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Jun. 24th, 2009 01:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoCONTACT
Anonymous commenting is on and IP logging is off. (This goes for the rest of my journal too). If you have something you want to say to me that's unrelated to other posts in my journal, this is the place for it. I love talking to people, so just comment away!
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Anonymous commenting is on and IP logging is off. (This goes for the rest of my journal too). If you have something you want to say to me that's unrelated to other posts in my journal, this is the place for it. I love talking to people, so just comment away!
Note: My journal has a permanent "reverse friends-cut" policy. If you find yourself tired of reading my daily nonsense, just remove - no worries!
[*Most recent page]
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
Re: Sorry, but your comment of 5945 characters exceeds the maximum character length
Date: 2009-07-20 12:35 am (UTC)So, anyway. You could be my writing cheerleader if you want, hah! But as for the Szpilman fic, I'll consider it. If I recall correctly, it was about 3/4 of the way drafted. I think there were two reasons I scrapped it: 1. I was worried about Doing It Wrong, and 2. It was a little overly dramatic. But, I could always fix that. It was one of the very first Hetalia fics I wrote, I think, and I guess I just wasn't very confident at that time. Hmm, I should go looking for that draft now... need to re-read The Pianist, too.
You're right that people who have English as a second (or third) language tend to have better grammar and such than native speakers. I do find, though, that occasionally it has certain patterns that are unusual, and in such cases I can detect it - but it really depends on the person and their proficiency, of course. But the very fact that they can speak (or rather, read/write) it so well is impressive. I fail at languages, too. Eight years of French, and nothing to show for it, ahhhh. I've tried to learn others, but it's just not something I'm good at. I'm going to have to take French and Latin at the university level in order to get my phD, and the thought of being in those classes makes me facedesk so badly. Argh, maybe I shouldn't worry, but it's definitely not one of my strengths.
As for the anon, I don't think they recognized me. Then again, who knows. Maybe I really was that obvious even back in the day. D:
PFFFF The whole reason beyond the de-anon post is because people kept outing meeeeee *flail* Well, okay. To be fair, it was mostly
Anyway, don't be sorry~ As I said before, I love long conversations.
Sorry, but your comment of 7560 characters <--- what have i done
Date: 2009-07-20 06:05 am (UTC)Maybe I've said it before, but I'm in a constant state of worry because I immediately tend to assume that everyone is annoyed with me. Especially after I leave a tl;dr comment. Or a comment in general. Hah, the main reason why I end up not replying to them is because I think someone is annoyed with me (even though I know in my head that getting replies back tends to leave a nice warm and fuzzy feeling in almost everyone's stomach)
What would make you lose interest in a conversation, anyways? Or is that just going to be one of those answers along the lines of "oh, it depends, I can't really say because it varies."
People are getting into smut really young now :| I remember sitting in the waiting room one day, and I ended up reading an article in Times/Macleans/one of those things that went on about how early kids are starting to get into porn. You've got sixth graders addicted to watching it online. I don't even want to think about how that's warping their view on relationships and sex and the opposite gender, good lord. I mean, some of my friend's minds are warped enough when it comes to this stuff already, but it'd only be worse if you start that young.
oh pff, it was my fault for wording it strangely.
I don't think there's a reason to be too nervous about the characterizations, really. I really doubt that he's going to be giving an in depth personality for each of them. We've got the little profiles/descriptions of their characters, and that's probably as deep as he's going to get (if we see a Nordic strip, I don't' think we're going to see Norway suddenly bursting into song in a lineup because he was bored or something). Even characters like England, who are in a ton of strips, aren't fully fleshed out (well, go figure, this is a gag strip after all). In the end, fandom's still going to run with what little information we have and do most of the characterization work. Here is where I'm just going to go off on a bit of a tangent and say that I love that quality in this fandom. It's probably my favourite fandom not because I like the source material the best, but because it's the greatest creative playground for a fandom I've ever seen. I want to draw art and write fic for this series more than I would for my favourite show, it's nuts. And plus, researching "canon" = reading up about history, which is both fun and educational~!
How big are those books? Did you get them from used book stores or. . .? A good sized history book here is like $30. As if I'm not spending enough money on books already, sob. I need to learn to start using my library better but there's just something I love about having a huge bookshelf filled with books. . .
I wish we had history in school! Social studies only teaches you so much (we had lot more history this year than we did in previous years, which was nice.). A few years ago my school had offered a World History course for grade 12 students who did good in Social Studies, and I was hoping to take it but last year they went and replaced it with Forensics. Seriously, what good is that going to do, unless you wanted to be one of those CSI people? Hardly anyone takes it either, which makes it even more pointless.
The only history I really knew anything about was Poland, cause for a long time my parents sent me to Polish school, and they taught us history there (it was actually the only subject I paid attention to, pff). I always did have good vibes from the Nordics, though. Before I knew anything about them they just kind of reminded me of Canada, but with a history of vikings and matching flags (which I still think is so cute, don't even get me started).
if you don't want to reply to most of this i seriously cannot blame you.
Date: 2009-07-20 06:06 am (UTC)aaaand thank you for the recs!
I kind of feel bad for trash-talking those books because, you know, everyone has their guilty pleasures* and everything, but sometimes I just get a bit embarrassed looking at the cover and being near them. I know I've gone and looked through them, and just read through some of the dirty bits. Then I have to cry because all those jokes people make about romance stories, from the dialogue to the weird euphemisms, are true. So now I'm left getting my entire romance fix from fic, it seems. Which is okay, because at least I can read enough which is better than the trashy romance novel stuff (though some fic is pretty indistinguishable from it) and at least I'll actually care about the characters being together but I'd like to support my claim of liking romance with actual books instead of fic (which I wouldn't admit to reading).
*i will say that I'm okay with people admitting them as being guilty pleasures. I'd have a bit of trouble taking anyone who argues that these are great pieces of literature seriously.
sweet deal! I'll buy pompoms and I'll even get around to writing cheers~
1) If you're worried about doing it wrong, you're probably not going to. I think most people who end up "doing it wrong" are people who don't take much consideration into what they're writing.
2) overly dramatic? well, considering the subject matter I'd be quite curious to know what "overly dramatic" would mean!
I don't usually pick up on patterns, as I usually tend to skim when I read what people write on the internet and I really only get the general idea (same reason why I never, ever catch other people's typos or grammar problems, I guess?).
The French curriculum in Alberta is such a joke :| I don't know how it was where you were, but for us you'd start in grade four, only to have to start from the beginning in grade seven. If you went on and did french after that, you'd have to start from the beginning in grade ten as well. Half the time the teacher wouldn't even be able to speak french themselves, and they certainly weren't teaching you with the intent of making sure you can hold a conversation in French. I wish they treated it like a real subject, like they would treat math or science.
I can really, really relate on foreign languages not being a strength though. My parents sent me to polish school for several years and even talked to me in polish since I was a baby. I've been to Poland a few times but I still can't speak it fluently whatsoever. My writing is dreadful. I'm fine at understanding it, actually, but I can never ever find the words I want to use. Maybe I need to practice more, I don't know. And, uh, I'm not going to get started on how bad I was at french. I dropped that sucker as soon as I could (now I really wish I didn't.)
I'm sure you'll manage to get through whatever language you do, though! Are you leaning more towards French or Latin?
A week or so ago I needed to find something from the earlier parts of the meme, and I ended up going through the first few parts. And err, I'm pretty sure I could point you out at points. Sorry bud. I don't know how you do it. It's probably a good thing, the fact that we can tell you apart from others. I would say why but my brain doesn't feel like putting these random thoughts in my head into actual sentences so. . . figure it out yourself :D
your comment of 6061 characters exceeds the maximum character length
Date: 2009-07-20 09:00 am (UTC)As for what would make me lose interest in a conversation - it does vary, and it does depend, hah. But really, it's mostly hard to say because other people tend to lose interest before I do, and stop replying before I do. For the most part, I can only think of two things. 1. If they're being douchey, or 2. They give a statement that doesn't leave much room for a response. In those cases I might want to babble on, but I don't have a lot to work with. That's pretty much it though.
