Becca Stareyes

Back! Also, an essay...

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:55:23 GMT

I'm in the mood for an essay, so here's an essay. Also, I am back.

So, my friend, Katie, (lasafara) was reading the Twilight series. Her overall opinion? Bad, but not horrible, with moments of 'SMeyer, that was a cool seed of an idea -- why didn't you do something with it?'. Well, until she got to Breaking Dawn the fourth and final book in the series, where she was Not Happy.

That opinion seems to be shared with the rest of the fandom -- I haven't read the books myself, but I keep informed about the fandom. They were not pleased (except for the non-teenaged group Twilight Moms, who have stifled any dissent on their boards), and were planning on a campaign to return the books. Incidentally, Barnes and Noble now has a new return policy that I just found out about when I bought John Scalzi's latest book.

So, one of the points brought up was the name of Bella and Edward's child: "Renesmee Carli Cullen" (Sp?), named after an astounding 4 people at once. Names really set the stage for a series, let me tell you. My friend, Heather, has a comic where the main character is named Gin Bacardi and the villain is Necromancer von Evilstein. Heather's previous attempt at a comic, Donut Girls (an anime parody) featured such characters as Evil T. Bishounen (bishounen = beautiful boy). Heather has a gift for naming characters, as long as she is doing humorous work.

Other writers go with a serious thing. I remember, when I was writing my old webcomic, I had a whole explanation for the cultural mismash of names. (Granted, it was because I had picked out names mostly randomly, and needed an explanation, but that explains half of that comic.) Now, I make sure the names all have a certain feel to them -- having characters named Hendrick, Sharvari, Uhuru, Francisco, Oisín, and Yusef has a totally different feel than people named Robert, Richard, Karen, Donald, James and Mary. It's one thing that Gene Roddenberry did deliberately with Star Trek -- the (human) leads were James Kirk and Leonard McCoy, but the rest of the crew was Montgomery Scott, Uhura, Hiraku Sulu, Christine Chapel and Pavel Chekov, even if two of them never got first names in the original series (and Uhura's first name was never fixed in canon). It creates a whole different feel to the ship -- like it really was populated by people whose ancestors were from all over Earth. Heck, I even recall an interview where someone notes that Chekov was introduced as a distinct acknowledgment to the Soviet Union's space program. If Roddenberry was alive today, we might have gotten Li Zhou and Parvati Gupta as acknowledgments of other nations' space programs.

It's also one thing that drives me batty about Avatar. Some Fire Nation names sound pretty consistent: the Royal Family (Sozin, Azulon, Ozai, Iroh, Zuko, and Azula) and Aang's old friend Kuzon. Then we get names like Jeong Jeong, Mai, Piandao and Ty Lee, which sound different (never mind that Mai is pronounced 'Mei' and Ty Lee probably should be spelt 'Tai Li'). It could be that there have been several cultures that eventually were united under a Firelord, and the naming still has that influence, just like we have names from all over Europe, some changed and some not, in the United States.

And don't even get me started about the dreaded fantasy apostrophe...

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Names = important. So, Twilight... now, done right, Bella's naming of her daughter could have told us something about her. See, if I understand the story right, Bella took up with Edward, a vampire, and wants to become one as well. Edward, on the other hand, refuses to turn Bella until after they are married. Turns out he knocked her up on the wedding night, leading to Dhampir Baby Girl Cullen. Now, the name could represent someone who just realized that if she wanted a big family, it's too late now (unless she adopts), and that all the names she considered for a kid, or all the relatives she wanted to honor, have to be fit into one baby. So, it could represent a second thought on the whole 'becoming an immortal undead' thing -- that, if Bella wanted a big family, she's not going to have it the normal human way. I can't speak for the execution (what with the 'not having read anything, and not planning on it'), but that could be pulled off. Most reviews I've read note that Bella's characterization is a bit weak at best, besides the 'OMGYoungLove' thing, so this could be a way of showing some more depth to the female lead of a series.

Or, it could just be that the author thought that smushing four names together was perfectly reasonable for the kidlet. Names are important, but execution is also important. If, to use the Star Trek example above, the casting department had just cast all-white actors for the crew of the USS Enterprise, all of Roddenberry's writing work would have been for naught.

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:16:50 GMT

Going to visit my family. Be back next weekend.

(I'm bound for Hampton, NH for a couple of days, then down to Boston for the second weekend.)

Science!

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 01:44:52 GMT

So, I have a cough. Don't know what it's from, but it's been annoying me for the last week.

Today I brewed up some ginger tea. I'm trying to decide if the ginger is what's helping the cough, or if it was the shower I had, or just having lots of fluids, or if it's just a matter of not noticing as much.

I should try an experiment.

Science Fiction Authors -- Thank you Robert Heinlein; No Thanks, Orson Scott Card

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 01:22:20 GMT

"The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he's one who asks the right questions." -- Claude Levi-Strauss

So, this was in response to Orson Scott Card's essay against same-sex marriage. I don't agree with Mister Card, and I think his argument has some fundamental flaws. One of them I will be addressing here.

Mister Card asserts that the union of a man and a woman is natural, and he seems to act like opposite-sex marriage is a universally defined thing that is hard-wired into our genes. Let us assume that Mister Card views opposite-sex polygyny and polyandry as a number of male-female relationships, or else he looks rather silly in claiming that opposite-sex monogamy is universal, since I can think of a number of cultural sources I know he would be familiar with (read: the Old Testament of the Bible) that depict polygyny. (For that matter, here I note that Mister Card is a member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, and the history of his religion* shows that monogamy is by no means universal.)

* Not to mention that I'm sure, as a LDS member, Mister Card has occasionally had to deal with the people who mistake the splinter groups (such as Warren Jeffs's Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints) as the mainstream group. Which means he has heard about people who practice polygyny today, in the United States.

It's still a dumb argument, though. Because it's not true, and can be shown to be not true by studying some anthropology. Or... well, I got it from reading Robert Heinlein. For which I want to thank him -- whatever questionable things he might have written, he clued me in that I shouldn't necessarily assume because the world works in a certain way for me, that that is the only or best way it can work. (He also gave me the first book I really argued with, in Starship Troopers.)

