Raising the Bar

[Linda]

Giant letters are soooo primary school!  Now, moving letters are altogether more adult!

[Viz]

You are clever Linda!

i see the little doodad that makes the letters move but i hope like hell that it wont take off like the GL.

cheers

V

[biggerbirdbrain]

Yeah, Linda -

You of the cap 'n gown! So grownup!

And have now risen to the I'LL DO YOU ONE BETTER -- Smartypants!

Very cool!

 
3-B

[Linda]

I didn't get the cap and gown for being a ****wit - and, after all, I am supposed to be an I.T. tutor who should know her way around a computer!   

[biggerbirdbrain]

Got any more IT tricks up your wide, black, flowing sleeves, Kid?

 
3-B

[Linda]

Oh, more tips than you can shake a stick at, 3B, but I don't come cheap - despite rumours to the contrary! 

[biggerbirdbrain]

I didn't presume to be able to outdo you and I know how pricey you IT up-in-the-nether-world-that-nobody-understands-while-you- snicker-and-bill-us-for-something-that-my-son-learned-in-the-third-grade
are!

But you're so funny and cute, I'll just take you at your word. And bow to your superiority, Linda.

Thanks,
 
3-B

[Linda]

I'm cute as a bag of monkeys, 3B!  Not entirely appropriate for a woman of my age, perhaps, but what the hell!  If you'd like to hire me out for private IT tuition, I will send you my vastly inflated rates!  I'm sure you must need to know the ins and outs of a database, the ups and downs of compiling a PowerPoint presentation or the numeric nuances involved in spreadsheet design!!!  I'm at your beck and call!

[biggerbirdbrain]

Well, for the moment, the worst thing I'm getting is bugs in my aged and cranky computer -- wormy slimy things that invade and infect and then vanish for a time. Being a (very) underpaid overworked writer, my pockets are full nothing but paucity, so I need FREE advice and FREE services. Media people, as I am one, are also used to getting stuff in trade, which has spoiled me somewhat, and doesn't pay the bills. But I'm making my appointment for a nice trip to SeaWorld, gratis the editor, who keeps most of the really GOOD trades for himself!

Oh, well.

I tried.

Cheers, 
3-B

[Linda]

I didn't know you were a writer, threebee, what do you write?  Crime novels, erotica, chick lit?  I used to write children's stories - not for publication, just for the family's amusement - and have been known to pen the odd poem or two.  You're so lucky being able to write for a living.  Perhaps I've read one of your tomes - you're not Anita Brookner (one of my favourite authors) by any chance?

[biggerbirdbrain]

Thanks for asking, Linda.

My knack is more in the line of news and history, so sorry to disappoint as far as being famous enough for you to know.

I report local crimes, government, floods, fires, murders, bored board meetings, etc. on the news level.

Historically, I have been doing a series (weekly) for the county, up to #65 now -- all the old settlers and their families in the area who came in the 1700-1800s (of course, that's yesterday by British standards, but we were the Wild West after the Spanish, French and Mexicans ruled Texas -- we have SIX flags, after all). It has been fascinating. I've really learned how we are all so closely tied together. Local families, especially, but the ties and roots go so far and wide, that I've found out that, in the long run, we are all cousins!

Anyway, it's been quite a journey, and I'm walking down the long path, grateful for the opportunity. I'm also getting ready to help "ghost-write" memoirs with a friend who recently went on a trip-of-a-lifetime to Antarctica. He took 1800 photos, which are splendid and breathtaking, and recorded his thoughts on a tape/digital recorder, so I'm going to help him organize his thoughts and pix and hopefull it will become a WORLD-WIDE BEST SELLER!

Sorry for being so long-winded, but you did ask!

Cheers,
3-B

[Linda]

V. interesting, threebee, though slightly disappointed you are not Anita Brookner.  Your new project sounds fascinating - I'll look forward to seeing the finished article on the bookshelves!  I'm sure you'll make so much money you will be able to afford to come over here and take me and T out to a v. expensive dinner - Ritz, Savoy, Connaught will do!!!  Oh, and you'd better bring Dean along with you for T - the brazen hussy!!! 

[biggerbirdbrain]

T'would be a hoot  : and a larf  , LInda, and I'd love nothing better! Gives me something to strive for.

Thanks,
3-B

(Of course, if you happen to win a lottery or something magnificent like that, you could jet us all over. I'm not proud!)

[Linda]

I would jet you over with pleasure but the most I've ever won on the Lottery is £10!  I did once win a cruise to Sweden by making up witty slogans for a new brand of lager and I've also won a signed David Essex album (those were the days) so I keep my fingers crossed for a big Lottery win one day!  I've never been to the U.S. only got as far as Canada - almost snuck into Seattle but was visa-less so was classed as an 'undesirable' - story of my life!!!

[biggerbirdbrain]

I've had little luck in the winning of lotteries dept. myself, so I completely understand. We've just had to work our tails off and earn with the sweat of our merits.

However, I have been lucky, since my job has given me access to some people I would never have met:
 Astronaut Gene Cernan, and NASA chief Chris Craft of Apollo 13 fame; Kinky Friedman (a "real character" who is a fiction writer, brother of NY Times Pulitzer winner Tom Friedman. He ran for Governor of Texas recently - and lost - and also used to head Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, opening for Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village back in the '60s). Shook hands and did a story on Ross Perot, too. It's been a ride.

But, no big breakthroughs on the money front yet. Unfortunately, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous has not rubbed off in the pocketbook yet. What am I doing wrong??? I guess I just don't have a sense for business, but pursue what I love. Just another "starving artist" type, I guess!

Cheers,
3-B