Studying Is Hard

Especially when you'd much rather be checking out all things Hobbit-related.

Not my art again. Credit goes to kaciart at Tumblr. Wish I could figure out how to link it directly. Hmm. Grr.

Anyway, I felt like Kili today. I did several hours of calculus homework. The good news is, once I actually looked at the study sheet the teacher gave us, I realized I should do fine. The really messy math wasn't on the list.

Of course, now watch it be on the test tomorrow...

The good news is, tomorrow I think I shall go buy Hobbit LEGOs. Or Hobbit figurines. Or something. Because my addiction to Dwarves cannot be cured. And I'm not sorry. Hahaha. I'm never going to be sorry.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

An Observation

Ladies, let's not wear frilly, black lace, thigh-length dresses and high heels on rainy days. Let's just not.

I Finally Looked It Up, This Quote

FRODO: 'I knew danger lay ahead, of course; but I did not expect to meet it in our own Shire. Can't a hobbit walk from the Water to the River in peace?'

GILDOR: 'But it is not your own Shire. Others dwelt here before hobbits were; and others will dwell here when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.'

-- The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter Three, 'Three Is Company'.

If you click on the pictures, they will enlarge and become much clearer. Yes, I am soothing my frustration with beautiful hobbit pictures and Tolkien quotes. I should also listen to Celtic Woman music. We listened to it in the car Friday. If everyone listened to Celtic Woman while driving, incidents of road rage would drop abruptly, I am convinced.

On that note, I need to go to Books-a-Million and complete my collection of little Hobbit action figures by getting Gandalf and Balin. I have Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dwalin, and Bilbo, as well as Legolas and Tauriel. The latter two are standing off by themselves, being all Elvish-ly disapproving of the Dwarves and their shenanigans.

Figurine Bilbo refuses to stand up. I had to take off all of his unnecessary accessories to get him to even half-heartedly stand up. And something's wrong with his vest. It won't stay put. Sting is pretty flimsy, too, and the figurine doesn't even look like movie!Bilbo or Martin Freeman in the least. His outfit has very few details, too. Of course, I realise that he doesn't have many designs on his clothes that they could put on the figurine, but still... In comparison to my Dwarf figurines, he looks unloved and plain.

In contrast, my Dwarf figurines are awesomely detailed. Even without his fur coat, Thorin is majestic. MADE OF PLASTIC. STILL MAJESTIC!

Not sorry. I love this meme.

Anyway, Thorin has his Dwarvish sword and Orcrist, but not his Dwarf axe. I think it's called 'Deathless', or so I read somewhere. If so, it's a nod to the founder of his race, Durin the Deathless. You can even see Thorin's two braids in the front and his twintails in the back. (There have seriously been posts devoted exclusively to Thorin's hair on TheOneRing.net. XD)

Dwalin is suitably awesome. His axes still have their names on them! Ukhlat and Umraz, Grasper and Keeper. He also has his hammer and his knife. I like how he uses his hammer as a post to lean on whenever he's just standing in the movie- note it when he's giving Gloin a disapproving glare for his 'long-term deposit'.

Ironically, I didn't think Kili's figurine was as good as those of the other Dwarves. The face just didn't look like Kili to me. o.O Dunno why. At least his figurine had fairly good balance and remaining standing on top of my alarm clock/radio while Fili and Dwalin kept doing backflips and plummeting off the back of my dresser, losing their fragile grip on their tiny plastic weapons in the process. *headdesk* I had to pull all the drawers out of my dresser and move the massive thing in order to fish out Fili. While I had it out, I vacuumed under it. The snakeskin wasn't under there anyway.

Yes. I have a snakeskin. It's become a family joke. At one time, I kept it under the dresser. I can't remember what led up to the occurence, but mom was looking for something that had fallen under my dresser. She pulled out the snakeskin. I'll just let you imagine her reaction...

At least I keep it in Ziploc bag now.

Anyway.

I was most pleased with the Fili figurine. I guess I just really do have a soft spot for Fili. But his figurine seemed really detailed- I love his expression and his hair. Also, all the little designs in his clothes were captured well, and the fact that he has his dual swords means I can stand him up on my dresser looking all fierce and ferocious with them in his hands. Dwalin just looks grim and serious, while Thorin is doing the whole I-am-majestic face, while Kili just has the blank-eyed plastic look. Fili looks like he means business.

Yeah, I like Fili.

