The Bouncy Castle in Space

Britwriter

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 1, 2011
Messages
495
Reaction score
35
Does it have to be an acronym? How about a pun-name? Like 'Major Pain/Trouble?'

Dave

It doesn't absolutely have to be an acronym, but if I change it, I have to cut another part, where the MC decides to password protect his new phone (due to PITB obsessing about it), and does so using letters not numbers, ie PITB. Dad then asks for the code, and MC is stuck having to come up with an explanation of what PITB stands for. He thinks on his feet,and comes up with a hilarious alternative.

If I can come up with an acronym that I like I'd prefer to keep this scene in, as it shows another side of the MC/Dad relationship, as without saying it, Dad shows he knows of the secret name and what it stands for - raised eyebrow, etc, but hasn't split on MC.

That's the trouble with making changes, there are these knock-on effects that then need balancing to keep the development of the characters progressing.

Plus, the acronym has been made up between MC and good friends years ago, and is a link between them that even new friends dont' break into, even though the old friends move apart for a while.

I'm still pondering on FLEA, and whether I can use it without explaining the F for a while...........or in the query. ;) I like that a flea is squashable and insignificant, which is how MC often thinks of his brother.
 

monkeymum

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
Messages
125
Reaction score
17
Location
Devon, UK
Brent works with my agent. I'm pretty sure he plucked me out of the slush pile

He has good taste then ;)

Britwriter - I've spent most of the morning trying to think of a suitable acronym, but everything I come up with seems a little..er..mature. I think it's one of those things you can spend ages on, but when you crack it, it's really worth it.

Thanks for the good luck wishes Smish, MsJudy and Sissybaby.
 

SheilaJG

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
1,635
Reaction score
560
Location
Northern California
So funny - I picked up my daughter from school yesterday and passed a field set up for quiddich. The hoops were really well done, too. It looked professional. I laughed as I watched kids throw balls at each other.

My daughter says that all schools have them (I want to go back to college!) She also told me a lot of the halls are named after fantasy lands. "How cool would it be to say you were the rcc of Narnia." (I had to ask. It means resident computer consultant. I'm old).
 

Britwriter

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 1, 2011
Messages
495
Reaction score
35
He has good taste then ;)

Britwriter - I've spent most of the morning trying to think of a suitable acronym, but everything I come up with seems a little..er..mature. I think it's one of those things you can spend ages on, but when you crack it, it's really worth it.

.

Thanks! Yes, you're right, it will be really worth it when I get the right name, with just the right derogatory feel, not too rude for MG, but rude enough to be funny as a secret name, but that describes a cute/horrible/revolting/loving/icky little brother.

Not easy though!

Sheila, everyone in my family keeps coming back to FLEA! It's got a nice, nuisance, small squishable, pesky feel. But the A is a real problem, just as it was in PITA.....

Farting Little/Loathesome Epic A.............?????

And I want to go back to school too, if I get to play quiddich!
 

SheilaJG

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
1,635
Reaction score
560
Location
Northern California
I like Flea, too. I was thinking of annoying, disgusting things - flea, scab, wart, bug, etc. It's the other words that are a challenge, making them flow naturally. Pain in the butt flows naturally, but the acronym is tough. Getting that balance is a challenge.
 

monkeymum

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
Messages
125
Reaction score
17
Location
Devon, UK
I like Flea, too. I was thinking of annoying, disgusting things - flea, scab, wart, bug, etc.

I keep coming back to Butt-Ugly Gremlin/Gargoyle (bug) but I thought Britwriter probably needed 4 characters for the pin number....
 

Britwriter

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 1, 2011
Messages
495
Reaction score
35
I keep coming back to Butt-Ugly Gremlin/Gargoyle (bug) but I thought Britwriter probably needed 4 characters for the pin number....

Yeah, 4 would be ideal, but I could see if I could rework the PIN number and not use the actual acronym for it.........

maybe he could just call lil' bro a pain in the butt, then do the PIN number with PITB as it's fresh in his mind, and have to explain it to dad. But that means losing the relationship with dad having known about the acronym all along and not called him on it ...........unless Dad then comments he's surprised it's not FLEA?

