TGIF, and two more memes
Feb. 3rd, 2012 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunasarielWhen I say this has been a hellishly rough week, I'm not exaggerating. It's been emotionally exhausting, what with H in the hospital and all. She's back home now, and healing well by all accounts. The procedure she had done wasn't a terribly dangerous one, so there was actually very little chance of something going wrong, but she was really freaking out over the whole "THEY'RE GOING TO CUT A BIG HOLE IN YOU AND RUMMAGE AROUND UNTIL THEY FIND SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE THEY SHOULD RIP IT OUT" thing, which is perfectly natural. So at least that's over.
But even more than that, classes have been exhausting. I've had a lot of catching up to do for various reasons, so now that I'm finally finished with it, my workload should slack off in the next couple of weeks, but the sheer time and mental energy needed to absorb and process all this information has left me pretty drained. Don't get me wrong, it's fascinating stuff. There's a lot of overlap between my two English and my two Celtic Studies classes, so it's really cool to see how different writers, concepts, texts, etc. intersect across disciplines. In ENGL 125A, we just finished Love in Excess, a deliciously silly example of one of the earliest English-language novels, had a (thankfully fairly easy quiz) on the same, and have now moved on to Moll Flanders, which I remember not being enthralled with last time I read it, but we'll see how things go this time. In ENGL 45B, the professor continues to be awesome, but the class itself is probably one of the most intense I've ever taken in terms of work required. We just finished Robinson Crusoe, which I started to hate for sheer length. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if we'd been given a week or two to savor it, but this time I had to rush through it so quickly that it sapped any enjoyment I might have taken from it. CS 171, it turns out, I severely underestimated. We spent the past two classes watching a movie about how Welsh people are awesome but occasionally doomed and English people need to loosen the hell up (not Torchwood: Children of Earth, sadly) and just kind of discussing things at a nice, leisurely pace, it's easy to forget that most of the catch-up reading I was doing was for this class. We don't know how this professor structures her tests, or what she expects us to retain, and from where, so right now I'm absorbing everything I possibly can and seeing what sticks. My final class, CS 139, is...odd. The lectures and readings seem to have very little to do with each other, but this is another one of those classes that sneaks up on you. The professor does tend to go off on tangents pretty frequently, which makes taking notes vexing at best, but he somehow usually manages to tie things back to whatever central point got buried under kvetching about the political issue of the day, what it was like growing up in Boston, and how the book he's writing on St. Patrick is going.
The last class I'm taking, and this is a class only in the technical sense, is the Chernin program. We meet on Wednesday nights, usually every other week, to sort of network and kick around English nerd ideas. However, like I said, we meet on Wednesday nights, and Wednesday is the day I have to get up early, so by the time evening rolls around, I'm pretty beat, and have zero energy for actual discussion, which can become onerous when I have to sit there for an hour talking about how to write an essay, when all I can think of is I still have 150 pages to read and I'd really, really like to go to bed now. I have a feeling that I'm not being entirely fair to this class, as the past couple of weeks have been so busy. I'm fairly confident of enjoying it a lot more now that I don't have quite so much reading to do, but we don't have another group meeting for two weeks, which also helps. XD
Like I said last time, I've been doing memes to blow off steam. These two are the last ones I've got done, although I do have one or two more in the works.
This first one is...yet another randomized character meme! Yayyyy!
1. Hoban “Wash” Washburne (Firefly)
2. Martha Jones (Doctor Who)
3. John Granby (Temeraire)
4. Ellen Harvelle (Supernatural)
5. Jaime Lannister (A Song of Ice and Fire)
6. Elsbet Cavish (Nightrunner)
7. Elrond (Lord of the Rings/Silmarillion/The Hobbit)
8. Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter)
9. Eliot (The Magicians)
10. Diana Villiers (Aubrey-Maturin)
11. Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
12. Catherine Morland (Northanger Abbey)
13. Thomas Raith (Dresden Files)
14. Adora Belle Dearheart (Discworld)
15. Nealan of Queenscove (Tortall Universe)
What would 2 (Martha) and 6 (Elsbet) be like in a relationship?
Kind of sweet, actually. Martha needs someone who can really focus on her, while still being her equal in terms of going out and getting stuff done, and Elsbet needs someone to draw her out of her ivory tower and into the real world. It would almost definitely be romantic as opposed to sexual, and Martha would definitely get the “hurt her and I hurt you” speech at least three times (the Doctor would just visit Elsbet, watch her study for a while, and declare her good people).
