What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Apply to college; drive above 10 mph; go to an attorney's office (a lot!); watch a Blu-ray movie; call 911.

Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Didn't make none as I recall. I think I have a couple general resolutions for this coming year, which is more than zero, so I suppose that's a yes.

Did anyone close to you give birth? A number of people at my church gave birth. They're close to me as members of the same church body, but I'm not really close friends with any of them. Most of my close friends aren't married yet, though I suspect that in another three to five years I could be seeing a "wave a' babies!". ;-)

Did anyone close to you die? Sadly, yes.

What countries did you visit? California could easily declare itself a country, but I visited no officially recognized nation-state beyond the borders of the U.S.A.

What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? 1/8 of a college education, a trip to the Mediterranean, more books, more muscle, more knowledge. :P

What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? November 16th, the day my father passed away.

What was your biggest achievement of the year? Probably getting accepted to Hillsdale, or successfully taking the SAT, or getting my driver's license.

What was your biggest failure? The first thing that comes to mind is having some big laziness problems as per schoolwork. :-)

Did you suffer illness or injury? If that was earlier this year...hm. I had a pretty atrocious case of pink eye a while back, but that may have been more than a year ago. As you can tell, no flesh-eating disease or anything.

What was the best thing you bought? That I bought personally? Oh boy...I don't know! Probably some book.

Where did most of your money go? My total earnings weren't that significant, as I am not gainfully employed, but most went either to the purchase of various media (books, CDs, movies) or to my bank account.

What did you get really, really, really excited about? Going to Hillsdale, Robert coming home, seeing Mom, hanging out with the Deckers.

What song will always remind you of 2008? I don't know. Songs don't typically remind me of years. Maybe "American Made" by George Thorogood, as I bought one of his CDs this year and that is one of my favorite songs from it.

Compared to this time last year, are you:

Thinner or fatter? Oh, I may have put on a touch of weight, though it wouldn't be very significant.

Richer or poorer? Richer.

What do you wish you'd done more of? School, writing, praying, Bible-reading, hanging out with Robert and Mom, exercising.

What do you wish you'd done less of? Slacking off, sorting through bills and insurance documents, going to the attorney's office, walking on slick ice.

How will you be spending/have you spent Christmas? Opening gifts and eating Christmas dinner with my family.

Did you fall in love in 2008? Yes. Her name is Tsukiko Takahashi and she's 41, a secret agent, and fictional. It's not a romantic sort of love, but the benevolent love of an author for a character who makes him happy. :-)

What was your favorite TV program? Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and House, M.D. Yes, I can cheat and name two.

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Nope...I can't say that I hate anyone at all currently, and I hope to keep things that way. I have a newfound appreciation for several people, though.

What was the best book you read? Well, I think the one I enjoyed the most was Retribution: The Battle for Japan 1944-45. But then there's also The Fall of Berlin 1945, and So Brave, Young, and Handsome, and probably some other literature I'm not thinking of.

What was your greatest musical discovery? I discovered that I liked George Thorogood.

What did you want and get? The first season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles; a cool sweater; Black Hawk Down and its soundtrack; The Combat Leader's Field Guide; a sound system that docks an ipod; a Macbook; .22 ammunition.

What did you want and not get? A Taurus 24/7 compact .40 pistol; an Audi A8; $1,000,000; a sarkan; a chance to visit some friends.

What was your favorite film of this year? Well, I think I might choose The Dark Knight with David, but I also greatly enjoyed Walk the Line, Serenity, and some others.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was the big 18. I went to Sweet Tomatoes and opened some presents, and a day or so later bought some ammunition unaccompanied. :)

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Being a more faithful, righteous, and courageous servant of God.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? I'm not sure what language to use to describe a fashion concept. How about this: neat and tidy, occasionally dapper but not ostentatious.

What kept you sane? God, of course. And through him, family, friends, long phone conversations, hanging out and playing pool, those walks with Dad, and my great church body. Of course, as David said, I never felt in real danger of going insane, especially since I doubt that truly insane people really think of themselves as such. But the above things fortified my spirits.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Summer Glau.

What political issue stirred you the most? I guess the issue of abortion stirred me the most this year. I found or was recommended a website that really raised my hackles about it. Otherwise I have been interested but not hugely stirred by the political landscape.

Who did you miss? Tack an M onto that incorrect nominative pronoun and maybe I'll answer. Thank you. Robert and Mom.

Who was the best new person you met? I can't say, really. Perhaps the couple I met at a church family's house.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Life can change in an instant in dramatic ways. Put your trust in God and not in earthly things. However much you come to hang on the temporal things you love, they have neither the permanence nor the perfection necessary to bear that weight. Depend on Christ, and all the rest will be in its proper place. Even the worst experiences can make you a better person, and God really can work all things for good. Don't shun responsibility, because you never know when it may be thrust upon you. Stick your neck out. Be confident. Learn from your mistakes. Oh, and don't get tire chains hung up on your brakes! It's a pain. Trust me on this one. :D

Merry Christmas, everyone! May your meditation and your celebrations be blessed as we commemorate the day the Word became flesh.

EDIT: From my gracious parents, grandparents, uncle, and aunt, I received the following:

--A fine Italian sweater with a rectangular decorative pattern in autumnal colors
--Gift cards to Barnes and Noble and Borders, my two favorite stores :D
--Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete First Season :)
--And the iHome, a bluetooth enabled ipod dock/alarm clock/radio/speakerphone: a compact little unit with good sound that will be perfect for a college dorm. And oh, hm, guess what? That's where I'm going to be living in 8 months. ;-)

Thanks to my awesome family! And never forget why we give gifts today.

Check out the views!

Out in front; that's the tail end of my car blanketed in the white stuff on the right there.

Grandpa's garden in the back.

The back porch.

The garden shed.

Beautiful out there, isn't it? I just can't drive anywhere for, it looks like, most of this week. According to weather.com it's currently 29, feels like 19, and the real temperature is going to drop over the next few days. And we're apparently looking to get another snow storm on Wedesday! Other than missing church, though, I don't think I'm going to miss anything else important or tantalizing. Meanwhile, I'm just going to enjoy the severe weather--but please be sure to pray for anyone who has to make a commute or who may get stuck out in the cold without a warm house.

Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Oh, what? Yes. Pardon the evil cackle. It's just that I solved another big piece of the Kirianic puzzle, one that may carry us to the very end. And that makes me happy--but work first, work first. Gregory of Tours awaits. :D

On the Grid Again

Hey all,

We had a good Thanksgiving here--just finished up the last of the leftover turkey yesterday, in fact; it was a 22 lb. bruiser--and so far life has been progressing well. If anyone who reads this didn't hear from some other source, I have been admitted to Hillsdale College, my hands-down top choice, on a 1/2 tuition scholarship. That makes me exceeding happy. :D

I'm also finding the Venerable Bede a bit tricky to translate in spots, but that's ok. He can be that way. He'll just see if I care.

It's getting cold, finally: Grandpa estimated it was around 28 last night and I had to put de-icer on "my" car (Dad's leased car, which we'll be turning in, in anticipation of whatever car I do end up owning). For some time the weather has been unusually mild for November-December, and I'm ready for it to get cold for good until April. It should be nice and bracing for my walks, which because of the steep hills in this area will be deathly to calories.

Lastly, I've inherited a Motorola Razr from mea mater, which I've been very much enjoying. It's of a bold dark red in hue, and, to me the most fun part, I got it to play a theme from The Dark Knight soundtrack whenever someone calls me. So call me, ja? :D

Driving Test

EDIT: I passed!!!

Thank you all for your encouragement and prayers: I was very blessed to see so many comments on my last post. I'm doing all right. As of now the strangest thing is how much my life has changed, by which I mean location, routines, future, all of that.