I feel kind of like an old fogey for saying this, but I'm kind of concerned about the younger generation. It seems a lot of people have really warped views on everything, and it's just like... how the hell did this happen. I see young people talking (on the meme, for example) about stuff I had no clue about at their age, and I'm left feeling like -- I don't know! Like I should protect them or something. Which is ridiculous, and just poking my nose in where it doesn't belong, but there we go.
Characterization: You're right about that. I'm just one who worries about anything and everything, no matter if there is a good reason to do so or not. Fff.
As for your little tangent, YES. I love that too. The fact that it's so open for stuff - it's the very reason I've been able to stick with it for as long as I have, and the reason I've been so prolific with my writing. I swear, I haven't written this much in ages. It's wonderful~
My history books are reasonably-sized and softcover. I ordered the Sweden and Finland books from Amazon, and they were both about $20; I got my Baltic book from a used book store, though (it's about $30 online). I wish I could find more, though. Argh, I wish it wasn't so difficult to get stuff. I don't mind ordering stuff off Amazon, as I love having a shelf full of books (or, er, floor full of books. I don't have a bookshelf). But so much of it isn't in stock, or I'd have to wait a month, and I just. alksjdf I'm too impatient, I don't want to wait.
When I was in high school, we barely covered any history whatsoever. It was basically just "Nazis are bad. Commies are bad too. Mmhmmyep". As far as I know there was never a history option in my school at all, sigh. It's frustrating, because I feel like I don't know anything at all about what I should know. My school did suck - when I went down east I felt like I was so way behind everyone in my education - and it's like... I don't know. I feel like I was cheated out of a proper education.
they just kind of reminded me of Canada
YES. YES. SOMEONE ELSE WHO THINKS THIS WAY. Okay, well, for me it's mostly Finland that reminds me of Canada (doesn't help that I've heard it called "The Canada of Europe" on occasion) but, anyway. alskdjfkdf yessss. I think that's why I'm so attracted to that particular country - the parallels I see, and the further parallels I draw from reading about it, ahhh... (And I do think their matching flags are just too cute, as well. Eeeeeee, especially like, the fact that Norway's and Iceland's are inverse of each other, alskdjf)
GET THEE TO A LIBRARY. I will be gone for almost a week so clearly you will need something to read during that time aside from my tl;dr. Consider this your motivation. ;p
Mehhhh, I don't feel bad at all; the stuff is horrible. As long as people realize it's horrble - and most people do - then it's all good. Seriously, that stuff is just hilarious. But the fact that it's published gives me hope that maybe I can get published someday. I mean, if dreck like that makes it into print, then... who knows.
Much like you, I'd never admit to liking fic in real life. Buuuuut I can get away with saying I like romance because I read medieval romance. Of course, it mostly consists of manly men riding around the woods whacking each other with big sticks... or swords... but you know. Whatever. SAME DIFFERENCE only not xD
Re: your comment of 6061 characters exceeds the maximum character length
Date: 2009-07-20 09:00 am (UTC)ESL speakers and patterns: Ah, I see. Well, in my case, last year I worked at the writing centre at my university, and most of the people who came in for help were international students. So after a time I started to notice patterns in the kind of errors that ESL writers make. Not perfect, but enough that I can usually tell now. That's why.
Anyway. Yeah, what you described sounds pretty much like what my French classes were like. I'm trying to re-learn it now, but it's so hard because I didn't really learn it in the first place. Add to that, when I was taking the classes, I was the only student who took the subject seriously. Everyone else pissed around and didn't do their work and the teacher just let it slide, so I couldn't concentrate, and... yeah. Majorly sucky.
As for French and Latin, I'm going to need to take both of them. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, I need two languages in order to get my phD. Secondly, those languages are relevant to my area of study; medieval literature in England was generally written in Middle English, Old French or Latin. So having those two languages is best for me. I'd like to learn something else, like... I dunno, Finnish or something (pfff) but it just isn't practical.
......KSAJDFK why am I so obvious. *sobs* Well, I guess it isn't necessarily a bad thing, as you said. Someone said that it's because I'm verbose, and because I tend to say more than just random fannish comments. That seems okay. But even so, I wish I could be a sneaky ninja!
Anyway. Feel free to reply to this, but I won't be able to reply back aftere I return from my hiatus.
Your comment of 6789 characters exceeds the maximum character length
Date: 2009-07-29 07:17 am (UTC)We now return to our scheduled daily dose of tl;dr.
You should tell me how your trip went. Or I could wait for you to make an entry and I could go and read that despite not being on your flist . Tlell me though, did you get to see the Dinosaurs? 8D
Ah, I think everyone feels like that. Think of it this way though, you'd admit that your a more, err, "enlightened" generation than the previous one, right? At the very least, kids on the whole are getting more liberal, less sexist, less racist. Older generations learn from mistakes and then they teach the lessons to us. Your worry and care improves us!
One thing I am worried about though, is kids doing stuff like playing video games all day. I didn't even notice this until I was at a friends house. I like video games well enough, but I want to tell these kids to go outside anyways because i feel like they're wasting their youth away. You don't gain childhood memories from achieving this many kills on xbox, you know? Of course, my own worry may be a result of my own views towards how my youth's been.
This is most fun I've ever had in fandom, honest to god. I've been in big, important fandoms and they're nothing compared to this. Too bad the wank scared me off at first and I used to take every opportunity to get discouraged from joining. Now I wish I had leaped on board earlier now, instead of waiting until March.
(what books on sweden and finland did you get?)
Iiichh I wish with the whole COMMIES ARE BAD argument, they'd also teach us that communism =/= socialism. Or at least go more in depth with this, cause some people I know believe in a kind of capitalism that is more idealistic than any kind of socialism I've ever seen.
Oooh, I just got reminded, on the news there was a story about how some PSA was being broadcast in America, talking about how Canada's free health care was an evil, evil thing (you keep thinking that, America). They even got this Canadian woman, who had surgery in America, talking about how the Canadian health care system was about to leave her for dead, because she had to wait to get a surgery. The anchorman ended the report by saying "in the end, she did it the american way, by borrowing money from her friends and getting a second mortgage on her home." I don't know, I laughed.
Explain to me these parallels you see between Finland and Canada. Not that I'm doubting you, I'd just like to hear about 'em.
I wish i could explain better why I like the Nordics so much. JUST A FEELIN, YOU KNOW? (well, it's more than that, but it ~all starts with a feeling~ anyways). Oh and even in the comics they are so the best designed group, even if one was to acknowledge Denmark's funny little hat.
Re: Your comment of 6789 characters exceeds the maximum character length
Date: 2009-07-29 07:18 am (UTC)here is where i will be very uncheerleader like and tell you that you can be the best writer in the world but they'll only publish your stuff if they think it'll sell :( :( :( of course, it depends on what you're writing. i don't think anyone writing a book on the history of toe clippers is expecting to make a fortune. I hope you'll write about something at least a bit more interesting than that.
D'aww, look at you, only wanting to post quality stuff. While I think that's a fantastic quality that I think more people (here's look at you, main comm~!) should have, I want to encourage you to go and post stuff more often merely because it brings some people, such as myself, great joy. And because you're probably too harsh of a critic on yourself anyways. Really though, I mean, half the stuff you've written is about pairings I have no interest in at all, but I read them anyways and I adored the hell out of them because I love the way you write so much. Your style of writing can be so pretty sometimes I can't even handle it D: D: D: (or should I say, :D :D :D?). And I mean the good pretty, as in, pretty with meaning. As in, not just a bunch of emotionless, empty adjectives that have been strung together.
I wish they'd start us early on french, and treat it like real subject but can you imagine the complaining? Most people would be thinking "we'll never need to use it! We don't need to learn a second language! ALL WE NEED IS ENGLISH." Native english-speakers have the biggest ego ever.
