Writer's Block: High school musical

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If you had to choose a theme song for your middle or high school years, what would it be, and why?

I don't think I would have picked this at the time, but with 20/20 hindsight, it's perfect.

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( Come on! Let's see what you've got... )

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(Regular readers of my journal will remember that I just posted this back at the beginning of April; it's still the right answer.)

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Understanding Athelind's Argot: Pupils Equal and Reactive.

Pupils equal and reactive is a phrase you'll hear on any medical show, and in a lot of real-life emergency rooms and accident scenes. It was almost a catch phrase on Jack Webb's classic paramedic drama, Emergency!, and that's where it entered my vocabulary, long before my own excursion into the rescue-response field.

The Original Meaning: When faced with an unconscious or unresponsive patient, one of the first things an emergency responder does is shine a penlight into each eye, in turn. If the pupils don't contract (are not reactive), or don't react to the same degree (are not equal), that's an indication of head trauma, concussion, and possible brain damage.

When Your Obedient Serpent Says It: It's usually in response to "how are you?", and invoked when the answer is "All Systems Nominal, with cause for optimism."

Because, you know, any day where you don't have brain damage is a victory, right? Any landing you can walk away from.

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... I have no idea if this is a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full attitude.

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In Which Your Obedient Serpent Revisits an Old, Tired Meme

(Yeah, I'm posting a lot today. I'm thinky.)

Every few years, I come back to this question; for the first time, though, I've got a different answer.

When they make an animated movie of FurryMUCK / Second Life / The Internet / Your Favorite Tabletop RPG, who should voice your alter-ego?

For years, I wanted Kelsey Grammer for Athelind, but I think Your Obedient Serpent has finally moved past mere self-conscious pomposity.

Just as jirris_midvale wanted someone who could swing between the two poles of his personality, I've found someone who can capture the full binary range of Athelind's psyche:

Peter Cullen.

When Athelind is up, he's impassioned, sincere, and inspiring, much like Cullen's most famous role.

And when he's not ... Cullen has that covered, too. You can just hear him say stuff like "any day where you don't have brain damage is a victory", "so far, so good", and other, similar gems from my Argot entries, can't you? Really, some of those only really carry their full weight as Athespeak when said in that voice.

As always, comments are open -- who's your voice?

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Edit 05 June 2010: You know, when I think about it, Argot entries tend to be in Eeyore's voice, while Feed Your Head entries lean toward Prime.

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Song of the Day: Traveller in Time

One last post before I call it a day:

A little Uriah Heep. You may be hearing more of them from me; there's something in the air this summer. Maybe it's just the unusual humidity; I first heard Heep in Texas, whilst flunking out of Texas A&M.

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( I'm a man with a whole lot on his mind ... )

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