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ToM Dracone

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  1. ToM Dracone
    I suppose I can't really expect to get away without making an entry about International Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day...
     
    Although what's weird is that, of all days, today I feel like neither talking like a pirate or using the pirate emoticon. Maybe it's because I'm wearing a cape. Not that pirates can't wear capes. I mean, they billow behind you more than those coats do, if dramatic effect is desired. Which it usually is. Because if effect of any sort is desired, drama is a given. Still, they aren't entirely piratical. In fact, I can't think of ever having seen a pirate in a cape... Coats do tend to be more common, and with accessories they are quintessentially piratical. But really, capes simply can not be questioned.
     
    ... I should make a Piracy category.
     
    "Drink up, me hearties, yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!"
    "I love this song! When I get the Pearl back, I'll teach it to the whole crew! And we'll sing it all the time!"
    "And then you shall truly be the most fearsome pirates in the Spanish Bay."
    – ToM
  2. ToM Dracone
    ~ Legolas, The Fellowship of the Ring
     

    Topic ...
     
    I've been working on this more or less nonstop for the past two days, barring school and homework (I was so glad yesterday was Friday)... *throws himself onto a couch and promptly falls asleep*
     
    "A Balrog! This is an evil fortune. And I am already weary."
    ~ Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring.
     
    – ToM
  4. ToM Dracone

    Dicacitas

    By ToM Dracone,

    It is very hard to be witty at eight-forty in the morning during Latin ... but we manage it.
     
    I usually have Latin second period, but today was a switch day. As you might guess, I'm not awake enough first period to thoroughly enjoy it, although I usually have English first. The usual second period is better, but I miss having it eighth period like I did last year. By eighth period, we're hyper, and it was right after lunch so we could have fun before class started. Not that we don't still have fun. Yesterday, for example, Lowell established that the translation of the Latin virgo, a word referring to a young unmarried female too old to be considered a girl, was "teenagette." And that's just the beginning.
     
    Aside from Latin, which is fun and easy as always, Sophomore year is much harder than Freshman. Mainly in the amount of homework. Advanced Algebra (a.k.a. Algebra IIx) is the main cause of that, as it's been taking me ages to work through all the problems for the past couple nights. But I'm finally getting the hang of it (haven't done Algebra in a year since eighth grade, and it wasn't nearly this complicated). And we don't have homework for it tonight. Haleluja!
     
    Biology ... well, I love Biology; I took it two years ago; it ought to be fun. Besides, this time around we're learning how things function in detail, not just the basics. The textbook, as I've said, is huge. Botany!
     
     
    In other news, I CGed most of one of the characters in my AC12 entry. Still have to do his head, hands, and staffs. I also discovered that claws are immensely fun and very easy to CG. But I'm still not sure exactly how I'll go about CGing the Balrog, except that scale-by-scale would be a very bad idea. Since most of it is covered in smoke.
     
    Now, for more memorable incidents in Latin, derived from translating a certain tombstone inscription: Cara meis vixi, virgo vitam reddidi reads the first line, meaning "I lived dear to my people; I gave back my life as a maiden."
     
    Lowell: "Was she like sacrificed?"
     
    Dr. Jones, translating meis: "Mine, my own ..."
    Leigh Ann: "My precious ..."
     
    The inscription goes on to state that the virgo was now ash, which is the earth, which is a goddess. So she was now a goddess because she was dead. Leigh Ann: "There's real leaps in logic here."
     
    I love my Latin class. And on that entertaining note, I leave you to go wade through Biology, History, English, and French homework. And then go up against a Balrog.
    – ToM
  6. ToM Dracone
    It's a little late in the week, but technically still applicable, but I never did get around to congratulating Schizo and his Captain's Quarters on achieving Blog of the Week (or Quarters of the Week, as he put it). Drinks all around!
     
    And on a linguistic aside, I think a conflagellation would technically be a whipping. From Latin flagellare, to whip. So one wonders why people so often wish them on others ... Maybe a ruse to express animosity under the pretext of felicitating them ...
     
    Not that that applies here, of course ... Really! I swear!
     
    ... Pirate business. Go back to your drinks.
    – ToM
  7. ToM Dracone

    The Love Of Wisdom

    By ToM Dracone,

    I swear, my class was not that titchy last year when we were Freshmen.
     
    Really, we weren't! Half of their class are so small... (No offense to any Freshmen who may be reading this.) And meanwhile, I have to get used to the fact that the Sophomores are now Juniors and the Juniors are the Seniors. When people don't change much over the summer, it's immensely difficult to picture them being a grade higher.
     
