Archive for October, 2005

Take the ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Challenge!

Monday, October 31st, 2005

I’m now reading Pride and Prejudice after seeing the new Keira Knightley movie, which was just beautiful.  I found this neat online quiz that tells you which Pride & Prejudice character you are based on your personality.  According to the quiz results, I am like Elizabeth Bennet, "who is
sensible and wise."  Hmm, well maybe it’s not all that accurate..
hehe…


Elizabeth Bennet
-
The novel’s protagonist. The second daughter of Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth is the most intelligent and sensible of the
five Bennet sisters. She is well read and quick-witted, with a tongue
that occasionally proves too sharp for her own good. Her realization
of Darcy’s essential goodness eventually triumphs over her initial prejudice
against him.

Fitzwilliam Darcy -
A wealthy gentleman, the master of Pemberley, and
the nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Though Darcy is intelligent
and honest, his excess of pride causes him to look down on his social inferiors.
Over the course of the novel, he tempers his class-consciousness
and learns to admire and love Elizabeth for her strong character.

Jane Bennet
-  The
eldest and most beautiful Bennet sister. Jane is more reserved and
gentler than Elizabeth. The easy pleasantness with which she and
Bingley interact contrasts starkly with the mutual distaste that
marks the encounters between Elizabeth and Darcy.

Charles Bingley
-
Darcy’s considerably wealthy best friend. Bingley’s
purchase of Netherfield, an estate near the Bennets, serves as the
impetus for the novel. He is a genial, well-intentioned gentleman,
whose
easygoing nature contrasts with Darcy’s initially discourteous demeanor.
He is blissfully uncaring
about class differences.


Mr. Bennet
-  The
patriarch of the Bennet family, a gentleman of modest income with
five unmarried daughters. Mr. Bennet has a sarcastic, cynical sense
of humor that he uses to purposefully irritate his wife. Though
he loves his daughters (Elizabeth in particular), he often fails
as a parent, preferring to withdraw from the never-ending marriage
concerns of the women around him rather than offer help.

Mrs. Bennet
 -  Mr.
Bennet’s wife, a foolish, noisy woman whose only goal in life is
to see her daughters married. Because of her low breeding and often
unbecoming behavior, Mrs. Bennet often repels the very suitors whom
she tries to attract for her daughters.

George Wickham
-  A
handsome, fortune-hunting militia officer. Wickham’s good looks
and charm attract Elizabeth initially, but Darcy’s revelation about
Wickham’s disreputable past clues her in to his true nature and simultaneously
draws her closer to Darcy.

Lydia Bennet
-  The
youngest Bennet sister, she is gossipy, immature, and self-involved.
Unlike Elizabeth, Lydia flings herself headlong into romance and
ends up running off with Wickham.

Mr. Collins
-  A
pompous, generally idiotic clergyman who stands to inherit Mr. Bennet’s
property. Mr. Collin’s own social status is nothing to brag about,
but he takes great pains to let everyone and anyone know that Lady Catherine
de Bourgh serves as his patroness. He is the worst combination of
snobbish and obsequious.

Miss Bingley
-  Bingley’s
snobbish sister. Miss Bingley bears inordinate disdain for Elizabeth’s
middle-class background. Her vain attempts to garner Darcy’s attention
cause Darcy to admire Elizabeth’s self-possessed character even
more.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh
 -
A rich, bossy noblewoman; Mr. Collins’s patron and
Darcy’s aunt. Lady Catherine epitomizes class snobbery, especially
in her attempts to order the middle-class Elizabeth away from her
well-bred nephew.

Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner
-
Mrs. Bennet’s brother and his wife. The Gardiners,
caring, nurturing, and full of common sense, often prove to be better
parents to the Bennet daughters than Mr. Bennet and his wife.

Charlotte Lucas
-
Elizabeth’s dear friend. Pragmatic where Elizabeth
is romantic, and also six years older than Elizabeth, Charlotte
does not view love as the most vital component of a marriage. She
is more interested in having a comfortable home. Thus, when Mr.
Collins proposes, she accepts.

Georgiana Darcy
-
Darcy’s sister. She is immensely pretty and just as
shy. She has great skill at playing the pianoforte.

Mary Bennet
-  The
middle Bennet sister, bookish and pedantic.

Catherine Bennet
-
The fourth Bennet sister. Like Lydia, she is girlishly
enthralled with the soldiers.

(Character list courtesy of SparkNotes)

after the fall…

Tuesday, October 18th, 2005
My laptop crashed this weekend and I consequently lost everything on the hard drive, including my prized iTunes. Now I know why people get so emotional about having their iPod stolen. It takes a lifetime to amass your favorite music, and to have it disappear in one fell swoop is slightly traumatizing. But I’m over it! I will miss my sappy 80s music, though. Here are my lessons learned for avoiding a future wipeout:

(1) if you don’t need it, don’t download it, esp. if you have a similar product already installed. this means you, RealPlayer!

(2) upload your pictures. don’t keep them stashed on your hard drive; burning to a CD takes too much time.

(3) if you must have music on your computer, make a backup CD… *sigh* (but hey, why not turn on an actual boom box, they still make those right?)

(4) stay away from heavy applications such as Microsoft Outlook; like many women, they look pretty but they’re trouble!

(5) don’t confuse your PC: reboot after installing new software, even though this is a major pain.

(6) last but not least, trust only the best and most reputable antivirus and firewall protection! I have a feeling my computer, which was using a freeware program, caught a worm that would have been blocked properly if I had just forked over the 50 bucks to McAfee from the beginning.

***
Update: one last tip, courtesy of my sister Jessie whose laptop also crashed recently.. "I strongly suggest getting an external hard drive…I got one that is 80Gb for like 90 bucks, but hey, it’s worth it to save all the heartache! I don’t even save anything on my computer anymore, it goes straight to the external unless I feel it’s too important, in which case I do make two copies. *knock on wood* "