I just donated a very small amount to this non-profit organisation, which is planning on purchasing the land Nikola Tesla's laboratory stands and setting up a museum there. I didn't give a lot, because I don't have a lot, but that doesn't matter – if everyone gives a bit, they will make it. And even though it's non-profit, there are perks for donating (if you choose to get them). You can make an open or anonymous donation and there are different ways for payment.
Just give it a thought.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
How Not to Write a Novel (Recommendation)
Here's a book recommendation for anyone who wants to write stories:
How Not To Write A Novel by Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark.
I found this book when I finished reading Moon Over Soho, and browsed through the author's (Ben Aaronovitch) website, where he recommends it. And I have to say, it's brilliant. It's very much to the point, and the advice really makes sense. I got this book in March, read it over the course of three days, and highlighted the crap out of it, tbh. 80% of my Kindle Clippings come from this book, and every single one is worth it. I'm just rereading it now, as I'm starting with a new writing project, and there's still advice that I'm only discovering now, that I hadn't even noticed before.
Some of it feels like old news, like, don't write about your character doing nothing, or don't repeat scenes. But a lot of it is a real eye opener, and even that trivial-seeming advice is worded so cleverly that a) it's a delight reading it, and b) you feel like it was a good thing they reminded you again.
They have advice on all the various steps and aspects of writing – from plotting to characters to the final scene.
It's not super cheap, especially not for an ebook (the paperback costs the same), but it's definitely worth it. I've read a bunch of books on writing, and often found them fairly forgettable – even if they had good advice, I just can't remember it afterwards. But this sticks with you. If you're only going to buy a single book on writing, I'd seriously consider making it this one.
How Not To Write A Novel by Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark.
I found this book when I finished reading Moon Over Soho, and browsed through the author's (Ben Aaronovitch) website, where he recommends it. And I have to say, it's brilliant. It's very much to the point, and the advice really makes sense. I got this book in March, read it over the course of three days, and highlighted the crap out of it, tbh. 80% of my Kindle Clippings come from this book, and every single one is worth it. I'm just rereading it now, as I'm starting with a new writing project, and there's still advice that I'm only discovering now, that I hadn't even noticed before.
Some of it feels like old news, like, don't write about your character doing nothing, or don't repeat scenes. But a lot of it is a real eye opener, and even that trivial-seeming advice is worded so cleverly that a) it's a delight reading it, and b) you feel like it was a good thing they reminded you again.
They have advice on all the various steps and aspects of writing – from plotting to characters to the final scene.
It's not super cheap, especially not for an ebook (the paperback costs the same), but it's definitely worth it. I've read a bunch of books on writing, and often found them fairly forgettable – even if they had good advice, I just can't remember it afterwards. But this sticks with you. If you're only going to buy a single book on writing, I'd seriously consider making it this one.
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Fanfiction, Publishing, and Marketing
Long time no post... I got lost in RL a bit. We went on a weekend trip, and then lots of uni stuff came up during the past week. I've tackled all there was to tackle for the moment though, so I've got some time to lurk around here.
As I said the other day, I have some thoughts on the subject of fanfiction and publishing. They're not very organised thoughts, so I hope you can make it through the muddle.
I write fanfiction myself occasionally. I'm not a very prolific author, but a lot of my friends on there are -- and they're also damned good writers. They write stories that create emotions within people, that move them, excite them, distract them. They write stories that really should be read.
Now, the problem here is clear – it's not right to cash in on someone else's success. You can't publish your fanfiction as fanfiction, and that's that. It wouldn't be fair to anyone. Clearly, you like the author of the original stuff, otherwise you wouldn't be writing fanfiction about their work. So I think it's a fair assumption that you respect them and don't want to screw them over.
Here's a dilemma: There are stories that are wonderful and should be told and heard and absorbed. Currently, these stories exist on a fanfiction archive where they are publicly available, but only a small fraction of potential readers will actually access them. A lot of these stories are geared to a different audience than the original books – more mature, more gritty, perhaps, or just a different genre. The stories can be "fixed". You change the names and take the magic out, or the vampires, or set it in a different time. No one would ever know that they were fanfiction originally, especially if they were about minor characters – a lot of good fanfiction is. And with minor characters, the only things that often tie it to the original universe are character and place names.
