Journal Entries
I missed my 2nd hootooversary
Posted Oct 3, 2006
It was Friday. I'm a bit miffed as I marked it on the calendar and everything. In any case, w00t for me. Can I consider myself a proper veteran now?
It's interesting how h2g2's role in my life has changed over the years. This time two years ago it was a passing interest and Douglas Adams fan-ness; this time last year it was an obsession; now it's a fun volunteer job with great co-workers. It's all too frequent that I wish I could get paid for 
, cause then I wouldn't have to feel obliged to do something far less interesting to earn money (I'm currently considering getting a part-time job). But that's still what I say - "Sorry, I can't hang out, I have to work," or, "What's up?" "I'm working feverishly - it's a Post week." The greatest benefit that I can see to this fun-masquerading-as-work deal is that I've put subbing and ing down as experience when applying to be head copy-editor of the school literary magazine. I hope I get the job.
So, happy hootooversary to me. I'm not deserting the old place yet.
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Latest reply: Oct 3, 2006
Starting a new blog
Posted Sep 21, 2006
I've done precisely what the subject line says and gone and started a new blog. In keeping with recent themes in my journal, this blog will be about taboos, and will be (is, in fact) found at http://emrtaboos.blogspot.com . I'd like to have the opportunity to discuss swearing, homosexuality, "obscene" publications, prostitution, etc. in a forum shrouded in the anonymity of the Internet, and possibly get my points across in a way a teenager girl is usually not permitted to do.
I'd like everyone to join in, of course - I haven't made much more than a welcome post as of yet, but it would be awesome if anyone who's interested could pop over and say hi and start the discussion ball rolling. To be honest, I don't know how long my interest in this project will last, but I have great dreams for it as a serious discussion forum, so I'd really appreciate it if all you folks (who are great discussers) would pop by and express your views every once in a while.
Once again, that's http://emrtaboos.blogspot.com .
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Latest reply: Sep 21, 2006
Writing an entry
Posted Sep 13, 2006
If I could get away with it on h2g2 (and as a kid on h2g2), I would love to write an entry on the history of pornography, which despite other h2g2 entries on porn is not really covered. I have an interest in the subject that is purely historical and social (in addition to other, more obvious reasons to be interested in porn... 
) and would love to see the subject covered on h2g2, as a sort of continuation of the research I did concerning Olympia Press (A12737829). I don't know if it would work, though. It's bound to be one of those borderline topics, and I don't even think porn can be covered as 'appropriately' as Emmily's BDSM entry that just went through PR managed to do. Besides, isn't everyone going to look at me askance? They know I'm 16 years old, after all; what's a 16-year-old doing openly acknowledging that they're familiar with porn? No one actually comes out and says it.
So, can I get away with writing this entry? (If I ever have any time, that is.) What should be in it? And does anyone want to help out?
Discuss this Journal entry [18]
Latest reply: Sep 13, 2006
I'm thinking of getting a haircut
Posted Aug 18, 2006
I've been fed up with my current hairstyle for a while and have finally made up my mind to have it cut, when I get back from holiday in September. I know there's this sort of way that boys/men often have their hair cut, where it's short underneath on the back and sides but long on top, covering the short, coming down around to the ears. My hair is straight, and is currently parted in the middle and comes down to my shoulders. What I want is basically, I think, for it to be layered and cut short all around, I guess in a slightly less disastrous and more shaped version of a bowl cut. Does anyone know if there's a name for this sort of haircut? I've been wondering how on earth I'm going to be able to describe this to the haircutter, and if I even know what I'm talking about.
In other news, I'm still in the wilds of British Columbia, which is a lovely province all things considered, but I miss my computer.
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Latest reply: Aug 18, 2006
What happened in Europe
Posted Jul 14, 2006
So I'm back (well, I have been since Monday) and I finally got round to writing an epic journal entry, only to have it deleted when my computer abruptly turned off before I posted it. So I'll just say a few things.
Stockholm: great city to live in. I certainly could.
Helsinki: pretty boring - all I remember about it is the mall, and the beautiful church where we played.
St Petersburg: great city to be a tourist. Gorgeous palaces, lots of great souvenirs.
Moscow: completely and totally different, and really cool.
Stockholm concert: not bad for a first one, except I was squashed up against a pillar because we were playing in a cathedral.
Helsinki: even better, and the most gorgeous space, the "Rock Church", literally built out of huge boulders that seem just piled up.
St Petersburg: best overall performance. A standing ovation and two encores. And the best acoustics of all - an actual concert hall at a music school near the Hermitage.
Moscow: the most disappointing. Our conductor avowed it was the best we'd played Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony (one of our two big pieces, with Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade), but there were maybe 50 people in the audience, maybe two thirds of whom were our own parents and chaperones. This is compared to the hundreds we'd had at the other venues.
Stockholm and Helsinki were just like any other large city, but the old opulence we saw in St Petersburg made me think it was no wonder the Russians had a revolution in 1917. I mean, communism didn't really work out too well in practice, but it was at least worth a try given the ordinary people's situation then (and let's not turn another journal into an argument about communism, please; we've got one thread for that!).
The reason I say Moscow was so different is cause it doesn't seem just European like the rest of the cities. Though I'm a Canadian-American, I've travelled to Europe before and I'm very familiar with European culture, cities, etc. Moscow was... different. This is mostly because you never forgot that a little over fifteen years ago the Soviet Union was still there. There are landmarks like Lenin's tomb and the huge statue of Lenin on the road into the city, murals and statues and things celebrating the power of the works everywhere, hammer-and-sickle symbols on buildings, Soviet memorabilia sold at all the tourist places (I got my dad, a stamp-collector, some Soviet stamps, but one kid in the orchestra got a gas mask), and the general feeling of shabbiness that attends a lot of older Russian buildings. You can look at any structure in the entire country and tell at a glance whether it was built during or after the Soviet time (as all our guides called it). It's really quite curious. While we were sightseeing in Red Square, we espied a group of around 20 elderly men and women, waving Soviet flags and singing a song, marching slowly in the direction of Lenin's tomb. It was odd to think that, after all that, there are still people who think they'd have it better under the old system. In a way, though, I can't blame them.
Things have been pretty sweet since I got back, too. I got my learner's permit for driving and had my first lesson, meaning I'm now allowed to practice with my parents. I also, due to a strange set of circumstances that happened while on tour, have a sort of boyfriend, I guess you could say. It's quite odd and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it.
I'll be heading off again in just about 10 days (the 25th), this time for five weeks on a rural island, without Internet. It should prove positively ghastly. But until then I'm enjoying summer the way it should be: h2g2, friends and between that absolutely nothing.
Discuss this Journal entry [64]
Latest reply: Jul 14, 2006
echomikeromeo
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