Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Another Amusing Event In My Summer So Far

Since I started going to UNA, I inherited the car we had always referred to simply as the Honda, because it was... a Honda. It is 22 years old now and I love the thing. I love little beep-beep cars that handle well and can take small parking lots in stride. The fact that it has a sunroof/moonroof/whatever is a plus. I really don't bother with the air conditioning unless anyone else is in the car with me as apparently heat bothers me less than most people. I didn't really bother with the heat in the winter as I was halfway to the Darby Drive parking lot when it finally warmed up enough to do anything. By that point the heat was sort of pointless, so I gave up.

By the way, I was brought home from the hospital and took my driving test in the Honda.

Anyway, so dad had to start driving his truck to work. It, naturally, has poorer gas mileage, and so he was kind of looking for something else to drive instead of it. (We couldn't get rid of the truck. We need it for farm stuff.) A week or two ago, he happened upon a newer white Honda Accord. He bought said white car.

Now we have a white Honda and a gray Honda. We needed a way to distinguish them. Mom said we could call them Honda the White and Honda the Gray, like wizards from the Lord of the Rings. I said something about calling them Saruman and Gandalf. She objected because Gandalf later became the White.

Later, the white Honda refused to start for her. It, of course, started for dad when he arrived on the scene (all machinery is, I think, afraid of dad and immediately starts working when he shows up, lest said machinery be attacked with WD40, E600, duct tape, and whatever else the situation requires), but it was enough for mom to admit that the white Honda is now officially called Saruman. I am REALLY not giving up my beloved Gandalf now.

The only problem is that most of my family still gets Sauron and Saruman mixed up. It probably wasn't the greatest of ideas for Tolkien to have his major bad guys with s-names (Sauron, Saruman, Shelob...). Still, no matter how many times I explain the differences, confusion remains. Sauron is the giant eyeball. Saruman is Count Dooku. The one with 'man' at the end actually looks human.

Meh.

In other news, I have now officially discovered the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, having read Wyrd Sisters, The Last Continent, and Unseen Academicals. Why those? They were the only ones I could find in the library without going on a massive bookhunt, and since I had Peter in tow, I didn't want to do that. However, I had done some Discworld research before then, so I knew a few things, such as Rincewind's habit of running away and what Luggage was. And that the Librarian hates to be called a monkey.
I must admit that I have formed a small bit of hero-worship for Vetinari. Because he can do crossword puzzles in record time. WHILE DRUNK. While being as drunk as a skunk, in fact. Not that the drunkenness shows much. He is a little more talkative than usual, apparently, and actually stubbed his toe going up the stairs. He acts sober very well, apparently. Anyway, I found Vetinari hilarious.
And Nutt's habit of using long words is great. I love characters and people who can do that, especially if they can do that with a straight face. The only thing that annoyed me was that in Unseen Academicals soccer was continuously referred to as 'football'. Of course, that IS what they call it outside of the USA but even so it gets old.

I now have ideas for my own stories that I should probably go write down before I forget them. I have a bad habit of doing that...

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

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