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lunasarielThis is just a quick, frustrated, rage-against-the-machine post. I've been working almost non-stop all week, and I've been really looking forward to the weekend, as I seriously need some R&R. But said weekend has filled up rather quickly, and now it's looking like it's going to consist of eating, too little sleep, and studying, with study breaks consisting of walking to & from the library and furtive visits to LJ.
What I want to do this weekend:
What I will end up doing this weekend:
The real kicker here is, like I said, CoG is here early! I couldn't help but start it, although I've only finished the first chapter (which was already revealed in the preview a few months ago, so I don't even know anything new), which, as expected, was awesome. I'm being really strict with myself with regards to reading it from here on out, because Temeraire is one of those series where I plop down to read a chapter or two before dinner, and suddenly it's 2:00 AM and the book is 3/4 finished, and I can't stop now, because it's the big finale! Even the little taste I did get contained Arthur Hammond being adorkable and flaily, Laurence sporting a Beard of Sorrow and being headdesk-inducingly honorable, and Temeraire building things and actually kind enjoying a life of peace.
While doing the various character memes, I couldn't help but notice that a few first names keep turning up over and over again. I count four Mollys (Hooper, Weasley, Carpenter, and Hayes), two Georges (Smiley and Cooper), four Susans (Rodriguez, Sto Helit, Pevensie, and Ivanova), two Harrys (Potter and Dresden), four Sams (Gamgee, Tarly, Vimes, and Winchester), three Lilys (Potter, Weatherwax and, er, dragon), three Johns/Jons (Conté, Snow, Watson, Granby, and Aubrey ["Jack" is a 19th century nickname for "John"]), two Jacks (Sparrow, Harkness, and Aubrey again), two Williams (Laurence and Kaplan), five Thomases/Toms (Shepherd, Barrow, Branson, Riley, Pullings, Raith) and I'm sure there are plenty more that aren't occurring to me at the moment. This makes doing the memes extra interesting, as I have to make sure that, when I see a question for #12 (George) and #5 (Molly), I actually get the right George and the right Molly. XD
You all deserve to see this, which made me smile, even in the face of the upcoming Weekend from Hell. Basically, shortly before WWII, Tolkien was courted by a Nazi-run publishing house for the rights to publish his books in German. It's given to us to understand that Tolkien stayed out of the actual negotiation; his UK publisher handled most of the correspondence. But then Rütten & Loening, the Nazi publishers, wrote him directly and asked him for proof of his "Aryan ancestry," without which they wouldn't publish any of his works. It was on. In the politest, most erudite, English way possible, and without the least hint of obscenity or overt rudeness, Tolkien tells them exactly where they can shove their "Aryan ancestry." Multilingually. The best part, at least for me, is that he did so on my birthday (admittedly 52 years early, but still)! So now I can say that I was born 52 years to the day after Tolkien told the Nazis that they're a bunch of scumbags (and wrong scumbags, to boot) and to take a hike. OK, my day is made.
What I want to do this weekend:
- Watch Babylon 5
InhaleRead Crucible of Gold, which unexpectedly arrived today (four days early! Woohoo!)- Read Taltos
- Read The Fellowship of the Ring
- Read Maskerade
- Read The Mysteries of Udolpho
- Finally finish Mistborn
- Work on Godzilla
- Start watching Downton Abbey on Netflix
- Watch Firefly and eat Girl Scout cookies with M
- Nap extensively
What I will end up doing this weekend:
- Read 150 pages of The Adventures of Roderick Random for ENGL 125
- Write a six-page paper on the romanticization of Celtic literature, language, and dress for CS 171
- Write a three-page paper on "The White Cat of Dromgunniol" and prepare for a 40-minute group presentation on the same for CS 139
- Read 137 pages of Irish history and 52 pages of Irish Renaissance literature, also for CS 139
- Read only 19 pages of William Blake for ENGL 45B (which I actually am looking forward to; those wacky Romantics are fun!)
- Take 45B midterm
- (Total: 358 pages to read, 9 to write [not counting midterm])
The real kicker here is, like I said, CoG is here early! I couldn't help but start it, although I've only finished the first chapter (which was already revealed in the preview a few months ago, so I don't even know anything new), which, as expected, was awesome. I'm being really strict with myself with regards to reading it from here on out, because Temeraire is one of those series where I plop down to read a chapter or two before dinner, and suddenly it's 2:00 AM and the book is 3/4 finished, and I can't stop now, because it's the big finale! Even the little taste I did get contained Arthur Hammond being adorkable and flaily, Laurence sporting a Beard of Sorrow and being headdesk-inducingly honorable, and Temeraire building things and actually kind enjoying a life of peace.
