Once Upon a Time...

If you enjoyed the Helsinki Complaints Choir, this German rip-off is probably a bit lacklustre. On the other hand, you may find the language more familiar than Finnish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=569qbNdm75c

I certainly got a nostalgic kick from it.

Link: The 4-Variable IQ Test written by chriscoyne on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd   Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Drama Nerd
Anime Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Social Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Musician
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

For some people in this world, November is National Novel Writing Month, or Nanowrimo. Personally I think this is a rather cool concept, although "Make Novels Not War" is a lousy slogan. The idea is that you buckle down, stop procrastinating, shut up and start writing. The target is 50.000 words before the month is done, and that qualifies as a novel - or at least an ambitious novella.

I'm not doing Nanowrimo. If I could write 50.000 words in one month, then my supervisor has very firm opinions that I should write those on my thesis. And this would in fact easily finish my thesis and assemble a chunky appendix as well. The actual due date was Thursday (the 16th) ... but I have now been granted a six month extension to my candidature, what with the illness and all that. Yay!

Nonetheless, I've been doing some writing. In my paid job I'm doing some particularly stressful work at the moment, and haven't felt up to facing the endless stability indices (don't even ask) I'm meant to be finishing off. So, to relax, for a bit of fun, I've written 4700 words on my current attempt at a novel. *deep breath* It's so much fun!

My current work project should be done in a few days, and hopefully the next one won't be like it. (Knock wood!) Then it's back to the thesis, and it's high time to do some massive work on the section on "Verbs". Currently it says "Verbs are stupid", and this should be changed into a detailed and lengthy analysis of the diachronic properties of verb stability in the Indo-European sub-groups. Whatever that means.

In a hole in the ground, there lived the seventh son of a seventh son. His name was Anakin Smith, and from the day he was hatched, he knew that one day he would be embraced by a great destiny. This was indeed the case, and no sooner had he graduated from high school and applied to do a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University of Alderaan, than he was swept up into a breath-taking adventure involving a talking unicorn, three Dark Lords, an ethereal beauty from the lost continent of Atlantis, an ancient Scottish vampire with a sultry French accent, and the Dalek Invasion of the first human colony on Schwarzenegger IV in the Gamilon Star Cluster. So busy indeed was he, that he was left with no alternative but to outsource the last-minute defence of Rivendell to a lesser hero.

In the late evening of that same day, brave young Anakin went into a StarDucks cafe to recuperate. Astonishment knew no end when he saw a thirties-something man defiantly drinking a cup of Earl Grey tea and setting up his Live Journal account.
"Good grief, Olav! I have not seen thee in months. What great adventures hast thou undertaken?"
The slightly chubby blond looked up from his obsolete computer. "Anakin, hi. Ah.. nothing really. Same old, same old, you know?"
"Well, I must say I'm impressed. I had not thought thou capable of even switching on a computer. No offence, buddy."
"If the shoe fits..."
"Indeed. What writest thou?"
"Still thinking about it. What about you?"
"Well, Olav, let me tell you about my fabulous adventure with the three Dark Lords and the Daleks and the low calorie elvish bread..."

* * *

Dear Diary,

Hello.