Hey-o, it's Halloween! And my birthday the day after tomorrow whaaaaaaat. I'm not 20 the calendar is LYING.
I'm in a train. Isn't that fun. ...no, not really. I'm kinda nauseous, I think it's the computer.... also the wifi is shiiiiiiiitttttyyyyyyyyyyyy. ughhhhhh. I'm tired.
I'm stuck in the kids' car and there's these two boys (~6-8yrs) who keep running up and down the aisle and it's starting to get really annoying. HNNNGGGGGGG.
I have a few things about your last post. But I forget what they are. If you want to get our brother to read, you need to find him something to read that he finds interesting. Although I have to say you might not be too successful. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I mean TV series and movies and videos have the exact same purpose as books: to tell a story. They tell it differently, sure, but they do tell it nonetheless. And I think it's fairly obvious that Aatu is a visual learner. Sure, reading is visual also, but it's different. For example, he doesn't print out sheet music, he watches video tutorials and other people playing and copies it. In the same way he's not interested in reading words that tell him stories, he wants to watch pictures that tell him stories. And personally, I think that's just as good.
Also, please don't use the word grammarnazi, it's kinda insensitive.... It's also offensive to the people who are called that, because at least I would never want to be compared to nazis in ant sense. But anyway.
If you want to write, just WRITE. That's all there is to it. Well, reading helps, but you're already doing plenty of that, so... But write! It doesn't even matter what, as long as you put words on a paper. Just little snippets once a day and it'll get better. I mean you have a lot of great ideas, USE THEM. Jeez. You can't rewrite your old stuff if you have nothing else. Here, I'm gonna write you a snippet right now.
~~~~~
The bus is late. That is a problem. I check the clock on my phone for the umpteenth time and fiddle with the end of my scarf. It's a wind day and the forecast said a lot of rain in the evening, so I'd rather not take my bike. I tap my feet, check my phone, adjust my scarf and exhale loudly as the bus finally arrives.
I'm not the only one in costume, thankfully. There is a group of girls at the back of the bus, dressed in costumes with varying degrees of fabric. It's amazing they don't freeze outside with their bare legs, it is only 5 degrees. I ignore them and sit down, staring out the window as the bus jerks forward. I've never been that into Halloween, but here I am, going to a costume party like the cool kids, or whatever. Stupid boyfriend with his stupid university party. I'd much rather stay home and pull a horror-movie all-nighter. But a promise is a promise, and it is kinda interesting to see what uni parties are like, I suppose.
The bus reaches downtown faster than I assumed and I hop out with everyone else. The directions Mike gave me are somewhat cryptic, but finally I find my way to the right place. I shoot him a quick text and soon his head pops through the door, a loud bass accompanying him from inside.
"You're here!" he shouts with a huge smile, and rushes to me. As soon as he's fully emerged from the doorway I slap a hand on my mouth, trying to hold in the laughter. He pauses and tugs at the hem of his tunic (or rather, bedsheet) with a lopsided grin. "You like my costume?" he asks.
"Well, um..." I walk to him and take his hands in mine. They're starting to get cold. "I mean, what are you even?"
"An angel!" He twirls around and indeed he has small fluffy wings on his back. I suppress another giggle. "You always call me angel, so..." This time I really laugh out.
"I call you Angel, because you call yourself Angel!" He shrugs and I huff.
"What are you then?" he asks and starts pulling me inside.
"I'm a pirate. I have another coat and some props in my bag," I say and take off my winter coat, handing it to the girl at the cloakroom. Ang- Michael peers over my shoulder as I dig my bag and produce a hat, coat, a toy gun and a stuffed parrot I attach to the coat with a few safety pins. He looks amused as I stand up and give my bag to the girl as well.
"Captain," he says and bows. I snort as he grins and takes my hand, leading me to the dance floor. We dance and dance and it's surprisingly fun. I also meet some of Mike's uni friends and they seem nice enough. I was afraid they'd look down on me for being in high school. A senior in high school, but still...
Someone bumps me accidentally, snapping me out of my thoughts. I look around and notice Mike is gone. I try to move to a more open area in the quite packed hall, but the song that starts to play is apparently a very popular one, since a wave of new dancers rush to the middle, effectively trapping me in their midst.
"Mike!" I yell as more bodies press against mine. I can't breathe properly... I just... I need to get out. The mass of dancing people is suffocating me from all sides. I try to pry my way through again, but get pushed back. I look around frantically, trying to spot Mike, but he is nowhere to be found.
"Mike!" I try again, but I can hardly hear myself over the loud music. I try to breathe, but it's getting harder and harder. Like all the air in the room was suddenly gone and no one else notices. I'm starting to hyperventilate, but I can't help it. I can't breathe. Too many writhing bodies all around me. Too close. Too much. My breath is coming in sharp bursts, my vision fuzzing around the edge. I think I see a familiar mess of blond hair, a pair of fluffy wings, and I reach towards them, but I can't move, I can't breathe.
"Angel!"
The last thing I see is Angel's head spinning around and his blue eyes looking right at me. Then everything goes black.
~x~
There's muttering all around me. The music hasn't stopped, but it's somewhere far, far away and I can finally breathe. And I breathe, a shaky breath at first and then a deep inhale. There's shushing from somewhere and I pry my eyes open. I'm on a sofa in what appears to be a back room of sorts, a few people looking worriedly at me. Blinking a few times I push myself to a sitting position. There is a soft touch on my arm.
"Are you okay?" Angel's eyes are concerned and confused and he's sitting slightly further away than normally, as if unsure if he's allowed to touch or not. I put my hand behind his neck and pull him closer, pressing our foreheads together.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I say and give him a weak smile. "But if you don't mind, I think I'd like to go home now."
"Of course, baby, anything," he says and gives me a chaste kiss as he stands up and then pulls me up as well. I sway a bit and he wraps his arm around my shoulders. I lean into him gratefully and wrap my own arm around his waist. We stop at the cloakroom and retrieve our coats and my bag and then we're out of the building and in the cool autumn air. The sun has set long ago and the street lamps cast their yellow lights on us as we walk to the bus stop. Angel doesn't let go for a minute until we're back at my home and I have to dig my keys from the bag.
There is a plate with Halloween themed cookies on the table, with a not from mom saying she'll be back tomorrow afternoon and remember to behave. I stick a pumpkin between my teeth and offer one to Angel, who takes three. We end up cuddled on the couch with a two blankets and three pillows, marathoning a bunch of classic horror movies. How Angel hadn't seen The Shining before is beyond me.
"I'm sorry I dragged you to the party," Angel suddenly says. I smile at him and cuddle closer. "I know you don't really like crowds, but I thought..."
"It's okay," I say. "I had fun." He looks at me in surprise.
