A Whirlwind Christmas

The holidays have left me entirely too busy. It's near impossible to get any work done for university when I'm trying to do things like baking cookies, buying gifts, and introducing my boyfriend to the Seattle area. We spent an epic weekend in Vancouver visiting friends, who I miss dearly. Then, a week getting accustomed to being back home (or being in a new country, for my boyfriend), preparing for Christmas, and getting small amounts of project work done. Now that Christmas is over, I have a couple more days with my mom before she flies home, and then a week to do more touristy things and still try to get some work done. I think it will pass far too quickly.

The power went out on Christmas Day, just as we were about to start making German Apple Pancake for breakfast. With bacon and coffee. It was due to a wind storm, and it was just a local outage, so it was barely covered in the news. I'm sad about missing that breakfast, but thankfully that's the only thing we missed due to the power outage. We were still able to go to my relatives' place for dinner that evening, since most of Seattle had power, and we had already baked our traditional Pepparkakor cookies and bought presents for the kids (my second cousins).

My boyfriend's impressions of America? There's a lot to say. The major difference he's noticed is that everything is bigger. I thought that was just an exaggeration that people threw around, but apparently it's true. The cars, the sizes of food and drinks, the roads, the houses, the stores. There seem to be slightly different driving rules, apart from the obvious different side of the road; overtaking a car in the lane to your left is seen as legal here, yet it's illegal in the UK. Tipping waitresses is expected of you here. And, most importantly: sushi is much cheaper.

I might manage another blog amid the chaos in the coming week. Until then... Happy Holidays!

Snow

Last night was our first snowfall of the season. It's continued today, just enough to make the roads slushy and dust the grass and rooftops with white. In the next couple days we might have a few more flurries, but not anything substantial. Nevertheless, it's made me finally embrace the fact that winter is here.

I can never quite explain the excitement I feel when snow falls. It makes me want to go out and play in it, dance in it, touch it. It covers everything in a silent, sparkling white blanket. There's something magical about it, something more than just white and cold. I know its distinct smell, how it feels to step in an unbroken patch, the crunching sound it makes. There's something mesmerizing about how it falls from the sky.

It's also a sign that the holidays are near. Time with family and friends, time for warm kitchens, full bellies, trees bedecked with twinkling lights. Coming in from the cold outside, taking off heavy layers, and enjoying a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate. The excitement of opening a colorfully wrapped present or thoughtfully chosen and sealed card--or watching someone open something you've chosen for them. Even as the years pass and fewer presents under the tree have our name, we remember what it's like as a child. It becomes equally as exciting to watch the younger generation open their presents. I think snow stirs these memories. Even if I have to wait a few weeks for these things, the anticipation makes the happiness stick with me.

So if you see me watching snow fall with a grin, this is likely what I'm thinking about.

Holiday Plans

The end of my work this term is in sight. I've only got one more report to write, due Thursday, and a few odds and ends to finish. Stress has been intense this term, and I'm not one to easily shrug it off. I still managed to have a good 21st birthday celebration last week, in the middle of everything (I won't really feel older until I got to America and realize I can go into--and drink in--bars). I've been eagerly awaiting Christmas break this term, as I have a lot to look forward to. It's finally (almost) here.

After I hand in my last assignment, I'll buy and play Skyrim, which I mentioned in my last post. I'll be reading The Wise Man's Fear and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. I'll also be working on my writing a little; I've been thinking about moving all of my novel editing to my computer (which involves copying all my already written edits), so I don't have to carry around the entire printed version. It was a nice idea while it lasted.

And, in two weeks, I'll be going to Seattle for three weeks with my boyfriend. It'll be great fun to be a tourist again, and show him America for the first time. I'll probably end up posting about our adventures in the next month or two. I'm looking forward to baking cookies, going shopping, being with family... of course, working on my yearlong Computing Science project at the same time, and studying a little, but at least it'll be more leisurely.

I'm enjoying the cold blustery weather as winter sets in, and I'm still waiting for snow! Perhaps it's almost time for another blog background change, to suit the season change...

November Thoughts

A chill has settled in the air. It's not quite winter here in Scotland, but it's certainly getting closer. After the time change recently, it's dark by the time I walk home at night. I haven't yet broken out my pea coat. Once it's predicted to be very cold for a few consecutive days, I'll consider it.

It's also November. To me, that means NaNoWriMo (which I am honestly way too busy to participate in this year if I want to stay sane... maybe next year), Thanksgiving, my birthday, and impatiently waiting for the first snowfall. This year my birthday is on the same day as Thanksgiving, but since I'm in the UK I won't get the day off. I have two projects due the day after. I hope to get work done beforehand, so I can be free to have fun on my birthday. My 21st is one I should make sure and celebrate! Despite already being able to drink in the UK.

Today's date is 11/11/11. Yes, even in Britain. To Americans, this is Veteran's Day. I have a few issues with how some people honor Veteran's Day, and I could probably dedicate an entire post to it, but I'll leave it at this: I'm sure many of them are honorable people, but I personally don't understand why anyone in their right mind would join the military. It's also depressing what happens to these people when they come back from tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. I'd prefer if we focused on keeping people from going to war rather than honoring people who have been to war.

However, today isn't just Veteran's Day. To the UK, it's Remembrance Day, which honors the end of WWI. In Korea, it's Pepero Day, similar to Valentine's Day, when people give their friends and significant others Pepero, a treat similar to the Japanese snack Pocky. To gamers, it's the launch day of Skyrim, the sequel to the massively successful game Oblivion. And to some, it's just a lucky day. Something about a date with the same 6 digits that won't come around for another thousand years just seems like a reason to celebrate.

So go grab a hot chocolate, a mug of coffee, a bottle of Magners, or whatever makes you happy, and await the snow with me.

Honoring A Few Heroic Tales

I've had absolutely no time to write. Despite this, I've been promising people I will write, in a gaming blog and a university-related computer science blog. I'll post the links here when those start.

Otherwise, I've been swamped with coursework. For each of my 5 classes I have a project, and then I have an additional year-long project that isn't associated with a class. They include a "smart" pac-man maze solver, an Android game that has elements in the real world, a visual Facebook-related Android app, and a few more that are both code-based and writing-based. In a lot of cases, the report is worth more than the actual code.

During my free time (or to be honest, my "procrastination time," as I have no free time), I was browsing the web and remembered one of my favorite authors as a kid, Brian Jacques. I hadn't visited his website in a while, so I searched for his name and clicked the first link. The first thing that came to mind was that the website's look had completely changed. The second thing was a link at the top that caught my eye. "Obituaries." He had passed away in February, and I hadn't known. None of the people I know read his books, so I guess that's understandable. But the world has lost a great storyteller. I thought I would blog a little to honor his writing.

If you know nothing about his work, I'll give a little explanation of the style of his writing. After years of odd jobs including being a merchant sailor and a milkman, he began writing. His main work, the Redwall series, was started for the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind. His writing is very descriptive, in order for people without sight to be able to imagine the story as richly as possible. The Redwall series is based around Redwall Abbey and its inhabitants, a collection of small animals that one would expect to find in a forest. Mice, squirrels, moles, rabbits, and birds are just a few of them. Jacques has given a specific accent or way of speaking to every one of these animals, which is written out in the text, and gives them much more personality. Given the descriptive element, the feasts they have at the abbey always sound marvelous. The stories are classic "good versus evil" themes, the villains usually "vermin" like rats, ferrets, foxes, and sometimes even cats. Sometimes the hero is taken away from the abbey by force, sometimes they set out for adventure, but they always end up saving the day valiantly. Don't let the anthropomorphism scare you away; the writing and his world of Mossflower is rich and beautiful. They're brilliant tales.