Perhaps at some point I'll update at greater length, if I feel it's right. Right now, though, I'd just like you all to pray for something considerably less important, but still of some significance, if you think of it. I'm taking my driver's test tomorrow in the hopes of obtaining my license. As long as I don't bomb out on the test, which I don't anticipate, I shall have the privilege of full Class C driving rights in just a little over 24 hours. :-)

Please Pray

Dear friends,

I don't think there's any way to say this except straight out. My dear father passed away this morning, apparently from a heart attack. Right now I'm just stunned. My family and I, of course, need your prayers greatly. I can't really give any more updates now, because this happened seven hours ago...again, please pray for us all. I can't even begin to imagine the impact of this loss yet.

Classical Festival

Hey friends! I just wanted to post and say that my classical festival went pretty well, and I got an Honorable Mention, which makes me happy. :-) I also got to have a short little master class on my piece afterward.

I voted! And other matters.

My sincere thanks to all the dear friends and ClassEd aunts who have been praying for the success of the Reformation Play. It went quite well, and everyone at church seemed to enjoy it greatly. No one forgot any lines, no one seemed especially nervous, and everything came off as planned. So, thank you! :-) A few people took cast photos, and I'm going to see if I can get a hold of those.

I would rather not post the manuscript on my blog publicly, so here's an idea: why don't you e-mail me if you'd like to read it? (merawin -at- gmail -dot- com.) That should be an easy solution without exposing my work to the vagaries of potentially unscrupulous internet prowlers. :D

And, on different subject, I voted yesterday! I'm not sure if I'll tip Oregon over the edge and make it a red state, but it's still an important and satisfying responsibility to exercise. Maybe I'll at least help defeat the various measures that would slather more than $400 million dollars in extra taxes on our county--for an arts center, our community college, and our zoo, my left foot! I ask you!

N.T.W.R.

That's my motto.

No Taxation Without Representation. And here's news for you, local government: I'm representing that I don't want to get taxed more for silly stuff. Got it? :P

I'll try to update afore long with some more of the happenings of my life, including long-delayed pictures from the trip my dad and I took to central Oregon in early September.

Cheerio!

Greetings, Hail, 'Sup, and Guten Tag.

I suppose the squirrel is old news by now--long life and health to the little chap, so long as he lives it to the hilt away from our mantelpiece, thank you very much. :-)

I have not been posting primarily, I suppose, due to the combined fact that my days are fairly full, but do not especially lend themselves to an exciting public report, being as they are of a routine nature. I do have a fairly heavy 5-gallon-bucketful of books and movies to discuss, though, which portends well for Tolle's fortunes. :D These include My Antonia, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Old Man and the Sea; and Casino Royale, There Will be Blood, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight.

In the world of writing, I have developed an extremely exciting and heartening idea for Kiriana which will, I believe, galvanize my upcoming work thereon. Details would spoil the book rotten, so I'm going to be miserly about those, but it does have to do with the book's climactic scene.

Last, but not least, I have a decent handful of events over the horizon: lunch with a couple families from church, an airsoft war, spending a day or two at the Deckers', and the Reformation play on the 31st. Adieu for now! :-)

My Excitement for the Morning!

I tell you, even after hearing scrabbling noises in one's chimney and assuming that either a bird or a squirrel is the cause, it is an unsettling feeling to see a large squirrel, black with soot, simply walk into the family room. This is especially unsettling for someone who's lived in a family which hasn't had a single pet in six or eight years, and who hardly likes squirrels, at least when they are in his home, freaked out, and crawling over his computer. After the little bugger ran roughshod for a bit, climbing onto the mantlepiece and onto chairs, walking over CD cases in front of our CD player, launching himself desperately at the window in the assumption that it led to freedom, knocking over a Kleenex box, and even having a go at playing our piano, he was finally coaxed to run out our front door, which I had opened.

So that was pretty weird! :P

What Every Author Wants

EDIT: Meet Special Agent Tsukiko Takahashi. ;-) Click for a larger view.




It is also noteworthy that she regularly carries one of these, the Heckler & Koch P2000 Subcompact (in 9mm):



I met one of my characters today. Not in the Stranger Than Fiction sense, in which an actual novel character becomes embodied, but rather in the sense that a model in a women's clothing magazine my mom was looking at quite unknowingly resembled my mental image of my character. She looks the part of the protagonist of Faceless, that Japanese hitwoman story I've been talking about. Even the clothes aren't far off from what she might wear. The page itself was relatively irrelevant to the magazine as a whole, so Mom tore it out, and I'm going to see if I can scan it.

Besides that, I saw the movie Shooter tonight, starring Mark Wahlberg. It was a fairly conventional sort of Lone Well-Trained Ex-Military Guy Seeking Vengeance Against Corrupt Government Forces movie (Bourne, anyone?) but it was pretty fun: a "high-octane" film as some review proclaimed. When I actually get off my haunches and update Tolle Lege, I intend to review it.

The Ultimate Question Is, Can He Do It?

*Joker voice* I'm going to try a little...social experiment.

Background info. So I'm caving. I think I'm going to start The Epidemic.

Now, before you start throwing full wine bottles at your computer screen, and wrap sweaty sheets around yourself at night, feverish with nightmares of Kiriana and Immortality gathering dust in obscure corners of warm, musty cellars beneath my expansive authorial den--before I become too ridiculously figurative--hear ye now my experiment, or plan, or whatever you like to call it. I intend, if possible, God willing, and barring unforeseen circumstances, to strive to write between 250 and 500 words a day, minimum, on these three novel projects. That would be a maximum minimum, so to speak, of 1500 words a day, or about three single-spaced pages. Of course there may be days when I pump out twice that, but this is to try to guard against two things: wasting good writing time, and letting perfectly interesting projects founder.

You have authorization to beat the tar out of me if I fail in this. Though I also have authorization to defend myself. :P

So, will it work? I hope so. It had better work, because this is how I want to run things when/if I am a professional author. No better time to start than right now.

Peace out, readership. ;-)

Oh Yeah, That's Just Great!

Why is it that I have to come up with my most bizarrely curious story ideas RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A BIG BUCKETLOAD OF SCHOOL? :-P And why, pray tell, does this story idea have to wait until I finish Kirana AND Immortality and get started on the bally Epidemic? Well, okay, you're right, it doesn't HAVE to wait that long, but I can't just throw all my other projects in the dustbin, because they're very fun too and I've put a lot into them.

Just to give you an idea of how different this one is--again!--the protagonist is a 41 year-old Japanese hitwoman with a BIG secret. :D

P.S. Don't ask why 41 precisely, it just sounded right!

P.P.S. Anyone else noted the strong supernatural trend in my writing? It's interesting. tLoN is chock full of supernatural powers, the Amazoni have supernatural strength, Pelen is physically invincible, Mad Mariah features supernatural spiritual warfare, and both The Epidemic and this other story, not to mention Deus ex Homine, my latest short story, will all feature some kind of unique and otherwordly powers. I think my only major exceptions so far are The Motel and my failed Viking invasion of Ireland novel. :-D

Note to the World At Large

I apologize, amici amicaeque, for the cataclysmic drop in my posting frequency standards, or PFS. Some rather difficult and confusing things happened at the end of summer, which kind of kicked my habit of working diligently, and now that school has started up I've been more or less skating thin ice. *wry grin* So I haven't had too much time for posting, or rather I haven't made that much time for it. I haven't even, for instance, posted any of the more than 300 pictures I took while on a trip to Central Oregon with my dad. I hope that shall soon be rectified. In the meantime, I hope everyone is doing well, anyone who wants to buy me a Smith and Wesson M&P is absolutely welcome to do so, and let it be known that I have the sober and distinguished appellation of Teaching Assistant this year, in the new iteration of my flagship lit class last year, AP English. These high school classes are starting to make me feel old: 15 or 16 didn't used to sound young to me, but now that I've reached the normal age for starting college, it feels a little strange. :P

Two Burglars Discuss Their Loot

Bob: Hey Rufus, 'dja get the goods?
Rufus: Sure did, pal.
Bob: Problems?
Rufus: Yeah, Maxwell rolled over once, opened one eye: I pretended to be a statue and I think he bought it.
Bob: Well, get it in the truck. We don't know that he bought it.
Rufus: Better read it first. Make sure it's the real deal.
Bob: All right, all right. Make it fast.

