An Interview with Melissa Morgan
5 years ago
So I'm currently in the library here at uni. The library. Yup. That place where people are supposed to be relatively quiet and let you get work done uninterrupted (although my productivity level has gone down quite a bit in the last month since I set up my laptop to get the wireless internet in here, but that's another story). I say "supposed" to be relatively quiet because the porters and other random staff that I've never seen before are erecting some strange book-shelf oddity that is the strangest thing I've ever laid eyes on, and they're NOT doing it quietly. These things are made of metal, and there's this constant clang and bash and them talking to each other (not even whispering) and I'm slowly getting a headache. So I've given up on work for a bit and am actually writing this post now. Brilliant.
I got a package in the mail the other day. I knew it was coming and have been eagerly anticipating it for a while, even though I didn't know what its contents were. It turned out to be awesome. Thanks to Llewellyn (link on the sidebar, I'm too lazy to link it here, and besides, she hasn't written anything in a month... too busy, which I totally understand, but it would be nice to get an update now and then, I mean, geez...) I am now the proud owner of a mini magic wand key chain and an awesomely cool Gryffindor scarf (yup, geek I am). Llewellyn, you rock, and I'm going to have to do this 'unbirthday' thing more often.
I also made the mistake of downloading the game Aveyond from Big Fish games this weekend. Downloading games from Big Fish is a regular occurrence in my life, as I download them, play 60 minutes, my free trial runs out, and then I uninstall, usually feeling like I've actually already pretty much beaten the game, or that I've played the game before, with a slightly different colour scheme. Aveyond, however, was different. It's an old-school 2D RPG - think, like, Legend of Zelda for the ORIGINAL Nintendo, with slightly better, more detailed graphics. And I played the damn thing for those 60 minutes, and HOLY CRAP!!!! I was nowhere NEAR beating the game... so I forked over the money for the full version. I don't regret it for a second. I have played for nearly 15 hours since Friday (yeah, I know, how sad is that) and am STILL nowhere near beating the game. It's repetitive, and takes forever for your power to go up a level, but there's a story, and characters and... and... Yup, I'm addicted. Oops. Ah well. Good thing my first draft is pretty much done and on its way to my supervisor.
I got a package in the mail the other day. I knew it was coming and have been eagerly anticipating it for a while, even though I didn't know what its contents were. It turned out to be awesome. Thanks to Llewellyn (link on the sidebar, I'm too lazy to link it here, and besides, she hasn't written anything in a month... too busy, which I totally understand, but it would be nice to get an update now and then, I mean, geez...) I am now the proud owner of a mini magic wand key chain and an awesomely cool Gryffindor scarf (yup, geek I am). Llewellyn, you rock, and I'm going to have to do this 'unbirthday' thing more often.
I also made the mistake of downloading the game Aveyond from Big Fish games this weekend. Downloading games from Big Fish is a regular occurrence in my life, as I download them, play 60 minutes, my free trial runs out, and then I uninstall, usually feeling like I've actually already pretty much beaten the game, or that I've played the game before, with a slightly different colour scheme. Aveyond, however, was different. It's an old-school 2D RPG - think, like, Legend of Zelda for the ORIGINAL Nintendo, with slightly better, more detailed graphics. And I played the damn thing for those 60 minutes, and HOLY CRAP!!!! I was nowhere NEAR beating the game... so I forked over the money for the full version. I don't regret it for a second. I have played for nearly 15 hours since Friday (yeah, I know, how sad is that) and am STILL nowhere near beating the game. It's repetitive, and takes forever for your power to go up a level, but there's a story, and characters and... and... Yup, I'm addicted. Oops. Ah well. Good thing my first draft is pretty much done and on its way to my supervisor.
So there's a small child crying outside my window. Probably 2 years old-ish.
WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? I live on a University campus. In study bedroom flats. There is NO REASON for a small child to be here, crying outside my window, disturbing my work (or lack thereof, I've been unbelievably unproductive today...). And this isn't the first time. It's been happening at least once a day for about a week now. If those parents can't shut their child up, they should get it the hell away from the rest of us who are all here trying to do work. What was the University thinking letting a family with a small child like that move into the studio flats in this block? Christ. I sure as hell didn't want to give up my summer, many thousand pounds tuition and a few thousand pounds for the privilege of living in this tiny little room to be here to work on my dissertation, so I'd like to actually have a decent atmosphere in which to do it.
Did I mention I don't particularly like children anyway, so crying children make me want to throttle something?
