The Topic of Great Randomness

[96bookworms]

Oh.My.God.

first of all, I can't believe I actually had to go and search the ToGR...it's been 2 weeks since anybody poster here.

Last night, my school had a dance. A perfectly ordinary dance, which was lots of fun until the last 10 minutes or so. I was dancing with some of my friends, when another girl comes over and tells us that a girl (who went to my school for the last 9 years)'s house was on fire. We all rushed out, and basically the whole 8th grade was just sort of milling around, in shock. But to make things worse, this morning my mom gets a call from my friends dad, who called to say that the girl's dad died. I am seriously in shock right now. I don't know her well or anything, but...I have known her for the last 10 years, and my mom used to work with her mom.

On to cheerier topics: all others who have read the Percy Jackson books, did you know that the new series is kicking off on the 12th? it's called the Lost Heroes of Olympus. And yes, Percy and Annabeth and the others are still present. It's just from another boy's point of view. His name is Jason. You can read the first two chapters online, here

Otherwise, school is pretty OK. I have waaaaayyyy more homework than I though would be possible, considering I also have theater 3 days a week, voice lessons (for theater) on Mondays, volunteering at the library on Tuesdays, after school chorus on Wednesdays till 4(I have band in school, and you can't do both) after school enrichment classes on Wednesdays till 5 (i do both at the same time ) piano on Thursdays, and dance on Thursdays. That's not including anything extra...

Oh, and my science teacher is certifiably insane.If the heading on your paper is wrong (you put your name first instead of the date first, etc) he says he will give you detention, and he probably will....nobody has made that mistake yet. A few days ago, he made a girl stand in the hall the whole period, probably for talking, but I'm not sure, 'cuz he didn't say, he just told her to take her stuff and go stand in the hall.

Our English class is amazing, because we have a great teacher, the lunch period (which is longer than the others) and only 11 people in the class. the other accelerated class has 23. We have been known to talk about Disney movies and hand lotions for at least half an hour (each, they were on separate days).

Now...it's late, I'm over tired, and I am babbling. Somebody should post here again, I don't want it to be another 2 weeks!

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

The mysterious Mr. Paravicini. The unexpected guest. The guest whom you did not invite. The guest who arrived, from nowhere, out of the storm. It sounds quite dramatic, does it not? :-)

Piccies available for Facebook types over at UMaine School of Performing Arts, if I haven't already posted that link somewhere...

[crazy_bookworm]

Hey everyone, I'm baaack!

bookworms: I'm glad your parakeet is okay.

Stormwind: I know the feeling of needing another bookshelf. Before I cleared a bunch of teen books off my shelves, I had books double and triple stacked on my shelves, and I still didn't have room. I now have a bunch of books on my floor to put into boxes.

Tensai: I'm glad a bit of the YW universe has found you at your school. My university doesn't look like something out of Harry Potter at all, but it has its own special quirks (ask me about our Biological Sciences building one day, oh, the stories I could tell...). Also, I love Schrodinger's cat. Have you seen the episode of The Big Bang Theory where Leonard and Penny can't decide if going on a date is a good idea? Sheldon gives them both the exact same advice of Schrodinger's cat, where Penny doesn't understand, yet Leonard does. And Zach from Bones not understanding cake and pickles in relation to something (I can't remember what), but understanding Schrodinger's cat.

Anyways, this past week was my first week at school, although I was at school for four days before it officially started helping with orientation. Two days were training for how to do orientation properly and giving information to incoming first years. The second set of two days were the actual orientation and it was a blast! All the orientation leaders were really psyched, and it made orientation so much fun. There's kind of a game to see how many people you can keep by the President's Address, which is at the end of the second day, so typically not many people are left. I had one person left in my group, but her and I really bonded, so it's all good. At President's Address a lot of cheering was going on, so we were really loud, and near the end one of the orientation leaders got a text saying we could be heard from the zoo, which was across the river from where we were. After President's Address, there was an impromptu dance party by the orientation leaders, and then we headed over to one of the bars on campus. I got to watch people drink, which is probably better than drinking yourself. :P

I was sooo tired, though, 'cuz the trains were down so it took me double the time to get to school, and having to wake up at 530 to 630 am for those four days.