Once again, not my art. Done by EM-MIKA on Deviantart. This artist does wonderful work! Seriously, go check it out. Support the Hobbit fandom and all that.

I also need to get the Hobbit LEGOs. If LEGO Bag End gets away from me, I will be inconsolable. I REALLY want LEGO Bofur with his little LEGO hat. I have also heard that the Bofur hat has been defictionalized. I want one for my birthday. Will someone get me one? I'll love you forever if you do. And I will wear it all the time. Even to class. I promise, I will. I'll also braid my hair like Bofur's and wear a scarf like him.

Just the fact that I'm blond will ruin it, though... Maybe I should cosplay as Fili instead.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Smidgens of Glory on a Dreary Day

So today wasn't all that great a day for me. It was fine all the way through calculus and human geography. As I walked into Bibb Graves, I ran into Dr. Bibbee and Mrs. Howell.

I miss them so much, Dr. Bibbee especially. I loved his history lessons. He could discuss uncomfortable truths without being insulting or offensive. And we stayed on topic. And we weren't 2100 years behind.

I guess running into them was the universe's way of apologizing for what was about to ensue.

I just don't agree with Dr. Makowski's philosophy of people only having two kids. I am the oldest of four and I can't imagine the two youngest in my family not existing or not being wanted. Pardon me while I go cry in the corner again and hug my knees.

I love my family, okay? And I can get very defensive of them. I'm all timid and nerdy normally, fairly harmless, really, but if you insult my family or something or someone else I care about, watch out... I'll turn fiercer than a Dragon on you.

And then I had to spend three hours in the frigid depths of the language lab. I have grown to loathe that place with every fiber of my being. At the very least, I finished reading my literature assignment in there. It was excerpts from Gulliver's Travels. Why do people think that is a children's book? It is not a children's book!!! It is a satire on England and English society.

In fact, I think it's pretty safe to say that Jonathan Swift hated people. But here is not the place to rant about that right now.

The universe apologized to me later, as well. I asked the vending machine for a candy bar. It gave me two.

*cries with joy*

Also, while I was in the language lab, I checked on Sons of Durin. It was that Hobbit fanfiction I advocated so earnestly, remember? Well, it's complete now. I will ignore the Thilbo Bagginshield ending, since the whole thing was simply GLORIOUS. And now the author is going to do daily oneshots as well! *happy dance*

And it was glorious is going to become my new catchphrase, I think. Our lives need more glory in them, anyway.

I noticed in one of the student apartments the shuttle drives through in the morning that someone still has a skeleton hanging from their porch from Halloween. Seriously. That could have been taken down a few months ago... And a funeral home we passed still has a wobbly Christmas tree of white lights in front of it, too.

Okay, our family leaves all our Christmas decorations up until the Epiphany, but we DO take them down after that! Sheesh.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

P.S. I love blogging. It gives me somewhere to vent. Unfortunately, I seem to lean towards Brutal Honesty. I need to work on my prudence and my charity...

So Adorable

Not mine - I think it's the work of piiib on Tumblr. At least, that's where I found it. Be that as it may, this picture is adorable beyond words. Fili's cat smile, the two of them crawling over the Oakenshield, and Thorin's face as he watches them...

Beautiful.

It was called, 'The Oakenshield Is Just a Toy To Them'.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Armitage Army, Because Reasons

So. I have mentioned in several blog posts that I have pretty much joined the Armitage Army (that is, the fans of Richard Armitage, who seem to be rather... militant). If the matter was in any doubt, the way I was yelling at the screen, "Go, Nazi guy! Go!" when Heinz Kruger (yes, the spy has a name) flees from Steve in Captain America would probably clinch it.

This comes to the conclusion that:

I love memes.

Anyway, I am here going to make a list, in no particular order, of reasons why I went from not having any clue whatsoever who this guy was to considering myself part of said Army.

(1) He's a Tolkien fan. A diehard Tolkien fan. He has admitted in interviews that the first book he remembers really reading was The Hobbit.

(2) The first stage production he was in was an adaptation of The Hobbit.

(3) He's read The Silmarillion. In an interview where the cast was asked to state the most obscure piece of Tolkien trivia they knew, most of the guys spluttered, paused, or admitted they had no idea of what to say. Richard Armitage, on the other hand, started calmly riciting the whole incident of the Nauglafring from The Silmarillion, which incident led to most of the hatred between the Dwarves and the Elves.
Put it this way, this fact alone could have made me a fan. One does not simply read The Silmarillion. It is not a simple book!

