And we have a winner!

Alright! We have a winner, life-plan- and major-at-school- wise.

I'm definitely going to be changing to a linguistics major with a minor in psychology. Why? Several reasons:

First, and I can't really stress how important this is, I can graduate (with incredibly full loads, but with classes that I think I can handle just fine) in 2014. Yes! This time next year, if all goes according to plan, I will be entering my last semester of school. Wait, it's still June. I'll be working through my last summer semester. Still awesome!

Second, I really do like studying languages. Not just foreign languages, but English as well. You should all see my hardback copy of Ender's Game. It's annotated like nothing else with motifs, characters, word changes (like when Ender refers to himself as Andrew right at the very beginning, or the exact moment he starts calling Bonzo by his first name instead of his last). I once spent an entire Saturday morning trying to figure out the rules of Eastern Street Slang (from Mistborn) and how I could translate it to English and vice versa. Just for the fun of it. Same with my EG annotations-- that's not for class; it's because I can.

Third, I'm good at English. I'm good with foreign languages. And for this major, I have to take 2 foreign language classes above the 2000 level. Which means taking Intermediate French 1 and 2, and then being able to stop before I get into the annoying grammatical parts of foreign languages.

Fourth, look at this list of things I can do! Teach English. Teach a foreign language. Teach ESL-- abroad or not. Publish books. Review books. Write books. Interpret. Work for the government. Consult in law and medicine. Be an actress. Basically, everything I've ever even partially considered doing would be an option, here. Forensics isn't happening to quite the same extent, but I could still work for the FBI or something. And I really believe that I will go back to school and finish my chemistry degree if I decide I want to continue more heavily in that field.

Fifth, I don't have to retake calculus! What? Yes, that's a real consideration. Let's not actually call it a "consideration," though. Let's call it a perk. I would do it if I had to, but the fact that I can skip it is nice.

Sixth, I'm not an English major. And I like that. Linguistics, while being super soft, is still a science. It's studying languages and how they morph over time and change in different contexts (I might dare to say it's a harder science-- just barely-- than psychology). I'm super excited about that. If I wanted to stay in a slightly more "scientific" career, I could become a linguist and make hypotheses about language and test them.

I'm pretty satisfied with this. Another nice bonus is that with this path, I can take the classes I need in whatever order I want. With chemistry, you have to take gen chem before analytical and organic, and those before physical. You have to take gen bio before microbiology and genetics. All these prereq's build on each other so it's a really delicate order of when you can take what classes you want. There's still a little freedom-- would I rather take analytical or organic chem first, or both at the same time-- but with linguistics, I basically have two prereqs that I haven't done yet, and I'll be taking both this fall. It's intro to linguistics and a logic class. And then I can take every other class I need for the major.

I'll miss my hard science classes. I'll miss physics and chemistry and criminalistics. But if I miss it enough, I'll go back for it later. For now, I just want to be done with college and have one of these many awesome careers that are possible for me.


With that, I've added two classes to my "easy semester" this fall. I'm taking intro to linguistics, dynamics of health, ASL 2, semantics, and psychology of adolescence. :D 15 credits! Then 18 credits planned this spring (which I know I've done before and wanted to die, but this will be in a field that comes easier to me, so hopefully it'll be fine. but if it's not, I know how to drop classes and I can take an extra semester later. I can handle change farther down the road if need be), 9 credits the summer after that, and finishing up my last semester with 18 credits. Then graduation! In fall 2014! Whaaat. So excited.

Now I'm really going to sleep.

I was just on facebook... don't judge. But someone's status update said they were writing a blog about what they had previously status-updated about, and I thought I'd go read it. I don't have this person's URL, so I went Carebear and Frik's blog to look it up (I didn't, as a side note, finish reading the blog. It was not as interesting as I thought it might be. Maybe if I had gotten farther. Or was closer to this facebook friend).

So, I was checking out the blogs that Carebear and Frik have links to, and they have that thing where it shows up in order of most recently published. Which is in part how I found this blog I was looking for. But mine shows up-- not only on theirs, but also on Guildylocks' and Scooter's-- as not having been updated since my mid-school crisis, which was 3 months ago.

