Big Bird's got nothing on these guys . . .

A brief word:

I decided to spend my afternoon after my internship walking through Kensington Gardens. It's almost ridiculous that I've been here for over a month and didn't bother to go walking through one of London's renowned gardens already. Ah well, I did yesterday, and I got some interesting stuff out of it. One, I went to the duck pond where all the water birds get together and plot how to take over the world and - okay, not 'plot to take over the world' exactly, but they had to be up to something. These birds are so utterly not afraid of humans. In fact they'll attack you if you start feeding them bread crumbs and then run out. The swans there are ENORMOUS. Seriously, their heads come up to my waist and they could probably knock down anyone under five feet just by flapping their wings. And they're jerks. Yep, the prima donnas of the pond. They pose when people take pictures of them.

I was surprised to find that there were Canadian geese, among other breeds, and they were thoroughly outnumbered. In the States they're everywhere, and hostile if you approach them. Trust me. But here they do their best to stay out of other birds' way.

They are Canadian, though. I guess you can't be that surprised. That was my bad political joke for the day.

Another funny incident was when this terrier, whose owner let him off the leash, had an encounter with a squirrel. The squirrel was about five feet away from a tree, so it had a means of retreat if the dog chased after him. Instead of bolting after it, though, the dog tried to creep up on it with nothing to hide behind. So, of course, the squirrel sees him coming, but decides it's not worth his concern, and just keeps on searching the spot for food. This encounter lasts about ten minutes with the dog starting and stopping in his approach, and sometimes forced to hold a pose like a pointer for two minutes. The affair ends a bit anticlimactically because the squirrel ends up bounding over to another tree and climbing it while the poor dog just watches. I guess I'd expect more diligence and stealth from a larger breed of dog. Certainly not from a terrier. They're renown yappers who think barking at their prey will convince it to come down. It was a little sad to see it didn't break out into a chase, but Mother Nature likes to throw us for a loop a little too often.


Well, gotta get more of that reading done. Another novel by Sir Walter Scott and Hugh Trevor-Roper's The Invention of Scotland. It's interesting and all, but . . . when it's schoolwork, I find myself more reluctant to do it. No rare disease, I'm sure, but it's still unhelpful. And I still have a paper to write and no idea what to write it on. :P





"People who say they don't care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don't care what people think." - George Carlin

I've got nothing better to do . . .

Actually, that's not entirely true. But I've got nothing to do that I want to do right now. Like write a personal essay which I could probably put off till Sunday. Probably. Or those journal entries I need to catch up on. But I need to do more reading for those.

So, yeah. Why am I posting now? I guess I need to put down some thoughts.

Thursday evenings, when I have no plans, often play out as a period of responsibility limbo. That is, I have nothing to prepare for for tomorrow, but I can't stay up super late and then sleep in. Nope, gotta go in for the internship at 9am. :P

Also, Lent has started, and right now I'm thinking of giving up fanfiction activity. Mostly because my recent writing craze for HHL has gotten in the way of attending to school work. That doesn't mean I won't be include to do other writing, but it'll be one less thing I'll obsessively check every day. I've refrained from giving up a type of food for Lent because 1) I need all the food I can eat - I'm a poor student, and 2) I feel I can focus on things to give up that'll do mental good than necessarily physical good. I've got enough distractions to worry about.

As I think about it, I might try to attempt some - oh I don't know - ORIGINAL fiction and submit it to our school's literary magazine. But it'll still be related to my fanfiction in some way. At this stage it's almost undeniable.

Now, for a brief word:

WOOHOO, Pont-au-Change site update tomorrow! Looking forward to it, ACH! That's going to be the highlight of my Friday. Cuz I need to save money and can't spend it on movies and stuff. That's not insult, trust me. I've been excited about this for months.

I wonder if I should do more art, too? That'd be interesting. I'm a crap drawer in general, but it might be a good stress-reliever.

Anything else? Ooh! Wales next Friday. I know it's not really related to my studies. I don't care. It's vaguely related to my major writing project AND it's an opportunity to take in more of the UK. I know I'll be going to Scotland in a few weeks, but . . . it's Wales! End of argument!

:)



"Love is a grave mental illness." - Plato

Lalalalalalalalala SHUT THE HELL UP . . .

A brief word:

So it seems that I'm not updating day by day anymore, but instead updating by other updates:

HHL - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5480101/6/Homo_Homini_Lupus
Javert and his mum take a little trip and find ways to bond. A little bitter-sweet. I hate the formatting issues on story documents on the site, btw. You can't do proper spacing, and it annoys the hell out of me.

I'll do a quick recap of what I've done this past . . . month.

Visited Westminster Abbey (didn't go inside)
Visited the National Gallery - saw the Red-Light exhibit and a lot of other really old paintings. I'd like to visit the National Portrait Gallery next.
Saw 3 plays - Midsummer, The Pitman Painters, and The Early Bird
Midsummer was fun and funny
The Pitman Painters was at the National Theatre - well acted and engaging
The Early Bird was SO WEIRD - made me think and wonder what the hell happened
Went to Leicester Square several times, once for a movie and twice for movie premieres (Invictus and Valentine's Day)
Went to the Odeon Theatre twice (Avatar and The Wolfman)

Internet is still an issue (and my main excuse for not posting more frequently), but it will hopefully - HOPEFULLY - get resolved tomorrow. I know, I keep saying that, but only because our landlord and the landlord's agent keep saying that. But MAYBE it'll actually come through. Guh.

On a lighter note, plans for Scotland are beginning to solidify. Yah! My parents have made reservations for the two weekends they are here in London, and then we'll be visiting Glasgow and Robert Burns territory in the Lowlands and Inverness and some other places in the Highlands. So I'm feeling good about that. What makes me nervous is the amount of reading I have to do - I didn't realize just how big a burden it's going to be. But now that I'm starting to actually work on my journals for my study, I'll probably force myself to read through the fiction faster. At least I finished Waverley, thank God. Next will be either Rob Roy or Trainspotting - maybe I'll wait to do Trainspotting when I have to read it for my literature class, too. Maybe.

What else, what else . . . fanfiction is sucking me in more, which is not good in terms of school work, but makes me feel good writing-wise. Still, I need to prioritize. Prioritize, dammit!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing my family in a few weeks. Hooray!




"You don't happen to have silver bullets, do you?" - The Wolfman

P.S. I love Hugo Weaving even more now . . . and I already thought he was awesome.

Maybe I'll pass on the oven method . . .

A brief word:

So Miss I'm-gonna-make-the-effort-to-post-something-every-day . . . wait, that title fell by the wayside during the first week.

Ba-dum tsh. *lame*

Like we didn't see this coming. But I do have something of a reason. Mainly it's because of internet access. Yes, our flat STILL has not been fixed up with a permanent internet server. Right now we have this crappy set up where we can only view 3GB per month. And the guys who were supposed to install the permanent one have kept putting it off. Hopefully everything will be up and running by Monday. God willing. Please.

In other news: I've posted the next chapter for HHL: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5480101/5/Homo_Homini_Lupus. Javert pays someone from his past a visit, but the conversation takes an unexpected direction.

And I posted the rest of Part 1 of The Phantomess: http://mllerevenant.deviantart.com/art/The-Phantomess-Pt-1-Ch-5-152403687. There are 8 chapters in total.

Also, for those interested in Shoujo Cosette, WSRN-Aoi has released ep. 22 with English subs. Huzzah!



"You know, if you are going to let every little thing bother you, it is going to be a very long night!" - The Princess and the Frog