The Journal of Erinya Dhaunae

Just for Fun!

2009-11-12T09:13:02Z

Your Fashion Style is Casual

You prefer to keep it laid back. Jeans and a t-shirt are practically your uniform.

And when you dress up, you're still the most informal person in the room. Dressing formally makes you feel stuffy.

Just because you're casual, it doesn't mean you're unfashionable. In fact, you often look effortlessly chic.

You know how to rock a perfect fitting pair of jeans and a funky t-shirt. Not many adults can pull off your look, but you can!

What's Your Fashion Style?

Blogthings: If Quizzes Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Take Quizzes

Random Ramblings...

2009-11-11T09:50:08Z

Well, that just made my day. One of the hotels I emailed about a room for the Greek conference got back to me confirming that they had a room available on those dates, so I've just sent them a reply saying I'll take it. Fingers crossed, that means the important stuff is now all sorted out. I have my flights booked, I've paid for the conference itself and now I have somewhere to stay. It's also one of the hotels that is closest to the conference centre so I ought to be able to walk back and forth easily enough. It isn't my first choice hotel, I admit. There was another I would have preferred because a) it's cheaper and b) other conference attendees were staying there which might have made things easier on occasion. But this other one is only down the road from there so it's not a big deal. And at least I have somewhere booked. I was starting to get twitchy. I wanted it all sorted out and done with.

Today I'm teaching again. We're doing Saxon cemeteries this week, in particular grave goods and what they say about gender and social status. Hopefully, it should go well.

The past couple of days I've been working on animal bones to help out a friend who needs to get through a lot of boxes in a short time period. I'm not exactly rushed off my feet at the moment, so it's doing me a favour as much as it is her. I get the impression from others I've talked to though that we're all in the same boat. Work hasn't ground to a total halt, but it has slowed because of the recession. So I'll take what I can get *g*

In Flanders Fields

2009-11-08T13:49:39Z

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

~John McCrae, 1915

Remember, Remember the 5th of November...

2009-11-05T14:22:30Z

Today is Bonfire Night here in the UK so I'm expecting there to be lots of fireworks going off tonight. We've not got any ourselves, but we are having a suitably bonfire night supper of sausages.

Yesterday's class went well. We looked at Roman food and drink. Today I'm working on the box of animal bones I picked up the other day. It's a big box so that's probably what I will be doing tomorrow too.

Random Ramblings...

2009-11-04T09:29:08Z

Yesterday was a bit of a blah day. I did achieve what I needed to: I went in to pick up a box of bones to record this week and I sorted out what I needed for today. But it was one of those days when I just never woke up. I spent all day feeling really tired for no apparent reason and eventually that combined with the computer started to give me a headache so I gave up and switched it off.

Fortunately I feel more with it today. I've skimmed briefly through BW this morning and added to some places, but I haven't had time to get to all of them. I need to have something to eat and get myself ready to go out. It's a teaching day today.

Just for Fun!

2009-11-02T15:06:54Z

You Are a Girl or Guy Next Door

You are as all American as apple pie, and you're so normal that you belong in a TV sitcom.

And really, that's a pretty great thing. You're a solid person, and you pride yourself on being quite down to earth.

You value your friends and family, and you don't need much in life to be content. You feel grateful for what you have.

You are honest and you have a great work ethic. You believe in giving back as much as you can.

What's Your Stereotype?

Blogthings: A Fine Line Between Insight and Stupidity

Just for Fun!

2009-10-31T09:55:08Z

erinya_dhaunae's Halloween party:

aracale dressed as Marie Antoinette going to her death.
copperdane dressed as the Vicomte des Boules-Velues.
elen_sentier dressed as a elk.
ghetsuhm dressed as the Governor of North Dakota.
granniedee dressed as a third baseman for the Twins, though it looked more like Ichabod Crane, the schoolmaster from Sleepy Hollow.
jainajade dressed as a llama, though it looked more like Chekov from "Star Trek".
jayne_darcy dressed as a halfback for the Vikings.
ladyofthelathe dressed as Ulysses S Grant.
madgenious dressed as legendary space hero Bolt Rockgroin.
msree dressed as Sigfried in need of testosterone.
passera dressed as a character from Harry Potter and the Gold Angel, and it suited them all too well.
railen dressed as the King of Gibraltar.
rhiannon_ktral dressed as a bottle of Neosleiqa.
senare dressed as the main character of "Arsenic and Old Lace".
zvanoizu dressed as a pirate.

Throw your own party at the Hallomeme!
Created by sigma7: More info here.

Just for Fun!

2009-10-30T09:28:51Z

You Are Black

You are a serious and thoughtful person. You spend a lot of time in quiet reflection.