The result:

SEVEN THINGS IN YOUR ROOM:
1. Books
2. A bed
3. A painting of a Spanish mission
4. Glamdring
5. A Marlin .22 rifle
6. A kukri machete
7. A pen from Mozambique

SEVEN THINGS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT:
1. God
2. Water
3. Food
4. Sunlight
5. Oxygen
6. My brain
7. A circulatory system

SEVEN THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Become a more godly and righteous person
2. Marry
3. Raise children
4. Get published
5. Tour Europe from Ireland to the Urals, focusing on World War II battlefields
6. To the best of my ability, make better the lives of others
7. Drive a Dodge Charger SRT8

SEVEN OTHER THINGS:
Do You:
1. Believe in God? Yes.
2. Had a dream come true? Do you realize that this sentence, completed, would read “Do you had a dream come true?” That is appalling. As I recall, no, I haven’t had a dream come true. Fortunate for me, as I dreamt once I was being chased through my house by a velociraptor.
3. Read the newspaper? No, I find the internet to be an improvement for obtaining general national and world news. It’s faster, just as comprehensive, and free.
4. Pray? Yes.
5. Have a job? Not one that pays. :-)
6. Go to church? Yes.
7. Wish on shooting stars? I may have done so when I was younger, but I don’t think I have recently.

SEVEN THINGS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS:Have you...
1. Cried? No.
2. Had fun? Yes.
3. Been kissed? Yes, by my mom.
4. Felt stupid? Sure, yeah.
5. Talked to an ex? Don’t have one, bru.
6. Missed someone? Not actively.
7. Hugged someone? Mom.


TEN random things about me:
10. When I imagine scenes from my stories, the resultant mental image is typically very detailed, almost like a movie. I think in color and sound and often imagine an accompanying musical score.
09. I have a scar on my left forefinger left by a pruning saw.
08. I have little sympathy for men with families who attempt extremely dangerous mountain climbs for fun.
07. I think I enjoy Orwell’s essays more than his books.
06. As my family could easily tell you, I am very much not a pet person.
05. I find skeletons endlessly amusing.
04. My latest short story has been influenced to some degree by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
03. I have considered getting a scooter.
02. I drink up movie lines and recycle them for anyone who cares to listen, and I love to imitate voices.
01. On that note, I find that I can apply the Joker’s lines to a staggering amount of situations.

NINE ways to win my heart:
09. Be a growing and enthusiastic Christian.
08. Be a good communicator. That’s really, really important.
07. Be a caring and sensitive person.
06. Be willing to rebuke me when I’m doing something wrong.
05. Be willing to put up with movie imitations. :-P
04. Be a lover of literature.
03. Be a lover of writing.
02. Be a punctual, respectful, patient person.
01. Be more concerned with inner than with outer beauty.

SEVEN ways to annoy me:
07. Act like a typical college frat boy.
06. Write in “texting” language.
05. Insult a lady.
04. Be insensitive to the suffering of others.
03. Show no regard for artistic beauty or intellectual exercise.
02. Tickle me while I’m stretching.
01. Play music too loudly.

SIX things I believe in:
06. The reality and holiness of God.
05. The reality and unholiness of Satan.
04. The potential dangers of television and the internet.
03. The depravity of man.
02. The destructive power of gunfire.
01. The beauty of many parts of the natural world.

FIVE things I'm afraid of:
05. Sharks
04. Some dogs
03. Barack Obama
02. Failing to turn in schoolwork on time
01. Losing unsaved writing.

FOUR of my favorite items in my room:
04. My bed
03. My gun
02. My books
01. My CDs

THREE things I do everyday
03. Put on a belt.
02. Clip a KA-Bar Mule Folder to my pocket.
01. Turn on my computer.

TWO things I want to do right now:
02. Work on Kiriana.
01. Go to bed.

ONE person I want to see right now:
01. Sorry to count you all as one person, people--it’s just a way to cut corners on this quiz: Robert, David, Elisabeth, and Lindsey.

A trip!

My dad and I are vacationing in the Bend/Sun River area in central Oregon this week, from Tuesday to Saturday. I'm excited! It's a beautiful area and I don't think I've been there in about five years. We're going to do a great deal of hiking and bike-riding, possibly some canoeing, and of course have some pizza and milkshakes in the little Sun River village. I will be sure to take my camera along and give ya'll a pictorial history when I return. :-)

In Which My Raincoat is Vanquished

Two nights ago our area was lacerated by several hours of strong rain, and the clouds' grief just so happened to coincide with the entirety of our walk. I was formerly fairly confident of my raincoat's ability to do its part against the elements, but evidently it had never met this class of rainstorm before. I mean, really, it's made by Columbia Sportswear, you'd think it could keep my chest dry.

I suppose it didn't help that I decided late in the game to put up my hood, only to find that it had filled up with water, which promptly slid under my collar and down my chest. That was fun! :P

Perhaps going to Hillsdale will provide good excuse for procuring a more robust liquid-repelling garment. I fancy that a chilly February here will feel toasty compared to what Michigan can offer. To show what I mean: Detroit's average monthly high/low during January, according to Wikipedia, is 31/18. February is a roasting 34/20. For the same months, Portland averages 46/37 and 50/39. Yep, I'm going to need a bigger coat.

Drenching rainshowers. Sub-sixty-degree nights. At the end of August? Is someone toying with nukes over the Pacific? :-D But I'm not complaining: the weather is actually predicted to be very nice, and I would rather it be unusually cool than unusually hot.

Cheerio! Oh, and if you like, hop on over to my new "intellectual development" blog, The Quintessence of Dust. It will be expanded and further posted upon shortly, but by way of explanation this is a blog I am developing as part of an assignment for my AP English Language and Composition Class. I'm not going mad and trying to keep up three blogs just because. ;-)

Two Trailers: One Awful, One Interesting

This trailer looks like another adaptation of a low-profile, dark graphic novel with a cult following: the sort of thing the movie industry turns to after they've run out of Batmen, Supermen, Spidermen, Iron Men, X-Men, and all other sorts of men. And when they're straining to reach that 18-25 immature males demographic which continues to drink up a healthy mix of dark (yet cheesy) revenge drama, highly improbable combat stunts and...gryphons. And of course women taking their tops off. Can't forget that.

I'll give this one a 8.5 on the King Kong-meter. It lacks the traditional pompous narrator and uninspired text headings, but the supernatural elements are...um...odd, to say the least.

This one, on the other hand, looks interesting--a bit reminiscent of 3:10 to Yuma in some ways, one of those newfangled "realistic" westerns. Plus it has Ed Harris, who is more or less an intrinsically cool actor. ;-) And Jeremy Irons occupying himself with something a lot more interesting than the Eragon movie.

