Wednesday, May 29, 2002
I should go ahead and post a link to this -- of course, most of my blog readers have no use for the link, but hey.
The Arithmancer's Apprentice: During a school visit to a wizarding country house, thirteen-year-old Tom Riddle is given a task by his Arithmancy professor -- but the far-reaching consequences are more than he bargains for.
Go leave a review, you slackers. Hee hee.
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6:01 PM |
Yes, I am blogging at four-thirty in the morning. It's Memorial Day, and I don't have to work. Ha.
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4:35 AM |
Currently listening to: "Talking In Your Sleep" by The Romantics
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12:53 AM |
The 4.0 Countdown
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4:06 PM |
The 4.0 Countdown
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4:07 PM |
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9:04 PM |
So. I've just about finished packing (except for my computer, obviously) and my day has been, overall, quite productive.
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12:17 AM |
Well, we all know I am a geek. Now, we have a test for what kind of geek I am:
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1:12 PM |
Currently listening to: "Come Undone" by Duran Duran
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10:29 AM |
Just one class, and two exams to go.
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12:04 PM |
Monday, May 27, 2002
Actually, I have just finished reading Lois McMaster Bujold's Ethan of Athos. Now, I love the Vorkosigan series, and Bujold has created some pretty strange things in the Vorkosiverse, but this one... well, this book has just left me feeling almost -- I don't know -- unsettled, in a way. You know what I think it is? In all of the Vorkosigan books, I think Ethan has the most direct reference to anything like organized religion -- including repeated reference to God the Father (though not God the Son, presumably because recognition of God the Son would require at least some recognition of Mary the Mother), as well as reference to religious education, sin, and even something as simple as kneeling to pray. It's kind of hard for one to distance that from Christianity as we know it -- especially considering that the religious structure of Athos in the Vorkosiverse was no doubt derived from Christianity anyway -- but the society of the planet Athos is Just Not Right. An all-male, reproducing society, in which women are regarded as lesser and evil, something not to be even seen or contacted with... yet it's the only society that seems to have such a religious structure (unless I have seriously missed something in the other books, which I suppose is possible). It's just... odd and disconcerting.
Still on the topic of the Vorkosiverse, I received such a cool present yesterday. Cally should share her title of Gift Giver Extraordinaire, because Erica's gift was really cool too. I mean, come on, what Bujold fan doesn't want a pair of ImpSec Eyes? Erica, you've made up for those virtual chocolates now. Hee hee.
The note was just as good as the gift though:
I tried to think what would be appropriate for a pair of authors who manage to so cleverly whitewash Tom Riddle, and who are also Bujold fans, and it occurred to me that you both thoroughly deserve a position in some organization where manipulating people's better impulses in a sneaky, underhanded fashion is valued as much as it ought to be. So... here are your ImpSec lapel pins. The eyes of Horus are upon you. Enjoy. TAA rules.
The eyes of Horus... Ha ha ha!
Fan fiction might not be lucrative, though it does earn one some fun gifts -- but even better, it's given me several great friends. Thanks, Erica.
Wow, that was really sappy. Say it with me: Awwwww.
Thursday, May 23, 2002
So much to blog about. Oh, so much.
In response to an inquiry about The 4.0 Countdown: No, I don't really care all that much about whether I do or don't have a 4.0 average all through college. It's just nice, you know? Just a bonus. It's not going to kill me if I don't have it a 4.0 every semester.
Anyway. So, now that I'm home from school, I have almost zero free time. Since I'm working, I am the proud owner of a Real Life. Good lord, what have I got myself into?
It's not that I dislike working; quite the contrary. I love my job. I get to make jokes and make conversation, but best of all, I get to make coffee! Mm, hazelnut lattes. Iced, with whipped cream... yum...
Ahem. Yeah, point being, it's not that I dislike my job, it's that I dislike the people that I'm forced to work with. I'm supposed to be managing this place -- which is all well and good, since I'm one of the few people who REALLY knows what they are doing -- but problems never cease to arise, especially where slightly older folk are concerned. I seem to have big clashes with people of the ages 20-25.
Now, many people have commented to me before about how my mental age and my chronological age are not equal. I am not your typical 19-year-old. I have way more sense of responsibility, and all that good stuff. But these certain young individuals -- who don't really know me at all, except for the fact that I'm the owner's teenaged daughter and the manager, and who are really only a few chronological years older than me -- these people seem to think that they are automatically better than me, wiser than me, more experienced than me, and that I am not worthy of their... what, camaraderie? respect? underling loyalty? Whatever. But it makes me want to scream. The treatment I get from these people ranges from patronizing me to ignoring me. It drives me insane. I despise not being taken seriously in these situations. What do I have to do? Give them written warnings for insubordination or something? Or just grin, and bear it, and mop those floors myself -- which is what I do now.
I suppose, in a way, I could look at the entire thing as proof that I truly AM as mature, responsible and all that, as I think I am -- otherwise, I wouldn't be taking this kind of treatment the way I am. Either that, or I can look at the entire thing as proof that I am a pushover.
