New Obsession Book Review:
Artemis Fowl

I haven't done a book review in a long time and what better time than late at night when I should be doing homework? Neverthless, I will endeavor to be brief. Besides, it suffices to say that this is my book of the week, if not the month. I admit I was skeptical when my sister first told me about the Artemis Fowl series. Fairies and computers shouldn't mix in my mind. I normally find the combination of magic and technology to be rather vulgar. But I do like listening to audiobooks, and I'd run out of good ones, so I reserved Artemis Fowl from the library (as it is perpetually checked out, something I ought to have taken as a sign). Anyway, the first few pages (or rather minutes) didn't grab me particularly. Artemis seemed too perfect; it seemed the author was setting himself up for failure. How do you make someone relate to an evil genius after all? Certainly I like villains, but if Artemis had no flaws, then he wasn't human. Characters without flaws are also annoying since you never worry about their safety. Unfortunately flaws in evil geniuses normally involve insanity or some obsession with vengeance or world domination. Artemis seemed too well put together for any of these things. And he is. I soon came to appreciate the beauty of his character. He wasn't perfect. Just close enough to be absolutely awesome and make you wish you were him. The author manages to keep you in suspense while still keeping Artemis his confident self. By not revealing all of the 12 year old criminal mastermind's schemes, you have the sense that Artemis has a plan, and a good one, but cannot normally fathom what it is. This keeps Artemis in control but it also keeps readers interested in finding out what happens next. By the end I was rooting for his evil scheme to gain riches he didn't even need to succeed.

Then there's the Irish accent. I'm a sucker for Irish accents. I know, you're saying, Cherie, Artemis is only 12! That was another reason I didn't pick it up at first. In spite of Harry Potter, I still couldn't see myself enjoying a book where I couldn't have a good fictional crush. But that's in the first book. He was born in 1989 and is thus only 4 years younger than me, which makes him 17 and only one year away from adulthood. Besides, in my fantasy world he's old enough.

Cherianity

For those of you who don't know, I've started my own religion. Not a cult. No Kool Aid is involved. As a matter of fact, not much of anything is involved at the moment. My theory is that once I have 100 converts, I'll have godly powers (for details of how this works, read Terry Pratchett's Small Gods.) The reason I thought I'd make note of this is to keep track of my converts. It's getting to the point where I'm in danger of forgetting. I know gods don't forget but I don't have my powers yet.

Anyway, the grand total of my converts so far is 6. One is a 3/4 god, one requests to be known as henchman #5, and I finally have a priest. The priest's duties will probably be serving cookies and milk at noon. The rest have not asked for particular powers, though one wants to be able to sleep a lot. Since my religion involves nap time as well as abolishing mornings that should be quite easy. In case of religious persecution I've not listed my converts' names, but if they are sufficently proud and unafraid of others, then I'm more than happy to do so. I also feel as if I am forgetting a convert. So write to me if you converted and your prayers haven't been answered lately.

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In other news my friends of the week are: Ishani



and Becky!

Woot!

My blog is at the bottom of page 2 if you search "cheriemarie" on google. *Makes faces at people on the eight pages behind.*

I also found that there isn't any porn or even scantily clad girls if you search my name on google. Always nice. Although, there is a picture of a tombstone...

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2nd Fictional Crush of the Week: Ponder Stibbons. Magical British Nerd. Is there any better combination? Though I was only attracted to him when I saw the actor they had playing him in the TV movie of Hogfather. Here's a clip from YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU8hpyOY1o4

For those uninitiated in the wonders of Discworld, Ponder is the youngest wizard of the group who doesn't have any pointy red hat and who is also clearly the brains of the operation. Incidently, this clip also has my favorite scene from the entire book, and the movie, where Death saves the little match girl.

Will I Be Smushed By an Asteroid...?

...Between the ages of 44-50? Apparently there's a 1.3 percent chance. Kind of crummy time to go. Not early enough to save me from Grad School apps and not late enough to make me feel like I've had a good run.

http://men.msn.com/articlepm.aspx?cp-documentid=1628365&GT1=8991

I also just noticed this article is in the "Men's Lifestyle" section. Perhaps I'm saved and the asteroid only targets men?

Friend of the Week Is....

Lucy! Once again, if someone wants this fine honor, they need only comment on my blog.

Fun Questions...

While doing the graduate application for McGill University I came across the question: "Language spoken most frequently at your permanent address?" Well, it's a good thing I'm using my Tennessee address, because if I used my Dad's address, I'd feel torn between admitting that Taiwanese is the language must frequently spoken at my Dad's address and the fact that this does not in any way accurately represent my own languge abilities at all as no Taiwanese is spoken to me.

Another Decision Made for Me

Today I was going to test my new digital camera against my old one which had been miraculously working fine ever since I handed it over to my little brothers. But upon stepping outside with it and attempting to turn it on the "High Camera Temperature of Death" screen reappeared confirming my belief in the camera's evil nature and thus deciding me on the spot that no matter how much I liked it, it is definitely broken and I will be sticking with my new camera. I won't say that I always love it when decisions are made for me, since that's not true. But I like small unimportant decisions to be made by default, because if I make them, then I constantly wonder if I made the right decision. For this reason, I like my laptop, even though it's slow and has less memory than all the newer computers, because I didn't pick it out. It's simply there. I am happy in the idea that this new camera will become a similar fixture in my life. I'll be able to take it with the good and bad when there isn't a better decision to be made by me. Certainly there are better models out there, but I didn't buy the camera, so it's not my fault that I don't have a better one, much like it's not my fault that I'm not taller or a different race. Perhaps some will think this way of thinking odd or silly but it's just the way I am.

Here are some pics showing the last problem I've been having with my new camera that I was working on today. These are some magenta flowers in front of my day's house. Neither of these pictures quite captures the color accurately, but the bottom one (after some tinkering with the exposure) at least doesn't look as violently pink as the top.

Must Resist...

...urge to buy a mouse for my laptop just so I can play "defend your castle" more efficently.

