Encyclopedia of Ignorance

[dmboogie]

[[Daniel Whitten: Continued from These Dusty Shelves]]

Go, Roland, go. You are the gunslinging man. Shoot everything in this world.

It was a day much like any other. Daniel relaxed, sitting at his favorite table in the library.  It was located in a corner, and several bookshelves blocked the view of the rest of the library. It was quiet. Isolated. Peaceful. Everything a library should be. He sat absorbed in his copy of The Dark Tower. This was it. The conclusion to the epic saga. The end. Well, there was that one interquel, but that hardly counted, did it? The ka-tet's tale would be finished here, even if the series went on.

Still, Daniel found it hard to concentrate on the words in front of him. Prom was coming up, after all. There were preparations to make. Things to plan. People to ask out.

Of course, it was the last part that couldn't stop thinking about. He knew who he was going to ask. There was no question in his mind about that part. It was just... the actual asking! He'd never really done anything like this before. Sure, it wasn't as if he'd never been in a relationship before, but it'd only been a short, couple-month affair. The girl had approached him, too.

He just couldn't get over his nervousness. Really, what was the worst thing that could happen? Get rejected, then mocked horribly? Rachael wouldn't do something like that. Of course, there was the possibility of scaring her off and making book club meetings two-thousand percent more awkward forever more. Not pleasant.

Daniel sighed. Focus, man. Focus on how cute Oy is. You can worry about this later. There is time. He who thinks with his brain has forgotten the face of his father. He thinks with his heart, or something along those lines. Sighing again for good measure, Daniel returned to his reading.

[ViolentMedic]

((Naomi Bell continued from We Rule The School.))

Why do I always subject myself to this? Can I even borrow this many books?

Naomi scowled, although her face was hidden behind the stack of books she was holding. She couldn't even fit these in her bag. Could she carry them to the car? Perhaps, but they were already starting to make her arms shake. Maybe she should put some back.

She'd just have to save some for next time. But argh, she needed to put what she was holding down before she could sort out which ones she wanted to borrow and which ones were of a lesser priority. Trying to see over the top of the stack, she spotted Daniel sitting at a nearby table, reading a Stephen King book.

That was as good a place as any to set the books down. Besides, she'd wanted to ask Daniel about something.

Naomi wobbled towards Daniel and quickly put the books down before she tripped and killed herself through an avalanche of paper. She was careful not to simply drop them on the table, as she didn't want to startle Daniel by making a gargantuan clunking noise.

"I've heard pleasant comments on that book, but I've never read it myself. Is it satisfactory enough to justify the hype?"

[dmboogie]

Daniel glanced up as a respectable haul of books was placed on his table by Naomi. "Hile -  I mean, hello, Naomi." He said. Man, this series really messed up your vocabulary after a while. Next he'd be asking people to palaver and run away from people named Charlie.

"I've heard pleasant comments on that book, but I've never read it myself. Is it satisfactory enough to justify the hype?"

Ah. It was the time for the occasion that every fan both loved and dreaded. Explaining to someone why your favorite series was awesome and they should totally experience it, while at the same time trying to avoid making it sound completely insane. A difficult task. A worthy task. Daniel slipped his trusty bookmark inside the novel and set it down on the table.

"The series is quite excellent! It's a nice mix of a Western, post apocalyptic stuff and Fantasy. It also gets pretty metafiction-ey towards the end, and while I view that as a plus I understand why some would be put off by it." He shrugged. "You should check it sometime, though I see that you've got a rather large queue to go through." Daniel indicated the stack. "Anyway, the first book is a bit rough, but it gets better from there."

Duty done, the war is won! A rather nice summary, if he did say so himself.

[ViolentMedic]

Naomi propped her chin on her hand as she listened to Daniel explain why the series was good. It did sound... different.

"Sounds interesting. I'll have to take a look at it when I have the time. The only Stephen King book that I've read was Firestarter, and that was decent." Naomi glanced sideways at the stack of books and lightly drummed her fingers on them. "But yes, it will probably have to wait a while."

She shifted in her seat a little before talking again, trying to get the shaky feeling out of her arms.

"Actually, I had something to ask you. If you don't mind, I mean. If you want to carry on reading that's absolutely fine." Naomi looked around. "This is a good spot in the library for it, isn't it? But yes, I had a question."

Naomi looked down at her hands, fiddling with the fingers for a moment, before asking, "How difficult is it to learn sign language?"