Would you rather you missed the perfect story, because it's fanfiction in a fandom that you don't particularly connect with? Or would you rather read a book, like it, and later find out that it was originally written as fanfiction?
Personally, I think that the story, and the ideas in it, and the writing – all that comes from the author who typed the words, even if another author's work served as inspiration. Without reading and drawing from other people's work, a lot of ideas would never happen. And if that story is good, it deserves to be told. In my opinion, it's the author's fair right to "originalise" his or her piece of fanfiction and publish it and, yes, take money for it.
There's one thing though that I just can't really agree with, and this is where 50 Shades has committed a huge ethical fault, imo. Once you make it public that you originally wrote your novel as fanfiction, and get publicity and sales through that, you are making money off another author's success. The cover design even is somewhat similar to those of the Twilight Saga:
Of course, one has colour and one doesn't, but that doesn't change the fact that they're both large individual images set against a dark, quiet background, with the title (in white writing) on the top and the author name near the bottom. The thing is just – they wouldn't look out of place in a bookshelf next to each other. The 50 Shades covers are the Twilight Saga covers grown up – probably a lot like the readers are.
Or compare these two (other books from both series):
As I said the other day, I have some thoughts on the subject of fanfiction and publishing. They're not very organised thoughts, so I hope you can make it through the muddle.
I write fanfiction myself occasionally. I'm not a very prolific author, but a lot of my friends on there are -- and they're also damned good writers. They write stories that create emotions within people, that move them, excite them, distract them. They write stories that really should be read.
Now, the problem here is clear – it's not right to cash in on someone else's success. You can't publish your fanfiction as fanfiction, and that's that. It wouldn't be fair to anyone. Clearly, you like the author of the original stuff, otherwise you wouldn't be writing fanfiction about their work. So I think it's a fair assumption that you respect them and don't want to screw them over.
Here's a dilemma: There are stories that are wonderful and should be told and heard and absorbed. Currently, these stories exist on a fanfiction archive where they are publicly available, but only a small fraction of potential readers will actually access them. A lot of these stories are geared to a different audience than the original books – more mature, more gritty, perhaps, or just a different genre. The stories can be "fixed". You change the names and take the magic out, or the vampires, or set it in a different time. No one would ever know that they were fanfiction originally, especially if they were about minor characters – a lot of good fanfiction is. And with minor characters, the only things that often tie it to the original universe are character and place names.
Would you rather you missed the perfect story, because it's fanfiction in a fandom that you don't particularly connect with? Or would you rather read a book, like it, and later find out that it was originally written as fanfiction?
Personally, I think that the story, and the ideas in it, and the writing – all that comes from the author who typed the words, even if another author's work served as inspiration. Without reading and drawing from other people's work, a lot of ideas would never happen. And if that story is good, it deserves to be told. In my opinion, it's the author's fair right to "originalise" his or her piece of fanfiction and publish it and, yes, take money for it.
There's one thing though that I just can't really agree with, and this is where 50 Shades has committed a huge ethical fault, imo. Once you make it public that you originally wrote your novel as fanfiction, and get publicity and sales through that, you are making money off another author's success. The cover design even is somewhat similar to those of the Twilight Saga:
Of course, one has colour and one doesn't, but that doesn't change the fact that they're both large individual images set against a dark, quiet background, with the title (in white writing) on the top and the author name near the bottom. The thing is just – they wouldn't look out of place in a bookshelf next to each other. The 50 Shades covers are the Twilight Saga covers grown up – probably a lot like the readers are.
Or compare these two (other books from both series):
Shiny fabric travelling from upper left to lower right corner in some sort of wavy motion. Title in upper right corner, author name at the bottom, in white writing.
Now, I'm not saying that the author had any say in this, or that it is her intention to cash in through the Twilight fame. Clearly, the cover etc are decisions that the publishing house made, and obviously people are leaping at them. Do I find this unfair? Of course I do. If the way these books are marketed didn't scream "Twilight for all of you who grew up since New Moon", they'd probably sell a lot less. And other books that deserve to sell more might do better because they'd fill the gap.