"Really? That's good." He sounds relieved and I lean over, pressing a kiss on his cheek.
"Yes. Although I have to admit, this is how I rather spend my Halloween," I say and Angel chuckles.
"Yeah, this is good," he says and kisses me.
We watch movies until we both wall asleep on the couch
~~~~~
That's it! Did you like? We're in Helsinki now, so I have to hurry. Bye~
Pie out
Friday, October 31, 2014
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Writing.
Hello.
I have been thinking about writing lately. Well, about a few different things having to do with writing but that are kinda separate. I've been mostly doing this because, well, I'm actually studying journalism now, and writing is the thing journalists do.
First of all, I have a class about basic grammar rules. How to spell words borrowed from other languages, and where to put a comma and where to not, and which words to write together (well, we haven't actually gotten to that quite yet, but soon). A lot of these are things that actually a lot easier to do in English, because (I may be wrong about this, though) you can put a comma where ever you feel like it as long as it makes sense, and you never write anything together.
Oh, Finnish, how people love your grammar.
Anyway, since the thing that we're practising is not only knowing how the correct way to write is but also to learn to spot the mistakes in text, after two months I'm already paying maybe a little too much attention to how people write things. I mean, on facebook posts loosing up on the rules for commas is ok, as long as the meaning of the sentence doesn't change, but I'm still tempted to comment on people's things just to correct their mistakes. But I won't. Because people would hate me. Because people hate grammar nazis. Except if they are grammar nazis.
Ok, moving on.
For another class I have to write there practise news and stuff. Sometimes it's fun, and sometimes it's not. The newspaper news was fun to do. The one that I'm writing right now is less fun. You probably heard me complaining about it last week, since I was already doing it last week. We have to write a thing about a person. Then next, we have to write a feature bit. So basically we have to write about an interesting person and a bigger more informal thing about some interesting phenomenon that's going on right now, or a report from some event basically describing what it's like there. Or lifestyle thing. Something that interests people, and that holds some connection to something that's going on right now.
Ok, so there's one problem with this. When I'm doing it. The same problem comes up when trying to make interesting beginnings or headlines to news, because they have to be interesting to capture people's interest.
The problem is this: I am not interested in the same kinds of things the majority of people are interested in. Dad tried to tell me to write the kind of thing that I'd be interested to read. Yeah, well, I could, but it would suck, mostly because it probably wouldn't be very onteresting to the rest of people.
Most people are interested in who's gay and how to lose weight and how to decorate a home so that it's pretty. And I sit around at home looking at the headlines on the webpages of newspapers and tabloids (ok, I don't really do that, but still) thinking Why do people care?
I mean seriously, the world would be a better place if people just stopped caring about who's gay and cared about something more important.
Ok, I've studied enough journalism that I know why people care. Because the human mind simply gets some weird pleasure from knowing things about other people that they're not really 'supposed' to know.
It's the same kind of thing that I explained to you about how university courses seem to a little too often concentrate on the people who have previously studied the subject at hand. And I really don't care about the people. I care about the subject at hand.
Maybe that's why I like natural sciences better than social sciences. Social sciences are all about who lived when and thought what. Natural sciences are about how things work. Sure, you have to know the names of some scientists too. You can't really call yourself a physicist and not know who Einstein is. (Bad example, since everyone knows who that is, but you get the point.) But the majority of what you learn is the what and the how, not the who. Sure, learning the Kreb's cycle by heart on an atomic level is a pain, but it still beats memorizing an endless list of people having done research in the field of literature.
Uh... What was I originally talking about...?
Oh, right. The point was, that it's difficult to write journalism that would interest people when you're mostly not interested in the same things most people are interested in.
A third point of view to writing that I've been thinking about lately is my own, personal writing. Writing stories. You keep talking about your dragons. I keep not talking about my novel project, mostly because... well, actually mostly because I don't want to talk about it. But also because there's not much happening to it.
I have been writing stories since I was... four? Probably four. Mom can correct me if I'm wrong. When I was thirteen I wrote every day. I was writing that one novel thing back then, I don't know if you remember.
The point is, that then I somehow stopped writing.
And I hate that.
Back when I was still living at home, meaning three and a half years ago, I got the idea for Nocturne. In those three and a half years, I have written 44 pages. And a haldfull of short stories, but they're not really worth mentioning, because only maybe one of them is good enough to be ok. And, well, Cinnamon.
I have wanted to be an author (and a bunch of other things at the side) since I was maybe twelve. And now, in three and a half years, I have written 44 pages.
And that's just pathetic for someone who has been writing stores for all her life, and has been wanting to write an actual novel for half that.
So instead of writing, I just sit at home doing nothing. Seriously, right now I have so little to do I actually do work so I wouldn't be so bored. Though that'll probably change once the second half of this semester gets properly started after the break.
The point is, I sit at home not writing, and I hate every second of it. But even if I opened the document and started writing, nothing would come out.
Because apparently I lost my ability to write stories somewhere in my teen years.
And that... just sucks. Because it's one of the greatest feelings in the world when I do get a few pages written.
Ok, one more thing. Actually about reading, not writing, but it's close enough to the same theme.
We need to get out brother to read.
I still don't understand how our parents have been able to raise three daughters, who all read a lot and write a lot, and one son who you can't get to pick up a book even if you forced him.
Ok, I actually got him to read the beginning of The Hobbit last summer, but that was only because he was doing the speech jammer, and he needed something to say, because it's pretty pointless if you're just quiet. So he read aloud the first couple of pages.
Apparently dad once asked him why he won't read, and the answer was that because watching TV is just so much easier.
Ok, back to the point.
How do we get him to read? (He doesn't even read our blog, so it's perfectly safe to discuss this here without him knowing.)
Maybe we could write him a story. (Hey, would you look at that, this bit turned out to be about writing too.) A story specifically to him. And then give it to him as a Christmas gift. So maybe he'd read it.
Though then again, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't, and if we're already doing another Christmas-calendar-story thing, two stories to write before Christmas might be a little much.
Would you have some idea?
That's all for today, I think. I'll hear from you on Friday.
Oh, are you still at our parents' place? Just wondering.
~matu
I have been thinking about writing lately. Well, about a few different things having to do with writing but that are kinda separate. I've been mostly doing this because, well, I'm actually studying journalism now, and writing is the thing journalists do.
First of all, I have a class about basic grammar rules. How to spell words borrowed from other languages, and where to put a comma and where to not, and which words to write together (well, we haven't actually gotten to that quite yet, but soon). A lot of these are things that actually a lot easier to do in English, because (I may be wrong about this, though) you can put a comma where ever you feel like it as long as it makes sense, and you never write anything together.
Oh, Finnish, how people love your grammar.
