Mission Accomplished

Soooo . . . after breezing through the world's easiest final exam this morning, I realized that instead of finishing school at my usual time of 2:45, I was actually free to go at 11:30 in the morning due to some professors getting lazy at the end of the semester and canceling class on this last week of instruction. It's only three days long, as we get Thursday and Friday off, so I guess they figure, What's the point? Me, I'm not complaining.

But anyway, I found myself with waaay more free time than I've seen in many moons. And so I decided to do something with it. And bethought myself of the newest Tolkien book being published posthumously, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrin. And decided that I would use this heaven-sent freedom to go on a quest to find and purchase the book.

Now, as some of you know, I can't yet drive; sure I'm old enough, but I just haven't gotten around to getting my license yet (I've been hindered my more important things, like writing fiction and doing homework and dance). Luckily for me, Hawaii has an extremely good bus system set up--so good, it's pompously named TheBus--and I had some money in my pocket, along with my omnipresent Barnes and Noble gift card.

My grandma took time out of her lunch break to ride the bus with me to the book store; I guess she thought that I might somehow miss the whopping big shopping center and get off at the wrong stop. That sarcasm is only partly intended, because stranger things have happened with me and navigating, believe you me. But the trip went off without incident, I vanished into the book store, and Gma went in a different direction, to grab something to eat before catching the return bus back to the school, I think.

Now, for someone who spends a vast majority of her life in bookshops, I have an incredibly bad sense of direction once in them, and tend to invariably miss whatever book it is that I am searching for. Remember that Inkdeath post? Yeah, I've since done similar things with Heroes of the Valley and Broken Spears since then. So I entered the store only with this vague idea that hey, it's a Tolkien book, surely there'll be a big 'n' bold display filled with Sigurds and Gudrins right at the entrance, waiting to greet me.

Well, there wasn't. I'm still a little steamed about that.

So then I thought, well, I'll find the 'New Releases' section, then. And after much searching, I did find it, only after perusing its contents with some dismay, I realized that it was 'New Teen Releases', which explained all the, erm, silly titles and indecent cover illustrations, to put it mildly.

After more tracking, I found more and more 'New Releases' sections, but none were what I wanted. Who knew that the category of 'New Releases' was so varied? New Teen, New Romance, New Non-fiction, New Biography (which is Non-fiction, but I'll let it pass. On the plus side, I found a book about the Wonderfulness of Obama which was on the Fiction shelf--Well, okay, it must have been a mistake, but it still made me rather cheerful).

In some desperation, I decided that I would just find the Tolkien section instead. Make things easier on myself. So I set off to find his books . . .

In the 'Fiction and Literature' section of the store. Where, incidentally, they were not. I'm a little steamed about that too, but really I should have known better.

So I finally found the Professor in the 'Fantasy/Sci Fi' section. And lo and behold, there was ONE copy of The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrin there, sandwiched between The Hobbit and The Tolkien Reader. I snapped it up. And wandered around the store for another hour or more, exploring, before finally heading to the cashier's counter.

Incidentally, as I did, I walked right past the 'New Fiction' section (found it!), and saw that there was an entire shelf full of shiny Legends, plain as day. Ugh. Well, mine was prettier.

Once made lawful owner of the book, I went back to the bus stop to catch the bus which would take me to my apartment. Or, well, part-way there; I needed to remember where to get off to transfer buses. It took about forty minutes for my first bus to arrive, just as I was deciding that it was a phantom bus and didn't exist. I managed to get off at the right stop, and remembered that I needed to cross the road to get to the stop where I would wait for bus number two. As I set off on my walk to the nearest crosswalk (which was admirably far away), I noticed the bus I needed to catch trundling happily past me on the other side of the street, soon lost from view. 

Well, darn.

So I ended up having to wait for fifteen minutes or so for my bus. It was broiling hot, but fortunately I had a nearly finished bottle of water with me in my bag. I drank what little remained and tossed the bottle in the trash bin, and yes, I do admit that the 'Frodo and Sam finish all the water' scene from "The Return of the King" did come to mind, haha. Well, it was hot.

The bus eventually did come, however, and it did stop, and so I was taken home at last. And now I'm putting a can of soup in the microwave and chugging cold water (did I mention it's four-thirty and all I've had to eat today is a yogurt at seven-thirty this morning?), feeling a little drained and wobbly, but very happy. Quest complete. Mission accomplished.

*Cough Cough*

So . . . I woke up this morning after a scant thirty minutes of sleep to the horrible realization that I have a cold. This just isn't fair. I suppose staying up all night studying so battered and abused my antibodies that they abandoned their posts, allowing the evil germs to win their way past the walls. Rally to me, little microbe soldiers, and drive the illness away! I do not want to be sick when I get on the plane to go home, especially with this Swine Flu panic that's going around.

