Here I Stand (or at least wobble :-)

Had an email exchange with a gentle fellow on Baen's Universe yesterday. His story was simple, draped nicely in words, but the underlying theme was that the world is horrible, and we just have to lie down and accept it. When I suggested some ways to rework the tale, he answered that this was exactly the story he wanted to tell.

Maybe, but is that a story that I want to spend my beer and pretzel money on? Is it a story that I even want to read?

As a reader, I want amusement, excitement, a bit of a lift! Make the world look better, not worse.

That's just me, but that's where I am going.

(to dream the implausible dream, to go...)

Are you a hippo or a rabbit?

Out getting gas this afternoon, we happened to notice the signs for the toilet at the gas station (same one we've been using for a while, but somehow we hadn't noticed the signs before). A simple トイレ (toilet) with arrows pointing towards it. BUT the icons for the men and women were a grey hippopotamus and a white rabbit figure (both bipedal). Not quite enough to figure out which one you want? How about the hippo being somewhat plump, while the rabbit is slender? Don't get me wrong, for a bipedal standing hippo with a grin as wide as it is, the hippo is much less hefty than a real one would be, but still...

Not quite enough to figure it out yet? Okay, the grey hippo is wearing a blue suit and blue derby hat (little round bowler?). The white rabbit has a pink outfit.

We're guessing that the blue-garbed hippo is for men and the pink-garbed rabbit is for women. But both Mitsuko (my wife) and I agree that we would hate to be in a hurry and trying to decide which was which. This is one case where the Japanese cuteness factor has run a bit over the top.

I've got to remember to take my camera and get a picture.