Anyway, since the thing that we're practising is not only knowing how the correct way to write is but also to learn to spot the mistakes in text, after two months I'm already paying maybe a little too much attention to how people write things. I mean, on facebook posts loosing up on the rules for commas is ok, as long as the meaning of the sentence doesn't change, but I'm still tempted to comment on people's things just to correct their mistakes. But I won't. Because people would hate me. Because people hate grammar nazis. Except if they are grammar nazis.
Ok, moving on.
For another class I have to write there practise news and stuff. Sometimes it's fun, and sometimes it's not. The newspaper news was fun to do. The one that I'm writing right now is less fun. You probably heard me complaining about it last week, since I was already doing it last week. We have to write a thing about a person. Then next, we have to write a feature bit. So basically we have to write about an interesting person and a bigger more informal thing about some interesting phenomenon that's going on right now, or a report from some event basically describing what it's like there. Or lifestyle thing. Something that interests people, and that holds some connection to something that's going on right now.
Ok, so there's one problem with this. When I'm doing it. The same problem comes up when trying to make interesting beginnings or headlines to news, because they have to be interesting to capture people's interest.
The problem is this: I am not interested in the same kinds of things the majority of people are interested in. Dad tried to tell me to write the kind of thing that I'd be interested to read. Yeah, well, I could, but it would suck, mostly because it probably wouldn't be very onteresting to the rest of people.
Most people are interested in who's gay and how to lose weight and how to decorate a home so that it's pretty. And I sit around at home looking at the headlines on the webpages of newspapers and tabloids (ok, I don't really do that, but still) thinking Why do people care?
I mean seriously, the world would be a better place if people just stopped caring about who's gay and cared about something more important.
Ok, I've studied enough journalism that I know why people care. Because the human mind simply gets some weird pleasure from knowing things about other people that they're not really 'supposed' to know.
It's the same kind of thing that I explained to you about how university courses seem to a little too often concentrate on the people who have previously studied the subject at hand. And I really don't care about the people. I care about the subject at hand.
Maybe that's why I like natural sciences better than social sciences. Social sciences are all about who lived when and thought what. Natural sciences are about how things work. Sure, you have to know the names of some scientists too. You can't really call yourself a physicist and not know who Einstein is. (Bad example, since everyone knows who that is, but you get the point.) But the majority of what you learn is the what and the how, not the who. Sure, learning the Kreb's cycle by heart on an atomic level is a pain, but it still beats memorizing an endless list of people having done research in the field of literature.
Uh... What was I originally talking about...?
Oh, right. The point was, that it's difficult to write journalism that would interest people when you're mostly not interested in the same things most people are interested in.
A third point of view to writing that I've been thinking about lately is my own, personal writing. Writing stories. You keep talking about your dragons. I keep not talking about my novel project, mostly because... well, actually mostly because I don't want to talk about it. But also because there's not much happening to it.
I have been writing stories since I was... four? Probably four. Mom can correct me if I'm wrong. When I was thirteen I wrote every day. I was writing that one novel thing back then, I don't know if you remember.
The point is, that then I somehow stopped writing.
And I hate that.
Back when I was still living at home, meaning three and a half years ago, I got the idea for Nocturne. In those three and a half years, I have written 44 pages. And a haldfull of short stories, but they're not really worth mentioning, because only maybe one of them is good enough to be ok. And, well, Cinnamon.
I have wanted to be an author (and a bunch of other things at the side) since I was maybe twelve. And now, in three and a half years, I have written 44 pages.
And that's just pathetic for someone who has been writing stores for all her life, and has been wanting to write an actual novel for half that.
So instead of writing, I just sit at home doing nothing. Seriously, right now I have so little to do I actually do work so I wouldn't be so bored. Though that'll probably change once the second half of this semester gets properly started after the break.
The point is, I sit at home not writing, and I hate every second of it. But even if I opened the document and started writing, nothing would come out.
Because apparently I lost my ability to write stories somewhere in my teen years.
And that... just sucks. Because it's one of the greatest feelings in the world when I do get a few pages written.
Ok, one more thing. Actually about reading, not writing, but it's close enough to the same theme.
We need to get out brother to read.
I still don't understand how our parents have been able to raise three daughters, who all read a lot and write a lot, and one son who you can't get to pick up a book even if you forced him.
Ok, I actually got him to read the beginning of The Hobbit last summer, but that was only because he was doing the speech jammer, and he needed something to say, because it's pretty pointless if you're just quiet. So he read aloud the first couple of pages.
Apparently dad once asked him why he won't read, and the answer was that because watching TV is just so much easier.
Ok, back to the point.
How do we get him to read? (He doesn't even read our blog, so it's perfectly safe to discuss this here without him knowing.)
Maybe we could write him a story. (Hey, would you look at that, this bit turned out to be about writing too.) A story specifically to him. And then give it to him as a Christmas gift. So maybe he'd read it.
Though then again, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't, and if we're already doing another Christmas-calendar-story thing, two stories to write before Christmas might be a little much.
Would you have some idea?
That's all for today, I think. I'll hear from you on Friday.
Oh, are you still at our parents' place? Just wondering.
~matu
Friday, October 24, 2014
Dragons and computers and knowledge and stuff
Hi. Sorry, it's a bit late again, I know. We had a movie night and stuff. Finally watched The Amazing Spider-man 2. And now I'm kinda sad, haha...
But that's not what I wanna talk about. I wanna talk about..... dragons, I guess. You probably don't give a shit, but I literally have nothing else in my life right now, and I like to use this blog to write all my stupid ideas up. It makes it easier for me to weed out the really stupid ideas when i write them down. Plus it's easier to write here than in a blank document for some reason. The illusion of a listener, I suppose.
Well anyway. I was talking about it with dad yesterday, about another reason than to gain power and rule the world for there to be a super secret organization that tries to gain control of dragons. And he told me about Foundation, in which there is a super secret organization which must be kept secret because the humans don't really know what they need and so they can't know all the things the Foundation does. And that got me thinking that it would be cool to write a story in which the main character does things because they feel like they are the right things to do (like exposing a super secret organization that is using somewhat morally questionable measures to gain control over dragons for purposes that are very unclear) but in the end you don't really know if what they're doing is right. You just kinda assume it is, because they're the protagonist, so we're meant to cheer them on.
And Robin is an excellent character for a plot like this. She has a very strong sense of morality and is extremely hungry for knowledge, so for her to find out that there is a super secret organization working in the kingdom, trying to overthrow the King and gain control of dozens of dragons is something she would be attacking so fast. Robin is also very self-righteous and her sense of right and wrong is sometimes screwed up (she is nobility, so she does have a limited knowledge of what it's like to be oppressed) so it would be easy to make the reader doubt her moral choices occasionally. Easier if I wrote in third person, but oh well.
