don't be dull, be fannish

I've been talking to disutansu about what's considered a "class" at the US universities. Can you please explain it to me in lay terms?

Here, a class is a 90-minute-long block held once a week. So, like German Syntax is a class that's being held from 7.30am - 9.00am every Monday. The usual load is 11-13 classes a week, which means 11-13 90-minute-long blocks a week, usually held from Monday till Thursday, which means approximately 3 classes a day. But it also happened to me that I had classes all day long from 7.30am to 7pm with only a short break for lunch around 2pm. The number of classes goes down with every year, the first year is always the worst.

How does it work in the USA?

First, a big hug to sharona1x2 *hugs*

Now to the random stuff:
* I started reading "Bone Crossed" by Patricia Briggs - that woman has a way to engage her readers. Love it so far \o/
* I bought like five DVDs at the newspaper stand this morning - among them Columbo, The Island and The Fast and the Furious. I mean, for 2.50 bucks each?
* Yesterday, they finally delivered this baby to me: SONY NWZS638FS.CEV video MP3 walkman. Now to just find a software that would convert my .avi files to .mp4. The one that I have refuses to convert big files.

Kylie Minogue's Showtime perfume smells wonderfully. I bought it for my mum because she has her birthday next week and I'm really in love with the fragrance.

For Christmas, I bought her Bruno Banani's Pure Woman, another fantastic perfume. Hm...

Last night, I watched SN's eps And the Crowd Goes Wild, Celebrities, The Local Weather and Draft Day: Part I (only 5 more eps to go /o\) - and it feels like the show took a much more serious turn. Sure, at the beginning, there used to be dark/serious parts too but they were balanced with humor. Now, it seems like all the humor evaporated from the show. I, for example, didn't like the fact that Dan and Casey didn't stand up for Jeremy during the "celebrities match", that they took Natalie's side. That was quite mean, to be honest.

But let me tell you, people who think that Dean Winchester has "issues" should take a look at Dan Rydell. He feels guilty for his brother's death, he feels that his parents blame him, he feels that no matter what he does, he always comes second behind Casey, that he's not good enough, that even Casey doesn't consider him a partner but someone inferior. Dan and Dean are like two peas in a pod, really...

Also, I managed to squeeze so much stuff/work into my morning that I feel like it should be evening/night already!

Today, I listened to Sally Malcolm's audiobook "Perchance to Dream", a SGA tie-in novel read by Paul McGillion. It was a very good book with an interesting plot: a sleeping sickness is spreading through Atlantis and only Dr. Beckett can help. I liked it a lot - hey, hurt!Sheppard is always a plus in my book ;) - but I have to say that in some places, the background music was so loud that Paul McGillion's reading was barely understandable and the sound during the final interview with Paul was really bad too, it crackled and hissed so it kind of took away the pleasure of listening to it a bit.

And I've been reading Martha Wells' "Entanglement", another SGA tie-in novel and so far, I like it a lot. In various reviews, people say that the book starts really slowly. I didn't see it that way. So far, it's been a real page-turner for me. But then, I have a weakness for real team stories and especially for those that are told from Sheppard's POV ;)

Also, our washing machine went ka-boom. Literally. The bang was so loud that I felt shaky for hours after it had happened. I immediately ordered a new one from Datart but they have to order it for us - hopefully, the manufacturer will have it in stock *crosses fingers* I really want this model because it should be ecological and economical and for a very good price too.

* Numb3rs, ep 509 - I liked the ep as a whole. There weren't any real squee moments for me but it was a very good ep in general. Some nice team!moments, some nice background info and the last scene on the beach was made of win!
Ratings: 9.27 mil., 2.1/7 demo, last week: 11.21 mil., 2.6/8 demo

* Temperatures below zero for the first time this year! The sun is shining outside but everything is covered in frost! My dog loves it! ;P

* So, LJ is moving today? Hm, I really hope that they will be more successful than Streamload/MediaMax/TheLinkUp, because that one? Disaster doesn't even begin to cover it. So, should LJ be swallowed by a huge black hole today, you can find me over on InsaneJournal too :)

* naye! The card is just beautiful. Cuddly tigers are made of aww... Thank you so much *vbg*

* Season 9 of SG-1 is now in my grabby hands! *coos*

* SGA fic rec! MCSHEP, AU --> "Walk This Way" by yin-again. John walks Rodney's cat, a huge Main Coon by the name Ronon XD. Sweet! It's a series with the rest of the stories linked through the main fic index!

Hmmmmmm, coffee is good, good coffee *grabby hands* Last night, I read "His Majesty's Dragon" until 1am and now I feel a bit headachy. And sleepy! But the book is so good! That's why - hmmmmmmm, coffee!

* I love the tags in one of the queries in ncisficfind: "gabby abby gibbs". Reminds me of "llama llama duck" for some reason XP

* You know what I would consider the perfect ending for SGA? If Atlantis seceded from Earth, cut all the ties, just disappeared. That would be awesome. It would be great to find out what would make the the leaders - Woolsey, Sheppard and McKay - do it and how Earth would react. Hm...

* I love Patricia Briggs' "Mercy Walker Series". "Iron Kissed" has been awesome so far :)

* SGA and Psych are downloading but I won't be able to watch them because I'm off now to have a lunch with friends and then it's Hellboy for us *pumps fist*

I didn't sleep well last night. Actually, I didn't sleep at all from 5am to 6am because there was lightning, thunder, buckets and buckets of rain and hail all at once. It felt like the sky just opened and dumped it all down on us. Yikes! *scared*

I finished reading Yoko Matushita's "Yami no Matsuei 2", the volume that contains the "Devil's Trill" arc - awesome, awesome stuff! I wonder though. Is "Yami no Matsuei" Yoko Matushita's only manga? That would be too bad because her style is amazing.

And now I picked up "Supernatural: The Official Companion 2" by Nicholas Knight and Tohko Mizuno's "In a Distant Time 5" *happy*

Oh, and I hope to finally finish "Enchanter" by Sara Douglass today. Only 4 more chapters and it's over. I think I might cry with the happy once I'm done with this book!