lily_handmaiden

I'm running out of time to post today, and I'm tired, and I have lesson planning to do, but I am not copping out of a journal entry for the day! It will just have to be a short one.

Last fall I took a Latin class in which one of the assignments was to compose a dialogue using a bunch of medical/physiological terms and some other vocab and grammatical features. I don't really see the point of Latin composition assignments, since English-to-Latin is not something I or anyone else I can think of will ever actually have to do, but I could at least make the assignment fun.

So, basically, I wrote Merlin fanfic in Latin.

You can probably tell that I did this assignment shortly after "The Crystal Cave" aired. I decided to call Merlin "Ambrosius," which is the Latin name by which Geoffrey of Monmouth identifies him ("Merlin, who was also called Ambrosius..."), in order to not make my cunning plan too obvious. This ended up being probably the most enjoyable composition I did all semester. I got to render, "When Arthur is king, things will be different" into Latin. :)

Latin:
Ambrosius, servus Artoriī, currit domum avunculī suī, cuius nōmen Gaius est. Gaius medicus est. Ambrosius refert sorōrem Artoriī, fēminam magnae pulchritūdinis, aegram esse.
Gaius: “Arbitrābam eam herī sanam esse.”
Ambrosius: “Nōn hodiē caput eius, sed enim crūs aegrum est. Per silvam equitūra erat, sed summō equō iēcta est. Itaque crūs nocitum est.”
Gaius: “Illa īnfēlīcissima est! Mēnse proximō cecidit et frontem īcit. Nunc crūs aegrum est.”
Ambrosius: “Potesne eam sanāre? Ea patrī vītā est cārior. Etenim pater rēx est!”
Gaius: “Proficiscar statim. Rēx solet civēs interficere, sī nōn laetus sit.”
Ambrosius: “Multō benignior est Artorius quam pater. Artoriō rēge,  dissimilēs erunt rēs.”
 
English translation:
Ambrosius, Artorius’s servant, runs to the home of his uncle, whose name is Gaius. Gaius is a doctor. Ambrosius reports that Artorius’s sister, a woman of great beauty, is unwell.
Gaius: “I thought that she was well yesterday.”
Ambrosius: “Not her head today, but in fact her leg is unwell. She was going to ride through the forest, but she was thrown from the top of her horse. Therefore her leg was injured.”
Gaius: “That girl is most unfortunate! Last month she fell and hit her forehead. Now her leg is unwell.”
Ambrosius: “Can you heal her? She is dearer to her father than his own life. And indeed her father is the king!”
Gaius: “I will set forth immediately. The king is accustomed to kill citizens, if he should be unhappy.”
Ambrosius: “Artorius is much kinder than his father. When Artorius is king, things will be different.”

All right, they're the old year's icons. But once these are posted I am ALL CAUGHT UP ON POSTING ICONS! :)

 Merlin (48)
13 Sword in the stone
6 Cup of Life
6 Freya
14 Freya's arm
8 Misc., including Morgana, Uther, Morgause, Sir Leon, and Arthur


01.  02.  03.  04.  05.

( 43 more )

Clone Wars (22)
4 Ahsoka
1 Anakin
9 Anakin/Padme
4 Padme

49.  50.  51.  52.  53.

( 17 more )

Star Wars (7)
3 Anakin/Padme
4 Padme

71.  72.  73.

( 4 more )

Misc. (11)
2 Vlogbrothers
1 Hyperbole and a Half
3 The Office
1 Harry Potter
3 Hark, a Vagrant!
1 Secret Life of Dolls

78.  79.  80.  81.  82.  83.

( 5 more )

( icon )
Happy Halloween! This evening, as I take a break from Latin to eat my dinner, I thought I'd share a bit of the weekly conversation Bethany and I had about the latest Merlin episode. We spent some time trying to figure out what defining characteristics Grettir would assign to Lancelot, Gwen, and Morgana. Hopefully, Bethany won't mind me posting this here, because I thought it was priceless.

This is from memory, but really recent memory, so I think it's fairly accurate. I've marked a few instances of extreme laughter, but to get an accurate idea of this conversation, you have to imagine us giggling throughout.

Me: “If Arthur is Courage, Merlin is Magic, and Gwaine is Strength, what would Lancelot be?”

Bethany: “Passion?”

( Yeah, that might be good. I was thinking something like Handsomeness. )

And thus, the Dream Team of Courage, Magic, Strength, Honor, Love, and Well-Intentioned Narcissism Passion. What do you think? What qualities would you, dear readers, assign to the Merlin characters?

