Planes, polls, Strange & Wimsey
Jun. 29th, 2005 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirDeWolfe Apts., on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul
In the past few days, I've suddenly realized: I'm going to be flying on a plane for the first time since I was eight this Sunday. In fact, I will be overseas for the first time since I was eight for the next two weeks. This epiphany was followed by mild panicking (because I am paranoid) and obsessive interrogation of my roommate about what it's like to be on a plane and what one is supposed to do with oneself for twelve hours. The first week will be spent at the conference, which has a set itinerary, so I don't have to worry about much other than how to engineer a visit to my mother's relatives in the evenings (I'm visiting my father's side of the family after the conference, but am not staying long enough to manage a proper visit to the maternal relations) and whether or not I'm going to feel as awkward and socially inept as I usually do in large congregations. But for about four days after that, I'll be with my aunt (eldest of my father's three younger sisters), who has promised to take me sightseeing, and while I told my mother that she can better decide what places I would want to visit, I've only just realized that in fact, I don't actually know or remember what those places are. >_> Not to mention, I have all sorts of petty anxieties ranging from "do you step back with your left foot or your right foot first when making a ceremonial bow to your elders?" to "what on earth am I supposed to say to my grandmother who has been very ill for the past few years?" to "what if I get into a taxi in Seoul and have absolutely no idea what to say?" to "how exactly do you make international phone calls from Korea anyway?"
And oh dear, my youngest cousin whose family is currently living in Indonesia (their father works for Samsung, you see) will be coming back to visit around the same time I am, and my last memory of her is when she, along with her sister and one of our aunts, visited us in New York and got into a horrible squabble with me. (She kicked me off my parents' bed because she had a headache and didn't want me taking up space within five feet of her. ::rolls eyes:: Well, she was eight and I was twelve, so I suppose it's only to be expected.)
Where was I? Oh right, in any case, I've been trying not to think about it, except the very fact that I'm not thinking about it makes me feel even more utterly unprepared for the upcoming situation; hence vicious cycle.
Anyway, I plan to send out postcards while I'm there, so if anyone wants, let me know! Have taken the opportunity to create my very first poll, in fact. (The answers will only be visible to me, by the way.)
[Poll #523257]
I am currently reading Dawson Pedigree, otherwise titled as Unnatural Death, and I think it's much more interesting as a mystery than its sequel Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. Wimsey is more morbid, I think, which makes him more fascinating as a character; strange how I admire Holmes for his rationality while I admire Wimsey for his nervous imagination. Not that Holmes is unimaginative, or even all that dispassionate--where did I read the essay that remarked upon his artistic temperament (the cocaine, the Stradivarius)?--but one does tend to remember him as calm and unflappable in the face of the most grotesque crimes imaginable while Watson quietly freaks out beside him. ^_^ Wimsey on the other hand has a constant sense of instability about him--perhaps it's because of his flippancy--and that sort of emotionalism is what I enjoy most about Sayers' mysteries. Curiously enough, I realized (while I was thinking about it on the way home today) that in fact it is this very sort of nervous energy that I appreciate about Wimsey not just as a character but as a detective. Favorite quote so far: "Happy murderers, like happy wives, keep quiet tongues."
I was going LJ-hopping the other day and came across a book review of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which noted how little emotional attachment they felt to the characters, in particular to Jonathan Strange himself. The conclusion was that Clarke was more engrossed in worldbuilding than characterization: one of the commenters remarked, quite cleverly I thought, that in fact, Clarke's world, her alternate England, is the real main character. While reading the review, I thought it made perfect sense. Of course, I didn't quite agree that I felt any more detached from the reading experience as a result, but that was only my subjective reaction after all. I love character-centric books, but I love careful worldbuilding just as much if not more. But then out of curiosity, I looked back at my own notes on the book, and to my surprise, I said little about the worldbuilding and wrote almost exclusively about the characters. (Yes, one would wonder why I was surprised by it, since I only wrote it a week or so ago. Clearly, my short-term memory is going down the drain.) And once I really thought about it--about reading the book, that is--I must say that the characters were in fact just as memorable as the world itself. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but...hm, let's put it this way: meeting Clarke's characters, for me, was like suddenly discovering humanity, as horribly cheesy as that sounds. You saw each character, with their numerous indefinable quirks and peculiarities, and suddenly you realized that people, all people, are impossibly different and impossibly fascinating. (Please don't kill me for the sappiness of these past few sentences.) I suppose the problem is that you don't fall in love with a single character; Clarke spares no one her sympathy, even personages as disagreeable as Mr. Norrell. Instead, you fall in love with the multitude of characters, which I suppose one might dismiss as worldbuilding, but it's the precision of her characterization that makes it so engrossing. I did feel emotional investment, not only in Strange, but in every single person that Clarke drew into life, and despite how dazzling her worldbuilding was, it was the characters whom I wanted to remember most.
