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Tippi N. Blevins November 15, 2002 at 10 pm ET |
Originally from Taiwan and living in Texas, Tippi N. Blevins has written stories ranging from humor to horror, fantasy to science fiction, and almost everything in between. Her work has appeared in dozens of magazines, websites, and anthologies over the past few years. Soon you'll be able to read select stories on Tippi's site, including new works in her Tribal series of vampire fiction as well as a few reprints. When not writing, Tippi pursues her interests in anthropology, marine biology, and weird music. Bibliography: Books:
Short fiction:
Poetry:
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JaniceMars Folks...tonight we're having a special chat...
JaniceMars with Tippi Blevins Khael-Nor i always like hearing what talented author's have to say Londo yay! * Khael-Nor claps Tippi Why thanks! And hell, everyone, thanks for coming. JaniceMars Tippi is the author of several short stories and poems and one of her... Tippi or... hello. not hell. smirf-smirfing I cant read, but i like vampires! Javacakejulie Want to give us a little background JaniceMars favorite themes is vampires. JaniceMars Tippi...would you like to give us a little background on yourself? Midnight`` hi Tippi Ooh OK. Background... JaniceMars Just a second. Midnight`` just thought i'd eaves-drop for a bit Tippi I'm from Taiwan originally but I've been living in Texas most of my life. I've been making up stories since I was a kid and entertaining/torturing friends and family with them... Tippi Is there any particular background type stuff you wanted to know? JaniceMars Sure...Tippi, why did you move to Texas from Taiwan originally? If you don't mind? Tippi I was 5 months old at the time. My dad was working there and brought me back. :) JaniceMars Can you tell us Tippi, what it is about vampires that you find so compelling? Midnight`` i would like to know how you got from writing stories to getting published Tippi Well actually when I was 4 or 5, I was petrified of vampires. Blame it on late night Hammer films. Londo heehehe JaniceMars LOL. Midnight`` good place to start :) Blackjack Heh Midnight`` i would like to know how you got from writing stories to getting published Tippi and at the same time, I was also petrified of sharks... Tippi so, being one to dislike being afraid, I started reading up on both... and I think I'm interested in vampires because... Tippi as a writer, I'm interested in the immortality of the written word, so to speak, so symbolically, vampires kind of represent that. JaniceMars Thanks Tippi... Tippi For Midnight The road from writing to publishing has sometimes been a long one... Tippi I started researching the markets that published the kinds of stories I like to read and write, and targeted them with my stories... Tippi ...my first publications were in very very small zines, very obscure, but it gave me the confidence to keep going and trying bigger markets. Tippi what was the next Q? sorry JaniceMars Blackjack...did that answer your first question? Tippi Sorry I've gotten a little lost Blackjack Sort of JaniceMars Don't worry about it Tippi... Midnight`` it's ok.. i've just got a few ideas that i've got.. some stuff that i've written, and didn't know what to do with it Donna- Tippi You're working with Top Cow. Are there are preferred comic writers that inspired you to work in comics? Tippi Did Julie have a question? Tippi I remember it scrolling by JaniceMars Yes she did... JaniceMars Julie wants to know What is your take on the vampire mythology... Tippi Julie it varies. I've written humorous vampires because it seems like most vampire fiction out there is about cool suave guys, and I wanted to look at something a little different. But I've also written what might be considered more standard type vampires... Tippi I'm not sure if you mean vampires in general or in my own writing, but I think there's more to vampires than blood drinking, and I want to try to see what other angles can be taken. Tippi Someone asked about comics Donna- That was me Donna- Tippi You're working with Top Cow. Are there are preferred comic writers that inspired you to work in comics? Tippi Donna I'm honestly very new to comics. I have a lot of history to catch up on. .. Tippi ...I used to read the well-known titles, like X-Men and Superman, Batman, when I was in highschool, and then it went by the wayside... Tippi and now that I'm picking it up again, after a reading hiatus, I've really been enjoying things like Codename Knockout from Vertigo.. Tippi ...which I think is just self-aware in the best way, and snappy and