Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Wow

I can't quite believe that I'm going back to school in a little over a month. This summer has gone by so fast. I'm both glad that it has, and wish that it hadn't been so quick.

This summer was both nice and very, very not fun. The weather, on one hand, was mostly nice!! (Well, except for days like today, which is MISERABLE.)

Speaking of unbelievable endings, I can't believe that Harry Potter is done. Over. GAH. IT WAS SO GOOD. I cried. I really did. Not a lot, but I definitely choked up. And the acting! Everyone was pretty good, or very good. And then there was Rickman. He was in a league of his own. Seriously.

 I ADORED just about everything McGonagall was in. I mean, how is that bit with the stone knights not epic? And her absolute glee at getting to use that spell was really wonderful.

Molly was epic, though I wish the whole climax of the battle had been less ponderous, if that makes sense.

Jury duty has finally ended, and it was perhaps the hardest thing I ever did to declare an eighteen-year old girl guilty of second degree murder, and not not responsible due to a mental illness.

So yeah. This summer, not exactly the most fun I've ever had.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

In which I read A Study in Scarlet and lose my keys

So, my obsession with "Sherlock" sent me off to the library on Saturday afternoon in pursuit of  of A Study in Scarlet and the other Sherlock Holmes books, and I finished it in one sitting. Well... maybe two or three, but certainly over the course of the afternoon and evening. I must say, while I enjoyed it, it wasn't exactly as riveting as the TV series. I'm still trying to figure out what it is about some of the great classics, like Sherlock Holmes or some of Dickens' works that makes them so enduring and yet at the same time sometimes so DULL. I think it might be the writing style. I think it MUST be the writing because the STORIES are good, and I appreciate the skill of the writer, and yet I still sit there wondering why I'm not glued to them. Anyhow, Study in Scarlet was definitely a good read, though most of my pleasure did derive from bouncing up and down at things I recognized because they had made it into "A Study in Pink". Actually, on second thoughts, perhaps I DO have some idea as to why so many novels of a similar period exasperate me. Part of it is the extreme contortions that plots are forced through which may have had been slightly less contrived then, but are WILDLY impossible now under any circumstance. But then, Jane Austin does that sometimes too, and it has yet to be a problem. SOOOOO... maybe not.

Back to Sherlock. It was absolutely delightful to see how many of Sherlock's mannerisms are STRAIGHT from the pen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself. Not going to lie, I did a fair bit of bouncing up and down and internal flailing. It's probably just as well that I did most of my reading in places other than the train... because I'm sure people would have been rather confused if I started squealing and bouncing up and down on the train... Really, he's very nearly straight out of the book. He's quite tall, ridiculously skinny, and does things like sit staring at the ceiling with his hands under his chin and the like. (Not to mention the three patch/pipe problems.) So yes, yes, maybe I'm more than just a little bit obsessed, but in my defense, the man is a genius, and brilliance is more than rather attractive, I find. (Of course, Sherlock in real life would be incredibly irritating, I'm sure, but he's NOT real, so I'm going to allow myself to admire him from a distance.)

Anyway, so there I was at the library, hunting down the Sherlock books, and apparently I was SO engrossed in my search that I put my keys down and forgot to pick them up. I'm not normally THAT scatterbrained. Fortunately, it's a library. There's a lost and found, and so I got them back.

Among the other random bits of randomness, I have recently realized that I have developed a fondness of Lavender lately. It reminds me of warm summer days at my grandmother's house in Oregon because she had a huge bush of it by her garage, and there were sprigs of it around the house.
I've got to say, Lavender and Roses would have to be my favorite flowers. Boring and traditional, I know but that would be me, all over. But in my defense, they smell very nice. :D If I ever have a house where I can have my own garden, I'm definitely planting roses, lavender and honeysuckle.

And now for one last bit of randomness, I WIN AGAIN! I just bought every single one of the books for one of my classes for forty dollars. Amazon is the best.

Next up, Reviews of Within Temptation's The Unforgiven, and Epica's Design Your Universe.

Friday, July 8, 2011

HA! Take THAT, homework!

I was just informed that I've made the Dean's list again! *dances in glee* I tried so hard to refrain from gloating, but I'm afraid I have failed miserably. And honestly, I can't think of a better place to gloat without bothering too many people than a personal blog which almost no one reads. :) This IS, after all, the fourth time in as many semesters that I have achieved a GPA of higher than 3.50  I win. Take THAT, Latin!

Other than that, I really have nothing interesting to report. This is pathetic. Is there a particular subject I should discuss in a future post? Suggestions, anyone?

Friday, July 1, 2011

Of Jury Duty, Doctor Who and Sherlock

Well, it's been a while, and since it's been SUCH a while, I actually have some mildly interesting things to talk about.

I'm on jury duty this month, which is really fascinating, though I can't actually say more than that. (Just heightens the interest and mystery, don'tcha think?) I'm not all together sure why I was dreading it so very much for months, because now, while I certainly wouldn't want to do it forever, I feel like it's something I'm good at. I'm good at listening dispassionately and forming opinions on what I hear and acting on those opinions in a reasonable manner, which is nice to know. It's a good piece of information to tuck away at the back of my brain for those moments when I feel like I'm not good at anything useful.

My brilliant plan for reading and reading and becoming quite history savvy is failing rather spectacularly as every time I pick up Sir Frank Stenton's Anglo Saxon England I inevitably lose interest and wander off... usually to the world of TARDISes and addresses such as 221B Baker Street... SIDETRACKED!! I'M GETTING SIDETRACKED!! I really am a horrible student sometimes... I'm also in the middle of at least five other books... none of I'm making much headway in... it's really quite dreadful!

I blame it all on Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes.  But I can't be too upset about it, as they continue to supply me with endless amounts of entertainment, and cheer me up without fail EVERY TIME I WATCH THEM.  So yes. Hooked. Darn the Brits and their BRILLIANT TV shows...

Well... that's about it... I do realize that's not horribly interesting. Sorry, folks!

Over and out.