[dmboogie]

Hooray, Daniel had passed his Explanation skill check, managing to convince Naomi that the series was worthwhile! (Michael's tabletop terminology was infectious as well. Ah, all these forces, joining together to mutate the English language! How wonderful!) He wasn't that familiar with Firestarter (this was pretty much the only series of King's that Daniel had read, not being much of a fan of horror), but the fact that Naomi liked it was promising.

Naomi commented on the location, then asked him a question.

"How difficult is it to learn sign language?"

Daniel rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think. "Er, I may not be the most unbiased source for this. Due to Erica and Michael, I've been using sign language 24/7 for practically my whole life, but I will try to explain anyway."

He took a deep breath. "Alright. First off, American Sign Language is completely separate from English. Different grammar, different vocabulary. It isn't pantomiming. The gestures used are pretty much completely abstract. Also, the hand's aren't the only part of the body used. Facial expression is pretty big, along with other body movements. Of course, you probably know that already from watching Michael at Book Club." Daniel shrugged.

"Along with learning all the various gestures, there's also fingerspelling, which as the name implies is signing the individual letters of a word. It's usually used for words with no sign equivalent or just to add emphasis. This is my name," Daniel said, spelling it out. "That part is relatively easy, at least, since most of the letters resemble their English counterparts."

Man, he was going into full on lecture mode here. Everyone, get out of the way, professor Daniel is here to GIVE YOU KNOWLEDGE! Anyway. He finished, "Also, there are quite a few regional variations, and each signer tends to have their own style of signing. I guess it's a pretty difficult language to learn? As I said, though, I don't exactly have the most unbiased opinion on that."

"Can't really think of anything else to say, really. Any particular reason you wanted to know?

[ViolentMedic]

Naomi listened attentively. It sounded difficult. A lot more difficult than she'd actually assumed at first. She'd thought that the grammar and such would be roughly the same, but she supposed since there was a difference between American sign language and presumably other English-speaking sign languages that it would indicate a difference.

Naomi didn't mind. Challenges were a plus.

Daniel wrapped up his miniature lecture before asking why she wanted to know.

"Oh, I'm just interested in learning. It seems like it'd be handy." Naomi stopped for a moment before backtracking. "That wasn't a pun, just a bad choice of words. But it seems useful. I wanted to take some classes on it, but there won't be time until after school ends. Thought I'd just ask, that's all."

Naomi also thought it would look great when she got into politics and started running for positions. A politician who knows sign language can show that any gestures towards the disabled are more than waffle.

"So... this is your name?" Naomi attempted to mimic the gestures Daniel had made. They'd been too fast and fluent for her to catch the entire thing. She got the first half mostly right before forgetting the next two letters entirely, though the L was obvious. "Argh. I've been watching you and Michael sign during book club meetings a lot. I remember some gestures but I don't know what they mean. I remember this one coming up a lot." She signed (badly) the word 'book.' "And I remember this one." She signed 'murderous asshole.' "I think that one was from Christmas?"

[dmboogie]

Daniel nodded as Naomi explained her reasoning. It was always useful to be able to speak to people. He couldn't help but laugh a little as she worried over her choice of words. "Don't worry about it. Most people make mistakes like that when talking about disabilities. No one is really offended by it. Well, Michael might make fun of you a little, but nothing worse than that."

He watched as she attempted to mimic the signing of his name. D-A-N-?-?-L. It was mostly right, though she messed the last part up a bit. Still, pretty decent for someone trying for the first time based entirely on watching someone else.

"Argh. I've been watching you and Michael sign during book club meetings a lot. I remember some gestures but I don't know what they mean. I remember this one coming up a lot."

Daniel was struck with a sudden feeling of dread. This was Michael they were talking about, after all. Blindly miming his gestures would most likely lead you to a deep, dark hole, one from which there is no escape. To his great relief, the word turned out to be pretty innocuous. "Ah, that is the word for "book." Makes sense that it would show up a lot, I guess."

Naomi signed a second phrase, and Daniel involuntarily flinched a bit. Ah. Here it was. He knew that it had been hiding somewhere out there. Watching. Waiting for its chance to strike when he least expected. "Er, that one is..." he trailed off. "Let us just say that it's not the best idea to copy things Michael signs without knowing what they mean. He tends to be a bit more... "colorful" than my translations indicate."

Daniel guessed that Naomi had never had the pleasure of engaging in an online chat with Michael. Just one conversation log would make a stern, middle aged mother cry tears of despair at the corrupted morality of our generation.