Link for anyone lacking in time-wasting activities:

http://www.xgenstudios.com/play/castle/




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Cherie's Fictional Crush for the Week: I watched the movie Emma for a second time because I didn't really remember much from the first time. I begin to even wonder if I watched it all the way through before, because I really enjoyed it, and I don't remember being that enamored of it the first time. Perhaps the book was still fresh in my mind since it was not one of my favorites. I intensely disliked Harriet for being spineless and without an opinion of her own. Anyway, I particularly liked Mr. Knightly. I wasn't really attracted to the actor, but he did an excellent job portraying the character, and by the end I wanted to give the man a big hug along with Emma. But what of Mr. Darcy, you ask? Well, any of my dear fictional men will know I'm far too fickle to have my attention held for long. It's rather ironic actually since I'm so attracted to constancy in a man. But I'm sure my interest will turn back to Darcy at some point as it never entirely leaves him.

It Can Take Good Pictures!

I've been agonizing over whether my new digital camera is worth keeping for weeks, but today it certainly showed its potential. Here are some amazing close ups that I got and I know my old camera wasn't great at close-ups since the focus was automatic. I learned that zooming into a small object is sometimes (although not always) better than physically getting closer and I have a much better appreciation for my camera's zoom in general. My sister had recomended that I try it more often before, but I was dubious since the zoom on my old camera was admittedly horrendous and on the screen of my new camera the zoomed in objects look blurry. This is misleading, however, since once I took the picture, it was crystal clear. Now, while this means the screen's not the best or most accurate, it's still no worse than the last one and as long as the picture's good it's not too big of a deal.

Yup, that's an ant inside that flower to show how small it is.

Hello, Mr. Bumblebee!

I'd been having trouble with my camera picking up certain colors and began to wonder if it was colorblind but it picked up these flowers beautifully. It still has a little trouble with the flowers in front of my dad's house, though, but I'll keep messing with the settings to see what I can do.

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My friend of the week is: Becky!!! How did Becky earn such a high honor you ask? She was the first to comment in my blog for 2007. But if you're lamenting this lost chance, fear not, I shall feature a friend (or friends of the week) from now on of anyone who comments in my blog. Furthermore, if you do comment, I recommend checking the comments afterward because I frequently (although I confess not always) respond.



I'll also give a shout-out to my Mom who shall be Mom of the Week (and all subsequent weeks to follow) since she did comment before Becky.

Schools with the Letter W

I already submitted my application to Wisconsin Madison last month and I am 99% complete (I just need to mail out one more form) with the Washington application. By no apparent design I seem to be favoring schools that start with W. Or maybe they just happen to be the ones with the soonest due dates...

Oh Jane...

I'm reading a biography on Jane Austen, and I've never related with her more. When she was twenty five her parents suddenly moved to Bath, and she had to leave her childhood home. She was constantly moving for next decade after that and she never had any real independance of her own, even after her novels were published. She often had to stay with relatives or friends, and I know all too well what it's like to be an eternal guest. With the way my life is going now, I have every reason to fear it will follow a similar path to Jane's. Certainly it would be great if I could write something half as good as her novels, but it was during this period in her life that she almost stopped writing entirely.

The GRE is...

...a schoolyard bully who beats you up, takes your lunch money, and then steps on your face while you're down. But that's okay. I have resigned myself to schoolyard bullies and the GRE, and I at least shall never again have to deal with either. I took the GRE for the second and last time today and did only 10 points better on the math, inexplicable since I was just as panicked and felt as if I ran out of time sooner. To my sister, I know you told me to remain calm, but that's nearly impossible for me to do when encountering both math and a testing situation at the same time. But at least I didn't do any worse even though I was certain that I would. However, I did do 40 points worse on the verbal which is equally inexplicable since I felt much better this time and knew the first word for certain which is more than I can say for last time.

BUT it is over. I wish I could say as much for my grad school apps...

Pictures of the Week: A Mexican Chinese Tapestry

My Dad took me to a park in Old Town where there's an old Spanish house and I saw a Mexican tapestry done in the Chinese style which I found to be a rather interesting juxtaposition of cultures. The other pic is the courtyard of the house. I haven't had many comments in my blog lately so I guess people have better things to do for the holidays but if you have some time, tell me what you think of the pictures from my new camera. I just don't feel it's as good as my old one but I may just be cranky because I have to learn a whole bunch of new buttons. Otherwise it should be better because it's got more mega pixals and whatnot.

Best of 2006: Blog Extravaganza!

Rather than going to a drunken, riotous party (or any party at all for that matter) I have decided to write in my blog the best things about 2006. This is partly to keep me from moping because my sister went home today, but also to hopefully start a tradition that will make me try to actually remember good things that happen to me, because at the moment I'm pulling a blank; though I know good things MUST have happened to me. My year wasn't that horrible. One particularly good thing I can recall is coming home to Gilpatrick House after my studies abroad. It seems like such a long time ago that I can barely believe it was 2006, but I know it must have been.

If there has been any good in my time at Denison during 2006, then it has predominately come from Gilpatrick and the people living there. It was the perfect place for me to come back to in order to ease slowly back into the American lifestyle. A cozy Victorian style house could almost make me believe I hadn't gone so far from my life in France. I even recall upon entering seeing a 3D puzzle model of Notre Dame chathedral, that although it was not intended to, made me feel particularly welcome. Later I would make friends with the puzzlemaker, Becky, and monopolize her window seat for the better part of the fall semester. It was in Gilpatrick that I first played Dread Pirate, the best board game ever, and found a group of peers that, like me, preferred board games and snacks to drunken revelry. A group of my fellow Gilpatrikians: Ishani, Brian, Becky, Sam, Louvie and Bethany (the only non Gilparikian but she makes a lovely cake) were also the first to ever throw me a surprise party which had to be the highlight of my summer.

