Spring Break Day 9: Getting Reacquainted With the Grindstone

Yeah, I'm going to be spending all waking hours today studying. Unfortunately my break is over, meaning that it's once again back to test-taking, essay-writing, and portfolio-building. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm determined to do my best, even though I'm still a bit knocked out due to that cold. Which, by the way, is definitely finally on the mend--I feel tired but not quite so groggy, which is a big relief. Now I can finally get some decent studying done. Coughing is irritating, but at least it doesn't interfere with my thinking.

I watched that entire production of "Hamlet" last night, and it was overall very, very good. I think I'll buy it when it's available on bn.com in May. The entire cast, on the whole, was marvelous. It was amusing how shades of the Doctor came through in Tennant's portrayal of Hamlet every now and then, especially in the Hamlet-acting-mad scenes! But at the same time he was definitely a different character, which was interesting. I've never gotten really emotional at the end of "Hamlet" before, although I've seen it multiple times, but Tennant really sold the final scene and monologue to me. For the first time it didn't feel melodramatic, it felt simple and sad, which was brilliant. I did feel like shouting 'REGENERATE! REGENERATE!' when--and I'm assuming this is absolutely no spoiler to all you book-learned people--Hamlet died, but other than that I was able to keep the Doctor mostly from my mind while watching. Okay, apart from the 'in a nutshell' line, which suddenly seemed extremely TARDIS to me :D

To sum up: I strongly recommend this production of "Hamlet". It made the so-famous-as-to-be-sometimes-trite dialogue resonate with new immediacy and power to me, as though I was hearing it all for the first time, understanding the thoughts and meanings behind the words for the first time. And that, of course, is always a wonderful thing.

Right now I'm writing two essays for English. I started them yesterday, but now I have to polish them up and print them and stow them in my bag so I don't forget them on Tuesday! And then I need to study my Russian so I can retake some quizzes tomorrow, and I also want to clean my room now that I'm feeling a bit more alive. Unfortunately my beautiful library books must wait to be read until after Wednesday's midterm exams are over.

It's been pretty hot here in Hawaii for the past week, but today it's just warm, not humid and stuffy, which is a welcome change! Oh, and last night a baby gecko was running around my room. It was hilarious and quite cute. Baby geckos are only about an inch long, perhaps a little longer, but their heads make about a third of that length and are at least twice as wide as their bodies, perhaps three times as wide. Their bodies and tails are extremely skinny and when they run they wiggle from side to side. SO CUTE! Since I was just finishing Hamlet, I dubbed it Polonius before it scurried behind a large wooden fish I have propped against the wall. I don't know where it is now, but I hope it stays. I used to have a gecko friend down in the apartment garage, but he was a gentleman of a gecko, of a quite majestic size, and handsome rather than adorable. I named him Korwin because he loved to sit in the blazing sunlight on the rock wall right by where the car's parked; that's where I'd find him every morning before leaving to school and in the afternoon when I came back. The name's a rather geeky reference to a certain "Doctor Who" episode, if you've seen it you'll probably know which one I'm referring to . . .

Anyway, I was buddies with this lizard for over a year, and only for the past few weeks he hasn't shown up. I'm assuming at this point that he's joined the choir invisible, as John Cleese would say, and have been a bit down about it. So it's nice to see a baby lizard scurrying around my room now. Hopefully he'll stick around.

That's all the news I have time for, I'm afraid. It's time for me to get back to writing my essays. Oh, and Happy Palm Sunday, everyone!

Spring Break Day 8: David Tennant

I have discovered where I can enjoy said actor in two very, very different roles made similar only in that they are both brilliantly done.

First: Hamlet!



I've been wanting to watch this performance ever since I heard it was being staged in England, but of course being separated from England by a continent and two oceans, it was impossible to see unless it were put on dvd. And, huzzah, it finally has been. And some kind soul put it on Youtube. This part I embed isn't the first scene, but . . . it's riveting. I have not yet finished watching the entire play, but I am speeding through it, and enjoying it very, very much. Although I normally don't like it when Shakespearean plays are dressed up in modern clothes and all, I'm absolutely sold on this performance. That is some seriously incredible acting from Mr. Tennant. And some incredibly bad hair. I'm sorry, I just prefer it fluffy XD
*EDIT* His hair improves as the play goes on. Just thought I'd add that, ha. Not that it matters or anything.

Second: Dangerous Beans!

