So, I just started -- and, er, finished -- the third Series of Unfortunate Events book, The Wide Window. Everything I've said before is still true, essentially. Good writing, awful things, so on. I liked the rather low-key revelation concerning arson near the end, though, and I wonder if the narrator's reference, midway through, to a loved one being plucked up by an eagle to feed its young has anything to do with Beatrice. And if you know, one way or the other, keep your big face-mouth shut. I'm reading the books, I'll find out eventually. Though apparently I should wait until I've read all but the last before I can move on to Letters. Sigh.

That's about it. Now I'm going to the website and see if I can figure out what Sunny's saying.

Well, thus far in my postscript, I have referenced Poe, Moorcock, Pratchett, and the editor of a collection of Conan short stories.

Really, I love what I do. Though the Pratchett reference wasn't theoretical, I just needed an example. Ah well.

Status report: the bread pudding didn't turn out so well. It tastes good, actually, though I sort-of wish I'd given in to my idea of putting in some brown sugar as well. Next time, I suppose. The problem was that it didn't cook well enough, turns out. The bottom was quite liquidy, and I think I know what happened. I remembered enough to put in a pan of water to keep the oven from killing the pudding -- but I put it on the rack under the pudding. On re-reading everything, I was supposed to put the pudding pan in the water. I'm guessing the pan in the way kept the bottom from heating as much as it should have. I can't think of anything else, as it wasn't just a few minutes from being set properly (disproving my original thought that our oven just doesn't heat as well) and the top is nice and set.

I'm thinking more cinnamon for next time -- the recipe called for a teaspoon, and I put a bit more in anyway. So -- two, I suppose. I finished up the dishes, and here I am, meaning to write some of my postscript. I'm going to post the outline here, incidentally. It's supposed to be around twelve pages, I think, and the outline is very, very sparse. I have the material, I just usually can't remember it all at once. Anyway.


Introduction
Personal side
looking at setting
why are we looking at setting?
In what ways are we looking at setting?

Setting's importance to fantasy in general
it sets fantasy apart (sometimes the draw)
storytelling devices (externalization?)

Setting's importance to my specific fantasy
(same as above)

Well, I just put this bread pudding in the oven, so we'll see if I'm a total failure at baking in less than an hour (In two years I have failed to make proper scones no less than twice). This is just about the only useful thing I've managed to do all day. I haven't written anything yet, and my reading is driving me crazy -- Irving's essays are, on the whole, boring as hell. It wouldn't be so bad if he had varied his sentence structure at all, but no, they're all the same long, lolling, lulling sentences. All of them. And so nearly 200 pages in I've read all of two short stories, which were good -- most of the collection is made up of useless essays on such wowing topics as Christmas in rural England, and how winter is a moral guide. There's even one about how awesome it was to sail to England. The Boar's-Head Tavern essay (wherein Irving describes a day he spent trying to track down the tavern Shakespeare populated with Falstaff/Oldcastle, young Hal, and all the rest, then finds it gone, talks to an old woman, and sees some relics of the old pub in the local church).

I'm considering taking a break from it and reading the third Snicket book -- I bought the sixth, The Ersatz Elevator, last night. My mom bought me a small cutting board and santoku knife. I didn't know anything about it at the time, it was just the best compromise between price and shape/size/edge. Apparently it is quite the nice knife? You cooks out there could maybe advise me on this. The name is Japanese for "three good things" (or so I'm told by the intertron). The "san" bit is three, so it sounds about right. It's referring to slicing, dicing, and mincing. I'm not exactly sure what some of the differences are there, of course, but eventually I'll look it up. If someone wants to explain, please do.

For the benefit of Irishblessing I thought I'd tell you I fried some button mushrooms today (in reference to a conversation we had months ago, when I bought sliced mushrooms and couldn't tell her what sort I'd eaten).

That's my day. I should try to write/edit this short story, or plan/start my thesis postscript (you know, for the third time). That's all.

Blah blah. A day in the life, right? Well, I went to the dentist, failed to find short/medium-grain brown rice in the shops, and discovered that pork chops are good after soaking in fresh-squeezed orange juice. Incidentally, for those of you who care, the twin threats of the Food Network and the Fine Living Network seem to have collaborated to catch my by the collar like a kitten in a cat's maw. I caught a bit of Alton Wossname last night, and he was very amusing. Mom doesn't like him, apparently. Ah well.

Does anyone have a favorite gin I should try? I've been buying Seagram's, because of the price, but I had Beefeater's in the steak house last weekend and the g & t was very good with it. I should try sloe gin, as that's actually what the masses of England were drinking during the "epidemic," wherein it was common for plays to be canceled because the players were too drunk to act, and the audience too drunk to pay attention.

If you missed it, Chris Funk's appearance on The Colbert Report was really cool; I was a bit disappointed, as I thought for a while that the whole band would show up. Ah well.

"dum dwee dum dum dum dwee dow"

Okay, so, I said I would post a picture of my poster now that it's framed. Well, here it is. You can see the personalization on the left-hand side, above Peter's foot.

Anyway, even more exciting is what was delivered to my door just half-an-hour ago, in the dim darkness. It's my anniversary edition of The Lord of the Rings! It's leather-bound, with red lettering, like a Bible or something. Check out the cover without the slipcase. It looks great. And the gilt-edged pages are awesome, and super-shiny.

So, yes, exciting. I read the new prefaces, concerning the history of the emendations on the text, and re-read the portion just before the company leaves Rivendell -- remember, the nine walkers leave in five more days!

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