So, to sum this up – generally, I'm all for making your fanfiction stories original stories and earning money with them. You've put time into writing, you've edited, you've made them excellent stories. And they are excellent, and people deserve to read them as much as your stories deserve to be read. But if you don't want to make money with fanfiction, don't make money by marketing your books as fanfiction. That's where, for me, it gets unethical.
But clearly this is a total grey area that needs to be explored ethically and legally etc. Copyrights have never been as big an issue as they are right now, and it has never been as easy to share things like fanfiction as it is right now. There's an obvious clash of interests and all sorts of things here, and it's all developing. Obviously my opinion is just that, and I'd be happy to discuss if someone thinks differently.
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Get the Bobo out of here
Now here's something I can't stand: Bubble Tea. I'll be honest here - I haven't tried it myself, and I won't, because I don't actually want to gain weight or get diabetes. I don't know if it's the same in other countries, but around here, those Bubble Tea shops just popped out of the ground everywhere over night. They're called different things, like Mr Bobo, or just BT, or something completely random, but they all sell the same stuff. In some cities you walk past eight or nine within an hour. Now McDonalds have hopped on board and started selling Bubble Tea in their McCafés.
Just in case you don't know what Bubble Tea is, this is it:
You have a basis of tea, or tea with milk (black, green, white, ...), or iced tea. Then you can add flavour - which isn't that bad if it's just some sort of fruit juice, but it can be syrup as well. And lots and lots of sugar, either way. And then the bubbles, which are sort of jelly like things... Like gummibears. And they come in different flavours.
And they have just about a gazillion calories, all from sugar. Actually I think McDonald's Bubble Tea isn't as bad as the stuff they sell in other shops, and it makes sense, because they do have an image to uphold. And I don't mean that of fatty super size fatsos. Here, McDonald's is a lot about local produce and advertising fitness as well. Anyway, I don't think it'd do them any good if they included the worst drink ever in their menu.
But that doesn't hold for other BT shops. There are multiple warnings from health organisations and researchers that Bubble Tea is harmful to your health etc. It's definitely calorie and sugar laden, not to mention the starch in the bubbles. And to make matters worse, a lot of BT shops sell donuts as well. Of all the things in the world!
But what really riles me most is that the people I see drinking this stuff the absolute most are youngish children (10-14) and people who are already obese. I'm trying to watch my weight - I know I should do more sports, and I should lose 5 kilos or so. But the fact that this stuff is advertised as a healthy fruity tea drink/snack is just... horrifying. I doubt most people even realise what they're putting in their bodies.
0.2l – which makes a small glass – can contain up to 500 calories. And that's the smallest size they would sell. (Just as a comparison, the same size of a regular (non-diet) coke comes up to about 100 calories.)
The largest chain of BT shops argues that they never claimed their drink was healthy. It still frustrates me that this stuff is even allowed, and that children of any age really can buy it. And "fruity tea" does imply healthiness, at least in my opinion. Half the people are overweight. Bring it on, I'm sure we can make it to 75% by the end of the year.
Just in case you don't know what Bubble Tea is, this is it:
You have a basis of tea, or tea with milk (black, green, white, ...), or iced tea. Then you can add flavour - which isn't that bad if it's just some sort of fruit juice, but it can be syrup as well. And lots and lots of sugar, either way. And then the bubbles, which are sort of jelly like things... Like gummibears. And they come in different flavours.
And they have just about a gazillion calories, all from sugar. Actually I think McDonald's Bubble Tea isn't as bad as the stuff they sell in other shops, and it makes sense, because they do have an image to uphold. And I don't mean that of fatty super size fatsos. Here, McDonald's is a lot about local produce and advertising fitness as well. Anyway, I don't think it'd do them any good if they included the worst drink ever in their menu.
But that doesn't hold for other BT shops. There are multiple warnings from health organisations and researchers that Bubble Tea is harmful to your health etc. It's definitely calorie and sugar laden, not to mention the starch in the bubbles. And to make matters worse, a lot of BT shops sell donuts as well. Of all the things in the world!
But what really riles me most is that the people I see drinking this stuff the absolute most are youngish children (10-14) and people who are already obese. I'm trying to watch my weight - I know I should do more sports, and I should lose 5 kilos or so. But the fact that this stuff is advertised as a healthy fruity tea drink/snack is just... horrifying. I doubt most people even realise what they're putting in their bodies.