But the question remains, what does the super secret organization want with the dragons. Well, wanting power is often a selfish and immoral drive, so I can't really use that if I want an air of uncertainty to the morality of Robin's choice to bring the super secret organization down. But knowledge... well. As I mentioned, in the Foundation there is a group of people who gather all the knowledge in the world, because they know that humanity will fall and if the knowledge is safe they won't have to start all over once humanity gets back on its feet. But the problem is, that a corrupt humanity doesn't really know what's best for it and so the foundation must be hidden so that no one can steal the information. And this is a lovely idea, I think. The battle of ideologies, whether immense knowledge should be in the hands of a select few, or if it should be public. And this is a brilliant conflict for our young Robin.
But the question still remains, what does the super secret organization want with the dragons. Dragons are very smart animals. Like, very smart. They communicate through telepathy (as established before) and their mental capacity is much higher than humans. They are able to think faster and harder things than humans, and can predict behaviour patterns and natural occurrences so well that people think they are psychic. I mean, there is magic in this universe, but being able to see the future is a very rare gift. The point is, because they are mentally so much more advanced than humans, dragons make very good... well, computers, basically. Imagine that, your own little dragoncomputer. How cute is that.
I haven't quite worked out all the kinks yet, but I like what I have so far. It's nice to have some kind of motivation for your villain team, even if it's not gonna be the same in the end. Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed now. G'night.
Pie out.
But that's not what I wanna talk about. I wanna talk about..... dragons, I guess. You probably don't give a shit, but I literally have nothing else in my life right now, and I like to use this blog to write all my stupid ideas up. It makes it easier for me to weed out the really stupid ideas when i write them down. Plus it's easier to write here than in a blank document for some reason. The illusion of a listener, I suppose.
Well anyway. I was talking about it with dad yesterday, about another reason than to gain power and rule the world for there to be a super secret organization that tries to gain control of dragons. And he told me about Foundation, in which there is a super secret organization which must be kept secret because the humans don't really know what they need and so they can't know all the things the Foundation does. And that got me thinking that it would be cool to write a story in which the main character does things because they feel like they are the right things to do (like exposing a super secret organization that is using somewhat morally questionable measures to gain control over dragons for purposes that are very unclear) but in the end you don't really know if what they're doing is right. You just kinda assume it is, because they're the protagonist, so we're meant to cheer them on.
And Robin is an excellent character for a plot like this. She has a very strong sense of morality and is extremely hungry for knowledge, so for her to find out that there is a super secret organization working in the kingdom, trying to overthrow the King and gain control of dozens of dragons is something she would be attacking so fast. Robin is also very self-righteous and her sense of right and wrong is sometimes screwed up (she is nobility, so she does have a limited knowledge of what it's like to be oppressed) so it would be easy to make the reader doubt her moral choices occasionally. Easier if I wrote in third person, but oh well.
But the question remains, what does the super secret organization want with the dragons. Well, wanting power is often a selfish and immoral drive, so I can't really use that if I want an air of uncertainty to the morality of Robin's choice to bring the super secret organization down. But knowledge... well. As I mentioned, in the Foundation there is a group of people who gather all the knowledge in the world, because they know that humanity will fall and if the knowledge is safe they won't have to start all over once humanity gets back on its feet. But the problem is, that a corrupt humanity doesn't really know what's best for it and so the foundation must be hidden so that no one can steal the information. And this is a lovely idea, I think. The battle of ideologies, whether immense knowledge should be in the hands of a select few, or if it should be public. And this is a brilliant conflict for our young Robin.
But the question still remains, what does the super secret organization want with the dragons. Dragons are very smart animals. Like, very smart. They communicate through telepathy (as established before) and their mental capacity is much higher than humans. They are able to think faster and harder things than humans, and can predict behaviour patterns and natural occurrences so well that people think they are psychic. I mean, there is magic in this universe, but being able to see the future is a very rare gift. The point is, because they are mentally so much more advanced than humans, dragons make very good... well, computers, basically. Imagine that, your own little dragoncomputer. How cute is that.
I haven't quite worked out all the kinks yet, but I like what I have so far. It's nice to have some kind of motivation for your villain team, even if it's not gonna be the same in the end. Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed now. G'night.
Pie out.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Mobile genetic elements
Hello.
I am actually writing this yesterday, because right now I'm alone since everyone else is at school or work so I have time, and tomorrow you'll be here so I'll maybe have something else to do while everyone else is gone.
Anyway.
I said last week I didn't want to talk about biology again, but DNA has once again been able to confuse me bad. But don't worry, I'll keep it brief, since I'll see you tonight (aka last night) anyway.
So, I have during the last week learned that there's this thing in the world called mobile genetic elements. They are pretty much what they sound like: pieces of genetic material that are capable of moving around instead of sitting still in a chromosome in the genome. There are two types of these genetic elements.
The first ones jump around in the genome of a cell. There are these in the human genome too. And in every other genome, I suppose. They don't really matter much, unless they jump to a spot that is in the middle of a gene that is really needed in a cell, in which case it might be bad. Cause, you know, having some junk in the middle of a gene kinda makes it difficult to use the gene. Of course there are exons and introns and stuff that mean that you can use a gene with useless (in the particular case) stuff in between, but the cell knows it's there and takes it away.
Anyway, there used to be a lot more of these pieces of DNA roaming around the human genome, but during the millions of years most of them have gotten some mutations that prevent them from moving around, so now they're just part of the genome as junk DNA (which, as it turns out, isn't so much junk as the scientists first realising it was there thought, but that's a whole other story).
The other kind of mobile genetic elements are capable of moving out of the cell and then around to other cells.
They are more widely known as viruses.
And this is part when my reaction was pretty much "waitwait...what?"
In school we have been thought, that viruses are these things kinda like bacteria, except they only have a protein coat and some genetic material and maybe some other parts, so they're not alive. But they can make you sick.
And now, suddenly, having heard viruses called mobile genetic elements, I have a whole other perspective to them.
Viruses aren't actually unliving creatures that go around infecting people with their DNA and forcing a cell to make copies of themselves.
They are sneaky bits of genetic material, that are capable of creeping into a cells genome and tricking it to produce more of the same kind of genetic material, and then a vessel for itself that it can use to get out of the cell and go roam around.
They're like a bad guy getting into the secret headquarters and tricking the leaders into building him some spaceships that he then takes off in with a bunch of friends to go trick more leaders and make more friends and spaceships.
Viruses are not a thing infecting cells with genetic material. It's genetic material smart enough to trick someone to build it a vehicle that it can use to move around.
Whhooooa.
It's not even like this is new information as such. It's just a whole new perspective to looking at it that I never realised was there.
Anyway.
