Saturday, June 28, 2014

Oracularities

So in the early 1990s, I started participating in the Internet Oracle, all the way back when it was still called the Usenet Oracle. This morning, I got a sudden bug to post links to as many of my digested Oracularities as I can remember, before I completely forget which ones were mine. I'm sure this list is incomplete, but since the Oracularity folks themselves keep no records that I'm aware of, this reconstruction is the best I can do.

  • My first digested Oracularity. It's not terribly funny, but it was the first one the priests accepted, so I was hugely excited. I bugged half a dozen friends to come look, and had to explain to each of them exactly what the Usenet Oracle was.
  • I think this is the longest one I ever wrote. Bit wordy, and it wasn't entirely sporting to stretch the premise that far.
  • After those first two, I had a long dry spell until this one was accepted. I was surprised at how high its score was. It's full of inside jokes, and might not make sense to someone new to the IO.
  • Shortest one I ever wrote. I was proud of this one, because my favorites have always been the one-liners. I don't think it's that funny, but I did succeed in being concise.
  • For some reason, writing for the IO put me in touch with my female side, so I had a pattern of writing Oracularities with Lisa premises.
After the above, I had only two more goals to work toward, and once I reached them, I didn't pay nearly as much attention to the IO. Those goals were ...
  • More than one Oracularity in a single digest, which I accomplished with this one and this one.
  • Getting an Oracularity into the Best Of, which I accomplished with this one, and then again with this oneMy feminine side is on display again. Or maybe it's just all those years of teaching the gender unit in Interpersonal. 
  • Oh, and I almost forgot this one, which happened between the two that made the Best Of. This one didn't score very well, but my interest in the Oracle was declining.
At any rate, there we have a little insight into my growth over the years as a writer, and especially an amateur humor writer.

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