You are a friend of the honesty, and you don't sugar coat anything. You prefer the truth in all its complexity.

While you may relate to the color black, it doesn't necessarily mean you're a dark person. You just don't hide from the dark side of life.

If anything, you tend to be sophisticated and classic. You don't follow trends, and you have your own style of doing things.

Are You Black or Orange?

The First Rule of Blogthings Is: You Don't Talk About Blogthings

Random Ramblings...

2009-10-29T10:24:53Z

So, after chatting to other folks and finding out what they were doing, I decided to be a big brave girl and book the flights to the conference in Greece. I'm heading out on the thursday, which is the day before the conference, and coming back the monday after. I've got an email off to the hotel I'd like to stay at to try to book a room too. I just need to fill out the registration form for the conference itself, which isn't quite as mad as it sound priority-wise because if the worst comes to the worst I can catch the bus to uni and hand it over in person. My ex-supervisor is helping organise things. He's also planning to catch the same flights as me which makes me a damn sight more comfortable since odds are we can do the nightmarish public transport thing together.

I'm also getting organised for the Paris conference later that year. I have submitted my initial registration details and am just waiting for the complete forms to arrive to be filled in. I have also submitted an abstract for a paper I'd like to present. Fingers crossed it will be accepted. The whole process was not without incident though. A couple of days ago I tried to use their online submission form several times with no luck. It kept telling me that I hadn't filled in various boxes. I'd go back, check and yep, I had. I'm not so stupid that I'd not put my name or contact details down. In the end, I got fed up and emailed them to tell them something was borked. They fixed it, apologised, and so I tried again and lo... it worked. So I sent that off this morning. I'm now feeling terribly accomplished and also a little jittery in an 'OMG, I've booked things, now it's a done deal' kind of way *lol*

Random Ramblings...

2009-10-26T14:58:05Z

I was a little puzzled this morning when my calendar informed me it was Alfred the Great Day. I'd never heard of this particular holiday before, despite Alfred being English. (Well, okay, Anglo-Saxon.) So I did a quick search and apparently Alfred is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church and is regarded as a hero of the Christian Church in the Anglican Communion, with a feast day of 26 October, and may often be found depicted in stained glass in Church of England parish churches. So there you go. Today's useless factoid *lol*

Weekend Wafflings...

2009-10-25T14:51:23Z

My system is all out of whack today because of the clocks going back an hour. It thinks its a different time to what it actually is. However, nonetheless, I do seem to have managed a degree of productivity. I made a lasagne for dinner tonight earlier and it's now just waiting to be popped in the oven when it's time.

I have also been updating a few more webpages. For those who followed the links yesterday. The Elemmiiran index should now be more complete, and those characters who have actual pages of their own should be up to date. This includes a whole new page for Cahan Romello. Others should be appearing shortly.

And we have light! The main ceiling light in the kitchen has been knackered for well over a week. Well, it's actually been going for awhile, but it finally gave up the ghost about a week ago. Since it's not the only light in there, it wasn't a major disaster, but making evening meals using only the downlighters beneath the cupboards that light up the work surfaces hasn't been much fun. Fortunately, a friend came around to fit the new light today so we are all illuminated again thankfully.

Weekend Wafflings...

2009-10-24T12:57:46Z

It's been a productive weekend so far. Mum and I went to a local farmers' market this morning. We picked up a couple of nice pieces of meat, as well as a generous bagful of cavolo nero and kale. I've put some of the kale in the fridge to go with the roast pork we have on the menu this week. The rest of it and the cavolo nero I have blanched and frozen. It will keep better that way.

I'm currently in the process of updating Character Webpages. The Badb Catha Clan should all now be up to date. This includes completely new pages for Seren Badb Catha and Alantha Ashev. I've had to shift several links whilst doing this, so if anyone comes across any glitches, let me know.

Next on my to do list are the Elemmiirans, several of whom need updating. I could also do with adding one or two to the list.

Random Ramblings...

2009-10-23T11:11:37Z

I finally got my backside in gear and started thinking about abstracts for next year's conference(s). I'm still trying to decide exactly which ones to attend. There are two that have particularly caught my eye: APWG 2010 in Katerini, Greece, and ICAZ 2010 in Paris, France. ICAZ, in particular, only comes round every four years and last time was in Mexico and I couldn't get, so I'd really love to go to that one, especially since they tend to alternate continents so goodness knows where it will be in 2014. Paris isn't hard to get too either, especially since the Eurostar started leaving from St Pancras. That's the station the local trains go to if they go to London, so it would literally be a case of going to St Pancras, swapping platforms and then off to Paris. Pretty easy really.

