The Tolkien Middle Age Club

[HerenIstarion]

Well, there two active clubs of the kind already, yet I found myself as non qualifiable for both. Coming Of Age one requires reading JRRT's works at least 18 years ago, Under Age to be less than 18 of age oneself. This Middle one is for those who are older than 18 yet read Tolkien for the first time less than 18 years ago.



Here we go:



I'm 24, going to be 25 soon. I've read The Hobbit back in 1989 and Smith of Wotton Major in 1990. Those two books introduced me to Tolkien, and I got hooked since the first read. Both books were in Russian translation, the latter by modern and more or less renowned Russian writer Nagibin. As far as I know, no one in my family confessed ever since of putting the books there, so I assume both were bought some time before due to the covers as "good for children" stuff. Bilbo on the cover looks like old Russian comical actor Leonov, smilies/rolleyes.gif I still retain those books. The Hobbit was published in 1976, and The Smith in 1988



Then (I knew not English) I asked my grandma, who was going on trip to Russia, to bring me LoTR. I knew there was a sequel to the Hobbit from it's preface. She brought it indeed, yet only FoTR (very rare copy of that edition, Raduga Publishers I believe - by mistake cover is upturned - if you open the book normally, you get last page of the book upside down), and TT, and I spent 2 horrible years till 1993 inventing possible adventures that has befallen after Shelob, for The Return of the King was not yet translated and published. And than (I even remember the date, itwas 13th of February, 1993) I saw RoTK on the open fair, in the spot in Tbilisi called "Dry Bridge". All kinds of books, paintings and other artistic paraphernalia a sold there on weekends. I had no money with me, so I promised to pay twice as much as the seller asked, only if the book was still there when I return. I had to borrow money from my sister after an hour of begging (I was so excited she would not believe I needed it to bye a book, those elder sisters are apt to act so parentally sometimes, you know) And ran back like mad. The seller was puzzled indeed - he told me afterwards he was not able to sell it for three weeks!



Same year I started to learn English for the sake of reading Tolkien. (Preface to FoTR was unmerciful enough to reveal that there was more than Bilbo and Frodo, namely Silmarillion, and it was not translated to any language known to me then - Georgian or Russian)



And when I finally got hold of original Hobbit and LoTR (my university lecturer supplied me with them) I was very surprised to read some names, for Russian translators were russificating the book. Bet you can't get who Vseslavur is?

[ November 30, 2002: Message edited by: HerenIstarion ]

[Alkanoonion]

Woops I posted in the under 18 topic, I thought it was for reading the books under 18 yrs not for 18 yr olds.

Ok I am 25 years old I started reading the Hobbit when I was 10 so I have been reading the books for 15 years.

smilies/smile.gif

[Lush]

"Vseslavur"? Well, "vse" is all, "slava" is glory, which leads me to the conclusion that...I have absolutely no idea who you're talking about. Aragorn? Humph.
Well, as for our "club", I guess I fit the general criteria. Im over 18. I first read the books...last winter.
I had read parts of The Hobbit on a babysitting job before, but didn't really know about the existence of the LotR, and all the other heaps of literature. You can say that PJ was the one who turned me on to this stuff. smilies/wink.gif

[Maikadilwen]

Well, I'm 24 (for a couple more months) and I first read Tolkien.... Uhm... Hmm, honestly I can't remember, but we're talking 11-12 years ago. Though it wasn't until recently I bought any of the books myself. Shame on me, I know. smilies/biggrin.gif

[Eol]

Don't feel bad Alk I misunderstood it as well. I definately fit the criteria of this thread better then the other, I felt much too old.

I grew up with the hobbit and began reading the LOTR in seventh grade when my english teacher said we were watching the animated movies because the books were too hard. I was disapointed how easy it was to read, and I keep on reading them.

I have been at it for about seven or eight years, I have stopped counting a while ago. include the hobbit, fourteen years.

[ September 19, 2002: Message edited by: Eol ]

[amyrlis]

Phew! I'm glad you started this as I was beginning to think I'd have to start a Tolkien Gen-X Club of my own! I do qualify with the 18+ years of age, in fact I am just nearing the age where I've started to become sensitive about it! I 1st read LOTR a little more than 15 years ago when my sister participated in a high school stage version of the The Hobbit. I was instantly hooked and fell even deeper for them after reading the Sil a few years later. I let my interest slide during my busy college years and the years following, but as soon as I heard an inkling of the coming movies I was again ensnared. I have since added UT to my collection and will have Lost Tales and maybe some HoME on my Christmas list this year.
HI - don't keep us in suspense! Who is Vseslavur??? I will venture to guess, um, Legolas!

