It's those damn pesky facts. They ruin everything, I tells ya.

I don't mind facts so much, it's having them in so many places and in so much doubt. I mean, "the text says blahblahblah" is a fact, and easy, and neat, because either it does or it doesn't and the only thing in doubt is what blahblahblah means, which is entirely personal; but "in 1430, people did blahblahblah" is presented as a fact, but it might not be. Especially if in three others books it says, "in 1430, people did yaddayaddayadda". And then you have to reference all four books, and that's okay when you're really interested in both blahblahblah and yaddayaddayadda, but when you not? It's no fun.

Um. Yeah. I may just be a little bored, here, and it's making me boring.

Whee, serial posting ahoy.

In fact, sometimes they don't even have to agree! You just have to argue it convincingly.

Oh, I love this part. Once when I was stupidly arguing that T.S Eliot's Prufrock was crap (do not mix caffeine, poetry analysis and deadlines--there is no good there), I actually had a teacher say to me that he respected my opinion even if he disagreed with it. Lovely tolerant man he was - if I were him, I would have locked me in a classroom and refused to let me out till I started speaking sense.

On edit:

It's no fun.

Yep, thus comes my avoidance. Which will no doubt bite me in the ass when I'm abducted by aliens and they won't let me go till I tell them who Australia's first Prime Minister was. You'd be surprised how often I worry about that, really. I choose to blame my over-indulgence in sci-fi as a child.

I actually had a teacher say to me that he respected my opinion even if he disagreed with it.

It's one of the things that makes English a wonderful subject. I've had similiar experiences, but the best example I've ever heard was my grandmother's story (she did English as her major subject when she went to collage as a muture student for a teaching degree) about arguing that, contrary to many tradition interpetations which have Desdemona a tragic heroine, she's actually a manipulative bitch (not my grandmother's words, but you get the idea). Her lecturer gave her an A-- one of the few he ever gave out-- partly for taking up a different stance.

It's one of the things that makes English a wonderful subject.

Mmmm...English. I'm already doing two courses of it, and would be doing more if I didn't like the idea of being able to afford food after I graduate so much.

I'm already doing two courses of it, and would be doing more if I didn't like the idea of being able to afford food after I graduate so much.

But Leigh... starving is so much more fun if you've got lots of happy reading to look back on.

But Leigh... starving is so much more fun if you've got lots of happy reading to look back on.

-sigh- the eternal debate...food vs pornliterature. How am I expected to choose between the two loves of my life? I can't help but think that Buffy "I'm made out of cookie dough" Summers wouldn't have this problem. ( The white-font is very vague dialogue-spoiler snark from BtVS 7.22)

So, the UK has just seen the first two eps of Firefly. ("Serenity", in two parts but following directly on from one another). And I really DO love it as much as I thought I would. Quite possibly more. In fact, were it not for the depressing knowledge that it got suffocated by the good people of Fox, and that falling head over heels in love with it would be sheer craziness, then it would be in danger of quickly becoming my very favourite show.

Curse those Fox Bastards. Darn them. Darn them all to heck.

Better to have loved and lost, Fay.

That's what I've been telling myself, because Firefly? I love it. Lots. In many ways. But I know its going to be cruelly ripped away from me.

C'mon! Who cancels a show with britches? Crazy people, that's who.

That's what I've been telling myself, because Firefly? I love it. Lots. In many ways. But I know its going to be cruelly ripped away from me.

Now that you know its fate, don't go into it thinking of it as a continuing series. Think of it as a nifty finite series. Maybe that will help.

Fay, I think when it was airing in the US I described it as falling in love with a compulsive parachutist: any day might be the day your beloved went splat. Alas that it did.