Wolves, jeans, and the turtle, Great A'Tuin

[raven]

For once, I am not going to start this entry with a pathetic sneeze. Because I feel better. I really do. I'm still coughing slightly, and probably still hopelessly contagious, but I feel like I can stand up and walk across the room without the roof collapsing in on me inside my head. It's such a novelty feeling normal that I shall savour it for some time yet. I was feeling generally all right in the morning, enough to go to school and the library committee meeting (sorry, the library committee weekly bonding) first thing. Becca decided she was going to come along and miss assembly, and Mrs Barry was suitably casual about it. I don't think she even noticed she had an extra person. Anyway, conversation turned to how much people borrow books from the library and how many they've borrowed, and so to answer a few arguments, Mrs Barry took a look at the computer records. I am on the top of the list, with one hundred and seventy-nine books borrowed since September 1998. The worrying thing is the second person on the list is sixty-five books behind me, so I'm likely to keep my present position for as long as I remain in the school.

So, yes, that was fun, and I pulled up the total further by borrowing one more book on my way out. I think I stayed in a good mood through the morning, went to Politics without a quibble, and Biology with scarcely a whimper. I like it in Wednesdays, because we're in the little Physics room and it doesn't seem so bad.

What is bad, however, is the Chemistry I missed yesterday. I got the notes off Sarah but didn't understand much of them, and then I pounced on Julie, who proceeded to give me a quick lesson while we made coffee (black, due to lack of milk) in the upper kitchen. I have learnt that there are four sub-levels to each electron shell in the atom, and the order goes 2, 8, 18 and so on, and I've learned that the electrons in a pair spin in opposite directions, but what I don't understand is what happens next, and why this is important. So, yes. I will copy it up and enquire why later.

I had lunch with Becca and Emma (Wood) and I feel it may become routine; we went down to the village and got pasties and cookies and gingerbread from Sayers, before Becca had to go to Fourfield (sp?) for her voluntary service. Mine (and Emma's) was cancelled, because of the outing to Aintree Racecourse, but I was flagging by then, so I figured it might be a good idea to go home. I stopped by Coronation Road Library on the way, but it was closed for lunch, and I didn't have time for it to open again.

I mentioned that for a reason. As it happens, Raven is on a Quest. A Quest to read the entire Discworld canon, which is proving difficult but nice. I realise I am the last person in the world to catch on, but still. It's fun. I've read Pyramids, Mort and The Fifth Elephant, and I got Witches Abroad from the school library this morning. Strangely, my mother seemed enthusiastic to help out with the Quest, although admittedly she has never heard of Terry Pratchett or the Discworld, and when I started to explain it's a world shaped like a disc balanced on the back of four elephants that are themselves balanced on the back of a giant turtle called Great A'Tuin, her eyes began to glaze over. However, she was still ready to help. As well as Witches Abroad, I have Hogfather, Night Watch and Interesting Times to read, and I'm looking forward to it. Like I said, I am the last person in the world to discover Discworld, but I feel like I have to share - I love Death. Also Susan. Also Carrot and Angua. Angua I love for obvious reasons, but I love Carrot because he's cool and the redundant heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork. I love the fact Ankh-Morpork has a redundant heir to the throne.

And... well, it was not intentional, but I came across a Harry Potter/Discworld crossover today. With the perfect pairing, too. Remus Lupin (werewolf) and Angua von Uberwald (also werewolf). Perfect. When I know more of Discworld canon, I may try it myself. The difficulty is the fact that Remus and Angua (and Oz, who is only other relatively well-known werewolf I can think of) are different kinds of werewolves. But still. Fic is good.

So, where was I? Yes... my mother and I went to Formby library, then she went to get her car fixed as all the brake lights had broken at the same time, and then she wanted to go to the supermarket "to look at the reduced-prices stuff." I insisted that doing so would be unspeakably sad, but she went anyway and dragged me with her. And I'm glad she did. In Tesco's, of all places, the other Quest came to a sudden end. The other Quest, being one for the perfect jeans, had hit new heights lately when my mother threw out my old ones. She tried to use them as dusters, but I complained that they were my jeans and I loved them entirely too much but it wasn't respectful to use them as dusters. She threw them out and I moaned. Howevever, I now have new jeans. Just baggy enough, soft, faded denim with heavy zips and lots of pockets and I love them.