Jacques has written one novel in this series nearly every single year since 1986, when Redwall was published. He also has other series, including Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, which was also a great read. I've read many of the Redwall books, but not all. I expect they'd still be just as enjoyable as they were when I was a kid, so I want to make a point to read all the ones I've missed. If you're looking for a good old-fashioned heroic story, pick up Redwall, and appreciate the late Jacques' writing.

Radio Shows And The Spoken Word

These days, I don't listen to the radio. I'm not driving, I don't own a physical radio, and I don't bother going to websites of radio stations to listen. It's just too easy to find the exact type of song you want to listen to on the web. But the one thing that I miss out on because of this is spoken radio: news stories, radio shows, the sort of thing my parents would play in the car on long drives.

The best radio station for this in America was (and still is) NPR, National Public Radio. When I was young, I was annoyed at my parents when they put it on. Why would they want to listen to news all the time? It's usually either boring or depressing. But then, I discovered something I didn't expect: radio shows with interesting stories, interviews and in-depth accounts of interesting things that have happened--and some that haven't. I started to ask my parents to turn to NPR, or to stay on listening to it after the 20 minutes of news were over. Sometimes, it was a happy surprise after flipping channels, with no interesting music playing. You'd think that radio shows like this were out of fashion, no one did them anymore, it was for a time without computers and TV. But podcasts still live and there are still people who listen to the radio in their cars. The work of reading is gone, someone is speaking to you in their best storyteller voice, and you still get to picture everything in your imagination. I love it.

I'll give you my three favorite shows, all available online. A Prairie Home Companion has been my favorite. It's hosted by Garrison Keillor, an amazing writer with a unique and captivating voice. I imagine he'll be hosting the show till he passes away, and what a sad day that will be. The show is largely humorous, which I think was what drew me to it in the first place. My favorite segments are ones like "Guy Noir, Private Eye" and "The Lives of the Cowboys," little made-up stories with recurring characters and largely ridiculous shenanigans, with both the characters' voices and the sound effects done by actors. Other segments include different bands, usually small and little-known, and most of them in the genre of country, blues, and bluegrass. The main segments are monologues of Keillor's, such as "The News from Lake Wobegon" which I've never believed were completely true stories, and other interesting tidbits, different in every show. There are recurring made-up ads for "Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie" and "Powdermilk Biscuits" which always make me chuckle. It runs once a week, and I make sure to catch it when I visit America--and sometimes online.

Another one on NPR that's worth listening to is This American Life. On their site, they say, "There’s a theme to each episode, and a variety of stories on that theme. It’s mostly true stories of everyday people, though not always." The stories have always managed to grab my attention, and I can't stop listening to one once I've started. A now-famous radio host Ira Glass hosts it, whose voice I also like listening to. Once I hear it, I know it's time for a good story. I listened to one today because I heard Neil Gaiman had written a short story for it at the very end of the hour--but the entire hour is worth listening to. The first part is about an American man who ended up in a Chinese prison, and the rest is short stories of adventure, both creepy and whimsical. The theme is "Adventure" and is available here.

Lastly, The Vinyl Cafe. This show isn't on NPR, but instead on a Canadian radio station. "The stories and misadventures of Dave, the owner of the "Vinyl Cafe", the world's smallest record store, where the motto is 'We may not be big, but we're small.'" I frequently listened to this show on weekends at home with my mom, eating breakfast and listening, lingering in the dining room and living room longer than I would have otherwise. This is similar to A Prairie Home Companion, except there is more of an emphasis on stories, though there's music too. They were always fun stories, both entertaining and gripping.

All of these are available on their respective websites for download, and are subscribable via RSS feed or iTunes podcasts. NPR has other interesting programs, so I recommend you check out their site as well. I highly recommend you listen to at least one of these shows, and perhaps leave some time in your day for stories. We all need them.

Fall Term Classes

The new term is now in full swing, and I'm enjoying myself. I finally get to choose (all but one of) my classes this year, and I find them all both engaging and challenging. Here's as understandable an explanation I can make of all the classes I'm taking:

Artificial Intelligence (AI): Speaks for itself, mostly. I'll be learning everything from decision-tree algorithms to how we can make robots think, learn and be "intelligent." I don't know what our project will be yet, but last year's was to create the "mind" for a robot like a roomba. Ideally, if attached to a real roomba "body," it would be able to navigate a room's floor and vacuum it in the most efficient way possible. I've heard from last year's 4th years that this project--and class--was quite challenging. It interests me enough, though, that I'm just going to put my nose to the grindstone and hope for the best.

Constraint Programming (CP): Consider a Sudoku problem. You have spaces for numbers, some of which are filled in. Then you have "constraints," where each row, colum, and 3x3 square must all have the numbers 1-9, no repetitions. A solution program to this constraint satisfaction problem, or CSP, would consider the empty spaces, the ones filled in, and the constraints, and using built-in algorithms, would be able to solve any Sudoku problem. These are the sort of problems I'll be learning about. I won't have to write the algorithms, but instead will use software called Choco to write these programs and then look "under the hood" at the algorithms themselves so that I understand how Choco works, and can write more efficient programs. We'll be first writing a Sudoku solver, which is actually small and straightforward, and then be doing something more complex, which I don't know yet. This is a branch of AI, so a few of the topics overlap with my AI class.

Functional Programming (FP): In this class we will be learning a programming language called Haskell, which is classed as a "functional" language. Languages like C++ and Java are considered "imperative." It's too complex to explain what these mean if you don't know much about programming. Essentially, functional languages are more mathematics-based. Many banks use them for their software, but they can usually be used for anything imperative languages can be used for. The important part is that you have to think differently when programming, which can be quite challenging if you're not used to it. As a programmer, it's always good to learn new languages, and I enjoy the challenge.

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI): This class is a bit less technical. We will be learning about different ways of interacting with computers (not just visually, but including touch and hearing/audio) and how to write a user-friendly program. This includes things like, where will the button/menu bar/text field go so that the user instantly knows what that thing does? Sites like Twitter, Facebook, even Google and Apple probably have an HCI expert or team helping their website designers choose how things look. This applies to programs like Word and Excel, games, even Android and iPhone apps. The project in the class is to create any program, just as long as it follows the HCI rules we learn in the class. Next term I'll be taking MHCI, which focuses on Android programming. Apps are definitely the thing to know about these days.

Those were the classes I've chosen for this term... hopefully they were fairly understandable to those of you who aren't technically-oriented. The class I'm required to take is Professional Skills and Issues, where we learn about ethics in the software world and write essays to learn how to argue and hone our writing skills. I don't think I need help there, but completion of the course means getting accredited by the BCS (British Computing Society), where otherwise I'd have to take a test, do a presentation, and pay something around £150. I guess it's worth it.

Fun stuff.

Side note: I've started using Tumblr again. So check out my page of pretty books and cute things and fun quotes (link on the left near the top of the page).

Oh, and Happy October! It's almost All Hallows Read.

