Errk. Summer is supposed to be my writing time. Through one thing and another, it's just... not happening. I had my first idea, couldn't summon the enthusiasm, then a whole new idea which was even MORE awesome and exciting, aaaand yet still can't bring myself to start it. I can't envision an ideal opening scene, and I NEED a good opening scene to hit the ground running, as it were.

So I may just end up writing a sequel to the vampire story I wrote last summer. I've had ideas for that for ages, I know the characters and am comfortable with them and WANT to see what happens to them next - best of all, I already have an opening scene which I sort of REALLY want to write, sooo...

The only reason I haven't just given up and started writing that one? Is because I really do love that second new idea I came up with. And I'm scared I'll just get bored with it and ditch it like the last one. Though to be frank, it'd be far easier to write that one in term time, with access to the library and other Classicists to poke and go "Hey, what would this have been like in 23 BC?"

Sigh. I'm thinking, yeah, vampire story sequel. Even if it's just to get me back in the swing of things. I plan to write more next year anyway, the ancient Greece one can wait.

(Also? I... kinda miss writing fanfic.)

I'm on the INTERNET on a TRAIN. This alone is blog-worthy.

Umm, other stuff that has happened this morning. I went to my new college still trying to get this letter stating I'm still a student so my bank accounts don't upgrade to Normal Person Status, but because I'm not registered there yet, they couldn't do anything. And I didn't have time to go back to my old college and beg them again, because I had to get to the train. So. That kinda sucked.

Also, the lovely Melody has hurt her back, and while she insists she will be OK in time, currently her and Jackie's trip to England is in doubt. So. That REALLY sucks. Even though I'm fully expecting her to climb onto that plane whatever, possibly asking the flight attendants for alcohol and something to bite on to tide her over.

BUT! Good news, I'm still going home and get to see everyone, HURRAY. I have three hours on a train with internet access and nothing better to do than watch the Harry Potter musical on youtube, HURRAY. And I just found out I got nominated for 'Best Acting Performance' in the Durham Student Film awards TWICE, for both the films I've done for them, EPIC HURRAY.

.... I still haven't started writing my story for the summer. I AM LAME.

Mental note: go to bookshops more. I went this morning, and I really don't think there's a better feeling than finding two books you wanted, discovering they're both on a '3 for 2' offer, and that you get to choose another completely random book for FREE.

Plus, there's the general atmosphere and smell of books that you just don't get on Amazon. I still dream of working in a bookshop and getting that every day.

To balance the good side of the literary world with the claw-out-your-eyes-awful, after lunch I headed over to Jeannette's for a marathon Loinfire Club session. We started off watching Barbarian Queen, which is... godawful, for many reasons BESIDES the fact it claims to be set around and in Rome, though I decided early on it couldn't POSSIBLY be Rome, being far too inaccurate and anachronistic, and was clearly some other city, which we dubbed Bome.

After a vote, we then settled on finally reading and mocking Master of Dragons, one I've been waiting for us to do since I bought it a year and a half ago. It did not disappoint. During a sex scene, one description made me laugh so hard I literally doubled up and couldn't keep reading. It was painful. Recap will come soon, hopefully.

As for the story I'm trying to write... it's still incredibly exciting? But, I've found a way to fit it into REAL historical events, which makes it that much more daunting to write. I'm still going to do it, I think I'm just going to need a bit more time to prepare.

Home on Tuesday. Yay!

Just saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. OH GOD THE PAIN. See, I loved the first movie. I love big dumb movies. I liked The Core, for chrissakes. But that?? TOO FAR, MICHAEL BAY. TOO FAR. Seriously, it was on The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor levels. Not quite as bad, because I was at least entertained on occasion, but... SMASHING HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OH THE PAIN.

To take my mind off it, HEY LOOK A FANDOM MEME.

Pick 12 characters you like, and then answer the questions below the cut about them. Obviously first choose your characters before you see the questions.

1. Starbuck (Battlestar Galactica)
2. Robin (How I Met Your Mother)
3. Adam (Heroes)
4. Casey (Chuck)
5. Chuck (Pushing Daisies)
6. Castiel (Supernatural)
7. Dexter (Dexter)
8. Martha Jones (Doctor Who)
9. Susan (Chronicles of Narnia)
10. Aryan (Dhoom 2)
11. Roy (The Fall)
12. Locke (The Lies of Locke Lamora)

( I would actually read MOST of these fics. )

Hot weather and general uninterrupted busyness over last few days have led to this afternoon being a *KERTHUMP* afternoon. I'm sprawled on my bed with my laptop and don't plan to get up till I go see the new Transformers movie tonight. Will I play Sims? Will I nap? Will I even through my history anxieties to the wind and start writing my story? I don't care, as long as I don't have to move.