[ViolentMedic]

"Well, I wasn't really so worried about being offended as I was about how cringeworthy that pun was." Naomi made a face. "I mean, were I to intentionally make a pun I'd choose something better than 'handy.'"

So the first sign was book? Useful to know. Though knowing only the word book didn't help much. Naomi raised an eyebrow when Daniel neglected to actually tell her what the second sign was. "Is it really that terrible? Well, I won't demand you tell me, but my mind is assuming the worst."

Hm. It was from the Christmas meeting, we were discussing that villain who shoves children out windows... could still mean any number of things. I'll just... not sign that again until I know what it means.

Naomi frowned at her hands again. D-A-N-something-something... She paused, then tried figuring out how much of her own name she could sign. N-A... something, something, something. Ended up as just a lot of meaningless hand flailing.

"I don't want to bombard you with too many questions, that would probably get wearying... You probably wouldn't know any books on the subject, would you? Since you've been signing basically your whole life you wouldn't really need it, I suppose." Naomi peered at the bookshelves. "I wonder if they have any here..."

Slow down, Naomi, you're carting around too many books as it is.

"But another question... how do you signal two of the same letter in a row when spelling out something? Is it similar to when someone flashes their hands to mime twenty?" Naomi shook her head and smiled. "Maybe I should just stop now, each question spawns another five that I want to ask."

[Laurels]

((Rachael Langdon continued from Whatever.))

Rachael read over the paper in her hands as she walked into the library. She had been planning a new short story to write and submit to a literary magazine, and she was trying to plan out exactly what she would write for the story. The basic idea for the story was of a woman who went to sleep in her apartment, then woke up in a completely different place, as a completely different person. The woman would have this continue to happen each time she went to bed. The only constant between the awakenings is a boy wearing a red scarf.

Rachael knew the story was kind of strange, but she hoped she could make it magazine worthy. The paper was an outline of the layers of the story, detailing what the woman is like at each part of the story, what happens in each part, and where the red scarf boy appears.

As Rachael walked in, she noticed two people at a table. She smiled as she recognized the two there. First was Daniel Whitten, one of the co-founders of Book Club. Daniel was one of the oldest friends she had at Aurora. He was talking to Naomi Bell, another Book Club member who Rachael was fond of. She found it appropriate that the two were in the library when she was there.

Rachael moved closer to the two. It sounded like they were discussing sign language. Rachael was curious about ASL, primarily since Michael spent most of the time communicating using it.

"Hey guys," she said to the two. "Discussing ASl?"

[Solitair†]

((Arthur Wells continued from Whatever))

Arthur walked into the library right after Rachel, somehow without noticing the familiar face right in front of him. From time to time he would get into fugue states like that, remembering something that he'd really wanted to do some time ago, but never got around to doing. When that happened, guilt struck him and he admonished himself for letting this theoretically important task slip, even if nobody else even knew what he was trying to accomplish. So with a restless energy he would focus on getting it out of the way as soon as possible.

In this case, it was finding a place where he could comfortably read a thick-as-a-brick book. Rather, it was the thick-as-a-brick book, the one and only Infinite Jest. Something of an urban legend among reading circles for featuring not only over a thousand pages in most printed editions but hundreds of endnotes, Infinite Jest was practically a dare for anyone interested in the medium, especially when stories of people who couldn't make it past the first hundred pages flooded the internet. It had gotten such a reputation as the Mount Everest of books that its own blog site cropped up a couple years back for the purpose of helping people read it.

While Arthur was all too eager to pass up a challenge like climbing the real Mount Everest, this was right in his wheelhouse. Everything he'd heard about the book seemed like it was made for him, and while this proved to be not entirely true (especially whenever the book digressed into tennis minutiae), the writing was mostly good and there were enough great moments in the book that he kept coming back to it with increasing frequency the farther he read.

Today he felt like he had to get to the library to concentrate enough to read the book. It wasn't something that could just be skimmed, and the thought of schoolwork was starting to get to him. Combine that with all the noise in school and he just had to get away for a while and read.

And yet, the instant he actually heard Rachel speak up about ASL, he had to look up and wonder what she was talking about? Age, sex, location? No, people didn't actually say that in real life. But when he saw she was talking to Daniel, he knew what was up. American Sign Language was an interesting topic, but what he was wondering at the moment was how often Daniel had to stick with Michael. What was Michael doing without Daniel to interpret English? Was he just doing his own thing that didn't require communication? Would it be insensitive for Arthur to ask?

