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Back in the UK
I'm back in the UK. As expected, there are no internets at the flat. :( O2 texted me to tell me that they will be connecting our broadband on the 20th, which means I will be without internets for four more days. Woe is me.
I'm using the uni internets right now, which I'll keep doing the next couple of days. It's 8:15pm in the evening, and every door in the building is locked except the front door, so I'm sitting in the lobby at a wobbly table on a folding chair that I found standing around. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be here, but hey, they didn't lock the front door yet, and I can access the uni wireless network from the lobby just as well as I could from the IT room. I just hope they won't lock the front door without noticing me, or me noticing.
I've been reading Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. I'm half-way through the second novel by now, and I just can't decide whether I like the series or not. I've never been a huge fan of the stuff she's published online--it's very well written, of course, but her summary-like style just doesn't really work for me. It works better when it's applied to novel format, but there are still stretches in the book where I'm wishing for a bit less action description and a bit more interpersonal interaction and dialog. Also, I found that especially in the first book, there was precious little conflict. Things seemed to always work out for Laurence and Temeraire without much trouble or sacrifice, and I found myself wishing for a bit more serious complications. But that might very well just be me.
On the other hand, the novels are definitely very entertaining, the characters are, while rather straightforward and uncomplicated, still well-formed, and the plot is engaging. (Most of the time. The chapter-long journey to China which I'm currently in the process of slogging through is starting to become a little tedious, but well, it's a bunch of people and a dragon sitting on a ship for eight months with nothing to do. Describing that would have to get a little boring at some point.) I doubt that the series is going to turn into a favorite, but I was pleasantly surprised nonetheless. I expected to like them less than I actually do.
There is so much stuff I still need to sort out before my USA trip. Most of that is money and meds stuff, taking care of which can't be counted among my favorite spare time activities. But hey, I do get to travel to the States, so all is well. I'm ridiculously excited about this trip. I've been wanting to see New York City and the East Coast for a while now.
. . . there was more I wanted to talk about, but I can't think of what it was. I know I owe a couple of people replies to comments in my last post; I'll get around to that once I've got my internet sorted out. Right now, the laptop is running out of juice, so I'll be signing off and going home to finish Throne of Jade. Oh, and maybe, if there's no internet to distract me, I could get some vidding or writing done. (She said optimistically.) And I need to get used to being back in the UK. Stuff is open on Sundays!
comment on LJ
I'm using the uni internets right now, which I'll keep doing the next couple of days. It's 8:15pm in the evening, and every door in the building is locked except the front door, so I'm sitting in the lobby at a wobbly table on a folding chair that I found standing around. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be here, but hey, they didn't lock the front door yet, and I can access the uni wireless network from the lobby just as well as I could from the IT room. I just hope they won't lock the front door without noticing me, or me noticing.
I've been reading Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. I'm half-way through the second novel by now, and I just can't decide whether I like the series or not. I've never been a huge fan of the stuff she's published online--it's very well written, of course, but her summary-like style just doesn't really work for me. It works better when it's applied to novel format, but there are still stretches in the book where I'm wishing for a bit less action description and a bit more interpersonal interaction and dialog. Also, I found that especially in the first book, there was precious little conflict. Things seemed to always work out for Laurence and Temeraire without much trouble or sacrifice, and I found myself wishing for a bit more serious complications. But that might very well just be me.
On the other hand, the novels are definitely very entertaining, the characters are, while rather straightforward and uncomplicated, still well-formed, and the plot is engaging. (Most of the time. The chapter-long journey to China which I'm currently in the process of slogging through is starting to become a little tedious, but well, it's a bunch of people and a dragon sitting on a ship for eight months with nothing to do. Describing that would have to get a little boring at some point.) I doubt that the series is going to turn into a favorite, but I was pleasantly surprised nonetheless. I expected to like them less than I actually do.
There is so much stuff I still need to sort out before my USA trip. Most of that is money and meds stuff, taking care of which can't be counted among my favorite spare time activities. But hey, I do get to travel to the States, so all is well. I'm ridiculously excited about this trip. I've been wanting to see New York City and the East Coast for a while now.
. . . there was more I wanted to talk about, but I can't think of what it was. I know I owe a couple of people replies to comments in my last post; I'll get around to that once I've got my internet sorted out. Right now, the laptop is running out of juice, so I'll be signing off and going home to finish Throne of Jade. Oh, and maybe, if there's no internet to distract me, I could get some vidding or writing done. (She said optimistically.) And I need to get used to being back in the UK. Stuff is open on Sundays!
comment on LJ
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Oh, and maybe, if there's no internet to distract me, I could get some vidding or writing done.
Hahahaa, let me know how this works out for you. It doesn't for me. ;)
And I need to get used to being back in the UK. Stuff is open on Sundays!
It's awesome, isn't it?!!!!
Also: I knew I was back home when on the train a three-year-old boy started discussing the pros and cons of Old!Who versus New!Who with his grandma. They mentioned Daleks.
I loled so hard I had to hide or they would have gotten suspicious. LOL
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Well, I've been itching to continue my The Noose vid while I was in Germany, but I couldn't, since vidding on the laptop is a joke and the desktop was in the UK. Now that I have the desktop back, of course I'm not vidding, but I'm still hoping that once I manage to sit down and start, my enthusiasm might come back.
Heh, I haven't really had the I AM BACK IN THE UK experience yet, but still, walking around on a Sunday with stuff actually open, it was fun.