Catch Up (Take Two)

Hmmm...playing catch up again. Maybe one of my goals should have been "keep Touriste halfway up to date"...

Anyway, on to the news!
1) French Praxis. I'm signed up to re-take the test on April 25th (I believe, or whatever date that Saturday is). Hopefully I can get those few extra points I'll need to pass in both states this time.

9) Submissions. I've submitted a total of 8 times so far, with 5 rejections. The other three are still out. Should be hearing from them soon though!

16) 101 new foods. I've had at least three new foods off the top of my head, all thanks to my Cultural Diversity class. One was a strange mixture of pork, beans, and various fruit (I remember oranges and pineapple off the top of my head). It tasted as strange as it sounds! I also tried a maple syrup pie and this Thai rice with some kind of tasty yellow spice in it. I've forgotten what the spice was called, but it's supposedly really common in Thai cooking. I usually don't like hot foods, but this one had a really slow burn to it that I enjoyed.

24 and 25) Hugo and Nebula novels. I just finished reading Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold, which won both the Hugo and the Nebula in 2004. Woot woot for double dipping! One sentence review: I like it, though I have no idea why. To expand: I spent quite a bit of time asking myself, "Why am I still reading?"; most of the time, I had no answer, but didn't want to put the book down. The plot meanders and relies on accidents - for example, the first few chapters are nothing more than Ista, the main character, getting bored and deciding to go on a quest. No monster to slay, no royal/devine order to carry out, just...boredom. She goes off and spends several more chapters wandering the countryside, looking for something to do, before a chance encounter gives us the first taste of any real plot. Yet I wanted to keep reading and was, for the most part, completely pulled into the story.
How did Paladin manage this? My best guess is through the characters. Ista and her friends feel a little bit like stock characters to me - the young, playful soldiers/guards; the older, cynical, "only I know the truth" woman; the kind-hearted but bumbling priest - yet Bujold manages to make them come alive on paper. Yes, there was a little voice in the back of my head saying, "Hey, Ista seems like a stock character" but for the most part, it was easily ignored. If I'm being honest, I don't mind authors using stock characters, as long as they have individual traits as well, which Bujold pulls off without a hitch.
Next on the list: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (Hugo and Nebula winner for 2007)

83) My filing cabinet is about halfway up now! All my writing files have been moved in and organized (and how much happier they are now that they can breath!) but I still have quite a few papers, mostly foreign language resources, to add to the bottom half of the cabinet. Yeah, I wish they didn't have to share too, but I don't have enough files yet to support the expense of buying a second cabinet. Maybe after I outgrow this one.

And that's actually all I have for you right now. I'd better get cracking in April, eh?