Yours &c.
Post-script: Forgive the sad attempt at punning in the latter half of the subject line above.
In the past few days, I've suddenly realized: I'm going to be flying on a plane for the first time since I was eight this Sunday. In fact, I will be overseas for the first time since I was eight for the next two weeks. This epiphany was followed by mild panicking (because I am paranoid) and obsessive interrogation of my roommate about what it's like to be on a plane and what one is supposed to do with oneself for twelve hours. The first week will be spent at the conference, which has a set itinerary, so I don't have to worry about much other than how to engineer a visit to my mother's relatives in the evenings (I'm visiting my father's side of the family after the conference, but am not staying long enough to manage a proper visit to the maternal relations) and whether or not I'm going to feel as awkward and socially inept as I usually do in large congregations. But for about four days after that, I'll be with my aunt (eldest of my father's three younger sisters), who has promised to take me sightseeing, and while I told my mother that she can better decide what places I would want to visit, I've only just realized that in fact, I don't actually know or remember what those places are. >_> Not to mention, I have all sorts of petty anxieties ranging from "do you step back with your left foot or your right foot first when making a ceremonial bow to your elders?" to "what on earth am I supposed to say to my grandmother who has been very ill for the past few years?" to "what if I get into a taxi in Seoul and have absolutely no idea what to say?" to "how exactly do you make international phone calls from Korea anyway?"
And oh dear, my youngest cousin whose family is currently living in Indonesia (their father works for Samsung, you see) will be coming back to visit around the same time I am, and my last memory of her is when she, along with her sister and one of our aunts, visited us in New York and got into a horrible squabble with me. (She kicked me off my parents' bed because she had a headache and didn't want me taking up space within five feet of her. ::rolls eyes:: Well, she was eight and I was twelve, so I suppose it's only to be expected.)
Where was I? Oh right, in any case, I've been trying not to think about it, except the very fact that I'm not thinking about it makes me feel even more utterly unprepared for the upcoming situation; hence vicious cycle.
Anyway, I plan to send out postcards while I'm there, so if anyone wants, let me know! Have taken the opportunity to create my very first poll, in fact. (The answers will only be visible to me, by the way.)
[Poll #523257]
I am currently reading Dawson Pedigree, otherwise titled as Unnatural Death, and I think it's much more interesting as a mystery than its sequel Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. Wimsey is more morbid, I think, which makes him more fascinating as a character; strange how I admire Holmes for his rationality while I admire Wimsey for his nervous imagination. Not that Holmes is unimaginative, or even all that dispassionate--where did I read the essay that remarked upon his artistic temperament (the cocaine, the Stradivarius)?--but one does tend to remember him as calm and unflappable in the face of the most grotesque crimes imaginable while Watson quietly freaks out beside him. ^_^ Wimsey on the other hand has a constant sense of instability about him--perhaps it's because of his flippancy--and that sort of emotionalism is what I enjoy most about Sayers' mysteries. Curiously enough, I realized (while I was thinking about it on the way home today) that in fact it is this very sort of nervous energy that I appreciate about Wimsey not just as a character but as a detective. Favorite quote so far: "Happy murderers, like happy wives, keep quiet tongues."