0.2l – which makes a small glass – can contain up to 500 calories. And that's the smallest size they would sell. (Just as a comparison, the same size of a regular (non-diet) coke comes up to about 100 calories.)
The largest chain of BT shops argues that they never claimed their drink was healthy. It still frustrates me that this stuff is even allowed, and that children of any age really can buy it. And "fruity tea" does imply healthiness, at least in my opinion. Half the people are overweight. Bring it on, I'm sure we can make it to 75% by the end of the year.
Monday, 11 June 2012
Shades of Something
I don't get the Fifty Shades of Grey craze. I'll be honest - I haven't read it, I won't read it, and I won't go to see the movie(s). It's not exactly my genre, and the excerpts I've read were enough to make me see that it's not my style either. I can't really switch off while reading, and I think that's what you have to do for these books.
What's undeniable though, obviously, is that they're very successful. I don't know why people read them, but they do. The amazon comments are mostly extreme praise, and not all of them are carelessly written either. So, yeah, people read them, and at least a couple of them are clever people as well.
Now, why I'm writing about this is - I was on amazon earlier looking at stuff and somehow came across a book titled
This is the description:
This sounds like it could be a very interesting psychological essay on the type of people who enjoy reading both YA fantasy literature and erotic fiction. People like those twimoms, for example. I think this is a topic that seriously needs to be approached from a neutral angle. It's no secret that YA fiction is about growing up, the confusion of puberty and being introduced into a completely new world with responsibilities etc etc. So why do grown ups read YA? Because it's in the perfect niche between excitement and freedom, and those responsibilities are still larger than ours and so make us feel good? I don't really know, but it's very fascinating. And then if you're part of the people who read YA even though they're not all that Y anymore and more A, what draws you to BDSM erotica? Is it really just the excitement of the taboo? I wish there were a good book on that topic.
A Million Shades of Green doesn't seem to be that, sadly. The cover is made up to resemble those of the Fifty Shades ... books, only with a lightbulb full of green dollar bills on it as well. To keep it short, it looks like someone is grumpy about these books making money. The description in combination with the part of the foreword that is available in the preview makes it clear that the author is also grumpy about this rising from a fanfiction story. I think I'll need another post to say how I feel about that particular issue.
Of course the author is fully entitled to his opinion on the matter.
Only don't talk about people making money with other people's work as a basis (i.e. write fanfic, change the names and sell) if you're selling your essay on someone else's work (with the title and the cover clearly leaning on the source's) at £1.53 - for 29 pages. Just as a comparison, Fifty Shades of Grey is £2.69 at 530 pages (those are all Kindle ebook prices btw). It just makes the whole argument a moot point. Maybe it's wrong to take money for original fiction that used to be fanfiction. I'm not saying that it's badly written or spiteful or that the author doesn't have a point. It's definitely something that needs to be discussed. But not at that money-per-page ratio - especially not if you can find all that info on it being a Twilight fanfic originally and the debate about that on the internet for free.
It just seems unethical. But that's just my opinion.
What's undeniable though, obviously, is that they're very successful. I don't know why people read them, but they do. The amazon comments are mostly extreme praise, and not all of them are carelessly written either. So, yeah, people read them, and at least a couple of them are clever people as well.
Now, why I'm writing about this is - I was on amazon earlier looking at stuff and somehow came across a book titled
"A Million Shades of Green: The Real Story Behind Fifty Shades of Grey"
This is the description:
A Million Shades of Green tells the story of how a novel-length piece of BDSM (Bondage, Domination, Sadism, Masochism) porn fan fiction called Master of the Universe (featuring Twilight characters Edward Cullen and Bella Swan) was secretly transformed into the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Fifty Shades of Grey, before being sold on for millions of dollars to one of America's most esteemed publishing imprints and a major movie studio.-------------------------------------------------From bestselling thriller writer Sean Black, the author of the Ryan Lock books, comes the real story behind the #1 transatlantic 'mommy porn' bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey.The tale of a spectacular literary heist, A Million Shades of Green, will take you on a journey into the hidden world of porn fan fiction, where books originally written for, and aggressively marketed towards children and teenagers by writers such as J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer are given a violently pornographic twist before having their 'serial numbers filed off' and being sold on as original fiction.