Oooh I see. Good with that, for serious! I see you mentioned Finnish aka cutest language ever. I can't even listen to Finnish without wanting to repeat it right away cause it sounds so net. I swear to god I'm not even joking. ff even Finnish names are amazing. When I was younger and watched a lot more hockey than I do now, I always wanted the Flames to draft some of the Finnish players just because I liked their names orz
I like it when posters are recognizable! You know, when you've got a persona kind of thing going on. i don't know, it seems that with a lot of the newer namefags, I just don't know how they're like? I see a name but I can't figure out their personalities (though I guess I could exclude the few that are on my flist, hah). Not to say I dislike them, not at all, I think it's lovely that we have so many great namefags on the meme. I actually cringe when someone targets a namefag, or says mean things about them even if I never really had any opinion of the said namefag before. I get more offended by people insulting other people than people insulting me, how about that.
Though, I think it's the way you write, too. You're the only person I've seen actually say shan't when replying. I actually did a double take first time I saw you write it somewhere. You need to change you're style of writing when you anon. Stop calling people darlin', and maybe start writing in all lower case
pressing enter for the hell of it
maybe
right in the
middle of a sentence
Now I'm off to finish the eighteen questions I still have left despite doing six hours of physics today, not including what i did this morning in summer school. ughhh i am not in the mood for thissss
toodles. or something.
:)
your comment of 9007 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-07-31 06:44 pm (UTC)As for the trip, I'll be making an entry about it, but for summary: it went REALLY NICE, but my parents were a pain in the ass. But the scenery is gorgeous and I saw lots of deer and a grizzly bear and BIGHORN SHEEP, AHHHH (I've always wanted to see one). Here, have a photo, because I feel like teasing you:
It was SO GORGEOUS OMG. But you'll have to wait until the post for the rest. Anyway, no, we didn't go see the dinosaurs. When we pulled into Drumheller, it was too late for that - and since my grandmother lived there, well, we've seen the museum several times, so we don't go every time we're in the area. I'd like to see it again, though - it's been a few years since I was last there.
As for education - I guess you're right about learning from mistakes and so on. Sometimes it doesn't seem that way, considering my current location, but when I really think about it, you're right.
As for the whole going outside thing, ehh... well, I don't know. I tend to feel awkward about that, because when I was younger I wasn't really allowed outside. Well, okay, I could go outside, but I had to stay in the yard. There was a park right across the street but I wasn't allowed to go anywhere or do anything, even up until I was 13. I did have a bicycle, but I was expected to ride it in the driveway. Er. Sooo I spent a lot of time inside playing Sonic and reading novels. On the whole, I think childhood memories are a bit overrated anyway, so I don't particularly care.
Anyway. Hetalia fandom. I've never been in big fandoms or anything, really, and my last big involvement was so long ago that it doesn't really matter (years and years and years) so this is all new to me. I actually became involved in it because of the wank - I saw mention of it on
Oh derp, history books - I've been mentioning and never bothered with titles. My entire European history collection is very small. It is thus -
*A Concise History of Finland by David Kirby
*A Concise History of Sweden by Neil Kent
*The Baltic Revolution by Anatol Lieven
I'm also slowly acquiring a collection of literature (because I feel you can't really learn about history without reading the literature as well). Thus far I have a mishmash of Icelandic sagas, Norwegian plays (Ibsennnnn), Baltic poetry, aaand also a copy of the Kalevala is on its way to me. But that's all so far.
When it comes to school (high school, at least) I've given up on trying to hope that anyone will learn anything. My mother is a teacher up in Fort Mcmurray, and the state of the public school system there right now is even worse than when I left it. I'm told it's much the same in the rest of the province. Ugh, I'm so glad that I graduated when I did, else I'd be going crazy.
I did hear about that PSA in the states; in fact, an acquaintance of mine, who lives in Georgia, asked me if it was true that our system is exactly as they say. Ugh. Ugh! Stuff and nonsense. It just makes me want to throw up my hands in despair. People are so ridiculous.
Re: your comment of 9007 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-07-31 06:46 pm (UTC)Firstly, geography. Okay, so, the whole of Canada isn't much like Finland - Canada is a pretty big place, after all. But the part that I'm most familiar with is very much like it. Northern Alberta. Pine forests filled with lakes. Seeing photos my friends take, I swear, it looks like Alberta. It's just that Finland is flatter.
Secondly, isolation. This partly goes along with geography. Canada = big place with lots of snow and trees and nobody lives there. Finland = smaller place with lots of snow and trees and nobody lives there. Fff. But in all seriousness, both have populations that are small (for their size) and spread out and kind of isolated. True for the past, less so for the present but still there.
Thirdly, just kind of a general thing - both were colonized, and that had a very significant effect on the development in terms of culture/identity/etc. But that's speaking very generally.
And fourth, just a bit of silliness that reminded me of Canada - I've seen Finns complain about having to learn Swedish, particularly if they don't live in an area with Swedish-speaking population. "Arrrgh, why do we have to learn this, I'm never going to use it!" Reminds me very much of having to learn French when living in Alberta. ;p Same deal. "OH MY GAWD, why do we have to learn French, we'll never use it!".
Anyway, there is more, and certainly more specific things, but I can't remember them at the moment. Ffffff anyway.
I AM GLAD YOU WENT TO THE LIBRARY. AND I AM GLAD YOU FOUND WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR. Best feeling ever, when that happens. (Oops, this reminds me that I need to go to the library too. I need to take back a bunch of textbooks from last year. Gaahhhh I am so lazy. Luckily, as a graduate student, my sign-outs are good until September...) Anyway. I understand the feeling. My family, well - they unfortunately don't. So I have to talk to people online about it. Sob sob but WHATEVER. IT'S GOOD.
Anyway, gahhh. Yeah. I realize that getting published can be very difficult, that publishers will only pick up certain things. But there's always the chance that I'll write something good that will sell.
Or maybe I'll just write something crappy and Twilight-ish ffor the money, and publish it under a pseudonym, so I can get rich. Hah.
But in all seriousness, I dunno... most of the stuff I write isn't very publishable. I mean, fanfiction aside, I mostly write poetry, and everyone knows that nobody reads poetry. Sigh.
Of course, I'll have to write academic books too, but those don't make any money and they don't count.
And. askldjf. OKAY I will try to post more frequently... when I write something worth posting. 8D Your kind words make me all a-flutter. Feels excellent hearing those things. <3
For the most part, I try to only post things that I am satisfied with, and that have something resembling a plot, because I think it makes the best impression. But I've decided that I might try to post a bit more, just because a lot of people seem to like reading what I write, and because I write unusual things that people might be looking for but can't find (I remember someone saying a short while ago that there's no Est/Fin around... well, no, there is, I just only post it to my journal, sob D: )
But. Yes. I'm going to get off my butt and do some edits to some old things and post them up to the main comm, or maybe kalmarunionen I guess (now that they have non-Nordic tags. Perfect for me, considering)
Anyway. Languages. UGH. I wish they taught French properly. But as you said, everyone would be whining about it. And fffffu one of my friends is trying to persuade me to learn Finnish and I'm like... aksdfj. But I kind of want to try. And at least I would have them to practice with (and they wouldn't tease me about my horrible Finnish too much... I think). But I don't know if I will have the time.
Re: your comment of 9007 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-07-31 06:46 pm (UTC)In some ways, I like being able to recognize people too. I like being able to identify who I'm talking to, even if it's by an alias (tl;dr draw-anon, Salmiakki anon, etc). But anyway, yes, a lot of the newer people who post under their name - I'm not sure what to think of them. But, that might be because I don't know them very well yet, thus don't know anything about their personalities. Maybe.
It does upset me too when someone targets a person who is posting under their name. For me, it's because when someone targets an anonymous poster, they don't really know who they're directing it toward. But when it's someone with a name, they know precisely who they are aiming their hate at, and it seems more personal that way. That's what bothers me most.