funny... Tippi and I want to see how my story writing translates into the visual. :) Donna- Tippi would you mind if I suggested a few? Some that will likely put your head i a twist but are wonderful all the same Tippi Donna please email me thanks! I'd love it. www.tippinblevins.com has a link KNITE Are you a Buffy the Vampire fan? KNITE I meant Vampire Slayer Tippi Knite Yes, I am a Buffy fan! I really enjoy the way they;'re able to use humor, action, and darkness all at once. Javacakejulie what are your influences Tippi Julie Oh wow. Probably too long to go into them all here. Although I didn't agree with Ayn Rand's politics, I did take something important from the Fountainhead, when I was in high school, about sticking to something you believe in... Tippi ...and about believing in your work... Tippi ...and actually, someone like Richard Ellis who writes marine biology books in such a way that it is as entertaining as fiction influences me. I learned that a good story is a good story, fictional or otherwise... Tippi ...and one of my first editors, Alayne Gelfand, really pushed me to keep trying to find unique vampire stories to write. She wouldn't take "easy" stories from me. T83 Tippi, earlier I was not clear enough, I guess. How do you portray female vampires? Tippi T83 I don't think I particular go at it from a perspective of "how should I portray this female vampire?" so much as "how do I make this character believable and interesting" female or otherwise... Tippi and even then, it's not so much about making them interesting, but about finding an interesting character, and finding ways to get that to come across on the page... Tippi One female vampire in my story "The Promise" was a hemophiliac, which I understood to be rare among women, and another in "The Tale of Inaya and the Feeder" was the founder of vampire "hunters" JaniceMars Thanks Tippi. Baryon Your writing seems more about the "humanity" of the characters, yet it is just below the surface. Do Many readers miss the subtlety? Tippi You can find that last story on my site, by the way, in the library http//www.tippinblevins.com Tippi Barry Interesting question and thanks!.... Tippi ...I obviously don't know any real vampires. The only way I can relate to them and then in turn for the reader to relate to them, is to get to their human core, I guess... Tippi And I think most readers do get the distinction. Actually it's probably more editors who don't... ;) Tippi How many markets have I seen closed to the idea of a vampire story without even reading it? Tippi And in a way I can understand, because most of them probably ARE about the usual tropes... Tippi ...but I hope people will read the stories and make up their minds for themselves.... Tippi Along those lines I have a special for Cybling chatters http//www.tippinblevins.com/library/dreams/gone-prev.htm is the first few pages of a novelette in my new book! Javacakejulie What is your favorite vampire novel * Ravenstone cheers Tippi Julie Probably Interview, for nostalgic reasons, plus the format of the book is very unique, I think, or was back in its day... Tippi ...I know that's kind of a common answer but I have old fashioned tastes ;) JaniceMars Thanks Tippi! OWG Tippi, how do you develop your characters? Tippi OWG Ooh that's hard to say... Tippi I think I just try to get to know them and listen to them and put down on the page as honest a portrayal as I can... Tippi I've talked to a friend about this, but it's like peeling an onion, and you keep peeling away layers... Tippi to get deeper and deeper into the core of a character. If a motivation comes too easily, I'm sometimes wary and try to look closer at why they might be doing what they're doing. BLR Do you haunt the local cemeterys for mood or to get location ideas? Tippi BLR The local cemetery is pretty tame. There's a cemetery in my story "Gone" (http//www.tippinblevins.com/library/dreams/gone-prev.htm for a preview) in Metairie LA... Tippi ...which I had to find out about from someone who'd been there as I wasn't able to go myself. JaniceMars Thanks Tippi! JaniceMars Tippi...I just finished your story INSIDE... JaniceMars That was in your new book... Tippi Dude you've seen my new book? *I* haven't seen my new book! ;) JaniceMars Vampire Angst. Londo LOL Ravenstone lol JaniceMars Yes, I ordered it from Amazon.com Khael-Nor Tippi have u seen a manga called VampireHunterD Tippi oh well, you're smart then! :) Khael-Nor ? Tippi Khael No I haven't but it's on my viewing list this holiday. Khael-Nor hehhehe Khael-Nor its very kewl Khael-Nor puts a nice spin on vampires Tippi I look forward to seeing it then Techyo I love your