Maybe that's enough for today. I'll see you in ten hours. Or fourteen hours ago, which ever way you want to think about it.
~matu
I am actually writing this yesterday, because right now I'm alone since everyone else is at school or work so I have time, and tomorrow you'll be here so I'll maybe have something else to do while everyone else is gone.
Anyway.
I said last week I didn't want to talk about biology again, but DNA has once again been able to confuse me bad. But don't worry, I'll keep it brief, since I'll see you tonight (aka last night) anyway.
So, I have during the last week learned that there's this thing in the world called mobile genetic elements. They are pretty much what they sound like: pieces of genetic material that are capable of moving around instead of sitting still in a chromosome in the genome. There are two types of these genetic elements.
The first ones jump around in the genome of a cell. There are these in the human genome too. And in every other genome, I suppose. They don't really matter much, unless they jump to a spot that is in the middle of a gene that is really needed in a cell, in which case it might be bad. Cause, you know, having some junk in the middle of a gene kinda makes it difficult to use the gene. Of course there are exons and introns and stuff that mean that you can use a gene with useless (in the particular case) stuff in between, but the cell knows it's there and takes it away.
Anyway, there used to be a lot more of these pieces of DNA roaming around the human genome, but during the millions of years most of them have gotten some mutations that prevent them from moving around, so now they're just part of the genome as junk DNA (which, as it turns out, isn't so much junk as the scientists first realising it was there thought, but that's a whole other story).
The other kind of mobile genetic elements are capable of moving out of the cell and then around to other cells.
They are more widely known as viruses.
And this is part when my reaction was pretty much "waitwait...what?"
In school we have been thought, that viruses are these things kinda like bacteria, except they only have a protein coat and some genetic material and maybe some other parts, so they're not alive. But they can make you sick.
And now, suddenly, having heard viruses called mobile genetic elements, I have a whole other perspective to them.
Viruses aren't actually unliving creatures that go around infecting people with their DNA and forcing a cell to make copies of themselves.
They are sneaky bits of genetic material, that are capable of creeping into a cells genome and tricking it to produce more of the same kind of genetic material, and then a vessel for itself that it can use to get out of the cell and go roam around.
They're like a bad guy getting into the secret headquarters and tricking the leaders into building him some spaceships that he then takes off in with a bunch of friends to go trick more leaders and make more friends and spaceships.
Viruses are not a thing infecting cells with genetic material. It's genetic material smart enough to trick someone to build it a vehicle that it can use to move around.
Whhooooa.
It's not even like this is new information as such. It's just a whole new perspective to looking at it that I never realised was there.
Anyway.
Maybe that's enough for today. I'll see you in ten hours. Or fourteen hours ago, which ever way you want to think about it.
~matu
Friday, October 17, 2014
All the dragons
Dragons! YES, AGAIN.
So, as I said, the protag got a new name, Robin. I've also decided (?? can you say it's decided when all the details will probably change again before I've actually finished this story??) that she is, dundundunnnnn... NOBILITY! Or something. Like her father is a small town lord or mayor or whetever. Like a kinda fancy family but not so fancy that Robin couldn't behave like a 13yr old boy. Which she kinda does.
Ok so. She had this governess (a home teacher) who taught her about the world and stuff and she really really wants to go see it because the governess made it sound very very magical. Now her mother on the other hand wants her to stay at home. Robin doesn't know why but it's possibly because she's the legacy. The youngest daughter of the family is always chosen to carry it on. I'm not yet quite sure about that. She's long ago stopped trying to get her to act all lady-like but she still disapproves and tries her to at least stay home. Robin obviously gets all pissy about that because dammit mom I'm 18 I can choose for myself. She then buys a supposed dragon egg from a traveling merchant just to piss her off. Well as it turns out it really was a dragon's egg and then Robin has a babby dragon to take care of and after she realizes it's gonna grow to be a big one she leaves home to join the army, as you know.
I've also decided to add another storyteller. Like this was all going to be from Robin's perspective, but then I had the problem that I wouldn't be able to tell what goes on in the castle once Robin leaves. The second pov is this young guy, who is a servant in the palace. He is also Carina's friend, possibly cousin(?), and in really good terms with the royal kids. Yes, I also decided that the King should have kids, a boy and a girl, who are probably twins. Also maybe a younger child, like a 5yr old or sth. The servant, who is temporarily called Colin, is also a mage. It's all kinda Merlin-y, I know, but I don't really care. And... I forgot what I was gonna say, sorry I got distracted.
Anyway. The King isn't necessarily the bad guy after all. I'm thinking something bigger. A conspiracy. Like at first it seems like it's gonna be a really simple thing they're trying to solve, like a corrupt advisor or something but then they discover that there's this whole secret organization trying to gain control of the dragons. I don't know why yet. What does a vague and mysterious organization want with dragons. I still have the problem of the actual motivation behind my villains, haaaaaaaah.
So to recap.
Pie out.
So, as I said, the protag got a new name, Robin. I've also decided (?? can you say it's decided when all the details will probably change again before I've actually finished this story??) that she is, dundundunnnnn... NOBILITY! Or something. Like her father is a small town lord or mayor or whetever. Like a kinda fancy family but not so fancy that Robin couldn't behave like a 13yr old boy. Which she kinda does.
Ok so. She had this governess (a home teacher) who taught her about the world and stuff and she really really wants to go see it because the governess made it sound very very magical. Now her mother on the other hand wants her to stay at home. Robin doesn't know why but it's possibly because she's the legacy. The youngest daughter of the family is always chosen to carry it on. I'm not yet quite sure about that. She's long ago stopped trying to get her to act all lady-like but she still disapproves and tries her to at least stay home. Robin obviously gets all pissy about that because dammit mom I'm 18 I can choose for myself. She then buys a supposed dragon egg from a traveling merchant just to piss her off. Well as it turns out it really was a dragon's egg and then Robin has a babby dragon to take care of and after she realizes it's gonna grow to be a big one she leaves home to join the army, as you know.
I've also decided to add another storyteller. Like this was all going to be from Robin's perspective, but then I had the problem that I wouldn't be able to tell what goes on in the castle once Robin leaves. The second pov is this young guy, who is a servant in the palace. He is also Carina's friend, possibly cousin(?), and in really good terms with the royal kids. Yes, I also decided that the King should have kids, a boy and a girl, who are probably twins. Also maybe a younger child, like a 5yr old or sth. The servant, who is temporarily called Colin, is also a mage. It's all kinda Merlin-y, I know, but I don't really care. And... I forgot what I was gonna say, sorry I got distracted.
