Week of October 16-22

[mrissa]

Two rejections, but one of them was a novel rejection, which counts extra somehow. Well -- in some terms it wasn't all that novel a rejection. "Does not suit our needs at this time," hardly novel at all. Fairly commonplace, in fact.

Can someone please tell me the correct first line to "Help Me, Rhonda"? I can't stop singing, "Well, since she put me down there've been owls pooin' in my head." I can sometimes manage "owls spewin' in my head," but that's as far as I can get away from it.

I had to go to WalMart to get the humane mousetraps, since Home Despot didn't have any. They had lots that told me they would kil the mousies ded. I did not want to kil the mousies ded, I wanted something that would not hurt my dog even if she managed to get into it. I hate WalMart. It smells of plastic and despair (and, briefly, fresh cilantro: thanks, dysosmia!). But I got the right mousetraps, and now we will see whether the wee bastard will go in them or not.

I'm oscillating, now that markgritter is home for two whole days, between wanting to nest on the couch and do blessed nothing for two whole days and wanting to get stuff done while he has puppy time, so that it's not hanging over my head for the week to come.

The nice thing about submitting to adult markets (ahem: grown-up markets) is that you don't have to watch for Sneaky Jesus the way you do with kids' markets. I hate that, reading through guidelines that sound sensible, and wham, suddenly they're pushing Jesus at you, and He looks about as thrilled with it as you do. Little kids do not have to have Jesus with breakfast, lunch, and dinner just because they're kids! (I know, I know. I say this every time I try to find a new picture book market. But it's true every time.)

Comments

Help me Rhondda, or possibly AA

[oursin.livejournal.com]

My guess is 'I've been out doing in my head (I come in late at night and in the mornings I just stay in bed)'

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

"Well since she put me down I’ve been out doin’ in my head"

Although I think the owls version is more fun.

Re: Help me Rhondda, or possibly AA

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

That's what I got on a lyrics Google. But it doesn't make any sense, to me. Doing in my head? Whosit what? Do I even want to know?

Re: Help me Rhondda, or possibly AA

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Outdoing whom?

Yah. The owls make more sense.

Re: Help me Rhondda, or possibly AA

[oursin.livejournal.com]

= going out and getting completely wasted on drink, drugs,etc ('Man, I completely did in my head last night'.) Period, perhaps.

Re: Help me Rhondda, or possibly AA

[ellarien]

Possibly a British expression: 'It does my head in' roughly translates to, 'It makes my head explode.' ('Do in' meaning 'kill'.)

I don't think I've seen it as a reflexive usage before, though.

Re: Help me Rhondda, or possibly AA

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

How odd, as Brian Wilson is not what one thinks of as British.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Type "'Help me Rhonda' lyrics" into Google, and hit "I feel lucky."

Well since she put me down I’ve been out doin’ in my head
Come in late at night and in the mornin’ I just lay in bed

That trick has worked with every single song I've ever wanted to know the lyrics to in the past few years.

B

Re: Help me Rhondda, or possibly AA

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Oh! That would make so much more sense. Huh.

No owls, though.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes, but until someone explained to me what doing in one's head was, it didn't seem like that could be right, as it made less sense than owls.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

The various lyrics servers on the net are pretty accurate, regardless of how weird it sounds.

B

[gwynnega]

I like the owls version better than the actual lyrics!

Re: Help me Rhondda, or possibly AA

[oursin.livejournal.com]

But with the then popularity of the Beatles, etc, expression may have been going around transatlantically?

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I've thought about getting into the Jesus racket. Every time I go into a Christian bookstore, I'm shocked about how little NEW books exist in Christian children's literature. A lot of stuff is the same thing that was around when I was a kid, or when my mother was a kid.

Also, I noticed that a large amount of Christian children's literature is historical, since history can be bent to fit the current Christian agenda, and contemporary novels (unless their conversion narratives) present too many unsolvable problems.

Oddly, one of the better new YA novels I've read in the Christian lit category is Diary of an Anorexic Girls by Morgan Menzie. It highlighted the link between Christianity and eating disorders; Christianity still retains strong ties to asceticism, and that link continues in the way women are encouraged to control their bodies for their faith today.

[mkille.livejournal.com]

Little kids do not have to have Jesus with breakfast, lunch, and dinner just because they're kids!

You forgot snacktime. And also the Rubber Ducky Jesus (tm) for baths.

Re: Help me Rhondda, or possibly AA

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Could very well be.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that you don't see more new books, considering how many publishers are putting out material in this regard. But yes, history is The Good Old Days, for reasons I don't yet understand. They're (or we're, but I'm not really the right flavor of Christian for this) not supposed to believe that people were recently less sinful! "All have sinned and are far from God's redeeming grace"! So...what the hell? Um. So to speak.

[mamapduck.livejournal.com]

There are about five hundred and eighty seven "Left Behind Kids" books out.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

A very good point. The Left Behind series is an interesting Xtian publishing phenomena. If it were ordinary publishing it would be categorized as distopian s/f.