rapunzelita: (Ty Lee sez: D:<)
I mentioned this on Facebook but also wanted to complain about it here, for the benefit of the people who don't know me from FB, and also because it gives me an excuse to procrastinate.

So As You Know (probably? Maybe?), I've been writing my dissertation.

Note: If you don't know - I've been living in Edinburgh since September and studying for a Master's Degree in Translation Studies at the University of Edinburgh. It's been great. The program was very interesting though fairly theory-oriented, which suited me just fine because I know how to do the practical side of translation fairly well (except I don't know how to use Trados which is a bit of a problem, but I might be able to figure that one out myself). My classes ended in April, and I've got something like a 71% average grade on my coursework. For French people, it's pretty good. The equivalent of a Mention Bien. Other international types refer to this handy comparison grid thing.
And now, to gain my full Master's Degree, I have to write a dissertation (Master's thesis for people in North America, I think).

And it is the single most boring and agonizing process ever.

It's due on the 15th of August (not looking forward to that...) and it's been driving me insane. I just hate it. The topic is interesting, but I'm just not a researcher, and I have to write about 9 000 word of research. (To be fair, some of it, approximately 4K-5K is actually fairly easy to handle, but I haven't got to that part yet).

I'm just BORED. It's just boring. There is just no other way to put it. Bored bored bored and no fun at all and deeply uninteresting, because I SHOULD BE TRANSLATING dammit.

Urgh.

Sorry about the complaints. This is just making me feel horrible.
rapunzelita: (Writing)
My dissertation is draining me, and I'm not even writing it. So to keep avoiding writing it, and to give myself some motivation, I've decided to make a to-do-list for when I'm done writing it.

Things I will...

MAKE

- more bookbinding, first on my list being a girdle book for my 12th-century noblewoman's costume.
- a shift, kirtle and general random stuff for 16th-century costume(s) so I can start thinking about doing Kentwell next year (EXCITE!!!)
- random clothing because I want to get better at sewing in general
- think about figuring out my wedding dress. (IT SHALL BE GREEN AND SEXY.) (Oh um yes for those of you who don't follow me on Facebook - I'm getting married to Jay next summer. Watch this space for more info and potential invites :D)
- food. All the food. I want to learn how to make everything.

WATCH

- Orphan Black
- Orange is the new black
- The end of season 2 & season 3 of Game of Thrones (Not too many spoilers, please.)
- Blackadder. And Monty Python stuff. And everything else that is iconic to British TV culture and that my British friends kee making jokes about that I don't understand.
- Welcome to Night Vale (technically listen to, not watch, but shush. I'm sure it'll be excellent for sewing or cooking.)
- Anything else that my flist might care to recommend?

READ

- The Atrocity Archives and its sequels, by Charlie Stross. (I can't really justify having a Famous Writer(tm) in my acquaintances without having read a single one of his books. Especially since his books are right up my alley)
- Finish The Ocean At The End of the Lane (potentially before the 15th). Jay and I have been reading it to each other but we haven't done that in a week or two, which is Sad.
- The Night Circus.
- Read moar things. Most likely things that I will bring back from Strasbourg. ALL THE UNREAD BOOKS, HUZZAH.

WRITE

- That porn I promised Jay for his birthday (on the 31st of May... Herm :/)
- Faders. I am still very attached to it
- Maybe some actual essay on here about feminism and how the patriarchy also hurts men and that kind of stuff. I have thinky thoughts about that shit.
- More things for my professional-ish website/blog thing.

RITUALLY BURN

- All the notes I took for my dissertation, plus the stuff I printed. That should feel ridiculously good.
rapunzelita: (Shadokstupidity)
Blowing off almost €100 because I locked myself out of my own apartment at the ONLY TIME IN THE YEAR when there is no-one else there (apart from a very confused cat.)

WHEN WILL THAT EVER STOP BEING FUN YOU GUYS.

(Honestly had I had a proper ladder I would have climbed up to my bedroom window. The glass has been broken for more than a year now, I would have got in without any kind of problem. Apart from the fact, of course, that it's two meters high. Fuck.)

I don't even know how I feel about the whole thing. I'm at the same time highly annoyed at myself, proud that I managed to keep my cool, relieved that the guy didn't take three hours to arrive, and just completely indifferent to the whole situation. And add a bit of inexplicably wanting to cry into the mix, for some reason o_o

I think this might be me coming down from my first adrenaline high in, um. Either a few years or two weeks.

