In other news...

[adelynne]

I saw the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End trailer (thanks to meilithian, who was kind enough to alert me of its existance). It is SHINY! And seems timed to release following my first set of Orals this May. Good stuff.

Also, Doyle & I will be going to England May 30th through June 7th. If you have suggestions for what we should do or see, please don't hesitate to advise. We'll definitely be in London, Oxford, and Cambridge, but beyond that we have no clue.

Following a conversation I had with hamsterwoman, I've been thinking about revisions of Glamour. More particularly, having this plan wherein I go in and revise a chapter a day and then post it here under filtered friends-lock for critique. It seems like something that would motivate me to do the revisions (which I have been dragging on) and yet keep my commitment to not show the thing to anyone until I've done a 2nd draft of all the chapters. This would be a massive project, though, so until I've done my Orals, it's just not happening. But after that, I'll have a bit more breathing room and it'll be good to get it done.

What do you guys think?

Comments

yet more stuff to do around Oxford... (sorry :P)

[hamsterwoman]

Outside of Oxford proper but more-or-less nearby:

- The "treacle well" at St. Margaret's Church in Binsey, walking distance from Oxford. The well is thought to be the one referenced in Alice in Wonderland. Also, I'm a fan of G.M.Hopkins, and he has a poem about Binsey poplars (which are very much in evidence even still), so that was nice.

- Blenheim Palace was pretty impressive (especially the tapestries). I think this is ~20 min driving from Oxford.

- Broughton Castle in Banbury has the loveliest formal garden and a lots of other neat stuff to see. Looks like it's open a couple of days a week. This is ~20-25 miles from Oxford

- Stratford-upon-Avon was also quite lovely (and I'm not even a Shakespeare enthusiast) -- but I was mostly charmed by the weeping willows over the water which reminded me of Kiev, so somebody visiting from a more temperate climate, where weeping willows do occur, may be less impressed.

I was rather less impressed by London than I had wanted to be, and the only places that struck me as truly memorable were The Globe and the British Library, but I'm really not a museum person in general, or a big city person, as it turns out, so that's likely why.

Man... now I'm all nostalgic for Oxford...

Re: yet more stuff to do around Oxford... (sorry :P)

[adelynne.livejournal.com]

Don't be sorry, this is great! It's my first trip outside this hemisphere since I got here when I was 7. I'm very rusty on the tourist thing.

(Previously been to Canada and Aruba, the latter involved a lot of beach-lying and being a lobster.)

Re: yet more stuff to do around Oxford... (sorry :P)

[hamsterwoman]

My Oxford trip was also my first one out of the hemisphere since moving here (actually, properly out of the country, even), and I found myself surprised by the weirdest things -- that I was expected to bag my own groceries, that the bread sold in supermarkets was not sliced (but *was* tasty), that cars did not observe pedestrian right of way -- which was all rather embarrassing, since I'd grown up with all that stuff.

We've been trying to find a good excuse to go to Aruba -- from everything I've heard, it sounds like paradise on earth -- but getting there from the West Coast is such a pain, especially when compared to the proximity of Hawaii, which is practically next door from here...

Re: yet more stuff to do around Oxford... (sorry :P)

[adelynne.livejournal.com]

Oh, Aruba's wonderful! It is pretty darn close to paradise with casinos. Great food, good diving if you're into it, and you can often get packages from all the hotels/timeshares they're building to go down and so long as you go see their presentation they don't care if you buy it.

Just make sure to pack TONS of sunscreen. I cannot recommend that enough.