Saigon

So my trip last week was canceled. We booked the wrong date and didn't even realize it until the day we had to leave. No worries though cause in an hour I am about to leave for Vietnam and I double checked our tickets just to make sure we didn't do the same.

It is my second time to go there, the first was to learn how to make Vietnamese food which was about 5 years ago. But this time i'm going with my family for vacation and we'll be going to Cambodia as well.

This may be my last out of the country trip of the year because I'll have to play catch up with work when I get back. I'm trying my best to forget the piles of orders that will meet me at the end of this trip just so I can at least enjoy my last ounce of vacation for 2011.

QOTD: How's your year so far? Are you expecting it to get better/worse?

Hear from you guys soon

RUBEN IV

P.S. I'll share some photos when I get back which is on the 26th

Zzzzz...

Good Morning Nerdy Bunch it's Monday,

I am very tired and probably will be for a while adjusting to having a job again, to working eight hours a day and especially adjusting to working evenings is wiping me out right now. It is such a good kind of wiped out though. I finally feel like I'm doing something. After the stress of spending a month frantically looking for a job finally having one is a relief, even though my head frequently feels like it is going to fall off from all the information that is being shoved into it. Hopefully after a couple of weeks I'll be on track.

Best Wishes,

Allysa

Wait what?

My life has been fairly uneventful, unless you find a person who feels like a jumbled ball of stress a fascinating thing to gawk at. In that case, I might be one of the most interesting people out there right now. Although I might have to redirect you to people who work on disarming bombs or something even in that case. I've been busy procrastinating writing for my thesis. Sure I've also written some of it, because I would have been too ashamed to face my thesis counselor if I hadn't written anything. Rest assured, had there been no shame factor, I wouldn't even have a table of contents sketched out.

I also went through a flu last week. Which was not all too convenient since I was needed at the university. We were supposed to measure some reindeer teeth. I was not all that up for the job and I predicted the situation was going to be like this:

Turns out it was more like this:

Even in a dimly lit storage room it was a bit too bright for me and my flu ridden eyes. It was a bit of a Jack Nicholson moment. My friend told me I look like a hungover Nicholson. I couldn't argue against it. I was pretty sure it was 100% true. I'm pretty sure it's the closest I will ever get to looking like a celebrity.

Today there was some weirdness going on at a part of the university I go to.

There were others too, located at random places...yeah, I don't even....

VACATION!!

Ok so I really don't have anything to say except that it's a Wednesday here and tomorrow i'm off to the pastry capital of the Philippines, Bacolod for their annual MassKara Festival. This is one of many prestigious festivals in the country, Considering the fact that we have 7107 islands and at least 1 out of 20 islands have their own Fiesta (that might be an exaggeration or an understatement, not really sure lol)

The festival was established to battle against the depression of low sugar prices a few decades ago.  Bacolod's main revenue comes mostly from the cane industry so MassKara, which means many faces, is basically a big party to say that even though they're under economic crisis they should still put on a happy face, or something like that.


Anyway that is all

QOTD: what Festivals do you have in your country?



Hear from you guys soon,



RUBENIV

What the what?

Hello Nerdy Bunch, It's Monday.

Oh goodness I can't remember my own intro. Anyway here is a list of things.

1. My head hurts

2. Happy Belated Canadian Thanksgiving

3. I just love turkey so much

4. Yesterday i drew some things and gave one of them to my brother

5. Do you have siblings?

6. I start my new job on Wednesday wish me luck.

7. I am 23 now hooray!

8. I may have already titled a post with this title, that is okay because it is a thing that I say sometimes.

Best Wishes,

Allysa

Giving myself up in the warm embrace of the kitchen

          I have been swamped with work lately and my lazy nature isn't exactly helping. My desk is messy and I have so much documents to update that i'm already tired before I even start. I detest paperwork, which is why I became a chef in the first place. But as you progress in your career as a chef things become more theory than actual cooking.  Actually I still do most of the work in the kitchen but having to go home with even more work isn't something I signed up for. I just want to sit in my chair and watch some TV or Listen to some music with my ice cold beer in one hand and a nice thick sandwich in the other. Don't get me wrong, i'm enjoying what i'm doing, but we're allowed to rant sometimes right?!?
          What keeps me focused and relaxed is just cooking at home, taking my time, and enjoying the fruits of my labor. I specially like making things that takes time, it gives you something to look forward to.
          Reuben Sandwich
Ingredients:
brine
2 Liters Water, 3/4 cup Salt, 1/4 cup Sugar, 2 tsp Pink Salt, 3 cloves Garlic, 1/2 tsp Clove, 1/2 tsp Ground Allspice, 1/2 tsp Chili Flakes, 1/2 tsp Corriander Seeds, 1 Stick Cinnamon, 2-3 Bay Leaves, 1 inch cube Fresh Ginger Root
          Put all of the ingredients in a stock pot over high heat. When it starts to boil stir for 1 minute to make sure all of the sugar and salt has melted turn of the stove. Cool completely before Using
meat
I kg Beef Brisket
          Brine in the chiller for 5 days making sure that all of the meat is submerged in the brine.
After 5 days, strain the brisket and rinse well with water. Place it in a stock pot and add enough water that it is completely covered.

Ingredients
Spices
1/2 tsp Clove, 1/2 tsp Ground Allspice, 1/2 tsp Chili Flakes, 1/2 tsp Corriander Seeds, 1 Stick Cinnamon, 2-3 Bay Leaves, 1 inch cube Fresh Ginger Root
          Add all the spices in the pot of water and brisket and put over high heat. When it starts boiling lower the heat and let it simmer for about 3 hours or until the meat is fork tender. If the water level is getting low just add water to keep the corned beef submerged. Strain out the corned beef and slice thinly

          Russian Dressing
Ingredients
5 Tbsp. Mayonnaise, 1 1/2 tsbp/ Ketchup, 2 tsp. Horseradish, 1/2 tsp worchestershire Sauce, Salt, Pepper
          Just mix everything together
          Quick Sauerkraut
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp Caraway seeds, 300 grams Cabbage, shredded, 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar, 2 Tbsp. Sugar, Salt
          This one is a shortcut I learned form my aunt who is an Austrian. Saute everything in a pan.

          Get your slice of rye bread, spread some russian dressing, put large amounts of corned beef, add large amounts of saurkraut on top of that corned beef, top that with some swiss cheese, and sandwich it with another slice of rye bread. Toast your sandwich if you like.

          For some it's drinking out with friends, and for others it's a day in the spa but for me it's giving myself up in the warm embrace of the kitchen.