I was going LJ-hopping the other day and came across a book review of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which noted how little emotional attachment they felt to the characters, in particular to Jonathan Strange himself. The conclusion was that Clarke was more engrossed in worldbuilding than characterization: one of the commenters remarked, quite cleverly I thought, that in fact, Clarke's world, her alternate England, is the real main character. While reading the review, I thought it made perfect sense. Of course, I didn't quite agree that I felt any more detached from the reading experience as a result, but that was only my subjective reaction after all. I love character-centric books, but I love careful worldbuilding just as much if not more. But then out of curiosity, I looked back at my own notes on the book, and to my surprise, I said little about the worldbuilding and wrote almost exclusively about the characters. (Yes, one would wonder why I was surprised by it, since I only wrote it a week or so ago. Clearly, my short-term memory is going down the drain.) And once I really thought about it--about reading the book, that is--I must say that the characters were in fact just as memorable as the world itself. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but...hm, let's put it this way: meeting Clarke's characters, for me, was like suddenly discovering humanity, as horribly cheesy as that sounds. You saw each character, with their numerous indefinable quirks and peculiarities, and suddenly you realized that people, all people, are impossibly different and impossibly fascinating. (Please don't kill me for the sappiness of these past few sentences.) I suppose the problem is that you don't fall in love with a single character; Clarke spares no one her sympathy, even personages as disagreeable as Mr. Norrell. Instead, you fall in love with the multitude of characters, which I suppose one might dismiss as worldbuilding, but it's the precision of her characterization that makes it so engrossing. I did feel emotional investment, not only in Strange, but in every single person that Clarke drew into life, and despite how dazzling her worldbuilding was, it was the characters whom I wanted to remember most.
Yours &c.
Post-script: Forgive the sad attempt at punning in the latter half of the subject line above.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 01:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 03:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 02:06 am (UTC)I'm planning to go for a visit during my senior year of high school; in summer vacation, of course, which is still 3 years away. (It seems so long.)
I think you'll be perfectly fine (with the taxi and all). The international calls made from Korean are quite complicated (at least for me, it was). I don't remember it at all now. XD Haha, living in another country really makes you forget.
Take care Tari! (:
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 03:53 pm (UTC)I guess I'll have to ask my parents how to manage the calls. ^_^ Will send you a nice postcard!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 02:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 03:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 02:55 am (UTC)and i liked the punning. although i'm dyslexic and read it first as "the sad attempt at pruning" which confused me to no end until i realized my mistake. maybe this is why i'm failing my verbal tests... 0_o
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 03:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 04:12 am (UTC)Don't claw the walls. The attendants look at you funny if you do so.
Look forward to hearing about Korea.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 06:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 09:18 am (UTC)Korea~ ♥ I hope I'll be able to take Korean classes at uni. :D I remember most of the words you taught me, but pronounciation is another tale entirely... (^_^;;)
Have fun! :D
Oh, and in case you want to send me a postcard, you'll have to make a "Germany" out of the "Ger" -- I couldn't fit the entire address... :(
Have loads and loads of fun, and travel safe! *huggles*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 06:42 pm (UTC)Ooh, learning Korean won't be so hard after Japanese; the grammar is very similar. XD The pronounciation is slightly more complicated, but a lot of the sounds are the same, so I think you'll have an edge over most other people. ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 10:30 am (UTC)Generally I'm just reading on planes, that's why I'm so paranoid about having the right amount of books, manga and interesting magazines about archaeology or science in my hand luggage (it comes from that one flight to visit relatives in Canada when I only had one book with only 100 pages left on me and had to live through 13 hours of flight from Frankfurt to Vancouver on the brainless women's magazines they had piled up on the shelves in the back of the plane). So be sure to have enough stuff to read ^_~. Oh, and your mp3-player of choice wouldn't hurt either (though I've been told that some airlines require you to let them check them before so they won't disturb any of the plane's instruments. Didn't happen to me yet, though).
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 06:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 12:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 06:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 04:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 06:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 06:09 pm (UTC)about a previous post, I've also noticed how very disgusting our bathroom, shared by four girls, is. I'm constantly astonished by the amount of hair that clumps up in random corners.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-30 06:36 pm (UTC)Strong Poison is next on my list: I finally get to meet Harriet! ^_^