I'm trying to find the bright side of getting sick right at this moment, which is a hard task, but marginally more entertaining than feeling sorry for myself. And by 'bright side' I mean other than the imagining-a-full-blown-epic-war-being-fought-for-my-health part. Though I have to admit that is entertaining. It always has been, ever since I caught the stomach flu when I was seven and spent a few days cheering myself up by naming my white blood cells and imagining their heroic knightly deeds as they desperately fought the nefarious black-magic wielding germs to make me well again. Heh heh. Of course this isn't a sign that I have ego problems!

However, it's nice to find pluses on reality's turf as well. So, I've been thinking, trying to find any.

Well, when I have a cold, I can use said cold as an excuse to eat soup and drink hot tea and read The Lord of the Rings. Sounds good. The only issue with this plan is that I currently  have final exams threatening me from the shadowy precipice of Next Week, where they skulk in preparation for an evil ambush. So, unfortunately, long Tolkien novels are *sniffle*, with a huge effort of will, to be put aside for the moment. If I'm going to be sitting around with tea and soup, the only books I can read for the next week are school books. And I can't have my tea and soup in bed, because air mattresses are too unstable for spillable foods. And the weather just took a turn for the better recently, so the apartment where I live is currently far too stifling and baking to make tea and soup a comfortable meal.

All right, so there are problems here. One should know what one is up against before formulating a plan. In order to find the plus side, I must find out what is in my way between getting some enjoyment from my cold and sniffles.

1) Final exams

2) The weather

3) The imminent plane flight

4) Homework

. . . .

. . . . Oh well. Who says reality is necessary to cheer oneself up? I'm going to retreat into my fantasy world now and watch my white knights whup the evil black-mailed germ army. 

The Hunt For Gollum

If you love The Lord of the Rings--watch this film. And I will not make plain which LotR I mean, because, fortunate peoples, it does not much matter. If you love how the films were made: the cinematography, the soundtrack, the visuals--You will be delighted. If you love Tolkien's books enough to read the Appendices and know the story of how Aragorn hunted Gollum and brought him to Mirkwood--You will be delighted. It's a win-win situation. I spent my happiest forty minutes in quite a while this morning watching this non-profit, 3000 pound film. It is, quite simply, brilliantly done for such a tight budget and a crew and cast entirely of volunteers.

Don't believe me yet? Watch this.

Power to the fans!!

The film is available for viewing here as well as on the film's official website, www.thehuntforgollum.com. Added perks on the website include wallpapers, screenshots, and soundtrack downloads.

A Pause Between

Finally, my first poem in months! Composed during the middle of writing a story (yes, Laura, the next part of 'Sons of Cwendor' should be up soon). Comments are of course always appreciated and replied to . . .

A Pause Between

Whence come these words?

From what whispering tongue?

Or what grey spider shining spun

These filaments, the ghosts of sound,

The snares by which my thoughts are bound

And pinned upon the bleach-boned sheet,

Their airy beauty made concrete?

I know not how they come to me--

Like leaves snatched from a gilded tree,

Or gemstones delved from hallowed grounds,

The bright sea where my reason drowns.

Is it I who seek, or they who find,

These words which whisper in my mind?

I do not understand this mystery--

How do these words belong to me?

Men are Stupid

This semester all my professors are male. I don't mind this; they are all knowledgeable in their fields, hard but fair graders, easy to get along with, and, frankly, I couldn't care less the gender of my teacher as long as they teach well. But I have noticed something which strikes me as strange. Each professor (at least once; one practically every class) has told us students in one way or the other, in one context or another:

"Oh, yes, and men are stupid."

Which gets an appreciative giggle from the class, male and female students alike, and then the lecture continues.

I find this oddly irritating.

I am not by any means against the empowerment of women; it is true that women have traditionally been given poorer education than men, something which I, as a bookworm and knowledge-hungry nerd, see as nothing but deplorable. But to me, empowerment is equal opportunity, not using obsession over equality as an excuse at belittling others, not only of the opposite gender, but of your own. I find this sort of extreme feminist sort of talk aggravating enough when a woman is doing it; why do men now seem to be jumping on the bandwagon in bashing their own sex? I mean, good for all those females who are now seeking careers in science and math and all--they have a right to it-- but does this necessarily mean, in the words of one of my professors, that they are 'triumphantly breaking free of the chains of tradition and taking over the scholarly world, which is only fair because women are smarter than men. Sorry guys, but we're idiots.'

I think not. Men are people too. Men have the same rights as those women clamor for. Why can't we just accept that both women and men can be intelligent and successful and worthy of each other?

Perhaps I'm just living in the past, but I don't think that by glorifying women and knocking down men we can create a more perfect world.

And so, sitting in my classes--most particularly the one where I get subjected to jokes about male inferiority every week--I find myself pondering, not the lesson on the board, but instead other questions whispering in my mind.

Why, in our modern educational culture, do we think it fine to class men as 'stupid' in an attempt at pumping women's egos higher? 

Why, in our efforts to 'break down barriers', do we think the proper procedure is to swap which side of the wall we stand on and then build the barrier stronger?

Why do we pursue equality not simply by giving those who are lower a hand up, but instead by dragging down those who have been higher and then trampling on them?