Date: April 18, 2007 08:04 am Title: It's never simultaneous in real life
Love it. I absolutely cannot wait to see what they posted. Great story, very well done.
Author's Response: Thank you! I'll update ASAP--ASAP!! ;)
Date: April 18, 2007 08:00 am Title: She thinks I'm cute
Ha! I love the idea of them making MySpace pages for each other. That is so perfectly in character.
Author's Response: Thanks! I don't have a MySpace account, so it's kind of a challenge to realistically portray the entries, but I'll do my best. :)
Date: April 18, 2007 07:47 am Title: It's never simultaneous in real life
Oooo, I can't wait to read those entries. I love Karen in this story. She's being very mature. By the way, the chapter title had me giggling. Then again, I've been told I have a dirty mind. ;)
Author's Response: Ha! The chapter title was supposed to be dirty, but you're the first person to comment on it. So you win the Dirtiest Mind Dundee.
Date: April 18, 2007 06:55 am Title: It's never simultaneous in real life
Ok, I love the myspace/blog stuff. And if you don't update soon I shall implode.
Author's Response: Oooh, that's not good. If you feel your teeth melt and slide down the back of your throat, seek medical help immediately (if your healthcare plan allows), because that's the first sign of impending implosion.
Date: April 18, 2007 06:48 am Title: It's never simultaneous in real life
Your Karen is very, very cool. Also, this is possibly the best description of Dwigt I've ever read: He was an odd man with strange and unpredictable aptitudes.
I love this story!
Author's Response: Yay--thanks! I just love Dwight.
Date: April 18, 2007 05:52 am Title: It's never simultaneous in real life
I love it except for the cliffhanger. Evil hobbit.
Author's Response: I've always wanted to be evil! But I will update soon, so I guess I'm not entirely committed to the dark side. ;)
Date: April 18, 2007 04:10 am Title: Percussive maintenance
Really liking this so far. One question (purely out of curiosity): do they call it "pop" in Pennsylvania? I have only heard it called that in the Pacific NW, but I have never lived in the NE. Kind of random but this inquiring mind wants to know.
Author's Response: That is an excellent question, and I knew when I was typing it I should probably have said "soda," because I think that's what they say there. I have relatives on the East coast, and I sort of think that's the term they use there. I grew up in the Midwest, where they say pop, and I now live in the Pacific NW, where they say pop. And I believe in the South they call everything coke, even if it's Pepsi or root beer or 7-Up. Regional differences are interesting, huh?
Date: April 18, 2007 04:01 am Title: It's never simultaneous in real life
I am seriously bouncing up and down in my chair. this story is so much fun! I can't wait for thenext chapter!
Author's Response: Thanks! I'll update soon, I promise.
Date: April 17, 2007 11:55 pm Title: It's never simultaneous in real life
Gah, that's evil! As if the Casino Night cliffhanger wasn't enough... well, okay, maybe this wasn't in the same league, but Jam fans wary of cliffhangers, you know! With good reason. Anyway, I really liked Karen's email to Pam. You've made her so... sympathetic, and that's good, 'cause I felt bad disliking her for the mere fact of her existence. Stupid Jim and Pam, though, (especially Pam, even though I LOVE LOVE LOVE her) paralysed by their fear. Very in character, of course! Anyway, can't wait to read what they wrote on their blogs, so... update as soon as possible!
Author's Response: Hee! I promise I won't leave you hangin' for three months and then come back with them walking away from each other. If that helps at all. ;)
Date: April 17, 2007 11:01 pm Title: It's never simultaneous in real life
you are a meanie
more please *bats eyelashes*
Author's Response: Yes, I know. I should be slapped, probably. ;) I will update soon!
Date: April 17, 2007 10:54 pm Title: It's never simultaneous in real life
I'm really looking forward to the next chapter--this piece is so much fun to read!
