Episode 506: Just Thought You Should Know, I Ate Two Meals Today!

I didn't say anything in class today. I had an interesting idea, which I shared with Dan later in Curiositea, but there wasn't really an opening for me to bring it up in class. Not terribly bothered anyway. Was going to audition for As You Like It, but the slots were completely taken up and I'm not that keen, so I came home instead. I finally got around to writing my curse and blessing poems in the evening, and I sort of cheated. I've written them as two irregular sonnets, which are syntactically identical but have key words changed to reflect the different attitude towards Time in each sonnet. I was feeling pretentious, so bits of the sonnets are in Latin, which I'm fairly certain is grammatically accurate. Hey, the poem might be rubbish, but at least the Latin was an impressive effort. (I keep saying I want to teach myself Latin, but this summer, I'm actually going to get started on it. For real.) Was going to get cracking on the poem about the Annunciation for EN273 on Friday, but I got lazy, so all I've got is the opening line: 'These days, she would have been famous.' Am still slightly annoyed with myself for getting the date wrong and not realising my next Archaeology class is this Saturday. I think it's fascinating, but it requires about two weeks of mental preparation before I can handle being in a class where practically everyone is at least two decades older than me (if not more) and also apparently knows what the hell is going on far more than I do. Sigh.

Episode 505: My Aw-shucks Moment

What a hectic day it's been. By my standards anyway. French was not very challenging, although I thought my accent while reading today was very good indeed. Finally know what Neil Lazarus looks like because I went to get my tutors' feedback for Term 1. It was very flattering, especially George Ttoouli's comments. I mean, I'm not a problem student, but I wasn't anticipating such praise. I think it had something to do with being mature, good at adapting contemporary forms for my purposes, and possessing moral acuity. Oh George, I never knew you felt that way about my writing! Maybe I will write a 'great novel' after all, and not just my moneymaking science fiction series. If it ever happens, I'll put you down in the dedications. (This also means I'll be devastated if he thinks 'The Triptych Papers' is utter rubbish. Fingers crossed, yeah?) I'm glad Neil understands that some people just don't feel the need to talk a lot during seminars and that it's not an indication of incomprehension. Had a long discussion about this via SMS with Christopher, with both of us concluding that ironically, we found discussions back in RJC more, well, intellectually stimulating. I suppose the problem is, when you think about it, rather a chicken-and-egg issue. Your contribution can help to raise the level of discussion, but would you be bothered if the discussion wasn't engaging you in the first place? (Note to self: Say something tomorrow in the seminar before the tutor prompts you politely.) AdHoc meeting and band practice in church, followed by freezing in the cold as two full buses went past. Thank God there was a third, or else what little is left of my faith in Coventry's public transport would have been destroyed. Latest episode of House is brilliant by the way, proving this season to be quite strong for a sixth.

Episode 504: Science Fiction Ideas!

Just got back from the Keeno Kino Warwick Student Film Festival, which was an interesting experience. I can't pretend to say that I understood all of the films that I saw, but I really enjoyed the one Adriana did for her film-making course last year, as well as Simon's very convincing film about an anthropologist who is driven mad by his contemplations. On the way back, I randomly started thinking about ideas for an epic science fiction series. By ideas, I mean I've actually mentally written out the publisher's blurb/summary that's going on the back cover. Haha! I've got three specific ideas that could be tied together in a continuous timeline, or could exist as three separate stories. Firstly, a society in which uploading of one's consciousness is commonplace, even before death, and these consciousnesses are regarded as independent legal entities. The catch? They're capable of producing virtual offspring as well, by exchanging fragments of their personalities. What happens when reproduction is no longer limited by natural resources, but simply by how much computing power and memory space you have? Can the corporeal humans compete? The second idea has to do with technologies like terraforming and planet construction. What would happen if human technology advanced to the point where these were realities, allowing humanity to spread to the rest of the Solar System, with the catch that we are the first spacefaring race with such abilities and attract the attention of envious aliens? This one's slightly more problematic, since I haven't thought of a good reason why humans should be the only ones, or at least the first, to develop these technologies. The last idea's relatively simpler, and involves the appearance of a genetic mutation that grants a select group of people the ability to manipulate reality, earning them the ire of adherents of all the major world religions who consider the existence of humans with godlike powers to be blasphemy. Now imagine what would happen if one of these mutants was a religious person too. These are all just some random ideas that I've been throwing around in my head, and I'll probably never get around to putting them down on paper, knowing my aversion to writing long pieces. So much for raking in the dollars...

