Written Monday night...
Jun. 1st, 2004 12:50 pmSorry I haven't been updating, but we (Mom, Dad, and the brothers) were in Providence, Rhode Island for Memorial Day weekend - it was Mom's med school reunion at Brown University and she marched in the Commencement parade. She got to carry a baton, though she didn't get the cadeuceus (sp?). She enjoyed it very much, although the academic hood was a bit uncomfortable.
We stayed in a suite in one of the dorms. It was fairly comfortable, except that on the second night some students (although Dad said they might not have been students) decided to have a party in the parking lot below. They started playing loud music at 1:00 AM and at some point started smashing lightbulbs and bottles on the pavement. This went on for quite a while - and me without my earplugs. I'm kind of a wreck now (Monday night) because of this whole business.
I'm also a wreck because Mom has been pestering me about my weight and my lack of appropriate clothes for my internship, and Benjamin has just been pestering me. I'm trying to stay on my diet now so I can lose enough weight for Mom to stop turning every conversation into a discussion of how I need to lose 10 or 15 pounds. When I told her I thought I looked fine (I worry about it sometimes, but I don't think I'm that bad), she said it's a good thing that I have high self-esteem, but I'm deluding myself - like I don't have the right to be content with how I look just because I'm slightly overweight. This is one of the reasons I like being at college better.
I read about two thirds of my first volume of the Sherlock Holmes collection. I'm enjoying it a lot, although some of the stories are a bit flat. I found the one that put Mark Waid (creator of Ruse) off Sherlock Holmes for life - The Adventure of the Speckled Band. Why didn't he like it? Well, the solution was based on a falsehood, or, as he put it, "snakes can't hear!" Heh. But seriously, reading this has given me some ideas about how to refine my story, both in terms of the mystery and Simon's character. Although, much to my relief, the protagonist of Ruse and Sherlock Holmes are not really too similar. Holmes may be egotistical and gets a kick out of leaving people hanging for a while, but he usually makes an effort to be pleasant or at least tolerable. Occasionally he makes some sour (but funny) comment about the police or a pompous client. Simon, on the other hand, hates just about everybody and makes no secret of it. He's also less obviously eccentric than Holmes - as in, he doesn't shoot at objects on the mantel-piece in the sitting room. I think the phrase "dangerous when bored" applies to him, although mostly he's just a danger to himself.
I have also gotten from the collection a list of Victorian-era terms - types of coaches and clothing, mostly - that I am going to look up at some point.
Tomorrow I start my internship. I have clothes, lunch, and a chart (for my project) ready. I go in at 10, and I'll probably go out at 5 or 6, though really I need to discuss my hours with Sarah. Maybe I'll meet some of the other interns. I'm not sure what to expect, but mostly I'm looking forward to it.
We stayed in a suite in one of the dorms. It was fairly comfortable, except that on the second night some students (although Dad said they might not have been students) decided to have a party in the parking lot below. They started playing loud music at 1:00 AM and at some point started smashing lightbulbs and bottles on the pavement. This went on for quite a while - and me without my earplugs. I'm kind of a wreck now (Monday night) because of this whole business.
I'm also a wreck because Mom has been pestering me about my weight and my lack of appropriate clothes for my internship, and Benjamin has just been pestering me. I'm trying to stay on my diet now so I can lose enough weight for Mom to stop turning every conversation into a discussion of how I need to lose 10 or 15 pounds. When I told her I thought I looked fine (I worry about it sometimes, but I don't think I'm that bad), she said it's a good thing that I have high self-esteem, but I'm deluding myself - like I don't have the right to be content with how I look just because I'm slightly overweight. This is one of the reasons I like being at college better.
I read about two thirds of my first volume of the Sherlock Holmes collection. I'm enjoying it a lot, although some of the stories are a bit flat. I found the one that put Mark Waid (creator of Ruse) off Sherlock Holmes for life - The Adventure of the Speckled Band. Why didn't he like it? Well, the solution was based on a falsehood, or, as he put it, "snakes can't hear!" Heh. But seriously, reading this has given me some ideas about how to refine my story, both in terms of the mystery and Simon's character. Although, much to my relief, the protagonist of Ruse and Sherlock Holmes are not really too similar. Holmes may be egotistical and gets a kick out of leaving people hanging for a while, but he usually makes an effort to be pleasant or at least tolerable. Occasionally he makes some sour (but funny) comment about the police or a pompous client. Simon, on the other hand, hates just about everybody and makes no secret of it. He's also less obviously eccentric than Holmes - as in, he doesn't shoot at objects on the mantel-piece in the sitting room. I think the phrase "dangerous when bored" applies to him, although mostly he's just a danger to himself.
I have also gotten from the collection a list of Victorian-era terms - types of coaches and clothing, mostly - that I am going to look up at some point.
Tomorrow I start my internship. I have clothes, lunch, and a chart (for my project) ready. I go in at 10, and I'll probably go out at 5 or 6, though really I need to discuss my hours with Sarah. Maybe I'll meet some of the other interns. I'm not sure what to expect, but mostly I'm looking forward to it.