Tuesday, August 28, 2007

JiffNotes

Julia J, click here now

Last week I got a call from my friend Julia. She said, "I just called to get a summary of your blog from the past week. Your posts are too long." Whoah, baby, nobody's making you read them!! ;) When I mentioned that my eyes were feeling OK, she said, "Why?"

"Well, I had laser eye surgery yesterday to repair a tear in my retina."

"Oh, I didn't know what that whole 'Eye-opening Experience' post was about. I didn't read that far."

Now, the first line of that post was, "My plan for today did not include getting zapped with a laser." I think that I might have read a little farther, given that first line. It's not like I pulled out a big surprise in the 50th paragraph or anything. But no one has ever accused me of being terse, especially in written communication. Don't get me wrong, I can be a mean technical writer, reducing sentences like, "The beauteous orb gradually ascended into the clear, blue sky, casting its light across the ground like a beacon of hope breaking over the black waves of night," into "The sun rose." But when it comes to prose...well, let's just say that the "before" sentence there streamed smoothly from my fingertips like a cascading waterfall, its crystalline jets of water arcing...erm, you get the picture.

I was talking about this with a coworker, and he said, "You need, like, those CliffsNotes for your posts." Only, he didn't say "CliffsNotes," he said something else that I hadn't heard of, and so promptly forgot. But it's the same thing. So, I have decided to institute CliffsNotes for Julia, or "jiffy" notes, for my posts. At least until I tire of them. =)

JiffNotes
I'm going to include a brief summary of my posts so you don't have to read so much. And I'm making fun of you a little. =)

8 comments:

Jean in Georgia said...

May we conclude from this that Earthlink has you back in cyberspace?

Susan @ Real Girl Designs said...

That's hilarious!!

Erin (moviemuse) said...

LOL! I'm afraid that you and I are in the same boat when it comes to being concise on our blogs. And I personally don't mind one bit! Glad to hear you won't be chaning your ways just for Julia, but also glad to see you will be accomodating her so she won't feel left out. ;)

TeresaB said...

So glad you've found a way to help out all your friends. I have to know, is Julia one of the 27% who did read a book last year? http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3507898

I'm also wondering if your DSL issues have been resolved. Inquiring minds (ok, maybe just Jean & I)want to know.

geeky Heather said...

DSL, DSL, O wherefore art thou, DSL? At this point, I have no idea when I'll have DSL service back. I called last night and canceled the Home Phone Service through them. The rep asked why I was canceling and I said, "Quite frankly, your customer service has been atrocious." He said, "You aren't happy with Earthlink?" "No." "Oh.... (pause) You're not happy with Earthlink?" "No."

The whole process took one hour and five minutes, including the first attempt where I was on the phone for 20 minutes, listening to ads, before the system transferred me to an automated message telling me that their hours were 'til 8pm EST, please call back during that time, click.

Studio Refuge Photography Blog said...

Warning before insulting me in a blog. And yes, I read the last Harry Potter book thank you very much. I am just a busy girl. Thanks for the cliff notes... I'll read them later. ha ha
By the way GO TECH!!! Emailed touch down Jesus with the score board.

Karin said...

The jiff notes are too funny! Hope that you get the computer problems resolved soon.

mainely stitching said...

Laughing out loud at your jiffy notes. I'm a tech writer for my daily bread and so enjoy the chance to unwind when writing on my blog. LOL!

Old Geek-outs