So, there's a scene in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress where Manny (Manuel O'Kelly Davis the main character, and a native of the prison colony on the Moon -- Manny himself is not a prisoner, but he was the descendent of prisoners) and Prof (Professor Bernardo de la Paz, the Obvious Heinlein Stand-In*, an elderly Latino political dissident.) are on Earth, campaigning for the recognition of lunar independence. They are in the Southeast US, and Manny is talking about his family to listeners. Manny is in what the Loonies call a line-marriage -- a polygamous situation where alternating men and women marry into the family. Every indication is that in a line marriage, you are married to the whole family, though Heinlein implies that only opposite-sex interactions go on -- Manny is shown with several of his wives, but none of his husbands (and similar with other wives or husbands in the Davis family). He still calls them his husbands, though. He's trying to explain how this works to a Terrestrial woman, and admits he's pretty biased towards his family, and then Prof butts in and explains that marriages are shaped by the society, and that a line-marriage was a wonderful way to deal with a society that had no economic security and no biological extended family.

* It's a Heinlein trope -- you get used to it, or you get sick of it.

And this is where I got the Cluebat of 'See? Not everywhere has to work like Late 20th Century Nebraska?' (also 'things happen for a reason in societies'). And, it was a good Cluebat, both for me as a writer and me as a person. It showed me that hey, people do what works, and what works changes in time and space. Now, just because something works doesn't mean it's the best possible solution, and there can be social conflict when a group says 'Hey, this doesn't work for me' or 'hey, this has this undesirable side effect, so let's try it this way'. Like... oh, the same-sex marriage thing. We have a bunch of people pointing out that 'hey, heterosexual monogamy doesn't work for me, because our culture stresses finding a partner you are romantically and sexually compatible with, and I'm attracted to a person of my own sex'. And, heck, it's happening now, because we've already made a shift to stress marriage base don love rather than one based on economic factors or care for children.

Not that children and economics aren't important, but there are now alternate means for both, and a marriage doesn't need either. For example, I recall reading an article about how some single mothers will find friends or siblings or parents to help them out with childrearing and income. As for economics, I know plenty of economically-sucessful single folk. Furthermore, if you had a childless two-income household, marriage doesn't add as much to the equation as the one-income-with-kids household. If the former dissolved, all the people involved would still function in society. The latter... not so much.

So, it's up to us to decide what we want marriage to be, since right now it is a number of things. It's getting insurance benefits and next-of-kin rights, and making sure your spouse can't be deported. It's also making paternity a lot easier. But, it's also a way of adopting a lover into your family, not just in your heart, but in the wider social sphere. And a declaration of love. And, for many people, it might be standing before God and saying 'this person and I are joined'. And a thousand other things. Those aren't universal. What marriage means to two people in the USA might be different -- I can tell you right now that if I and, Mister Card, or someone like Reverend Phelps, got down to discussing it, we'd probably disagree. (Then again, my feelings towards Fred Phelps are such that if he said the sky was blue, I'd have to look out the window to confirm. I have never heard of a man who has become more of a caricature of his cause than him.) Now, get together humans from all different points on Earth and points in time... yeah, not gonna happen.

The reason I have the quote at the top of this is because of the point. Mister Heinlein didn't always have the right answers. But, he at least got me asking the right questions. Not just about my writing, but about the world around me.

Extra-curricular Activities

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:01:21 GMT

So, I found a bunch of old series posts that I'll be refurbishing for fandom_of_one. I'll post links if I write anything -- check it out for rare fandom goodness, or just books to read.

Criminy, I just realized I was planning on being away for the Bujold fic festival. And I still need to finish both fics I signed up for. And the mrcaex picture I'm months behind. And I have a hat to make, and two outstanding applications for digital_dive/. (That and needing to fend off a third character -- no, I am not allowed to play anyone from the DC universe when all I've read is Birds of Prey and comics blogs. And, no, I am not allowed to buy the DVD for the TV series of that show. At least, not until I finish Babylon 5 and PlanetES. Not to mention Twelve Kingdoms -- which I wanted anyway, but bought partially for CJAS viewing.)

Long Essay is long

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:55:23 GMT

SO, I just had this realization, brought to you by reading the comments of Mem's rant on why she loves Aang from Avatar and hates Avatar fandom.

Aang from Avatar is so Luke Skywalker, and this actually makes the Star Wars prequels make sense. (Also, dead Joseph Campbell can just shut up)

So, we have Aang. Normal kid, except for the fact he was raised by monks and is the Avatar, the once-per-generation Chosen One that is supposed to keep the balance. Except, he seals himself in an iceberg for 100 years, which lets things get out of balance (well, part of that was that his past life didn't want to hurt his BFF the Firelord, which left Aang born into a bit of a situation, that didn't get better with 100 years of no one paying attention). So, now he has to restore the balance to the world.

End of the second part of three, he finds a master, who promises to teach him the secrets to unlocking his full power -- part of that is detaching himself from the world. As part of that, he gets a vision that his friends are in danger, so goes storming off, says 'to heck with detachment', and nearly gets killed. (Well, or does, and gets brought back by the Chekov's Water Katara was hauling around for the entire season. Good thing she forgot about it (or actually believed the, 'I'll be fine, really') when Jet was dying (or whatveer Jet was doing -- 'Did Jet die?' 'You know, it was really unclear'.) )

Yeah, starting to sound familiar?

Anyhoo, Aang spends half of the finale trying to come to terms with going after ~~Firelord~~ ~~Phoenix King~~ Big Bad Evil Fire Guy Ozai (who is also voiced by Mark Hamill), since everyone (his friends, his enemies, his past lives), assumes that he is gonna kill Ozai. And, well, Aang is non-violent -- short of when he flips out and his past lives' defense mechanism triggers, he goes for the disable in fights. Heck, he even has problems learning how to manipulate earth and fire because his own style is more about avoiding things, rather than facing them head-on (and he couldn't firebend until he realized that fire wasn't inherently destructive). Eventually, he goes into the Avatar State (aforementioned uber-powerful self-defense mechanism), nearly kills Ozai despite himself, and then pulls himself out of it long enough to tell Ozai that he wasn't going to kill him -- instead, he would try to take away Ozai's firebending, which requires him to not only be the Avatar, but be incredibly strong and pure of spirit.

So, anyway, Mem in her essay/squeefest mentions that Aang has two traits in his favor. One is compassion -- he doesn't want to kill even a deserving scumbag like Ozai. More than that, his friends anchor him in the world, and his past lives made the point that the Avatar cannot seek personal enlightenment at the expense of his duty to the world. Basically, while most Airbenders can detach themselves from worldly concern, the Avatar has to be involved with the world to balance it -- I'd make some quantum physics joke here, but it's not necessary. Aang's devotion to his friends is the microcosm of his devotion to the entire world. Yeah, it's one of those stories where love (plus a lot of hard work, kickass allies, and a convenient lion-turtle) helps triumph over competent, powerful, and evil.

