Wow. Just experienced the great moment of DUH. I ownz Chaos theory, j0.
I made the mistake of trying to work on my Chaos theory project as a break from my English paper. Bad idea. This book needs to die. It starts out simple, then it immediately becomes incomprehensible. I must be missing something (like a math doctorate, for one). The book is the equivalent of: “This is addition. Oh, and this is the alphabet. Got that? No questions? Okay, now on to a treatise on multivariable calculus written in an obscure Hungarian dialect using ENIGMA-encoded braille.”
I hate you, oh evil book on Chaos theory.
More Physics Quotes:
Marcelina: See? The universe is made of spandex!
Me: No wonder Uranus is known as “where the sun don’t shine.”
Me: Pin = Pout! [ED: Pin = Pout] So if you’re ever feeling sad, throw away all your sewing materials and you’ll have nothing but smiles!
Marcelina: Dear God…
Loh: So we have an object floating in the Big Water Bucket o’ Physics–
Scotti: Can it be a cookie? I don’t want to use my imagination.
Me: Churches! Churches!
Me & Schlien: Very small rocks!
Loh: So the brownie has a magic quality to it that makes it float.
Me: It’s an alien brownie!
Me: I don’t think it’d be worth it to boil the sea.
For those curious, I ended up lending Stephanie (the future Gaiman-phile) a copy of “Neverwhere”, tantalizingly mentioning that the book had been in The Great Neil’s presence, though I was unable to get it signed. She’s seems very excited about reading it this weekend! All in a day’s work. ::grins::
::pauses, takes Coraline from shelf, squeals, and melts into a fangirlish puddle for the umpteenth time this evening::
::explodes in a mess of overjoyed Priscilla-bits::
PTerry responded to my questions! He’s now aware of my existence! ::dies of sheer joy::
In case the message eventually gets deleted, here are my plebian utterances:
I have a few burning questions for you. Hopefully you’ll escape without catching on fire. :D
The first should be relatively painless. How did you get the name “Angua”? I’m rather curious about name etymology, and the closest I’ve found is that it’s the Papiamento word for “needle”, and somehow that doesn’t seem like a proper connection. Any insight for us? Or did you just make it up? (Also, how is her name pronounced? AN-gyoo-uh?)
The second is about the position of “The Last Hero”. Publication-wise, it came between “Thief of Time” and “Night Watch”, but because the two occur simultaneously, I wondered where tLH fell. I guessed that it came after “Night Watch”, as in NW Ponder doesn’t appear know Carrot very well, but confirmation would be appreciated.
The third (and last) question might be a bit trickier. A year ago, mostly as a joke, I started writing “Men at Arms: The Musical”, and by this point, I’ve grown so attatched to it that I’d like to stage it eventually. Should I contact Stephen Briggs about it? Whose arena would this question fall under?
Thanks so much for taking the time this week to answer everyone’s questions. I eagerly look forward to “Wee Free Men” and “Monstrous Regiment”! Also, I hope you decide to include some US locations in your next signing tour. We’d love to have you!
Priscilla Spencer
And here are his divine, heaven-blessed responses:
Priscilla,
Angua is simply Ang as in bang, gue as in you, a as in ah:-)I wanted Night Watch to be a bit ‘free-floting’ — that is, modern DW but not nailed down. I think you’ve nailed it!
Stephen has rights in his adaptations of the books, and for practical purposes he administers all the amdram stuff on behalf of the Orangutan Foundation, which gets most of the money. But if you’re starting grom the book, then you’ll need to talk to me via my agent, at least to be begin with.
Break a leg
Terry
I haven’t been this fangirlishly overjoyed since Neil Gaiman said “Lincoln is better than Wilson” and I got to give him a hug. ::beams:: Good god, I love my life. And I am such a fangirl. XD
Why does this song’s lyrics merit space on my blog? Indulge in the “Ask Terry Pratchett” Week on the message boards and learn a great many things. ::gleefully posts questions::
Hmm. I’m starting a friend on Neil Gaiman. Should I start her on American Gods or Neverwhere? Right now I’m thinking Neverwhere for sheer convenience, as my copy of American Gods is lent out, but she’s gladly willing to get a copy for herself, if I can’t provide. Any opinions?
Today, the girls in my PE class took turns being sexually assaulted by the offspring of Darth Vader and the Pillsbury Doughboy.
I could just leave the entry at that, but I feel like explaining further.
This quarter, I’ve been taking a self-defense course in PE. It doesn’t teach you pretty kicks and choreographed moves. We learn techniques that could actually be used in an assault situation. Today was the final day in the course, so Meg, the teacher, brought in two guys to try to attack us, and we used any means necessary to fend them off. In the first two attacks, they didn’t have any protective padding so that they could grab us more easily, and we practiced control. After that, they put on protective padding and face masks and such, and we experienced a continuous series of atttacks for 45 seconds to a minute. Exhausting. But I felt very pleased with myself when I kicked a guy in the face after he had borne me to the ground. Huzzah.
And to think I took almost three years of Tae Kwon Do without learning anything that could be used to save my life in such a situation. Shame.
Chaos Theory needs to die. ::dropkicks:: Why am I in this godforsaken math course?
My friend Mimi informed me this morning that they’re making a movie musical of “Phantom of the Opera”. Dude. Thank God for Baz Luhrman for convincing Hollywood that movie musicals were still a worthwile pursuit! ::makes rude faces at Disney:: Ah, how I love my life.