Hmm, I do like Flea. So memorable, and squashable, but persistent. And this little kid is persistent, and unsquashable, much as MC wants to squash him..........
 

Britwriter

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 1, 2011
Messages
495
Reaction score
35
I keep coming back to Butt-Ugly Gremlin/Gargoyle (bug) but I thought Britwriter probably needed 4 characters for the pin number....

I'm laughing at butt-ugly now!

I have pieces of paper all over the house with insulting words and acronyms. Off to add Butt Ugly to one of them. :)
 

Britwriter

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 1, 2011
Messages
495
Reaction score
35
OK, looks like it's official. I did a search and replace: PITB is now FLEA, or Flea. Freaky Little Emissions Activator.

Pesky, an irritant, MC wants to squash him, but he's totally unsquashable and keeps coming back for more.

Almost ready to query now. :)
 

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
9,090
Reaction score
2,165
Location
Lost Angeles
I am officially ready for winter vacation! Let the decree be made! But I have five more days of work. Send cookies! Cute Student has chicken pox so I will not be kept busy by her countless antics.

In seemingly unrelated news, I was covering in a third grade math class last week and they have five chickens in the classroom. Not baby chicks. Proper big half grown chickens. The teacher was sitting five feet away from the cage teaching a lesson while the darn things cheeped and peeped like crazy, and all the kids ignored them. It was the weirdest thing. After next week, they are being "adopted", which I think means dinner but I'm not for sure.

I decided it's fuzzy scarves for everyone's gifts this year, so I hit the fabric store. Soccer fleece for grubby soccer playing tutoring boy, Steelers fleece for oddly fanatical tutoring girl, walrus fleece for Cute Student whose favorite animal is walrus, Batman flannel for mentor teacher who is overgrown child, cartoon penguin flannel for teacher who likes cartoon animals, and green snowflake print for notebook covers for mentor teacher and boss who are too classy to wear homemade scarves. Oh yeah, and nerdy science robot flannel for my dad. Cranking up the old sewing machine tomorrow afternoon, always a soothing activity!
 

JoyMC

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 13, 2010
Messages
1,212
Reaction score
181
Location
Seattle-ish
Website
www.joymcculloughcarranza.com
Have fun sewing, Kitty! I am still working like crazy on my HP quilt, with stops to make an invisibility cloak, as well as a car playmat for my son and a ruffly scarf for my mom. Poor hubby always gets left out of the sewn gifts. Sewing boxers is just not worth the effort, and I can't figure out what else to make him.

I am feeling extremely bouncy today. I have news which cannot yet be shared (not an agent). Let us just say there is a list. And it is long. And I am on it. :)
 

sissybaby

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 22, 2008
Messages
2,699
Reaction score
626
Location
somewhere, out there
Britwriter - isn't find and replace a wonder? I'm glad you chose FLEA - it was my favorite.

Kitty - I wish I was on your scarf list. The one for your dad sounds like a fun one. And I didn't think kids got chicken pox these days. I've had shingles three times so I wish they would get rid of that virus.

Joy - I'm rather dense, so i don't know what to congratulate you for, but I hope it all turns out well for you.

And I'm almost positive I saw snowflakes floating around when I first got on here. Did it stop snowing already?
 

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
9,090
Reaction score
2,165
Location
Lost Angeles
joy--What a tease! oh well, i am happy for your mysterious good news.

sissy--unvaccinated hippie kids still do get chicken pox. and immunocompromised kids and the merely unlucky. happily for me, you can't catch shingles from a kid with chicken pox.
 

monkeymum

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
Messages
125
Reaction score
17
Location
Devon, UK
sissy--unvaccinated hippie kids still do get chicken pox. and immunocompromised kids and the merely unlucky. happily for me, you can't catch shingles from a kid with chicken pox.

