Chemisty!! Er... Chemistry? Yes, Chemistry!

Don't get me wrong, I do like Science. A lot. I love that feeling you get when you understand some concept or other, and then apply it to some ordinary phenomenon, to discover that what you thought was so simple was actually so complex. I love it when you look at some other phenomenon, something terribly rare and complex, and realise that it was so simple to begin with. And I am addicted to the sensation of getting a sum absolutely, completely right. ((Oh, yeah, who's your girl? I am, that's who!!))

But these exams are never-ending, honestly. And to keep every little formula related to a concept in your head, to just apply it mindlessly in the paper to get into some institute or other--now, that's annoying.

Anyway, gotta go slave over another bunch of formulae to give yet another exam. *sigh*

BdK

PS, did you know surfactants use miscelle formation to clean oil and grease off of things? But only above critical concentration. Basically, they swoop into the grease, getting their lyophobic tails in it, then when there are enough to form, like a big ball, with the grease in the centre and their lyophilic heads on the surface, they just float off into the sunset together. *sigh*

Anti-Feminist Feminist? Or ..not.

Ohayou!

(It's not actually morning but that is the only Japanese greeting I remember, so... I'm pretty sure it's morning somewhere in the world!)

When I was a kid-scratch that, even now, I still read Tamora Pierce's books with the same fascination with which I picked up the first book of hers I ever read. They're well written, I truly enjoy seeing a slightly different view of knights and their training-I think the worlds she creates are perfect in their medievalness, but there is the nitty-gritty side to the whole world which most people who write for say, teens, forget to mention. Research never seems to play a part in their writings, it being more important to show the relationships between the characters. But Tamora Pierce was different. She was special. More importantly, her protagonists were all female.

Girls out there, don't you get tired of reading fantasy or historical novels in which the cool sword-swinging/magic is done by guys, while girls have to use their cunning(whatever that is) and special skills to get anywhere? Even then, I've never seen a standalone girl protagonist whom society respects, even as she swings a sword around, and never minds the boys. So I love Kel. Kel, short for Keladry of Mindelan, is the kind of girl/woman I would love to be. She has no gift(unlike Alanna, whose books were a disappointment after reading Kel's 'Protector of the Small' quartet), she's afraid of heights, and doesn't go out of the way to break society's rules. She's polite, restrained-maybe too restrained, and most importantly--she doesn't ever try to hide the fact that she's a girl. She flaunts it, even. And this is what I think puts her above Alanna in my 'Feminist' book. Alanna has paved the way for Lady Knights, she has brought the dominion Jewel back to the Kingdom and faced off a supervillian who possesses the power to return from the dead. But she has done all this slightly ashamed of being a girl. Not Kel. She wears dresses to dinner and ribbons in her hair. Kel allows thoughts of boys to flit through her mind--but not when she has work ahead of her. Kel has no place for heroics and riding off alone, though she entertains those fantasies now and again. Though her job may be small and seemingly unimportant-to protect a refugee camp-she does right by it till the end.

Thus ends my 'Kel' rant. :)

I was excited to read the 'Circle of Magic' series after the success of 'Protector of the Small' but unfortunately, have been doomed to disappointment. The first book I ever read from the series raised my hopes high, but I found out, too late, that the others didn't compare. The Circle of Magic consists of three girls and a boy, all of them mages.(Yes, once again the girls outnumber the boys in a Tamora Pierce book!) But the only one whom I really liked was, unfortunately, the only boy in the group. Briar is fun to read, and seems to be given a great deal of affection by the authoress herself, simply because he has no faults. No major ones, unlike Sandry, who can be thoughtless in her nobility, Tris who is stubborn and wilful, not a good thing when she can control storms and lightning, and Daja who can be... I wouldn't know, actually. Daja seems as two-dimensional as the metal she is perpetually in love with. Briar and his interactions with Rosethorn, his strict, wise and secretly loving teacher are the most fun I had, but they should not be missed. I may be being too harsh on this set of books, not having read all of them yet-there are twelve, and I've read five-and if that has happened, I have no problem coming back and editing my post. If this post remains as is, then my opinion hasn't changed.

Once again, Ms. Pierce, I do love your books! I just wish there were more Kels and Briars, and less Alannas and Tris's, that's all. :)

Tschus! Bis dann,

Bdk

BK And What Other People Term An Obsession

Hello, all!

I mean, can you blame me?(Short answer, yes) :)

But it really isn't my fault when a natural interest in Bill Kaulitz, his hair and doings, is interpreted by the people around me as an obsession. A completely natural interest. Else I'd think there was something wrong with the thousands of girls, all around the world, who have the same-or larger-level of interest as me. So there.

Who is Bill Kaulitz?

The lead singer of the German band Tokio Hotel.

Why do you care?

Because Tokio Hotel makes seriously good music.

What's so special about him?

Nothing, probably. But what I see is someone with a wonderful voice-who *cough, cough* may possibly look like a doll come alive. Seriously.

Any other thoughts?

When Bill smiles, genuinely, like when he's on stage and he's smiling at the screaming, singing audience, then it's contagious. You can't stop smiling, too, no matter who or where in the world you are. That's the kind of smile he has. *shrug*

Signing off, (and looking at more BK pictures)

BdK

Move over, commercial nonsense. The Liars are here!

Guten Tag!

I recently finished reading Stephen Fry's 'The Liar' and came to the conclusion that it was a very good book. Not that I recommend it to anyone who knows me--they'd be very surprised, and it wouldn't be pleasant.

Most people my age and in the same location tend to struggle through some boring old morality tale-like Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone, or Two States, or any of his other books-with some humour interspersed with it, just enough that someone with more than a couple of braincells won't be bored reading it. They then turn around and recommend it to another blithering idiot and come off feeling superior and well-read. That is the kind of book that drives me insane. And not the good kind of insanity, the kind that possessed me while reading Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture Of Dorian Grey' the first time. Or possibly the fifth. But more about that later. The kind of books that most people tend to read, the ones with a moral and a happy ending, seem to me about taking the least amount of effort, both to read and to write. The reader, quite obviously, doesn't think once throughout the process, and the writer doesn't feel the need to make the reader think. On the whole, it's a good system for just one kind of person. The one who doesn't really want to read, but does, anyway. Because it's the educated thing to do, and because they want to feel superior. But not me. Those books literally leave me with a sick feeling inside, which has nothing to do with what my stomach has digested and everything to do with what my mind has.

Stephen Fry's book is a bit confusing, and I'll admit I don't like to be confused as much as the next person, but it makes me happy. I identify with Adrian, the protagonist, though I'm not a chronic liar.(I do sometimes feel like I'm the only person I know who is truly living life) At the end of the book, I'm left with admiration for Professor Trefusis and a grudging respect for Adrian's whoppers. While this is just one example of a book that is truly good, for me, I was introduced to the genre of morally ambiguous, but oh-so-interesting books-by Oscar Wilde's only novel, 'The Picture Of Dorian Grey'. I read this book twice the first time I read it. Or would that be the second time? I loved it so much on the first reading--so much of it escaped me on the first reading--that I had to read it all over again, just as soon as I'd finished.(The advantages of being a speed-reader, anyone?;))

These sort of books don't just interest me because of the premise, or the plot, or even the characters. It's everything. Everything in the book, wrapped up in a neat little bundle that doesn't leave me wanting more, like some of those trilogies, or quartets or whatever. But it leaves me glad to have gone through the effort. And given half a chance, I would do it all over again.

Tschus! Bis nächste Monate. Velleicht. :)