I'm in a good mood. I'm going to read Hogfather.

Comments

[donnertheim.livejournal.com]

Chemistry is a funny subject. I ended up taking basic chem twice, as things worked out. The only thing I ever really learned in that class is why different things work on different kinds of dirt or stains, how to dissolve a date's prom dress if it's made of acetone, and that at a certain orbital level, the orbit starts to look like a donut.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Acetone dresses? There's a trend I'm glad I missed. Similarly with the doughnuts. Trying to imagine an electron following a doughnut-shaped orbit is making my brain hurt... :)

[language-idling.livejournal.com]

That reminds me of one of the awful ways we used to torment my sister, actually. One night, at the dinner table, my brother was explaining all of the destructive things he did as chemistry experiments and that lead to us asking dear little Smellen a chemistry question that she couldn't answer (it was basically equivalent to "are you made of acetone" but in really obscure terms, then spent the next several days talking about how we were going to dissolve her.

Er...

I'm a dork.

[hathy-col.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, good luck with The Quest. You might want to try some of the earlier ones first, though- the later ones all take it for granted that you know exactly who, say, Detritus is, or who exactly Miss Susan. the Witches and Wizards are easy enough to muddle through, but try the DEATH and the Watch ones in order, or else it can get messy.

But good luck. I love Discworld, I really really do...

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I know who Detritus is! He's... um... he's a troll. And he's in the Watch. And the colder it is, the better he thinks. And I'm assuming Susan is Mort and Ysabell's daughter, which bothers me slightly, as she's therefore not a blood relation of Death and therefore shouldn't have any of his powers, right?

I'm enjoying this very much. Have a feeling I'm going to wind up loving Discworld, too.

[apestaartje.livejournal.com]

I have learnt that there are four sub-levels to each electron shell in the atom, and the order goes 2, 8, 18 and so on, and I've learned that the electrons in a pair spin in opposite directions, but what I don't understand is what happens next, and why this is important.
Hee, that's the only thing I ever understood about chemistry. And it was fun because we got to draw little circles and put dots or lines on them, depending if there were 2 or 8 or whatever. I'm so easily amused. lol I don't remember why it's important.

And that Discworld seems interesting. I think I'll have a look for it next time I'm in the library.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I get the dot and cross diagrams. It's anything above that I don't get!

And oh, yes, you must read Discworld. Purely so I'm not the last person in the world to get into them!

[language-idling.livejournal.com]

I read that fic and loved it, so now I have to read Discworld! Ha!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Go forth and read it!
Seriously. I'm loving these books. Werewolves and vampires and reannual grapes (they grow backwards in time, so if you drink the wine made from them, you get the hangover the morning before) and Death, who TALKS LIKE THIS...

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Whee!

I love Granny Weatherwax the best. But I also like the City Watch books (Patrician/Vimes slash!). How lucky you are getting into Discworld when there are already 25 books to read.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Patrician? Lord Vetinari? I'm just getting the hang of this...
Haven't met Granny Weatherwax yet, so Witches Abroad shall come after Hogfather.

[emerald-embers.livejournal.com]

Oh man... if it's the thing with the how some electrons can jump between levels and stuff, don't worry, that brain-screwed me too. And I was in the lesson o.o

*huggleses* Good luck with catching up, and I'm glad to hear you're better ^_^.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Wha- electrons can jump between levels? I was just grasping the fact they have levels at all!

I never knew you did Chemistry...

[emerald-embers.livejournal.com]

Ooh bummer, apologies for spoiling the secrets of Chemistry. I can't remember when I got taught any of it, you see, so it's all in a mixed up chronological order. Sorry ^_^. But yeah, they can.

And I did! Chemistry, Physics, Maths, General Studies and Business Studies AS, then dropped Physics at A2 and finished the rest ^_^.

[lilka.livejournal.com]

Like I say, I'm very happy to put my books to the service of the Quest, and we have the vast majority of them. I'm orff on the 27th (boo hoo), but you can drop round pretty much any time before that if you're interested. Oooh, and 'eeeee!' Angua/Remus. I never thought I'd like him in a het pairing, but that one I can really see.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

As soon as I have Angua down in my head, I'm going to try my own take on it. And I am definitely going to drop in on you. Can't bare the thought of your going away without seeing you again!