- 7:00 a.m.: Third exam in International Relations. There were several "what year did this happen?" questions, but it wasn't too hard.
- US History. I can see that the girl sitting two chairs over has this picture as her desktop wallpaper. Made my day.
- During break in Geography, found somebody's touchscreen phone in the restroom. Decided to come back later to turn it in, if it were still there after class (highly possible, given the time of day). Amazingly, class ends 1 1/2 hrs early (unprecedented). I go to the library to find a computer and look up where the Lost & Found is. Come back, and the phone is still there. Turned it in to the security people, and hopefully its owner has got it back by now.
- Lasagna. Maybe the ultimate comfort food.
- We finished The Virginian S2...noooo! Now waiting (impatiently) for S5 from the library. We're not watching it in chronological order, but fortunately it doesn't matter.
- Another article: Sherlock Holmes fan wins the Spelling Bee!
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Isaiah 60:19-20
Monday, 28 May 2012
{Reichenbach SPOILER ALERT}
Wow.
Everything came full circle--almost. Except now Watson believes Sherlock is who he says he is. I didn't want it to end. It was heartbreaking, though. . .he didn't die the hero's death of the book. Well, he did, but nobody knew (maybe Mycroft? Molly?) and only Watson believed. But the rest of society thinks Sherlock dies a psycho serial killer and everything else Moriarty was. The part where Sherlock shouts "You're insane"--one of the few moments when he sounds like a real person, when he sees where cunning can go too far. He has admitted to fighting on the side of good and now he knows the fundamental differences between Moriarty and himself.
I'm still confused about Moriarty though--was there really no code? I must say, it always sounded very unlikely. If so, however, then Moriarty becomes no greater than the cabbie in A Study in Pink--just someone wanting to prove they're smarter than Sherlock Holmes. (Moriarty is probably the biggest disappointment of this new Sherlock series--he lacks the gravitas of being a respectable math professor and comes across more as a whining, cringing Gollum instead.)
And, it would mean that one of Sherlock's weaknesses is taking things too seriously. But I would say it can also be his strength. If he really considered every crime to be just a puzzle, he wouldn't care a bit about the people involved, as I think he does, deep down. He wouldn't do what he did in the end if lives didn't matter to him.
Now, of course, there's the opposing argument--what if he were going to die? What if he wasn't going to fake his death? Would he still have followed through with it? That's one thing the book left no doubts about--Holmes himself believed it was the end, and he had no backup plans. I guess in this case you just have to decide whether you're John or Sally. Is Sherlock a hero? Is he what he appears to be, or is he only what you believe him to be? Can you know for sure, either way? (Excuse me if I'm getting too analytical here, but I love agonizing over ambiguous storylines and characters).
So. "Totally erroneous conclusions" or not--I pretty much subscribe to the idea that the body is a cadaver from the hospital, placed on the sidewalk by Molly, and I'm inclined agree with some other viewers that Holmes fell into a moving vehicle. I do think he actually fell a certain distance--it's possible it was a mannequin, but there wasn't anywhere on the hospital rooftop to store one, unless it was inflatable. O_o Besides, I don't think that would be very convincing. Most probably, there's some psychological factor involved--Watson was expecting to see what he thought was going to happen, so as long as he saw Sherlock falling, he didn't need to actually see Sherlock hit the pavement. In other words, I think it's the moment where Sherlock is halfway down that the substitution is made--Watson's mind fills in the blanks, and a few seconds later, there's a body on the ground.
Thoughts?
P. S. It was pretty awesome to hear Sherlock playing Bach's G minor Adagio while waiting for Moriarty.
Wow.
Everything came full circle--almost. Except now Watson believes Sherlock is who he says he is. I didn't want it to end. It was heartbreaking, though. . .he didn't die the hero's death of the book. Well, he did, but nobody knew (maybe Mycroft? Molly?) and only Watson believed. But the rest of society thinks Sherlock dies a psycho serial killer and everything else Moriarty was. The part where Sherlock shouts "You're insane"--one of the few moments when he sounds like a real person, when he sees where cunning can go too far. He has admitted to fighting on the side of good and now he knows the fundamental differences between Moriarty and himself.