    ... And yes, that includes myself. Being a Sophomore is weird. Mainly in having a class below us after being the youngest for a year. And that half of my friends were Sophomores last year and are now Juniors. There are three new girls in my class, but a bunch of old students left (thankfully including almost everyone I didn't like).
     
    Otherwise, this year looks to be interesting in terms of classes. (Note that everything today was only about 15 minutes due to Orientation day schedule.) Latin remains my favorite – we still have Dr. Jones and our class is mostly the same, minus people who left the school, one who dropped the subject, and a couple who take it at a different time due to their schedules. But when we walked into the room, we almost all took exactly the same seats as we had last year, and it was as if we had never left. Sort of freaky, but much fun, as we started translating various Roman tombstone inscriptions that Dr. Jones had assembled for us. And which I continued after class, even though he said we didn't have to do them for homework.
     
    The Biology teacher isn't evil like I thought he was, although he is strict, which was the only side of him I saw last year (not having a class with him). As Biology is one of my favorite subjects, this is good. Our textbook is huge, though.
     
    French III was good – our class is loads smaller than it was last year, which is fine by me. But what was best was that I learned that we're covering all the rest of French grammar this year – the rest of the subjunctive and an overview of the passé simple, which are the two things I don't know. I want to drop French after this year so I have room in my schedule for Art (completely full right now because of two languages), but my mom doesn't want me to. Nn.
     
    The final class of note was Advanced Algebra – a combination of Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus in one year, although our textbook is labelled only the latter. And is also intimidatingly huge. We also got calculators of the TI-84 variety, which are swell. The teacher had something of an "Everything you know is wrong" introduction to it, although "Everything you know is actually something else" might be more accurate. As in that multiplying binomials is exactly the same as multiplying two two-digit numbers. He then proceeded to give us a sheet of complicated Algebra problems for homework without the slightest instruction of how to do them. Fun. ^^
     
    English II and World History II lacked anything of note, although I maintain that Catcher in the Rye is the worst book I've ever read. Bleh. I have a new teacher for History; I'd much rather have had the one from last year (but she's retiring this year, so her classes are split with the new teacher).
     
    The day finished with most of the Sophomore class removing to the fields, where we played what was described as "the laziest game of soccer ever." Which meant it was fun, as some of us just stood around and were interference. I also almost literally ran into various 11th-grade friends at the end of the day, which was quite fun.
     
    Quote of the day:
    Leigh Ann: *holds up one of Ali's crutches to her face* "This has the exact spacing of a Tiki mask."
    Brook: "You are, like, the only person who would say that."
     
    – ToM
  8. ToM Dracone

    Under The Sea

    By ToM Dracone,

    No, this has absolutely nothing to do with LGD Contest #4.
     
    I've added a new content block linking to my fellow pirates' blogs, in the tradition that they started ... returning the favor, you know. The background is from a wallpaper still of this spiffy sunken pirate ship screensaver I found. Not that I use screensavers, but I may use the wallpaper some day ...
     
    – ToM
  9. ToM Dracone

    A Grey Birthday

    By ToM Dracone,

    First and foremost, I'd like to wish Kay (KKN_GN) a happy 14th birthday! As I've stated elsewhere, 14 was a great year for me – hope it is for you, too. Since you seem to have enjoyed the date so far.
     
    As for the grey part of the title, that's referring to my day, which was unusual in many respects. For one thing, it stormed all day. Not that I object to that – I love rain. However, this involved high winds, downpours as we were in various parking lots (and at home – I wasn't even dry standing on the porch, thanks to the wind), several light flickerings, and general darkness outside. I suppose the only reason I object was that I didn't get to properly enjoy it, as otherwise I would have been quite fine with such weather.
     
    I also had lunch at four in the afternoon. We went out to browse various furniture stores late in the morning and didn't get home until three, after which I wasn't even hungry but decided I would do better to eat something, which manifested itself in the form of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Some time after that, the storm kicked up again, just as we were listening to Sibelius's Tone Poems, some of which matched the storm eerily. And then there was one part where the wind and music coincided – whenever the music got louder, the wind rose; when it softened, the wind dropped down. Spooky.
     
    Which reminds me ... I think I'll work on that vampire story some more tonight ...
     
    And I guess this goes under Life, as it does deal with lives, even if not all of them are mine.
    – ToM
  10. ToM Dracone

    Anywhere Is

    By ToM Dracone,

    This actually touches on various other subjects, but because it deals predominantly with writing, it gets to go in that category.
     
