Sunday, September 15, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
"I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts." - Herman Melville, "Moby Dick" (Entry 21, Day 13)
Once again, college. I'm sorry.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
"Not I - nor anyone else, can travel that road for you. You must travel it for yourself." - Walt Whitman (Entry 19, Day 12)
10:46 PM; car
Yes, I know, I switched pens. I lost the other one , somehow, in the last five minutes.
Anyway, the museum we went to was really cool. It had to do with various technological developments - from the printing press and typewriter to the progression of planes, trains, and cars.
(pause for Friday planning)
We saw a video about the NASA trips to Saturn and its moons. we were the only ones there for the film, which was in Turkish without English subtitles, so Begüm had to translate for me. The rest of the museum had English sides to the info cards, so it all worked out fine after the film.
We left the museum around 1:00 or 1:30, and went to the Miniatürk museum. We had lunch at the cafe there, and then we walked around to see the displays, which were really cool. They were all laid out outside, and they're all plastic scale models of the major sites in Turkey with audio descriptions available. There are places like Maiden's Tower in the Bosphorus, but also like Cappadochia and Ephesus and stuff. It was really cool. Paths connected each of the 'sites,' which are on plots of grass and blocked off with rope, like in normal museums (except for the water-based ones, like the Maiden's Tower; they have a pseudo-Bosphorous - an actual body of water - where the Maiden's Tower was place).
My apologies for my atrocious handwriting. ....this, will write when we get back.
Yes, I know, I switched pens. I lost the other one , somehow, in the last five minutes.
Anyway, the museum we went to was really cool. It had to do with various technological developments - from the printing press and typewriter to the progression of planes, trains, and cars.
(pause for Friday planning)
We saw a video about the NASA trips to Saturn and its moons. we were the only ones there for the film, which was in Turkish without English subtitles, so Begüm had to translate for me. The rest of the museum had English sides to the info cards, so it all worked out fine after the film.
We left the museum around 1:00 or 1:30, and went to the Miniatürk museum. We had lunch at the cafe there, and then we walked around to see the displays, which were really cool. They were all laid out outside, and they're all plastic scale models of the major sites in Turkey with audio descriptions available. There are places like Maiden's Tower in the Bosphorus, but also like Cappadochia and Ephesus and stuff. It was really cool. Paths connected each of the 'sites,' which are on plots of grass and blocked off with rope, like in normal museums (except for the water-based ones, like the Maiden's Tower; they have a pseudo-Bosphorous - an actual body of water - where the Maiden's Tower was place).
My apologies for my atrocious handwriting. ....this, will write when we get back.
"Make voyages! Attempt them... there's nothing else." - Tennessee Williams (Entry 18, Day 12)
Thursday, 22 August, 2013; 10:30 PM; Waffle Line
Yep, we're standing in line to get waffles, because we're cool. it's way after dinner, so this is dessert, I guess. I'm excited. I'm splitting one with Genesis, though. I don't think I can handle she sugar otherwise. (change: I'm stealing bits of others, because splitting won't work).
So this morning, we went to Istanbul with Hülya. I don't recall the name of the museum we went to, but it was really cool.
Yep, we're standing in line to get waffles, because we're cool. it's way after dinner, so this is dessert, I guess. I'm excited. I'm splitting one with Genesis, though. I don't think I can handle she sugar otherwise. (change: I'm stealing bits of others, because splitting won't work).
So this morning, we went to Istanbul with Hülya. I don't recall the name of the museum we went to, but it was really cool.
"Make voyages! Attempt them... there's nothing else." - Tennessee Williams (Entry 17; Day 11/12)
Thursday, August 22, 2013; 12:46 AM; our room
I fear that this must be very brief, because we have to wake up before 9:00 tomorrow. Well, today. Whatever. This etry is for the 21st of august, so... yeah. I might not hit the page count; if I don't, I'm sorry. I'll make up for it at some point.
This morning was fairly uneventful. I woke up at around 9, had cereal for breakfast, painted my own nails, hung out on the balcony with my iPod for a while. I was the only one awake, so it doesn't count as being antisocial.
I woke Gen up at 11:00 ish, just so I could have someone to talk to after a while.
After she was properly awake and showered and stuff, we hung out in the living room for a while. Buse was up by 1:00; Begüm was up around 3:00. At 4:00, all of us except Buse went to the pool and swam around a bit. I remained radioactively pale. It's rather unfortunate.