online journal and admire your guts in doing such a thing. And did you survive the floods ok. Tippi Techyo Hey how about that! Someone actually reads that thing! And yes I did survive, thanks. Khael-Nor ahhhh kP Conlady what do you read for pleasure...what authors? Tippi conlady This may sound odd, but I absolutely adore marine biology, science, and evolutionary theory books... Tippi I can't get enough of them... Tippi I'm reading one about coelacanths whose author unfortunately escapes me... and love Richard Ellis... and Carl Zimmer... Khael-Nor i like reading bout the Egyptians P Tippi And John Maisey... Tippi And I enjoy Laurel K Hamilton's fun vampire books, though I'm behind on her series. Rowr Are there some vampire-themed books you just can't get into, and wonder why? Tippi Rowr Hmm... I think the true horror books, like Lumley's, escape me, because of that old childhood fear of vampires, I guess. Techyo I must go Tippi I've heard great things about you. And plan to read them myself soon. Keep on writting neighbor. G Night JaniceMars Tippi...wanted to ask you a question about your poetry.... Tippi About the new book http//www.tippinblevins.com/library/dreams JaniceMars did you start writing poetry first or prose? Tippi Janice Prose. But I was horrible at it. Truly, truly horrible... JaniceMars Horrible? How so? Tippi and poetry was a way for me to get to the essence of storytelling... Tippi my first story attempts were your typical "And they turned out to be Adam and Eve!" things... Tippi ...or things with no plots and no real characters... Tippi just long wandering pointless things... Tippi and poetry forced me to be concise... Tippi and to learn an economy of words... Tippi I don't know if I always succeed now, but I'm at least more likely to know when I screw up. ;) BaryonTippi, try some of Lumley's shorter stories to get into his style and then try the Necroscope books JaniceMars Thanks so much Tippi Tippi thanks baryon Conlady Do you go to Conventions? and Super Nova is a nice poem. Tippi Conlady I do go to conventions, though not as many now as I used to. I try to make AggieCon here in TX every year, and ConSortium, also in TX... Tippi and I sometimes get to cons in CA... Tippi and thanks about Super Nova. It's a very old one. :) JaniceMars Oh...that' s good news for ConLady. T83 What was the first story you ever read about a female vampire? Tippi T83 Ooh gosh. Probably Carmilla, I guess? Tippi ----bad about remembering sequence of events JaniceMars And we thank you. Tippi :) JaniceMars T8 says he's bad about that too. JaniceMars Tippi... JaniceMars you mention in your bio that you'll be putting short fiction up on your website... JaniceMars Now I see you have one story up there right now... is this the first? And how often do you plan... JaniceMars to rotate the stories? Tippi I have two up now. "The Tale of Inaya and the Feeder" and "The Dog-Faced Boy and the Amazing Winged Man"... Tippi the first is a vampire story and the second is science fiction... Tippi I plan on putting up "Gone", a novelette from my book... Tippi ...I don't have a particular schedule but... Tippi people can subscribe to my newsletter http//groups.yahoo.com/group/InHerElement to find out when new stories go up... Tippi or just check the library page at http//www.tippinblevins.com/library/ JaniceMars Excellent suggestion Tippi! sfaf Tippi, your comments about poetry forcing conciseness lead me to ask if you ever read Neil Gaiman's "15 Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot"? If so, what did you think of it? Tippi sfaf I don't think I've had the pleasure of reading that one. Conlady Do you set out to write Vampire or SF stories or do you just go where the words take you? Tippi Conlady I don't think I set out to write any particular genre of story... Tippi an idea comes to me in various ways and I poke at it in my head until it seems like enough of a story... Tippi and then I start putting it down, and sometimes it's mainstream, sometimes it's humor, sometimes vampire, etc... Tippi basically, I just go with what takes hold of me. :) JaniceMars Thanks Tippi. Blackjack Do you consider yourself a popular author yet...if so...when did you decide that was so...and if not... JaniceMars when will you think that it is so. Tippi Blackjack Hmm I don't think I consider myself popular. It's always a bit of a pleasant surprise to see my name on something... Tippi the unfortunate thing about writing... Blackjack ... Tippi is that once your story is published, you don't usually have a way of knowing what people thought of it, or even if people read it... * Blackjack is thinking of persuing a career in writing