Update on the Little One.

Mad-Libs style.

Adjective:_______

Part of body:_______

Verb ending in -ing:_______

Woman in room:_______

Number:_______

Plural unit of measurement:_______

From Babycenter.com (highlight to read):

How your baby's growing:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's (adjective)_______ fingertips, her veins and (part of body)_______ are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is (verb ending in -ing)_______ to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a (woman in room)_______, she now has more than (number)_______ eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 (plural unit of measurement)_______ long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

So I finally bit the bullet, took the advice of Mom and Dad, and enrolled in a UCI Extension course: Intermediate Novel Writing. (Now that I've already written one, I'll learn how to do it right.) I may from time to time post the homework, when it doesn't have extreme spoilers, and if there are any who are interested.

Part of our homework assignment for the first work week is "write an opening paragraph for a novel incorporating a dramatic "hook". (Maximum 100 words)

In the interest of laziness, I don't plan to actually write anything new for this, but instead will just recycle stuff I've already written. And in the interest of extreme laziness, I don't even plan on choosing the pre-written material myself. Instead, I'll just put it up to a vote for my flock of loyal fan (hi, Mom!).

So, which of the following opening paragraphs do you think is best written and has the best dramatic hook. In essence, which one of these paragraphs most makes you want to know what the next paragraph says?:

1. “Hold course. Steady as she goes,” the first mate barked. The captain kept a close watch through the viewport of his fluyt. This was going to be his least favorite part of the cargo run. To avoid attention, they were staying off the main shipping lanes and in this leg of their journey they were traveling through an uninhabited stretch of the asteroid belt.
   
   
2. Captain Jack Flint floated through the docking hatch of his corvette Redemptrix, and into the spacious cargo hold of the fluyt. After that debacle of a boarding attempt, he was amazed that he and his crew had made it inside. The attack and disable operation had gone flawlessly; just about the best he'd ever seen. But of course, the whole job couldn't go that smoothly. No, that would have been too easy.
   
   
3. "Miss Burke, take us up." As if eager for the Captain's command, Regina gently yet firmly eased the throttle forward. The Redemptrix gracefully lifted out of bay three-two-seven of Arcas spaceport and began her skyward ascent. The hot helium gas streaming from the four thrust nozzles left a yellow trail keelward and behind the ship.
   
   
4. The Marine on duty lazily flipped the coin and watched as it bounced off the ceiling of the guard shack and gently floated back down, pulled by the weak Rhean gravity. He caught it in one hand and slapped it onto the sleeve of his extra-vehicular suit. He looked down at the engraved image of President Ronald Reagan staring back up at him. That was the tenth heads in a row, and brought the total to three hundred fourteen heads and two hundred seventy-one tails. It was a slow day.
   
   
5. Ensign Thomas Beckett had practically been raised on Star Trek. As a kid, he would religiously watch the weekly adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew, making sure to catch them as soon as they were broadcast. Later on, he followed Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew in their battles for the good of the Federation. By the time Voyager aired, he did not have much time to watch it—but did so whenever he could—because he was attending Star Fleet Academy.

(In case you hadn't caught it, that last one isn't from SPM3DoF: The Novel, but from a short story.)

What We're Playing.

Volume 1

From What We're Playing

I meant to post this earlier, but for all of you poor saps who we deemed unworthy of receiving this on a physical medium, you too can bask in the greatness of Belland piano playing. Happy (belated) Christmahanukwanzakapiphone.

Linky.

Let me add that "Dawn", as performed by Mrs. Pickles is my new favorite piece, and that Dave should legally change his middle name to "Vladimir Horowitz".

For Those Who Need a Good MST3K Fix.

Consider Unskippable, over at The Escapist, where they do the same thing for video game cutscenes.

Here's their first entry.

It starts slow, but I lost it shortly after the six-minute mark.

Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test...

(Me)

The Lord

You scored 24% Cardinal, 54% Monk, 38% Lady,  and 59% Knight!

    

You are of the intellectual breed and yet you are also very interested in war. You are of the aristocracy and head the cavalry a safe distance from the carnage of the front lines. You believe in defeating your enemy with not only might, but also wit. 

You scored high as both the Monk and the Knight. You can try again to get a more precise description of either the Monk or the Knight, or you can be happy that you're an individual.

(The Resident Murloc)

The Harlequin

You scored 50% Cardinal, 28% Monk, 50% Lady, and 46% Knight!

You are a mystery, a jack-of-all-trades. You have the king's ear, but also listen to murmurings of the common folk. You believe in the value of force and also literature. Truly you are the puzzlement of the age.

Take The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test at HelloQuizzy

First Pictures of the Little One.

And thus begins the transition from this blog being a place to post pictures of my cats to a place to post baby pictures.

---Update: Comments by The Murloc---

The baby's only about 4.31 cm, which is roughly 1.7 inches. Not very big, but VERY active. It was dancing a jig while we were taking a peek... I think the baby was showing off. =p

You could even just barely make out the tiny toes and fingers.

We got to see the little heart beating strongly at 160 beats per minute, and then later got to hear it. Very faint thumps, but distinct.

So, while I may not be showing and not have any pregnancy symptoms, the ultrasound confirms there's a little life form growing in me. =)

---End transmission---