Driving Milestone Numero 3

The other two being learning how to drive at all and dipping onto the highway. This one was my first bout with that seven-headed beast, the manual transmission. And you know what? I shifted into first without stalling on my first try. (!) 'Course, the next time I tried it the call jolted to a halt and stalled out, but I still proved I could do it. 145-mph chases involving black Charger SRTs with converted six-speed manuals are only weeks away! ;-)

Libri Awesomi Sunt

All right, how could I resist doing a quiz all about books? You're right, I couldn't. This is subject to David's same caveat about the Bible: it would apply to essentially all these categories, so it shall be assumed in the background as the ultimate book, but I shall consider non-inspired works in my answers.


1. One book that changed your life: The Iliad. I would never have written Immortality otherwise, nor would I have known about kleos or Diomedes' aristeia in Book V.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Peace Like a River.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: The U.S. Army Survival Manual. :P Or if it were abundantly clear that even the best advice in the world would be of no avail, then...oh...dang, I have to choose one? The Complete Works of Shakespeare? I can count a collection of plays and poetry, right? I'm glad you agree.

4. One book that made you laugh: I could name any number of Wodehouse books and short stories, but Huckleberry Finn would also have a spot.

5. One book that made you cry: Out of the Silent Planet, of all things. I was in an odd, exceptionally sensitive phase and I was incredibly frustrated by the expressive gestures of the Huorn to call Ransom into the boat. It made me really sad to think of it being confused and trying everything it could think of to show him what it wanted.

6. One book that you wish had been written: Achilles: The Autobiography or I Really Am William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare.

7. One book that you wish had never been written: One? How about the entire His Dark Materials series. Or The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Or Hobbes' Leviathan. Or Flavia Bujor's The Prophecy of the Stones (a fantasy by a fifteen year-old where all good things are accomplished by communal will-power and the key city in the novel is Paris, and nothing really makes sense).

8. One book you’re currently reading: The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

10. Tag five others: Any coves who haven't made the attempt yet. If you exceed five in number, I won't report you. I'm no rat. In a town this bad, who's there to rat to anyway? ;-)

Well, It's Done.

I sent in my application to Hillsdale! *trumpets blare* Now one must simply wait for the result. :D

A Service Startlingly Interrupted

EDIT: I suppose I can't say I don't know any of the circumstances whatsoever--I was given to understand from a churchgoer about as much as Kristoff guessed, that the man was a member who had some "angers" in his life. I believe the pastor explained the situation after the service, but we left quickly and I didn't hear it. I still don't know anything about the specific situation, like why he called everyone hypocrites, though--which did sound a lot like something out of a movie. :-P (end edit)

Today turned into the strangest church service I've ever attended. For more than an hour the service (not at our regular church) proceeded entirely as normal, but right before the end, during the singing of the last song, a man came up to the stage and hurled the entire communion table, with all the elements on it, bodily off the edge of the stage with a huge crash. I had been paying attention to the song and hadn't even seen him coming, so the first thing I knew about was the crash. The man began shouting, "You're hypocrites, all of you!" Then, as several of the men ran forward to take him away, he said, "No, you're going to hear this!" Four of the men wrestled him out through the side door, and that was all. We're not members of the church, so I don't know the circumstances, but it was certainly a strange and slightly unsettling interruption.

In other news, I'm going to drive on a highway for the first time today. So far, driving is progressing well and at a swift rate. It's easier than I thought it would be, but still, if there's any time you're feeling lazy, drive. The level of concentration you need to maintain will kick you into high energy mode in about five seconds. :-)

'ere's yer presents fur the bairns, lassie.

Check this out. :-D

Just For Fun

David's Latin rendering of his own work, and then Kait's Latin poem, spurred me to this effort. One hopes I haven't gotten too rusty--I had to look up a lot of words, some of which I should have known. :-P It certainly shows one how thoroughly we know our own language's grammatical structure without even having to think about it.

No solid guarantees of idiomatic correctness, absolute precision in inflection, etc. are given.

De Anglica:

But she had to run faster. Pelen was gaining on her. Almost without her knowing it, she put on a spurt of speed until her pace was nearly half again as fast as before. She really could go no swifter now: she was like a sprinter in the last straight, only this was not the last straight but a grueling contest of attrition for which nothing had prepared or could prepare her. It was a question of whether her lighter weight and the impulse of adrenaline could outlast his superior strength, fitness, and nearly invincible determination.
Those few who looked out curiously from their windows and saw them in that final sprint saw a thing rare to behold. Stephanie was in the flower of youth, light, nimble, and yet vulnerable, like a doe fleeing the hounds. And Pelen was the hound: powerful, savage, arrogant in his strength, and totally confident of ultimate victory. It was almost a thing of beauty, and yet dreadful, as in the myths when the god Apollo pursued the maiden Daphne to take her.

Ad Latinam:

Sed necesse est curre eum celerior. Pelen in eo increbrescebat. Paene sine ea id sciente, se incitat donec gradus eius erat prope dimidium iterum ut celer ut ante. Nunc vere non potest ire celerior: erat ut cursor in ultima directa, sed hic non erat ultima directa sed certamen difficilis attritus per quam nihil paraverat aut eam possit parere. Erat quaesitio utrum molis gravior eius impulsusque adrenalensis possint permanere potentem superiorem eius, valetudinem, et prope obstinationem invictam.
Illi parvi qui spectaverunt curiose de fenestris eis et eos viderunt in hoc cursu ultima viderunt rem infrequentem aspictu. Stefania erat in florem adulscentiae, levis, agilis, et tamen vulnerabilis, similis ad cervam fugentem canes. Et canis Pelen erat: potens, saevus, superbus in robore eius, omninoque confidens in victoria ultima. Prope res pulchritudinis erat, et tamen horribilis, sicut in fabulis cum deus Apollo virginem Daphne persequatur ut eam rapiat.

What Color Knight are You?

Perhaps no one will be tremendously shocked to hear that I enjoyed The Dark Knight considerably more the second time around. Somehow everything hung together much better. More later!

EDIT: Some thoughts from the second time around. The film seemed considerably more focused and coherent. The first time it seemed scattered, over-long, and somewhat pompous, somehow, but this time I didn't really feel that way about it. There are many plot elements, but they center around some key concepts and themes, and the Joker's hand is in the middle of it all. Although he is a master architect of mayhem, this nonetheless provides a kind of glue for all his machinations.

I still didn't like Gyllenhal's Dawes. She came across as cynical and irritating, and not really the type of woman to inspire such admiration, and the majority of her scenes (except her final one) seemed to be relatively extraneous to the plot. The Dent/Two-Face plot also still felt a bit miscalculated to me, and strained. In the first place, Dent's reaction doesn't seem very realistic--how could be possibly blame Gordon or Batman?--and in the second place, the Joker is such a toweringly successful villain that Dent's involvement, especially after the climactic face-off with the Joker, weakens the end a little. As a representative of the Joker's destructive power, he is important, and his involvement at the end does lead up to one of the movie's important themes/moral points, so it might be difficult to simply cut him out. He still seemed like a drag on the conflict, though, dramatically speaking.

The action was more intriguing and exciting, Batman's involvement seemed a bit more meaningful (helpful in a movie about him), the scene with the multiple Batman impersonators didn't completely confuse me, Ledger still delivered, and I paid more attention to the soundtrack, which I like (I find those brooding Batman themes more or less irresistible, as one with a strong taste for dramatic, non-cheesy film scores :D). Gordon is really cool. It's still sad they nuked the Tumbler.

