I... think I'm going to hand my dissertation in today. Beccy's read it through, she thinks it's a 2:1, and frankly I was never aiming for a 1st. There's not much more I can add without screwing with the word limit. Well, I could throw myself into non-stop work for the next two days and add in a whole load of academic arguments which I've somewhat skimped on in favour of in-depth analysis of the text, but... I don't think my brain could take it.

EEEEEEEEEP.


ETA: Oh god. I just handed it in at the printers. I pick it up to hand it in to the department in an hour and a half. When do I get to stop feeling nervous??

OK, so... I have a first run of dissertation finished. All the sections are vaguely OK, everything's referenced... it's just kind of blathery and 1000 words over the limit. That's to be fixed on my train to and from London this weekend, when I visit my mum for Mothers Day and her birthday. But it's definitely nearly there, I feel like it's not far off hand-in-able, ie I could hand it in and not cry all the way home.

I printed it out so I could attack it with brightly coloured pens on the train. It's thick. 8000 words is actually quite a lot. My dad wants to read it, so he'll get it post-pen-attacking. Then, once I've gotten it back and transferred all the changes onto my laptop, straight into the recycling.

I'm very tired and my brain kinda wants to go die now, or at least have a few years hours to sleep (whoa, major telling mistake there) and dream of Lee Pace, so, back on Monday.



PS: That is, back on Monday AFTER I've managed to watch the Battlestar Galactica finale. Because if I get spoiled, THERE WILL BE PAIN. WE'LL JUST SEE IF ACHILLES REALLY IS THE ONLY MORTAL CAPABLE OF DIVINE WRATH.

Oh god I have to get away from my dissertation.

Apparently The Young Victoria doesn't have a release date in America yet - according to imdb, anyway. Not surprised, really, it's a small-ish British film about a British monarch and Europe. And it's not Elizabeth I. Or Keira Knightley.

Oh well, here's the trailer anyway, because I want to watch it again:



Another film worth watching? Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day. I've squeed about it on here before, and several people on my flist are now caught up doing Lee Pace picpams after that and The Fall, but it's another film that caused me great glee. AND I JUST GOT IT ON DVD. DELIGHT, JOY.

Ugh. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to dose up on Pro Plus and show this dissertation who's boss.



PS: Story taken from d20fyx - Godspeed, Space Bat. *salutes*

Just wait! After next Thursday, you won't have to put up with any more of these entries!

So, current word count is around 6500 words, out of a maximum of 8000, including footnotes - though I still need to write up the notes of the Telemachus section (included in that word count), SERIOUSLY spruce up the Aeneas section (right now it goes 'So... Virgil was writing Augustan propaganda, so everyone's happy families and Venus loves all her grandkids... so... yeah'), and shove on an introduction and conclusion to make it all seem vaguely coherent and important. Oh, and try and read more stuff and cram it in, because right now, my bibliography basically reads:

'ILIAD
ODYSSEY
AENEID
RANDOM BOOK RELATED TO ILIAD
RANDOM BOOK RELATED TO ODYSSEY
RANDOM BOOK RELATED TO AENEID
RANDOM ARTICLE

....

TUMBLEWEED.'*

I'm pretty happy with Achilles and Diomedes sections though. The Diomedes section is really neatly structured and argued, and has a nice simple conclusion, while the Achilles section has a TWIST ENDING. I didn't even know that was possible in essay conclusions before. Well, *I* think it's a twist ending. It wasn't the conclusion I was expecting to make, anyway.

My one problem is that now I have to give back one of my books, because it's been recalled, and... it's been so incredibly useful, and I'm kinda paranoid I'm going to reach next week and realise OH GOD I NEED TO CHECK UP ON A POINT IN THAT BOOK I DON'T HAVE ANY MORE AND CAN'T RECALL IN TIME *FLAIL*. I would keep it longer and pay the fine, but... what if someone ELSE really needs it? I can't be that mean. So I must be brave and give it back and trust that if I realise I don't know something, I can bullshit to the best of my ability.

It's remained sunny all day. YAY.




* Tumbleweed actually had some pretty interesting ideas.

So, this is basically my last week for dissertation writing. It's due next Thursday, I'm going down to London all weekend to see my family for my Mum's birthday and Mothers Day, and I want to hand it in on the Wednesday or my entire Thursday will be spent in a big ball of panic.

