My non-functioning cell phone

I have two cell phones. One functions in the usual way--I can make and receive calls with it. The other is non-functioning; it still works for everything except the one purpose for which cell phones are meant to be used. Why do I keep it? Because it makes a great "reminder" calendar, alarm clock or timer! It has up to four different alarms that can be set with all those different ring tones, which not only clue me in to something I don't want to forget, but also (by the use of the different ring tones, which I have mentally assigned to different purposes) tell me what it is I'm trying to remember!

Any "reminder" having to do with husband has one ring tone; things pertaining to each child have their own ring tone (WHO is it I'm supposed to be picking up after play practice this afternoon?) and kitchen-related things such as bread coming out of the oven have a ring tone of their own. I'm an artist/craftsperson, so art-related events have their ring tone as well. You can see this is a very useful cell phone even though I haven't made a real phone call with it in something over three years.

But I lost it last year. I really thought it was gone for good, that I had lost it far from home and would never see my little NFCP ( non-functioning cell phone) again. You see, I couldn't even call my own cell phone to find it...it's non-functioning and doesn't take calls.

Then, many months later, husband was searching under the bed for something of his own he'd lost, and there was my little NFCP hiding in a dark corner. (Shows how often I clean under the bed.) Of course the battery had long since run out of charge, but that was minor--just plug it in, and within a few hours I had charge again, good as ever.

Just to keep this from happening again, I set an "everyday" alarm to ring at a time when I'm usually around the house, 3 pm. As long as it's in the house, no matter where it is, I will find it at that time of day. Even if I'm not searching for my NFCP at that time, the alarm is a convenient reminder that the afternoon is half over. And theoretically, if the cell phone was ever lost somewhere outside the home, someone else might find it at that time of day and I'd have a chance of getting it returned to me.

The main problem with this clever system is that I occasionally, just once in a great while, walk out of the house to do errands with the wrong cell phone, the NFCP, in my pocket. It makes a wonderful clock and alarm/reminder, but it's not all that great at taking urgent calls from loved ones at home.

Novel, The King and Queen Game, is almost finished

This is my 2010 NaNoWriMo novel, and I have "finished" (if such a verb is anything but ludicrous in this context) the major rewrite I've been working on since the end of May. I am considering posting the book in its entirety as a PDF file on this here blog, once I'm relatively satisfied with it (or at least tired of looking at it). I might do it even if no one writes back to beg me to do so, but any begging emails will definitely help lead me in that direction. You never know--your positive criticisms might make the difference between a splendid, inspiring novel and one that is merely mediocre!

Sam Vimes is travelling to Wisconsin

There's a Discworld convention in Wisconsin this week, and Sam Vimes is attending from east Tennessee--or at least, a doll representing him will be. Actually, there will probably be quite a few individuals representing Sam Vimes at this convention, but I am guessing this doll could be the smallest.

He's got a papier-mache head, like the Chris Baty doll, but he's dressed in quasi-medieval clothing and armour from the fictional Discworld. I tried something a little different with him, something I've never done before: I made his armour and a few other accoutrements from Cloud Clay, an air-drying modeling substance that resembles marshmallows more than anything else I've ever handled, before it dries. When that happens, it becomes firm, yet flexible and very light, like those sheets of coloured craft foam kids make things from in VBS. It doesn't stick to anything but itself, so I modeled Sam's helmet and armour directly on his head and body and they fit nicely. When I painted them with metallic-coloured acrylic craft paints, they look quite realistic, and my fingerprints and wavy edges just look like really, really battered armour...

My Script

According to Script Frenzy's validator machine thing, I have written 136 pages of a script. For some reason, this blog won't currently let me add my winner's icon as a Gadget, so here it is as a graphic:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=498330412049&comments

This was among my favourites of Chris Baty's pep talks. It's poorly filmed but the message is quite easy to hear and understand.

Which Austen heroine are you?

Take the Quiz here!

Apparently, I most resemble Elizabeth Bennett. "This is flattery indeed," but I think there was something wrong with the test...