(Yeah I don't remember if I mentioned this here, but I went to Scotland to get an apartment in July and somehow MANAGED TO GET THE WRONG AIRPORT.)(Did I mention that my mother is a fucking saint? BECAUSE SHE IS. She got me there without even losing her cool.)
rapunzelita: (Shadokstupidity)
Don't worry, I'm not going to harass you with pictures of birds again.

I just wanted to say that, for those who are interested, I recently rediscovered that I have a Twitter account: @Translatotron

In case you guys are interested. Who knows.
rapunzelita: (Writing)
I've been sick those last few days, so I decided not to go to university yesterday and today. The weather is absolutely horribly, miserably COLD, and there was no way I was going to get better as long as I went outside every day, even for ten minutes.

So, since I didn't have anything much to do, I was very procrastinative the first day (I think I watched something like 10 episodes of The Mentalist in as many hours...), but today I've been drawing! And since I was pretty happy with what I did I wanted to show it off.

Well, I'm going to show it off under the cut, since it contains a mild case of boobies and I don't want the people on my flist who have uptight bosses to lose their job because of me, but, you know. I was hoping that maybe that way more than three people would see it XD

I felt like drawing something warm and cute, because it's cold outside and I am tired of coughing my lungs out, so I went for it and drew my boyfriend a "pinup" (so to speak) of one of my RPG characters, Lucia. It's more cute than sexy, really, but I'm really happy with how it turned out, so.

Here be boobies, OMG )
rapunzelita: (Writing)
Here is a compilation of all the book recs you guys have given me (thanks a lot!). I'll come back later to complete it ^^

Otherwise I won't be able to remember all of them!

List! By author! Wooh! )
rapunzelita: (Writing)
Here is a post about why I want to start reading again on a regular basis.

The exposition took a little long, so I decided to put it under a cut (tl;dr: I'm an English major who doesn't read. This is deeply wrong. Please send help!)

I. The Sad State of Affairs )

II. Why It Matters )

III. What Can Be Done About It

Essentially I just need to kick myself in the arse and stop with the perpetual being stuck to my laptop. I'm bordering on addiction -- no, if I'm being honest, I'm completely hooked. Which is bad enough on its own, but also a huge annoyance, since I can't really read on a screen for very long lest my eyeballs fall off. Basically: more reading and less laptop for bedtime.

What you can do is recommend me some books! I'm not usually very picky about reading, though I'm usually more of an escapist than a realist as far as my fiction is concerned. Just tell me about your favourite books!

If you need more specifications, I like urban fantasy and steampunk best (my favourite writers are Susanna Clarke, Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman, to give you an idea.) At the moment since I'm a little brain dead I'm looking for rather quick and/or easy reads. Maybe children's or YA books? I love children's literature dearly and I don't read quite enough steampunk, so, YA steampunk would probably be the thing I'd most likely read? I'd love to hear about anything, though, really.
rapunzelita: (Shadokstupidity)
Il y a très, très longtemps que je n'ai pas tenu un LJ/DW/blog quelconque régulièrement. J'avais arrêté il pendant un bon gros bout de temps, notamment parce que je me suis peu à peu distanciée de tout ce qui est fandom. Et puis aussi parce que plus personne ne commentait sur mon LJ ce qui me déprimait un peu. Et les trucs dont j'avais envie de parler avaient tellement changé que je ne savais pas si qui que ce soit serait intéressé.

Mais ça pose un problème, qui m'ennuie profondément: je suis absolument incapable de me souvenir de 2011. Oh, bien entendu, il y a certains morceaux qui me sont restés en tête (Inverness, en particulier), mais la plupart du temps je me laisse bercer par l'ordinaire, et j'oublie énormément de choses. Que je n'ai pas forcément envie d'oublier. Donc, LJ. Ou, en l'occurence, DW.

Et je sais que quand j'écris quelque chose, je m'en souviens bien mieux. Le jour de 2010 dont je me souviens le mieux est la Saint Patrick, parce que j'ai pris la peine d'écrire quelques lignes à ce sujet dans mon carnet. (Pour la petite histoire, non, ça n'a pas fini en beuverie. C'était juste un chouette jour de printemps avec Jay.)

Je ne sais pas du tout si je vais écrire en français ou en anglais ou les deux (probablement les deux). Je ne sais pas du tout de quoi je vais parler. Mais je vais essayer, en tout cas.

Je pense que je peux en faire ma résolution pour cette nouvelle année: essayer de poster plus régulièrement sur DW. Peu importe le sujet.

(Et essayer de recommencer à lire. Ca serait bien, aussi.)


...and in English )

October 2013

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