So, my current plan is:

MONDAY - Write up Diomedes section
TUESDAY - Latin lectures, preparation and essay
WEDNESDAY - Write up Telemachus section
THURSDAY - Morning lectures, write introduction and conclusion
FRIDAY - Latin lectures & preparation (and essay?), check references with tutor
SATURDAY & SUNDAY - Print off this draft, attack with red purple pen on train to and from London, edit edit edit. Also, start trying to come up with an abstract. Also? Try to have fun. A bit.

MONDAY & TUESDAY - Go to library, MAKE EDITS. EDIT EDIT EDIT. DON'T SLEEP UNTIL IT IS DONE.
WEDNESDAY - Read through, make sure is coherent, get bound, hand in.
THURSDAY - *floorheap* Chocolate will be necessary.

(I know I write out these plan things a lot, but they seriously help my head get organised)

And then... I get the Thursday and Friday off. No work for me. But I start working again that weekend. Because I want my summatives ready to hand in as soon as I get back from the holidays, so I can start revising right away.

Ahhh, naive optimism...



(For some reason, I don't feel stressed. Just... very, very aware of how much I have to do. I have about 5 minutes of panic every day, which I don't try to suppress, I just go get chocolate and read TV Tropes till it goes away. And when people ask me how I am, they might be a little surprised at how high and fast my voice has gotten. But other than that... I'm OK. Ish.)


PS: MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY IS FINALLY OUT ON DVD IN ENGLAND!!! I... I MAY HAVE TO GET A COPY FOR MY MUM AND MYSELF. Because it'd be a perfect birthday/Mothers Day present for her, but then I'll only be able to watch it when I'm at home, and GODDAMN I WILL NEED THE HAPPY FLUFF DURING THE EXAMS.

Having just finished cleaning up the kitchen ready for Claire to cook us all Christmas dinner (the only real way I can help) I'm in a productive mood. So, I think it's time I finally faced up to how much I have to do over the Christmas holidays, in respective orders of importance.

WORK

1. Finish first section of my dissertation - aka, the Mummy Issues of Achilles and Aeneas - 2500 words, ready for handing in and marking.

2. Summative commentary for Love and Sex in Ancient Poetry on a Greek lyric poem, I can't remember which one - 2000 words max, not expected to write that much.

3. Formative essay for Roman Religion, probably 'Is conversion possible within a polytheistic society?', 1500-2000 words.

4. Formative essay for Interpreting Greek Tragedy Today, '[insert critical approach here] is the best approach for interpreting [insert Greek tragedy here]', 1500-2000 words.

5. Formative essay for Love and Sex in Ancient Poetry, '"Catullus... invented the love poem" (Tom Stoppard) Do you agree?', 2000 words max.

WRITING

1. Edit The Unexpected Apocalypse of Thomas Cautious Van Helsing aka Vampire Story sufficiently to send out to people who've requested it for feedback.

2. Write Heroes Christmas fic exchange story.

2. Write Zombie/Freshers Flu Outbreak movie for Film soc.

3. Carry on world building for Society of Illegal Scholars, Cambion and Monster Town.

WRANDOM

1. Tidy and organise room up in Durham.

2. Figure out a better, more focussed Masters proposal.

3. Go see Les Miserables with Frankie.

4. Go to Babylon exhibit at the British museum.

5. Make How I Met the Yellow-Eyed Demon Who Killed Your Mother macro series.

6. Finish a cross-stitch.

7. Sleep, at some point, if you get time.



.... well.... crap.

I FINALLY HAVE AN MA DISSERTATION TOPIC

WHICH I HAVE WRITTEN A REASONABLE PROPOSAL BASED ON

I ACTUALLY SOUND LIKE I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT

****I MIGHT ACTUALLY PULL THIS OFF****



(Fuck you dude who already wrote a book on the subject, my MA's going to be BETTER. I don't CARE your book costs £49 on Amazon.)




Now... onto my dissertation for this year! Which... I've totally been neglecting. And the first section is due in soon. Oh... fuck.

Most of mine are self-inflicted, to be fair.* But we have to get preliminary proposals in for MA funding to the lecturer organising it by the 2nd, and I'm torn between two fields, and the lecturer for the other field isn't even HERE this term. I could just not apply for funding, since it's practically a 'lottery' anyway (lecturer's words, not mine), and leave it for a nice couple of months not having to worry about it - but then, yeah, money is nice.

( Cut for more Classics blather. )

And my other source of confusion? So I just a got a link to a clip of the Twilight movie, which supposedly contained *~*~*TEH SPARKLES*~*~*. Now, I can't wait to see Edward Sparklepire Up, because I think it's going to fill me with enough LOLz to carry me through to the New Year.