7 (Elrond) and 8 (Luna). Totally crack or totally canon?
It takes a moment of thought, but I can actually see it working! They both tend towards introspection, and they both have the potential to be teased/ostracized for their oddness (I can see Elrond taking a lot of flack for being Peredhel when Gil-galad’s back was turned). Elrond would be intrigued by Luna’s vagueness rather than just confused, and Elrond (and his library) would be fascinating to Luna.
Would 10 (Diana) make a good couple with 11 (Angel)? Or a better couple with 13 (Thomas)?
Oh, Thomas, definitely. She would have had more than her fill of angsty, emotionally stunted-yet-demonstrative men with Stephen, and she and Thomas would absolutely go out and paint the town red. In fact, I could see them having a one-night stand, and then another one, and then another one after that, and before you know it they’re bickering like an old married couple.
Is there any evidence for 12 (Catherine Morland)/3 (John Granby)?
Catherine would be a complete and utter aviator fangirl! Aside from all the danger and travel to exotic locales and potential for heroics, Granby looks the part of the tragic Romantic hero, and by VoE, he’s enigmatic and enticing (read: melancholy and withdrawn) enough to literally make Catherine squee. He would be polite enough, but eventually would get impatient with her always hanging around the covert making googly eyes at him
How hot would 15 (Neal)/4 (Ellen) be?
Not at all, unless you adjusted one or both of their ages, in which case fairly. Ellen is exactly the kind of snarky, takes-no-crap girl that Neal goes for, and his dramatics and romantic nature would be secretly kind of endearing to her.
14 (Adora Belle) and 1 (Wash) have to go on a fishing trip together. Would they end up getting “distracted” halfway through?
Yes, but not in the way one would think. Adora Belle would consider the whole idea barbaric, especially when there are plenty of nice restaurants that don’t require unnecessary pescicide, and would pretty much glare at the water until the allotted time is up and she’s allowed to get back to her golems (and Moist). Wash, on the other hand, is rather charmed by the idea of fishing, and happily spends several hours staring at the water and thinking, having forgotten to bait his hook.
What's a romantic night for 9 (Eliot)?
An advanced magical theory textbook, three or four bottles of good wine, and a pair of padded handcuffs.
13 (Thomas) and 5 (Jaime) go on a date. Is it a loving one, did someone put them up to it?
Not loving, precisely, but a hell of a lot of fun! Thomas would engineer the whole thing so that he could feed off of the lust generated by people just looking at the two of them together. Jaime doesn’t quite know what’s going on, but Thomas is a good guy to grab a beer with. Of course, their date would *really* get started when Thomas sees some magical bugaboo about to cause trouble, and leaps in to save the day. All Jaime knows is that there’s suddenly a fight going on, so he’s happy. They both end up having a great time, and make plans for a bro’s night out later.
If 6 (Elsbet) was to cosplay, what would they be?
I could see her going as Hermione Granger. For some reason, my headcanon has always had her as a huge Harry Potter fangirl (if she lived in our world, of course).
How many beers would 9 (Eliot) have to chug to have a go at 2 (Martha)?
Like, two, since Martha is already pretty hot, and mostly Eliot’s type. He would chug them anyway, though.
Is 8 (Luna) het or slash better?
Hmmm…I’ve always had kind of a problem getting into the proper sexy frame of mind when reading Harry Potter pr0n. I more or less grew up with them, so imagining Harry or anyone in his year or younger having sex is a bit like trying to imagine my siblings having sex. That said, I could see both Neville/Luna and Luna/Ginny, although I find myself leaning slightly towards the oddball sort of badassery that would be Luna/Ginny. So I can see both het and slash, leaning towards slash.
Sex and Frills
If 5 (Jaime) and 7 (Elrond) were to have an affair, who would top?
Tough one! I guess Elrond would, since he’s so much more self-confident and used to being in control that Jaime is. Jaime is unconsciously used to being topped by Cersei, but being a Westerosi man, he’s had it drummed into him his whole life that men, especially noblemen like him, should never ever be submissive, but since Elrond does technically outrank him, I could see Jaime coming to terms with it sooner or later.
If 14 (Adora Belle) and 11 (Angel) are doing S & M who's the sadist?
Adora Belle, definitely. Angel is definitely the “punish me for my sins” type of penitent, and the vampire in him enjoys a little blood, so I could see him wanting a strong woman like Adora Belle to whale on him a little.
