"Harry Potter is the best hope we have. Trust him."

Since this post will contain some hits and some misses in the first part of the final film installment of the Harry Potter series, PLEASE EXPECT SPOILERS FOR BOTH. Fair warning, okay?

Together with my parents, my sister, and my partner, I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 last night. It was almost like a midnight screening, as the show started at about 10:30pm and ended just before 1:00am.

The first impressive thing I learned: the show was sold out. And this was a midnight screening, on a weekend, two whole days after the movie had opened. In hindsight, this was probably only to be expected. As the trailers advertise, it IS the beginning of the end, not only in-story but also for those who read the books. [At this point I'm not discriminating between the kids for whom the books were originally meant, and all the others - adults, families, parents, and readers - who fell in love with the books.]

The second impressive thing shows up as soon as the movie starts: the logos roll up in complete silence, and they are dark and grim, setting the tone for the whole film. Characters fall like flies, or reveal their hidden facets, and every single person in the film is pushed to their very limits. Voldemort plumbs the depths of evil, and of stupidity; the Malfoys and Bellatrix Lestrange find out what desperation is like; the Ministry of Magic falls to pieces.

Many commentators have already said their piece about the MoM sequences, and I can only add, "Damn right." There are SERIOUS World War II overtones in the story, from the puppet politician in charge to the security force with red armbands.

As for the good characters, well, just look at that film poster to begin with. Harry, Hermione, and Ron go on the run, abandoning families and friends and school and everyone who cares except for each other. This is not an idyll by any means. Things go horribly wrong before they start going right - and what little hope we have at the ending is squashed, hard, by the knowledge that the entirety of the Hogwarts sequences - including the climactic battle - is yet to come.

So many deaths. So many sacrifices. And we have to begin with the trio in flight.



Hits and misses after the jump:

T is for Troll

Just a warning to you all.


This is a KFC Double Down. THIS IS NOT FOOD.

In the interests of science, I ate one of these for my last meal of the day. [Remember, I work on the night shift - my last meal of the day was at 6am.]

And it turns out that despite my sister's surprised endorsement and encouragement this is pretty much blech all over the place. Who on EARTH thought that it was a good idea to sandwich bacon, mayo, and processed cheese between two KFC Original Recipe fillets?

And the stores that I visit, pass by, or otherwise have access to routinely show this item as sold out, which means that yes, other people are actually willingly eating this stuff.

I shudder to think that some people are actually coming back for more.

So, yeah, PSA for everyone reading this blog. Please, think of your tummy. Please do not eat this stuff because as it turns out, it is terrible. I had to force myself to finish mine, and I had to eat something else immediately afterward to get the idea of it out and away. Do yourself a favor, DON'T take a leaf from my book. Just don't eat this.

[And that title? Grading system at Hogwarts. I don't care if Gred and Forge were pulling Harry and Ron's legs when they said T was the lowest possible grade a Hogwarts student could get. This stuff deserves that abysmal rating.]

Music to NaNo to

The special live performance of "Mombasa", a track from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the movie Inception. Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr lead the performers.

If that's not music to write to, well, hell, I must be deaf, mute, and a moron.

I'm really not NaNo'ing this year, I swear, although I've been writing nonstop for the past few days.

It occurs to me, though, that with the amount of words I've chalked up I should probably have crossed my fingers and done one of those "rebel" NaNo things, you know, signed up to write a bunch of related short stories with the goal of eventually creating a 'verse in 50,000 words. I'd hardly be the only person who'd tried to do something like a novel in a series of short stories.....

I've just had my paycheck, so I think it's time for me to rejig the personal budget a bit and try to see if I can pitch in for my now-going-to-be-a-November-habit of a donation to the Office of Letters and Light. They're the folks behind NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy [and their respective Young Writers' Programs]. Ten dollars a year is not too much to give to a wonderful organization that keeps the spirit of writing and creating alive.

Chronicle of fandom work

I think I've mentioned the idea of a fandom exchange here before, but having achieved something of a minor Crowning Moment of Awesome in my fandom life, I hope you don't mind if I take you through it again....

Fandom Gift Exchange Fest
When a participant signs up for one of these, he or she agrees to create a piece of fanfiction or fanart for someone else who has signed up for the fest. In return, the participant will also receive a piece of fanfiction or fanart from another participant. As the key word is EXCHANGE, participants who drop out or fail to turn in their pieces will not get any gifts.