Flashcards And A Book Review

It's the last weekend before lectures start. As always, I've been ready for them to start for weeks. Summer always feels too long. I took time this week to do all the shopping I've been meaning to: I bought new pens, a stiff folder to keep papers from crumpling in my bag, and a brand new shiny phone-- the Samsung Galaxy S2. It's the most beautiful phone I've ever seen. I'm not exaggerating. I then got out a blank notebook I've been saving for note-taking. Now, I'm just finding things to do with my time.

One thing I started yesterday, which I will do my best to continue with for a while, is use a program called Anki to brush up on my Japanese vocabulary. I was inspired by a friend who wants to learn German on his own, and a reminder from my boyfriend that this program exists. It's also an Android app, so I'm using that version of it on my new phone. It's a program in which you can create or download pre-created decks of flashcards about anything, be it chemical names, language vocabularies, anything you want to memorize. It's based on an algorithm proven to be the best way to remember things: to be reminded of the word just when you are about to forget it. After looking at the "back" of the flashcard, you rate how easy it was for you to get the answer, and the program then decides how far in the future you will see the flashcard again.

I've only done it for two days, and since I'm doing 10 words a day, it only takes a few minutes to go over the new cards plus the old ones I didn't know very well. If it gets to be too much eventually, I'll make it 5 words a day. There are pre-made decks that people have made for the Genki textbook that is so standard for Japanese these days, and so I'm working through the Genki I vocabulary deck and kanji deck. I went through all of Genki I when I was in class learning Japanese, so I should know all of these words, but I know I've forgotten quite a few of them after a year of not practicing. This also means that Anki won't really help me practice grammar, but perhaps I'll speak a bit with a relative or friend who knows Japanese for that.

The difficult thing is, I know that with Japanese it's best to learn writing at the same time as reading, so the kanji one may not go so well. The program is made so that you can't look at that day's words again easily, since you're supposed to follow the algorithm of only looking at them when you're doing that day's reviewing. So I can't go back and see what I learned, look up stroke-order, and practice writing. But if the algorithm is known to work so well, perhaps all I'll focus on for now is reading. I'll let you know how it goes, particularly mixed with the extremely busy school term that's starting soon.

I've realized it's been a full month since I finished reading the following book, the second of the two I promised to review, and figured it's about time to write my review before I forget what I was going to say.

~

Book 11: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, since my main draw to it was the interesting cover and apparent popularity. Once I started reading, though, I couldn't put it down.

It is about a boy with autism, or an autism-related illness (it's never explicitly stated), written from his perspective. His perspective on things is intriguing to me, as I've never met anyone like him and am curious how a conversation might go. The story starts with the boy finding a dog lying dead on a neighbor's yard, and he becomes adamant about finding the killer. The book touches on the hardship of parenting such a child, the amazing learning capabilities he has, and his inner thoughts. I don't know much about autism and related illnesses myself, so I can't say how accurate I think it is, but it can't be far off. It certainly opened my eyes to the way some people live and think differently, and I was interested to find some of his quirks in myself.

A Short Week Of Summer

This past week, my boyfriend and I went to Spain and Gibraltar. It was beautiful, but I never quite got used to the humidity. Evening was the most tolerable, and so we often slept in. I wish we'd woken up earlier some days, since we only got to the beach twice: once in the evening as the sun was setting and once on the day of our flight, after we realized the beach was worth getting up early for.

The beach was incredible. The water, since it was so salty and it's the Mediterranean after all (despite Gibraltar being near the Atlantic), was very warm once you got used to it. You couldn't just float around in the water, either; the waves were so strong that you had to jump up when they hit the shore, or you'd be engulfed in salt water. It was a bit intense at first, but then I had fun with it and didn't want to leave. I also did my best to put on enough sunscreen, but alas... I was very burnt. My boyfriend was spared, as he caked on the sunscreen whenever he had a chance. I know now, so next time will hopefully be better.

We did the more touristy thing one day and went to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. It's a 426 m (1,398 ft) mountain that's better described as a sudden sheer cliff, and takes up most of the land space of Gibraltar. Living on the rock are small wild apes. When you take the cable car to the top, you can see them everywhere, and they hang around, very unafraid. You're not supposed to feed them, and there's actually a hefty fine if you're seen doing it. At the cafe at the top, we witnessed one of the apes running inside when someone was holding the door, jumping onto a tall table, grabbing a bag of crisps, and running away again. The girls at the table all shrieked and stepped away. The ape went outside onto some dirt and opened the bag and started eating them, and plenty of people immediately went right over to it and took a picture. It didn't seem to mind.

This week we had an enrollment lecture, one intro lecture later in the week, and nothing else till next week. I'm not even sure yet what classes I'll be taking, since the final deadline isn't until two weeks into teaching. I was expecting classes to have started already, but at least I can catch up on a few things now! Like blogging...

Eaters of the Dead

Life is getting busier. I'm moving to a new flat tomorrow; it's right across the street, but it'll be new people, a fresh start. The day after, my boyfriend and I scheduled a spur-of-the-moment trip to Spain to visit family. It'll be my first time in mainland Europe without being on an official "tour." The warm weather will be welcome after such a clammy summer in Scotland! Then, just a few days after we get back, the new school term starts. My last year as an undergrad. I plan to work hard.

About a week late, here is the first of those book reviews I promised...

~

Book 10: Eaters of the Dead, by Michael Crichton

I've read many books by Crichton, including Timeline, Sphere, The Andromeda Strain, and Prey, all of them great sci-fi suspense-thrillers. This one is different, though still entertaining. It's now a movie (that I haven't seen) called The 13th Warrior.

This short novel set in A.D. 922 is about an Arab who goes on a journey for the Caliph of Baghdad. He sets out to visit a particular city, but on the way encounters Vikings who whisk him away on an adventure in the North. It is essentially Crichton's take on the Beowulf and Grendel story. It was particularly interesting after seeing Beowulf & Grendel the movie, which paints a much more forgivable picture of Grendel. In this book, the Arab is compelled to follow Beowulf the viking and record everything about these "barbaric" men, and Grendel is not so much one "troll," but a whole army... I won't go into too much detail, but it's a great story.

It's made even more interesting because it's written from the Arab's perspective. He doesn't embellish anything; he's a purely historial, factual writer, which is very different from the voice in Crichton's other novels. Despite this, the suspense and thrill still appear, perhaps even more intensely. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're into historical fiction or fantasy and are in the mood for a bit of suspense, give it a read.

Free Art, Free Time

Surprisingly close to my flat is this gorgeous building, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery. It's free to enter and would take the better part of a day to really appreciate everything. I've been in Scotland for almost a year now and hadn't been inside until a few days ago. It's almost a crime... though my friends tell me quite a few Glasgwegians haven't been, either.

Almost everything is in the wings of the building. From ancient Egypt to the history of Glasgow to famous works of art by Van Gogh and Salvador Dali, they've got it all. I enjoyed their extensive collection of stuffed life-size animals and skeletons of dinosaurs, ancient fish, and mammals. My favorite was the Giant Irish Deer. It astounds me to think of deer or elk that huge living not too long ago in Scotland. Look at the size of those antlers!

My boyfriend and I spent about two hours there and didn't get to see everything before it closed. Another trip there soon is likely.

