John Noble (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jackofallgeeks) wrote2007-02-01 08:38 pm
jackofallgeeks) wrote2007-02-01 08:38 pm
February 1st
So I'm feeling pretty good today, despite doing some things that, generally, I'd rather not have done. Top on this list is spending money. Which tells you something about the height (or lack there of) of this list, because it was spending money on books. And it was only, like, $7.00. And it was five books. Sure, I used up the lovely gift card that the lovely Carrie-Anne got me, but... I got a fictionesque book about Vlad the Impaler, something along the lines of an introduction to Jewish Kabbalah, a copy of Frankenstein (it ocurres to me that I maybe already have one, but it was only $1) and two books that sound particularly tantalizing: first is Turning Angel which is apparently a book about some dark 'hidden world' behind the facade of an ordinary highschool (which promises psychological implications and things that are more than they seem, which I love), and the second is "Storm Front," the first book in The Dresden Files series.
That series has a lot of potential, from where I'm standing. Firstly, and leastly, Dresden is a city in Germany that was bombed back in World War II: a line from Wikipedia sums up nicely why I (and those like me) are fascinated with the symbol of Dresden: The destruction of Dresden has an epically tragic quality to it. It was a wonderfully beautiful city and a symbol of baroque humanism and all that was best in Germany. It also contained all of the worst from Germany during the Nazi period. In that sense it is an absolutely exemplary tragedy for the horrors of 20th Century warfare. Secondly, it seems to be a pseudo-noir type storyworld, with Harry Dresden (our hero) set up as a sort of hard-boiled private eye character. And thirdly, and most importantly, Harry Dresden is a wizard in modern Chicago. Supernatural phenomena in a noir-cast modern city? That's precisely the setting that makes me salivate. So I'm looking forward to all that.
I also emptied my storage unit last night, which is good in that I'm not paying $80 a month on top of all my other bills and expenses, but bad in that now I have to cram a car-full of more stuff into my already-disastrous room. Right now the bulk of it is still in my car. I *have* to take some time soon to straighten my room up and start organizing things.
My project worked like a charm in class today. I was a little embarrassed, though, because the professor seems to know me personally -- which is good 'cause he's a great guy, and to say I admire him would be an understatement. And it's not surprising, either, because he's a personable sort of guy. But it was also amusing because... Well, the program was meant to mess with network traffic and because of the parameters he gave me, mine was messing with his machine. Completely on accident on his part, but proof positive that mine was up and good. ^_^
I also talked to my friend Meghan today via Google Chat, which was nice. She and I have become somewhat estranged of late. I would want to say it's because we're so busy and there's such physical distance between us, which is true indeed, but to be honest I think it has to do more with... Well, her boyfriend doesn't like me very much; rightly or not, he doesn't. And for that and a few other points, I don't like him very much, either. Meghan, obviously, does. Back before my internship this situation became a real strain on our friendship, and I'm afraid we haven't yet recovered from that. But our chat today was good.
I got another email from Kira today, too. For those of you keeping score at home, she's out in Italy for the next three months, enjoying herself half-nanny-ing for an Italian family and seeing a bit of Europe in the process. She doesn't get much internet time, and has been sending weekly mass emails to a group of us. And that's about as far as I'm going to go in an open post (not that there's really much else to say, anyways).
And I think I've wasted about enough time on here now; so I'll go waste it elsewhere. Either playing Oblivion, or FFIX, or maybe reading. I've also got "Jersey Girl" here now, along with a bunch of other movies and TV shows I own but haven't watched. So, maybe I'll do some of that.
That series has a lot of potential, from where I'm standing. Firstly, and leastly, Dresden is a city in Germany that was bombed back in World War II: a line from Wikipedia sums up nicely why I (and those like me) are fascinated with the symbol of Dresden: The destruction of Dresden has an epically tragic quality to it. It was a wonderfully beautiful city and a symbol of baroque humanism and all that was best in Germany. It also contained all of the worst from Germany during the Nazi period. In that sense it is an absolutely exemplary tragedy for the horrors of 20th Century warfare. Secondly, it seems to be a pseudo-noir type storyworld, with Harry Dresden (our hero) set up as a sort of hard-boiled private eye character. And thirdly, and most importantly, Harry Dresden is a wizard in modern Chicago. Supernatural phenomena in a noir-cast modern city? That's precisely the setting that makes me salivate. So I'm looking forward to all that.
I also emptied my storage unit last night, which is good in that I'm not paying $80 a month on top of all my other bills and expenses, but bad in that now I have to cram a car-full of more stuff into my already-disastrous room. Right now the bulk of it is still in my car. I *have* to take some time soon to straighten my room up and start organizing things.
My project worked like a charm in class today. I was a little embarrassed, though, because the professor seems to know me personally -- which is good 'cause he's a great guy, and to say I admire him would be an understatement. And it's not surprising, either, because he's a personable sort of guy. But it was also amusing because... Well, the program was meant to mess with network traffic and because of the parameters he gave me, mine was messing with his machine. Completely on accident on his part, but proof positive that mine was up and good. ^_^
I also talked to my friend Meghan today via Google Chat, which was nice. She and I have become somewhat estranged of late. I would want to say it's because we're so busy and there's such physical distance between us, which is true indeed, but to be honest I think it has to do more with... Well, her boyfriend doesn't like me very much; rightly or not, he doesn't. And for that and a few other points, I don't like him very much, either. Meghan, obviously, does. Back before my internship this situation became a real strain on our friendship, and I'm afraid we haven't yet recovered from that. But our chat today was good.
I got another email from Kira today, too. For those of you keeping score at home, she's out in Italy for the next three months, enjoying herself half-nanny-ing for an Italian family and seeing a bit of Europe in the process. She doesn't get much internet time, and has been sending weekly mass emails to a group of us. And that's about as far as I'm going to go in an open post (not that there's really much else to say, anyways).
And I think I've wasted about enough time on here now; so I'll go waste it elsewhere. Either playing Oblivion, or FFIX, or maybe reading. I've also got "Jersey Girl" here now, along with a bunch of other movies and TV shows I own but haven't watched. So, maybe I'll do some of that.
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Despite my general disdain for almost everything on television, I did catch an episode of the TV series a few days ago. It wasn't nearly as noir as I'd have liked, given that I'm a fan of dystopic dark fantasy, but it was interesting and had a bit of dark comedy to it.