my sister the poet

[maderr]

I've gotten many a funny look from people when conversing on the phone or just with my sisters (and brother) in general. Usually it's because our conversations tend toward the bizarre, but it's also because our nicknames for each other make very little sense to the outside world.

Online I'm generally amaretto, which means everyone thinks I have a drinking problem XP Sammie goes by rykaine, which (I think) is the name of a planet in a story that could give lessons on angst (if she'd ever frickin write it). Brandie goes by Jolena on LJ, but generally we call her Miss Morbid. This is because I am considered the househould Queen of Fluff, Samantha is Angst Queen (believe it or not) and Brandie needs to stop channeling Stephen King.

I have a point, bear with me. You may have noticed (once or twice *rolls eyes*) that Sammie and I have a penchant for attempting fiction.

Miss Morbid tends toward poetry and sisterly bias aside, it's good stuff (I wish I had her talent; I was told more or less point blank in a college poetry class that I suck - Ang shares this pain with me). Here's the point of my post:

This is standing favorite of the various poems she's written.

And now I go to bed for real.

Comments

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

So what ARE your nicknames for each other? As far as I can tell, you calling rykaine 'Sammie' is what you normally do? And 'Sammie' isn't weird by my count...

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

Brandie: BJ, beej, jolena, Brat, Babe, Jo, Miss Morbid, Stab

Samantha: Sam, Sammie, rykaine, Sam-bam, Sammie-chan (from a tipsy Megan), Commie, Angst Queen, Sip

Megan: Meg, Meggie, maderr, MAD, Deer (nothing rides like a deer!), Dweeb, Amaretto, Nip

Franklin (that would be our brother): Bubba, Boy, Assless, brother dear, ... I'm blanking...

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Wow. O_o; And hey, cool, another Jo! :D

I don't think I want to know the origins of "Assless", do I? :P And you guys go in this order: Meg, you, Franklin then Brandie right?

Um, sorry, it's this thing with siblings for me. I'm too used to knowing the order of age in a family. I mean, for me, an older sister is called... well, 'older sister', and there's a term that means 'older brother' too. I can call the kids younger than me by name, but if I EVER called my older sister by her name for real, I'd probably get a venomous glare at the absolute minimum, or a smack upside the head. >_o; I don't call her anything but 'older sister' in Mandarin. Ever.

Probably a cultural thing. :P

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

And so now we understand the odd looks.

Assless derrives from the fact that he's a twig. There was a time in his life when he could suck in his breath and practically all his ribs would show. He's bulked up not much more since then. I think he weighs maybe 110lb wet? As far as we're concerned, the punk has no ass to speak of.

Yeah, the order's right--Megan, Samantha, Frank, Brandie. It's something we adhere to when it's necessary, otherwise... we couldn't care less who's older. I can't even imagine having to treat Meg with that kind of... deference? I'd get smacked on the head a lot I think. ^_^

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. Most of them are pretty 'normal', but there ARE some pretty odd ones. XD

Um, translate pounds to kg for me please. =D;;;;;;;; And hey, I know a guy like that! The ironic thing is that he was a canoeist, and most canoeist are practically 'gorillas'. :P It was funny, because when he went for his National Service, my friends tell me the officers kept making him eat more than his peers, to try and bulk him up. XD I wonder if they succeeded or not though? It still amuses me immensely.

Heh, hence the cultural comment. :P I'm so used to calling my older cousins by "so-and-so [insert word for 'older brother' or 'older sister' here]" that it feels weird not to? And when I say "older cousins" in this case, they're generally married and have their own kids already. I think most of that bunch are like... 30++, almost 40? Something like that. I might even have cousins who're ALREADY 40... Hmm. Not too sure on that one.

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

Some of them are standard, yes. But the others have gotten us more than one O_o from people on the streets and in stores.

110lb is like 49.90 kg. I think...

Jeez, I don't even know what 3/4 of my cousins are doing any more. It's only with the greatest effort I can even remember their names. And actually... I think there are some whose existences I'm not even aware of. We're like, the black sheep of our relatives.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Hee hee.

O_______________________________O;;;;;; And how tall is your brother? Because I'm just kinda going O______O;; at the screen at his weight. I can't even tell whether it's envy or horrified fascination. >_>;;;

Ehehe. I think I only know because my mom makes an effort to keep in contact with her sibs, which means that WE get to keep sort-of in contact with our cousins. It's quite educational, most of the time.