There are a lot of things thematically that I liked about it, too. It seemed less unilaterally dark than I remembered. Even though the amount of evil in it is huge, we still get frequent little reminders of what the good guys are trying to preserve. I thought it made an important point that there are no 'shortcuts' to overcoming evil. The Joker, who seems more or less to be an impersonation of almost pure evil, manically delighting in destruction and negation for its own sake, can't be bullied, bribed, or ignored. Ultimately, those who wish to defeat him must do so by sacrificing themselves. Batman, as David pointed out, can only undo what was done to Dent by taking his crimes on himself. The passengers on the ferries can only foil the Joker's scheme by taking the ultimate chance that the other boat isn't similarly inclined. (I found the climax more climactic this time around. For what it's worth, I didn't notice last time that the big prisoner who throws away the detonator goes over and starts praying with five or six other inmates. Interesting, and pretty cool.)

One thing that rather confused me was Batman's statement almost at the end of the movie when he says that "sometimes people deserve more than the truth. They deserve to have their faith rewarded." This line is spoken in a pretty critical part of the film, so I assume the filmmakers were very intentional about this and meant for viewers to think about it. Is Batman intimating that the best way to reward someone's faith is with a lie? That's doubtful, and probably what he is more nearly saying is that, the citizens of Gotham deserve to have a beacon of hope (Dent); Batman will keep that illusion alive so that the memory of Dent's apparent sacrifice in the name of good will help raise Gotham from the depths, while Batman will be the fall guy. What Batman does here is noble, but this still seems like a bit of a dangerous way to word things. People in the Bible certainly lie to protect others from harm, but this opposing of truth and faith seems like something rather different. But perhaps I'm delving a little too deeply here. I'm confused about the philosophical implications, which means that I will probably misread or misinterpret it somehow if I try to go too far.

So, in sum, the movie was a lot more 'fun' the second time around, a lot more engaging. Despite the prevailing darkness, I found it more hopeful than I remembered. It manages to explore the really tough moral decisions that often need to be made trying to combat evil in a way that few or no other superhero movies have really done, at least in my experience. It has a good screenplay, a good soundtrack, and generally top-notch acting (except Gyllenhal). The ending, though perhaps a bit compromised by Dent, is nevertheless still powerful, closing off the movie nicely while leaving room for more. And the end credits music! Ahhhh.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, the scene where Batman is interrogating the Joker at Gordon's place (MRU or whatever it was called) was really quite powerful. The visual imagery of Batman, muscled and armored, a symbol of savage power and unrestrained justice, clenching his fists in furious frustration while the Joker, so supremely confident in his insane worldview, fearless of physical intimidation, laughs hysterically at his feet, was pulled off really well. As The Joker says (paraphrasing): "All that strength, and you can't do anything. You've got nothing to threaten me with." Like I noted above, Batman's spiritual fiber is considerably more important than his martial arts or kevlar. Nolan certainly takes pains to make Batman a cool superhero, but he doesn't let all those forearm strikes supplant more metaphysical issues, and I think that's something that will make The Dark Knight a much more enduring superhero film than, say, X-Men or Spider-Man.

All right, this is getting really long. I'll just close with a thought rather incidental to any critical consideration of the movie, which is that some few parts of this reminded me a wee bit of Immortality--the dark tone, a metropolis troubled by corruption and violence, and a conflicted and unique protagonist.

So yeah, all that to say, it still had some weak points, but over all I liked it a lot more than the first time around. :-)

Austrian firearms + Mexican restaurants = Today

Today in a nearby Mexican restaurant I saw a chap in civilian clothes carrying a very dandy Glock, probably a 17 or 22, on a belt holster, completely unconcealed. Evidently, as it turned out, he was a plainclothes cop, or some such like. I didn't quite work up the courage to ask him about or compliment him on it: I wasn't quite sure how he would take it, and whether he would want me to draw attention to his pistol in the middle of a public building. But it was slightly unsettling (never seen it before on someone not in police uniform) and also rather cool, in retrospect.

Pelenesque

No, this is not a video of me driving. :-P I would hazard a good guess that this is, in fact, illegal, because the car does not appear to be on any kind of designated raceway. I don't, of course, endorse flouting the law or taking the obvious risks of going this fast. With that caveat:



For those blankly confused by this, the Dodge Charger SRT8 is the car of choice of the centerpiece character of my novel Immortality, and as such of unusual interest to me in the automotive world.

Connor movet ultra ambulatione

EDIT II: Evidently the Wikipedia link I gave didn't work, so, the car I'm learning on is a Toyota Avalon. Never mind, it does show. Just don't include the period in the link when pasting it, like I did!

EDIT: I got up to 35 mph today and backed up into a parking space (though not at that same speed). I'm liking this driving thing! :D

Well, I moseyed over to the DMV today, passed my test, and got my learner's permit. I also got registered to vote. Woot! So when we go for our walk tonight Dad's going to let me take a (very slow) spin around the parking lot and get this here driving business started off on the right foot. Please pray that I don't shear off any side mirrors or scrape the bumper. :-P I look forward to seeing you on the road soon!

On a quest for new walking routes, my parents and I ran across this fantastic house in a quiet little neighborhood about ten minutes' drive or so from us. I figure that if I make a good living from writing (and housing prices dip considerably) it would be a nice place to raise a family and have a quiet nook to peck away at a story. I would guess that as it stands it would sell for more than a million dollars, though, so I'm not sure how likely that is. Isn't it pretty, though?

Guns, Catch, and Pizza

I had the chance to visit more friends this summer, this time going shooting with the Deckers. We had another gun in the mix this time, a Ruger revolver that can fire .357 Magnum, .38 Special, and 9mm. We only shot 9mm this time, but I hadn't fired any of the above rounds before, so it was new and fun. It was more powerful than I expected, too, though perhaps I only find it so because I'm the most used to .22. I also got to fire a 12-guage shotgun one-handed and use the same shotgun to rather spectacularly explode a water bottle.

I seem to remember a lot of movies where characters shoot guns while keeping the barrel on an entirely level plane. That has to mean they aren't really shooting anything. Revolvers and handguns buck when fired, however much you try to control it.

Anyway, after that we played frisbee and threw a baseball around for a while (it's amazing how consistently fun something as simple as catch can be). We ate pizza, Kristoff taught me some more martial arts moves, and then we watched the film Vantage Point, which had extremely simplistic character development--or, more accurately, no character development--but was a pretty fun action film. It was rather amusing to see Matthew Fox (Lost's Jack) playing a Secret Service agent. I had a good time. :-)

In other news, Monday will constitute what I hope to be a firm crackdown on my schedule so I can finish the Reformation Play and get plenty of piano practice done--and learn how to drive. Now that I'm 18 the restrictions go down somewhat, and I think it's about time I mastered the art. If anything especially interesting happens when I take the wheel, I'll let you know. ;-)

Cheerio!

The Dark Knight

Initial consensus: pretty disappointing. The movie must have had a huge budget, what with multiple explosions, car chases, about six fights, and of course its high-profile cast. It was well-made and all, as one would expect. The acting was good enough: Ledger definitely developed a pretty fearsome character in the Joker. But for all that, the movie was too long, somewhat disjointed, oppressively dark, anticlimactic, and actually rather short on the character who gave the film its name, the dark knight himself. Continuity with the last film is rather tenuous: while Batman Begins may have had its dark moments, this seemed more like a horror-thriller, focusing with wearisome intensity on the truly depraved character of The Joker. The film was like a morass of evil, and a lot of it was improbable: the Joker basically unravels the entire legal and law enforcement structure of a city at least the size of Chicago, and he manages to do so with almost perfect immunity because everything goes right for him.

Maybe it's a fair comparison to say that Batman Begins, though no lighthearted film, had a sense of balance. It was cool. It brought gravity to the character of Batman. The Dark Knight brought a kind of unpleasant gruesomness to the story and seemed more like a biopic on a psychopath than an action film. The moral message at the end was also unconvincing, probably rather unlikely, and failed to illuminate the almost unmitigated darkness of the film.

