NJC, roundabout yielding to traffic to your left otherwise you're good to enter.  I love roundabouts, they are really good compared to 4-way stops (way less stopping in general), EXCEPT for the mind-altering magnetic field that accompanies those things - most drivers can drive and indicate appropriately UNTIL they enter a roundabout.  I've noticed no one around here indicates what the hell their intentions are too, so you need to be careful.  But I'll take it, as it's much better NOT to indicate than indicating one thing and doing the exact opposite (roundabouts are the only thing on the roads where *some/most* drivers indicate one way and turn the steering wheel the other way).

You're the first person to think of telling me about the school bus thing.  Lucky for me, the first time I encountered a school bus doing that, I was directly behind it.  Let's just say the look on my face was less intelligent than usual (whether that's possible is a debate for another day hehehe) when I noticed the oncoming traffic also stopped.  By the second stop it clicked.  By the third stop I was really glad I was BEHIND the bus. ...  Now I'm scared of school buses!  :-)  Note taken about the ice-cream trucks too.  Easy fix is just to stop and buy ice-cream every time, but it won't work for school buses though.

The state troopers (if that's what they are called) are going to have a field day when they stop me ...  But so far, so good.  Early April we need to go for our driver's licenses.  Writing the test seems like a pretty good idea to me at this stage.

Anyways, I knew about the turning right on a red-light thingy, but knowing and doing is another thing!  ;-)  Lucky for me I've only had the most patient, friendly drivers behind me so far!  I'm getting better at it though (I think!).

My kids asked me the other day:  "Mum, where did all the idiots on the road go?"
My reply:  "Kids, right now, mum is the idiot ..."
Self-awareness.  Not a nice thing.  :-)

Point taken about the pharmacies and loyalty programs - we've signed on to a few ones we'll regularly use.  Mariners station - check.  Would love to go to a game, and will def do that.  I haven't noticed a White Castle, so I think we're safe.  The local Five Guys chain has a really good feed, not sure if they are all over the place or only local.

Learned a couple of new words again over the weekend.  And I've learned that our local supermarket is open 24-7 (and now Amy shopping at midnight makes so much more sense).  I'm not only from Aus, I'm also from Perth.  And I've stayed approx. 25 miles south of the city in the burbs.  Where it was a big deal to get shops to open until 9pm every weeknight ...  *sigh*

Hoping it's not new mods to the level detector and that you'll be able to get the thing going in no time!  And thanks for all the advice too!

amy s wrote:

Oh god, did Janet just start a conversation about round-abouts with a man who thinks of eight layers of freeway as a form of art? It's that three dimentionality math mind of yours, New Jersey. Don't scare her too much :-)

Too late, he posted links, and I had to look!  And I thought the drive through Seattle was nail-biting ...  *scratches road-trip to NY from the west coast off the list*

978

(1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

KHippolite wrote:

I've got nothing... you guys all read such weird stuff. Had you done "Sorcerer's Bride" I'd easily guess the 2nd part

I hope you're not including me with the guys who read weird stuff ...  I'm with you K *scratches my head*

amy s wrote:

Hey Janet!  Are you on our side of the pond yet?  What do you think of American food?  We're a bunch of eaters over here, aren't we?  Did you go and eat at the Edgewater in Seattle?

No chance - we arrived in Seattle after 9pm and still had a +-2hr drive (on the OTHER side of the road) ahead of us - after 21 hours in total of flying.  But Seattle is on the list of things to do/see, and the Edgewater is top of that list!  We've moved into our house this weekend (small town of Lynden, love it - met our neighbours within 10 minutes and the neighbours on our left left us a card and flowers to welcome us to the neighbourhood while we went shopping for a few things!), so we're nearly there.  But with work and travel I'm going to struggle to find time for anything else, so I'm probably going to be less active around here.  I believe the technical term is lurking ...

So far everyone has been exceptionally friendly and helpful.  Have lots of support, so that's great.  Have picked up 3 "new" words just in the first week.  If I get a blank look, I start to explain using lots of words what I've meant.  And so far so good, especially with the accent.  Except with thongs.  I shall refer to it as flip-flops for the rest of my life!  LOL

Well, American food.  All I can say, don't panic when hungry.  Every off-ramp (not sure what you call it, but it's those thingies you take TO THE @#$%& RIGHT to get off the interstate) has a "FOOD sign" with several options listed.  We've also soon realised that if there is a half or a light or a kids option, that's what we will have.

But one things I can say, the seafood over here is awesome.  So I'm good!  And in general cost of living is much cheaper too.

One day I'll tell you about my first American roundabout - I had no warning it was coming (@#$%& useless GPS), it was hell and I'm now scarred for the rest of my life.  The good news is I've made it and everyone around here is just as clueless as me (doing it the other way around) and all the confused Aus drivers back home where roundabouts is concerned!

