The lyf so short

"Strand-'schlaaaand!"

That is all. You may now return to your usual programme.

or, MEFA results are in!

( The proud writer rambles. Indulge me. Or not, but bear with me... )

Yesterday also marked the big secret reveal (TM) in the family circle, so now I can finally squee and blather and spam to my heart's delight here.

Of course, the secret has already been sort-of-revealed by Sherlock chili_das_schaf, who, in a feat of good memory, clever speculation, pattern recognition and brilliant intuition combined recent incoherent mentions of "no period in November", "secret" and "one more week" and (presumably) came to the correct conclusion, which is, in case you still haven't guessed it: Yes, the Lyra is totally pregnant. ^^

Although the lack of period as such didn't tip me off at the time - I've had, as mentioned, the same issue during other stressful exams - there were other indicators, such as weird cravings (cauliflower, wtf?) and sudden dislikes (feta cheese ;_;), inexplicable breast growth (like they aren't big enough already :p) and absurd and quite inappropriate tiredness.
After the last written exam, I bought a pregnancy test kit, but I still didn't quite dare to get my hopes and spirits up, since a positive test result might also have other reasons and it'd kind of suck to be all "YAY OMG BABY" only to find out that actually it's uterine cancer or somesuch. >_>

However, a week ago I finally managed to get an appointment with the gynaecologist, and although the little figure in the ultrasound scan was kind of fuzzy and looked more like a teddy bear, a general trend towards human being was clearly recogniseable.

( Pictorial proof! Yes, I start baby-picspamming before it's even born. Because I can! )

Anyway! Yesterday, week 12 started (although the gynaecologist - and yes, her name is indeed Dr. Kox, and no, I think Dr. Kuntz would be more awkward, and yes, I know this was a horrible pun - said I might as well tell people "already", i.e. in Week 10, as things were stable already anyway), and as conveniently the nuclear family was gathered for Christmas, we started spreading the news. I was somewhat surprised that they were all happy - I'd expected my mom-in-law and my brother to be ecstatic, but rather thought my parents and grandmother would be too full of "BUT WHAT ABOUT YOUR CAREEEEEEER" worries and we'd have to explain forever why now was a good time and the feast would be ruined. Instead, everyone appeared really happy. Phew!

As there may be a few standard questions, I'll try to answer them right away:
- Yes, this was intended. We've sort of been trying since August, though we were a little surprised that it worked out so soon. ^^
- No, I didn't have to struggle with morning sickness. Fortunately - exams + morning sickness would've been a kind of sucky combination. As morning sickness, if it occurs at all, tends to get better/ go away after week 12, I am no longer expecting that I'll have to deal with it this time around.
- Estimated time of arrival is mid-July. (I won't even bother giving an exact date - otherwise I'll probably have people going all "OMG IS SOMETHING WRONG" if it takes a bit longer, as it apparently does in 98% of cases.)
- No, I am indeed not allowed to have sushi ;_;. Or raw fish in other forms. Or raw meat. Or cheese made of raw milk. I am also not allowed to clean the cat litter until they've checked whether I've already had toxoplasmosis. That, I am not too sad about. ^^

Next check-up on Jan. 4th. First time I'm excited about an appointment with the gynaecologist (or any other doctor, really...) ^^

And... I think that was enough blathering for the moment! :D Thanks, you may now go back to your feasting.

So the presentation on Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Ælfric's Preface To Genesis And Then Some actually went well. We managed to get all (I think) our points across (I think) well (I think), and people didn't fall asleep or look entirely confused.
We did not, however, manage to include the audience as planned within our half-hour. On the first two attempts nobody reacted, and because we had little time and I am not cruel enough to tell someone "Well look at line 26 and tell me what you see there, damnit" ("What is similitudinem? What? What?" - "Accusative, lord lady! Accusative!" - "Accusative what?!" - "Singulaaaargh!") eventually we did the things the others should have found ourselves, and the time didn't suffice for the third option anyway.

Which, of course, got us a reprimand after the presentation. "Did you have no plans to include the audience?"
"Yes we did; but time was too short."
"Well then you should have cut other things, because this was a priority."