    As I've mentioned to some of you, I've been taking a class on novel-writing for the past week. (Afternoon summer camp-type thing.) As those of you who know me better might know, one of my life's ambitions is to finish a novel (and preferably publish it). I took the same class last year, but I just didn't get as much out of it then as I did this past week, even though I was working with the same idea. Interestingly, last year the class was much smaller (about 8 or 9 people, I think), and I was the youngest person there (at 14). But this year, there were 11 people, which felt like a lot more because we had a bigger room, and I was the second-oldest, the oldest being this 17-year-old girl who sat next to me (and had also taken the class a couple years ago). And everyone else was between 12 and 14. And there was also a girl from my school there, which I hadn't been expecting.
     
    So, the class itself. As I said, I got a lot more out of it this time. Last year we were pretty much focused on novels – and you can't really do much work on a novel in a week-long class, unless you've started it and have a good idea of the plot. But this year we branched out to short stories, so I got a couple ideas (one involving a cat watching witches and the other undead bat ghosts), which I want to finish at some point. I can add them to the one about vampires and the other with the young priestess I started earlier in the summer. I really will finish them someday. As Jonathan (the teacher) said, who knows: they might grow into a novel some day. The witches, vampires, and ghost bats could be part of the same, actually.
     
    Anyway, this time we wrote some short stories, drew ideas from lists of words on the board, and we used this writing exercise called Exquisite Corpse. Don't ask about the name. All I know is that it's the title of a poem some famous poet wrote after she and her writing group did the exercise. What you do is this: one person writes a line. The line be a sentence, it can stop at a non-terminating punctuation mark, or it can be just a word or phrase. Then you pass the paper to the next person, and he or she writes a line that goes with the first one, then she folds the paper over and passes it on, so that the next person can see only the line that she wrote, but not the one that you did. You repeat this until everyone in the room has added a line and then read the final result, which usually has nothing whatsoever to do with the original line.
     
    The most memorable incident of such was when Aliza (the 17-year-old) passed me a paper reading "Unfortunately, the pineapples were not really pineapples." It took me several minutes of trying not to explode laughing (and not suffocate from the fact that I couldn't breathe due to suppressed laughter) and compose myself before I could write something to go along with it. We had pretty much exactly the same senses of humor, which resulted in numerous escapades like that.
     
    One time Jonathan had us each write a potential starting line, and (although he didn't choose it) Kaia's was simply "Pink bunnies." One of the ones he chose (which I was first to continue) read "She didn't have any cyanide, so she used poison ivy." Exquisite Corpse often turns out hilarity like that ...
     
    Anyway, the non-hilarious high point of the class was that I finally got some ideas. Yesterday, Thursday, at about noon (before the class) I had an epiphany and my main character became three-dimensional. He developed a personality, a unique character trait, a reason for the story to happen. Now he could change and grow throughout the story, rather than just go galavanting off on an adventure. Which is essencial to any plot. I was very happy. And then I also settled on villains. The Fire-dragons. (The main character is a Forest-dragon with the elemental power of Earth. More detailed explanation available on request.) And today I got still more ideas for the plot and why the whole story begins. And some backstory.
     
    So I'm happy. ^^ I've been throwing around ideas for this whole story for years (the island and main character, both substancially different from their present forms, first originated when I was 10), more seriously in the past few, and now I finally have things settled as a foundation for further plot developments.
     
    And then a couple days ago I got a late birthday present from my uncle consisting of Enya's The Memory of Trees (yes, that is where the title of this whole thing comes from), which I'm listening to at the moment, and Mannheim Steamroller's Halloween. The former is one of my three favorite Enya CDs, although I'm not sure where it ranks in relation to the other two, as it has three of my favorite songs – The Memory of Trees, Pax Deorum, and Anywhere Is.
     
    Another incident from the writing class came about today, when we worked in partners to write a scene of dialogue between our respective characters. Aliza and I naturally had some difficulty and great amusement from that. Her character is a Japanese girl named Yuki who is the only remaining member of a family murdered by a portrait (although we set the scene before that had happened). (Aliza writes horror screenplays.) My character is a dragon who is the apprentice to the Mage of Earth and currently doesn't have a name. Our characters don't even exist in the same universe. Eventually Yuki decided that the dialogue was a dream, to which the dragon agreed fervently, and we finished with Yuki offering my dragon some Pocky. (The dragon, naturally, had no idea what that was.) ... Needless to say, ours wasn't a good exercise in writing dialogue. A fun one, though.
     
     
    ... My, this went off on a lot of tangents. But that's what blogs are for. For instance, proclaiming that Toa Hahli is my favorite set of this year. And wondering why on Earth her Brickshelf folder isn't public after three days of waiting.
     