Hope you all are doing well!  And please let me know if I need to pick up something.  So far I have heaps of Rocket Baby to get to, but it looks like njc is too busy to win competitions to post!  Speaking of which, NJC, how is the phone gadget going?!

980

(74 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Matthew's sword looks really short now ......

981

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Hi guys

We have landed!!! Just over a week or so ago, but things have been hectic once we gotten over the worst of our jet lag. Things are going well, driving on the other side of the road isn't too bad and I'm learning "new" words every other day, but it will be a while before things will return to normal. The best news ever was last Friday when we managed to rent a house despite no SSN (coming next week or so they promised), no US credit history and no rental references as we owned a house down under ... Next is moving in (this Friday) and finding the two boys a school, and then things should slow down again. We're planning to travel, and lots, so I hope I can find time to write in between making new friends and getting to know our way around ....

And somehow I need to catch up with what you all have been up to the past 3-4 weeks

982

(8 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)

Good news (I hope!) for all those that have missed me (one will do! LOL). Things have started to settle down again, so I'm slowly getting back into things related to writing and tmbw! I have a few computer problems too that isn't helping, but hopefully that would be sorted soon and I'll be able to catch up on what eveyone has been doing and to start reviewing again! smile

983

(22 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Congrats!  And it's nice to hear and know it can be done!  smile

984

(74 replies, posted in Fight Club)

dagnee wrote:

I am so glad to know you got it fixed! However, because you said you got a virus I started a thread in the main forum about using remote tech companies, I use a good one, who could fix your computer just by taking it over. It's a subscription like an anti virus program, only along with the anti virus software you get tech support anytime you need it. That means less trips to the computer guy.

Boy, did I get blow back on that!! Even though the company I recommended has 3 million customers and is used world wide, people warned me about letting just anyone remotely control my computer. I shrugged it off, I got the same kind of advice when I started to buy stuff online: What? You gave your debit card number to Amazon??? ARE YOU CRAZY?? Don't you know what will happen? Nothing happened and as time passed those who objected found out how easy it was to shop, pay bills and monitor your bank account online was.

Remote control techs are the future...we'll just have to deal with it!

big_smile

I still have to reply on that one.  I get calls from "Microsoft" every other day to help my "fix" my problems and I'm not subscribed to any remote control tech support, so that happening to Jack I think was just coincidence in my opinion.

But hey Dags, everyone has an opinion, so we just have to deal with it!  LOL

985

(74 replies, posted in Fight Club)

Just for the record and to be clear (I don't want to actually be involved in a fight or start the first fight at least! LOL), I don't mind if reviewers make suggestions and in doing so, do a bit of rewriting (as I've said, please do, this clarifies your comment and actually helps the reader to make sense of it!).  But what I refer to is someone finding fault with every second sentence or more, and rewriting every second sentence or more.  If a review is taking you hours to do, unless it's grammar and punctuation, I'd suggest you start considering whether you're reviewing or rewriting ...  Just my 2 cents!  smile

986

(8 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)

mikira (AKA KLSundstrom) wrote:

Janet, I was going to add your novel to my reading list, should I wait a little longer to start reading and reviewing it?

Yes, please!  You won't have any problems to catch up, because I only have 1 chapter (Northern Skies) up so far - the previous versions (NS version 2 and NS version 3) are going to be reworked and reshuffled and I'd appreciate a fresh pair of eyes (if you don't mind me using you for that) once I get going again!

And then you must also let me know what I can review to return the favour!

Thanks
Janet

987

(3 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Thanks Amy!  A food fight sounds like a brilliant idea to keep the kids occupied while I enjoy some wine (not your wine of course!)  hehehehe

It's going to be a LONG WEEK ... but we're getting there!

988

(8 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)

Janet Taylor-Perry wrote:

Janet! You better hurry back. I haven't been reading much lately. Got my start entries done and now I have to get something for Faulkner. So I'll be hit and miss too for a short time.

I'm also behind reviewing you Janet, so we're all good!  Hopefully when things are back to a new normal, I'll have time to catch up!

989

(8 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)

Tom Oldman wrote:

Oh, say it isn't so, Janet.  I really look forward to your reviews.  Hurry back.

~Tom

Flattery will get you many more reviews!  smile

990

(74 replies, posted in Fight Club)

dagnee wrote:

On one end you have the reviewers that can't find a single thing wrong and on the other end you have reviewers who LOOK for stuff to bitch about. The reviews I like fall in the middle. They point out places that need change, but not in a mean spirited or pedantic way. They also ask hard questions about the plot, sometimes I have the answers, sometimes not.

But what I really hate are the reviews in which the reviewer wants you to know how much they know about writing and take two thousand words to tell you what's wrong, when another reviewer did it in a short paragraph.