Think out of the box! (they keep forgetting to add 'within limits', and then people get labelled as 'weird'. stupid society. :P)

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

He's about 6, 6'1. Which I guess is like 1.82, 1.85 meters? I'm not much on conversion. I don't know. His weight might have gone up (slightly) since last I knew it. It's not like I regularly ask him or anything. But he is boney.

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

*stares* *stares some more* Man, he must be really boney. O_o; That's the kind of physique where, if he sits on your lap, his bony butt (well, actually, the upper ends of the thigh bones as they meet the pelvis?) will make your legs hurt.

*cough* And I know this because I used to have a really skinny friend when we were younger, and if she sat in my lap for too long I'd have to poke her and ask to shift a little bit, because ow. :P

...Come to think of it, I haven't met her in a while. Hmm.

How tall are you and Meg then? o_o; I'm wondering if I'd be short by your standards. :P

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

Hence the name Assless. ^_^

I'm about 5'4 (1.68m), and I think Meg is... 5'7 (1.74m)?

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Hee. Understandable, now. XD

Wow. O_o; Man, I'm like, what, 1.6m? T___T

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

That's about my mother's height. And actually, she's the only person I'm taller than. Even Brandie towers over me...

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

*grin* You know, the sad thing is that my mother and sister are both shorter than me, and my dad's like... 2, maybe 3cm taller than me? That's about an inch or so, I think. So technically in my family I'm supposed to be tall. :P

Sad that most of my friends seem to be my height or taller though. The angst of short-genes! :P

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

I know my mom hates it simply because she always needs someone else to get things down from high shelves for her. I tend to have issues with that at times, too.

Meanwhile, I'm perfectly sized for my brother to use my head or shouldes as an armrest when he's standing beside me. It's also something of a strain on my neck for me to have to stare up at him or my father.

I'd be annoyed by that last part, but I went and made use of it for Kyle and Erik. So... yeah.

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

*patpat* Well, we can be relatively short together? :P

Oooh, hey, I tend to use my mom as a convenient armrest. (the 'sling my arm around her shoulders and slump over' type) My sister would kill me if I tried though. :P

Yay, making use of real life situations! ^_^

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

Always nice to have someone to commiserate (sp?) with.

heh My brother's got several elbows in his boney ribs for trying that. Not that it ever stops him. Somehow, his skinny ass is still capable of overpowering me.

It's annoying from a personal perspective, from the slashy/romantic perspective it's oddly endearing. I couldn't help it. (That and I've weird... thing, for pairing the short with the tall. *shrug*)

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Looks right to me. :P My spelling goes a bit wonky at times, so I'm not the best person to ask about spelling.

*patpat* Skinny != no muscles? It's sad, that one. How come BOYS get to have more muscle-mass? >E

XD Yeah, I agree with that one. And you write it so well, too. XD XD XD XD XD

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

I used to be a good speller. Before I went to college and broke my brain.

Yeah, I don't get that one. He should fragile and breakable. Not more than capbable of breaking me. I just can't cut a break where he's concerned. *glowers* Punk.

*beams* Thank you. I'm never really sure how well I'm conveying things. It all makes sense and forms a pretty picture in my head, but on screen, I can never quite get it the same way. It's part of the reason it takes so long for me to convince myself to write it. I'm afraid it won't come out right at all.

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Ah well. Dictionary.com is such a useful tool. :P I use it a lot these days.

*patpat* (Should I be glad I have no brothers?)

I can empathise with that. :P It's why I write so rarely, and why I have very few finished pieces.

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

I used to have access to the Oxford English Dictionary site, but then I left college, and now I don't. Because it requires money and a password and maybe a portion of my soul. But that's true, there is still dictionary.com. How silly of me to forget that...

My brother's not so bad. A bit of an egomaniac. But I guess he has some claim to that fame, but he's fun to be around, and if you can get him on a roll, he's funny as hell.

All my pieces are finished in my head. It's just finishing them in type that's the challenge.

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

It's the most convenient one. :P And lately, I tend to use Thesaurus.com more too, when I'm writing stuff for school. >_>;;;

Heh, sounds fun. :D Having only one older sister makes it hard to imagine what your family is like.

Ehehe. Not many of my pieces are finished in my head... Maybe two or three trail off into 'happy home life', but some of the others morph and deteriorate into stories that pretty much end as 'everybody dies' and stuff. >_______>;; Which is part of the reason why I try not to read angst too much. It fuels that tendency.

