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Ficlet: The Fallacy of Loneliness
Aug. 19th, 2005 09:02 amWow.
I wrote a little ficlet last night called The Fallacy of Loneliness. Just a little, half-depressed bit about Sirius being at home during OotP and Remus coming home. I think the roots of it are pretty clear to anyone who reads my journal clearly. Hubby's in Sweden this week, which means I can't even talk to him on the phone because international cell calls are SO expensive. It was going to be a dark fic, and then right when I was done the first part, the doorbell rang. It turned out the be one of the women from the house I went to when I locked myself out. The lockout morning was the first time I'd ever met these people, and the woman who came over can only speak a very little English. But she came over and gave me a bag of homegrown tomatoes from their garden. How nice is that? I mean, really? When people do things like that- such a sweet and thoughtful gesture, even if it's a small one- how can you write dark fic? So the fic got a happy ending.
I'm surprised at the response, though, a bit. Pleasantly, but it was one of those that I just didn't put the work into or anything. It was nice- I've needed a smile. Between hubby being gone (he'll be back for a few hours on Saturday and that's it), and my last doctor's appointment (which actually was FINE in the scheme of things- the baby is fine and he's in the 50th percetile for weight, right where he should be, but I wasn't happy with the scale. Ick.), I really needed a nice little pick me up.
This weekend is going to be odd. Tonight I was going to go to the church musical, but it's sold out. Oops. Should have gotten my ticket earlier. I'm disappointed to miss it because so many of my kids do the musical each year, but there's not much I can do about it, sadly. (But they usually record it, so I can borrow the DVD from someone later.) It's Carousel anyway, which I don't really care for. But I would have liked to see the kids perform. Instead, I'm going to watch Keeping the Faith. It's one of my favorite movies and I've seen it like four or five times, but I want to write a review for it.
( Thoughts on Keeping the Faith )
Tomorrow I plan on cleaning all day, especially since my parents are coming next weekend. And I want hubby to actually come home to a clean house for once. (I'm a terrible housekeeper.) Sunday I've GOT to write. I have so much that's not done....
One final thing: to those of you who might someday want children. Do NOT tell any names you might be thinking of. You get so much freaking flack....
Okay. I like the name Toby- probably Tobias as a formal name, but we'll see. We've in no way decided on it, but I suspect that might be the baby's name. (It wouldn't surprise me if it's Tobias Joshua or Toby Joshua, because hubby really likes that combo, and if I can have Toby in any way, shape or form for the first name, I'm not going to put up too much of a fight on the middle. Besides, I love the name Joshua.) But man- they asked me at lunch the other day, and I told them we were thinking about Toby. Wow. What a reaction.
I didn't know it, but apparently Toby is a pretty offensive name to some people. I can understand it, to an extent. The guy who had the strongest reaction is black, and has watched the movie Roots several times. I've never seen Roots, but apparently there's a very powerful scene in it where a slave is being whipped and being forced to change his name from the African name he has to Toby. I've actually gotten this reaction from several people- and every single person who's had a violent recoil against the name Toby has been black and cited that scene in Roots. I guess it would be like naming your kid Damien after you've seen the Omen... or something even worse. I can't quite put my finger on it. But I can understand where they're coming from.
However. I have never seen Roots. I don't really want to. And my associations with Toby are: 1.) the guy I knew in college, who was a great guy, 2.) Toby Keith, the country singer, 3.) Tobey Maguire, Peter Parker himself, and 4.) Toby Zeigler, the Communications Director on West Wing. Four very, very different men, so I don't really think of it as an old man's name, or a kiddie name, or offensive. I like the name, and screw anyone who doesn't. It's not like we're naming our kid Adolf (or worse, Rudolph. Our last name is Hess.).
So when you have kids, don't tell people the names you're thinking. For some reason, they seem to think they have the right to argue. (Even my mother insists on telling me she hates the name. I asked her if she had a reason why (if she came up with something like it sounded bad with our last name or rhymed with something obscene, I'm all ears to those sorts of points), she said no. She just hates it. I told her tough, if we name the kid Toby, I'll bet you you LOVE the name by the end of a year, because your association with it will be with your grandson.) But world? BACK OFF. It's hard enough to get my husband to agree to a name, do you think I'm going to worry about anyone else???