    – ToM
  11. ToM Dracone
    I've recently decided that The Memory of Trees is my favorite song ever.
     
    Not just Enya song – although it does top Orinoco Flow, Pax Deorum, It's in the Rain, Less than a Pearl, Cursum Perficio, Watermark ... to name a few, as I could go on listing a great many of her songs. Favorite song out of all the ones I've heard. And it simply occured to me, rather than me going through a list and having to pick a favorite, which makes me all the more convinced that it is.
     
    The song itself, if you hadn't heard it, is listed as instrumental and voices (all of which are Enya), but it does have lyrics – I think they're Gaelic, but not knowing Gaelic I don't know what they mean. It's not a slow song, but it's relaxing, and it has a sort of powerful, inspiring, and somewhat other-worldly quality to it, but without being loud or forceful, much like trees themselves.
     
    It's particularly fitting for today's weather around here – we've had cloudy skies and not grey days for the past few days (which admittedly I'm fond of), but today there's bright sun, and because it's rained so recently the leaves and grass haven't lost their vibrant color yet. But it isn't hot at all, even though it's still summer – it's quite cool and pleasant at about 64˚F (19˚C), so it's nothing like your typical summer day. So it's both light and cool, but everything is still green because fall hasn't quite started yet.
     
    And there's a certain harmony in the fact that the Quenya phrase for "The Memory of Trees" is I Enyalië Aldaron ...
     
    – ToM
  12. ToM Dracone

    The Lady In Blue

    By ToM Dracone,

    Considering people's initial reactions to the Inika, they're selling amazingly well ... I was at Target yesterday, and all they had were three Kongu, two Hahli, Jaller, and a couple Matoro. And when I left, they were down to only one Hahli.
     

    :: Toa Hahli :: 

     
    :: Gallery ::
     
    Although I've had her since yesterday afternoon, I refrained from building her until this morning to wait for full light to properly admire her. She looks best in direct sunlight, which causes her blue to light up and become much brighter than normal, in which instance it looks totally awesome with her white. Otherwise her whole body looks dark, and the white stands out, but she still looks great.
     
    The blended white-dark blue pieces look fantastic – and I was lucky enough to get a set where almost all six blends were very neat, fading from one to the other without being swirled all over. This combination also evokes poetic descriptions, like an arctic ocean or a white-capped wave, or perhaps the blue ocean against white sands, all of which suit Hahli very well.
     
    I have only a few gripes with Hahli, and these are because of who she is, not her set. Firstly, the extremely broad shoulders of the Inika don't work at all on Hahli, as females generally have narrower shoulders. Secondly, her armor color. Iron grey is a great color, but it's the most bellicose of the standard three metallic colors, and it brings out the darkness of Hahli's primary color. Silver would have been more peaceful and more fitting for Hahli. Thirdly, that harpoon of hers looks deadly, again much more warlike than the peaceful, shy Hahli we know and love (Mask of Light excluded.) But these elements all come together for a very powerful, intimidating design, looking about ready to take on and defeat the Piraka singlehandedly.
     
    But even with this image, you can still find feminine elements from the right angle – the narrow waist, slim upper arms (from the front, at least), and proper posing can bring out her hips. The Kanohi Elda, however, is somewhere in between. It looks different from each angle, with thin, round cheeks, but then it has a prominent jaw and chin. The breathing tubes don't look anything like a mustache in person, and they further emphasize that this is a Toa of Water. The mouth looks surprisingly natural despite its high placement on the mask (which results in it being pale green rather than pure white), and I personally think it looks good despite my initial aversion to it.
     
    Hahli does look awesome, and even more so with a blue light-up blade and Zamor. Why Lego chose green is beyond me – blue is the obvious color for a water elemental, and combined with silver armor it would look even more like Hahli. But we can always switch the colors – I've rather fallen in love with the green light-up in Kongu's energy crossbow. I also like the pale green of Hahli's Zamor, but the pictures slightly alter the light-up color: it's more of a yellowy green in real life, but the pictures make it look bluer. She looks even better with the blue, though.
     

    :: ::  
    – ToM (Hahli fanboy)
  13. ToM Dracone

    The King Is Dead

    By ToM Dracone,

    My Sidorak set officially died yesterday.
     
    The obituary will probably print that it was of a long illness. Roodaka will doubtlessly claim credit and dramatically announce that she murdered him. In truth, however, he was sacrificed to the gods of MOCing, in the tradition of which various nonvital portions of his anatomy (and his nose) were cast into the swirling vortex of pieces over the past year. If you need someone to blame, it's probably Vakama.
     
