So I've just finished reading the first original DS9 novel ever published, The Siege by Peter David, which Mum had bought a used paperback of at one of the local libraries, and I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the matter.

( Here they are )

EDIT: cassie5squared also pointed out that this needed a cut. Oops.

 Also posted this on Facebook, but I'm used to putting fics on LJ as well. Whee, cross-posting. 

( Fury )
235 words.

 Eric Idle is one year older than he was last year!

Also, I'm 18.

I can vote, drink in most countries except the one I actually live in, join the army, buy cigarettes... I think I'll stick to voting.

For myself, of course.

World domination shall be mine!

 So it was my dad's birthday yesterday. We get home from the restaurant, planning to watch the Trek reboot movie after I finish making his card, for which I have just had an idea.

As it turns out, this takes me the better part of an hour and a half and we don't actually watch the movie.

But my dad absolutely loved the card, so it all worked out.

Here's the text of it, under a cut, because there's quite a lot of it and the print I used to fit it all on the card was so small Mum was convinced poor ol' Dad was going to need a magnifying glass (which he didn't).

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the Star Trek series. Please don't sue me for attempting to be whimsical, Paramount.

( Dad's Birthday Card 2010 )
*****

This was rather more fun than it probably should have been.

No, I do not have too much time on my hands.

I have quite a few unfinished assignments.

Judging by the unholy amount of tissues I have gone through today, I think I am getting a cold.

But the electricity is back.

And I just discovered that the Broadway version of The Lion King exists in French.

Equilibrium. 

 You recall that the story I wrote for English was an assignment based on our reading Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

I hadn't even started reading the book when I wrote it. The creepy part is that this would have made the best epigram ever:

"But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and by heavens! I tell you, it had gone mad."

On that note, I got an A+ and successfully intrigued my teacher. Also made $1840 for the week in Economics (in class currency, of course), and learned two French euphemisms for prostitutes.

It was a pretty good day.

(Filles de joie –girls of joy– and filles de bonne volonté –girls of good will– if anyone was curious. The second was used by Voltaire in Candide, which we're reading, but my teacher told us the first.)

Going to the Salvation Army store tomorrow to find sufficiently Browncoat-ish clothing. (Purim's coming up. Basically, you dress in costume, eat a lot, and engage in an ancient form of MSTing– booing and hissing when the villain, Haman, is mentioned– while listening to the story. Oh, and you're specifically encouraged to get so drunk you can't tell Mordecai, the hero, from Haman. And, presumably, then fall over, start singing, or both.)

 Had to write a piece on the dark side of human nature for English, since we're reading Heart of Darkness. Didn't particularly want to go delving completely into my own little neuroses and insecurities, so I chose to write a short story and ended up with a rather macabre little piece... romance, passion, and a murder most foul, to quote that Corpse Bride song I can't seem to stop listening to, although admittedly only involving the last bit.

I did take a few things from my own life; although the idea that we defend ourselves most passionately (and thus delude ourselves the best) when someone else confronts us is a large part of what makes me squee over the conflicts of, for example, Deep Space Nine so much, it does occur in me as well. (I will hasten to add that this is merely to the extent of trying to excuse my procrastination to my mother, and not anything so dire as, say, the Occupation of Bajor...)


I only handed this in today; what my teacher thinks of it remains to be seen, as thankfully I have a long weekend. 

( As A Passing Shadow )

I'm capable of writing happy fluffy things, I swear. Ask cassie5squared .

As for any other personal connections, I do get that same feeling ("...as though I was a wild dog with its hackles raised") around my resident archnemesis, who does sometimes try to get my attention with talk that doesn't bear repeating, but under no circumstances do I plan to pursue the course of action taken by the narrator.

Besides, in any case, I'll be rid of him forever in about five months, by the much more expedient method of graduating, which is statistically proven not to cause anywhere near as much madness and/or death.

 I always rather wanted to do one of these.

Nicked off agent_tomato .

Step 1: Put your mp3 player on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

(Note: These 20 aren't consecutive; I have a lot of soundtracks and other instrumentals, which as such had to be skipped.)

1. Three heavy stones will keep it from floating

2. I'm gonna be a mighty king, so enemies beware

3. Once, long ago, there was a time

4. Bravely bold Sir Robin rode forth from Camelot

5. Here lies everything

6. Do you have the time 

7. Did you find what you were looking for?

8. Our Chinese cook, he grabbed all he could took

9. When the devil is too busy

10. Pressure, pushing down on me

11. Here we stand, and here we fall

12. Come on, babe, why don't we paint the town?

13. Feels like the weight of the world

14. What once did exist 

15. The moon was full and the color of blood

16. This is what I brought you, this you can keep

17. I can't see your star

18. An old man by a seashore at the end of day

19. First you get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosaries

20. Sometimes I get to feeling I was back in the old days

EDIT: Good, people got #2 and #4. My faith in humanity ain't dead yet. 

 ...and they were most probably correct.

So I'm preparing for a science competition. This year there's an ornithology event; identifying birds of North America and such. This of course dictates that I need to memorise some bird calls.

It probably doesn't dictate that, upon hearing one of said bird calls, something possesses me to lunge for a text file and start madly typing away.
It started with the first line of dialogue; then there were two characters, and it was suddenly quite obvious that this was mid- to late-19th century America. 

I'm still damned if I know anything about this, other than the fact that, prior to it, I had writer's block in respect to anything original, and was grumpy with it.

Explaining the situation to my parents resulted in their wanting to read said story, and also hear the bird call responsible (my dad's expression of complete "What the hell?" at the latter was rather funny). But you already know they're both mad as well.

On the bright side, I did manage to force a few facts (habitat and such) in here, so at the least it might help my partner and me to remember some things about the American bittern.

Found the call and uploaded it, for those of you curious as to how the hell it could inspire this:

American Bittern


And now for the feature presentation. 1,013 words.

( Concerning Bitterns )