Otherwise I'm trying to think of things to fill the three weeks left of my holiday. There's a nice cafe right across from the museum, called Beanscene. It's a chain in the area, but I love the atmosphere and upbeat music. I'll probably go there occasionally to write and edit my novel. I've been reading quite a bit too, and I have two books I've finished in the last week that I'm going to review. Expect those reviews on my blog in the next week or so. Since I'll be hanging out in my flat so much, and even reading and writing won't fill my time. Perhaps I'll think about a game to get into for a few weeks...

Neverwhere

A couple months ago, I bought Neverwhere for Kindle, by Neil Gaiman, as it was one of his more successful novels that I hadn't read yet. After finishing The End of the Pier, I figured I should read that next, since I was going to see Neil Gaiman a week later. I ended up barely not finishing it in time. Gaiman then mentioned the book in his talk and gave away a small spoiler. But no big deal.

I really seem to be eating up books lately, just because I've realized I can read during breakfast and lunch, and when I take the subway or train on weekends. I'm starting to agree with the people that say "always carry a book with you, as you never know when you might want to read." It's even easier now that I have a thin Kindle to read big books. I might just make my goal of 25 books this year--just two more than last year, but that felt like a lot.

~

Book 9: Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

I'm not surprised it was hard to put down, as I know I like Gaiman's writing, but I haven't read a page-turner in a while. Felt good.

In London, Richard and his fiance Jessica are going out to dinner to meet her father, who is a media giant on par with Murdoch. As they walk, Jessica goes on and on about how to act around her father. They come upon a young woman named Door lying in the road, who appears to be wounded. Richard can't just leave the girl there, even though this dinner is a big deal to Jessica, so he picks the girl up. Jessica warns him that she'll break up with him if he does this, but he ignores her and takes the girl back home to take care of her.

From this day on, no one in London can see him or even remember him. He's essentially invisible, nonexistent. Only Door can see him. He follows her into a world they call "London Below" (whereas the world we know is "London Above"), where people can understand rats and pigeons, tube stations are actually named after things (there is an Earl at Earl's Court, etc), and crazy, magical things are considered normal.

I really admire Gaiman's imagination. The themes in it may not be as deep as some people like, but it's a great fantasy. Fun, funny, and memorable characters.

Meeting Neil Gaiman

Edinburgh was beautiful. If I hadn't lost my camera's cable and battery charger, I would have taken pictures. I went with my boyfriend, who doesn't know a lot of Neil Gaiman's work. We decided he should come along kind of at the last minute, so he didn't see the talk. We arrived at the festival barely in time for Neil Gaiman's presentation. Signing afterward took a long time, then we barely made the train home after eating quickly. This all means I will certainly be going back one of these weekends with the boyfriend to see the sights. I did get a glimpse of Edinburgh Castle, from Princes Street. A valley that looks like a sheer cliff face in the middle of a city? Man, that's impressive.

Seeing Neil Gaiman in person was fantastic. I only got about ten seconds to talk to him, and that's after an hour and a half of waiting in line to get my book signed, but it was definitely worth it. I told him his work was inspiring, and that I was a writer, and that reading his stuff helps. A bit lame, but he's not going to remember it anyway. He thanked me and wished me luck with the writing. And kudos to him for signing so many books. The guy in front of me thanked him for that, but Gaiman thanked him back for waiting so long in line, though I think his job is probably more tiring.

His hour-long talk was great as well. He has kind of a big goofy smile, and crazy hair, and is both funny and eloquent. Similes and metaphors (decent ones, mind you) seem to just be inherent in his speech. A guy from the festival did the interviewing, but it was mostly Gaiman going on about his different works, and some of his thought processes behind writing and his different books/comics/scripts. He even gave a sneak peek of some writing he's working on, and to my delight, said there's a sequel--or two--of American Gods to be written...

Tomorrow marks the last day of my internship. After that, a full month free to do whatever I want, and then classes start. My last year as an undergraduate, and possibly my last year at university. Gulp.

A Book And A Festival

Summer has been going steadily. Work is boring at times, because I both don't have enough to do and am trying to communicate with a large company. That never goes quickly, and I end up frequently just waiting for their responses.

My internship is up in two weeks, and I hope to edit my novel after that, before the term starts. I've also been playing Oblivion, a PC RPG game that was made a few years ago. I've found it very immersive and the world to explore is huge. Next week I'm going to the Edinburgh Book Festival to see none other than Neil Gaiman! I hope to get my battered and torn copy of American Gods signed. And not to babble when I meet him.

~

Book 8: The End of the Pier, by Martha Grimes

I've written about Martha Grimes' murder mysteries before, in this post more than a year ago now. I'm reading all of her books in order, and enjoying them.

This one's a bit different from her previous books. There's no Detective Richard Jury, and the story is set in America rather than England. Most of her books also start with a murder scene, but this one slowly builds to it, as we learn that there were previous murders. Sam, the sherrif of the small town, believes they've had the wrong man in jail for years now. His boss doesn't want to believe it, and Sam seems to be the only one trying to figure out what really happened.

The characterization is very well done. She has a clear view of what each person is like, and describes them well. A lot of time is spent in Maud's head, and it's not clear why until the end. She's a slightly depressed, slightly loopy single mother dealing with a kind of empty nest syndrome. She likes sitting on the end of the pier (hence the book's name), watching the party across the lake that seems to always be happening. Sam likes her company, so he joins her occasionally for a drink there. We also spend time in the killer's head, which is also well done. Nothing about him in these snippets reveal who he is until later in the book, and they're terribly creepy.

At times this book seemed all over the place and it was hard to tell what was going on and how everything was connected, but I think that was part of the enjoyment for me. It certainly kept me reading.

Open Source

This evening I was playing Minecraft and feeling that what I was doing was rather dull. I considered looking at open source software for project ideas. For those of you who don't know, open source software is when a program's code is free for anyone to look at and add to, usually with a bit of a learning curve. Instead, I realized I have a book to edit, and I should probably get on that. I was going to work on it this summer and barely have. Oops. So here's a quick blog to get me in the mood.

Of course, I'm still interested in open source stuff. If any of you programmers have interesting suggestions, let me know. Right now I've just been plowing through Project Euler, and the problems have been getting rather difficult. I kind of want something else to work on, maybe something that someone might use. 

Planes, trains or automobiles? What is your favorite way to travel 500 miles?

Maybe you can travel further with a plane, or go more places with a car. Particularly after being in the UK for a while, though, I must say I like trains best. Comfy seat, scenery passing by slow enough that you can enjoy it, the steady rhythm of the wheels on tracks. In airplanes flights always seem to be full, but on trains they aren't always. Sometimes you get the seat next to you as well. I really wish there were more train lines in the US. On a train, you can travel practically anywhere in the UK. In my area in the US, you can only go up and down the coast.

Posting and Programming

So, you know, apparently I can't post every day. We'll just have to settle for occasional bursts of posts.

I don't go back on all my promises on this blog though, as you can see on the left sidebar, I've now reached 25 solved problems on Project Euler, and hit their "Level 1". I consider this a good accomplishment, as some of these problems are pretty tricky. I do get help when I can't figure it out, but for the most part I try to solve them on my own.

Are you too lazy or too busy?

Yes, this was indeed a question on the site. Regarding posting? I must be lazy. Something about finishing work and just wanting to go home, and once I'm home just wanting to play video games and chill out. Same reason why the editing of my book hasn't been happening yet. I thought I would have time this summer--and technically I do--but who wants to work all day and then come home just to do something equally as mentally challenging? Only the strong-willed, I suppose. I can be, but not all the time.

