Business, Vorkorsigan advent, and, of course, a meme

[lunasariel]

The last couple of days have been pleasantly busy. Last night was H's makeup birthday party, since she was sick and had two finals on her actual birthday. It was at her grandma's house, and I hadn't realized just how close the two of us were. I know that sounds weird, what with her being my best friend and all, but we've gotten to the point where we've kind of been adopted by each other's families. I helped her grandpa bring in groceries, went through pictures of her now three-year-old cousin (who has gotten so much bigger since I last saw her!), got introduced to her aunt's new girlfriend (a lawyer and parrot aficionado), and exclaimed over her sister's newly-straightened hair (which looks fantastic). We had a new kind of cake, tres leches, which was described as a "wet cake," much moister and with more filling than regular cake. Also, strawberries and peaches on top. Yum! Sadly, I had to leave early, since my contacts were warning me that they were about to pop out, but at least I got a chance to catch up with everyone, including J, who's back from the Frozen North. He seems to be doing a lot better than he was, and I think is taking classes again in the fall. He's seeing someone new, which is very much a good thing for him, and I hope was one of the factors that got him moving again. He wants to run a Rogue Traders two- or three-shot sometime this summer, but H's D&D campaign is also starting back up, and I don't know whether I'll have time to play H's, act as chronicler/creative consultant for same, learn an entirely new gaming system and mythos, roll a new character, actually play the new game, work at the animal shelter, and still have time to, you know, breathe and stuff.

Speaking of the animal shelter, I went to the orientation today, signed up for what I wanted to do, and got the dates for more specific training. There were more people than I thought would be there, maybe 15 or so, and we got the spiel and tour from a nice lady called Alice, the volunteer coordinator (among other jobs) who refers to everything as "my." As in "this is where my dog walkers leave the leashes and health charts," "I usually have about a dozen animals boarding here at any one time," "my spay/neuter clinic usually draws about 25 people per event, but sometimes it gets up to 100," and "here's my exam room, where my vets evaluate sick pets before processing them for surgery or other care." Apparently it's kitten season at the moment, and my mom's instruction "don't come home with a kitten" is going to be hard to follow. They're all so cute! (But helping them get adopted by *someone* should help with the kitten-longing, methinks.) I signed up as a Cat Cuddler and office assistant. Yes, "Cat Cuddler" is now something I can put on my resumé. #MLIA. So I'll be socializing cats, helping match them up with potential adopters, *and* getting work experience in an office, which I'm sure will come in handy somewhere down the line. And, yes, I'm still ridiculously happy that I get to work there.



In other news, I finally finished the first Vorkosigan (which I still accidentally spell Vokorsigan or Vorkosian) Saga book, Shards of Honor, and I loved it! I fell head-over-heels in fangirl-love with Cordelia, Aral isn't half bad himself, and Koudelka is exactly the kind of adorkable awkward eager puppy that I adore I haven't started Barrayar, the next book, because I wanted to get this review out before muddying it with my impressions from other books.

I admit, I went in with some odd expectations. The cover shows Cordelia in a spangly green dress, sitting in the captain's chair on the deck of what looks like a starship, smirking cockily and accepting a sword, while a Victorian gentleman (who I assume is Aral) stands behind her as, like, her lieutenant or something. Also, (and this is gleaned mostly from my ramblings on TVTropes) I'd envisioned Beta Colony as Bruce Banner's paradise, some sort of utopia where everybody just sits around and does SCIENCE! all day, and the government is enlightened, democratic, run by the top scientists, and basically exists to stop people from accidentally blowing each other and/or the planet up, and Barrayar as essentially, Westeros with lasers and spaceships, where a bloodthirsty warrior aristocracy held the oppressed masses in thrall to be used as cannon fodder in their endless wars, both civil and of conquest, Yeah, that was wrong. (Also, it bears pointing out that Cordelia shares a name with Cordelia Chase, one of the main characters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is hilarious. Buffy!Cordelia, who usually answers to Cordy [or, knowing her, Cordi], is a spoiled, rich, bitchy princessy-type and a cheerleader, and the complete opposite of Vorkorsigan!Cordelia, although Cordy does take a couple of levels in badass eventually. I dunno, just the thought of the two of them meeting and being flummoxed by each other is all kinds of hilarious.)

It took me a while to get used to all the Vors, and for quite a while I mixed them all up so much that I just gave up and started calling them Vorevil, Vordead, Vorboss, Vorprobablyokay, and Vorold. Like with Dragaera's unreliable narrator/twisty plot thing, though, I got a handle on it eventually, and now I can Vorkosigan, Vorhala, and Vorbarra with the best of them. It also took me a while to get into the flow of the dialogue, which occasionally went in unexpected directions. Usually it's very plain and un-stylized, but every so often an odd endearment like "my breath" or an odd hyphenated word like "heart-knowledge" or similar gets tossed in, and there's surprisingly little swearing for a bunch of soldiers and explorers (Cordelia even only calls the Barrayarans who tortured her mentally damaged crewmember "scoundrels"), but, again, once I got in the groove, I stopped noticing.

I loved watching Aral's and Cordelia's relationship developing. There were some kind of hilarious moments/images, like Aral in what sounds like a truly atrocious Hawaiian shirt, his continual fruitless efforts to play the white knight to Cordelia's damsel in distress (although the Vorrutyer incident was anything but funny), and his first, awkward attempt to propose to her. A for effort, Aral. A for effort. But he is genuinely a badass, and my favorite part of the whole book was probably the whole episode on Vorkosigan's ship, the name of which I forget, after they got off the planet with the exploding vampire jellyfish. Aral was a badass, Cordelia (I'm resisting the urge to call her Cordy/Cordi, too) was also a badass, albeit one pretty much making it up as she went, the secondary characters were fun ("You got all of them to agree? How?!" and Nielsa the not-so-terrible cook and adorkable awkward eager puppy Koudelka), and the baddies had their asses thoroughly handed to them. Of course, the whole planetside episode was great, too. It did a great job of establishing the characters and their relationships to both the world and each other, and, of course, give both Cordelia and Vorkosigan (it's funny how, even in her head, she never refers to him by his first name) opportunities to display their awesomosity, especially Cordelia's bout with the aforementioned exploding jellyfish and Vorkosigan using the energy pack from one of his weapons to make fire (and a giant explosion, but, hey, that's just a bonus).

