Something Nissa This Way Comes

They're all worth clicking, I promise!

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:34:31 GMT

(Two posts in one day? Is that allowed anymore?)

So I've been feeling kind of vaguely homesick the last couple of days (mostly because it's been 5 months since I've been home and will have been 8 in November when I go for Thanksgiving). And I've been reading a bunch of McSweeney's features (this one (Lovecraftian), this one (comical), and this one (somewhat postmodern) will appeal to vastly different audiences, but a girl I knew in high school wrote this one. We were in French classes together, and she was friends with a girl I hated), and then suddenly there was a post on a fandom comm that goes radio-silent for long periods of time about a fantasy convention next June that I think I might quite like to go to (obviously there's time to decide lol). Anyhow it turns out that Peter Beagle (of The Last Unicorn and The Line Between fame, as well as several other books I've read and enjoyed) is one of the guests of honor, so that's double points in my opinion! Anyhow, THAT site led to this link, which was a story I'd never read, so I did. And THAT reminded me how much I love his books, and so I have, in getting to the point of typing all this up in the first place, FINALLY ordered a copy of A Fine and Private Place, which I have been meaning to read for years, from Conlan Press. Which, while more expensive, is important to me given his ongoing legal troubles.

Anyhow, that all took me ages to type up and link properly, and the point really was to just bring up how much I love Peter S Beagle's writing and how I fully support the ongoing efforts to make things right.

"He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman"

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:59:24 GMT

After hearing from our sponsors, we're back with the Damage Report. I've been back to Health Services today, and apparently both of my ears are still inflamed and pretty swollen, but the right one is much worse than the left one. However, I have not been advised to continue antibiotics beyond the eardrops, and I haven't taken any of my fancy painkillers since last night, so that's something. Unfortunately it also means I need to resume working D:

Of course when I went to my appointment this morning, I completely forgot to bring and/or ask about getting medical certification and signoff on my Special Circumstances form for getting an extension. I went right back once I realized and had to drop off the form with reception, which is kind of annoying. I'm supposed to be able to pick it up tomorrow, so hopefully that'll just work out.

avatar1983 and I went to see Clone Wars today, and it was enjoyable, though it could have been much better if they'd just paid a little more attention and/or gotten new dialogue writers. All in all, I'm not sorry I saw it, but I will say that in both pointlessness and irritating factor, Ahsoka comes a close second only to Jar Jar. I mean, seriously? Also, the bit at the beginning where the two of them channelled Solid Snake was just a bit bzuh? Whatever, though. Still not the travesty I wsa worried it would be.

In other news, I'm just over halfway through the horrible pile of trash that is the pink romance novel I mentioned before, have completed a mission in Crisis Core but gotten no further really, bought replacement PF Flyers yesterday, and I need to go to the library after I go to pick up my form tomorrow morning. Joy of joys! For now, however, I shall have a cookie and possibly start some work. Oh, well.

"I'm ringing all the warning bells: careful or you'll hurt yourself"

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:45:41 GMT

Today the watery feeling is kind of back (it wasn't when I got up, but it is now), but I've also been well-served by my deafness in that there was a guy whose bass elyndys and I could feel through the road stopped at a crosswalk we were using, and it didn't make my head throb! It was quite handy. Don't worry, I'm getting just as tired of typing about it as you are of hearing about it, so let's all hope it goes away soon.

And now, ganked from someone on somebody else's flist, a meme:
Bold true statements.
- I have friends who have never seen my natural hair colour. (Technically still true!)
- I have a tattoo. (not yet...)
- I am self-conscious about my appearance.
- I wear glasses.
- I have/had braces.
- I've been told I'm attractive by a complete stranger.
- I have had more than 2 piercings. (9)
- I have had piercings in places besides my ears.
-I'd get plastic surgery if it was 100% safe, free, scar free.
- I have freckles.

Family/Home Life:
- I've sworn at my parents.
- I've run away from home.
- I've been kicked out of the house.
- My biological parents are together.
- I have a sibling less than one year old.
- I want to have kids someday.
- I have children.
- I've lost a child.

Embarrassment:
- I've slipped out a "LOL" in a spoken conversation.
- Disney movies still make me cry. (Depends, but yeah XD)
- I've snorted while laughing. (All the time)
- I've laughed so hard I've cried. (LOL oh yeah)
- I've glued my hand to something
- I've laughed till some kind of beverage came out of my nose.
- I've had my trousers rip in public.

Health:
- I was born with a disease/impairment. (I mean, a tiny hernia only kind of counts)
- I've had stitches.
- I've broken a bone. (never a major one, though)
-I've had my tonsils removed.
- I've sat in a doctor's office with a friend.
- I've had my wisdom teeth removed.
- I've had serious surgery.
- I've had chicken pox.

Travelling:
- I've driven over 200 miles in one day. (I think my record between sleeps is 800 miles)
- I've been on a plane. (um, frequently)
- I've been to North America. (lol I'm sort of from there)
- I've been to Niagara Falls. (my family went without me! ;_;)
- I've been to Japan.
- I've been to Europe. (I mean, not ALL of it...)
- I've been to Africa.

Experiences:
- I've been lost in my city. (I get lost a lot)
- I've gone out in public in my pajamas.
- I've pushed all the buttons in a lift.
- I've seen a shooting star.
- I've wished on a shooting star.
- I've seen a meteor shower.
- I've been skydiving.
- I've been in a casino.
- I've gone skinny dipping.
- I've played spin the bottle.
- I've crashed a car.
- I've been skiing. (::fear::)
- I've been in a play.
- I've met someone in person from the Internet.
- I've caught a snowflake on my tongue.
- I've seen the Northern Lights.
- I've played chicken.
- I've sat on a rooftop at night.
- I've seen the Rocky Horror Show.
- I've been snowboarding.
- I've eaten sushi.

Relationships:
- I'm single.
- I'm in a relationship.
- I'm available.
- I'm engaged.
- I'm married.
- I've gone on a blind date.
- I've been the dumpee more than the dumper.
- I've been divorced.
- I have a fear of abandonment
- I've had feelings for someone who didn't have them back.
- I've told someone I loved them when I didn't.
- I've told someone I didn't love them when I did.
- I've kept something from a past relationship.

Sexuality:
- I've had a crush on someone of the same gender
- I've kissed a member of the same gender
- I've had sex with someone of the opposite gender.
- I've had sex with someone of the same gender.
- I've had sex with more than one person at the same time.
- I am a cuddler
- I've been kissed in the rain.
- I've had sex outdoors.
- I've hugged a stranger.
- I have kissed a stranger.
- I have had sex with a stranger.