Anyway. People being able to identify me - yeah, it's probably the way I write. The word choice and sentence structure and so on. I realize that some parts of my vocabulary are, er, a little bit archaic (shan't/shall, remarkable/unremarkable, etc). Sob, I do try to make my writing a little less notable when anon, but a lot of the time it doesn't work. And I don't think I could ever bring myself to mutilate my grammar. Fff.
Oh well. I WILL FIGURE SOMETHING OUT. Yes. 8D
... Also, holy shit. Teal deer is really really really teal today.
your comment of 7923 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-03 01:36 am (UTC)it's a good idea i had half this reply saved, at leastI remember back in the day, when I was just a young little thing, I was amazed by you having a reply of 5022 characters. Oh, how times have changed :') It's strange cause your reply doesn't even really seem all that long. You should get a prize or something for it, though. I got such a kick out of it.
/feels teased. Aah, that picture is so lovely. The mountains are the greatest, though I think they're even more gorgeous in the winter, right after a fresh, heavy snowfall (I'm a winter-sort of person anyways, so I might be speaking with a bias). But I swear, I have been to the mountains way too much to see as few animals as I have. I've actually seen bighorn sheep a few times ( Back in my Harry Potter days I would like to imagine that my ~patronus~ would've been one of those. ) but I've never seen a bear in real life, hell, I've never even see a moose outside of the zoo before. It seems like the only time they ever appear is when my dad isn't taking me out to the wilderness with him.
I haven't been to Drumheller in, wow, ten years? Last time I went our car broke down on the way home and we were stuck on the side of the rode in thirty degrees for a long time. Fun stuff!
. . . And I thought my parents were over-protective. I just wasn't allowed to go to other people's houses very often, though either way I wouldn't get to do that much as most kids thought I was too weird to talk to, pff. Far as childhood memories are concerned though, uh, I'm putting a large emphasis on them at the moment because I fail at focusing on ~now~ and I look to the past too much (the future too, now that I think about it)? Which is nuts, cause at my age I hardly have anything to look back on :|
I think. . . I think I might have forgotten what it's like to not be in fandom. Darn. Was it more productive? I do not know.
Your view on how you should read the literature to better understand the history is so hardcore /high fives. Then again, you've already said you've got an interest in that kind of thing and most research I hear about is just a quick wiki search. I'd be a bit reluctant to try out reading those old pieces of literature, even if I ever decided that I did want my knowledge of a country/history to get so in depth. Ah, sorry, I know you love and adore old literature but I'm so intimidated by it because I'm not sure if I'll be able to understand what I'm reading and just not getting something is the worst feeling in the world for me. It was a pain for me to get through any Shakespeare in school (yes yes I know that not all old stuff are written the same but the fear shall always be there, regardless of what I'm reading). though it'd also depend on the time it was written? and if it's a poem/story/play/etc etc etc and I really don't know anything about this kind of stuff to be honest so I'm going to shut up
People who want to learn will learn. I like to learn. Hell, I should just spend the rest of my life in a university or something. Learning is just super.
ikr. I mean, I'm pretty sure that if we were in the states, my dad wouldn't have gotten the surgery he needed last week (cause while it was a big problem, it wasn't life threatening). I guess we Canadians can just sit over here with our shiny higher standard of living and point and laugh (or feel sympathy) at the people supporting those PSAs.
Re: your comment of 7923 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-03 01:36 am (UTC)Re: Isolation.
You know how you say the population is small for its size? Man, I used to think that 30mil for Canada was really, really small, and I suppose that with regards to how much land we have it is, but it's sad, I was really surprised when I learned about how small of populations some countries have. I even used to think that Calgary, having a population of one million people, would make it a "small" city. Then I realized it's just because we're beside the third most populated place on the planet (ten Americans for every Canadian, i think?)
Re: Bilingualism.
That made me laugh out loud.
I am so terrible when it comes to returning books or movies or anything on time. I make sure to bring money every time I go return stuff because I know it's going to be overdue. Can you seriously take stuff out for a year?
I wish you luck~ after all, Twilight's probably the exception. Also, it's one of "those" YA books so it's not like it's expected to be brilliant. 'sides, if you go and try to publish something like Twilight, I swear that you will become dead inside. Your dignity and will to live will be reduced to nothing. Do you think you could even write something like that if you tried? Maybe if you made it a goal to use every synonym for "pretty" that's listed in the thesaurus, you could. Hurr, I don't know. It's not like the only successful books are crap, so again, here I am wishing you luck. And even if academic books don't make you money, you'll at least get a ton of intellectual cred. And publishing poetry will give you that artsy cred and all the hipsters will want to be friends with you (okay, that last part may be a bad thing)
Things you're satisfied with, eh? Well, what happens when you are your own worst critic? I don't know if you are, I'm just sayin. I guess if you're worried about writing too much random drabbles/porn you can just fit all of them into one post? Really though man, a lot of people probably don't ship those things you like not because they don't like the dynamic, but because they haven't considered it before. By posting you are converting people to your crazy obscure ways.
If you want to learn Finnish,err, try to see if Pimsleur has a course for it. They're terribly good CDs and you can even just listen to them while going on walks. They don't tell you how to read and write it but out of all the language learning products I've seen this is probably the best (It's really long and repetitive but it does a good at teaching you pronunciation and drilling everything into your head). I don't know if they have one, though (I'm googling it but my google-fu is week today). I wouldn't recommend anything from the Teach It Yourself books, those are. . . pretty subpar when it comes to learning languages.
So, what would you learn Finnish for? I mean, anything else than perhaps talking with Finnish anons/users on lj.
:)
You can't really tell anons apart, so it's not like you can really direct it at anyone specific either. Who knows if an angry!anon today was really the same anon, or three different anons. Being an angry!anon is a troublesome ordeal anyways. You don't feel any better by being bitchy to people (well, any happiness you get from that isn't going to be real happiness).
You know what else you say a lot? Anyway. Haha, I don't know, you said it quite a lot just right now. Or maybe that's only when you're rambling. of course I've been known to use "though" twice in a sentence so I'm not one talk.I always change the way I type depending on my mood (and sometimes because I end up posting like, five itt threads a day and I don't want people to assume that it's all the same person --not that they'd be able to tell anyways). I couldn't even pay attention to my grammar for the life of me. I'll look over what I've just typed and not notice entire words missing, or ends of words (like "ing") or what have you. I would be the worst beta in the world.
. . . It took me maybe five hours to know what you meant by teal deer. I even googled it. Clearly, today is an off day.
Your comment of 9820 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-03 06:56 am (UTC)To be honest, the over-9000 character comment was quite a surprise to me, too. Clearly I really do never know when to shut up. I'm very glad that you didn't get bored, though!
The last time I was in the mountains, I was 10 or so, and it was Banff. I don't really remember much about it, so this trip was a real treat. So gorgeous, ahhhhhh. But I wish I had been able to enjoy it better. Wish I could have gone hiking. Maybe another time.
Since I grew up basically in the middle of the bush, we'd get deer and moose and bears and stuff in town all the time, so seeing them wasn't too unusual (though seeing deer so close was awesome). I always find it kind of startling when people say they haven't seen much for animals, but I guess if you live in a big-ass city it makes sense.
I kind of miss Drumheller. We would go down at least twice per year - for Christmas, and for Canada Day. I spent most of my childhood summers there, and I really miss going. Not all that fond of the roadtrip, mind you. On the other hand, I've only been to Calgary once, and that was so long ago that I can't remember it. (I've been at the airport a squillion times, but that doesn't count).
Part of the reason I try not to focus on my own past is because there's nothing much to think about. I went to school. I came home from school. I read novels of dubious quality. I wrote really awful stories (and had fun doing it). Aaaand that's it. Not much to think about. I'd rather look to the future. And the present is okay too, I guess.