This sounds like it could be a very interesting psychological essay on the type of people who enjoy reading both YA fantasy literature and erotic fiction. People like those twimoms, for example. I think this is a topic that seriously needs to be approached from a neutral angle. It's no secret that YA fiction is about growing up, the confusion of puberty and being introduced into a completely new world with responsibilities etc etc. So why do grown ups read YA? Because it's in the perfect niche between excitement and freedom, and those responsibilities are still larger than ours and so make us feel good? I don't really know, but it's very fascinating. And then if you're part of the people who read YA even though they're not all that Y anymore and more A, what draws you to BDSM erotica? Is it really just the excitement of the taboo? I wish there were a good book on that topic.
A Million Shades of Green doesn't seem to be that, sadly. The cover is made up to resemble those of the Fifty Shades ... books, only with a lightbulb full of green dollar bills on it as well. To keep it short, it looks like someone is grumpy about these books making money. The description in combination with the part of the foreword that is available in the preview makes it clear that the author is also grumpy about this rising from a fanfiction story. I think I'll need another post to say how I feel about that particular issue.
Of course the author is fully entitled to his opinion on the matter.
Only don't talk about people making money with other people's work as a basis (i.e. write fanfic, change the names and sell) if you're selling your essay on someone else's work (with the title and the cover clearly leaning on the source's) at £1.53 - for 29 pages. Just as a comparison, Fifty Shades of Grey is £2.69 at 530 pages (those are all Kindle ebook prices btw). It just makes the whole argument a moot point. Maybe it's wrong to take money for original fiction that used to be fanfiction. I'm not saying that it's badly written or spiteful or that the author doesn't have a point. It's definitely something that needs to be discussed. But not at that money-per-page ratio - especially not if you can find all that info on it being a Twilight fanfic originally and the debate about that on the internet for free.
It just seems unethical. But that's just my opinion.
Monday, 4 June 2012
Fictional Names
So here are some character names
Cherry, William, Victor, Evie, Henry, Aidan.
I'm scrivenering up my notes right now and talking things through with a friend. I see a lot of problems I didn't see before, but I've also realised that I have a lot more plot than I thought before, so yay!
Cherry, William, Victor, Evie, Henry, Aidan.
I'm scrivenering up my notes right now and talking things through with a friend. I see a lot of problems I didn't see before, but I've also realised that I have a lot more plot than I thought before, so yay!
Game of Thrones Finale
Beware, there will be spoilers.
This concerns the 03rd June 2012 ep of GoT (S02E10).
First off, some people got very excited beforehand that this episode would be longer than they normally are. And it makes sense, too - it's the finale, and no storyline is really close to being finished, except the King's Landing one, which was finished last week.
But then... Uhm, it's like 65 minutes instead of the previous week's 56 minutes, so that's like 9 generous minutes extra, woot. But seriously, it takes like four minutes before the episode even starts after the 'previously on...' and the intro, which has this incredibly brilliant music, but is also getting annoyingly long, really.
There'll be a rather detailed blow by blow after the jump break, so longish post is longish.
This concerns the 03rd June 2012 ep of GoT (S02E10).
First off, some people got very excited beforehand that this episode would be longer than they normally are. And it makes sense, too - it's the finale, and no storyline is really close to being finished, except the King's Landing one, which was finished last week.
But then... Uhm, it's like 65 minutes instead of the previous week's 56 minutes, so that's like 9 generous minutes extra, woot. But seriously, it takes like four minutes before the episode even starts after the 'previously on...' and the intro, which has this incredibly brilliant music, but is also getting annoyingly long, really.
There'll be a rather detailed blow by blow after the jump break, so longish post is longish.
Friday, 1 June 2012
International Sadness
I read an article just now on a new law that has been passed in India, and I have to admit that it just baffles me.
Here's a link to the article.
To briefly outline: The age of consent has been raised from 16 to 18. Any sexual act/penetration is thus illegal.
Just... What is this supposed to accomplish? Teenagers do get hormonal. You're 17 and happily in love... All it'll do is make teenagers into criminals. And should it really be illegal if they're around the same age and both consenting? It's supposedly to protect teens from pregnancy, STDs and rape. But all these things will still happen - only that those teens who didn't really do anything wrong are going to end up in prison for several months. The article points out that it's a law that the police could easily abuse to harass teens and imo, that's what is going to happen.
