It's still too hot
Jul. 24th, 2006 06:06 pmSaturday dehydration managed to creep up on me. I came home from grocery shopping, had a cold shower, drank half a litre of water and collapsed on the bed to sleep for 6 hours straight. Woke up in the evening with the grandmother of all headaches. It took three more hours and three litres of mineral water to get me back to functioning. I hate the weather.
I wonder how much of the damage (two dead, ten children hospitalized) the weather does is due to stupid customs and old-wives'-tales about drinking. I remember being told that you shouldn't drink so much when it's warm, because you'll sweat, that you shouldn't drink with lunch, because whatever, and that you shouldn't drink anything if you have upset bowels.
Of course, a large part of the damage is people just carrying on as if the weather was perfectly nice. Having a school sport festival in 37°C? Those people are insane.
In happier news, our lift is working, the staircase has been painted and scrubbed. All that's missing now are the letter boxes. And the grass, and the trees, of course. I also finally have fly screen on my bedroom window, which not only keeps flies from coming in, but also keeps the cats from jumping out in the night.
And as it is too hot to go out, I've been reading some fanfiction:
Title: The Mirror of Maybe
Fandom: Harry Potter
Author: Midnight Blue
Length: currently about 200,000 words, unfinished
What it's about? After an encounter with a magical mirror, Harry returns after half an hour, thirteen years older, wiser, and more dangerous, yet again looking 16. Drawing upon his new skills and experience he decides to make the best of it and fight Voldemort on his terms. Also Elves, Dwarves, lots of secret and supersecret orders, speshul and uber-speshul magics, and Harry/Snape. (Based on GoF.)
Why read it? It uses all its outlandish elements to spin a colourful, suspenseful tale with lots of interesting new magics, action, intrigue and no one acting like they were an idiot.
Why not read it? Well, it is kind of outlandish, loaded with uber-speshulness, and loses a lot of speed because of relationship discussion in its second-to-last chapter. It's also not finished.
Title: Make a Wish
Fandom: Harry Potter
Author: Rorschach's Blot
Length: 50 chapters -- I didn't count the words
What it's about? Harry decides that there's no moment like the present if he wants a life of his own and absconds. He gets hunted by Death Eaters and gets into some adventures. I couldn't finish it.
Why did I try to read it?
cyrna recommended it to me, and I liked the premise and the apparent plot line. It has its clever and funny moments.
Why didn't I finish it? I couldn't stand the punctuation. It hurt my eyes.
Title: Fidelius
Fandom: Harry Potter
Author: Ishtar
Length: currently about 100,000 words, unfinished
What it's about? AU: Lily cast the Fidelius Charm a tiny bit different, so the protection didn't end when James and Lily died. By the time anyone finds out what's wrong, Peter has made his escape, and everything turns out quite differently.
Why read it? Lots of great ideas, good writing, great characters, good (and occasionally very funny) dialogue, Interesting extrapolation, clever references to canon.
Why not read it? It's unfinished. Also, in the (so far) final chapter the author falls into a "chivalry/gender stereotype" romance novel cliche that fits neither into canon nor is it based in her AU premise.
Title: Pottymouth
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Author: Le Rouret
Length: 130,000 words
What it's about? Modern-day AU: Every relevant character has been granted immortality by the Valar. Eowyn has just been left by Faramir, and falls head-over-heels for Biker!Legolas (it's mutual), while the gang tries to sort things out.
Why read it? Well-written, interesting style: POV switches between Legolas und Eowyn stream-of-consciousness. Funny, occasionally cleverer than expected. Most characters are cute and cool.
Why not read it? Faramir-bashing. Unrepentant elven smut, i.e. 60% of the time (if not more) they are either at it like rabbits or fantasize about it. (It's well done, but I'm not that much into het.)
And, before I forget: Links.
bradhicks: What Puritanism really looks like. Is anyone surprised? Snark in the comments.
Only the gods are real: The gods in Neil Gaiman's "American Gods".
I wonder how much of the damage (two dead, ten children hospitalized) the weather does is due to stupid customs and old-wives'-tales about drinking. I remember being told that you shouldn't drink so much when it's warm, because you'll sweat, that you shouldn't drink with lunch, because whatever, and that you shouldn't drink anything if you have upset bowels.
Of course, a large part of the damage is people just carrying on as if the weather was perfectly nice. Having a school sport festival in 37°C? Those people are insane.
In happier news, our lift is working, the staircase has been painted and scrubbed. All that's missing now are the letter boxes. And the grass, and the trees, of course. I also finally have fly screen on my bedroom window, which not only keeps flies from coming in, but also keeps the cats from jumping out in the night.
And as it is too hot to go out, I've been reading some fanfiction:
Title: The Mirror of Maybe
Fandom: Harry Potter
Author: Midnight Blue
Length: currently about 200,000 words, unfinished
What it's about? After an encounter with a magical mirror, Harry returns after half an hour, thirteen years older, wiser, and more dangerous, yet again looking 16. Drawing upon his new skills and experience he decides to make the best of it and fight Voldemort on his terms. Also Elves, Dwarves, lots of secret and supersecret orders, speshul and uber-speshul magics, and Harry/Snape. (Based on GoF.)
Why read it? It uses all its outlandish elements to spin a colourful, suspenseful tale with lots of interesting new magics, action, intrigue and no one acting like they were an idiot.
Why not read it? Well, it is kind of outlandish, loaded with uber-speshulness, and loses a lot of speed because of relationship discussion in its second-to-last chapter. It's also not finished.
Title: Make a Wish
Fandom: Harry Potter
Author: Rorschach's Blot
Length: 50 chapters -- I didn't count the words
What it's about? Harry decides that there's no moment like the present if he wants a life of his own and absconds. He gets hunted by Death Eaters and gets into some adventures. I couldn't finish it.
Why did I try to read it?
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Why didn't I finish it? I couldn't stand the punctuation. It hurt my eyes.
Title: Fidelius
Fandom: Harry Potter
Author: Ishtar
Length: currently about 100,000 words, unfinished
What it's about? AU: Lily cast the Fidelius Charm a tiny bit different, so the protection didn't end when James and Lily died. By the time anyone finds out what's wrong, Peter has made his escape, and everything turns out quite differently.
Why read it? Lots of great ideas, good writing, great characters, good (and occasionally very funny) dialogue, Interesting extrapolation, clever references to canon.
Why not read it? It's unfinished. Also, in the (so far) final chapter the author falls into a "chivalry/gender stereotype" romance novel cliche that fits neither into canon nor is it based in her AU premise.
Title: Pottymouth
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Author: Le Rouret
Length: 130,000 words
What it's about? Modern-day AU: Every relevant character has been granted immortality by the Valar. Eowyn has just been left by Faramir, and falls head-over-heels for Biker!Legolas (it's mutual), while the gang tries to sort things out.
Why read it? Well-written, interesting style: POV switches between Legolas und Eowyn stream-of-consciousness. Funny, occasionally cleverer than expected. Most characters are cute and cool.
Why not read it? Faramir-bashing. Unrepentant elven smut, i.e. 60% of the time (if not more) they are either at it like rabbits or fantasize about it. (It's well done, but I'm not that much into het.)
And, before I forget: Links.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Only the gods are real: The gods in Neil Gaiman's "American Gods".