After that, we came back and made fried chicken and salad for dinner. Buse and I played piano for a little bit. I had a flashback to a piano recital when I was 7 - one of Buse's books has Bach's Minuet in G. Muscle memories die hard, especially when established young.
When Hülya arrived, we all had a brief, joking discussion on how we should make sure to get the ferry back from Princes' Islands when we go - apparently (jokingly) there are vampires and werwolves on the islands. We decided that Buse would be the bodyguard, because she's seen the most episodes of True Blood, so she knows best how to fight them.
Starting at around 11:15, Günay, Hülya, Gen, Buse, and I had a really intense game of 51. We didn't play the full 11 hands - we only gout to around 8 before we decided we were tired enough to want to go to bed.
I WON! The point is to have the fewest points, and I had 150. Buse had 160; Günay had 168. It was all really fun.
I was established in the first round as the biggest competition, because I made Gen, Buse, and Günay all get the 100-point penalty for not opening their hand by the time someone closes. Günay is really competitive in n amusing sort of way. He calls the Joker "JoJo" and ill frequently say something along the lines of "Where's my JoJo? Where's my friend? Hülya, do you have my JoJo? Are you split between JoJo and me?" (that last bit was only once or twice, and definitely in a joking manner). He frequently would talk as he inspected his hand, his cigarette wagging in his mouth and everything coming out in a really amusing manner. It was hilarious.
In all, I think this evening has been one of the most memorable, because this evening we laughed the most. It was the first time I've hung out with the whole family together, and it was great.
Now, sleep.
I should have written before. Oh, well.
I fear that this must be very brief, because we have to wake up before 9:00 tomorrow. Well, today. Whatever. This etry is for the 21st of august, so... yeah. I might not hit the page count; if I don't, I'm sorry. I'll make up for it at some point.
This morning was fairly uneventful. I woke up at around 9, had cereal for breakfast, painted my own nails, hung out on the balcony with my iPod for a while. I was the only one awake, so it doesn't count as being antisocial.
I woke Gen up at 11:00 ish, just so I could have someone to talk to after a while.
After she was properly awake and showered and stuff, we hung out in the living room for a while. Buse was up by 1:00; Begüm was up around 3:00. At 4:00, all of us except Buse went to the pool and swam around a bit. I remained radioactively pale. It's rather unfortunate.
After that, we came back and made fried chicken and salad for dinner. Buse and I played piano for a little bit. I had a flashback to a piano recital when I was 7 - one of Buse's books has Bach's Minuet in G. Muscle memories die hard, especially when established young.
When Hülya arrived, we all had a brief, joking discussion on how we should make sure to get the ferry back from Princes' Islands when we go - apparently (jokingly) there are vampires and werwolves on the islands. We decided that Buse would be the bodyguard, because she's seen the most episodes of True Blood, so she knows best how to fight them.
Starting at around 11:15, Günay, Hülya, Gen, Buse, and I had a really intense game of 51. We didn't play the full 11 hands - we only gout to around 8 before we decided we were tired enough to want to go to bed.
I WON! The point is to have the fewest points, and I had 150. Buse had 160; Günay had 168. It was all really fun.
I was established in the first round as the biggest competition, because I made Gen, Buse, and Günay all get the 100-point penalty for not opening their hand by the time someone closes. Günay is really competitive in n amusing sort of way. He calls the Joker "JoJo" and ill frequently say something along the lines of "Where's my JoJo? Where's my friend? Hülya, do you have my JoJo? Are you split between JoJo and me?" (that last bit was only once or twice, and definitely in a joking manner). He frequently would talk as he inspected his hand, his cigarette wagging in his mouth and everything coming out in a really amusing manner. It was hilarious.
In all, I think this evening has been one of the most memorable, because this evening we laughed the most. It was the first time I've hung out with the whole family together, and it was great.
Now, sleep.
I should have written before. Oh, well.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving." - Lao-Tsu (Entry 16, Day 10)
Tuesday, 20 August, 2013; 10:30 PM; living room, host family
Today has been long and exhausting. We woke up early to leave by 9 or 9:30 (which is two hours earlier than we've been waking up previously). Then we went off to the pharmacy where Hülya (the mom) works. There, we ate breakfast. Genesis had her fortune told by Hülya in the dregs of Gen's Turkish Coffee. The way you do it is to flip the cup over when you're done with the coffee and wait for the bottom to go room temperature. Then you look at what's on the cup's bottom and what's on the saucer.
