Trip babbling, fic link
Jul. 1st, 2005 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirDeWolfe Apts., on the Feast of Blessed Junipero Serra
I'm supposed to be packing for my trip at the moment, but of course, I haven't started. I got back late today because the post-doc invited me to dinner at his home after work. I saw his wife for the first time (he got married last fall), and she was quite beautiful, even prettier than she was in the wedding photos. (He brought back an album nearly three inches thick after he returned from his wedding in India.) I convinced Daera to come along with me, and we both ate an absolutely delicious Indian meal. I'd also stuffed myself on Indian food at a buffet lunch yesterday, during a farewell party for the other post-doc in our lab, who has now left for a new position at the Whitehead Institute. (I've inherited her computer.) Anyway, I'm developing a taste for Indian food; it's rich and spicy, which suits my Korean palate very well. ^_^ We had Indian tea after dessert, and it was subtly fragrant, in that half-exotic way that truly nice teas have. Yum! I am so full now and absolutely unwilling to move. But alas, I must pack. My mother has just nagged me for not starting already, although what she doesn't know is that I always start packing about half an hour before midnight (I just never bothered to tell her before). Yes, isn't it sad?
I'll be taking the bus back to New York tomorrow, where I'll repack my luggage to include all the gifts I'm bringing for my relatives. >_> Will arrive in Korea on Monday, July 4th--I find it slightly ironic that I'll be leaving the country on the one weekend when everyone is feeling most patriotic--and although I'll probably find ways to get Internet access and check my email, I can't guarantee it. (Korea is Internet-crazy, and I hear that there are public Internet booths that let you go online for a set period of time, like there are public phone booths here. Not to mention the PC 방, that is, Internet cafés where the infamous Starcraft frenzy goes on.) So I shan't be out of touch per se, but I probably won't be able to check the friends list regularly. Do email me though, if anyone has anything urgent to communicate (this applies more to RL friends than fandom friends, but don't let that stop you from randomly emailing me if you want!). I bought a beautiful little journal with heavy ivory pages and a set of fine-tipped gel ink pens (0.38 mm) for the purpose of keeping a travelogue, so you all will suffer from very long and tedious posts from me once I get back. ^_^ I tried out the pens yesterday, and they write beautifully, although I bet they'll run out of ink quickly. Ah well, as long as they last for the next ten days or so, I don't care.
I had hoped to write the next four![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
52_flavours themes by tonight, but I'm a bit stuck at the moment. Meanwhile, you can enjoy my attempt at writing for the current jump100 challenge: On a Street in Innoshima. In case you haven't seen it already, that is, since most of you (well, most of you that read my fic anyway) have probably seen ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
issen4's kind and generous rec of it yesterday. (Thanks, Luce! You're too nice to me!) That was incredibly difficult to write, by the way. I kept feeling that I was only rewriting (remixing?) bits of The Ways You Remember, instead of saying anything new. I'm still not sure if I succeeded, but I think the line that Luce liked so much was the turning point, when I finally figured out how to make it different. At least, I hope it was different. >_>
The Death Note fic is about halfway finished, although judging from the way that I've been haphazardly deleting whole scenes and rewriting them, that doesn't mean much. I also, um, began writing down random lines for a swords!AU for Hikaru no Go thatmurinae mentioned on her LJ (augh, what a brilliant idea; it bowls me over even now) in a notebook. I'm going to experiment: you see, I sometimes make notes on paper, but I always write fics on the computer because typing comes more naturally to me than longhand. But I thought perhaps I would try writing out the AU by hand, and see what results. I don't know if I'll quite manage the onmyouji epic that Muri wanted, but I think it'll be fun nonetheless.
(That reminds me, I have trouble thinking up swordfighting scenes because I imagine them as kendo matches, which occur under a set of somewhat artificial regulations and hence are not at all the same as actual combat. On the other hand, I haven't yet read a fic, AU or otherwise, that describes kendo accurately for the exact same reason: the writers imagine that it must be rather similar to the action scenes they see in martial arts movies and thus come up with rather odd situations. Example: one fic I read the other day mentioned a Tenipuri character closing his eyes to "sense" the approach of his opponent. This sounds rather ridiculous because kendo matches occur on a wide court and your opponent is usually facing you. If your back is to the opponent, you either turn as quickly as you can...or get slaughtered. Well, I mean, unless you were an old sensei who actually could play with closed eyes because of the weight of experience, but clearly it's not particularly convincing in a high school match, no matter how high level. Also I've always wondered why people describe matches as being so quiet. That's just really odd in general. O_O By the way, I've only read about five or six fics that try to describe kendo scenes--specifically kendo as opposed to genuine swordfighting--so the above rant isn't in any way a commentary on a general phenomenon.)
Wow, I'm in a really garrulous mood tonight. It must be the food.
Yours &c.
Post-script: You know, it just occurred to me: the above reaction must be roughly analogous to how people who actually know how to play go--and by "know" I mean they know enough to not lose to their fathers by 60+ moku like yours truly did last month--must feel when they read my sad, sad attempts to incorporate go games into Hikaru no Go fanfics. ^_^ (Father said, by the way, that I ought to, you know, actually practice and read the book on joseki that I've been carting around with me for the past year and a half. Alas, I am both lazy and dumb at strategy.)
