I was driving to school today and passed the Google Maps car. I grinned and waved. But, as I reflected later, it was just coming out of a parking lot and perhaps the camera was not turned on. Lucky them.
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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