Steeeeve

I hope you enjoy them Karsa I'm on chapter 20 of Crown of Shadows. So:

Haha. Well I see your point and, if I'm honest, I feel the same way. But I don't know if I feel that way for good reasons. As you know, and as people are always pointing out, language is always changing and the way we talk and write nowadays would probably seem horrible to the people of 150 years or so ago. I wish I had written that in a way that didn't make me sound really :censored:ing pompous. So yeah. I wish we could keep our spelling but if not so be it. But if people start writing in txtspk you'll find me hanging from the rafters in my loft.

I was with my family in Saratoga so mostly just up there. I didn't do the old travelling all round the place sadly. Even so it was the first time I had been in the sea for about 20 years so that was nice. It boggles my mind why so many Australians want to come over here. My cousin wants to come back. Silly billy. I guess you get used to what you grow up with and want a change. It was just so much more relaxed and friendly over there. Although I was on holiday. That always makes things feel better.

I can't believe my plan failed. How could anyone resist! I saw the Milky Way for the first time in my life when I was in the Blue Mountains. Was one of the best moments of my life. I have led an empty life. Actually I should shut up. I'm not ashamed. Raa. I should get back on my own topic.

A British billion has 12 noughts but a US billion has 9. I only found that out a few years ago. When I first heard someone mention it I thought they must be mistaken. I always assumed you just counted up from one and all the numbers would be the same wherever you are. But nooooo.

I would love to try living in Australia. Can we swap? I'll put up with any annoying spellings in return for golden beaches and sunshine. Ahhhh. I need to visit my family again.......what were we talking about?

I was told this years ago so it may have changed or may never have been true but I think it was one of my teachers that said a lot of diet drinks have an ingredient in which increases your appetite so they're slightly self defeating. Like I say it could be hogwash.

I'm just reading a book and the word 'color' came up. Obviously the standard English spelling is 'colour' but I was just wondering if eventually we'll all just change to American spellings. And also if that would be such a bad thing. I think especially for kids growing up they'll get used to American spellings from a younger age. Up until I was about 7 maybe I thought 'jail' was an English spelling and was quite miffed when I saw the word 'gaol'. I've seen a few people on here write 'gray' rather than 'grey' already. I don't think we'll adopt words so much. I thin a tap will always be a tap and not a faucet. Sorry, this is a bit rambling. I haven't really thought it through. Most people tend to use a US billion rather than a British (European?) billion. Again that's something I've grown up with so it doesn't bother me so much. HOWEVER!!! If I hear anyone say "I could care less what you think" when what they mean is "I couldn't care less what you think" it does send me into a violent rage. They mean opposite things! It's not hard to see. Along with pronouncing 'herb' as 'erb' it's the only Americanism that annoys me. Actually the erb thing doesn't annoy me. It just sounds silly. The care less one is just infuriating.

Read about 90 pages of Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne today. It's such a beautiful book. So simple and easy to read and understand. It has pretty drawings too . I haven't read any Dawkins stuff in a while but for me Coyne is better so far. At least when it comes to explaining things in a clear way.

Just ordered pizza *does happy dance*

I'm the same as you. I have a horrible memory. I have to really concentrate to remember anything and even then it's usually just one fact that I can get stuck in my head (DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid WOOHOO!) Stephen Fry has mentioned many times that he happens to have an exceptional memory so it's probably not fair to compare yourself to him. Some people are just lucky like that or have trained themselves to be that way since they were a kid. I think your OH is right in a way though. Think about people in a certain profession. They're good at what they do because they do it every day. A physicist is a good physicist because s/he reads and practices it every day. I know for me, and I assume for most people, they'll flit from one subject to another and won't keep reading the same story over and over again so it will just naturally leave their head. It's frustrating but I'm not sure there's a lot that can be done. Unless you want to take months reading every book or going over it again and again like Shakespearean actors.

I know I'll never get through my TBR pile. It doesn't bother me that often. I keep buying books quicker than I can read them but it means I always have a large selection to choose from so hopefully no matter what mood I'm in I can find a book I want to read. I do wish I had time to re-read books though since my memory is terrible and after a few weeks I'll have forgotten a lot about a book, but I feel like reading a book again is taking away from time that could be spent reading or learning about new stuff.

Hahaha. I actually kept giving him darker hair in my mind. I know what you mean about blonde being more unusual for his character but what can I say. I like cliches. I think I should probably slow down and give the characters faces more.