After some inspection of the cup and a bit of translating, Gen learned that in six months, she will meet her true love on a long train ride. They will share a romantic moment on a rainy night where the moon is a crescent. Gen will also lose a close friend and will need to get two Evil Eyes, both of which are going to break. Her mother also needs to be cautious about men her own age.
We concluded that Gen needs to be cautious around her friends and plan train rides around the lunar calendar.
I'd be more willing to do this sort of thing if it did not involve taking the caffeine equivalent of a double shot of espresso. I can barely handle a single shot of espresso.
After that, we took a walk and several metro rides to THE GRAND BAZAAR.
Lemme tell you something: that place is HUGE. THere are several different areas: the spice area smells really good, the ceramics area is an explosion of color and pattern; the jewelry area, obviously, glitters; the scarves are obviously just as bright as the ceramics. we didn't really see the carpet area, because if the four of us pooled together our available amounts of Lira, we'd probably be able to purchase something the size of a small placemat (or a table runner, if we haggled a lot, and only in Turkish, because they double the price for English-speakers, since 1:2 is about the dollar-to-Lira exchange rate). I spotted some really cool notebooks, too, in one of the stores. I had Buse ask the price of them; 45 Lira is apparently a bit expensive for notebooks of that size (admittedly, when I went further notebook shopping, since I want to get one for my boyfriend, I found out she was right, but still. I didn't see any Evil Eye notebooks anywhere else). If I get a chance to go back, I'm getting a notebook. If not, then my apologies to my boyfriend; he's going to get the standard, boring gift of Turkish Delight.
Apparently, just outside the Bazaar, which is closed-in, is an open-air bridal/ wedding area, which is also huge. (Keep in mind that when I say 'area,' I mean several blocks worth, both inside and outside the bazaar). Not only is this an area for dresses, it's also like the Buy Stuff From the Wedding Registry Area. You'd think that a country where 99% of the citizens identify as Muslim would be kind of modest about some things, but lingerie is just as openly hung here as anything else. we also spent at least an hour in a cheap jewelry shop. I didn't buy anything.
In all, all my purchases before 2:00 included one mug. It's a very nice mug. I like it a lot.
Then we went to lunch. The thing about the US is that, when doing 'ethnic' food, they only do it one way. Kebaps are only served on a skewer and disregard the kind we had today. It was mixed meat, build-your-own into toasted Pita bread. As always, it was delicious. We sat on the second floor and had a nice view of the street and the Golden Horn.
While we were there, one of the sisters called someone on the street a 'f*g,' as she was pointing him out in the conversation. Gen and I were both surprised; that's not a term that LGBTQ friends hear lightly, at least in the US. The sister said it wasn't as bad here; she, at least, greets her fiends in a joking, 'hey, asshole/ whore' sort of tone, and calling someone by that term she had just used was just a way to point out someone slightly different from the rest. Sure, this guy was a tourist with the ends of his hair bleached, but that was the first time I'd heard her use the term.
It could be a cultural difference in connotation, but I feel like it could be something else, just by observing the way that she and her sister (and Gen, to an extant, by hanging out with them al summer) talk about themselves - eating until they're full and calling themselves 'fat' or 'glutton' or things like that. Sometimes I want to talk sense into them when they say that. IT'S FOOD. YOU HAVE A FUNCTIONING DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. YOU CAN EAT UNTIL YOU ARE FULL, UNLIKE BILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. I'd feel like I was crossing some sort of line if I actually said that, though.
After lunch, we visited the New Mosque, which was pretty cool. I didn't have as much context for it as some of the other mosques we've been to, so I couldn't appreciate it as much as the others, but it was still cool.
Then we walked to Taksim, where, after almost an hour's stop in Starbucks, we went on a Quest for Notebooks. It was fun, and took us to small stores dedicated only to notebooks and pens (of the drawing sort, too), which is AMAZING. We also went to a small bookstore. I was tempted, but the danger in remaining there would be that I would later have a full capacity to speak Turkish and also an empty wallet from ALL THE TURKISH BOOKS I would buy. I wound up with two notebooks; sadly, neither of them are any that James would appreciate.
Then Buse and I headed out to meet Hülya; Bergüm and Genesis stayed on to do some more shopping and meet up with Buse and Bergüm's dad later.
