Miscellaneous on October 14th, 2009

It seems like I’m finally – slowly, but steady – finding the right line of thought for some parts of the dreaded termpaper. I don’t know if it takes that long and only progresses in snail pace, because I didn’t work on it for so long. Or because I just didn’t quite understand what the questions I had to answer were all about. Probably the later, because that was the reason I willingly failed this assignment in May. Yes, I know I should have spend the summer working on it, but there was so much other stuff to do like ampaigning for three different elections. But now I’m back in the scholarly mood. Well, sort of. I’m getting there… :-)

It’s a good thing I’m not swamped with work assignment at the moment as well, which means I can use some of my time at work for termpaper related research and stuff. I probably should spend much more of my spare time working on it as well, but other things keep distracting me. But I’m rather confident I’ll be able to hand in a decent termpaper this time. Not much earlier than on the last possible date, but still…

Trying to deal with Jamie Fraser withdrawal

“I feel… empty”

I couldn’t help myself to start this post with this Grey’s Anatomy quote from early season 2 :-) I’m a nerd that way, that I perfectly remember some dialogues, which probably has something to do with watching the episodes or favourite moments of it multiple times. But this line just came to my mind, when I thought how to write about the strange feeling I woke up to this morning. And no, it has nothing to do with being sick and throwing up *g*. Just with having said goodbye to some very lovely people, who I spent most of my spare time with during the last few days. Yes, I’ve finished reading “An Echo in the Bone” late last night, very late last night. Early this morning to be exact. I just couldn’t put it down and go to sleep not knowing what’s going to happen to the Frasers. And the MacKenzies. And of course Lord John and William Ransom. And now I know, or at least I know parts of it, because of course there were some cliffhangers and in fact I don’t know anything at all really. Which sucks a little. But I guess that’s the price you have to pay when you let yourself get sucked into this fictional world and get so so attached to all these wonderful characters.

This 7th novel of the Outlander series was just published last week so I’ll try to now give anything away and to not spoil anyone’s pleasure of reading it. Because it has been a tremendous pleasure. I know I’ve said it before, when I have spent almost two months this summer reading the first six novels in a row. But I really have to express my deepest thanks to Diana Gabaldon for creating these characters and to make them so loveable, that I couldn’t help but fall in love with them and care about their fate. Gabaldon has a wonderful way with words and she made these broad range of various characters with their different ways of living and their sense of honor and morality come alive, which is really fascinating.

Can’t think of a decent headline for this…

I had the most relaxing vacation last week. And now just a couple of days after I got back home to my ordinary life I’m wanting to leave again, because my life is so boring and… well, unexciting. So was my vacation, but at least I relocated for that and I spend time in other surroundings and all that. One of the reasons I will take a break from the project365 for a while is that I feel that my every day life is restricted to this small and restricted part of the world, which is the same every day. The same places, the same roads, the same shops, the same just everything. I know it’s up to me to change that. To change my routine at least during my spare time. To go and visit different places. To just go and DO stuff. With all the election campaigning going on for the last few months and keeping me insanely busy I obviously forgot how to do other stuff. But there are so many things to do and places to visit, if just for an afternoon. I really should get off my lazy bum and do just that. I hopefully will on the weekend.  At least I’m planning to.

I still have to pick up working on my termpaper again. I got a good start during my vacation, but then there was the campaign and the election and having a hard time to come to terms with the outcome. And of course there also was work. And some other stuff like music and books and… :-)

I miss the Fraser & MacKenzie Clan

55 days ago – on the train to Bruxelles on my way to my summer vacation – I started reading “Outlander”. Until I finished reading book 6 yesterday afternoon I carried one of the books of the Outlander series in my bag everyday and wherever I went. London, Glasgow, Highlands, Edinburgh and as well here back home in Germany. I spent most of my spare time (which was rare to begin with) reading about Jamie & Claire, Bree & Roger, Fergus & Marsali, Ian, Germain, Jemmy and all the other members of the Fraser McKenzie Clan.

Sometimes – and during the last two or three books more often then at the beginning of the story – I rolled my eyes about some of the sub-plots. I was a bit bored by some of the detours Diana Gabaldon took in telling her story. What bothered me the most – of the things that bothered me at all – was that quite often I had the impression, that she hadn’t thought the plot through in advance. The last book contains an interview with her and she kind of admits to starting to write and see where it takes her. At least that explained to me how some of the “facts” which were carefully constructed in earlier parts of the story where later dropped with a rather plain and quite often not believable explanation. Like why there were these two gravestones in that Scottish churchyard.
There are a few more things I could criticize more detailed, but I feel like I’m not really entitled to that, because I couldn’t put any of the books down after all. So Diana Gabaldon must have done something right. And she did with creating these characters and with making me care about them so much, that I was moved to tears on a few occasions.

Book 7 will be released (as hardcover) on 22nd September which is much less than 55 days ahead. And from what I’ve read so far about book 7 (at Amazon etc) it’s going to be a lot like book 2, which I liked a lot. I might be on vacation that week and I am already trying to figure out how to get the book that day anyway. I already checked for bookstores which might sell English books near my vacation spot and it doesn’t look good. I might have to order it from Amazon and spend the day at home in the cottage to make sure the postman can actually delivers it to me :-)

And it really feels weird to not be able to escape into this world of fiction when I have a few moments to spare and want to relax ore when I just want to escape the real world. But on the other hand I might finally be able to catch up with season 5 of “The West Wing”. And I also started reading Krista Vernoff’s “The Game On! Diet” Book and I really enjoy it because it’s not just informative but also very very entertaining. I’m determined to play that game as soon as possible and I hope I’ll find a nice team among the Grey’s fans / Gameondieters community on twitter. Or is there anyone among my readers here is up for that challenge as well and might want to team up with me.