Of course teen pregnancy/unprotected sex is a bad thing. Which is why they should have sex ed in schools.
I wonder if they think it's a good idea, honestly, or if they see it as a way of bothering teens and making money (via fines).
Ugh. I feel so sorry for the kids. I'm not saying that it's absolutely necessary to have sex before 18, but it should be up to them. And now it's so easy to make a mistake that lands you in so much trouble...
Here's a link to the article.
To briefly outline: The age of consent has been raised from 16 to 18. Any sexual act/penetration is thus illegal.
Just... What is this supposed to accomplish? Teenagers do get hormonal. You're 17 and happily in love... All it'll do is make teenagers into criminals. And should it really be illegal if they're around the same age and both consenting? It's supposedly to protect teens from pregnancy, STDs and rape. But all these things will still happen - only that those teens who didn't really do anything wrong are going to end up in prison for several months. The article points out that it's a law that the police could easily abuse to harass teens and imo, that's what is going to happen.
Of course teen pregnancy/unprotected sex is a bad thing. Which is why they should have sex ed in schools.
I wonder if they think it's a good idea, honestly, or if they see it as a way of bothering teens and making money (via fines).
Ugh. I feel so sorry for the kids. I'm not saying that it's absolutely necessary to have sex before 18, but it should be up to them. And now it's so easy to make a mistake that lands you in so much trouble...
Miami Zombie
Did you hear about the man who chewed off another man's face, while himself being naked, and not stopping even when he was shot once? Yeah, a road ranger fired one shot at him and he just kept going. It was impossible to remove him from the unconscious victim (who's going to need a lot of reconstructive surgery because 75% of his face are just gone). The attacker was killed by multiple gunshots in the end.
And that's why I'll never take drugs. Heavens. You just don't know what they'll do to you. That guy was apparently in a drug induced rage when he ripped another man's face off with his teeth.
Though I have to admit that this part of the description sounds a lot like the start of a zombie movie:
And that's why I'll never take drugs. Heavens. You just don't know what they'll do to you. That guy was apparently in a drug induced rage when he ripped another man's face off with his teeth.
Though I have to admit that this part of the description sounds a lot like the start of a zombie movie:
'...a police officer climbed over the divider and got in front of him and said, ‘Get off!’ and told him several times, and the guy just stood his head up like that, with a piece of flesh in his mouth, and growled,” recalled Vega.'
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Annoyance
Diablo is just depressing me slightly.
I pay money for a game. I am excited about it. I play and it's lots and lots and all kinds of fun. But like every other time I try to sign in, I can't. I don't even want to complain about being randomly kicked off the server and losing a whole dungeon and then some progress in the process, because I repeated and got over it. I just wish I was able to play! It can't be that hard, really. The game has been on the market for two weeks, and they had a beta phase before and all. And right now, there isn't even any kind of official statement, even though the login servers have been down for hours.
This is ridiculous.
No, I don't want a refund. I haven't had this much fun gaming in a whole while. I really like the game. I just want to be able to play it - or at the very least I want to know that they're seriously working on the problems and that they will get resolved in the near future. I want to know that they 're at least TRYING.
I feel even worse for people who work all day and come home exhausted and just want to play. At least I have a bit more time on my hands. But still. I wanted to play tonight :(
I pay money for a game. I am excited about it. I play and it's lots and lots and all kinds of fun. But like every other time I try to sign in, I can't. I don't even want to complain about being randomly kicked off the server and losing a whole dungeon and then some progress in the process, because I repeated and got over it. I just wish I was able to play! It can't be that hard, really. The game has been on the market for two weeks, and they had a beta phase before and all. And right now, there isn't even any kind of official statement, even though the login servers have been down for hours.
This is ridiculous.
No, I don't want a refund. I haven't had this much fun gaming in a whole while. I really like the game. I just want to be able to play it - or at the very least I want to know that they're seriously working on the problems and that they will get resolved in the near future. I want to know that they 're at least TRYING.