So what else is new in my life... not one hell of a lot. The sunburn from a few posts back is now peeling... which is great, if you're into that sexy dead-snakeskin-type look... My hangover still, three sleeps later, doesn't seem to have entirely gone away, so I'm praying that I'm not actually getting sick at all. That'd be the last thing I need right now, especially after the illness in Paris...
Dissertation is going well-ish. I need about 3700 more words, but I've run out of things to say. Unless anyone knows what the symbolism behind burning heretics is - so far I've found out that it's a derivation of old Roman law, but that doesn't tell me WHY Christians used that particular form of execution for heretics. Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, I didn't think so. I'm not having any luck, my supervisor isn't having any luck... The Catholic Encylopedia was no help... Very frustrated.
Oh, there was a thunderstorm this morning at about 2. It was great - thunder, lightening, everything. These are pretty rare over here, you're more likely to just get a bunch of rain spread out over the day, and the occasional nasty 20-minute downpour... For a while it felt like I was back home, sleeping through an Alberta thunderstorm...
I Am Reading
Academically: Rifling through "Medieval Heresy" by Lambert in the hope I'll answer the burning question... hahaha... burning question... I'm punny...
For Fun: Innocent Traitor (Alison Weir)
Pile of Books on my Windowsill: 7 - 2 read, 1 half-read, 2 flipped-through, 2 unread.
WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? I live on a University campus. In study bedroom flats. There is NO REASON for a small child to be here, crying outside my window, disturbing my work (or lack thereof, I've been unbelievably unproductive today...). And this isn't the first time. It's been happening at least once a day for about a week now. If those parents can't shut their child up, they should get it the hell away from the rest of us who are all here trying to do work. What was the University thinking letting a family with a small child like that move into the studio flats in this block? Christ. I sure as hell didn't want to give up my summer, many thousand pounds tuition and a few thousand pounds for the privilege of living in this tiny little room to be here to work on my dissertation, so I'd like to actually have a decent atmosphere in which to do it.
Did I mention I don't particularly like children anyway, so crying children make me want to throttle something?
So what else is new in my life... not one hell of a lot. The sunburn from a few posts back is now peeling... which is great, if you're into that sexy dead-snakeskin-type look... My hangover still, three sleeps later, doesn't seem to have entirely gone away, so I'm praying that I'm not actually getting sick at all. That'd be the last thing I need right now, especially after the illness in Paris...
Dissertation is going well-ish. I need about 3700 more words, but I've run out of things to say. Unless anyone knows what the symbolism behind burning heretics is - so far I've found out that it's a derivation of old Roman law, but that doesn't tell me WHY Christians used that particular form of execution for heretics. Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, I didn't think so. I'm not having any luck, my supervisor isn't having any luck... The Catholic Encylopedia was no help... Very frustrated.
Oh, there was a thunderstorm this morning at about 2. It was great - thunder, lightening, everything. These are pretty rare over here, you're more likely to just get a bunch of rain spread out over the day, and the occasional nasty 20-minute downpour... For a while it felt like I was back home, sleeping through an Alberta thunderstorm...
I Am Reading
Academically: Rifling through "Medieval Heresy" by Lambert in the hope I'll answer the burning question... hahaha... burning question... I'm punny...
For Fun: Innocent Traitor (Alison Weir)
Pile of Books on my Windowsill: 7 - 2 read, 1 half-read, 2 flipped-through, 2 unread.
Yup, that's right. Smoking makes me sick.
I'm not a frequent smoker. The urge to smoke is usually brought on by stress, which I'm usually able to suppress, unless you get some booze into me as well. (I blame it on my parents. They both smoked when I was a kid... and then there' s just the act of having a cigarette - heading outside, lighting up, and just not thinking about the shit going on around you for a few minutes...).
Enter the Evil Eye Lounge and a few yummy and delicious cocktails. Spread out over four hours. Granted, there was fair bit of actual alcohol in each cocktail, but nothing that should have knocked me on my ass like it did this morning.
This has led me to the conclusion that when I drink AND smoke, I'm much more ill the next day. Like, throwing up ill. The last time I threw up after drinking was after a Fort party, where, *gasp, surprise*, I'd been smoking.
Is it possible to have a nicotine hangover? 'Cuz I think I've got one... Although having come and spent several hours at the library with a bottle of water and my dissertation and I'm feeling much better. Now to get some food into me... lunch time!
I Am Reading
Academically: A friend's comments on my dissertation, alongside my own dissertation. It's so handy to have friends that are experts in fields related to your own. I love the Rev. Dr. Ruth Gouldbourne at this point in time!
For Fun: Still slogging away at the adventures of Hester Prynne and the Rev. Mr. Dimmesdale
Pile of Books on My Windowsill: No change. I should probably get to those...
