I Should Be Reading My Literary Theory Textbook . . .

. . . But instead I've decided to blog. Class begins in about forty minutes, and then I'll be busy literally all day, so now's my chance, right?

The Medieval Combat Club was sooo much fun, I'm going back this Friday too. I mean, it's a group of people sparring with homemade weapons!! That's something I've loved to do all my life, but as a kid I tended to get into trouble for fighting other kids with sticks and stones and things. Isn't that funny? As a kid I was told that such behavior is immature and dangerous (and I'm not arguing either point), but now as an adult I have an official school club to do it at. It's good exercise, too.

The retreat was amazing. I got to ride a yellow school bus for the first time, make s'mores for the first time, swim around in the ocean and chase tropical fishes around, build an absolutely epic sand-castle, and walk over an hour to Mass on Sunday morning. Oh, and I got to meet a lot of Catholic students, which was great fun, and got to teach my fellow retreat-goers some Irish ceili dancing as well! Top all that off with a bonfire, hymn-singing, prayer, dazzlingly clear stars, the sound of the ocean lulling me to sleep every night, and a cockroach nearly running up my pant leg, and you have a fairly good picture of the retreat. And then when I returned to the apartment where I live, I went out to the shave ice place nearby and bought some. Mmmmm!

I finished "The Copper Crown" and enjoyed it 'til the end, although I'm not sure if I am interested in continuing the series or not. I don't think I'll go out of my way to find the next book. Right now I've finally moved on to another library book, this one called simply "Strongbow". It caught my attention at the library because of course it made me instantly think "BELEG!!!" Oh the joys of being a Silmarillion lover. Anyway, the book is not about Cuthalion, but it's very good so far anyway. It's (loosely) historical fiction. The first line:

When I was a little girl I didn't know my father was a monster.

I thought it a particularly excellent opening line. I always struggle with beginning my own stories, so good beginnings are always special to me. Like, for instance, Lewis' beginning to "Voyage of the Dawn Treader", which in my opinion is one of the greatest opening lines to any book ever written.

Tonight I'll be extremely busy drawing, as my first art portfolio of the semester is due tomorrow and I still have a few drawings I need to get done. I'm a bit worried about this whole portfolio thing, as I've never done one in my life before, but hopefully all goes well! I also have my second midterm of the semester on Thursday, but as that one's all about "The Iliad", "The Odyssey", and the books of Genesis and Exodus and Job, I'm not really worried about it. ENG 321 is absolutely a class in my comfort zone! Oh, and I did manage an A in my Nutrition exam, so that went well.

Before I go--Anybody else gleeful at the confirmation that Daniel Radcliffe will have absolutely nothing to do with "The Hobbit"? How about that rumor that David Tennant might be cast as Bilbo? I find it a bit hard to picture, because he's so tall and thin, but I'm sure it'd be great anyway . . . Of course it's only a rumor, but I don't mind that one. I'm still rooting for James McAvoy, though. He could do a fantastic Bilbo. Just look at how he acts as Tumnus in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"!

My Week Thus Far

Nothing particularly out-of-the-ordinary happened to me today, beyond an unusually chilly wind (for Hawaii, that is) whipping me in the face all the way to Russian class. And me nearly falling asleep during art class. I've been exhausted all week, I think because of the very busy weekend I had (Honolulu zoo, Lost premiere, heatstroke, homework, and more homework). I make a point of going to the school gym every Tuesday and Thursday for an hour, and this Tuesday I actually fell asleep while pedaling the exercise bike. Yeah, I've never done that before. I only woke up because I started to fall over to the side, and the thing was beeping at me to "Pedal faster".

Watched "LA X" again, only this time I got to see Part 2 as well as Part 1. Won't say much about it, in case you haven't watched it, because I don't like to be spoiler-y, but I will say right now that Richard and Desmond are absolutely my favorite (living) characters, and so nothing bad had better happen to them. Everyone else is fair game in my opinion, but leave those two alone!

I have my first Midterm of the semester this Friday. Yes, you read that correctly: MIDTERM. Who's bright idea was it to start giving multiple Midterm Exams? Isn't that sort of defeating the purpose of the meaning of 'mid'???

Sigh. Anyway, I'm currently cramming my brain with the workings of the digestive system, what percentage of my DV is composed of lipids, where bile comes from and what it's function is, and how many kcals are in a gram of protein. This nutrition stuff isn't really that hard to understand, it's just hard to remember everything.

This Friday I am going on retreat with about 20 other Catholic students to the North Shore, which should be awesome. I'm really looking forward to it. Also on Friday, I've arranged to meet with a Medieval Combat club on campus, which I'm also looking forward to (to my mother's dismay). Anything else of import looming on the horizon? Erm . . . not particularly. Only my birthday, but that's still about a month away, so let's not dwell on it yet.

I'm currently reading a science fiction novel called "The Copper Crown". It's actually quite entertaining: Basically, the story is that the ancient Celtic people of Ireland, on their famous sea-voyages, discovered the last remnants of Atlantis, who gave them the secrets of space travel. And so they built space ships and left Earth, setting up their own world many billion miles away. Flash forward to a few thousand years from our present day, and an Earth space ship stumbles across this Celtic planet and its people. Except they now call themselves Kelts, and their planet is Keltia. A meeting of two cultures ensues, swiftly followed by intergalactic wars, plots, magic, and mayhem, with a bit of traditional Irish culture thrown in for kicks.