Anyway. The King isn't necessarily the bad guy after all. I'm thinking something bigger. A conspiracy. Like at first it seems like it's gonna be a really simple thing they're trying to solve, like a corrupt advisor or something but then they discover that there's this whole secret organization trying to gain control of the dragons. I don't know why yet. What does a vague and mysterious organization want with dragons. I still have the problem of the actual motivation behind my villains, haaaaaaaah.
So to recap.
- Robin is nobility and utterly uninterested in it
- her mom is somehow related to all this dragon business
- the king isn't evil and has two (or three) children
- Carina has a cousin, Colin, who is a mage and a trusted servant of the prince and princess and with whom she goes drinking
- he also befriends Robin and they start to exchange letters after Robin is forced to go hiding
- and he's the second pov character
- there is a mysterious organization trying to get control over dragons for.... who knows (I flipping don't)
- Robin's dragon says "kurrrrrrrr"
Pie out.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Things
Hello.
I had a few ideas what to talk to you about today.
The first thing that came to mind is something about the biology again, since I have an exam next week and so am forced to read the book anyway. But about as fast as I came up with that, I decided I've been talking about that too much lately, so I'll think of something else.
Then I thought I'd talk to you about Buffy, because I just finished the whole series (I've had surprisingly a lot of extra time considering I had to have a busy autumn), but you haven't seen it, so I can't talk about it without spoiling.
I also thought I could talk about next week, since for the first time since you came back we'll both be at our parents' place at the same time. But then I realised I don't actually have anything to say about it.
Then this month's Tiede came, and I thought I'd find something interesting there. There was one article about a cyber war that was written like it was probably early 2019. Basically it was quite close to a scifi short story about how, since everything is controlled automatically or via internet, during the last couple of years (as in in a few years into the future from today) hackers had been hacking into people's automatic insulin pumps giving them way too much insulin or their pacemakers giving the heart an electric shock. Or just shutting down the whole city's traffic lights, which causes a chaos, or the country's power plants and forcing people to live without electricity or heat. Which is kinda crap, especially in Finland where even warm winters are cold if you don't have heat inside.
It was pretty interesting. And made me a little worried about people being dependent on electricity, and, more importantly, becoming dependent on internet based programs that keep things going. Because that just makes causing chaos a little too easy for a skilled hacker. Not that I'd actually know much about how things work in places that need to keep running right now. Are the control systems becoming more internet-based?
It also made me think that's the kind of journalism that I could be interested in doing. This thought coming from the fact that on Thursday we will be (at school) talking about feature articles, and then we have to write one, and I have no idea about what, because features aren't exactly something that I'm interested in writing, or even less reading. Except apparently if they're done about something interesting. Since I'd say this cyber war thing is a feature article, since I don't really know what else it would be. But yeah, science journalism is a field I could actually see myself working in. Which is rare.
Anyway, there was something to that. But still, it wasn't enough for a whole blog post, so I moved on to think about what else I could write about.
Next a part of me wanted to talk about Christmas. Because it's coming up and is here soon. And then I went ahead and looked at the calendar and realised that it's mid-October. Meaning over two months until Christmas. Just apparently something inside me thinks it's a month further in time now than it actually is.
So I figured Christmas isn't a thing to talk about quite this early in the year.
Oh, but speaking of Christmas, when are we going to get the Cinnamon-illustrations? You've been working on them for nine months or so. I'd like to finally see them.
I also felt like I wanted to talk to you about how I ordered myself a set of Eolian talent pipes, but I knew you wouldn't understand what I'm talking about, since you still haven't read The Name of the Wind. Or show you a picture of a pair of trousers I made, because I used some hours sewing a couple of footprints onto them by hand, but that's not really enough for a whole blog post again.
Then I noticed, that since I've spent a little too long today watching the end of Buffy, because it was kinda hard to not watch the last few episodes in a row, it was a lot later than I would've liked. I was planning to work some in the evening, and I have a skype-meeting later, and I still need to study some biology, and then there's the blog post I have no topic for that I need to write before the day is due.
Though honestly, I don't understand. How difficult can it be to come up with something interesting to talk about once a week? Even a little bit of something is god enough, and yet, every week I face the same problem. I seem to have nothing to say. About anything.
Seriously, the world is filled with interesting things. Where are they all hiding? Or why are all the interesting things I know things that I don't find good topics for blog posts.
Or is it just that all the things that I'm excited about don't feel to me like things you would be interested to read about?
There are so many interesting things in the world. So why is it so damn hard to find something to talk about?
I just don't get it.
But I really do have to study some biology, so I'll just hear from you on Friday.
Bye now.
~matu
I had a few ideas what to talk to you about today.
The first thing that came to mind is something about the biology again, since I have an exam next week and so am forced to read the book anyway. But about as fast as I came up with that, I decided I've been talking about that too much lately, so I'll think of something else.
Then I thought I'd talk to you about Buffy, because I just finished the whole series (I've had surprisingly a lot of extra time considering I had to have a busy autumn), but you haven't seen it, so I can't talk about it without spoiling.
I also thought I could talk about next week, since for the first time since you came back we'll both be at our parents' place at the same time. But then I realised I don't actually have anything to say about it.
Then this month's Tiede came, and I thought I'd find something interesting there. There was one article about a cyber war that was written like it was probably early 2019. Basically it was quite close to a scifi short story about how, since everything is controlled automatically or via internet, during the last couple of years (as in in a few years into the future from today) hackers had been hacking into people's automatic insulin pumps giving them way too much insulin or their pacemakers giving the heart an electric shock. Or just shutting down the whole city's traffic lights, which causes a chaos, or the country's power plants and forcing people to live without electricity or heat. Which is kinda crap, especially in Finland where even warm winters are cold if you don't have heat inside.
It was pretty interesting. And made me a little worried about people being dependent on electricity, and, more importantly, becoming dependent on internet based programs that keep things going. Because that just makes causing chaos a little too easy for a skilled hacker. Not that I'd actually know much about how things work in places that need to keep running right now. Are the control systems becoming more internet-based?
It also made me think that's the kind of journalism that I could be interested in doing. This thought coming from the fact that on Thursday we will be (at school) talking about feature articles, and then we have to write one, and I have no idea about what, because features aren't exactly something that I'm interested in writing, or even less reading. Except apparently if they're done about something interesting. Since I'd say this cyber war thing is a feature article, since I don't really know what else it would be. But yeah, science journalism is a field I could actually see myself working in. Which is rare.
Anyway, there was something to that. But still, it wasn't enough for a whole blog post, so I moved on to think about what else I could write about.
Next a part of me wanted to talk about Christmas. Because it's coming up and is here soon. And then I went ahead and looked at the calendar and realised that it's mid-October. Meaning over two months until Christmas. Just apparently something inside me thinks it's a month further in time now than it actually is.
So I figured Christmas isn't a thing to talk about quite this early in the year.