In all, today was fun. Another slow day ahead, but I'm looking forward to it. :)
Today has been long and exhausting. We woke up early to leave by 9 or 9:30 (which is two hours earlier than we've been waking up previously). Then we went off to the pharmacy where Hülya (the mom) works. There, we ate breakfast. Genesis had her fortune told by Hülya in the dregs of Gen's Turkish Coffee. The way you do it is to flip the cup over when you're done with the coffee and wait for the bottom to go room temperature. Then you look at what's on the cup's bottom and what's on the saucer.
After some inspection of the cup and a bit of translating, Gen learned that in six months, she will meet her true love on a long train ride. They will share a romantic moment on a rainy night where the moon is a crescent. Gen will also lose a close friend and will need to get two Evil Eyes, both of which are going to break. Her mother also needs to be cautious about men her own age.
We concluded that Gen needs to be cautious around her friends and plan train rides around the lunar calendar.
I'd be more willing to do this sort of thing if it did not involve taking the caffeine equivalent of a double shot of espresso. I can barely handle a single shot of espresso.
After that, we took a walk and several metro rides to THE GRAND BAZAAR.
Lemme tell you something: that place is HUGE. THere are several different areas: the spice area smells really good, the ceramics area is an explosion of color and pattern; the jewelry area, obviously, glitters; the scarves are obviously just as bright as the ceramics. we didn't really see the carpet area, because if the four of us pooled together our available amounts of Lira, we'd probably be able to purchase something the size of a small placemat (or a table runner, if we haggled a lot, and only in Turkish, because they double the price for English-speakers, since 1:2 is about the dollar-to-Lira exchange rate). I spotted some really cool notebooks, too, in one of the stores. I had Buse ask the price of them; 45 Lira is apparently a bit expensive for notebooks of that size (admittedly, when I went further notebook shopping, since I want to get one for my boyfriend, I found out she was right, but still. I didn't see any Evil Eye notebooks anywhere else). If I get a chance to go back, I'm getting a notebook. If not, then my apologies to my boyfriend; he's going to get the standard, boring gift of Turkish Delight.
Apparently, just outside the Bazaar, which is closed-in, is an open-air bridal/ wedding area, which is also huge. (Keep in mind that when I say 'area,' I mean several blocks worth, both inside and outside the bazaar). Not only is this an area for dresses, it's also like the Buy Stuff From the Wedding Registry Area. You'd think that a country where 99% of the citizens identify as Muslim would be kind of modest about some things, but lingerie is just as openly hung here as anything else. we also spent at least an hour in a cheap jewelry shop. I didn't buy anything.
In all, all my purchases before 2:00 included one mug. It's a very nice mug. I like it a lot.
Then we went to lunch. The thing about the US is that, when doing 'ethnic' food, they only do it one way. Kebaps are only served on a skewer and disregard the kind we had today. It was mixed meat, build-your-own into toasted Pita bread. As always, it was delicious. We sat on the second floor and had a nice view of the street and the Golden Horn.
While we were there, one of the sisters called someone on the street a 'f*g,' as she was pointing him out in the conversation. Gen and I were both surprised; that's not a term that LGBTQ friends hear lightly, at least in the US. The sister said it wasn't as bad here; she, at least, greets her fiends in a joking, 'hey, asshole/ whore' sort of tone, and calling someone by that term she had just used was just a way to point out someone slightly different from the rest. Sure, this guy was a tourist with the ends of his hair bleached, but that was the first time I'd heard her use the term.
It could be a cultural difference in connotation, but I feel like it could be something else, just by observing the way that she and her sister (and Gen, to an extant, by hanging out with them al summer) talk about themselves - eating until they're full and calling themselves 'fat' or 'glutton' or things like that. Sometimes I want to talk sense into them when they say that. IT'S FOOD. YOU HAVE A FUNCTIONING DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. YOU CAN EAT UNTIL YOU ARE FULL, UNLIKE BILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. I'd feel like I was crossing some sort of line if I actually said that, though.
After lunch, we visited the New Mosque, which was pretty cool. I didn't have as much context for it as some of the other mosques we've been to, so I couldn't appreciate it as much as the others, but it was still cool.
Then we walked to Taksim, where, after almost an hour's stop in Starbucks, we went on a Quest for Notebooks. It was fun, and took us to small stores dedicated only to notebooks and pens (of the drawing sort, too), which is AMAZING. We also went to a small bookstore. I was tempted, but the danger in remaining there would be that I would later have a full capacity to speak Turkish and also an empty wallet from ALL THE TURKISH BOOKS I would buy. I wound up with two notebooks; sadly, neither of them are any that James would appreciate.
Then Buse and I headed out to meet Hülya; Bergüm and Genesis stayed on to do some more shopping and meet up with Buse and Bergüm's dad later.
In all, today was fun. Another slow day ahead, but I'm looking forward to it. :)
Monday, September 9, 2013
"If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears." - Glenn Clark (Entry 15, Day 9)
Monday, 19 August, 2013; 10:40 PM; Host family's living room.
Today, I learned several things.
1. Turkish soap Operas are... interesting. I'm still trying to figure out whether I like this show or not. It's a formulaic plot of "who slept with whose former fiancée/ spouse, who is this girl in love with, who is feeling guilty for stabbing the FMC in the uterus" type of shows (though I don't entirely understand why someone stabbed the FMC in the uterus). I also don't get why the girl's former fiancée keeps bringing her flowers. You'd think he'd get the hint after the third time he saw her put them in the dumpster. Wait... no... she's keeping them this time. Also, the ad break went during the Epic Romantic Stare on the Balcony. The funny bit was that it was an ad for a set of fried eggs that were placed kind of like eyes.
2. Supermarkets are a good place to learn languages.
3. Ketchup is spelled similarly in Turkish.
4. 51 is a fun card game. It involves trying to get rid of all one's cards in a manner that is difficult to explain. It's called 51 because you have to have the cards you're trying to open with add up to 51. You can open with 3/4 of the cards of a certain number (three eights, for example), but if it doesn't add up, you can't open. You'll frequently need to open with multiple sets. The other way to do it is to have a streak of numbers in the same suit. Jokers are used if necessary, though if someone clears their hand and you still have one in your hand (aka not on the table), then you get a penalty. You also get penalized if you discard a card that someone else could use (like the fourth eight) and if you start to open and then realize you can't. Also, Ace of Spades (incurs a penalty if you have it in your hand). All of those are a 25 - point penalty. If you don't open by the time someone else clears their hand, then you get penalized 100 points. The game uses two decks of cards; everyone gets dealt 14 cars; the person to the left of the dealer starts. There's an upside-down pile that you draw your cards from. The discard pile is face-up; you can draw from that, but only if it means you can open something with it. That doesn't apply to the first person, who starts with the card face-up.
5. Apparently, the adults in the house can get super competitive over a game of 51.
6. Bergüm, we learned, can play computer games until four in the morning, and then sleep until almost four in the afternoon.
7. Coca-cola has way less sugar here than it does in the US. In a 330 mL, there's 37 grams of sugar; in the US, it's at least 45.
That's basically what we did today. Gen and I woke up at around 11and had a breakfast of Nutella and bread. We tried to put honey on it, too, but Gen accidentally dropped the jar. Since it's glass, it broke. We cleaned as best we could, but we still had to tread with caution for the rest of the day (Part of the issue is that it's frequently considered impolite to wear your shoes indoors, so we normally go barefoot).
At around 2:00, I learned to play 51. I'm terrible at it - once we played with penalties, it quickly became clear that I would lose miserably (I kept putting away usable cards and not being able to open my hand before Buse cleared all of hers) (A/N: I would like to point out, for the record, that this has as much to do with Buse's being excellent at 51 as it does with my noob status). In all, I as around 300 points behind Buse by the end of it all.
As previously mentioned, Bergüm woke up at around 4:00. After she arrived in the living area and we wrapped up the card game, we all sat around and didn't do much. I did a bit of reading, messed up my samurai sudoku, and did a little bit of writing. For some reason, I was able to start in a new world (writing-wise) today. Normally I stick to the ones I've already created, but this was a weird and unexpected combination of dystopia (not really) and DnD classes. The setup is one of the darker things I've written. The speaker is being hazed into this organization by participating in this underground revolution. It has to be underground because if they get found out, they'll be found guilty in a ten-minute trial and wiped from existence. Like, each of their names will be erased from the ledgers of their landlord, their grocer, the brothel, and the public library. All debts will be erased, and mages will remove them from the memories of everyone except their mothers, who will be forbidden to speak of them.
I don't know where I'm going to go with this, but I like it. I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that it kind of reminds me of 1984. (I wasn't a huge fan of the work at the time I read it. The only things that got me through it were patience and half a pound of jellybeans).
Ah, well. It's not as bad as the time I had to read 80% of Wuthering Heights in a day. That wasn't fun. Wuthering Heights is obnoxiously dense. At least Jane Austen has some sort of adaptability! And Jane Austen, if experienced as an audiobook, is actually pretty good!
