I Suddenly Remembered My Charlemagne

Post a comment and I'll tell you five things I associate with you, and then you get to post about them in your own lj.

I ended up with input from havocthecat, gabolange and abyssinia4077 for this. As relative newcomers to my f-list, I wasn't entire sure what to expect! I ended up with: UF, archaeology, cake, toasters and Boomer; Korea, Canada, bookstore, travel and cake; and BSG, cakes and the making thereof, my default icon and my thoughts on Madeleine L'Engle, Daniel/Janet, and my favourite pairing ever.

UF: The University of Florida has been The Dream for longer than I care to admit. Originally, I wanted my family to send me to Florida so that I could take an IB degree with my best friend Lesley, but sending 13-year-olds abroad is sort of dumb, so obviously it didn't happen. Instead I went to a high school I loved, and had a great time there.

Then I came to the attention of the head Track and Field coach at UF, which interested me because being an NCAA athlete would have been AMAZING and also because it was something that neither of my two older sibs had done (competitive much? Oh, yes!). However, they were only prepared to offer me a partial scholarship, and it wouldn't cover tuition as a foreigner, so that was out.

And now we come to graduate school. And the current abiding terror. I really want into their forensic anthro program, and I seem to have picked EXACTLY the wrong time to do it. But the prof emailed me first, and I've had nothing but understanding and help from them...so I am hoping pretty damn hard.

Archaeology: Archaeology has been the dream even longer than UF has been. I was one of those kids who met dinosaurs at age five and thought that that was it until I met the pyramids a year later. It's only gotten more interesting from there (except for that summer I spent digging in Ontario. That was like unto hell).

I finally settled on Forensics because I could combine what I already know (Near Eastern) with something that is socially useful today (sort of). There are a lot of bodies in the ground in the Middle East, and their loved ones deserve to know.

Toasters: The toaster is a very underrated kitchen implement, often outstripped by such inventions as the toaster oven and the sandwich maker. For years we didn't even HAVE a toaster. But then I went to university and took the old toaster oven and mum bought herself a new one that took FOUR MINUTES to toast a slice of bread and dad thought that was ridiculous, so he bought himself a machine that only toasts things. The upside is that we can now make 8 pieces of toast at the same time (which is more important than you might think), and also that we have something that accurately toasts a bagel which, for some reason, a toaster oven never properly does.

Oh wait, did you mean Cylons?

Boomer

GOD, I LOVE BOOMER!

I loved her back when she was troubled and unsure, I cried for her when she tried to kill herself, I shrieked more than a little when she shot Adama in the CIC, and I came thisclose to hating Cally when she shot her in the hallway.

After that it gets a little confusing, because it took a while for Sharon to reveal herself fully as Not Boomer, but when Boomer downloaded on Caprica and made everything worse trying her best AGAIN I fell back into my old habits.

It had better work out for her, this time. She can marry the Chief and they can have Cylon babies and it might be a little awkward, but I DON'T CARE. We didn't get that cut last episode for nothing!

Korea: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. And most of the time, it seemed like a good idea at the time. If nothing else, I learned to love Chapters (more later). I grew as a person, finally killed off anything remotely resembling maternal extinct I might have ever once possessed, and fell in love with Robert Munsch. Mostly, I am just glad it's over. As Becca said: I'm glad I went. I am more glad that I came home.

Canada:
"One thing I know about
The rest of my life
I know that I’ll be
Living it in Canada
I know I said I’ll share
The rest of my days
But I was only
Going through a phase"

Really. I might leave it for the PhD...but I am never working anywhere else again. I freaking love this country for SO MANY REASONS, and I am NOT going anywhere else.

And hey! I came back to my favoured candidate for leader of the Liberal party! Winners all around.

Bookstore: I started working at Chapters (referred to as "the Book Cabal") in October of 2007 and quit to go to Jordan in May of 2008. I REALLY hope they hire me again. I love talking to people about books, talking people out of buying "Twilight" and putting things in alphabetical order. It's fun! Plus, the look people give you when you correctly id a book off the BAREST of descriptions is SUCH an ego boost!

Travel: Even though there were six of us and money was tight, my parents were careful to instill a love of travel in all of their kids. When we were little, we stuck to Canada and the US, but when I was 13 I spent a year in Australia, and I haven't really looked back since. I've lived in four different countries and been to eleven. I've been to five continents. I have no plans to stop now...it's just a question of money.