One of the books in contention for being named my Book of the Month for March is "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents", by Terry Pratchett. Just today I discovered that the BBC had made a radio play of the novel, and since I love the Beeb's radio plays (I proudly own their version of "The Lord of the Rings", it's fantastic), I managed to hunt it down. Imagine my delight and surprise when I found out that Tennant is one of the voice actors. Even better? He plays one of my favorite characters from the novel, Dangerous Beans (hahaha!) the rat! I didn't even recognize his voice at first. He somehow changes it for the role--it's very soft and cute. If you haven't read the novel yet, I strongly recommend you do, but I also recommend this production. It's available for both listening to and downloading here: http://www.david-tennant.com/2009/id95.html, under the '2004' heading.

So that's how I've spent my most recent day of being sick (apart from writing a paper and studying Nutrition): With Shakespeare's famous tragic and maybe-mad Prince of Denmark, and an idealistic, mostly-blind albino rat called Dangerous Beans. Good gracious, the Tenth Doctor is versatile. If he is chosen to play Bilbo Baggins, I will not protest the choice.

Spring Break Days 5 & 6: I'm I'll

I did go to I'olani Palace on Wednesday. It was a very interesting place, and very beautiful, although something about it felt a bit too cold for me--There wasn't any life left in the place, not like I felt at, say, The Hermitage in Tennessee. The Palace was just kind of sad. Most of the furniture and decorations are gone, because they were sold by the conspirators who overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy and have not yet been recovered. It felt rather empty. Then too, so much has changed around it since its glory days. When it was first built, one could stand on the second floor and look out in one direction to see the ocean right there in the bay, and look in the opposite direction to see nothing but sweeps of jungle and green and then the mountains. Now, there's skyscrapers all around blocking the ocean and government buildings and more skyscrapers and development taking the place of the jungle, not to mention all the houses that now dot the mountainsides. I suppose that was part of the problem. The Palace was built to be grand, impressive, and beautiful, and although it is still beautiful, it now feels somewhat dwarfed, no longer living quarters for anybody, no longer the tallest building on the island. It's like it fell out of time into the wrong century and place.

That's not to say it wasn't interesting to tour the rooms, but nothing felt natural. All the rooms felt a bit too sparse and staged for my liking. Though the King's library was (of course!) delightful.

Since I walked to the Palace and back, I stopped off at St. Andrew's Cathedral and got my picture taken. Usually I don't like posting photographs of myself online, but I can't resist this time, because it's just too cool. Remember this scene from "The Constant"? (Or, well, not this exact scene perhaps, but the whole Desmond-meeting-Faraday-in-1996 deal. The student is unimportant. This just happens to be the best pic of the background I could find):


Well check this out:

Same hallway, peoples! I made it to Oxford University at last! ^_^

Except the little Physics Dept. placard is mysteriously missing and the lighting is a lot poorer, but, you know. I've been suspecting the episode filmed at this cathedral for a while now, so I decided to check it out, and I managed to find the spot. Which, since "The Constant" is absolutely my favorite episode of the show ever (although "Ab Aeterno" is awful close now), is a big deal, haha.

I double-checked online later, and apparently this church is used for basically every single 'old building/church in England' scene in the show. So Charlie came here to confess, Eko came here, and Desmond meeting Penny for the first time? Happened right here, peeps. The cathedral was built by a Hawaiian queen, using stone imported from England and built after the design of a British cathedral, so it really is a nice place.

It was a pretty fair day. But then I woke up yesterday with a full-fledged head-congesting, hacking-cough, sneezing cold attacking me, and Spring Break has kind of gone downhill from there. I'd been having a little bit of throat trouble all week, but at least the cold waited to hit me until after I had done my sightseeing.

Of course, that means that I now have to study for two midterms and write four papers while battling a horrific head-cold, but whatever. I'll manage somehow.

Spring Break Day 4: A(lpert), B(ooks), and C(leaning)!

Let's reverse that order. I spent most of today doing a thorough clean-up of my room. This might not sound too bad, but I had papers almost literally everywhere, so it took a long time to sort them all. And I had books all over the place too. But now the books are tidily stacked, the dvds are alphabetized, the floor is clear, and the top of my little table where I study (and type this) is shiny-clean. This makes such a nice change. I always let my room fall to pieces during school because I'm too busy studying to clean up, and so I seize free time like this spring break to get everything back in shipshape condition.

After the room was mostly clean, my grandmother asked me if I wanted to take a break and go to Barnes and Noble. Of course I couldn't resist something like that, so away we went! I used my gift cards to buy not only a copy of "Lawrence of Arabia" on dvd (on sale for 9.99, score!), but I also managed to track down "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". I looked for Asimov's Robot trilogy as well, but they didn't have it, unfortunately, and the Fifth Doctor dvds I want were either not in stock or far too expensive for my budget. Still, it was a nice jaunt, and I did pick up two items I wanted very much indeed.

