So what does everyone else think
Jun. 29th, 2011 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alt_padmaabout all the reports in the news and on the journals? Did you see how Master Arkadinov says he predicted those dogstar captures, which Parvati thinks is proof he's a genius. I say it's proof he's full of himself! Last year he claimed he predicted that Auror Lestrange would kill Sirius Black - but I noticed that he didn't actually say that's what his prediction meant until after it happened. Just like now he's saying he knew all those dogstar people would be caught, but if you look at what he actually said, it just says that the Protectorate's fortunes will rise as stars fall. Well. Anyone who studies Arithmancy knows that there are meteor showers this time of year every year! I think it's awfully cheeky to say that they're linked to anything in particular. (But then I don't think Arkadinov is his real name, either!) Lav, I'm sorry, but he's really too much, even if he is supposedly very famous and Madam Carpenter says he's Talented. Your predictions are going to be ever so much more accurate and interesting, I'm sure!
But the reaction to the Aurors is really really nift, isn't it? Lana, I hope you saw that snitch entry Mrs Dapplemyre wrote about all the trainees, particularly you and Reethi Singh and how important it is that our young witches prove they're just as good as warlocks in the field. (I don't know if anyone else reads Mrs Dapplemyre regularly, but her entries are always interesting and really, really thoughtful about how witches can have brilliant careers and still be wives and mothers and all that. I just love how she writes about all the really amazing witches from the past and the ones we celebrate now in the Protectorate.)
And Seamus, did you see that long post by that bloke, whats-his-name, Orestes Skym? Well, he's Welsh so I'm not surprised at all that he thought MLE should have let well enough alone in the Vale of Glamorgan. But did you read the whole thing? Because toward the end he even compared his people's struggle to Ireland and how it would have continued to be peaceful and happy if MLE would just let them all be. And he had a choice thing or two to say about the Kestrels, on top of everything else!
I'm getting ready to go to the CCF next week, how about the rest of us who got in? Actually, I've kept up the exercises that we started when we were going to be tested - and Parvati sometimes comes along, too. We've convinced Mum that we're old enough we can take little jogs round the neighbourhood and no one will bother us. She even designed us some nift running robes, so that it's easier to go long distances. She might even put a line in for the autumn.
What's everyone else doing to prepare?
But the reaction to the Aurors is really really nift, isn't it? Lana, I hope you saw that snitch entry Mrs Dapplemyre wrote about all the trainees, particularly you and Reethi Singh and how important it is that our young witches prove they're just as good as warlocks in the field. (I don't know if anyone else reads Mrs Dapplemyre regularly, but her entries are always interesting and really, really thoughtful about how witches can have brilliant careers and still be wives and mothers and all that. I just love how she writes about all the really amazing witches from the past and the ones we celebrate now in the Protectorate.)
And Seamus, did you see that long post by that bloke, whats-his-name, Orestes Skym? Well, he's Welsh so I'm not surprised at all that he thought MLE should have let well enough alone in the Vale of Glamorgan. But did you read the whole thing? Because toward the end he even compared his people's struggle to Ireland and how it would have continued to be peaceful and happy if MLE would just let them all be. And he had a choice thing or two to say about the Kestrels, on top of everything else!
I'm getting ready to go to the CCF next week, how about the rest of us who got in? Actually, I've kept up the exercises that we started when we were going to be tested - and Parvati sometimes comes along, too. We've convinced Mum that we're old enough we can take little jogs round the neighbourhood and no one will bother us. She even designed us some nift running robes, so that it's easier to go long distances. She might even put a line in for the autumn.
What's everyone else doing to prepare?
no subject
Date: 2011-06-30 03:00 am (UTC)I know from experience now that physical training puts one in much better form not just in terms of stamina and strength but mentally and magically. I'm always sharper on days I've begun with solid time in the sparring dungeons or out on the field courses.
Even now that I'm working off-site most days, I've kept my regular regimen with Singh and Evan. It's good to have a partner or two: they help you keep the commitment and they push you on days when you might otherwise slacken the pace or short your routine.
Thanks for pointing us to Mrs Dapplemyre's piece; I would have missed it otherwise. Did you see what Maestro Gilhooly wrote about feeling as though our realm is finally coming into it's own now? Oh, and Belinda Sewell--you know, the biographer? she's written on all the important old families--did you see that she wrote a piece about Auror Crouch and his grandfather, Caspar Crouch, who was a military officer and an administrator in India. It was a really fascinating reflection on how our models of leadership and loyal service have progressed over time, and it was also about how character develops as a result of influences in and beyond the family, considering that virtue and aptitude sometimes skip generations. It was the sort of piece, I think, that only Mrs Sewell could have written without causing a fuss, but it was so perceptive. I couldn't put it down.
Mostly, though, the writers I follow are either motivational--like Aptos Markham, who's always got his eye on the goals Our Lord has set for us--or fitness specialists--I especially like Michaela Throckmorton because she's always suggesting things to add a bit of variety in a routine or things you can do while standing in a queue or waiting for the lifts at the Ministry. Of course, I also keep up with what our trainers write in their journals--Professor Myddleton, for instance, is simply fascinating on magical techniques for enhancing memory and mental keenness.
I suppose that's more than you wanted to know! I hope you do enjoy the experiences you'll have in this CCF programme. It sounds absolutely nift.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-30 02:04 pm (UTC)A partner's a good suggestion. I mean, it didn't really occur to me that Parvati would be anything other than a partner, but once I've been away for a week she might not want to go out every day. I should see if Su Li or any of the others wants to meet up regularly while we're supposed to be working on our own.
My father reads Gilhooly all the time. He played in the symphony premiere on the 15th, did you know that? My father, that is. But Maestro conducted.
And I hadn't seen Mrs Sewell's. Her posts are quite long, aren't they? But comprehensive, I guess.
There are just so many journals to read, if you wanted to! It's hard to choose. I do like the occasional funny one. Like that cartoonist, Mr Mockridge? The animations are always good for a giggle. And he always gives Kelvin the wittiest lines. (Considering that Kelvin's a fox that's not too surprising!)
I really think the CCF programme will be very rewarding - and I'm sure that next year, those of us who've done it will be given preference for counselor positions in the YPL, too, which will be utterly nift. I guess I didn't really need help on the exercises and all, but thanks for the names of those other journals! I'll be sure to look and see if there are any routines that would work well for what we're learning.