Wait, what was that book Daniel had? Arthur thought it looked familiar, taking another step or two toward the table Daniel sat at. Through Daniel's fingers Arthur could see a cowboy with a revolver standing in a field of roses in front of a stone tower, and Stephen King's name in black letters. "Dude, I loved that series," he said, sitting down across from Daniel. "How's that one coming?" The temptation to spoil things for him, especially a finale that many considered an anti-climax, briefly rose, but Arthur held it back. Endings, especially ones to epic fantasy sagas like this, had to be earned.

[dmboogie]

"Well, I wasn't really so worried about being offended as I was about how cringeworthy that pun was."

Ah. Yes, lame puns are terrible and to be avoided at all costs. Daniel sighed a bit as Naomi mentioned that she was assuming the worst about that one phrase. Yes, it wan't really that bad, but still, profanity was profanity. Don't want to unintentionally offend someone. Actually, assuming the worst was a pretty safe attitude to take with Michael's language, anyway.

"I don't want to bombard you with too many questions, that would probably get wearying... You probably wouldn't know any books on the subject, would you? Since you've been signing basically your whole life you wouldn't really need it, I suppose."

"Don't worry about the questions! It is always a pleasure to share knowledge with others. Sadly, I don't know any books about sign language, as you said I've never really needed any. I'll let you know if I come across a good one, though."

"But another question... how do you signal two of the same letter in a row when spelling out something? Is it similar to when someone flashes their hands to mime twenty?" - "Maybe I should just stop now, each question spawns another five that I want to ask."

"To signal the same letter, I just sort of sign the letter, un-form it, then sign it again. Like so." Daniel demonstrated. "Again, don't worry about questions. I'm always happy to help!"

He paused as Rachael walked in. There's the girl of the hour. Technically the girl of the month, really. He was caught somewhat off guard by her appearance. Sure, it was perfectly normal for her to be in the library, but still. It was like thinking intently about that one song that's stuck in your head and suddenly hearing that song play on the radio. A terrible metaphor, but whatever. Now was not the time nor the place. No, that was not just delaying the inevitable because of extreme anxiety. Shaddup, self.

"Hey guys, discussing ASl?"

Daniel nodded, unconsciously playing with his hoodie strings a bit. A nervous habit he'd never been able to shake. "Hello, Rachael. Naomi had a few questions about it, so I was teaching her a bit."

He noticed Arthur also walk in, a bit behind Rachael. Heh, this was practically a book club meeting. Daniel idly wondered where Michael was. Probably messing around on the internet at home, like usual. Go, Michael, go. Show that forum who's boss. It was a shame, though. He would be able to contribute quite a bit to the discussion, after all.

Arthur sat across from Daniel, asking his thoughts about the book. "I am quite enjoying the book so far, though I do not like the whole ka-shume thing. It annoys me when books spell out, or very heavily imply, what is going to happen next. I get it, something bad is going to happen in that town. Why not let it be a surprise? It does sort of make sense, considering the bond between the characters, but still."

[ViolentMedic]

"That'd be appreciated, though I don't expect you to go out of your way to find any books on the subject. I'll probably try and take some classes on the subject before college. It seems the sort of subject that it would be better to learn in person, there's only so much diagrams can teach."

Naomi listened to Daniel's explanation of signing two letters in a row. "So, it is like the 'two hand flashes for twenty' signal that some do? Makes sense."

She had more questions, like how to sign the rest of the letters of the alphabet, but wasn't sure if it would be too much to bother Daniel with, despite his claim that it was alright. While she was debating whether to keep asking or not in her head, Rachael and Arthur turned up.

"I was just curious about the subject," Naomi said quickly. She didn't want to bombard Daniel with more questions now. She preferred not to expose her more ignorant sides when she didn't have to, even if it was for something understandable like not knowing sign language. While she was okay admitting it to Daniel because he could help her learn, there was no need to talk about it in front of Rachael or Arthur.

The discussion quickly turned back to the book Daniel had been reading. There wasn't really much she could contribute to this, considering that she'd never read the book. Besides, she did have to put back some of the books from the giant stack in front of her. After looking through what she had, she picked out a few books she wasn't quite so eager to read.

"Sorry, I have to put these back in their proper place before class," Naomi said apologetically, before hurrying back to the shelves. The kids from Book Club were all nice people, she didn't have to worry about them stealing her bag or the books that she did want to borrow.

((Naomi Bell continued in Simple Questions Are The Trickiest.))

[Laurels]

Rachael sat down at the table as Daniel and Naomi explained what they were doing. Naomi was just curious about ASL, and came to Daniel about it. Rachael thought that was neat.

