So one of my several majors in school

was Classical Civilisation, and I am a Classics geek. [My BA degree is in history and sociology, with an honours programme, but I went back after graduating with my master's in library science and completed the classical civilisation major and a minor in Judaic studies. I was, sadly, only one class away from completing a linguistics major--phonological analysis was never taught at a time that fit into my schedule in all the years I was in school.] One good thing about my education is that I can read both Classical and Mediaeval Latin, between the Classics courses and the graduate work I did in history. I didn't get as far in Greek, though, dropping out about the time we got to the aorist tense, which Wikipedia defines as 'a term for a set of verb forms that usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite.' But, it continues, 'The word comes from Ancient Greek aóristos "indefinite", as the aorist was the unmarked (default) form of the verb, and thus did not have the implications of the imperfective aspect, which referred to an ongoing or repeated situation, or the perfect, which referred to a situation with a continuing relevance; instead it described an action "pure and simple".' If that makes your brain hurt, well, it did mine as a well. I would like to go back and study my Ancient Greek textbooks (I have both of the first two semesters' worth).

But even though my Greek isn't that great, I still love things to do with Classical Greece, and one mystery series I'm working my way through is Gary Corby's, which is set in the childhood of Socrates. In fact, the main protagonist is Socrates' brother. The first book of the series is The Pericles Commission. Then there's The Ionia Sanction, The Marathon Conspiracy, Sacred Games (I have all of those, though I'm still reading), and finally Death Ex Machina.

I also read Gary Corby's blog, A Dead Man Fell from the Sky..., the title of which is taken from the first line of his first book. I started reading it before he actually had any of his books published officially, and found it to be quite enjoyable. The latest entry is on Classical Greek music and I really enjoyed it. If you are interested in Greek, Classics, or music, You should check it out. And you might check your library for his books as well.

After sleeping till 11 am, I got up and ate, and then got cold (which almost never happens), so I crawled back in the bed and didn't come out till 2 pm. So I got a LOT of rest. A and I went on a two-hour journey through two grocery stores in order to get everything on the list, including the one nearest me, which is a huge Kroger that has clothes and housewares as well. But they didn't have the right creamer, so we stopped by Chinoe's Kroger for that. After that, YKWIA splurged slightly and we got dinner from Jin Jin, so I went and picked that up (I had my usual, Kung Pao Tofu). We ate, A watching a classic movie about the Roosevelts, and YKWIA and I watching an episode of 'Lost Girl' on Netflix. Then I left, because they wanted to watch the premiere of 'American Horror Story: Hotel' (I'm just not into that show--I watched 'Coven', but I haven't seen the others, and YKWIA thinks I'm just a wuss because it's too scary for me.) So I came home, and I watched the final episode of the second season of 'Sherlock'. I'd though I hadn't seen much of it, but I had. But I haven't watched the episodes from the third season yet, and so it set those up. Now I'm listening to the OneRepublic Pandora station, with candles and incense burning, and the windows open. It's a pleasant night, and there were no game notes to do because we haven't played in two weeks (due to a wedding and an illness), and I got the notes finished quite some time ago.

I think before I go to bed I'm going to do a little reading. I didn't the other day when I thought I would; I was just too tired. I'm more than halfway finished with my book (Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs, and I'd like to go ahead and finish it. There is a third book in the series out called Library of Souls. That's not one I own; I'll have to get it through the library. I really do like the series, and I am concerned about what Tim Burton is going to do with the film adaptation. There is an excellent book trailer for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children on YouTube:



Hmmm...the other day I found two unused AA batteries; now my mouse is dying, so I changed them out. Serendipity, indeed. And yes, I turn my mouse off, usually, after each use. Which is why the batteries have lasted at least two years.

Okay, I think I'll go do that. I'm listening to 'I Lived' by OneRepublic right now. I love that song. But I'll do some reading and then turn in, as Sunday morning will come soon enough and I need to go over and help get the house ready for company and get it ready for the game. A wants to take a walk and plant tulips and a hyacinth, too, so we'll see if we can get it all worked into the normal busy Sunday schedule. :)

I have got to start reading more of this series

So Gary Corby's new book, Death Ex Machina is out, and while I loved the first book The Pericles Commission, and have The Ionia Sanction, The Marathon Conspiracy, and Sacred Games, I haven't made the time to read the latter three of of Nicolaos and Diotima's adventures in Ancient Greece yet. That's going to have to change, I think. Maybe I can get some reading in while I'm taking breaks from cleaning this weekend.

Up at strange hours of the night

I came home about 9ish today and just pretty much went straight to bed. I'd taken a friend to a doctor's appointment, dealt with much nerve-wracking traffic, gotten dinner and then had to take it back because Taco Bell gave the vegetarians beefy tacos (and I ate one before I quite realised it, and I thought I was going to be sick), and watched several episodes of 'H2O: Just Add Water'. We've been watching on Netflix, having to compensate because the second season episodes are out of order, but tomorrow I should get the complete series from Amazon on DVD. I must admit it tends to relax me. The episodes are short, just 24 minutes, and the subject matter is generally somewhat lightweight teen drama, without the angst of American shows. Maybe Australian teens aren't quite as angsty, I don't know. :)

Speaking of Australians, I am starting Gary Corby's The Ionian Sanction, the second of his ancient Greek mystery series. I just got the third, Sacred Games, recently. I really liked his debut novel, The Pericles Commission. I'll let you know what I think about the second once I'm finished.

