Life, Books, Cats

Tonight, I have rediscovered:

1. The agony of far too many math problems of busywork with no shortcuts allowed in a lengthy concept that nevertheless I had no problems with back when I first learned it in SECOND GRADE and do not need to repeat and repeat ad nausuem. It's enough to make me want Calculus.

2. The fact that the ending of ESB makes me miserable and jumpy and in the mood to write five dozen AUs. The only cure for this is instant application of Return of the Jedi, but nooo, I had to do the above mentioned math homework.

3. And the joy of playing my flute! That felt nice to pick up again. Oddly, now that I'm no longer in a band, I find myself gravitating towards my el cheapo beginner's flute, and not just because my nice one refuses to play "F".

Random things going on in my life.

1. I love my school.  Seriously.  It is sometimes a bittersweet love (everyone there is JUST as f***ed up as I am!) but it is love.
2. I feel guilty, because a lot of people there have problems like dead relatives and drugs and abuse and are happy and sociable and all I've got is some messed up neurons and I keep hiding under tables.
3. Dear Person On Internet: STFU!  Thank you.
4. WHY MUST I READ DEPRESSING FIC?
5. O, THAT IS RIGHT, DC HAS NOTHING FOR ME UNTIL NOVEMBER SO I DECIDED HMM XMEN LOOK INTERESTING
6. AND THIS WAS A VERY BAD IDEA
7. AND I AM SORRY I EVER DOUBTED YOU, DC FIC, WILL YOU TAKE ME BACK?
8. Shall instead throw my energy into Star Wars!  Yay!  Fun and nonhurty!
9.  Shall stay FAR away from Anakin.

Alright, I mentioned a while back that frequently, Daddy goes to Lawyer Conferences, which are held at nice hotels so that people will actually attend.  This last one was at the Greenbrier, a famous old hotel in the West Virginia mountains.  I enjoyed it.  It had all the things I want in a hotel:

Pristine Mountain Setting- check.
Victorian Charm- check
Able to sleep in a different room from my sister- check
A Certain Quirkiness- check
Free Wireless- check.

So, yeah.  Highly recommended.  Try the spa.

Today's topic shall be: The Top Ten Reasons Why I Really Hate Alliteration You Must Watch Avatar.

1.  I am going to get this one out of the way.  Zuko.  Zuko starts his legacy of shirtless!episodes in the third episode, and this all leads up to the truly beautiful episode in the third season where he is at the beach and thus constantly clothed only in shorts and a vest.  Also he is a deeply, deeply interesting character with fascinating motivations and incredible character growth.  And in season two he pours water on his chest while shirtless.  I was seriously not aware I could be actracted to animated guys before these things started happening.
2. And on to the logical reasons.  The settings.  You've basically got the Water Tribe, the Earth Kindom, the Fire Nation, and the abandoned temples of the Air Nomads, and all of these have detailed and consistent fashion styles, architecture styles, and really, really beautiful backgrounds.
3.  Which brings me to point three: the animation.  The animation is awesome.  Full stop.  It's a bit shaky sometimes first season, but only compared to the stuff that follows.
4.  This, in turn, brings me to the fight scenes.  These are incredible.  You've got people controlling the elements, mixed with cool weaponry, mixed with people doing both- it is awesome.
5. Reason five: Actual Character Development.  Yes.  Really.  In an American cartoon.
6. Toph.  She does not appear until Season Two, however, so until then you must content yourself with
7. Iroh.  Which should not be difficult.  Cool Old Guy to the extreme.
8.  The MUSIC.  There are actual leitmotifs in this show.  It's like a movie score, and it, like the animation and the fight scenes, starts off strong in Season One and then blossoms into Utter Awesome.
9. The Mary Sues in the fandom are fun and easily mockable.
What, that wasn't a good reason?  Fine.
9.  If you do not like Zuko, there is always Sokka.
10. The Epic!ness and twistiness of the plot.  Yes, twistiness.  Not only do the good guys not always win, the show's good enough that even when they do, you aren't always expecting it.  Also people die.  Like, actual teenage characters die.  I still cannot believe this actually got shown on Nickelodeon, which is, like, the Channel of the Stupid.

Anyway.  Good show.  Fun show.  Must watch.