I'm still confused about Moriarty though--was there really no code? I must say, it always sounded very unlikely. If so, however, then Moriarty becomes no greater than the cabbie in A Study in Pink--just someone wanting to prove they're smarter than Sherlock Holmes. (Moriarty is probably the biggest disappointment of this new Sherlock series--he lacks the gravitas of being a respectable math professor and comes across more as a whining, cringing Gollum instead.)
And, it would mean that one of Sherlock's weaknesses is taking things too seriously. But I would say it can also be his strength. If he really considered every crime to be just a puzzle, he wouldn't care a bit about the people involved, as I think he does, deep down. He wouldn't do what he did in the end if lives didn't matter to him.
Now, of course, there's the opposing argument--what if he were going to die? What if he wasn't going to fake his death? Would he still have followed through with it? That's one thing the book left no doubts about--Holmes himself believed it was the end, and he had no backup plans. I guess in this case you just have to decide whether you're John or Sally. Is Sherlock a hero? Is he what he appears to be, or is he only what you believe him to be? Can you know for sure, either way? (Excuse me if I'm getting too analytical here, but I love agonizing over ambiguous storylines and characters).
So. "Totally erroneous conclusions" or not--I pretty much subscribe to the idea that the body is a cadaver from the hospital, placed on the sidewalk by Molly, and I'm inclined agree with some other viewers that Holmes fell into a moving vehicle. I do think he actually fell a certain distance--it's possible it was a mannequin, but there wasn't anywhere on the hospital rooftop to store one, unless it was inflatable. O_o Besides, I don't think that would be very convincing. Most probably, there's some psychological factor involved--Watson was expecting to see what he thought was going to happen, so as long as he saw Sherlock falling, he didn't need to actually see Sherlock hit the pavement. In other words, I think it's the moment where Sherlock is halfway down that the substitution is made--Watson's mind fills in the blanks, and a few seconds later, there's a body on the ground.
Thoughts?
P. S. It was pretty awesome to hear Sherlock playing Bach's G minor Adagio while waiting for Moriarty.
- REICHENBACH FALL TONIGHT. YES.
- I got a letter of acceptance from the IT--I'm officially a pre-computer-science major this fall. Gratitude and mixed feelings.
- Spring quarter ends in 2 1/2 weeks. Another dose of mixed feelings.
- Field trip to Mt Rainier in 1 1/2 weeks.
- It's almost time to get down to the nitty-gritty of publishing my poetry book. O_O You know, if I can tolerate the agonies of applying for university, I can most certainly do as much for my
book. Ah, the dread...
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Read here: 'Lucky to be alive,' teen hails rescuers. Thank God this guy is all right!
The story has been in the papers a few days, but this new article brings two things to mind:
The story has been in the papers a few days, but this new article brings two things to mind:
- Reading fantasy books is not altogether useless or un-educational. (I never thought it was!)
- Doing your research is always important. An author, of course, isn't completely responsible for a reader's reaction, but whatever an author does, they should never needlessly portray misleading information that a reader might easily interpret as factual/sensible/a good idea.
Monday, 21 May 2012
Sufficiently creepy!
Not altogether what I expected, but a great improvement (yes, I said that) on the Baskerville story. I love how it kept you guessing until the end. And it was sci-fi! We need more sci-fi.
The little pieces of original-story references and Victorian dialogue were fun. "How on earth did you know that?"
Overall, this episode felt WAY TOO SHORT. Looking forward to The Reichenbach Fall--sort of. It looks like a real tearjerker. :(
Not altogether what I expected, but a great improvement (yes, I said that) on the Baskerville story. I love how it kept you guessing until the end. And it was sci-fi! We need more sci-fi.
The little pieces of original-story references and Victorian dialogue were fun. "How on earth did you know that?"
Overall, this episode felt WAY TOO SHORT. Looking forward to The Reichenbach Fall--sort of. It looks like a real tearjerker. :(
Studying. Imperialism & Colonialism, the Great Depression, Biomes (forest/desert/etc), and Earth Materials/Plate Tectonics. My favorite part about physical geography are the maps that show climate & biomes across the world--it's fascinating to match the different regions that have the same features. I always thought that our corner of the Pacific Northwest matched England--and it does, for climate. But for biome,
Reading. The Mystery of Cloomber, by Doyle; South, by Shackleton, and a few other books (kinda sorta).
