Am I allowed to vote? I really liked the creativity of Garblesnix's "Finder", especially the "sound love makes when it enter the soul." All the rest fullfilled my hope of creating interesting characters and dialoge. Thanks to all who participated for entertaining us. 1st = 1 2nd = 5 3rd = 2

Was the "how to irritate" skit the one where at the end the interviewee burst out in anger and three guys standing behind Cleese (the interviewer) held up numbers like judges at an athletic competition? That's not the one I had in mind but it certainly fits! I sure hope some people can get turned on by this challenge and turn out some funny (or gruesome!) prose.

I'm hoping everybody has had a moving experience taking a job interview. Maybe the interviewer dressed strange, had some weird habits or asked inappropriate questions. The job could be really bizarre. I actually was thinking of a Monty Python skit when I got this idea, e.g., ministry of sillywalks or the argument clinic. It shouldn't be written as a script. Use all your tools of character development and description and most of all have fun creating.

Thanks for the votes and thanks GonWaki for uploading for me. An image has always worked to get my imagination going. How about tieing each month's theme to the winner of one of the other groups winning images? This might provide even more "reward" for someone in Bryce or Poser to see a story made from their image.

Thanks Dialyn. These contests really motivate me to write.

Best advice I ever got: find a writer you'd really like to write like and dissect his stories. I truly believe that's all that's necessary but Writer's Digest and The Writer have had "how-to" articles about that topic and you can get them for free at the library.

I think you write great descriptive sentences and I'm going to learn from them. I also found your interpretation of the picture to be creative. The style seems to fit more of a novel than an ultra short story. I would have liked it better if two of the big paragraphs were shorter and the story moved quicker without losing any of your good emotional buildup.

04 - 3 points 08 - 2 points 11 - 1 point

sackrat, I'm 52 and a couple of months ago I thought for sure I had age related macular degeneration. There was a spot about the size of my little fingernail held at arms length directly on the optic axis that was slightly yellow tinted and blurry. It was not always there. The doc took 40 flash pictures of my retina (what an experience and cost $250). He said I definately don't have AMD. Big relief. However, when I blink my eyes or move them fast I will see a lingering circle of high contrast "particles" in the exact centerline of sight. Are my symptoms anything like yours? I still get worried even if my doc is a professor at USC! For your benifit check out any ongoing research projects. Here in CA. there is a need for volunteers for a new treatment for AMD. I've also heard about laser activated dyes that patch up the leaky vessels. good luck and please answer my question.

Thanks Madmax! Why don't they discuss this in the Bryce manual I wonder? I use 192.168.0.1 for my server and .2 for my client when I use my local network. I'll do the portscan and test this out in the next day or two and try to connect to a couple of friend's computers.

Partial success. I've gotten tiling to work on one frame of an AVI between two computers on my local network without taking down ZA. @madmax: How did you connect over the internet? IF the client uses a hub, is the hub's IP used? If the client and server have firewalls must the firewall be shut down or just added to the "trusted zone"?

That's an idea. But I gave my older 3rd computer away a couple weeks ago (partly because I couldn't use it to render) so I can't test your idea on my local network and I don't think my friends would lower their shields to help me out! Oh, but I could test your idea with the tiling of a single pic. OK, I'll try that tomorrow, thanks!

Letting a man into her apartment because "she had a bad memory" sounds very unusual. If the man was up to no good he would probably be able to answer several questions that she might throw at him (all the while peering through the cracked door with the safetly latch connected). That way the reader might identify better with the girl and sympathise with her plight. Of course I don't know if that's what you'd really want! I liked your description of how she fell like "no more than a pile of clothes." You also succeeded in making me want to know what's going to happen. Like Dialyn, I hope what happens isn't just a bunch of gore and violence.

The rock looks good. The arm reminds me of a "superhero" type of character. Maybe put the arm in a little shadow to make it more mysterious and make the viewer use their imagination? BTW: I loved your "big lens" picture but I was wondering if the top of the mountains really would still line up inside the lens with the ridge line outside.