APWG is another matter entirely. I've been to a couple of these before, once in Slovakia and once in Lithuania. I was actually expecting the Greek one to be easier to get to. I mean, people go to Greece from the UK all the time. It's a popular tourist destination. What I hadn't appreciated is that a lot of those flights are summer only and start from May. This conference is in April. So far as I can work out, the only flights leaving the UK to go to the nearest airport to Katerini at that time of year go from Gatwick, which is a bit of a PITA. And even when I get there, I then have to catch a bus from the airport into the town centre and then catch a train back out again to get to Katerini itself. Oh, and there's only one flight a day in each direction it seems. So yeah, I'm looking at that one and wondering if all that hassle is worth it for a couple of days. Yes, the conference would be interesting and, yes, it is a nice bunch of people attending, but it isn't compulsory to attend every single conference held by the APWG and they do come around more frequently than the ICAZ ones do.

As you can see, I'm still undecided. I do need to make my mind up because, to make matters worse, it seems that the conference coincides with a Greek holiday, so the hotel rooms are expected to fill up fast. Given all this, I am leaning towards saying stuff it and just doing ICAZ next year. I do usually only attend one conference a year, especially if it's abroad, and ICAZ is massive. Most conferences are only a weekend long, hence my saying the APWG one is two days effectively. ICAZ is a whole week, and a very busy week at that since it's so big I'd expect there to be more than one session in each time slot. I think I could be forgiven for only doing that one.

Just for Fun!

2009-10-21T14:22:52Z

You Are Indigo

You are a highly intuitive, wise person. You are quite spiritual, even if you aren't religious in the least.

You have a lot of insight to offer and you are often profound. If people listen carefully to what you say, they can find a lot of meaning in your words.

You have a broad view of the world. You are always pushing yourself to learn more. You believe that wisdom comes from perspective.

Your greatest ideas come to you in a flash. You work off inspiration, and luckily, you're easily inspired.

What Color of the Rainbow Are You?

Work is Hard. Time for Blogthings!

Random Ramblings...

2009-10-18T15:21:24Z

Productivity levels are being maintained *lol* Mum and I took a load of garden waste to the recycling centre this morning, so the garden now looks a lot tidier. We have plans to tidy up the top of the garden at some point soon, which will makes things even better.

I have also pickled the red cabbage that I left in salt yesterday. That now needs to be left for a couple of weeks like the pickled onions, I think, before it can be eaten. We're doing quite well on the pickles front this winter. As well as the cabbage and onions, I also did tomato relish not so long ago, as well as a spiced apple chutney. We also have several jars of jam lurking in cupboards too.

This afternoon I've been puttering around Bardic Web. I've been tweaking mythos here and there. I updated the Three Duchies food and drink the other day and I'm tidying up the Tauremornan food and drink now. As with most types of mythos, it expands the more its used.

Random Ramblings...

2009-10-17T13:12:31Z

It's been a pretty productive day so far. I've been out in the garden and tidied up a little. There were some things that needed pruning and some fruit bushes that wanted to have straw put around their roots for the winter. I've also picked the last of our red cabbage. That has been shredded and is now sitting in a bowl covered in salt. It'll stay like that for 24 hours, at which point I'll give it a good rinse and put it in jars with some pickling vinegar.

Baking was also on today's to do list. I've made some orange and walnut flapjacks. Dead easy to make. Just melt butter, caster sugar, golden syrup and a bit of marmalade together over a gentle heat until it all tends gloopy. Then pour it onto the porridge oats, orange zest and walnut pieces. Stir it all together until it's mixed well and then pour into a lined baking tray. Spread out evenly and put in an oven. Bake at about 160C for 30 minutes. It will still be very soft when it comes out so just score out where the portions are going to be and then leave to cool. Don't try to take it out of the tin until it's set. Then cut it up.

Just for Fun!

2009-10-16T13:03:04Z

Does this explain some of my characters, I wonder? *lol*

Set

Perfectionist, prone to anger or irrationality. Aspects of Duality.

Colors: male: turquoise, female: black
Compatible Signs: Geb, The Nile
Dates: May 28 - Jun 18, Sep 28 - Oct 2

Role: God of chaos, evil, the desert, war, violence, conflict, and sandstorms
Appearance: Form of a man, with the head of an unidentified donkey-like animal. He was sometimes seen as a pig or a hippo.
Sacred animal: the mythical "Set animal"

What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign?
Designed by CyberWarlock of Warlock's Quizzles and Quandaries

Just for Fun!

2009-10-15T08:56:47Z

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Just for Fun!

2009-10-13T13:25:47Z

Random Ramblings...

2009-10-12T13:59:18Z

The concert last night was good. Mum and I enjoyed it a lot. It's easy to forget how well known most of the Tchaikovsky is. The fantasy overture is kind of a synopsis piece for the entire work in that it contains snippets of most of the main themes and time after time something would pop up and I'd think 'hang on, that was used in such and such'. It's been well mined by advertisers.