[Tigerlily Gamgee]

Hmmm... well, I guess I'll post here, even though The Barrow Downs is kinda one-big club in itself. Why is everyone starting to segregate into categories???
I am 22, and I read LOTR less than a year ago. The movie is what prompted me to read the books & now they are my favorite ever! I have also read The Hobbit & The Silmarillion... and I have copies of many of the histories, but it will be a while before I get time to read them.
I also enjoy long walks on the beach, dinner by the lake, and.... smilies/tongue.gif

[Neferchoirwen]

I am just about to end The Fellowship at the moment (The Company had just eaten with Galadriel and Celeborn), and I first read The Hobbit just last May.

And like Lush and Tigerlily, I was turned on to Tolkien by the movie. Fantasy was never my thing, but I knew that I should have picked it up at the bookstore 9 years ago.

Vseslavur...my guess would be Arwen????? smilies/rolleyes.gif

[Bruce MacCulloch]

Well, it seems that I would fit into this category here very nicely.
I'm twenty-six years old (going on seventy according to some of the kids in chat) and first read The Hobbit when I was eight. The summer that I was nine, I had chicken pox and couldn't go anywhere for a little bit. I read Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion straight through. Started reading when I woke up and read until I went to sleep, even holding the book in front of me during meals. (I was at my grandmother's house, my mom would never have let me get away with that one.)
Ever since then, every winter, I start with The Hobbit and work my way through LotR and the Sil. I haven't quite gotten up the stamina to read all of HoME straight though (again - heh heh).
http://www.plauder-smilies.de/person/bravo.gif

[HerenIstarion]

Well, Lush was right in translating the parts of Vseslavur. Vse is "all" and "slavur" may be translated as "glorified" And as well as Lush was right, Muraviev and Kistakovsky (translators) were wrong in interpreting "glor" stem in Glorfindel as "glory" smilies/cool.gif

PS not that "all glorified" is not suiting Glorfindel nicely, yet still...

[ September 20, 2002: Message edited by: HerenIstarion ]

[Neferchoirwen]

I was thinking Galadriel, instead of Glorfindel. In fact, I read Glorfindel as Galadriel (my brain is failing me).

Bruce, for a "seventy-year-old," you're quite a buff for cartoons. Compensating for what the kids think about your age? smilies/biggrin.gif

[Bruce MacCulloch]

http://www.plauder-smilies.de/eviltongue.gif

[Eol]

Real Mature,, bruce, realy mature! Heh, love the little smiley.

[Neferchoirwen]

It is a cute smiley. Even if it was aimed at me smilies/tongue.gif

I was browsing at the Under age club just now, and I am impressed at the fact that as young as nine, they were able to understand Tolkien's language. The language was one of the reasons why I didn't read it when I was half my age now. (But I knew I would've pulled it off) smilies/wink.gif

[Neferchoirwen]

I'm putting this up again so that the mid-age LotR readers would, you know, show themselves. The Coming of Age people are coming strong.

Bruce: Sorry for the quip on childishness, bro. It was purely endearment.

[Hanna_Gamgee]

I am 29 years old. I just started reading LOTR a year ago when the movies came out. Before that I didn't read much fantasy books.I read the hobbit when I was younger. Now I like to read fantasy books more often.

[HerenIstarion]

Welcome to our club, Hanna. You still have a great time before you when you get on to the Silmarillion and the rest smilies/smile.gif I even envy you a little (yes, yes, shame on me) smilies/rolleyes.gif

[ October 16, 2002: Message edited by: HerenIstarion ]

[ October 19, 2002: Message edited by: HerenIstarion ]

[Neferchoirwen]

Welcome to the Downs, and to this club, Hanna!
...and welcome to the world of fantasy literature!

We're kinda on the same boat. I've gathered an interest in fantasy only after reading Tolkien, which was after watching the movie.

[ October 18, 2002: Message edited by: Neferchoirwen ]

[HerenIstarion]

We are [?depressed?] minority it seems, come, middle agers (heh?), show up yourselves...

[Joy]

I am 24 and I started reading LotR after the movie came out. I did not see the movie at first, because I thought that it was "evil" as some of my friends had said.

Then I started seeing people on the Christian boards that I was one talk about it. One day, I went to my Christian bookstore and saw FotR on the front stand. I decided then that I would check it out.

I bought it about a week before Christmas, but didn't read it right away. Then my mother had a car accident - totaled her car - on New Years Eve. When she went back to work later that week, she took my car and I was stuck at home 12 hours a day by myself.

It was okay for the first week or so, but by the end of Jan, I was going crazy! So, I picked up FotR. I read the book in 2 days, then the next night my mom was off from work and I bought TTT, RotK, and The Hobbit. I finished LotR by Feb 3 - my registration date here on this site, then I dove into The Hobbit. One Feb 12, I saw the movie. After the movie was over, I bought the Sil and UT.