Anyway, aside from Luke doing the same damn thing with his own training, I could argue that Luke was the chosen one. In order to not only break the Emperor but break the Empire, and reclaim the Jedi, Luke needed to do what he did -- not kill the Emperor, but win over his dad. And that took caring -- I mean, if Luke was able to forgive Vader for his crimes against Luke*, it helped give Vader the one link back to the Light Side.

* Don't think Luke can forgive him for Alderaan, or killing Jedi younglings or any of that. Not because Luke is incapable, but because Luke wasn't a victim of those, so has no ability to forgive for them. He could forgive for the hand, and killing his aunt and uncle, and those kind of things.

Which in its own way, was restoring balance to the force. If you argue that maybe the Jedi were wrong to detach themselves from the rest of the universe, since you can't study the Force without studying life (which creates the Force, and the Force creates life). So, we have a Jedi that is unable to do this (Anakin), and then ends up destroying the system because of it. And, Luke brings it back to what it should be -- Jedi who love the world because they love the things and people in it. Which probably prevents another Vader. So, the entire Star Wars story becomes a discussion about how to live in the world, and shows that one cannot both be the guardians of Good and live detached from the world -- one either has to live and love in the world and be able to affect it, or detach from the world and seek enlightenment. One cannot detach only to rain down judgement with light-sabers. (Or fiery death -- one of the things Iroh says in Avatar is that he or Zuko couldn't kill Ozai. Not just because they probably couldn't win, but because that wouldn't change anything. And one of Aang's points was that Ozai was a danger to the balance of the world, but Aang didn't feel like he should decide who deserved to died, just because he was the Avatar, when there was another method to restore the balance*)

* Besides just asking him to give it up, I mean.

Yeah, this probably goes against EU canon, but I kinda like it.

The cure might be worse than the disease...

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:00:12 GMT

Stomach upset. Tried making a solution of baking soda and water on the basis that if it was caused by excess acid, swallowing a base would neutralize it. I think I used too much baking soda.

For the record, I have been burping up CO₂ (I presume) for the last fifteen minutes, my stomach feels worse, and there's still an acid-burning feeling in the back of my throat. That and baking soda tastes like a mix between salt and soap, which is a disgusting taste.

Morning ramblings...

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:54:33 GMT

I always get nervous about writing fight scenes in RPGs. Especially online ones where I don't have stats -- it's one reason I prefer things like d20 where I can set out exactly how powerful my character is, and his or her opponents. I'm always afraid I won't take a hit properly, or something.

I need to start working on the fics I promised to write for Bujold fest. And leave my prompts for the Avatar Fanfest on IJ.

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:43:49 GMT

Well, I've finally finished Avatar.

I have no coherent comments, so you'll have to do with squeeing. Just imagine one of Sokka's incoherent expressions of emotion.

^_________^

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:47:50 GMT

So, yesterday someone in the Borders manga aisle asked me out of nowhere if it was true that Japanese was read backward -- her boyfriend/male friend/brother/some guy had just told her this and she didn't believe him. I also managed to ride on the same bus to the mall as two people I know. Yeah, Ithaca isn't that big, and I live on the downtown-mall bus route (at least on weekends -- the route changes on weekends to better swing by all the dorms instead of the part of campus with the classrooms. As a result, the bus stop where I live moves about a block.)

I had more thoughts, but I can't think of them. D&D continues to be fun. Dave is talking about running a one-shot of Paranoia, and I am temped to see how obnoxiously perky I can be while playing Paranoia.

I missed the Avatar finale tonight, but will catch it tomorrow.

Avatar Episodes

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:45:55 GMT

So, when I was a middle schooler, I was a big Star Trek Deep Space Nine fan. And, well, one thing lead to another, and the series had to introduce a character, Ezri Dax, in the final season. So, the series writers had to concentrate on finishing up all the story arcs, and fleshing out Ezri's personality. It was... less than ideal.

In a way Avatar has the same problem. We already know who Zuko is, but we haven't established much about how he interacts with the Gaang, besides that Katara is Not Happy with him, Toph doesn't give a damn, and Aang is willing to give him a chance. So, the last couple of episodes have been setting up how Zuko interacts with the cast, and tying up a few plot threads (like what happened to Suki, and how Katara's mother actually died) -- the cast even comments about it (when Katara and Zuko go ask to borrow Aang's bison, Sokka asks if it's her turn for 'Field Trip with Zuko'). This does lead to Sokka and Zuko, awesome comic duo.

For the record, Suki is awesome in a can -- she rivals the awesomeness of Toph. (Who is sadly pretty quiet in The Boiling Rock and The Southern Raiders.) Also, yay that she appears to be in the final lineup! And yay that she and Sokka were apparently sneaking off for romantic interludes -- though Zuko stumbling in instead was comic gold.

(Also, for the record, I think my Avatar favorite pairings are Sokka/Suki and Mai/Ty Lee. Though I also like Zuko/Mai. I know a couple of people on the Avatar community didn't believe Mai and Ty Lee's turncoat (especially Ty Lee, since she doesn't give a reason -- Mai at least says that she loves Zuko more than she fears Azula. And in the same day she chews him out for leaving her a Dear John letter. Dear Zuko, next time remember that keeping your girlfriend out of your life-altering decisions to protect her will either backfire or make her horribly pissed off at you. Possibly both. And the ladies of Avatar kick butt, so it is not smart for your continued health and well-being). Then again, Ty Lee also was bullied into coming along to help Azula -- she was along because she was afraid of Azula, so seeing that someone else could stand up to Azula might have given her courage. )

I did like the ending of 'The Southern Raiders', with Katara realizing that she couldn't forgive the man that killed her mother, but killing one retired soldier wouldn't do anything. Then Aang gets all 'violence doesn't solve problems', and then Zuko is 'Yeah, Firelord remember?'. It did keep the episode from becoming preachy by reminding the audience that things aren't nearly as simple as all that.

I'll try to catch Ember Island Players in the morning. I'm playing D&D during the finale, but I have to rely on iTunes anyway (no cable) -- with luck, the finale will be in my inbox Sunday morning. If not... I shall have to resort to alternate methods. Arr.

Parents in Avatar

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:32:20 GMT

So, I saw a post on the Avatar community on LJ discussing Toph's parents. For those of you who haven't seen the show, Toph is a blind terrakinetic (earthbending) 12-year-old girl who can see using vibrations through the earth. We also first meet her competing in an earthbending tournament that is a slightly less staged version of pro wrestling, which she wins. (At least, until Aang shows up -- since he can hover, she can't see to hit him. This earned him the nickname of 'Twinkletoes' from her.)