Hope everyone has a great Friday!
I wrote a little ficlet last night called The Fallacy of Loneliness. Just a little, half-depressed bit about Sirius being at home during OotP and Remus coming home. I think the roots of it are pretty clear to anyone who reads my journal clearly. Hubby's in Sweden this week, which means I can't even talk to him on the phone because international cell calls are SO expensive. It was going to be a dark fic, and then right when I was done the first part, the doorbell rang. It turned out the be one of the women from the house I went to when I locked myself out. The lockout morning was the first time I'd ever met these people, and the woman who came over can only speak a very little English. But she came over and gave me a bag of homegrown tomatoes from their garden. How nice is that? I mean, really? When people do things like that- such a sweet and thoughtful gesture, even if it's a small one- how can you write dark fic? So the fic got a happy ending.
I'm surprised at the response, though, a bit. Pleasantly, but it was one of those that I just didn't put the work into or anything. It was nice- I've needed a smile. Between hubby being gone (he'll be back for a few hours on Saturday and that's it), and my last doctor's appointment (which actually was FINE in the scheme of things- the baby is fine and he's in the 50th percetile for weight, right where he should be, but I wasn't happy with the scale. Ick.), I really needed a nice little pick me up.
This weekend is going to be odd. Tonight I was going to go to the church musical, but it's sold out. Oops. Should have gotten my ticket earlier. I'm disappointed to miss it because so many of my kids do the musical each year, but there's not much I can do about it, sadly. (But they usually record it, so I can borrow the DVD from someone later.) It's Carousel anyway, which I don't really care for. But I would have liked to see the kids perform. Instead, I'm going to watch Keeping the Faith. It's one of my favorite movies and I've seen it like four or five times, but I want to write a review for it.
( Thoughts on Keeping the Faith )
Tomorrow I plan on cleaning all day, especially since my parents are coming next weekend. And I want hubby to actually come home to a clean house for once. (I'm a terrible housekeeper.) Sunday I've GOT to write. I have so much that's not done....
One final thing: to those of you who might someday want children. Do NOT tell any names you might be thinking of. You get so much freaking flack....
Okay. I like the name Toby- probably Tobias as a formal name, but we'll see. We've in no way decided on it, but I suspect that might be the baby's name. (It wouldn't surprise me if it's Tobias Joshua or Toby Joshua, because hubby really likes that combo, and if I can have Toby in any way, shape or form for the first name, I'm not going to put up too much of a fight on the middle. Besides, I love the name Joshua.) But man- they asked me at lunch the other day, and I told them we were thinking about Toby. Wow. What a reaction.
I didn't know it, but apparently Toby is a pretty offensive name to some people. I can understand it, to an extent. The guy who had the strongest reaction is black, and has watched the movie Roots several times. I've never seen Roots, but apparently there's a very powerful scene in it where a slave is being whipped and being forced to change his name from the African name he has to Toby. I've actually gotten this reaction from several people- and every single person who's had a violent recoil against the name Toby has been black and cited that scene in Roots. I guess it would be like naming your kid Damien after you've seen the Omen... or something even worse. I can't quite put my finger on it. But I can understand where they're coming from.
However. I have never seen Roots. I don't really want to. And my associations with Toby are: 1.) the guy I knew in college, who was a great guy, 2.) Toby Keith, the country singer, 3.) Tobey Maguire, Peter Parker himself, and 4.) Toby Zeigler, the Communications Director on West Wing. Four very, very different men, so I don't really think of it as an old man's name, or a kiddie name, or offensive. I like the name, and screw anyone who doesn't. It's not like we're naming our kid Adolf (or worse, Rudolph. Our last name is Hess.).
So when you have kids, don't tell people the names you're thinking. For some reason, they seem to think they have the right to argue. (Even my mother insists on telling me she hates the name. I asked her if she had a reason why (if she came up with something like it sounded bad with our last name or rhymed with something obscene, I'm all ears to those sorts of points), she said no. She just hates it. I told her tough, if we name the kid Toby, I'll bet you you LOVE the name by the end of a year, because your association with it will be with your grandson.) But world? BACK OFF. It's hard enough to get my husband to agree to a name, do you think I'm going to worry about anyone else???
Hope everyone has a great Friday!
