Mysterious Emails and Various Musings

In a rather bizarre twist of fate, I recieved a rather interesting email tonight, from a Colin Riley at Simon and Schuster publishing:

"Hi,

I am writing from Simon and Schuster publishing and we were wondering if you would be interested in receiving free copies of our new titles like Percy Jackson? No strings attached. If you like the book and would like to post a review of it that is up to you also we can, on occasion, provide free books for your site to host a giveaway for your loyal readers. Let me know if you are interested.

Best,
Colin
Marketing
Simon and Schuster"

Now, I should probably make clear at this point that as an afficionado of greek mythology and teenage fiction that lacks sparkly vampires, The Percy Jackson books are among the best series I've ever read, and the film actually wasn't half bad either, (I await a sequel eagerly.) Hell, I even wrote a relatively decent Original Character fanfic over on fanfiction.net that went over pretty well, which I might actually write the last chapter of one of these days. (Yes, I am this lame. No, I won't link you to my fanfiction profile, those were dark days left long ago, I have no real wish to revisit them beyond completing the story)

For those of you that don't know, the Percy Jackson Series follows the premise that Greek Gods exist and continue to, much like in the myths of Ancient Greece and Rome, bang hot girls and guys on earth, producing children, or Half Bloods, who possess various powers, as well as ADHD and dyslexia. These children are taken to a training camp/summer camp in New York State, learning how to harness their powers, and tend to go on quests of various magnitude. I'll leave the rest of the plot to you.

Seriously, go read it.

Drive to a bookstore/library right now and get a hold of The Lightning Thief.

No, don't finish reading this blog first, go now. I'll still be here when you get back.

Right, so I'm left to wonder, can this possibly be legitimate? It seems like a dream come true, and the email does suggest it's authenticity. On the other hand, my "website" can only be this blog, a blog which only came into existence a week ago, and contains only two page views that weren't me testing the blog. (Person in america who's reading, please leave a comment, or drop me an email, that would be brilliant.)

But hey, if it's legit, I'm all in favour. This would be a fantastic development in my life.

In other news, I've discovered there are few ways of changing your image for the better that are more effective then the simple purchase of a hat. I've always been nervous in the past about altering my image, I rather enjoy being entrenched in the "Casual yet totally smart for all circumstances" shtick. So when I bought a hat from my local alternative fashion centre, I couldn't help but wonder if I could pull it off.

The moral of the story: if you want to change your image, don't worry about pulling it off, just do it, swagger into work/school/lectures like you own the place, then 9 times of 10, people will like it.

Disclaimer: The previous statement does not extend to the wearing of mankinis or breaking school uniforms.

Anyway, that's about all I have time for, so till next post, good bye, adieu, etcetera.

Archer's Tales

One of the things you might be surprised to know about me is that I've recently taken up Archery as a sport. (Note: Archery constitutes a sport because pulling a 40 pound bow 60-100 times in an afternoon is physically taxing. Darts does not.)

Anyway, I've been learning how to shoot a bow for a little over a month now, and I'm finally starting to get to a stage where I can feel a little proud of my achievement. I'm not a good shot yet, but I'm getting there, slowly and surely. Getting the arrows in the target really is a nice feeling.

It's really hard to describe why I enjoy it so much. Partly it's the sense of history, learning a skill that was a vital part of like in the past, a skill that demonstrated time and again that training, dedication and adaptibility can trump better technology. (See Battle of Agincourt, yes crossbow enthusiasts, I am mocking you.)

In other news, my mind continues to astonish me. Apparently the sense of guilt at having overslept and missed half a lecture last Wednesday is strong enough to function as an Alarm Clock, actually waking me up 5 minutes before the alarm I set went off. While this does raise some slightly interesting questions about my mental state, I can't help but revel in my subconcious work ethic. If only this would translate into concious work ethic (problem sheets will no longer be left until tuesday night however, it's too much a pain in the arse to work at that time of night)

If you're still reading at this point, congratulations. You're either incredibly interested in the bizarre ramblings of a guy with far too much time on his hands (and entirely too much caffiene and sugar in his system to go to sleep just yet) or you're a crossbow enthusiast reading to the bottom in order to leave a scathing comment.

Bring it on.

Hello, and welcome to the blog of a boy of questionable sanity

Hello, and welcome to the first post of the first blog I've ever written. Within this hallowed tome, I shall disclose all my deepest neuroses and shocking, shocking truths. You will learn things that you never expected, in your wildest dreams, to discover.

Actually, in all honesty, it's more likely that you'll learn that I'm a bit odd, and into slightly unusual stuff.

On the plus side, anyone who knows me and reads this may find themselves discovering shocking truths about my flatmates, my friends, and the arseholes I have to deal with day to day.

On the other hand, I'll probably also be complaining about you, as well.

However, returning to my original reason for creating this blog, as you may have guessed from the URL, (and possibly the Title of the blog, if you went to school) I'm a physicist who loves shakespeare.

That's about all I can be bothered to post today, I'll be posting quasi-linguistic-scientific rants the next time I'm sufficiently hacked off.