Maggie Gyllenhal seemed like even more of a throwaway character than in the first movie, a less convincing actress than Katie Holmes, who actually did an ok job with Rachel Dawes in Begins. Another character also makes a hugely implausible shift of demeanor, morality, and allegiance which was dealt with in an abrupt, almost off-hand way, made very little sense, and yet seemed to be taken with an enormous amount of seriousness by the filmmakers.

Was Ledger's performance Oscar-worthy? Maybe. But by and large I don't think I'd like to see a prestigious award given to this film which, when you really weigh it through all the explosions and dark camera shots, doesn't have much to offer other than the stark tale of a psychopath who raises the stakes so improbably high that it seems impossible anyone could make a third story in the same vein. I wish I could say it had some redeeming elements, but there aren't really very many. One or two scenes had some humor that rang true, but they are few and far between in this 2.5 hour endurance run which seemed to totter a little on the edge of its PG-13 rating.

Recommended? Nope, not really. I'll stick to Batman Begins and hope he ends here, or cleans up his act a little. If this is where Christopher Nolan wants to take the franchise, I'm not sure I want to follow along. In fact, let's just say it: the more I think about this movie, the less I like it. Can I have my seven bucks back now? Or 3 hours of my time, for that matter?

Summer Trip

Over the past three and a half days, give or take, I had the opportunity to visit the Doorninks, which is more or less a once-a-year event. I had a really good time, better even than I had anticipated, and I have many a good memory to preserve. We played piano, walked on the beach, played Twenty Questions, played freeze tag, swam in the bay, had crazy one-sided phone conversations mainly centering around a fictional MI-6 agent I invented named Charlie Chivers, fun late evening conversations about overpriced and useless Lord of the Rings merchandise and other things (such as a movie of Kiriana in 3-D IMAX), and watched I Am David. Elisabeth and I also managed to read aloud the entirety of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens over two days (this was not entirely of our free will, as we had to have it done for a class, and I must say it seemed like one of the Bard's poorer efforts--I hope the speculation that it was unfinished is correct!). We crammed a lot into those days--and there was more than what I described--all without much of a fixed plan as to what we were going to do. I'm really glad I made the trip, and I'm looking forward to the next time we can get together. :-D My thanks to the whole family for making room for me and letting me have so much fun!

For the interested, here are a few pictures (click to enlarge).

Andrew on the guitar, Elisabeth, and Matthew.



Elisabeth and Stephanie on the beach.



Walking on the beach.



4/5 of the gang. :-)



On the Poulsbo docks.



In the car on the way back.

Rifles and Reformers

As it is no longer Independence Day, I suppose I can post and note that I bought my own rifle ammunition, by myself, a few days ago. That was a purchase that made me happy. ;-)

I also intend to get going on this year's Reformation Play--time is running faster than it by rights ought--and I must decide whether Wycliffe or Huss or some other cove is to be the subject of the play. I shall try to update on its progress as it--well--progresses. :-)

Eleven Score and Twelve Years Ago...

May God bless our nation today and all days. May this great experiment show more and more virtue, freedom, and prosperity, correcting its ills and walking on, even if it must stagger at times, to a brighter future under God's guidance.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

General Internet Note

Our recalcitrant internet provider has been hit-and-miss of late (to the extent that I am typing this post from our local library), so if I miss or do not reply to an e-mail, or what have you, that is probably why. At least I'm not in the middle of the school year.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Lord's Day!

Well, I suppose I ought to post something or other. It doesn't feel any different being 18 than it does being 17, except for the pleasant feeling of being able to buy one's own ammunition, which I will probably be doing soon. :-) My gifts were as follows:

--The Magic Flute, by Mozart (from Robert)
--A movie version of Twelfth Night, with Helena Bonham-Carter, Imogen Stubbs, and Nigel Hawthorne
--The Gladiator soundtrack (I've had the far inferior "More Music From Gladiator" CD for a while; this one is considerably better)
--Damsel in Distress by P.G. Wodehouse :D
--Several shirts and a really spiffy tie
--Some black dress shoes (from my grandparents)
--Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World: 3000 BC to AD 500 (from David--a very cool book, and useful as well)
--Otello, a filmed version at the Metropolitan Opera with Placido Domingo and Renee Fleming (from Lindsey)

A book from PaperBackSwap (an online book exchange service where one sells unwanted books for credits which can then be used to purchase any book another user has posted) also arrived a few days ago unexpectedly, so it was kind of like a birthday present: When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler by David M. Glantz. A very 'me' sort of book. ;-)

Beyond that, I've been doing usual stuff, having fun resuscitating Immortality yet again--it dies surprisingly often, given its title--and having not so much fun getting trounced by Robert at Axis and Allies. After I lost Moscow, London, and Washington, D.C. to Axis might, we started a World War III feud between Germany and Japan. Japan is losing, and, you guessed it, I am the proxy Hirohito. Alas...

I hope everyone else is well. Adieu for now!

Invida aetas fugit

Today is my last day before I reach Old Geezerdom, which being interpreted is the age of 18. I remember anticipating turning "sweet sixteen." Now I've almost passed (is it sour?) 17. It's been a pretty good year--friends over last summer, the Reformation Play, Latin V, AP English Lit, the SAT, visiting Hillsdale, the bulk of Kiriana so far. Certainly not a "sour" year, if that is indeed the moniker for 17! :D

Oh, and I learned at my piano lesson yesterday that I am definitely to be learning Rachmaninoff's G Minor Prelude over the summer, which happens to be one of the coolest pieces ever. I'm fairly stoked about that. ;-)

EDIT: Kiriana reached 300 pages and over 173,000 words today!

"Cast List"

I copy David all the time simply because most of his ideas are good, so it's a compliment, not just shameless piracy. :-D David had the idea of listing actors and actresses who might play characters in his novel, were it to be made into a film. I believe I'll have a go at the same thing. ;-)

Toni Collette as Teya.

Naveen Andrews as Rashik (maybe). Mom is very much behind this choice because she thinks he's really cute as Sayid. :-)

Joaquin Phoenix as Ameth.

Naomi Harris as Lauthi.

Uma Thurman as Ranua.

Possibly Sienna Guillory as Elana.

Zooey Deschanel as the elusive Kiriana--a minor triumph for which credit goes to my brother. Almost every other actress I've looked up, wondering if she might take the role, has been repulsive to my mental image of her, and this is the first one that wasn't an instant "nope."

I have yet to find someone who would be suitable for Evah, Remon, and several others, but I'll let it rest there for the present.

The Double

I just finished Dostoevsky's The Double today. It was an interesting, fantastic read, with one of the oddest protagonists I've ever run into. Yakov Petrovitch Goliadkin is a titular councilor living in Saint Petersburg, but he is also a helpless, pitiable wreck, self-absorbed, possibly schizophrenic, confused, self-doubting, hesitant, unable to find a place in the world. Entering his world is like entering a dream state, because it's rather difficult to figure out exactly what's going on in the book. Goliadkin thinks there is a vast conspiratorial web drawing tight around him, but whether that is really so or not is not so clear. He thinks he hears, thinks he's seen, forgets whether he has done something or not, and often receives confused impressions of what is happening to him. In short, it was a rather surreal and confusing book, but nonetheless very interesting. I was glad to find that some critic described the book as "painful, almost intolerable reading." I didn't really find it intolerable, but in some places it was frustrating to try to figure out exactly what was going on--I'm not sure the reader is supposed to, though. At least it suggests I am not alone in finding it difficult to figure out.