The second half or so of the book took a dark turn, though, and was much less "ADVENTURE, HO!" than the first bit. The almost-rape scene with Vorrutyer was appropriately creepy, and I get the feeling that getting his throat slit by the homicidal maniac he created was too good a death for him. Cordelia's return to Beta Colony was even creepier, but in a more 1984/Clockwork Orange-ish way. It's darkly ironic that she was fine, or at least functional, when running around an enemy ship and fighting for her life, but the relentless niggling of the psychologists broke her down. I mean, they almost literally killed her with kindness. It was actually pretty chilling, how they were all so deeply convinced, and tried to convince Cordelia, that she had been raped and brainwashed, and flat-out refused to believe her when she said she wasn't. When she was fighting people like Vorrutyer or Randov, it was comparatively easy: one good blow and they're down for the count; problem solved. But this gentle insistence that she wasn't well, that she needed help, that she was crazy and just couldn't or wouldn't admit it, is so much harder to fight, benign in intention as it was. In this, her situation mirrored Aral's after the Komarr business: if you want a fight, fine, he'll take his lumps and give as good as he gets, but playing this delicate psychological game, when everything is about credibility and what people believe happened, and what actually happened is useless, that's when the trouble really starts.

But now Cordelia (still not Cordy) is Lady Vorkosigan, for better or for worse, and she and Aral have built themselves a nice little Ragtag Bunch of Misfits for future volumes. As I've said before, I adore Koudelka, who desperately needs a hug; I like old Vorhala, who sounds like he takes no crap from anyone, might even (gasp!) actually be honorable, and will make an excellent political ally; and I've even come to like Bothari, after swinging back and forth between pity and horror for most of the book. And, of course, with Vorkosigan and Cordelia running the political show for the next decade and some change, things are looking pretty good. Now I'm off to go see how everything goes to hell in a handbasket...


I don't normally do links for the sake of links, but this one deserves sharing. I found this set of absolutely amazing Harry Potter icons over on _fandom_icons_, and I want each and every one of them, even those that aren't for my House (yes, I still identify as a Ravenclaw, even after Pottermore put me into Gryffindor). This has been a major incentive for me to finally make the jump to a paid account since, as they say on Teh Interwebz, I need these like burning.

It's meme time again! It's a more generalized life meme, not a character meme, this time around, but I found the questions unusually interesting/original, and, of course, I managed to slip in plenty of geeky stuff.


1) Five ways to win your heart.
  1. Be honest (but tactfully so). If I’ve screwed up, or I’m making myself look ridiculous, or if an idea that’s run away with me is uninteresting/badly thought out, you’re not doing me any favors by leaving me in the dark, and I won’t thank you when I do find out that I’ve been making a fool of myself.
  2. Geek out with me/compete with me intellectually. Actually, maybe this should be #1, since there’s no surer way to get me to like you. The way I relate to most people is through shared fandoms/geeky experiences, and if you can discuss Terry Pratchett’s literary allusions, anything and everything Tolkien, and the subtextual/allegorical nature of the X-Men, we’re off to a damn good start.
  3. Don’t be condescending/patronizing. For god’s sake, don’t do it. I can’t stand it. This ties into the previous points; I can take disagreeing with me on a particular fandom’s/character’s/genre’s value, but be prepared to back it up, and not just with “I go to [name of school]/I have/am getting a degree in [topic]/I know [influential figure]/I never went to community college and you did/I’m smarter than you/You’re just a silly little fangirl, your argument is invalid, go back to your Japanese porn cartoons or whatever the hell you’re into.” I promise you, that will win no points here.
  4) Give me any flowers other than roses. Seriously. Snapdragons, forget-me-nots, lilies of the valley, morning glories, anything. And if it must be roses, don’t go with generic white/pink/red ones, at least not unless they’re mixed in with something else a little more interesting.
  5. Understand that the fact that I need a good deal of alone time doesn’t mean that I don’t like you or don’t want a relationship with you. Sometimes I just need to curl up with a book set somewhere long ago and far away, my cat, my big fluffy robe, and maybe some tea and cut myself off from the world as it is. I’ll come back sooner or later, promise.

2) Something you feel strongly about.
Not much, actually. I’m hardly political, and pretty much all the social justice causes either cover areas that I don’t feel qualified to comment on (at least not without offending someone) or are too complex for me to have really strong feelings about. I do have strong feelings about a lot of fandom stuff (just ask me about Gil-galad’s true parentage or who should end up ruling Westeros. Go on. I dare you.), but I guess the closest thing I have to an IRL “cause” is animal rights. One of the baseline requirements I have for a relationship of any kind is “must love dogs/cats/rodents/birds/horses/iguanas,” and on the rare occasion I have any money to give to charity, it goes towards either the ASPCA or keeping no-kill shelters open and running.

3) A book you love.
Trying to avoid all the drastically obvious ones, let’s go with Diana Wynne Jones’ Dark Lord of Derkholm and the accompanying Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Deconstructionist fantasy can go one of two ways: the dark, gritty, realistic route (think George R.R. Martin at best, or Richard K. Morgan at worst), or the parody route, and DLoD is definitely the second. It’s more a parody of the generic fantasyland inspired by the post-Tolkien, 1^st and 2^nd edition D&D players, but anyone who’s spent any time at all in the genre will recognize digs at all the tropes, clichés, and stock characters/situations that we’ve seen about a thousand too many times. That said, though, it’s a sweet story, and actually manages to go beyond “lol unrealistic epic fantasy” to create engaging characters and a story the reader is invested in. And there was much rejoicing.

4) Bullet your whole day.