Outside of Gilpatrick I have had at least one incredible experience in 2006 that I have already documented in this blog; that is finding Lucy, my childhood friend and former next door neighboor. I think this may also be the most and only truly incredible thing to happen to me this year.

I fear 2006 may have been the year of mediocrity for movies. I can only think of one that I was truly inspired to watch again and perhaps might even recommend for others. It's A Good Woman which is based on an Oscar Wilde play called "Lady Windemere's Fan." As I'm a fan of Wilde's work, particularly his satire, I could at least enjoy the story of the play. The acting of the vetran actors was also quite good. Although I felt as if Scarlett Johansson 's done better, and her acting seemed a bit flat. But maybe it's just the character that I didn't like. I don't think the innocent, somewhat whiny girl suits her personality. Anyway, there were plenty of really good characters to make up for it.



Books are far easier for me to keep track of than movies because I keep a list of every book I read, and I start a new list each year. My 2006 list has 36 books on it (12 of which are audiobooks and 2 of those audiobooks were just me listening to the last two Harry Potter books again). However, I'm proud that one of the books is a novel in French. Sure, as a French major it should be more than one, but I did mostly poetry this year.





































*Anyway, because of this list, I can also confidantly say that the best books I 've read this year are the Tiffany trilogy by Terry Pratchett. Tiffany's my hero, and I'd like to grow up to be just like her, except that she's younger than me. The first two (The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky) have an obscure vocabulary word each that Pratchett makes a joke of throughout the book. The latest (Wintersmith) doesn't continue this trick, but I still remember laughing out loud while reading it, which is mostly what I ask for in a book. The second book had a character I disliked vehemently, but you're supposed to dislike her, so I suppose that's fair. In the third book Tiffany's 13 and does subcumb to a little bit of teen angst, but she does so in admirable moderation. And you have to love the Feegles: little blue, mini-Scotsmen that live in hives and for brief shining moments can even make me believe I can speak with a Scottish accent. The Wee Free Men is actually going to be made into a film (I heard by the director of Spider-Man, Sam Raimi) and slated to come out 2008. I sincerely hope they do a good job, but of course the book will always be better.

Well, that's all for 2006 that I can dig out of my foggy ol' brain at the moment. Though, I'm personally terrified of what 2007 will bring with my imminent graduation I wish everyone else a wonderful New Year and can only hope I get by myself.

Now for the Other Boy...

Typical me not to really talk about my Christmas but it was just good in its simplicity which makes for very little of interest. My sister flew in Christmas Eve and that was really the only present I needed to be happy. Though the Christmas money and early present of a digital camera from my Dad are certainly greatly appreciated. On Christmas my little brother Curtis got a lovely model VW van from Santa and my brother Dennis got a stuffed polar bear. I may have slept through the happy discovery of these gifts but I stayed up as long as Santa and thus was quite tired. Once I did get out of bed, my dad, my sister, little brother Dennis, and I went to the beach and watched the surfers and then hung out in a park.

Now onto some, hopefully, more interesting reflections. Famous people. Many people like to entertain the thought of meeting famous people but mostly I shy away from the idea. This is due to three fears: (1) They will not like me. (2) I will not like them. (3) Both. Then there's also the problem that I'd have no idea what to say and probably end up mummbling something stupid and shuffling off. So it is that I'm perfectly happy to go without meeting any of my favorite authors. I feel I enjoy their books far more if I don't consider what kind of people they are. This isn't to say I think they're bad people, but rather that I have developed a very peculiar personality over time that does not necessarily mesh with everyone.

There is one exception. Not in the sense that I would seek to meet this person as I once had a possible chance and passed it up with very little regret, but if I had to meet a celebrity, (I know such terrible decisions happen everyday) then I would probably like to meet Daniel Radcliffe, the boy who plays Harry Potter. Now, this isn't because I find him attractive. Certainly he is attractive, but I am far more attracted to many other celebrities. I would be happy to meet Daniel because he's so charismatic and seems like the type of person who could put anyone at ease and is genuinely interested in what others think: traits I look for in anyone. As an avid Harry Potter fan I've watched many interviews with Dan and am always impressed by his optimism and energy. Think me a hopeless fangirl if you'd like, but I'll protest all the way.

So to counter the picture of Draco, here we have Harry:




By the way, for any of you who don't already know, the title of book 7 is now out. But I won't spoil it for you if you'd rather not know it. You can easily look it up on the internet if you do want to know it.

Maybe I'm Just Mean...

...But I really enjoy the music by Draco and the Malfoys. They're a "wizard rock" band who, as you can probably tell, sing Harry Potter themed songs (or rather Draco Malfoy themed...)

I particularly like "My Dad is Rich." Very mean song. ... Hee, hee, hee ...

Link: http://www.myspace.com/dracoandthemalfoysusa



I already sent some of you the Whomping Willows' music but here it is in case any of you want it again/didn't get it. It's also cruel as well as deliciously demented with a pretty good melody to boot in my opinion: http://www.myspace.com/thewhompingwillows

YES!!!

Originally Disney was planning on making a rather dubious sounding "modernized" version of Rapunzel. It sounded like the same kind of blasphemy Miramax inflicted on Ella Enchanted. But now, thankfully, they seemed to have realized what a stupid idea that was and they're finally going to make normal Disney film based on my favorite fairytale. I think the release has been pushed back as well but if it's on par with Mulan, Aladdin, Beaty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid etc. then I'm more than happy to wait that long. I have been waiting for a decade or more already so a couple more years is fine.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapunzel_%28film%29
http://imdb.com/title/tt0398286/plotsummary

To be honest I'm not nuts about the concept art, but if it's a good story (with good songs) then I really don't care. I was dubious of the art in Hercules before I saw the movie, after all, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Why Do Women Make Such Good Men?