Upon returning to the apartment, I finished cleaning my room just in time for tonight's "Lost" episode--Yeah, only the episode that I've been blathering about and looking forward to since before I even knew it existed. And I realize I've probably bored you silly with all my obsessive anticipation, so I won't babble about it further here beyond saying that was, quite possibly, my favorite episode ever (aside from "The Constant", but this is a serious second placer in my book). It delivered on just about every count I wanted, and . . . almost a solid hour of Richard Alpert. I don't think I need to explain myself further. I don't care what happens for the rest of the season; this episode delivered, which is what I wanted, and I'm entirely a happy camper now, just along for the ride. Or, well, almost. I do care about what further happens to Desmond. But that's another rant entirely, let's not mix up my two favorite living characters any further, mmkay? Just a few final notes:

1) After watching "Ab Aeterno", the suicidal-Richard scene in "Dr. Linus" is immeasurably more sad. Because now we know that what's killing him is that he feels that all those years ago he made the wrong choice. I won't get any more spoiler-y than that.
2) Did Fake Locke hear the whole conversation at the end? Because if he did . . . Big uh-oh.
3) Nestor Carbonell is brilliant. And I got to shake this man's hand??? Gah . . .
4) I wore eyeliner today ;)

I'm still freaking out. First thing on my schedule tomorrow: Jump on hulu.com and rewatch that entire episode!! And then I'm going to I'olani Palace, and after that I plan to walk to St. Andrew's Cathedral. Hopefully I'll be able to find where Daniel Faraday's office was filmed and take my picture there, haha . . .

Spring Break Days 2 & 3: Sleeping, Reading, and British Television

The third day of Spring Break is winding down now, much to my dismay. I am not looking forward to returning to school this time next week at all! Break so far has been very enjoyable, although I find myself down with a cold of some sort that is sapping all my energy, which is frustrating. My throat's sore and swollen, and I'm very tired. Other than that, everything's fine.

Yesterday I discovered an adaptation of 'David Copperfield', I don't know from what channel, but Paul Bettany played Steerforth. The child-David was ADORABLE, but the rest of the adaptation left much to be desired. The Davids were excellent, but the supporting cast, although some folks were very good (it was extremely weird to recognize Anthony Andrews as Murdstone. I mean, the Scarlet Pimpernel? Old and beating up children? What??), were not used well. The folks who adapted the series didn't seem to know what to do with all the vast and important array of supporting characters in the book, and so just gave small tastes of each to the audience, which is a crying shame. What a waste of Bettany; he was in just about two brief scenes, and even the Tempest scene was cut!!! That's what really killed this adaptation for me, as the tempest is one of my favorite scenes in literature, period.

I also watched the last two episodes of "Primeval", so now I'm all caught up and ready for the show to return next year. And I watched a few scenes of "The End of Time" today, I'm not sure why, perhaps because I wanted to depress myself? I honestly was very disappointed in the story of Tennant's final episodes, (I adored "Waters of Mars", but "EoT" fell flat for me) but there are some individual scenes in those episodes that I count among my favorite in any Who episode ever. The regeneration scene with him going back to 2005, the monologue before he releases Wilf from the radiation chamber (and the incredible, heartbreaking acting as he's sprawling on the floor, covered with shattered glass, and sobbing with disbelief at being still alive. . .), the cafe chat with Wilf, and the talk between Wilf and the Doctor on the space ship--all are very, very good. Wilf should have been a companion for a full season. What a shame that he wasn't. Anyway, I reviewed all of the above, and was left emotionally exhausted, and very eager for the next series to begin in, what, two or three weeks now?

I read more of "Foundation" today, but honestly I'm just crawling through it. I don't know why it's taking me so long, it's not very thick, but I'm just not emotionally invested in the story yet, so perhaps I'm reading it slowly because of that? I am also almost finished reading "Neverwhere" for what I believe is the fourth time in as many weeks. Tomorrow will be a reading day--I'm going to go down to the apartment courtyard with library books as well as textbooks and just spend my day soaking up the sun and the stories all at once. Unless it rains, of course. I might go swimming too, seeing as how I can't go to the gym as I usually do on Tuesdays, but no matter what I do, I will be back in the apartment by eight because that's RICHARD ALPERT TIME, EVERYONE!

As I mentioned earlier, I've been very tired due to A) That cold, and B) Staying up far too late. Therefore I'm going to bed before eleven tonight and will sleep in tomorrow. I actually had a three-hour nap today, but seeing as that was right after watching aforementioned "Doctor Who" clips and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and reading some of "Neverwhere", "Foundation", and my nutrition text book, I don't think I should inflict my dreams upon you. Let's just say they were very, very strange. Yeah.