• 12:15 AM: Just one more chapter of Shards of Honor…
• 2:00 AM: Go to bed.
• 6:30 AM: Woken up by cat divebombing my bed, and thus me, from the top of her bookshelf, demanding food.
• 6:35 AM: Realize that cat won’t let me go back to sleep, get up to feed her.
• 6:36 AM: While getting cat’s insulin out of fridge, realize that dog and other cats are also up and demanding breakfast. What the hell, guess I’ll feed them, too.
• 6:37 AM: Lead selectively blind dog to food dish, let him hear me pour the kibble in, nudge him towards it. Referee other cats’ breakfast to make sure they both only eat their own food, since one of them is on a diet and unhappy with this.
• 6:40 AM: Return with insulin, feed & dose my cat.
• 6:42 AM: Go back to bed.
• 6:43 AM: Cat finishes breakfast, alternates between wanting to snuggle and pacing across my face. Headache develops.
• 8:00 AM: Fall back asleep.
• 10:00 AM: Wake back up. Cat has returned to bookshelf, but headache remains.
• 10:45 AM: Give up on falling back asleep. Get up.
• 10:50 AM: Breakfast.
• 11:00 AM: Get dressed, brush hair/teeth, etc. (this takes a while, as I am simultaneously going over emails, tweets, and facebook updates I missed while asleep).
• 11:45 AM: Computer on, find out what’s been going on in the world.
• 12:45 PM: Internet demon (we’ve named him Claude) strikes; wifi goes down for no discernable reason.
• 12:50 PM: Give up, restart router. Claude defeated. Yay! Back to the internet mines, as Warren Ellis says.
• 1:18 PM: P (who normally lives at Dad’s house) returns from realms unknown. Minor commotion.
• 1:25 PM: Trip to store.
• 1:40 PM: Return from store, put away groceries.
• 1:45 PM: Once more into the internet mines.
• 2:00 PM: Nap (interrupted by loudly singing P and diveboming cat, but facilitated by calming Tolkien passage).
• 4:00 PM: Woken up by call from mom: reminder to take A to voice lesson.
• 4:15 PM: A has band concert at school, voice lesson cancelled.
• 4:17 PM: Cook bratwursts for dinner, leave in microwave as protection from marauding cats.
• 4:45 PM: Text from H, delaying previous plans for Castle marathon. Off to WoW!
• 6:00 PM: Get off WoW; H should be here any minute. Watch Downton Abbey parodies to pass the time.
• 6:15 PM: H arrives. Much talking/dicking around online ensues.
• 8:00 PM: Previous plan to get pizza scrapped in favor of excursion to adjacent town to try out new burger place.
• 9:00 PM: Return from Five Guys (popular East Coast chain; damn tasty).
• 9:05 PM: Attempt to bring brats into TV room as snack aborted when brats discovered to be drastically underdone (my first time pan-frying them, not on a griddle). On H’s suggestion, cut them in half and finished them while H and P debate Math Club stuff, Harry Potter, and who beat who in a 2003 wooden sword fight.
• 9:20 PM: Castle marathon beings. P stays for first episode.
• 9:55 PM: Mom returns, P leaves to go sort out school transfer stuff with her.
• 11:45 PM: In an effort to recalibrate my sleep schedule, take H home with the goal of getting to bed myself 12:30-ish.
• 12:00 AM: Return from driving H home, run into P leaving for self-termed night of debauchery and mom going to bed.
• 12:10 AM: Half-asleep discussion w/ mom re: Sirius Black’s sexuality (she just finished OotP for the umpteenth time), followed by more internet mines.
• 12:35 AM: Finish this meme question.

5) Something you want to say to an ex.
I’m glad that we’re still friends. Not only because you and I work a lot better as friends than as a couple, but it would be awkward splitting our group down the middle into “my friends” vs. “your friends,” since neither of us has all that many friends to begin with.

6) Your views on mainstream music.
Eh…it exists? I don’t like or dislike something solely on the basis of how many people listen to it. I’m also not a very musically savvy/discerning person, so I often honestly can’t tell which music is the quirky, original indie music just breaking into the mainstream that I’m supposed to like, and the talentless corporate whores that I’m supposed to hate.

7) Five pet peeves.
  1. Being condescended to. Yeah, I know I harp on this a lot, but, seriously, don’t do it.
  2. Misplaced anger/misdirected blame. I’m sorry you had a bad day/are fighting with your SO/just got yelled at by your boss/realized you forgot something important, but please don’t take it out on me. This is especially bad when someone gets angry at me for something that’s their fault to begin with, or is the result of them asking me for a favor. Like, one time, a couple of friends of mine were supposed to meet me at my house, where we would then carpool to our mutual destination. They were two hours late, didn’t answer any of my calls or texts, and then got all snippy when I wasn’t ready to go immediately when they arrived, since I had the audacity to not sit in my car, engine idling, for the entire period of time, but had instead given up on them and started doing other things.
  3) Rhythmic noises. Yeah, I know, this one is weird, but seriously, they bug the crap out of me, especially the sound of breathing or footsteps (if they’re the only/loudest sound I can hear, and they go on for a while).
  4) Being late. This is more something that drives me crazy about myself than other people, but I do have a tendency to freak out if I’m going to be more than five minutes late anywhere. I probably get this from my mom, who also hates being late, and instilled in me the “leave 5-10 minutes early” rule.
  5. The kind of fans who give the rest of us a bad name. Yeah, I know this is a fandom-only thing, but it still applies. I guess one could call these people the vocal minority. Just like few Republicans are gun-waving, misogynist, homophobic racists and few Democrats are puling, elitist, gullible snobs, few fangirls/boys are socially retarded shut-ins who can’t tell fantasy from reality. But every time an actor or writer (or even BNF fanartist/fanfic writer) has to deal with hate from and/or being stalked by a crazy fan, I want to reach through the screen (or page) and bring the actor/writer/BNF into the real fan community, where people are polite and intelligent and fun, to prove that we’re not all like that.

8) What you ate today.
So far, only two pieces of toast with butter and strawberry jam (it is only, like, noon at the time of this writing, though).

9) How important you think education is.
It’s not the be-all, end-all of existence, but to my mind, it’s pretty damn important. I know I’m extremely lucky that my parents can afford, and more importantly, want me to go to college, and I’m damn grateful for this, because it’s what I love to do. On a professional level, pretty much any job worth having (that I can think of, at least) requires at least the bare minimum of education, and the job I want to have actually requires quite a lot. So, yeah, yay education!