Surprisingly, the book is pretty good. Perhaps I'm biased, being an Irish dancer and Irish mythology lover and all, but it's curiously entertaining to read about Keltic warriors driving their war chariots, living in castles, singing bardic lays and holding ceili dances, as well as wielding laser glaives in battle and using telepathy and enormous space-ships carved into bestial shapes like old Viking seaships. Somehow it works. So far (I have about 100 pages to go) I'd recommend it.

Anyway, back to the homework before I go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy, busy day.

The Shadow of the Bear (And Fraggles!)

"Have you ever felt there was something going on in life not everyone was aware of? . . . As though there's a story going on that everyone is a part of, but not everybody knows about? Maybe 'story' isn't the right word--a sort of drama, a battle between what's peripheral and what's really important. As though the people you meet aren't just their plain, prosaic selves, but are actually princes and princesses, gods and goddesses, fairies, shepherds, all sorts of fantastic creatures who've chosen to hide their real shape for some reason or other. Have you ever thought that?"

Want to know where that marvelous quote comes from? Read on:

I've been revisiting a lot of 'old loves' today: Finding old books, films, and interests that used to entrance me but were somehow left behind in the stream of time. It does in many ways feel like plumbing a river; although somewhat distorted by my maturing memory flowing over them, once clear of the water they shine (to my surprise) nearly as bright as I once knew them to be, and perhaps, in a few cases, even brighter. So it is that I have been reminded that Fraggle Rock wasn't just a strange hippie puppet show, it was quite wonderful, and in many instances, spoke almost eerily to my own personal philosophies. Don't believe me? Watch THIS . . . And then just try tell me that doesn't sound like something I would say/think! It has a sort of melancholic, gentle wisdom that I love, and I expect that is thanks very much to Jim Henson, one of my favorite people ever. I read somewhere that he said that he would have loved to have the job of the man who wanders sidewalks picking up trash with his stabbing stick thing, because it would make the world more beautiful, people more happy, and as a plus, he would be able to wander the streets stabbing trash with a stick! I had forgotten, sometime during the past few years, how much I loved this man and his work (outside of "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and "The Muppet Movie", that is), so it has been a real pleasure reacquainting myself with his stuff. "The Dark Crystal" is also better than I had remembered it, and I found a few quotable gems in it, too. My favorite, I think, is this exchange between the two protagonists:

Jen [looking at runic inscriptions on a wall]: “This is all writing.”

Kira: “What's writing?”

Jen: “Words that stay.”

So simple, but somehow profound. For that is the essence and power and beauty of writing, isn't it? That the words stay. That the scene is placed in the ruins of a dead civilization just made the lines all the more powerful. I will definitely adding this to my collection of quotes pinned above my writing desk!

So now I can return to the lines I quoted at the beginning of this post. They are from a novel by a Catholic homeschooling mother, Regina Doman, entitled The Shadow of the Bear.

I read this book when I was . . . oh, thirteen? Fourteen? . . . And had not read it since, due to the fact that as a Catholic book it is just about non-existent at libraries and when I read the thing I was only borrowing it from a friend; I don't own it myself. It made quite an impression on me at the time, but since I didn't own it, I sort of forgot about it. And then, today, I stumbled across it again and re-read it . . .

And was hooked again!

I'll try to explain why. As a Catholic myself, I find it interesting to read a novel written about contemporary Catholic teens, but as a lover of fairy tales and poetry, I also find it interesting to read a good novel based upon a fairy tale or with fairy tale elements in it. This story is both. It is a modern retelling of the story of 'Snow White and Rose Red', and rather cleverly done, too. This is a story that quotes Chesterton and poetry with reverence, is written in a lyrical, entertaining way, and intelligently weaves God, religion, morals, engaging characters, and subtle-enough-to-work parallels to a famous fairy tale into an entertaining story. Catholicism is a part of the story, but not in such a way as to make this book accessible or enjoyable only to Catholics. Oh, and I used to /love/ the character of Fish, and now I remember why (hehe). And the 'Snow White' and 'Rose Red' characters, Blanche and Rose, I now realize in many ways parallel my curren interests and likes: quoting poetry, modest clothing, flights of imagination and fancy, Chesterton, etc. 

The story isn't for everyone. It deals with a lot of dark issues: drugs, murder, bullying and peer pressure, and there is a scene where one of the female protagonists has to be disillusioned of and escape from a drunken boyfriend. I think these issues are, on the whole, tastefully dealt with and in a healthy manner, but one can always question whether they were necessary to the story. Some parts (a kidnapping and torture, especially) can seem a bit too outlandish for the realism of the rest of the story, but as a creative way of translating a fairy tale into a modern story, I can forgive them. And even enjoy them a little, heh. So I recommend it, even though it's somewhat hard to find.

Oh, and get this: A student fan film is currently being made!

I've recently become a fan of fan films (hah, that sounds strange) after being being treated to "The Hunt for Gollum" (A Lord of the Rings fan film) and "Fire and Ice" (Doctor Who-based). So now I have not only "Born of Hope" to look forward to, but this as well! Life is good.

It's good to revisit one's past from time to time. Little treasures like these invariably turn up and make the present a whole lot better!