Toph's parents on the other hand, don't know that she can 'see'*, so shelter her to an extreme degree. We know she's been to Bah Sing Sei (one of the two major cities on the continent), and she has a passport, and can dress noble. On the other hand, most of the locals in her town aren't sure if her family even has a daughter, because she doesn't get to leave their house and garden much.

This eventually leads to her parents discovering that Toph is sneaking out to fight pro wresters (and winning), them freaking out, and her running away to join Our Heroes. They hire her old teacher and the MC of the tournament to bring her back.

There's a lot of blaming Toph's parents in the fandom, and the post I saw was trying to make the point that they weren't bad people -- they just were protective of their daughter, and not willing to let her run off to join a war or fight grown men. While I didn't agree with some of the minor points, I did agree with that. Heck, even the show presents Toph's parents' flaw not as freaking out over this, but in not realizing their their daughter can be treated as a mostly-normal 12 year old with slightly altered needs, rather than a delicate flower. (And shows that Toph had (and has) severe issues with authority -- any form of constraint was seen by Toph as an attempt to utterly control her-- and she really does want reconciliation with her parents, if they are able to accept that she doesn't need to be coddled any more than most kids her age.)

I kind of observed this problem in high school. People I knew with strict parents, would often just sneak out and do things anyway. I hate to go all pop-psychology on this (hey, it is my blog, though), but if you know your parents will freak out over a minor thing and a major thing, it's hard to learn the difference between them.

(Heck, I had to sneak a friend of mine a copy of 'The Golden Compass' because her mother refused to have the book in her house. This was last Christmas, mind you, and the friend is a college graduate (who was living at home because she lost her job as a psychologist's receptionist thanks to the psychologist being shady) and two years older than me.)

Probably what happened with Toph is that she was always adventurous (she went off exploring or ran away at age three, before she learned to see by vibrations) and her parents were always conservative and protective of their blind daughter, and the two fed back on one another -- the more Toph tried to break free, the more protective her parents got. Eventually, Toph just got so good at hiding things that things reached a status quo, until Aang and Co. came along, and accidentally exposed her activities. I always got the sense that, when she was younger, Toph tried, and eventually gave up, to tell her parents that she learned to sense vibrations in the earth from badger moles.

(Actually, come to think about it, of the young characters (excluding Aang, who was raised by monks and most of his parental issues seem to come from the fact he was raised by committee and even his mentor had to listen to the senior monks, and that everyone of those is 100 years dead), Katara and Sokka are the only ones with a really good dad and grandma, and even that family had problems, since their dad left for war when they were young, and both Sokka and Katara were affected by it. Mai felt like unless she was the perfect dutiful daughter and showed no sense of individuality, her parents wouldn't appreciate her. Ty Lee was from a big family and thought that unless she tried to be as different as possible, she would just be one of a group of sisters.

Then again, all of these are normal parent issues. The Fire Nation Royal Family wins by having abnormal (and abusive) issues, with Granddad Azulon ordering Daddy Ozai to kill his son for badmouthing his brother's grief at losing his son, (and then Ozai letting his wife take the blame when Azulon died in his sleep -- granted, she probably did kill him, but...) and Ozai maiming and banishing his teenaged son for questioning him at a strategy meeting. Heck, even Azula was affected by these -- as she puts it, her mother thought she was a monster. Granted, her mother was right, but it still hurt. )

Watching TV before work

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:02:28 GMT

So, episode 3 of Slayers is mostly a filler plot, with a couple of interesting pieces of information thrown in. The plot was also entertaining -- someone was stealing pets in a town, and Lina was getting blamed. Which is exactly how a filler episode should be (in my opinion) -- an interesting plot on its own, but not completely removed from the main story. If I know Slayers setups, normally they will be building to the mid-season plot right now -- so some filler and some set up. The first season didn't do this -- all of the first episodes were devoted to Rezo's plot -- but then they added in three episodes of 'meet the Saillunes' after. (Actually, thinking about it in this fashion makes me understand why they moved the Atlas City novel story to NEXT when it follows in between the two novels the first season adapted -- the first season adapted the two Rezo novels, and the Atlas City story introduces Seygram, who plays a role with Gaav later on. Something like that works better in novels, where there aren't these two units of stuff (the episode and the season) -- besides which, one never knows when the series will bomb.

My one critique of the episode is that a lot of Amelia and Zel's dialog felt forced -- they were completing each other's sentences. While I'm sure some shippers find it cute, it felt to me more like they were trying to divide one character's dialog for two people. I'm sure it is tricky, since Lina and Gourry are the stars, and, heck, Zel and Amelia weren't even in the novels after the equivalent of the end of NEXT (Novel 8). I'd have to see how they handled it in TRY, or in other filler episodes in NEXT.

I probably don't have time to watch "The Boiling Rock" before I need to be in for work. I'll have to watch it and "The Southern Raiders" after work. Which puts me exactly one day behind everyone else, but what are you gonna do?

Scraps...

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:11:06 GMT

One thing I rather like is when I'm rereading and I come across some inconsequential detail thrown in for background, that I notice because it relates to a future book. For example, I'm rereading The Sharing Knife: Legacy, and just found a place where Shaun mentions to Dag what he heard happen in Log Hollow when a Lakewalker patroller took up with a farmer woman. In the next book, Dag happens to run into that Lakewalker. At the time I first read that, I hadn't read Legacy recently, so I took it for granted Dag knew which camp the character was from -- stories like that get around. Now, I know that I could have as well.

Similarly, I was flipping through Grave Peril by Jim Butcher and happened on the scene where Harry and Michael were trying to bargain with Leanansidhe, a Fae member of the Unseelie Court, who had Michael's sword. Lea already had something on Harry (she was his Fairy Godmother, and he owed her a favor.), and said if she just collected, she'd return the sword. Michael offered himself in her place, but she refused, saying that he was boring. She then asked for one of his children -- mentioning that she wouldn't mind taking his oldest. Michael told her to take a short walk off a long cliff. Some six books down the line, in Proven Guilty, Michael's eldest child, Molly, is indeed kidnapped by the Unseelie Court and it's actually explained why they have an interest in her. (Not just because one of the things bad fairies do is still children.)

I don't always know if the author was planning on using it when they wrote it. Maybe sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren't, and just happen in on re-reading and think 'hey, I ought to pick that up'. It's still pretty cool.

So, I did it

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:29:57 GMT

avafest

In the interest of promoting the Avatar Fandom on IJ, I made a fanfest. All of you Avatar fanfic writers and fanartists, go over there and get ready to wait.

