hmpf

This, even more than my acute lack of time, explains my near-complete absence hereabouts. To load a single page I have to hit the refresh button dozens of times. Sometimes it doesn't work at all, often for hours at a time. When it does work, it's as slow as if we were back in 1998, on a 56k modem.

I spend what little spare time I have reading, or watching some of the TV I brought (Terminator, mostly - still haven't quite finished that show). I've finished the lovely Litany of the Long Sun omnibus, and sadly couldn't go on immediately to read the next volume, Epiphany of the Long Sun, as I don't own that yet. Will have to wait for Christmas for that one... I'm reading an omnibus volume of the first three Vlad Taltos books by Steven Brust now - have finished the first two and am a couple of chapters into the third. I wasn't overly engaged by the first two, but it's getting more interesting now with the third. Vlad is about to acquire some more awareness, it seems, and Brust is getting around to drawing us deeper into the social politics of his society. If this is indicative of the way the series will be heading, I may stick around for the next volume. If it had continued like the first two books I probably wouldn't. I've realised that I read books either for character, or for atmosphere/worldbuilding. Either of these is enough to hold my interest, though of course a combination of both is best, but I don't really read for plot. Plot-focused readers would probably find a lot to enjoy in the first two Vlad Taltos books. But for me, the worldbuilding was too thin (basically, standard sword and sorcery type fantasy mixed with mafia tropes), and Vlad as a character wasn't sympathetic or interesting enough. But I think he's getting more depth now, and so is his world.

My busted shoulder is still busted. I should probably finally go and see a doctor about that.

On the plus side, our washing machine may be fixed soonish. And the weather has improved. Sadly, with my busted shoulder, taking photos is somewhat painful.

I don't know what's going on with my brain, but I've recently fallen deeply in love again with the Miles Vorkosigan books, the manga series 20th Century Boys, and Farscape. Not that I'd ever particularly fallen *out* of love with any of these, especially not the latter, but my feelings have definitely... intensified lately.

I've also been reading fic outside of my usual fandoms (and a little bit within them, too), have been watching vids, have taken up reccing vids at fs_10percent again, and have been breeding bunnies by the dozen. Oh, and I've gotten back to writing, finally, thank [insert deity]. So far, I've only worked a bit on a throwaway Farscape fic that's a mere two years old and really kind of redundant and not very good (honestly, I think I said everything I could say about Farscape in Normal already, and everything I write now in that universe is just an unnecessary reiteration of some aspect of that fic. Then again, of course, fandom is just the place for reiterations...), but the Life on Mars bunnies are hopping, too. Hopping like *mad*, in fact. And, [insert deity] help me, I've almost resigned myself to the fact that I'll have to write an Avatar fic, despite finding the movie weak in nearly every aspect except the visual. There's one bunny that just. won't. leave me alone.

Annoyingly, I have rather a lot of RL stuff on my plate at the moment, which means my fannish energies have to be contained to some degree, which is a shame.

1.) Vidding update:

Slowly making my way through all of this, so I have to revise my optimistic estimate of 'a week or two' for my re-edited vid upwards a bit. There is too much to learn, and there are too many technical problems to cope with. I may have to upgrade my computer a bit, too.

(Also, uni has started again, and I *really* need to begin taking it a bit more seriously now. I'm running out of time.)

2.) Because it will make dunkle_feuer happy:

I've been wanting to read Paul Auster's New York Trilogy for a long time now, but university has now given me a reason to actually *do* it. There's a Paul Auster seminar this term. I bought the book today, and already started reading.

3.) Life on Mars update:

This show is selling itself. Last week I showed my unfinished vid to a number of people; nearly all of them immediately asked if they could see the show, as well. I converted an old classmate on Monday, AnduraNova of the Scape Sisters on Tuesday, a fellow archaeology student on Wednesday, and a library co-worker on Saturday. And I didn't even *try*. Heeeeh. (Wish Farscape were as easy to sell!)

4.) The Strange Bearded Men of Frankfurt:

Seen getting off the subway today: a massive man, Karl-Marx-type beard and hair, pushing a bicycle. On the carrier of the bike: boxes etc., and on top, a kind of cushion. On that cushion, a dog, black, with long, wavy fur, standing up on all fours on top of that pile of stuff, tail and head raised proudly, and barking.

And then there's also the Jesus of the Leipzigerstrasse. He's a middle-aged or slightly older guy with Jesus hair and beard, wearing a long red velvet skirt and some sort of suit jacket or sometimes a coat that he always just seems to throw over his shoulders, without putting his arms in the sleeves. He looks just a bit too clean and well-cared for (in a dishevelled kind of way) to be a homeless person, but he always sits somewhere in the street - on a bench, on a ground-floor windowsill... and he always seems to have bags with him, so maybe he *is* a homeless person.