It's still fine on Mom's, but she's the only one. Any ideas?

Wtf?

Postponed!

Well, I know I said two more chapters today, but it was a busy day. I got a dress for Audrey's wedding and ate a meal and bought some cookies... and watched Footloose.

I really tried to stay up and read the next chapter, so I could at least get one more up, but I'm literally falling asleep while reading. And when I do that, I start to dream and fill in the gaps. It makes for really confusing stories.

So I'll just have to do some reading of The Blade Itself tomorrow.

Somehow, I think you'll all find it in your hearts to forgive me. :)

RR Fencing Practice

In Fencing Practice, Jezal is a cocky douche, but totally loses all confidence when he meets West's sister. Think you're ready? Then join Rocky as she reads The Blade Itself.


Time for the second chapter for today! I'm going to try to do two again tomorrow, and then see about doing one per day after that-- with my days that I work off. It's hard to read a book "one chapter every two or three days" because there's no strict schedule, so if I don't actually do it, who cares? I might be able to make myself more disciplined for my 2-3 day plan if more people were following this, but alas.

I liked this chapter. It made me laugh. It starts off with Jezal practice fighting West, which he loses terribly because he gets over confident and has poor balance on his back legs. While his trainer Lord Varuz is sitting there chewing him out for all the things he did wrong in the battle, Jezal briefly wonders about what would happen if he just gave up fencing and never touched a steel again, which he has apparently thought about a lot. But that would make his father sad, and he'd probably lose his allowance, and blah blah blah. Basically this was a GIANT father's-will-forced-onto-his-son moment. Usually, this has the son hating his life more and more until he snaps and chooses his own path, and then the father loves the son anyway. Basically that's how I've seen this set up go in every book/movie/show I've ever seen, except one (The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson. Fantastic twist, there). So I'm interested to see how this becomes more of a problem, and what Jezal does with his apparent disinterest in fencing. Stop he stop being a spoiled brat and and accept that he'd rather do something he loves and make it on his own instead of pleasing his father?

To sum up, I'm super interested in this one little part of the story (seriously, it was not even a full paragraph) because this is remarkably similar to a problem I'm facing now. And I want to see him follow whatever path he does, then see how happy it makes him. That way I can learn something and consider my options better. This is a good character conflict; a lot of people can relate to it. Good move, Abercrombie.

Alrighty. So Jezal is walking back to camp with West who has his sister in town and he was going to show her around. Yes, was. He instead gets orders to go to a meeting, and pawns his sister off on Jezal. The entire time back to camp, Jezal is being an extra-douche. He's just acting really superior and obnoxious. He thinks himself better than the messenger who came to talk to West, he thinks himself above West's family (though not West himself, since he proved himself by being an awesome fencer and joining the King's Army), he just basically thinks he's better than all the "common folk". And there's a guy who dropped a paper and is now chasing it around in the wind that Jezal just watches with amusement. Now, I suppose that's not the worst thing, but the paper blows right past his feet and Jezal just watches as this guy runs past, bent over, trying to get it. Blarg. When West gets the paper and gives it to the guy, Jezal is actually upset that his fun was just ruined. Man. What a douche.

A little later, as he's going to West's house to pick up his sister, he's literally just sitting there thinking to himself, "Don't let her be too ugly. Or dumb." He'd hate to have his day ruined that way, being seen in public with someone unattractive. He stops just outside his house (or actually it's more of an apartment) to eavesdrop on the two of them arguing, and she's got a deepish voice, so he almost just turns around and makes up some excuse for why he couldn't be there, but since someone's coming up the stairs, he can't get around without being seen. So he just embraces the fact that he's going to have to spend the day with someone short, fat, and inappropriate for a female (she's witty and swore while talking to her brother, which is only how boys are supposed to be).

All of his doucheyness makes it particularly delightful that when she opens the door, he thinks she's gorgeous. She definitely has unconventional looks-- she's not thin, her skin is darkened from the sun, her eyes aren't blue-- but he doesn't even care. She's most certainly not fat, and he can't remember why girls are supposed to be pale upon seeing her, and her eyes are dark and bright. He loses all his charm and it's kinda fantastic. West is just kinda sitting here watching him be totally intimidated by his sister, and it's hilarious. Jezal tries frantically to think of clever things to say, which is not really working out for him, and he just generally thinks it's funny to see Jezal and Ardee (the sister) together. Haha, right before he leaves to his meeting, he tells them not to do anything he wouldn't, and Ardee just--

"'That would seem to allow virtually everything,' she said, catching Jezal's eye. He was amazed to feel himself blushing like a little girl, and he coughed and looked down at his shoes.
West rolled his eyes, 'Mercy,' he said, as the door clicked shut."

Haha. It made me laugh out loud. They spend most of the rest of the chapter walking around as Jezal tries to show her the city, but she already knows everything about it. She's not being obnoxious about it, though, and she stands close to him, which isn't something Jezal is objecting too, but he thinks it would be super awkward and bad if West saw them so close together. He tries telling her a couple times that they should act more like friends here and less like a couple, but she just keeps talking about all the different things they're seeing and doesn't really let him get in on the conversation a lot.

Then randomly Glokta comes up. Ardee knows him because apparently Glokta and West were quite close, which totally makes sense. I mean, they were only having a legit conversation about it the night that Glokta kidnapped Teufel. The two of them used to be really close friends, and Glokta came to visit West and his family one summer. Jezal is super awkward the entire time Glokta is there talking to Ardee, and the chapter ends pretty quick after he leaves.

Abercrombie does a cool parallel between fencing West and showing Ardee around. He references how Jezal was off balance for both of those and in the end of the chapter, Jezal straight up thinks about how he feels like he lost a fencing war twice today, and that Ardee was a tougher component than her brother. Fantastic. I feel like I'm falling into a trap, though. I just love how much Jezal was thrown off by Ardee, and I hope she sticks around and we see more of her. But I'm pretty positive that's what Abercrombie wants me to feel. Which means I'm worried I'm walking straight into his trap, and he's going to do something terrible with Ardee and Jezal D: Oh dear.

Good chapter, though. I'm intrigued that we keep seeing Glokta pop up in Jezal's chapters. It allows up to get a different perspective on him, because we've only seen him in his own head or with this prisoners-to-be, and so seeing him out among peers and normal people gives a really interesting view of Glokta. He's so friendly. It's odd, but good I think.

Oh! And I totally forgot! While Ardee and Jezal were looking at statues, they totally saw one of the Magus that Logen is trying to find! Whaaat. Now that I read in this chapter, actually, I think Jezal mentioned it back in his chapter. He runs past them, and if I'm remembering correctly, he though the Magus was dead. Hm... Interesting...

For the hundredth time he entertained the notion of giving it up and never holding a steel again. But what would people say?

RR The Wide and Barren North

In The Wide and Barren North, Logen must, yet again, fight for his life while semi-trying to protect his new friend. Think you're ready? Then join and Rocky reads The Blade Itself.


Wait. Before I continue with anything, my first thought upon reading this chapter's heading was going immediately to Game of Thrones. Am I the only one? Hm. Maybe it's because I was just reading Game of Thrones earlier this morning, then decided to do some Rocky reading.

So, I have never been more confused about where a character was before in my life. It's been a few chapters since we've seen Logen, so I assumed he wasn't where he was when we last left him-- which is true-- but I spent quite a while being confused. He's waiting around in the wide and barren North, waiting for this Magus to show up, right? Ok, so he's up north. But then, a single paragraph later, he's talking about how he had to move from where he was in the forest to get to this bog/marsh and wait here, even though it didn't seem like a good place. He knew it was where he was supposed to be because, "to the South the spirits had said." What?

It took me nearly half a chapter to decide that he's farther south than he was in this forest, but still in the north. Which means... where has he been all this time? Geographically speaking. He started out by some river, then moved what I assumed was north (where it gets colder) to the mountains, then decided that he had to go south to get somewhere with food. And that's where he talked to the spirits. Who tell him to go south. More south, I assume. But he's still north. Ok. Right? Right. He just started out incredibly far north. But I just. Why is it so warm where he is for being so far north? Maybe it's summer. Maybe I need to just accept things and move on.