So much for FIGHT CLUB again ...   <----- CJ, see what I did here?  hehehe

Dags, I agree so much with what both you and CJ are saying.  It's not WHAT is being said or that I only want to hear positive things, but HOW it's said.  By all means, rip into my writing, and please, help me make it better, but you can still be supportive and you can still find at least ONE thing that you agreed with or think that has been good.  It's also really difficult when the criticism is generic for example:  "This is wrong."  and then the reviewer doesn't go on to explain what is wrong or what is more accurate; you don't have to rewrite the whole thing, but just give me a bone ...  Another one of my pet hates is when reviewers try and rewrite your whole chapter to match their writing style - doesn't happen often, but there are one or two reviewers who do that (and don't recognise/acknowledge it) - and then you have to try and make head or tails of whether it's just a difference in writing styles or genres, or whether it's really a problem.  sigh, you have to love the process!  smile

But for most, the reviews I have received, had been given to support and help me improve.  And my writing is so much better for it.  I can only hope that I return a fraction of the favour when I recip.

LOL, yeah, "I look forward to return the favour you." can be taken in different ways smile  But it says a lot about the intent behind the review that was left in the first place and is also in itself is not sufficient reason to block someone IMO.  Why not wait until after they have reviewed you to see whether they are up to "revenge" or not?!  That's what I would do.  In any case, like Dags said, it would be the writer's loss only if that's how they do it.

991

(8 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)

Hi everyone

My interaction around here and the site will be really random/on-off over the next couple of weeks.  But I'll try to keep in touch every now and again.

Janet
xx

992

(3 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

Hi guys

My interaction around here and the site will be really random/on-off over the next couple of weeks.  But I'll try to keep in touch every now and again, and will definitely let you know when we arrive and what's happening when I have time!

I'm pretty excited, but it's really sad to say goodbye to everyone around here that's been a part of my everyday life for so long.  FB, skype and email just won't be the same, but will have to do, I guess.  Except the in-laws ... hehehe  Nah, not really, I'll probably miss them in some weird inexplicable way, but I'll still miss them.

Janet
xx

993

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

KHippolite wrote:

no love for snipers

my snipers are archers and my archers are snipers  tongue

994

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

Okay, torch is gone, like Amy said days ago.  *ducks, I'm sure Amy is going to throw something heavy at me*

995

(212 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

LOL, for sure!  No one can!  big_smile

I'm referring to the group aptly named:  Writing Tips & Advice
http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/group-w … -advice-36

Not sure if this is the one Dags have in mind, but I think so.

edit:  Janet T-P has already started this thread yesterday in that group too!  *scatches my head*  How did she know?!  LOL

996

(212 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Jack, depends on the genre. Regency romance novels and historical novels are two exceptions that come to mind where you shall not use American spelling that didn't exist yet ... But I agree, this is something for an editor to sort out.

And we do have a group that covers writing....

997

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

Please help Mrs. Confusious out here.  With the torch or light or whatever, no need to explain the where and how (I got that bit), but should I include some thoughts where Matthew consider whether it is safe or not to use a torch?

This is what I have in mind:

The ruckus in the hills had since settled down and the hoofbeats had faded north, towards the village.  Closely guarded by thirty men, Matthew was willing to risk light as to see Catherine’s wound clearly.

He turned to the loun closest to him.  “Light a torch.”

With thanks
Mrs C

998

(74 replies, posted in Fight Club)

C J Driftwood wrote:

Yep, I've been blocked. I wonder why.

I'd be interested to know when (if) you figure this one out - why review someone you have blocked?!  Because this is essentially what's happened? 

*shakes head*

999

(43 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Mariana Reuter wrote:

I'm afraid we're making too much fuss about this issue. Mikira did ask permission and it was granted. We've all asked support  in different ways (leave a comment on Amazon, contribute  with votes on certain site, even supportive words when a member is going through bad time), which, technically, could be considered solicitation. So, let's not make the site so tight there  wouldn't be space to breathe. Let's keep the thing friendly. God, this is not the IRS!

If anybody feels some forum discussion is too much, just turn a blind eye towards it--anyway, Sol moderates all of them, which means that all will keep the spirit of the site. Nobody is forced to read a particular forum, anyway.

I wouldn't like to eliminate ALL kind of solicitation. It would mean I couldn't even ask for a favour. So, let's make ourselves a favour  and tone this conversation down. Kindly be reminded that we all need each other, and sooner or later, any of us will need some kind of help. We're a community, let's support each other.

Kiss

Gacela.

Gacela, my thoughts exactly.  I couldn't have said it any better.  Thanks!

1,000

(43 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

SolN wrote:

Mikira/Karen,

Anyone who contributes to this group is welcome to solicit the support of it. We are here to help writers bring their dreams to fruition and that's more than just getting feedback.

I wish you luck with your kickstarter campaign.
Sol

I fully support this! Thanks.