QOTD: What do you do to relax or unwind?




Hear from you guys soon,


RUBEN IV

Stranded at Home = Ginger Carrot Soup

Typhoon is almost a way of life here. It's been constantly raining for 2 days straight now and people we're adviced to stay at home. So now i'm stranded at home doing nothing.

When I was still in school I remember being all excited about a typhoon cause it would mean that there will be no classes. Of course I didn't know better then, but anything to get me off school is awesome. You'll be stuck at home but still awesome. I haven't been in some form of schooling for 5 years now and people are almost never excused from work except for maybe instances like these. So what do you do when you're stuck at home?

It was so dark and gloomy out, almost like when just a hair of the sun is peaking from the horizon when it sets. I thought I should make something warm to get me through this weather or this boredom because, I have forgotten how to have fun during typhoons. So I made myself Ginger Carrot Soup.

Ingredients:
3 Carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 Onions, peeled and roughly chopped
2 inch cube Ginger Root. peeled and roughly chopped
Pinch of Nutmeg
Water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Saute everything together and add enough water to submerge the carrots. Cover and wait for it to boil. When it boils lower the heat and let simmer for 30-40 minutes

 While I was waiting for my carrots to be tender I went outside to check out my small herb garden. My one of my Calamansi's branches broke (Photo Left). Calamansi is a tree that bares mini citrus fruits and is indigenous to our country. I didn;t want to wast all of the blossoms that it had an thought that I would go really well with my soup. I also picked more flowers and herbs to add to my soup (Photo Right from top clockwise Basil flowers, Chili Flowers, Tarragon, Oregano, Basil, Calamansi Flower).

When the carrots are tender puree the soup in a blender. When everything is smooth  put it back in the pot. If it is too thick, add more water until you get the consistency that you like. Season with salt and pepper then serve while still piping hot.

Serve the soup with a drizzle of sour cream and extra virgin olive oil  then garnish with your herbs and blooms.

Now as an adult, I can't seem to enjoy the typhoon as much as I did when I was younger. Too many things to worry about like work, time, responsibilities, and ,in this particular case, floods that you see in the news. A lot of the things that comes in our lives are things we really don't have control over and something that I've forgotten, including my youth, Is to stop and eat the roses.

QOTD: What's your favorite thing as a kid?


Hear from you guys soon,


RUBEN IV

Anniversaries

Today I turned twenty three. I have mixed feelings about my birthday. I used to love birthdays, and I still get those feelings. The attention is part of it but I also just feel accomplished like I made it through another year and that is actually a pretty big deal for me. Three years ago my thoughts around my birthday changed pretty dramatically. Three years ago on October 6th a boy I had known since I was five took his own life. It effected me in a way I couldn't have imagined. We had been friends in elementary school and occasional friends, and occasional antagonists in junior high and high school. I hadn't talked to him in two years, but his death broke me down. The day he died I went to work stacking books in the library and halfway through my shift I lay on the floor and cried in the stacks when no one was there. I spent the next two months hiding. I retreated from the world I had no idea how to deal with what I was feeling. I was angry at Brad for dying, I felt so guilty that I couldn't help him and that he had died and I hadn't. I had made it through my roughest patches. In December I went to the school counsellor, I talked about it and I got better, eventually. When the anniversary comes around I get thrown back into the space I was in during that time I cry until the tears won't come anymore. I have moved on, but that experience shook my foundations. I have come out of it different than I was before some of my most fundamental beliefs shifted in the time it took me to get back on my feet again. So this time of year this anniversary, it's hard. I am brought back to a place of grief and have to take time to heal again.

Allysa

Growing up and Plans

It's time. I think part of what's been holding me back so far has been that I never quite knew what I actually wanted to do with my life. I had things figured out until graduation, but after that came the big bad blank. So far I've always had something to work for, or to look forward to, usually a set date on which I'd leave the country. I came back from the states and counted down the days for two years. I came back from Slovakia and couldn't wait for my intermediary exams to be over so I could head to the UK. Only now I have graduation, and all that's coming after that is „earn money some way.“ It is, admittedly, still „earn money some way“, unless I end up getting a translation diploma, but now it's „earn money some way to pay the rent until you earn enough freelancing to travel“. It's not much better, but, yes, better. There are plans (plans once more involving foreign places).

But now that I've figured out what I want to do, a lot of things suddenly shift into place. Twitter suddenly became a serious networking tool. Blogging suddenly turned into something business related. And down went the old crappy blogs, down went potentially embarrassing content on my twitter, away went most public content elsewhere.

It's nice to have something to work for again. It's nice to get focused for once, to finally know what I need to pay attention to, what I have to work on, when before everything was all over the place. I was learning six language at once, desperately trying to at least retain my level of proficiency in all of them. Now I'm comfortable dropping all but two, and there are once more things I can do to prepare to reach the next destination. It'll take time, and a lot of work, and most likely quite a few detours. But after years of being mildly interested in jobs I'm not quite sure I could actually do, this is finally something I know I'm capable of, 'cause dammit, if there's one thing I can do it's translate. So I might not be rich, I might barely get by, but in the end I'll do something I enjoy, something I know I can do well, something that'll allow me to keep learning, something that will continue to allow me to pack my bags every once in a while and start over somewhere new, until I get stuck somewhere that feels like home.

QotD: What are your plans?

Still an Addict

I just realized that it's been exactly 8 months since we started. I was looking at my first introduction and nothing really changed as much, i'm still addicted to burgers and i'm still working in the food industry.

I'm not really sure what else you know about me from the blogs I've been posting this past 8 months but here's 5 things that may help you to get to know me more:

1.) I don't eat pork - nothing religious, I just don't like the tastes.
2.) I turned 26 last June 1st
3.) My best sleep is when i'm traveling for long distances - I think maybe it's cause when I was a kid they'd drive me around to sleep.
4.) I love to drink coffee but I shouldn't
5.) Something new though is that I Opened my own business last May which is eating up most of my time. I now supply desserts to restaurants that wants to outsource that part of their business

Task of the Day: your turn to ask me questions of things you want to know.

Hear from you guys soon


RUBEN IV

P.S. Just saw the e-mail, I added you guys on skype =D

Limerick

Good Morning Nerdy Bunch it's Monday,

I would like to start by saying that I am never giving that introduction up, ever even on days like today when it is not Monday and not morning. Yup. Here is a limerick I wrote as part of my reintroduction.

There once was a girl named Allysa

who's mind was going to pieces

she worried and fretted

that she spend life indebted

to the government and never buy pizza.

