In which Sky has all the feelings about all the things.

[cerulean_sky]

It's been a while since I posted anything of substance, so here we go!

• First, I bought myself some paid account time on DW and now I have icons! This is delightful! (Despite the fact that still most of my posting (which mostly consists of comments) is over at LJ.) I am very pleased, and have even changed some of them around. Delightful, I tell you. Obviously, for those of you reading this on LJ, it likely won't matter. But the fact that I have them on DW just makes me happy. So. It's the little things in life, clearly.

• Right. Next. I am officially dating someone*. We met on Christmas Eve when we were sitting next to each other on a plane. We spend the weekends together mostly since he lives an hour away. It's lovely, he's wonderful, I'm happy.

• We're doing a Valentine's Day thing next weekend. And by "thing" I mean, "I've been tasked with picking out a restaurant and I have no idea what I want, so I haven't picked anything yet." I know tons of restaurants in NYC because I eat out so often there, but I don't actually eat out that often here in Santa Fe. Not really. More research must be done.

* I'll have to figure out how I want to refer to him here, if I decide I want to.

• Moving along. School. It's going well so far. My Gothic Lit class and my Poetry class are by far my most interesting classes. I volunteered to go in the first group of workshops for my Poetry class, and while I'm not nervous, I sort of hate my poem. I have a paper coming up in my Gothic Lit class, and I suspect I'll be writing on the Poe stories we read, since we won't have read anything else that actually will hold my interest. I suspect I'll be writing my final paper on Dracula because, um, yes.

• My Religion & Image class makes me mentally slam my head against a wall for an hour three days a week. I'd forgotten what talking about literature with teenagers who aren't into it is like. Let me give you an example:

This morning a girl said something like, "It's definitely a dream," about one of Kafka's stories (A Country Doctor for those interested or those who might be familiar with it), and when I asked her why she said "definitely" she explained how the whole sequence would never happen "in real life" and I just... couldn't look at her and say, "You haven't read much Kafka, have you?" So, I just tried to explain—without being snarky, not sure if I succeeded, but really I was just trying to show her that there's no "definitely" about anything—that it really didn't seem to out of character in the surreality of the story. I got a blank (and possibly slightly annoyed) look in return.

My Paradise Lost class is only slightly better. We talk about the book a bit more, but we also go around the room and read long passages of it aloud and the teacher goes, "See how this is an example of something I told you would be in here?" Less slamming my head against a wall, more internally crying.

• I am already behind on my IS. I am likely going to write two short stories this week (nothing super polished, just first drafts) in order to catch up. Oof.

• My Kindle is my current favorite thing. Well, my Kindle and the application calibre. I've been adding books to both like crazy, and reading almost as much. Though, I am having trouble sticking with one book and finishing it. (Except for the one I'll talk about in a minute.) I suspect this is because I keep getting new books and having "new toy syndrome" as applied to books. (I dub this, "new book syndrome.") Still, I am reading books and having fun with gadgets. The Boyfriend is pretty much convinced that he wants a Kindle now. Which I consider a victory. And I am finding that it's nice to be able to carry a ton of books with me wherever I go, and that reading on the Kindle can sometimes be nicer than reading from an actual book. I like having the actual book, but sometimes the slim little gadget it nicer to practical application.

• The only book I've finished (that's not a reread) in a while on my Kindle was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. If you haven't read this book already, read it. Go out, buy it, read it right now. There are so many amazing things about this book, I literally had to put it down at times and hyperventilate over how I will never write something this amazing. Or at least, how I'll never write this book because someone else already wrote it. (Other books that inspire this feeling: Steven Brust's To Reign in Hell and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. Probably there are others, but those are the two I can recall off the top of my head.) Of course, I am happy with the things I am working on as books that will likely sell if I can get them into some sort of publishable shape (and, you know, written) but sometimes I just think, "Why couldn't I have written this?" Seriously amazing, if you haven't read it yet, do it asap.

Note to exrpan: Consider reading this for your Independent Study with David. No, seriously.

• Other than DW/LJ, I've been slacking off on my other online hideouts. I haven't really used Twitter or Tumblr in a while. I've sort of lost interest, even though I don't want to have lost interest. It's an odd conundrum. I haven't even really been reading fic. It's not that I am losing interest in my fandoms—because, if my reaction to the Avengers trailer during the Super Bowl is in any indication, I'm definitely not—I just have other things that I am thinking about at the moment. Hm. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to fandom things in not too long.

And that's it, folks!

Comments

[yabamena]

~*{THE NIGHT CIRCUS}*~

Oh, and Kindle+Calibre is AMAZING! :D

That is all.

[cerulean_sky]

I have so many ~feelings about that book. I kept flopping around on the bed while the Boyfriend gave me strange looks. c: (I think I need a Night Circus icon or two...)

I lovelovelove my Kindle and how organized I can be with my ebooks. Calibre: iTunes for ebooks. It's amazing. I love it.

[yabamena]

It's just such a an amazing, delicious book. I need to go read it again.

Calibre is so very useful! I think it's even better than iTunes because it can convert files so very easily for you.

[cerulean_sky]

I am definitely putting it on my list of books that I will reread constantly. Because oh my god.

iTunes can convert fairly easily. I forget exactly how to make sure your settings are all right, but then just a right click and select "create mp3 version" or something like that. Idk. I found the instructions on a webpage, though. So it shouldn't be too hard to find. (That or it's possible that you told me about it, actually... I am having vague memories...)

Anyway. The point. Calibre is the most amazing application, and if it were a person, I would give it sexual favors in gratitude.

[yabamena]

Yeah, I remember there's a process with iTunes, but with Calibre it's like one click and it takes care of everything for you.

LOL! But yeah, that pretty much sums up the Calibre love. XD

[anoyo]

YOU SHOULD OBVIOUSLY REFER TO HIM BY A SINGLE LETTER, BECAUSE THAT IS CLASSY AND COOL.

JUST SAYING.

Also: awwwwwwwwww.

i may also have a non-boyfriend-type-thing. may. not sure. possibly.

[cerulean_sky]

I thought about that? Idk. I'll figure something out. I don't actually know how much I'll end up talking about him, since I don't actually tend to talk about personal stuff all that much.

But the whole thing is super cute. I will totes admit to that.

A non-boyfriend-type-thing?? What even does that mean? Also: tell me more.

[exrpan]

Heh, actually David and I planned to read it last semester right when it came out, because he said the structure of it reminded him of my China novel. But then we just never got around to reading it, probably because there were so many other things we wanted to read and talk about. I have a publicity advance copy that my friend gave me but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I've actually heard mixed things though. Some people have said it's great and some people have said it's awful...

[cerulean_sky]

I kept seeing it pop up on various year's end lists. Like, of things that came out during the year that were awesome. And I know that a few of my friends picked it up months ago and read it and loved it, and I thought it might be interesting, but I was worried that it would lean too far into the YA (which I tend not to like) but it didn't. It was way more adult than I thought, and I actually recommended it to my dad. Anyway, it was fantastic. Actually, one of the things that I thought was really interesting about it was the structure and how the people within the novel sort of end up talking about the structure in terms of time. I can't actually think of a single thing that I thought wasn't good.

I would still say if you can manage to squeeze it in this semester, do it.