lacrimae rerum

While explaining some stuff about Anubis to a friend, I dredged up an article I'd written in my first semester at uni (early 2012) for a Science Communications assignment, where you had to explain some sort of scientific process clearly and simply for a target audience who knew nothing of your subject. As the lone ancient history student in a class full of science majors (it was a broadening unit for me), I decided to write about the mummification process. And upon rereading it just now I decided I was actually pretty proud of it, so I'm posting it here.

Remember, it was a uni assignment (I had to deal with word limits and stuff) and written over a year ago, so if you think anything needs to be changed or dislike any part of it, or want more information, please let me know. XD

The Mummy: The Prequel

 

 

 

Dawson, W.R. (1927). Making a Mummy. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 13 (1), 40-49.

Hamlyn, P. (1965) Egyptian Mythology London: Westbrook House

University College London (2000) Digital Egypt for Universities

Retrieved from: http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/Welcome.html

Wallis Budge, E.A. (1895) ed. Baldock J. (2011) The Egyptian Book of the Dead London: Arcturus Publishing.

It is Hallowe'en! Aka Samhain, All Hallows Eve, Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead and so on. It's even one of the Ancient Egyptian feast days of Bast, Sekhmet and Ra.

Sigh, I wish Halloween was a bigger event here. I'd LOVE to don a costume and scary makeup and have fun with friends, but when I asked Mum if I could just have a Halloween party at home, with costumes and friends and scary movies, she was like, "And invite trouble?" She seems to think it'll attract evil spirits or something. Augh. ><

So as usual, I simply lit a candle (scented, this year!) and put it in the skeletal-hand candleholder I think of as my Hand of Glory.



Also, on Saturday I was going to a friend's house and stopped to run an errand first (had to buy my tickets for a horror writing workshop), and met a zombie at the mall! :D He kindly agreed to pose for a picture instead of eating my brains.



... yes, I look far too happy to be standing next to a zombie.

I will end with icon-quotes from one of my favourite chapters of The Shoebox Project, involving a very... interactive Halloween.



 

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Definitely Harry Potter! My kids will be as familiar with The Tales of Beedle The Bard as with Cinderella and Snow White. :D And Hogwarts will be another home for them, as it was for me. They'll also watch the movies over and over with me. <3

I'd also read or recommend to them the Narnia books, and The Hobbit (and we shall watch the Lord of the Rings movies together too; I'll let them read LotR when they think they're old enough). I have loved these books since my own childhood and they're definitely classics for children. I also loved Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist from the age of seven or eight, and I'd start them off on abridged versions and then let them read the unabridged ones when they want to. Also, I grew up reading loads of Enid Blyton. I think the Famous Five series was my favourite; I had the entire set. My kids will grow up on those too, and The Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers and Dog, Malory Towers, St. Clare's, and her Rewards short story collections.

And, of course, mythology. I grew up reading loads of Norse, Greek and Egyptian myths, as well as Hindu myths. Obviously, as a child I only had access to the censored versions; therefore I believed that the part of Osiris's body that Isis could not find was his leg, only finding out years later that it was his, ahem, phallus. XD

Some gorgeous Potter-related graphics that sum up my feelings perfectly:







^ There are a couple of typos, but I still think it's gorgeous.



^ I thought that was the most beautiful scene in the Half-Blood Prince movie: when all the students and teachers of Hogwarts, standing by Dumbledore's body, raise their wands together, and the light from all their wands dispels the Dark Mark in the sky.

And that is the sort of thing I want my children, nieces, nephews and godchildren to read. Books that teach them to believe in magic and the impossible. Books that teach them the importance of friendship and family and bravery and loyalty and faith and love and forgiveness and ideals, that provide strength and show them that you can use your brains to get yourself out of sticky situations (I <3 Odysseus, even if he is a bit of a dickhead at times). Stuff that instils in them a sense of awe and love for the ancient civilisations. Stories that develop a love for adventure and nature.

One of the reasons I am so fond of Potter is all the references Rowling makes to creatures and legends from all over the world; it led me on a merry treasure hunt to find all these things, like manticores and divination methods and alchemy and etymological roots and so on, and I learned so much. (It's also one of the reasons I <3 The Dresden Files - the way Jim Butcher makes use of so much fantasy lore - but it's hardly for children.) The series isn't perfect, of course, but if you asked me what I would read to my children, it's the first thing that comes to mind.