My classes are good so far, although I really need to review my organic chem, or I'll be screwed this semester. In pharmacology we learned the history of pharmacology and how drugs can be administered to the body, which is interesting.

I went to a cousin's wedding this weekend. How is everyone else doing?

[Lazy Leopard]

It was worth it, entirely so, but I am exhausted!

I once, having stayed the extra night for a Dead Dog Party, made the mistake of tryng to go straight to work from a Con hotel the following morning. The drive from the hotel to work was actually no longer than my usual morning commute at the time, and I got to work at a sensible time, but I was too tired to do anything useful...

Not only do I live in a place that looks like it's come right out of Harry Potter, I am also surrounded by little echoes of the YW brand of magic. And maybe that's a little magical.

Cool!

Next Con I'm going to is in a castle on top of a hill. It's quite a steep hill, and the castle has one o those views over the valley that can sometimes seeq quite surreal, especially when the valley fills with fog so all you can see are the tops of the other hills nearby sticking out of a foggy sea.

I answered a CQ (call on ham radio) this morning, and it turned out to be a station at a girl guides' camp in Scotland. There was a group of ten or so of them wanting to talk on the radio. Of the ten, three were called Emma, and one was called Gemma...

This evening I went out to try talking to ISS, but didn't manage to get my call heard. I did, however, hear Col. Doug Wheelock telling someone that he was planning to have rice and fish for supper...

[Tensai24]

Joy in unexpected places

Hey everybody! I had a great YW moment this week that I just thought I'd share.

I'm currently a sophomore at Cornell University in New York and I've been reading this series since I was 11.

Thursday night I went up to visit and have dinner with my friend in her dorm for the first time this year. She is currently living in the Performing Arts/Arts dorm, which has the cool plus side that any resident is free to paint/doodle murals and the like on any of the walls (though, strangely, not in their rooms).

While I was walking up a staircase to her room I passed 1)A painting of a poster that read: "Schrodinger's Cat: Wanted Dead and Alive" which made me crack up. (Schrodinger's Cat is a quantum mechanics/astrophysics-related paradox/problem.) and 2) I saw that some other Cornellian had taken it upon themself to write out the entire wizards oath on one of the walls of the stair well! I was so surprised and ecstatic to know that I am not the only person my age who has I great love for this series.

Not only do I live in a place that looks like it's come right out of Harry Potter, I am also surrounded by little echoes of the YW brand of magic. And maybe that's a little magical.

[Trialia]

It has been quiet the last week or so. I guess it's back-to-school time for quite a few readers and maybe that's absorbing a lot of attention...

Mm. That and I, who talk too much for my own good usually, am still recovering from the energy sink of DWcon. It was worth it, entirely so, but I am exhausted!

[Lazy Leopard]

It has been quiet the last week or so. I guess it's back-to-school time for quite a few readers and maybe that's absorbing a lot of attention...

[illiriam]

Hmm. I think that something is up because I know I haven't been on here in a while yet TOGR says that my first unread message is the latest one. I'll have to see if it keeps doing this.

So I started classes, which means I will be on my computer more than 5 minutes a week (sadly that is my average during the summer unless I am buying several hundred dollars worth of textbooks) which means that I will get to catch up with what I missed on here. Yay! My semester is going to kick my butt, since they are all upper level classes, but whatever.
By the way, Anne Bishop is officially on my list of favorite authors now, so anyone old enough to handle mature situations (ahem) should check out her Ephemera books and her Black Jewels trilogy and her Tir Alainn trilogy.

And I just wanted to share with all of you books lovers the site Free Book Friday. There is a teen site and a regular site, and they give away several free copies of the featured books every Friday. I just so happen to enter both every week, and finally won one! I won a copy of the Delcroix Academy: The Candidates, so I guess it's a legit site. haha. So, check it out!

Hopefully anyone who has started school is having a good time and anyone that hasn't started yet: Good Luck on your first day!

[Lazy Leopard]

Aye, Peter's aircraft sound effects are legendary. DD seemed to be quite busy working on things, though I did have a brief chat with her, and featured in one of her photo blogs on Twitter. It was an exhausting convention, though. i got home just before midnight last night, fell into bed, and am now only just beginning to wake up...