I'm not a frequent smoker. The urge to smoke is usually brought on by stress, which I'm usually able to suppress, unless you get some booze into me as well. (I blame it on my parents. They both smoked when I was a kid... and then there' s just the act of having a cigarette - heading outside, lighting up, and just not thinking about the shit going on around you for a few minutes...).
Enter the Evil Eye Lounge and a few yummy and delicious cocktails. Spread out over four hours. Granted, there was fair bit of actual alcohol in each cocktail, but nothing that should have knocked me on my ass like it did this morning.
This has led me to the conclusion that when I drink AND smoke, I'm much more ill the next day. Like, throwing up ill. The last time I threw up after drinking was after a Fort party, where, *gasp, surprise*, I'd been smoking.
Is it possible to have a nicotine hangover? 'Cuz I think I've got one... Although having come and spent several hours at the library with a bottle of water and my dissertation and I'm feeling much better. Now to get some food into me... lunch time!
I Am Reading
Academically: A friend's comments on my dissertation, alongside my own dissertation. It's so handy to have friends that are experts in fields related to your own. I love the Rev. Dr. Ruth Gouldbourne at this point in time!
For Fun: Still slogging away at the adventures of Hester Prynne and the Rev. Mr. Dimmesdale
Pile of Books on My Windowsill: No change. I should probably get to those...
I had the creepiest dream last night. It's one I've had before, but not recently.
It involved my grandmother dying. Which isn't all that farfetched, she's 92 years old, after all.
Then, in true "i should've been born before 1900 fashion", I dreamed that we stuck the corpse, in its coffin, in the living room of the house she hasn't owned since I was 17 years old to have a sort of a wake.
Eerie enough, eh?
But my mom, for some reason, couldn't get over the fact that her mom was dead. So she opened the coffin, saw grandma lying there, and burst into tears and had to leave the room. She ran out into the kitchen.
At which point Grandma woke up.
Yes, she woke up, but she was nothing more than a husk of her former self - almost like she'd had several strokes or something, and cognitive functions were pretty much gone.
And I think that upset me more than the idea of her just dying.
I woke myself up (yup, by this point I'd realized it was my recurring dream) at 5:30 and cried myself back to sleep until it was time to face the day.
I Am Reading:
No change since last post
It involved my grandmother dying. Which isn't all that farfetched, she's 92 years old, after all.
Then, in true "i should've been born before 1900 fashion", I dreamed that we stuck the corpse, in its coffin, in the living room of the house she hasn't owned since I was 17 years old to have a sort of a wake.
Eerie enough, eh?
But my mom, for some reason, couldn't get over the fact that her mom was dead. So she opened the coffin, saw grandma lying there, and burst into tears and had to leave the room. She ran out into the kitchen.
At which point Grandma woke up.
Yes, she woke up, but she was nothing more than a husk of her former self - almost like she'd had several strokes or something, and cognitive functions were pretty much gone.
And I think that upset me more than the idea of her just dying.
I woke myself up (yup, by this point I'd realized it was my recurring dream) at 5:30 and cried myself back to sleep until it was time to face the day.
I Am Reading:
No change since last post
So I'm planning what the hell I'm going to do with myself for 3.5 weeks when I'm done school. Here's how it looks so far:
Sept 22 - get the shipping company in to pick up all my shit except for one suitcase's worth, my backpack, and my laptop.
Sept 23 - take the laptop, suitcase, and backpack and head down to London, to drop off the laptop and the suitcase with either my friend A, or at my friend R's.
Sept 24 - ?
Sept 25 - ?
Sept 26 - ?
Sept 27 - Head up to Durham. Meet M. Catch evensong at Durham cathedral, then head up to Newcastle for the night.
Sept 28 - Hadrian's wall (sleep at Newcastle).
Sept 29 - Show M around York (I love this city, and playing geeky tourist in it is so much fun! Sleep at Newcastle again).
Sept 30 - Go to ? (this will either be Glasgow, Edinburgh, or Inverness).
Oct 1 - Fly from Inverness (or Glasgow, or Edinburgh) to Stornoway. Rent car from lovely car rental place at airport that will provide me with an automatic, since I'm still incapable of driving standard. Spend a quiet evening at the B&B since there's dick all to do in Stornoway on a Sunday.
Oct 2 - Drive around the Isle of Lewis. Take in the Broch, the blackhouses, the whalebone arch, the standing stones, etc.