Carmina Burana is incredible live. The impact of all the voices is amazing. At times, it makes the hair rise on the back of your neck. For an amateur choir, it was even more impressive.

Weekend Wafflings...

2009-10-11T14:03:13Z

Today has been equally productive. Mum and I went out to a local nature reserve this morning for a couple of hours. They were holding an Apple Day. It was interesting. It is easy to forget quite how many varieties of apples there are, many of them far more interesting than those you see in the shops. So we found out about them, tasted several and tried apple juices and ciders made from specific varieties rather than blends. We even bought a bottle of juice home with us. It tastes wonderful. It has a bit of a sharp edge rather than being overly sweet.

This afternoon we made the Christmas puddings. They are better if they mature for a couple of months so we'll store them out of the way until we need them after they've been steamed for a few hours. After that first cooking, they'll keep for months. We've had some keep for 12 months easily.

Tonight we've off to the theatre. We're going to listen to the Bardi Symphony Orchestra at the De Montfort Hall. They're performing Orff's 'Carmina Burana' and the Fantasy Overture from Tchaikovsky's 'Romeo and Juliet'. I adore the Orff, so it should be fun.

Weekend Wafflings...

2009-10-10T14:05:37Z

Today has been a very productive day. After doing a quick skim around BW and adding where necessary, I took over the kitchen. I turned the last of this season's tomatoes from the garden into a relish. Much to my surprise, I discovered we had 2lbs of cherry tomatoes in total so we've got about 5 jars of relish. I don't know what it tastes like as it's a new recipe, but if it works then it was simple enough: put tomatoes, brown sugar, salt, pickling vinegar, chopped onion and chopped apple into pan, then boil until soft and put into jars.

Next on my list was the Christmas stuff. Yes, I know we haven't had Hallowe'en yet, but most of it needs to mature for a couple of months. So I made several jars of mincemeat, again a new recipe, but also terribly easy. I'm always surprised that more people don't make their own because it is very straightforward. In essence, I weighed out a load of dried fruit, suet and muscovado sugar. To that I added two baked apples which I had mashed, lemon juice and lemon zest, and about five tablespoons of rum. Then it was just stirred until it was all mixed well together and put into jars. Job done. It needs to mature for a couple of weeks before it can be used.

I have also made the Christmas cake. That is currently baking on a low heat and will be for another few hours. It's a rich fruit cake, we like the really dark sort. I creamed together butter, brown sugar, treacle, lemon and orange zest. Then I beat in four eggs and a tablespoon at a time of the dry ingredients (plain flour, assorted spices and cocoa powder). Then lots of dried mixed fruit. The rest of the dry ingredients. A splash of milk. Pop it in a tin and into the oven. The smells coming from the oven at the moment are fabulous.

I do plan to make Christmas puddings too, but I will do those tomorrow. I kind of ran out of steam today. Plus all the pots that I'd used for the rest needed washing before I could start them. Mum might be able to help tomorrow too. She's been studying today. She's just started her latest OU course, 'The Nineteenth Century Novel'. She's learning all about the Gothic novel, the Mysteries of Udolpho, Northanger Abbey and Jane Eyre at the moment.

Writer's Block: Sick day

2009-10-05T09:17:23Z

When you get sick, do you prefer to go it alone or be doted upon by a friend, partner, or parent? Do you usually go to work or school or stay home?

View 1259 Answers

The answer to this depends on a number of variables. If it's something minor like a cough or a cold, I'd probably go to work. If it was something more serious, I probably wouldn't: a) because I think you can often make illnesses last long by not giving yourself a chance to recover, and b) because I'd just be spreading the bug around to other people.

If I do stay at home because I'm ill, I prefer to be left alone. I dislike fussing. It's not that I don't appreciate the sentiments behind it, but I don't have the patience to deal with it. The more tired and sick I am, the grouchier I tend to get, so I have even less patience than normal - and I'm not exactly known for it at the best of times.

Just for Fun!

2009-10-03T16:28:08Z

You Are Wood Burning in the Fireplace

You love to feel cozy and content. After a summer of fun, fall is the perfect time for you to kick back.

Autumn is when you calm down and turn inward. It's the time of year that you start to slow down.

You take time to savor the season. You appreciate every falling leaf and every warm drink in your hand.

You sometimes wish it were fall all year. You try to make each moment last as long as possible.

What Autumn Smell Are You?

Blogthings: Take a Quiz. Annoy Your Friends.

Just for Fun!

2009-10-01T10:46:21Z

I named 14 organs in 4 minutes!