Say 15 (Neal) and 9 (Eliot) have decided to enter into a master/slave relationship, and the slave has not done his/her job. What happens?
Excessive snark on both sides, but Eliot is eventually punished for mouthing off to Neal once too often (probably on purpose). The irony of this is not lost on either of them.
What's 10 (Diana)'s secret kink?
Hmmm…I could see her having a linguistics kink, I guess, what with her and her hubby both being polyglot spies. The early 19th century is a little too early for gunplay, but I think she’d be up for any kind of powerplay.
How about 8 (Luna)? And what crossover would be the best outlet for this kink?
Luna would have some non-squicky, but extremely obscure kink like…tangerines or something, I dunno. As for crossovers, I could see her in the Nightrunner-verse, where she could find pretty much whatever she was looking for, no matter how odd, on the Street of Lights, and maybe might even pick up a thing or two.
Or perhaps 12 (Catherine)? Write a quick scenario exploring this.
Oh, Catherine would definitely have a huge roleplaying kink. Even after she realizes that her Gothic romances aren’t a realistic reflection of reality, she still likes Henry to hide in the closet and jump out at her in a darkened room now and again. And yes, there would be frilly white dresses, black cloaks, and talk of an imaginary evil Count who’s trying to force Catherine into marriage.
If 4 (Ellen) and 3 (Granby) became a couple, who would top?
Ellen would top the hell out of Granby. Ellen tops in general, and Granby has certainly been trained to take orders from confident older women.
What is 1 (Wash) and 10 (Diana)'s favorite position?
Up against the wall of the engine room, with the lights off. (OK, that’s more of a setting, but w/e.)
6 (Elsbet) and 13 (Thomas) are thrown together by a twist of fate, and maybe a lot of alcohol. How do they wake up?
Thomas wakes up first, and is kind of shocked at himself. I mean, 15 is a little young, even for him. He decides that discretion is the better part of valor and runs like hell before any of Elsbet’s family figures out what’s going on. Elsbet wakes up after he’s gone and vows to never, ever drink again.
2 (Martha) and 9 (Eliot) have a romantic evening and then turn up the heat right before desert. Will food be involved, and what will happen?
Food might be involved, but only if Martha could be sure that it was hygienically prepared and doesn’t contain any excess bacteria. Afterward, though, she’d insist on cleaning up so that the food doesn’t spoil, and Eliot grumbles because he just wants to cuddle.
So, how do 1 (Wash), 14 (Adora Belle), and 5 (Jaime) feel about this little meme? Have a conversation with them.
Jaime reads all the answers that pertain to him and demands that they be re-written to make him look better. Adora Belle rolls her eyes and asks if I have any real work to do, of if I’m just taking up air. Wash secretly copies it and fills it out using people he knows (including enemies), and LOLs over the results.
Finally,
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hamsterwoman tagged me in a meme. The rules are thus: You give 11 random facts about you, answer the questions I've asked, and then tag 11 people to answer the 11 questions you give. However, I don't know if anyone besides brit_columbia and the aforementioned hamsterwoman actually read this blog (if there are any lurkers hanging around, now is a perfect time to step forward!), so I tag them. XD11 Random Facts About Me:
1. Rhythmic sounds completely wreck my concentration, especially breathing.
2. I'm an extremely light sleeper. I need earplugs to be able to get to sleep, and I wake up the minute any light at all enters the room. This is probably not unrelated to #1.
3. I am strongly left-handed, but usually right-footed.
4. My favorite fruit is the raspberry.
5. I know (of) fifteen people with the middle name Rose (my first name).
6. I know three pairs of identical twins, including one pair related to me, and I can't tell any of them apart unless they're standing right next to each other.
7. I am deadly afraid of zombies. I don't even like to watch funny zombie movies, like Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland at night or by myself.
8. My pet peeves are incompetence and being patronized.
9. The oldest book I own is a Turkish dictionary that kind of migrated from my mom's shelves to mine.
10. My earliest memory is from when I lived in Australia. I was playing with a dollhouse with a girl slightly older than me with long, dark hair while my parents talked with her parents across the room.
11. I have four pieces of jewelry I wear every single day: my moonstone pendant, my moonstone ring that's a replacement for the one I got in Dublin but lost, my Celtic knot ring that H gave me, and my silver leaf ring that I bought at my first Comic-Con. I never, ever go anywhere without all four, and feel really weird if I'm missing even one.