It took me forever to read the Sil the first time through. Now, I have read LotR 3x's, The Hobbit 3x's, the Sil 2x's and working on my 2nd of UT.

I now have the 1st 5 books of HoME and am asking for Morgoth's Ring (HoME 10) and War of the Jewels(HoME 11) for Christmas.

Edit: My mom was not injured in the car wreak - the wheel came off and she went into an enbankment and hit several trees. She bought another car on Feb 13 - the day after we saw the movie.

[ November 30, 2002: Message edited by: Joy ]

[HerenIstarion]

Hya Joy, Feb is a good month (I read RoTK in February smilies/smile.gif, and I saw the movie on February 9, for it was not brought to Georgia until then)

[Susan Delgado]

Well, I almost qualify for the Coming of Age Club, but not quite. Here I fit in nicely smilies/smile.gif

I'm 23 now and have been a bookworm since before I was born. That is, my father is a bookworm too. It's hereditary (at least in my family it is). He introduced me to books, specifically sci fi, but also fantasy and everything else in general. You know, Books, when I was very young. In the summer of 1986, when I was six or seven, my family read Watership Down and The Hobbit. I picked up Fellowship when I was nine or ten but lost interest somewhere after the Council of Elrond. I tried again sporadically over the next twelve years but could never get more than halfway through, despite reading everything else I could get my greedy little mind on. Finally, I realised there was really going to be a movie and that gave me the impetus to finally finish it, and here I am now. I honestly have no idea what stopped me all those years.

By the way, though I've now read LotR and Silm, The Hobbit is still my favorite. It was the one I could (and did) always read. Watership Down is also one of my very favorite books in the world, and I doubt I'd have read it on my own. Rabbits? No Way! It shows how much influence early childhood experiences have on us.

[Neferchoirwen]

I have finished reading all of three books just last autumn...and the dreams I've been having were pretty cool, too.

I just saw the cartoon version on Disney a few months ago, Susan. I thought is was cool. I have the book now, thuogh I haven;t read it.

As for me and Middle Earth, I promised myself that I will read LotR to all of my kids, with accents and all.

[Susan Delgado]

Neferchoirwen, are you talking about Watership Down? If so, do yourself a favor: burn the movie and read the book. That movie is a 90 minute acid trip.

I'm also going to read LotR to my children, when I have them, along with everything else. No kiddy books for mine! Novels all the way. smilies/smile.gif

[Neferchoirwen]

Susan, I figured that out. It was too short for a book that thick. Just saw it on Disney, which I think was the old one. Neil Simon sang the theme on that one.

I've been reading American Gods lately, and I'm getting depressed...I decided to read the Silm along the way, but it might give me migraines (reading the Silm with AG).

[HerenIstarion]

Take Silmarillion for your money smilies/smile.gif

BTW, since The Silmarillion is presented as collection of tales from the First Age of the world, there is nothing particularly wrong in skipping 'hard' places. I've read it some 10+ times, but I can't recall reading the chapter "Of Beleriand and it's Realsm" more than thrice

[Neferchoirwen]

Thanks for the tip...though I just finished American Gods already...but the silm kinda kept my brain in balance...

Yep, I guess I'll be skipping a few stuff. Thanks again!

[Sleeping Beauty]

The Silm is a hard read, even when you're trying to concentrate on it alone. @_@

I guess I fit into this category as well. I'm 21 and I first read the LOTR when I was 15. I was always a big fan of fantasy and it was suggested to me by my history teacher. I picked up the books quickly and drank them all in.

It feels funny though you all are posting in the Middle Age Club since everyone here seems so young.... smilies/eek.gif Are we getting that old already? smilies/wink.gif

[Diamond18]

Well, I've seen lots of other "Who are you, what is your age, gender, social security number and measurements, when did you first read LotR and how many times have you read it since then" threads and made my obligatory posts.

None of those other threads had such prestigious titles as "The Middle Age Club", so I have to join this thread. smilies/smile.gif I won't tell you all the above stuff, though...if you don't already know you're not paying attention. smilies/tongue.gif It's sufficient to say that I qualify for this Club. (Shouldn't we have a motto? Like, "I'll read HoME, if I have to...I guess.")

PS, H-I, maybe you can quiz us on some more russified names? Bring them on!