I feel even worse for people who work all day and come home exhausted and just want to play. At least I have a bit more time on my hands. But still. I wanted to play tonight :(
No longer a mobile hermit
So my phone less week has drawn do an end. I went to the lost&found today and they had my phone. It had run out of battery, so I didn't have to enter the PIN, which is probably good because I can never remember it 100% certainly and might have entered the wrong one. The thing is, I never really shut it off, only turn it to silent, so I never need to enter the pin code.
Instead I had to tell the woman where and when I'd lost it and give a signature (and pay a fee >.> ) and then could go home, yayayay. There don't seem to be any charges that anyone ran up, so all is well. I did get a text from a strange number earlier telling me that the other person wouldn't be able to make it to Taiji today because it was rainy. Well, no idea what that was about. But I don't think that they were replying to anything anyone had sent from my phone. For one, there's nothing in my outbox, and then, why would anyone bother sending a text to someone from a phone they were going to turn in to the lost and found?
It's all right anyway.
So what was not having a phone like... Well, it was hindering in some parts because I can't reach anyone when I'm elsewhere, but not being reachable myself didn't bother me at all. I doubt H liked it much though because he had to take all the calls from my mum - hahah. Ahem. She calls a lot sometimes.
Probably the biggest inconvenience was not having an alarm - well I do have an alarm in my iPod, but it's not very good. I would have overslept today had H not set his alarm earlier than usual. I woke up an hour after my alarm was supposed to have rung and had to run out the door basically.
Not panicking was definitely the right thing to do in the end.
Instead I had to tell the woman where and when I'd lost it and give a signature (and pay a fee >.> ) and then could go home, yayayay. There don't seem to be any charges that anyone ran up, so all is well. I did get a text from a strange number earlier telling me that the other person wouldn't be able to make it to Taiji today because it was rainy. Well, no idea what that was about. But I don't think that they were replying to anything anyone had sent from my phone. For one, there's nothing in my outbox, and then, why would anyone bother sending a text to someone from a phone they were going to turn in to the lost and found?
It's all right anyway.
So what was not having a phone like... Well, it was hindering in some parts because I can't reach anyone when I'm elsewhere, but not being reachable myself didn't bother me at all. I doubt H liked it much though because he had to take all the calls from my mum - hahah. Ahem. She calls a lot sometimes.
Probably the biggest inconvenience was not having an alarm - well I do have an alarm in my iPod, but it's not very good. I would have overslept today had H not set his alarm earlier than usual. I woke up an hour after my alarm was supposed to have rung and had to run out the door basically.
Not panicking was definitely the right thing to do in the end.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
TV Shows
I just realised that this Sunday will bring the S2 finale for Game of Thrones. It just didn't register with me before that the end was so nigh. Most of the time I still only watch the show because the people talk in such wonderful ways and it looks pretty, and because I still think a lot of the plotlines are ridiculous and I love to get all worked up over their ridiculousness.
But I really did enjoy the last two episodes. I mean there's just nothing bad you can say about Bronn, and especially the Bronn/Tyrion bromance. I do love a scoundrel, and Bronn totally personifies all those characteristics. He's amoral, rugged, clever, and a tad egoistic. But at the same time you can see that he cares about Tyrion, and their dialogues are the best of the entire show.
And then the latest episode was entirely focussed on King's Landing, which made such a nice change from all the jumping around. The main reason why I stopped reading the books at the second one and moved on to just reading characters' stories on wikis etc. online is that I couldn't stand the multitude of POVs and the constant jumping from one person to the next. It just doesn't work for me. The books are neither character-driven nor plot-driven, they're world-driven. Also I constantly got the feeling that GRRM thinks himself very superior to all his readers, and that just bugged me a lot :P
All that said, I'm looking forward to the finale this Sunday. I wonder how they're going to plan on wrapping everything up, but then this is GoT/ASoIaF, so probably things just won't get wrapped up.
I honestly thought it would run a bit further into the summer though. I don't know what I'll do over the next months! These are the shows whose return I'll be waiting for:
* Castle
* Hart of Dixie
* How I Met Your Mother
* Doctor Who (even if I don't quite like the 'new' style with Moffatt, but whatever)
* Game of Thrones
Stuff I'm not enthusiastic about but will watch anyway:
* Glee
* Gossip Girl (or the mindfuck it has become)
In the meantime, I'll rewatch my Firefly and Quantum Leap DVDs perhaps, or get into some movies or whatever. If I do the latter, expect me to post about them here. Or not, who knows.