[Trialia]

Hee. Spent most of yesterday afternoon in the bar with a biiiiig group of people, including DD and PM - who, by the way, makes awesome airplane noises. Any variety you like. xD

So yeah, having lots of fun. I have not found much *chance* to start reading Omnitopia Dawn yet, even though Diane signed it for me while I was carrying it around. I think I'll probably wind up reading it while I'm in bed recovering from the con (as I will be for a few days, I am pushing through like hell right now with the aid of morphine, caffeine and a LOT of sugar!).

[Stormwind]

96bookworms: Thank you! It was a great day... and since I love books I choose a Hardback of SYWTBAW... I've wanted one for years... I just need to actually go get one... though I don't have space to put it right now... I need another bookshelf.

[96bookworms]

One more week till school starts! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing...but, on the other hand, my dad, who teaches at the college, starts tomorrow, and I get to laugh at him and enjoy my last week of freedom.

My parakeet seems to be O.K., though she still isn't using her left foot...at least it isn't broken

Stormwind: Happy Birthday...have a virtual present, you choose what it is \

Clover:I would definitely recommend the Tamora Pierce books. TP is (along with DD) my favorite author of all time! Her first quartet is about a young girl who wants to become a knight, during a time period when girls are not allowed to. So...she disguises herself as a boy for 8 years so that she can become the first female knight...best series ever! (there's 12 other books after that quartet-the Immortals Quartet, the Protector of the Small Quartet, the Trickster books, and the Beka Cooper books)I would also like to second many of the books mentioned before

[clover12]

thanks to everyone

i just wanted to say thanks for all the great book ideas. I have actually read a lot of them like the Gemma Doyle trilogy, Gracling, Fire and the hunger game books (I believe Mocking Jay came out yesterday). I'm definitely going to check out some of the books you guys suggested.

[Lazy Leopard]

Where is this DWcon everyone's talking about?

As far as I know, the only folks from this forum going to DWCon are Diane (and Peter), Trialia and myself. It's the 2010 Discworld Convention, primarily for fans of Terry Pratchett's writing. This year, apparently, something like a half of the folks going havn't been to a DW convention before, so it'll be interesting to see how much that changes things. I expect it should be fun, one way or another. For folks the other side of the Atlantic there's the 2011 North America Discworld Convention, and for folks Down Under there's Nullus Anxietas, both next year .

There are a couple of fantasy books (set in their own worlds with their own rules and a vaguely medieval feel) with strong young female lead characters I might recommend, but with the warnings that they're atypical books in large series, so it's probably worth resisting the urge to read the whole series (at least not all at once), and that they're adult rather that YA fiction. The first is Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsong (and Dragonsinger, its immediate sequel). The second is Mercedes Lackey's Arrows of the Queen.

[crazy_bookworm]

Lazy Leopard: That's cool.

Ardub: I will try, then.

SilveredBlue: Welcome back! Although I haven't been on here for two weeks either...

Emi: My summer's been going good. I start school September 8. My siblings start school September 1. I feel smug. I still live at home, so I can't really say anything either way about living with parents after living on your own.

Garrett: Hope you had fun finishing up The Mousetrap! That is also very exciting regarding the library having Young Wizard books. My school didn't have them.

Bookworms: I'm glad you enjoyed your summer! And that's a crazy amount of time to be in a car, although I have done a three province cross-country road trip once, and it was non-stop driving. That was good times. I hope your parakeet is better, and in response to Python quotes, I believe he is referring to Monty Python.

Clover: No worries. I recommend the Gemma Doyle trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing) by the fabulous Libba Bray. They are fantasy set in the Victorian era, I believe. Libba Bray also wrote Going Bovine, about a boy who contracts the human version of mad cow and goes on a possibly real, possibly not real adventure. It's a book I had to sit back at the end and go, "Whoa." I also recommend the Airhead trilogy (Airhead, Being Nikki, Runaway) by Meg Cabot. They're just teen lit, but they have remained on my shelf, along with a copy of The Boy Next Door, also by Meg Cabot. (I did a cleaning of my bookshelves. I think I got rid of 2 1/2 shelves worth of books to go in boxes.)

School starts in two weeks, and I am so excited to get back. I stepped on campus yesterday, and it felt like I was coming home. It was great. I'm also really excited for the introductory pharmacology course I'm going to take this semester.

I also finished a cross-stitch I have been working on for 10 years, and have started a new one. I'm very excited about this as well.