(no subject)

My roommate and I are having one of those mini-battles over temperature. I want it between 73 and 75, so I don't have to put on a sweatshirt when I come inside. She wants it at about 71.

This is not really that great a difference.

Naturally, we haven't talked about it at all.

Class, paper, possibly going to the lecture tonight, finish up the paper, Japanese homework, and THEN, if my brain isn't mush, Dust. Oh, Dust.

overheard at tulane, so far this week

Guy in Japanese 101* class: Yeah, next semester I think I'll take Russian and German too, along with Japanese, French, and Chinese. That's, like, my ideal schedule.

Claire Messud: Fiction doesn't tell histories. Fiction tells stories.

Lit. Investigations professor 1: Katherine [lastname]? Katie [lastname]?
Me: ...Katrina?
Lit. Investigations professor 1: You have long hair!
Me: ...yes?

Lesley: I bet you didn't go back and do homework! I bet you went back and wrote porn!
Me: Can you not say that so loudly?

Lit. Investigations professor 2: You should all go to this lecture! For one thing, there will be extra credit. For another, there will be wine! And food, not catered by the usual company that does the LBC catering!

Lit. Investigations professor 1: You should all go to this lecture! It's going to be interesting. Also, THERE WILL BE WINE. The wine always goes too fast, but as soon as you get out of the lecture, you should rush the wine. Because it's free! And you'll need the wine. Because it will be there! And you can never have too much wine. So if you want to talk to me after the lecture, I'll be by the wine.

Natural Disasters professor: According to the midterm, ten of you would be dead because you didn't climb the big hill behind you when the ocean went out! I AM TEACHING YOU LIFE AND DEATH MATTERS HERE.

* My Japanese prof was sick yesterday, so the 101 prof decided to put 101 and 102 together.

Yeah, so, Claire Messud is the Zale writer this year. And I have met her! Twice now. I quoted from her book The Last Life here; her latest book is The Emperor's Children, which I haven't actually read and am probably not likely to, but you never know; she hit a lot of my theme kinks hard in The Last Life. (And if you want to know what these kinks are, read Dust. Or that entry; it's significantly shorter than Dust.) I was at the Zale Committee luncheon, where one of the people in charge started talking about social media, and I...started talking about fandom, and how that changes how writers interact with media. And I was actually very surprised when multiple people at the luncheon started jumping in with their own observations about fandom, what they'd learned and what kind of influence Tulane and Newcomb people had had on fandom.

Afterwards, one girl came up to me and said, "You're so brave to bring fandom up like that! I could never do it. I've been reading fic since I was sixteen, and it's always been my deepest, darkest secret."

"Well," I replied, "I've been involved in fandom since I was eleven, and it's been such a major part of my life that I can't just let it fall by the wayside, not when it's relevent."

So score one for fen.

(no subject)

I...think Susan might be a little insane.

Which, okay, she's probably owed. But on the other hand...

This is whole kinds of different insane than Peter and Edmund, by the way. Christ, I hope I don't have to cut my Peter eloquence (you know, the chapter that was supposed to be Dust 11 and then Dust 12. It was not Dust 11. It is not Dust 12. It will not be Dust 13; that should be a Lucy POV, or possibly a Jill POV, depending).

But still. Susan. Even if she isn't already slightly crazy (and god, she's owed it), I think she's getting there, and fast.