Episode 503: Il Faut Pardonner

Finally got around to reading that article by Georges Pompidou I've been avoiding all week. It's about the May 1968 student demonstrations in France, and is heavily ironic. My homework was to pick out all the ironic bits, but I can't be bothered, so I'm just going to wing it in class come Tuesday. Also did a draft of the sponsorship pack for AdHoc, which I've been meaning to do all week, but between rehearsing for and recovering from the musical, I haven't had the time or energy until today, after I got back from lunch at Varsity. I think it's pretty okay for a skeletal outline, but it needs to be worked through something like Microsoft Publisher or Adobe Photoshop, so that it can be prettified, like all those glossy packs I've been browsing online. (I have neither, or I'd make a start myself, despite my limited artistic talent.) Anyway, I had one of those moments today that people usually turn into testimonies in church. Without having to go into too much detail, suffice it to say that the sermon today was extremely timely. Not directly for myself, but it put me in a position to give sound advice to someone else a few hours later.

Episode 502: 12 Hours Of Sleep Does A World Of Good

I slept until it was nearly noon and have done absolutely nothing of worth since then. It's been glorious. I will get down to doing things after church tomorrow, naturally, but for now, Saturday has been great. I think the only way it could have been improved would have been if I hadn't climbed out of bed at all and if it were about 10 degrees warmer. It's not technically meant to be spring for at least another three weeks, but really, you'd think it'd start warming up by now. I suppose it has, but it's a shabby effort. Am now making up for my laziness all day by reading the Dante Gabriel Rossetti poems for next week, and they're really enjoyable. It sounds like the lamest thing ever to say, especially for someone whose own poetic output tends not to rhyme, but I like the fact that Victorian poetry does. It just makes it so much easier to read and get through, which is terribly important when you're reading a lot of stuff only because it's been assigned and not because you're actually interested in that poet. (I can be very arbitrary in my choices when it comes to reading, which is both good and bad. Good because I tend to find stuff I would otherwise never have discovered. Bad because I tend to avoid stuff that I'm told I should be appreciating because it's 'great literature'.) Am still going strong with my re-reading of Maupin's Tales Of The City series by the way. Have reached the fifth book!

Episode 501: (500) Days Of Summer

I'm really starting to get into the non-fiction half of EN232, specifically when it comes to writing in the style of a column journalist. I'm definitely beginning to develop what feels like my signature voice, which you can sometimes detect in my blogging anyway. You know what I mean. A breezy, conversational tone, seasoned with a dose of intelligence and wit, with a cynical streak to boot. Anyway, was at Lizzie's house with a bunch of people to see (500) Days Of Summer. Frankly speaking, I think the film was too hyped up for me by other people who'd seen it before, and therefore I felt let down by it. To begin with, the non-linear narrative felt like an unnecessary contrivance. The Time Traveler's Wife is by no means a perfect film, but it's one in which the non-linear narrative works to enhance the effect of the film, rather than coming across as pretentious. Admittedly, the relationship shown in the film is interesting because of the attempt to present a realistic corrective to the stereotypical lead couples of romantic comedies, but I never really felt anything for either of the characters. Compared with films like Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and My Blueberry Nights, both of which really worked for me, (500) Days Of Summer just came off as something trying to be unformulaic by adhering closely to the formula for being unformulaic. (Sorry for that clunky sentence, I'm quite tired.) Great soundtrack, but as an actual film? Sorry, just not buying it.

Episode 500: Have I Been Blogging Here That Long Already?