Honesty/Crime:
- I've done something I promised someone else I wouldn't.
- I've done something I promised myself I wouldn't.
- I have lied to my parents about where I am.
- I am keeping a secret from the world.
- I've cheated while playing a game.
- I've cheated on a test. (I've come thisclose though)
- I've driven through a red light. (once accidentally at 3am)
- I've been suspended from school.
- I've witnessed a crime. (probably?)
- I've been in a fist fight.
- I've been arrested.
- I've shoplifted.

Drugs/Alcohol:
- I've consumed alcohol.
- I smoke cigarettes.
- I smoke pot.
- I regularly drink.
- I've taken painkillers when I didn't need them.
- I take cough medication when I'm not sick.
- I've done hard drugs.
- I've been addicted to an illegal substance.
- I can't swallow pills.
- I can swallow about 5 pills at a time no problem.

Mental health:
- I have been diagnosed with depression.
- I shut others out when I'm depressed.
- I take anti-depressants.
- I have an eating disorder.
- I've slept an entire day when I didn't need it.
- I've hurt myself on purpose.
- I'm addicted to self harm.
- I've woken up crying

Death:
- I'm afraid of dying.
- I hate funerals.
- I've seen someone dying.
- I have attempted suicide.
- Someone close to me has attempted suicide.
- Someone close to me has committed suicide.

Random:
- I can sing well.
- I've stolen a tray from a fast food restaurant.
- I open up to others too easily.
- I watch the news.
- I don't kill bugs.
- I hate hearing songs that sacrifice meaning for sake of being able to rhyme.
- I fucking swear regularly.
- I sing in the shower.
- I am a morning person.
- I paid for my mobile phone ring tone. (but I made my own text alert)
- I'm a snob about grammar.
- I am a sports fanatic. (only about rugby)
- I play with my hair.
- I have/had "x"s in my screen name.
- I love being neat. (doesn't mean I do it though XD)
- I love Spam.
- I've copied more than 30 CD's in a day.
- I bake well.
-My favourite colour is either white yellow, pink, red or blue. (shades of, yeah)
- I don't know how to shoot a gun.
- I am in love with love. (whaaaat?!)
- I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS. (NEVER D:<)
- I laugh at my own jokes.
- I eat fast food weekly. (at home, yeah)
- I believe in ghosts. (probably?)
- I am online 24/7, even as an away message (not so much with Anton, but with Darcy)
- I can't sleep if there is a spider in the room.
- I am really ticklish.
- I love white chocolate.
- I bite my nails.
- I play video games.
- I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life.
- I'm good at remembering faces.
- I'm good at remembering names. (not as good as with faces, but all right)
- I'm good at remembering dates. (not even as good as with names, but not terrible)
- My answers are totally honest.

And another, courtesy _kyri:
RULES:
- Pick your birth month.
- Strike out anything that doesn't apply to you.
- Bold the things that best apply to you.
- Copy to your own journal, with all twelve months under a lj-cut.

DECEMBER: Loyal and generous. ~~Sexy~~. Patriotic. Active in games and interactions. Impatient and hasty. Ambitious. ~~Influential in organizations.~~ Fun to be with. Loves to socialize. Loves praises. Loves attention. Loves to be loved. Honest and trustworthy. Not pretending. Short tempered. Changing personality. Not egotistic. Take high pride in oneself. Hates restrictions. Loves to joke. Good sense of humor. Logical.

JANUARY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Ambitious and serious. Loves to teach and be taught. Always looking at people's flaws and weaknesses. Likes to criticize. Hardworking and productive. Smart, neat and organized. Sensitive and has deep thoughts. Knows how to make others happy. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Rather reserved. Highly attentive. Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Romantic but has difficulties expressing love. Loves children. Loyal. Has great social abilities yet easily jealous. Very stubborn and money cautious.

FEBRUARY: Abstract thoughts. Loves reality and abstract. Intelligent and clever. Changing personality. Attractive. Sexy. Temperamental. Quiet, shy and humble. Honest and loyal. Determined to reach goals. Loves freedom. Rebellious when restricted. Loves aggressiveness. Too sensitive and easily hurt. Gets angry really easily but does not show it. Dislikes unnecessary things. Loves making friends but rarely shows it. Daring and stubborn. Ambitious. Realizes dreams and hopes. Sharp. Loves entertainment and leisure. Romantic on the inside not outside. Superstitious and ludicrous. Spendthrift. Tries to learn to show emotions.

MARCH: Attractive personality. Sexy. Affectionate. Shy and reserved. Secretive. Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic. Loves peace and serenity. Sensitive to others. Loves to serve others. Easily angered. Trustworthy. Appreciative and returns kindness. Observant and assesses others. Revengeful. Loves to dream and fantasize. Loves travelling. Loves attention. Hasty decisions in choosing partners. Loves home decors. Musically talented. Loves special things. Moody.

APRIL: Active and dynamic. Decisive and hasty but tends to regret. Attractive and affectionate to oneself. Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic. Consoling, friendly and solves people's problems. Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and caring. Suave and generous. Emotional. Aggressive. Hasty. Good memory. Moving. Motivates oneself and others. Sickness usually of the head and chest. Sexy in a way that only their lover can see.

MAY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Strong-willed and highly motivated. Sharp thoughts. Easily angered. Attracts others and loves attention. Deep feelings. Beautiful physically and mentally. Firm Standpoint. Needs no motivation. Easily consoled. Systematic (left brain). Loves to dream. Strong clairvoyance. Understanding. Sickness usually in the ear and neck. Good imagination. Good physical. Weak breathing. Loves literature and the arts. Loves travelling. Dislike being at home. Restless. Not having many children. Hardworking. High spirited. Spendthrift.

JUNE: Thinks far with vision. Easily influenced by kindness. Polite and soft-spoken. Having ideas. Sensitive. Active mind. Hesitating, tends to delay. Choosy and always wants the best. Temperamental. Funny and humorous. Loves to joke. Good debating skills. Talkative. Daydreamer. Friendly. Knows how to make friends. Able to show character. Easily hurt. Prone to getting colds. Loves to dress up. Easily bored. Fussy. Seldom shows emotions. Takes time to recover when hurt. Brand conscious. Executive. Stubborn.

JULY: Fun to be with. Secretive. Difficult to fathom and to be understood. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Takes pride in oneself. Has reputation. Easily consoled. Honest. Concerned about people's feelings. Tactful. Friendly. Approachable. Emotional temperamental and unpredictable. Moody and easily hurt. Witty and sparkly. Not revengeful. Forgiving but never forgets. Dislikes nonsensical and unnecessary things. Guides others physically and mentally. Sensitive and forms impressions carefully. Caring and loving. Treats others equally. Strong sense of sympathy. Wary and sharp. Judges people through observations. Hardworking. No difficulties in studying. Loves to be alone. Always broods about the past and the old friends. Likes to be quiet. Homely person. Waits for friends. Never looks for friends. Not aggressive unless provoked. Prone to having stomach and dieting problems. Loves to be loved. Easily hurt but takes long to recover.