To make sure that everyone gets a gift that they will like, each participant fills in a form that details what they like and don't like in fanfiction or fanart in that fandom. Usually the form will ask for preferred or vetoed pairings, some prompts, things that the participant likes and doesn't like, etc. The form thus serves as a sort of blueprint for the person who's creating a gift for them.

Many fests are anonymous and reveals are scheduled for after the time when the gifts have been posted, in order to increase anticipation, participation, and excitement. Also, I think it's really fun that way.

Some exchange fests are limited to one fandom only: every piece of fanfiction or fanart is keyed to characters/situations from that fandom. Crossovers are allowed as long as the main fandom is the featured exchange fest fandom.

On the other hand, some exchange fests are geared specifically towards crossovers of all kinds.

Fandom Big Bang Challenge
I'll take the definition here straight from the FAQs of the one I signed up for:

A big bang challenge is a collaborative project between authors and artists. Authors sign up to write long fanfiction within a predetermined time frame, and artists sign up to create art based on these stories.

The idea of the fandom big bang challenge apparently originated in a specific challenge that grew out of a specific branch of Harry Potter fandom.

Now back to the aforementioned very minor CMoA.

For all my years in various fandoms I'd never even heard of these terms until 2010. Since it turned out that people liked how I wrote in my current fandom, I decided, okay, to hell with it, never know till I try - and thus I signed up to write three stories: one for a one-fandom gift exchange fest, a crossover fandom gift exchange fest, and a fandom big bang challenge.

As of yesterday I've just turned in all the completed drafts to the three challenges.

And now I am keyed up for posting and reveals over the holidays.

You guys. Like I said. FIRST TIME EVER. And now I know I CAN DO THIS SORT OF THING. I took on three successive challenges and didn't flake out, didn't drop out, and didn't quit.

Each challenge had a specific word count: the first one I completed had to meet a minimum of 2000 words, the second a minimum of 1500 words, and the big bang had a minimum of 15,000 words. I'm happy to say I went over every one of those deadlines. [Wow, self, overcompensating much....]

I almost feel like I should have enough time to actually tackle National Novel Writing Month next, but, as I am grossly NOT prepared at all for that this year, I will wait until November 2011 for my next attempt. That will not stop me from mailing in a donation to the Office of Letters and Light, though!

Woo hoo!

Read this one only in the daylight

[WARNING: this entry may contain possible spoilers for the novel and the film Let the Right One In.]

title: Låt den rätte komma in
author: John Ajvide Lindqvist. His debut novel.

But first, before the review, have a listen to the song that's extensively quoted throughout the book: "Let the Right One Slip In" by Morrissey. [Yes, THAT Morrissey.]



There is a bit of vampire lore that does not quite get remembered as often as the whole bloodsucking/infection/undead thing: vampires need to be invited to enter a place.

If you've read the Artemis Fowl books you know that this concept has also applied to fairies. Only fitting, in a way....

Anyway. Over the weekend I treated myself to a new book: a copy of Let the Right One In. My edition has the cover that also says "The inspiration behind Let Me In" - which is the 2010 American remake of the 2008 Swedish film.

I read the novel in three big gulps over the weekend and let me tell you, this is one of the best vampire novels out there. It really is. The whole atmosphere is cold and forbidding, the characters are all too human and weak [yes, that includes Eli], and the whole idea is of this strange and twisted love that forms between a boy and an androgynous bloodsucker.

[If you prefer to have your characters STAY the gender they're introduced as, you're SOL with Eli, as the pronouns referring to the character actually change from paragraph to paragraph.]

Oskar, the main character, comes off as someone really believable, and it's on him that the narrative of the book is centered, even though there are several POV characters and their stories intertwine throughout the pages. If you cannot stomach/believe/accept the terrible experiences he goes through, you'll have a hard time understanding the relationship he eventually forms with Eli, the character that the title refers to.


A famous still from the 2008 movie shows a bloody Eli. I think I now know which part of the book this comes from.

Have I mentioned that this novel is scary? And only partly because of Eli, believe it or not. One of the important things to note in this novel is that some of the human characters are portrayed as being even more monstrous than the obviously undead ones - and it's really one of the major sources of the horror. You've met them, or I hope you haven't: the bully, the pedophile, the druggie, the shut-in, the isolated, the serial killer groupie. Each character is beautifully and frighteningly described.