Oh, but speaking of Christmas, when are we going to get the Cinnamon-illustrations? You've been working on them for nine months or so. I'd like to finally see them.
I also felt like I wanted to talk to you about how I ordered myself a set of Eolian talent pipes, but I knew you wouldn't understand what I'm talking about, since you still haven't read The Name of the Wind. Or show you a picture of a pair of trousers I made, because I used some hours sewing a couple of footprints onto them by hand, but that's not really enough for a whole blog post again.
Then I noticed, that since I've spent a little too long today watching the end of Buffy, because it was kinda hard to not watch the last few episodes in a row, it was a lot later than I would've liked. I was planning to work some in the evening, and I have a skype-meeting later, and I still need to study some biology, and then there's the blog post I have no topic for that I need to write before the day is due.
Though honestly, I don't understand. How difficult can it be to come up with something interesting to talk about once a week? Even a little bit of something is god enough, and yet, every week I face the same problem. I seem to have nothing to say. About anything.
Seriously, the world is filled with interesting things. Where are they all hiding? Or why are all the interesting things I know things that I don't find good topics for blog posts.
Or is it just that all the things that I'm excited about don't feel to me like things you would be interested to read about?
There are so many interesting things in the world. So why is it so damn hard to find something to talk about?
I just don't get it.
But I really do have to study some biology, so I'll just hear from you on Friday.
Bye now.
~matu
Friday, October 10, 2014
Cake
Hi, it's Friday again.
I was gonna sew today, but then we went to visit Janine in I-don't-even-know-where and that took the whole day, oops. I did finally find some new shoes though, so yay!
We have cake. That hopefully is also good, because frankly I don't even know. I didn't bake with love. I baked with frustration and now I'm gonna eat my frustration. Aw yiss. Baking is a much better outlet to pent up emotions than violence. The cutting of the cake is going somewhat successfully, I guess. It's kinda stuck, but once we get the first piece away it's gonna be easier. Verdict: edible. Also "The cake is good" in a surprised tone. So I guess that's a good thing?
I don't really have anything to say, uhh. I had something but then I forgot. I'm also running out of batteries, hahaa.... Sorry, it's so short again, I am very tired I've been walking the whole day. Bye.
Pie out
I was gonna sew today, but then we went to visit Janine in I-don't-even-know-where and that took the whole day, oops. I did finally find some new shoes though, so yay!
We have cake. That hopefully is also good, because frankly I don't even know. I didn't bake with love. I baked with frustration and now I'm gonna eat my frustration. Aw yiss. Baking is a much better outlet to pent up emotions than violence. The cutting of the cake is going somewhat successfully, I guess. It's kinda stuck, but once we get the first piece away it's gonna be easier. Verdict: edible. Also "The cake is good" in a surprised tone. So I guess that's a good thing?
I don't really have anything to say, uhh. I had something but then I forgot. I'm also running out of batteries, hahaa.... Sorry, it's so short again, I am very tired I've been walking the whole day. Bye.
Pie out
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Cells
Okay, so apparently once again I'm going to talk about biology. So just bare with me.
First of all. I assume you know how cells specialize. At first when a person is just a blob of cells they're all the same and can come what ever cell type, but then they change and can only become a handful of different kinds of cells, until they finally become some cell type, and then there's no going back. This I assume you know, because it is very basic biology.
On a more accurate level, that you might not know, is how this happens.
So, there are a lot of different genes in the DNA of a human (or any other creature on Earth), and the reason that cells are different is that there is a different set of genes expressed in those cells.
How the expression of genes is controlled is very briefly explained like this:
There are a lot of proteins that regulate the expression of genes. Those proteins bind to the DNA, and can either inhibit the expression of that gene, or promote it. There are usually many proteins regulating a single gene, and the proteins can be spread out along a long part of the DNA, on either side of the place where the gene starts. A single protein can also work in regulating more than one gene. Anyway, those proteins together work to regulate which genes work in a certain cell and which don't.
Also, the DNA is packed around some proteins. All of it, more loosely or less, depending on the place. And the genes that aren't needed in the cell at all can be packed tightly out of the way.
Ok, so that's a very brief explanation of that I read fifteen pages of yesterday.
Anyway, this is the cool part:
It is possible, if you have the right equipment, to take the DNA and change the proteins that regulate the expression of genes. And once you take away the proteins that were there, and add the right combination or other regulatory proteins, the cell changes its cell type.
You can make liver cells into perfectly functional nerve cells.
I mean, it's that simple. The right combination of proteins, and that's it.
Of course, doing this is probably practically not quite that simple. Especially since you first have to know which proteins are required in a certain type of cell.
But still, it's crazy.
It also means that it's possible to turn any kind of cell into a stem cell.
It's possible to make stem cells.
Also, because it's possible to turn a cell into a different kind of cell, it's possible to make completely new tissue from someone's own cells.
I've understood they've been working on that. Actually in last month's Tiede there was an article about this. It's not possible yet, but probably in the future. To grow extra organs. For people who need them. From their own cells.
Just like that. No more immune suppressants after transplants.
It's just that I remember being taught that cells differentiate, and then if you want stem cells you need to find stem cells. And now...
And all that just by changing...
Ohmygod why are they singing!?
Sorry, watching Buffy while writing.
And all just by changing some proteins in a cell. In reality it's all so very, very complicated if you get into any detail, but at the same time it's so... simple.
The world is pretty amazing.
~matu
First of all. I assume you know how cells specialize. At first when a person is just a blob of cells they're all the same and can come what ever cell type, but then they change and can only become a handful of different kinds of cells, until they finally become some cell type, and then there's no going back. This I assume you know, because it is very basic biology.
On a more accurate level, that you might not know, is how this happens.
So, there are a lot of different genes in the DNA of a human (or any other creature on Earth), and the reason that cells are different is that there is a different set of genes expressed in those cells.
How the expression of genes is controlled is very briefly explained like this:
There are a lot of proteins that regulate the expression of genes. Those proteins bind to the DNA, and can either inhibit the expression of that gene, or promote it. There are usually many proteins regulating a single gene, and the proteins can be spread out along a long part of the DNA, on either side of the place where the gene starts. A single protein can also work in regulating more than one gene. Anyway, those proteins together work to regulate which genes work in a certain cell and which don't.
Also, the DNA is packed around some proteins. All of it, more loosely or less, depending on the place. And the genes that aren't needed in the cell at all can be packed tightly out of the way.
Ok, so that's a very brief explanation of that I read fifteen pages of yesterday.
Anyway, this is the cool part:
It is possible, if you have the right equipment, to take the DNA and change the proteins that regulate the expression of genes. And once you take away the proteins that were there, and add the right combination or other regulatory proteins, the cell changes its cell type.