When I travel, I do prefer to start with the guided tour. I am not much for beaches. If it has History, I will love it. I don't really go places to look at the scenery. I have no interest in Adventure Tourism. People who stay in American hotels whilst in Europe MYSTIFY me. I am not half as adventurous as I might seem, but I did go swimming in Loch Ness in February, which I think counts for something.

BSG: Oh, show! I got in because mylittleredgirl wrote R rated Adama/Roslin fic as a post ep for "33" and never looked back (okay, maybe during "The Woman King"). When I called Rogers to ask for the miniseries, they were all "Oh yeah, we've got it!" and when I went in the next day, they guy said "Are you the person who called for it yesterday? Yeah, I didn't think we'd have two girls call for it in the same weekend."

I love this show, though I am not sure it is for the reasons the creators intended me to. I imagine they were after people liked space battles or hot chicks or clever writing...what they got was a Classics Nerd who delights in STUPID THINGS like the Nymph magazine, the way that God(s) is a dangerous person to ask and the hall of memories. This show is SO FREAKING GREEK and I LOVE IT.

I have written an unusual amount of meta lately, and I once used the show as the basis for a seminar I gave in my senior Greek Religion class at university (I talked about how the evolution of the scholarship of Greek Religion mirrors the evolution of its portrayal in sci-fi TV. So for "the tour" we have Star Trek's wretched "Who Mourns For Adonais?", for the beginnings of serious study we have Daniel solving Linear A and not getting to hear what all the bull horns are for, and for the current level of study we have the ACTUAL RELIGION on BSG). It was fun!

GOD AND IT'S ALMOST OVER!!!

My Default Icon and the Origins Thereof: I found this icon in synecdochic's Monday Pride thread a few weeks back, tracked it down and snagged it, and it is EASILY my most commented on icon ever. I have the still verion, and an animated one with the entire prayer.

As readers of this lj know, I am not Christian, but I am religious. I love this prayer, and I have used it on more than one occasion.

As to my feelings on Madeleine L'Engle? I wrote this when she died. Her books changed me. Gave me my outlook. Gave me my hope. Gave me the SINGLE KINK that is GUARANTEED to make me watch/read something, anything, from Star Trek Deep Space Nine to Happy Feet.

Daniel/Janet: This one is actually sort of funny. Probably not ha-ha funny...but funny.

In the beginning, I was a Sam/Jack 'shipper, because I didn't know there was anything else. I knew that Janet was a character, but I was determined not to fall in love with her, because Heroes had already happened, and I didn't want to waste my time.

There was one, tiny, problem. ALL of my SG-1 friends (at the time) were Daniel/Janet 'shippers.

But I held strong. I wrote Sam/Jack and gen and it was all fine, but I had this big story brewing in my head, and I needed a 'ship to pull it off, and for a variety of reasons, Sam/Jsck was not going to work. It was at this point I read "Frozen Flame", that fantastic epic, and Suzie talked a lot in her notes about how one doesn't HAVE to be a 'shipper to read the fic: she just needed a 'ship to make it work.

So I started to write. And read a lot more Daniel/Janet. And in the eight months it took me to finish, I was in love. They are REALLY good together, either as a fix for each other or (as I have come to see them more and more lately) as two people who are perfect for each other in a world that just won't let them be. But Daniel/Janet was very much my gateway into fandom, into real life friendships, and I love them even more for that.

My Favourite Pairing Ever: Oh...dear.

After staring at the computer screen for more time than is reasonable, I am going to have to settle on Sir Alana, King's Champion of Tortall and George Cooper, one time Rogue and current Baron of Pirate's Swoop. Because when he said "Have I finally tamed me a Lioness?" she replied "I don't think the lady of Pirate's Swoop should be tame, do you?" and he was all "Fair point!"

He really went after her and didn't ask her to change AT ALL. Which is way more than the other two idiots men she slept with did. He just loved her and waited patiently and was TOTALLY OKAY WITH EVERYTHING.

(OH GOD, they are the fantasy version of CJ and Danny!)

And they had sex before they got married. IN A KIDS' BOOK. How awesome is that?

The more astute of you will notice that ALL THREE requested Cake and this has not been explained. The reason for this is simple: the pictures of my latest endeavour are still on the camera, and I haven't got to them yet. It will be up in the next couple of days, along with a post about the random things that brought me to cake making. :)

ETA: The Cake Post