Team Vlad the Impaler

In less than a month,

I

Will

Be.

In.

Turkey.

Turkey.

Istanbul, with all of its history and architecture and colors and smells and nature and ruins and people, like a giant maze or playground--or both--like the most complex flower you can think of, unfolding just below my feet.

Can you tell I'm just a bit excited?

Currently, I'm waiting to get my student visa from the consulate in LA, trying to figure out where I'm going to live, and picking my classes. (Lots of architecture, with some Turkish history thrown in. J.--I never expected Principles and Reforms of Ataturk to count towards my major.)

It's hard to believe that it's coming up this fast. I'll be leaving on September 10th, so now it's crunch time to see all of my friends here before I go.

When I decided to go to Turkey, it never occurred to me that (within this context) America was founded by Christians. Turkey was not (at over 99% Muslim, I would say not). While this doesn't bother me, it means that winter break does not line up with Christmas. In addition, I only get two weeks. Therefore, I will not be coming home.

Therefore, it will be a solid nine months before I see anyone here again.

That's not the hard part of all of this. I just look at it as part of the trip. And besides, I'll make friends over there.

The hardest part was saying goodbye to my now-senior friends. Since I'll be gone for all of my junior year, they will have graduated by the time I get back to Coe.

On the other hand, it's a relatively small payoff for Turkey.

Turkey!

I quite enjoy having my friends from school come out so I can show off my home (and so I can see them, too). I love Tacoma, and although I am biased, it's a pretty spectacular place. So is Washington as a whole. M. has been out for about the past week and a half (I have way too many friends whose names start with M), and, once again, I got to show off my home state.

As is almost required, we made it out to the Olympic Peninsula. It's one of my favorite places in the country, and I always enjoy hearing people talk about how much they love it. Which M. did quite a lot. Driving around Crescent Lake, it suddenly occurred to me that riding with her was like having a caffeine-crazed biologist bubble sitting next to me. In all the good ways, too.

Like almost any member of my generation (well, at least the nerdy ones), I am a Joss Whedon fan. It began, like it did for most, with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog. It's a spectacular three-part internet show about the way our society is breaking off into different fractions, and the often absurd ways post-modern thinking comes out in our day-to-day....

....Okay, it's more about an evil "superhero" trying to take over the world. But it has Neil Patrick Harris! And lots of singing! And it's better than it sounds!

But, long story short, I started noticing Whedon. Firefly was the next step (space western, better than it sounds), and then, thanks to K.'s suggestion, I began watching Dollhouse.

(As a side note: from the reviews, I have a sneaking suspicion it sounds like the only thing I do during the summer is watch tv shows. This is not true. However, summer does offer a bit more time than finals season.)

Dollhouse only ran for two seasons, and although I'm not done yet, I'm decently close.

The basic premise is this:

Volunteers who are having difficulties with their lives can become actives for five years. Their memories are wiped, and then, when they are hired, other memories are imprinted. Say someone wants to hire a thief. Topher (resident programming genius) imprints the active with all the memories they need (how to bypass a security system, etc.), but also the memories of "their" childhood. The active believes they are that person.

Echo, the main character, is starting to remember, both her previous imprints and who she was before she became an active. On top of that, add DC's politics, politics that operate beyond DC, and people whose semi-questionable morals allow them to do that, and you've got Dollhouse.

While I absolutely adore the premise, writing, characters, and questions the show raises, I have an issue with Eliza Dushku, the woman who plays Echo. She doesn't quite--I think--have the range to play everyone she needs to with the "purity" of character that's needed, which is too bad. Everyone else (at least, those who are actives) seem to have it.

All in all, quite worth seeing. After all, it is Joss Whedon.

m.