Fandom: I think that when I was not in fandom, I was more productive in terms of creative output. By that I mean I wrote original things. Fanfiction is all well and good, but... it's fanfiction. So, when I wasn't in fandom, I just wrote other things... which I feel is a (slightly) better use of my time. On the other hand, I tend to get involved in a fandom when I have absolutely no original ideas whatsoever, so I guess it kind of works out in the end. I still have an idea or two filed away, but I don't know if I'm going to write them. One involved a pair of brothers who worked at a haunted restaurant. Was going to have lots of scary poltergeist activity and such. I'm not particularly good at writing horror though - maybe that's why I was never really able to get into the groove for that one. Guess I need to read more ghost stories.
The thing about reading the literature to understand the history is something that I take from my background in both classics and medieval literature. In these cases, we know what happened, but reading the literature is the best way to find out what society - or at least, the educated classes - felt about what was going on, what had happened previously, and how things should be. The literature produced by a society - novels and poetry, but also things like fairytales and epics - says quite a bit about the ideals, aspirations, thoughts of people in ways that historical records do not - because, after all, the literature is produced during that people's own time. That's why when studying Rome, for example, one shouldn't just read history books written in the 20th century - we should also read histories written by Romans, as it comments on what they thought, as well as poetry like The Aeneid, as it speaks to the ways that the powerful classes thought things should be - and similarly, but a bit differently, Catullus's love poems say more about relationships between the sexes in his time than any history book ever could.
Re: Your comment of 9820 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-03 06:56 am (UTC)... Whoa, uh, I got off track there. Sorry. Anyway, when it comes to reading old literature, part of the thing is that when one does it for something other than an assignment in school, it is done for pleasure - and many of these things really are interesting to read. Take Ibsen, for example. His plays are taught in schools (You may have had to study A Doll's House, possibly Ghosts as well) but the stories themselves are quite good, and thought-provoking. These were written in the 1800s, and of course, when we read them we are reading them in translation, so the languagae itself isn't difficult. And of course, there are Andersen's works as well, which were also written in the 19th century, and the language used for translations tend to be relatively modern, if a little nostalgic. As for the sagas and such, I haven't started reading them yet, but I expect them to be much like Welsh tales: weird, and with a sort of logic that makes sense, but bizarre sense. Fairy-tale logic.
The thing about Shakespeare VS the sort of thing we're talking about here is that Shakespeare is not read in translation. Well, some of it is, but it should not be. On the otherhand, with Nordic literature, of course people like myself have no choice but to read it in translation. Generally, the language used is quite easy, so even if it was written in the medieval period, or in the 19th century, it isn't that much different from reading something written in the 20th century, except for content.
Anyway. Those PSAs... man. I just don't understand it. I can always tell that I'm watching American television when I see a ridiculous PSA of that nature. The sad thing is, people seem to actually fall for it. How is it that people can be so... so... Ach, I can't even think of the word now.
About countries and population: It's kind of crazy, isn't it. I always get rather startled when I find out just how small some places are. I mean, Calgary - that's a city, but it has a population nearly as large or larger than some small countries (Estonia, for example, is only about 1.3 million, for the entire place). And I tend to think that Saskatoon is quite a small city, but compared to other places, it's pretty decently sized. So strange to think of.
I'm terrible at returning books on time too, which is why I'm very glad to be able to check them out for so long. And yes, I can keep them for an entire year, unless a professor recalls them. As far as I know, that's the standard for graduate students. Considering most of us need the books for thesis research and so on, it makes perfect sense.
When it comes to publishing, I could always write something for the lulz. Then again, that would be out of character for me and I doubt I could actually do it, hah. But anyway, eventually I'll come up with an idea that is good enough for me to want to finish it, annnnd then hopefully it will get picked up. First I'll have to find a good idea though....
Hmm. I know that some people are their own worst critic, but I like to think that I'm not quite that bad. Generally I can at least find a few things that I like about something - if I don't like it at all, I scrap it, and that has only happened to three fics out of thirty-ish so far. Sometimes I write something that's pretty okay, and I realize that it's pretty okay. So, there we are. Mostly when I post something to a community, I do so because I feel there's something of substance there. Not necessarily for length, mind, because I've posted prose-poetry before - but something of higher quality than my usual work.
Re: Your comment of 9820 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-03 06:57 am (UTC)Pimsleur? Haven't heard of that, but I'll take a look. I was considering snooping about to see if I could find it for Rosetta Stone, considering I have the main program. Mostly I'm concerned about reading, as I'm text-oriented, but being able to understand spoken Finnish would be pretty cool. As for what I'd use it for - aside from
flirting withtalking to Finnish users, I'd probably use it for literature. As I already mentioned, I'd love to be able to read the Kalevala in the original form, and now that I've been reading some Finnish poetry, I really wish I could also read that in the original, because really - when it comes to poetry in particular, translations never do it justice, due to things like rhythm and internal rhyme and so on that are extremely difficult to imitate when going from one language to another. Right now I have LJ set to Finnish. I feel like a huge nerd.Ffff, I only realized how much I said 'anyway' in that previous one, just now. I think I was very tired at the timeI hardly ever start threads, but I guess if I did I would try (very very hard!) to change my typing style. Though it's difficult. Gawd, even with the RP thread I started the other day, I was internally panicking. But, couldn't be helped. Finland wanted to play, and it was my turn to start topic. I don't even know why I get so nervous about starting topics... blah.
adsf. This is long and I am tired. And now, to bed.
Your comment of 8205 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-05 09:03 am (UTC)I just went and looked at a map of Alberta (I knew where Fort McMurray was about, but just to get a clearer idea and all), and christ, how long does it take to drive to the mountains from there? The distance is even longer than I thought it was! As for me, err, I don't think there's ever been a year when I haven't visited the mountains. A few years ago, practically every weekend in winter was spent at the mountains cause we'd go skiing (oi, does this mean you've never been skiing/snowboarding? D:) Did you get to do anything in the mountains, or were you just passing them by?
Hey now. Don't think we don't get any animals in Calgary. Okay, so, maybe we don't get moose or bear wandering about but we do get deer in the suburbs every so often. (this is a picture i took a few months ago or so: http://i31.tinypic.com/af8qyb.jpg there were like six deer on our front lawn. My sister and I spent like, half an hour watching them.) Aaaaand, I'll admit, maybe having deer everywhere isn't that big of an accomplishment. Now if there was a tiger wandering about. . .
There's probably not much to remember, honestly. I feel compelled to sell the wonders of the city to you, but I've got nothing. If someone was visiting Calgary, I don't think I could even advise them on what to do here. I could just be a poor salesman, though.
Ah, I see. Now I'm just reminded of that saying, time you enjoyed wasting isn't wasted time. If I could drill that philosophy into my brain, I'd be good to go.
I'm just wondering, when you'd go about writing original stories, do you write all of them with the intent of having them published? Or do you just mostly write for kicks, and just every so often there might end up being one you'd want to publish?
I'm not huge into the horror thing, honestly. I remember in elementary everyone would go around buying books about "real" ghost stories but after that I kind of grew out of it (I'm not much into horror movies anymore either, though that's because 97% of them are absolutely terrible as they don't really rely on suspense or story telling or anything). I don't know if I've ever read a fictional book that could be classified as "horror." Well, I mean, other than Interview With The Vampire, which according to Chapters is horror. Oh, I remember when I thought vampires were the coolest things ever. . . For a year or two I was one of those teenagers.
It'd be hard writing horror, I'd imagine. I don't think I could take myself seriously while doing. I'd write a bit and then I'd have to ask myself "pff, who am I kidding?" How many good horror writers get genuinely freaked out by what they're writing, even?
i just stared at that paragraph for like ten minutes and I have no idea how to reply to it with anything other than YOU ARE SO RIGHT, MAN. /BROFIST and it's a shame because it's a very nice paragraph and I happen to like it quite a bit but I have no insights of my own to share. hahaha this is embarrassing.
