Wednesday, June 6, 2012

A Not-So-Small Succession of Various Events In My Summer So Far

Haha. I laugh at the thought of writing a 100-word essay on, "What I Did This Summer". Put it this way... Mrs. Howell asked for 6-8 pages for our research paper this semester. I did 16!

In my defense, it was an excellent subject, one I knew well, and I had very much to say about it.

Okay. Time for a brief recap of my summer so far. A cliche subject, but, hey, why not?

I have won Zoo Tycoon 2. Yay, me. I have both ZT1 and ZT2, and have never won either, so this is a big accomplishment to me. Elaine helped, of course. We have to play it on my laptop as ZT2 makes the computer upstairs (not-so-affectionately referred to as 'that molasses-filled contraption') freeze up. We are now working on Zoo Tycoon 2 Marine Mania, which is ZT2 with an aquatic expansion pack. It's really nice because you can personally train dolphins for shows and stuff. You can even train walruses for shows. Seriously, walruses. They can only learn three really simple tricks, so they are insanely easy to train.
One day, I might win ZT1. Who knows?

Last week, my family went reunion-happy. Grandpa slipped on the backporch of their house two Saturdays ago, and, to make a long story short, was air-evaced to Huntsville. He was fine, though (and ordering around the hospital staff, from what I've heard... totally in character for him. This is the same man who was wriggling out of restraints AFTER an eight-hour surgery to remove his bladder AND coding blue [which means cardiac arrest, I think... at any rate, he was technically dead for a while]) and home Sunday. So that night we had a small get-together at their house to celebrate. The next day was Memorial Day, and my dad, also completely in character, celebrated by working on the farm and also putting us all kids to work. We expected no less. That evening, one of my uncles grilled out and we had another small get-together at Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate. That Saturday, we had a 'great reunion', with only about 50 people- pretty much dad's entire family. *snickers* Try not to let your head spin.

Anyway, so, yeah, we had a follow-up party Sunday at our house before every left for their respective homes. One good thing about being a college student is that now I can swap college stories with my older cousins. A cousin told horror stories of what happens to kids who fall asleep in class. One girl got duct-taped to a vent. Another professor liked to reprogram the cell phones of kids who fell asleep in his class- set the language to Swahili, delete all the games, rearrange the options... you name it.

In comparison, I love my professors! I really lucked out with getting amazing professors my first year. I actually miss them. At least I'll keep Dr. Christy...

I have done research on the recent slew of Marvel superhero movies. I am not ashamed to say that, yes, Thor is pretty. (You may check the ground to see if Hell has frozen over; I don't care.) I was a little disappointed with Loki, though. LOKI IS A RED-HAIRED FIREBENDER! There, I got that off my chest. Sorry, after reading Runemarks, I can't see Loki as anything else. And he wasn't really so much of a villain, originally... Also, a nitpicking detail, but he was Odin's blood brother in the myths.
As an aside, Rick Riordan is doing a Norse mythology series. Can you say, HAPPY DANCE OF JOY?

My reaction to the recent release of "Snow White and the Huntsman": BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Hysterical laughter is an appropriate response to any given situation involving the moderm media! Sorry, but the thought of Bella Swan and Thor in one movie is STILL enough to make my sides ache with laughter. (And I did research on the movie. There is surprisingly little romance in it, apparently. The Huntsman is apparently supposed to be like a father figure to her, so when he kisses her- was I supposed to tag that Spoiler Alert?- it's not true love and all that garbage, but more like a father's love. Which I thought was a, for once, interesting and original twist. Because I am all for more family and less stupid romance!)

I got two new books the other day. One was The Lightning Thief in graphic novel form (for the sake of completeness! I got it for the sake of completeness!) and the other was A Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. First, the former. The art was so-so. Annabeth looked terrible. She explicitly has curly hair. At least they got Percy's green eyes right... half of the time, I think. Luke looked ugly, but then I don't like him, so whatever. SHEESH, HADES! Why does everyone hate Hades? He was the first god in the Percy Jackson series to strike me as 'cool'. (Then again, Rick Riordan makes all his death gods cool, and I am, due to the Summoner/Angel of Death from my own books, predisposed to liking the death guys.) In the movie, they gave him weird hair, a beard (which, although it says he has one in The Demigod Files, I've never pictured him with), and just in general a weird attitude. Grover said he looked like Mick Jagger. *cringes* The graphic novel edition of him was a slight upgrade. Now he just looks like a zombie Elrond in a black toga.
You are welcome for that lovely mental image.

A Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom just looked so funny, I had to get it. It basically takes the Princes Charming from four fairy tales and sticks them together. The result is truly, epically hilarious. Plus, it lampshades a ton of stuff. Thank you, TVTropes! (An awesome website, which I now use to research everything.) From Everything's Better with Princesses to Frothy Mugs of Lemonade, A Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom was a troper's dream-come-true. Yay!

I can't think of anything else terribly noteworthy about my summer so far, but I have probably forgotten some. If so, I might very well mosey back to Blogger and mention them. For now, I'll probably leave another quote.

In Pace Christ,

Elyse

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