Yet just before we hit that bit in the clip... I closed the window. Because I realised I don't want it spoiled for me. I want to see it first on the huge screen, in all its high-def widescreen sparkle glory, for full LOL impact.

But... this is a new sensation. Not wanting to have the movie experience of Twilight ruined for me.

I may have to shower when I get home.



*Hang on, I'm being fair to life? Well, let's hope it repays the favour. You know, some day.



PS: Just found this site, Photoshop Disasters - the single greatest website for anyone who's ever looked at a model in a magazine and sadly put down a cookie.

Just had awesome 'Love & Sex in Ancient Poetry' lecture discussing whether this poem where Catullus says he's going to anal-rape a couple of guys to prove his virility ("WRITING ABOUT KISSING DOES NOT MAKE ME A SISSY") is meant in a jocular fashion or "Seriously, guys, I'm gonna come rape you."

Then ran into one of my favourite lecturers, who completely randomly decided to tell me she was really enjoying my Petronius translations, that my presentation on Death was really interesting, that my formative unseen was 'not that great, but solid', and how my exam results in previous years weren't reflecting how good I could be.

It's true. I'm working so much better this year. I don't know why. It's like something's clicked, like I finally understand what uni and studying is all about, and suddenly my brain's so much clearer and can work so much easier and faster.

Which is one of the main reasons I want to do a Masters. I don't want to have only just figured out how awesome uni can be in my final year.

( Cut for detailed blathering about Classics. )

I sent in my (1800 word, ahem) outline to my superviser the other day, and spoke to him today after class about it. He had to confess that he still hasn't seen the show and he actually wound up going on wikipedia to try and find out what happened in it (I nodded understandingly and bit my lip to stop myself going "AHAHAHAHAHA NOW YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS") but, non-nerd that he is, just got stuck on the main page and didn't find anything useful. I pointed him in the direction of the episode list with small summaries, and am considering sending him to Television Without Pity and their recaplets. Though the site looks really weird now.

But he said it looks interesting! I may have to cut out some of the character examinations though, currently I've only got about 1000 words space to compare each one. And I'm sure anyone would agree that is nowhere near enough to compare and contrast the stories of Achilles and Sylar, and their respective mummy issues.

He pointed out something pretty interesting though. In epic, it's the heroes with goddesses for mothers - Achilles and Aeneas - who are the huge groundbreakers movers-and-shakers in the epic world. Because gods are off having sex and fathering kids all the time, it's when a goddess makes the effort that the world is changed. Achilles and Aeneas in Heroes are, my dissertation argues, Sylar and Nathan - pretty much the most influential characters in series 1, at least. Interesting.

He also talked about the problems for "half-bloods" (his word, not mine :D) in epic - characters who were born of both gods and mortals and therefore had one heck of an identity crisis. He asked if there was anyone like that in Heroes. The only one I could think of was Sylar, and yeah, he has a couple of issues.

Best thing is? He hasn't told me it's a stupid idea yet! And once I've started writing it, there's no going back! My dissertation is going to be on Heroes and Epic, FO SHIZZLE.

HAPPY DAY.

Other awesome news from today: Claire's found somewhere online I can order my DEELEECIOUS Blue Dragon Won Ton Soup (utter nomminess AND just over 100 calories, without ridiculous amounts of salt and fat either. WHY ARE WEIGHT WATCHERS NOT IN ON THIS.) since Tescos became retwarts and stopped selling it, and ALSO online (place of wonders) I found Krrish on DVD! Krrish being the Bollywood superhero film starring the villain from Dhoom 2 (one of the few films I adore so much I want to draw big hearts around it) which sounds so ridiculously cheesy fun I'm probably going to tear the packaging off it and shove it right in the DVD player the second it comes through my door.

I mean, seriously. I found a clip on youtube. LOOKIT.



Life, it is good.

So, I just finished my dissertation outline, which looks as though it'll change even more over the coming weeks with each new episode of Heroes.

It's already 1800 words. The entire thing only has to be 8000.

There's going to be a long editing process.



ETA: So Alyson Hannigan's pregnant! So, I guess this means they'll make Lily pregnant on HIMYM! This is VERY EXCITING!

Feeling much better today. Still slightly worn out and was a bit anxious on my way to the department this morning, but at least that's over for another month or so.