Avatar: the Last Airbender

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:04:54 GMT

So, I did like the Sun Warriors -- they looked very Meso-American. Considering I geek out over that, it's cool. Downside was I don't like the whole 'Aang + Zuko meet the dragons, have mild visions, and can firebend'. Seems too easy. Zuko, maybe I can understand, since he spent years practicing the forms, and he just needed regain (or transform) his state of mind. Aang is more problematic, since he only could just barely create or maintain the flames (and he did have a couple of lessons). If there's some practice shown, then I'll accept that he just has the very basics, and one more advanced form down. Aang might be the reincarnation of a firebender, but I don't like things coming like magic to him.

And, as always, I want to know more about Iroh's life as a young man. He had the title "Dragon of the West" before he fought at Ba Sing Sei, so he had met the dragons then. So, part of him had transformed enough to accept that 'fire'='energy' (though I think 'passion' might be a better word here, though maybe not for a 21st century audience, who equate 'passion'='lust'), and not 'fire'='rage & aggression', which seems to be common Fire Nation Firebending.

Also, given Jeong Jeong already used the Sun as an example for Aang, did he visit the Sun Warriors, or was this something mainstream Firebending learned? It could be retained knowledge, since he seemed to stress that Firebending was dangerous. I also wonder if Roku learned the original forms from his dragon friend, or if a more primal form of firebending was practiced in his use. (I think primal is a right word -- almost typed primitive, but that has the wrong connotations.)

So, Waterbenders learned from the moon, Firebenders from dragons and the sun, Airbenders from sky bison and Earthbenders from badgermoles. Wonder if the Waterbenders also have an animal influence as well, or if it was just watching the moon move the water. Or if the swampbenders maybe had a different source, since they couldn't see the tides there. Maybe they watched how water flowed through plants and humans (in the form of blood). Which might mean Hama's trick of bloodbending would be easier for a swampbender to use, since they already can control plants with their bending.

Finally, li'l Toph and the badger-moles is, quite frankly, the most adorable thing ever.

Where's my flying car?

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:39:20 GMT

I can't seem to get the hang of posting on one topic. Oh, well.

I played softball today. We had a grand total of six people show up, and we got our butts kicked. Though not as badly as we could. I still am batting 0.000, unless you count the time I got on second by fielding error. (League rules is if the opposing team throws the ball out of bounds, you can advance one extra base -- mostly to cover situations where the ball gets thrown into the bushes and it takes a bit to retrieve.) On the other hand, I'm getting better at fielding -- I managed to hold one to a double. I'm still hindered by my inability to throw hard enough to get it to the infield.

So, question for you all, blog. So, over on Bad Astronomy, Phil Plait posts a quote from Buzz Aldrin, where Buzz says that the unrealistic expectations created by science fiction makes people less interested in the real accomplishments of the space program. Phil disagreed -- he thinks that science fiction spurs us on and inspires us.

I'm biased -- I was a space nut before I learned how to tell SF from horror. Every time I saw the crew of the Enterprise beaming down to a planet, or read novels about imaginary moon colonies, I wanted to work all that more to go there. Or at least learn as much as I could about the real thing.

So, what do you all think?

Planets and Costumes

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:01:21 GMT

So, I'm trying to think of a Halloween costume. Here are my criteria, in order from strongest to least strong:

1. No wigs. Hats are okay, and makeup is okay, and I might even go for hair extensions, but I don't feel like putting down the money for a quality wig. (And I don't want to deal with a cheap wig -- someone else can tell the story about how Integra Hellsing suddenly developed short, dark hair because my cheap wig gave up the ghost around lunchtime of Day I of AnimeIowa)

2. Something I can wear to CJAS's cosplay contest. Which means anime or manga character. Maybe video game. Probably not anything from Western fandoms or webcomics.

3. Something that is recognizable as something* by the mundanes, in case I go out with my work friends, or decide to wear the costume to campus or something. By which, I mean, they might not recognize Kenshin Himura, but the sword and outfit look like 'samurai'.

* Something reasonably specific, not 'what the hell costume is that?'

Amelia, Slayers
Pros: Love the character, love the costume.
Cons: It's a 'what are you supposed to be' costume, and Amelia's hair in Revolution has gotten to purple for me too pass it off without a wig.

Garnet, Final Fantasy IX
Pros: The world needs more FFIX fans. I also have a perfect pair of red gloves.
Cons: Another 'what are you supposed to be' costume.

Harle, Chrono Cross
Pros: Looks like a harlequin costume. Pretty. You never see Harle's hair.
Cons: Holy crap, is it complicated!

Leaf, Record of Lodoss War
Pros: Leaf looks like an elf (she's a half-elf), and it's kind of a cute costume.
Cons: Not much of a fan of Lodoss anymore, and I don't remember anything about Leaf. It means making armor. I'd have to borrow a DVD or manga for costume reference pictures, since I sent my Lodoss manga on to Zanne. Would be cold for an Ithaca October.

Reki, Haibane Renmei
Pros: Easy costume.
Cons: Aside from the wings and halo, looks like street clothing. Granted, the wings and halo paired with street clothing could be a statement in and of itself.

Rukia, Bleach
Pros: Looks like something (samurai), is a well-known anime character, and has a hairstyle I can do.
Cons: I'm not terribly fond of the shinigami costume -- too monochrome. Also, I'm trying to stay out of Bleach fandom.

Sheska, Fullmetal Alchemist
Pros: I'm told I look exactly like Sheska. (I'd also love to get pictures of me in the Sheska costume in our Law Library.)
Cons: The uniform is a bit weird -- a bit too odd to be an archaic uniform, and doesn't look like a modern uniform. So, doesn't fit #3.

Toph, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Pros: Like the costume, and it looks sufficiently like a 'martial arts' costume I think it works for the mundanes.
Cons: Avatar is an American animated product, so I don't know if it'll pass for the anime club's contest.

Any other suggestions? I might do the Reki one for the club, then put together something else for fun.

Also, I found this blog post by Mike Brown that pretty much sums up the whole planet debate. It makes the point that scientists had two classifications: 'round & geologically varied (plus the gas giants, which are round and atmospherically varied with interesting interiors)' versus 'not round and & impact-dominated geology' and 'single objects in distinct orbits' versus 'clouds of similar objects in similar orbits'. Both are useful, and a scientist might deal with one more than the other (a geologist cares more about the first, to the point of even throwing in moons, while a dynamicist the second), and asking 'which is a better classification scheme' is silly, because they are both good and useful things. The IAU wasn't asked that -- they were asked, which classification scheme should be used as planet versus not-a-planet. Which is really a judgment call.

