The Clerk's Tale

Lord Walter likes being single and hunting.
People plead to lord that he marry a worthy woman and have kids before he dies.
There's a poor woman, Griselda, he's seen when he's gone hunting.
He asks her father for her hand, and then asks her to submit to him. She does.
They marry.
She has a daughter.

Lord Walter wants to test Griselda's faithfulness.
He tells her the other nobles don't like her.
She submits.
His sergeant takes her daughter away, presumably to be killed.
Griselda prays she get a burial so her body doesn't get ripped to shreds by wild animals.
Sergeant feigns not hearing.
Daughter secretly sent to Lord Walter's sister.

Griselda has a son.
Lord Walter wants to test her.
He tells her that the nobles aren't happy about her having a lowly heir.
She submits.
His sergeant takes her son away, presumably to be killed.
Griselda prays he get a burial so his body doesn't get ripped to shreds by wild animals.
Sergeant feigns not hearing.
Son secretly sent to Lord Walter's sister.
People are pissed.

Lord Walter wants to test Griselda some more.
He says the people want him to marry again, and the Pope orders it.
She submits, save that she at least get to wear her smock when she's sent home.
She pledges her future chastity.
She walks home in smock.
People cry.
Father says, "I told you so."

Lord Walter orders his daughter and son to be brought back from sister's place.
He makes plans to marry the twelve year old daughter.
She arrives.
Festivities are planned.
Lord Walter goes to Griselda's house.
He asks her if she would be so kind to prepare the wedding chamber, since she knows so well how he likes it.
She says she would be happy to.

People are happy because new wife will be more beautiful than old one. (Fickle people.)

Lord Walter brings son, daughter, and Griselda into a room together.
Griselda wishes Lord Walter all the happiness in the world.
He says the test is over.
He points out her son.
He points out her daughter.
She hits him rejoices.
Everyone's happy.
Daughter isn't scarred by the experience.
The people forgive everything.

Chaucer can be very weird.

Do I Get Extra Points for Doing It Thrice?

I did my taxes today.

It was quite a numerical adventure. First I filled out the necessary information: player's name, character's name, identification number, place of residence, ship identification number, all that. Then I put in my basic stats, as they read on the W-2s. The numbers put me firmly in half-elf space swashbuckler class.

After this, I was asked to do some permutations with the numbers. Multiplying the constitution (line 16) by .4 gave me a tentative HP, which would be my HP if the number of deductions was less than my AC, which is determined by factoring in the average of Strength and Dexterity and subtracting by ten.

Then comes determining hit ratio, number of magic spells, skills (such as piloting the Millennium Falcon and Serenity with only one hand at the same time), and the amount of starting gold. For the last one, the calculation is relatively simple - add lines 15 (intelligence), 17 (charisma), put them in a second order differential equation, perform a Laplace transformation, solve for initial values equal to zero, and then realize that what you wrote in line 15 is incorrect, thus forcing you to do the whole process over again.

I think I have a pretty good character.

Substance!

That is, if substance can consist of shiny pictures.

I filled up my camera memory for the first time today, and emptied it into my computer. What was the occasion of filling up the memory? Snow! Yes, contrary to my sarcastic comments to various people about the chances of snow here, it did snow. After raining all morning, it fell, and fell, and fell... for five or six hours in all during the day. It even fell during a brief thunderstorm (thundersnow?). At first it wasn't sticking, but then it collected on the roof, and then on large parts of the ground, sometimes over an inch thick! Going to the library today was already ruined, and I'd done what work I could from home, and so I decided to hitch up and take a walk around the complex, snapping pictures. Those pictures are linked to below.

I also uploaded other pictures I took that I like. There are a few of Leslie (including one where I inadvertently chop her forehead off - except for that, it's a nice picture), one of a reverse-icicle in the ice tray, a few from Christmas, and a lot featuring Legos. I downloaded Picasa to get them online.

Other than that, if you're curious about the Rushdie course, he gave a lecture last Sunday that gave his broad thoughts on film adaptions of novels. If you saw in the media reports of him rejecting Slumdog Millionaire, it was from this lecture taken out of context. I couldn't be there, but I have read this handy report in the Guardian which I'm assured follows the lecture decently well: Rushdie . It's a bit long. He says hasty words about, amongst other things, Tolkien (he prefers Jackson's adaption), but it's still interesting.

Other than that, does anyone know anything about King Thoas?

Albums:

Christmas

Misc

Legos

Snow