AUGUST: Loves to joke. Attractive. Suave and caring. Brave and fearless. Firm and has leadership qualities. Knows how to console others. Too generous and egoistic. Takes high pride in oneself. Thirsty for praises. Extraordinary spirit. Easily angered. Angry when provoked. Easily jealous. Observant. Careful and cautious. Thinks quickly. Independent thoughts. Loves to lead and to be led. Loves to dream. Talented in the arts, music and defense. Sensitive but not petty. Poor resistance against illnesses. Learns to relax. Hasty and trusty. Romantic. Loving and caring. Loves to make friends.

SEPTEMBER: Suave and compromising. Careful, cautious and organized. Likes to point out people's mistakes. Likes to criticize. Stubborn. Quiet but able to talk well. Calm and cool. Kind and sympathetic. Concerned and detailed. Loyal but not always honest. Does work well. Very confident. Sensitive. Good memory. Clever and knowledgeable. Loves to look for information. Must control oneself when criticizing. Able to motivate oneself. Understanding. Fun to be around. Secretive. Loves leisure and traveling. Hardly shows emotions. Tends to bottle up feelings. Very choosy, especially in relationships. Systematic.

OCTOBER: Loves to chat. Loves those who loves them. Loves to take things at the center. Inner and physical beauty. Lies but doesn't pretend. Gets angry often. Treats friends importantly. Always making friends. Easily hurt but recovers easily. Daydreamer. Opinionated. Does not care of what others think. Emotional. Decisive. Strong clairvoyance. Loves to travel, the arts and literature. Touchy and easily jealous. Concerned. Loves outdoors. Just and fair. Spendthrift. Easily influenced. Easily loses confidence. Loves children.

NOVEMBER: Has a lot of ideas. Difficult to fathom. Thinks forward. Unique and brilliant. Extraordinary ideas. Sharp thinking. Fine and strong clairvoyance. Can become good doctors. Dynamic in personality. Secretive. Inquisitive. Knows how to dig secrets. Always thinking. Less talkative but amiable. Brave and generous. Patient. Stubborn and hard-hearted. If there is a will, there is a way. Determined. Never give up. Hardly becomes angry unless provoked. Loves to be alone. Thinks differently from others. Sharp-minded. Motivates oneself. Does not appreciate praises. High-spirited. Well-built and tough. Deep love and emotions. Romantic. Uncertain in relationships. Homely. Hardworking. High abilities. Trustworthy. Honest and keeps secrets. Not able to control emotions. Unpredictable.

DECEMBER: Loyal and generous. Sexy. Patriotic. Active in games and interactions. Impatient and hasty. Ambitious. Influential in organizations. Fun to be with. Loves to socialize. Loves praises. Loves attention. Loves to be loved. Honest and trustworthy. Not pretending. Short tempered. Changing personality. Not egotistic. Take high pride in oneself. Hates restrictions. Loves to joke. Good sense of humor. Logical.

In other news, I am reading Scareodeleria because I never bothered before and because I'm bored and I like Scary Go Round. I am also debating reading a violently pink romance novel about a young ballerina that I picked up from a "Free books - please take!" bin outside the cat shelter across the road versus writing my bibliography (which I really should do, to at least have done something before my meeting tomorrow (during which I plan to wave my painkillers at Philip in hopes that he will say oh you poor dear take as long as you need)).

Today has been brought to you by the letter F and the number 7.

"Yeah I'm endlessly caving in and turning inside-out"

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:11:41 GMT

Apparently this journal has become the Daily Damage Report, but whatever. Journals are for talking about one's life, and this ear infection has sort of consumed my life recently, including the other all-consuming parasite on my mind, the lovely dissertation. So, sorry about that, but it's what we've got to work with for a few more days, I imagine.

Today, the water-in-my-ear feeling seems to be mostly gone, but my right ear is still entirely deaf. Like, covering it up doesn't change my hearing at all. Fortunately, the pain seems to be entirely within the painkillers' capacity to disguise, so I'm not feeling it particularly much. I have, however, learned that being deaf would drive me insane (even though I still want to learn at least one sign language, possibly more), and I would never learn anything again. I also slept idiotically late and managed not to accomplish anything productive (I was going to do my bibliography today...I still could, I guess, but we'll see).

I was half-successful in making supper for myself (avatar1983 is at a barbeque with half the rest of the house, and I didn't want to use the phone, so I made something...ish), so that's progress in a way. I had a can of tomato soup (♥), but it seemed like it wouldn't be substantial enough so I chopped up some carrots, diced some potatoes, and boiled them all up with some pasta (all of which I overcooked so it would be soft enough for my jaw) - basically, it was a good plan and turned out delicious, but I had two semi-related issues with it: 1) I made entirely too much stuff to go in the soup (like, I would probably have needed 2 more cans of it) and 2) the bowls that would have held it had gone missing, so instead I ate out of two smaller bowls (and solved the ratio issue by filling the bowls with pasta, potato and carrot first, then pouring the soup over it like a sauce). It was way too much food but I ate it all because I love tomato soup and it was delicious (even the potatoes! I worried that they wouldn't be very pleasant). So that was half-successful.

Now, though, I think I'll give you all a rest from my rampant parenthetical remarks, finish the most current chapter in the fanfic-of-a-Disney-fanfic I'm reading (and using as inspiration for when I have time to myself...oh the fanfic I shall write! Just, you know, to get back in the habit of course...oh, the fandoms! >:D), possibly/probably play some Crisis Core (this game will take me AGES if I go on like this because I'm only playing like 25-40 minutes at a time), and maybe even read some Artemis Fowl. Or if I'm feeling particularly coherent, some Awntyrs of Arthur. Riveting stuff, I tell you.

For my next trick, I might even get dressed tomorrow!

This really needs to stop. Like, now.

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:46:24 GMT

Ugh I hate being ill. Especially when it's not like full body or stomach ill, because it's not like I feel sick or like I shouldn't be able to do work, but I just can't. Especailly with the meds, but even without I just get too distracted by the hurt and/or the deafness.