And so I have manged to sum up my life right now and y greatest fear in a poem. Awesome. I'm unemployed and am worried about finding work because who doesn't worry about that sort of thing, being unemployed long-term is something that I actually worry about quite a bit. I generally worry a lot and sometimes I do feel like my mind is going to explode from the pressure of it all. I know this isn't much of an introduction but dealing with my anxieties is something I am having to focus on right now so you all get to hear about it.

I haven't heard back from everyone I sent out an email with my Skype name so we can try and have a little international get together. So check spam folders in case it got shunted off in that direction. Also in case you were wondering my name is pronounced Ah-lee-sah, which is very difficult to rhyme.

Best Wishes,

Allysa

waiting for winter

My old intro pretty much stands, but I liked enika's drawing tactics, so...here's some stuff that's been going on with me, in graphic form. Including me, in stick figure form.

My hair gets all messy because of static electricity. It's annoying. Also, my favorite jacket is a dark brown suede jacket. Gosh, leather jackets smell so nice. This is a very old jacket that my mom used to wear but nowadays it's pretty much my jacket, it's in amazingly good shape. Just really needs to be cleaned. Maybe one day we'll bother to take it to a professional. Maybe one day we can afford to spend money for such treatment.

Anyways, have a nice Friday!

Well, then, reintroduction time!

This is me.

I (still) study English Literature.

I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life for quite some time (only that it had to be location independent), but finally figured out that literary and/or script translation is pretty much the perfect job for me. Now I just need someone to hire me.

Languages are one of my main interests, and I speak languages, but occasionally this still happens.

I live in a lovely small town that mostly consists of a university and awesome old buildings. I like to complain that there isn't much to do here, but really I'm quite fond of the place.

But there are other places I'd much rather live in (at least for a while).

I love music, good telly and good food.

Another important thing to mention would probably be the fact that I can't draw.

QotD: Is there anything weird about you?

For example, I seem to attract strangers. If you ever need to ask a stranger for directions or anything else, and I happen to be within sight, you're going to ask me. Someone once commented on this after having spent a mere four hours with me (and no, I didn't warn them in advance ;) ). Considering I'm socially awkward, never know what time it is and am directionally challenged even in places I know well, I feel rather sorry for all those people (especially the ones I've gotten lost... oops).

Re-introductions

Good morning/afternoon/evening Nerdy Bunch ^_^

I totally agree with everything said so far. But just to add to the suggestions being given, I think we should start a new by introducing ourselves again to each other.

I'm actually very excited to chat with you guys just so we can build rapport in our group.

In terms of my schedule I am hardly free, but if you set a schedule I will make sure I make space to chat with you guys. As long as the time is within reasonable hours which is anything between 10 am -10 pm GMT +8

Hear from you guys soon

RUBEN IV

Blogosphere

Good morning Nerdy Bunch it's Monday,

I'm sitting outside freezing my toes off while writing this. It's midnight and the weather has just turned in a autumn direction so the weather is brisk. There are thin fluffy clouds skimming in front of the moon. I'm wrapped up in a blanket with giant headphones on so I'm mostly warm although I'm actually contemplating the benefits of a Snuggie.

As far as Blog improvement goes. I am down for some more casual pants conversation. I think it would be nice to go themeless for the next couple of weeks just to see what happens with that. Also I think it's important just to post even if the posts are stupid or un Pulitzery, my posts are going to be consistently late forever I seem to only have inspiration ridiculously late at night, but I'm still posting. My other suggestion is a question, what do we want from this blog what are we trying to get out of it. I think it would be interesting to play around with the mission of the blog a bit try out some creative writing some eductional stuff some more personal blogs, whatever i ust feel like it has been kind of uncomitted up to this point. Those are all of my thoughts on the matter.

Over and Out,

Allysa

Blog improvement

Since we all seem to have gotten rather lazy lately, I thought I'd make this weeks topic all about improving our blog.

First of all I think we need a reliable way to communicate with each other. Whether it's letting the others know that you don't have time to blog when it would be your turn to pick a topic or whatever else. So maybe we could exchange email addresses or skype names.

Besides that I guess it'd be nice if we all tried to talk to each other more. Check the blog regularly, comment on other peoples' posts even if you don't have anything outstandingly important or interesting to say. Somehow I've gotten the feeling that having narrowly defined weekly topics actually stalls conversations, and keeps us from getting to know each other. Because if we all write about the same thing from our perspective, we don't usually want to put everything we have to say into a comment on another post. I'm not really sure what the solution to this could be. Picking more vague or open topics? Sticking to narrow ones, but handling topics merely as an addition to normal blog posts about something of our own choosing? Not sure...

Up to my neck with flour and butter

I am sorry for not being able to post for the last couple of weeks. I have been so preoccupied with work and it's not getting any less busy. The -ber months is coming which means I need to start preparing for the holidays to come.

This also mean that I am desperate for vacation!! I just want to drive away from my responsibilities and go straight to the beach and just lie there on the sand with my below zero beer.

QOTD: what's your perfect relaxation vacation like?

Hear from you guys soon

RUBEN IV

P.S. I will try my best to make time from more posts

Where are you !?

HELLO...hello...hello...hello...hello...hello...

I don't have much to say today, I have finished my practicum and am looking for work and currently house sitting.

Best Wishes,

Allysa

Nostalgia

Good Morning Nerdy Bunch it's Monday!

I went home this weekend, and for those of you who are wondering yes I did have some chicken soup. It was the yearly fair and I went on Saturday afternoon. I listened to the main stage act and had my first ever corn dog (Inspired by Hank Green) i didn'

t actually like it that much probably because I don't really like hot dogs.

On the walk home I went through the park near my house, the park I played in as a child. There are lots of big obvious changes. Certain death-trap play-structures have been replaced by sanitary metal bars in jarring colours that don't look like much fun at all. A lot of things were the same though the dusty ball diamond with the weed encroaching, that has always had weeds encroaching. The slide that provided hours of amusement stands as tall as it does in my memory. The monkey bars are tempting, but I don't quite have the enthusiasm for hanging upside-down that my younger self had. I went on the merry-go-round and am pleasantly su

rprised by how fast it spins, no wonder I was so scared of it as a kid. Now, I lean my head back as the sky spins around my head. I am suspended in a perfect nostalgic moment. I feel like I am floating above the ground. I contemplate how the playground and I have changed, and how we have stayed the same. Caught on the edge between laughter and tears I realize that I would never want to go back to where I have been, I have come so far. Descending from my merry-go-round contemplation I walk through a patch of small yellow flowers they are identical to the ones I picked as a child and I am glad that I have come home so I can realize how far I've come.

