Let there be cake. Let there be jelly. Let there be... jellypig?

I am a fairly geeky person. At least, I have been told I am a fairly geeky person. I do, and enjoy doing things that are so far into the realms of geekdom you can't even see the border to normality. Things like roleplaying, Live Action Role Playing(LARP), Science, 'specially biology. And this doesn't bother me.

It does however have a point. Last time I was LARPing, before Time in (when I was effectively Hanna and not a Sergeant in the militia (another story... maybe forthcoming)) some other people, equally as geeky as I am, who have been doing it for a lot longer than I have discovered my equal geekiness when it comes to biology. And more specifically, Genetics. At the same time another conversation was going on about pigs and the yummyness that is pig meat. And I mentioned that you can get glow in the dark pigs. Well, their trotter and teeth glow in the dark.

Cue disbelieving silence.

And my insistence. and, bless her, that of my friend also on my course and also a LARPer. Soon we had won them round. "but how can you have a fluorescent pig?!?" they asked.

Well, I replied, you see, Jellyfish have this gene called green fluorescent protein(GFP). This makes them glow in the dark (incidentally, I found out today in my lecture that you can get yellow GFP and red GFP. How fun, multi-colours!), so scientists managed to put the GFP in the pig so that the trotters and the teeth glowed in the dark.

And now, I have a commission. I am to make jellypig. Strike that, I, we, have two commissions to make jellypig. For two people. It's a pity really. I wanted to make my hair glow in the dark. Still I guess it will have to wait for a bit. For the funding. and the Permission. and the lab space. then though, then Thunderbirds Are Go!

In the meantime, I shall have to stick to my other hobby. Cooking. I am going to have to figure this one out, but I'm thinking jellypig, giant jaffa cake style. they will get their pig. alternatively, get some pork and encase it in jelly the shape of a fish. a little less edible however, I think on the whole, I like the cake idea better.

So there shall be cake. And it shall be good cake. And people shall eat and enjoy their cake and all will be well.

Erudication

I have some nights when I just can't sleep. Just can't for one reason or another. So, a couple of late nights ago, I re-wondered across dictionary.com . And fell across the word of the day. And decided that I was going to take that word of the day and make a blog entry out of it. The last time I had a look, the word was Ellipsis:

el⋅lip⋅sis 

Grammer.
1. a. The omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more words that would complete or clarify the construction, as the omission of who are, while I am, or while we are from I like to interview people sitting down.
b. The omission of one or more items from a construction in order to avoid repeating the identical or equivalent items that are in a preceding or following construction, as the omission of been to Paris from the second clause of I've been to Paris, but they haven't.
2. Printing. A mark or marks as--, ..., or ***, to indicate an omission or supression of letters or words.

/ɪˈlɪpsɪs/ Show Spelled Pronunciation

Now, it is beautiful sounding word that slithers off the tongue. It makes me smile in the same way the word susurrus does. As I have indicated in a previous post, I read a lot. And a lot of what I read is fantasy. And a lot of fantasy delineates the need for precision when performing magics. So I got thinking, what if... The thinking stopped there on that occaision, because I got a healthy ker-thud across the back of my head with a foam zwihandler. It sometimes doesn't do to think in the midst of a LARP fight.

But, after falling into an exhausted sleep that night, I woke up nice and early the next day and continued the thought. What if there was an ellipsis in Magic. In a spell or something of the like. And a story was born. Mostly born. The sketchy outline of the twinkle in a father's eye was born. On a side note, I have just twigged what that means. And I am sat here shaking my head at my obtuseness.

Because, every time I see an ellipsis in some writing, I a) get distracted by thinking: that's an ellipsis, pretty word! and b) start thinking of something completely random. I believe last time the song ten little speckled frogs started playing in my head, only it started at the number three. And just for the record, it's PIE dammit! There ain't no grubs to be seen. So the story has come across it's challenges. But it is being written. But I have a feeling that It'll be a touch too long for a blog, which was it's original intention. So I'll either have to publish it in stages, providing it is fit to be read by the public, or there is going to be one very long post. I can't make any promises, but it may be appearing soon-ish. Mark the ish. It will be very ish.

In the meantime, Nose back to the grindstone. Work work work... oranges and sea-salt don't go together. See what I mean. now that song'll be stuck in my head for ages.