15 August 2009

Woohoo! I'm an editor!

Have been for half a year, actually.

There's an organisation for Norwegian students in the Netherlands and they have a magazine and I'm the editor of that. Uh... that last sentence was a warming up exercise for NaNoWriMo, which I shall do again this year, but this time I'll write with my boyfriend (oooh, I'm cheating!) so we'll have to reach 100 k. Yikes.

Anyway. I have my own magazine. I only make 3 of them a year, but hey. That means a grand total of about 60 pages where I can brainwash some 200 people! w00t! I really want one of those journalist hats.

NaNo this year won't be hist.fic or whodunnit-parody! We're doing chemistry-fantasy (meaning fantasy, where the chemists/alchemists win in the end. Muahaha). Basically about 5 different parties are trying to seize power in this kingdom and they all end up fighting each other. It'll be fun. Plus the king is the kind of guy who sneaks down to the kitchen in the middle of the night to raid the cookie jar. Woohoo!

Right. Gotta write a very important article for my magazine. Penguins are taking over the world.

4 August 2009

Guess what!

I'm back! Well, for now at least :P Finished my first year of chemistry, passed all my exams (got some really nice grades too), have still not learned to type on a Dutch keyboard (so typos are not my fault, muahaha), and am still obsessed with chocolate. Got some really nice passion fruit chocolate today.... mhm!

I spent a week in Vienna with my boyfriend last month. We didn't have enough time to visit the local Roman ruins (unless you count the Roman ruins at Schönbrunn, which were built in 1778) but had a great time nonetheless. Ice creams, apricots and parks! We even allowed ourselves to be talked into a Mozart concert (held in the great gallery at Schönbrunn which was really cool) but I was slightly disappointed and kinda want my money back because Mozart never showed up. We also saw the graves of Boltzmann (w00t!!) and Beethoven (and explained about seven times to a francaise with no sense of direction how to get there - she was about 20 m from it).
As we were in Vienna we figured we had to drink coffee - bleeegh! Will never touch the stuff again, it's ghastly. But the café was really cool *geek moment* as it was called Café Schrödinger.

Oh, and Gabriele! I actually saw an opera (Lohengrin) while in Vienna! Well, sort of. It was being shown on a big screen in front of the Rathaus (they show concerts and stuff there all summer). But we gave up around midnight - after more than two hours and only understanding seven words we decided it was time to go to bed. Don't send ninjas after me! It wasn't my fault! I swear! They were singing in opera-German and there were no subtitles, and it was quite... modern. It would have been easier if they'd really dressed up as knights and stuff. My boyfriend and I tried to piece together a story from what we'd seen. We checked the story on Wikipedia afterwards and had a real laugh!

As Bratislava is only an hour away by train, we went there for a day too. It's the cutest capital ever. Cute as in small. You can fit the entire historical centre into a shoebox. And it rained. And their castle was covered in scaffolding. Otherwise it was fun.

Going back to Norway was less fun - I got a phone call from my bank the day I got here. They suspected someone'd gotten hold of my credit card info so I had to open a new account and everything. Luckily nothing got stolen but it was really annoying.
Now I'm back at my work in the deli, where I have developed a pain in my ankle and a hatred for chickens. Wish I could throw them at people instead of selling them. Think I'll quit my job soon.


Random pic of a gate at the castle of Bratislava. Our theory was that the middle gate was for the king when the nobility were sick of him. The left one was for dismissed servants and door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen.

And because I am rather bored now I have nicked a meme from Gabriele's blog. Dear me. It's the 'choose 10 characters' one.

They're from my three NaNo-novels (that should make it more interesting): the unnamed one about the Batavian revolt (2006), the one about the Romans in Wales that has the working title 'Suddenly, ninjas arrived (2007), and The Snuffing of Jeeves (2008, not hist-fic, but whodunnit parody). I was sorely tempted to include Sammy the Fried Salmon in the list...

1) Embric (Arrogant tribal leader - Batavian revolt)
2) Imerix (Idiot with a dodgy past - Suddenly, ninjas arrived)
3) Thiadulf (Heroic older brother - Batavian revolt)
4) Marcus Fulvius Scaeva (Surgeon who's slightly afraid of blood and always complains about the cold - Batavian revolt)
5) Maud Gilford (Mad old lady of the festival committee - The Snuffing of Jeeves)
6)Superintendent Trenchcoat (Brilliant detective who likes to do things his own way - The Snuffing of Jeeves)
7)Geravan (Rash Batavian warrior who really needs a psychiatrist - Batavian revolt)
8)Publius Cornelius Merula (Upper class snob/village idiot - Suddenly, ninjas arrived)
9) Harold Johnson (The most normal guy in the universe, also really boring - The Snuffing of Jeeves)
10) Sgt Dennis Plimsoll (Trenchcoat's sidekick, over-excited but actually pretty smart - The Snuffing of Jeeves)

4 invites 3 and 8 to dinner at their house. What happens?
Marcus would throw the dinner party in the hope it would lead to peace between Romans and Batavians (so he wouldn't have to work long hours in the hospital, he's a lazy git). However, while Thiadulf tries to make polite conversation Merula will strike up a conversation with the main course (stupid Marcus served salmon).

9 tries to get 5 to go to a strip club. What happens?
Maud would be severaly shocked and handbag HJ. The shock would give him his memory back, so that he would not want to visit a strip club anyway (it's not a routine of his).

You need to stay at a friend's house for a night. Who do you choose: 1 or 6?
Personally, I'd rather camp on a busy highway. But if I had to choose it would be Embric. It'd be easier to spike his drink and run away. Trenchcoat only drinks from his hipflask.

