Deanna made me pinpoint exactly what I don't like about school. The formalized structure. As I work through my courses I'm grateful community college lets me cut to the chase. A four year degree would be more profitable, but I don't see the point.
Education is a journey, a lust and a passion. I want to know why and how. The other day, one of the divas over on RD talked about her creative writing class. Her professor gave the class an assignment and the class decided to write a sex scene.
It made her uncomfortable and made me think. Why did the class decide on the assignment? Where was the teacher? How qualified was the teacher anyway, or was it a retread of the "hero's journey", a bunch of archetypes and writing prompts?
Was there an explanation--how and why writing a sex scene out of context would improve your writing?
After the dust settled, the teacher gave the woman a chance to opt out and she said it was no longer an issue because it'd been resolved, but I'd have been right there with "why?" Why are you teaching this? What practical application does it have? Why are you using "this" technique over that technique and why am I paying money so you can hand me a textbook of non-specific exercises designed by committee?
It's like crit-groups. Everyone thinks you should have one. But according to the RWA lectures, most of the big-names don't. And every time I listen to the agent lectures, at least one agent on every panel will mention the book that came out of nowhere. No crit-group, no RWA background--nothing. Just a writer learning the craft and writing.
It depends, I think. On what you want to do.
You can learn technique and craft with others, but writing is a solo act. In every group, school/university/whatever there will be people who can't see over the horizon of their mediocrity. They're the same people who used to lock writers up for hearing voices, and still classify us outside the norm.
They form committees and make writing safe for the masses, they create curricula. They create make-work that creates "stuff" without implementing the systems to create thinkers.
Who decided what is "right" thinking and "wrong" thinking? If you take a person and a stick of butter, why is making toast the right answer, and (insert something sexual here) the wrong answer?
So...give me all the information, let me think about it, marvel and wonder. And have the freedom to interpret it in my own way without being at a one-remove. Because I have things to do and places to go. The horizon is just a starting point.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
It's like a very specialized school
...where I don't check in, need financial aid or have to dress up.
I recently started graduate school in my head, backwards of course. I find things I want to read and take notes on who the writer admires. Luckily some of these things are so obscure I can get them for a penny. Some things are so obscure they're no longer in print, and some things are so old they can't take my abuse.
I have a forty year-old Seymour Chatman book. I love his ideas--many of which reinforce my own theories--but it took me a solid week to read the introduction. He doesn't just use big words, he uses words so high-falutin' brow the words used to define them need definition. I spend so much time trying to figure out what he means by thinking of the words in context, I read each page three to four times. Which is cool because his kernel theory explains probability in a very elegant way. Which makes me wonder why my old English teachers didn't seem to know any of this stuff, or if it's considered so specialized, it became a side-road instead of part of the main drag. Why isn't it common knowledge in craft circles? Is it even craft? Or is there some kind of membrane between craft and theory?
Chatman is a professor emeritus of rhetoric at the University of Berkley--which thrilled me. What if he offered on-line classes? What if he did workshops on the side? Was there any way to skip the boring background stuff that doesn't interest me and go right to narrative structure? And not just any narrative structure, but "this" particular narrative structure?
The more research I do into rhetoric, the more I realize how unique he is. My favorite Chatman theory is that stories exist independently once they're told. Sort of like if you destroyed MacBeth, MacBeth would still exist. To paraphrase Chatman's example, no matter if you read Huckleberry Finn in a fancy dust jacket or a waterlogged paperback, it's still Huckleberry Finn. Just like if a freak accident ate every single Pride and Prejudice out there, including the film adaptions, in someone's head, Pride and Prejudice still exists. The same story in a different format.
Which is what stopped me halfway through the catalog.
If I take the courses I need to get to the classes I want, will I still be the same person? Will I start using the word "semiotic" instead of the "meaning of signs"? How do people lose touch?
Although I don't get a lot of feedback, I'm free to study whatever I want, whenever I want to, and form my own conclusions. There's a lot to be said for being on the outside looking in, rather than on the inside, pounding at my box.
I recently started graduate school in my head, backwards of course. I find things I want to read and take notes on who the writer admires. Luckily some of these things are so obscure I can get them for a penny. Some things are so obscure they're no longer in print, and some things are so old they can't take my abuse.
I have a forty year-old Seymour Chatman book. I love his ideas--many of which reinforce my own theories--but it took me a solid week to read the introduction. He doesn't just use big words, he uses words so high-falutin' brow the words used to define them need definition. I spend so much time trying to figure out what he means by thinking of the words in context, I read each page three to four times. Which is cool because his kernel theory explains probability in a very elegant way. Which makes me wonder why my old English teachers didn't seem to know any of this stuff, or if it's considered so specialized, it became a side-road instead of part of the main drag. Why isn't it common knowledge in craft circles? Is it even craft? Or is there some kind of membrane between craft and theory?
Chatman is a professor emeritus of rhetoric at the University of Berkley--which thrilled me. What if he offered on-line classes? What if he did workshops on the side? Was there any way to skip the boring background stuff that doesn't interest me and go right to narrative structure? And not just any narrative structure, but "this" particular narrative structure?
The more research I do into rhetoric, the more I realize how unique he is. My favorite Chatman theory is that stories exist independently once they're told. Sort of like if you destroyed MacBeth, MacBeth would still exist. To paraphrase Chatman's example, no matter if you read Huckleberry Finn in a fancy dust jacket or a waterlogged paperback, it's still Huckleberry Finn. Just like if a freak accident ate every single Pride and Prejudice out there, including the film adaptions, in someone's head, Pride and Prejudice still exists. The same story in a different format.
Which is what stopped me halfway through the catalog.
If I take the courses I need to get to the classes I want, will I still be the same person? Will I start using the word "semiotic" instead of the "meaning of signs"? How do people lose touch?
Although I don't get a lot of feedback, I'm free to study whatever I want, whenever I want to, and form my own conclusions. There's a lot to be said for being on the outside looking in, rather than on the inside, pounding at my box.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
...knowing too late is worse than never knowing
I've been in re-training for almost a year now. I picked accounting because my first thought--to be a psychologist, would have taken too long. I'm still hoping I did the right thing. I even went to the counselors and got profiled to see what I was suited for. Funny how they said, "lawyer".
Maybe because I argue.
I wanted to be a lawyer years ago, and sometimes when I think about it, I wonder why people encourage kids to go straight into college. Teenagers have all the foresight of a turtle. I wanted to be a baker, librarian or lawyer. My dad wanted me to go to the University of Hawaii, so I ended up declaring a banking major even though I couldn't stand math.
I dropped out when my English teacher kicked me out of class. I told him to get his head out of the box he was in, and he told me to get out of his class. Guess we didn't hit it off. That whole, "a sentence is five words or more", didn't work for me.
During my last workshop, I felt my brain light up. It was the weirdest feeling, like someone had poured radioactive dye into my thoughts. The more I thought about craft, how it worked and linked together, the more "up" I felt. Like caffeine, chocolate and a runner's high all at the same time.
I'd started struggling through craft books. Not that I've fallen out of love with the art of writing, just that after reading everything I could find, it was starting to get old. The books were changing, from the word-dense tomes of the Dwight Swain era (Techniques of the Selling Writer) to the almost all pictures of A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words prompt books. Then one day I stumbled over a book on literary theory and found my heart-home.
It's the study of craft, how it works, and how to use it. In the abstract, without promoting one thing over the other.
I think--I'd have liked to be an English professor. Not a high school teacher, but a full-fledged, university level professor. One of the most useless majors out there. By the time I got out of school, it'd be time to retire and I'd have more debt that I could handle. Sometimes, it's better to be ignorant.
Maybe because I argue.
I wanted to be a lawyer years ago, and sometimes when I think about it, I wonder why people encourage kids to go straight into college. Teenagers have all the foresight of a turtle. I wanted to be a baker, librarian or lawyer. My dad wanted me to go to the University of Hawaii, so I ended up declaring a banking major even though I couldn't stand math.
I dropped out when my English teacher kicked me out of class. I told him to get his head out of the box he was in, and he told me to get out of his class. Guess we didn't hit it off. That whole, "a sentence is five words or more", didn't work for me.
During my last workshop, I felt my brain light up. It was the weirdest feeling, like someone had poured radioactive dye into my thoughts. The more I thought about craft, how it worked and linked together, the more "up" I felt. Like caffeine, chocolate and a runner's high all at the same time.
I'd started struggling through craft books. Not that I've fallen out of love with the art of writing, just that after reading everything I could find, it was starting to get old. The books were changing, from the word-dense tomes of the Dwight Swain era (Techniques of the Selling Writer) to the almost all pictures of A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words prompt books. Then one day I stumbled over a book on literary theory and found my heart-home.
It's the study of craft, how it works, and how to use it. In the abstract, without promoting one thing over the other.
I think--I'd have liked to be an English professor. Not a high school teacher, but a full-fledged, university level professor. One of the most useless majors out there. By the time I got out of school, it'd be time to retire and I'd have more debt that I could handle. Sometimes, it's better to be ignorant.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Floaty-bits
I am an introverted loner with all the cuddle-factor of a rock. My "emotional expressivity" is low, my "emotional sensitivity" is low, and my "social expressivity" is so low it hit the wrong wall. However, I'm moderately concerned with appropriate social presentations and behaviors, even if I'm only slightly concerned with other people's perceptions and reactions to me.
As part of one of this quarter's classes, I took the 16pf questionnaire.
After I got the results I screamed for ten minutes straight. Things like, "NO!!" and "Stupid skewed test!" My kid had to talk me down. "Look, mom. It's all based on a desired norm." Which made me feel a little better, because I know I'm not normal, I just keep forgetting most people are.
(which is...er, the "definition" of normal, lol)
I didn't like the structure. Would you do this, that or ? Straight up? I have no interest in biking-hiking versus soccer-team sports. And if I had the choice between a party and a quiet evening at home with friends, I'd hope my friends would know I need some down-time.
According to the evaluation that came with my test results, I'm a shy, non-assertive person with "some" of the characteristics of a person who creates "novel or original works". Too bad I have average creativity and intelligence.
I don't think I've ever been so insulted. Worse when I read ipat's "how to interpret" your test results.
I prefer the Myer-Briggs. It least it allows for my eight deviations from desired characteristics without saying I fall outside the norm. Just that I have a "different" norm.
As part of one of this quarter's classes, I took the 16pf questionnaire.
After I got the results I screamed for ten minutes straight. Things like, "NO!!" and "Stupid skewed test!" My kid had to talk me down. "Look, mom. It's all based on a desired norm." Which made me feel a little better, because I know I'm not normal, I just keep forgetting most people are.
(which is...er, the "definition" of normal, lol)
I didn't like the structure. Would you do this, that or ? Straight up? I have no interest in biking-hiking versus soccer-team sports. And if I had the choice between a party and a quiet evening at home with friends, I'd hope my friends would know I need some down-time.
According to the evaluation that came with my test results, I'm a shy, non-assertive person with "some" of the characteristics of a person who creates "novel or original works". Too bad I have average creativity and intelligence.
I don't think I've ever been so insulted. Worse when I read ipat's "how to interpret" your test results.
I prefer the Myer-Briggs. It least it allows for my eight deviations from desired characteristics without saying I fall outside the norm. Just that I have a "different" norm.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Breaking that crazy glue structure
I’m not always the most concise person, but I kept looking at my notes on structure during the workshop and thinking—this is way too short. There’s got to be something more, some other way to explain it so it clicks faster.
The trouble was that I was looking at it full-on. It’s not just how plot fits into structure and how to pick the right one for your story (although I need to expand on that), but the reasons they’re confused with each other.