Speaking of which, my right ear has been almost entirely deaf all day. Not just muffled like yesterday, but actually when I snap as loud as I can right next to it, the snap sounds 50 yeards away and possibly underwater. Also it feels like I have water in my ear...you know, like after you go swimming and it's just stuck in there taunting you? That's what this feels like. All day. And twice now I've Q-tipped giant disgusting blobs of eardrop/eargoop solution out, which have temporarily (though significantly) improved my hearing by leaving, but it's gross and annoying and I spend all my time tilting my head to the right and shaking/jerking it around trying to get something to change. And also my jaw-pain has shifted with the worst of the infection to rest on the right side now (though briefly last night BOTH sides hurt equally, which was exciting (read: horrible)).

The good news is my left ear seems to be almost entirely better, which tells me that the medications have been working, and that the condition of my right ear has probably just been incubating the whole time the left one was being shitty. Which hopefully means that the right one will get better as well and in relatively good time.

Activity watch: last night avatar1983 and I watched the Lion King because we hadn't watched it together yet and because I wanted to give it another chance. Result: I still don't like it that much. I think it's mostly Simba's fault - I hate him kind of a lot. Also the whole thing feels little gimmicky to me, since I can't figure out why the story demanded animals and/or Africa (then again, the talking animal Disney films are basically never in my top tier (to be fair, neither are most of the Passive Princess ones (Snow White and Cinderella specifically))). Today, we played some Diablo and I continue to enjoy Mr Scrub, though with my diminished attention-paying abilities I got annoyed with not being able to keep up with basically ANYTHING: location, fighting/XP, loot-ganking, keeping my skeletons/retards raised, etc etc etc. Currently I have a Disney fanfic open in one tab, McSweeney's in another, and am probably going to abandon the internet for shiny, shiny Crisis Core (though how long that will last, no one knows). Later I will probably do like last night and read some Artemis Fowl then fall asleep.

In sum: I am too stubborn and annoyed to admit even to myself how ill I actually am, and I resent it for preventing me doing work (and even more for preventing me doing fun things instead of work for any length of time), plus it/possibly the medication have made me irritable and generally unpleasant, which I also dislike intensely. And I'm living in constant fear that I'm shouting/talking too loud because I really can't tell how loud I'm being. SIGH.

I'm just waiting for Gackt!Genesis to show up XD

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:13:28 GMT

::Phew!:: I have just dodged a very small, completely superfluous bullet. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Today, I woke up and my left ear was no longer alone in its misery. A much smaller but still very present degree of pain had joined it in my right ear. This is not the kind of wake-up call for which I had been hoping, but it's what I got. Anyhow, I sent avatar1983 to pick up my third prescription (the antibiotic/steroid eardrops) this morning, and in combination with the horde of other drugs I've been taking, they seem to be quite effective. They also seem to have at least a mild topical analgesic, since they make the ears hurt slightly less on contact so win!

After that, I struggled with the classic sick-day dilemma: what to do? Too ill/doped to concentrate and get work done, which basically also rules out reading, comics, much gaming, movie watching, etc. Still, though, too aware and awake to just sleep or stare at a wall all day. Alas! After a time (and after the opiates in my painkillers kicked in), I decided to go shopping. Schuh didn't have my red PF Flyers, so I shall have to go to the mall tomorrow for them, but Waterstone's did have Artemis Fowl 6, and as retail therapy/the greatest material indulgence of recent memory, I also bought myself a shiny white PSP (he's called Bertilac) and Crisis Core (the FFVII prequel game made of shiny). After this I discovered that a single pint of cider, when taken with loads of medicine, gets me quite smashed.

Anyhow, that's not the point. Since then, I have had supper, more meds, and allowed Bertilac to charge (and am already considering a new name for him...dunno what yet, though). Then I started Crisis Core, laughed at Zack's ridiculousness, and got to the first save point, when my PSP prompted me to insert a memory stick. At which point I became nearly livid with rage, because I spent £170 at Zavvi to get the bundle (the only one available, I might add, as one cannot buy the console singly) that gave me a PSP, an accessory pack, and two games (no MonHan, though, elyndys! I was sad D:), which I (reasonably) assumed would be all I could ever need. However, NONE of these things contained a memory stick. Truth be told, I hadn't even SEEN memory sticks for PSP in either of the stores we went to. It was quite upsetting. In a happy an anti-climactic resolution, however, it turns out the 1GB mini memory stick I got with the £10 top-up and my pink phone (called Mortlock, btw), when put in its adapter case thing, works JUST FINE and I can save without needing to spend another fecking £30 after all. XD

So, since I have relayed this cautionary tale and thoroughly decorated the PSP carry-case with silver marker, I shall return to Crisis Core, which is gorgeous and shiny and has a distressing real-time combat mode.

The Ear Saga

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:32:11 GMT

So, remember that ear thing I was talking about? Right, so a couple of hours after I posted about how I was going to go to Health Services yesterday morning, instead I had to go to the emergency room because it actually hurt too much to function. The emergency room was completely useless, so I got to go home, hurt more, and wait for morning when I went to Health Services.

There, I saw a much nicer doctor who actually listened to me, got an amoxicillin prescription, and became hopeful. Over the afternoon, it felt much better mostly, and then we went to see Hellboy II which was ridiculously crowded (I mean, yes, it was opening night, but still) during which I was intermittently in the most debilitating pain I can remember in recent years. Like, maybe it didn't hurt as bad as destroying my ankle senior year of high school, but it's kind of dicey. Also I am now half-deaf in the left ear because it's so very blocked and swollen. Both of these things have been ongoing since then, even though I've also been on the amoxicillin since noon yesterday, and the swelling in my ear has affected my jaw-joint enough that I'm actually subsisting on soup, smoothie, and squishy-fruit salad today because it hurts even to talk very much. I have made another Health Services appointment for this afternoon: if nothing else, I am demanding painkillers stronger than ibuprofen.

All of this of course has also been affecting my work, making it in actual fact a lack thereof. I went to see Philip yesterday, mapped out what I still need to do and how I want to do it, and I told him about my ear troubles. He suggested asking for an extension on my dissertation which I'm a bit wibbly about, but because it's gotten so much worse since yesterday, I have emailed Joan and tried to explain the situation (and also ask about the procedure involved in getting an extension). Because to be perfectly honest, the best case scenario is I don't need an extension and I'll get it all done in time, but the longer this ear thing goes on (and the worse it gets), the more likely it is that I will need extra time...which is pretty obnoxious if you ask me, but whatever.

So that's what's been on my mind since yesterday. Mostly my thoughts have been as follows: "Ow, ow, ouch, ow, ooooh Hellboy is amazing!, ouch, ow, ow, ow, OW."