Conclusion:
If you ike dystopia, read George ORwell.
If you like character developmment in your romance novels, read Jane Austen.
If you want a super-massive brain fart, read Wuthering Heights.
Today, I learned several things.
1. Turkish soap Operas are... interesting. I'm still trying to figure out whether I like this show or not. It's a formulaic plot of "who slept with whose former fiancée/ spouse, who is this girl in love with, who is feeling guilty for stabbing the FMC in the uterus" type of shows (though I don't entirely understand why someone stabbed the FMC in the uterus). I also don't get why the girl's former fiancée keeps bringing her flowers. You'd think he'd get the hint after the third time he saw her put them in the dumpster. Wait... no... she's keeping them this time. Also, the ad break went during the Epic Romantic Stare on the Balcony. The funny bit was that it was an ad for a set of fried eggs that were placed kind of like eyes.
2. Supermarkets are a good place to learn languages.
3. Ketchup is spelled similarly in Turkish.
4. 51 is a fun card game. It involves trying to get rid of all one's cards in a manner that is difficult to explain. It's called 51 because you have to have the cards you're trying to open with add up to 51. You can open with 3/4 of the cards of a certain number (three eights, for example), but if it doesn't add up, you can't open. You'll frequently need to open with multiple sets. The other way to do it is to have a streak of numbers in the same suit. Jokers are used if necessary, though if someone clears their hand and you still have one in your hand (aka not on the table), then you get a penalty. You also get penalized if you discard a card that someone else could use (like the fourth eight) and if you start to open and then realize you can't. Also, Ace of Spades (incurs a penalty if you have it in your hand). All of those are a 25 - point penalty. If you don't open by the time someone else clears their hand, then you get penalized 100 points. The game uses two decks of cards; everyone gets dealt 14 cars; the person to the left of the dealer starts. There's an upside-down pile that you draw your cards from. The discard pile is face-up; you can draw from that, but only if it means you can open something with it. That doesn't apply to the first person, who starts with the card face-up.
5. Apparently, the adults in the house can get super competitive over a game of 51.
6. Bergüm, we learned, can play computer games until four in the morning, and then sleep until almost four in the afternoon.
7. Coca-cola has way less sugar here than it does in the US. In a 330 mL, there's 37 grams of sugar; in the US, it's at least 45.
That's basically what we did today. Gen and I woke up at around 11and had a breakfast of Nutella and bread. We tried to put honey on it, too, but Gen accidentally dropped the jar. Since it's glass, it broke. We cleaned as best we could, but we still had to tread with caution for the rest of the day (Part of the issue is that it's frequently considered impolite to wear your shoes indoors, so we normally go barefoot).
At around 2:00, I learned to play 51. I'm terrible at it - once we played with penalties, it quickly became clear that I would lose miserably (I kept putting away usable cards and not being able to open my hand before Buse cleared all of hers) (A/N: I would like to point out, for the record, that this has as much to do with Buse's being excellent at 51 as it does with my noob status). In all, I as around 300 points behind Buse by the end of it all.
As previously mentioned, Bergüm woke up at around 4:00. After she arrived in the living area and we wrapped up the card game, we all sat around and didn't do much. I did a bit of reading, messed up my samurai sudoku, and did a little bit of writing. For some reason, I was able to start in a new world (writing-wise) today. Normally I stick to the ones I've already created, but this was a weird and unexpected combination of dystopia (not really) and DnD classes. The setup is one of the darker things I've written. The speaker is being hazed into this organization by participating in this underground revolution. It has to be underground because if they get found out, they'll be found guilty in a ten-minute trial and wiped from existence. Like, each of their names will be erased from the ledgers of their landlord, their grocer, the brothel, and the public library. All debts will be erased, and mages will remove them from the memories of everyone except their mothers, who will be forbidden to speak of them.
I don't know where I'm going to go with this, but I like it. I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that it kind of reminds me of 1984. (I wasn't a huge fan of the work at the time I read it. The only things that got me through it were patience and half a pound of jellybeans).
Ah, well. It's not as bad as the time I had to read 80% of Wuthering Heights in a day. That wasn't fun. Wuthering Heights is obnoxiously dense. At least Jane Austen has some sort of adaptability! And Jane Austen, if experienced as an audiobook, is actually pretty good!
Conclusion:
If you ike dystopia, read George ORwell.
If you like character developmment in your romance novels, read Jane Austen.
If you want a super-massive brain fart, read Wuthering Heights.
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