Arthur Wells then joined the group. Rachael smiled as the group got larger. She hadn't really seen Arthur since they escaped that food fight. But, it was nice to see him here.

Arthur had asked Daniel about his book. Rachael quickly looked at the cover. The Dark Tower. Hmmm. Rachael hadn't read that one. Daniel got her hooked on the A Song of Ice and Fire books, so she hasn't really looked at much else in the time since. Most of the Stephen King books she had read were ones that were generally more well known, like Carrie and Misery.

I am quite enjoying the book so far, though I do not like the whole ka-shume thing. It annoys me when books spell out, or very heavily imply, what is going to happen next. I get it, something bad is going to happen in that town. Why not let it be a surprise? It does sort of make sense, considering the bond between the characters, but still.

Rachael didn't know what "ka-shume" was, but she thought his criticism was interesting.

"That's actually kind of funny Dan," she said, "the story I'm trying to write is almost the complete opposite. You don't really get where the protagonist is going and why this is happening to her. That is, until I can find a good answer."

It was then that Naomi decided to make her exit. She had books to return, something Rachael understood the importance of. In Middle School, she once kept a copy of The Invention of Hugo Cabret for a few extra days, and had to pay a fine.

"Okay, see you later Naomi," Rachael said, waving goodbye to her friend.

She turned back to Daniel and Arthur.

"That's actually something fun to discuss: is it better for some stories to not have answers to their tales? The Lady and the Tiger makes it possible to go either way without making it easy for the reader to know which door the man picked, but I think it is better than having him open the door only to get mauled or married."

Rachael awaited their answers. She trusted Daniel and Arthur to stir her intellectually, and she hoped they could bring good points in this discussion.

[antonm1107†]

((Chris Jackson - Start))

Chris yawned as he mad his way through the door in the library. He was almost finished with Ender's Shadow and decided he'd complete it and return it as soon as possible. He stopped at the first empty table he came across; he had seen a table surrounded by 4 on the way, although he didn't pay attention to who they were. He sat down and immediately opened his book; it was about a genius boy named "Bean," and only 7 years old, who was sent to space to train to be a soldier or commander. Chris was already on the final battle, and was about to engross himself in the book when he heard something that the guys at the other table were saying.

"That's actually something fun to discuss: is it better for some stories to not have answers to their tales?"

Huh; that was Rachael, from the book club. What was she talking about? Chris put his book back in his bag before standing up and walking over to the table she was at. Yeah, Daniel, Rachael and Arthur were all talking about books. Chris smiled, and asked; "Mind if I join in?"

[Solitair†]

Arthur leaned on the table, propping his head on his hand and distorting his cheek into an unattractive shape. It took a few seconds for him to realize how rude that looked, so he sat back up in his chair and folded his arms again.

"Right, right," he said, looking Daniel in the face. "Glad you like it." Arthur was beginning to think that there wouldn't be any problems after all, since Daniel had come this far already. Daniel had presumably already read Wolves of the Calla and Song of Susannah, the other books in the series with a bad reputation, so he was used to the weird shit the series threw at him. All that remained was that ending and its coincidental link to the short story Rachel brought up. Arthur snickered when she talked about that, feeling a bit guilty that he couldn't explain why what she said was so funny.

"Now that you mention it, that's kind of a bad habit of King's," Arthur told Daniel. "I noticed him doing that once or twice in The Stand. I love The Stand, it's one of my favorite books, but every time I read this one part where he says that these two girls aren't going to meet ever again, ugh." In his exasperation Arthur once again propped his head on one hand. "I didn't really notice it happening in other stories until you pointed it out. Honestly, given the choice I would probably prefer the author be vague and ambiguous instead of ham-fisted with the foreshadowing. That way at least they're assuming we're smarter than we really are, instead of dumber."

Arthur gave Chris an idle wave, barely glancing in his direction. The discussion was starting to get him fired up. "Actually, now that you mention it, I've been reading this one book on and off for about a year now and it doesn't really have an ending either. It's really fucking big, too, so they probably could have added a few more pages to tie everything together. But I think there might be a few reasons to justify not including the climax. One, it's more about being a series of vignettes than a straightforward narrative. There is cause and effect in play, but there's so many, um, details and such it's hard to notice. And from what I can gather, there are enough little clues in there to let you figure out for yourself how things end, plus it's kind of relates to the theme of the book and what it has to say about entertainment as we know it... I'm not making much sense, am I?" He scratched the back of his head and sighed.