This is hardly all of my photos and definitely not all of the really awesome ones taken over the course of the weekend. finarfiniel took most of those and I hope to have a few of them available to me in the near future.


( PICSPAM: DragonCon 2008 )


finarfiniel and I totally won consolation prizes in the YA Lit Costume Contest. As it turns out, Tolkien isn't considered YA Lit. Lame.


( DragonCon Quotes! Yay! )




Currently Reading: Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded by Simon Winchester

( PICSPAM: Epic 2008 Flood Pics! )


When all was said and done, my area got something like 30" of rain. Fantastic.



Currently Reading: Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded by Simon Winchester

morgandawn has posted very helpful, step-by-step advice on fandom_lawyers about what to do after you're served a C&D or take down notice: Fannish Guide to Legal Notices: C&D Letters/Take Down Notices.


I know a few members of my friends list have been subject to Cease & Desist Orders in the past and that they had to figure out what the hell to do all by themselves, with a minimum of assistance from people who really didn't know what they were doing anyway. I wish this link had been available to you a few years ago, when it seemed like everyone was being slapped with them. I'd recommend filing this one in your LJ memories, just incase.


Kudos to pinkfinity for the heads up.



Currently (Re)Reading: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

I hated Half-Blood Prince but I remember thinking that it would make an absolutely fantastic movie. Tom Riddle is probably my favorite character in the series and Hero Tiffin looks like he's going to be incredible. Yaaaay! I am so excited!


Also, this movie looks way more mature than the previous ones. Score!



Currently (Re)Reading: The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sometimes throwing something through an automatic translator and then putting it on the internet is a very bad idea.

"The Hippodrome was previously only known from written sources, archaeological never let it show. This is surprising, since German excavators since 1875 the place of the ancient Olympic Games as one of its most traditional companies continuously explore and countless archaeologists, Alt and sports historians from around the world for over 100 years with this secret employed. Very describes in detail the ancient travel writer Pausanias in 2nd Century AD, the racecourse, whose launch mechanisms, turning times and altars. A previously little attention heading source from the 11th Century AD even called extent and dimensions of the plant."

...I have no words. (Launch mechanisms?)



Currently Reading: Ghosts of Vesuvius by Charles Pellegrino

I'm headed out to the train station within five minutes and will be at monkeywhatflys' place until Sunday! Much love!



Currently Reading: The Royal Road to Romance by Richard Halliburton

( Date Determined for Eclipse in Homer's Odyssey )


You may now return to your regularly scheduled flist.



Currently Reading: Working IX to V: Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns, and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World by Vicki Leon

I begin to suspect that my facewash is merely Dial soap in a fancier bottle.


(What? I never claimed my life was interesting.)



Currently Reading: Volcanoes by Robert and Barbara Decker

Okay. I have to say it.

Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World by David Keys has been a letdown. A (wait for it!) catastrophic letdown. It was promoted (and started out) as a book about how a massive eruption of Krakatoa c. 500AD caused climate change worldwide and influenced the direction of existing civilizations and perhaps caused the formation of new ones. Sounds good. Except that only the first few pages were about Krakatoa and the last 150 pages have been about the spread of plague and how it (and the migrations of "barbarians" into imperial territory due to famine further east) severely damaged the faltering Roman Empire. And yeah, I get that climate change caused by the eruption resulted in an explosion in the rat population in Africa, which carried the plague into Europe and the Middle East aboard trading vessels. But dammit, I was hoping for more geologic and less geopolitical catastrophe.

I'm not done with the book yet, so perhaps it will improve. I mean, it's not bad (I'd recommend it to serious history geeks), it's just not what I was hoping for and not what I'm currently interested in.



Currently Reading: Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World by David Keys

I was really hoping for Big Brown to win the Triple Crown, but I think the jockey definitely did the right thing by easing off when he started to think there was something wrong. I'd rather Big Brown get dead last than be ridden to death.



Currently Reading: Catastrophe: An Investigation Into the Origins of the Modern World by David Keys

I went kayaking for the first time this morning and it was so much fun! We went to the Brevard Zoo, as they're one of only two in the world that offer on-site kayaking. The course took us through the African and Asian areas and lasted about thirty minutes. I was ten feet away from a two-month-old giraffe! My zoo has seven giraffes, including the new baby, and they were all hanging out around the little river we were navigating. So were the white rhinoceri, which are huge and amazing. It was fantastic.



Currently Reading: Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World by David Keys

Results are back and they are good!

Maybe I can get a decent night of sleep tonight? It's been awhile.

Yay, I am so happy!



Currently Reading: Enemy at the Gates by William Craig

Never forget.


Happy Memorial Day.



Currently Reading: Enemy at the Gates by William Craig

Just finished The Afghan Campaign. It is fantastic. Go read it. Right now.



Currently Reading: Enemy at the Gates by William Craig

We found Chester. He's alive, though he's got a nasty bite and he's limping badly. Mom is taking him to the vet now.



Currently Reading: The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield

Surgery went well. Am still numb. Am going back to bed.

Eleven hours to surgery and I am as ready as I'll ever be.

I've just gotten back from the library, where I've picked up my reading material for the week: The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield and Enemy at the Gates by William Craig. I wanted to get a few movies as well but the library was closing and, other than a few documentaries that I've already seen, nothing looked interesting.

My room is clean. Yay! It's never far from clean, but I have been slacking in a huge way since school let out. I put all my laundry in its proper place, ditched unnecessary papers and vacuumed. It needed the vacuum something fierce.


My cat got into a vicious fight with our neighbors dog, which I missed when I was at the library. My dad got bit by the dog, my brother got mauled by the cat, and now the cat has run off and my mom is having a nervous breakdown that it might be dead and/or dying. I literally just found out, so have not had time to form an opinion.

Wonderful.


Okay. Seriously. It's times like these that I wish I had a tranquilizer gun, to make my mom stop screaming hysterically. Hysterical screaming helps no one.


Edit: Um. Well. It looks like my cat might be dead. We don't really know? He ran off and didn't come back. Personally, I think he's hiding under the house next door and will come out when he's ready. No one saw the dog bite the cat - they did see the cat beat the shit out of the dog. I don't know. I'm worried.


Currently (Re)Reading: Killing Rommel by Steven Pressfield

This one is for you, isisfrog!



HILARIOUS.



Currently (Re)Reading: Killing Rommel by Steven Pressfield

Since I first read Gates of Fire, I've been trying to figure out which actors and actresses most closely represent my mental image of the various characters. I think I've figured out Dienekes.

( Dienekes? )

Though he's damn sexy, I'm not sure he could pull the character off if they ever did a screen adaptation. For now, he's the closest I can find.

Anyone else want to chime in with their ideal cast? Have another idea for Dienekes? Alexandros? Polynikes? Xeones? Arete?

Come on, people. Participation!


Really, more people on my friends list need to read this book. Hint hint.



Currently (Re)Reading: Killing Rommel by Steven Pressfield