Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/contest.ez?contest_id=476

For those of you who do not, perhaps you've tormented someone's pet in the past. Imagine yourself switching places with that animal.

The pet MUST be a traditional domesticated pet.

Describe your day and feelings, hopes, dreams, fears, and anything else that comes to mind. HOWEVER, stay within Rosity's TOS.

The challenge opens at 0001 January 17 Rosity time and ends February 21 at 8pm.

See attached link for actual challenge announcement.

Thanks to nocturnecsh for this challenge's theme.

Handsome kitty. :) I wonder who he is phoning. >^,,^

That's Chico, the youngest of my two. His older brother, Sluggo, is too shy to pose. BTW, Chico was trying to call his rap partner, CatzUp. (Couldn't resist that one, living 14 miles from the Heinz plant in Pittsburgh.)

I know you've all seen it before (went around the Internet a while back), but given the topic I just couldn't resist. May even provide some inspiration. :-) jon ======== Excerpts From A Dog's Daily Diary 8:00 am- Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite! 9:30 am- Oh Boy! A car ride! My favorite 9:40 am- Oh Boy! A walk! My favorite! 10:30 am- Oh Boy! A car ride! My favorite! 11:30 am- Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite! 12:00noon- Oh Boy! Kids! My favorite! 1:00 pm- Oh Boy! The garden! My favorite! 4:00 pm- Oh Boy! Kids! My favorite! 5:00 pm- Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite! 5:30 pm- Oh Boy! Mom! My favorite! 6:00 pm- Oh Boy! Playing ball! My favorite! 6:30 pm- Oh Boy! Sleeping in mom's bed! My favorite! ======== Excerpts From A Cat's Daily Diary Day 183 of My Captivity My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant. Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair, must try this on their bed... Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmm, not working according to plan. I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird, on the other hand, has got to be an informant and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room, his safety is assured. But I can wait; it is only a matter of time...

I've started on my story already and have a question. When used in the middle of a sentence are dog breeds capitalized or not? For example: I know was wasn't a beagle, or a basset hound. Felt more like an English setter. Beagle or beagle? basset hound, Basset hound, or Basset Hound? English setter or English Setter. Ah Chihuahua, it's so confusing. jon

That's a good question. I'll be interested in the answer.

I know I tend to not capitalize dog (or cat) breeds unless there is a place name is part of the reference. A beagle bayed at the Boston terrier while the Yorkie chased the dalmalation. For some reason, however, it seems as if I have always seen Great Dane capitalized, though I'm not sure why. There is a state in Mexico called "Chihuahua," so I guess I would tend to capitalize that, but I've seen it not capitalized, so what to do, what to do.

For the cats, A Siamese and a Persian would would be capitalized, but I probably wouldn't capitalize a calico.

I have to say, however, I don't think that's a rule I've seen written down so I may be making it up.

Message edited on: 01/16/2005 21:12

I do understand that the Great Dane reference Denmark...as an interesting aside, Great Danes have been the official German national dog since 1880. So my vague rule might hold on that one.

Dialog ought to be interesting in this challenge too. I'm having a great time with it. Woof! jon

1. Romarch: The suggestion for the challenge as put forth by nocturnesch is for the writer to remember being a person but suddenly in an animal's body. This could either be handled by switching places with your (or someone else's) pet or just waking up being a pet. It would be very lonely if you woke up as a pet without anything else being around, however. So I'd suggest placing yourself (or your character) in some type of household. The other household members don't have to switch places, just you/your character. For instance, you're married and have a few children as well as a cat, dog, and some fish. You wake up to realize you're the dog and the dog is you (now your spouse's mate and children's parent). BUT you remember being married and having the kids, not the dog. You might still think like a human, but being in an animal's body will not allow you to express your thoughts as you would being a person. You will most likely need to keep in mind physical differences (movement limitations/advantages, verbal/non-verbal communication styles, and so on). That's a little twisted, but I hope it helps. 2) This brings up a point about the contest in general. In the challenge I have included this statement: "Describe the events of the day from your new perspective and your feelings, desires, hopes, dreams, etc." This statement is meant as an aid to help people frame their story - it's not required that submissions follow that exact recipe. Just make sure your story deals with the theme of role reversal and you'll be fine. I apologize for any confusion my challenge wording has/may cause. Feel free to discuss the matter in this thread. 3) Capitalization of breed names. I'm not sure how to handle this either, so don't fret it. I suspect caps would only be used when referring to a breed by its full, formal name. As dialyn pointed out, Boston terrier should be capitalized while beagle probably wouldn't be, since there are varieties of beagles. It's more confusing for cats (I think) since breed names are not always proper names. Siamese, Persian, Russian blue, Maine coon, and so on are proper names. However, domestic short-hair, long-hair, calico, and tabby are not. Sometimes, when I can't find anything else to watch, I'll catch some of the best of breed shows on Animal Planet. It seems that when animals are being judged the breed name is always capitalized since it's a classification instead of just being a description. In other words, use whatever form you feel like and don't factor that into your decision when voting.

not a real entry for the challenge of course. Just a Brian on the theme. :-) All Wet J. M. Strother I feel wet. Weird dream? Wake up. Hey, I am awake. I'm a fish! There's Sarah, looking through the glass. Sarah, help! I wave my little fin. She giggles and runs to tell mom. Good. Mom will know what to do. Hope she hurries; I just remembered I can't swim!

A fish that can't swim flounders in the water.

Did I screw up on the upload or are you guys just busy? I uploaded my entry several days ago and got the standard "we'll review your entry and if it's OK..." line. Haven't heard anything back nor has it appeared on the challenge page. It's been long enough now that I'm thinking maybe the upload didn't work? I completley understand busy, just want to know if I need to resubmit. jon

It takes GonWaki or DeeMarie to approve. If they aren't around, it doesn't happen.

Nope, you didn't mess anything up. I just didn't get any notices that entries had been submitted. Not that I should rely on emails, but when I do get them I make it a point to read them, even if I'm short on time and can't spend much time on the computer.

The ebots are on vacation, perhaps?

They probably joined that house elves union Hermione started at Hogwarts. I suspect ebots and house elves are related. ;-) Thanks GonWaki. jon

Dang, I always imagined them as being trolls. Of course, I've never read any Henry Potter, which would explain my lack of education on this point. There, it's out. There's one person left in the world who has not read a Potter book!!

"Harry" "Henry" or otherwise! ;-)

Harry Potter? Ooooops. Sorry. The name is one thing I didn't research. :(

S'okay, s'alright! And rest assured, there are at least two of us who have not read a Potter book.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12436&Form.ShowMessage=2130934