Featuring the Plagues of Egypt!

For Yubi/starspiritgate /misterbkeele who requested the prompt Triangle on the writing meme. (Also posted this at Gabriel's journal, here.) <3 I'm afraid that try as I might, the only thing I could think of for 'Triangle' was a pyramid. Which led to this; I've been working on it for a year. Tried my damndest to at least get a view of the pyramids in here (spent ages trying to figure out what time of the year this was so I could tell if the royal court was in Waset/Thebes or Memphis, because the Giza pyramids should be visible from Memphis), but then I remembered Ramses' capital was Pi-Ramses, so Giza would not be visible. So I thought, "To Hell with this, I'll just stick an obelisk in there."

   Archaeological evidence shows that the Egyptians did indeed have large soft pillows; as for Amonherkhopshef, I’ve taken liberties with his character, basing it upon that of Kha-em-Waset, Ramses’ firstborn son in Christian Jacq’s Ramses series. (Historically, it was Amonherkhopshef who was Ramses’ eldest son, not Kha. And Ramses outlived both of them.) Also, given how long-lived Ramses and Moses were and how young Egyptians married, I do believe that Amonherkhopshef would have been in his late teens at the least during the Plagues, aka an adult by Egyptian standards. 

Also, in my writing, my Gabriel spent quite a lot of time in Egypt during his travels and he and the goddess Bast were good friends. The Plagues strained that friendship, to put it lightly.

Meme: Triangle

 

( …I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt... )

 

~*~

Any ideas for a decent title? :D

Aargh. My A Levels were finished at the end of last November and I have a break until university starts much later this year. I'd been looking forward to this period SO MUCH last year, and planning what I'd do kept me going.

Now the months stretch ahead of me and I have so many things to do but just can't bring myself to finish them. Would the word ennui be appropriate? There are times when I just walk around the house, unable to motivate myself to finish any of my current projects or start a new one. None of them seem to appeal to me; sometimes they do but I don't feel like doing them anyway. When I'm on the computer, instead of writing or doing anything productive, I spend hours faffing about on Facebook or reading (in some cases, rereading) fanfiction.

Maybe a list will help. Things that are in progress will be italicised, things I've completed will be struck off.

( Reading )

( Movies/TV )

( Music )

( Writing/role-play )

( Craft Projects )

( Miscellaneous )


*stares at list* This is going to end up like that post-O Level list of mine, isn't it? Lakshmi and I wrote up a nice long list and we only did a few things on it. Sigh.

So, uh, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

Randomly: I seem to have become nocturnal. I stay up until it's almost sunrise, which is about 6.30 to 7AM, then I go to bed and sleep til 2pm. No, my bed isn't a coffin, why do you ask?

I spent the last month in Egypt and Dubai and had an absolutely AMAZING time. I have loved Egypt since I was about 4 or 5 and I actually got to see and touch the pyramids of Giza and Saqqara and enter the temples of Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo, Karnak and Luxor and the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and sail on the Nile. *__*

I promise I'll put up my travel journal and photos... soon. Right now, though, I am worrying about the future.


I did my A Levels earlier this year and am waiting for my results, which will be out in March. I need these results to get into university. And I really, really want to do Egyptology. Obviously I can't do this in Singapore; the damn National University of Singapore (NUS) doesn't even offer Ancient History, for Someone's sake. Archaeological discoveries are covered up again here. Anyway, ever since I was a child I wanted to study archaeology in England. For quite a while, I thought I'd be doing Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. I liked the modules offered, they have the largest Egyptology department in the UK, a cool in-house museum, etcetera etcetera. It was also 10 500 pounds per year, though there was a Regional Award for international students - as long as you met the criteria to get in, you got 1000 pounds.

So yes, long story short, it would be too expensive. So Dad said no. He wants me to be stuck in a boring Arts degree here - English Lit or Journalism or something.

I really, really want to do this, so I talked with my sister, and for a while our plan was for me to go ahead and apply anyway and then apply for a student loan. Except... well, your job opportunities are restricted, and for one to actually be an Egyptologist you'd need a PhD. A BA (Hons) isn't going to cut it. So we thought about my doing my undergrad here in Singapore, getting my BA, and then going overseas to get a Master's in Egyptology. Liverpool requires that you have obtained a degree in something relevant. So we (my brother, sister and I) were discussing this and alternative routes last night until it was this morning.