Best Wishes,

Allysa

Tough question, that

I really don't know what I'd want as a last meal. At the moment I'd probably pick a nice thali, but my obsession with South Asian food is fairly recent and probably won't last that long (my food obsessions never do). A few weeks ago I probably would have picked a veggie stir fry, a few weeks before that a bean chili and so on (although (Italian) pizza is nice too). The probability that my food of choice at any given time would be vegetarian and spicy is rather high though.

... and blackcurrant ice cream for desert, please (or a mint popsicle if it's really hot).

(oh god, I just found an Indian foodie social network (in English)... I'll just start buying clothes three sizes bigger now (they have a six page thread consisting entirely of dal recipes...))

Pizza. Yes.

Koti-pizza's mince meat pizza, family size

Last meal? There is only one answer to that: Pizza.

I love pizza. I could probably eat it for the rest of my life, you know what? You may as well bury me with pizza...ok, maybe not, feel free to cremate me with one if you must though. But yes, John Green is not alone in his forbidden love for this delicious food, no cheri, I too know the magnificent lure of this particular forbidden fruit. I love it so much I could write a bad poem for it! In fact...

Bad Poem For Pizza

O sweet strings of golden sunset,
warm in your brace,
twined with my tongue.
Gentle lover of taste.
A blanket for the yearning mind.

With the soul of purest red,
burn awake the slumbering heart.
The roaring breath of a fiery stead,
the flesh of a cow, turned might of a king.

To you, I bow, the lord of viand.

Oh yes, you just saw someone dedicate a poem for pizza. But enough of this silliness.

There's one Finnish pizza chain, Koti-Pizza (Home Pizza), that makes particularly tasty pizza in my humble opinion. The down side is that they are small and cost a lot. That is why I order a family-sized pizza just for myself when ever I have enough money to spare for such extra things and don't feel like it's too soon to eat another one. Oh and, agreed, this is very unhealthy stuff. But who cares if in this scenario I'm dying and the world is ending, right? Yes. My choice would be pizza from Koti-pizza. With some refreshing, cold soda to drink.

Chicken soup

Good Morning Nerdy Bunch it's Monday,

Imagine it's your last day on earth. Maybe your dying or the world is ending, either way there is not much time left. There are so many things you could do the question is: what will you eat? I know what I would eat, my mom's turkey noodle soup. With a grilled cheese sandwich mad on Canadian rye bread and a home made dill pickle. To drink, a chocolate milkshake. The most important element of this meal is the soup. I love both turkey and chicken noodle soup. Probably because I grew up with it my mom's has always been my favorite. The particular spices she uses are perfection for my taste-buds. This whole meal evokes quiet Sunday lunches with the fall sun streaming through the kitchen window. A sense of safety and family. So, if I knew that I was ending soon, I would eat the things that remind me of home and of family.

Best Wishes,

Allysa

P.S. I have a job interview tomorrow, wish me luck.

Despicable case of art theft

I'm going to use this freebie round of mine to let you know about something I've already posted on yourpants about, along with emailing some newspapers etc. As an artist and a member of the deviantart community along with other art communities, this subject is close to my heart.

Here's the post I made, which I am pretty much quoting word for word here (I encourage you to comment on the thread on the forums to bump it so people can spot it easier and thus get involved).

Hello, fellow nerdfighters! I'd like to call your attention to something and encourage you to spread information about it and possibly even donate to the lawyer fees if you want. So, on to the matter at hand:

Recently the artist community of deviantart.com discovered that presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman's nephew, Chad Lieberman, has been operating several sites (art4love.com and markyourspot.com) in which he sells art for hundreds if not thousands of bucks per piece, claiming it's all made by him. Turns out he has stolen most, if not all, of the art featured on his site from all over the online artist community, especially deviantart, the largest community of artists online. He has stolen from over 100 artists and earned quite a bit of money from this stolen art.

It was all discovered by the online community when there was an article published about him, speaking of 'his projects' in a positive tone, on the South Florida Chronicle (http://sflchronicle.com/news/enterta...ultimedia-art/).

His first site, art4love was forced to close down because of copyright infringement but he soon set up another site, markyourspot.com. Which was also closed down rather recently, but he has shown no signs of stopping, rather lone remorse.

Now several artists from deviantart, led by one known as alexiuss (http://alexiuss.deviantart.com/) , are banding together, gathering money and evidence (which there is already plenty of) to bring upon a class action lawsuit against Chad Lieberman. Alexiuss' goal is to hire the best copyright lawyer in Toronto to handle this large case.

More information can be found here, in one of alexiuss deviations. The image contains some proof of stolen art and background story: http://alexiuss.deviantart.com/art/M...MENT-253771563 In the artist's comment there is also a link for a place where you can donate money for the lawyer fees.

And here is a more comprehensive list of known stolen art, showing their original creators and images of the now closed site art4love. It's all in the form of flash images that you can browse by clicking the arrows on the images. There are three separate parts and artists are listed in the information box below the image.

Part 1: http://gene-ash.deviantart.com/art/A...-art-253359597
Part 2: http://gene-ash.deviantart.com/art/A...rt-2-253778066
Part 3: http://gene-ash.deviantart.com/art/A...rt-3-253782704

Deviants (members of deviantart), including me, have made several blogs and articles about this matter on deviantart, as artists world wide have become enraged by this. There are hundreds of comments of people expressing their disgust.

Here is a link to a blog that has collected several screen shots of articles and posts in which Chad Lieberman incriminates himself: http://redbeancookie.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/chad-love-part-deux/ Apparently some places have started to take them down if the author of the entry is to believe.

Here are some extra journal/article links:
Blog on the subject by cartoonist (and nerdfighter) Tom Peterson: http://tompreston.deviantart.com/journal/43383753/
An article of discovering that after being forced to close down art4love due to copyright, Chad Lieberman set up another site, markyourspot.com: http://news.deviantart.com/article/158845/

What is that "dream" thing people keep on talking about?

Darn it, I missed last week, and this week I don't really have much to say :(

I've been blessed with extremely deep sleep ever since I was a baby (massive thunderstorms, people emptying her tent, fire alarms... enika sleeps on), so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that I generally don't remember my dreams (not even for a split second after waking up). There's one particularly scary dream from my childhood, which I still remember both because it was bloody scary (someone was trying to drop cars on us) and because for many, many years it was the only time I actually remembered dreaming (I actually believed I didn't dream until I found out everyone does a few years ago).
Nowadays I do very occasionally remember dreams, but only when I don't sleep well, which is usually when I'm anxious, and usually just tackle whatever I'm anxious about in a more or less "real" setting (even if the characters seem to be rather randomly plucked from my life). Oddly enough I remember things like thinking in-dream that I've been to certain dream places before, sometimes I even think I've been revisiting the same for years, but I wouldn't actually be able to tell you if that's the case, if I even dreamed that at all, or what those places look like when I'm awake.