    He will be buried amid the pieces strewn about my bedroom floor.
  14. ToM Dracone
    Conspiracy theory #204: the Brotherhood of Makuta is actually good.
     
    And no, I don't have the slightest shred of evidence to support this. But I can explain everything! Really! (Well, almost. Not Mata Nui. Help?)
     
    ———
     
    • The Order of Mata Nui and Brotherhood of Makuta are secretly allies.
     
    • Their common enemy is the Dark Hunters.
     
    • In order to conceal the identity of the destined Toa Metru, Mata Nui changed the stars to show that Nuhrii & Co. would become Toa. The Order then planted evidence to support this, and Makuta revealed the identity of the true Toa (Vakama & Co.) to Lhikan in a dream, so that they would be safe until they became Toa.
     
    • Makuta, knowing of the Dark Hunters' desire to capture the strategically-located city of Metru Nui, takes the place of Turaga Dume to maintain a watch on the city.
     
    • Makuta summons Nidhiki and Krekka to Metru Nui to capture Lhikan, thus turning the new Toa Metru adamantly against the Dark Hunters.
     
    • By killing Nidhiki and Krekka, Makuta not only increases his own power but causes the Shadowed One and Sentrakh to come to Metru Nui. When Makuta fought them and revealed that he had killed the two Dark Hunters, he singlehandedly instigated the Brotherhood-Dark Hunter war.
     
    • This war distracted the Dark Hunters while the Matoran (whom Makuta had put into the spheres for their protection) relocated to Mata Nui.
     
    • When the Piraka set out to find the Mask of Life, the Order rearranged the stars to tell of Mata Nui's imminent death and the Ignika, causing Dume to send the Toa Nuva to find the mask, keep it from the Piraka, and eventually bring it to Mata Nui to guard it.
     
    • Around the time of the Toa-Dark Hunter war, the Brotherhood pretended to turn to evil. By acting as having the same motives and desires as the Dark Hunters, they gained greater power and influence over them and could buy such services as eliminating enemies of the Matoran, perceived as rivals of the Brotherhood.
     
    • This act caused such servants of the Brotherhood as the Toa Hagah to rebell. The Brotherhood let them steal the Avohkii to be eventually placed in a safer spot on Metru Nui, where it would be better hidden. At the same time, the Brotherhood sent truly evil servants of theirs such as Roodaka to mutate the Toa Hagah, both turning them against Roodaka and the Visorak and inspiring them to search for Keetongu. If the Rahaga found Keetongu, they would be better armed against the Visorak, who were in the control of Sidorak, who actually was evil.
     
    • Although the Visorak takeover of Metru Nui was against the actual plan of the Brotherhood's, the Rahaga's presense there helped the Toa Hordika against them. Similarly, Roodaka's devotion to Makuta resulted in him being freed when she was attacked by the Hordika.
     
    • Throughout all this, the Order remained secret and unknown to the general universe. Because the Brotherhood was perceived as being evil, it gave the two greater cover to do good in secret, and thus without being attacked, as nobody knew there was such an organization to try and stop.
     
     
    IT'S A CONSPIRACY.
     
    (And for Mata Nui's sake, don't take any of this too seriously.)
    – ToM
  16. ToM Dracone
    “You know the old saying about bad news, Sidorak?” said a cool voice from one of the many shadows in the hall. “‘Don't kill the messenger,’ I believe? Well, I find killing the messenger to be a most effective way of relieving anger. I would strongly recommend it to you.”
     

    ——— 
    I've finally updated The Roodaka Affair! Chapter four has been posted, featuring Roodaka slinking around and being manipulative and generally evil, even impaling a Keelerak with one of her high heels. Whee.
     
    So ... go read it. And I wouldn't mind if you reviewed, either, of course ... I still need to make those banners for an Epics/Short Stories content block.
    – ToM
  17. ToM Dracone

    Book Of Days

    By ToM Dracone,

    I have returned!
     
    ... Actually, I've been back since yesterday at approximately four in the afternoon, but I didn't feel like blogging then.
     
    Overall it was an okay weekend (encompassing Thursday and Friday) ... We stayed at a bed-and-breakfast next to a lake, which was a really cool place – there was forest all around the lake, and we had a pier and boat we could use. We didn't use the latter much; the only people who did were Sonya and Josh when they went out to play cards in the middle of the lake. Of the bed and breakfast, I only liked the breakfast. The room we had was damp, the beds creaked more than I thought was possible, and they weren't comfortable anyway. The breakfast was great, though. I had muffins of both English and normal variety with strawberries and milk. Yum.
     