At this point I was feeling surprisingly angry, and was seriously tempted to say "Yea more! And what exactly should we have cut? You told us explicitly to include background information on Ælfric, to explain the office of Ealdormann, to explain about Old English Bible translation again, to point out the rhetorical figures, to give examples for Ælfric's inclusion of the reader. You wanted cultural background, historical background, biographical background, background on the genre and in-depth text analysis. What, pray tell-" and yes, if I had spoken that moment, I really would have said pray tell - "What should we have left out in order to include the lazy masses that actually don't want to be included and won't do so until pushed, which takes even more time that we didn't have in the first place?"

Fortunately I managed not to vocalise these thoughts and only gave him a brief Look, but I either thought them forcefully enough or the Look was very eloquent, because his next words were "Well, but on the whole it was a very good presentation - quite exhaustive - and you should take the lack of questions not as a sign of indifference but as a sign that you left no questions open."
Note that he normally always says "Well, that was fairly good", and we actually got a "very" and additional praise. Perhaps I should use the Look more often.

After class he passed us and told us again that it was a good presentation, and then turned to me.
"By the way, I've read your term paper."
Oh crap, thinks I, here it comes.
"You can pick up your Schein whenever you want. It was a good paper."
"Thank you," I manage. Good paper. Huh. Is this the "It was a passing grade, which is a good thing" kind of good, or the "You got a grade 2" kind of good? (Note on academic grading in Germany: There's four basic passing grades - 1.0 = very good, 2.0 = good, 3.0 = satisfactory, and 4.0 = sufficient, with lots of sub-grades like 1.3 and 2.7 and what have you, plus two "failed" grades - 5 = insufficient and 6 = poor) Probably the latter, I tell myself - the paper wasn't that bad. Surely it'll be 2.something. 2.3 if I'm lucky, but let's assume 2.7 so I won't be disappointed. Or 2.9? Or did the "good" just mean "passed" after all?
Oh well. Only one way of finding out, really.

So later on between classes I go to the Student Information Office as they call the Geschäftszimmer, the department office, these days, and ask about my Schein.
I get five (whoops), two of which are wholly unexpected. Figures none of them is from Prof. A. for the Semantics seminar even though I would have been eligible for a Schein there - am not really surprised, just feel affirmed in my severe dislike of her. Also Prof. J. actually managed to grade that bloody essay from two years ago. I suppose I should have dropped by the Student Information Office earlier.

What I don't see is the Schein for the paper in question. Perhaps the Prof hasn't brought that to the SIO yet after all? Gnah. I was curious at this point.

A moment later I leaf through the five Scheine + one ancient essay again. Oh look, there's the one for the paper after all. They look different these days, you no longer have easily discernable [enter information here] lines but one homogeneous computerised mass, plus a crapload of modular information that makes it really hard to find the most interesting point, i.e. the grade, and ---

Ahahahah whut.
I think I got somebody else's Schein.
The matriculation number is mine, though, and the name is mine (albeit the maiden version).
And the paper title is mine, too.
Holy crapzors.
This must be a typo. I mean, WHUT. My paper wasn't that bad, but then again it wasn't that good, either. I mean, it didn't actually have any proper point (besides "I can't prove my point, I can only prove that I can't prove my point. Further research necessary.")
He probably meant to type 2.9, and accidentally hit the keys on the left and on the right, respectively.
I mean, he can't possibly have meant...
1.0.

ONE. Point ZERO.

This must be an error of some sort. Surely he meant 2.9. Or perhaps 2.0. Or 1.9. But never, never, never 1.0.

Except there's not just numerals, it's spelled out too. And it says, black on grey (like any proper German public institution, Cologne University uses environmentally friendly recycled paper):
very good (1.0).

The phrase WTFeth was rarely ever this appropriate.

I just barely managed to refrain from having a bonfire in the Philosophikum, or from hugging random strangers, or from running into the Prof's office to ask whether he was drunk or reading a different paper when he typed that up.

- - -

To top things off, Colin is back from Cambridge for the Medieval English Literature seminar. I'm taking said seminar for the 4th time now and finally begin to hate Othello (both book and character) a little less. And maybe, after this major motivation booster, I'll finally manage to, like, finish that paper on Sir Gawain...

*hyperventilates, and goes to light bonfire NOW*

47,785 / 50,000 (95.6%)

Do you know what that means?
That means that I will finish the NaNo part of the story by tomorrow, or Wednesday at the latest.