Vivid Dreams

I almost always remember my dreams and it's always so vivid.

I have recurring dreams where I would glide from tree to tree like how they would in the movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" or I would be eating something that I've been craving.

Sometimes I would have dreams that sort of happens in real life. Like the one time where I dreamt that I was trapezing in Singapore and weirdly enough they had it in Sentosa when I visited. Or I dreamt that they would be building condos in a particular area and after a year they did. And it's not the type where I saw it and said that I deamt about it. I actually write my dreams down sometimes so I can tell my sister about it.

Sometimes I get dreams were nothing makes sense. I had a dream that I went to the beach with my friends and we lived in a colorful pigeonhole type house where we had to climb ladders to get to our rooms. Another is that I was in a tea party that turned into a wedding, but because the wedding is taking forever to start it tuned into a club . Those are my favorite once because it so interesting to share.

Drew the Pigeonhole House at the beach circa 1998

QOTD: Have you had any dreams that came true?

Hear from you guys soon

RUBEN IV

Nightmare

Good Morning Nerdy bunch it's Monday,

I rarely remember my dreams I typically only remember them if they have woken me up. This usually happens because they have made me cry. I have what I call anxiety dreams when I'm really stressed that typically involve someone dying.

So a few weeks ago I had an absolutely horrible dream. I was captured by a serial killer who kept girls in his basement and he made me help pour acid on them. I didn't want to but I had to or else he would pour acid on me so I was crying and I woke up. I'm lying in bed sobbing from this horrible dream and I can't imagine how I'm going to handle the day because I'm so stressed out. So I decided instead of what I usually do with a nightmare which is crush it into a tiny box in the back of my head where hopefully it will leave me alone. I decided to give it a happy ending I let myself remember what was happening in the dream and then I changed things, I stole his keys and freed the girl who was still alive and we ran away. That made it so I was able to get up and deal with people that day instead of curling up under my covers and refusing to come out. I hope this is a sign that I'm getting wiser as I grow up.

Best Wishes,

Allysa

Dream casts a human shadow, when it occurs to him to do so.

Let us discuss the land of dreams. Share a somehow memorable dream/nightmare you've had. Maybe it was so bizarre that is stuck with you, or so beautiful, funny or horrible...

I believe it was my turn to give out the topic this time so here you go.

I'm going to share a dream that has stuck with me for years, surprisingly not because it was something awful but because it was so beautiful I keep wishing I could go back to it.

I was standing at a market place of sorts. It was a large area covered in cobble stone. Surrounding the market place were several buildings of beautiful old-timey tile and stone architecture, I think many of the buildings were factories. In contrast to all the stone and tile, there was a gorgeous park with the greenest grass and a nice fountain. One side of the park was framed by a row of Oak trees.

The sun was shining, making the green grass of the park practically glow, along with the Oak leaves. I was in what looked like it could have been 19th century England. I was wearing the clothes of a fairly upper class woman, it seemed. I could hear the sound of horse hooves hitting the cobbled streets as people, mainly lower class workers in their worn clothes, used them to pull carriages around. I was not paying particular attention to any of those people, I was looking at a man in a dark suit and a top hat, who was discussing with a man who I assume was someone who worked at horse stables, maybe a stable master. They were smiling as they spoke and I was content at just looking at them in silence, from a distance. The man in a top hat was my husband, I think it was an arranged marriage but I wasn't upset, I felt fine and warm.

After a while my husband and the stable master approached me, walking a beautiful horse with a copper-red coat towards me. Apparently the horse was my wedding present. They helped me up onto its back and like a proper lady, I sat there with both of my legs on the same side of the saddle (sidesaddle). Suddenly something spooked the horse, or it just decided it was time to go - I'm not sure. It started to gallop, fast, like a race horse. The sun made its red coat shine, everything around us still looked so beautiful. I wasn't scared, I just conformed to the movement of the horse, but I did feel an adrenaline rush as I struggled slightly to hold on and keep myself from slipping (if any of you have ridden sidesaddle, you know it's definitely not the best position to go with if you want to stay firmly on the horse). The stable master tried to run after us, but he couldn't keep up. We were off and I still had that warm feeling. That's when I woke up.

After waking up I couldn't think about anything else but the beautiful imagery. The landscape, the colors, the horse...it was all gorgeous. I wish I could paint it but I'm just not good enough. It's been years since I had this dream and I still haven't dared to even try and sketch out what I saw onto a paper. It's kind of hard to explain but I fear that if I even try, the memory of the beauty will fade or change if I make an attempt to spill it onto a paper. I don't want to let go of it. Not just yet.

Mahal Kita

The people I love the most is my family. I am fortunate enough to be in a a family that shows me the importance of saying "I love you" to one another. Not that we use those words loosely, but whenever we see it fit we'll most likely say it. Considering that fact, I have never said those words to anyone else but my dad, mom, and my sister.

The thing I love the most is food. No surprise there. Food has really been good to me as well. It is my living and without it i'd literally and figuratively starve.

A little lesson on Tagalog which is our mother tongue. Love in my language is "mahal" (/maˈhal/). That exact same word also means expensive or something with value that is more than you would like to spend or can afford. I really like how it implies that it is something you can never pay for in full and that it is a gift you can give someone and not expecting anything back.

QsOTD: How do you say "I love you" in your language? How many ways do you know how to say "I love you"?

Hear from you guys soon

RUBEN IV

I love the whole world

Good morning friends, it's Monday!

I love my mom a lot. Out of all the people and things that exist in the world the one that comes first to my mind when I think of love is my mom. Our relationship isn't perfect, we fight and generally disagree. I don't tell her every thing that's going in my life, but when something is bugging me or I'm overwhelmed I call her first. Maybe I'll have a friend or a partner some day who I'm close enough with that I can share the things I'm most proud and most afraid of but for now it's still my mom.

I love books and Libraries. They are one of the most important things in my life. When I'm stressed or going stir crazy I don't go to the mall I go to the Library. The quiet and the smell of books relaxes me. Books are one of the only things that can completely take my mind off things. when I'm reading I so immersed in someone else's world that I can forget about my own, forget about my own problems and worries for a while.

These are the two things I love the most. Of course I love the rest of my family and I love my friends. But their impact isn't quite as far reaching, they don't hold the same place in my heart.