Author's Response: Thanks so much. It's fun to write, too! I know this chapter was a bit of a tease, but I'll put out soon. ;)
Date: April 16, 2007 10:40 pm Title: You always paid for dinner
I really really enjoyed this....I don't want to hate Karen, really I don't but she's standingin the way of Jim and Pam...so it was nice that you let her go in a fun sort of way
Can't wait for more
Author's Response: Yep, I know how you feel. Next chapter is almost done, so I'll try to post it tomorrow. :)
Date: April 16, 2007 07:05 pm Title: You always paid for dinner
No, I thought the breakup scene was great. Karen should be smart enough to know that none of it's her fault and... there's really nothing she can do that's going to make her relationship work out with Jim. I think you have a lovely way of writing these characters, and you're really bringing my sympathy back to Jim (it's been wholly with Pam for a while now). Heeheh, I can't wait to see what he writes on her Myspace! Great stuff - you managed to cheer me up on a bad day. Looking forward to more!
Author's Response: Thank you! I spent a lot of time feeling bad for Pam, too--and I still do--but I think Jim is still hurt over her rejection and afraid to try again, and whenever I think of his poor little puppy-dog face when she told him "I can't," I just melt into a puddle of goo. So I had to make him kinda sweet and innocent in this. :)
Date: April 16, 2007 06:07 pm Title: You always paid for dinner
I think this is realistic.
You had some killer funny lines in here:
"So when I let you go so you can pursue her at last, if you fail to do so, I will kick your skinny ass."; "Well, I guess I’ll have to go for the sea monster then." and "Sea monster’s been wanting to hit this for months."
And Ben & Jerry's is a good choice. Helps along the healing. I'm guessing New York Super Fudge Chunk.
Nice job.
Author's Response: In my mind it was Karmel Sutra, but either way. :)
Date: April 16, 2007 05:58 pm Title: She thinks I'm cute
Oh, sweet! The MySpace page was so cute, and then he started to do one for her!
Author's Response: Thanks! I thought it would be kind of fun because a) Jenna has a MySpace page for herself and Pam, so it's kind of an homage to that, and b) it seems like the kind of thing Jim and Pam would do. I'm glad you're enjoying it. :)
Date: April 16, 2007 05:27 pm Title: You always paid for dinner
I think this is one of the best ways this breakup could possibly go. It makes me happy. I think it pays decent respect to Karen's character. I really hope that it goes this way on the show, so I can be left saying, "Karen rules!" and "Yay Jim and Pam potential!" and not be too worried that Karen's been drastically hurt. It's good that she's come to the realization herself here.
Author's Response: Yep, I agree. One of the things that's bothered me about Karen on the series is that, for a strong-minded, smart woman, she found out Jim still had feelings for Pam and just...didn't seem to do anything. Now, knowing her propensity for "long talks," I'm sure there was a lot of that, but I've always been surprised that Jim dropped that bomb on her and then nothing seemed to come of it.
Date: April 16, 2007 02:15 pm Title: You always paid for dinner
I am enjoying this story so far. Yeah, Karen is probably cooler than most of us would be in real life, but I can totally justify it as 1) she's been seeing this coming for a while and the fact that she has the control in deciding when they break up helps her keep it together and 2) she is keeping it together with him but will have her own little meltdown in private later on. So yeah, it works for me. I'm just enjoying Karen as a normal person. Anyway, looking forward to more chapters!
Author's Response: Thank you! I'm glad she came off as Strong!Karen and not Bitchy!Karen (or UnbelievablyUnderstanding!Karen). :)
Date: April 16, 2007 12:55 pm Title: You always paid for dinner
Oooh, I'm really liking this. You've done a good job at capturing the voices of each character.
And yay for the Big Breakup! I do feel bad for Karen, I do but it's got to happen sometimes right? And you wrote it with perfect class. Nice job.
Author's Response: Thank you--that's so nice of you to say!