(4) Ladies, one of the best ways you can judge a man's character is by how he treats his mother and his sisters. RA took his mother to the London premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I saw pictures.

(5) Let me just quote this interview:
Q: How did you keep the character in check?
RA: I do it by always staying with the novel. I am one of those readers that read that book as a child, read it as an adult, one of the fans that doesn't want to see this character ruined by some actor who thinks he knows better than Tolkien. I had the book with me through filming, if I ever got lost I was always back at the book, it was the only way I could honor the character.

(6) Another interview:
"I think the craziest thing I used to do is drive my car around Wellington, a Maori chant playing on the radio, and I used to scream very loudly, so I could get a kind of gravelly sound going in my voice. The reason I used to do it in the car was I didn't want to disturb the neighbors. So, yeah, that was part of my preparation."
He has also mentioned that he used lines from Shakespeare plays trying to get Thorin's voice right.

(7) He mixed up Fili and Kili. (Stone giant scene: the situation calls for him to be yelling, "FILI!" And he says, "KILI!") And he admitted it. This is adorable, and completely honest since most people mix them up as well.

(8) Did I mention he has read The Silmarillion?

(9) The poor guy actually seems to be rather embarrassed by how good-looking he is. He's always looking for roles where he can play a character who is not attractive. Word is he's been after Peter Jackson to have Thorin adversely affected in his physical appearance by the dragon sickness in the third movie. We all highly doubt PJ will let this happen.
The poor guy. That fact, coupled with The Silmarillion one (I just can't believe he's read it!), clinches it.

(10) He had a relationship with his horse. He said they had a bit of a "hair thing" going on. I have little gifsets of he and his horse flipping their hair. So cute.

(11) I love people who admit they're not great with technology. In an interview with Martin Freeman, one of his questions went like this: "Have a Twitter account, or I'd rather keep what I had for lunch to myself, thank you?" He responded, "I'd rather keep what I had for lunch to myself, thank you." Also, before the Wellington premiere of TH:AUJ, he sent a message to the fans on TheOneRing.net (or, at least, that is where I read it), which ended with: "Fumblingly sent from my iPad."
Isn't that adorable?

RA is awesome, people. You just can't convince me otherwise.

Why did I just post another picture of him? BECAUSE I CAN. I'm making the most of Google's fixing the error on Blogger before it stops working again.

Oh, and because the picture's cool, too.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

I'M GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!!!!

That's what I say every morning when I leave the house. I don't usually run off without a handkerchief and trailing a contract, however.

Oh, and I'm usually wearing shoes.

But it's the spirit of the moment that counts!

Now, whenever I get a DVD of TH:AUJ, I shall have to see about learning to make little gif files for myself. I want to rule the Internet with Tolkien memes!

I'm having remarkable success at my house.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Hallelujah!

 

Leave me alone with my delight/ To store up joy against the night…

 

- Oliver St. John Gogarty, “The Plum Tree by the House”

--- Dun, dun, dun, HAAAAA-LAY-LOO-JAAAAAH! HAAAAAAA-LAY-LOO-JAAAH! HA-LAAAAAY-LOOOO-JAH!

Blogger is letting me upload pictures and gifs from my computer again!!! I do not know how and why this miracle occurred, but I am not complaining!

Let us hope it continues!!

If it does, I shall spread even MORE Tolkien goodness with all of you peoples!!

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

I Don't Even Know Why I Am Sharing This

Whenever I have dreams that I remember, they're always... interesting, to say the least.

One of my personal favorites was a dream I had, shortly after Nick Saban started his glorious dynasty of national victories and effortless steamrolling of opponents at Alabama, where I was trapped in a bookstore on the UA campus (I have actually been there, ironically, while I have never been to Auburn). For some reason, there was a copy of the book Gone with the Wind in the bookstore. The author was different, however. I was curiously flipping through it when Saban found me and started expostulating at length about why I should leave my Auburn heathenism and convert to the Church of Roll Tide.

Needless to say, my family loves reminding me of that.

There was also the dream I had where I was being chased by Boba Fett, Darth Vader, and various other Star Wars villains through a historical landmark house. For some reason, I had a lightsaber, which I had absolutely no idea how to use. Stupidly, I was also running with it while it was lit. (Lit? Extended? How do you describe a lightsaber when it is 'on'?") Worse than running with scissors... I think some random family members were with me, too, being chased. A few others were arranging a display of brochures, very unconcerned at the fact that I kept running past them with Sith on my tail.