Even shorts take more than a day to write, and it’s normal to write them in the order events occur. If I write the opening, I’ll probably write the stuff that comes right afterwards. And over the course of days or months, I’m going to get attached to the way things are. Especially if I have a plot (in this post I'm using the word "plot" as what happens in your story) that says, “this” happens here, and “that” happens there. And in a lot of ways, it’s like baking. You need to do certain things to get a set of given results.
To get a a decent chocolate chip cookies you have to follow the recipe, but what if after you pull the cookies from the oven, you look at them and say, “They're edible, but what I really wanted was chocolate-chip shortbread?”
Since you know the basic framework of a cookie, and how the ingredients go together you simply take your basics and combine them in a different way. The ingredients are the same, but the way they’re put together produces a different result, and that’s a good definition of structure—knowing how to get a certain “effect”.
In other words, scenes, the basic units of a book are movable, but sometimes scenes don’t need to be there, are missing, or in the wrong order.
Looking at your story as a whole, after it’s been roughed out is the only time you can evaluate for effectiveness—and let me back that up. If the plot of my book is John decides to go back to school, goes back, meets a girl and later, after graduation, marries her. It’s a good plot. It has rudimentary structure, because it has a beginning, middle and end.
But why does it begin where it does? What if it began in a different place? Is the plot good and tight, or does it drag? Would it be stronger if you used one of the major structures?
What if your story is about John going to school to find himself, meet that girl and marry her, but your gut feeling says you should put more emphasis on how John changes over the course of the story?
Then maybe Michael Hague’s six point structure—which closely parallels the transformational arc would be useful and take your story to another level.
Or maybe you like the idea the way it is, but have this feeling something is wrong, and realize you have scenes that seem like part of another novel. Then the straight arrow of Aristotle’s “rising action” or dramatic structure would work to keep your story focused on the end.
It’s like making a cookie. The end result can be whatever you want, but you have to use the right ingredients, not just throw everything in there. And you have to know the recipes, because sometimes, the right structure is the intuitive one that breaks all the rules, but works for you. Good cookie bakers know that once you learn how things work together, you can take that knowledge and create new cookies. That's why there are so many forms of structure. Someone got tired of chocolate chip cookies and using what she knew, went on to create Hot Peanut Butter Fudge shortbread bars.
The trouble was that I was looking at it full-on. It’s not just how plot fits into structure and how to pick the right one for your story (although I need to expand on that), but the reasons they’re confused with each other.
Even shorts take more than a day to write, and it’s normal to write them in the order events occur. If I write the opening, I’ll probably write the stuff that comes right afterwards. And over the course of days or months, I’m going to get attached to the way things are. Especially if I have a plot (in this post I'm using the word "plot" as what happens in your story) that says, “this” happens here, and “that” happens there. And in a lot of ways, it’s like baking. You need to do certain things to get a set of given results.
To get a a decent chocolate chip cookies you have to follow the recipe, but what if after you pull the cookies from the oven, you look at them and say, “They're edible, but what I really wanted was chocolate-chip shortbread?”
Since you know the basic framework of a cookie, and how the ingredients go together you simply take your basics and combine them in a different way. The ingredients are the same, but the way they’re put together produces a different result, and that’s a good definition of structure—knowing how to get a certain “effect”.
In other words, scenes, the basic units of a book are movable, but sometimes scenes don’t need to be there, are missing, or in the wrong order.
Looking at your story as a whole, after it’s been roughed out is the only time you can evaluate for effectiveness—and let me back that up. If the plot of my book is John decides to go back to school, goes back, meets a girl and later, after graduation, marries her. It’s a good plot. It has rudimentary structure, because it has a beginning, middle and end.
But why does it begin where it does? What if it began in a different place? Is the plot good and tight, or does it drag? Would it be stronger if you used one of the major structures?
What if your story is about John going to school to find himself, meet that girl and marry her, but your gut feeling says you should put more emphasis on how John changes over the course of the story?