In terms of the entire story, that doesn't mean much. From what I can see, I may finish 11 of the 36 plot points I jotted down beforehand while the month lasts. Leaves 25 unfinished. 25! If 11 of those plotpoints mean 50000 words, that means another 100000 words at least!

On the plus side, I managed to write two (so far) smutty scenes, and while they're kind of uncomfortable and probably not very exciting for the reader, they are a) justifiable and b) free of embarrassing euphemisms. The protagonist actually has a functioning bladder, too. He goes through hell, and things are going to get worse before they get better, but, well, it goes.

AND I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.

Even in the nasty bit before the end. In the 36 plot points I had jotted down, there was a big hole between "all is really bad OMG" and "the revolution wins and all seems well - until I come up with a sequel" that I did not know how to bridge. I am still far from reaching that point, but if I ever reach it, I WILL NOW KNOW HOW TO BRIDGE IT. Because I have found plot point 35b, so to say, which brings the whole thing full circle. And actually ties in with something I had played with when I started the story, and which then did not work and got discarded. Oh no, not discarded - just shelved for a more appropriate moment.
That means that whatever happens - however much I manage to write beyond the 50000 this month - I HAVE A COMPLETELY PLOTTED STORY THERE. I apologise for the overuse of capitals, but it cannot be helped. I HAVE A COMPLETELY PLOTTED more or less ORIGINAL STORY. Of, all things considered, 200,000 words when it's done. That's 280 pages in Word (single-spaced, Times New Roman 12pt).
That actually is a novel.
*flails*

Never had that happen to me before.

It will need a hell of a lot of editing, because this is NaNo, the month of circumlocution and sloppy wording. But it's a full story. A full original story. Of which I know the beginning, middle, end, and everything in between. And it's not as bad as it could be. I mean, Eragon and Twilight got published: After that, Impossible is nothing.

(Admittedly Eragon and Twilight don't have canonically gay sex or blatantly pansexual Elves in them. But still.)

After Jörg repaired the ancient airgun we found in the attic (along with the WWII gun; but unlike the WWII gun which we had to turn in, we got to keep the airgun, which was a) broken and b) well, an airgun) last Monday, and found he got it to work but it was kind of unsatisfying.
Now ever since he was a boy he apparently dreamed of buying an airgun in a special shop in Remscheid, and this week he decided to give in and went and bought one. A Beretta, what's more.

...

Meanwhile, I have been desiring an Alto recorder for a while (not quite true: Actually I've been desiring an Alto and a new Soprano recorder for a while). Of course if I had the money to be truly irrational, I'd be looking at something made of olive or tulip wood, preferably by some reknowned recorder maker---
but let's face it, I am not, nor will I ever be, a professional or even particularly talented recorder player, nor am I likely to do anything more than play dancing tunes and christmas carols. For which my old elementary school soprano recorder should suffice, really.

But as Jörg irrationally fulfilled his childhood wish, I thought I'd be irrational, too...

Sooooo.... now I have a shiny new Alto recorder. 42 cm, pearwood with a cedar block (hey, that sounds almost Harry Potter-esque!) from a friendly Swiss manufacture.

( Here, look at the precious! )

^_____________^

Only sad thing is I can't really play it much yet - during the first weeks I may only play it 5 - 10 minutes a day, to break it in so to say. If you'd told me a month ago I'd be impatient to finally play a musical instrument again, I'd have laughed at you...

So. Name suggestions? I'm half tempted to go with Daeron, but somehow that's so... depressive, so you suggest something. And then I'll discard it and go for Daeron anyway, or so. *ducks*

naominovik has uploaded the first chapter of Victory of Eagles!

I am yaying although I have not even had a chance to read the book before that *shakes fist at boyfriend*.
HEH.