In cosplay, at least, (which is where people dress up in costumes of various characters) girls who aren't particularly voluptuous (so that rules me out) make excellent male characters. I've already sent most of you pics of the girl who dresses up as Link, and now I've found this women who dresses up as Snape. I suppose costume design is just more popular with women, but I wish there actually was a man who looked as good in these costumes as these women do. For the woman who dresses as Snape, I admit you can tell she's a woman in some of her more dramatic poses and when you see her face full on. But at certain angles, you can completely believe she's a man, which is a strange compliment because I think she makes quite a handsome man.

Anyway, here's the link to the Snape pictures: http://logospilgrim.com/
(click photos, then scroll down and click "The First Gallery", then scroll down again and click on any or of the 28 galleries to see a bunch of pictures.) The picture below is just one of many but one where I thought she particularly resembled Snape.




And here are the Link pics for anyone who doesn't remember, didn't get them, or wants to see them again: http://images.cosplay.com/showphoto.php?photo=703577
(there are more pictures on the link)

Feeling Much Better

I just thought I should let everyone know that I did not die or suffer any brain damage (that I can tell) from my recent illness. My dad also bought me a nice, shiny, new digital camera today! This is excellent since the hamster living in my last camera seems to have retired indefinitely. This also means that I have no excuse not to have some pictures of the week so here are some pictures of my dad's Christmas tree. Dad's never had anything against Christmas so it's not too surprising that he got a tree. Knowing my dad it's also not surprising that he neglected to buy ornaments for it. But it seems that my little brothers have remedied this by hanging anything on it that has a loop or will stick in the needles, including but not limited to key chains, empty tape dispensers, halloween decorations (Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas would be pleased), and some actual handmade Christmas themed ornaments.

Cold, Flu, or Hypochondria?

Whatever I have it wasn't even possible for me to concentrate properly on a simple game of Candyland with my brothers. I'm pretty sure I'm not imagining the whole thing as my hypochondria usually doesn't make me feel like I've been run over by a truck. But I'm not sure about the severity of it. I figure it's either a bad cold or mild flu. Either way I hope it goes away soon and it isn't some brain-eating virus or I wasn't bitten by a black widow or rattle snake in my sleep (yup, that's the hypochondria kicking in.)

Santa's Bag...

Well, I'm in San Diego now on winter vacation, and for those of you who were in touch with me during exams week, you know this break could not have come too soon. Anyway, I'm certainly enjoying the rest. I took my little brothers to the mall today. They looked at toys for ten minutes and then got bored. Go figure. So I got home in plenty of time to ride my bike (yay!) and then color some of a Christmas card before I too got bored (must be a genetic trait.)

Last night I asked my little brothers what they want for Christmas. My little brother Curtis wants a Voltswagon van. Not a toy one but a real one. The kind hippies used to paint flowers on. It's kinda a shame because my dad actually had one when I was a kid. It was brown and didn't have any flowers and he sold it some time ago. Somehow Curtis found out about it and has since become strangely obsessed. I tried explaining to him that a van wouldn't fit in Santa's bag and that Santa's elves can't make one anyway, but he's quite persistent. Meanwhile, my other little brother, Dennis would like a polar bear.

I think Santa's bag may have a white bear for Dennis (polar bear-esque if he can wrangle it) but for Curtis there may be some monetary amount with a note suggesting that he start saving...

Happy Holidays to All!

Graduate School Apps and Gambling

It has occured to me that paying application fees for Grad School is a lot like gambling. In both you're giving money for an uncertain return. The only difference is, if you don't get anything back in gambling, then you're just unlucky (and possibly stupid for gambling in the first place). However, if Grad Schools do not accept you, that's actually some kind of reflection on your worth as a person. I've never gambled, but I can safely say I'd infinitely prefer the cruelty of a slot machine at this point.

The Saddest Thing in the World and the Sins of George Lucas...

For this post these two things are not one in the same. But they easily could be...

Anyway, the sad fact I learned today is that bunnies can get syphilis. Considering the sexual habits of bunnies this has got to be one of the saddest things I've ever heard. It also brings to mind certain questions like "What happens when a bunny goes crazy?" and "If one bunny can get syphilis, how come all bunnies do not now have syphilis?" I am informed that this is not the type of syphilis transferable to humans. But I would still not recommend having intercourse with a rabbit.

As for the sins of George Lucas...oh, where to start... Well, he's released the "1977" version of his films on DVD. This "original" version contains ALL of the revisions he's made from the computer generation of 1997 to the blasphemous edition of Hayden Christensen to return of the Jedi. Basically, it's the Special Editions with the word "original" written on them. George, you've done some pretty low things, but I think this has got to be the lowest. I mean, the prequels may have been bad but at least they were new. Now you're just trying to trick fans into buying the Special Edition AGAIN by telling them it's the "original." And if you cannot believe on my word alone that such an atrocity is even possible (and it's so incredibly bad that I'd understand if you didn't want to believe it), here's the Amazon review confirming the sadness of it all.


George = the Emperor in flannel

Hi Brian! And To All Other Anonymous Posters...

I just wanted you to know that I guessed it might be you in the comments on the anaconda post. But I also thought it might be your sister. As one who shares her initials with her own sibling (my sister and I are both CML as well as my father), I recommend a more specific form of identification. Although, now that I know it's you, as long as Becky doesn't start signing the same way, I suppose it doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm always be happy when people read and comment on my blog so many thanks!

And a note to anyone wishing to post with their name in the title instead of having "anonymous says," click the "other" bubble in the box below the comment's field, and you'll be able to put in your name. Or letter initial, nickname, royal title, etc...

Pictures of the Week: The Wilds of Nashville

For anyone too queasy to appreciate the picture of the anaconda from the Nashville zoo, here's some less objectionable animals. Additionally, I'd like to add that these pictures, as well as the anaconda from the last post, are all courtesy of my fabulous sister Chrissy.



Animals make such cute couples. You can bet people don't look nearly as endearing when they lick each others heads.



If this meerkat could speak, I think it'd be saying, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you."

Don't forget, you can click on the picture to enlarge it. I've even found out recently that you can click on it again to make it even bigger!