    So, the itinerary as promised.
     
    :: Thursday ::
    We got there somewhere late in the afternoon to find my mom's friends Pam and Adam, their daughter Sonya, and her friend Josh already there. Sonya says that she remembers me and that she and Pam visited us when she was eight or something, which would have made me three. Which would be why I don't remember her.
     
    Aside from my dad, the seven of us have exactly the same sense of humor, which meant that there was more or less a laugh per minute. We discovered that the boat included an old coffee can for bailing out when we went down to it, which was useful because the bottom was full of rainwater.
     
    The evening's entertainment was different for each half of us – Sonya, Josh, and Adam saw The Night of the Iguana; Pam, my mom, and I went to Jacob's Pillow Dance to watch two pieces by the Shen Wei Dance Arts group. They were awesome. But hard to describe. The first one was a series of "Maps", as they were called, each of which centered on a different movement, like rotation or bouncing. It's something you have to actually watch to understand properly ... The second had only four dancers on a mandala made of flecks of paper, which they danced across to the singing of a Tibetan nun. It was also great, though very different ...
     
    :: Friday ::
    A great day, despite the fact that I barely got any sleep the previous night. (The fault of those dreadful beds.) We went to a crafts fair in the morning, which was interesting but not riveting. I got a pair of tall blue candles that piqued my interest.
     
    After a late picnic lunch, we went to see Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. It was hilarious. With a Shakespeare comedy, you can only get so much humor out of reading the script, if you can find any. Text-wise, Shakespeare's comedies (that I've read, at least) differ from tragedies mostly in that nobody dies and there's a happy ending. I haven't actually read The Merry Wives of Windsor, but this production was utterly hilarious. And my mom's watched videos of performances of it (she taught a course on music in Shakespeare last year), but none of them compared to this one.
     
    Mistress Page and Mistress Ford kept pulling scripts out of their boddesses and dresses and reading loudly off of them as Falstaff hid in the closet; the two of them communicated by wild hand signs behind his back; Mistress Ford looked appropriately hysterical and distressed (and screamed loudly) throughout the play; Mistress Ford rammed the laundry basket handle into Falstaff's stomach and then scampered to the other side of the stage saying "Oopsie!"; Ford (disguised as Brook) twitched as Falstaff ranted about him; Ford and his companions frequently appeared all over the set while chasing Falstaff ... And then when Ford emptied the laundry basket the second time, he tossed the laundry into the audience. And when Falstaff was hiding from Ford and company (disguised as the old woman), he took the place of a woman in the front row and had her sit in his lap.
     
    I know I'm repeating myself, but it — was — hilarious. The acting company was brilliant.
     
    That evening, we went to Tanglewood (and dined on the lawn ... meaning that we sat on it, not ate it), where we heard Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D and his Violin Concerto No. 2 in E, three arias from Handel's Ariodante, and Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks. It was really cold by the time it was done, though ...
     
    After which there were fireworks. Awesome fireworks. Probably the best I've seen, but also probably the first I've really seen up close, which may have something to do with it. Pam, Josh, and Sonya were in the car because they were cold, and they said that the noise set off a lot of car alarms ... They were really loud.
     
    :: Saturday ::
    We spent most of the day at the Hancock Shaker Village, which wasn't that interesting for me ... So you'll pardon me if I don't go into details. Later, however, we went to a French restaurant (aptly named Rouge), which was excellent. Actually, we were at an outdoor table in the back, but in the front street (and nearby streets), they were having a Zucchini Festival. Why is beyond me. You would have to ask them. This included band performances (though I heard no references to zucchini in the lyrics), which disrupted our dinner until the explosion. Maybe bang is a better word for it. Either way, none of us (nor the waitress whom we asked) had the faintest idea what it was, but it did stop the music for a little. But, as there was only one scream, no sirens, and a general lack of people fleeing in the opposite direction, we assumed it was nothing significant.
     
    The dinner itself was excellent. A lot of our party had duck, which tasted great but was very rich (I had some, of course), though I had chicken myself. Which was excellent. I had something labelled Gateau Chocolat for dessert, which didn't resemble a gateau au chocolat in the slightest beyond taste. But it was chocolate and also great (which is sort of redundant), so who cares?
     
    That evening we went to see a new play, a political satire ... which I didn't like. I'm not really one for political stuff, so it wasn't exactly something I was clamoring to see, and it would have made the BZP rules faint anyway ...
     
