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Fortifying Friday - A Tiny Bit of Breathing Room

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French

If you asked me last week, I would have said it was doubtful I would finish my online French hours in time. I finished my last two hours tonight! The oral exam is this Monday. The written exam is next Monday.

Iaido

Now I can focus on grading Nidan for iaido. I need to reduce how long it's taking me to do etiquette. It needs to be crisper too. And I need to run through my kata several times, perhaps by picking out numbers from a hat. I don't know what kata they are going to give me. I'm worried I'll forget the numbers and then do the wrong ones and fail.

Writing

I can finally work on The Blood Waitress Club. This story now features witch/vampire/insect demons that play roller derby. I'm collecting ideas for who they may play against. Some of my research includes rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer as I'm looking for different kinds of demons. I want a ragtag bunch of misfits. I haven't decided who should win, only what the stakes (or steaks, depending on whose perspective) are. I haven't quite decided if this will be erotica, though I'm leaning toward it. I think I'll let the story take me where it will ;)

Other

I also have some time to clean my house (it's a disaster!)... I'll be glad when December is here because I don't have a whole lot of people to buy gifts for and mostly my family wants movies or TV shows.

 

*** CONSIDER SKIPPING THE REST OF THIS POST IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FANTASTIC BEASTS MOVIE ***

I'm hoping I'm not putting anything too spoilery, but it's possible my lines of thought may give something away.

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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

I've seen it! I enjoyed it. There were some funny bits that may be for an older audience. It was on the dark side. There is a death that may be hard to explain to young children, but may also provide an opportunity for real dialogue with them about how the world isn't always fair and things don't always turn out OK.

Yes, as some of the reviews suggest, we don't get A LOT of character depth in this first movie, but I believe this is on purpose. As a writer, I see the value of doing this. Is it the wisest thing for endearment, perhaps not. We'll have to see what the box office numbers show. I enjoyed the action, and I got enough from the characters that I'm dying to know more. I don't care that it's set outside of London. I think that is wonderful! I love seeing more of the world of magic beyond Hogwarts. I still love Hogwarts, but it's nice to see how other countries might handle something like magical persons and animals.

I have one burning question: If muggles in America, sorry "No-Majs", are not allowed to know anything about the wizards and wizards can't date them... What happens when a magical child is born to a No-Maj couple? Do they take the magical child away from its parents? I hope we'll find out in the years to come :)

Anyway, I'm off to make supper and write about demon bug things that play roller derby!

Ciao,
R~
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