Therese Norén, Bishop of Brownies

Just dispatched from Amazon.co.uk: The Hand of Fear (Sarah Jane's departure), The Brain of Morbius and (WOOO!) the Davros box. A yummy month.

Hulda is in a rapid information acquiring phase. She's learned to recognise about half the letters of the alphabet, all the numbers and how to count from watching Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter.

Since we're visiting in little more than a month (YAY!), I'd like to help her learn a few words of English. Do you think Sesame Street would be a good tool? Which DVD should I get? Do you have other recommendations for over-pedagogical children's programs?

Never tell a two year old that you're going on a train trip the next day. She's been asking all day about when we're taking the train, and now she doesn't want to sleep unless we go on the train. Argh!

(Also, GIP. Have lots of nice new icons, none of them spoilery for the Doctor Who season finale. You can perhaps argue that this one is, though.)

Invisibl Enmy iz Visibl!

For a supposed invisible enemy, I think the infection is pretty obvious. The plot is such a rip-off of Fantastic Voyage, down to the tear ducts, and the special effects are cheesier than in most episodes I've seen so far. Tom Baker is still both enjoyable and cute, and I can't believe Leela's wearing only that. (I'm not complaining, mind you. She's good enough eye candy.)

"Mind-brain interface" my ass.

( Contains spoilers for Journey's End )

So, why's fandom so harsh when it comes to Black Orchid?

It's a cute feel-good story, even with the murder frame, without jarringly bad special effects or embarrasing villains. (Also: it's got Unexpected Scantily Clad Doctor, which is always a plus.) The spooky ethnic character even gets to be a non-villain, of sorts. Even if he's taking part in creating the tragedy, the reasons for his actions are humane if not wise. (No, really. Don't hide the disfigured people.)

I think I could watch this when I need a pick-me-up, just as I do with Boomtown and New Earth.

I don't think I've encountered a companion yet that I didn't like. (Well, Adam. But he doesn't count.) Tegan is lovely, and Adric is only mildly annoying, due to the boy genius thing. I like watching Five as a teenage parent figure.

Changing the subject a bit, why has fanon decided the Doctor doesn't sleep? He does in Tomb of the Cybermen. Do you know of any other episodes where he's shown sleeping, other than after a regeneration? I should probably make that "canon or fanon" list of common tropes, and start documenting. (Jack, on the other hand, claims not to sleep in an early episode of Torchwood. He, like the Doctor, is an unreliable narrator, though.)

Damn you, Darrel K. Sweet and your "grasp" of anatomy!

So, how do I know I'm watching good TV?

I can still feel the season finale of Doctor Who in my entire body, around twelve hours after watching it. I haven't done anything but argue with the episode and rehash it in my mind. I've come to terms with some of it.

It was worth going unspoiled for, says the one who's an avid spoiler hunter. So, please, no spoilers in the comments. I'm going to write a proper reaction post once I can collect my thoughts.

Vampire zombie sea monsters and random Russian solders? Manipulative and hurtful Sylvester McCoy?

I like.

(I also like naye, who I got to spend some quality time with.)

( Spoilers for The Stolen Earth )

We had our moving in party tonight. (Yes, four months after the fact.) Good food, pleasant (if late) company. Only two of the eight adults were not in the health care business, KJ and a colleague's boyfriend who's a marine biologist.

I decided to go for just some snacks instead of a full meal, and I'm glad I did, since the first guests showed up two hours later than the starting time, and at least four who said they'd come never showed up.

So, we had a Västerbotten cheese quiche, baked asparagus and cherry tomatoes wrapped in bacon (with just a little too much lemon in the seasoning), baguette slices roasted with garlic butter and sea salt, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, and a salad of ruccola leaves, pear slices and walnuts drizzled with lemon honey.

And then, my brownie style chocolate cake with strawberries, cream and/or local vanilla ice cream.

Hey, I can cook! It was delicious.

From all over the place.

Rules:
Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done.

