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One of the joys of storytelling is the counter-art of storylisteninig.

My friend, JW, shared this story, as an example of a short story that needs a lot of time. Many months later, I needed a micro-story for an event, and he graciously sent it to me, along with links. It turns out it's actually a traditional story, and there are a few versions online. This one is my favourite:

Questions

One day a devoted Talmudic student ran out of the synagogue shouting, "What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of life?" He ran through the streets shouting all the while. He found himself before the house of his Rabbi. He went inside and, almost in tears, pleaded, "What is the meaning of life, master?" The rabbi slapped the student across the face. "Why did you hit me," asked the startled student. The rabbi answered: "Such a good question. And you want to exchange it for an answer? It is the answers that divide us. It is the questions that unite us!"

----

As always, comments welcome.

Elephant Ear on a Bun

Amidst much fanfare, the new restaurant opened. The celebrity Chef was there, with the remains of the reality-TV cooking competition winner.

As an added bonus, the opening night came with a guarantee: If they didn't have what you ordered, your meal was free. (And the winning patron would be allowed to yell at Chef.)

Tara had it figured out. She asked for elephant ear on a bun.

A few minutes later, the waiter came back. "Excuse me, ma'am," he said. "Is that African or Asian elephant?"

"Asian."

The waiter went to the kitchen, then came back to the table.

"Male or female?"

"Male."

Again, the waiter went to the kitchen, then returned.

"Old or young?"

"Old."

"Pickled or dried?"

"Pickled."

"With brine or vinegar?"

"Brine."

A few minutes after the waiter went to the kitchen, Chef arrived at her table. He removed his hat and bowed before her.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. We have the brine-pickled, old, male Asian elephant ear, but we're all out of buns."

A successful take at 70 wpm, without needing to overshoot and drop down again!

I worked up to it over four takes. I always do a slower take or two, and check against the text, before working up. When I really want to push the speed, I then do one at target, one at +10wpm, one at +20, and then down again, by which point the target seems rather slow.

I updated my study routine to include the new speed for every passage, and took out the slowest. I'll keep to this routine for another few lessons, then start pushing the speed again.


15 more wpm and I'll have met my goal for prepped material! My final goal by the end of the book is 85 for cold takes, limited to words I've already encountered. At this rate, I may not have finished the theory, so once I reach speed I'll do less speedbuilding and more theory (although speed-building does help reinforce the theory).

Once I'm done the theory, it'll be random passages alternating with word lists. If I rely on random passages to build vocabulary, it'll take forever, since most words in a typical passage are the same ones, over and over.

Go me!

The question this week is:

* Hardcover? Or paperback?
* Illustrations? Or just text?
* First editions? Or you don’t care?
* Signed by the author? Or not?

I don't collect intentionally, but what I'm very attached to what I actually collect.

For pure reading books, paperback. They're much cheaper and take up less space. We use the library for most of our reading, but will buy authors and series that we like. We don't care the edition.

I do have some books signed by authors, but they are authors I know personally, or when we have gone to a signing. Mom used to be a freelance typist, and many of the authors became family friends. Storytellers sometimes write as well. We don't buy books just because they are signed.

I also have books signed by someone special who gave them too us. I have several that were given to my grandmother (pre-paperback), and the giver wrote a note in them. Mom often writes a quick note in books when she gives them, especially if the book has meaning, like a favourite story of hers, rather than "I was walking by Chapters before Christmas."

Dear Angie,

I've been doing a great job lately with gluttony and sloth. Do you remember the ten balls of black DK superwash I bought fifteen years ago, to turn into a shawl for the Christmas party later that month, and never got past swatching? I guess you do.

Anyways, I'm now using it up. That erases the mark under gluttony, right? And all that knitting, that erases one under sloth? Is there a virtue for industriousness?

I made a great warm hat for my son, and mitt liners for my daughter. Those went well. I'm now doing ski socks for myself. That's good too, right? Knitting socks for them, rather than replacing them because the original liner is getting thin? (BTW, thanks for Jane and Ivy and Ravelry. Having someone who understands when I cast on or frog or drool helps keep me going.)

I'm even handling the frustration well. Maybe my type A is showing again -- I want to make sure the socks are the same number of rows, and a pattern is easier than counting. Have you ever done a shadow-pattern of black on black? Very hard to count! But I'm not getting frustrated or swearing, just tinking and frogging. (I'm trying really hard not to promise to swatch next time, since we all know I won't. It's one of those good intentions that would into cobble stones.)

Anyway, my problem is that my husband has several anime episodes, and wants to watch them with me after the kids are in bed. That's not really a problem, but I can't decide whether to knit (which, as I said earlier is industrious, and counters previous gluttony and sloth), or cuddle up beside him while watching.

Cricket

PS I found a podcast by Mephistopheles. I'm downloading episode 7 at the moment. It's full of tips for how to avoid ending up down there. www.thefireside.com.

Booking Through Thursday -- Storage and Electronic vs. Paper

Edit: Doing this closer to properly. Booking Through Thursday asked the following question this week:

Here's my answer:

Paper, to me, is like good animal fibres. Yes, it dry rots. Yes, moths like it. Yes, it needs a bit of care with storage. But it's worth it.

My first Bible still smells of Mom's cedar chest. For years, I thought that was how all "real" Bibles smelled. The first story I told as a storyteller, Kipplings "The Tale of Old Man Kangaroo", came from a blue volume printed in 1902; handwritten in the front are, in fountain pen: To Muriel, from Uncle Jack. And, in ballpoint, in a more aged hand: "To Sandy, from Grandma."