I hope that smalltext didn't kill your eyes. I assure you that the small text was necessary, as to hide my shame. I'm afraid that kind of thing applies to the next paragraph as well, for the most part D:
Can I just say I want national awakening fic with Finland? Man, that would be super. . . and probably really hard to write. Actually, I'd love that kind of idea for any nation.
Re: Your comment of 8205 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-05 09:15 am (UTC)(I sort of figured but like I said, the fear's still there.)
By the language being easy, you mean it gets translated into fairly easy to understand English, then? I don't know why that surprises me. Maybe it's because (I apologize if I offend your very being by saying this) the only piece of medieval literature I know about is Beowulf sorry! and the people I know who had to read it for school seemed to complain about it a lot, though I suppose they can find a lot of reasons to complain other than how hard the words are.
Suddenly, I feel compelled to visit a Renaissance fair.
Well, seeing how free health care is only for communists. . .
People just like the idea of capitalism too much? And there were government people and news stations influencing their opinions and saying why they shouldn't want it. [insert deleted rambling here]. . . I shouldn't even be rambling about that stuff cause it's irrelevant and I don't even have any real solid opinions on government and the economy and social welfare cause I don't know enough about life to have an intelligent opinion.
and i'm worried about sounding like one of those naive young hippies even though it's not like I think capitalism is ~EVIL~ cause I don't but I think America might be a bit too big of a country to not at least get a bit of help? idk idk idk i'm tired and embarrassed to even talk about thisand I have no idea what word you were trying to think of. i am no help whatsoever 8D
Not as bad as Iceland, which is like in the 300,000s. It's pretty exciting to see someone on the internet from a country with such a small population, though! A few years ago a few people from Iceland added me on msn because they liked the fic I wrote (sadly, they only wanted to talk about a7x and how much they hated iceland D:). I've actually seen more people from Iceland than Estonia, I just saw my first Estonian yesterday after they commented on some picture of mine on devart.
When was the last time you posted to a comm, anyways?
We need more love for the rarepairs~ Especially ones that can make sense, hah. It's a shame going to the kinkmeme or something and seeing the same three ships/prompts being filled out over and over again. I remembering requesting a rarepairing on there once, only to realize that it was probably useless to do so.
Ohhh, I didn't consider that. I guess it was designed more for people who were going to be going to the said country. Finnish kind of looks like keyboard smashing, to me. Keyboard smashing with lots of umlauts :) I probably get too much of a kick at going on wikipedia and seeing how every page looks in a different language. Arabic!wiki's even got a whole different page layout! Hell, even simple english is interesting and useful, sometimes. All I know about the string theory is from what I read on it's simple english translation page hah
Sigh, wiki, why can't I ever quit you.
maybe my eyesight is bad but I can't tell the letters apart in the அரபு_மொழி pages. What is அரபு_மொழி anyways?)
Aww. I wish I could give some advice for that but alas, I do not RP, nor have I ever RP'd. I don't think it matters much on what topic you start, cause as long as you start talking it's bound to turn into something interesting eventually.
so much for waking up feeling rested blahh :|
Your comment of 12148 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-05 04:19 pm (UTC)To be honest, I have no idea wtf is wrong with my laptop battery. For some reason, the computer can't detect it (I get an error saying "no battery detected" when I turn on the computer, and if I unplug the cord the laptop turns off). I've been told that sometimes batteries crap out, but I don't know if it's it. I mean, I've only had this computer for about a year. So I really need to sit down and see what's what, but I haven't gotten around to it yet because I'm lazy and I actually don't use it without the cord very frequently anyway.
Fort McMurray is wayyyy far from everything, swear to gods. It took us about 16 hours total driving time to get from there to Waterton, if I recall correctly - and that's why we split the drive into two days. Otherwise it would have been just too much. I'm used to distance - it takes something like five hours to get to Edmonton - but even so, that was pretty bad. When we got there, we uh... we didn't really do much. I mean, we were right in the middle of the mountains, but we didn't really do anything. We just kind of looked at them, 'cause they were pretty. Er. And Dad went fishing in one of the lakes, but I didn't get to because mum decided that was the perfect time to drag me around to souveneer shops and.... yeah. Argh. Parents. If I'd been there on my own, surely I would have done quite a bit, or at least would have enjoyed it more.
does this mean you've never been skiing/snowboarding? D:
Haha, no! Fort McMurray has a lot of steep hills; it's in the middle of a valley, so it isn't flat like, say, Saskatoon. I mean, our ski hills aren't anywhere near as impressive as skiing in the mountains, but we still have it. I haven't done it recently, but back in high school I used to go out and do it. But I kind of stopped after I had an accident. Nothing broken, but my nose was banged up pretty badly and I was really shaken up and after that I didn't really want to do it any more.
HOLY SHIT. DEER. Usually up in Fort Mac they don't come out and wander around in the residential areas like that - we haven't had that sort of mixing. You're more likely to see them on the side of the road (same goes for the bears and elk and such). But we do get little red foxes coming in and wandering around our yard.
While it's true that in general time that is enjoyed is not wasted, I would say this only applies provided one isn't supposed to be doing something in particular - because then you don't really have time to waste.
When it comes to original stories, mostly I just write them for fun - and also because it sucks having an idea in my head and not doing anything about it. When I want to write, I really really want to write, soooo might as well do that. Usually the "stories" turn out to be novel-length, and usually after a while I start thinking, "Man, if this turns out to be good, maybe I could get it published". I think the desire to be published, for me, is mostly out of a desire to share it with people. I want people to be able to read it. But a little money would be good too. I figure if I wrote something and actually finished it, but didn't manage to get published at all, I'd probably just put it on the internet or something.
Re: Your comment of 12148 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-05 04:20 pm (UTC)The "pff, who am I kidding?" this is partly why I was never really able to do this ghost story. I try to write scary scenes and they just turn out so... well... not-scary. But there must be some way to figure out how to do it, because I really like this idea, it just... Argh! Can't do it! D:
Anyway. Hah, no, the smalltext didn't kill my vision. ♥ I dunno where that big long paragraph came from, man. I guess I just tend to get carried away when talking about literature.
National awakening fic with Finland
Oh. Fuck. Do want. DO WANT DO WANT YES. ... Unfortunately I'd never be able to write it. Sob. I've come to the conclusion that when I want something in this fandoml, I usually have to write it myself, so frustrating... but argh. No, someone who knows more about Finland than I do would have to write that one. (I am going to file the idea in my pocket though. Ff.)
Speaking realistically, I know I'll probably never be able to read the Kalevala in the original. But ah, I can dream~ You're correct that it's long - I received the volume yesterday, and in this translation it's like, 650 pages - 50 cantos, averaging about 400 lines per canto, coming out to 20,000 lines (probably more like 21,000). Pretty hefty book - lucky that it's a paperback. What I would love to have is an edition that has the original on one side of the page, and the translation on the other - I used to have an edition of Beowulf like that, as well as a copy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that was much the same (because though it's in Middle English, it's a very difficult dialect) and it was just excellent to have.
You're correct about translations being scary. Though personally, when it comes to differences in translation, I'd say it's more frustrating than frightening. Personally, I've determined that when it comes to translations, at least of old literature, the best way to go about it is thus. Firstly, try to read current, scholarly editions - ones put out by university presses etc. In these cases, usually the translator is more concerned about getting the meaning across than translating in a way that results in a pretty sentence. Avoid old translations - from the 19th and early 20th century, etc, for this reason. Secondly, read multiple translations of the same work. Since, as you mentioned, two translators will translate things quite differently, I find it's helpful (as well as interesting) to read different versions to get a feel of what differences there might be, and then determine for myself what sort of meaning might be gathered from a passage. But this can be time-consuming. ... Basically, though, just stick with scholarly versions. Yep.
You mean it gets translated into fairly easy to understand English, then?
