In which I try not to be sarcastic...

Yesterday, one of antof9's posts got me thinking about my family, and our tendency to be sarcastic. I grew up surrounded by sarcasm, and I must admit to having used it aggressively in unkind ways during my school days (to my victims, I humbly apologize). Sarcasm was such an integral part of our communication style that we were hardly conscious of it. When he was in high school, my youngest brother (by far the most sarcastic of us all) made a sarcastic comment to someone with an underdeveloped sense of sarcasm. To his surprise, she completely misinterpreted his comment. That evening, he related the story to our parents. "Some people aren't sarcastic!" he observed in amazement. It was a moment of some insight for him, apparently. Of course, he continues to be a wonderfully sarcastic person. He is also a master at the deadpan delivery, which makes his sarcasm all the more devastating. When he gets on a role, he can absolutely bring me to tears. I look forward to his infrequent visits (he lives halfway around the world in Jakarta), and this month is a reminder of one of the many reasons why.

Its almost NaNoWriMo time again

November is rapidly approaching, and I beginning to see people getting ready to participate in National Novel Writing Month. I'm more than a little jealous of those who are actually making the commitment to write 50K words in 30 days. I would love to try my hand at the challenge, but there simply is no way that I have enough time at this point in my life. Between work, and my responsibilities at home, I don't think I could seriously expect to write more than maybe 10K words in a month (maybe, if I was really lucky). So, as much as I'd like to make my own attempt, I will be participating vicariously through my friends' attempts. Good luck to to all of you!