10) Put your music player on shuffle and write the first ten songs that play.
  1. “Fake Empire,” The National. Most of the music on my laptop is in the form of various downloaded fanmixes, and this one is from “We Can Go Anywhere,” which is rather unique in my music library, since it’s A) only six songs long, and B), not for any fandom or pairing in particular, but just on the theme of friendship. I still like it, though.
  2. “I’m Not That Girl (Reprise),” Wicked soundtrack. *sniff* *sob* I actually liked the Elphie/Fiyero ship way more in the show than in the book, but this reprise, sung by Galinda, is sad, too, and not only because I’ve been in this exact position.
  3. “Dance Commander,” Electric Six. BAHAHAHAHA. That is all.
  4. “Babies,” Colleen. Hmm. :/ This is part of a series of four Nightrunner fanmixes; one for every book. I’m amazed as hell that NR fanmixes even exist, given the size of the fandom, but I’m not too happy with these. They focus almost entirely on the Alec/Seregil aspect, only mentioning actual plot events when said events are factors in the aforementioned ship. And this song is for my least favorite event in the series, where it came very, very close to jumping the shark, particularly because it made the series all about the shipping and not about the awesome badass magic espionage adventures.
  5. “Strength of a Thousand Men,” Two Steps From Hell. TSFH is a band that produces short pieces of music for movie trailers, TV spots, etc., so there’s a lot of short, punchy, badass music that lends itself to striding around, imagining one’s self performing various epic deeds.
  6. “Amhrán Pheadar Breathnach,” Máighread Ní Dhomhnaill. This translates to “Song for Peter Walsh,” by Margaret O’Donnell. See, when I kept bitching about Irish spelling last semester, this is what I meant.
  7. “Australian Aborigine Song,” Alan Maralung. A looooong time ago, at the JC, I took a class on world music appreciation (or something) to fill out my schedule. The class came with a pair of CDs containing samples of various kinds of world music, so I kept it. I’m glad this one came up, because dijeridus both remind me of Tongues of Serpents and make me pleasantly homesick, which is weird, since when I lived in Australia, I was almost certainly too young to remember anything.
  8. “Short People,” Randy Newman. This one is off of an absolutely fantastic Discworld fanmix, this one for Thud!. Ironically, while I do like Thud! (I know, unpopular opinion time), this is the only song on the fanmix I regularly skip over.
  9. “Alarm Clock,” The W’s. Another fanmix song, this one from an upbeat, zany (if I may use the word without inciting instinctual cringing and hissing), slightly manic Supernatural fanmix, from back in the day where anything upbeat and fun wasn’t completely at odds with the show itself. Mid-season 4, I think it was. Ah, for the days when the gang’s biggest worries were Lucifer walking the earth, being hunted by nihilistic insane angels, and the impending apocalypse…
  10. “Young Blood,” The Naked and Famous. This one from a Renly/Loras fanmix, of which I may or may not have waaaay too many. Some R/L mixes are better than others, and some songs are better than others, but this is actually one of my favorites. I even put it on my list of all-time favorite R/L songs a while back.

11) Your family.
Large and genial on my dad’s side, small and intellectual on my mom’s, uncontentious on both. When I’m not in school, I live with my mom and sister, with frequent visits to my dad’s and stepmom’s place. My stepbrother and stepsisters are all either going to community college or went straight to work after high school, and have all moved out to various places of their own. Until recently, my brother lived in the next town over, in a house he was technically renting from my mom. But he’s going to UC Davis in the fall, so the house has been re-rented to someone else, and he’s bouncing back and forth between mom’s and dad’s houses until Davis’ summer session starts.

12) Five guys whom you find attractive.
  1. J. Like I said earlier, we really drastically do not work as a couple, but he’s still just about the most physically attractive person I talk to on a regular basis.
  2. Thomas Raith. Aside from the fact that being unusually attractive (and, of course, that the dark hair/pale skin combo, striking eyes, and lack of facial hair push three of my major "physically attractive buttons") is a central aspect of his character, he’s a snarky Lancer, a woobie, a closet romantic, and a badass.
  3. James McAvoy/XMFC-era Professor X. I include them both because I do find the actor himself pretty as hell (damn you, with you way-too-blue eyes and floppy hair and cute accent), but I like the character more (still with the eyes and the hair and the [albeit different] accent, but with added doses of Papa Wolf-ism, geekery, and fandom-breaking levels of HoYay).
  4. Roiben (from Holly Black’s Modern Tales of Faerie). This is partially a holdover from my adolescence, wherein Tithe was the first book I finished in a single day, largely fueled by my lust for a certain silver-haired, tragically beautiful, ass-kicking faerie knight, but as I got older, I started being able to appreciate other aspects of his character, like the Milton fanboyism and occasional moral twistiness.
  5. Errol Flynn. He was snarky, clever, a dab hand with bow and sword, and could kick the asses of any five guys you’d care to send against him. (The characters, of course; I’ve since discovered that the actor himself was a bit of an asshole.) I’m sure my parents got sick of putting in Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, and Captain Blood for me when I was too young to work the VHS player, but he was pretty much my idol throughout childhood, and became a crush when I was old enough to know what a crush is. Sadly, the VHSs have mostly worn out…which gave me the excuse to get the digitally remastered, special edition DVDs. So, silver lining. (Fun fact: he died exactly one month after my mom was born.) (Fun fact II: while drunk and filming The Dark Avenger, he once stabbed Christopher Lee in the hand. Christopher calmly finished the scene before seeking medical attention.)

13) Your opinion about your body and how comfortable you are with it.
Eh, I wouldn’t say that I’m proud of it, but I’m not exactly ashamed of it, either. Yes, there is some pudge that I wish weren’t there, but in general, I’m not in embarrassingly bad shape. I’m rather on the pasty side, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and so is only a minus because it means I burn really, really easily. The only part of myself that I’m truly unhappy with is my hair, thin(ning) and brittle as it is.

14) What you wore today.
The usual: jeans, t-shirt (green-and-yellow Tyrell shirt today), black-and-blue New Balance sneakers, appropriate socks and underthings. I’m going out this evening, so I might bring my green sweater embroidered with flowers if it gets chilly, but considering that it’s well into the 80s now, I don’t think I will.

15) Your zodiac/horoscope and if you think it fits your personality.
I’m a Leo, but born very close to the Leo/Cancer cutoff, and I identify much more with Cancers than Leos. I hate taking charge and being the center of attention, quintessential Leo traits, but I’m usually a lot more Cancerously diffident and easygoing.

16) Something you always think “what if…” about.
If I hadn’t monkeyed around with the JC, but applied to various UCs straight out of high school. I know I probably wouldn’t have gotten in, at least not to where I wanted to go, since my grades weren’t exactly UCLA caliber, and my subsequent semester abroad and insider help on my personal statement (one of my JC professors used to be on the Board of Admissions) boosted me over. Even so, I’ll always kick myself a little bit for not at least trying, because I do feel that the majority of the three years I spent at the JC weren’t exactly productive.

17) Something that you’re proud of.
Either getting into Berkeley (12% acceptance rate, booyah!), *finally* finishing The Silmarillion (and thus permanently establishing my geek cred), or my semester abroad in London (living like a real live grown-up, taking care of myself, living in a city, keeping up with my schoolwork in the face of ohmygodI’minLondon!, and actually getting out of my flat now and again to see what real life is like).