  Talking things out with sunflower_mynah  resulted in my pondering a double major in ELit and History, which I wasn't that happy about because I bloody hated the Modern History that I had had to do in junior college, and while I love books, doing ELit in uni wasn't something that particularly called to me. But it might at least qualify as 'relevant' because of the history and lit tagline, even though modern history has as much relevance to Ancient Egypt as Fareed Zakaria (no offence meant to him, I like his Newsweek articles) has to whoever wrote Beowulf. Broadly speaking they're both the printed word, but content-wise...

  Also, I was pretty damn touched when my brother said he'd actually be willing to pay for my living expenses in Liverpool, so we'd just have to worry about tuition fees and books and things.

  So at about 5AM my brother went to look more things up on the computer in his room and my sister and I went to bed. Some time later my brother came to get me (I couldn't sleep anyway) and I went to his room and we discussed my doing European Studies here at NUS first, getting a BA (Hons) in that, and using that to go for my MA in Egyptology later. It would also broaden my options because the course would include learning French and/or German, which means that for postgraduate studies I needn't be restricted to the UK. (German universities would cost me less than a tenth of UK fees, but I would need to know German) Plus a knowledge of either French or German or both is needed for Egyptology, as half of the journals are in one of those two languages. And proficiency in those languages also broadens career options, apparently.

  I can't say that I think I'll enjoy it, because while I like languages, there'll be other modules involving politics and financial things and so on, but the fact is I would actually rather do this than History. I love ancient history, not modern history - that just makes me want to smack a lot of people. And it's going to delay my dream by a few years. Still, if it all works out, it'll be worth it.

  So... The Plan has undergone quite a few changes, but for now it seems to be: do a BA in European Studies here for now, and then try for my MA in Egyptology. Mmf. It's going to take a while, but Egypt, here I come.

Oh, and one more thing: Screw you, Singapore 'education' system. There are more important things than money and Maths and the Sciences.

From vnfan !

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Note that the wording is "will always stick with you" which I'm going to say does not mean favorite, which we've done before. It could, in theory, be something horrible that you hated, but can't shake off.

As far as I'm concerned, comics/graphic novels count as books. Especially if they're by Neil Gaiman or Mike Carey. Also, I cheated by putting quite a lot of series there. XD

1. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
2. Harry Potter (series) by JK Rowling
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
5. The Chronicles of Narnia (series) by CS Lewis
6. River God by Wilbur Smith
7. I don't remember the title of this very very thin yellow volume for young readers, but it was about the Norse myth of Loki and Baldur.
8. The Sandman (series) by Neil Gaiman
9. The Famous Five (series) by Enid Blyton
10. Everworld: Discover the Destroyer by KA Applegate (I think. It has been years since I looked at that book)
11. What Katy Did (series) by Susan Coolidge
12. Little Women (series) by Louisa May Alcott
13. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
14. Ramses (series) by Christian Jacq
15. Lucifer (series) by Mike Carey


It's really hard to cut myself off at 15 minutes because I have a huge bookworm and I will freely admit that I like showing off my reading list. I'm always glad to see someone else with similar lists and will gladly talk books with them. If you've read this, I'd like to see your list. Consider yourself tagged! :D

Regarding 7 - I found that book in a cupboard together with my audiobooks (as a kid, I had a lot of those book-plus-cassette combos) when I was very small (preschool, I think, or maybe kindergarten). The book was REALLY thin, a very simplified version, but none of the emotion was lost and I found myself weeping for Baldur and absolutely HATING Loki for killing him, and the old woman who refused to weep for him. (Later on I came across versions in which it was either Loki or Hel pretending to be the old woman, but I don't remember whether or not this book just had the old woman as a separate character or not. Since I remember wishing that I could make the old woman cry, it probably stopped there.) I suppose Loki was the first character I truly hated as a child. XD

Regarding 10 - That book is on there because it stays with me, but NOT because I like it. In retrospect, and with the help of Google, I think that had I discovered it in the past couple of years, I would have liked it. As a very young child, however, I was probably a little too young for it. I found myself drawn in by it, but at the same time I was rather uncomfortable with a lot of it. I found it in a bookshelf and it was probably my brother's, but I had found it in my parents' room, so perhaps it had been confiscated from him.