[Guess which one of those is the actual PROTAGONIST. Yes, even Oskar has major flaws.]

In short: READ THIS WITH THE LIGHTS ON.

Martin Freeman's Life Just Could Not Get Any Better

Because he's been cast as BILBO BAGGINS!

His already impressive resume of beloved roles gets EVEN LONGER: from Tim Canterbury in The Office (UK), to Arthur Dent in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and most recently Dr. John Watson in Sherlock.


Martin Freeman on the right, as Arthur Dent in his bathrobe, pyjamas, and towel. [Still from, of course, H2G2.]

All shall love him and SQUEE!

And now I can really feel the winter creeping in

The final proof of cold weather arrived on my doorstep this morning.

I'm going to pay even LESS for my electricity bill this month than I did last month.

Pretty much the only electrical appliances getting a workout at my flat are the ref and the PC. I don't always use the overhead lights because I'm home during the daytime and I'm out at night. [Same applies for my partner.]

Oh I'm just glad I can save up some money.

BUT.

If the cold months are coming I wish I could spend some money and dress like THESE hot guys.


Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes. I cannot wait for the second series and I really cannot wait to see the movie Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The cast will include Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hardy, and this gentleman.

*starry eyes*


Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, during his special appearance at the Doctor Who 2010 Proms. Here's a sample of the music they played during the concerts, with bonus badass dialogue:



*shivers and squees in equal measure*

Dream Team!

Related posts:
Inception: Rapid Review, No Spoilers
Inception, in on the ground floor
Fandoms at Random: Inception Dreams

Went out to watch Despicable Me with my partner yesterday. Great film, but I wish I'd also had the chance to watch Inception again - only this time in an IMAX theater, at a very cheap price. As a consolation prize, I asked my partner to take photos of me next to one of the movie poster banners.


Me and some of the Dream Team. It looks like I'm literally butting heads with Ariadne!


A failed attempt at heart-hands and the only decent shot that included both Arthur and Eames. [It took me this long to figure out that Eames is wearing HORRIBLE pants? The plaid he's wearing in this poster doesn't even look good on him!]

Aah, Inception fandom, how can you be so amazing? Just in the last month or so I've gone and done so many fandom-related and fanfiction-related experiences.

I'm now in the thick of preparations for two fanfic exchanges - basically, you write a fanfic or create fanart for someone and someone else does the same for you. One of the exchanges is Inception-only, for slash pairings, and my entry is already in beta. And then I signed up for one that was for crossovers, so that means Inception crossed with a lot of other things. You can imagine how pleased I was when I found out that this exchange also includes Doctor Who [specifically Nine, Ten, and Eleven], and Sherlock!

I joined a fandom auction to help the victims of the Pakistan floods, and actually got bids! That was amazing.

Kink memes! Haha! Granted I write fills for oddball prompts, but it's amazingly fun and incredibly addictive. Gah.

And it's in this fandom where I've actually become an active beta reader; that is, I help other authors out with their work by looking their stories over for grammar and other possible trouble areas. I've been a beta for at least three or four people now and I also have multiple betas for my own work. I'm unreasonably happy about all this collaboration and general community spirit.

*dives into the deep end*

A Hitch and a Holmes: The Return of Reading in my Sleep

After a beautiful Sunday out, I tweeted the following:

New books! New books! Hitchens's Hitch-22 and the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Fangirling. Love to my partner. :3

And I told myself that I needed to blog the books, so here they are:


My copy of the hardbound edition of Christopher Hitchens's Hitch-22: A Memoir. It really does look as battered as it seems because for some reason I was able to obtain the last copy in stock at the Fully Booked branch in Bonifacio High Street.

[There were that many people interested in Hitchens in the Philippines? Shock!]

This is an advanced birthday present to me from my partner, hence the last part of the tweet quoted above.

I've already burned through three chapters and I'm looking forward to working through the rest.


This is a lovely little hardbound edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, published under the "Collector's Library" imprint.

I found this while snooping through the classics collection at the same bookstore mentioned above; after I'd finished drooling at a lavishly annotated edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula, I found an entire cabinet of these little beauties. It's a fair selection of some of the titles in the English literary canon: from Shakespeare to Alcott to Tolstoy to Woolf.


Here's the Holmes, opened to part of "A Case of Identity". My hands are small, but they're tellingly enough to provide scale for this book. If you're looking for an honest-to-goodness pocketbook, then yeah, you could do worse than to pick up some of these Collector's Library editions.

I wonder if I should get A Study in Scarlet next.

Post Number 200: Pierrot Yarn Party!

Two hundred posts! Thank you for reading and supporting the blog! THANK YOU~~~!

[Warning: Post is image-heavy.]

Around the beginning of August, my good friend and fellow crafter Clair@Crafty Cat pinged me and another friend to ask if we would be interested in a rather special promotion she'd found online.

Pierrot Yarns, a Japanese brand of yarn, was holding a Lucky Bag Sale.

If you go in for Japanese merch or actually live and shop there, then this sort of promotion might be familiar to you as fukubukuro. Which is, basically, offering a random assortment of goodies and bonus items in a sealed, opaque bag for a very low price. We're talking deep discounts on all of the items in the bag. Sometimes the bags contain extreme finds like plane tickets for a holiday, fur coats [!!!], and gorgeous bags. The idea is to encourage the shopper to patronize the store that offers the lucky bags in the hope of getting some really cool swag, and eventually become a regular.

So Pierrot Yarns was offering its 2010 Spring/Summer inventory of yarns as a special fukubukuro promotion and buyers could choose whether they would get "Girl Colors" or "Boy Colors". The whole bag of 41 skeins of yarn was priced at a flat 9000 yen, AND the shipping was free! So you can bet that I pounced on the offer.

Well, this morning Clair and I met up for what we eventually called a crack deal [yes, as in drugs, hello SABLE]: time to split up the yarns. My share of the money came up to about 3000 PHP, which paid for both my half of the yarns and the customs duties. [&%*^$%&%$(^()**_)!]

Here's my share of the loot.


As you can tell from the colors in the photo, we chose the Boy Colors yarn.

Breakdown after the jump ^^

I love being in my fandoms.

Because where else can you find these sorts of wonderful and handsome and beautiful people in amazing suits?!

TV Tropes links might be relevant here.

Dressed To Kill
Sharp Dressed Man
Hot Chick In A Badass Suit

Warning, pictures ahead!

DOCTOR WHO

Fifth Doctor Peter Davison and Tenth Doctor David Tennant, from the Children in Need Special "Time Crash".


Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith with Karen Gillan as Amy Pond.

SHERLOCK (2010 BBC)

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson.

TAKARAZUKA KAGEKIDAN

Former Top Star of Soragumi, Wao Youka.

INCEPTION

Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Enough said, really!

Super Elisabeth smash! (It's super effective!)

[Right, yes, mixing fandoms and rather dizzily happy about it, thank you!]

Here is a song that I stumbled on tonight and it is a mighty song indeed. [Many thanks to the Facebook friend who found this first.]


The song is "Yami ga Hirogaru", performed by Shizuki Asato as Der Tod and Máté Kamarás as Prince Rudolf.

The original title of the song is "Die Schatten werden länger", translated into English as "The Shadows Grow Longer". The Japanese version, however, is rendered into English as "The Darkness is Falling" or something like that.

Anyone who's a fan of this musical will be able to know why this is an amazing and unique rendition: this is actually being performed by two very famous Der Tods! We have Shizuki from the 1998 Soragumi production of the Takarazuka Kagekidan, and Kamarás from the 2004-2005 Vienna Revival cast.

And to think that Kamarás learned part of the Japanese lyrics just to perform this song!

I think that it's one of the more powerful renditions I've heard - Shizuki's voice keeps going from strength to strength even though it's been nearly 10 years since she performed as Der Tod, and as for Kamarás, well, it's not too hard to imagine why he's such a star.

I'm deliberately going to Ear Worm myself with this song!

Inception, in on the ground floor

Related post:
Inception: Rapid Review, No Spoilers

And there are still no spoilers here because I love you all and I love this film too.



It's so exciting to get in on the ground floor of a fandom: you're there when it gets started, you watch the enthusiasm rocket up to astounding levels, you feel the boundless energy of fans and their love.

I'm not looking forward to the inevitable schisms and wank - it'll come, most fandoms go through those pangs periodically. But for now the sheer explosion of inspiration and creativity that's come - it's exactly as Eames tells Arthur:

You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

And that is precisely what we're doing right now. Thanks, Christopher Nolan and the cast and crew. We're dreaming. And we're loving it.

Inception: Rapid Review, No Spoilers

Having rushed off to see Inception today with my partner, here are my notes and impressions:

- I want to stay at that hotel, hamster wheel corridor included.

- The way I'm thinking right now, my totem would either be a fountain pen or a crochet hook. [And I teased my partner that his would be a miniature figure of a panda.]

- Eames / the Forger [Tom Hardy] is my absolute favorite character in the movie.

- Nobody messes with Arthur / the Point Man [Joseph Gordon-Levitt].

- And Ariadne / the Architect [Ellen Page]? Rocks. End of discussion.

- As for actors: GODDAMN but Cillian Murphy can ACT. Whew. Bloody amazing that man.

After the movie? Best advice would be to engage friends in friendly but intense debate over the story, its themes, and its internal logic. Preferably over either alcohol or, if there are teetotalers, lots and lots of sweets [my partner and I did most of our critiques over dinner, which included a slice of Black Forest cake].

And, as I said over and over again on my Facebook and my Twitter: whatever the hell Christopher Nolan was on while writing and rewriting this damn movie - I WANT SOME AND I WANT IT NOW.

Go, watch, be amazed. I am an absolute newbie in the genre of mindfuck cinema, but I will be so presumptuous as to say that this movie is now on my list.

Getting stared at: WORTH IT.

Warning: Snark ahead!

Out and about today with the boyfriend: we visited the La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City - not much going on there, but apparently it's a great hit with local families. Amenities include swimming, rowboating, trail riding, paintball. Unfortunately the one feature we wanted to try - fishing - is no longer on offer.

From there we went to SM Megamall in Pasig City. As we got on the escalators we found out that there was a mini-convention going on: "I Ai Anime" by OtakuZine. So we popped in for a quick look.

First off: PHP 100 for a ticket?! The con was a little bit of rip-off city: only took up one exhibit hall and didn't even fill it all up. One space was taken up by the merchants and fandom sellers, one corner by a cafe, one by a stage - and that was it.

Secondly, at the time we showed up the place was still deserted. Other cons I've been to were already standing-room-only by the time 12 noon rolled around, with lines snaking out the entrance and around the mall corridors. But there we were standing in the exhibit hall at a few minutes to noon and there was enough space for people to literally run around and chase each other.

Third: Who knows the rules for playing Jeopardy! any more? And worse, who ever heard of a Jeopardy! game where all the answers had to be written down? You only do that for the Final Jeopardy! round and then you've got to wager something to do it - but the con emcees were trying to get people to play Otaku Trivia Jeopardy!, and ... weren't doing such a hot job.

About the only thing that redeemed the con was the variety and richness of fandom sellers: accessories galore. Pins, silly hats, key chains, mobile phone charms - there was quite a lot to choose from.

And, oh, did I mention SILLY HATS?

BRAINZZZZ~!

We spotted one merchant selling all sorts of Plants vs Zombies stuff and after much deliberation, we wound up buying this lovely zombie-head hat. I would almost call it a helm a la Ragnarok Online - look at the size of that thing!

After we left the con I kept the hat on while we strolled around the mall corridors. Reactions varied, but yes, it was very satisfying to get stared at. After all, there was a zombie in the mall!

"If you have three strings (a shamisen), you can eat."

Shamisen are the trademark instruments of the geisha, and the title of this post comes from a saying that Liza Dalby quoted in her anthropological study of these amazing women.

But I don't really think that they would have had performances like THESE in mind, hmm?

I got this one from Facebook friends. No idea where THEY got it from, but this is pretty neat.



And then the related videos list includes none other than Kitano Takeshi in another duel of tap shoes vs. a shamisen. I can't embed it, so have the link instead: here.

You know, I once DID a semester of tap in university - and I was very bad at it! Lack of coordination and weak legs for the fail! These guys are just absolute masters.

A day of reckoning: Election Day 'round the corner

Okay, this is me putting my money where my mouth is.

While the UK is waiting on the results of its general election, we here in the Philippines are gearing up for OUR polls, which will be taking place this coming Monday. I talked about the process of getting ready for the election in this post; now I'm going to talk about who I will be voting for.

*deep breath*

PRESIDENT: After several weeks of thinking about it and reading about all the candidates, their promises, their shortcomings, and pretty much everything all the various sorts of media put out about them, I've finally made my decision.

I'm going to abstain.