18) A problem that you have had.
Off the top of my head, there was a little hiccup that almost cost me my admission to Berkeley when my transcript from the JC somehow disappeared en route to Cal. I was told it would take a little while to process, so I waited until after the deadline to email my admissions officer to see what the holdup was, and it turned out they never got it. So I had to go back to the JC and fill out another transcript request form two days after the cutoff, knowing that it would take four or five business days to process, one or two to arrive at Berkeley, and then however long the Admissions Gods decreed to be processed once it was there. So, yeah, I started breathing again after a week or so. I guess this was just foremost in my mind, since my brother is filling out a similar transcript request form for Davis, and I advised him to get it in as early as possible, to prevent a similar situation.

19) Five items you lust after.
  1. A long skirt with pockets. I loooove long, swishy skirts, but it always bugs me that I have to carry everything either in a purse or in my hands. So in a perfect world, I would have an array of long skirts of all fabrics, colors, some embroideries, etc., but they would all have pockets.
  2. A sonic screwdriver. I’m not much of a one for memorabilia for memorabilia’s sake, but this would be freakin’ awesome. I got one for H for Christmas, and only barely stopped held back from getting myself an early present, too. The adjustable one that I got J would be even better, since it has mix-and-match parts of every Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, allowing me to make one of my own. Star Wars fans have lightsabers, we have sonic screwdrivers.
  3. A metal lilac pin. I missed getting one for the glorious 25^th of May this year, but having one in time for next year would be nice. I’ve found a couple that would suit, but none under, like, $30, which is rather more than I’m willing to spend on three inches of steel and enamel.
  4. Seasons 5 and 6 of Doctor Who. Okay, this is technically two items, but season 7 is coming out soon(-ish), and I don’t have any of the 11^th Doctor’s seasons, which is terribly sad. But seasons 5 and 6 are also Amy and Rory’s seasons, and, if, as the Grand Moff promises, their exit from the show halfway through season 7 is going to be “tragic,” I’ll want something to fall back on.
  5. Hermione's handbag from Deathly Hallows. Or, rather, just the spell, so I can enchant my own bag to do the same. There are so many times when I think "Damn, I wish I had [insert item here]," and with this, I could pretty much just carry around an assortment of useful items and books, and pull them out as needed.

20) Your fears.
Let’s go with five, since lists of five seem to be kind of a theme here.
  1. Public speaking/attention. I know I’ve gone on about this at length in previous posts, so I’ll spare you all the rant here. Safe to say, it ties in with my “patronization” fear, and I don’t like it.
  2. Zombies. Out of all the fictional (non-human) monsters that exist, zombies are the only ones that actually scare me. I mean, I don’t even like watching funny zombie movies, like Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland, alone. With other monsters, they usually appear to small, isolated groups of people. Lonely cabins in the woods, small towns in the middle of nowhere, subterranean caves, etc. seem to draw most ghoulies, ghasties, and long-legged beasties, but the point of zombies is that they invade normal, everyday lives. While most fictional baddies are a little more respectful of one’s privacy, zombies show up in suburbia, at your office, in your towns and cities. In the country, you can get away from them at a brisk walk, but in the city, hemmed in by millions of potential carriers, you’re pretty much screwed, and there’s no way out.
  3. Seafood. I usually say that I’m allergic to shellfish, because it’s not actual fish that bothers me. I’m not crazy about the bones, but it still tasty. Shrimp, prawns, crab, and lobster, though, just freak me the hell out. I just don’t like eating anything that close to a bug.
  4. Crowds. This is actually a fairly new one, but apparently I’ve developed the delightful neurosis of panic attacks when in a large group in a social setting. I’m fine with professional or academic groups, or groups with a significant age difference from me, but if I’m at, say, a party with more than 20 or 30 people, especially people I don’t know, I might have to excuse myself.
  5. Scorn. Related to the first fear on this list, I can’t stand being looked down on, especially for shortcomings that aren’t actually my fault, and being scorned generally triggers a kind of shame where I internalize the scorn, which in turn makes whatever flaw, real or imagined, worse.

21) What you hope your future will be like.
Quiet. I think I could be happy in an apartment; a house might be too big, since I don’t want kids. Definitely pets, though: a cat or two, and maybe a dog, if he/she could be happy in the house while I’m at work all day. I want to work in a library, of course, since this is a “hope” and not “expect” question, an academic research library at somewhere like Cal. I do want to get married, so there’ll hopefully be a good guy in the picture; someone I can geek out with and who can take care of the animals when I can’t.

22) Your academics.
…are my life? XD But seriously, my life right now is centered around school: picking next semester’s classes, fretting about grad school, picking at the research I brought home with me to keep me occupied over the summer. I love academia, and the only reason the previous question doesn’t center around me just sitting around and writing about books/fiction/fandom all day is that it’s hopelessly impractical from a financial standpoint, and a key element of my perfect future is no, or at least a minimum amount of, money worries.

23) Something that you miss.
Right now, Berkeley. Maybe it’s because of the previous few questions, but I miss my dorm room, the libraries, and my ability to get everywhere by walking. Granted, this wouldn’t be so much fun in the summer, but living out in the boonies means that even going to the store is a planned event that requires preparation and an hour or two of free time, so I’m not getting out as much as I should.

24) Five words/phrases that make you laugh.
  1. Poultry, any kind. I don’t know why, I just find chickens, turkey, peacocks, etc. incredibly funny. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived around them, but the fact that they’re all bone-stupid, combined with the way they look when they run (which must be seen to be believed) and the way they glare at people always gets me.
  2. This. (May be NSFW: one reference to STDs) (Also to be found here, if the embed doesn't work, as it looks like it might.)

  3. This complicated, long-running joke in my family, which involves a silly accent and lots of talking about shnoosks, borscht, my dear poopa, smokestacks, and ducks. Yeah, you pretty much have to be there.
  4. Characters-discover(or are-involved-in)-fandom fic/art. I dunno, the concept of characters arguing over shipping and reviewing fanfic for accuracy is just never not funny to me.
  5. That one scene in The Avengers. You know the one. “Kneel before me, you dull creature! I am a god, and I will not be bullied by a –” *HULK SMASH* *whimper*
So this kind of turned into a list of concepts/ideas I find funny in general. My humblest apologies.

25) Something you’re currently worrying about.
Mostly whether or not the classes I want/need will be filled up by the time I get a chance to sign up for them, whether I’ll do a good job at the animal shelter, and whether my friends actually know about my blog. So, a lot of little things, but they do tend to pile up.