Yes. This is generally the case. The language is not usually complicated, because there is no need for complication, if you understand what I mean. Since you mentioned Beowulf, I'll talk about that one a while. When I was teaching it, my students complained about it quite a bit too. The reason was not the language itself, but various factors. Many of the names are weird and often hard to pronounce. Also, the style is very circular, very repetitive. This is typical of epic literature, because it started off as oral literature. It was not written down. So the same thing might be repeated three different times in the same sentence, and the same tale might be relayed twice or three or more times, in different ways. Those are some of the reasons my students didn't like it...
Re: Your comment of 12148 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-05 04:21 pm (UTC)I will tell the truth -
I had greater strength on the sea,
more ordeals on the waves than any other man.
When we were just boys we two agreed
and boasted - we were both still
in our youth - that out on the great ocean
we would risk our lives, and we did just that.
We had bare swords, when we swam in the sea,
hard in our hands; we thought to protect
ourselves from whales. Nor for anything
could he swim far from me on the sea-waves,
more swiftly on the water, nor would I go from him
And as another example, this time translated into prose, here is a bit from the Irish epic, the Tain bo Cualigne:
Three times fifty warriors went out to meet them, and they all fell at one another's hands at Lia Toll, the Pierced Standing-Stone. Not a soul came out alive of all those choice children except Follamain mac Conchoboir. Follamain swore he would never go back to Emain while he grew breath, unless he tool Ailill's heat with him, with the gold crown on top. But that was no easy thing to swear: the two sons of Berthe mac Bain, sons of Ailill's foster-mother and foster-father, went out and attacked him, and he died at their hands.
Relatively modern language. The names are what trip most people up. Anyway - you say you don't know much about medieval literature, and I guess I can't really blame you for that, as most places don't teach it in high school any more, except for Beowulf. Back in the day they used to teach it a bit, not so much any more. And it seems that people have a funny idea of what 'medieval' is. If I say it, people ask, "Like Shakespeare?" Well, no. The medieval period was over by about 1500 (when people ask, I usually give 1492 as the cut-off date, though it's much more complicated than that). So, with this period, we need to think about King Arthur, not King Lear. I generally name titles like Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur and Chretien's Lancelot, though also Chaucer's Canterbury Tales as well. Those are the ones most people have heard of, aside from Beowulf.
...Er. Well. Moving on.
The thing with the whole capitalism bit... I just don't understand it. We're similar up here, yes, but not as extreme of course, and I find that when I think of the system that y'all down south have in place I get kind of disturbed. I don't consider myself much of a hippy, but at the same time I feel that some people are just in unfortunate situations, and when they're unable to get help (especially when it comes to things I feel should be available to everyone, like health care) it just seems so... not right. Ah, well.
Iceland VS Estonia - it's the opposite for me; I've run into several Estonians over the years (and I'm glad for it, as otherwise I wouldn't have become interested) but only know of one Icelander - and we haven't spoken directly. I find it kind of interesting how some people have a tendency to run into people from certain areas, and others, different areas entirely.
The last time I posted to a comm was May 19, when I posted my Eurovision fic. I haven't really written much since then. Gahhhhhh.
The kink meme is frustrating indeed. So few fills for things that are unusual - or even not all that unusual, but not like, you know. The usual three pairs. Nn. Sometimes I would request things, but mostly I've given up on that now. I'll just try to fill the occasional rarepair request instead. I have a couple that I am working on, but editing them is going slowly - I'm just so frustrated with everything right now, bahhh. (And thinking about it now reminds me that I need to update the index. Ooops.)
I suppose Finnish does look like keymash - but I think Polish looks more like keymash. At least wish Finnish I can look at it and say, "Oh, yes, that looks like a word". But Polish... fff, no. Just keymash. Or sometimes it looks like a sneeze.
Anyway. I guess you're right about RP. I'm just... not comfortable with it yet, I guess. I suppose things will change, eventually. <3
Your comment of 9565 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-08 10:30 pm (UTC)Oh god. The blue screen. That alone probably scarred me more than anything else growing up.
Windows ME is Windows 2000, right? I've always heard it called Windows 2000. Man, I totally forgot that even existed. Awhile ago I came across some computer running Windows 95 and it weirded me out. I'm starting to feel like the kids of today, the kind that wouldn't know what the hell a walkmen was if you showed them. Aah, I kind of wish it was still common to see people carrying them around, some people I know think I'm weird for still buying CDs from time to time.
Here is the part where I wish I was tech savy enough to help you, but alas
I just my cousin to come over when I have a problem. Maybe there's a troubleshooting thing for it? You know, in the Windows Help/Troubleshooting area part of computer. I've usually found it to be surprisingly helpful. I sure wouldn't rule out your battery just crapping out, as you said, cause those sorts of things don't require a set amount of time to pass in order to happen. If anything, it’d be strange to own a laptop you never unplugged. What are laptops for, really .I don't think I'd be able to handle that (well, okay, I can seeing how I've had to go through it before. Though we spaced it out a lot more and had a lot more stops along the way). Unless I'm asleep, which rarely happens because I find it near impossible to fall asleep in vechicles, I start to feel uncomfortable after being in a car for just thirty minutes. Oddly enough I find myself pretty comfortable in planes. As long as the person in front of my hasn’t gone and tilted their seat all the way back)
Souvenier shops, you say? Tell me, is your mother one of those. . . tourist-y type people? Cause I find that there's rarely anything special to see in Souvenier shops but that might be just me. If it's of any comfort to you, you'd need a permit to go fishing anyways. If you have one, err, pardon me for assuming that you don't. You should maybe find a buddy to go with you next time. I do think that enjoying the great outdoors is better if you've got someone else with you, and I'm saying this as someone who is accused of liking their alone time a bit too much. Though I guess it's a matter of finding the right person to go with, you know, someone who can accept you being alone and checking stuff out by yourself instead of dragging you to little shops which are probably very similar to most other little shops you've been in).
Then again, I'm thinking of camping more than just dicking around so (I really wouldn't recommend someone to go camping by themselves unless they were like, Surviorman or something. And in that case they would be the coolest person alive).
/facepalm RIGHT. You can skill on hills oh man how did I forget that when I’ve gone skiing on hills too brb feeling dumb forever>
How'd you manage to get into that accident? I remember that I used to be this reckless, flying beast of death when I skiied. I'd flip over flimsy fences all the time and come back the next week to find that they'd be replaced with wooden ones and once time I got a dent in my helmet that was an inch or two deep from sliding on ice and hitting a tree. Now, my wild youth is behind me, and I value keeping my bones in tact. I wonder how I ever managed to avoid breaking any in the first place, when people tell me stories of breaking their arm by just falling down .
Re: Your comment of 9565 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-08 10:31 pm (UTC)But of course.
It’s nice to see you have that kind of attitude towards writing. I don’t know, it’s refreshing to hear someone say that they want what they write to be published for the sake of sharing it cause most of the reasons I’ve heard are, err, a bit different. Oh man, every once in awhile on F!S you get a secret and someone says that they hoped to be published so they can have a hugeass fandom and they like thinking about who the readers will end up shipping and everything. And then I read those secrets and I laugh because, I don’t know, I think wishing/expecting a fandom for what you publish is stretching it. I know most books I’ve read, even bestsellers, don’t have fandoms. I don’t even think that’s a bad thing, honsetly.
It was labelled horror when I bought it years ago, hah. Sometimes I don’t understand the way Chapters labels things at all. I never had any interest in reading Dracula, I remember the one civil conversation I ever had with my grade nine English teacher, and he told me that he thought Dracula was a bit “dry” and not very interesting. I figured I could trust him on that, cause dsepite the fact that we didn’tget along our taste in books and comics and movies were pretty much 100% the same. As far as vampires are concerned in general, I’m just tired of them. Especially that ~sexy hot vampire~ trope. The YA vampire books are even worse, my friend tried to get me to read one so she could have someone to fangirl over it with and. . . I couldn’t bring myself to read it. Especially after she explained it to me. It had everything from funny coloured blood to different vampire clans (the good righteous vampires, the selfish evil vampires, the usual).
Get someone else to read it! Maybe you just can’t get scared by what you yourself think up. Knowing what’s going on must kill a lot of the suspense, after all.