Vampires

On my way to London, I finished this book. I saw the movie about a week before--when I hadn't read the ending yet--and enjoyed it. Who can go wrong with Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, and Antonio Banderas?

~

Book 7: Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice

Now before you leave this page in disgust, let me remind you that this was written and popular before Stephanie Meyer and the teenage-angst-and-sparkling-vampire stories. It's true to lore, and this time set in the vampire's perspective. A boy manages to interview a vampire named Louis (think French like "Loo-ey," not "Loo-is" as my boyfriend pointed out was the wrong pronunciation), who was a plantation owner in New Orleans during the time of slavery. The book tells the story of his life, from being turned into a vampire to the present-day.

What I found most interesting was how much of the book was focused on the fact that Louis could never let go of one aspect of humanity--his sense of good and evil. Particularly right after being "turned," he is consumed with the thought that killing humans is wrong, and this leads to problems; a vampire cannot truly live comfortably without human blood. At first it seems that this will wear off, that he will become used to being a vampire and consider killing a normal, daily act. But it never completely does, and other vampires consider him everything from special to weak because of this.

Another aspect of vampires I've never heard of is how bonded they can become to one another. It's not necessarily love, because they can't experience human emotions. And it's not a physical attraction, because a vampire's ultimate pleasure is "the kill," not any sexual acts with each other. They're not all solitary creatures; despite their lack of human emotions, they can get lonely--or whatever you call it with vampires--not having any of their kind around. Some seek others, and some turn a human into a vampire for company. And once they have another vampire around, they tend to stay together for years on end.

An interesting side note, comparing the book to the movie, is how the book unashamedly talks about two male vampires living together and loving one another. The same with a male (adult) vampire and a female vampire who he turned at the age of 5. They have a father-daughter love, but as she gets older (in mind, not body) you wonder if it's something slightly different. Again, none of this love is physical. They just enjoy each others' company and care about each other. In the movie, these themes are played down a lot. Don't want the audience to think this is a movie about homosexuality, or god forbid, pedophilia! And of course it's not. Oh, Hollywood.

I could say much more, but suffice to say, it was a gripping, thematic tale of the traditional vampire. Don't be fooled by its being labeled as "horror." It's not scary as much as it's grim, and deep philosophical questions are explored which makes it more meaningful than you might expect.

Non-materialism

If you could own one thing you don’t currently have, what would it be?

I've deliberated over this for a little while now and am realizing there's not much in the way of material possessions that I want. If you asked me right now what I wanted for Christmas or my birthday, I couldn't tell you. Everything I seem to want is non-physical and needs time rather than money... more friends, the 3rd draft of my novel, to get to do what I want to at work, to read more, to do more programming in my spare time. I could maybe do with a new phone, but to be honest I can afford to get one when I'm ready.

Of course, it'd be nice to find my camera charger, USB cord, and iPod wall adapter. They disappeared somewhere between Arizona, my old flat, and my new flat.

I should consider myself lucky, I suppose. Recently I've been reminded many times that I'm probably one of the richest people in the world. I don't mean that at all in a haughty way. If you have a decent place to live, with running water and electricity, enough money for food, clothing, and simple living, you're also one of the richest people in the world. And you're extremely lucky if you can get a good education, or have a decently paying job. If you enjoy it, too? Well, you're pretty much in paradise.

Forums and Roofs

Today I got stuck at work and decided to post a programming question online. Hasn't been solved yet, but people have been nice about it, and my code is apparently not horrible. This inspired me to look around for forums that I might be able to contribute to. So far I've made accounts at stackoverflow.com for programming questions, and writingforums.org for creative writing questions. Haven't found any programming things I can help with, as many are obscure things you can't find easily through googling, but I've posted a couple times on the creative writing forum and hope it turns out to be a fun way to keep up my writing.

Find the nearest window. Look outside. What is the most interesting thing you see? What is the least interesting thing? If you don’t have a window, close your eyes and imagine one: what do you see when you look through it?

At my boyfriend's flat, the most interesting thing I can see out the window is the sky. It's blue with a few clouds, and pretty much still bright like midday. It's just about 9pm. Don't be fooled, though, it was raining this morning. It's light so late here, even compared to Seattle. I didn't think it would be much of a difference, but it really takes till at least 11 for it to get really dark. I may be remembering incorrectly, but this feels later than in the Seattle area.

Least interesting thing? Everything else. It's all roofs, and from my perspective you can't even see any windows. I almost considered making the roofs the interesting thing, but how interesting can I make a shed roof and the distant shingles of a row of flats?

I'll give it a try. A large shed roof: gray metal with evenly spaced raised edges, interspersed with big screws to hold it together. A dirty sock thrown on the side that's been there since the first day I was here, and green and brown stained gutters. The sky? A boring blue.

London

My constant impression of London is of crowds. Everywhere I go there are people, frequently too many to be comfortable. Particularly on the subway. And it's not helped by the heat. I didn't expect it. I looked ahead this week at weather before I left, and I guess didn't really believe it would be above 20C most of the time I'm here. Underground, it's even worse, probably 10 degrees hotter than outside and more humid.

Aside from that, I've had a wonderful time. I managed to get a fairly nice hotel for not a lot of money, which included a nice breakfast and free wifi in the lounge--sadly not in the rooms. It's too bad I couldn't stay with my friend, but to be honest it's nice to have my own room (with a bathroom).

The first day, we--my friend, her flatmates, and I--had high tea at this cafe called the Muffin Man. Tea, teacakes, and cheesecake for 5 pounds. I probably didn't need the cheesecake. It was all delicious. We then wandered around, shopping a bit. My friend got a top, and I resisted getting necklaces. After refreshing at her flat, we then went out with another one of her flatmates to an Irish pub called O'Neills. The funny thing about this place is that there's one in Glasgow, and I've been to it. This one, though, was packed when we got there. A live band was playing covers of popular songs, pretty well, too. We almost didn't find a table. Once we did, though, I got fish and chips, and they got Irish stew. All of it was delicious. I introduced my friend to cider with a Kopparberg. And we all went home happy.

Day two was more shopping. Berate me all you want for not going to big landmarks like Parliament and tourist traps like the London Eye, but I've seen a number of them before and this trip was more about seeing my friend again than seeing London. We went to Camden Market, which was basically a maze of closely hung clothes and Indians constantly asking if you want what you're looking at. I felt too pressured to buy anything, though there was some stuff I might have been interested in. I just like to be able to stare at something for a while to think if I want it, rather than be pressured into something that may not be my style after all. After that, we went to Portobello Road/Market, to see if there was more interesting things. By then, though, I was so exhausted from walking around that I wasn't really interested in buying anything. The highlight of the day was that evening, when my friend and I went out to Japanese food. None of her flatmates were interested, and they really missed out this time. The food was amazing. They took a while with one of the things my friend ordered, and to apologize they gave us a free salmon hand roll. I'd go there again in a heartbeat.

Today, we were going to go to a Doctor Who shop (another thing her flatmates aren't interested in, who knows why), but found out it was too far away. Instead, we checked out Forbidden Planet, which is a sci-fi/fantasy store full of comics, manga, figurines, t-shirts, and other “cult” memorabilia. Not to mention, they also carry Doctor Who stuff. We looked and found too many tempting books and comics, a few interesting Doctor Who trinkets, but nothing we really wanted. My friend wanted the Master's Fobwatch, but it's apparently sold out everywhere, even another local comic shop. Oh well. We then relaxed in a pub and got mini meat pies to snack on.

