Research Papers

It's that time of the year again! And I just might have a topic! Inspiration struck a few minutes ago when I turned on my music! The Phantom of the Opera! I was thinking it might be cool to write about it and it's evolution as a story, from being a rather odd book, to a silent movie, to a musical. There's got to be something interesting in there.

A Mini Report Thing

All righty! Yesterday I wrote a little mini report, and I just have to say that it will probably get me a failing grade in Geology. (really, it was for geology! they said, 'Write about Cephalopods!' I said, "sounds cool!") SO, without any further ado, (about nothing!) I will let you get on with reading my report!

Cephalopods

Cephalopod is a class of creatures which contains two existing subclasses: Coleoidea, and Nautiloidea. The subclass Coleoidea includes such creatures as Octopuses, Squid, and Cuttlefish. The Nautiloidea subclass does not contain any creature as familiar to the laymen as the Coleoidea subclass, but it does contain a really neat looking creature called a ‘Nautilus’.

Nautiluses live in a shell, which is unlike any other Cephalopod. Also unlike most Cephalopods, the average life span for a Nautilus is twenty years.

Another Cephalopod of note is the Vampyromorphida, which belongs to the subclass Coleoidea.

Cuttlefish, which I have already stated abide in the subclass Coleoidea, have made their way into several well known fictional stories, the two most prominent being Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. In At World’s End they were attributed to be a non-aggressive group of animals, preferring to run away rather than engage in a fight, which might be true, but Jules Verne depicts them in rather a different light. In his book he tells of how Captain Nemo and Company got into a rather vicious fight with a large group of cuttlefish. The fight terminated in the loss of one of Nemo’s crew.

The Legendary Kraken, if it ever really existed, would most likely be in the subclass of Coleoidea, as it is generally reported as being quite similar to a squid, only much bigger. Also, in German, Kraken means octopus, another member of the subclass Coleoidea.

Most Cephalopods move by jet propulsion, but some octopuses have the ability to walk on the ocean floor using their legs. All Cephalopods live in salt water, and a Cephalopod can be found in any ocean at any depth.

Yay!

I admit, right now I do not feel very 'Yay'-ish, but that's all right. I will say it anyway. Yay!

I achieved my goal! I read Five books over what can be seen as Christmas Break. Two Fluff books, and Three All-Out Classics. Only One was a hard read, however, and that was the first.

I Must admit that I started Hunchback just before School Started -- I think. it was around that time. However, I did not get far, just to about page one hundred. I.E -- the description of an over head view of Paris at the Time of the Story, as contrasted with the Time of Hugo. Blah. Well, that barrier held me back for quite a while, I can say, but over Christmas (or rather, right before Christmas Break) I really needed to read something. So I picked it up again.

It was amazing. It had some... stuff in it that I did not like one bit, but it was still really good. I finished it right about the time that the first brother returned from school.

I promptly started reading Ben Hur, but I've never been good at just starting books like that -- take Hunchback for example. I just couldn't get really into it at first. So I floundered, and soon gave that up. I will get to it, just a little later.

By this time, Christmas had rolled around, and along with it came Christmas Presents, Chief among these were the Books! I received two Very Good Young Adult/Children's books -- Tanglewreck by... some lady, which I had read before, but still read and enjoyed. the other book was one I had been anticipating for some time -- Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale. I really like all of her other children's books, and I really enjoyed this one as well. Very easy reads, both of them, but quite enjoyable.

I also received two other books, one from each of the brothers. The Elder Brother gave me A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It was really good, quite funny, and a quick read that took a while. I started it around New Year's, and I finished it Sunday. So... about two weeks.

The other book was from the Younger Brother, obviously, and it was The Princess Bride. Now, believe it or not, I had not read this book previously. I do not know why, but it just hadn't grabbed my interest. It is just that kind of a book, I guess. I have seen the movie millions of times, and My father read the book to all of us several years back, but that was a while ago. I guess that is why I saved it for last -- because I knew what was going to happen. Granted, I had read Tanglewreck before, but when I read it again, I really had no idea what was going to happen from moment to moment. It was just another one of those fluff books that I had read a while back.

So, Yesterday I started reading The Princess Bride. I started just before Dinner, and, with several interruptions, I kept going until I went to bed at Eleven -- much later than normal. This evening I finished the job off -- I read every single page in the whole book. I read all of the two introductions (this is the '25th Anniversary' Edition), and I read the little thing at the end -- The First Chapter of the Long Lost Sequel, Buttercup's Baby. It really wasn't anything great.

