I don't need a telescope to see that there's hope

An update

readingchick — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 12:04:45 GMT

Hi guys! Not dead. Just mostly on Tumblr these days. (Though I advise you to steer clear if you're not a fan of Tom Hiddleston, because it's pretty much been 90% him since I went to see The Avengers. I am smitten and I regret NOTHING.)

Things have been fairly quiet this last semester. Ancient Greek kind of kicked my butt (only managed 59/100) - the grammar is simple enough, especially after two years of Latin, but the vocabulary still refuses to stick in my head. I intend to keep trying, though! It might just be that I'm still adjusting to the unfamiliar script - mental transliteration is still very much a part of my reading process in Greek. I'm planning to read aloud more as I study. Perhaps it will help, even if I do feel like my lips and/or tongue are going to turn themselves inside out when I read Greek.

My other two subjects, Underworld & Afterlife and Latin: Epic, went quite well! I managed a 77/100 and a 74/100 respectively, both of which are scores equivalent to a distinction. I need to practice my Latin translation more, but I think that I'll be saying that for a long time yet! In the interests of that, I have purchased a copy of the first Harry Potter book in Latin. (I also have the Ancient Greek edition, but the grammar for that one is still a bit beyond me at this point - I should be able to limp through by the end of the year.) Underworld & Afterlife was very interesting as well, though I was hoping for less of a Greco-Roman bent - we only had one week each on Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia, but this is what you get when the subject co-ordinator is a classicist, I suppose. Not that I didn't learn some interesting things, but it didn't feel...well, it didn't feel like a very balance look at the ancient world.

Next semester I'll be taking Ancient Greek B, Latin: Historiography (Lucan, apparently, though I don't know or can't remember what text - personally, I'm hoping for Book 6 of the Pharsalia, I read some of that for U&A and it was great), Comparative Civilizations (which will be about Ancient Mesopotamia and I'm very excited for) and An Introduction to the Qua'ran. (The last is my 'well, why not?' subject, since none of the available philosophy topics looked particularly interesting and there are worse ways to spend my time than learning the basics of another faith.)

I'm still in Melbourne at the moment for my winter intensive subject, Akkadian - it's an ancient Near-Eastern language, and very interesting! After Latin, Syriac and Ancient Greek, the grammar doesn't present many problems, but the script is kind of a pain. It's a cuneiform script (it looks like this), which is something I've never learned before. In structure it kind of reminds me of Japanese, actually - it isn't an alphabet but a syllabary plus a collection of logograms, so there's a lot to learn! Not to mention that it wasn't designed to be written, per se...

But even so, I'm having a lot of fun with it. I'm really excited about it, in fact. Ancient languages are definitely what I want to learn and work with for the rest of my life - there is just so much to learn and do! I'm so lucky that I'm being given an opportunity to do that with Terry and his research team.

Outside of uni, well... My life has just been so much better, this semester. I really feel like I'm starting to get it together - to the point where I've been talking with my counsellor and my doctor about attempting to go off the antidepressants at the end of the year. I'm a lot happier than I used to be - more accepting of myself, more comfortable with who I am. There's still things that I want to change, but change doesn't seem so hard any more. I want to get out and try things more than I want to stay home and be safe. In fact, I'm planning to join some dancing lessons next semester, and a choir if I can find one. I've always wanted to learn to dance properly, and I miss singing badly. If there's a drama production I could get involved with just for fun, I'd jump at that chance, too.

Basically, life is good. Life is very good. :D

IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG

readingchick — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:02:23 GMT

I started replayed FFXIII, since I've done all I usefully can with XIII-2.

Excuse me, I'm just going to steal Vanille and cuddle her for the rest of forever.

I caved...

readingchick — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:36:25 GMT

...and got a Tumblr.

You can find me at distant-glory.tumblr.com

Except for you, Zaz. You're not allowed until you finish XIII-2, because I'm going to reblog all the Caius and Yeul ever and there are going to be spoilers.

I'd forbid Meg, too, but I think she's already seen most of the stuff I'm going to reblog anyway. :P Certainly her own Tumblr suggests that.

