Waaaaaait for it.....

Currently in Earphones: "The Curlew / Sean Og's / The Sligo Maid" by Ciunas

Errrr, sorry. Still don't quite have the time to write up a full post about the Photo Rally. In short, all the work that I eschewed in favor of the photo rally is now threatening to drag me out the front door and beat me senseless in the streets. This might take a while.

In the meantime, here's a passage (in translation) from a little something I've been reading. There are probably more than a few ladies who can associate with this...

"He indeed is ungrateful, and regardless of all my good offices; and I am a fond fool, not to tear him instantly from my heart. In spite of all his ill-usage, I have not power to hate him. I can only complain of his baseness; and, when my complaints are over, love him more than ever. Pity, O Venus, your daughter-in-law; pierce, O Cupid, the unrelenting heart of your brother, and teach him to fight under your banners. Teach me also, who have already begun the pleasing task, (for I deny it not,) and let him prove an object worthy of my tenderness and concern. I rave; and the enchanting image deludes my eager mind; nor does he retain any portion of the softness of his mother. You are certainly the offspring of rocks and mountains, or the hardened oak that rises out of the hanging cliff. A savage tigress, or the tempestuous ocean, such as it is now when swelled by gathering storms, gave thee birth. But whither can you shape your course, or how stem the force of opposing billows? You prepare to set sail, a stormy sea forbids: let me enjoy the blessing which a rough winter offers."

This is, of course, a fictional letter from Dido, Queen of Carthage to her lover Aeneas. It was written as part of a series of letters by Ovid, each one from a famous heroine in Greek and Latin literature to her absent husband or lover. Just goes to show you how good Ovid was as a writer.


Enough, More Later.
- James

Prelude to a Legend....

Currently in Earphones: "Supermoves" by Overseer

Two words about Patrick and Zach's Photo Rally III: Velociraptors at the Gate...


WE. WON.


Pics are all up on Facebook in their gaudy glory.

I'll relate the full days adventures after I get back to Davis.


Enough, More Later.
- James

Celsus, Porphyry and Julian, Oh My!

Currently in Earphones: The Double Cross by Tempest

Man oh man, so what the heck has been going on?

Oh yeah, there was that lovely shindig on the 16th that was hosted at our place. Phil pulled out as many stops as he could and made a Formalish with wine (and wine, and wine, and wine....and beer) and cheese. Everyone had a blast, and we finally got to see Liz in her red dress. Needless to say all the men had to pick their jaws up off the floor after she came in and took off her coat. Check out those photos on Facebook, one album posted by Phil and the other by our own Sascha.

The next day we had a smaller get together to celebrate Kristen's 21st birthday. We all went to Strings and ate and made merry. We finally got to play the House drinking game: Luckily for us, the episode we picked was somewhat slow, so we all came out the other end comfortably muzzy as opposed to completely smashed. Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I know I was still mostly there.

As usual, I took advantage of the three day weekend by goofing off for the most part. I did manage to throw together an assignment for Music 10 in a night. I still have to finish my paper topic presentation in Classics 190 for Thursday, which shouldn't be too hard, but I also have two papers to start doing preliminary work on. Ahh, Acadamia.

Final note: cleared out some unused music on my hard drive, freed up at least 3 gigs on my ever shrinking-in-space laptop HD. That should last me for another couple of CD's!

Oh, and XKCD once again illustrates the voice I don't say in public but secretly yell in my mind. (Long text, take your time and read it)

http://xkcd.com/c137.html

Enough, More Later.
- James

I dunno, a ridiculous mouse would be kinda cute...

Currently in earphones: The bizarre stylings of the Medieval version of Carmina Burana, sung by the Clemencic Consort, and the soft rain outside.

First off, last night and evening were a little less cool that I would have liked them to be. I got at least 3 pairs of pants soaked through in my various comings and goings, hither and thither, and both on business and for fun. It would have been four, but I was getting tired of being wet and my rendezvous was coming down with a headache, so we called it off.

Secondly, I borrowed a lovely batch of MST3K from a good friend, and no-one showed up to watch! Mr. Muehlner and myself were the only recipients of such stylized humor. Hopefully we can coax more people over tonight for some "Space Mutiny" and "Manos: The Hands of Fate"

I should probably be studying, but damnit, it's Saturday!

Side note, I convinced Patrick Thomas that German can sound very pretty, a la J.S. Bach. He now has one of his cantatas sitting on his hard drive, thanks to the power of Gmail. Another one joins the ranks!

Enough, More Later.
- James

His Swing music is interrupting my melancholy!

Currently in Earphones: X-Ray Dog Production Music up the waz

So, I went and saw the Chieftains at Mondavi on the 30th, and it was a blast. They have such great energy, and although I was initially worried that the venue would be ill-suited for such music, I was quickly proven that that all depends on the group. My only regret is that I came with a handful of cashy money to throw at the vendors and get more of their CD's, but they didn't seem to have any of them. Oh, and they played an awesome encore piece that I could only find part of on their Celtic Wedding Album. Ah well, 'twas fun anyway.

Then we had a get together on Friday evening that grew from about 4 of us to at least 10 people. It looked at first to be somewhat scary in how fast it all came together (more by chance than by planning on my part), but everything worked out well and we all had a blast. I think I'm still recovering from staying up 'till late-o'clock.

The Father unit came up on Saturday (and would have been accompanied by the Mother unit, except she had come down with something), and we took a stroll around the Covell Greenbelt. Later my Pop treated me to dinner and groceries, and I showed him the money vortex that is Armadillo Records. Fun was had by all and the Parents will probably be back up again when Mumsie has recovered.

I then proceeded to become entirely too distracted on both Sunday and Today, in that I had a Latin midterm that I did the barest amount of studying for while downloading music/watching comedy on YouTube/Facebooking/Webcomicing/Anything else that distracted me. I seemed to do all right on the test, but I think I bombed on the Scansion portion (i.e., figuring out where the feet in poetic meter go in certain lines).

Going to try and go to fencing tonight, though I feel rather sluggish. I haven't had a chance to repair my torn knickers (just some broken Velcro) and will probably be joining the sweat/workout pants club for the time being (Back into the ranks, Mr. Chen?), that is, until I go make some friends in the costume shop and pick up some sewing tips.

And now, to fold some laundry.

Enough, More Later.
- James

Edit: Didn't end up going to fencing: I started to repair my knickers and suddenly my throat felt sore. Looks like I'm coming down with something, perhaps whatever it is my mom has. This might end up sucking. Early bed for me!