Writing. More poems! I'm THIS close to getting my poems published. Indeedy, I did say that a few months ago, but after a brief hiatus, I've added eleven more poems to the book and will potentially add a few more. In any case, there will be 3 sets of poems in the book, with two or three very long poems. SO KEYED UP.
Watching. Good Mythical Morning, The Virginian S2 (addicted to this show, can you tell), and Star Trek: TNG S3 (so-so). Also watched most of The Big Country (let me tell you, I don't like watching Charlton Heston play the bad guy--it's just WRONG).
Listening. Hvorostovsky singing Verdi. He will be performing in Don Carlo next Feb/Mar at the Met--I am SO going to see it if they play it in movie theaters (as has been the case recently). Alas, NYC is a bit far to travel for a concert.
Weather-watching. The rain is so nice. ^_^
Sunday, 20 May 2012
 |
| © Kirill Vorontsov |
It was ridiculous. Embarrassingly absurd. He looked up, as if afraid the watchman were standing in the doorway. He didn't want him to see how funny it was. Really. And nothing was half so frightening now as the idea that he must take this note seriously.
- The Infinite Now
* * *
“Oh well,” she repeated. She uttered it like the response to some peculiar password, at the door of some far stranger vault of burial. I was sorely tempted to laugh, though, to my defense, only a hysterical laugh without an ounce of humor, because she was so emphatically serious.
- Footnotes
* * *
He had a nice smile; he looked very kind, yet so perfectly in possession of his sanity and circumstances. He looked as if he had lived a million years and survived, breathing and breaking his world all the better for it.
- May (QOF trilogy, book 2)
* * *
Where the tears? No physical pain hurts more than this apathy is breaking my mind—where the tears? Tears that I scorned! What I would give for tears now.
- May (QOF trilogy, book 2)
* * *
"You can't change a person. You can't stop them from changing either. All you can do is think of the things about them that haven't changed. The little things."
- May (QOF trilogy, book 2)
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
I had some time to kill in the library today, so I painstakingly located William Faulkner and delved into the beginning of As I Lay Dying.
My reaction was pretty much, Wow. This was my introduction to the whole "stream of consciousness" style. Faulkner basically says good-bye to all rules of grammar and narrative storytelling, and simply writes the book as he feels it, much in the way you might write a poem or a person's unique speech pattern. Some authors always write dialogue this way, but with stream of consciousness, it's even incorporated into the description and action.
I wouldn't say it's my favorite writing style, but it is definitely extraordinary. I would not typically read a book about subcultures and history of the Deep South, but within the first few chapters, I really felt drawn to the story and its (sometimes vulgar) characters in a kind of morbidly early mourning for their dying loved one. There was a vivid sense of what each character was like, and their attitude to each other. I love the idea of writing like this and am going to try it...
Related to understanding your characters, there's a new writing program/event for bloggers called Character Letters, in which you write letters based on prompts and from the perspective of your own or an existing character. I plan on joining in sometime this month--here are the guidelines and here is the first edition--check it out! I may just end up writing fanfiction--well, anything to break my novel-writer's block. :)
Monday, 14 May 2012
Spent most of today outdoors studying. It's easy to forget how nice it is to be outside, and now I've mostly outgrown my spring allergies. It's really the only place where you can find total concentration--indoors, I feel too distracted by other thoughts, and the internet, of course!
I have three tests this week, Tuesday through Thursday afternoon. Sometime this week I want to really make a dent in my reading list. I'm a couple of chapters into South, by Ernest Shackleton--first-hand narrative of his attempted crossing of Antarctica. So far, they have not made it to the continent yet, and it's unbelievable how slow and tedious and careful they had to be, navigating the ship through the ice. Sometimes they would have to go the wrong way for miles and see the same ice berg again. Oh, and sometimes he mentions more human aspects of the voyage, like the crew playing soccer on the ice, or naming the sledge dogs. It's those things that make a hundred years seem not so long ago.
Writing-wise, I have added several more poems to my collection--at this rate, it will have to wait a while before getting published. But that's all right. I had entered some of them in a contest, and now that that's over, I realise I could be as overly kind to my poems as I am overly harsh to my novel WIP's. But that's all right, too. I admire artists who have confidence in their art; this is one exception in which I am (or try to be), too. I actually love my poems, and maybe they're the best thing I've written so far (for what it's worth).