EDIT: Have been to the Health Services now and successfully retrieved codeine/paracetemol painkillers that seem to do the job pretty well provided I don't forget not to open my mouth too far. They didn't have the eardrops in at the pharmacy so I'll have to get those tomorrow, but I'm ridiculously happy about having effective pain medication because really, I don't mind the antibiotics taking time to work, I just don't want it to hurt anymore :D I am, however, not quite convinced that any work I do on these pills will be entirely up to standard (but I'm willing to try anyway, depending on how things go).

I've also heard back from Joan (kind of) and she says she's happy to give me a few extra days if I need them. Apparently what I need is to get a note/certificate thing from the Health Services (which I can do next Wednesday when I go for my follow-up appointment) and fill our some kind of "Special Circumstances" form.

The dulcet tones of Age of Conan sing me to my sleep (/work)

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:55:58 GMT

So I now have a ton of (mental) notes about what to write for my folklore section, and am basically no longer worried that it will be too short. Too long is entirely possible, especially given that I'll need to spend a reltatively significant portion of introduction space on "previous research" for related materials, but whatever. The trouble is, I can't actually bring myself to write anything until I figure out how I want to organize the whole thing, because in this particular case, organization will dictate content...Basically, my options are do sections according to example text provenance (ie Historic, Nordic, and Anglo-Norman) OR do sections according to camparaitve features (ie Physicality, Geography, Humanity/social behavior), right? So what I actually say in any given paragraph will depend greatly on which format I'm following. Which means that I won't write anything concrete until after my meeting tomorrow...Still, though. I'm feeling more solid about the whole thing than I was when I had a weeping breakdown last night, or even this afternoon before I bothered sitting down and thinking about where I needed to go from here. So that's something.

In (not so) other news, the worst part about academia is that there are no longer SparkNotes for things you don't want to actually read (ie The Awntyrs of Arthur), so you have to Google them and find introductions that happen to summarize or at least contextualize them. And then read parts of them anyway. Haha ugh.

Also I am being forced to actually go to Health Services tomorrow morning before my meeting, as whatever is wrong with my left ear has caused associated problems with my jaw...I maintain that the best course of action is to ignore it until it gets bored and goes home, but avatar1983 has banned me from just saying "it's fine!" anymore, so my only option is to make someone look at it, go "bzuh?" and shrug their shoulders, THEN wait it out until it goes home. I am in two minds about how quickly I wish they would have an appointment open for me: on the one hand, I'd like to only have to make one trip, though that seems manifestly unlikely; on the other hand, I've got plans tomorrow, and having an appointment after Philip's meeting would disrupt them; however, on the mythical third hand, having an appointment Thursday would interfere with MORE work time (as I have no actual plans to work tomorrow) AND mean I'd have to go to Health Services two days running, which seems like a lot of work. But we shall see how things turn out.

I am also currently stressing about making plans for Thanskgiving and (more stressfully) Christmas because I a) want to save on airfare, b) want to find the best solution for all available preferences, and c) don't want to worry about it until after my dissertation, but d) will no longer save on airfare if I wait very long at all.

Quiz ganked from elyndys:

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

HFPS - The Humanitarian

And I downloaded the Hairspray soundtrack today. Just now, actually. Because of you, vanillafire XD Now, back to Arthur and his awntyrs (presumably in spelling).

"You're a god and I am not, and I just thought that you should know"

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:52:31 GMT

I have spent today grocery shopping, being slapped at for picking at my very itchy and very unwell left ear (I have no idea what's wrong with it - it just hurts right behind that flappy bit in the front, especially if it gets pressed on but sometimes all by itself), and scowling at a book from 1939 that says what I want it to say, only says it about a period roughly 400 years too early to be very helpful without a lot of spin. Sigh! Fortunately, spin is not only something that comes relatively easily to me but also mostly acceptable in the arts part of academia (I can't speak for the sciencey bits).

I have also downloaded some music I'm not very proud of, but this is what happens when I hit a dearth. I'm also going to break 15k songs in very short order, and I really need to go through and purge a lot of random crap I'll never listen to. I have also, just for kicks, had my entire library on random for the last half-hour, and it's...well. Lol it's interesting.

Also, anyone currently in academia (so mostly elyndys, then XD) will appreciate And On the Seventh Day, Cog Rested, brought to my attention by suzilem (thanks, btw - I love it! XD).

So, yeah. Tomorrow will be primarily spent getting 2000ish words to have something semi-substantial to show Philip on Wednesday. Wednesday will be spent in meeting with Philip, going to see Hellboy II and Clone Wars, and hopefully replacing my PF Flyers with ones that fit, if time allows. Thursday through next Sunday (the 31st) will be spent sobbing over still-too-small wordcounts, hammering out serviceable expansions for same, manipulating whole sections and paragraphs to give the illusion of organization, and praying that the printer downstairs can handle the SIL IPA font I have to use occasionally (I don't think it can, actually...but we'll see. And if nothing else, I can mark in things like yogh the two or three times I need them). That's my plan, dears, and I'll let you know if I'm still breathing after next week.

"We're the first to feel like this; we're the first to steal this kiss"

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:38:55 GMT

Right. So that was a week, and I didn't even notice. Or do any work. Like, any. Probably not the best plan, but I suppose I knew that going in.

Mostly, however, this is all a good thing, as I had a fantastic time this week visiting avatar1983 in Germany. Specifically southern Bavaria, which of course means we saw a lot of castle-y things :D On Tuesday we went to the Residenz in Munich, where we spent 5½ hours walking around seeing fabulously baroque and rococo rooms and listening to the highly repetetive and sometimes helpful audio guides (and where I discovered my PF Flyers are deceptively small, and that I shall have to buy new ones ;_;). On Thursday we went to Chiemsee and visited both Fraueninsel and Herreninsel with the ridiculously extravagant (and jarringly unfinished) Herrenchiemsee, Ludwig II's (bigger and, yes, fancier) 19th-century copy of Versailles. There were ferries and the weather report lied dreadfully, causing us both to be dressed too warmly and avatar1983 to get a little sunburnt D:, but overall it was pretty great :D Yesterday we went with avatar1983's awesome and super-nice parents to Glentleiten Open Air Museum, which was really interesting and fun, even if basically everything was current events (read: 17th century or later) XD Also, we overheard the desk girl on our way out explaining to people who wanted an English tour that everything was too local and specialized to be translatable into English, which we found perplexing, since avatar1983 had been translating it all for me all day XD

Wednesday and Friday were lazy days because of the weather, but I still got to see another insanely ostentatious baroque church, so that was good. I have also now seen Blues Brothers, which I had not (hey! I have now, so no lynching!) and the whole Clone Wars series (which sounds like an accomplishment, but is in fact only 2 hours long), as well as having avoided speaking any German except to Kitty, the dog XD I did a lot of listening/understanding, though! So there's that. Ish.

