While I'm waiting for latest moving assessor to come through and toss a number out to transport my worldly possessions, I'll bang out an entry. With any luck, he'll arrive in the middle of this.
Moving the second-to-last week of June. I've already started packing; trying to get one box done a day means less of a rush later and less stress on the cats. They'll go to the vet the day of the move, and I'll go back to FW and bring them to the new place once the basics are set up for them (and me!). At the moment, my current culinary goal is to eat everything in the fridge and not buy anything else. So that's a budget saver.....
Yeah, the last two weeks of school murdered my paycheck. The gas hike has not helped. I just have to make it to August financially and then it's all good.
EDIT: and then the guy showed up, haha. Got a good deal, and I am set to go for June 23, huzzah. Now to pack!
As some of you (most of you) know, I went to the Dallas Comic Con and met Leonard Nimoy. Not a great hotbed of interaction, but hell, I met a legend and he was very polite. I was sort of bothered by the fact people would just drape themselves all over him. Yes, I know it's his job, and yes, I know I just paid $65 for this.....but
He's an icon and a man, not a a prop. So I said good morning, thank you, and any kind words I could muster. Beyond Mr. Nimoy and the sheer joy of watching him live (and having a geekgasm hearing him do Henry V), I also had a following of those who liked the costume and makeup. I had the time of my life -- one of my top days, even with the 5:30 wake up call for makeup!
Yes, I did wake up that early for the Vulcan ears and the Vulcan eyebrows. I'll probably do a more detailed post later on the how-to- aspect. However, that did get me in touch with a couple of gentlemen from the USS Navras, a chapter of Starfleet International....
You know what's coming....
So yes, I got recruited as the Chief Science Officer, with a rank of Lieutenant Commander. And I am a Vulcan. Token alien crewmate? Possibly, but I loved the ears and the makeup. I think I'll render an alias for the crew, as Anna is not a very Vulcan name. I have a few ideas, but we'll see. I need to get a new uniform/costume, but that's fine; it's one of the awesome grey/black ones from First Contact. And I get to write articles about being nerdy about science, like NASA, weather, books, Star Trek news, etc. Research!
So other than upping and renewing my devotion to Trek, I'm also doing the same for Sherlock Holmes. Going to read the entire series (hopefully) before I pack it away. I have a book by Alan Forrest I want to get through as well as another about Eleanor of Aquitaine, but I've found myself finishing a Study in Scarlet and the Sign of Four in rapid succession. Well, not much to do these days other than read for fun and plow through TV series on Netflix. This is really my moment without school and work in over a year. I can barely remember what it's like! I mean, what did I DO?
28 May 2011
01 May 2011
The truth is stranger (and better) than fiction.
I'm currently reading Geoffrey Treasure's Mazarin: The Crisis of Absolutism. Giulio Mazarini started in his native Italy and through connections, worked his way up to lay cardinal. He ends up as the famed Cardinal Richelieu's successor, first minister of France, protector and godfather of Louis XIV, and close confidant of Anne of Austria, Louis' mother and queen regent.
Of course, there is extensive discussion of the rumor of Mazarin's exact relationship with Anne -- just confidants, united for Louis' protection? Or something more? Louis XIV himself indicated something more, given how much he adored Mazarin and extended him courtesies (such as riding out to meet him personally) that normally were reserved for other royals. Some go as far to suggest that Mazarin and Anne even got married in secret. There's no real evidence and no recorded "walk of shame" for either, but Treasure, despite citing this evidence, tells the tale of Anne and Mazarin as if it was a marriage in perilous times. No overt lovey dovey crap, but he certainly illustrates the desperation while parted as well as the kind opinions each held of the other, not to mention the great schemes the pair cooked up together.
My previous readings of Eye of the Lynx (a book on the Lincean Academy of Italy), The Assassination of Henry IV (establishment of absolutism in France), and Music in the Service of the King (French court music history, delightful read, horribly rare book) all tie neatly back to this and to the interesting connections between France and Italy during the 1600s. Given that I have done research on Louis XV and even later, Napoleon (a Corsican who neatly hedged between Italian and French), it's pretty epic when the names and places are read as a great, overarching tale, such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy or Terry Pratchett's Discworld.
And I think this is why I tend to cope with history better than some -- I read it as if it's a novel. You get to book's end, and then you say, "and this all really happened." Minus the lack of room for fan fiction in most cases, most of it is outrageously brilliant -- the defenestration of Prague, Abelard and Heloise, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Houdini -- more than just their popular images suggest. What we generally know and see on TV (save for the Hitl-- History Channel and its kin) are the "fan fiction" or parody interpretations.
Random spouting as I cruise through the book. Back to the grind!
Of course, there is extensive discussion of the rumor of Mazarin's exact relationship with Anne -- just confidants, united for Louis' protection? Or something more? Louis XIV himself indicated something more, given how much he adored Mazarin and extended him courtesies (such as riding out to meet him personally) that normally were reserved for other royals. Some go as far to suggest that Mazarin and Anne even got married in secret. There's no real evidence and no recorded "walk of shame" for either, but Treasure, despite citing this evidence, tells the tale of Anne and Mazarin as if it was a marriage in perilous times. No overt lovey dovey crap, but he certainly illustrates the desperation while parted as well as the kind opinions each held of the other, not to mention the great schemes the pair cooked up together.
My previous readings of Eye of the Lynx (a book on the Lincean Academy of Italy), The Assassination of Henry IV (establishment of absolutism in France), and Music in the Service of the King (French court music history, delightful read, horribly rare book) all tie neatly back to this and to the interesting connections between France and Italy during the 1600s. Given that I have done research on Louis XV and even later, Napoleon (a Corsican who neatly hedged between Italian and French), it's pretty epic when the names and places are read as a great, overarching tale, such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy or Terry Pratchett's Discworld.
And I think this is why I tend to cope with history better than some -- I read it as if it's a novel. You get to book's end, and then you say, "and this all really happened." Minus the lack of room for fan fiction in most cases, most of it is outrageously brilliant -- the defenestration of Prague, Abelard and Heloise, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Houdini -- more than just their popular images suggest. What we generally know and see on TV (save for the Hitl-- History Channel and its kin) are the "fan fiction" or parody interpretations.
Random spouting as I cruise through the book. Back to the grind!
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