Date: April 16, 2007 12:03 pm Title: You always paid for dinner
i really like your portrayal of karen. i think you did a really good job of making their(inevitable ;)) breakup more plausible, and i like how karen wasn't such a total b*tch like she is in someother fanfics
Author's Response:
Thanks! Yeah, I've seen Karen be quite a biznatch in fics, and it usually works in those scenarios, but I didn't want herto be that way in mine. :)
Date: April 16, 2007 07:14 am Title: You always paid for dinner
I LOVE YOU
Seriously, you are amazing. You were able to alternate between funny and heartbreaking so well.
“I don’t think I’ve ever really been alone with you, have I?”
SUCH a good line. And the entire breakup was the best Jim/Karen breakup I've read. Karen is so kickass in this. I love her to pieces. Sea monster. Heh.
Author's Response: Hooray! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope it'll help tide you over until you get your internet access back. :)
Date: April 16, 2007 05:57 am Title: You always paid for dinner
This was a very mature Karen- probably too cool for real life, but maybe not too cool for TV. And I giggled through the whole "sea monster" exchange. Perfect, snarky, awesome. You do a great job of making Karen seem great without making Pam any less perfect for Jim.
Date: April 16, 2007 05:50 am Title: She thinks I'm cute
How cute! Poor Jim, caught between his girlfriend and the woman he adores.
Author's Response: Yep, exactly. And Jim is too sweet to break up with Karen, so she had to take the reins. :)
Date: April 16, 2007 04:30 am Title: You always paid for dinner
IT WILL HAPPEN, thank you, invis!!
I adored the Myspace and the heart-aflutter and I loved this chapter, too - Karen is not a bad person, she's just not the right person, and I think she's smart enough and strong enough to realise that what she and Jim has is going nowhere, because he is in love with Pam and will probably always be. [here I go again, with my stupid bias.] It's part of the reason I found her 'conversations' after The Return a little irritating and a little out-of-character - I don't think she's stay in that - but maybe it says something about the fact that Jim is Jim, after all - who can't love him? ;)
I like how you got her across, though - she's definitely not too understanding ["try not to kiss her in front of me"], but she's not a bitch, too, with the joking and the definite light-heartedness of it all. I'm prepared to bet, though, that she cried into her ice-cream while watching Bridget Jones' Diary. ;) She just wouldn't have done that in front of Jim. Finally it feels like she's back to being the Karen in Stamford again, the one I genuinely liked, and I love that you made it completely believable!
Anyway, I guess this sudden rush of updates probably means there won't be another for a couple of days. Ah, heck - I love this chapter and I can survive with this one. :D
Author's Response: Wow, thanks for the detailed review! I'm so glad Karen came across the way I wanted her to. I really don't want to hate Karen. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I think part of the reason she's been a bit bitchy on the show is that she has to deal with her jealousy over Jim's feelings for Pam, and try to ignore the fact that she'll never be the right girl for him. That's gotta wear on a girl. So I wanted to bring her back to a state of cool. :)
Date: April 16, 2007 01:24 am Title: You always paid for dinner
Bravo! Excellent job on The Breakup. Karen was very believable. Now, onto the next chapter, please! ;)
Author's Response: Thanks! I worried about the believability factor. Next chapter soon.
Date: April 15, 2007 11:16 pm Title: She thinks I'm cute
How soon? How soon will you update? Because I won't have reliable internet access starting tomorrow at 4pm for a whole month and I really don't know that I can make it a whole month without this fic.
Um, can we say adorable? Because I seriously love how effortlessly you've moved both Jim and Pam back to their S2 level of banter without making it seem forced or OOC. And the blog? Funny and cute. Perfectly jammy :)
Author's Response: Eep! I feel for you about the internet access. And I do have the next chapter written, but we don't get to the Jam yet in that one, and I'm afraid I have to go to bed now so I can't write more before tomorrow at 4. :( But I promise to update as fast as possible! Maybe you can read fic at the library or something. There are a lot of awesome fics on here right now that I'd hate to miss!