Blackjack That is what i wanted to email you about Tippi even though writing is very interactive, in my way of thinking, an experience between writer and reader... Tippi you usually don't get the feedback from the reader... Tippi so you just hope your stories found their audience. Popular or not. :) BLR We had an interesting question come up in chat last night Tippi. If you ate vampire flesh would you become a vampire? Even if it was cooked well done? JaniceMars lol Tippi BLR well for me it would have to be soy vampire flesh, so I guess I'd become... what. Bunnicula? * Ryan chuckles. JaniceMars lolol Tippi And actually... Tippi in a future series of stories in my "Tribal" series... Tippi there's a war between blood drinker vampires and flesh eater vampires... so maybe that'll be answered. ;) JaniceMars Folks...we've had Tippi on the hot seat for about an hour now...and I'd like to ask for final questions... Londo Boxers or Briefs, Tippi Londo What do you prefer on a guy? :-) Tippi Boxer briefs, Londo. Tippi ---diplomatic in the underwear department Londo heeheee... JaniceMars Any final final questions from Cybling? JaniceMars Any final final questions from O*W*C? JaniceMars Okay...in that case...let's all thank Tippi N. Blevins for joining us this evening.... Tippi Thanks for having me! Check out my book at http//www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587153475/ and read previews here http//www.tippinblevins.com/library/dreams CDRK Qapla` SBR Night Tippi, and thank you for coming. Ara Thanks, Tippi! Tippi Thanks everyone. I enjoyed it. OWG Thanks for coming, Tippi Conlady Thanks Tippi! KNITE Night tippi Blackjack Bye Tippi Thanks! JaniceMars Thank you so much Tippi! Tippi Yes feel free to contact me through my site. I may be slow... Tippi ...but will eventually reply! BLR Stop back in anytime :) Tippi Hope you enjoy the book, Janice! JaniceMars I already am! * Ravenstone cheers |
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Tippi Blevins hello! DaveKuz Hi! Baryon Hi Tippi, hope all is well Tippi Blevins Hi! Doin' fine thanks! DaveKuz Been a while since Spacer's Digest, huh? Tippi Blevins Sure has! OWC Tippi, I have a couple of questions from the board if you'd like to start with them? Tippi Blevins Sure! DaveKuz I forgot what you've written most recently. John Shanahan Since I may not be Web-enabled in time (and I hate to miss Tippi!), I must ask: Novel plans? Any? Soon? Please? Tippi Blevins I'm working on one novel for sure, with a subject matter that's a bit of a departure for me, as it's "mainstream". No aliens or vampires and no zombies with rotting body parts. It's a lot of fun to write, though, and it's a great learning experience. I'm also working on other novels, but rather sporadically. I'd love to write something for Joey Espinoza, a character in my website serial, which would be my take on the sub-sub-genre of vampire rock stars. There's always something in the works. Stay tuned. :) Terry HI Tippi, sorry I can't stay up late enough to chat live! :( I want to know what comes first when you're writing: your protagonist's face, or the plot, or maybe a setting? And do you fall in love with your heros like I do mine? Tippi Blevins It varies, really. Sometimes I'll hear a piece of music and some image comes to mind or I'll read some article in the newspaper or something, and it clicks with something I might have seen years ago to form a whole idea. As to the falling in love question, I also sometimes fall in love with the villains ;-) OWC Have you ever based a story from one of your dreams? Tippi Blevins Oh yeah, totally. Usually it's not word for word, exactly, but I once had a dream that I'd stolen a truckload of pecans to ransom to the circus for the elephants, and I changed it to peanuts for the story, because my waking brain is better at those kinds of details.Or, my story "The Dog-Faced Boy" came from a dream partly, as well after having not slept for 3 weeks. rochelle My story "Appropriate Punishment" came from a dream. It is making the rounds right now. It is at Century at this moment. OWC have you traveled to Romania? Or Gothic countries where vampires supposedly dwelled? PN Elrod 2 Tippi--you better say hi and huggies or I'll sic Nigel on you! [G] Tippi Blevins Hey Pat!! Great of you to come!! Answering the question... The most gothic place I've been is probably an old church like... in Texas or something. I guess Gothic is where you find it. ;-) BettyAlias Hi Tippi Karina Question for Tippi: Who has been your favorite character to write? Tippi Blevins Hi everyone who just came in :) Oooh just picking one? I really love writing the Fangsters characters (a serial on my website) Because they kind of poke fun of the kind of vampire stories I usually write. They have a lot of fun. But I have stories in Dreams of Decadence which use a recurring character, Alex, who I like a lot. Dfproject Yes...have you ever been to the haunted railroad tracks in San Antonio? This place is a legend Tippi Blevins No, I sure haven't... Or not that I know of. I've been to San Antonio. Baryon Vampires are a common lot in todays fiction, what draws you to them and how do you keep them fresh? Tippi Blevins Good question! Tippi Blevins I think I like the challenge... For so long, I kept hearing people say how much they hated vampire fiction, how they were tired and cliche. I'm the kind of person who wants to try something because someone says it can't be done. rochelle Tippi, dry ice can help. Tippi Blevins lol. And I like exploring the myths as well as creating new ones. I think it's fertile ground, creatively. AmaSmart1 Where did you get your influence to write about vampires? Tippi Blevins Actually when I was a kid, I was really scared of vampires. I mean, really scared. I slept with a crucifix when I was four. At some point, I think my aunt gave me a copy of Interview With the Vampire, when I was a teenager. And let's not discount the artistic importance of Love At First Bite. But seriously, I like poking around in things that scare me and turning it around into something that interests me. BettyAlias Who are your favorite writers? Tippi Blevins This is where my bad memory is going to haunt me. Actually, I have a lot of favorite authors outside the genre like... Richard Ellis who writes fantastic marine biology books, Berke Breathed who used to do the Bloom County strips, E.M. Forster who wrote A Room With a View, Howard's End, etc... and who could turn a phrase so amazingly well I still envy it. Lots and lots of authors, too many to name or remember. :) PN Elrod Don't forget yer ol' con cronies, girl. ;]) Tippi Blevins Never, Pat! BettyAlias What do you do if/when you get blocked? Tippi Blevins I listen to music, mostly. If I get frustrated with something or can't get something out of my head onto paper there's nothing like a little Nine Inch Nails to bash it out. Other than that, I work on many things at the same time. So that if I get stuck on something I can switch to another project. So I'm never totally blocked or anything because I can move to something else :) T83BIRD Tippi, I'd like to know what you think makes a vampire a convincing character. Tippi Blevins Fangs that don't fall out when they bite someone! Ok ok... wait... That's not my real answer ;-) For my own characters, I try to keep it as 'realistic' as possible, I guess. Some of my vampires have jobs. One of them is lactose intolerant. But in the more... supernatural stories... I guess what makes them realistic would be a consistent mythology for that universe... something well-developed. The same thing that makes other kinds of characters convincing. :) BettyAlias What % of your inspiration do you credit to NIN? ;) Tippi Blevins Oh a goodly portion. Mr. Self-Destruct kicks my inner critic's @ss... rochelle What is NIN? Tippi Blevins (NIne Inch Nails) But on an inspirational level the Left disk of the Fragile set is almost always on the player when I write Alex's Tribal stories. BLR WIZ I could just imagine a Vampires Dental bill....... Tippi Blevins The Oloroso vampires go through a lot of floss and they wear retainers. BettyAlias never quite come clean PN Elrod 2 Tippi--it was a GREAT and lovely surprise to see you here! But I can't stay. I'll write you via your website. Gang, check it out, ok? Tippi Blevins Aw thanks Pat! JamesAB5 Tippi, what projects are you working on, anything we can read Real Soon Now? Tippi Blevins I am working on a comic book miniseries co-written with Fiona Avery. I'm waiting for a collection of vampire stories and poems to be published by DNA Publications. Wendy Rathbone and I have stories in that collection. I don't know when that will be out, but I'll post info on my website as I get it, I *hope* to have more info soon. Other than that, most everything else is personal projects and I don't know when they'll see the light of day yet. BettyAlias Do you feel maternal toward your characters? Tippi Blevins Hmmm... I feel protective of them in some ways. Writers sometimes joke about their 'babies'. I feel protective even of the ones I hate sometimes ;-) BettyAlias What do you think of Buffy? Tippi Blevins I think it's a lot of fun and I try to watch it every week. It doesn't take itself too seriously all the time. It's very smart and I think it did a good bit to revitalize