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

I have really only three projects in my head that are not finished. One simply because I haven't yet done the necessary research to formulate much beyond the first part. It's a seriously broken down tale--an arc, I guess is the best qualification. And I just haven't yet had the time or desire to sit and do the research for it.

Another is horrendously long and continually changing in my mind. The basic plot is the same, but then the implementation of it and the characters are constantly shifting and changing. But I think I've just about reached the final "draft" (so to speak).

The other is actually the one Meg refers to in this post. It was the first original I'd ever thought up, though I never wrote a word for it. It's all in my head. I had dreams at one time that it would be my first book.

If I ever I sit down and put the notes to type, I'll send'em your way--if you'd like. They'd make for an entertaining read if nothing else...

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Interesting... Hmm.

That sounds interesting... But the longer it is, the harder I usually find it to get my butt moving and actually start writing it? :P And the longer it extends, the more reluctant I get to start it. ^^;; Do you get that too?

Sounds funky... And long. XD Of course I'd like. <3 It's only fair that if I get to bombard you guys with random notes and mental images, it's only right that you get to do the same. ^_~ And anyway it's fun.

Oh, that reminds me. Meeeeeeeeeeeeg, SIXPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENCEEEEEEEEEEEE. To be more specific, Met/Sand! *_______________*

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

I think that's why I haven't started to write any of them. I get to intimidated. I mean, a chapter of standard length wouldn't even put a dent in any of them. These are huge pieces that will require a lot of time and effort.

The second one up there has some 40 lead characters in it. And so much transition and shifting perspective and story. It's obnoxious.

heh, I guess I'll have to hop to on making notes then. It'd probalby do me good to transfer them from my head anyhow...

Oh yeah, posted part of Chapter One for Val and Alex. Hope it isn't too bad. *winces*

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

*patpat* Understandable.

I don't stretch up to 40, but I have this tendency to juggle family trees of about three generations? >___>;; It gets a bit crowded in my head sometimes, and the worst part is that as I get a better grip on the character, I lose more plot. =_=;;;;; (I don't have THAT much space in my head)

It'll probably help them bother you less? ^^;;;;;

I saw it and commented. ^_~ I liked it. XD XD XD XD

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

heh A lot of them get thrown in the dirt somewhere, and I find myself focusing only on the same 5 or 6. But all 40 are imperative to the plot (what little of that there is) somehow.

It probably will. I could use the room for other things. (Like more stories.)

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it's possible to have characters THAT detailed and still manage to juggle all 40 at once. I mean, one reason why my generation-spanning stories tend to have fairly regular age gaps is because I generally need time to build the characters in one generation before I go on to the next one.

...Although now that I think about it, I think it's probably possible to have 40 people in one generation. It'd probably be one of those old-fashioned HUGE-sized families though. (My mom has eleven siblings and there's still only, what, 25 of us in this generation? Hm.)

*grin* Hey, be glad you have plot! I rarely have plot in my stories. :P Premise, sometimes, character-stuff, usually yeah, but plot, nope. >P

Hehehehe. *patpat* Good luck with that. ;D

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

It might be giving me (them?) too much credit to say they're "detailed". The juggling I can deal with. It's just keeping track of where overlaps occur, because different ones start the 'journey' at different intervals in the timeline, but then meet up or cross paths that for some might by months after the start and others only weeks.

I do a lot of math in my head, and several recalculations of that math. ugh

But in the end, I love doing it. I'm very weird like that.

heh, thanks. I'll likely need it if I've a prayer of getting through it.

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Oh, I tried that once. I SUCKED at it, SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much. :P

Well... I s'pose I should admit to a guilty sort of pleasure in structuring family trees? ^^;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

We're all weird. I think it's probably a matter of degree, is all. And anyway, to be weird, "normal" first has to be defined, and while it CAN be defined, at least theoretically, I doubt there's anyone who really fits the bill of "normal". :P So we're THEORETICALLY weird, but maybe in practical terms we're perfectly normal. ^__________^

...Not that I mind being weird. :P It's fun. XD

*waves pompoms for you* YOU CAN DOOOOOOOO IT! XD

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

Well... when I first assumed the name rykaine, it had been the name I'd intended for a planet. I still may, but it all depends. And I wasn't aware you knew enough about the story to know anything at all about it... *pouts*

I need to stop forgetting about shit that I share with you.

And no, you wouldn't know from the crap I write that I'm fond of angst. I don't know where I went wrong...