While doing the various character memes, I couldn't help but notice that a few first names keep turning up over and over again. I count four Mollys (Hooper, Weasley, Carpenter, and Hayes), two Georges (Smiley and Cooper), four Susans (Rodriguez, Sto Helit, Pevensie, and Ivanova), two Harrys (Potter and Dresden), four Sams (Gamgee, Tarly, Vimes, and Winchester), three Lilys (Potter, Weatherwax and, er, dragon), three Johns/Jons (Conté, Snow, Watson, Granby, and Aubrey ["Jack" is a 19th century nickname for "John"]), two Jacks (Sparrow, Harkness, and Aubrey again), two Williams (Laurence and Kaplan), five Thomases/Toms (Shepherd, Barrow, Branson, Riley, Pullings, Raith) and I'm sure there are plenty more that aren't occurring to me at the moment. This makes doing the memes extra interesting, as I have to make sure that, when I see a question for #12 (George) and #5 (Molly), I actually get the right George and the right Molly. XD
You all deserve to see this, which made me smile, even in the face of the upcoming Weekend from Hell. Basically, shortly before WWII, Tolkien was courted by a Nazi-run publishing house for the rights to publish his books in German. It's given to us to understand that Tolkien stayed out of the actual negotiation; his UK publisher handled most of the correspondence. But then Rütten & Loening, the Nazi publishers, wrote him directly and asked him for proof of his "Aryan ancestry," without which they wouldn't publish any of his works. It was on. In the politest, most erudite, English way possible, and without the least hint of obscenity or overt rudeness, Tolkien tells them exactly where they can shove their "Aryan ancestry." Multilingually. The best part, at least for me, is that he did so on my birthday (admittedly 52 years early, but still)! So now I can say that I was born 52 years to the day after Tolkien told the Nazis that they're a bunch of scumbags (and wrong scumbags, to boot) and to take a hike. OK, my day is made.
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-09 05:21 pm (UTC)I thoroughly enjoyed Tolkien's letter to the Nazis!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-09 09:36 pm (UTC)Ugh, I'm right with you there. If I had a magic remote control or something, I could freeze time, get all my work done, and then have the rest of the weekend to just laze around and enjoy the hell out of myself.
I thoroughly enjoyed Tolkien's letter to the Nazis!
Yay! I loved that he could deliver such a thorough verbal smackdown without being outright rude! Classy sublte insults FTW! XD
no subject
Date: 2012-03-09 05:27 pm (UTC)Yay for CoG! Boo for not getting to read it much this weekend :(
And heh about the same names cropping up in the memes. I think you've also had at least two Sams (Gamgee and Vimes) -- no, wait, three Sams, with the Supernatural guy. And probably two Jacks, too?
I've had two Sams myself (Vimes and Tarly) and probably some other duplicates that are not occurring to me.
Also, randomly, every time I see you write "CS" my brain automatically parses that as "Computer Science" even though I know it's actually Celtic Studies. That makes for some interesting cognitive dissonance.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-09 09:44 pm (UTC):D was pretty much my reaction, too. See, this is why I love him so much: politeness and scathing verbal smackdowns all at once!
Yay for CoG! Boo for not getting to read it much this weekend :(
My thoughts exactly! I've forbidden myself from taking it anywhere with me, just to remove the temptation.
Speaking of CoG, what's your spoiler tolerance level? When I do finish it and write about it, if it turns out that there's some sort of enormous reveal or plot twist, I won't blurt that out, of course, but since you're about the only other person on my flist who will care about being spoiled for Temeraire, I was thinking of doing that thing you do, where you have a spoiler-free and a spoiler-filled section, so that people can read share in the geeky joy without the buzz-kill of spoilers. This seems like an eminently sensible idea, so would it be OK with you if I stole it?
I think you've also had at least two Sams (Gamgee and Vimes)
Ooh, I forgot the Sams! With Gamgee, Vimes, Tarly, and Winchester (and I'm getting the impression that I'm even forgetting a few more), that brings it up to four. Another one for the list! XD
Also, randomly, every time I see you write "CS" my brain automatically parses that as "Computer Science"
LOL! Actually, I'm not sure that CS is even the proper abbreviation for Celtic Studies; I've also seen it written as CELT. But mixing up Celtic Studies/Computer Science would lead to some interesting, but potentially awesome, results!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-10 06:07 am (UTC)Heh, Temeraire seems to be one of those series where my tolerance level is basically "Yes plz!" -- but I appreciate you asking! (And you can certainly borrow the spoiler + non-spoiler scheme, which I myself stole from someone once upon a time.) I've actually managed to spoil myself for CoG already (by clicking on a Spoiler link, of course. I don't know what it is that makes me seek out spoilers in some fandoms (Temeraire, Dresden Files) and avoid them in others (ASOIAF, HP towards the end), but mostly I tend to be at least neutral towards learning spoilers, unless it's a canon where I want to see if I figure out the plot twists on my own.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-10 07:26 pm (UTC)Hee, good to know. Spoilers for all! XD So it looks like I won't have to use the spoiler + non-spoiler thing this time, but it'll be good to have for future use!