Love,

Allysa

All you need is Love?

So, I was thinking about what theme I could set for this week. In honour of Esther Day, which was Wednesday, I've decided to dedicate this week to things/people we love. Oh, and just in case you haven't seen Hank's Esther Day video, here it is :

I'll leave my post till next Thursday, but I'd like to see what you guys have to say on the subject :)

summer break :(

It's summer „break“ over here, which basically means all students either do internships or are locked in their rooms writing papers. It's the latter for me, which is rather a shame considering how nice it's outside, and how big my books are (way too big and heavy to take to the riverside). So I'm trying to keep myself from procrastinating too much (so far I've seen neither Friends nor The West Wing in their entirety, which is rather an improvement over the last years).

So basically I'm not going out much, and spend most of my day reading up on the medieval Flemish art and court scene, which means I have absolutely nothing to talk about. Yay. I could tell you about medieval feasts featuring orchestras playing in giant pies and stuff, but I'm too lazy to scan the pictures. One day I'm going to use my accidental expertise in early stage design for something useful (it's an utterly fascinating topic, since they did all sorts of crazy stuff you wouldn't expect them to be able to do back then (and that would be way to expensive to do today), but, you know...)

Ooh, a few days ago we saw a semi-staged reading of Dracula near a pseudo-medieval tower above town (the one we like to bullshit tourists into believing is the Rapunzel tower, despite it having been build after the Grimms snuffed it – it's a bit of a hobby among towns that have any connection to the Grimms ;) we like to lay claim on Little Red Riding Hood as well). Anyways, the play was awesome (mostly thanks to the great actors). We were sitting outside, in the middle of the forest, and the sound was so astonishingly good that you really couldn't tell whether the birds you heard in the background were real or not. Plus they served really strong (vampire-themed) drinks, so the audience was rather giggly by the end. Only getting back down to town was rather an adventure (it was dark, near midnight, and none of the buses went where they were supposed to go. By foot it would've been a ten minute walk through a dark forest potentially full of mines or a 90 minute walk along deserted roads (... and highways).)

QotD: What's your most useless area of expertise?

Slap in the face

I say eat the way you want to eat!

I use to eat everything, but for almost 6 years now I haven't eaten pork, at least not consciously. But only because suddenly I can't stand the smell and taste of it anymore. My sister is pescatarian but that doesn't mean she's healthier than everyone else.

As to being healthy, I think diet is just 10% of the battle. You can be vegetarian or vegan but eat french fries everyday and still get a heart attack. What you really need to do is exercise. But, although it should be, health isn't exactly my focus in terms of food but taste.

If you don't like how it taste then don't eat it. But at least try it once, otherwise how will you know if you like it or not. I actually got slapped in the face for being adventurous with food. We have a delicacy here in the Philippines which is called balut. It's a duck embryo, around 16-21 days old, boiled and eaten with salt and/or vinegar. I told my roommate that I have and liked eating balut. She slapped me in the face, jokingly of course. I'm not saying I didn't deserve it cause I told her the story partly to freak her out a little. We were having a debate about prop. 2. Mind you my roommate eats more meat than I do. That's a whole other story that I really don't have time to talk about and isn't that interesting anyway.

My point is try it and if you don't like it don't eat it.

QOTD: What's the most exotic thing you've eaten?

Hear from you guys soon

RUBEN IV

P.S. Sorry for the late post =P

Lions And Antelopes

Terminology legend for those too lacy to Google or use dictionary:

Vegetarian
- a person who does not eat or does not believe in eating meat, fish, fowl, or, in some cases, any food derived from animals, as eggs or cheese, but subsists on vegetables, fruits, nuts, grain, etc.

Vegan
- a vegetarian who omits all animal products from the diet.

Pescetarian
- a vegetarian who will eat fish; also called pescevegetarian, piscatorial.

I’m an omnivore, I haven’t moved on from the nutrition that evolution has created my bunodont teeth to indicate. This is to say that I eat meat, as well as fish, vegetables, fruit and so on. I don’t have a healthy diet, I don’t count calories, and though I’ve considered trying out vegetarianism and pescatarianism in the past, it hasn’t lead to anything. I guess I’m not motivated enough. Once I saw this horrible documentary with no narration that showed the brutal way animals are treated in the food production process in some French factory or something along those lines. The scene I remember the best was one where masses of little baby chicks were moved around on a conveyor belt to these plastic boxes. Some chicks kept falling off and this raunchy looking factory-worker lady just threw them back on, like they hadn’t even been alive. No emotion, no carefulness. It was like she had been throwing rocks, bored as hell. And these poor chicks just sat on that conveyor, fell around, chirping. Still, that documentary wasn’t enough for me to pull a Lisa Simpson and start rejecting meat over night because of emotional reasons (it did make me want to adopt all the poor baby chicks of the world though). I guess all I can do is check the brand on what I eat and prefer local brands. Luckily I don’t eat that much chicken so, yeah…at least I’m keeping myself from contributing to some cruelty. Eh?

As for the versus idea of the topic, I don’t find that particularly interesting. I won’t go to health benefits and such since that’s a topic everyone and their mother has likely gone through multiple times in their lives - I think some were already covered here too. Plus there’s google for finding out pro and con arguments on that. I’m not passionate enough on the subject to fill this post with my own arguments.
What I will say is that I respect other people’s nutritional choices and don’t feel the need to start shoving meat down anyone’s throat. Many of my friends are vegetarians and it’s fine by me since they don’t exactly try to shove their lifestyle down my throat and they are not snobby about it. Vegetarianism is not going to harm anyone, except for the one on the diet if they aren’t careful, so I don’t mind, why should I?

Only unpleasant thing is that some vegetarians and vegans alike show a nasty higher than thou attitude about their ethical and nutritional choices. I think the worst of it I saw on PETA’s forums. One day I figured I’d give the site a look and what I saw was a board full of thousands of aggressive vegans whose attitude was utterly disgusting. In one thread some poor new member asked if she was a bad person for eating meat or something along those lines and a hoard of higher than thou vegans, senior members, pretty much told her that yes she is the worst person in the world and she doesn’t really love animals. It was like witnessing a crowd of 20-year-olds give a 5-year-old little girl the beating of her life. That sort of an attitude is not going to help anyone. I’ve seen somewhat similar rude behavior from the carnivore side too. Mostly crude jokes in the form of face book groups though. Nothing as flashy as PETA forums. I guess I’ve been lucky on that front. Generally I’m surrounded by accepting people in real life so such conflicts rarely come up there. Most of the rudeness I witness is online where it's bound to be harsher than in real life due to a certain degree of anonymity.