Slow Anacondas, Ghosts, and Water Guns

If you're easily grossed out, then I do not recommend looking at my picture of the week. But, if not, read on: Here is an anaconda feeding that my sister and I witnessed at the Nashville zoo. But after seeing this creature eat, I'm shocked it survives as a predator at all. The zoo keepers feed it pre-killed bunnies so I suppose that may have taken some of the hunt out of it. The woman feeding it practically had to coax it into eating the thing. It opened its mouth which was pretty impressive, then put part of the bunny in its mouth and dragged it back under the water with it. Then it sat there. And sat there some more. It clearly had no intention of finishing its food anytime soon. I mean, I suppose there probably aren't a lot of things that would bother an anaconda, mouth full or no. But I would think it'd be pretty vulnerable just sitting around with a mouthful of rabbit.
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Well, I've probably insured a pretty small audience for the rest of my news but oh well. I'm beginning to think there's a ghost in my lounge that likes Harry Potter. Here's why. A while back I went down into the lounge and saw The Chamber of Secrets playing on the TV but no one was sitting and watching it. The lounge was completely deserted and no one came back in while I was there. Then today I went down an The Sorcerer's Stone was playing and there was no one around. I feel this is conclusive evidence of a ghost and not someone who just doesn't turn off the TV.

Furthermore I wish to report the sad news that I actually tested the range of my water gun today and, as I suspected, found it dissappointingly deficient for the purpose of shooting drunks.

Note to Self:

For Thanksgiving break I meant to bring a Christmas card I made for Tim and Mag with me so that I could color it. Unfortunately, much to my general vexation, it was lost amid the rubble of my desk. I have finally tracked it down once more upon returning and would just like to note that it is behind the framed picture of my Dad on my desk with a folder of loan information I should show to my father over Christmas break.

The Perils of Hypochondria

Tim reminded me that there are still people who read my blog (even if it is just him). Well, to be fair, there's probably at least three, maybe even four if I haven't lost someone's interest. And as long as I have an audience, no matter how small, my vanity forbids me from giving up completely. So I apologize for my long hiatus. My life to date has unfortunately been filled with grad school applications, spending time with my family, and getting sick. You would think that Thanksgiving break would have been an opportune time to post in my blog, but I felt guilty about any time not devoted to spending with my family, grad school apps, or editing my novel. Besides, since my sister is a member of my audience, and thus also a large percentage all by herself, I felt that there wasn't a lot of reason for me to post over break. Plus, I also figured that all of the rest of my audience would be spending time with their families rather than reading my blog.

Anyway, I'm afraid I'm not very happy right now because I had to call in sick for work. Although, I suppose the "had to" part is the problem. I am sick. There's little question about that. I've been sick for days. But I have a little Confucius that lives inside me that says I'm never too sick to do work (where this Confucius goes when I'm writing papers, however, is a mystery). Still, I took one look outside which is a very wet-looking grey mess and decided that going out for the long walk down to the elementary school would not improve my health. It's a bummer because I actually love my job. I love working with the kids, and I feel bad when I can't go in. I worry the kids will think I've abandoned them. It's bad enough that I do have to abandon them at the end of the year. It seems I have precious little time with them as it is. But I also was so exhasted last night that I went to bed around 9pm but still slept very poorly. All night I was unusally hot and thought that I must have a fever. However, when I woke up this morning and asked my roommate if it was hot in the room she said that it was. She also reported that my forehead did not feel hot, so I must conclude my hypochondria got the better of me as far as the fever was concerned. But I still do have a bad cold and that's undeniable. It is doubtful, however, that I have Mad Cow disease, though I did consider the possibility.

I just wish this horrible weather had been last night instead of this morning because I was constantly woken up by drunks outside my window. Close enough to hear clearly but not close enough to shoot a water gun at. It appears to have stopped raining, though, which makes me feel even guiltier for not going to work, but what's done is done.

Pulchritudinous

I bet when you learned the word pulchritudinous (the world's ugliest word for beautiful) for the SAT, you never thought you'd see it again, save for maybe something stuffy and literary. To be honest I had't seen it in anything outside my high school vocab book, and I've read some pretty esoteric stuff. Until now. Today I have found the word pulchritude (the noun version of pulchitrudinous) in MSN's current dating article: Are You Hung Up On Looks? proving that the SATs are not in fact useless but teach us how to understand internet dating advice.

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On a completely different subject I'd like to note that I was a bit hard on Tim and that I misinterpreted his remark on my pictures of the Louvre. He was actually simply saying that the Louvre would be an excellent setting for a horror story. It already is the setting of The Da Vinci Code, though I suppose that's more suspense than horror. Besides, the scariest thing about Dan Brown is his writing style (or lack thereof).

Art Wars







My apologies to all like Tim who feel that Michelangelo is "creepy." You're right. How dare I post such filth? So to make it up to Tim and anyone else who was offended, here are some works of art I hope you find more to your liking.

Pictures of the Week: Palace of the Gods





Just thought I'd remind everyone what an art nerd I am. For anyone sadly unaware of the most beautiful place on Earth, this is the Louvre and these are some pictures I took on a nighttime visit.

Sciencey Thoughts

It has occured to me that the answer to my previous writer's question would depend on how hot it gets in a burning house. Tim seems to be estimating far higher than I would (read comments in Another Writer's Question for details). But my only basis for how hot a house gets when it's on fire is the book Fahrenheit 451 where the firemen had to make sure the house reached that temperature for the books to incinerate.

So, anyone know the average temperature of a burning house?

Another Writer's Question

If your house caught fire and you have a box made of something that doesn't burn with a bunch of coins inside, would the coins melt?

Morris Dancing

I'm reading the new Terry Pratchett book Wintersmith right now and it mentions morris dancing. Now this isn't the first time Pratchett's mentioned morris dancing and in a newspaper article that Pratchett once heatedly criticized, they also said that the fantasy genre was nothing but "lords and ladies morris dancing to greensleeves" or some such nonsense. Pratchett got a lot of flack for criticizing this article because it was trying to praise JK Rowling while putting down all other fantasy authors. Personally I think Pratchett was too polite. I would like to find that reporter's house and have a stampede of morris dancers level it.

At any rate, all this inspired a great curiosity to actually SEE some morris dancing so I looked it up on YouTube. Pratchett always seems to associate this dance with some sort of dark portent, but as far as I can tell it's England's form of square dancing with a bit more do-si-do and a little less swing-your-partner. But go ahead and take a look at these videos to decide what you think of it. They say it can be done with swords, which would be AWESOME, but sadly I could not find any examples of that...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw8Cf1rPmio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2YplTOOtEI&NR

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EDIT: Well, I still couldn't find morris dancing with swords but I did find this video. I think it's more Asian style sword dancing and it's Star Wars themed! Anyway, these kids are AMAZING and the little girl's like a billion times cooler than Amidala.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2DpFFIJKDBI

Stupid Scam People Wasting My Time!!!

Here I will do a community service and say that if you received a postcard that looks like the one below and was postmarked from San Diego California, ignore it! :P You might already do so but if you're a conscientious person like me, you have to verify everything, so I'll save you the trouble. I wasn't stupid enough to call the number on the card, but I did call the REAL loan center just to be absolutely certain it was a scam. Which it is. So that's 20 minutes of my life wasted because some moron decided to rob people with student loans. It's not bad enough that we're in debt, you've decided to try to take the money we don't have! To whoever sent this to me, congratulations, you are officially scum.

Luckily they didn't get my money but my time is just as precious to me. So I would now really like these people to do my presentation that's due tomorrow which is ironically about finding a HELPFUL solution to the wealth divide... On second thought, nevermind; these people would only mess it up.

Writer's Question of the Week

Writers often must ask themselves strange questions when they write such as whether or not someone would die if an elephant sat on them or the average time it would take a unleaden swallow to fly north. Here's my writer's question of the week:

Would a small glass ink pot shatter if it was thrown in someone's face or would it just leave a heck of a bruise?

The beauty of writer's questions is you don't necessarily have to be right. You just need a general consensus because the whole idea is that someone doesn't read your book and then say to themselves "That wouldn't happen!"

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Shout Out To...

Kelly who got married yesterday! Congratulations! It was a beautiful ceremony full of love, light, and ...pumpkins.

And personally I think EVERYONE should have a Hello Kitty wedding cake!

Picture of the Week and News!



This is a rather blurry picture but it looks good that way. I took it in Taiwan at a place called Tiger Head Park. It reminds me of one of those fast action camera tricks they do on TV when all the cars turn into streaming lights.

In Cherie News:

I started serious editing on my novel today. I already separated the scrap from what needs to be kept but since I dropped dozens of characters and made several changes much of it needs to be rewritten. Starting with the entire beginning. I was going to start on Saturday but I was so daunted by the fear of doing something wrong and once again messing up the story that's been my life's work that I decided to write in my children's novel instead. But today I actually started the new beginning and I'm feeling really optimistic about it. I just hope it stays that way because I'm too lazy to learn to be good at anything else. Writing's all I've got.

On a somewhat related note I've decided that I quite like surrealist French poetry. This is a nice surprise since I thought I'd hate it more than the classic poetry considering I generally dislike modern artistic movements. It's best in French, though, so I recommend you all learn French to read it.

It's a Grey, Grey World...

Yes, I like to spell grey with an "e." Deal with it. At any rate when I look outside my window from my bed all I see is white-grey abyss. It's liked my entire house has been wrapped up in a giant somber cottonball.

On the upside, I've realized recently that I really love my job tutoring at the elementary school. I still don't want to be a teacher, but I think one of the reasons I enjoy tutoring is because for a few hours each week people look up to me and I can give them knowledge that's important to them as opposed to the general college standard of not knowing what the heck I'm doing half the time and never being sure if I have anything useful to add.

In other news, one of my mid-terms got pushed back to Monday so the pain's not over yet...

Because I Have Ceased to Be Interesting...

I'm going to feature someone who is! Ever wonder where all my time goes on the internet? So do I! But I can attribute at least a small percentage to looking at pics by this fabulous Harry Potter fan artist. And I'm sure she needs my endorsement...(sarcasm) But nonetheless perhaps some of you will enjoy her work. I've already probably bugged most of you to look at it.

http://acciobrain.ligermagic.com/

Pictures of the Week Return!


Yeah...kinda took over a week blog hiatus and probably lost my entire readership. Anyway, I wish I had some funny pictures or something interesting but here's just some natural beauty of Granville and Denison. On the top is the village in it's fall colors and the bottom is the Swasey Chapel spire and Burton Morgan in the moonlight.






In other news: Mid-terms approcheth and my sanity goeth...

Pictures of the Week:Old School...Literally.















This is a historical park I went to in California with my Dad. Click on the picture below to read it. It is a list of digressions coupled with the number of lashes each would earn you. The glare unfortunately covers up #10 a little which is either "sewing" or "swearing." I'm hoping it's "swearing" because I just don't feel like sewing should be worth 8 lashes. However, boys and girls playng together clearly merits 4 lashes...

Japanese Tourists?

There are many places you expect to see Japanese tourists: famous monuments, grand museums, big cities, giant balls of twine...

But one place you don't expect to see Japanese tourists is Granville Elementary School. Nontheless a bunch of Japanese men and women dressed in suits randomly came in while I was tutoring and started taking pictures of the students.

This story has no point and I still don't know why they were there but it's a good addition to my list of strange observations.

It's National Fire Prevention Week!

...To which I ask, don't we want to prevent fires every week?

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Things that aren't as good as they used to be: The mints in my cafeteria. At least they still have them, but the wrappers of the old mints were very good whereas these wrappers start sticking to the mint if you leave them in your pockets for even short periods of time. Probably an evil scheme to stop students like me from hoarding the mints.

Note to the Photographer

In a gross oversight I forgot to aknowledge the awesomeness of my queen picture taken by the marvelous Becky who wandered around with me at RenFest. There are very few people capable of capturing my full regal beauty, but Becky has done it. So to Becky: a tip of my crown to thee.

Pictures of the Week: I Am the Queen



As monkey socks descend down the page I am reviving my ever exciting pictures of the week feature. Now I've been having pictures which I've sort of been counting as pictures of the week but I like being able to officially post for this purpose. Anyway, it was more than a week ago that I was at the Renaissance Festival but I still thought everyone should see what a striking resemblance I am to Queen Elizabeth I.



These other two pictures are even older but it seems to be a pictures of the week tradition to have old pictures. Anyway I took these at an aqaurium in San Diego. Here you see "wuv troo wuv..." or "true love" for anyone who can't read my Princess Bride quote (which is probably everyone even if they've seen it because that does not translate well into text.) The point is that this couple of eels is the cutest couple I've ever seen.



This is just an awesome pic I took which would probably make you believe that I'm a better photographer than I really am. What's my secret? Luck.

Anybody Ever Wanted To...?

Put on a pair of bunny ears and run around? No? Just me then I guess.

OH MY GOD!!!!

Okay, although I'm not religious, I don't normally take the Lord's name in vain. Probably because I'm not religious so what would be the point anyway? But as my favorite author Terry Pratchett once put it (though slightly differently) "Oh my god I don't believe in" just has less zing.

EENYWAY, I think my departure from normal speech patterns can be justified by the WEIRDNESS that just happened to me. Good weirdness. Awesome weirdness. But weirdness all the same.

Okay, so this guy from my fencing club invited me to watch a movie with him and some friends. I go to see said movie (Robin Hood Men in Tights) and in the middle a girl walks in and starts talking to my fencing buddy. He says, "Oh, this is my girlfriend, Lucy." I greet her and then she looks at me and says. "Cherie?"

***

Now, at this moment you would have to be me or a family member to guess who this Lucy might be, so I have to add back story which makes this universe has-socked-you-in-the-face moment so much less shocking than it deserves to be, but oh well.

When I was a kid I had a friend named Kyle. He was my best friend being one of the few kids my age within walking distance. (My mom would not let me cross the street unassisted until I was 8.) Kyle had a little sister. Now, at the time, I admit I was closer with Kyle because his younger sister was younger than me and five to eight year olds can be quite elitist. However, towards the end of our friendship I hung out with Kyle's little sister a lot more and when they moved away she was the only one who wrote to me. Which is how Kyle incited my eternal wrath, but his sister was much elevated in my opinion as being thus the best friend of the two.

Sadly, after a year or so of letters, we lost touch.

***

Fast forward like 13 years and picture me sitting in the Morrow House lounge staring at the girl across from me with my jaw unhinged, desperately trying to make the synapses in my brain connect with what I'm hearing.

Now anyone with any understanding of narrative has probably already guessed what's about to happen. So I shall only confirm that, yes, the Lucy that I met today was my long lost sandbox buddy and next door neighbor who is now attending my university.

I still have so much homework to do but I can now neither concentrate nor sleep because I can barely believe I'm awake.

...I don't suppose my old elementry school sweetheart will be next? Kenneth, you out there? Call me. No? Well, can't have it all.

Thar Procrastinatin' Pirate!

Yar, yesterday was that finest of days where there be the speakin' of the pirate speak. Sadly what with one thing and the other I didn't get around to celebrating it... Nor did I hear any fine pirate speak. I only saw one guy dressed in proper uniform and failed to extend an "ahoy!" to him. But Becky was kind enough to wish me a fine day and such was a bonny gesture. The barnacles of guilt do gnaw at my soul. On a random note to Becky, I will get those Renaissance maze pictures to you soon. I should have already since I downloaded them quite a while ago, but I think I must have gotten distracted by a shiny object or something. As any true pirate would...

I fear I'm not really all that good at Pirate talk to be honest, though. And yesterday I went to bed around 9:30 because I've been sick for quite a few days now and my normal four hours of sleep just haven't been cuttin' it as far as recuperation goes. Luckily I'm feeling much better now for all that sleep, but it isn 't something I can do all the time unfortunately. I shouldn't have done it last night as I will now have to work a lot harder today but oh well...

Cherie's Wisdom of the Day

Exposition Tastes Funny: Don't feed it to your fictional characters too much. It will give them stomach aches.

Cherie's Firsts: Last night at my university's perfomance of the 5 Browns was the first time I ever saw a guy play rock on a piano with his elbow and knee while screaming "Oh baby!"

It was pretty hot.

I Don't Know About Dancing, but he Sings AND Does Martial Arts!

All right, enough of this boring talking about my blog on my blog. Here's a fun fact for today. Jackie Chan can sing! Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself: Jackie Chan Music Video

The song is "I'll Make a Man out of You" from the Disney movie Mulan. He sang for the Chinese version of the film.

You Can Post Comments Now!

It has come to my attention that the comments field was not functioning since I had accidently chosen to moderate it by email and then neglected to put an email in the email field. So if you posted a comment and thought that I snubbed you because it was never approved, I just want you to know that that's not the case at all. Any previous comments simply would have fallen into the sad white abyss of cyberspace. Anyway, the good news is that the comments are working now as Tim has so kindly proved. So please comment if the fancy strikes you!

Like I'm Being Watched...

Seriously, though, it's a good thing.

I just saw that my blog profile has had 32 views. Normally I scoff at such internet related numbers and I've already told you all how I feel about Facebook. But as this particular statistic appeals directly to my ego, I'm quite proud of it. I am vain enough to look at my profile a lot, but I don't think I've looked at it that much. I'm also not sure it even counts me, because I just looked at it again and it didn't go up. If that's the case, the number's even more awesome. I'm flattered people are interested enough in me to look at my profile. Not that I'm not just that super, but I was under the impression that five people tops read my blog, so that's a pretty impressive number all things considered. It could be just other bloggers skimming profiles with similar interests, but that's still good. I don't expect my blog to become wildly popular, I just like to know that someone looks at it.