This was kind of tricky. But since sevenfingers isn't on LJ anymore, I could find two things from our childhood.

1. Measuring snow depth in the mountains, using radar, from a helicoper.

2. Petting genuine mammoth hair.

3. Reading birth records from the first half of the last century for a living.

From naye and lived_in_hope:
When you see this post, quote from Doctor Who on your LJ.

The Doctor: There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

Or a third favourite:

Dalek: "Small human female sighted on level three."

Ace: "Who're you calling 'small'?" (And then she beats the crap out of the Dalek with a baseball bat.)

Quote in the title from Time Crash, Fifth and Tenth Doctor. Proper quote from Survival, the last words of the Classic series. Bonus quote from Remembrance of the Daleks.

The more I see of the Hub, the more it seems like a TARDIS. It's even got a glowing piston in the Rift (=time!) control system, that makes Time Rotor-like noises.

Also, I love the utter predictableness of the show. Yes, of course Jack would do a sleeping beauty in End of Days.

I wonder if Bilis is the ancestor of the Time Lords? Plot bunny, up for grabs, because I'm just about saturated with those.

I know the Doctor theme was played twice, when that sexy sexing alien almost ran away with his hand and when Jack left. I think the music at the beginning of Out of Time sounded a lot like that theme, but only just, to suggest what Jack was thinking about.

I decided to make the most out of my one week vacation (or rather, call compensation time). I'm meeting awahlbom and Eva, M, Gabriel and (probably) my youngest brother, and uistic.

We will be based at Wahlbom's, but if you want to meet me and Hulda in Stockholm next week, let me know.

( What I will do on my vacation )

OMG!
( Turn Left spoilers inside )

I'm almost through my first ever night on call alone, and I made it. Didn't think I would, it was crowded here until way past midnight. Five patients admitted (six if you count the one with perforated ulcus where the seniro surgeon on back-up call did most of the work, but I did some), and twelve sent home. And that's just my patients.

I made it. I really did. Now, let's see if I can dictate sensible notes at way past four AM.

It was sort of spontaneous. I've been wanting to be on call, and you have to ask for it specifically on the surgery rotation. (And be at the end of your rotation, and good enough to be approved by the bosses.) I have asked, but nothing came of it. I discussed it with an orthopedics resident* who was on tonight, and really wanted to get out. She's been supportive and checking in, my wonderful geeky orthopedics mentor has been supportive and checking in, and another of the ortho residents dropped by with leftovers from the union meeting. And the seniors on call? Wonderful.

*This is surgery and orthopedics call.

My youngest brother-in-law graduated from high school today, and is now a fully fledged nursing aide.

Congratulations!

Kantom studjosi extrebon sjur'
lassom galeja in spring juvenar(!)!
Nock funkar kordan kum san bravur,
kaj futura blondina üst var.
Nolla furii
in va psykosan sit,
esperan v'ami,
promissan va kredit,
kum voj knopa bandage
in plantage,
kvo dulkissan diploma florit,
kvo dulkissan diploma florit.
Hojlah(!)!

Castrovalva is rather brilliant. I like Peter Davison's Doctor (he regenerates with a smile, and he looks like KJ), and having him using the unravelled Scarf for an Ariadne thread was a symbolic punch, especially after seven years of Tom Baker.

I'm not particularly fond of Ainley's Master, after watching Keeper of Traken, Logopolis and Castrovalva. The diabolical laughter gets old, and I much prefer Simm's Master's casual madness.

By the way, have the Doctor and the Master always kept a linear time line with respect to each other's regenerations, no timey wimey stuff? There's The Five Doctors, of course, but have an older Doctor met a younger Master or vice versa otherwise?

And in personal news, my feet hurt like hell. I think that wearing the wrong shoes have given me a slightly sprained ankle. It's swollen and hurt, and gets better with ice and elevation. Not ideal for the orthopedic rotation.

( Yes, really ) Via lolbrarians.