Today is a Good Day

[eredien]

I finished The Curse of Chalion and enjoyed it. I had to keep reminding myself that I was reading Bujold because the setting was so different, and her use of the word "withal" bothered me. I felt it was stuck into sentences to make the characters appear more "medival-like." But other than that, a neat book.
It almost didn't pass LeGuin's "fantasy test," which is--can you change the setting to Capitol Hill and all the names of those in the Political Intrigues and come out with essentially the same book as a regular work of non-genre ficton? But then in the end, it suddenely was.

I love Umegat.
Too bad he's gay.
Even all the good fictional characters are gay or taken. ;P Pfft.

Also had a conversation with my dad about Bujold. Trying to explain to him what she writes and why I like it. Neat. He asked me if I wanted to write like her! Well, yes. But not the same thing, I think.

Saw the movie "Camp" with Lotusblosm. It is fun, and about a bunch of highschoolers who go to theater camp. If you like musical theater, you should rent it. If you like subtext, you should rent it. If you like movies about teenagers that portray them as real people who can also screw up, you should rent it. Sondheim plays himself.

I've been talking with Raki for the past 45 minutes or so. Hi--yay! It's good to see friends feeling better. I wonder sometimes if I mediate myself too much: should I let myself be more dragony in public, do you all think? It's so strong I fear I would be dangerous to others, just playing around. And not that that's a bad thing--but just that people in general might not pick up on that, or would be intimidated by it instead of expecting it as a fact of life and dealing with it and rising to it themselves.

Have been not writing enough, not doing nearly enough martial arts, and have looked for jobs in the NY aread intstead of Boston 'cause I'm a dork and often give into my family 'cause it's the easiest way out of things. Wish I could push myself harder to look for Boston jobs. Don't know why I'm not, other than the fact that I'm a bit lazy with so many books and so much time that isn't filled with things every waking second so I must prioritize and get my tail to work.

But I walked through the woods yesterday with the dog. Up to my ankles in mud and leaf litter. Grin! And tomorrow we might go (my family and I) to a place with waterfalls and a nature trail. And I am eating better again. Less meat. And have decided some of where the Night Market story is going so it now has a plot instead of being A Connected Series of Random Cool Incidents in Second Person.

Really, I think I am just lazy and addicted to books. I will look harder, karimislan.

Comments

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

I will look harder, karimislan.

Good. Cuz, no pressure, but want you around. Y'know?

On another note, yay Bujold. Have you got a copy of Paladin of Souls around? Because I'm fond of it. I think it's slightly better than Chalion.

I'm a bit confused by the "fantasy test." How does that work? Which result does one want?

Glad of the good day. Yay good yay.

--R

[eredien]

I have not got Paladin of Souls. I borrowed Chalion from the library.

How the fantasy test works: you apply the criterion of Capitol Hill to a passage of dialog and see if you can still picture the people speaking it in the modern world. If you can, it's probably not really fantasy, in the sense that it isn't fey, isn't Beyond the Lands We Know. It might be a nice book and rollicking, but it might be a facade.

For example (though this is the reverse example, "how fantasy does not work as people talking on Capitol Hill," because I couldn't find any of the other on my bookshelf in short order) - from The Sea Hag by Melissa Lee Shaw in Silver Birch, Blood Moon (Datlow and Windling):

Original: "It is true what he says," she whispered. "You have no heart. You have no idea what love is."
My mouth opened, but no words came out. I could not stand to look at her eyes...She turned to leave.
A word welled up from the put of my stomach, trailing acid. "Coral..."
She swiveled toward me, her face cold and hard as the moon. "How do you know my name?"
"I know all your names," I said. "Yours and your sisters'." And before she read too much into that, I hastened to add, I know all that goes on in the sea for hundreds of miles in all directions. There's a reason your father sent you to me."

Changed: Original: "It is true what he says," she whispered. "You have no heart. You have no idea what love is."
My mouth opened, but no words came out. I could not stand to look at her eyes...She turned to leave.
A word welled up from the put of my stomach, trailing acid. "Coral..."
She swiveled toward me, her face cold and hard as the moon. "How do you know my name?"
"I know all your names," I said. "Yours and your sisters'." And before she read too much into that, I hastened to add, I know all that goes on in D.C. for hundreds of miles in all directions. There's a reason the president sent you to me."

It doesn't quite ring true, does it?
If it had, it might not have been fantasy.
I am not explaining very well; go ask Lila for her copy of the LeGuin that includes "from Elfland to Poughkeepsie."

[weirdquark]

I love Umegat.
Too bad he's gay.
Even all the good fictional characters are gay or taken. ;P Pfft.

I feel your pain. :) I told Gaudior once that I'd probably date DJC except he's fictional, gay AND taken. Except I probably wouldn't. Even if he was non-fictional, straight and single he'd still be higher maintance than I think I want to deal with.

But still. :)

Re job searching: Do what will make you happy and don't worry about your parents. It's your life. Something I'm sure you know, but it's worth repeating sometimes.

Taking a break and reading is good, but yeah, look for jobs too.

[weirdquark]

Also, if you tell me what sort of job you want, I can help you look and be reference librarian-y.

[eredien]

Anything, really: general secretarial/typing jobs are good for now. Anything in publishing (copyediting, linediting, especially would be good) or graphic design, too, if you find any that do not need Master's degrees or large amounts of experience or programming languages other than HTML or knowledge of Quark.

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

Even all the good fictional characters are gay or taken. ;P Pfft.

Well, I for one could resent that. *resents that*

Keep looking, and never give up. He (I) is out there somewhere. :)