2 and 7 are making out. 10 walks in. What is their reaction?
Rotflol! Geravan and Imerix?? *dies laughing* Plimsoll would blush and leave really quickly, pretending he hadn't seen.

3 falls in love with 6. 8 is jealous. What happens?
Thiadulf and Trenchcoat? Jeez. Merula would strike up a conversation with a nearby elm tree and ask it to drop a branch on Trenchcoat's head the next time he walks by.

4 jumps you in a dark alleyway. Who comes to your rescue: 10, 2, or 7?
*sniggers* Marcus, attack me? What's he going to do? Sneeze on me? Throw bandages at me? He's lethal with a scalpel though. Hm... Plimsoll would jump in, I guess, as he's a policeman, though he's a bit of a wimp. Imerix would rescue me if there was something in it for him. I'd put my trust in Geravan, to be honest. Marcus is from the legion that killed his brother after all. Should be a nice fight.

1 decides to start a cooking show. Fifteen minutes later, what is happening?
Embric got bored and grabbed a drink instead. He forgot to put the fire out, thus starting a forest fire. Luckily for him there was a Roman legion in that very forest and by setting fire to them he actually saved the day (to Geravan's disgust).

3 has to marry either 8, 4, or 9. Whom do they choose?
Haha, I'm beginning to see I have added to few female characters to my list. I don't really think Thiadulf will want to marry any of these guys. Doubt he'd be allowed to as well.

7 kidnaps 2 and demands something from 5 for 2's release. What is it?
Geravan kidnaps Imerix? Well, okay. That should be interesting. Though the only thing Geravan would get from Maud is an invitation to the Stuff the Pony Festival, and that's not really his thing. Maybe he wants her grandson's guitar, though? *is totally picturing hippie-Geravan with his guitar, singing Bob Dylan*

Everyone gangs up on 3. Does 3 have a chance in hell?
You know, I think he does! Geravan wouldn't attack his brother but side with him. Plimsoll (thinking Thiadulf is a lawbreaker) would try to arrest him, thereby hindering everyone else's attempts at lynching. Harold Johnson wouldn't join them, as it would disrupt his daily routine. Maud is ferocious with her handbag, but her heart isn't really in it because Thiadulf isn't threatening her precious festival. Merula would be too interested in the local scenery (besides, he'd want to give Thiadulf a fair fighting chance). Marcus would be too wrapped up in scarves against the cold to do anything dangerous (unless they were in the Sahara or something). Imerix could be problematic, depending on his mood (if Thiadulf happened to look anything like his brother he'd probably break down or runaway). Trenchcoat would pause every now and then to take a sip from his hipflask (however he does have a gun, so... potentially problematic). That leaves Embric. And Thiaudulf and Geravan together are more than a match for him. Whew.

Everyone is invited to 2 and 10's wedding except for 8. How do they react?
Lol, Imerix and Plimsoll, the happy couple! Merula would be a bit pissed I guess. But as he wouldn't approve of the match anyway it's not such a big deal.

Why is 6 afraid of 7?
I hadn't really thought about Trenchcoat being scared of anything or anybody! I guess Geravan freaks him out because Geravan gets away with so much, so he's a potentially dangerous criminal and Trenchcoat fears he might be involved with the mafia. Also, hippie music isn't really Trenchcoat's thing. Lol...

1 arrives late for 2 and 10's wedding. What happens, and why were they late?
Embric was late because he got drunk and fell asleep. He turns up halfway through the party, grabs some more drink and gets drunk again. The rest sort of push him into a corner and pretend nothing has happened.

5 and 9 get roaring drunk and end up at your house. What happens?
Maud and Harold Johnson?! Bwahaha! HJ has one whisky a week, always at the same time each Saturday, it's routine. Never more than one whisky. And I think the most Maud has ever had is one sherry. But now I'm totally picturing the two of them, arms around each other, singing loudly. I think Maud would be gigglish and HJ would tell about how he wants to live life and become a lion tamer (he's an accountant now. Long live Monty Python!). I'd probably hang around to get a good laugh.

9 murders 2's best friend. What does 2 do to get back at them?
Whoa! HJ murders Finvagar! Well, Imerix wouldn't rest until he'd hunted him down, preferably with a big mob at his heels, so they can be witnesses to him killing HJ in revenge. Then maybe, if he was really depressed and mad he'd commit suicide. Imerix didn't have a happy childhood.

6 and 1 are in mortal peril and only one of them can survive. Does 6 save themself or 1?
I think Trenchcoat would normally have saved the other person, but as it's Embric... Trenchcoat would realise Embric is a dangerous criminal, and after a sort of heroic struggle (preferably with witnesses so he can pretend it was an arrest that got a bit out of hand), he'd push Embric into the volcano and climb out himself. Or whatever the peril is.

8 and 3 go camping. For some reason they forgot to bring along any food. What do they do?
Merula would insist they dig ditches and put up defences around their tent (making Thiadulf do the heavy work). Thiadulf would have learned from Marcus' mistake and catch trout instead of salmon for dinner. He'd then tell ghost stories to make Merula nice and scared so he won't sleep at all (and therefore, not snore).

5 is in a chariot crash and is critically injured. What does 9 do?

Maud wouldn't be in a chariot anyway, and neither does she have a car or a bicycle to crash. But if she was lying around somewhere, injured, Harold Johnson wouldn't do much because it would disrupt his daily routine.

Whew. That was fun. Reading back, I realise once again that my characters are the biggest bunch of lunatics I've ever come across.

Cheers! I'll see if I can get some more pics up soon!