Ok, so he's sitting here is this marsh area, foodless (except the meat he brought with him from the forest, which he is currently using the last of to make a lovely stew) and waiting for the Magus to show up. He's got a sad little fire going when a young, sickly, sad sad boy comes upon him. It's not the actual Magus-- that's why it's taken so long for him to find Logen-- it's the Magus' apprentice, named Malacus Quai (which, I don't know if this is significant, but quai means dock in French). They sit and talk for a while about how terrible of a seer and outdoorsman Malacus is, and Malacus is talking about how he hasn't eaten in days, and just sits there staring at the stew Logen made.

So Logen give it to him. Malacus can't believe his generosity, and he checks to make sure Logen has already eaten. Logen hasn't, but he can see how much Malacus needs this food to live, so he tells him he has and then lets him sleep. In the morning, Logen eats the fire's spirit (I'm serious. I don't even know what this means. But he eats the fire's spirit so he can later make a fire again, and really all I can imagine is this thing from Howl's Moving Castle, which is fantastic but probably not correct) and they set off to the Great Northern Library, which is about four days south of where they are. Malacus brought a spare horse with some food and shelter with him as he came to get Logen, but he lost all that in the storm, so there was only the one horse. As he should have, Malacus said he would walk since it was his fault that the extra horse was lost, but Logen takes one look at how sick he is-- burning with a fever, in need of food right now or else he'll die-- and offers to walk himself.

It's really magnanimous of him, really. Especially because his boots are torn to shreds (much like one of my pairs of converse. You should all see them. It's sad. I should just throw them away and get new ones) and he can't even use Malacus' shoes because they're too small. But he doesn't make Malacus feel guilty or anything. He just walks next to him as Malacus talks his ear off, and I really get this sense that Logen like Malacus. He's taking care of him. And I really have to wonder how much of that is because he wants to find the Magus and how much of it is because he misses his family and his boys and just wants to have someone to protect again. It's a nice dynamic.

Oh but wait. The chapter's not over. They're walking, and suddenly they have at least 3 bandits attacking them-- there might be more in the trees and Logen instantly goes into survival mode. He knows the odds are not in his favor, but he fights anyway, with all that he's got. It's brutal. He spits the fire spirit at one of the bandits' faces, burning him to death, and he stabs another through the chest, and just basically demolishes everyone. And then there's a fourth guy who was firing arrows from the trees, and he takes him out as well. He's not really particularly focused on protecting Malacus (which makes it super lucky for him that he's still alive at the end of the chapter), but he fights with everything so he can live to the next day. In the end, all the bandits are dead, the horse is gone, and Logen has a nice cut down his arm, as well as some cuts in his head. And his sword is broken. But he and Malacus are alive, and they resolve to get the boot of one of the bandits for Logen to wear and then see if any of the bandits had food. The end.

This was a really good chapter to get a better sense of who Logen is, what kind of person he is. And I come to the conclusion that, though he's killed a lot of people and was once called the most feared man of the North, he's not a bad guy. He's not a killer or a criminal. He's a survivor. He wins-- thoroughly (as originally used to describe Ender). It's not that he wants to kill all these bandits, it's almost the opposite. The one in the trees who was shooting arrows was just a boy, maybe 14 years old. But in order to continue living, he had to kill all of them. He adjusted to a kill or be killed attitude, and did some terrifying things that shook Malacus up. But even as scared as Malacus was, he also knew that Logen had to act as he did or else he would be dead now.

The prose in this book is really fantastic as well. I'm rather enjoying it. There's a cool image that Abercrombie writes where Logen is looking at himself-- counting the new wounds he's acquired-- then he looks our at the bandits that attacked them, all of their lifeless bodies. And in the next sentence, Logen is both reflecting on all the people he's killed and noting the blood physically dripping from his hands. It's a subtle line, but it's beautiful for that. Time to see how Logen and Malacus get on with life.

His hands were covered in blood. He grabbed one with the other to stop them from trembling.