Oct 3 - ? May spend a second day on Lewis. Or I may take the ferry back to the mainland and head to Inverness
Oct 4 - If I didn't go back to the mainland yesterday, I'll go today. If I did go back to the mainland, I'll be joining M and some of her friends in Inverness for a tour of Loch ness and Skye. Sleep in Inverness (probably at the youth hostel - 5-star hostel in Inverness, it's quite lovely, really!).
Oct 5 - ? (Explore Inverness)
Oct 6 - To Edinburgh. Meet with the ladies at the Herald House Hotel.
Oct 7 - Edinburgh.
Oct 8 - ?
Oct 9-17 - ?
Oct 18 - Head to London. Pick up stuff.
Oct 19 - Fly home to Canada.
Anyone have any ideas on what to do on the question mark days? I have free accommodation in Kent, Norfolk, Aberdeen-ish area, Glasgow-ish area, Preston, Chester, Aberystwyth, Swansea, Bournemouth...
Any ideas whether or not there's really more than one day's worth of stuff to do on Lewis? I've had mixed reviews... and I've never been to Skye, but _have_ done Loch Ness and don't really need to see it again...
And if you'd like to join me at any point, you're more than welcome!
I Am Reading
Academically: The saying of Iohn late duke of Northumberlande uppon the scaffolde at the tyme of his execution the xxii daye of Auguste 1553.
For Fun: The Scarlet Letter
Pile of Books on my Windowsill: unchanged
Sept 22 - get the shipping company in to pick up all my shit except for one suitcase's worth, my backpack, and my laptop.
Sept 23 - take the laptop, suitcase, and backpack and head down to London, to drop off the laptop and the suitcase with either my friend A, or at my friend R's.
Sept 24 - ?
Sept 25 - ?
Sept 26 - ?
Sept 27 - Head up to Durham. Meet M. Catch evensong at Durham cathedral, then head up to Newcastle for the night.
Sept 28 - Hadrian's wall (sleep at Newcastle).
Sept 29 - Show M around York (I love this city, and playing geeky tourist in it is so much fun! Sleep at Newcastle again).
Sept 30 - Go to ? (this will either be Glasgow, Edinburgh, or Inverness).
Oct 1 - Fly from Inverness (or Glasgow, or Edinburgh) to Stornoway. Rent car from lovely car rental place at airport that will provide me with an automatic, since I'm still incapable of driving standard. Spend a quiet evening at the B&B since there's dick all to do in Stornoway on a Sunday.
Oct 2 - Drive around the Isle of Lewis. Take in the Broch, the blackhouses, the whalebone arch, the standing stones, etc.
Oct 3 - ? May spend a second day on Lewis. Or I may take the ferry back to the mainland and head to Inverness
Oct 4 - If I didn't go back to the mainland yesterday, I'll go today. If I did go back to the mainland, I'll be joining M and some of her friends in Inverness for a tour of Loch ness and Skye. Sleep in Inverness (probably at the youth hostel - 5-star hostel in Inverness, it's quite lovely, really!).
Oct 5 - ? (Explore Inverness)
Oct 6 - To Edinburgh. Meet with the ladies at the Herald House Hotel.
Oct 7 - Edinburgh.
Oct 8 - ?
Oct 9-17 - ?
Oct 18 - Head to London. Pick up stuff.
Oct 19 - Fly home to Canada.
Anyone have any ideas on what to do on the question mark days? I have free accommodation in Kent, Norfolk, Aberdeen-ish area, Glasgow-ish area, Preston, Chester, Aberystwyth, Swansea, Bournemouth...
Any ideas whether or not there's really more than one day's worth of stuff to do on Lewis? I've had mixed reviews... and I've never been to Skye, but _have_ done Loch Ness and don't really need to see it again...
And if you'd like to join me at any point, you're more than welcome!
I Am Reading
Academically: The saying of Iohn late duke of Northumberlande uppon the scaffolde at the tyme of his execution the xxii daye of Auguste 1553.
For Fun: The Scarlet Letter
Pile of Books on my Windowsill: unchanged
I got sunburned.
It was my own fault. I was outside for two and a half hours at midday yesterday, with no sunscreen.
Wanna know the funny bit? It hurts, but I don't really mind. Small price to pay for the hours of enjoyment of the bright summer sunshine which, I'm sure, will be all too fleeting.
Guess I'm just a bit of a masochist.
It was my own fault. I was outside for two and a half hours at midday yesterday, with no sunscreen.
Wanna know the funny bit? It hurts, but I don't really mind. Small price to pay for the hours of enjoyment of the bright summer sunshine which, I'm sure, will be all too fleeting.
Guess I'm just a bit of a masochist.
With the sole exception of Brazil in 2002, every team I support manages to lose.
I am so fed up.
ARGH!
I am so fed up.
ARGH!