I almost forgot to mention, I plan tomorrow to be a writing day, too. For those of you who are members of the Radish Room, I will be posting some of my novel there tonight, because I'm sick of struggling with writing chapter one and so am going to just fling my poor scraps out there and let you tell me how I should stitch them together. I'll take my paper and inkwell and quill down to the courtyard too (weather permitting) and write there. Hopefully the change of scenery and fresh air will give me some inspiration!

Spring Break Day 1: Lawrence of Arabia

I wanted to sleep in today, I really did, but my grandmother and great aunt went to get their hair done this morning and so I went along to keep them company--not to get my own hair done, certainly not! I never cut my hair.

Anyway, this meant that my grandmother woke me up five minutes before she left at 9:30, so I did sleep in somewhat, but not as much as I wanted. I then got ready in record time and managed to grab two library books to read in the hairdresser's waiting room.

I therefore finished Diane Duane's "High Wizardry" this morning, and started "Foundation", by Isaac Asimov. So far, "Foundation" isn't really gripping me, but I'm not very far in, so I expect it will heat up soon.

Most of my day, however, was spent watching "Lawrence of Arabia" for the first time, after wanting to watch it for years. I adore it! It's definitely one of the most fascinating, beautiful, and thought-provoking films I have ever watched, and kept me absolutely transfixed from the first note of music until the screen went black at the end. The tension just kept building for me for the entire film, and ultimately left me feeling both extremely depressed and exhilarated at the same time. Amazing. I already was a fan of Peter O'Toole, but now I like him even more. The cinematography was stunning. I wrote at least three essays in my head about the symbolism in the cinematography, which either shows you how amazing it was or how my brain is still in English midterm exam mode. Or both. Some of the best cinematography I've seen, along with that of "Sunshine". Every frame was like a painting, the kind of painting that speaks to you and makes you think.

Anyway, it's definitely a film to add to my 'favorite films' collection. And thank heaven for TCM! I get to watch all sorts of classic films on that channel, and as a girl who loves classic cinema, it's an absolute boon.

I'm going to cook myself some dinner now--a quesadilla and sliced apples--and then continue on my quest in "Twilight Princess" on the Wii, and then read a few more chapters of "Foundation", write some more of my novel, and then fall asleep happy.

Spring break is off to a fantastic start.

Spring Break: Day 2

No time to summarize at the moment. I am busy writing a story, am really tired, and have glorious music running through my head.

But hey, I suppose that itself could serve as a summary, couldn't it? I wish spring break lasted forever. Or at least until I could take the plane home for summer break.

Spring Break: Day 1

In my journal last night I sketched out a plan for the day: exercise, read, write, drink tea, maybe trot down to the courtyard for some reading on the grass if the weather was decent. There's nothing quite like lying sprawled on lush grass with a good book in your hands.

Unfortunately, the weather was fitful today, and I didn't trust it to not rain on my expensive library books, so I didn't go out. And now as I type this, I can hear a torrential downpour swishing down outside, so I suppose I made the right decision! Apart from that, however, the day did go according to plan.

I woke up at the ridiculously late time of 8:30, which was luxury in itself, so the fact that I still had the whole day before me without school was icing on the cake. Had a yogurt for breakfast, then exercised for an hour, showered, combed my hair--yes, I did find my comb again--and performed what other various tasks necessary for getting ready for the day.

Once that was settled, I made myself some tea. I walked to the market on Friday after my dance practice to stock up, so I bought some 'peach black tea', which I hadn't tried before, but which I can now attest is extremely good. And when I saw that a box of sugar cubes was on sale, I couldn't very well say no to that, now could I? I eat sugar cubes like Talat, so the box is currently inside a secure tupperware container on top of my bookshelf to save my teeth.

So I made a huge mug of tea and settled down with one of my many library books, which happened to be 'The House of the Wolfings'. It's very good so far, but it's Morris, so I was expecting high quality. I also read 'The Poison Belt' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . . . er, unique in the strangeness of its plot, as far as I know, but a very disappointing follow-up to 'The Lost World', which I think is vastly superior.

And then, of course, more writing! I have set myself a timeline on what to finish when as far as Linden's birthday story goes, so it'll be done by Thursday if the plan works, possibly earlier, depending on how cooperative I can coax my muse into being. And I videoSkyped my family for a little while, which was fun as always. The children grow up so quickly.

I also cleaned a little, did some improv cooking with the very limited ingredients I rooted out of the sadly under-stocked fridge, and watched some Star Trek. When my grandmother came home after work I played a little Legend of Zelda on the Wii (Iron boots are brilliant!) and then retreated to my room once more to write a little and read a little before falling asleep.

All in all, not a bad day, and surprisingly more productive than I had imagined it would be. Can't wait until the morrow, I'm really excited about writing what comes next in Linden's story . . .