Happy Easter...

Well, it's Easter, and here in Florence that means alot. Gorgeous creations at the local bakeries (This one is from Gilli near Piazza Republicca), eggs, chocolate, cake...yum. This doozy of an egg is one I don't even think I could eat.

Too pretty by far.

As for me, I went on spring break to Dublin. Gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous. My pictures are currently classified (IE, I took them with Sophie's camera and haven't gotten them from her yet), so you'll simply have to make do with pretty eggs.
On a further note, I'm still working on my thesis. Getting close to the line here, and I've got the chunk of it finished. So close...so very close. Tomorrow we're going to go watch some fireworks and eat brunch with the rest of the conservation trolls. (No, I'm not using the royal we here, I mean me and Sophie) I'm making pasta salad.
And speaking of things I've made recently.That's not something I've made recently. But I couldn't find a picture of the apple tarts I made...dammit. They were pretty good, apparently. I didn't get one. I was very ill last weekend. Honestly it's the sickest I've been in years. I'm still on the recovery so my eating habits are all funky. I just couldn't stomach the thought of eating apples so...my class enjoyed them very much though. Just cooked chopped apples with cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, honey and lemon juice put in dough shells(precooked) and then topped with sweetened cinnamon marscapone cheese and some almonds. Served cold.

Here's another photo of the window at Gilli's. I don't think the dog is made of chocolate, but it did come with chocolate eggs and the fact is, it's adorable beyond all reason.

I've been sending out submissions to agents and magazines.

I've decided to make a count.

Agent Submissions - 6
Rejections - 3
Awaiting Judgment - 3
Accepted - 0
Manuscript Submissions - 5
Rejections - 3
Awaiting Judgment - 2 (also awaiting my shipping them)
Accepted - 0
Magazine Submissions - 4
Rejections - 3
Awaiting Judgment - 0
Accepted - 1 (unpaid, school publication)

That's a bit depressing, eh? More depressing, three of those no's were this past week alone. I've applied to some jobs recently as well, which I won't disclose out of superstition. I really, really, want one of them. Really. Really really really. See, I'm reverting to a four year old just at the thought. In the meantime, I await the judgment of the agents I've submitted to (three separate projects for those of you wondering) before sending out those two manuscript submissions. I'd also like to be in the states when I do it.

In further news, I've been accepted into college for the fall, so that takes care of a few things. I'll be continuing for a BA in Archaeology which I plan to use as a platform for my paper conservation MA plans. I highly recommend having a plan. I plan to continue to make plans. As not planning seems to get me into trouble.

Cheers.

There was a rabbit.

So, for the last week I've been in England, mostly London, but also took a side trip to Bath. In Bath, I saw a grown man chain up a rabbit, put it in a sack with weights, and toss it in the River Avon. We all counted to five.

It's okay, though, the rabbit escaped.

A picture of the rabbit's offspring shall be up eventually.



I also spent a few hours in Pisa prior to my flight to London, and it was nice. The tower was a bit smaller than expected though. Amon--my little Puki--was also not impressed.

Anyway, while in London I saw the original manuscript of Alice in Wonderland, as well as the original Jane Eyre. A Gutenberg bible, some of the other first books ever printed on a printing press, the Parthenon Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, Etruscan and Greek and Roman pottery, jewelry, etc. And loads of other culturally important things.

But of course, the most important thing is that I saw the original Alice in Wonderland. I mean, come on.



We also went to Stone Henge(It was awesome and the weather was gorgeous), which brings me to the surprise of our trip. We had the most beautiful weather the entire time. It's rained this last day, but it always seems to rain on travel days.



There were two ghost walks(one in London on Halloween and one in Bath the night before), a Jack the Ripper walk, and a visit to the Sherlock Holmes Museum and 221B Baker street. We drank water at the Roman baths in Bath and talked to a conservator who was repairing some of the original paving. On a side note, if you go to the Roman baths in Bath, please don't lean, kick, or pick at the walls. They have orignal Roman plaster on them and are very fragile!

I read a few books, Magic Study by Maria Snyder, the first three Darren Shan books, and one I really recommend for newbie writers, Some Writers Deserve to Starve. It's got great tips for making it in the publishing industry and I picked it up for only £2.99 (as it's usually £10.99 this was awesome). It has some great reference sites too.

Let's see, I also went to the movies a couple times as it was my birthday this past week and I needed to distract myself from feeling old. Went to see the Vampire's Assistant, I liked it overall as a popcorn flick with some interesting lines. I'd watch it to write to. (For those of you that don't know me well, I tend to write while watching movies. The background noise is good, and sometimes I tend to think of something when I'm watching that leads to a plot-point. I also listen to music sometimes.) We also saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which(as I've not read the book) I had no idea what to expect beyon Dahl's quirks. I liked it as well, I don't think I could write to it, but we'll see.

Up next I'll be reading Fire Study by Maria Snyder and the next Darren Shan trilogy. I'm working on my Post-Bacc degree in Art Conservation right now, which means I'm writing this insanely long thesis paper on the History of Restoration in regards to Gothic Bibles(yeah, that's my title), and I'm busy researching. If you have any research suggestions, feel free to poke me with them. I'm also doing a large scale test audience for Legion's Web, my work-in-progress novel for the last four/five years. This is my final polish up before I send it off to Immanion Press(a publishing company whose books I have to recommend you look up).

Anywho, I'll have pictures up to accompany all this eventually. Oh, and I'm now on fictionpress.com under the name HemlockKey, where a good deal of fun new stuff is posted. I've got a bit of something for everyone, but be warned, I don't write for younger audiences in general, so always check the rating and my Bio which will have relevant information regarding each story.

In any case, that's it for now. Cheers.

Alive and Jetlagged

I made it...five flights and five airports and a four hour delay on my flight to Chicago that made me miss my flight to Columbus but I got another one and now I'm home a bit jetlagged but otherwise alright and my brother made me Chinese food for breakfast and is therefor awesome.

Ah. It's good to be home. Over here is a picture from my travels. Enjoy.