assorted Thursday ramblings

I was supposed to address some comments for chapter 4 of Learning Curve tonight, but I got derailed reading about various creatures native to Yavin 4. They reminded me of the first Star Wars fanfic -- possibly the first fic ever? -- that I wrote. It was third grade, I had just seen Star Wars that year, and it was the first year we did a Writing Workshop unit. My friend Laura and I were obsessed with Star Wars, because of course we were, and I had been reading some young adult books about Jacen and Jaina. All I remember is that the twins had some sort of menagerie at their Jedi training school on Yavin 4 and they let some escape or something? I distinctly remember a snake that could turn invisible. Honestly I could just be remembering the book that inspired me. I wish I still had a copy of it! That'd be fun to see. I distinctly remember my Writing Workshop folder, it was bright yellow and I had written the names of all the SW characters on it in different font sizes and so forth. Ahh good times.

Now for a completely sudden transition (because I'm tired but really wanted to talk about this). Husband and I have been watching HBO's Chernobyl miniseries, which is as intense as you would expect and more so. It's very graphic (radiation sickness), and trigger warning for animal lovers on episode 4. However, it's very well done, and I think what's compelling about it is how it shows the sacrifice the citizens made willingly, heroically to do What Must Be Done to prevent the disaster from getting so much worse. It's pretty powerful. I've enjoyed listening to the podcast too (hosted by Peter Sagal!! of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! ... so it's kind of weird hearing him talk about something serious, heh). Definitely have a happy chaser on hand for after.

EDIT: I want to clarify. It definitely also shows the lengths the soviet government went to cover things up, the disinformation, what they *didn't* tell the people... but there were people who had some idea that things were Bad and they were making a sacrifice, and that's what's moving. There are also people who have no idea what the dangers are and bad things happen to them and that is also very sad and moving. It's just all around a really interesting look at the people involved and the tragedy of everything and ANYWAYS. I'm tired. Maybe I'll be more coherent about this when the series is done. 

Jumping back to happy things: Aston Villa just got promoted to the English Premier League!!!!! We're back!!! I've been a Villa supporter since I studied abroad in England in college (Villa Park was the closest EPL stadium to us... incidentally, their colors matched my university colors so that was pretty convenient in terms of deciding what to wear to the game). (Sadly they lost the game we went to AND it rained.) Hubbie and I went to a British pub in DC that was showing the game; a bunch of other Villa supporters were there and it was so great being able to cheer with everyone! What a nailbiter though; Derby scored pretty late in the second half and they had a lot of momentum, but Steer made some great saves. [Also as a side note, Villa's crest is freaking awesome... there was a Buzzfeed article that came out around the time NBC started showing the EPL (Ted Lasso!!! the best, love that skit) that was like... what the names of the EPL teams would be if they were based on the crest and Villa was "karate lions chasing stars" which like. Come ON. that's so freaking cool.] Villa also was one of the original members of the EPL SO it was REALLY UPSETTING when they were relegated four years ago. BUT WE'RE BACK AND I CAN FINALLY WATCH THEM ON TV AGAIN!!! Hooray!