Which character was that? I have to say my concentration probably isn't good enough to notice the whole SE/SW mix up. I think I know the explosion you're talking about and the position isn't too important. If it was some destination they were travelling to it would bother me more since I'd have that map in my mind's eye.

Yup, I have the normal versions with just trees in shadow on the front. I know you like your pretty versions but I often prefer it when the cover doesn't show a character or some aspect of the story because then it gets stuck in my head. That can be a good thing if you agree with the cover artist but I've seen so many copies of Dorian Gray where the man on the front was an ugly mess when Dorian's supposed to be pretty much the epitome of male beauty. Having said all that my imagination isn't that great really. Damien is just a muscly man with no specific face so I guess the illustrations can be good. I'm really looking forward to the third one after the ending of the second. First I have to fisnish reading teh book it says I'm reading over there <--- then, read some spiel a guy has given me about the New World Order *sigh* and then read the book I bought on evolution so I'm better armed to argue with him. He doesn't believe in it. No offence to people who don't accept evolution but the fact he doesn't accept it makes me wonder if I should just give up trying to debate with him. I mean I'm reading the New World Order stuff because I like to get both sides of an argument before slagging one side off but the guy's so clearly mental I don't know if I should care about trying to discuss anything with him. That was massively off topic. It's been bugging me for days though. As for guessing at what's going to happen and sometimes guessing right that's not much of a talent . It would be like me accusing every character in an Inspector Morse show of being the killer and then claiming victory when it turned out I was right about one of them.

One thing I did notice, in my copy at least, was a lot of spelling or grammatical errors. Ok maybe not a lot. Ten or so? But the proof reading seemed to be pretty lame. Maybe not even ten. I'm just grabbing a number out of the air.

In 13 minutes I will be having cottage pie and four small yorkshire puddings. I am so hungry I might die of happiness when it's ready.

Just finished it. What to say. I loved it. Although no surprise there. So just the final part to go now. I think it's the shortest of the three.

About 50 pages left and

Hopefully I'll get round to reading it relatively quickly. Annoyingly I'm semi-obliged to read other stuff first so it may be a while. Oh I don't know if you saw but in the second hand section of the Waterstones they write the price inside. Just thought I'd tell you now so you didn't fly into a rage in the store. But there were so many more from that remainder section I'd love to have. Although I'm tempted by cheapness even when I know I probably won't read something.

I thought they looked like the type that wouldn't but they come off easily, without a mark. Just do it slowly. Obviously. So I had the pleasure of going through my books and removing the stickers. I don't know if that sounds sarcastic. It's not meant to. I love taking the stickers off new purchases.

Today I bought: The Scientist as Rebel - Freeman Dyson Sceptical Essays - Bertrand Russell Moral Minds - Marc D.Hauser Blackbeard - Robert Lee Chance - Amir D.Aczel Jack Tar - Roy & Lesley Adkins Language: The Basics - R.L.Trask Thermopylae - Paul Cartledge I have a nasty habit of not reading history books I buy but hopefully I can change that. Oh and also I read about 50 pages of When True Night Falls by Celia Friedman. Hopefully I'll finish it by the end of the day.

Just about on the last 100 pages of When True Night Falls.

Well I spent about two and a half hours in the Waterstones on Gower Street today. Bought eight books. I wonder how many of them I'll ever get round to reading. I heart it so. I work in a charity shop so if I did ever give away books I should take them there but I like that shop so much I feel like taking them there instead. Even though it's a big company. Clearly it is an evil place. I did look out for you Giulia but I didn't see you.

Sometimes it can be annoying when I'm in a bit of a mood anyway but I just think about the fact that it's only really a few seconds. Unless it's at a train station and some git is faffing about at the ticket booth. "Err and, errr, what if I want to, errr, get a train to Reading and come back three days from now but on the way there I want to travel, errr, first class and on the way back I just want a standard fare?" But it annoys me just as much when someone buys something small and pays with a note when I can see loads of change in their purse/wallet. Especially if it menas giving the little change I have in the till to them. Rant over. That is one of my biggest annoyances. So rude. Or people who place an order at a bar and just keep adding to it or slowly asking their friends if they want anything. Yes. I've worked in jobs where there's always been at least one compulsive liar. Maybe there's one in every workplace. It's made me hate liars probably more than I should. What's also annoying is if you know someone's lying but you can't call them a liar because if you do they'll do the "Are you calling me a liar?!" thing. Acting insulted even though they actually are lying. Grrr.