And here I'd better stop and study for that first test... Typical me, I forgot Poli Sci was tomorrow and wrote the essay outlines for US History instead!
I have three tests this week, Tuesday through Thursday afternoon. Sometime this week I want to really make a dent in my reading list. I'm a couple of chapters into South, by Ernest Shackleton--first-hand narrative of his attempted crossing of Antarctica. So far, they have not made it to the continent yet, and it's unbelievable how slow and tedious and careful they had to be, navigating the ship through the ice. Sometimes they would have to go the wrong way for miles and see the same ice berg again. Oh, and sometimes he mentions more human aspects of the voyage, like the crew playing soccer on the ice, or naming the sledge dogs. It's those things that make a hundred years seem not so long ago.
Writing-wise, I have added several more poems to my collection--at this rate, it will have to wait a while before getting published. But that's all right. I had entered some of them in a contest, and now that that's over, I realise I could be as overly kind to my poems as I am overly harsh to my novel WIP's. But that's all right, too. I admire artists who have confidence in their art; this is one exception in which I am (or try to be), too. I actually love my poems, and maybe they're the best thing I've written so far (for what it's worth).
And here I'd better stop and study for that first test... Typical me, I forgot Poli Sci was tomorrow and wrote the essay outlines for US History instead!
Friday, 11 May 2012
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Argh...reading your history professor's new class schedule for 2012-13 and knowing you won't be taking a single one of those classes (and one of them is the history of sci & tech, which sounds awesome). Way to ruin my day. ;) [My dad says, why don't you major in history? But the whole point of me going to college is that I would get a degree with which I could quickly find a lucrative job. And I'd make a terrible teacher (history or otherwise), so that's out of the question. Alas.]
This current quarter, two of my classes are International Relations and History of US III (1900 - now). I never get tired of history or political science. History, I've loved since I was born. Poli Sci, approximately since the 2001 election. It's fascinating to me how single events, or decisions, or doctrines, changed the world. And how so many of them came as a result of (or are connected to) other amazing events. How human nature overrides good ideas or 'good' people.
Anyways. Here's a great song I discovered on YouTube recently:
And now I've got to go to Physical Geography class. Have a nice day. ^_^
This current quarter, two of my classes are International Relations and History of US III (1900 - now). I never get tired of history or political science. History, I've loved since I was born. Poli Sci, approximately since the 2001 election. It's fascinating to me how single events, or decisions, or doctrines, changed the world. And how so many of them came as a result of (or are connected to) other amazing events. How human nature overrides good ideas or 'good' people.
Anyways. Here's a great song I discovered on YouTube recently:
And now I've got to go to Physical Geography class. Have a nice day. ^_^
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Last week in pictures:
by Dake
This week in pictures:
by cyclonebill
From top to bottom: Dracula (4.3/5 stars) and green tea; diagram similar to those in my lab assignment for Physical Geography; map related to Shackleton's book/narrative South; two cups of green tea.
In other news--my application to transfer to another college was reviewed, and I got accepted! I may or may not be in the IT school yet, but in any case next fall I will be studying for my major LIEK FOR REALZ!!!!1 (I'm a comp-sci major, dear, not an English major. Extra credit if you catch the reference.)
Actually, I'm not thrilled at the idea of having to get used to a new school, but once I get used to itafter a year and a half, all will be well.
And now I leave you with photos of lilacs, because the internet needs more lilac appreciation:
by Dake
This week in pictures:
From top to bottom: Dracula (4.3/5 stars) and green tea; diagram similar to those in my lab assignment for Physical Geography; map related to Shackleton's book/narrative South; two cups of green tea.
In other news--my application to transfer to another college was reviewed, and I got accepted! I may or may not be in the IT school yet, but in any case next fall I will be studying for my major LIEK FOR REALZ!!!!1 (I'm a comp-sci major, dear, not an English major. Extra credit if you catch the reference.)
Actually, I'm not thrilled at the idea of having to get used to a new school, but once I get used to it
And now I leave you with photos of lilacs, because the internet needs more lilac appreciation:
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