There is no one on that ballot right now who I would trust to lead my country.

VICE-PRESIDENT: Mar Roxas.

In my opinion (and I say that to make it clear that I think this way, and that everyone is free to disagree with it), if he had only decided to tell the Liberal Party that it would be wiser if they kept him on as their presidential candidate and then asked Noynoy Aquino to run as his veep, then I would have voted for their tandem - and I would even have volunteered in their campaign.

Since that's not what happened, I will content myself with voting for Roxas as VP.

SENATORS: Biazon, Drilon, Guingona, Inocencio, Lao, Osmena, Recto, and Roco.

I'm supposed to vote for 12 senators, but honestly, I do not want to return people like Revilla and Lapid and Estrada to that hall. Its reputation has been tarnished enough under their power-grabbing and -keeping ways. Can we have some new blood please?

PARTYLIST: AGHAM (the Filipino word for science).

If you seem confused by this, don't be. It's a means of getting the underrepresented sectors a chance at actually being represented in Congress.

And of all the organizations on that list - many of which are really dummy parties designed to help career politicians hold on to their power - this is the one I've picked. This country needs to have real scientists sit in Congress to help hammer out so many laws that could affect the environment, human rights, health. We need to inject the lawmaking body with a healthy dose of the scientific method.

***

With all the last-minute bugs and glitches bothering this country's first automated elections, I really hope nothing bad happens on Monday, let alone the next few weeks. I will, of course, keep you updated.

Gotta WTF 'em all - jejemons!

Okay, I admit it, the first time anyone tried explaining to me what a jejemon was, I thought of THIS demotivational poster:



I was going to let that poster stand for all my thoughts on the subject, but I thought it would be nice to have my statement on these sorts of people right here on the blog for all the world to see.

If I really wanted to be honest about it, jejemons are just the latest in a long line of people who make me despair for the future of the English language. I can live with the fact that a living language is an evolving language, but I personally cannot abide such hideous constructions as "bestfriend" and its equally obnoxious contractions "BFF" and "bestie". [Oh, don't get me started....]

And then there are the jejemons. I won't strain my fingers and my brain trying to type something up in their representative idiom, and I won't break your eyes - so, all I want to say is this.

Look, I can understand that jejemons think their language is fun and, yes, unfortunately, uniquely suited to their way of thinking. But if a jejemon really wants to put in so much effort in encoding his/her thoughts in this particular way, and if he/she really wants other people to pretty much break their brains trying to decipher the stream of visual gibberish....

How will I know that you're actually trying to send me something as profound as

Four score and seven years ago,

or

To be or not to be,

or even

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine,

if the alphanumeric symbols are just a mush of visually unappetizing soup?

And that is all I have to say about that.

5,000 Hits GET!

I am seriously thinking about putting together something for this blog and all its friends, readers and visitors, because it's these wonderful people who have been supporting it for all the time it's been around.

Would anyone be interested in a giveaway or something? Like I could make a scarf or a hat for the winner of a competition centered on this blog? I'm serious, you know. I'll run off and make plans forthwith, and you, friends, will be the first to know what happens next.

Thank you so much for reading!

Because I am a proud big sister...

...and because hail, hail, the family's all here.

Meet my family. From left to right, that would be Papa, me, Mommy, younger sister, and my younger brother.

Two days ago my sister graduated from high school. Near the top of her class, as you can tell from all the hardware dangling on her chest. That's a whopping eleven medals. And along with her diploma came citations for finishing extra-credit courses in math and science. (The way she explained them to me, it sounded a whole lot like Advanced Placement classes.)

Those awards even provided a couple of comedy moments at the graduation because she and all the similarly bemedaled ones clanked while they were walking! The audience of family and friends really got a good laugh out of the sound effects....

You're probably wondering, hang on, we know you're in your late twenties, how old is your sister if she's just graduating from high school? The answer is that the age gap between us is a whopping eleven years. My sister is young enough and so far away from me in terms of age that she IS in another generation entirely.

As for my brother, he and I were born about one year apart. He and his girlfriend flew in especially for the occasion of our sister's graduation, and he'll be staying for another couple of weeks before returning to their apartment and jobs in Singapore.

You can really tell in this picture who takes after whom, particularly around the faces and, rather more obviously, our heights!

Congratulations to my sister and best of luck on entering culinary school! And a great big welcome home to my brother!