Sugardy Candy

1) Job: I found a job! \\o// clearly. Conveyancing's not quite my first choice but I like it well enough, having done it for a short stretch last year. People at my new office seem ok and are professional about work, which I feel comfortable with.

2) Which hurriedly throws a wrench into my teaching schedule. (The new office wanted me to start asap.) Originally I was relaaaaaxingly teaching a mere three classes every Saturday, but with a full-time job, there's some serious juggling of my free time. The easy solution is to give up the teaching, but I feel reluctant about doing so. For one thing, I like it; it's almost like a hobby, if one with annoying bits like marking homework.

3) OMG Goblin. I'm astonished at myself for still being hung on a k-drama more than a month after it ended, but I am. Intellectually, I know that it has flaws: slow plot development, lots of repeating sequences (though that's part of the fun, to me), the strong hints of predestination, but frankly I don't notice while I'm watching (or even, re-watching) it. It's an experience, all right. I've ignored Sherlock (still ignoring) for it.

4) So, Goblin fic. What really makes me grrr is the fact that the reunion between the lovers happens some 70-100 years in the future (or so I deduce), and much as I want to write reunion fic, I am not a futurist! They must (mustn't they?) use something other than mobile phones to communicate, right? And are there still professions such as a radio producer 70 years from now? Will there still be two Koreas? Was there civil war (again)? What are high schools and universities of the future like? And I assume they have self-driving cars or some other mode of transport, right? And how did climate change affect weather patterns? (Somewhat important as the male protagonist has supernatural powers.) Certain things, I can fudge away because I don't think family behaviour and cultures/traditions would change out of recognition. But the rest of it? Writing is hard.

5) Also, obssessed with the soundtrack to Beautiful Mind (K-drama, not the Hollywood movie).

Every time I start to feel regretful about being jobless, my ex-colleagues helpfully 'update' me on the latest procedurally/ethically questionable wtf thing that my ex-bosses have decided/said. And yes, there have been more than one. (I shall have to refer to them by number soon.) It's unnerving when senior lawyers forget that they are lawyers...

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Segueing from Love in the Moonlight into Reply 1988, which is a sweet coming-of-age drama of a bunch of 18-year old kids who live in the same neighbourbook and also (the part that grabbed my attention) Choi Taek, a young baduk genius (who is described as being a god of baduk who struggles a bit at normal life), and includes this hilarious scene: Play-ing Baduk with Taek. And when the Fujitsu Cup nearly became a container for kimchi. ^____^

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Nearly forgot: hope you had a great Deepavali!

A list:

1) Is it just me or has March been a really long month (and is still not over)? I've been to the wake of a friend's mum, to prison (work-related), to court (both subordinate and high, also work-related), transferred to a different mail system, witnessed an eclipse (sorta), wrote fic, missed a tutoring session out sheer exhaustion, reacted (or not reacted) to news reports on terrorism and disasters, and replaced all the furniture in my room (I did not know I owned that many books). Not to mention AlphaGo v Lee Se-dol.

2) Speaking of Lee Se-dol (or as some websites have it, Lee Sedol), AlphaGo won the game by defying basic human instinct. That post is useful for people like me, whose strategic gaming skill only extends to tic-tac-toe. Kinda fun fodder for fic too, methinks.

3) Read The Bone Swans of Amandale, by C.S.E. Cooney, which was recced on Asking the Wrong Questions, mainly because the book cover reminded me of the last scene in Bridge of Birds. It is actually a re-telling of Pied Piper, and a rather good one. Enjoyed the narrator Maurice, fascinated by the Nicolas the piper and between being put off and impressed by Dora Rose. Nice touch with the three children. Wished there was more of the villain.

4) Read A Queer Trade by KJ Charles. I read her Magpie Lord series previously, didn't know there were new stories set in the same universe. The ML series was a little over the top, but gave me the feeling that a crossover with Zen Cho's Sorcerer to the Crown would be great fun.

5) Speaking of period fiction (or not), here's an atypical introduction to the laws of Singapore (tho' this was taken from a case I was reading this week):

The island of Singapore was part of the territorial domain of the Johor Sultanate before 1824 when its sovereignty was ceded to the British. As a British possession, its inhabitants were subject to English principles of law. However, it was not until 1826 when the Second Charter of Justice (“the Second Charter”) introduced the entire corpus of English law (common law, equity and English statutes of general application) to Singapore so far as it was applicable to the circumstances of Singapore and its inhabitants and subject to such modifications as those circumstances might require (as the courts later held its effect to be such). The consequence of this development was that the general law was applicable to all except where the customs and personal laws of the inhabitants required that the general law be modified to suit their circumstances.

Yadda, yadda, you kinda see this general gist whatever case you're reading: criminal, civil, family, procedural rules, etc. With some modification it'd make a great period fantasy setting: colonial powers try their best, but they didn't count on what the natives had up their sleeves. Hehe.

I do not appreciate being referred to as "Girls" (as in a couple of recent email saluations to me and another group member), even by people of my own sex. Men who do it to me = deathglare and scorn and quick rebuttal.

But it feels like I'm being uptight over nothing. "Girls", what. Surely there's nothing horrible about that. Despite the fact that I am not a 'girl'. Either call me by name or not at all (or "hi fellow group mates!" which is at least factual.)

Christening Gift, crossover of The Saint (by Leslie Charteris) and Good Omens, by Marcus Rowland

A Study in Lincoln Green, anachronistic medieval AU, Sherlock, by grassle

“In the copse. The corpse is in the copse.”

“You left the carcass in the clearing? You didn’t bring the deceased to the demesne?”

“I left the body in the bushes, yes.”

“I can’t believe you left the stiff in the shrubs, Lord Sherlock.”

“The bones are fine among the branches, Sheriff Lestrade.”

The Final Problem (Seriously), crack, Sherlock, by Who is Small.

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1) My kindle is named binky.

2) I can't believe I'm thinking of getting rid of my manga. (But I need the shelfspace!) Not all of it, but those that I am hanging on for pure nostalgia - I haven't the interest in re-reading them any more.

3) A local theatre group is planning to put on Equus, which I may now be too jaded to enjoy. Existential angst: been there, done that. What IS boggling is the brochure informing me that I might like to watch it on "Ladies Night" for "a sweet, lovely and romantic night".

So, I surface from a two-day binge* of reading HP fic to find a ruckus in the Hikago fandom involving an alleged case of plagarism (accuser: bookshop; accused: lundi--see this post). Also see a response from umarekawareru. ( Read more... )

*Owned, WIP, DH-compliant except for epilogue, Harry/Draco, slave!fic, by jordangrant. Up to chapter 99, soon to end. Hm, I don't often read slave!fics, but I like the idea of Harry as the head of Magical Law Enforcement. Heh.

Also read: Last man standing, Touya Akira, HnG, by thephoenixboy