I'd recommend it, as long as you don't mind a narrative that is more cerebral than plot-driven, and may leave you confused or at least working hard to understand it many times. A very curious story.

Allow me to introduce my friends...

Mr. and Mrs. John Donne :-D

A Riff on Writing

It is certainly no longer the anniversary of D-Day, and I got some inspiration for a subject on which to post. This blog is styled the Author's Corner, and I figure that I ought to write about writing some time. And why not now? :-)

Writing is a uniquely scrutinized field (along with acting and political speechmaking) because, unlike a shipwright or a software designer, an author's work is not only widely distributed--if he's blessed with popularity, anyway--but also a large window into his own worldview. This is not to demean any other profession, and not to say that any product of work is not an expression of one's worldview. If Dan Brown had been a software engineer, though, his programs might cause consumers headaches, but they would not have the potential to lead anyone astray. Communication of any kind can be a powerful tool, and an author is someone who, for one reason or another, wants to make a job out of communicating his opinions and his imagination through the written word. A respected author can consequently have a lot of influence for good or ill.

This is a wonderful opportunity for the Christian author, but also a great responsibility. As humble readers of the Word of God, we can be confident that we are imitators of the best possible example. But even comic book superheroes know that "with great power comes great responsibility." Winsome writing and good craft is not enough, just as eloquence is not sufficient for a pastor. A good writer will strive to write well, but he will also, and much more importantly, have something good to write about. He will recognize that style is useless without good content; unless the foundation for a compelling novel or a persuasive essay is as near the solid truth as he can get, then the finished product is a well-painted and well-packaged piece of junk (a bit like the Xbox). Not only must there be content; there must be good content as well. The core worldview in an author's work must be as close as to Biblical truth, and therefore to the truth of the real world, as he can by God's grace make it. This requires a commitment to theological humility, studying the Scriptures, and living out one's beliefs, for a good writer is not a hypocritical one.

One need not have a college degree or an encyclopedic knowledge of Shakespeare to write well. The Apostle Peter probably had no knowledge of The Iliad or The Epic of Gilgamesh, but he certainly managed to turn out some pretty fine letters. There is a difference, however, between amassing intellectual knowledge and being a good thinker. No one should let his mind stay lazy, and this is certainly true for a writer. If you want to speak truth to the world, to address many complex issues in your writing, to challenge or even astonish your readers with the philosophy you hold up in opposition to the vain philosophies of the world, that takes work. Language is a metaphor for thought, so it should make sense that it is useless to try to write well before having thought well. One only need listen to a few political speeches to hear what it sounds like to speak interestingly, authoritatively, sometimes even persuasively about nothing much.

I suspect it's common for people to wonder exactly what one wants to accomplish as an author. That's not a bad question, really, if you are considering an author as only a craftsman of words. But an author is also a bit of a lay theologian, a philosopher, an historian, a grammarian, a linguist, a psychologist, a sociologist, a political analyst, a scientist, and a mathematician--at least some of these--if he wishes to write widely and well. Writing draws on a host of fields, so a good author is an eager learner and a thorough researcher. And above all he must be a humble recipient of the Truth that will inform how we weave stories and change minds in the world. It is my hope that all who write, whether vocationally or as part of some other job, will be able to look back on their work decades from now and be able to say, I am not ashamed of what I have written. If men's minds have been changed by it, they have been changed for the better.

Let's Go.

Today is the 64th anniversary of D-Day. Here's to all the courageous soldiers who took part in it, and the freedom it helped to create!

Happy birthday, Robert! :-)

Summer Reading Challenge 2008

My mom, over at her blog, has been hosting seasonal reading challenges for some time, and I figure I ought to get on board! Already, compiling books to read, I agree with her that intentional reading produces better results, even if the list is not fully finished. I fancy I will be adding more to this after my birthday, provided some of my presents are of the bookish kind, which I'm sure some will be. I may have to subtract one or two to make room. I cannot guarantee in what order I will actually read them, but here is the list:

--So Brave, Young, and Handsome (Leif Enger)
--The Language of God (Ron Julian, David Crabtree, Jack Crabtree)
--Cyrano de Bergerac (Edmond Rostand)
--A Doll's House (Henrik Ibsen)
--The Master of Ballantrae (Robert Louis Stevenson)
--Night (Elie Wiesel)
--The Double (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
--The Gambler (Dostoyevsky)
--Piccadilly Jim (P.G. Wodehouse)
--To the Last Man: A Novel of World War I (Jeff Shaara)
--The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Anne Bronte)
--A Bridge Too Far (Cornelius Ryan)
--The Silmarillion (J.R.R. Tolkien)
--Cymbeline (William Shakespeare--all below by the same author)
--Othello
--Henry VIII
--King John
--Pericles, Prince of Tyre
--Timon of Athens
--Titus Andronicus
--Troilus and Cressida
--Two Gentlemen of Verona

If you weren't already planning to join said challenge, you should consider it. Reading is wonderful! :-)

Kicks and Giggles

Major universities are beginning to recognize me--and they're so eager about it, they're rushing to get their word in more than two weeks in advance. Very, very oddly, I just received a birthday card from the honors program at Texas A&M University. Mom can confirm that I'm not going insane. I suppose it's probably a ploy to make me feel special, but it's still rather amusing. :D

Recital

EDIT: It turns out this was one of the better recitals my teacher's studio has had, I think (it's my fourth one with her, I believe). Most of the playing was good, and the venue was amazing. Not only did the audience like my piece, but I was pretty happy with it too! I did make a few mistakes, but they weren't noticeable, and I really got "in" the interpretation. So hoorah for that! Go to Mom's blog to see some more details and a picture of me trying out the piano with a different piece before the recital started. I'm sure I looked pretty much the same for the Rachmaninoff, except my hands never cross in it. (End edit).

My spring recital is later this afternoon, in which I'll be playing the Prelude in C# Minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff. If you happen to think of it, please pray for my teacher (it must be nerve-wracking to watch your own nervous students) and all the students participating. :-)

In another news, yesterday was my last official day of school. I have some things to finish off today, but after that, my schoolwork load will drop to almost nil (a day or two of science to finish off, my Summer Shakespeare class, maybe a bit of self-taught Greek). I am hopeful that a lot of writing will house in those suddenly untenanted hours.

Cheerio!

A Character's Quiz (Stolen from David)

I am Elana, Captain of the Amazoni.
I want this plan to go with perfect smoothness.
I wish the time and place were right to enact the plan right now.
I hate all traitors and especially one with golden hair.
I love being feared.
I miss the valley right now, though I would deny this in public.
I fear any reduction in power.
I hear the sound of birds and running feet.
I regret that I have not had a lover in over two months.
I am not easily frightened.
I dance superbly and love to show it off.
I sing war chants, mostly. And vulgar songs.
I cr(ied) last when I was about sixteen--that is, approximately 134 years ago.
I make very little noise unless I wish to.
I write in small, neat cursive, on sheepskin parchment.
I confuse enemies trying to anticipate my next move.
I need to find more Amazoni to replace those I have lost.
I should spar with Ranua tonight.
I start to become very still when I am thinking hard.
I finish what I have begun. Or else.

Ah, dreams.

Last night I dreamt that I met Barack Obama. He was feeding a small animal--a duck or a squirrel or something--that was swimming around in a swimming pool, and a huge crocodile later turned up in the same body of water. Mom uncovered a massive inconsistency in his campaign, leaving him to sputter "Well...um...I...uh..." in response. It later turned out the reason for this inconsistency was that Mr. Obama had received a full hemispherectomy--which operation I received, and then Mom woke me up. :D

Stuff (and maybe Nonsense!)

