You all kick ass.

That's right, all of you.

(Except for you, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.)

also, i think you mean "just my two cents".

Madison - many thanks, extended with my right hand, for the praise extended with your left... and if you have any suggestions, feel free to skewer anywhere but here any excerpt you'd like. (Or even here, if Brittney doesn't mind. It's really her place, hm?)

It occurs to me that I use my ol' buffing wheel (as it were) almost as enthusiastically with others' words as with my own.

Well met, finally. (Or is it again? Your tone betrays rare insight.)

Brittney: There's nothing wrong with your prose. Substance is a lot more important than form, and it will be everyone's misfortune if you let our window into your psyche become clouded with self-consciousness or artifice.

If you want your writing polished to a high gloss, you'll need to find yourself an editor. I bet ben would do it for free. He's really very talented. And it would give him an opportunity to have a hand in some writing that's not utterly pretentious and self-indulgent.

grammarpixie: The librarian's right, strictly speaking, about the relative pronouns. Some grey area exists in current usage, but that sentence clearly needs commas.

you people scare me

Actually Beastie, you're absolutely right, and people in glass houses etc. I should have double checked my own corrections. And Librarian, the comma is definitely optional, depending upon the sense of the intended sentence. A good rule is to go with the minimum amount of punctuation where not absolutely necessary. Just my two sense.

hell yeah beastie!

And while we are at it, it should be:

"Her father, who left her and her mother long ago, left messages..."

You got the "above average" part right.

"Sorry, it's a pet peeve of mine when people misspell and misuse words."

Can I point out YOUR misuse of the word "you're"?
Correct ME if I'm wrong, but shouldn't it be "YOUR writing is always significantly above average"?

I'm so fucking pissed off.


;)
Thanks, grammarpixie!

Sorry, it's a pet peeve of mine when people misspell and misuse words. Since you're writing is always significantly above average, I winced when I got to the following choppy paragraph. Though arrogant on my part, I took the liberty of briefly proofreading it for you. Feel free to delete this entire comment if this makes you uncomfortable or angry.


Carrie was the sort of girl who patterned her behavior after the snobbiest, most arrogant, white, rich girls from television and film. She was that insecure. She told us all her father was to buy her a Mercedes convertible for her 16th birthday. Her father who left her and her mother long ago, who left messages on their answering machine calling Carrie's mom a "dried-up cunt rag bitch." Carrie got a convertible at 17 or so, but her mom bought it and it was teal and a Chevy or something.

I enjoyed that little character study.

When that Bryan Adams song was popular, I was on a church camping trip and this dude in my tent played it on his Walkman over and over and over. I was playing some DJ Quik song and I had to make sure none of the religious loons heard it.

By the way, Brittney, DYNOMITE picture of you on the home page. It's been there a while, I know, I just haven't gotten around to mentioning it. I don't think I've ever used the word "dynomite" in that way before. This marks a turning point in my life.

When I was little, my brother told me that lima beans were actually de-legged pill-bugs.
I could never bring myself to eat them after that.
But I'll still eat lima beans.

FYI: I married Bryan Adams.

Sleepy time. I think that this whole city is taking a nap. It's perfect weather for it. Why am I at work again?