Ugh

readingchick — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:59:03 GMT

Current time: 7:02 AM

Schedule for day:

8:00AM - Ancient Greek
9:00AM - More Ancient Greek
10:00AM - Latin (goes until 11:30AM)
12:00PM - Work (until 3:00PM)
3:15PM - Underworld and Afterlife lecture (goes until 4:45PM)

I am going to be so dead when I get back to my apartment. SO DEAD.

My Tuesday schedule exists to remind me that no, I am not that organised. Or that energetic.

Aw yeah

readingchick — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 11:38:53 GMT

An album I've been meaning to get for ages, and it's full of songs that are wonderful for my new OTP?

Aw yeah.

Derp

readingchick — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:01:34 GMT

tortoises, I owe you a major apology. I know we were meant to meet up during O-week, but I um, kinda, got the dates wrong. I thought this week was O-week. (Luckily I discovered my mistake in time not to miss a week of lectures, but I still feel like an idiot.)

Perhaps a weekend, instead?

That sound you hear? That's me headdesking

readingchick — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:03:24 GMT

Forgive me this entry; I know that it won't be relevant to many of you. But I really need to write this out.

Hoo boy, where to begin...?

At the beginning. Okay. Firstly, for the most part, I think they made really good casting decisions for most of the main characters, at least in terms of looks. Except for Cec not being blond (I could have wished for him to be a bit taller, too, but he had the attitude down pat, so I think I'll adjust). But as for character execution? That was far more hit and miss. Mostly miss, in fact.

Let's begin with our main. Phryne in the books is distinctive for her lack of emotional baggage. She's had bad things happen to her - one of her sisters died of diphtheria, her first love turned abusive, she's been in war (as an ambulance driver) - but she doesn't let it bother her, for the most part. That's part of what I love about her. That element of her was completely destroyed. For the sake of cheap drama, they seem to have cut one of her sisters (Eliza, who features as a major character in later books), and made the other a disappearance. That's why Phryne supposedly came back to Australia - to keep her sister's kidnapper behind bars.

Excuse me? What the fuck is this? PHRYNE CAME BACK TO AUSTRALIA AS A DETECTIVE BECAUSE SHE WAS BORED.

And her aunt. Seriously, what the hell? A character with no place in things whatsoever. If a character was needed to express the disapproval of the Melbourne elite, I'm pretty sure that this could be provided by the elite themselves, or - failing that - by Jack Robinson.

Speaking of Jack Robinson - you know, the easy-going nice police officer who likes orchids? Devoted to his wife and FRIENDS with Phryne? Well, HE'S been saddled with baggage too, is apparently estranged from his wife, and has 'sexual tension' with Phryne herself. No. No, no, no, a million times no. Phryne's friendly relationship with Jack is wonderfully refreshing in the books. If they reduce Phryne's lovers to 'she wants Jack but can't get him', I am going to be so fucking mad.

Moving on. Dot. Good casting - she's very much as I imagined her. Wish they'd preserved her original introduction, though: lying in wait to kill the son of the household who got her sacked because she wouldn't let him have his way with her. And Phryne promptly wins her loyalty by slitting up the man's trousers, thus exposing him in the middle of a crowded mall. That would have been hilarious, and also showed Dot's tougher side. This just made her seem like a drip, reliant on Phryne. I hope this changes.

Bert and Cec - I am satisfied. Minor cosmetic things, but their characters have been essentially preserved, something that I'm grateful for.

Hugh Collins - again, excellent casting. He's EXACTLY as I pictured him personality-wise (I pictured him as being a bigger man, but again, I can adjust to this).

They've apparently cut Mrs Butler (angry) and Ruth (Phryne's other adopted daughter - also angry), and made Jane street-smart. WHAT. Jane's a Genius Cloud Cuckoolander, and I'll thank you to keep her that way! And if they make her into a replacement for Phryne's missing sister (I notice that they gave the said sister the same name - Phryne's dead sister is never given a name in the books), then I am going to be so. Fucking. Pissed.