(My room is still very messy. Heaps of clothes are glaring at me. But hey, I can still cross it. Precariously, true, but as long as I don't need the bathroom in the middle of the night, I can take my time.)

I saw off my parents this morning - my mum was very happy when I promised I'd come home in a week - and also had a meeting with a woman from the university. There's apparently a big development happening on the Houghall College site, and involved in it is a company called Orcestrator, who seem to be a LARP company, planning on setting up some big event. As president of the already-existent student LARP society, I explained to her the differences between what we do and medieval re-enactment - managing to fit in buzzwords like 'community', 'diversity', 'new skills' and 'representing the university at national events' - and generally described LARP as the awesome and unique thing it is. She seemed very impressed, and not only asked us to take part in Heritage events next year doing fighting displays and stuff but also said she'd speak to the DSU about us getting storage space again. EPIC. WIN.

Far enough exertion on such a hot day. Now, I chill.

I AM ALL GRADUATED. I NOW HAVE 'BA (HONS) DUNELM' AFTER MY NAME.

Graduation itself was pretty awesome. I'm not really used to formal clothes yet though - I had to run back to the house to put on a camisole under my shirt, because it kept popping open, and I didn't exactly want to be remembered as The Girl Who Flashed Bill Bryson. And the gowns we had to wear were really warm - it was a generally hot and humid day, which wasn't fun - and most of the time waiting to go into the cathedral was spent adjusting them, trying to make them hang right. I saw a marshall going up to a guy fiddling with his and telling him he was wearing his hood like a girl. He was not happy.

In the ceremony, I ended up on camera far more often than I would have liked - not as much as poor Gethin from Improv though, he ended up being filmed as an exemplary Durham Wave and as first in line - but the cathedral was nice and cool. The speeches were good, especially Bill Bryson's, though when I finally got called up to shake his hand I was less savouring the moment and more thinking "DO NOT TRIP OVER DO NOT TRIP OVER DO NOT TRIP OVER."

After the ceremony, I went and got photos done and collected my 'Class of 2009' pin, and chatted to various friends and finally met their parents. We headed off when we heard thunder, but didn't quite make it back to the hotel before the heavens opened and it started absolutely TIPPING it down. I was fine walking in heavy rain - in fact, I love heavy rain, and especially after the humidity, it was a relief - but my mum insisted we wait under an overhang by the cinema for it to stop before going the rest of the way.

After FINALLY getting home, I grabbed a few friends who were in the middle of moving to come have dinner with us that night, and there was delicious food and awesome (mostly parental appropriate) conversation.

And now I am home and have a chocolate student lollipop for later. I think it's Durham's way of saying "Don't worry if you're not feeling mature yet, that's not a required part of graduation."

BAD NEWS: Story idea I'd been planning for ages? The amalgamation of two separate stories I'd been wanting to write, one for a year, one for two? ... Not happening. So not happening. My plot bunnies had gotten bored waiting and, when finally handed free time and a complete story, were just like "Eh. You already know the end now. What's the point?" In my traditional analogy of writing a story and starting a relationship - we left it too long, it's in the Friend Zone. We could get together now, but it'd be a bit awkward and forced and ruin what we already had. Lesson learned: don't put off writing stories till you have free time. MAKE time. LISTEN TO THE BUNNIES.

GOOD NEWS: I was round at Beccy's, feeling a bit crap from this development. Summer is my traditional time of writing abandon, and last year I got 50,000 words of (for my standards) a pretty good story in 30 days. Sure, the other 5,000 and, oh yes, the ENDING, didn't come till September, but still. Having admitted to myself that the above story just wasn't going to work, I was feeling kinda glum that I might enter July - my absolute latest starting date - with nothing to write. Sad day. So I was casting around in my head looking for a new idea, or a way to adapt the old idea and make it hot again. I thought about what I'd liked, and what had felt pointless and difficult, and just considered the basic question - what did I WANT to write about?

Quite simple - spies. Intrigue. Social politic-ing. The Library of Alexandria. Ancient Rome. Vampires, if at all possible. Conspiracies. Awesome groups of people pulling off awesome stunts against all odds.