You can make liver cells into perfectly functional nerve cells.
I mean, it's that simple. The right combination of proteins, and that's it.
Of course, doing this is probably practically not quite that simple. Especially since you first have to know which proteins are required in a certain type of cell.
But still, it's crazy.
It also means that it's possible to turn any kind of cell into a stem cell.
It's possible to make stem cells.
Also, because it's possible to turn a cell into a different kind of cell, it's possible to make completely new tissue from someone's own cells.
I've understood they've been working on that. Actually in last month's Tiede there was an article about this. It's not possible yet, but probably in the future. To grow extra organs. For people who need them. From their own cells.
Just like that. No more immune suppressants after transplants.
It's just that I remember being taught that cells differentiate, and then if you want stem cells you need to find stem cells. And now...
And all that just by changing...
Ohmygod why are they singing!?
Sorry, watching Buffy while writing.
And all just by changing some proteins in a cell. In reality it's all so very, very complicated if you get into any detail, but at the same time it's so... simple.
The world is pretty amazing.
~matu
Friday, October 3, 2014
Miscellaneous and dragon riders
I've been told it's Friday again. I've been living in a Wednesday for days, it's becoming a problem. Having no schedule is fun but it really messes up my internal calendar.
So uh. Hello.
I am now officially a student. I don't know if I told you that, but I payed the university fee or whatever and can go get my card tomorrow probably. So yay. I still have zero plans on studying before Christmas, although I've been complained to about that, but ahh well.
What I am planning to do is cosplay! Yaay. We (Oona and Tiinu and Cap and me) are planning on a Hobbit group cosplay to... Yukicon. In January. We're gonna be Fíli (Oona), Kíli (Cap), Thorin (Tiinu) and Dís (me). Dís is Thorin's sister and Fíli and Kíli's mother. She doesn't actually have an official design but whatever. It's gonna be great. I went to buy the fabric today, but they didn't have enough so they ordered more and I'll get it next week. Which kinda sucks, because I wanted to sew this weekend.
In other news, I bought a PlayStation 4! It's pretty awesome, I've been playing a lot. So far I have three games, inFamous: Second Son and inFamous: First Light and Child of Light. I haven't actually gotten to First Light yet, because it's kind of an additional game to Second Son, but I really like the other two. I can also access the internet on the PS4, so we can watch youtube videos on a big screen. Probably also from yle Areena, but I haven't actually tried that yet.
What else, uhh.
I've been thinking about dragons again (although let's be honest when aren't I?) and I've collected all my snippets and character bios and stuff to one place, which is pretty convenient. Now I don't have to try to find a million different places to find one specific piece of information. Anyway, I still have really no idea about the King's motivations, but I've been thinking about the everyday life at the... army? I don't know what to call it. I've also made much more detailed descriptions of other key characters. And and, this is gonna sound terribly cliché probably, but I thought that maybe Robin's (formerly Pin) mother was a part of some secret society that has something to do with dragons but she didn't wanna be there anymore and she left and moved to Lendá and got married and had kids. And she's terrified of whatever's out there and that's why she's always insisting Robin to settle down. Also I'm probably gonna kill the whole family. Is that bad?
I did eventually come up with a last name, just so you know. At least a temporary one... Our protagonist, formerly known as Pin Danho, is now called Robin Cidiel (which is Hebrew for "idfk but it's supposed to be hunter of God or something though it probably isn't"). The other character's got new names too: Dexter is now Lexie Bester and Tina's last name is apparently Mallory for some reason. Carina is still Carina LaGrén, although I decided that LaGrén was her mother's maiden name. She's dead now I think... Or at least no living with Carina and her dad. Maybe she's a part of the Secret Mom Society too. What a great idea!
I just realized that I haven't spent way enough time thinking about the dragons, which is very very bad, because the dragons make up like half the characters really. At least I should know about Robin's dragon, because they are mentally linked so.... Also probably Carina's because she's the other protagonist.
Well, I don't really have anything else, so I'm gonna go now. Bye.
Pie out.
So uh. Hello.
I am now officially a student. I don't know if I told you that, but I payed the university fee or whatever and can go get my card tomorrow probably. So yay. I still have zero plans on studying before Christmas, although I've been complained to about that, but ahh well.
What I am planning to do is cosplay! Yaay. We (Oona and Tiinu and Cap and me) are planning on a Hobbit group cosplay to... Yukicon. In January. We're gonna be Fíli (Oona), Kíli (Cap), Thorin (Tiinu) and Dís (me). Dís is Thorin's sister and Fíli and Kíli's mother. She doesn't actually have an official design but whatever. It's gonna be great. I went to buy the fabric today, but they didn't have enough so they ordered more and I'll get it next week. Which kinda sucks, because I wanted to sew this weekend.
In other news, I bought a PlayStation 4! It's pretty awesome, I've been playing a lot. So far I have three games, inFamous: Second Son and inFamous: First Light and Child of Light. I haven't actually gotten to First Light yet, because it's kind of an additional game to Second Son, but I really like the other two. I can also access the internet on the PS4, so we can watch youtube videos on a big screen. Probably also from yle Areena, but I haven't actually tried that yet.
What else, uhh.
I've been thinking about dragons again (although let's be honest when aren't I?) and I've collected all my snippets and character bios and stuff to one place, which is pretty convenient. Now I don't have to try to find a million different places to find one specific piece of information. Anyway, I still have really no idea about the King's motivations, but I've been thinking about the everyday life at the... army? I don't know what to call it. I've also made much more detailed descriptions of other key characters. And and, this is gonna sound terribly cliché probably, but I thought that maybe Robin's (formerly Pin) mother was a part of some secret society that has something to do with dragons but she didn't wanna be there anymore and she left and moved to Lendá and got married and had kids. And she's terrified of whatever's out there and that's why she's always insisting Robin to settle down. Also I'm probably gonna kill the whole family. Is that bad?
I did eventually come up with a last name, just so you know. At least a temporary one... Our protagonist, formerly known as Pin Danho, is now called Robin Cidiel (which is Hebrew for "idfk but it's supposed to be hunter of God or something though it probably isn't"). The other character's got new names too: Dexter is now Lexie Bester and Tina's last name is apparently Mallory for some reason. Carina is still Carina LaGrén, although I decided that LaGrén was her mother's maiden name. She's dead now I think... Or at least no living with Carina and her dad. Maybe she's a part of the Secret Mom Society too. What a great idea!
I just realized that I haven't spent way enough time thinking about the dragons, which is very very bad, because the dragons make up like half the characters really. At least I should know about Robin's dragon, because they are mentally linked so.... Also probably Carina's because she's the other protagonist.
Well, I don't really have anything else, so I'm gonna go now. Bye.
Pie out.
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