I was thinking the same thing, but this post explains it better. I was thinking about it because I noticed Dr. Bell (Martian geologist) has a 'Save Pluto' bumper sticker pinned to his bulletin board. In retaliation (I assume), Dr. Margot (asteroid and Kuiper Belt dynamicist) put up a 'Save Pallas' sign on his bulletin board. (Guess what both of them think of the IAU's definition? Go on, guess.)

We also have a new official dwarf planet -- Pluto, Ceres and Eris can welcome Makemake (mah-keh-mah-keh) to their numbers. First dwarf planet named after a non-Greco-Roman god, also! (Makemake was the creation deity of Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island) -- Makemake was discovered near Easter, and informally called Easterbunny.)

Creative Stuff (and a Medical Question)

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:26:15 GMT

So, it's been a twenty-four hour period since I burned my thumb on the baking tray. The burn hurts when I bend my thumb too far, which is why it is staying bandaged -- a bandaid wrapped around the joint of my thumb immobilizes just enough that I can't bend my thumb far enough to hurt. I did take a peak under the bandaid today and got a bit worried. So, I read that first degree burns are dry and red, second are red, can be wet, and blister, and third tend to be dry and black or white. Currently the burn on my thumb feels like normal skin, except I burned off some of the indentations. It also is red around the edges of the burn, but is a paler sort of pink in the center.

On the other hand, third-degree burns aren't supposed to hurt like hell -- I kept my hand under running water for ten minutes, because taking it out meant that my hand felt like someone had run it over. (And not just because cooling the tissue ASAP is generally a good idea to stop the damage)

Really, it's mostly that I don't remember enough about first aid. I need a refresher course -- the neext time the Fire Station near where I live offers first aid and CPR, I'll sign up.

Well, that and I am such a hypochondriac when it comes to injuries.

I wrote about 600 words this morning, and did some crocheting. I also promised myself I'd pick up some DevArt drawing memes and work on those for practice. And got more ideas for the Avatar AU fic idea that is building into another albatross. I'll wait until after this week to do anything on that -- no sense starting anything when the finale is so close. And maybe I should finish my Slayers albatross before that -- at least write the third part of the trilogy and get the first part ready for beta-ing. (Damn, am I going to start calling every novel-length work of fiction I write an albatross?)

Speaking of Avatar, I wonder how iTunes is going to handle giving me the episodes they owe me, since Nick is airing the last half-season over a week? Which... well, it's nice that I don't have to wait, but it's a bit unusual to say the least. (I guess they found the flaw in finite series -- once it's down to the wire, people don't want to pick it up, but they need to finish it or else they get lynch mobs.)

Not that I don't prefer finite series to the never-ending cartoons of my youth. (Or rather, I like having both the kind where all you need to know is the premise of the series, and the kind where it is telling one story in episodic form, and anything in the middle.)

Book Reviews

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:02:13 GMT

It is a rainy, miserable day, and I want to sleep until tomorrow. The fact I burned my left thumb cooking lunch does not help -- I took some painkillers, but I still can barely move it.

So, I really, really like the Temeraire series. I have a weakness for buddy pieces and animal-companion fantasy (hence my love of pet monster anime), and Temeraire has aspects of both. In a weird way, it also takes the animal-companion fantasy in a different direction than A Companion to Wolves by Elizabeth Bear and Sara Monette. While ACtW explores what it's like to be living close to something that is inhuman (an intelligent wolf), Temeraire addresses the social issues of having dragons -- intelligent, but not human -- in a society that is within the Enlightenment. The early 1800s were an interesting time after all -- the American and French Revolutions were bringing into question the notion of a hereditary nobility, the abolition movement was starting, the earliest seeds of civil rights. The Seneca Falls convention was still forty years in the future, but the seeds of feminism were still planted.

So, add in dragons, which, in Europe, were typically tamed by having them imprint on a dragon captain. If the dragon didn't take to it, or refused to serve in the military, he or she would be shipped off to a breeding colony, where s/he would be fed and housed and expected to produce eggs for the military. This was also what happened to the captured dragons -- as long as the dragon captain was held, the dragon could be kept on good behavior. Dragons mostly had loyalty to their captains -- they fought out of love of their captains and crews, not for any real concept of patriotism or for pay (they got room and board).

Enter Temeraire and William Laurence. Temeraire was a Chinese Celestial Dragon, sent across the sea as an egg for Napoleon Bonapart so that he would not interfere with the Imperial succession (the Emperor had to be both a member of the Imperial family and have a Celestial companion -- Temeraire's twin brother was the companion to the Crown Prince). Laurence was a British ship's captain who happened to capture the French ship Temeraire's egg was traveling on. Laurence was prepared to give up one of his crew to the British Air Corps -- a bit surprised when the only one Temeraire would take to was himself. So, we had two unlikely protagonists -- a gentleman captain thrown into a situation that made him uneasy and a highly intelligent dragon who often questioned why things were done the way they always were. The first book doesn't bring this up much, besides to note that Temeraire was very bright and inquisitive -- his favorite form of entertainment was to have Laurence read to him.

The second book is where the series really starts to shine. Here, Temeraire and Laurence agree to go to China because the Chinise government is Very Upset that Temeraire is stuck impressed in some barbarian army instead of at a king or emperor's right hand. On the way, Temeraire starts seeing more of the world outside of the covets where dragons and Air Corps live, and he starts asking why dragons are treated as little better than slaves, and don't have freedom of movement and pay and all the other things humans enjoy. At first Laurence is stuck with noting that humans are scared of dragons, and they really don't have any other choice. There's a lovely scene when they get to China and realize that the Chinese treat dragons the same as any other people -- there's still social stratification by family (with the Celestial and Imperial lines being high ranked, and most other dragons taking other jobs) -- but dragons wander the streets and work for pay, and decide if they wish to enlist in the army or not, and even choose their companions after they are educated. And, Laurence realizes that everything that he told Temeraire about humans and dragons was wrong, and that Temeraire would be much happier as a prince in China than a conscript-slave in Britain. Temeraire, on the other hand, sees China and asks 'Why can't we have this in Britain? I'm going to go back and help change things, because it's not fair to my friends to be stuck as they are while I'm treated like royalty.'

And that's why I enjoy the series -- since it's more to it besides 'Dragon Airforce in the Napoleonic Wars'. There's also that lovely question of social justice, and how people live with dragons, and the ideas that having dragons around changes the social landscape. The Chinese are able to enforce their own isolation for much longer, since they have their dragons. In Book Four, an African kingdom successfully repels the white slave traders from the country, thanks to their dragons, who are bound to the tribe by rituals meant to call down the spirits of deceased kings into unhatched dragons. (Whether it works or not, the humans and dragons believe it. And the dragons are quite willing to defend their kin.) It's also mentioned that the Inca kingdom is raising dragons and still giving the Spanish a hard time in South America. Which is nice -- it is alt-history, and nice to know that Naomi Novik is willing to change things to fit.