Now, I'm on the train back. It's been a good trip, and I hope to go back to London before long. Perhaps to see more “touristy” things.

On Realizing Dreams

So after a two-week break, I'm ready to blog again. Perhaps this is because my days have been fairly uneventful, from a blogging perspective. Just going to work every day, and relaxing in the evenings and on weekends with a pint and some friends, or a video game, or a book. I know this isn't really a good excuse, there are always things to talk about. That's why, thanks to WordPress, I think I'll get back into this daily thing.

I wrote a post a while back based on a prompt from this blog sponsored by WordPress. I haven't done more prompts by them mostly because I'm lazy, but sometimes because they're ridiculous. I'm realizing now that I should use the prompts anyway, and exercise as much freedom as necessary... even blogging about how they're bad prompts. Maybe skip days when I have some of my own ideas. But I need something to keep ideas flowing daily, and I think this is a good thing. As motivation for myself, I've put up a little banner in the left column of my blog, linking to the site and pronouncing myself part of Post-A-Day 2011.

Why do some people’s dreams get realized, and others don’t?

This is an interesting topic for me. I feel like someone who has dreamed of big things and accomplished them, and do my best to continue to do so. I've written a book (though not published... yet). I've moved to Scotland. I'm studying a degree in Computing Science. But I don't think the fact I've done these things makes me different from other people, that I can realize my dreams but others can't. I believe everyone can.

Some people's dreams are set too high, or they expect too much from themselves. I think it's fine to have big dreams, but it's necessary to realize they can take more time or energy than first expected. Then sometimes people are born into a family or time period that is more difficult than others, so it's harder to realize "bigger" dreams. It's true some people have it easier than others. Becoming a billionaire is easier when you're born to parents who are already millionaires, for example.

On the other hand, some people have dreams that might not be considered "big," like growing up, raising a family, and spending your whole life in one small town. That doesn't mean they've wasted their life, or not realized their dreams. If they want a simple life, they've lived how they wanted to live. Perhaps their dreams are simpler to bring into their lives than for other people. And of course, even this is relative. Some countries are so poor it's difficult to live a life like this.

If you're dreaming of writing the next big novel, or becoming an olympic athlete, or being a successful businessperson, I say go for it. No matter who you are or where you come from. Just remember to be patient, and always take opportunities when they come along.

Starting An Internship

Today I've finished my third day of work. I'm enjoying it so far, and I think I will long-term. I haven't really got to work on the project I'm supposed to be doing yet, but it's a necessary thing. I have to set up my computer how I like it first, and then start researching and studying the things I'm working with: the Havok physics engine and Android programming. We're not actually sure yet if I can combine the two, but we're finding it out, and in the meantime I'm reading up on them and trying some programming tutorials. The environment itself is great, a nice office (with a mini-kitchen, even), good computer, and cool people that I'll hopefully be getting to know better.

I've started looking at this book given to me by a research assistant at work called Game Physics Engine Development by Ian Millington. It's basically a look at how to create a simple physics engine, and it would give me the basic information on how a simpler version of Havok might work. It's not that I'm creating my own engine at all, probably not even tweaking Havok, but I'm sure that it would be helpful for me to know how it works, if I am to use it to create applications. There is a bit of complex math (or maths if you're from the UK) involved, but it's reviewed at the beginning of the book, and I'm finding it surprisingly understandable. I did 3D calculus last year--or two years ago, if you count the school year just past--and didn't do incredibly well, but the basics stuck with me. It was the professor that really was the difficult thing anyway. Reading these sections, though, is reminding me how much I miss math classes. How weird am I? But I do. I know some of the classes I'm taking next year will involve math, and I hope that means they'll be enjoyable.

I'm slowly starting to meet people and get adjusted to all this new stuff. My days are pretty full, and even though I don't have to bring work home with me, I only have a few hours in the evenings to myself. Perhaps that's for the best, though. I finally won't have a boring summer.

New Digs

Moved into my new flat today. Haven't met everyone, but it's a nice place. Top floor! I like it much better than the ground floor, where I was before, but it was a pain to bring all my stuff up today. Also, bigger fridges, and fewer people. I don't get my own sink in my room anymore, but the rest is a relief. Not much else happening, mainly getting used to being in Scotland again. Saw the cutest kitten today, my boyfriend's sister got it for her kids (I should have taken pictures...). Work starts Monday, so I won't have to come up with things to do for many more days. I'll have to spend tomorrow unpacking anyway.

Monday after work, I think I'll go to this vegan restaurant/bar with my boyfriend that's just down the street. He's vegetarian, so he's happy to know he can have anything on the menu. They have "meat-free Mondays," kind of a joke because they are always meat-free, but they have a "2 courses for £8" deal all day, plus student discounts.

Also nearby is a Korean restaurant, which I go to frequently with friends, even before I moved here. Now, it's right down the street, and they give discounts for take-out sushi. Definitely doing that. Often.

I'm generally closer to everything, even uni, because I'm more in town than before. My last flat was on the edge of a really residential area, with not as many nice shops. Now I'm a block away from a street with a Tesco, cafes to write in, bars to hang out in, and places to eat. This will be a good summer.

Coming Home

My travels to Scotland were fairly uneventful, apart from a few minor things.

First, I'd like to complain about airport security again. I finally got my teeny tiny swiss-army-knife-type thing taken away (bought it at Claire's, can barely cut anything with it). They found it in the x-ray machine. And I've been on about 5 flights now from the US to the UK and back, and it hasn't been found yet. I could complain about it being taken away, but... aren't they supposed to find all knives immediately? What if I had wanted to stab someone's eye out with it? I could have done it (but not really, as my knife is a flimsy little thing and I wouldn't do it anyway). They call themselves high-security, they look and feel like high-security, but it doesn't really seem like they are.

On a brighter note, I watched the latest and last Doctor Who episode till autumn on the plane, since I'd got it saved on my computer before the flight. Was epic beyond words, and I won't say anything more.

I had a slightly frustrating experience with a newsstand worker in the Philadelphia airport. The guy before me in line was buying a bag of almonds. The shopkeeper saw that he had glasses that were sold at his shop, and asked the customer if he'd bought them there already. The man got angry that the shopkeeper hadn't remembered him and was insinuating that he'd shoplifted them. He dug out his receipt for the glasses for proof, then put back the almonds and left.

I was next in line, with three snacks. He charged me $17, which seemed high, but I knew snacks at the airport are expensive. I bought them and went to sit down. Then it hit me that the price was more than it actually should have been, even with tax, and so I took out my receipt and saw I'd been charged for that man's almonds. I went back, wanting my $4. There were more customers now, so when I asked him about it he asked if I wanted the almonds--probably the easy way out for him. But I insisted, and so had to wait for everyone else to buy, and then let him do a return for me. He seemed rather out of it this whole time, even in his demeanor. Not paying attention to who bought what in the last couple hours, not watching that he's not charging for something extra. Not a good way to work.

Good thing was, I left for Glasgow from the same concourse I arrived in from Phoenix, so I didn't have to go through security again at Philadelphia airport. I get tired of doing it at every stop.

When I landed, after I got in the taxi, I realized I really feel at home here. I feel like I'm in a much different point in my life than the last time I came back, after Christmas. I know the city better and I've taken more taxis, to begin with. Then of course, I've made much stronger friendships, have a job and new flat lined up, and a boyfriend to see again.