    :: Sunday ::
    ... was mostly spent returning here. Very little to be said, really. I was so happy to be back in a nice, non-damp house. And my own bed. I slept very well last night. *hugs his pillow*
     
     
    In other news, expect a new chapter of The Roodaka Affair soon. I've finally finished Chapter 4, but I want to revise the ending somewhat. Whee!
    – ToM
  18. ToM Dracone
    I'll be in the Berkshires (and Tanglewood therein) from the rest of today to Sunday, which, strangely enough, means I won't be here. Going to see various performances and other things. I don't know our exact itinerary, but expect a report of some degree of detail upon my return.
     
    Which also means I won't be around in the Library (since not being here includes not being there, either). So, to echo Cap'n Schiz, don't burn anything down while I'm gone. Burning things is my job. Toa of Heat and all that.
     
    Until I get back, enjoy the finalized Inika sprites.

     
    – ToM
  19. ToM Dracone

    Aiya Aldar

    By ToM Dracone,

    So ... I have a blog.
     
    This actually came about in an interesting manner. About a week ago, I was in Toys R Us deciding whether or not to get Toa Hahli. I was already getting the Viking Fortress (for which I have Ninjo to thank most directly), and I eventually decided not to get her, as one set that I had been wanting for ages was enough, not to mention quite euphoria-inducing by itself. I later decided that Hahli's $10 price tag, plus an additional dollar, could very well go to Premier Membership, and I could get her later. Since, as Vezon says, "After all ... the waiting is half the fun."
     
    None of which helped the fact that I still haven't the faintest idea whether I want Hahli, Hewkii, or Jaller more.
     
    So, what will I be putting here? A variety of things. Teasers of MOCs and Epics, art that I don't feel like posting in the Artwork forum, sprites that I make when I'm bored, conspiracy theories, maybe even ponderings on Matoràu. And ramblings. Lots of those. Possibly poetry.
     
    Also, announcements of new short stories and epic chapters. And since I actually have one at the moment, I'll just use this entry to announce it ... Lightning in Darkness, a short story involving Jaller's thoughts as he's trapped in the Toa canister before and after his transformation. Something really freaky was that I wrote it on two separate days while I was on vacation, and the night of each day there was a huge lightning storm. As in light-up-the-sky lightning. Totally freaky coincidence.
     
    So ... yeah. Expect this to start looking more Tiome-y in the days to come, once I've gotten the content blocks organized and adorned. Thanks to Toro for helping me figure out what on Earth half the settings mean.
     
    Oh, and why The Memory of Trees? Well, I love the phrase, and it's apt to my personality, seeing as forests are easily my favorite places. And it only fits that I love the song, as well as the album it's from. Expect the content box art to manifest the title ...
     
    ~ ToM
  21. ToM Dracone
    'Nother update today: Most Recent MOC box added, inspired by the block of the same name on Sméag's blog. At the moment, Ninjo Inatu's occupying the space, and since his topic is still alive, I wouldn't mind if someone reviewed him ... *cough*
     
    I also whipped up a sprite of Vezon last night:

     
    Never underestimate the power of inspiration. I built the Staff of Fusion last night (all in silver, not having Vezon & Fenrakk), felt like spriting it, did so, and then made a sprite of Vezon, since I haven't made spines for my Piraka sprites yet. I also posted it and a sprite of Hewkii that I made a few days ago in my Kit Topic, if you're interested.
     
    I would also like to proclaim that the Staff of Fusion is the best Bionicle staff Lego has made yet. The head and shaft are perfectly balanced, and it looks totally cool as well. It's also good for scratching the back of your neck. I find it appropriate that the Staff of Fusion uses System Viking horn pieces ...
     
    – ToM
  22. ToM Dracone

    New Looks

    By ToM Dracone,

    Well, as promised, I've updated the content blocks: there's now a header (to the extent that there can be one) and banners for each category. I like how they turned out ... pretty much exactly how I wanted them, but tweaking or an overhaul for some occasion (or lack thereof) are an eventuality. I also added a Recommended Blogs section – go read them.
     
    And for the record, I had this all planned before you posted your challenge, Omi.
     
    However, that isn't the only new look around here, hence the plural in the title. I got my braces off yesterday, and I would be elated had I not subsequently gotten retainers of both the upper and lower variety. If you haven't had braces and consequently may not know what a retainer is, consider yourself lucky.
     
    My lower retainer is a wire cemented to the back of my front six teeth, which results in an awkward and scratchy bulge that irritates my tongue. It's actually very small, but it feels huge. Its purpose is to keep my teeth in place so they don't naturally spread outward again, and will be removed when my orthodontist judges that it can be without the consequences it is designed to avoid. Even if you haven't had braces, you've probably seen an upper retainer – it fits into the top of one's mouth and holds a wire running around the outisde of the front teeth. Same purpose, different means, and it can be taken out to eat. The lower one keeps getting in the way of my tongue... I'm getting used to it (the upper) being there, but it's still hard to talk properly and the newly smooth plastic roof of my mouth incessantly intrigues my tongue. And I have to suppress my gag reflex every time I put it in, or at least for the moment.
     
