Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Poem for Wednesday and <lj comm


Lorelei
By James Merrill


The stones of kin and friend
Stretch off into a trembling, sweatlike haze.

They may not after all be stepping-stones
But you have followed them. Each strands you, then

Does not. Not yet. Not here.
Is it a crossing? Is there no way back?

Soft gleams lap the base of the one behind you
On which a black girl sings and combs her hair.

It's she who some day (when your stone is in place)
Will see that much further into the golden vagueness

Forever about to clear. Love with his chisel
Deepens the lines begun upon your face.

--------


: "Anywhere But Here", for the anywhere-but-Smallville challenge.

Yesterday was one of those low key chore days where I got things done but nothing that I can feel any real sense of accomplishment about. I had a few lovely moments, like folding laundry while watching the penultimate episode of the first season of Dawson's Creek, and feeding me the phrase "grinning like a complete and utter fool" in an amusing context while writing pointless but highly entertaining fic. Perhaps today I shall wrestle with Jack and Stephen (in fic, not the squirrels) if I have time.

Got my free Palm rebate audio kit, including a 64 MB card that also holds photos and documents (i.e., fic). Now I can play "Hold On," "Closer To Fine" and "Where You Are" wherever I am, using something smaller than the paper date book I've used for the past five years...and it's a digital camera too! How did I ever live without my Zire 71? This is the best $250 I have ever spent. Also, I got one free Audible.com book with the audio kit, and of the choices, I picked the Star Trek title, just because. Now I need to figure out if I can listen to it on the computer because I don't want to waste 11 MB of my Palm memory on it.

Also, I finally got TOFOG's Bastard Life or Clarity, and am so happy it's silly considering most of the songs are on the Texas DVD and I've heard all of them before. It's a lovely whimsical CD with a baby on the liner cover and a diaper pin inside the case. Have I mentioned yet that I have a tiny little crush on Russell Crowe? Um. I blame the fact that I have half-formed M&C songvids in my head to two of these songs.

Gacked from , because I haven't done one in ages, a Harry Potter meme.

When did you first discover Harry Potter? I first heard of it from the older sibling of a kid in nursery school with my son. But I didn't read it until my husband started reading the first book aloud to our older son.
Book first or movie first? I didn't really pay attention to the books until the first movie, so I'm not sure how to answer this; I read COS before seeing it but I had only heard about a third of SS before the movie.
Were you hooked instantly, or did it take a while? Took a long time. I enjoyed POA but didn't think much about it after finishing it, as I had read it aloud to my younger son and was thinking of it as a kids' book. It took OOTP to convert me to being an actual fan.
Did you instantly fall in love w/ any specific character? Remus Lupin. Though it was Remus and Sirius together in book five that really kicked me into the fandom. I'm a 'shipper first and foremost, can't help it.

Favorite...
Professor:
Lupin. No contest.
Marauder: Remus, though without Sirius and James he wouldn't interest me the same way.
Gryffindor: McGonagall.
Slytherin: Snape.
Hufflepuff: Helga. I've always thought I should be a Hufflepuff based on her reasons for founding the House as she did, but I always test out as Ravenclaw.
Ravenclaw: Luna.
Character overall: Sirius, Remus and Severus. I reserve the right to take back the latter if Rowling turns him into a cardboard villain like Lucius Malfoy in later books.

How long did it take you to read...
Book 1?
A long time.
Book 2? Was reading it aloud to a child, so perhaps three weeks?
Book 3? Same as book two, only I cheated and read ahead.
Book 4? Read aloud and took forever. More than a month, I'd guess.
Book 5? Four days. Started reading aloud, gave up and gobbled it down while the kids were asleep.

If you were in Harry Potter...
What house would you be in?
The tests say Ravenclaw, though I think I should be Hufflepuff and I have on rare occasion been sorted into Gryffindor. I am not a Slytherin, that's all that's certain.
What would your pet be? A cat.
What would your wand be? This is a very Mary Sue question, isn't it, since the wand chooses the wizard!
Who would you date? I can't think of a single character in the books I would personally want to date. I don't do self-insertion that way.
What would be your fav. subject? Divination, with a decent teacher. Otherwise History of Magic.

Other
How did you feel about youknowwho dying?
Horrible, infuriated, miserable.
What are your views on the Dark Lord? Boring as shit. He wants to be all-powerful and live forever...snore. Tom Riddle is much, much more interesting, as are all the characters struggling with various aspects of evil -- Snape, Umbridge, Draco and Lucius before book five.
Weasleys or Malfoys? To read about or to live with? I'd much rather have dinner with the Weasleys. But in terms of having captured my imagination, it's Malfoys.

End meme.

Things I love: first-time stories, even if they're about the same two characters over and over. Things I do not love: so-called professional writers who also write fan fiction, telling me all the reasons I should stop writing fan fiction and work on my novel. Hey, if I thought publishing a hack genre novel would make me rich and famous and improve my financial worth, my self-worth or anything else, I'd have done it already, thanks. Besides, you are obviously getting something from the fanfic or you would have stopped writing it by now.


Of the choices, yeah, this is probably true, because it's not a scarf, a frying pan or bread...my non-domesticity is showing!

Frodo's Ring
Frodo's Ring
Which LOTR item are you obsessed with?
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