Things are rather quiet at the moment. It has been a busy week at work, but not too bad otherwise. The little betta is still doing well. I need to do some stuff around the house tomorrow evening and also go to the Y (today just wasn't going to work). Saturday is farmer's market, grocery, and an appointment for a friend. Somewhere between now and Sunday I need to do game notes, and I think it's the last game before one of the players goes to Pennsic (the great 'war' between the Midrealm and the Kingdom of the East in the Society for Creative Anachronism). It's been years since I went, but it was enjoyable. I think it's much bigger than it used to be; several thousand people camp out at a Pennsylvania campground, dress up in mediaeval gear, and those with fighter personae whack at each other with rattan swords. Fortunately we wrapped up the adventure last time, so 1) we can hopefully have just a bit of down time and 2) the notes should go by quickly because I don't put in blow-by-blow action, so it goes quicker during action scenes than, say, investigation ones.

Okay, I've had something to drink, plugged in my phone, taken some long-acting insulin, and fed the fish. It's time to head back to bed. Good night.

Apparently

if Taco Bell leaves off part of your order, they have a book they write your name and the item down in, and then you can come back at your leisure and pick it up. It's not ideal, I suppose, but it's keeping me from answering the survey about how I had to repeat my order twice, make sure they gave me diet instead of sugared soda, and I had to ask for a straw. Still, I'm relatively happy with my meal, if not the service. I'll stop by when I go out to have my hair cut or such today.

I got my package picked up. For two books, it's fairly large; the Pippi collection is about 8" x 10" x 1" in terms of dimensions. It was nice to get something from Amazon, as I haven't ordered anything in about a month or so. The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking includes Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board, and Pippi in the South Seas, all of which I loved as a child. {Not so, YKWIA, who I think grumbled about a wretched child when I mentioned it.) I'm curious as to whether I will enjoy them as much as an adult. I still have Gary Corby's The Ionian Sanction to read before Sacred Games, but I really liked The Pericles Commission, with its mix of history and humour. I also love the colours and illustrations of the American hardcover dust jackets, so much that having read the first book on the Kindle, I bought the book again in hardback for the cover. The first book's jacket background was a brilliant blue, the second a kind of terracotta. This one is yellow, with Greek redware-style wrestlers, the sacred flame of the ancient Olympic games, with Nicolaos and Diotima peeking in. I approve of the fact that, true to art form and nature, there is no attempt to pretend the naked wrestlers are, well, not naked, even though it's on a book cover. (Okay, like most penises of Greek art, it's tiny, so most people who would be easily shocked, probably couldn't tell, but here in the States, people get bent out of shape for the silliest things, like whether a Greek wrestler, who should be naked, is.) :)

PS Ooh, I just put the books together and it turns out they're not the same size. :( Looks like the imprint at least changed. Oh, well, it's not the end of the world, but I really do prefer series books to be uniform. This is why I bought Dead Ever After, the final Sookie Stackhouse book by Charlaine Harris, from the Science Fiction Book Club, because I'd gotten the others through there and their editions were smaller than the general market ones. Sigh. I know, what's important is what's inside the cover, and I'm being a little OCD. But for those publishers out there, consider that readers have such strange quirks. In the meantime, I've added the books to my to-read pile (which is growing quickly). Maybe before I tackle the house I'll actually do a bit of reading.

But before I go

There's this bit of techie humour from Gary Corby, an Australian writer whose mysteries The Pericles Commission and The Ionia Sanction are set in Ancient Greece and are really quite good (the daring detective has an annoying younger brother you might have heard of by the name of Socrates):

Illegal combination of beef with black bean sauce

Congratulations!

To Gary Corby, an Australian author whose blog I follow. Today his first book, The Pericles Commission, was released (at least in many places. For some reason it's not available through Amazon here in the States in either hardback or Kindle format until November 9th, but I have it on pre-order. But it's definitely available here in the US--he's going to be in San Mateo, California tonight for the book launch.) There's a second one that's been sent to the publisher and a third one being written. I'm very excited for him, and he's starting a whirlwind book tour as a result.

The Pericles Commission is an historical murder mystery set in the ancient world, but unlike most of its genre it is not set in Rome but in classical Athens. It's supposed to have quite a bit of humour about it, too (among other things, the main character's annoying little brother is Socrates). It sounds really promising, and Gary Corby seems to have researched his facts well--I've been reading his blog for quite some time now and he has great posts both on the ancient world and into book publishing.

Anyway, I wish him luck on his trip and hope the book does really well.

I've been following someone on Twitter

but am now following his blog because, well, of the Persian FBI post. But then there was the graph showing Hewlett-Packard ink as costlier than blood, and then I read his apostrophe post (yes, it really is s', not 's after an s as far as I am concerned [not to mention after x and z, or at least that was how I was taught]; I think people just aren't taught properly anymore and have no idea of proper grammar--sorry Stephen King). Well, you get the picture. A dead man fell from the sky... is a blog by Gary Corby, who writes historical novels set in Ancient Greece. Once they're published I definitely must check them out, and not just because I majored in history and classics, love reading, and love how the English language flows when well-written--he's got a great sense of humour, too.

Anyway, go read his blog...or follow him on Twitter (http://twitter.com/GaryCorby). Here's the blurb for his first book, due to be released in Fall 2010:

Nicolaos, the ambitious son of a minor sculptor, walks the mean streets of Classical Athens as an agent for the promising young politician Pericles. Murder and mayhem don't bother Nico; what's really on his mind is how to get closer (much closer) to Diotima, the intelligent and annoyingly virgin priestess of Artemis, and how to shake off his irritating 12 year old brother Socrates

Oh, and Socrates? He's that Socrates. :) Book 2 is in revision and he's currently writing Book 3. I must say I'm intrigued. So keep an eye out for more.