And now, of course, comes the crushing weight of needing to write another 7k words by the end of the week so that I'll have next week to revise, organize, print, and then relearn to breathe.

Thanks, Chaucer

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 05:01:17 GMT

BAM 5020 words. I know I was going for 5500-6000, but when I actually write an intro to this section and expand the conclusion, both to reflect the chapter's position relative to the other one (I don't know which one's going first yet), I should make that pretty easily. At least I hope so. D:

Also yeah it's 6am again, and I still have to pack...I'm so good at time management.

"You fiendish chain, you!"

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:35:58 GMT

Up just over 500 words including yesterday, but I've just done a whole bunch of internet/concordance wizardry that will easily give me another 1500 words, so that's good. Also I now have 3 Firefox windows open: social/fun, MUSE-accessed work (shit I have to sign into...and Etymonline.com), and eChaucer and the UVA eText collection (which I don't have to sign into).

Brigitte, did you get my email in time? D: I hope so! ::worries:: How did it go? Did you get them both at once? What did Binder get (if I'm remembering this plan correctly)? I want to hear all about it! Tellll meeeeee~! I love you! I miss you! ♥

Anyhow, back to Chaucer (funny how it's always him, isn't it? That funny old man has saved me soooo many times (well, like 3. Academically)). We're totally BFFs Through Time. He is my favorite.

Also excellent: this video from Jaime Hewlett, Damon Albarn, and the BBC about Monkey (et al) going to the Olympics!

PS totally had a fight with Dad yesterday at dinner, which was great (and also most of the reason I couldn't concentrate to work more last night), so who knows how today and tomorrow are going to go...Good times. Plus packing, cleaning, etc. etc. etc...You know, because I needed more to freak out about. So that was a good move.

We'll be seeing a lot of this squirrel!Merlin from here, I think

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:11:53 GMT

So I've gotten 200 more words today (for 3200 total in this section) just from going over Philip's notes on what I sent him before. I still have all the additional notes I took at the meeting which should get me up another 7 or 800 words pretty easily, probably up to a day-total of 1500ish with some stretching.

My meeting yesterday went really well, and Philip said he thought it was all starting to come together and go somewhere, which is good. Our next meeting is for the Wednesday after next (which, incidentally, is when Hellboy II comes out - so excited! XD), when I should be pretty well into writing the last 6k (4k into the folklore chapter, 2kish for intro/conclusion stuff)...Ugh there's so much to dooooo~! And not a whale of a lot of time. But still! It's enough time. And I've resigned myself to just being dead basically for the week or so following the hand-in. Also whose idea was it to make the deadline a Monday? That's just cruel.

All right, I should get back to it...my goal is to have 4500 words in the semantics section by the time I go to sleep, because that means tomorrow I'll only have to do 500-1000, depending on how much I have left to say.

I mean, I'm really glad this seems to be coming along a bit, but I keep getting disheartened by the overall wordcount...taking everything in total, I'm still just over a third through what I need to have written (about 37% of my goal, 35% of the max). Which is great considering three weeks ago I had 13 or 14% done, but I only have three weeks left! Anyway, yeah, I'm going to stop wibbling about this (at least in print lol) now and get back to work for the 2 hours before dinner with the family.

So there's that.

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:03:27 GMT

Back from Paris where it was idiotically hot (36C, 97F) and where every other tourist in the universe was (not unexpectedly, but not pleasantly, either). We saw lots of things from the outside and we saw Sacré Cœur from the inside, walked from l'Île de la Cité to l'Arc de Triomphe, and stayed in a hotel literally across the street from a railyard thing, so we "slept" to the dulcet tones of trains screaming for their rusty lives. In addition, family vacations are always a little trying and my brother has had to deal with my parents alone for the last week, and so tensions were a bit high...My brother and I spent most of the trip speaking bad German to each other because even though Mom and Dad both have a little bit (Dad more than Mom, but still), it was fast enough to work as a code. It helped some, and he told me that if I hadn't been on this bit of the trip he would have snapped (and quite rightly, imo). All in all, not the worst vacation I've ever been on, but it tried. I mean, we did get to see cool stuff, but mostly it all looked like it does in the pictures (Notre Dame (which might have been better if we'd been able to go in/not wait in a 4-hour queue), Tour Eiffel, I'm looking at you). Next time I go to France, either I will go to someplace that isn't Paris or with people who aren't my parents or both. As a bonus, though, my parents gave me all their leftover Euros, so I now have even more! My trip to visit avatar1983 will cost me almost nothing, hooray!

I got some vague outlining done the first night, but last night I was too hot and too tired and too frustrated to do anything, so that was mostly a failure. I did discover that my little pink phone has a mini version of the Sims 2, so I started playing and my character promptly became a lesbian. Then she turned bi. I feel fully confident in taking no responsibility for her actions, since I was just being nice to the two people who showed up at her house and suddenly she was in love with them. Both. She has also won the lottery twice in the like 4 in-game days she's lived there, which is sort of cool. I spent half the Eurostar trip doing this and then most of the trip from London to Sheffield.

I am kind of exhausted and terrified of how I didn't get anything done...but I'm hoping my meeting with Philip will ease some of that tomorrow and that I can just buckle down and destroy those last (for now) 3k words tomorrow.

Nicholaus is also coming to visit me tomorrow while I work after my meeting because I wanted to do something to save him from Dad (who is particularly bad this trip...good lord). I figure I'll set him on my Wii or my PS2 and just let him go...it'll be good for him to be away from the parents for a while. So that's the plan so far.

Je retournerai après ces annonces brefs

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:41:36 GMT

Haha oh God my French will get me laughed out of Paris.

So today was completely devoid of work beyond like 100 words' worth of tweaking etc. I seriously melted my brain last night and it just wouldn't do anything today.

On a lighter (though more irresponsible?) note, I'm headed to Paris with my family until Wednesday night, so this is me signing off until then. Hopefully I'll get something done on the train or whatever, but we'll see. Anyhow, I hope everyone has a lovely couple of days (and that I can cram in the rest of my work after that)

BRIGITTE: I am SO SORRY I haven't finished your second design! I swear I will finish with it Wednesday night when I get back. I hope that's enough time ;_; I'm really sorry I haven't finished it yet! I just sort of exploded with dissertation and...well, yes. Sorry! So I hope that's okay. And I hope you've had success choosing which option you like for the first one! XD ♥

My nemesis's name is Organization

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:25:09 GMT

I know this is like the 14th entry running that starts this way, but UGH. I have written probably less than 100 words today and am having constant trouble remembering why I divided these two sections the way I did. I'm having serious organizational issues and I think I melted my brain yesterday/this morning extracting those 1755 words from it. Still so much to do D:

I have just emailed Philip in a "begging for help" kind of way and attached a document that hass all three bits pasted back in so it's over 3k words, but makes little to no sense taken on its own. I am hoping fervently he'll have some helpful suggestions to make (and also be glad to see that I've actually done SOME work at least) so I can stop staring at what I've already done going, "wait...what?" which has basically been my day so far.