I went to speak to my tutor, and as opposed to the hurried brush-off I got yesterday (I guess he really was in a rush) he said straight off that he'd been speaking to other staff at the Classics department and they thought my dissertation was perfectly viable, and they thought an interesting direction I could take it in was the generational influence on heroism in epic and Heroes.

Which... DUDE.

Because the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid are chock-full of Daddy Issues, just like Heroes. Diomedes is warned by Apollo not to become like his father and Athena tells him he's nowhere near as good, which, Matt, anyone, and Priam gets to Achilles through appealing to his love for his father, and Hector has Astyanax, and Odysseus has Telemachus, and don't even get me started on Aeneas. I may just do an entire chapter of this dissertation on Aeneas and Nathan and their comparative Daddy Issues.

I actually really wanted to a dissertation on Daddy Issues in epic. Now I get to do it comparing them to Heroes?? AWESOME.

Yes, it's still going to be complicated and difficult, but as people have said, at least I'll care about it and want it to be good, just to prove I can. Dr Pitcher was really regretful that he's not going to be around next year to supervise it, but said that quite a few of his colleagues have expressed interest in being my tutor. Which... hell, I didn't even know any of them knew my NAME.

Except for Tennant-Lecturer. But he's wonderful in so many more ways besides that. I may try to find an excuse to go see the puppy this afternoon.



AND I AM SEEING SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY AND DAVID ANDERS TOMORROW LALALALALALA HOW COULD I STAY SAD KNOWING THAT IN JUST OVER 30 HOURS I WILL HAVE SEEN THE *~*~*~SUNSHINE SMILE*~*~*~* IN PERSON?!?!?

So yeah, I went down to Oxford completely randomly yesterday to see Frankie, my sister and the comedy production of the Aeneid - which was actually really good. I must admit, I didn't have the highest hopes for it, but as soon as Achates yelled "YATTA!" I knew I was in good hands. Classicist geeky hands. Whoever wrote it really did know the Aeneid, had a good sense of humour, and also happened to be a giant dork. BRILLIANCE.

I got back this afternoon and went straight to see Tennant-lecturer and get an essay back. And seriously, he may be the best lecturer ever. The fact he looks and dresses like David Tennant aside (though today he was wearing an oversized hoodie, which was somehow even more adorkable), he gave me really good feedback on my essay - saying that basically it was definitely First standard, but I'd made a couple of mistakes which he wanted me to take seriously, and so "only" gave me a 2:1 (I tried not to look too ecstatic at just managing to get a 2:1) and explained them thoroughly - and THEN gave me a toffee, and let me play with the puppy.

For real.

"Ah! Student! Your essay is fantastic, I only gave you a lower mark so that your later essays may be even more fantastic. But in case you are disappointed, here, have sugary goodness and an adorable black labrador puppy to play with!"

!!!

Ahem. Moving on from adorkability, I also finally got to see my other lecturer about my Heroes dissertation. He said that he thought it was a really interesting idea - he was amazed he hadn't seen the Aeneas/Nathan parallels himself, and said "You score, for that" - and he was going to talk to his "colleagues" (I'm guessing he means a network of similarly geeky Classicist lecturers on the internets) about how viable it would be, considering it has to fit firmly into the 'Classics' boundary rather than popular culture. But he said he'd definitely want to read it, and that it 'had legs', which just made me think of the Luggage in Discworld.

He suggested the angle of the changing concept of heroism, and how past stories influence it, which I think could be interesting, especially bringing in Takezo Kensei and the ElderHeroes and their influence on characters' actions in series 2. He's going to look into some books for me and e-mail me back about it - so, yay!

In other news - WATCHMEN CHARACTER PICTURES ARE UP! Oh, Zack Snyder, please don't break my heart with this. Also, I can't help but think how inappropriate Silk Spectre's costume is for crimefighting - I mean, how's she supposed to run in those boots? I know that's kinda the point, but still...

I've figured I must really want to do the 'Heroes in Epic and Heroes' one, because why else would I keep desperately looking for things to talk about?

I STILL haven't managed to talk to Dr Pitcher about it, but I did mention it to one of my other favourite lecturers Crazy Lady today. She said it was a good idea, that reception of Classics is a very "in" topic right now, but said it could be very very complicated. It doesn't take much to shake my confidence, so I spent all the way home talking at my friend Louise about it, and she tried to help, even though she hadn't seen Heroes.