I think the proper solution is to get a Finn to write it. I’m sure you’ve got connections. Bribe them into doing it with dirty personal favours or something. I’d be scary to write, I imagine, especially considerring how many Finns there are in the fandom (I’m always too afraid to say anything post something in say, kalmarunionen because so many people there actually come from those countries. If I got the wrong impression of a country or just get anything wrong. . . hooo boy, that’d be humiliating.)
Well, I won’t crush your dreams then. DREAM ON, YUU. (and I mean that in a positive/hopeful way, I swear!)
I like having big books like that in hardcover, honestly. Then agani, I like having everything in hardcover. I always ruin paperbacks. Too bad hardcovers are always twice the price.
Hey hey, does this mean you can read/understand Middle English? Or did you just have a copy like that cause, as you said, it’s excellent to have?
That’s a lot of steps to just read a book, though. The few translated books I’ve read were newer translations, though (my reasoning wasn’t the same as yours though, pff). And, err, sorry to say this buddy, but I think I’ll skip out on reading multiple translations of say, a 700 page book. That would take a year! Though I guess you’re talking more about poetry?
Ooh, I see what you mean. Reading that Beowulf excerpt kept throwing me off simply cause I kept on going, whoa, didn’t I just read that? I feel like I should probably try reading them outloud (you did say it started off al ~oral literature~ afterall), but err, the library’s probably not the best place to do that.
I thought the medieval perioud ended before that.Wait, is that how you got interested in Estonia? By meeting Estonians? Did you perhaps meet them and ask yourself, “my my, what is this mysterious place named Estonia~?”
Re: Your comment of 9565 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300.
Date: 2009-08-08 10:33 pm (UTC)Speaking of your fic, you totally need a “fic” tag on your journal. Everyone will be very glad for it because tags are simply that wonderful. You don’t even need to limit yourself to just that, think of the possibilities. . .
When looking at the kinkmeme aid I curse myself that I don’t ship us/uk (I really did try to like it but I really can’t). What’s just as bad is how repetitive some of the requests are. Or how some of the requests are ideas that you can probably find in 10 fics posted to the main comm.
Haha I think Finnish looks like a keysmash cause it’s just a lot of really long words strung together. Poland really does too, now that you mention it. Probably never occured to me cause I could read it, which probably affects how key-smash-y something looks.
Everytime your Estonia posts in one of those confession/secret/letter threads I cry a bit inside ;___; this is your cruel and heartbreaking way of converting people into shipping it, isn’t it? you sly bastard.
Your comment of 16693 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300
Date: 2009-08-09 03:07 am (UTC)The blue screen of doom is an awful, awful thing, but after having to put up with it for so long I eventually got used to it. There was nothing else. As for ME VS 2000, they were released in the same year, but ME came later. 2000 was made for business, whereas ME was intended to be more of a personal system. Unfortunately for me, IIRC, 2000 was the more stable system. Argh.
I feel so weird using new systems. I've spent so long using archaic ones that getting used to Vista is... troubling. I can find my way around ME and Win 95 pretty well, even Win 3.1 too (ahh, I remember using 3.1, good times~) but these new systems just baffle me. Nothing is ever where I expect it to be, seems there's no logic at all to the way things are set out. But maybe I'm just cranky.
People think you're weird for buying CDs? People think that of me, too. I don't understand it. Sure, I have a fancy ipod, but I also have an excellent sound system, and I fully intend to use it. Besides that, I love having the cover art, the case, and holding the actual CD in my hand. Unwrapping a new CD gives me a most delightful feeling - I can hardly even explain it.
Anyway. Back to my computer problem. I know you can't really help me, but it's the thought that counts. I'll probably poke at it a while, run some troubleshooting things, and if I can't fix it, I'll call the company. I do have a warranty, after all. It's just so frustrating. I wish I knew more about computers than I do. People are always coming to me, expecting me to be able to help them with their computer problems, but I can't because I don't know anything about computers. I just kind of fiddle with things and poke at them until either they work or I give up, whichever comes first. Nobody listens to meeeeeeee.
As for road trips, I don't mind long ones so much, provided I can get out from time to time. I frequently read in the car, and I've trained myself to write in moving vehicles too, so it's not really a big deal for me. I hate flying, though. I find airports so, so stressful, and seats in airplanes are uncomfortable, and overall it's just so unpleasant. That sucked for me, when I went to school at one end of the country and my parents lived at the other. Coming home for Christmas was such a pain in the ass.
You would be correct - my mum is one of those tourist-y type of people. She spends ungodly amounts of time in little shops, and occasionally will drag me to tourist traps (though we don't spend much time at those, fortunately) and we barely spend any time actually enjoying the place that we went to. On our Waterton trip I would have loved to go hiking, or fishing with my father, or even have just spent time relaxing by the lake and enjoying the fresh air... but no, no. Can't be having anything of the sort. On the subject of fishing, you do need a permit, yes, but at parks like Waterton you can buy day-permits if you do not already have a fishing liscense, and those only cost about $15 or so.
I'd love to find someone to go hang out with me on national park trips/camping/etc. Unfortunately, I... well. I don't really have anyone who I could go with. I mean, I do have a lot of friends who would love to come, but they're all far away... Ah. Well, this is what I get for being shy and non-social offline, I guess. Not that I can help it, I suppose.
Re: Your comment of 16693 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300
Date: 2009-08-09 03:08 am (UTC)I couldn't imagine seeing a bear without, well, shitting my pants.
I just find that so funny - maybe it's just because bears aren't all that usual around Fort Mac. I mean, they don't often come into the city, and when they do things have to be done about them of course, but... I don't know, I just don't find them all that frightening. Maybe it's because we mostly get black bears, which are relatively small. Moose are what I'm afraid of. Those things are bloody huge, and if one is standing on the side of the highway when we pass by, I get so terrified because I'm worried it'll spook and run across the road and hit us.
I think wishing/expecting a fandom for what you publish is stretching it.
I agree. I've seen the type of F!Ss that you're describing, and I don't understand it much. I mean, okay, if a series has a large fandom, that usually means it's pretty popular, and it sells well. So, people are reading it and you're getting money from it. However, at the same time, I can't really understand writing with the desire that it will result in fandom. I think it is more logical/realistic to desire success. In my case, ultimately, what I desire for my work - in the event that I do finish something and get it published - is that it will be widely read and widely enjoyed. Fandom doesn't matter all that much to me.
... Though I do admit that I have had the "I wonder what pairings people would make up" conversation in relation to my original work, hah. Though in one case, that was with a friend who had read my work, and in another case, with someone who (upon me mentioning the ghost story idea) compared it to Supernatural, and said that people would probably pair the brothers up. *facepalm*
Anyway. When it comes to Dracula, you're right, it is a little bit dry. However, I do enjoy literature from that time period, and I found it very interesting to go to the source material, then look at modern versions of the vampire idea and see how things have changed ... But then again, I'm a nerd like that. To be honest, I agree with you on the matter of being tired of the 'sexy hot vampire' thing, as much of it can b pretty ridiculous, though I admit that one of my failed vampire novels was pretty ridiculous as well. Sigh. (It was like... the mafia. With vampires. And alchemy was involved somehow, too. Pfft.)
On the matter of the national awakening fic idea, I do think you're right. A Finn, and specifically a person well-versed in history, would probably have to write it. Unfortunately for me I'm not well-acquainted with anyone who would be able to do it (most of the Finns I know don't write fic). Though of the ones I know of (rather than the ones I know), Kainoliero does come to mind... ah, I'd love to see her handle something like that. She knows her stuff, from what I've seen, or at least isn't afraid of doing research when necessary - and by the gods, can she ever turn out the most lovely sentences. (This reminds me that I need to find the time to read her latest fic - I tend to save them for when I have a quiet moment, so that I can savour them).
...Er. Sorry about that - never mind me, slipped into fanboy mode for a moment there. Anyway, this:
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