My shorthand books have prices and handwritten notes -- "for Tues" and "Philadelphia". They remind me of the history of the science. My 1986 edition of McCabe, Smith and Harriot is the same size and binding as Grandpa's 1930 edition. My copy of Perry's on the shelf at work proudly proclaimed my background, as much as my Girl Guide calendar.

I spent hours in Grandma's basement with Mom's old books. If they were smaller, I'd have brought them home when I found them, rather than spread the joy (and avoidance of boredom) over years.

I can toss a book on my son's bed, without needing to borrow his reader or worry that a tiny card will be lost. I can look on the coffee table and see which Ready Set Grow book he picked out, or whether we need to make him start something new. We can carry on the tradition of moving bookmarks. My daughter has small and practical knitting projects. (Thanks to Jane for the idea!) My grade eight English teacher told me Rilla of Ingleside (which took me 3 years to find) was unsuitable to my ability; words on a screen wouldn't get the same reaction as the 1898 onion skin paper of my next book (Lorna Doone) did!

Finding Rilla, getting A Family Collection by Laura Ingalls Wilder as a gift. If I had simply searched Amazon and gotten everything the author had ever written the first time I loved them, I might never have rediscovered them.

The look and feel of the pencil as I underline or write notes just isn't the same as typing them.

We can still read cave drawings. We have trouble reading disks from 20 years ago. Remember 5-1/4's?

On the other hand, now that I'm free of the Palm, I miss having a book (or even one per mood) with me all the time. There was always one in my schoolbag, but I don't need one often enough to justify a larger and more awkward purse. It was great when treating myself to a surprise lunch out. When Mom got a Palm, I went to Guttenberg and made a card of all the classics she "made" me read as a kid. I put that book Grandma gave me from 1902 on my own as well, and read it to the kids at the cottage. Somehow, though, Lorna Doone, which was the first book I re-read after graduation, just didn't appeal to me three years ago on the Palm.

An entire encyclopedia can be delivered without a moving van, and more than one kid at a time can read the same article. Schools won't have to pay for storage or replacements. Kids' backs may survive the school years better.

As to Ivy's other question, where my family puts the dead trees?

Library books are in the library bag, except for the book being read. Iron clad rule.

The kids' shelf is by size. My great-aunt the librarian is probably rolling in her grave -- or maybe not. They stay neat. Series end up grouped. Books in the kids' rooms are lucky to be on shelves, so they're sorted by last time and place of use.

Books I have yet to read are together on one shelf.

Reference books I'm likely to use are on another shelf, with some exceptions. Computer books and dictionaries are by my computer. Kids' dictionary is by their desk.

Recent purchases are on shelves upstairs, then move to a pile on the boxes in the basement. Most are still in boxes from the move, first sorted by genra (mystery, SF, non-fiction and ther), then author. Two are "Boy, age 10-15, from Mom."

You can tell a lot about our family by where the books are. Bits and bytes just aren't the same.

Feb 17. Switched to dpns -- much faster!

Decided on detail:
...KKPKK...
...KKPKK...
...KKKKK...
...KKKKK...
just in front of side seams.

Later that night looked up "ladder" on Ravelry. I was already pulling 2nd stitch tight, with no luck. Wrapping 1st stitch backwards, in addition to pulling 2nd stitch tight, works great! A knitter could probably locate the joins, but not a civilian.

Feb 18. Four inches in, husband says detail looks like a run in the fabric. Sigh. Spent an hour (or more) on Ravelry trying to find that simple cable Ivy pointed out last month. I DM'd her today. It's the Earl Grey sock. I love how I can ask Ravelry, "how does this look in DK yarn?" Looks like my needles are a bit large, but it's worth swatching.

I'll swatch it, probably tonight, and if I like it I'll switch at the heel turn. Maybe I'll switch sooner. Have to grab my dress shoes and see.

Wish me luck! My first and only pair of socks, 25 years ago, was a disaster.

She kept saying her expensive mitts were colder than her gloves. I finally did something about it, and made another dent on the black DK in the stash. Pattern improvised, after much checking of other patterns. I think this is how grandma did her thumbs.

She’s doing Irish dance in the picture.

My 10-year-old son wanted a very warm hat, which will cover his face, with separate eye holes because the bridge of his nose gets cold, and go down over his neck and shoulders, because scarves strangle him.

If you show your kid a bunch of pictures, make sure he knows he’s to pick only one. Two designs have hats attached to face masks (but both have one big hole for the eyes), another has a helmet with full face open and goes over shoulders.

I’m on a yarn diet. The only black I have is DK. It’s going to take a while.

I started it Jan 18.

Jan 22. It was marginally too tight, and very dense. After more swatching, with different yarn and needles, I frogged 2 inches of 3.25 needles and redid with 3.75. Looser, and going much faster. May have been too loose with provisional cast on, but we’ll see. It’s also holier, so I might sew in liner, so air doesn’t go through the hat part. We’ll see.

Feb 16. It’s done. The plan was to graft in a piece over the bridge of his nose, but he says it’s warm enough. I even wrote up nice directions, on full-size paper, but now can’t find them. As you can see, it fits me, too.

If I were to do it again, I would use my new knitting log book rather than scraps of paper. I would increase less for the shoulders, and I would make the eye opening larger, since everyone who tried it on wants to pull it down and uncover their nose.