I guess I'm done with this ramble. I don't think I had anything concrete to say but... I posted! Late, sure, but better late than never. :P

FOOD!

Since I'd already written my post for last week's topic I'll just post both now.

1. Breakfast!

When I was still in school I hated breakfast. Not only did I grow up in the one region in Germany that is entirely void of good bread (they sell it in plastic bags *headshake*), I simply wasn't hungry that early. I joylessly munched some chewy bread, drank tea and then usually bought a cheese roll or something during recess.

I don't think I really started to like breakfast before I moved to my current town. We're one of those towns that are thoroughly dominated by their universities, and to suit students a lot of bakeries offer affordable small breads that are manageable even if you don't share with your housemates. And then I kind of fell in love with breakfast (and bread, zOMG bread...).

Since I started cycling in the morning I usually split breakfast in two. A wee bit of cereal in milk with berries (frozen) before I head out, and a "proper" breakfast consisting of bread and tea (black, plain or with ginger) once I'm back.

This is what I had the last two days:

Today's was two small slices of rye bread, one with cream cheese, cucumber and nigella seeds, one with almond paste. NOM. No fresh veg or fruit today since I was out :( The one on the left features the best pottery teacup ever.

That I eat bread and savoury topic is the only part that's typically German, I think. Most people drink coffee in the morning, and sausage or cheese (sans veg & weird seeds) on their bread.

2. Meat eater Vs. Pescetarian Vs. Vegetarian Vs. Vegan

Let's have a look at today's groceries:

Yup. Clear case of almost-vegetarianism ;).

I've never been particularly fond of meat and fish. There were a few meat dishes I rather liked, but when my sister turned vegetarian when I was six I started sharing her food rather than my parents' rather quickly. I'd still eat meat if my parents cooked something I particularly liked, but on most days I stuck to veg. When I slowly started to learn how to cook it was usually dinner for me and my sister, or the entire family, so I never really learned how to cook meat (ok, I also absolutely refused to touch raw meat (yuck), that might've been an issue as well...). (As a result the only traditional German food I can make is potato salad... oops.)

It's still pretty much the same. I'm not strictly vegetarian. I don't mind gelatine and rennet, and I'll very occasionally (maybe once a month) eat meat, though not usually prepared by myself. Mostly to make life for my friends easier, occasionally because the dish on offer is just too bloody delicious to refuse. The only thing I prepare myself is the occasional taco beef (well, and I tried to make beef curry a while ago, but it wasn't that great, so I'm unlikely to try again for quite some time)...

My main issue with meat (aside from veggies simply being yummier) are the conditions under which most most meat is raised. Growing up in a small town in a rural traditional farming region our butcher could usually tell us what meadow that cow had been standing on a few weeks earlier, and farmers generally took good care of their animals. Now I live in a bigger city and it's quite a bit more difficult. The only thing I can be certain to have been raised under decent conditions is lamb/mutton and venison, which (of course) are a bit too expensive for a slim student budget (especially when you have no idea how to actually cook them). For some reason it's much easier to get dairy from happy dairy cows than meat from happy meat cows :(

As for my vegetarian diet... I really hate meat substitutes. I guess it kind of figures, since I'm mostly almost-vegetarian 'cause I don't like meat. I just fail to see the necessity, because you can cook much, much better (not to mention healthier) just sticking to traditionally vegetarian dishes. But I guess a lot of people who turn veg for ethical reasons miss their meat.

Did I mention fresh veg is delicious? Because it bloody well is.

Pescy...what?

Hi Nerdy Bunch, it's Saturday THURSDAY. How are we all? I've just started back at uni after the end-of-first-semester holidays. Its good to be back, but it makes me sad that I'm busy already. Anyway, on to the week's topic!

I am a meat-eater. I have nothing against vegetarians, vegans and pesca...tarians? I have to admit that I had no idea what a Pescetarian was until I remembered that one of my favourite vloggers, KatersOneSeven, is one. Anyway, I would go so far as to say that I agree with the philosophy/ies behind the aforementioned dietary ideologies. I do not think that animals should be treated cruelly just for my benefit.

That being said, I can't help but find veganism/vegetarianism/pescetarianism just a little bit silly. Humans, my nerdy friends, are omnivores. In order to be fully healthy we need to source our nutrients from a wide range of places, and yes, that means animals and animal products. That is not to say that I think we have the right to be cruel to animals;  I'm not naiive about where that tasty bit of bacon I had with my lunch came from. I just think that there are widely available sources of cruelty-free animal products such as free-range eggs and meat from animals that have been raised and slaughtered in an humane way. I know that somewhere, an animal died so that I could have a delicious meal, but I try to go for cruelty-free products where possible.

Pescetarianism does have quite a good health benefit, what with all that omega 3, but I personally dislike fish/seafood, so I just couldn't live that lifestyle. Secondary to that is the fact that our seas are terribly overfished, which is pretty bad for the ecosystem.

Veganism is what really gets me. Like I said, there are cruelty-free sources of milk and eggs, and if you go for those, nobody is harming/killing some poor animal for your benefit and you are still able to get essential nutrients from those sources. It just seems...illogical, to me.

If I were to go with any of the alternatives, I'd be a Vegetarian, because I could still have eggs and milk, and could get most of my other nutrients from fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes. I make a mean Dal (Indian lentil-based stew-type-thing). But really, I do like meat too much to give it up.

Anyway, it is not for me to dictate who eats what. One of the great things about the whole thing is that I can choose what I eat. In that way, we're all pretty lucky, really. I mean, if I feel like eating an apple, I can just stroll to my fridge and grab one. Heck, I can change my mind and go for an orange, or a stick of celery, or a sandwich instead. And that's pretty awesome :)

See you next week! Am I right in assuming that I'm picking the topic?

All-Day Breakfast

First of I apologize for not being here last week. I have been busy in the kitchen making baked goods and is too tired to do anything else when I get home.

Anyway, I love breakfast food but not so much breakfast. I wait to get hungry before I eat and that doesn't usually happen until lunch time. Breakfast type foods though I can eat any time of the day. Specially our version of breakfast food. We're not a fan of sweet breakfasts so usually it's more like an actual heavy meal that you would eat for lunch or dinner which includes some sort of fried marinated protein, garlic fried rice "Sinangag", and eggs "Itlog". This complete meal is called depending on the meat that you like. for example my favorite is "Tapa" which is beef marinated in garlic and vinegar so they call this dish "Tap-si-log" because of the tapa, sinangag, and itlog.