Yep. That's the sort of dreams I have.

I used to have a lot of dreams about being underwater and panicking at the fact that I was apparently breathing underwater. That's right. I didn't have dreams about drowning. I had dreams about being able to breathe underwater and panicking about that.

I also had a dream where there were these terrifying giant clams. No exaggeration. They were in an airport with bad lighting and escalators to nowhere. Cousins were also involved. (I love my family. This means they also appear with me in my dream adventures. Not so happily for them, I guess.)

Anyway, last night I had another equally interesting dream, which, for whatever reason, I am about to relate. I suppose I am putting this all on here for the amusement of my friends (I like making people laugh), and also so someday I will look back on this pathetic little blog and smile at the things I thought were funny then.

Anyway.

So my dream last night started dramatically, like the beginning of The Two Towers movie where Frodo and Sam are climbing over the rocks of the Emyn Muil. However, this time it was Frodo and Bilbo. They climbed up to a pinnacle of 'rock', me following them for whatever reason. However, the 'mountain' turned out to be a wall of Sauron's castle, and it was built out of giant LEGO bricks, orc skeletons in wire cages, and random concrete blocks and rusted girders. Not too sturdy.

As you might have expected, I was not near so nimble as the two hobbits, and so I sort of caused the wall to collapse. I don't know what happened to Frodo and Bilbo. I guess they vanished. I walked over to Sauron's castle. (It was also a school. That fact would explain a lot about our present day education system.)

Inside Sauron's 'castle' it appeared to be your average institution, with concrete block walls, tile floors, and drop ceilings. I think there were vending machines. At any rate, Sauron did not see me, which is good. What is bad/amusing is that I saw Sauron.

Just guess what Sauron looked like.

I blame Amy.

Sauron was Benedict Cumberbatch. In jeans.

At that, I lost my Willing Suspension of Disbelief while in the dream. That's right. I was dreaming and I thought to myself, "This is ridiculous. I don't believe this was happening." I may or may not have actually realized it was a dream, but it was hilarious, so I went along with the ride.

(Oh, and I still do not find Benedict Cumberbatch attractive at all, for your information. Martin Freeman, on the other hand, is adorable.)

Anyway, Sauron/Ben Cumberbatch was running around trying to clean up his 'castle', which was a wreck. Why was he doing this? Galadriel had just had a telepathic conversation with him, telling him that she was coming over to check on him, like a mother making sure that a naughty child had actually cleaned his room when she told him too.

Cue even more hysterical laughter from me. While in the dream, mind you.

Unfortunately, I woke up at that point. I really, really, really would have liked to see how that dream would have ended.

And then I could have blogged about it.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Bidding Farewell To Warmth

Hello again, langauge lab on the third floor of Wesleyan. Your pale walls and white boards, your pale cabinets and pale computer benches, all are so familiar to me. The French people are not yet in here dancing, and the end-of-semester rush to get in all one's hours have not yet started, yet the added atmosphere is not necessary.

Yes, I remember you. I remember you all too well. I have spent 90 hours of my life in your heartless, Antarctic depths, with the very breath of Boreas himself emanating from the vents on the ceiling.

I remember walking out into 90-degree weather and bending my fingers uncertainly, for they had gone numb with cold.

I remember hours of listening to songs from the 70's and 80's because it is so hard to find a German station that actually plays German music.

I remember the awkward keyboards and the institutional lightning.

I remember the cheerful laughter of free students out in the halls, taunting me.

I remember memorizing all the posters for Spanish festivals, since there was nothing else in the room to look at.

I remember how you tossed 500 of my minutes into the Void last semester, consigning them to the oblivion of Melkor, 'He Who Arises in Might', known to the Noldor and all of the posterity of Arda Marred as Morgoth. I remember how I had to spend an extra 500 minutes above and beyond the call of duty in the lab due to your negligence.

I remember how your computers refused to let me do my homework while I listened to corny 80's German songs.

I remember the pale blinds over the windows, allowing no blessed sunshine in.

I remember the squishy, squeaky chairs, and how I could not move in them without causing an uproar.

But, mostly, I remember the cold. I remember your frigid wastelands with the same dread that a cold-blooded reptile would hail an early frost. I will never forgot the wintry air blasting in my face from the vents, the way it would circulate around the benches and freeze my toes through two layers of socks.

I will never forget, and I will never forgive.

Hello again, language lab.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse