Lenneth's blog

What was the last game you played?

Are we talking video games? That would be Animal Crossing, last night. (Thanks Hoshichan!) I also recently played .Hack G.U. vol. 1 for a little while (very cool concept, but I may be biased, hehe) and One Piece: Grand Adventure, which is an effing blast.

What is your current computer desktop image? Let's see it!

It's VG Cats!Roronoa Zoro, heehee. :D I was still using the default desktop until I found this; nothing inspired me enough to change it, until I saw kitty!Zoro, looking ready for a brawl. XD

What's your cell phone's ringtone? What made you pick it?

It's usually "Soul Bossa Nova", the theme from Austin Powers. It likes to go off in Barnes & Noble, and one time I was sitting near the windows next to this row of teenage boys who all proceeded to groove to my ringtone. (@_@) Right now though, it's "Mr. Moto" (not Moto as in "Motorola") by surf instro band The Bel-Airs.

I finally have some pictures to post! I snapped some photos of our new PT Cruiser GT Turbo (our first real car purchase!) I know I'm overly excited, but humour me please! ;)

(That's El in the car, obviously ready to rock 'n' roll all night and party every day, lol.) The car is supposed to have heated seats but the passenger side doesn't seem to be working. *cry* Everything else about it is lovely though. *thrilled*

For those of you who haven't heard my current music obsession, T. Rex, I present a couple of songs.

T. Rex sometimes refers to Marc Bolan as an individual, sometimes to him and his band, but the most important thing to know is that T. Rex means Glam. Glam rock (aka glitter rock) was a phenomena in the 70s, most remembered for the glittery costumes and glamourous behavior of the performers (like David Bowie and the Sweet), but the most important thing is the music: a very basic, four-on-the-floor rhythm, spacey guitars with lots of distortion; and one of the things I love most about
T. Rex, slightly affected, pompous vocals. These are from "Electric Warrior". Enjoy!

If you could open any sort of restaurant, what would it be like?

Oh! I've already thought of this! "Nessie's Grotto", a seafood restaurant that serves it's trademark Imitation Loch Ness Monster Burgers, made out of giant squid! It would resemble a real a grotto with blue lights and rough rock walls, and have seashells and fish nets draped all over. Steel drum and bagpipe music would play in the background, and the waiters would be dressed in kilts! Every once in awhile, on the ceiling, you would see what appears to be a boat equipped with sonar float overhead, searching for you! I would serve crab legs and similar as well, but no haggis.

Play any instrument or speak any language, which do you choose?
Question submitted by cruftbox.vox.com.

That's a tough one, but I think I'd choose to speak/understand Old French, since it's the language a lot of medieval French sources are written in, especially the lyric of the trouvères (northern French troubadours). It would help my novel research so much if I could understand that, and Latin too I suppose. However, for a long time now I've wanted to be able to play the medieval harp, which is a small harp meant to be held in your lap, because I love grande chants (written to accompany the trouvère lyric mentioned above), especially when accompanied by the soft, sweet tones of the harp. :)

Soda? Cola? Pop? What do you say? Any other regional words that set you apart?
Question submitted by Gladys.

I say "soda" generally, but since my visit to Japan I try to remember to say "cola" at restaurants because that's all you ask for there if you want Coke or Pepsi, and it saves me the hassle of "Is Pepsi okay?"  *mental sigh* "Yes, it's fine."

As for other regional words, I'm guilty of tons of California-isms. I'm not saying people in other states never use these, but it's the sheer frequency and context of my use that marks me as a Californian. Examples:

When someone gives me some good news: "Right on!" (Emphasis on the "right" required.)
When someone says something requiring my agreement: "Totally."
When I want to show emphatic agreement: "Fer sher!" (I wish I was kidding. (^^;) )
To express disgust: "Oh, gag me!"
Punctuating my sentences at random intervals: "like", "like", "like".
My name for everyone, including my dad, husband, and even sometimes the dog: "Dude!"

What's the most extreme weather you've been in? A memorable storm? Heat wave? Or something else?

A few winters ago El and I were on our way to Canada in a snowstorm, and we got as far north through the snow as a certain high mountain pass before a traffic accident combined with huge snowdrifts and nonexistent visibility forced the authorities to close the freeway. We sat, and sat, and sat, andsatandsatandsat,  and thankfully we had my laptop and a power adapter because we would have been incredibly bored without watching all of Dances With Wolves and Fellowship of the Ring. Finally, El got fed up and sneaked off the freeway, and we drove through a snowstorm that was quickly getting worse, through an unplowed frontage road with literally nothing visible in front of us except the faintest red glow of taillights in the distance.

We finally got back on the freeway, oriented in a homeward direction, when a CHP officer directed us into local Podunk County Seat, from whence no one who entered would leave (at least that night). We parked at Denny's, partook of comfort food, and then got into our car in the Denny's parking lot and--because all hotels in town were full up--tried our best to go to sleep while the snow continued to fall all around us.

After a night of staring up at the Denny's sign punctuated by short intervals of "sleep", in the morning we woke up with aching muscles and the delight of learning that the freeway was still closed, the town was out of gas, and the power had gone out. However, being locals, we knew where the frontage road was, and knew the CHP officer had probably been fibbing when he said it was closed the night before, and so we took it out of town. Ironically, the county had plowed and the road was completely clear. We had a pleasant drive back home, where we spent the afternoon shoveling piles of snow out of our driveway, which the plows had so kindly deposited there. :P

The people who hadn't managed to escape the freeway remained there for three whole days, and I seem to remember that some of them had died . . . but surely that couldn't be the case, could it?

I've used that one before, but I never get tired of it (too bad if you are! :P ) Hoshichan's intro reminded me that I haven't posted one yet. Now is as good a time as any for self-absorption, I guess!

I'm Lenneth, unpublished author by trade (I'm working on the "unpublished" part.) I write historical fantasy fiction, and I've got a few contemporary pieces in the works (one is actually a "historical" set in the 1970s, which unfortunately is too recent to count as a real historical by publishing standards.) Learn more at Herself-the-Elf.net, my reading and writing blog (no, the blog doesn't read and write, I blog about . . . nevermind.)

I was a TFL staffer and TAFL senior staffer for . . . awhile. Not sure how long anymore, really, but it was fun while it lasted! I still maintain a few fanlistings and keep in touch with any staff that I can (so if you're staff or ex-staff, friend away! :) ) I'm a member of the Dreaming in Ink critique group, and maintainer of Badgerish.Net, a fanfiction archive for Hufflepuff House from Harry Potter. You read that right: I am a Harry Potter fan and active in the fandom when time permits (I may even be considered an oldbie, lol). I'm a tabletop gamer (that's Dungeons & Dragons to you lot), a lover of classic rock, tiki culture enthusiast, wannabe medieval history maven, permanently stuck in the 70s (even though I'm technically too young) and only slightly granola.

And that's all there is. There isn't any more.