Friday, November 24, 2006

Dumb Things I've Done (7 in an occasional series)

Today, we have a guest sharing their dumb moment. He doesn't know he's doing it, but that's the beauty of the Internet, right?

This time, I'm on the other end of the dumbness in question. My friend and I were in yearbook class discussing some pressing issue (having absolutely nothing to do with the yearbook), and a carrot-topped classmate joined in the conversation.

I said something he thought was stupid, which prompted the following comment:

"Dude, you're such a Polack!"

My friend and I looked at each other, mystified, not because a classmate used a disparaging term for one of Polish descent, but because both of us were plainly aware that I was not, in the strictest terms, Polish.

"What?" I asked.

"You're such a Polack."

"How do you figure?" I asked.

"You just, uh, you just are," he said, his face getting perilously close to the same color as his hair.

"I'm not even Polish, moron."

"So? You're still a Polack."

My friend decided to spell it out for him, explaining that one generally had to be Polish to be called a Polack. I don't think he actually believed us or understood the distinction.

Sheesh. Redheads...

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Switching gears

If you look over at my NaNoWriMo progress bar to the left, you might see that I finally have written more.

I abandoned my first story and started a new one, which I'm sure they recommend you not do, but here I am with a bit over 8,500 words. And this with another furshlugginer cold.

That still leaves me with an average of over 4,000 words a day to meet the goal, but stranger things have happened.

Wish me luck.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Dumb Things I've Done (6 in an occasional series)

When I was a little kid, I had somehow convinced myself that "La Bamba" was the Spanish version of "Twist and Shout." Why I thought this, I have no idea. No one told me this, and I hadn't read it anywhere. Apparently, this what the best my little brain could come up with.

This is the same brain that didn't make the connection between TP-ing someone's house and toilet paper until many years after what would be considered normal.

I knew toilet paper was involved, and it had nothing to do with Native American tents, but somehow it just never occurred to me.