Life is good.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

I've been staying out of the sun to nurse my burns, and today that meant hanging out in a Starbucks to read, write, and edit. I'm starting Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, which I bought at a used bookstore yesterday. I'm interested to finally be getting into her work.

In two days, I'll be flying back to Scotland. I'm excited for my new job and new flat, but I've also had a good vacation. All that's left is to hope this hot weekend doesn't get to me.

Here's a bit about the book I finished a few days ago.

~

Book 6: The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson

After reading the first two books of this series now, I can definitely say Larsson is an excellent thriller writer. The first 100 or so pages of setup again were slow, though a bit more interesting than the first book. But when the first major plot point explodes, I couldn't put it down, and read about 400 pages in two days. I'll certainly be reading the next one.

To summarize, it continues with most of the characters from the first book, mainly Blomkvist and Salander. A man comes to the Millenium magazine, where Blomkvist works, with a book exposing a sex trafficking operation which would implicate important members of Swedish government and business. His wife is writing a similar thesis paper. The stories become more explosive than anyone anticipated. And a lot is learned about Salander's very interesting past.

The one thing I've noticed Larsson does particularly well in this book is use point of view to keep information from the reader. If you don't hear from a particular important character, you don't know if they're guilty, and you feel you must know the answer. He also uses dramatic irony, perhaps the opposite, when the reader knows more than the character, and so knows whether or not the character is making a good decision. These literary devices, used in the right way, make the suspense almost unbearable. There were many times when the actions of certain characters infuriated me, but evoking emotion is a sign of good writing.

I definitely recommend this book--but read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo first.

The Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon - South Rim

First of all, I apologize for the length. I took notes along the road so that I would remember things I wanted to talk about--and there ended up being quite a few!

The day started out early. At 7:10 the tour bus met mom and I at our hotel in Sedona and we headed out to pick up the rest of the people. One couple was in Sedona, the rest in Flagstaff.

Our first sight, which only us and the other couple got to see, was Oak Creek Canyon. It's where all the water in a large portion of Arizona runs, so it has clean running water all year long. We crossed a bridge that went over this canyon and the sight was breathtaking. Ponderosa Pines were everywhere, making it look much more green and lush than you'd expect in a desert. These trees are apparently waterproof, and they used to use the wood for railroad ties, before they were put underground. President Roosevelt, to get Arizona to join with the rest of the States, had more of these trees planted over the meadows of stumps from logging.

In Flagstaff, we picked up the rest of our group. The first couple and two other couples were from various areas across the states, but then there was a woman in almost all pink from Manchester (UK) studying travel and tourism, and four Chinese girls. With me and mom as well, it was quite an interesting crowd.

Grand Canyon - East Rim

After a long drive with plenty of interesting stories from our tour guide, past a Flinstones-themed road stop and a mountain where they were mining volcanic stones for icy roads, we arrived at the IMAX theater near the edge of the canyon. We watched a 30-minute movie about the discovery of the grand canyon, with plenty of shots along the river and cliffs that took our breath away. Most of the things in the movie can't be done anymore, like having a helicopter fly into the canyon. In that case, since 9/11, planes and such can't fly over the canyon, so there aren't any "sky tours" of it and it can't be filmed like that. There were also cougars used in one scene, fighting with a human, which wouldn't be allowed these days. It also surprised me how rough the rapids are in the Colorado River down in the canyon. I thought the water was all still and serene, and not so wide across. National Geographic now owns the rights to the movie, and that IMAX building is apparently the only place you can buy a physical copy.

After this, before seeing the canyon, we had lunch at a hotel near the canyon's edge called Bright Angel. I had a bacon cheeseburger with fries, with cheesecake since we had a lunch and dessert coupon each from our tour package. It was delicious. In the gift shop, Mom saw a beautiful small painted horse with dragonflies on it, and I hadn't bought her anything really for her birthday or mother's day, so I bought it for her. I can tell she'll cherish it.

Instead of seeing the view from the hotel's restaurant, our tour guide took us to a much better overlook of the Grand Canyon at the South Rim. The view was breathtaking; I could barely comprehend the distances I was seeing. The canyon is on average a mile deep, and the vast area we were seeing was only a quarter of the entire canyon. I took a short video because I figured a panorama shot wouldn't do it justice.

At this same overlook, the Chinese girls wanted to take pictures, and ended up at the edge, where there wasn't a guardrail. One of them dangled their feet of the edge of the canyon, thinking it would be a great picture, posing for her friends. The tour guide freaked out but did a good job of hiding his fear, instead calmly telling them how people die at that spot--and it's true. Twenty people die at the canyon from various accidents every year, be it hiking, falling from overlooks, etc. He jokes and calls the spot "Natural Selection Point." The girls were fine but probably a little shaken up. Later on, there was a place where a wide ledge was below the rim of the overlook, and the tour guide frequently stops there to take funny pictures making it seem like people are falling over the edge. He explained to the Chinese girls how to take the best--safe--shot of them "falling."

Grand Canyon - East Rim

We went to a few more overlooks, which were all just as breathtaking. The last one at the East Rim (probably the best view) had a 30-foot tall tower that they'd built a long time ago to draw tourists to the area. We didn't go up since there were a number of old people in our group and the view of the canyon wouldn't really be any different from the top.

Along the road back, we took a different highway, and drove through a Navajo reservation area. We stopped at Little Colorado River Gorge, another smaller canyon that lies on Navajo land. Near the natives' newly-built viewpoint, they had a number of stalls open where they were selling hand-made jewelry, dream catchers, pots, and more. At the edge of the canyon, I stood still. It was so quiet and peaceful, probably from the un-developed, sparsely populated native land. Our tour guide told us, "We're not technically in the USA here." I also saw a dust devil, a mini tornado-like swirling wind, pass right in front of me while there. It was amazing to witness.

Little Colorado River Gorge

We stopped at another, more built-up Navajo trading site, the only place for miles with running water and electricity. Many natives hang out there because of it. My mom and I both felt a kind of sad, almost oppressed feeling in the area. Just a few decades ago we stopped taking their kids away to "educate them" (which we did do and is so outrageous), and they're just beginning to trust outsiders. Not long ago the land was a hostile area. You could almost expect to be shot. They live so simply and almost backwards, and don't seem like the sort of amazing native civilization we read about in old books. I don't think they've been introduced to the modern world in a good way.

On the final stretch home, we watched an old western movie in which our tour guide had actually made some of the set, called The Quick and the Dead. It was quite good. It made me want to watch or read more westerns. While watching, we drove past the beautiful Painted Desert, a canyon with more colors than the red rock we're used to seeing, and the smog-like smoke from nearby forest fires. They're really out of control right now, given the strange raining pattern in the last year. The sun setting behind the smoke was both eerie and beautiful.

It was soon dark, and the tour guide told us more stories about growing up in Sedona and driving movie stars around town. He's met and worked for Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and more. He worked creating mini-towns for movie sets, owned a limo ride company, and yet grew up on a farm. He kept us entertained till the end of the tour, with a short movie about two men who were the first people to photograph and film the Grand Canyon.

There are more things I could tell you, more stories of our tour guide's, but I think this blog is long enough.

Two more days. Now in Phoenix, then back to Scotland.