I finally got it. In the story I'd planned, I came up with an aunt for one of the main characters who immediately struck me as AWESOME. Despite the many plot reshuffles that took place, I made sure she never got lost. It finally hit me. Why the hell wasn't I writing a story about HER instead?

By now, the others had noticed I was staring into space intently and asked me if I was OK. I managed to say, "Inspiration. Idea." They questioned me no further and just handed me a pen and some paper, and I started scribbling. It was a new, fun idea, and best of all, I could reincorporate various of my favourite elements from the previous story, with none of the things I hadn't liked. It was like the story stuck in the Friend Zone had just introduced me to its hotter older brother.

My main decision right now is whether I'm going to make it an alt-universe fantasy setting with several strange similarities to the ancient world, or throw my hands in the air and screw with history like I just don't care. The latter is more and more tempting, though it would mean several of my Classicist friends could never ever read it.

Whatever. I'M EXCITED ABOUT WRITING THIS. EEEEEEEEEEEE.

Had awesome weekend! Friday night was the Magdalen Ball down in Oxford, where I went with my sister and wore the turquoise dress I bought on my birthday. It was pretty damn awesome, with a circus and dodgems and bands like the Pipettes playing and a chocolate fountain and fireworks. Though my dress was a bit uncomfortable - laced up bodice, just tight enough to be uncomfortable but not tight enough to free me from the constant paranoia from not wearing a bra - and that, plus general tiredness and cold, meant I gave up around 1am and went back to Becca's room, and napped on her sofa till she came back as well.

Saturday, I headed on to Sheffield, for the latest SFX weekend - the 3rd anniversary one, no less - and had the horrific embarrassment of finding out that one of the guys there was from Durham, and had actually been going to the Queen's Head pub quiz for ages along with me, only I'd never recognised him in either location. WAY TO GO, BRAIN. I THOUGHT WE WERE PAST THIS KIND OF EPIC SCREW-UP.

But both gatherings were great, with me getting to see people I don't see nearly enough. And shortly after getting home, marcus_felix came round and gave me the Presidential Sword of TT. I didn't even know there WAS a Presidential Sword! Now I HAVE to tidy my room, just to find somewhere good to put it.

... I graduate on Wednesday. EEK.

Short story: I got a 2:1! I get to do my MA!

( Long story... )

I have somehow been chosen to be both a Hero AND a Villain in our various Vary Tales shows up in Edinburgh. As in, most performances I'll be side characters, but some I'll be the Hero and some I'll be the Villain. As in, in charge of driving along a lot of the plot.

I'm still not quite sure how this happened, given that most of the people who are better at it than me are only one role (like Alistair, he's only Narrator, WTF?? He's GENIUS). I may have put myself on all three lists, but most of us did that, and it was only because I had no idea which I wanted to do. I was assuming John would choose whichever I was best at and just put me on that list. But. EEK.

This, combined with today being my last practises before the end of term, AND the fact my exam results come out today, has left me a mite nervous about the day ahead.


ETA: OK. So, just had morning practise. First ever full run-through - ie, games before, Vary Tale, games after to fill up whatever time is remaining - and it went... OK. Not badly, definitely good in the big picture, and some bits had people almost falling off their chairs, but it was my first go as the Hero in a while, and, well, I think I could have done better. Wasn't as utterly fail as the first time, but there were other things which made it worse, sooo basically Must Be Better.

But in a Micro-Play beforehand, I took so long miming dragging a really heavy bag offstage that I cracked everyone up and got told was really good. (You had to be there.) So, good and bad.

Still waiting for exam results. ANG.

Last weekend was the big end-of-year TT event, the 3YGB, which... will be pretty impossible to describe to anyone who doesn't have an idea of what LARPing is. Those who do, it was AWESOME, I basically spent all weekend politic-ing, being dodgy as hell, hitting things, and being in a constant state of Epic Classics Squee. On a related note, Alexander the Great/Helen of Troy is now reasonablycrazy's OTP.

Unfortunately, my arms and legs are now covered in midge bites, which makes life VERY ITCHY. I'm just hoping they clear up by my sister's ball on Friday, or I'm going to look like a plague victim.

Bond filming today! Also, I just bought ticket to see Neil Gaiman in Edinburgh in August! AND it's sunny! Today is off to a good start.

Last night was my belated 21st birthday party, and it ROCKED. The theme was Dream Jobs, so I went as an adventure-archaeologist of the Indiana Jones/ Lara Croft persuasion, and I had Frankie and my sister come up for it and friends from all my various societies around Durham in the same place, and I had a GREAT time. We all just hung out and chatted, and the Improv Comedy people rocked up around half ten after their show, and at the end of the evening we all ended up on the balcony talking about the Bond film and Dr Horrible's SingAlong Blog. At one point we sang 'I Love You Baby' off the balcony at a couple of people leaving, and had some guys who were hanging out on the riverbank start singing it back at us. It was awesome.

Party ended when the bar closed, though Frankie and I went to Klute afterwards, because she was so intrigued to see the official Worst Nightclub in Europe. She possibly should have taken warning from the fact that none of my other friends who had been before wanted to go again, but she was about ten cocktails down by now, so off we went.

We left again ten minutes later, having been stuck on a heaving dance floor, with sweat on the walls and a general unpleasant odor in the air, as 'Never Gonna Give You Up' was playing and a guy with bad teeth was hitting on us with no subtlety whatsoever. Ten minutes is enough.

We got a taxi back home, as my sister had already done, and collapsed into bed. This morning, we got up and had Wetherspoons for brunch, and I just saw them off at the station. Now I'm going back to bed, because two very busy late nights in a row = SLEEPY.

Life is currently full of Improv. I have those three three-hour rehearsals a week, not to mention the usual Tuesday and Saturday practises; Monday night, I did Elvet Underground; tonight, I had a show at St Aidan's; and after my rehearsal tomorrow morning, I WOULD have another show that afternoon AND that evening, but the former was postponed and I'm missing the second for my birthday party. EESH.

So, first, the Elvet Underground show. That went pretty awesomely. As I told Beccy afterwards, I didn't fuck up monumentally, and I even got some pretty good laughs at some points, so, HURRAY.

As for the Aidan's show... well, that was kinda screwed from the start. For one thing, it was at midnight, in the middle of their college ball. For another, I only found out what time we were supposed to be meeting TEN MINUTES AFTER that time, and still had to get all the way across Durham. A Thorley with his Car was summoned, and I got there fifteen minutes late - only to find out the show had been postponed, and now we weren't going to be on till 1am, in a different room. It was currently half ten.

This kinda sucked, what with most of us having to be at rehearsal at 10am the next morning, but we dealt with it. We basically hung around talking, and Gethin haggled up our paycheque from £50 to £100. We also had an impromptu game of Tag, which was great. But when we went to start getting ready, we were told we'd been moved again - this time, to outside on a patio, with no stage, nowhere for the audience to sit, and some of the worst acoustics ever.

Gethin and Alex were NOT happy about this, and went off to speak to the guy in charge. While they were doing that, I ran into a very drunk Richard, who, he happily informed me, had been extracted from some rose bushes by the bouncers, and been standing outside for an hour or so trying to sober up. It was nice to see a friendly face that cheerful right then, I must say. Eventually we got it sorted, were allowed to perform inside again, and after a couple more confusing room changes to fit around an Elvis impersonator, we FINALLY got the show underway.

It... well, it wasn't our best. Acoustics were still pretty lame, the stage was small and cluttered with band equipment, and most of our audience was wasted, including Richard, who was very enthusiastic. The audience grew though, and I don't think I was too bad, but all in all it was still ridiculously late and we'd been thoroughly jerked around so we weren't in the best of spirits. But hey, we got paid £100. Food in Edinburgh!

Now I am home and get to go to sleep but have to be up in 5 hours for morning of rehearsal and then my birthday party. How have I managed to remain this busy AFTER my exams??

I just had an awesome day out at the beach with a whole bunch of friends. We had a barbecue, we built sandcastles, we played Stuck in the Mud in the Sea, and ended up going swimming without a costume or a change of clothes. It was FANTASTIC.

I then came home and found my housemate MattMatt is currently blitzing our living room from top to bottom with cleaning materials. Too tired to test if he is a doppelganger.

So, my Saturday was VERY busy. ( Cut for those who are not interested in the minutiae of my life, which... I'm guessing is quite a few. )

After three years, many social events, and a large amount of time puzzling over what to write on my yearbook profile, I finally, FINALLY, have my defining memory of Grey College, the one that'll stay with me in years to come.

This morning, at 4am - when the sun was just rising, the air was still cool from the night's rain, and the cathedral was wrapped in mist - Sophie and I went out of the JCR, in ball dresses, to find pretty much the entirety of the college on the lawn, singing 'Wonderwall' in spirited drunken unison. Some were standing on walls, some on picnic tables, some on the grass with their arms round each others' shoulders. There was just this incredible feeling of togetherness and community. Drunken, drunken community.

That's not the defining memory, though. The defining memory is when they then switched to 'Working 9 to 5' and about ten guys leaped up onto the wall and started dancing.

( But I'm getting ahead of myself. )

So, last night I got elected social secretary of Improv! I'm apparently still not over my compulsion to volunteer for stuff. At least I still haven't volunteered to take over running Elvet Underground. Yet. I can feel my hand twitching every time it's mentioned, though.

I ALSO successfully didn't volunteer to take the last place on the Film Soc exec, but mostly because it's a scary-sounding position called 'Commercial Development Officer'. I mean, that sounds like it actually has RESPONSIBILITIES.

Today was our second Edinburgh Fringe practise session, and I feel like I did a lot better in this one than the last one. Well, the last one I did a monologue which crashed and burned, screaming, in flames, and this one I played Death in a long form and ended up fitting in some fun bits of foreshadowing and mistaken identities, sooo that was cool. We also spent about ten minutes practising different ways of picking each other up. When John attempted the monkey-hold on me, I toppled over into some chairs. Oops.

After Improv, we had the first Bond film readthrough, which was AWESOME, I'm apparently playing Madame Technical Exposition. And at one point I get such an Uhura moment of "Ma'am, we're detecting an increase in power consumption at the CLC!" I may even get a headset phone. IT'S SO MUCH FUN. There's a Fight Workshop on Friday. I may need to bully friends into going to play Random Goons and get shot/ninja-d/kicked in the face.

And TONIGHT, it's the Phoenix Ball. I may just be wearing the same dress as I wore in my first year, but huzzah, life is busy again.

I posted on here a while ago about an essay competition I entered, on 'Why I Chose to Study Classics at University'. Just got an e-mail from them - while I didn't win, they considered mine the best AFTER the winner! So, yay! Wasn't expecting that - I mean, my essay featured the Grim Reaper being punched in the face!

Also, epic rain meant Beccy and I decided against going to Newcastle. Currently curled up on her sofa with blankets watching Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

Ahh, the magical time after exams where I have next to nothing to blog about. I mean, I've been doing stuff - Improv rehearsals are starting to become Edinburgh-oriented, I went to see Star Trek again with Beccy, and, to my horror, I've been watching Gossip Girl and getting strangely addicted - but nothing that really struck me as LJ-worthy.

Oh, and within the last week, I've seen Pride & Prejudice AND Lost in Austen and started reading Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. So, I guess I'm on an Austen-and-her-many-adaptations kick?

Blah. I'm just enjoying chilling. I'm sleeping about 10 hours a night, and having some of my most vivid action-packed dreams in ages. Last night I went to Pluto! I can't even remember why! But there were oxygen issues and telekinetic ancient aliens and poison and only a few ships to get us home and it was VERY EXCITING!

Today I'm going to Newcastle with Beccy to celebrate the end of her exams, and tomorrow's Grey Day. Next week, Edinburgh rehearsals and filming for the Bond-esque film starts, so I'll have stuff to do again!

Just saw Angels & Demons. Even though I pretty much only went to see it for a) Ewan MacGregor, b) the symmetry of having seen The Da Vinci Code when I was 18, and c) EWAN MACGREGOR, I actually enjoyed it a surprising amount. Sure, it messes with history and mythology, but since sci-fi films get to mess with what we know as fact, I can allow some leeway with stuff that's mostly theoretical anyway. (Though that whole business with Magical Jesus-Powered Jet of getting-from-Harvard-to-Italy-in-a-couple-of-hours was so stupid, I can't believe it got through editing.)

I enjoyed it quite a bit more than the first one. It was better written and had a tauter plot structure, with the murders adding more of a ticking clock than being chased by random people in the French police. I also liked it more because it was a lot more even-handed. Rather than being "WE'RE SOOO ANNOYING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WITH THIS MOVIE OMG", it was actually quite an interesting film about the conflicting natures of science and religion. It wasn't subtle, but it was still a better way of handling it.

( Spoilorz! )