the vamp sub-genre. BettyAlias What are the universal laws, in that universe Tippi Blevins In what universe? Buffy? BettyAlias This goes back to an earlier topic Tippi Blevins I'm a little lost... BettyAlias The alternate universe you were saying that a realistic character would be realistic for his/her own universe, or something like that Tippi Blevins Oh about consistency within the created universe? BettyAlias how have you formed it? Yes. Tippi Blevins Oh that! Ok. I have two main vamp universes: The Oloroso, TX/Fangsters stories, and the Tribal stories. Oloroso came about because after reading many vampire stories, I noticed most of them took place in interesting fabulous places -- New York, New Orleans, San Fran, etc. And I wanted vamps in my hometown, which I recreated as Oloroso, TX. The laws are very basic, pretty much like our own. It's a very "realistic" setup where the vampires aren't terribly suave or powerful. In the Tribal stories, they have a little more coolness factor. The main thing about creating that universe has been to delve into what kind of myths the vamps themselves would have. In the DNA Collection, forthcoming, I should have a story about a creature that preys on vampires on the night of the new moon, because it is so sensitive to light it can't even tolerate the moon. Boy I talked a lot! I think that's it :) BettyAlias They all seem to have a good sense of humor, which kind of balances the misfortune of being a vampire, doesn't it? Tippi Blevins Yeah :) Cephalopodperson Once upon a time, vampires were inhuman monsters, born of evil and wholly inimical to humanity. Before the vampire explosion of the last quarter century, most people would intelligently fear being turned. Now, qith vampires effectively humanized, what's the "downside" to being a vampire, and shouldn't there *be* a downside? Tippi Blevins WOO Cephalopods! Squids rule! * Tippi absorbing question Cephalopodperson Qith is the archaic spelling of aspirin, BTW. _ Tippi Blevins Well, I wouldn't want to shave my legs every day for the rest of eternity and, as a vegetarian, I'd be hard-pressed to be a bloodsucker... OWC lol Tippi Blevins Every "super hero" or ultra cool character has a downside. It's what makes them more interesting, to me, anyway. Whether it's "holy crap not kryptonite again!" or "can't go out in the day time." I like a nice downside now and then. BettyAlias What other genres do you enjoy writing? Tippi Blevins Just about everything, really. Science fiction, fantasy. I don't actually write that much horror, ironically. And I'm even writing a sort of mainstream humor novel now. Basically I enjoy writing anything that presents a chance for a good story :) BLR WIZ So now you write ironic horror? Tippi Blevins Sort of, yeah. :) I'm not good at horror, or what I define as horror being something with the intention of scaring you. I get to the point where the zombie is going to grab the guy and I can't help myself. His hand rots off and falls to the floor or something. OWC Folks we have time for one more question. Raise your hand by typing a !...first one up wins. Cheeky ! BettyAlias ! Cheeky she won ;) OWC Okay...one from Zyxt and Cheeky hold on. HOST EBK Zyxt Will you come back and visit us when your next piece gets published? Tippi Blevins Sure, if y'all will have me! OWC Cheeky.. go ahead. Cheeky Where can we find out more about your upcoming projects? Do you have a newsletter or anything and what can we do to help if anything to spread the word about your new works with DNA or other places? Like where is your new coming coming out? Tippi Blevins Oh my! Cheeky comic that is Tippi Blevins My website is at http://www.realtippi.com/ and I post news there at least once a week. DNA Publications is taking pre-orders for my book, as far as I know. It wouldn't hurt to write to them and ask them about it! Jimbo http://www.dnapublications.com/ right? Tippi Blevins Yep! I have a newsletter, goes out once a month or so, and you can find it linked on my website. Cheeky thanks! OWC Okay folks...let's thank Tippi for coming out and answering our questions tonight. Cephalopodperson Thanks, Tippi! JamesAB5 thanks, Tippi :-) Tippi Blevins Thanks for coming, everyone. I had a great time. Karina Thanks, Tippi! Great chat! rochelle Thanks, Tippi. Cheeky thanks, you were terrific BLR WIZ Thanks tippi _ HOST EBK Zyxt How often do you shave poodles, Tippi? Thanks for coming by tonight. : ) Tippi Blevins LOL Only when their stubble gets too long. STARMOM79 Thanks Tippi Tippi Blevins Thanks everyone! See you next time, hopefully. BettyAlias nice chattin w/ ya! |
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