    What fun. But at least I don't have braces any more. Yay!
     
    Now, go and enjoy the saplings I've planted to guide you through here and be happy if you don't have braces/retainers.
    – ToM
  23. ToM Dracone

    Fallingwater

    By ToM Dracone,

    Backstory: One of my friends has the Fallingwater set, so I've seen/played with it a lot before now. Always thought it was a great set design-wise, but kind of lacking in the visual appeal area. Now, I'm on vacation, visiting family, and my uncle got my grandfather (who is an architect himself) the Fallingwater set as a random present, so he (my grandfather) had me come over and build it for him today. It took a long time.
     
    Back to the present, and having looked at all the photos of the real Fallingwater in the instruction booklet, I've now realized what the problem I have with the set is: the building is amazing, but the environment ... is just boring. And not at all realistic. There are tan bricks everywhere when the stone around the house is grey. The "trees" are short, straight, really dark, and spaced evenly around the house, when the trees around the real house are huge, bright, and tower over Fallingwater itself.
     
    And then I realized that there was a huge irony in the fact that the booklet that comes with the set has a ton of quotes about how Fallingwater is great because of how it interacts seamlessly with the beauty of the natural woodland environment around it... and yet the set has this utterly boring, unrealistic environment.
     
    And I noticed shortly after that that it would be really, really easy to make all sorts of big, leafy, brightly-colored trees out of Lego to surround the model of the house. Just use a bunch of these pieces and you'll have some fantastic, to-scale trees. And make the base of the set grey instead of tan. And maybe throw in some clear aquamarine pieces under the clear tiles in the river, just to brighten it up some.
     
    Yeah. If I had the boatload of grey bricks necessary to do this, I would. But alas, I don't.
     
    Also: thanks to Tufi and Janus and one volume thereof I may now be addicted to Scott Pilgrim. Need to read more...
    ~ ToM
  24. ToM Dracone
    New short story! Please go read and hopefully review it.
     
    It's really a scene more than a full short story, a reimagination of the time Helryx appears on the deck of the Shadowed One's ship and stops him from destroying Xia. I really didn't remember how the original scene played out, and only looked it up as I was writing so I could get what happened correct. But I kept my initial image of it, wherein Helryx had enlisted the Dark Hunters anonymously and, since I had forgotten about them, the Toa Hagah were nowhere in sight. And just expanded from there, with a little help from Janus and Smeag.
     
    Some critique on it would be quite lovely, especially on the Shadowed One. I've never written him before (whereas I never, ever tire of writing Helryx because of how awesome she is) and I want to know how realistically he turned out.
     
    I also thought, upon re-reading the original scene, that Helryx would go to much more interesting lengths to make a point than just throwing people overboard, so I kept my original idea instead of the real one. Heh.
    ~ ToM
  25. ToM Dracone

    Studying For History

    By ToM Dracone,

    So I have my AP US History midterm tomorrow. I was going through my notes last night and came across a variety of phrases I had forgotten about:
    "And what happened in 1688?" "The successful conquest of England by the Dutch."
    The Lobsters are coming!"I've stumbled upon a metaphor!"the Grand Duchy of Rhode Island"I feel like a part of any history class is missing if you don't talk about the French Revolution.""Anyone have a question?" "... When do the bagels arrive?"
    Somewhat ironic and annoying is that the exam is at 12:45, so I get to watch Obama be sworn in but probably won't be able to hear his full inaugural address live... I'm hoping I get to school early enough to watch most of the pre-swearing-in festivities in the auditorium. In other words, I get to watch history happen and then take an exam about history! What fun! 
    (other things that have happened in the past few days: I stood outside in 10º weather for fifteen minutes without a coat; developed an annoying but fortunately not awful cold as a result, which I still have; I feverishly worked on the yearbook until I had come up with all 36 pages we needed for the deadline two weeks ago; panicked about my Greek and Calc BC exams; and had an application interview with Brown.)
     
    By the way: there are 165 forms of every Greek verb I need to know for Thursday. Someone please save me.
     
    Now, a parting quote:
     
    Henry: "I killed them all so I could be with you."
    Me: "I'm not sure if that's romantic or terrifying."
    Henry: "Terrifyingly romantic."
    ~ ToM
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