I've also been told to get into Sherlock, Big Bang Theory, and Mad Men, but I never seem to be getting around to doing that.
I also created a MASSIVE to-read-list on Goodreads.com. Seriously, it's like forty books long or something. I'll have to see how many of them I can get for my kindle, and maybe that'll be my summer.
Oh and let's not forget uni.
But I really did enjoy the last two episodes. I mean there's just nothing bad you can say about Bronn, and especially the Bronn/Tyrion bromance. I do love a scoundrel, and Bronn totally personifies all those characteristics. He's amoral, rugged, clever, and a tad egoistic. But at the same time you can see that he cares about Tyrion, and their dialogues are the best of the entire show.
And then the latest episode was entirely focussed on King's Landing, which made such a nice change from all the jumping around. The main reason why I stopped reading the books at the second one and moved on to just reading characters' stories on wikis etc. online is that I couldn't stand the multitude of POVs and the constant jumping from one person to the next. It just doesn't work for me. The books are neither character-driven nor plot-driven, they're world-driven. Also I constantly got the feeling that GRRM thinks himself very superior to all his readers, and that just bugged me a lot :P
All that said, I'm looking forward to the finale this Sunday. I wonder how they're going to plan on wrapping everything up, but then this is GoT/ASoIaF, so probably things just won't get wrapped up.
I honestly thought it would run a bit further into the summer though. I don't know what I'll do over the next months! These are the shows whose return I'll be waiting for:
* Castle
* Hart of Dixie
* How I Met Your Mother
* Doctor Who (even if I don't quite like the 'new' style with Moffatt, but whatever)
* Game of Thrones
Stuff I'm not enthusiastic about but will watch anyway:
* Glee
* Gossip Girl (or the mindfuck it has become)
In the meantime, I'll rewatch my Firefly and Quantum Leap DVDs perhaps, or get into some movies or whatever. If I do the latter, expect me to post about them here. Or not, who knows.
I've also been told to get into Sherlock, Big Bang Theory, and Mad Men, but I never seem to be getting around to doing that.
I also created a MASSIVE to-read-list on Goodreads.com. Seriously, it's like forty books long or something. I'll have to see how many of them I can get for my kindle, and maybe that'll be my summer.
Oh and let's not forget uni.
What a Nightmare
In Diablo 3, the Skeleton King on Normal difficulty was so easy that I barely remember the fight. I know I did it once with friends, and then once on my own (because the quest hadn't been counted and I wanted the achievement, since I'm such a points whore and all that), but it didn't took a quarter of the time that it took me now. It wasn't a very hard fight, just... really long. I think this is the first time that I've noticed an actual difference between the Normal and Nightmare difficulties other than the obscene amounts of gold dropping. Bring on the Butcher.
The weather is totally bipolar today. Very hot and humid earlier, but blue skies, then suddenly they turn dark and it just starts pouring down, and I haven't heard thunder this loud in a while. Probably not since we moved out of the valley, where there was a terrifying echo whenever there was thunder. It did thunder last Wednesday too, and I remember being trapped in a building at uni because it was raining so heavily. Makes me wonder if the weather has a problem with the days of the week. Thursdays are usually much calmer at the moment.
The weather is totally bipolar today. Very hot and humid earlier, but blue skies, then suddenly they turn dark and it just starts pouring down, and I haven't heard thunder this loud in a while. Probably not since we moved out of the valley, where there was a terrifying echo whenever there was thunder. It did thunder last Wednesday too, and I remember being trapped in a building at uni because it was raining so heavily. Makes me wonder if the weather has a problem with the days of the week. Thursdays are usually much calmer at the moment.
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Summer Is Coming
It's still warm outside. Why is it so warm? Actually it probably feels worse because I had anticipated a drop in temperatures (that apparently isn't coming until Thursday - must have misread the forecast) and then woke up to the sun glaring down at me. Of course I love the sun. I just don't really deal well with heat unless I'm perpetually half submerged in cool water. What I wouldn't give for a rooftop pool right now - even a kiddie pool would suffice...
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