*sigh* I hate to be so hard on it. I know that book adaptations are tricky beasts. But I feel that they sacrificed the things that make the books so wonderful for the sake of easy drama, and I'm quite angry about it. I feel that they've reduced something distinctive to something generic.

Great performance by Miranda Otto as Lydia Andrews, though. That was a nice piece of work.

Basically, mood theme is perfect. GEORGIA SMASH!

In other news, I had my Syriac exam today and I think it went quite well. So that's good, at least. :)

That sound you hear is me headdesking

readingchick — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:37:27 GMT

Dear Tsviets,

NO. Back in your box. Highlight first, then the next Insektors prompt, THEN you can run riot in my brain again.

Two weeks, guys. I promise. Even if I have to spend all my weekends writing.

Frustrated,
Me

Have I mentioned lately that I love this guy?

readingchick — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:33:41 GMT

Tomorrow I'm going to go to the library, print this out, and stick it on my board of inspiration. I really need to update that thing.

And now, back to work on that Highlight fic... I need to get up to the end of the second scene...

I have missed this

readingchick — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:38:10 GMT

Today was the first day of my summer subject, Syriac.

AND I HAD A BLAST.

I have to admit, after getting the texts last week, I was a little leery. It was so different to anything I'd encountered before, including Greek and Latin. The fact that there are three scripts, and that each letter can have up to four forms depending on where it's placed in the word, didn't help my confidence. But our lecturer is a darling - he's so passionate - and he's focused on getting us speaking, reading and writing as quickly as possible. So we're sort of doing little bits of pieces of grammar as they show up and as we need them.

Mostly today we learned the alphabet and the vowels. I don't know them perfectly yet - I still need to do a bit of study tonight - but by this point it's a matter of missing individual letters or putting them in the wrong place, rather than forgetting them per se. Some of the letters are a little challenging in that they represent sounds that don't occur in English - there's a guttural 'h' sound that is hard to remember to produce when we're rushing. Our lecturer described is as sounding a bit like you've got a fish bone stuck in your throat, and I'm forced to admit that he's not far wrong. It's a strange sound - sort of begins deep down in your throat and then rolls off the top of your mouth. But most of them are easy enough - I just have to remember to roll my r's and remember that there are two 'k' sounds.

Writing it is going to take practice. There are some letters that look very similar to one another - Syriac really isn't a language where you can be messy with your letters. Like I mentioned above, there are different forms of the letter used depending on where it is in the word. In addition to that, some letters don't join on certain sides, and there are combinations that need to be avoided because they might be mistaken for something else... There's a lot of things to bear in mind. But it looks pretty awesome.

Oh, speaking of spelling and looking awesome - our lecturer handed around name tags at the start of the class with Syriac transliterations of our names. Apparently I was the only one in the class with an 'official' transliteration - that is, my name has actually appeared in texts. I thought that this was pretty cool. :D

HAH!

readingchick — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:02:20 GMT

It took me nearly a month of solid fiddling, but it's done!!

New Nero one-shot here. Rated T because Deepground is Deepground.

Georgia: 4, Nero...28,365, or thereabouts.

I don't mind the gore, but the screaming gets on my nerves a bit...

readingchick — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:02:18 GMT

I bought 'The 3rd Birthday' today. It was on sale, it was there, and I kinda wanted the Aya Brea costume for Lightning in Duodecim, so I bought it. I'm somewhere in the first level at the moment, just starting to get the hang of the gameplay (somewhat hampered by the fact that the last thing I was playing was Birth By Sleep - I waste more hand grenades that way...).

But anyway, I'm thoroughly confused by the story. I spoiled the hell of myself for this game and the previous two, and I'm still confused.

So I think I'm going to put the game down again until I can download and play the first two, and then see if it makes any more sense... I'm not so enamoured of shooting games that I'll keep playing when the story is tying my head in knots.

Also, I can't escape the feeling that if you just changed her hair, Aya would be magically transformed into Serah...

I am possibly crazy

readingchick — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:20:47 GMT

I was looking at pictures of moths on Google a little earlier. Once I had satisfied myself that I knew what their wings looked like, I scrolled back up to the top of the page, the 'other search' keywords caught my eye. In particular, 'scary moth'.