Then maybe Michael Hague’s six point structure—which closely parallels the transformational arc would be useful and take your story to another level.
Or maybe you like the idea the way it is, but have this feeling something is wrong, and realize you have scenes that seem like part of another novel. Then the straight arrow of Aristotle’s “rising action” or dramatic structure would work to keep your story focused on the end.
It’s like making a cookie. The end result can be whatever you want, but you have to use the right ingredients, not just throw everything in there. And you have to know the recipes, because sometimes, the right structure is the intuitive one that breaks all the rules, but works for you. Good cookie bakers know that once you learn how things work together, you can take that knowledge and create new cookies. That's why there are so many forms of structure. Someone got tired of chocolate chip cookies and using what she knew, went on to create Hot Peanut Butter Fudge shortbread bars.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
So many thoughts...
MG says it was the enormous drink she had at the Emerald City conference that made her eyes glaze over, but it was probably the way I grabbed Doc's napkin and started sketching character intersections and algebraic equations.
Imho--it needs a whiteboard and Youtube video to make sense. Not totally out of the question, since I figured out how to do it.
...not that I "will" do it until I write out a script and get a haircut. I don't mind a bunch of random strangers telling me I suck, but I'd rather not have eight hundred people tell me I have "mushroom head".
I also wonder if I can carry off a parody or it'd have to be one of those deadly dull things. Hey! Ask a Ninja has spiffy theme music, AND cool clothes.
--maybe a nice tweed dress
...with leather patches and a pipe? A comfortable but obviously expensive armchair. A wine glass! Water Music playing softly in the background and me, in a voice like plum jam, "Wel-come, to Ask an Author."
A couple of months ago, Elizabeth Gilbert spoke to a group of writers about nurturing creativity. Good lecture. I remember nodding, but it passed right over my head. I thought it was the setting. Big lecture hall, lots of studious looking people. Spotlight.
But then I listened to some guy in a jumpy close-up and felt the same way. I'm not sure what that means for "Jodi and her Presentation sized Post-its do obscure theories in three minute sound bites" but I think I might have to wave my arms and jump around.
ideas fighting to get out:
More on structure, I think I was too short
Expand algebraic theory. Random variables? There's got to be a way to figure them out ahead of time
If a lot of little stuff equals one big stuff, "event horizon" is the key. It won't go away. Is a black hole's event horizon a good way to look at the end? Am I even making sense?? Will I make sense in the morning? What happens if I erase the scribble on my forearm, will the thoughts vanish?
And why is the pumpkin farm on the wrong side of the road? My kid wants a pumpkin.
Imho--it needs a whiteboard and Youtube video to make sense. Not totally out of the question, since I figured out how to do it.
...not that I "will" do it until I write out a script and get a haircut. I don't mind a bunch of random strangers telling me I suck, but I'd rather not have eight hundred people tell me I have "mushroom head".
I also wonder if I can carry off a parody or it'd have to be one of those deadly dull things. Hey! Ask a Ninja has spiffy theme music, AND cool clothes.
--maybe a nice tweed dress
...with leather patches and a pipe? A comfortable but obviously expensive armchair. A wine glass! Water Music playing softly in the background and me, in a voice like plum jam, "Wel-come, to Ask an Author."
A couple of months ago, Elizabeth Gilbert spoke to a group of writers about nurturing creativity. Good lecture. I remember nodding, but it passed right over my head. I thought it was the setting. Big lecture hall, lots of studious looking people. Spotlight.
But then I listened to some guy in a jumpy close-up and felt the same way. I'm not sure what that means for "Jodi and her Presentation sized Post-its do obscure theories in three minute sound bites" but I think I might have to wave my arms and jump around.
ideas fighting to get out:
More on structure, I think I was too short
Expand algebraic theory. Random variables? There's got to be a way to figure them out ahead of time
If a lot of little stuff equals one big stuff, "event horizon" is the key. It won't go away. Is a black hole's event horizon a good way to look at the end? Am I even making sense?? Will I make sense in the morning? What happens if I erase the scribble on my forearm, will the thoughts vanish?