Also I'm supposed to meet my family for dinner in 40 minutes...I mean, I'm honestly not begrudging them the time, it's just that I've been retarded and now can't really afford it, so I'm somehow going into time-debt which I can't do until someone invents a time machine for me...I know better than to let things happen this way, but I always do anyway.

All right, no time for emo! Must try once again to make sense of the development chapter and hope I achieve some kind of enlightenment...Right. Off we go.

For My Reference

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:34:21 GMT

Basically I've done three things already today I didn't have time for (plus sleeping until quarter of 2 - whoops), which were shower, get groceries, and post this. But I'm doing it anyway because it'll be a good reference for me.

DISSERTATION (5315/13500-15000)* specific goal: 14250
[ ] Intro (0/1500-2000)
[ ] Folklore section (2100/6000-6500)
[x] Semantics section (5020/5500-6000)
_ [x] comparison (1833/1800)
_ [x] development/usage (3187/3700)
[ ] Conclusion (0/500-1000)

*NB this includes a few paragraphs of interspersed framing stuff that doesn't count specifically toward any given part, so the numbers don't add up exactly in the list, but I promise they're accurate (not that it really matter to you...XD)

It's somewhere in 1 Samuel 28 I think.

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:22:20 GMT

I just want to say what a shame it is that the version of the Wycliffite Bible I'm using is incomplete because I can't use the mulierem habentem pythonem example from the Witch of Endor story. I mean, I could have referenced Star Wars in my dissertation at the same time talking about a lady with the spirit of the python in her, meaning she's an oracle (and how that relates to ghost/spirit etc). Like seriously. Damn you, Wyclif. Or really the SWORD Project for having a broken one. Oh, well. I would have said "she used her powers for Ewok" (which is a lot like evil). Also the first of my three mini-papers is up to 1000 words now, which is almost good, except where it means I still have to do the last 40% of this one and then do it again twice. Maybe I should look for pianos and/or safes to stand under tomorrow.

EDIT 4:30am: kind of stuck at 1322 on mini-paper 1 (still "of 3"). Need. 500. more. words. That's not just, like, bullshit a long conclusion material though. That's like, you need 300ish more words of content good luck sucker material. Dear God, this is a failed venture more every day. Even if I get this up to 1800 words tonight (which I am resolved to do, even if it involves carving the last 500 words into my own flesh), that STILL leaves me 2800 words I need to write tomorrow. Which is still more than I wanted to have to write any given day and is, evidently, more than I am capable of writing in a day but I damn well better because Monday we leave for France so tomorrow I also have to pack, work out how to deal with Monday morningish, etc. THEN there's actual France during which time I will be able to do zero work, then there's Philip's meeting Thursday at which point I wanted to be done, but that's looking remarkably unlikely at this point...which would leave me only Thursday night and possibly Friday to actually finish it...Jesus I am not a happy camper. My MA had better be gold-fucking-plated after this kind of stress. Of course it won't be and of course it will just overqualify me for any jobs that make actual money...you can tell form my optimism that I'm totally not exhausted and wishing for sweet death.

EDIT2 6:30am: woo 1755! I could sit here and crank out another fance-sitting 45 words of bullshit, but I think it's fucking close enough. I give in. I am going to sleep but not for long enough because, well, see above edit.

Isn't it over yet?

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:52:22 GMT

I feel slightly ill, which is probably from eating too much at dinner with my family combined with horrific stress levels. If they were seismic waves, I'm pretty sure they'd be like a 27 on the Richter scale. I haven't broken down into tears because then I wouldn't be able to see to type.

I finally had a sensible idea today that I wish I'd had earlier in the week: I've split up the "semantics chapter" document I've been working on into 3 separate documents that I can turn into 3 1800-word mini-papers (well, hopefully/theoretically) that I can then chuck together and slap a 5-600 word intro/conclusion onto (half done with that bit, even) and this half of the dissertation will be done.

That said, I've still only written like 500 words today. Maybe 600. It's harder to say now that shit's divided up, but still. I have a LONG way to go, and all I want to do is nap/watch movies/pretend school isn't happening.

Right, so back to it, then. You know, again.

"I gotta get through this...I'm gonna get through this"

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:50:08 GMT

(Yeah no joke, I just ellipsis-quoted Daniel Bedingfield. That's the kind of day I've had. I didn't get dressed.)

Ugh I feel like a failure ;_; I've only added about 460 words to my total today when I really needed a little over 2500. That's only, you know, 2100 words behind schedule. Leaving me, you know, 4600ish words to write tomorrow. I have, on the other hand, read a bunch to yield a (depressingly) little useful information, plus I know what else I have to do...I'm just going to have to take another working day, which is sort of crap. Then again, I did warn my family about this, and we'll have the whole time in Paris to hang out, even if it is just Monday to Wednesday...Ugh I fail. I fail so hard.

Plus I haven't done ANY of the new reading for the folklore chapter(s? should these two big sections be divided into chapters?), which was what I figured I'd do in the copious off-time I somehow imagined between family fun and mysterious Actual Writing powers I obviously thought I possessed...Alas!

If only I could channel my LJ-writing into dissertation-writing. ;_; I would be so set. I should have written it on something like my own changing writing style with respect to education and exposure to linguistic education or some crap. I could have used my own LJ as a source and it would have been completely inadmissible scientifically and it would never work, but dude that's over 1490 entries at well over 10 words each. Think of the material! ;_;

All right fine, I give up for today. I'm going to read the prefaces to the 1865 and 1873 editions of the Early English Text Society's vol.7 until I fall asleep (shouldn't take long) and hope they offer some useful information about the dating of the MS they used (as this is the heart of the issue I want to resolve: why the OED cites the same work as the MED for the first appearance of "spirit" in English, but gives a date over 70 years earlier for it..?). Hopefully resolving this issue and figuring out how to set up a side-by-side comparison of a KJV Bible passage with the same Wycliffite Bible passage that will take less than several hours (and use editions less than 150 years older than the originals!) will give me the motivation and material for those 4600 words tomorrow ;_;

Too much work makes my brain go funny

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:40:14 GMT

I am currently reading abook entitled Language and History in the Early Germanic World by one DH Green, which is a sort of trying experience. The information is actually kind of exciting, especially in that I've already learned about some bits of it etc, but I do occasionally want to follow things up that I might not have encountered before (or have forgotten). In following up the accepted etymology for "bridegroom," I have discovered something highly comical (for me): Schalk Burger, South Africa's (and possibly the world's) best flanker and a colossal asshat, has a name that comes pretty much directly from the Dutch word for "rogue" or like "scallawag" LOL (also lol-worthy is that THAT term comes from Gothic roots meaning "servant" XD)

In other news, when not making my own fun out of this reading, I have been trying to infect the world playing Pandemic II, which is way more addictive than it should be.