First day at university went pretty good. Essay Writing is going to be a pain, but at least it's with Professor Jackson, your friendly neighbourhood Kiwi, one of the six or so professors and lecturers I like to have classes with (out of, I dunno, 30?). Modern Japanese literature may not be as dreadful as feared, as we're not going to read any lyrical prose or some such horror (nothing against lyrical prose in general, but you try reading Japanese lyrical prose where authors invent their own compounds and let you guess what the hell they meant or invent their own grammar which is doubtlessly really deep and smart but totally untranslatable) but modern non-fiction on Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who, in the lovely parallel to the sons of Finwë that is the Three Unifiers of Japan, would be Fingolfin. Hopefully, nobody is going to wax overly abstract on him. We didn't even have to start translating today (which is good, because I hadn't) but got some introduction on the books and a short visit to the library to see where we can find the encyclopedias on ancient place-names and personal names and obsolete words and such (ok, so perhaps it may yet be as dreadful as feared). Saw an Ainu - English - Japanese dictionary that I'd have liked to steal.
We were done with that 45 minutes before the class was officially over, and I was kind of annoyed at having to kill an hour waiting for my last class. But lo! I ran into Cele who had the same problem, and we spent the hour discussing Norway (where Cele spent the last semester), Scandinavistics in general, Kendô, Japanese history and Fëanor. And it was good.

The anthro seminar may or may not be boring, but I think I got one of the good presentation/paper topics. Only backset: We have to do some feedback stuff for Anthro now in preparation for the quality management (AAAAAAAH!) that is to come when the university finally switches to the bachelor/MA degree system. Having had to do with the terror that is quality management at work these past weeks, I was not delighted. Feedback on presentations I can understand and even think a good idea, as there have been ROTTEN presentations in all my classes the past semesters and I'm sure some constructive feedback might help in the one or other case. But the expectations/results thing? Ridiculous. "Why are you in this class? What do you expect to gain from this class?" If I am to reply honestly, the answer would be "Because it's the only theories class HELD this semester and I need one theories certificate for the final exam. I expect to gain said certificate. Perhaps some entertainment and knowledge, too, but the certificate is the main thing." But I think that's not the kind of reply they're looking for...

Still, it was a pretty encouraging day. I hope the semester goes on like this. >_>

Also, today is my boyfriend's birthday! We'll have a barbecue in celebration. Meanwhile should all leave some congratulations here. :D

- - -
( Zurück an die Uni )
- - -

Today 'náro tried to make off with a bottle of whisky, a twelve-year old Bowmore. Pushed it off the shelf (it fell onto a heap of my papers, fortunately, so it survived) and then rolled it across the floor trying to open it.

I should be worried, shouldn't I?

In other news, I went to Bochum today. Bochum isn't exactly on your must-see list of cities; the most poetic thing that has been said about Bochum, I believe, is that it's where the sun collects dust.
My going there was for two very nice reasons, however: Firstly, I met Simmi again, a member of the ancient Elbenwald fellowship from the old days before the movies came out; secondly, we were going to visit the "Skies of Middle-earth" show at the local planetarium.
"The Skies of Middle-earth" has been created by students from Bremen, who collected the astronomy-related stuff from the Silm, the LotR and the HoME and recite it in the star-dome* accompanied by fitting music, illustrations and ambientic light.
Beautiful.
They had simplified some stuff which made me go "Ainur! It's AINUR, not Valar!" but it made sense considering most of the audience probably was confused enough as it was. Fortunately, they had decided for the correct pronunciation of the names instead of the German one (which isn't nearly as bad as the English, but turns all the th into ordinary t, so Lúthien ends up LOO-tee-an (or, if you're really unlucky, LOO-tsee-an) rather than LOO-þee-an, and the like).
It was basically The Silmarillion 101, with the Ainulindalë (except it was the Valalindalë really, see above), the Beginning of Days, The Silmarils, Beren and Lúthien and the Voyage of Eärendil retold, plus some extra information on the legends of certain constellations (such as Menelmacar/-vagor (i.e., Orion) or Wilwarin (i.e., the Cassiopeia)).
It was very ambientic and very nice. Probably kind of confusing for people who only know the movies and never even heard of the Silm, but highly enjoyable for people who have.
^_________^

Will update on the LoCreMo progress tomorrow. I hope.

- - -
*star-dome, as you may or may not know, would be elrond in Sindarin. Which explains the subject line.

I got another belated birthday gift today. Or two, really - Many Waters, and a Helium Vola CD. Both by the young woman with the best last name in the world, also known as the lovely ladyelleth (her again!)
You people are insane! I love you.
*hugs madly*

Also, yes, I am taking this as motivation to finally find a date for the birthday party.