26) Things you like and dislike about yourself.
I like that I’m organized, competent, can look after myself, and have good taste in books.
I don’t like that I can be incredibly shy and awkward, especially when talking to people that I like and/or want to impress, I have difficulty saying “no,” and my people skills, are, er, somewhat lacking.

27) A quote you try to live by.
Augh, I hate these quote questions! I can never remember any quotes at all, especially the ones that I come across every so often and think “That totally applies to me! I’ll have to remember it for later.” *time passes* I still have the Wiccan Rede hanging on my wall from my Wiccan/Neo-Pagan days, and “And harm ye none, do what ye will” sound like some pretty good words to live by.

28) Somewhere you’d like to move or visit.
I certainly wouldn’t mind another, longer, fuller trip to Britain and Ireland, with time and luxury to make all the appropriate nerdy pilgrimages. Again, given sufficient funds, I think I might like moving back to London, but I’ve rather fallen in love with Berkeley, as well. Having lived in the country my whole life, I wasn’t sure how I would like city living, but I’ve discovered that an apartment is the perfect size for me, and I do like living in a city, as long as that city is appropriately greenery-filled, the public transit is top-notch (or at least functional and on time), and there’s a nice park within walking distance. So, basically, London, if I could take my family, my friends, my pets, my books, and my stuff with me.

29) Five weird things that you like.
  1. Most of my fandoms. I mean, trying to describe Temeraire ("The Napoleonic wars, plus dragons.”), ASOIAF (“The War of Roses, but taking place in Fantasyland, with added helpings of violence, sex, incest, pedophilia, and murder. Lots of graphic, violent, murder. And also dragons and ice zombies.”), or Firefly (“The Buffy the Vampire Slayer guy made a show about space cowboys, but there’s this crazy girl who might have psychic powers, and the government is chasing them because they tried to make her into an assassin and she can kill people, and they kind of had the Civil War, but we’re sympathetic to the South this time.”) to a non-fan is often an exercise in futility, and usually ends with “It’s better than it sounds, I promise!”
  2. Mayonnaise. I know a lot of people hate it, but I love it on fries, in ham sandwiches, or in devilled eggs. It can definitely be over-used, but when used judiciously, I find it extremely tasty.
  3. Late 18^th/early 19^th Gothic romances, and the parodies thereof. This is definitely Godzilla’s fault. Once I started familiarizing myself with the genre so I could mock it effectively, I went deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, and before I knew it, I was writing papers and formulating elaborate theories on it, and my Gothic Romance stack was six or seven books high.
  4. Collecting buttons. I’m actually reaching the point where I have to search out new space on my bag to put them, which is awesome. Whenever I go somewhere or do something important, I get a button to commemorate it, and word has gotten out, so people are always giving me buttons. This has led to a rather…eclectic mix: a purple Loch Ness Monster, an Exeter shield, a Hand of the King pin, a couple of Beatles pins, a TARDIS, a Browncoat badge, several Shakespeare quotes, a feather/quill, a claddagh, a World Tree, a Monty Python “Knights Who Say Ni” pin, a Cal pin, a Cal English Department pin, a tiny unicorn, and of course just some weird sayings that caught my eye (“Listen to your conscience cat,” “What part of ‘I banish thee’ do you not understand?” [printed on buffalo bone], and “Geek Pride Day -25^th May”), two Celtic mandalas, and a cat in a kimono and elaborate geisha hair (don’t ask).
  5. Going to the movies alone. I love to go with friends and/or family, of course, but sometimes I like to have time to digest the movie, form opinions, and just generally meditate on the walk/drive home without interruptions.

30) One thing that you’re excited for.
At the moment, the resurgence of interest in H’s D&D game. It sounds like she’s got some half-alarming, half-amazing plans for us, and it has been in the works for almost a year now, so it’s almost guaranteed to be awesome. Also, it gives me a chance to hang out with a lot of my favorite people (especially Jesse, who I haven’t seen in months, but will hopefully be seeing frequently once things get back in gear).

Comments

[brit-columbia.livejournal.com]

'Cat-Cuddler'! What a great job. I would be so awesome at that. I mean, I am a total pro at handling cats. But then I would go home and worry that the cats were not going to have happy lives unless I adopted ALL of them. I know myself.

Shrimp, prawns, crab, and lobster, though, just freak me the hell out. I just don’t like eating anything that close to a bug. I get this, I really do, even though I love to eat those four delicious creatures. But you can never allow yourself to look at them too closely or start analyzing them in any way, because then you inevitably start imagining them as special effects in science fiction movies, perhaps covered in green slime or red jelly!

I find the same is true of eating any creature really. I don't like to think that I'm eating an animal's leg that it once used for walking/running, or a chunk of an animal's chest, or rib cage. I start feeling grossed out and guilty.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I would be so awesome at that. I mean, I am a total pro at handling cats.
I know, right? Everyone says to get a job you're already good at, and I'm already an ace cat cuddler.

I find the same is true of eating any creature really.
Yeah, there definitely is a danger of this. Sometimes I'll be enjoying, like, a drumstick or something, and I start thinking, "This is the actual flesh of a live animal. This yummy drumstick used to move around on its own and AARRRGGGHH" and freak myself out. XD

[hamsterwoman]

Yay for a good friend's birthday, and a low-key one like you wanted, though sorry about you having to leave early! I know what you mean about mutual adoption -- that's how my best friend and I are, too. Also her aunt's new girlfriend "(a lawyer and parrot aficionado)" sounds like she ought to be a character in a quirky mystery novel ;)

Also, cat cuddling sounds like one of the most awesome jobs ever!

I am so happy to hear that you loved the first Vorkosigan book! :D

The cover shows Cordelia in a spangly green dress, sitting in the captain's chair

Um, yeah, this is why you never, ever pay attention to anything on the Vorkosigan covers XD

I actually think your TVTropes-based impressions about Beta Colony are not too far off... but one of the interesting things LMB does is showing that a super-enlightened uber-liberal uber-democratic society can, in its own way, be as narrowminded and limiting as Westeros-with-lasers. (And I think the book does a great job of showing that, exactly as you describe.)

that I just gave up and started calling them Vorevil, Vordead, Vorboss, Vorprobablyokay, and Vorold

LOL LOL LOL Laughing for real at this. (It might help if you kind of train yourself to ignore the "vor" bit and just read what's after it -- that makes it a bit easier to remember the names, I find. But mostly you don't actually need to know who all those people are. There are like four Vor families that are actually important, besides the Vorkosigans.)

and there's surprisingly little swearing for a bunch of soldiers and explorers

That's a good point... I think it's the age of the books showing itself -- the book was originally published in 1986 and I think swearing in mass media was a lot more restrictive back then...