And why is the pumpkin farm on the wrong side of the road? My kid wants a pumpkin.
Monday, October 12, 2009
The workshop is over *sad*
And I'm a too tired to sound anywhere near intelligent. Like Andi, all I want is a soft landing.
I discovered a lot of things during the workshop, even if I was supposed to be teaching it. I wondered about different ways to approach old thoughts and got lots of fabulous questions. I also made a firm commitment to figure out YouTube. I have this video I want to make on the algebraic tendencies of organic plot, which I didn't go into because I didn't want anyone (yes, MG--I know your eyes glazed over) to fall asleep.
And just how labor intensive it gets to be.
I've had six hours in the last five days. Sleep is rushing over me like a tidal wave.
I discovered a lot of things during the workshop, even if I was supposed to be teaching it. I wondered about different ways to approach old thoughts and got lots of fabulous questions. I also made a firm commitment to figure out YouTube. I have this video I want to make on the algebraic tendencies of organic plot, which I didn't go into because I didn't want anyone (yes, MG--I know your eyes glazed over) to fall asleep.
And just how labor intensive it gets to be.
I've had six hours in the last five days. Sleep is rushing over me like a tidal wave.
Monday, October 5, 2009
It's like flying
I think I like it. And I know this is a double-post day, but...I think I like doing workshops. It's been a day and so far I've only gotten one question (I thought something was broken, or maybe I really "had" scared people off), but it was amazingly cool.
It was...something I really enjoyed doing/answering/working at.
Sometimes, I get scared that my brain is atrophying. I was talking to my boss the other day and the subject was what it usually is when we discuss "breakfast with the Beatles". "Why do I have to listen to this? Every Sunday for three hours, over and over again? It's always the same music."
And I floated my theory (he says I over-think things and he might be right) that we have loud music because they don't want us to think. They want us to be happy, hum along and do the muscle-memory thing. And he looked at me and said, "Of course. This is a mindless job. Just do what you're trained to do."
Which I'd always known, but having it confirmed was an ick moment. Some people complain the music isn't loud enough and I wonder about them.
One of my favorite quotes is from Anne Morrow Lindbergh and I think about it while I work.
“We seem so frightened today of being alone that we never let it happen. Even if family, friends, and the movies should fail, there is still the radio or television to fill up the void…. We can do our housework with soap-opera heroes at our side…. Now, instead of planting our solitude with our own dream blossoms, we choke the space with continuous music, chatter, and companionship to which we do not even listen. It is simply there to fill the vacuum. When the noise stops there is no inner music to take its place. We must re-learn to be alone.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, B. 1906
"It's Best of the Eighties", all day. All the time.
It was...something I really enjoyed doing/answering/working at.
Sometimes, I get scared that my brain is atrophying. I was talking to my boss the other day and the subject was what it usually is when we discuss "breakfast with the Beatles". "Why do I have to listen to this? Every Sunday for three hours, over and over again? It's always the same music."
And I floated my theory (he says I over-think things and he might be right) that we have loud music because they don't want us to think. They want us to be happy, hum along and do the muscle-memory thing. And he looked at me and said, "Of course. This is a mindless job. Just do what you're trained to do."
Which I'd always known, but having it confirmed was an ick moment. Some people complain the music isn't loud enough and I wonder about them.
One of my favorite quotes is from Anne Morrow Lindbergh and I think about it while I work.
“We seem so frightened today of being alone that we never let it happen. Even if family, friends, and the movies should fail, there is still the radio or television to fill up the void…. We can do our housework with soap-opera heroes at our side…. Now, instead of planting our solitude with our own dream blossoms, we choke the space with continuous music, chatter, and companionship to which we do not even listen. It is simply there to fill the vacuum. When the noise stops there is no inner music to take its place. We must re-learn to be alone.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, B. 1906
"It's Best of the Eighties", all day. All the time.
My workshop....is that a weird feeling or what?
