I admit that it has been a long time since the last blog post. A brief list of updates:
1. Neal left for California to go see Rene and Deborah's wedding.
2. Neal came back to Utah and moved into the new house, Fort Hewitt.
3. We made FH livable. This includes building all the furniture and setting up the internet.
Side note about the internet. The pricing system is opaque and deceptive, and it was frustrating to find. If you're ever in that market, it's best to economize as much as possible. There were only a couple of options for where we live, so we have 3 Mbps internet for about $24.95 a month. Much better deal than Comcast's 15 Mbps for $59.95 a month. The speed we have now is perfectly adequate... We can still watch movies on Netflix (with a few more buffering interruptions than usual, but nothing too complaint worthy), our regular internetting activities are not affected, and we can still download TV shows overnight. So, even speeds that look slow just by the numbers can fit your needs just fine.
As the title would indicate, this week has been absolutely insane as far as schoolwork for me goes. Let me emphasize that it is not a good idea to take an advanced writing course and accelerated Latin in the same semester in which you get engaged. There's almost no way to get all the work done on time. I've had to ask for a couple extensions and weigh the costs and benefits of skipping quizzes just so I can get other work done. This week has been spent almost in sole dedication to a research paper that I have due Wednesday. Well, I'm almost done with all the research, but there are still about 8 pages that I need before then. Luckily for me, Neal has been completely supportive through this whole academic trial. He's encouraging about all my midterms (no matter how much I wring my hands over them), and we still find some time to relax and watch movies. This week I've been introduced to Memento and No Country for Old Men. Haven't finished the latter yet, but Memento was probably my favorite Christopher Nolan film so far. Sure, Inception trumps it as far as technical film-making and action scenes go, but the storytelling was so much tighter in Memento that I have to give it that nod. I still have issues with how Chris Nolan explained and executed the kicks in Inception, which is about the only thing keeping me from loving that movie fully. Oh, well.
EDIT: We have edited films, I promise! Also, Neal reminded me lovingly that Nolan also directed Dark Knight. This makes my decision for favorite much more difficult...
Which reminds me. We're at the busiest part of Oscar season right now, and Neal's really excited about this. I never followed the Oscars that much in the past, but I'm receiving excellent training in predictions and trivia. I can now rattle off such facts as the most recent splits between Best Picture and Best Director, as well as some of the implications concerning a director's body of work that go along with Best Picture decisions. It's still not my forte, but I'm able to appreciate this more. If you really want to talk to someone about it, go to Neal. He would love to chat about various movies and category predictions, I am sure.
Update about Neal's writing: yes, progress on Book 2 of Metagopolis has been put on hold, but Neal is now working on a short story, "Duckman," that he plans to submit to Leading Edge for consideration for next year's first issue. Also, he's going to be working on polishing Book 1 for the next few months. He's still spending what free time he has writing and working very hard at it. :)
Lots of random points in here, but that's how it has to be after so long an interim.
--Nyssa