Aral's first proposal is hilarious, and I just love everything about those two.

Barrayar is my favorite of the two Aral/Cordelia books, so I'm even more eagerly awaiting your thoughts on it. (And even after Miles takes center stage in The Warrior's Apprentice and onward, one of the things I really like about this series is that we do continue to see more awesome from the older generation.)

Those icons are really pretty! I'm very tempted by the elegant simplicity of the Ravenclaw "42" one. (I don't have an H2G2 icon yet anyhow. Clearly this is a good reason!)

part 2 -- meme :)

[hamsterwoman]

*asks you about Gil-Galad's true parentage*

I don't think we've ever talked about DWJ yet, have we? I prefer the Chrestomanci books, probably because I was actually in the target audience when I read her, but pretty mcuh everything by her is wonderful. And Tough Guide was hilarious!

12:45 PM: Internet demon (we’ve named him Claude) strikes;

Hee! Also, as evident from the bulletized schedule, your family and friend(s) are the best nerds! :)

2. Misplaced anger/misdirected blame

This bugs me SO much, too! I think it's because I frequently go out of my way to not give people something to blame me for, so when they do anyway -- ARRGH!

(Fun fact II: while drunk and filming The Dark Avenger, he once stabbed Christopher Lee in the hand. Christopher calmly finished the scene before seeking medical attention.)

That is indeed a fun fact! *files away*

I either didn't know or had forgotten that you're a Leo. That's two zodiac signs we apparently share (you're a Horse, too, right? though a different element, obviously). I'm also pretty close to the Cancer line, though not as close as you (my birthday's 3 days later than yours), but I definitely identify way more with the Leo sign than Cancer.

The long skirt with pockets you describe sounds delightfully steampunky! :) I, personally, hate having stuff in pockets below my waist, but I am also hopeless when it comes to carrying around purses -- you might have noticed that I never do. I tried being a grown-up for a couple of years, but after I, in quick succession, forgot my purse at a restaurant on Friday and then had to wait for Monday to retrieve it because they were closed over the weekend, and forgot my purse at the cafe at work so many times that on this particular occasion the cashier just brought it up to my desk... well, I took the hint from the universe and gave up on purses. Now it either goes in my jacket pockets (that's why I always have my jacket with me, even when it's hot) or in a backpack. I've used jackets and backpacks long enough that I never forget them, so I figure that's got to be good enough.

I would also love to have a lilac pin, but, as you say, the pretty enamel ones are rather pricey... :(

4. Crowds. This is actually a fairly new one, but apparently I’ve developed the delightful neurosis of panic attacks when in a large group in a social setting

My friend was recently diagnosed with this after fainting several times in crowded settings. I was really surprised, because I hadn't realized you could develop these types of things as an adult. But apparently you really can...

If it's something that can be played out by one person, I would love it if you could demonstrate the long-running joke next time we hang out. The highlights in your answer are already making me grin :)

and whether my friends actually know about my blog

Do you have reason to suspect that they do? (Although I did end up completely f-locking mine when the Facebook linkage stuff came around, because even if people made the connection somehow, via the couple of folks I have friended both places, I didn't want them to be able to read anything.)

Mmm, mayonaise. I went through a phase when I would put it on sandwiches (roast beef, mostly) -- I think this was triggered by this awesome sandwich place in the Bear's Lair (which sadly is not longer there, I think) serving them with mayo. But mostly I like it in deviled eggs/egg salad.

Re: part 2 -- meme :)

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Also her aunt's new girlfriend "(a lawyer and parrot aficionado)" sounds like she ought to be a character in a quirky mystery novel ;)
She does, doesn't she? Murder Most Fowl! Heh, I amuse myself.

Also, cat cuddling sounds like one of the most awesome jobs ever!
IKR? Now I can tell people that I'm a professional Cat Cuddler, not just a habitual one. XD

one of the interesting things LMB does is showing that a super-enlightened uber-liberal uber-democratic society can, in its own way, be as narrowminded and limiting as Westeros-with-lasers.
Exactly! They've taken being permissive and supportive and all that so far that they immediately think that a woman who claims to *not* have been raped is just covering it up, and refuse to believe her story, seeing it as really extreme denial. Creepy!

I think it's the age of the books showing itself -- the book was originally published in 1986 and I think swearing in mass media was a lot more restrictive back then
Yeah, that was my thought, too. Actually, whenever someone conspicuously didn't swear, I imagined a 4th-wall-breaking moment where they started to swear, but then stopped, thought, replaced it with a safer word, and then bitched about it to each other behind the scenes about how watered-down the dialogue is. XD

Aral's first proposal is hilarious
Yes. Yes, it is. I love these moments when Aral tries so, so hard to be a gentleman; I actually get a very Demane/Emily vibe from these, where he's trying to be all formal and white knight-y, and she's just amused by the whole thing.

*asks you about Gil-Galad's true parentage*
ASDFG';SDKGJWERJKGSOINV CHRISTOPHER SCREWED UP IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ORODRETH NOT FINGON TOLKIEN CHANGED IT BEFORE HIS DEATH FINGON WASN'T MARRIED THIS MAKES NO SENSE ASER'GGJNGB'=ANV;AJG. I'm not entirely sure why, except for the fact that I adore Fingon, but this one always makes me rageface.

I don't think we've ever talked about DWJ yet, have we?
I don't think so. I was a little too old for the Chrestomanci books when I came across them, so I don't think I appreciate them as much as I ought, althought they are quite good. And, yes, Tough Guide is all kinds of hilarious!

your family and friend(s) are the best nerds! :)
Heehee, thanks! I am eternally grateful that I live among my own kind.

I think it's because I frequently go out of my way to not give people something to blame me for, so when they do anyway -- ARRGH!
Exactly. At that point I usually kind of give up, you know? I mean, I tried, and if they still want to make a big deal about it, fine, I'm done, because there's obviously no pleasing them.

That is indeed a fun fact! *files away*
Indeed it is. It was Christopher Lee's birthday recently, and I came across a nifty list of trivia about him (here: http://news.moviefone.com/2012/05/24/christopher-lee-90th-birthday_n_1543929.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false), which includes tidbits like his (ex-)next-door neighbor being Bela Lugosi, he's related to Ian Flemming, and he was the only member of the LotR cast/production team to meet the author, and recieved his blessing to appear (as Gandalf, but still) in any adaption of the books that may happen.