( Musings )

PS The song I'm listening to? SO MUCH LOVE. At first I only had the Mandy Moore version, which I listened to lots despite a level of shame akin to that of having Take That as the 2nd most played song on my iTunes ('Rule the World' is pretty! When I was in the midst of my Stardust obsession, IT WAS ALL I HAD!), but now I've found this version AND I LOVE IT AND DO NOT HAVE TO FEEL ASHAMED ANY MORE. Except for the fact Take That is still 3rd. 'A Promise to Return' from Battlestar Galactica overtook it, with its PRETTY VIOLINS.

Completely randomly (and procrastinatingly) I started thinking about who I realistically wanted to end up together in the Heroes fandom. Or to at least get together in the next series for interesting plot-ness.

( Cut for pointlessness, spoilers for series 2 and the fact most of them AREN'T HOYAY )

Meanwhile, back in real life, Frankie's just gone home from spending the weekend up here, which was great, but now I have two weeks to get my act together and start doing real proper serious work. I have two summative essays to do for the end of the holidays, but thankfully they're topics that interest me - which epic heroes Aeneas emulates, and the role of surprise in the Ancient Novel.

And I have a meeting with my geeky lecturer tomorrow to talk about my dissertation. I ran the two new classics/sci-fi ideas past my tutor, and he said the Heroes one sounded especially interesting, but that since he'd seen neither show he thought I should talk to someone who knew a lot more about it...

So. 'Heroes in epic and Heroes'. It may actually be happening.

GUYS IT'S LEAP YEAR DAY! I absolutely love this day of the year. I have this 5-year diary I've been writing in since I was 15 (I'm on the last year now, it's freaking me out) and it has a day for February 29th EVERY YEAR. So when it wasn't actually a leap year, I'd make up loads of crazy and awesome stuff I'd been doing that day. So now when it IS a leap year, I still have the feeling that it's my day for doing something completely crazy and awesome, because HEY, TODAY DOESN'T EXIST.

Anyway, I got it off to a weird start. trinityblack and reasonablycrazy, I don't recommend reading this, it involves feet.

( An odd dream. Not the cracky kind of weird, just... weird. With added GOOOOOORE. FEET GORE. )

In other news, I am loving Supernatural and Torchwood right now. And I have a meeting with my tutor today about my dissertation.

PS: I have a new strategy for getting through translating the Georgics (epic poetry about beekeeping with major Augustan propaganda) - I've started drawing BEES. But not just any bees - Beeowulf, Harbee Potter & Lord Voldbeemort, Leonbeedas (THIS! IS! NECTAAAR!), Noah Beennet, Beeter & Nathan Beetrelli... it's strangely addictive.

PPS: I've just noticed on the schedule for the Heroes Convention that Cristine and David are going to be giving interviews on the stage TOGETHER. KAMAFANFIGVSPSPFNSMSWEL SO MUCH AWESOME ON ONE STAGE. Also SENDHIL AND SANTIAGO. Dammit, my sister and I aren't going to hear a WORD THEY SAY.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do for my dissertation.

Basically, I've narrowed it down to either the Apollo in the Iliad and the Aeneid one, or something to do with Classics and sci-fi - either A comparison of The Aeneid and Battlestar Galactica or Heroes in epic and Heroes. So now I'm going to think out loud and ask you guys what you think.

Apollo in the Iliad and the Aeneid - While nothing immediately springs to mind to say about this, I'm pretty sure some close re-reading of the texts will give me lots of things to say. I mean, in the Iliad Apollo's the god who's obsessed with keeping fate on track and those pesky mortals in their place - in the Aeneid, he's become Augustus's BFF, and so he might be presented as even more favourable towards the Trojans, and not just helping them because fate says he should. I feel I should already know stuff like this, but hey, we've already established I don't do enough reading as a Classicist. I get the idea this would be the easiest one to write, as a direct comparison, and I could bring in lots of things about Apollo in other texts, the role of the gods in the poems, and lovely Augustan propaganda of course.

A comparison of The Aeneid and Battlestar Galactica - On a whim, I started writing down similarities in plot and character between these two, and... yeah, there's a lot. I mean, there's the duh obvious - group of refugees fleeing their war-torn home seeking another distant homeland, the main character being actually called Apollo - but there's also more subtle stuff, like both the leads being taken on spiritual journeys accompanied by guides - either blatant, like Starbuck and Leoben, or more subtle, like Lee and Romo - in order to get guidance from their deceased parents, and rediscover their destinies or set the fleet's moral compass respectively. Again, I'm pretty sure if I thought more about this, I'd come up with loads of stuff, though it could be harder to write in terms of structure.