And I admit that this entry cannot beat monkey socks, which is also another reason I haven't posted in a couple days (that and the mounds of homework). But it's just so awesome to have a picture of monkey socks at the top of my blog that it'll be sad to bump them down. Still, we must all move on in life. My Buddhism class has taught me that all things are impermanent. I also learned that Harrison Ford and Richard Gere are Buddhists. I'll let you decide which of those facts is more enlightening.

Monkey and Banana Socks!

They rock my feet.

Hey There Hot Stuff

Today I had to exercise in Taylor House because I didn't get to Mitchell early enough and Taylor house has a treadmill angled in such a way to the mirrored wall that if you turn your head, you can see most of your backside while you're exercising. It was because of this that I realized what a fine backside that I have. If you know me (which you probably do if you're reading this) then you know that I'm quite vain, and you've likely already accepted this. Sadly, I already love me, so hitting on myself does me no good. Alas, why can't there be a man as sexy as me?

Now I bet you're asking, "Cherie, why do you need to exercise if you're so hot?" Well, it seems I was born with perfectly toned muscles and therefore became accoustomed to them. Unfortunately, laziness and college food has taken those muscles away. A problem with motivating myself to do something about this loss is that is I'm still incredibly hot. Yet, parts of me just don't feel like they used to. So I exercise in an effort to feel as sexy as I look.

Louvie the Loris in his Natural Habitat


For any who doubted that Louvie was a small, tree-dwelling, rain-forest mammal, I present here the photographic evidence. You'll definitely want to click on the image to see the enlarged version. Note the eyes! I apologize for the lighting. My camera is not the best. As a matter of fact, the poor little hamster that lives inside my camera (if you could see my camera you would not doubt that it's operated by a hamster on a wheel) recently got over-heated and repeatedly informed me that he would shut down the camera due to high temperature. As I do not feel that I had been overworking the hamster in any way this annoyed me greatly. I have wanted a better camera for quite some time merely for better image quality. But I've had this one for barely over a year, so I will be quite upset if it breaks. I am also hesitant to buy a new one simply because of this inexplicable error. I bought a new CD player recently because the other one appeared to be breaking, but after the purchase, my old CD player began working perfectly again. I would like another camera, but I do not yet know enough to confidently select a superior model, so I would rather that my current camera remain functional.

So it Was Written, So it Was Done

Horray, I actually edited my fantasy novel yesterday! I was also in a relatively positive mood about it. I decided to look at it like a film. (I watch a lot of film commentaries for those of you who don't already know). I am trying to mercilessly cut out everything that does not in some way lead to the climax of my story or relate to my primary plotline. I still have subplots, of course, but they must all trace back to the primary plotline. I have plenty of material; the main problem is sifting through it all. Sometimes I get discouraged at how much I'll have to rewrite or I'll get sidetracked by ideas. Right now I'm just focusing on what needs to be cut and rewritten. I haven't encountered any scene that won't undergo some rewriting, which is what usually makes me gloomy. But once I sift out all the scenes I want to keep, even if I have to rewrite them, that should be a good framework. I hope so anyway.

Should be Sleeping...

More things that annoy Cherie: People who do well on tests and then are like "What? It was, like, so easy." They're the bane of test anxiety sufferers everywhere.

AND loud and inconsiderate drunken peers.

Nostalgia: We found one of Ishani's knitting needles in the couch in Gilpatrick. It's a little piece of Ishani who we all miss so much. Though I like to think I miss her the most. What's that? She's got a boyfriend? Bah. We all know she loved me best.

Things I NEED to do: Write in my novel. Or edit a novel. Man! This happens everyday! I put it off until it's too late for me to do anything (despite the fact I'm doing this.) Writing's all I have though. Without it I'm just like everybody else. Slightly worse actually (see above test anxiety) so I need to get with it. Tomorrow. I'm trusting my huge blog audience *hears crickets* to descend upon me if I keep slacking on the one thing that makes me me.

Pictures of the Week: Ghosts

Once again these are old pictures because I was talking with my friend Becky and I told her about this blood-chilling picture my very special Kodak camera took of a ghostly tourist, doomed to roam the old prison quarters of Mont St. Michel until she finds the perfect souvenir. The giant wheel you see was used to bring food up to prisoners they once kept there. Unfortunately, the prison ghosts were camera shy.

(Click picture to enlarge)

Speaking of ghosts, below is a non-humorous cultural photo of a Ghost Month celebration in Taiwan. This is paper money being burned to be sent up to the ancestors in heaven. The litter on the ground is all paper money because some bits would get caught in the current of hot air and rise out of the bin to fall to the ground. I remember how the ash danced in the air like black snowflakes.


(Click picture to enlarge)

* * *

Cranky Cherie's Aches and Pains: As an old lady of 21 I feel compelled to complain of my old bones. In this case, actually, it's my old muscles as I seem to have thrown out my right shoulder. Again. This probably means I should not do any fencing until it heals, but I don't know how well I'll stick to that plan. More likely I'll convince myself that I'll be fine if I fence left-handed and thus make myself worse.

I also have a toothache that hurts searingly when I drink hot or cold liquids and sometimes if I eat hot or cold foods (though the food in the dining hall tends to be a uniform lukewarm so I have an easier time with the latter.) Last time I had this problem I went to the dentist only to be told that I had a sinus infection and I paid $80 for nothing. So this time I refuse to go to any quack calling himself a doctor or otherwise.

Things that Annoy Cherie: People who lock their computers *coughcough*Nathan and Louvie*coughcough* so I can't sneak into their rooms when they're out and change their desktops to something totally incongruous to their personalities.

Walking at Night...

...from the library to my dorm while listening to the Elizabeth soundtrack (very broody classical music with horror movie undertones) makes me paranoid that some scary Catholic priest dude's gonna pop out of the shadows and assasinate me...

Cherie's Wise Thought of the Day: Classical music is sexy.