So, I read the majority of Five Books in what I will Class as Christmas Break, because I want to say it. I really need something to be happy about right now. You ought to be able to tell that just by looking at what Time I am going to post this at... If I were feeling normal, then I would be in bed, sleeping, right now. but I am not. Because I wouldn't be able to sleep.

I don't want to go into it, even though, maybe, I should. it's just kind of... hard. This is when I think about things that give me a reason to be sad, like Dustfinger, or Sydney. This is why I like tragedies -- because they make feeling sad feel sort of good, in a rather mixed up way.

Well, it won't do any good, but I don't feel like doing anything else, so I'm going to head to bed now.

This is Comtess Rosie, over and out.

Google

or Yahoo?

I believe that most of you are aware that I have been known to Elgoog Oohay on random occasions. Google-ing Yahoo is just as fun, I assure you.

Anyway, what I was going to say is that it is really fun to Google things relating back to these blogs, because Blogspot is related to Google in some weird way, and so you get wonderful things. I googled Space Is Very Cold and this blog came up at the bottom. I googled Donwell Abbey, and Dotti's Blog came up around Fifth. The strange thing is that I googled Llama Person and potato Montgomery's Blog did not show up on the first page. I couldn't find it in the whole list, although I did not look very hard. I googled Potato Montgomery and the first thing was my blog. This all has to do with the Google/Blogspot thing.

I yahoo'd Space is very Cold, and my blog came up first. then I Yahoo'd Donwell Abbey, and Dotti's blog was not there. The same thing happened for Llama Person, but Potato Montgomery yielded different results. I came with Potato's Nano account -- the one that was taken over by someone from Finland. creepy.

I just thought these things were interesting. hmmmm.....

Feet

Or rather, a foot. to be more specific, tis MY foot. And, you know what? it really tingles... Do you think my sitting on it could have anything to do with this mysterious occurrence?

So, I was thinking... it would be nice if I could just freeze time right now, and stay almost sixteen for a while. I don't feel prepared for all things that are going to happen after my birthday, and just the fact that next year I'll be a senior is a bit unsettling. The Senior bit is fine, it's just the continuation of that thought... once I'm a senior, it's not going to be that long before I'm in college, and once I'm in college... I don't want to go there.

So, I'm, looking for a small-ish school that close-ish to home, with predominantly Christian Students and Faculty, and all that. And it's tough.

Well, my memorizing Shakespeare is coming along swimmingly -- where'd that saying originate, anyway? Swimmingly. That doesn't really mean anything necessarily good in my mind. Well, let's see what Wikipedia has to say about it...

Okay... Wikipedia was most unhelpful... let's try Google...

Okay... bartelby.com lists this as the definition of swimmingly:

Swimmingly

Adverb: With Great Ease and Success: Things are Going Swimmingly

And however interesting that may be, it's not what I was looking for. I want to know WHY it means that.

Hey! I found something a lot more interesting! I found a place that can look it up in classical literature for you! the top three references were from Little Women, Jane Eyre, and something by James Fenimore Cooper.

Well... I can't find anything else interesting there... Webster wouldn't have anything diffierent... mostly webster.com doesn't help me... maybe dictionary.com could help...

Nope. nothing good there. Ah well. I guess I shall never know.

Befuddling

I just sneezed about six or seven times in quick succession. I was writing a comment about Moustaches on Potato Montgomery's blog, and listening to Javert's Suicide -- Both things that I have done before without any serious or strange side effects. I do not know what is happening. maybe I am being affected by some alien technology.

I have been doing some research on Hermit Crabs, with the aim of preparing to get one in the future. I know a lot more about Hermit Crabs now. I know the proper temperature and humidity they should be kept at, I know how much sand they need in the bottom of their cage. I know that they need a rather sizable cage, in order to accommodate two water bowls (salt water and fresh water) a food bowl, a toy of some sort, and something they can hide under. I know that Hermit Crabs prefer a friend, and that they cannot reproduce in captivity, and so I need not be worried about starting with two, and ending up with millions. I also know that to give a hermit crab all the stuff they need, it would cost a tidy sum of money. So, I'm thinking about it. I just don't want to kill one... I also don't want to get bit.