My Winter Vacation, Part The Coda
Feb. 20th, 2006 12:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caraigWell, tomorrow I go back to work. For the past two weeks I've been in sunny CA and... well, liking it a lot more than I thought I would.
One thing Jon learned on his winter vacation: if you identify yourself as a jerk to everyone -- the eponymious guy who cheerfully says, "Yes, I'm an asshole!" -- then don't be shocked if people start treating you like one. Gasp! Dingbat.
The plane ride back was rough. Long flight -- took off at 11PM and landed at 7PM local. We got out of class at about noon so we headed into SF to watch a movie before the plane took off. We watched Underworld: Evolution. Yeah. Insert very Jon-specific comment here. And on the plane ride back, I discovered that my standard headphones worked somewhat fine with the airplane phone jack, and watched *twitch* The Legend of Zorro. Not as much fun as the last Zorro flick, and Antonia Bandera was much better in The 13th Warrior. In my humble opinion.
Speaking of opinions, a certain webcomic artist -- who shall remain nameless for the nonce -- had this to say about Firefly after watching four episodes:
On the subject of idiots, I really enjoy my job, but it's the postadolescent infants and the emotional terrorists which I can do without. But I've mentioned that before. Not really looking forward to being in work tomorrow, but after being out of it for three weeks, that's what needs doing.
One thing which I do a lot in writing is try to build/make rational, interesting, cool nation-states/cultures. (I don't, of course, always succeed.) Because of my background and interests as a 'miligeek,' and using it as a convenient source/effector of conflict, what most often gets focussed on is the military side of a nation or culture. But there's a lot more to it than just how a nation fights, and of course there are the nigh-infinite cultural aspects which can abound. I think because of the imperfect balance between the left- and right-brain orientations, I see a fictional culture qualitatively but not terribly personably, and I find myself using qualitative scales sometimes. (I think this is the reason why I want to really read more about the game Aria. Now where did I put those books...?)
Anyway, random question which popped into my head earlier this evening on my way home from brother's house: What culture/nation-state do you find yourself most imagining or writing about, and what 'quirks' do you seem to have in writing about it?
Not much else going on. I should get some sleep for the trenches tomorrow. If I can just survive this year without inflicting grievous harm on someone, then I should be able to get to something less irritating. Pax.
One thing Jon learned on his winter vacation: if you identify yourself as a jerk to everyone -- the eponymious guy who cheerfully says, "Yes, I'm an asshole!" -- then don't be shocked if people start treating you like one. Gasp! Dingbat.
The plane ride back was rough. Long flight -- took off at 11PM and landed at 7PM local. We got out of class at about noon so we headed into SF to watch a movie before the plane took off. We watched Underworld: Evolution. Yeah. Insert very Jon-specific comment here. And on the plane ride back, I discovered that my standard headphones worked somewhat fine with the airplane phone jack, and watched *twitch* The Legend of Zorro. Not as much fun as the last Zorro flick, and Antonia Bandera was much better in The 13th Warrior. In my humble opinion.
Speaking of opinions, a certain webcomic artist -- who shall remain nameless for the nonce -- had this to say about Firefly after watching four episodes:
Millions of fans CAN be wrong.Hmm. Well, he didn't like it, but even so it's a bit of a conceit to say that people are "wrong" for liking a movie. I originally was going to reply to the effect of, 'And one opinion is, of course, much more important than millions,' but that, too, is a conceit on my part. After all, one opinion is important than millions of other opinions... if that opinion is in fact yours. Watch what you like, enjoy what you like, recommend it to others, by all means... but neither get bent out of shape when they don't like what you like, nor call everyone who likes something that you don't an idiot.
On the subject of idiots, I really enjoy my job, but it's the postadolescent infants and the emotional terrorists which I can do without. But I've mentioned that before. Not really looking forward to being in work tomorrow, but after being out of it for three weeks, that's what needs doing.
One thing which I do a lot in writing is try to build/make rational, interesting, cool nation-states/cultures. (I don't, of course, always succeed.) Because of my background and interests as a 'miligeek,' and using it as a convenient source/effector of conflict, what most often gets focussed on is the military side of a nation or culture. But there's a lot more to it than just how a nation fights, and of course there are the nigh-infinite cultural aspects which can abound. I think because of the imperfect balance between the left- and right-brain orientations, I see a fictional culture qualitatively but not terribly personably, and I find myself using qualitative scales sometimes. (I think this is the reason why I want to really read more about the game Aria. Now where did I put those books...?)
Anyway, random question which popped into my head earlier this evening on my way home from brother's house: What culture/nation-state do you find yourself most imagining or writing about, and what 'quirks' do you seem to have in writing about it?
Not much else going on. I should get some sleep for the trenches tomorrow. If I can just survive this year without inflicting grievous harm on someone, then I should be able to get to something less irritating. Pax.
