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What we have here is what macPhee would have called a phatic hiatus.

Understatement of the decade!  How can a guy be competent if he cannot plan?  How can he plan if the people he is supposed to trust implicitly--and impress with his competence--systematically undermine him in what shoukd be their best moments together?

Okay.  Now let's find out how the ladies see this.  That is, if they're willing to open up about it.  (Dangerous words, indeed.)

I've been hung up for four days on a scene shift.  A conversation is cut off by a scene break.  It continues right after the break, with the same ensemble in a different place.  Easy cinematic effect and a basic writing device, and I can't make it work smoothly!

But last night I saw a way to interrupt the flow to good effect--a better result than I'd hoped for the other way.  I woke up without forgetting it, and after a few false starts I've got a hundred odd words that I like.

Memories are what we know them to be.  Feelings are immediate and often unprocessed.

Maybe the dragons have to learn that humans feel disgust about dragon-style hunting?

Maybe read =That Hideous Strength= and pay attention to how Mr. Bultitude's feelings are described?

I like the idea, though I suggest it come in fits and starts as a surprise.  And one of the pair pushed it away and needs to learm to let it happen.

What happens on the human side?

I wouldn't call PJ O'Rourke's writing majestic.  It's more anti-majestic, in the style of The Vagabond King.  But it is brilliant, especially the illustration of Riccardo's Law of Comparative Advantage.

Maybe Hinkey accidentally transported someone else?

Or someone deliberately slipped in, either for innocent reasons or ro make mischief ... for Hinkey or for history?

Agreed that you should review, as much as possible, within the author's style.  But sometimes that style works against the story or the telling, so your best contribution will criticize style.  In which case, you should keep it gentle and constructive, especially when reviewer and author haven't come to understand each other.

Hmm.  In the presence of the offender, I prefer to suppress the eye roll and the gutter vocalization, hanging my head instead.  But (pardon the spelling) chacon a son gout!

I usually wince over my VISA bill.

I too have thesauruses.  As to where I get my news ... It's not talk shows, whether F&F or The View.  Funny you should feel the need to drag politics into a discussion about the meaning of a word.

Does politics define everything about a person?  Is your worst slur "He's one of THEM?"  What would that say about you?

Exasperation is a reaction to people.  It differs from frustration in that the source of the difficulty is a person (or person substitute, like a dog whose personality you know).  The respect for that other person may lead to blame, but the inherent frustration is presumably blunted by respect for the other's personhood.

If you disagree, tell me where and how.  We can discuss the matter, or we may end up accepting our disagreement.  Anything else makes as much sense as judging the other person by the color(s) of his avatar.

Exasperation is not just irritation.  It's related to frustration, though it's causes are slightly different.  Frustration comes from one's purpose being thwarted, by purpose or accidend.  Exasperation is a lesser emotion and results from the failure of another to understand or conform.