So, I just finished the most recent book... you might want to skip this if you want to be unspoiled for previous books.

So, at the end of Empire of Ivory, Laurence and Temeraire agree to commit treason to deliver a cure to a draconic plague to France -- Temeraire feeling that the lives of thousands of innocent dragons isn't worth victory of the war, and Laurence agreeing. Laurence then wishes to return to Britain, despite knowing he will be imprisoned or hanged for it, and Temeraire confined -- his own honor prevents him from staying in Europe, either as a French officer or a civilian. The book picks up several months later. Which I appreciate for two reasons. First, it give us a chance to see how dragons organize themselves on their own -- the breeding ground dragons are pretty much left to their own devices as long as they eat and mate and don't cause trouble. One of the dragons we meet, Percitia, is a mathematically inclined and quite clever dragon who refused to serve in the military because she didn't see the sense of getting shot up. Second, it gets to the interesting bit -- where Napoleon and Lung Tien Lien invade Britain -- quickly. Laurence, imprisoned on a ship, is presumed dead for a short while, long enough for Temeraire to be quite put out, and decide that he needs to fight Napoleon, and talks the rest of the dragons (ferals, captured dragons, some old retirees, and ones that just refused to fight) into forming their own flight to go fight.

Temeraire himself really shines here. He's forced to develop a sense of politics and leadership to negotiate with both other dragons and the human government and military. In Victory of Eagles he makes a lot more advances than I ever expected -- mostly because he points out that Napoleon was able to come so far because of giving dragons a reason to fight besides loyalty to their captains. Not to neglect Laurence, who is forced to go through a lot dealing with his own actions from Empire of Ivory -- questioning what honor and patriotism really mean. And even some of the secondary characters, such as Admiral Roland, get to play a role -- I'd love to see more interactions between her and General Wellsely/the Duke of Wellington, simply because the two of them quickly figured out the other was pretty damn good at their job, and developed a professional relationship, despite the fact Roland was a woman. (Thanks to Gentius, a veteran Longwings, we also got the story about how female Longwings captains got full rank. He told the story about how his first captain had left without the drunkard who had actual command, fought a tremendous battle, and then was commended by everyone, and finally got her proper rank.)

As for the end, I was quite pleased by it. It ended in a way that doesn't diminish what Laurence did in Empire of Ivory, but keeps our pair flying. Plus, this way, we might get to see new parts of the world -- I think Victory of Eagles is the first book since the first where we don't hardly leave Britain.

Ugh (also book review)

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:11:17 GMT

Dropped my glasses today while getting out of the shower, then stepped on them. As a result, the arms are bent all funny. So, now I have to go see if I can get them repaired. Thankfully, I can see without them, and still have my old pair. Also managed to sleep 12 hours -- I came home late last night and just passed out. (Yesterday, I had to stop at the mall to get a pair of sneakers.)

Incidentally, I discovered that being hit by a car took about half of the life out of my sneakers. Normally sneakers last about two years before I walk through the soles at the heels. This time, the cloth part of the left shoe ripped open -- exactly the part that hit the concrete first when I was hit by a car last August. Should have asked the insurance company for $40 for a new pair of shoes.

So, I always run into this when reviewing books that are sequels. How much do I say about things without spoiling earlier books? Almost makes me want to write reviews for series, rather than individual books.

That being said, I enjoyed this series, as a sort of large-scale fantasy. The world was interesting, I liked the characters, and the plot worked for me. I think it was technically listed as young adult, but it's perfectly readable as an adult -- which is good. I mean, I hate returning to my childhood favorites and discovering they stunk. Don't want to wish that on someone else.

On the other hand, the thing about this that I did notice is that the first book in the trilogy works as a stand-alone novel, but the other two really were better sold as one book. I've noticed that a lot in trilogies -- the Matrix movie trilogy being a wonderful example. The first movie could either stand alone or segue into a series. The second pretty much ends on a cliffhanger that the third needs to wrap up. Doesn't seem to be unusual -- the old Star Wars trilogy does this (with Han frozen in carbonite, and Luke barely surviving his duel with Vader in Cloud City), Lord of the Rings does this (the books, not the movies, which decided to not have Shelob show up unto Return of the King). It kinds of irritates me. I'd rather have seen the Lirael & Abhorsen story packaged as one book, with the third book in the trilogy dealing with someone else. Then again, it would have been a very, very long book.

It also would let one address one of my pet peeves with epic fantasy. Here there might be spoilers. So, there was a big, world-shaking event that Our Heroes had to stop. There's plenty of International Incidents crawling around. And I kind of want to know: what happens next? Sure, Our Heroes defeated the Big Bad Evil Guy*, but there's still all the strings he was pulling around normal humans. What happens next? (I kind of want to start a webcomic taking place a couple of years after a BBEG is defeated by a Plucky Band of Heroes, just to chronicle what happens.)

* For the record, I love that term, which I mostly adapted from the Order of the Stick comic/Giant in the Playground message board.

So, this review isn't as much about the book but my thoughts on fantasy.

Next on the reading list: Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik. I have some pretty long thoughts on the Temeraire series, so expect my review for that to be more than just 'Whee! Book #5'. I've also been putting my book reviews on , if you want to see them.

A Review and Fanfiction Thoughts

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:10:55 GMT

So, we get more of the story. Wiser seems to be either willfully ignorant or faking such to frame Lina. As in, he suspects she blew up the tank from Ep. 1 (and other tanks), but he still leads her right to the next tank. Then, when the incoming spell destroys it, he still persists in believing she did it, despite the fact that the spell came form outside, and Lina didn't chant or anything. So, he either has to be dumb (unlikely), have a comedic block that prevents him from putting the evidence together, or is so willing to believe that lIna did it, he's ignoring evidence. That's the thing with Slayers -- I can buy comedic block, since it's not like the main cast doesn't have its selective stupidities, or I could by that this was part of some grand plan. Or, a combination of the two -- a grand plan that is needlessly complicated and requires pretending to be dumb when it could be accomplished in a much simpler manner, adn the cast points this out.

dqbunny also posted a link from QPDiana about Wiser in the novels. Apparently Ruvinaguard had been experimenting with half-demons for the military and people found out, and the monarchy was deposed. It goes with Lina's group's observation that Ruvinaguard's military is getting pretty beefy.