1. In honor of the Chinese New Year, what is your Chinese Zodiac sign, including element? How well does the description fit you? (Link to Chinese horoscope with elements -- but you may know of a better one.)
Metal Horse, and mostly not. I to tend to “seek out the grand and magnificent,” I definitely have “a capacity for hard work,” I tend to be something of a social chameleon, and I’d sure like to think that I’m “the standard for grace, strength, rhythm, and nobility,” but that’s about it. I’m definitely not outgoing or adventurous, I hate crowds, and I don’t think I’m ostentatious.
2. What is the most interesting random fact/bit of trivia you have recently learned?
Nicholas Cage was almost cast in The Lord of the Rings! He says that he was offered a part, but didn’t say which. I could see him as a very poorly-cast Aragorn, or possibly Deneathor, but I’m not really a Nic Cage fan, so I’m kinda glad that he didn’t take the part.
3. What is the oldest item of furniture (or knick-knack, or kitchen utensil, whatever) in your house, and what is its history, in general or with you?
The objectively oldest item is an Edwardian clock that hangs in the living room. It’s from eBay, though, so I’m afraid I don’t know its history. The oldest item that I actually know something about, though, is probably my great- (and great-great-)grandmother’s silver, which my grandmother passed on to me on my 21st birthday.
4. What is your favorite kind of tea? (If you don't drink tea, what is your favorite kind of whatever beverage you do drink, coffee or whatever.)
I like green tea. Caffeine generally makes me jittery and fried after a couple of hours, but green tea has just enough to perk me up without suffering any of the effects.
5. If you could magically and perfectly play any musical instrument (that you don't already play), what instrument would you choose?
I don’t know if this counts as one that I already play, but I wish I’d stuck with my harp lessons. It’s a beautiful instrument, both to play and just to look at, but I gave up on it sometime in high school, as it turns out that I’m just not very good at it. If a genie or something could make me a fantastic harpist, though, I wouldn’t say no. XD
6. What one historical event would you choose to be present during, assuming that you would both be perfectly safe yourself and completely unable to affect your surroundings?
Ooh, tough one! I think I would have liked to meet the monk who wrote “Pangur Ban” (and Pangur himself, of course) and/or those who worked on the Book of Kells, just to reassure them that their work will be remembered for literally thousands of years. But if that counts as affecting my surroundings, I’d like to see Eleanor of Aquitaine HBIC-ing it up, visit the Bird and Baby to hide in a corner and watch the Inklings just do what they do, or possibly peek in on Oscar Wilde at the opening of The Importance of Being Earnest or somewhere to hear some of his epigrams firsthand.
7. Favorite new-to-you fictional character you have met in the last year?
Just one, huh? Definitely somebody ASOIAF-related, but I can’t pick just one! Tyrion, Arya, Bran, Sam, and all the Tyrells (with the exceptions of Mace and Alerie and yes, Renly counts as an honorary Tyrell) are just about tied.
8. What is you favorite thing that you have made yourself? (craft, dish, item of clothing, painting, etc., etc.)
I’m not terribly good with my hands, but I do like my Josephine Wall collage. Josephine Wall is an artist I rather like, and her signature style is taking a variety of people, objects, etc. and having one sort of flow into another. I used to collect greeting cards with her art on them, and taped them up, organized by color and theme, across one of my walls. The overall effect is kind of a broad, scattered rainbow type of thing, with lighter colors at one end fading into darker colors at the other, that very much appeals to me.
9. What was your favorite game to play as a child? (board game, word game, roadtrip game, sport, it's all good)
I never really played a lot of organized games; I mostly played various games of make-believe. Robin Hood was a perennial favorite, but mostly I liked to dramatize whatever movie, book or song I had most recently been exposed to.
10. What is the best thing someone has ever surprised you with, and what happened?
On my 17th birthday, my boyfriend at the time was supposed to be travelling with his family, slated to get back a couple of days later. The morning of my birthday, I had just finished brushing my teeth when my sister came to tell me that there was someone at the door for me. I’d heard a car drive up, so I assumed that it was the UPS guy needing me to sign for a package or something. But it turned out that J had gotten an earlier flight back in order to be able to surprise me with roses on my birthday. For some reason, this really blindsided me, and I kind of squeaked and tackled him. The flowers mostly survived, and after I’d saved what of them I could, we went to the beach, and then out to dinner with some friends and family. Best. Surprise. Ever.