No photo update tonight…

I promised a new round of photos, but I have to postpone this until Tuesday evening. Or maybe tomorrow during the day, if I can access my photo site from the office. Some sites are blocked and I don’t know if this one is. But there isn’t not much work to do except the usual clerical stuff. The upside of the usual summer vacation time :-)
I started to upload and tag the next batch of photos but I’m too lazy to retrieve all the photo links and write a short recap of my vacation days. I was reading “Voyager” (the 3rd book of the Outlander series) until 2 am last night, because I just couldn’t put it down. I spent most of today (well the afternoon, because I got up really really late) reading the last 110 pages, visting my mom in the hospital and using the dryer in her home for the linens I couldn’t wash at 60 °C, so the hot air in the dryer had to kill any traces of any lice on it. I think I was lucky – in the sense that my head wasn’t that infested to begin with. At least I hardly found any nits when I combed my wet hair this evening with the special louse comb. But enough of that nasty business…

I can pick up book 4, 5 and 6 of the Outlander series at the bookstore tomorrow *squee* I just hope that I’ll be able to restrict my reading to the 2 hours I spent on the train every day. And maybe some time before I go to bed. Because otherwise I won’t get anything done. Anything at all. And there are quite a few things to do. Posting photos, working on electorial stuff for my Greens, start working on the termpaper and the new course material and and and. But these novels are highly addictive, even though the storyline is flawed. Well some of it is and especially at the end of book 3 I found myself rolling my eyes several times. Some things were just too much.
On the other hand I thought some parts of the way the story is told, especially the first half of book 3, were pretty good. And of course there are Jamie and Claire, and I’m still such a big fan of this couple. Part of me is helplessly sappy romantic and Gabaldon definitely knows how to reach this part of me :-) I just love that this love is so so big that it can conquer (almost) everything and that their emotions run so deep. Which means that they love each immensly, but when they are mad at each other, they are really mad. And they yell and fight. And of course they make up in the end.
I wasn’t sure what to think of that story moved from Scotland to the West Indies for the second half of the story, but in the end, when they stranded – literally – in America – I thought it was a pretty neat idea to move the story forward and to open up new possibilities. And I can’t wait to find out what Gabaldon has in store for them in the New World :-)

I can’t find out until tomorrow though, so tonight I will spend some time with my other “ship” and watch Grey’s 2.19 for the Marathon on The Elevator Junkies maybe I’ll visit The West Wing after that. A visit I had planned to make already yesterday, but it was more interesting to accompany Jamie and Claire on their journey.

Back Home and Online…

Around 09.30 pm I got home from my wonderful, wonderful sunny vacation in Scotland and what happened a few minutes ago? Heavy downpour and it’s still raining…oh well, better here now than during my time up north :-) I will probably go to bed soon, because I didn’t sleep that well during the last couple of days. Kind of restless, probably because I miss my big queensize bed without matresses, that squeak whenever I turn around. Even though I would have laughed to stay in Scotland a while longer, it’s nice to be home as well. Home, sweet home. I already dread all the laundry I have to do tomorrow and to answer some work-related mails and tend to some work-related things tomorrow as well. At least I won’t have to return to the office till Wednesday. And there are so many blogs and journals and Grey’s fanfictions to catch up with as well. I hope I will be able to do some of that tomorrow as well…

On my long journey today (on the train) and a lot of times in the park or at night in the hotel room Jamie and Claire (from the Gabaldon series) kept me good company. I’m half way through book 3 (of 6) and what can I say. I’m very much reminded of the time not so long ago when I was infatuated with the Twilight series. And both stories have a few things in common. To me at least. In both series there are 2 people deeply in love, but with a lot of obstacles in their way to a happy end. I was sucked into both stories pretty much early on in the story and started to care very much about the fate of this couple. I thought the writing in both stories was/is very entertaining. But even though I liked the writing itself, there appear(ed) to be more and more flaws in the storytelling. But I was (or am) too hooked already to have that bother me too much. I don’t know if I should love or hate the writers for making me neglect these flaws I still recognize as such :-)
I shouldn’t be so hard on Diana Gabaldon though, as I definitely would pick her series over Twilight any time. Because I love reading historic novels. Because Jamie and Claire are grownups, doing grownup things (and, no, I’m not talking about sex, well not first of all anyway *g*). Because the story is set in Scotland and it was so nice to read it while being there where it all takes place. And mostly because even though I see some flaws in her storytelling, I’m pretty sure I don’t have to deal with such farfetched things like human/vampire offsprings, men turning to wolves, imprinting on babies and protective bubbles created by mere mindpowerl. So I will continue to easily overlook the unbelievable coincidences and chance encounters and suddenly revealed relations that help the Gabaldon story moved forward. And some other things, which sometimes makes me feel like watching a soapopera. But a very entertaing one. Like I said: Guilty pleasure…