The very first day I saw my workshop blurb go up, I got this chill. Sort of like someone throwing ice cubes down my shirt. I'm still not sure how to deal with it.
The good thing is that it's forced me to take a hard look at my theories over the past couple of years. The more I learn, the more ignorant I appear to myself. Learning is a process, but just when I thought I had a grip on it, I find things that make me wonder why I didn't simply "see" them.
I've been putting my blog posts together. This goes here and that goes there, to get to this point you have to see this before that. Most of it appears to be variations on the definition of character and structure. A few random things, bit and pieces.
So far, my first lesson is over ten pages long. From what I remember of the on-line classes I took from KOD, I don't remember any teacher going into that much depth. And you know what I'll add over the course of the day will probably end up being another twenty pages.
I'm seriously hoping I don't scare people off.
The good thing is that it's forced me to take a hard look at my theories over the past couple of years. The more I learn, the more ignorant I appear to myself. Learning is a process, but just when I thought I had a grip on it, I find things that make me wonder why I didn't simply "see" them.
I've been putting my blog posts together. This goes here and that goes there, to get to this point you have to see this before that. Most of it appears to be variations on the definition of character and structure. A few random things, bit and pieces.
So far, my first lesson is over ten pages long. From what I remember of the on-line classes I took from KOD, I don't remember any teacher going into that much depth. And you know what I'll add over the course of the day will probably end up being another twenty pages.
I'm seriously hoping I don't scare people off.
Friday, October 2, 2009
gah...so it's official
People in my kid's home-store are infected with swine flu. The lab results just got back today.
He's been spending time wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, looking tired and queasy. The other day he spent a good hour throwing up. I on the other hand, felt pretty good until about four days ago, and then both of my line-partners got sick.
"Yodi? My throat hurts..." and "I don't feel good." My boss got sick, and one of the assistants got sick. The bussers got sick and the dishwasher started to cough.
My head hurts like someone is hammering it with a baseball bat, and my entire body aches. Probably because with everyone hunched over and moaning, I'm putting out three times my normal effort. I've been sick so long, on and off, I couldn't deal with it anymore.
Yesterday, I stopped in at QFC (chicken is on sale) and saw they were doing a flu clinic. It'd just ended, but I went right up to the counter and asked to be stuck. The pharmacist told me getting sick over and over didn't sound like the flu because you build immunity to the strains in your workplace, but my workplace is an incubator.
People get sick, pass it around--go home, infect their families and when it mutates, bring it back to start the cycle over.
One of the other assistants said, "I don't believe in flu shots." And I said, "It's not a faith issue. Whether you believe in them or not doesn't matter." It's science. And if I wasn't a healthy (mostly) individual, when the swine flu shots come out, I'd rush right down to get them. Unfortunately I have to wait a month.
He's been spending time wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, looking tired and queasy. The other day he spent a good hour throwing up. I on the other hand, felt pretty good until about four days ago, and then both of my line-partners got sick.
"Yodi? My throat hurts..." and "I don't feel good." My boss got sick, and one of the assistants got sick. The bussers got sick and the dishwasher started to cough.
My head hurts like someone is hammering it with a baseball bat, and my entire body aches. Probably because with everyone hunched over and moaning, I'm putting out three times my normal effort. I've been sick so long, on and off, I couldn't deal with it anymore.
Yesterday, I stopped in at QFC (chicken is on sale) and saw they were doing a flu clinic. It'd just ended, but I went right up to the counter and asked to be stuck. The pharmacist told me getting sick over and over didn't sound like the flu because you build immunity to the strains in your workplace, but my workplace is an incubator.
People get sick, pass it around--go home, infect their families and when it mutates, bring it back to start the cycle over.
One of the other assistants said, "I don't believe in flu shots." And I said, "It's not a faith issue. Whether you believe in them or not doesn't matter." It's science. And if I wasn't a healthy (mostly) individual, when the swine flu shots come out, I'd rush right down to get them. Unfortunately I have to wait a month.
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