I also want to know what is up with Pocata. Talented mage and damn good artificer (if he is to be believed), but got stuck as a Terriermon (or whatever).

So, I have this fanfic, which usually gets called 'the albatross' by me -- as in, it hung around my neck, and, until I set it down on paper (or in bits), I'd never get any piece. Actual title is "The Sun, Half-Covered" and the sequel was "Crescents on the Ground". It was mostly Amelia & Zel fic -- the second fic brought in Lina and Gourry (and Xellos), and Sylphiel cameo'd in the first. Anyways, part of the plot involves Amelia talking Zel into helping her with something for Seyruun, and him becoming a special member of the Seyruun Royal Guard. (Basically Zel pointed out Seyruun citizens had no reason to listen to him, so Amelia tells him she can have him sworn in as an officer, and that few people will object because of his involvement helping the kingdom during NEXT.)

So, in this episode, Amelia mentions that she was called in because Wiser told the Seyruun government that the problem (of the destroyed mage-tanks) could be an international incident, and with Lina the likely suspect, he would like a show of good faith in helping find her. Zelgadis then adds that he was hired by Prince Phil as Amelia's bodyguard, and as a deputy (and here I question the fansubs and wouldn't mind seeing another translation, since it looked like Zel said 'deputy king', which doesn't seem to make sense. Wouldn't Amelia be the agent of the crown involved, with Zel as assistant. And, yet, deputy king seems to imply that Zel would outrank Amelia. My head hurts...) with a shot of Zel looking like he is being knighted by Phil.

(Considering Lina is a friend of Seyruun, I could see if someone on Ruvinaguard thought she was acting against them, them making sure Seyruun wasn't behind it in secret, since the Princess of Seyruun was Lina's friend. Or if they wanted Lina out of the way, trying to use Amelia to help make sure she cooperated, since Amelia was more likely to help if failure would cause an international incident.)

Makes me wonder if I should hold off on posting the fic until at least mid-season for Revolution. I still need to go through in editing and find a beta-reader. Just to see if I get any more details about Seyruun.

Gah! This is why I don't like writing fic for open canons. I hate being Jossed.

Interesting to note that the anime depicts Seyruun as a constitutional monarchy, or at least one with a legislative branch, unlike most fantasy monarchies.

Music

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:38:28 GMT

So, I'm trying out Pandora, which is an internet radio that claims to pick out music you'll like from what you already listen to (by methods other than 'well, other people liked X and Y. Therefore, if you like X, you'll like Y').

I put in two groups I like. So far, it's given me a half a dozen songs -- ~~two~~ three now were from other groups I liked and listened to.

Yesterday was a good day (mostly)

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:50:10 GMT

Work was fine yesterday. I'm a bit stuck, so I need to go bother my boss again. Mostly I'm trying to model some data I got, and I'm getting answers that indicate I shouldn't be seeing anything, and that it won't be as simple as I thought. On the other hand, I'm getting the hang of the problem, which is good. I had a nice grilled cheese sandwich and fries for lunch at one of the campus dining halls, because I had forgotten to bring lunch (again) -- they finally decided to get rid of the darn 'coated fries', which mostly tasted like grease and salt. (I like my fries and chips to have some resemblance to potatoes).

After work, I went to play softball. We won, which brought our record to 2-1. We also introduced Manolish, a Greek first-year, to the rules of softball. He made some nice catches, which is always good. I managed to miss the one ball that headed my way (I alternated playing left and right field), but did get a lesson in the virtues of cricket hats* versus baseball hats.

* I don't know what that style of hat is actually called, but it has a brim that goes all the way around, so it both shields your eyes and keeps the sun off your neck.

After that, we (well, the first-years and Dave) had planned a surprise party for Dan. It was his birthday sometime around now*, so the group decided to get together and play Rockband and eat ice cream. The decoy was that Dan, Dave, Carl, Shoshe's husband Bez**, Andy and myself were supposed to be playing D&D at Dan and Carl's. Dan was sent out to give Dave a ride in from work (and to pick up the X-Box), while Carl called the rest of the party over, who had gathered and Shoshe and Bez's place. He was very surprised.

* Dan wouldn't say the exact date, and attempts to bribe the office ladies met with failure -- the most Shoshe could get from Danielle was 'which weekend would be better'? And then everyone was busy.

** They just signed the paperwork.

So, we played Rockband, which is a hella fun game. I managed to take a turn at all the instruments -- and have actually gotten good enough that I can pass songs on easy (singing I can do on medium, if I know the song, but according to people who own the game, a tone-deaf monkey could pass singing on easy). Considering I have problems getting my hands to work together well, passing songs on easy makes me happy. (I really like the drums, even though that requires using a foot pedal as well -- there's something very kinetic about drumming). I am amused that half the songs I sang were 90s heavy rock (Nirvana and Metallica -- which was good, because by the end of my night, my voice was shot. I did 'Still Alive' (the Portal end theme) near the end, and I was starting to sound like Hyatt was providing GlaDOS's voice. I also developed an appreciation for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in that I never realized how intricate their guitar work is. I am a sucker for good guitar.

Then I went home and had the best sleep I have had in ages -- not having caffeine after dinner and running around and singing probably helped.

Amusing myself at work...

beccastareyes@gmail.com — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:48:43 GMT

My friend Shoshe leant me a summary she did of some Voyager-era papers I'm reading that she did for a term paper last spring. Not only does she mention me in the Acknowledgments for explaining something to her, one of the citations is (B. Stareyes*, private communication), because I told her a picture had never been taken of a ring particle, unless you count the moons Pan and Daphnis.

* Okay, so it was my real first initial and last name, but I try not to give out my real name on this blog.

Also, thanks to Elizabeth Bear's blog (matociquala), I got this link -- English without all the non-Germanic words. It really shows how much modern vocabulary is dependent on Greek and Latin derived words. Reminds me of an essay I was reading a couple of days ago, by Richard Feynman about his trip to Brazil. He noted that speaking science in Portuguese is easy, since both English and Portuguese use a lot of Latin, and the modifications mostly follow the same patterns, so he could quickly convert a term in English to a term in Portuguese. Speaking conversational Portuguese was harder, since English was more Germanic in that sense, and languages in general tend to borrow less at that level.

It also makes me want to develop Darynese's (my constructed language) science vocabulary. Knowing the history of science helps here, since it explain why we named things what we did -- for example, electron comes from the Greek word for amber, since the first electrical systems were created through static electricity on glass and amber. (It's why the electronics in Lyra's world His Dark Materials are known as amberics -- same etymology, but a different language to give it that alternate-history flair).