Heroes in epic and Heroes - I'm growing less and less sure about this one. Sure, the research would be super fun, and the parallels aren't as blatant as in Battlestar Galactica so it would appear to be more of a challenge - but that's just it, it might just appear to be me grabbing at straws in trying to find symbolism. I mean, there's Mohinder on a quest on behalf of his father, aided by a powerful being who was previously tagging along around his father (though Athena didn't eat brains, in fact she was rather opposed to it if I recall) and Peter getting distracted by some foreign girl in a weird country and forgetting his destiny (though Aeneas never went anywhere near the Haitian... or so we think) until he's forcibly reminded of it and loses her in the process. And then there's interesting differences, like Nathan having full knowledge of the forthcoming destruction of his city and being repeatedly told by his mother to leave it to its fate and build a bright new world elsewhere - but instead choosing to stay and try to save it, even if it costs him his life. Genetics and powers are totally the new gods and demigods, and there's even an already established mytharc it fits into... OK, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. But I get the feeling it would be the most difficult and complicated of the three.

Thoughts?

PS: I can't believe I only just thought of this - Linderman freakin' SAYS to Nathan he has to choose between a life of happiness and a life of Achilles meaning (no kidding, I did accidentally type Achilles there). KLEOS MUCH.

I just watched Becoming Jane for the first time. While I know an inordinate amount of my love for it surely comes from the adorable beautiful presence of James MacAvoy, it was still a good film. It's kind of like Pride & Prejudice-lite, except it doesn't have a happy ending. I continued my trend of getting emotionally involved in films, and for about the last half hour I was going "No! Nononononono I HATE YOU HISTORY." But it's still really nicely shot, Anne Hathaway had amazing chemistry with James MacAvoy and made an admirable attempt at the accent, the costumes were preeeettyyyy, it just managed to not make me weep - and of course, James MacAvoy didn't hurt. He swung from scoundrel to utter adorability in way that I think it did irreparable damage to my ovaries.

And of course, the film was about a writer. Which was just all the better for me right now, since over the past few days I've been thinking about how I'm missing writing. I mean, I know I'm writing Sylinder, but that doesn't even feel like writing - just imagining scenarious and letting the crack spill onto the page. I can't believe I'm still constantly thinking about The Society of Illegal Scholars - I mean, it was inspired by a random poster on a walk through Durham! - but over this weekend, when I was pretending to be a nun and staring wide-eyed around the room looking scared, I was actually thinking about the story, and musing about plot and characters. Writing seriously, like the Sims, is something I don't let myself do during term time any more, because it's addictive - but I miss it.

Back when I first started writing, years ago, both my sister and my English teacher told me I wasn't a good writer, which didn't exactly start me off with the greatest confidence. Though looking back at the stuff I was writing then, I don't exactly blame them: horrific Mary-Sues, overambitious cliched melodramatic fantasy epics and mindless unfunny parodies of films. But hey, I kept trying. And now - after years of fanfic, two novels (one confused NaNoWriMo and one ambitious summer project that would get me carbombed by Christian fundamentalists) and now a slashy sitcom mostly reviewed in capital letters and smileys - my self-esteem is finally allowing that maybe I'm not the worst writer to ever dare approach a keyboard.

Being an author just seems like a dream career for me, and I actually think I'm going to go for it. I think I might have been inspired by reasonablycrazy - see, Jackie, your crazy is contagious. But yeah. I'm going to try to get a job somewhere with anything to do with writing - maybe journalism, maybe publishing, maybe just stay in academia till the end of my days - and write in my free time. Before then, I'm going to finally finish editing Don't They Know and give it to more people to read and get feedback on. (I've already showed it to two people - one of them already has ships and slash for it!) And then this summer, I will finally - finally - write The Society of Illegal Scholars. Because I have the opening chapter and main characters set up in my head, and a plot that seems to be writing itself, and I want to know what happens next.

In fact, since I'm in an ambitious mood and this entry's already spiralled on far longer than I was expecting, I'm going to post the first chapter here. Let me know what you think.


Moving swiftly on. Another film I saw lately? Was The Terminator. And it was AWESOME. I'm resisting the temptation to buy the entire trilogy off Amazon, and to hunt down every single film Michael Biehn has ever been in. Though one thing the film did was fill me with even more blank astonishment that Arnold Schwarzenegger could one day be president.

Oh, and my dissertation? It's now between the Apollo one and the Sci-Fi one. I think it depends on how many Classics references I can think of in Heroes in my lectures tomorrow.