I wish they would immunise children against it in the UK, I'm terrified of it. My brother had chickenpox (as an adult) and he got it on his eyes and around his lungs. Weirdly, both my children have had it, but I never have. Maybe I've got some sort of mutant resistant chicken pox gene...
 

MsJudy

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
5,673
Reaction score
1,440
Location
california
I had the parent-teacher conference from hell this afternoon. Basically, Mom can't understand why her daughter got anything less than Excellent and Advanced on absolutely everything.

Both times I've tested her daughter on letter names, Precious Snowflake has mixed up Z and V. So I put on the report card "knows 24 of 26 letters."

Mom accused me of putting that (when she and I both know PS knows them all,) so that at the end of the year when the report card says "26" and shows progress, it will make me look good.

When I said that assumption offended me, she said she didn't understand why. It wasn't anything "personal."

Oh, lord.

And then, when given the opportunity to remove her daughter from my class, she declined. And accused me of trying to push her daughter out just because I thought Mom was being difficult for bringing up her "concerns."

Fortunately, I had the principal at the meeting, so I had a witness to the craziness.

And then I came home to a rejection in the inbox.

So I'm not bouncing until I've eaten a whole lot of chocolate.
 

Laura J

Odessa Quinn
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 14, 2011
Messages
476
Reaction score
29
Location
Tampa
I wish they would immunise children against it in the UK, I'm terrified of it. My brother had chickenpox (as an adult) and he got it on his eyes and around his lungs. Weirdly, both my children have had it, but I never have. Maybe I've got some sort of mutant resistant chicken pox gene...


I got it while teaching Kindergarten. I was exposed repeatedly as a kid at chicken pox playdates and never got it. Neither did my brother. Then wham. It was bad at 33. Luckily, I got it before I got pregnant. Don't count it out monkeymum, you can always get it.

BTW, I do not miss teacher conferences. Now, as a homeschool parent teacher, they are much easier. Though sometimes, give myself a hard time about my lack or organization.
 

MsJudy

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
5,673
Reaction score
1,440
Location
california
First day of vacation!!!

3 weeks of sleeping in, reading, knitting, writing, and eating much too much nummy food.

Extra special bonus: family time uninterrupted by my jackass of an ex-brother-in-law!
 

sissybaby

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 22, 2008
Messages
2,699
Reaction score
626
Location
somewhere, out there
Last night my son, whom I've been told is very smart but now I'm beginning to doubt, was watching television. He turned and asked me what PBS stood for. I told him and he said, "Oh, I thought it meant Peanut Butter Sandwich."

I remember when my nephew had chicken pox. It was summertime, and I was visiting them. He went outside to ride his bike on the gravel driveway. Without a shirt. He tried to do a wheelie and turned his bike over, sliding down the drive on his back and ripping off numerous pox scabs. It was sooooo gross!

MsJudy - I made fudge and peanut clusters last night and I'm sending over a batch for you. Share or not - it's your choice, but you deserve them after that day. I have been frustrated more than once with test results, but I realize that even if my child should know something, if s/he doesn't cooperate during the testing, it gets marked as a "no". Perhaps Mom has cues for her that allows her to believe her child knows the difference.

On a lighter note, my husband downloaded some ebooks to my Nook last night for the granddaughter. She had such a good time turning the pages and having the book read the story to her that she happily went to sleep as soon as she finished the second one, which I had told her was her limit for the night. When we read actual books, it's never that easy.
 
Last edited:

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
9,090
Reaction score
2,165
Location
Lost Angeles
First day of vacation!!!

3 weeks of sleeping in, reading, knitting, writing, and eating much too much nummy food.

Extra special bonus: family time uninterrupted by my jackass of an ex-brother-in-law!

Yay! :snoopy: my vacation started...just now! I have some egg nog and some new library books and all is well. Enjoy your break, everyone!
 

Britwriter

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 1, 2011
Messages
495
Reaction score
35
Ooh, that sounds lovely! I sat home this afternoon and instead of doing holiday preparations, curled up on the couch with a blanket to read. Bliss. :)