Tapsilog

But if I have time and I feel like i really need to eat breakfast, I just eat milk and cereal

QOTD: What's your favorite ceareal?

Hear From Your Guys Soon

RUBEN IV

P.S. Since I wasn't able to post a topic during my week I'll take this opportunity to make up for my absence.

Topic of the week is: "Meat eater Vs. Pescetarian Vs. Vegetarian Vs. Vegan"

Define Breakfast Time

Good Morning nerdy Bunch its Monday,

So this is going to be a quick post to say that I love breakfast foods. Waffles, Pancakes, Omlettes, Bacon, Hash-browns, etc. But I don't like cooking or eating in the morning. so I generally eat bread or crackers so i won't be grumpy on regular mornings and occasionally go out for breakfast to get the thing I love to eat.

Best Wishes,

Allysa

Joyless Breakfast Marriage

I have very little to say about breakfast. To me it’s always been just something you shove down your throat when you are busy trying to get dressed so you can run to the bus. I didn’t even have breakfast for a long time when I was younger. I think I didn’t start having ‘proper’ breakfast till I was about the age of 15 - I started upper secondary and we had long days with a lot of stuff to learn, so I got hungry early and my stomach was growling hours before lunch break, which was not nice when if you happened to be sitting in a classroom that was mostly quiet, but I digress.

I don’t cook in the morning; I do not fry things, make porridge, or pick up something healthy like an apple. Usually I spend less than a minute on making my breakfast - by that I mean I heat up some ready-made over processed food that terrifies people who care about carbs, additives, and what they put in their mouth in general. Sometimes I have toast and that, as an exception, takes more than a minute to prepare. That’s about it when it comes to me and breakfast. A very cold relationship with no joy - like a forced marriage in the 50’s.

The most important meal of the day.

Well, it is a rather unorthodox topic, but it's still fun to think about. My current breakfast food of choice is porridge. I make it by boiling rolled oats in milk and sprinkling some brown sugar on top (I believe it's called 'oatmeal' in some places). It's great for the Winter months (it's Winter here in Australia until the end of August), and it's nutritious and high in fibre, and with a little bit of sugar or fruit or both, it's certainly delicious.I am on a bit of a health kick at the moment, so porridge is basically the perfect breakfast for me.

And now for a little bit of a story.

When I was little, I read Oliver Twist. It was an illustrated version, but still. I was in like, grade 2 or something. I was such a little Nerdfighter. Anyway, I remember the kids at the Orphanage having to eat something called Gruel Thrice every day. That sounded terrible! I could tell that Gruel Thrice was gross and felt sorry for Oliver.

Little did I know--though I found out YEARS later-- that they weren't eating Gruel Thrice. They were eating GRUEL. Three times a day...thrice. Still, gruel is actually gross. It's basically a watery porridge and more like a drink than food. :( poor Oliver.

Anyway, what are you eating for breakfast at the moment?

Uhm...

I waited 'till now for Ruben to post, but since that still hasn't happened I guess I'll just set a topic for this week. I don't really have time for a proper blog post now (my bed is calling), so I'll just give you the topic and add my on-topic post next week, hope that's ok :)

... and because I have absolutely no idea what topic to pick, and it's past midnight and I've had rather a lot of red, this one is going to be random: Breakfast.

Because.

Ugh

Good morning nerdy Bunch It is...

36 degrees Celsius out today and it feels like 44 with the humidity. Yesterday I had a massive allergy attack and couldn't see because my eyes were watering so I took a Benadryl and went to bed. That is the reason this post is so late, the abominable heat accounts for it's shortness.

Best Wishes

Allysa

P.S. I saw Deathly Hallows 2 yesterday and cried like a baby

Double Double toil and trouble

I remember when the first Harry Potter book came out. I’m not sure what compelled me, but I reserved the book at our local library (it was so popular it was already on loan). After about a month of waiting, I got the call that the book was now available and picked it up. I tried to read it but I just couldn’t get into it. I felt like it was boring. I don’t think I ever even got past the opening scene with Dumbledore and McGonagall leaving Harry on the door step of the Dursley’s.

I never ended up finishing it and, until seeing the movie Deathly Hallows Part 1, I didn’t have a big urge to read any of them through either. I had seen the movies, why would I read something I’ve already seen? I’ve thoroughly spoiled myself, after all. Later I got over that, but then my thinking was that since the first two movies were now rather kiddy and uninteresting in my now older eyes, the books would be the same and I didn’t want to have to paddle through the first two just to get at the rest of them. I’ve also acquired a certain impatience and lack focus to read through books. Eventually, however, I wound up listening to the audio books, read by the magnificent Stephen Fry, who practically brought the books to life. I did skip the second book, but otherwise I listened through them all.

During the course of this, much like with the movies, I came to the conclusion that, like enika, I’m far more interested in the older generations than the actual main characters of the books and movies. I think that of, for the lack of a better term, 'Harry’s generation' I was only interested in Luna and Neville, the rest of my interest lied with the Weasley twins and the adults. My interest in the adults, along with the urge to see how it all ends without having to wait for ages for the final movie, was actually a big reason as to why I wanted to read the books - I wanted to know more about them. Imagine my disappointment when it turned out that the books didn’t reveal much more than the movies.

Over the course of the books I grew sick of Harry as a character and all the romance plots and puny drama between the young students. I was far more interested in how they would have to actually face a war at such a young age, a war that would essentially be a genocide from Death Eaters’ part, but unfortunately I feel like the author didn‘t take advantage of the inherent tragedy and drama of their situation. I should probably mention I was sick of Voldemort even before I hit the books. I was also disappointed by the idea of horcruxes. They felt like a sudden flat idea, shoved to the books because the author simply needed some loop hole in there so Harry could kill the wizard she had made out to be so powerful. I understand that there needed to be a way, but horcruxes, to me, are a very dull idea that is similar to a variety of clichés within the genre of fantasy. I guess I could also include the prophecy in here, along with the fact that the main character is a male child who happens to be the “chosen one” (would be nice to have a female child as the chosen one for a change, just a FYI at the young adult fantasy novelists) and whose parents have died a tragic death.

This probably makes it sound like I hate the books, but I really don’t. I think they are okay. I’m not a huge fan or anything but they were okay, and Stephen Fry made it very entertaining to listen to them. Harry Potter books are certainly better than a lot of the crap published these days, I’m looking at you, Twilight books.

I think that’s about it with me and the phenomenon that is Harry Potter.
As a summary: I wanted to know more about the adults! I wanted to see children - not just Harry - facing a war and the notion of genocide.

Here, have a song...