My family are in Cardiff overnight because fares to Edinburgh were prohibitive, which is meant to be giving me time to work...Well, I'm trying at least XD Still, I need to write 2.5k words each of today and tomorrow to make my goal, so that'll be exciting ;_; All right, back to it, I guess.

EDIT: It's 12:30 and I've written just over 200 words today. Oh, dear D: Still, I can pull it out, right?! I hope so. ;_; Also I seem to, once again, have lost track of avatar1983, which might make me seem clingy, but it's one of those days where an IM conversation would help me be more productive (I promise this sometimes happens)...Oh, well.

"You're a nut! You're crazy in the coconut!"

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:56:32 GMT

So my family arrived yesterday and we had a nice dinner and today we went shopping. It was pretty great, actually. It's really nice to see them again, and to be able to hang out with them. Plus it's pretty cool when they pay for things XD

While they didn't actually pay for this, the biggest purchase of the day for me was my new pink phone! It has a "Fitness" setting, which I find slightly boggling. The fact that it extists more than the setting itself. Still, though. It's also got all the proper sound settings (after some fiddling) and my favorite picture of my sister as the backgroud, making the third phone running. XD Also it's pink, which was one of the primary things I liked about in the shop XD

My mother did pay for my new red PF Flyers, a dream since I first saw The Sandlot at age, like 9 or whatever XD I can now leap tall fences and retrieve lost baseballs for my friends! Or...at least...you know, it seems that way? When you grew up watching the Sandlot? Either way they're awesome and red and I totally plan to put skull shoelaces in them XD

They also brought me my classy cephalopod friend, who is as yet nameless but will have to be named sometime in the immediate future. He deserves an awesome name, folks.

Let's see...we bought other stuff, but it wasn't for me so I didn't pay attention XD Well, that's not quite true, but it was mostly shoes for my parents, and failing to find placemats for my sister's godmother or kitschy Union-Jack type T-shirts for my brother's girlfriend.

In other news, we had delicious food that I didn't pay for, which made it even better :D The plan for tomorrow is me meeting them for lunch, then coming back here to work while they hang out/explore, then Friday to Saturday, they'll go up to Scotland to mess around giving me MORE time to work (hooray..?) etc. etc....Yeah, so there's that.

...Was gonna say something else, but I've forgotten D: Oh, well, I'm sure it'll come to me. At some point...maybe. Enjoy the pictures of my bounty till then :D

Not REALLY bored, but sort of lackadaisical

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:55:07 GMT

So, I have now seen the Dark Knight, and I would just like to say that everyone is right when they say it's pretty awesome, and that the Joker is the highlight of the film. I don't want to spoil it or anything, so I won't say more about it. As of this writing, I remain unconvinced that it is better than Batman Begins, but I'm open to negotiation/debate.

I have once again lost track of avatar1983 (where do you GO at 1 in the morning?! You fell asleep, didn't you? XD), but am in the interim dealing with my sister having a mini-meltdown because of her idiot soon-to-be-ex housemates. They are seriously the least prepared people I've ever heard of for living on their own. Seriously, ever. So that's exciting.

I seem to be shivering. This is probably because it's slightly cooler than it was during the day, and because the fan is blowing directly on me. I think I'll get my hoodie momentarily. In the meantime, I didn't really have a VERY good reason to post...I just didn't have a lot else to do besides monitor chat windows. So sometimes I have to make my own fun XD

Oooh, I can work on Brigitte's Not-So-Secret Project! And also on tagging. So really, I shouldn't run out of things to do at all...

"You gotta get. that. dirt off your shoulder"

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:08:40 GMT

Courtesy Dinosaur Comics (three days late), I now have a mashup of Jay-Z's "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" and the Mario3 1-1 background music. It's called "Dust Off Your Cartridge." (UPDATED LINK: usual Myspace drill :D) It's kind of awesome, but it will never beat Thomas the Tank. Mashups = ♥

In other news, my meeting with Philip went pretty well, and he said I wasn't behind or anything! It was exciting. We have a sort-of game plan, I'm going to meet with him again the day after we get back from Paris (most likely - he suggested that, I couldn't remember when our trains were, so I have just emailed him saying yes, I'm stupid, I am actually free the Thursday), and I'm up to something like 3050 words (which is still only 1/5th of the limit, but it's getting there!) with actual, you know, thoughts about what I need to do/read/say. So that's, you know...coming along.

I managed to give myself another blister with my sandals on the way to the library, which was...less exciting, more painful. But I've got a band-aid on it now so all's well. I found the two editions I needed with minimal trouble (I did have to crawl around on the floor for a bit, though), so that went well. I also succeeded in getting to the post office and achieving that goal, so I bought myself an apple Tango (indulgent, I know) and here I am. Listening to hip-hop/Mario mashups. Well, just the one, but still.

Philip and I talked about movies briefly - he recommended Dark Knight (though wasn't as amazed by it as most people seem to be), discouraged me from seeing the original Solaris (apparently it's just the dullest movie of all time), and it was entertaining. All in all, it's been a good day thus far, and I anticipate this will continue. At least I hope so :D

Too sleepy for titles

egp07nc@sheffield.ac.uk — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:06:50 GMT

Day in summary:
-Delicious gyuudon for dinner (total daiseiko! :D We must do that again...)
-brought the writeup up to 939 words (from the 84 I had starting out)
-successfully juggled 3 chat windows simultaneously (all very important, but also precluding work)
-failed to attend market fo studious purposes (still, D:)
-hilarious/traumatizing K8 clips and photos

Tomorrow:
[x] up at 11 10:30 to bathe etc
[x] meeting with Philip at 1
[x] library for 1865 and 1873 editions of The story of Genesis & Exodus: an early English song, vol. 7 of Early English Text Society
[x] post office to forward envelope
[x] Dark Knight!
[x] probably food sometime, hopefully at at least two points during the day

Right Now:
-sleeeeeeeeeeeeep -_-zzzzzzzzzzzz

EDIT: Oh also (I have watched this like 10 times today):