I first started capturing her storytelling using the video mode on our digital camera, around about April, but she soon refused to let me film her. So I tried writing her stories while she told them, using pen and paper. That lasted for only a few stories too, before she caught on. Since then, I've been recording her using a mini MP3 recorder, which is pretty unobtrusive, and transcribing the audio later. She then objected strongly to this as well... Nowadays I use a combo of MP3 and video to record her before transcribing. I only manage to record a fraction of the stories she tells. I always have a backlog of stories on the recorder that still need transcribing, as it's impossible for me to keep up with her. To help new readers, I've marked my favourite stories with a star (*), so at least you have somewhere to start if you don't know where to begin. Don't forget to check the older archives too - there are some gems in there as well!

Wednesday 29 August 2007

Useful context of these stories

The whole bunch of stories that I just finished transcribing and posting are all told within the context of Aladar as the storyteller. Sometimes Aladar interacts with his immediate environment, other times he interacts with his own story. It is helpful to keep this in mind when reading the stories...

She's recently become less antagonisitic towards the recorder, she actually said "record me" today! I had hoped to finish transcribing the recorded backlog by tonight so I can start recording new ones tomorrow at least! I managed to finish transcribing whatever I have in MP3 format, but will have to leave those we caught on video until tomorrow...

We discovered she associates storytelling from certain books with certain stories. She told us today that an old envelope she's set aside contains the new story of Lambeosaurus and Aladar, that Aladar's writing a letter to send to Lambeosaurus with his story in it, but that the black book (I think she means the Stephen Hawking book she's been using) contains the story of Corythosaurus' adventures and that a little book she borrowed from the library about dinosaurs contains an assortment of short stories. She also pretends that some of her books have icons, like on a computer, that you can press to hear a story! Our bird watching book is one that she treats like this.

Transcribing these stories keeps me chuckling, some of the lines are hilarious
So, “(sings) My majesty, your night.. it’s of Stegosaurus, you’re top of your line, my lungs is not in my mouth.. and I don’t look outside...”
She's still on Aladar's new adventures, even today - so it's been a good 2 weeks on this theme. There's lots of discontinuity in the stories, although the main themes are intact. One story in particular caught my attention - they were all in heaven apparently! Supposedly after the meteor hit and they all died - I didn't even know she understood the concept! I've never talked to her about it really... I guess she picks up more from the church services than i realized... she hasn't been to Sunday School in ages, so it can't be from there, besides I don't think they even talked about it in SS
He goed away for a second, then he came back, and then, “I want to just tell you something... is this an alive place???”
“Yeah, but it’s not so long leave BEHIND!!!”
Aladar’s New Heaven...
(Excerpt from The Night of the Dinosaur’s Serpent, 2007-08-12)
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