy lizard is monogamous, and will return to its mate every year for 20+ years. It will also hold several-day vigils if their mate dies.
• When you drain blisters, you’re better off inserting the needle along the side.
• Satin is evil when you’re sewing. There’s a reason it’s only one letter away from “Satan.”
• Ringo Starr has a Christmas album!
• It takes a while for agents to respond when they’re reading a sample chapter of your novel.  And the suspense is No Fun At All.