( icon )

Watching "The Crystal Cave" almost gave me a nervous breakdown. It took me a while (and a really long phone call with Bethany) to work out my feelings on it, but I did like it. I feel like I'd need to watch it again to really appreciate it, and I don't think I have the energy to do that at present. I certainly don't have the time.

I wanted to do some kind of post about this episode. I thought about doing an actual review, I thought about just doing an "I CALLED IT!" post-- because I DID, Merlin fans, while watching the season premiere. (I actually had it called for most of the first season, but then the show lulled me into complacency. If that's how they're going to play, I'm half tempted to put my farfetched "Druid Boy From the Future" idea back on the table.) But when I got up this morning, my thoughts came out in fanfic form.

This is basically a combination of filling in the gaps and speculation raised by the episode. I'm spelling Morgana's mom's name "Vivien," because that's how Tennyson spells it and I don't have access to a closed-captioned version of the episode. Many thanks to the amazing Bethany for beta-reading this so quickly.


Title: More Than You Will Ever Know
Fandom: Merlin
Characters: Uther, Morgana, Vivien, Gorlois, Morgause, Nimueh
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,941
Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to the BBC. I mean no infringement.
Summary: Spoilers through "The Crystal Cave." Morgana's destiny, as shaped by her parents.


( He had never been sure. That was the hardest thing. If he’d only known for certain, one way or the other, he’d have had a better idea of how to deal with Morgana. )

 

Today has been a successful day of teaching Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (the second section was pretty much a Morgan le Fay party, which was awesome) and finding out that one of my students is also a Merlin fan (professional fangirl squeeing is professional... or perhaps not). Now I want to get one more chapter of this story posted before tomorrow's premiere. For which, let me say, I am SO EXCITED.

Thanks again and again to Bethany for beta reading and being generally wonderful.

Title: Who Follow the Gleam
Fandom: Merlin
Pairing: Merlin/Morgana (or hints thereof)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 5,871
Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to the BBC. I mean no infringement.
Summary: AU season 2, post-"Lancelot and Guinevere." "Before he knew it, he was saying, 'You're not alone. I'm like you.'" Merlin and Morgana take destiny into their own hands.

 

( Chapter 2: Reverdie )

Back to chapter 1  On to chapter 3

( icon )
I had a paper proposal due yesterday, and I didn't want to write it, and suddenly I found myself writing this Merlin drabble instead. It takes place about nine years pre-series and features Destiny (but not Chicken) and hints of Arthur/Gwen.


( Once upon a time... )

 

( icon )
Long time no post, I know. My next entry was going to be a massive icon extravaganza, but it took forever to get all of my icons photobucketed. Now they are all there but I am tired, and I have a story to tell so. Next time, prepare yourself for the icons!

First how sweet was The Office last night? I was more tense in an excited way watching it than I've been for a long time. Cecelia Marie Halpert. Awww. Who'd have thought, five years of "documentary footage" ago, that the relationship of the salesguy and the receptionist was leading up to such a cute baby girl? (The answer, by the way, is ME, and I believe I should get some sort of prize for calling the sex of the Halpert baby as early as 2006.)

Anyway, since this journal is now going to cover a certain amount of personal anecdotes as well as dorky ramblings, I am now going to record something I definitely want to remember: the Tale of the Best Weekend Ever, or at least the best weekend since I've lived in the U-C. A few weeks ago, Friday night through Sunday afternoon, Bethany was here! And we had Adventures! Adventures which involved great conversation, good food, and abuse of my teacherly authority!

( Mischief managed. )

( icon )
I hope everyone is having/has had happy holidays!

Remember how I used to review the Merlin episodes? Yeah, well, I have notes for the last two and I figured-- hey, now that series two has actually finished airing abroad and, more importantly, now that I have time, I should probably write up the actual reviews so I can at least say that I finished them. 

So here is my recap/review of series 1 episode 12, "To Kill the King." Or, more accurately, yet another episode where someone frustratingly fails "To Kill the King." As a bonus, I have editorial notes FROM THE FUTURE [in brackets], which you can highlight to read. They are my thoughts looking back post-series 2 on my series 1 notes. Also here is a link to the episode on youtube, in case you've forgotten what happens in it. Because, you know, I kind of did.

 

( Interesting. Do you dungeon all your friends? )

 

( icon )

Here is my review of the Merlin episode "The Moment of Truth." In which the literal Moment of Truth never actually happens. Enjoy!

 

( Go on and pander, show. Apparently I am not immune. )