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Aw, the stuff you write isn't crap! Hmm. We should pester you for more of that copslash story. >D (Uh, in case it never came up in a conversation, I'm HORRIBLE with story-titles. >_>;; So I vaguely remember Eric, or was that Erik, and... Kyle? *cough* Sorry. I'm a bad bad fangirl.)

And I can't remember how come I knew that Meg's the one who produces fluff and you're the one that's supposed to produce angst. Hmm. *frowns thoughtfully*

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

Yep! Kyle and Erik. It had a title, but I'm in the process of changing it. And I tend to refer to most of my stories by the characters in them than the titles, so it's not necessarily your fault you don't remember.

I fully intend to get some work done on that one once I get this chapter for Val and Alex straight. Hopefully I'll have it up for proofing within an hour or so.

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Yay! Glad I remembered SOMETHING right. :P And hee, you know when Meg was writing 'Eyes' for you? I was remembering it as 'the mafia/assassination thing with the really hot comp-tech who was doubling as a bodyguard' story. :P Or something along those lines. XD XD XD I think I amused Meg with the alternate names I came up with for that one. I mean, I SERIOUSLY cannot remember titles. Like, um... Meg's 'Jekyl and Hyde and Jack-the-ripper and co' story is... um, how it's characterised in my head. :P I couldn't give you the title unless I checked her website first. (Yes, I realise I suck.

...OH WAIT, "Unequal Children"? =DD;;;;; Am I even close? I'm better with one-word titles, but not MUCH better.)

Yaaaaaaaaaaay~ <3 *glee* And well, I read most things you and Meg produce with GLEE. >D

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

I actually tend to do better with titles. I just can't think up any for the stories I'm working on. Also, I notice most people do tend to cling more to char names than story names. So I just try make it easier on everyone.

Unequal Children--that'd be it.

Glee is glee. At least we know you like it.

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Heh. Ah well. I'm TERRIBLE at titles, really. And my ability to think of last names is severely stunted, possibly because the people around me mostly have Chinese surnames and these aren't widely applicable when I'm writing. :P

*grin* I try to let you guys know I like it. XD Hopefully it'll encourage you guys to write more. ^_~

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

It should, and more or less does encourage me to write more. It's just I tend to do all the writing in my head. Forgetting that it needs typed in order for others to enjoy it.

And some things I'm just not sure about. It took mad convincing from Meg before I finally posted that threesome. But in the end it worked out, so I don't know what I was worried aobut.

I'm such a goober. ^_^

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

I'm such a goober. ^_^

But one with fangirls! XD

The problem with hounding people for fic is that I feel bad about it? :P I mean, pelting a writer (read: Meg or Skylark, usually) with random tantalising mental images is one thing, but requesting for fic and then pestering the writer for it just makes me a bit... uncomfortable? Dunno.

It's just I tend to do all the writing in my head. Forgetting that it needs typed in order for others to enjoy it.

Oh, yeah, I can understand that one. I tend to leave it in my head also because it looks so much more... colourful/nice/fun in there as compared to after I write it. :P

If you want to take a look at the most recent scenario/family of mental images (or mental images of family, both phrases work) that I'm bothering Meg and SkyLark with, tell me and I'll add you to the filter. ^_^; It's kind of... um, haphazard, really, and has m-preg in it, so... um. Yeah, you decide and tell me, I guess.

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

You shouldn't feel bad. It's likely the only way I'll ever get to it. Otherwise, I'll just keep making excusing and avoiding it. I'm bad like that. And I'msure people get sick of being led on. Pester away.

I've read some of those mental images you've sent their ways. They're quite intriguing, some of them. If ever you've mind for new ear...

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

*grin* I do believe that's like my real-life friends telling me I shouldn't have low self-esteem. I'll /try/, but will probably apologize as I do. :P I mean, you've SEEN the way I beta...

Heh. Sure, lemme add you to the most recent one... *rummage into LJ FAQs*

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

Okay, added! You might want to look at this before you drop into my LJ and look at the second-latest post though. (I think that's the right one.)

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

That one sounds fun. And disgustingly cute.

[kiyoshi-chan.livejournal.com]

*grin* It /was/ meant to cheer Skylark up. The angsty stuff I usually leave in my head, because writing it or scrolling through it so that I can type it out usually stretches the ow-ow-ow period for too long. I usually snap and either cut it off, or break off that train of thought and switch to a new storyline/scene/character-profile etc. ^^;;;;;;;

And my brain is WEIRD, the way it keeps building family trees. =_=; Seriously.