The Hot, Dry Desert

I experienced it like never before yesterday, hiking the Boynton Canyon Trail. Mom and I chose it because the pamphlet said "easy, 2.5 miles one way." We chose not to bring water (looking back, I don't really know why we didn't prepare more) or food. I think we figured it wouldn't take very long.

It started out great. Lizards and butterflies everywhere, looming red rock all around us. After a while, we figured it had been two miles, and asked someone how much farther. They said it was another 3/4 of a mile. After a time, we asked again, and they said it was another mile--some local had told them the park people moved the trailhead without updating the pamphlets (or the website, apparently, which I checked today).

Turns out the hike was more like 4 miles one way. And at the end, the path was really steep and rather treacherous if we weren't careful. In addition, the bees, of which there were plenty once we got to the trees, really bugged me... I hate their buzzing, it brings on a fight or flight response in me that I can barely control.

Thankfully there was a kind couple at the top who gave us the rest of their water (which wasn't much but we thoroughly enjoyed all the same). The views at the top were really amazing, pretty much worth the trek up there. Along the way wasn't bad either... I'm sure it would have been more enjoyable if we'd been more prepared. We literally walked between high red rock walls, inside a canyon. It started out as a desert area, then bushes and a few trees, and then a forest, with a quick, steep climb to the top.

The walk back was painful. Literally, for mom. She lost her footing and fell forward at one point, thankfully landing on clear ground without rocks or anything. Just a few cuts and bruises, though her knee seemed sprained. She was able to walk back along the trail, though slowly with a bit of a limp. It got worse last night, but better today.

I fantasized about drinking ice cold anything almost the entire time. I'd already gotten a sunburn from the walk up I knew, and there were places with no shade at all on the way back. I was desperate for water when we got back to the car, and we had a little, for which I was thankful. We then came home, drank as much water as we needed, cleaned off all the dust, and went swimming in the pool near where we're staying. Great ending to a difficult--but interesting--day.

Grand Canyon tour tomorrow. Probably no post till the next day, as it's supposed to be a 10-hour trip.

South Mountain

South Mountain is a city park, though it's more of a nature preserve. Hiking and biking trails are everywhere. Mom and I didn't do much hiking because of the heat, but we drove to the lookout point at the top and I took some pictures.

The stone building is for visitors to look out of and get some shade. Or that's what I assume, anyway. Hundreds of people have written their names on the rocks inside, professing love or that they "were here."

On the way out we looked all over the place for a flowering cactus I could take a picture of. The drive down was precarious in places. Even my mom, who I think is fearless in many ways, showed a little fear of heights. Only a few pieces of metal keeping you from going over the edge. Finally near the bottom, we found a place to pull over and walk over to this amazing cactus.

I find saguaro cacti--which were all over the place--almost alien. It looks like they're green stick-people with many arms. Like those broomstick-people in The Sorcerer's Apprentice in Fantasia. Except prickly. If there ever were aliens in the southwest, maybe they brought the saguaro.

Today we arrived in Sedona, and I finished reading The Girl Who Played With Fire.

On Writing

Tomorrow we go to Sedona. We went to South Mountain today and I took more pictures of sprawling vistas and flowering cacti, which I'll probably post tomorrow.

Here's a little bit about the book I finished a few days ago.

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Book 5: On Writing, by Stephen King

As a writer, I found this book very inspiring. The first half is a kind of memoir, short tales about his colorful childhood. There are a few writing tips thrown in there, but the majority are in the second half. The more detailed tips about grammar I've been taking into consideration as I edit my novel.

He has other ideas as well, about how to structure a story. He doesn't work well with a pre-drawn plot, so he starts with a situation. He says "Misery is 'two characters in a house,' ... Gerald's Game is 'one woman in a bedroom,' and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is 'one kid lost in the woods.'" This way, the story and characters can grow and develop as they will and the plot isn't forced to go one way or another. I like this idea, and may work on a short story this way. Not that I plot everything at first, anyway. It feels more like I've gotten permission to write without preconceived structure.

It has laugh-aloud humor, entertaining stories, and good advice from a very successful author. Anyone who writes, is thinking about starting to write, or finds writers themselves interesting would enjoy it.

Japanese Friendship Garden

I'm a day late, but so it goes when you're on vacation. The Japanese Friendship Garden was gorgeous. They've kept it true to customs, including the rule that you can't see everything from the entrance--instead you continuously discover different areas.

They let you feed the koi fish, so they came right up to me when I took pictures. I didn't even have to use food, they just thought I had some (sorry, fish). There were so many of them, in so many different colors.

The heat's been intense, but bearable. Today we're going swimming at a friend's pool, which will be perfect for a day of 98F/37C temperatures. Don't get me wrong, though. I welcome a break from the rain and chill of Scotland.

I've started editing my book again, and been enjoying having it in physical form. My new red pen is getting a lot of use. I'm also thinking it's time to look for an agent.

I finished On Writing, by Stephen King, as well. More about that tomorrow next time.

Heat

Yesterday morning, mom and I went on a walk to Dreamy Draw, a local park and hiking/biking path. I particularly liked this cactus. It's been very hot and is getting hotter, with tomorrow's forecasted high at 100F/38C. Thankfully that looks like the highest it will get, as it will start cooling down after that. Our plan is to hang out in the mall and movie theater all day and take advantage of the AC.

My mom's reasons for moving to Arizona were in no small part influenced by the weather. In Washington she started getting tired of the wet and the clouds. By contrast, I grew up in it. When people ask me, "How are you doing with this weather?" in Scotland, expecting me to say, "Horribly," I can happily say, "Seattle is just like this. It's not a problem at all, I'm used to it. I like the rain."

Now, after a long winter and mostly wet spring, I did feel ready to visit the sun for a couple of weeks. I'm doing all right so far, though I'm noticing the beginnings of a sunburn today, probably from the Japanese garden we visited and walked around a lot (more on that tomorrow). I expect that by the end of the two weeks I'll be ready for cool weather. But right now, I'm enjoying wearing shorts, eating ice cream, and not getting hit by cold air when leaving a store.

The Alchemist

Didn't manage a blog yesterday. I don't think I'm completely used to the time difference yet. Crashed before I could write this down. I got another book read though, which was pretty much the highlight of my day. And I had a good day, so that's saying something.

In the past two days I started and finished reading The Alchemist. My mom had the book and was reading it, and I had been interested in it for a while but thought it was too expensive to buy.

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Book 4: The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

I found it really inspiring, as it talked about things I believe in. Be in the present moment. Follow your dreams now, before you fall into a rut of "someday..." And accept that all hardships you endure are part of the path to your dreams, necessary lessons for you to go through to achieve what you want.

Also, a passage of it spoke to me.

"What is a stranger doing in a strange land?"
"I am following my Personal Legend. It's not something you would understand."

- The Alchemist, p. 111

The main character is asked this by someone along his journey. His "Personal Legend" is what the author calls the dream--or the path to the dream--that he wants to achieve. This is sometimes how I feel like answering people who ask me, "Why Scotland?" The way I'd like to answer is something like, "I've always felt drawn here." But people want a more solid answer, like "I have relatives/ancestors here," or "This school is the best one to go to for my degree." My connection with the land feels like it's deeper than that.

The book was short and sweet, a fun and thoughtful read. Perfect for reading in a sunny garden, which I ended up doing. I'm not surprised it's sold so many millions of copies worldwide.