I'm supposed to be packing for my trip at the moment, but of course, I haven't started. I got back late today because the post-doc invited me to dinner at his home after work. I saw his wife for the first time (he got married last fall), and she was quite beautiful, even prettier than she was in the wedding photos. (He brought back an album nearly three inches thick after he returned from his wedding in India.) I convinced Daera to come along with me, and we both ate an absolutely delicious Indian meal. I'd also stuffed myself on Indian food at a buffet lunch yesterday, during a farewell party for the other post-doc in our lab, who has now left for a new position at the Whitehead Institute. (I've inherited her computer.) Anyway, I'm developing a taste for Indian food; it's rich and spicy, which suits my Korean palate very well. ^_^ We had Indian tea after dessert, and it was subtly fragrant, in that half-exotic way that truly nice teas have. Yum! I am so full now and absolutely unwilling to move. But alas, I must pack. My mother has just nagged me for not starting already, although what she doesn't know is that I always start packing about half an hour before midnight (I just never bothered to tell her before). Yes, isn't it sad?
I'll be taking the bus back to New York tomorrow, where I'll repack my luggage to include all the gifts I'm bringing for my relatives. >_> Will arrive in Korea on Monday, July 4th--I find it slightly ironic that I'll be leaving the country on the one weekend when everyone is feeling most patriotic--and although I'll probably find ways to get Internet access and check my email, I can't guarantee it. (Korea is Internet-crazy, and I hear that there are public Internet booths that let you go online for a set period of time, like there are public phone booths here. Not to mention the PC 방, that is, Internet cafés where the infamous Starcraft frenzy goes on.) So I shan't be out of touch per se, but I probably won't be able to check the friends list regularly. Do email me though, if anyone has anything urgent to communicate (this applies more to RL friends than fandom friends, but don't let that stop you from randomly emailing me if you want!). I bought a beautiful little journal with heavy ivory pages and a set of fine-tipped gel ink pens (0.38 mm) for the purpose of keeping a travelogue, so you all will suffer from very long and tedious posts from me once I get back. ^_^ I tried out the pens yesterday, and they write beautifully, although I bet they'll run out of ink quickly. Ah well, as long as they last for the next ten days or so, I don't care.
I had hoped to write the next four
52_flavours themes by tonight, but I'm a bit stuck at the moment. Meanwhile, you can enjoy my attempt at writing for the current jump100 challenge: On a Street in Innoshima. In case you haven't seen it already, that is, since most of you (well, most of you that read my fic anyway) have probably seen issen4's kind and generous rec of it yesterday. (Thanks, Luce! You're too nice to me!) That was incredibly difficult to write, by the way. I kept feeling that I was only rewriting (remixing?) bits of The Ways You Remember, instead of saying anything new. I'm still not sure if I succeeded, but I think the line that Luce liked so much was the turning point, when I finally figured out how to make it different. At least, I hope it was different. >_>The Death Note fic is about halfway finished, although judging from the way that I've been haphazardly deleting whole scenes and rewriting them, that doesn't mean much. I also, um, began writing down random lines for a swords!AU for Hikaru no Go that
murinae mentioned on her LJ (augh, what a brilliant idea; it bowls me over even now) in a notebook. I'm going to experiment: you see, I sometimes make notes on paper, but I always write fics on the computer because typing comes more naturally to me than longhand. But I thought perhaps I would try writing out the AU by hand, and see what results. I don't know if I'll quite manage the onmyouji epic that Muri wanted, but I think it'll be fun nonetheless.(That reminds me, I have trouble thinking up swordfighting scenes because I imagine them as kendo matches, which occur under a set of somewhat artificial regulations and hence are not at all the same as actual combat. On the other hand, I haven't yet read a fic, AU or otherwise, that describes kendo accurately for the exact same reason: the writers imagine that it must be rather similar to the action scenes they see in martial arts movies and thus come up with rather odd situations. Example: one fic I read the other day mentioned a Tenipuri character closing his eyes to "sense" the approach of his opponent. This sounds rather ridiculous because kendo matches occur on a wide court and your opponent is usually facing you. If your back is to the opponent, you either turn as quickly as you can...or get slaughtered. Well, I mean, unless you were an old sensei who actually could play with closed eyes because of the weight of experience, but clearly it's not particularly convincing in a high school match, no matter how high level. Also I've always wondered why people describe matches as being so quiet. That's just really odd in general. O_O By the way, I've only read about five or six fics that try to describe kendo scenes--specifically kendo as opposed to genuine swordfighting--so the above rant isn't in any way a commentary on a general phenomenon.)
Wow, I'm in a really garrulous mood tonight. It must be the food.
Yours &c.
Post-script: You know, it just occurred to me: the above reaction must be roughly analogous to how people who actually know how to play go--and by "know" I mean they know enough to not lose to their fathers by 60+ moku like yours truly did last month--must feel when they read my sad, sad attempts to incorporate go games into Hikaru no Go fanfics. ^_^ (Father said, by the way, that I ought to, you know, actually practice and read the book on joseki that I've been carting around with me for the past year and a half. Alas, I am both lazy and dumb at strategy.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-02 01:34 pm (UTC)Re: patriotism. My class is having a picnic party on the beach at Ostia on Monday morning to celebrate 4th of July, but it's more of an excuse to drink good wine and bask in the sun and go swimming than anything else. After all, we had a party for Canada Day yesterday, even though there are only 5 Canadians. Everything about the States is distant, here, and I want never to return.
P.S. The fireworks for Peter & Paul's feast day (June 29 - the whole city shuts down in honour of its patron saints) were fantastic.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-02 01:56 pm (UTC)I don't know which ones I look forward to reading more, your travelogues or your fics. ^^
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-03 04:24 am (UTC)And squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Hikago with Swords. Omg! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I cannot wait! XD And dude, the epic would've never worked out anyway if I was doing it! XD
But I can't wait to see what you do with yours ... I just love your neat and clean prose style.
Again, safe journey, and may the muse be with you throughout!
-muri