Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Kenning

(Wow, I'm blogging a lot these days, aren't I?)

I had forgotten how beautiful Beowulf is as a literary creation. We studied it senior year of high school and I remember the teacher introducing us to the literary device known as a kenning. A kenning is effectively another comparison - like simile and metaphor. For me, the only way to really understand it is to think of simile, metaphor, and kenning not as equal, but as degrees of impact. Simile, the smallest degree, uses the words like or as; metaphor, which is a super-simile, just uses the word is; and kenning, a mega-metaphor, uses neither like nor is.

A kenning in Beowulf is the "swan's road." That's all the poem says - swan's road. It means the sea, but nowhere in the sentence will you find the word sea. The kenning, sadly, has fallen out of use in the literature of the English-speaking world.

The Network

Yesterday had some interesting events after I blogged. I went down to get some free root beer floats at the Underground, and almost immediately upon my return home, I decided to take care of some laundry. See, some of the stuff I'd stored still smelled like storage. It's Vespers tonight (Vespers means evening service) and I had stored a blouse I wanted to wear for Vespers. Anyway, I was on my way back from putting stuff in the washer when I discovered that our network was down. Not only did this affect Internet access, it affected our ability to use our key cards - the ones we need to get into our dorms. I was lucky - the RA had propped open the electronic door the first time. But when I was going back from the laundry room (after midnight) with my clothes all nicely cleaned, the prop was gone. Yep - I was shut out!

Fortunately for me, someone was sitting in the common area, and she let me in when I tapped on the window. I was able to get in and get all my stuff put away within ten minutes. No sooner had I put away my last clean shirt that my roommate exclaimed, "All right - the network's working again!"

Some days you just can't beat technology.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Classes Today

Today was interesting, not to mention considerably less disappointing than yesterday. I managed to procure a free copy of the Oresteia online - yay for Kindle!

Anyway, today was also my Women in History class. Just to be clear, that is not a "gender studies" class, it is a study of women who made a difference in the Ancient World. Anyway, as it turns out, the class is all girls. Apparently no boys applied! Shocker, right? Well, it should be different.

Other classes today included Theater Lit (which is reading plays as literature, not with the intention of performing them) and History of Witchcraft. Yes, you read that right. We will be looking at a history of black magic from all parts of the Atlantic world, including Africa and Mesoamerica, and how it was dealt with in various cultures. Yeah, this won't be weird at all!

This semester's going to be fun.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Last Class

Somewhat to my disappointment, we didn't even bring up the study-abroad stuff in Honors. After Honors, this was a really disappointing day. Everything was going wrong. My school email account has some issue and the techs are already gone, so I can't go get them to help. My beautiful white ski parka was stained in storage. I tried to bleach some of the stains out, but didn't succeed. To make it worse, I forgot to take off my claddagh ring and my triskelion ring, so they came into contact with the bleach and they look the worse for it.

Or maybe I'm just a little tired ... Meh.

First Class

I just got done with my first class - British Literature. I took American Lit last year because I wanted to get it out of the way. In British Lit, we started with what else but Beowulf. I really enjoy Beowulf, so I'm not complaining. I have about ten minutes until my next class starts, and it's Honors, aka the class where we discuss study abroad options, so I'm sure I'll blog about it when it's over. However, between the end of this class and my next entry is my job interview, so I'll have a lot to share.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Friends

After spending a large portion of yesterday in the Tacoma Mall, guess where I went today? Why, back to the Tacoma Mall, of course. This time I went with Selah, Caleb, and Kelsey. It was so great to see them all again! We met for ice cream and chatted for a long time. After that, I went back to Selah's to hang out with her for a while. Then we got dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Yum!

Anyway, I am currently watching the Mariners. They just tied the game 4-4. Nick Franklin had a two-run homer earlier. He just got an RBI to tie the game. That guy's having a great game! Kyle Seager is up next. No outs.

**Update: Seager was walked. Morales up next.

**Update: Kendrys Morales is the Mariners' best RBI hitter, according to the sports announcers. The pitcher threw a wild pitch on the second pitch, and Miller ran home! Mariners have now gone into the lead, and Miller scored four out of their five runs.

**Update: Morales hit a base hit that drove Franklin in! Mariner's are up 6-4! Franklin got hit on his leg. He limped off. Still no outs.

**Update: Rauuuuuul is up!

**Update: Rauuuuuul walked.

**Update: Justin Smoak struck out.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Posibilities...

They don't do spellcheck in the heading, so I had to check several times to make sure I spelled the title right. Anyway...

Today Selah and I went shopping in the Tacoma Mall. She was looking for back-to-school stuff; I was just along for the fun of it. When I was there, I saw this beautiful dress. The dress below:



Fabulous, isn't it? I was kind of on the fence - $42? Should I be spending that kind of money? - but Selah, my cousin Emily, and my mom all immediately said I should get it. So I did! It's coming back to Milwaukee with me.

Anyway, onto the true purpose of the post. I did some wordcount and repagination (OpenOffice's word for it, not mine) and discovered that I am about 25 pages away from finishing Graystone! To say that I am thrilled does not begin to cover it! It's still going to be a bit shorter than Darkwoods, but it should be longer than Pasadagavra. We'll see how it turns out, but I'm going to try to finish it by the end of the plane ride. That was when I was planning to work on the last Quest for Rinaria, but I've decided that I'm going to focus on Graystone until I've at least finished the first draft. Then I will make an extra long Quest for Rinaria to make up for it.