First, I seem to have fallen into the predictable habit of posting every other day. It suits me fine, so long as I have something to say, but it's strange, because I haven't been doing it all along. :-P

Second, if I really pursued everything in my head right now, I'd have six writing projects going at once: four short stories and two novels. Story ideas are great, but really...I should get a mental secretary to put these things on hold.

And finally, take my euphoria over Gutenberg with a bit of a grain of salt. If I go to a college with many fine attributes (and Gutenberg does have many fine attributes) it's always "the best" when I'm in the middle of visiting. In retrospect there are always pros and cons. So, it would be wrong to get the impression that I didn't like the school, or to think it's not still on my list of possibles. But my unmixed crowing about it may have been a little premature. :-)

Greetings from Eugene!

I'm writing this from a hotel room a half mile or so from the University of Oregon, which means half a mile or so from Gutenberg College. I sat in on four classes today, and it was fantastic! The quality and quantity of discussion in the classes here is quite amazing. The town is very pretty, and the students are courteous, hospitable, and respectful learners and discussioners, from what I can tell. We're leaving around lunch time tomorrow, so I'll probably whip up a more detailed post with a few pictures before the week is out.

To quote you, David, "I may be obliged to convince you at gunpoint" to come here. :D

Ah, well.

Story: Mad Mariah
Publication petitioned: Relief
Status: Rejected

:-/

A Quiz

Having not filled out one of those little internet quizzes in many months, I figured that pirating one from Breanna's Blog, especially since it seems that she pirated it from someone in her turn, would be an amusing pastime. Barring some egregious spelling errors, I was generally right.

1. Full Name: Connor James Hamilton.

2. Who were you named after?: Connor MacLeod, from the movie Highlander.

3. Which finger is your favorite?: Probably my right index finger, if I had to choose one. One can point at things, scratch behind the ears, rub the eyes and press “play” all with this versatile digit.

4. Have you ever sang into a hairbrush?: No, and I can think of no plausible reason why one would do so. I might sing an ode to good spelling, however, o mismanager of verb forms.

5. When did you last cry?: Well, I don’t remember for certain. The last time I clearly remember doing so is when I listened to Ronald Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” speech. It really got to me.

6. Do you like your handwriting?: It serves me well enough.

7. What is your favorite lunch meat?: Tuna. It’s a lunch meat for me...

8. Any bad habits?: Well, sure. Wasting time is a big one. Also secretly prowling the countryside at night, hanging up Confederate flags and painting black Xs on people’s doors to frighten them. (Wait, did I just give myself away??) :-)

9. What is your most embarrassing CD on the shelf?: I don’t think I’m particularly embarrassed by any CD I own.

10. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?: I don’t know; the question is so hypothetical that an accurate answer would be impossible. I don’t think I’d mind myself terribly, though.

11. Are you a daredevil?: No, not at all. Risking my life does not thrill me.

12. Have you ever told a secret you swore not to tell?: Hm...I think when I was about twelve someone told me he had a crush on a girl, asked me not to tell anyone, and I mentioned it to my parents, knowing they wouldn't spread it around. But I don’t think I ‘swore’ not to tell it.

13. Do you own any burnt CD's?: Yep, a couple of music from my brother’s CDs.

14. Have you ever said a word and it sounded absolutely stupid?: If I repeat almost any word often enough, or read it multiple times in print, it looks silly.

15. Do you think there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?: Does anyone? No, rainbows are the refraction of white light through moisture in the air. Pots of gold couldn’t hang suspended at the end of one, and in any case, who would put them there?

16. Do fish have feelings?: I seriously doubt it: not anywhere near the level humans do, for sure. Not being privy to an animal’s mental states, I suppose the presence of, say, an alligator might trigger a general wave of alarm. But I wouldn’t know.

17. Do you like school?: Yes, but I’m glad it’s winding down for the summer.

18. Do you ever say never?: I think just a few days ago I said, “I would never vote for Obama…” so yes. :)

19. Where is your second home?: Well, there’s the summer house in Sicily and the winter house in the Florida Keys, as well as the Bungalow outside Bombay…:-P Really, though, home is home. I don’t really have a second one.

20. Do you trust others easily?: Fairly easily, I think, though it would depend on the circumstances. One can’t be naive.

21.What was your favorite toy as a child?: Legos or Playmobile, I suppose.

22. What class in school do you think is totally useless?: I think there are very few disciplines that are actually useless. Math and physics have the least direct bearing on what I plan to do, but science is fairly interesting and math does have merit.

23. Do you have a journal?: No.

24. Do you use sarcasm a lot?: Hm. I don’t actually know. Probably a decent bit.

25. Do you have a crush on a lad or girl at the minute?: Nay, all my friends are just friends at present.

26. What do you want in a boy or girl?: A lady fairly similar in age, with a beautiful soul, conservative Christian doctrine, a generational outlook, homeschooling aspirations, an appreciation for the liberal arts and no aversion to living in the Northwest. :-)

27. Do you get along better with girls or boys?: I get along fine with both, although I often find girls more talkative--but often less approachable, though that may be just my problem.

28. Would you ever bungee jump?: Probably only if it were a matter of life and death. Not recreationally.

29. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?: Not most of the time.

30. Do you think you're strong?: In what sense? Physically I suppose I’m decently strong, though I have much room for improvement.

31. What's your favorite ice cream flavor?: Breyer’s mint chocolate chip.

32. What's your favorite color?: Most earthy colors (red, blue, green, purple, orange, brown, golden, etc.) can be rendered in attractive hues. My favorites would probably not be found among neons, bright pinks, pastels, etc.

33. Are you in love with any one?: In the more general sense, I love my family and my friends, and I strive, often unsuccessfully, I fear, to love my fellow men. But I am not stricken i’th’ amatory way at present.

34. How many wisdom teeth do you have?: Wisdom teeth...I think some might be trying to rudely butt in somewhere. I don’t know how many there are.

35. Are you organized?: Not incredibly so, although I don’t usually leave a positive hurricane in my wake.

36. How many people have a crush on you right now?: I find this question impertinent, and in any case I couldn't know for certain.

37. Who do you miss right now?: Dad and my brother. Should be ‘whom.’

38. What food do you most want to eat right now?: Oh...a bowl of cereal and half of an English muffin with peanut butter and honey.

39. Where do you most want to be right now?: Except Heaven, right here at home.

40. Do you ever make up your own words?: Yes, often.

41. Do you find it easy to forgive?: This capacity hasn’t been severely tested, but I think generally so, yes.

42. What was the last thing you ate?: A grilled sandwich with chips and applesauce.

43. How are you today?: Tired, a bit sun-stunned (it’s jumped from the 60s to high 70s/early 80s and we were out a lot in the yard today), but not at all unhappy. You?

44. Favorite alcoholic drink?: I haven’t tried too many, but a few kinds of wine are agreeable.

45. Siblings and their ages?: Robert, 22.

46. Favorite fast food?: Baja Fresh.

47. What are three things you love about yourself?: Dear me, is this an invitation to arrogance? I think I’ll offer three things I’m grateful for: the family I was born in, the country I live in, and the joys of writing.

48. What is one thing that you hate about yourself?: My propensity to sin.

49. Favorite time of the year?: Well, it depends on what is happening. I like most days...weather-wise, this time is fairly splendid, though.

50. Are you too shy to ask someone out?: Being inexpertus in this area, I don’t know yet. I suspect I would be nervous, but not incapable of doing it.

51. Scary movies or happy endings?: False dilemma. I don’t mind suspense in a movie at all, but if it is scary merely for the sake of thrills, I don’t like that as much. I appreciate happy endings, but not if they’re forced.

52. Summer or winter?: Summer, I suppose.

53. Hugs or kisses?: How about both?