11. Who is the oldest LJ-friend you have (i.e. person who is currently on your f-list who has been there the longest)? How did you LJ-meet and do you still actively keep in touch?
That’d be
brit_columbia, I think. We met via fanfic: the FAKE fandom is a tiny one, and she’s one of the best writers in it, so it didn’t take long for me to run across her work on some site or other. I LJ-stalked her for a little while, waaaay too shy to actually approach a BNF like her. But eventually I nutted up and started reviewing new chapters of her various works as she put them out. I found out that she was, in fact, a really nice person, and not at all scary or intimidating the way I’d imagine BNFs to be. I even got a birthday fic this year! :D11 questions for you to answer:
1. Are you a morning person or a night person?
2. Who is your favorite fictional villain, and why?
3. If you could meet any (real-world!) person, living or dead, who would you choose and what would you ask them?
4. Do you have any guilty pleasures?
5. What kind of music do you like to listen to?
6. If you had to pick one place to live in for the rest of your life, where would that be?
7. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would it be?
8. What is your dream job?
9. If you could be any fictional character, who would you be?
10. Do you have any unusual/weird/idiosyncratic holiday traditions?
11. What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-04 01:34 am (UTC)I'm so crazy busy at work nowadays that I can't even consider a meme yet, but it's on the back burner of my mind and I'm still thinking about it!
no subject
Date: 2012-02-04 05:51 am (UTC)Believe me, I hear ya about being crazy busy! There's no rush on the meme; you do have slightly more important things, such as gainful employment and actual writing, on your mind, after all. Whenever you get to it is fine by me!
no subject
Date: 2012-02-04 02:04 am (UTC)If Adora Belle and Wash were both unattached, I could see a fishing trip going off in interesting directions, because Spike seems to do alright with men who run their mouths and Wash with women who are a lot more intense than he.
Thomas would engineer the whole thing so that he could feed off of the lust generated by people just looking at the two of them together.
Haha, that would be some good planning! XD
Luna would have some non-squicky, but extremely obscure kink like…tangerines or something
XD XD XD That... makes entirely too much sense.
Wash secretly copies it and fills it out using people he knows (including enemies), and LOLs over the results.
Brilliant!
It wasn't until I read that you are also a Horse that it hit me that you are 12 years younger than me. O.o Like, I knew it had to be about that since you're in college, but I just never feel that age difference, either in LJ or in person.
Nicholas Cage in LotR... Now I'm really wondering who he was supposed to be. I remember Aragorn being cast first as Stuart Townsend (which was way wrong, of course), but Cage would've made even less sense. As anything, except possibly some minor comic relief character.
I had no idea you (had) played the harp! That's really cool.
visit the Bird and Baby to hide in a corner and watch the Inklings just do what they do, or possibly peek in on Oscar Wilde at the opening of The Importance of Being Earnest or somewhere to hear some of his epigrams firsthand
Those hadn't even occurred to me as options when I posed the question, but I'm definitely with you on that!
And that is a really sweet surprise!
no subject
Date: 2012-02-04 06:11 am (UTC)I guess I didn't really think this answer through, because now that you mention it, they're exactly each other's types! She's a tough-as-nails idealist who finds wacky cowards with hearts of gold inexplicably charming, and he's a wacky coward with a heart of gold who finds tough-as-nails idealists sexy as hell!
That... makes entirely too much sense.
IKR? She would be totally matter-of-fact about it and not really get that other people have different tastes (pun not intended) than her. XD
I knew it had to be about that since you're in college, but I just never feel that age difference, either in LJ or in person.
Me neither! And O.o indeed, it's just something that kinda slips my mind most of the time.
As anything, except possibly some minor comic relief character.
Butterbur? Théoden, god forbid? Gaah, now I'm scaring myself! XD
I had no idea you (had) played the harp! That's really cool.
Thanks! It's the one instrument that I like enough to even attempt to play, and I really do wish I was actually good at it.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 08:21 am (UTC)She would be totally matter-of-fact about it and not really get that other people have different tastes
Yes! She would mention it in passing in casual conversation, and everybody else would be staring at her trying to figure out what you can even do with tangerines in that context, and she would be very surprised by why everybody suddenly stopped talking.
I could actually kind of see Nic Cage as Butterbur. Trying to imagine him as Theoden, though, is making my brain hurt XP