I'm sorry to say that Graystone won't be out by Christmas. I don't have anywhere near the funds. I will definitely have to work on selling more at school, but I am aiming to have Graystone ready by the time farmer's market season starts. But, readers, I really need your help. Tell your friends about Darkwoods! Get them to buy it! If you have read Darkwoods and need Pasadagavra, please order it from my website. There should be a link at the top of the blog. Please, everyone - this is the only way.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

The Sea of Monsters

Yesterday, Selah and I went to the latest showing we could find of the Sea of Monsters (after we discovered the first chapter of House of Hades is up on Riordan's blog - yay!) Anyway, this movie wasn't quite as distant from the plot as the Lightning Thief. I really enjoyed it and I loved the soundtrack. There were a couple of points in the movie when I wanted to smack my head, but for the most part it was legit.

But the most legit part? What Selah and I wore to the movie:







Saturday, Part II

So, I missed the second post last week. I have no excuse this time - I just forgot. Anyway, the second part is that Friday was the church trip to Mt. Rainier. It was fun (once we found the right place) and I took a bunch of pictures. Mt. Rainier is, for the record, one of the most beautiful places on earth.



















Saturday, August 10, 2013

Today, Part 1

I have two events to describe today, and since they're radically different, I'm going to post them separately. First one is related to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Somebody recently released an (unverified) photo of Beorn, a character in the movie. The picture looks like this:

Well. The ... hair. The Hobbit hasn't been Lord of the Rings level amazing, but it's still been good. Ish. I knew it would never been great. Having said that, I never wanted to know what a cross between Magua, Thor, and the bad guy from The Labyrinth would look like. Good grief, he looks like a porcupine.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Spring Break Picture

This was supposed to go up a long time ago, but I lost the file. Only just found it again! These are my cousins and me at their dancing school, Dancing Grits:

Friday, August 2, 2013

Speaking of Country...

I forgot - on Wednesday, as I was coming home from Steilacoom, a song I'd never heard before came on the radio. The dj called it "Heart of Dixie" by Danielle Bradberry, the winner of The Voice. I really enjoyed it, so I snagged it from iTunes.

As I was perusing iTunes, I heard some of the stuff sung by Holly Tucker. I remember hearing about her on The Voice, too, and since I was perusing artists I'd heard about via social media, I thought I'd see what her songs sounded like. I'm so glad I did - I love her singing! I listened to the sample of "Blown Away," and I liked it better than when Carrie Underwood sang it. And "Done"? Better than hearing The Band Perry sing it. I also enjoyed hearing her sing "How Great Thou Art" (about as much as I've ever enjoyed that song) and "It's About Time."

I'm so glad for The Voice - a great way to introduce new music!

I'm also glad for Twitter, or I'd never have heard of The Voice.

The Bachelorette

Yes, this is what happens when none of my shows (NCIS, Elementary, or Last Man Standing) are putting out new episodes. I am reduced to watching and blogging about The Bachelorette.

Where to begin...

The whole concept of the show is dumb in the first place, unless it's completely scripted. Then there's the fact that dating very rarely includes a world tour. Then there's the bit that you can't get twenty-five guys to chase after the same girl and think she's "all that" - again, unless it's totally scripted. And finally, there is no way in hades that everyone is being totally honest when there is a camera following them around.

So now that that's established, take a look at some of the antics of the guys this season. They all hate Ben - uh, because Ben was smarter than they were? (He was.) Because he had a kid? I seriously doubt he was the only one. There was the one episode with the pool party - I think it was like episode three; definitely the one right after Bryan's girlfriend showed up - when one of the other guys (Mikey?) got into that little face-off with Ben. Here is my interpretation of his tirade:

"Waaaaaahhhh! Ben got a date with Des and I didn't! He better not get a flower or I'm going to throw a temper tantrum! Waaah!"

I fail to see why Ben was required to tell anybody else about his using his brain. It's not like he was stopping them from doing the exact same thing.

Then there's the whole Bryan thing. Yeah - he was cheating on his girlfriend on the show. Cheating on his girlfriend? Unacceptable! Going onto national television while doing so? That makes it worse, because he just embarrassed her. He didn't show up for the "Men Tell All" part of the show (and that episode probably deserves a post of ridicule all by itself) so I have no idea if he's still with his girlfriend, but hopefully not. But between Ben and Bryan, guess who the guys talk about more? Here's a hint: it's not the guy who publicly cheated on his girlfriend. So, apparently cheating on a woman isn't as bad as being discreet (or as discreet as you can be on camera) about your dating life. Problem, anyone?

To be fair, there are a few guys who (on camera) had their priorities straight. Okay, make that one - Brandon. I was kinda disappointed when Desiree didn't give him a rose, because he was one of three adults in that group of men. Aside from Brandon, Bryden (Iraqi War Vet - I was cheering for him!) and Ben, they all struck me as very childish. But those three above-listed men retained vestiges of dignity and maturity most of the time.

Then there's Des, and she's a pleasant but still decisive woman. When I saw pictures of her, I thought, "Oh, what an airhead," but no. She's pretty smart. Again, assuming this whole show isn't scripted. It probably is.

Wow, I just made a post about a reality TV show ... time for more country music!