I so very much do *not* belong in this culture....

I got this from dargie. The questions make me feel like a stranger in a strange land.

1) DVD or VHS? -- DVD. I love DVDs. Since I got my DVD player I've hardly glanced at a videotape. except to watch TV shows now available on DVD yet.

2) Best Literary/Movie Villan: Voldemort (Harry Potter) or Sauron (LoTR)? -- Sauron, no question. Even though he's a sentient eyeball who has almost no dialogue and whom we don't actually meet. (But he was cool in his role in the fall of Numenor.)

3) Meat: rare or well-done? -- Rare, if we're talking about beef. I prefer lamb, which I like medium. Neither one is currently on my diet.

4) High Speed Internet-Cable or DSL? -- High Speed Internet-Cable. It's a better deal.

5) Women: 1-piece bathing suit or Bikini? -- Depends on the woman. I don't really care. Either way. I don't wear bathing suits myself because I hate to swim. I have one somewhere; it probably doesn't fit.

6) To be fair--Men: Boxers or briefs? -- Depends on the man. I don't really care. Either way.

7) Beer or Liquor/Wine? -- Depends on my mood.

8) Coke or Mountain Dew? -- Yuck! No way. I'd rather have water than either.

9) In honor of my 10/18/03 nuptials: Morning or Afternoon/Night Wedding? -- Any time is fine for a wedding. What an odd question.

10) Carpet or Hardwood Floors -- Both.

11) American cars or foreign? -- I don't "do" cars and never will, but if I'm choosing - foreign. I like expensive Italian cars. (Particularly if owned by Lex Luthor.)

12) Cutest TV Twin: Mary-Kate or Ashley Olsen? -- I have no idea who these people are.

13) Coffee: Caffeinated or Decaf? - Depends on my mood. I don't generally care if it's decaff or not, if it's good coffee. I like cappucino and moccacino and Caramal Macchiato. I'm not currently drinking coffee, either.

14) Thought-Provoking Question of the Week: Computers: Do they make life better or worse? Why? -- Better, because they increase access to knowledge and to other people.

Visiting Imladris....

I arrived in Rivendell today.

Those of you who've been reading my LJ know that I started the "Walking to Rivendell" project as Shieldmaiden in the Eowyn challenge, and have been participating (occasionally) in a discussion about this on the Weight Watcher's Challenge Board. You can go and look at my assembled shields under the name of fajrdrako in the trophy hall at Milestone Celebrations.

For those uninitiated in Tolkien lore, this is a reconstruction of the journey the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings took on foot in the first half of the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring (and the first movie too) to go from their home in The Shire to the Elvish haven of Rivendell, where the elven-prince Lord Elrond lived. It's a distance of 458 miles.

I started counting the miles I walked on March 17. Today I arrived in Rivendell at the 458-mile mark.

As I mentioned before, I want to go on to Minas Tirith now, but I wasn't sure how far it is, and I asked my various Tolkien-reading friends. One of them (who lives in Malta) actually came up with the information for me - bless her heart; I owe her big-time.

She has been reading Unfinished Tales and calculated two routes: Route One follows the ancient Numeorean roads linking Gondor and Arnor (508 leagues). Route Two is shorter but perilous, thorough the Misty Mountains and the Vales of Anduin. This route is 300 leagues, "Orcs permitting", my friend adds.

She then translated the Numenorean measurements of the lar and its equivalency to the league, as noted in the footnotes to Tolkien's story "The Disaster at the Gladden Fields". This story happens to be a favourite of mine: it's about the fate of Isildur. A league, she computes, is about three miles.

So: allowing for some fudging for approximations, and not counting elevation and other obstacles, I have a choice between the old Numeorean route at 1,524 miles, and the more perlious route that is shorter - the one Isildur took - at 900 miles.

I think I'll take the long route. I'm in no hurry to get to Minas Tirith and I like the idea of walking the old Numenorean road, which is bound to have beautiful old ruins. It it took my four months to get to Rivendell, I can still be in Minas Tirith within a year. Maybe. This may be overly optimisted, since I can't count on walking a lot through the Canadian winter. On the other hand - if I count miles done on a treadmill at the fitness club - I just might be able to do it.

Shall we see if I succeed?

A good evening....

I enjoyed tonight's Smallville chat, set up by svmadelyn, who nobly tried to keep us on topic, the topic being, great HoYay moments in Smallville. I thought of one afterwards that I absolutely love: in "Stray", how Lex can't decide whether to stay in Smallville or move back to Metropolis until Clark says he wishes Lex would stay in Smallville. So Lex stays. Cause and effect, hmm?

It was an interesting group of people who came out to chat. I hope I can do this again. (Like, next week?)