Re: part 2 -- meme :)

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I was really surprised, because I hadn't realized you could develop these types of things as an adult.
Yeah, this was news to me, too. I'm sorry to hear about your friend! :( I don't know whether my thing is on a level that can be diagnosed, or just gotten over, so I'm just kind of hoping that it'll go away on its own and/or with practice.

If it's something that can be played out by one person, I would love it if you could demonstrate the long-running joke next time we hang out.
I'll do my best! :) One question, though, it does involve a lot of mentions of "in Old Country...," and the accent is a kind of generic parody Eastern European one, similar to the Centauri, and I think I remember you mentioning that this kind of thing bugged you?

Do you have reason to suspect that they do?
At H's party, we were talking, I forget about what, and someone mentioned that I should put it on my blog, eliciting a O.O -> D: reaction from me. They might think I stopped writing it in high school, though, but the scare was enough that I probably am going to f-lock it sometime in the very near future.
Yeah, the Facebook thing confused me. I mean, how many LJers actually want their IRL friends reading their fanfic/blogs? XP

I went through a phase when I would put it on sandwiches (roast beef, mostly)
Yay, I'm not alone! I know some people who are horrified by the mere sight of it, and I know it can be kind of oily and overpowering, but I just love it. Also, :( on the Golden Bear sandwich shop being closed, because a roast beef sandwich with mayo sounds delicious!

Re: part 2 -- meme :)

[hamsterwoman]

Murder Most Fowl!

OMG! That's perfect! Write it! XD

Actually, whenever someone conspicuously didn't swear, I imagined a 4th-wall-breaking moment where they started to swear, but then stopped, thought, replaced it with a safer word, and then bitched about it to each other behind the scenes

Haha, I might just have to start doing that too XD

I actually get a very Demane/Emily vibe from these, where he's trying to be all formal and white knight-y, and she's just amused by the whole thing

Come to think of it, there's a reason I so enjoy the relationships involving the ladies Roland :) They definitely appeal to the same sort of shipping kink as Cordelia/Aral.

IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ORODRETH NOT FINGON

Interesting! I confess, beyond the Feanor and Galadriel, I can't keep track of anyone's parentage and children in the Sil particularly well (except when it's obviously a plot point, like Elrond and Elros, or Luthien). But I'm happy to know this, and, of course, it's pretty easy to beleive that Christopher picked the wrong version given that there were several different versions for a lot of these things.

That is a lot of cool Christopher Lee trivia! I didn't know about him being Tolkien's pick to play Gandalf (and wouldn't trade McKellen for him, tbh, as Gandalf *or* Magneto), or any of those other things, or that he's that tall, or a singer. I've never given him a lot of thought, but he really does seem like an awesome person, and neat to know that he's a fan of many of the things he participated in adapting, not just an actor.

I don't know whether my thing is on a level that can be diagnosed, or just gotten over, so I'm just kind of hoping that it'll go away on its own and/or with practice.

I also hope it goes away for you!

it does involve a lot of mentions of "in Old Country...," and the accent is a kind of generic parody Eastern European one, similar to the Centauri, and I think I remember you mentioning that this kind of thing bugged you?

It bugs me if it's meant to be taken seriously, definitely not in the context of a joke :) (Oddly enough, it also doesn't bug me when Londo does it -- that might've been how it came up in our conversation, I'm thinking? ;)

and someone mentioned that I should put it on my blog

B and the rodents know I keep an LJ, but nobody else among my family/RL friends do. But there have been a couple of moments when B alluded to my blog in the presence of my parents, which caused a temporary freakout (because it was not yet locked back then). I don't think they noticed, and they don't know anything about social media so probably couldn't find it even if they knew -- even though they would recognize the username, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, safer locked if you have any reason to doubt its privacy!

I'm rather :( about the disappearance of the Golden Bear sandwich place, too. They had really awesome sandwiches. Loaded with stuff I don't even normally like, like bean sprouts, but the whole thing worked together really well! Alas, earwax.

Re: part 2 -- meme :)

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

OMG! That's perfect! Write it! XD
Bad puns: the mystery writer's greatest weapon!

there's a reason I so enjoy the relationships involving the ladies Roland
Oooh, that's one thing I forgot to mention! I kept envisioning Cordelia as being played by Susan Ivanova's actress (whose name I can't recall at the moment), who I also had pegged for the "if only, if only" movie/TV adaption of Temeraire.

(and wouldn't trade McKellen for him, tbh, as Gandalf *or* Magneto)
Agreed! McKellen is the perfect Gandalf/Magneto, Lee is the perfect Saruman, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I also hope it goes away for you!
Thanks! :) "Wait and see if it goes away": my all-time favorite cure-all.

It bugs me if it's meant to be taken seriously, definitely not in the context of a joke
Ah, ok. My thing is merely for comedic intent, I promise! (I'm pretty sure it arose from using the word "borscht," which in itself is fun to say.) And, yes, I'm fairly sure this came up in a Londo-related discussion.

Anyway, safer locked if you have any reason to doubt its privacy!
Yeah, I think I'll put an advance warning in my next post, and f-lock a day or two after that...

Re: part 2 -- meme :)

[hamsterwoman]

I kept envisioning Cordelia as being played by Susan Ivanova's actress (whose name I can't recall at the moment

Claudia Christian. I could see that too, I suppose, although I do think she's a better fit for Roland, since she definitely strikes me as military more than scientific exploration force. But she does deadpan very well, which is important for Cordelia.

"Wait and see if it goes away": my all-time favorite cure-all.

Mine too :) Fortunately it works quite often.

Borscht is indeed a funny word, although I don't actually know why it's spelled that way. In Russian, the last letter/sound is "shch" -- there's no T actually in there. But I suppose it might've gotten to English via an intermediate language.

Re: part 2 -- meme :)

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I do think she's a better fit for Roland, since she definitely strikes me as military more than scientific exploration force. But she does deadpan very well, which is important for Cordelia.
Yeah, the only role I can see her being perfect for (aside from Ivanova, of course) is Jane Roland, but she's also become my standard mental image for "badass redheaded lady." XD

Borscht is indeed a funny word, although I don't actually know why it's spelled that way. In Russian, the last letter/sound is "shch" -- there's no T actually in there.
Interesting! I learned something new today. Translating between languages, especially when they use different alphabets, is tricky, so it wouldn't surprise me if either the original translator got muddled, or, as you say, it took a detour between Russian and English.