Maureen’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2009)

Maureen’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

this year i'm happy to be celebrating my birthday month with daphne du maurier. i've invited a bunch of people to read Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel and think about them comparatively, something i compulsively did when i first read my cousin rachel and have wanted to chat about both books and du maurier in general ever since. finally! my chance! conversation will start march 10th. hope you join us! :)

i'm the same as patty, i think: subway as waiting room with really close chairs is a great analogy. i mean, when i was yelping "ah, no!" on it today there was somebody sitting beside me. i startled her. other people noticed. i was just involved. :P

the bus is where i generally have the problem dan describes of missing my stop. subways have loud announcements of stops and the noise is more contained whereas bus travel brings a lot more ambient noise. but i also tend to read short fiction in transit if possible. it's easier to finish up a story near your stop than to tear yourself away from an unexpectedly intense moment in your novel. :)

on a plane, i'm much more aware of the limited space and i tend to try to shrink down and hope to pass out.

it makes me laugh. people aren't equipped with pocket cameras, so he's mark twain, sitting for his portrait without his top on! hilarious! :P

hey jennie! hi martha! i am drinking coke zero (surprise, surprise!)

and i'm here to leave you all with a nice picture of mark twain topless, because i thought it belonged with the pictures of authors in their bathing suits that i feel the need to bring to this thread. :P

http://www.openculture.com/2013/02/ma...

Jim wrote: plus another 30 or 40 others. I usually set my reading goal to about 50 books per year. I think I have too much time on my hands... "

i generally read at least 50 a year and feel like i never have enough time! is it this difference in perspective the result of you living in laid-back france and me living in corporate nightmare land? :P

i am curious about the ice-shirt, though i seem to have an irrational aversion to the authors name. it's not like i hate voles or anything but his name iggs me out for some reason... :)

welcome matthew! i think a lot of my interests intersect with yours (i was fervent abou gnosticism in my undergrad days, and i love borges and PKD) and i also completely understand student debt related poverty -- i just finished paying mine off after sixteen years -- my credit rating was also screwed up by the whole endeavour. still, if you should arrive upon a winfall of dough before july, we'd love to see you at the dork! this is a great group of people, and i'm glad knowing jim (who is also awesome) helped you find us!

oro! i just finally saw this link. so cool! i wish i had that book! :)

Jennie wrote: "Not sure how to add me and Davey to the maybe list."

you should be able to just click on the link to the spreadsheet and add your names in the maybe column, and then if you have an idea when you'll know type that in to the column on the right...? if you can't do it, feel free to tell me, or post here, and i'll do it for you. :)

mo
xo

Martha wrote: "Thank you, Dan. Everything is submitted, so as soon as I receive final information, I'll let you know. Mo-I added arrival and departure dates to the spreadsheet - hope that's okay. I'm off to Bosto..."

hurray! thanks again, sweet smarty. :) of course you can modify that spreadsheet in any old way you'd like. it was meant to make life easier. :)

i wish i was going to be in boston, too! we had a lady in from boston training us in the mastering platform at the beginning of january -- i was trying to charm her so she would hire me and i would be one step closer to most of you. :)

Martha wrote: "Hey guys,

Hold onto your reservations for just a minute. George just called and said he misunderstood the week! Arrgh. He's trying to shift some things and will call me back tonight. Kerry & Manny..."

oh, martha. that's a pain in the butt. hopefully george can figure it out but i guess it's a lesson to us to wait until we've got a lease before we pull the trigger (or jump off the fence, to continue to use neil's analogy. :)

Neil wrote: "I live on the fence until I fall or am pushed. Chris is a no, and I've been setting aside some money to be able to go this year, but it is still too early to confirm and get the time off work yet."

Neil, I added you to the spreadsheet. Sorry to hear Chris can't make it. I added a column for when we'd be able to confirm aka when i come push you off the fence. :)

i created a spreadsheet to keep track of numbers on Google Docs. I've added all the people who have responded since this morning to the chart already. it will be easier to track numbers this way. For example, if I count just Jonathan and Lauren in the Evisons (wasn't sure if I should include kids in the tally -- thought not) we have 9 confirmed and 2 maybes.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/c...

I made three columns on the attendance sheet -- one for the for sure people, one for the people like me who have to wait until they can confirm, and a column for the date they think they'll know for sure.

I also made a second sheet where we can keep track of airports people are flying into, and if they are able to offer rides.

mo
xo

and when you say the evisons: you mean lauren and you +2 kids? are danny and matty in? out? shaking it all about?

:)

okay, well i sent a message on facebook and asked for people to pass it on. :)

patty, i just sent another invite to you from the third poll. if it didn't work, not sure if that functionality works? maybe it's something to do with goodreads settings? do you want to post the links to the poll on facebook?

poll for the venue - i set it so all answers need to be in by Monday, January 28th:

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/78...

i did the one for the date... http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/78...

not sure if dan saw your message smarty (or mine, since all he did was joke about cheetos :P), but if he hasn't replied in an hour or two, i'll try to sort it out. :)

patty! i'm sorry -- i always saw it as a temporary coat you put on to soothe the rank and file, ready to be tossed at the right moment. that's not to say i don't admire your ability to create a database because i really do. :)

you know sandra, i thought about the song (which i don't really care about either way) when i gave patty that name and knew that'd be interpreted as a double entendre and worried that she might not like it as a result. but i actually meant it in that way you like -- because patty's spirit really soars and i wanted to commemorate a phoenix moment. maybe i should have just "phoenix rising from the ashes of bureaucracy" -- or something? it's not quite as pithy though, i'm afraid. :)

Martha wrote: "Hey Guys,

Do you think it would be a good idea to post a poll with some of these sites and dates so that we can start gathering a head count? I'm a Luddite, so poll posting wouldn't be my strong s..."

I could probably find some together a poll tonight -- or rather probably around 2 am when i am done work (where is Dan? He's usually the poll guy? :P). Do you want me to collect all of the links from message 29 on?

i wondered when you'd notice. you weren't "some bureaucrat" any longer, so i changed it. can't remember exactly when? october? november? feel free to change it again. :P