It was certainly a lot darker than the usual things I read at that time - I believe it started with the main characters having their hearts taken away, pulled out of their chests, and replaced by rubies by Nidhoggr - and while I recognised the names of Loki and Huitzilopochtli and a few others, and the satyrs and nymphs, at the time I had not yet read enough to catch all the mythological references like Nidhoggr himself, or the Celtic fairies and the cauldron of the Daghda. Years later, as I read more mythology, I wondered why these names sounded familiar before realising that I had indeed read about them before. But as I said, when I read Everworld: Discover the Destroyer at that age, I was unable to catch all the references, and things like David's obsession with Senna, and Chris's jokes, and a lot of other things about the young adult (I think) characters, made me feel slightly uneasy. At the same time, as I said, I was strangely drawn in by the book and read it a few times over some years, but it was a sort of love/hate relationship. I think I gave it away later. I know some of you are not fans of the 'you're too young for this book' idea, but I honestly think I was too young for that book, at that time, and I wish I could have discovered it now instead.

It's 09/09/09! :D

Nine was considered a sacred number by many ancient mythologies/cultures. Most of them held both three and nine in high regard. The Egyptians had their Ennead, the nine powerful gods of Heliopolis. The Greeks and Romans considered nine a powerful and sacred number and some prayers were recited three or nine times. The Hindus have our three powerful gods, Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Siva the Destroyer (my namesake), and we often recite prayers three times, or nine. We have a festival, Navaratri, coming up, which literally means nine nights, since that's how long it is. The Christians have their Holy Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And in Norse mythology, Odin the Allfather hung from Yggdrasil, the World Ash Tree, for nine days and nights, to learn the runes of power.

And if I started on the significance of a triad of women in nearly every single culture I'd go on for pages and pages. ;) The three Hindu goddesses Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Parvati, the Greek Fates, the Greek Furies, the Greek triadic-witch or Hecubae, the Norse Norns Urd, Verthandi and Skuld, the archetypal three witches, the maiden, mother and crone... Okay, I'll shut up now. xD

But come on, it's a cool date! :D

This is so late, but I would just like to say how happy I am that Terry Pratchett, one of my favourite authors ever, has been conferred a knighthood. Although I have a feeling he'll probably make light of it in his next Discworld book.

America was awesome! Photos at a later date - now I would just like to rave about Barnes and Noble. It was freaking awesome. And I got four new books. One was about Egyptian art and the other three were Discworld books.

Now, my Terry Pratchett collection includes The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort (which I got in America), Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids (got it in America) , Lords And Ladies (ditto), Carpe Jugulum, Maskerade, Montsrous Regiment, Thief of Time and Good Omens, the only non-Discworld book on my shelf, which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman and which is fan-friggin-tastic. I have also read Witches Abroad and the non-Discworld books Johnny and the Dead and Only You Can Save Mankind, and The Carpet People from the library, Wings, (not Discworld, but about gnomes) from my aunt, and I borrowed Hogfather from my brother. My bookshelf and I are jumping up and down in glee.

Hogfather was so awesomely hilarious. I mean, seriously. Picture Death, the skeleton in a black robe, who rides a white horse. Now picture him wearing one of those Christmas hats and a red robe with a cushion stuffed up his front, scrambling down chimneys and giving presents and going HO HO HO. And his grand-daughter Susan has to figure out why. Yes, you read right, Death's grand-daughter. Death's daughter (adopted) married his apprentice, Mort. Oh, and Death loves cats and is trying to learn the violin. He is one of my favourite Discworld characters, along with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg.

And recently, I re-read Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, and then straightaway I re-read Maskerade, which now seemed doubly hilarious (it pokes fun at the aforementioned classic, and set mainly in the Ankh-Morpork Opera House ;P). And Pyramids, too; I am a huge Egyptian buff, and Pyramids really put ancient Egypt through a washing machine on a fast spin-dry cycle. I mean, he's right about the enormous complexity of the admittedly confusing at times Egyptian pantheon and afterlife beliefs. And after that I was reading one of my books (Robert Bauval's The Egypt Code) on Ancient Egypt and I suddenly found it funny and had a huge grin on my face. And the book was non-fiction, about the star-correlation theory about the pyramids. So there wasn't much ground for humour.

If anyone's bothering to read this and hasn't discovered Terry Pratchett yet, I heartily recommend him!