On another note, I saw Saving Private Ryan for the first time tonight. It was one of those movies that my best friend INSISTED that I watch. In truth, I have been avoiding this movie ever since it came into the theatres -- I'm not one for all the gore. Realistic-looking gore. Eurgh. But it really was a good movie. Although... well, as is typical of me, I found several spots that were good for wisecracking, and of course, I couldn't let such jokes just pass me by. And the ending was just SAPPY. I mean, really. But other than that, a real tear-jerker. Well, a tear-jerker for normal people. I laughed at the dead cows and the dorky little German-speaking corporal.
Now, real life tear-jerker moments are a different story for me -- I'll cry in real life. My mother brought me back a book from Chicago, entitled, "Thoughts to Share With a Wonderful Daughter", which I assumed would be pure, sugary sap -- and it was. But she also wrote all these little notes of her own into it -- little comments and things. Instant tears. It was so sweet... totally made my week, to be sure.
Friday, May 17, 2002
So, I did manage to get that 4.0 after all. Whee! I must have faked that essay better than I thought.
I love college. I don't study, I still get top grades, and I have enough free time to write novels (or novel-length fan fiction, such as the case may be. Hee). My school year was more relaxing than this summer is going to be.
In other news, I kind of feel like crawling into bed and dying. Either I'm getting sick, or I'm allergic to our house. Joy.
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
So I have four A's, with one grade unknown. It is my history grade -- and I know for a fact that this grade won't be entered until Thursday. The question is whether or not I bluffed my way through those essays on that exam well enough to get the A...
You know, I'm kind of regretting that I didn't read the book for that test.
Monday, May 13, 2002
Who's Your Movie Sidekick? Find out @ She's Crafty
Sixteen Candles is actually one of those movies that I've been told I absolutely MUST see, but I never have. Oh, well, the result is still pretty funny. Hee.
So, busy week ahead of me. I am the new summer manager of my mother's coffee shop (nepotism? You bet it is!), and my first order of business is to get myself into Super-Mega-Hyper-Overdrive, and organize like I have never organized before. Schedules. Inventories. Policy implementation. These kids we have employed aren't going to know what hit them. Mwahaha.
You know what I love best about being in college? I now feel I have the ability to place all high school age teenagers under the catch-all term, "kids". As in, "Stupid kids can't drive," and "Cheap kids never tip." When I was in high school, too, it felt somehow really conceited to call people who were barely younger than me "kids". But now... now I show no mercy. Haha!
I'm going to end today's post with a new feature:
The 4.0 Countdown
Three A's so far. Two more grades left to receive. Oh, the suspense.
Saturday, May 11, 2002
Alec and I finished The Arithmancer's Apprentice.
Well, I say "finished", but we still have a good bit of editing to do on the last three chapters. But it's all there.
You know, after all the trouble this story has been, and after all the anticipation I've had for The End... well, now that I've reached it, it's rather anti-climactic. I totally expected to be completely thrilled and happy once it was all finished, and yet... I'm not. I mean, it's a relief that it's (mostly) done, and that I don't have it really LOOMING over my head anymore, but otherwise, it's just sort of there. It's basically finished. OK. That's it.
I dedicated four entire months of my free time to this thing, and I'm at best relieved to have it done -- and by no means overjoyed. Perhaps it's just because I know there're still more changes left. But knowing the majority of it is over hasn't even dispelled that urge I've had ever since we started writing this story: the desire to print out a copy of the manuscript and burn it. Only now the thing's too many pages for me to bother.
Rebecca encouragingly said that my sadistic feelings towards the story were actually a good sign. Quoting Pamela Dean, she explained that there were several stages in an author's attitude toward a book:
1. The book
2. The darned book
3. The gosh-darned book
4. The gosh-darned frigging book from heck
I suspect Pamela Dean probably used slightly more colorful language. But I'm most certainly in Stage Four -- which means the story is close to REALLY being finished.
But not this weekend. I have to take a break from it for a day or two, to have suitable distance from it.
Friday, May 10, 2002
Well, the picture looks kind of accurate, but I've never been crazed over new gadgets. I mean, before this year, I survived forever on our ancient Gateway with 16 MB RAM and a 75 MHz processor. And I doubt I'm ever going to own a Mac.
I really need to stop wasting my time with this stuff...
Sunday, May 05, 2002
Note to self: Do not stay up until five in the morning without a really valid reason. Writing and discussion thereof is not really valid. Yawn.
OK, so I'm dead tired, but at least I don't have classes tomorrow, nor any other time this week. Thank goodness. Although my lack of classes does not immediately suggest a lack of things to do with my time, oh, no. I DO still have that history exam on Saturday from seven to ten at night (is that the worst time for an exam, or what?) and I have a book I need to read for said exam. Plus I'll need to pack all of my things from my dormitory and clean the place out. And, of course, there is the matter of the writing-in-progress...
We are so close to finishing it. ("So close" as described by our standards, of course. Two and a half more chapters. That's only 20,000 words or so. You know, I just put the word "only" in front of the phrase "20,000 words". Unbelievable. See what I mean by "our standards"? But I digress.) Oh. My. Gosh. I swear, I will absolutely DIE of happiness when it's all done. I will. I'll just collapse over my keyboard and go into twitchy spasms of joy and relief.
In the meantime, I'll be writing like crazy this week, taking full advantage of my five relatively free days. I don't know if we can possibly write 20,000 words in a week, but I am so going to try. I'm really, really looking forward to death by happiness, you see...
Thursday, May 02, 2002
The countdown continues.
Who am I? I'm a twenty-two-