Popped down to the city centre between seminar and lecture to collect my parcel, which would otherwise have been returned to the sender after today. Was pleasantly surprised that it actually was at the Royal Mail delivery office. Was so happy about this I decided to treat myself to a Starbucks frappuccino. Nothing fancy, you understand, just plain coffee with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla powders sprinkled on top. Made it back to campus in time for Emma Mason's entertaining lecture, although she really should stop talking about the microphone and her bra. That joke only works the first time you tell it! Am still shattered from yesterday, so I came home after some dithering in the pub with friends and have been alternating between napping and reading since. Did find a moment to do something responsible and adult, i.e. buying travel insurance. It's still hard to believe that I've actually gone and done it, and that I'll be travelling with a bunch of strangers come March. Eugene has also kindly informed me that my attractive doppelgänger has surfaced in London. We apparently look alike, sound alike right down to our accents, except he is more buff than me, and therefore according to my wonderful friend, more good-looking. I am quite intrigued, since I've never actually met someone who even vaguely resembled me. (That guy from my primary school doesn't count because now he looks really weird.)

Episode 499: The Importance Of Being Honest

Aside from a few minor technical gaffes (which suggested the dinner songs are definitely jinxed), the musical was quite the success, if I may say so. So proud of everyone for putting on a good show! The whole thing seemed to go by in a flash compared to rehearsals. Couldn't watch most of it because we were staying backstage to avoid crowding the wings, but there were speakers all around, so we could still hear the soloists and the applause. Feel like getting involved in more theatre stuff now. There's auditions coming up for the Shakespeare Society's radio play version of As You Like It, which I'm really, really tempted to sign up for. Met most of my friends who'd come to see the performance at the Terrace Bar, which does a lovely Mojito. Finally, a place to get cocktails on campus! (I'm not actually sure if there was anywhere else that did them before this. I suppose there was and I was just not cool enough to know.) All in all, I'm glad the musical's over and that the audience enjoyed it. It was surprising how the audience really took to the love triangle aspect of the ending, since to me, when you read the scene on the page, it's the ambivalence of Cynthia that seems more prominent, given that the love triangle is something that could have been eliminated entirely from the production by changing background music and tonal nuances. Well, if any of the juniors wants to write a sequel, at least they've already got a plot point in place!

Episode 498: Black Tape!

Lately, I've been looping the first couple of tracks on Ke$ha's album, Animal. That's not a judgement about the rest of the album, but more a reflection of how long my bus journey is to and from campus. She sounds like Lady Gaga on a budget crossed with the white trash of Britney Spears. In other words, irresistible to someone with my musical preferences. I got an A for my presentation last week on New Caledonia. My tutor didn't even have anything to say apart from 'très professionnel', which was immensely gratifying, naturally. I knew taking LL209 this year was going to be a great decision! Then I had to hang around on campus until 6 pm because the costume people were only free to collect our stuff then. Helped to tape the wires we're going to use to hang up all the 'family portraits' tomorrow, an activity which Claire Lim describes as 'bonding'. I guess it is, but really, there are more fun ways for that to happen. Incidentally, Royal Mail redelivery didn't happen, which still means I'll probably miss it because it's now going to arrive while I'm out all day tomorrow because of the musical.

Episode 497: Housing Contract Signed!

Went down to Leamington today to sign the housing contract for next year. It's really quite a banal business, isn't it? You go in, sign, and leave. That's pretty much all that happens. It's such a big step, but the whole thing is really quite anticlimactic in the end, I guess. Was going to stay on campus until it was time for rehearsal, but there was way too much time to kill, so I came home and made myself a late lunch, while starting on the next Maupin novel. Also tried to get rid of the wrinkles in my trousers by moistening them and putting them back in the dryer, which sort of worked, but now it's afflicted by a really bad case of static cling that's driving me nuts. Am going to have to do something about that on Wednesday at some point. Rehearsal ended really late again tonight, so I may or may not stay up to finish reading that Maupin novel. I could totally do it, but I'd be quite sleep-deprived for the rest of tomorrow. It's okay though, since there isn't rehearsal, but I do have to stick around till 6 pm to turn in my costume to the costume people. Guess it's back to the Library after LL209 then. Who wants to bet that I'll miss the Royal Mail redelivery I scheduled for tomorrow?