"Scary moth? Huh."

Click.

One of the pictures that came up was this.

...Am I the only one who thinks that this is kinda cute, in an Unversed sort of way? I want to give it a cuddle. It looks so fluffy!

The muses...

readingchick — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:47:08 GMT

...are playing tug-of-war.

ARGH.

I return!

readingchick — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:58:24 GMT

We came back a little early, since we'd gotten into the habit of sleeping in and we would have had to get up early to check out in time. It was a lovely quiet holiday, which is definitely the kind I like best. :)

Quick note

readingchick — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:33:00 GMT

I'm going to be away for the next six days - my family and I are going for a quick holiday and I'm informed that there probably won't be an internet connection.

So I hope that everyone has a lovely week, and I'll be back next Wednesday!

Just saw "A Game of Shadows"

readingchick — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:10:38 GMT

My thoughts can be summed up thus:

- IREEEEEENEEEEE!! No, you can't be dead! I refuse to believe it! I refuse!

- STEPHEN FRY AS MYCROFT. STEPHEN FRY AS MYCROFT. *bounces in chair like a happy child*

- Watson and Mary - sweetest couple. Love them so much.

- ...oh man, cross-dressing Holmes. The fandom is going to have a FIELD DAY with that.

- Simza, you're kinda awesome.

- HOLMES ON A PONY.

- Watson, you are also significantly awesome. RESCUE BY COLLAPSING BUILDING.

- MORIARTY YOU EVIL BASTARD. (In general, I was incredibly impressed by Jared Harris's performance. He was wonderful. So, so urbane, yet so, so evil.)

- ...oooh, bloody hell, those falls...

- Holmes, you are most cunning. Ever. The End?.

Writer's Block: Winter vacation

readingchick — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 11:08:29 GMT

I've been working on a patchwork quilt for the past couple of weeks, so I'm going to try getting that done. It's going to go on my bed at the new unit. :)

Hi, guys. Sorry for dropping off the map for the past two months. I haven't been really busy, but I didn't feel that there was much going on worth talking about/wasn't really in the mood to write things up/just didn't feel like it. There have been a few rough patches, but I got through them with a minimum amount of bumps.

I had a lovely Christmas, and I hope that everyone else had the same - Christmas, or whatever it is that you do around this time of year. :)

I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

readingchick — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 07:11:03 GMT

In other news, these are some things that I've seen recently that I really wish I understood:

A drawing of an elephant on a speed bump sign

A guy in a top hat and tails walking out of a supermarket with a packet of sausages and a clove of garlic

The second one, in particular. Occasionally, life likes to remind us that there are stories going on all around us that we will never get to hear about...

WOOHOO!

readingchick — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 05:02:09 GMT

LAST PIECE OF ASSESSMENT FOR THE SEMESTER IS DONE!

At least until exams. But those aren't for nearly two months yet.

Now, back to writing and beta reading...

WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

readingchick — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 10:40:47 GMT

I HAVE FOUND A NEW FAVOURITE BOOKSTORE!

SO GOING ON A SPREE WHEN I GET MY NEXT PAYCHEQUE!!!

uggggghhhh

readingchick — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 01:27:26 GMT

I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or a bad thing that running on 3 hours sleep and having read the wrong chapters for class and grabbed the wrong folder when walking out the door, my Law tute actually mostly made sense.

I LOVE nerdy t-shirts!

readingchick — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:35:27 GMT

Most of the ones in this store got a giggle (or guffaw) out of me, but this one was the best. :D

(Latin pronounces 'v' as 'w', in case you don't know.)

readingchick — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:17:51 GMT

Found this after my fifty millionth time watching The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I bawled.

(But why has no one used Lifehouse's 'Quasimodo' to make a tribute to Quasi? I would think it would be an obvious choice! Or I just have a really bad sense of humour...)

Today is Australia's Census Day

readingchick — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 03:31:30 GMT

I wonder if beta reading counts as unpaid work? ;)