Geeking out.
Was away for a couple of days, and yesterday was mainly spent geeking out and drinking copious amounts of tea. I recently got a bunch of science and steampunk things out of the library, and have been happily reading Mark Thompson's Down to Eart Guide to the Cosmos. Once the nights get a little bit darker here, I mean to start being a lot more active in stargazing like I've dreamed of being for some years, and gorging myself full of interesting information about the night sky is my way of preparing. I really want binoculars soon.
And once my brain decided I needed a break from all the fascinating information and the "a few degrees southwest of Star X, you will find the fascinating globular star cluster M-such-and-such, which by the way is not visible in Aurora's location because she's so far up north, but it's one of the most beautiful sights ever" I started to read Sydney Padua's The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. It's an alternate history / steampunk comic where Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage develop a steam-powered computer in the 1800s and use it to fight crime or, at least, geek out. Apparently this is something I've waited all my life to discover, or something. The webcomic is here, should the hypothetical reader be interested, but I'm reading the book format. In addition to comics, it has a wonderful amount of footnotes and endnotes, containing entertainingly written information about the weirdness of history of science, feeling like it's custom-made for a history-and-science geek like me. Read about half of it in one go.
It was lovely to sink myself into reading, because while I'm normally quite a bookworm, I've had a terrible time making myself read anything in the past few weeks. Somehow I just can't focus on anything for more than 10-20 minutes; I've tried so many genres and styles, but nothing appeals to me enough. Except, apparently, interestingly written popular science, and alternate history comics. In the past weeks I did read a lot of fanfic (mainly Doctor/Jack), so maybe I just have trouble of focusing on longer fiction, or fiction with characters I don't know already. I did just get Gail Carriger's newest book, Imprudence, in the mail, so I'm going to give that a try. I already know the characters in that one, and Carriger writes entertainingly and easily enough, while still being quite clever and with awesome female characters, LGBT relationships and such goodness.
Didn't even turn on the computer until the evening, when I watched some Doctor Who. Started on rewatching Season 2, I now watched New Earth and Tooth and Claw. Which means that up next is School Reunion, which was one of my favourites of S2 the first time around. K9, Sarah Jane, Ten as a schoolteacher, Anthony Head's evil schoolmaster - how could I not adore it?
I am trying to be marginally more productive today, though. Seeing as it's almost midday and I haven't yet changed out of my nightgown, I'm not holding out much hope, though. But I do mean to make some pie.
I'm also trying to figure out how to go on about finding some actual friends on this LJ. It was much easier way back when - the first time I had one of these, I started out with a bunch of friends I already knew from elsewhere, and LJ being much more active than it is now, it was easy to get to know people through conversations in friends' journals and communities. How to start from the scratch at this point, I'm not sure. People still at least somewhat active in my fandoms and ships, do not be surprised if you find yourselves friended. Once I find the courage to do so, anyway.
And once my brain decided I needed a break from all the fascinating information and the "a few degrees southwest of Star X, you will find the fascinating globular star cluster M-such-and-such, which by the way is not visible in Aurora's location because she's so far up north, but it's one of the most beautiful sights ever" I started to read Sydney Padua's The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. It's an alternate history / steampunk comic where Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage develop a steam-powered computer in the 1800s and use it to fight crime or, at least, geek out. Apparently this is something I've waited all my life to discover, or something. The webcomic is here, should the hypothetical reader be interested, but I'm reading the book format. In addition to comics, it has a wonderful amount of footnotes and endnotes, containing entertainingly written information about the weirdness of history of science, feeling like it's custom-made for a history-and-science geek like me. Read about half of it in one go.
It was lovely to sink myself into reading, because while I'm normally quite a bookworm, I've had a terrible time making myself read anything in the past few weeks. Somehow I just can't focus on anything for more than 10-20 minutes; I've tried so many genres and styles, but nothing appeals to me enough. Except, apparently, interestingly written popular science, and alternate history comics. In the past weeks I did read a lot of fanfic (mainly Doctor/Jack), so maybe I just have trouble of focusing on longer fiction, or fiction with characters I don't know already. I did just get Gail Carriger's newest book, Imprudence, in the mail, so I'm going to give that a try. I already know the characters in that one, and Carriger writes entertainingly and easily enough, while still being quite clever and with awesome female characters, LGBT relationships and such goodness.
Didn't even turn on the computer until the evening, when I watched some Doctor Who. Started on rewatching Season 2, I now watched New Earth and Tooth and Claw. Which means that up next is School Reunion, which was one of my favourites of S2 the first time around. K9, Sarah Jane, Ten as a schoolteacher, Anthony Head's evil schoolmaster - how could I not adore it?
I am trying to be marginally more productive today, though. Seeing as it's almost midday and I haven't yet changed out of my nightgown, I'm not holding out much hope, though. But I do mean to make some pie.
I'm also trying to figure out how to go on about finding some actual friends on this LJ. It was much easier way back when - the first time I had one of these, I started out with a bunch of friends I already knew from elsewhere, and LJ being much more active than it is now, it was easy to get to know people through conversations in friends' journals and communities. How to start from the scratch at this point, I'm not sure. People still at least somewhat active in my fandoms and ships, do not be surprised if you find yourselves friended. Once I find the courage to do so, anyway.