Eeyore peejay bottoms with matching home socks. And fuchsia top as well. Last minute shopping before the movie started, because I’d been putting off buying an extra pair of warm peejays for the cold weather for weeks (the other pair had to be washed). Because of my prospectus and now, the blasted literature review. But yes, basically I just wanted to show off my new Eeyore peejays, which will go very well with my research-related whine. All bought in a record 15 minutes without trying anything on!

And yes, I saw the new Indiana Jones movie.

I am still in * fangirl squeal * state. And still steadfastly refusing to read reviews. Don’t care. It’s MY indy, in his fedora hat. With his Indy facial expression. With the music. AND THE WHIP!

I stayed till all the credits finished.

And now I shall go back to growling at some Ontology essays. work on my novel and tell research to STFU and GTFO. For tonight at least.

Related Post: Even Ontological Toes Need Warmth

I finally finished watching Season 3 of BSG.

I know this is belated but… we have to $#%$#% wait till next year to find out?

Erk.

(Okay, so how different is that from my nailbiting wait for Season 3? And even so, it took forever till I could finally access and watch this)

Great finale, even if there were some dodgy moments. I was jumping up and down when I realized it was “All Along the Watchtower”. One of my most favourite songs ever! Dude.

So I have a million, million questions especially w/ regards to the Final Five and how they’re related to “The Five” in the Temple. Okay, I have a million questions about a lot more but I’ll try not to spoiler too much.

Next year?? Geez.

Now, let’s see if I can do a Heroes marathon before I fly off to Brisbane :-/

Listening to: Bobby or Zimmy’s version of All Along the Watchtower playing in my head!

The Editor is here. She is fast asleep right now, probably worn out from all the staid excitement. We hit three bookstores yesterday and one DVD store. We’re having a grand old time of a weekend with nonstop talking interspersed with sleeping to recharge energy. And I bought a ton of books. Nothing like hitting used bookstores and poking around in the dust. I think I befriended one bookstore owner and scared the other one. Sort of. So here’s my list:

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
The Spellkey - Ann Downer
Three Plays - Sean O’Casey
Ovid’s The Art of Love (Metamorphoses Loves and Other Works) (Monarch Notes)
Shield of Three Lions – Pamela Kaufman
The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Tenth Annual Collection (1997) – ed Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling (at a fraction of the original price and it still looks brand new!)

And four writerly books. The first time I’m actually buying writerly books!

Writing a Novel - Dorothy Bryant
On Becoming a Novelist – John Gardner
Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg
The Little, Brown Handbook (3rd Edition) – Fowler

Reading the Bryant book now, hopefully some of this will help me resolve my writerly crisis.

In other news, I am going around saying “Oh, so many books to read!”. So, I’ve uninstalled ZMUD yet again, and I may even stop going to chat this week. Because I’ve got soooo much to read (and watch).

Have the first season of Heroes and the first season of the BBC Robin Hood*. And I’m not done watching the first season of Doctor Who.

*the first episode is fun and witty, but I seriously doubt it will overthrow Robin of Sherwood in my heart. Gosh. Now I want to listen to Clannad.

E.T.A: Up to Episode 2 of Robin Hood now. Very good plot. I like.
E.T.A2: Oh, new Dr Who, huh? Pity, I <3 Eccleston. Am I behind on the news or what?

This is all for now, I’d better go and wake The Editor up for brunch.

And here’s some maskanda music for your delectation.

(continue reading…)

I started reading Interfictions in the airport while waiting for our plane to KK to arrive. Could not wait till I finished reading The Awakeners. My favourite story thusfar has to be Pallas at Noon. I liked it so much, I read it twice! I liked Barzak’s story too, he kind of went along a parallel route to the one I took with No. 165, Independence Lane, but with a divergence of genres. It’s only natural, I guess. So many of us have houses that refuse to disappear from our subconscious. It’s all very Jungian for me, at least.

Still in a post-vacation dreamlike state, coupled with trepidation over research/phd application results.

Speaking of dreamlike, I forgot to mention that I watched Pan’s Labyrinth a couple of weeks ago. I loved the story, but up till today am unsure what I think of the ending. Something in me balks at it. But then again, how many people can write/direct a perfect ending? Not I?

I used to have a terrible time with endings. I still do, but not as much as I used to. Writing short stories taught me a lot about ending things. With novels there’s a tendency of leaving everything towards the end (if you’re a novice). With short stories there’s this need for economy, an economy that grounds and trains you. I learnt how to improve my novel-writing when I finally managed to write a complete short story, several years back.

Economy vs Expansiveness (or a balance of both) seems to be the lesson I must teach myself as a writer. I used to be overly expansive, but now, with The Apothecary’s Seal, I have become too economical, almost stingy, in my attempts to stick to the plot and pacing. Everything is at a great big question mark, right now. It will remain that way till I finish IWNSYDP! and The Orientalist.

I will end on a musical note. Here’s Miriam Stockley, singing Alla Notte from an Adagio by Albinoni.