[ December 17, 2002: Message edited by: Diamond18 ]

[HerenIstarion]

Being off-topic strayer meself, I nevertheless am rapt to grab an opportunity to repent and not pose on you requested quizzes here right awaym but readdress you to proper place named:

Quotes in other languages (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=6&t=000152)

[Liriodendron]

I'm happy to be in The Middle Age club! I'm scared of "The Senior Citizens Club"! smilies/biggrin.gif Hold the phone! I just re read the opener! I read Tolkien over thirty years ago, so I can't be in this club!
I'm the coming of age club! smilies/tongue.gif smilies/rolleyes.gif smilies/eek.gif As long as It's not the old folks club!

[ December 17, 2002: Message edited by: Liriodendron ]

[Maikadilwen]

Well, I certainly begin to feel "middle-aged"... I just turned 25 today! smilies/eek.gif
Oh the PAIN! smilies/biggrin.gif

[hobbitlass]

AAAAH! The place where I belong. Okay now for my story. As stated before, I will turn 30 on April 15.
September 2001 is when I had heard about the movie for LotR. It brought back a memory of me playing at my best-friend's house 18 years earlier. There was some weird cartoon on the T.V. and all I remember is a frog biting off a short person's finger and falling in lava. I wondered if this was the same story.
Few days later I found the Del-Rey paperbacks at Wal-mart real cheap so I snatched them up.
I read The Hobbit and Lotr in a week. I couldn't put them down but I had to, to take care of my three girls.
I stayed up all night when I was finishing Return of the King. I had to pick up my mum and sisters from the airport the next day. I was on such an adrenalin high that I was wired the whole next day.
Since then I have been collecting Tolkien's works.
I discovered this place last August. I love it here. I'm with others that have a common interest (AKA obsession). So I'll be dead here a long time.

[ February 01, 2003: Message edited by: hobbitlass ]

[Neferchoirwen]

and all I remember is a frog biting off a short person's finger and falling in lava.

If I'd have seen that cartoon 18 years ago, that would have been the way I remembered it as well smilies/biggrin.gif smilies/biggrin.gif smilies/biggrin.gif

[Diamond18]

Cool, hobbitlass, I read LotR in a week as well (6 days, actually...). To echo a hackneyed phrase, I just could not put it down! And then it was a month or so before I read another book, because the memory of LotR was still lingering and I didn't want to dilute it. smilies/wink.gif

[alaklondewen]

I am glad I found this thread because I was beginning to feel a little left out from the others. Well, here is my story.

I'm 23, and I read the Hobbit when I was 16. I had never heard of LotR, but the Hobbit instantly became one of my favorite books. After I graduated from high school and started college, I met an interesting person who compared almost everything in life to this book he read in the '70s. He also would tell me about his 'happy place', this forest called Lothorien. Needless to say he peeked my interest. I read LotR in '99 for the first time. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I read the books aloud to her when I knew her ears had developed (I certainly didn't want her to miss anything). I am currently reading it for the fourth time and still loving it like the first time. I'm now collecting the rest of Tolkien's works. I hope to start UT when I finish RotK.

[Annunfuiniel]

*Annun enters in* Middle Age Club? Doesn't sound quite right... *takes a closer look* Ah, now I see! This is the place for me after all. smilies/wink.gif
I am 22, and I read LOTR less than a year ago. The movie is what prompted me to read the books & now they are my favorite ever! I have also read The Hobbit & The Silmarillion...
Tigerlily, we have a lot in common! I'm too in my "tweens" ("as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three."), 22 in 17 days to be exact. I read the LOTR last autumn (it took me about a week) after seeing the FOTR on video. And after that there was no turning back... Now I have read the Hobbit, the Silmarillion and parts of Unfinished Tales and Lost Tales (and the Lay of Atrou and Itroun). Reading thru the whole HoM-E series is my next goal along with reading the LOTR in English (I have read all the books, except the Lost Tales, in Finnish).

Well, I think that's about it and most likely more than you cared to know. smilies/rolleyes.gif smilies/tongue.gif

[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

*sobs with relief* There is a place for folks like me after all smilies/wink.gif

I'm 20 years old, but a twelve-year old reader of Tolkien. Read the hobbit with my mother (we took turns reading aloud) at age eight, and then at eleven I read all of LOTR in a week while I was sick. Silm came a little later though... *gulps* and I've read bits and pieces of the other things. Farmer Giles will always be a favorite.

Sophia

[Schmendrick]

Well,it took me quite a while to find the place where I belong! But finally I did! smilies/smile.gif
I'm 25 and have loved books all my life (I study literature, in fact).
Considering that it's really amazing that I somehow managed to avoid the LOTR so long (especially when many of my closest friends repeatedly recommended it to me!)...I only read it after seeing the FOTR, but then there was no turning back anymore... smilies/smile.gif
Like many others, I also read the LOTR in 5-6 days (or at nights, actually!) and after that I've also read it in english plus read the Hobbit, Silmarillion and just recently started reading The UT (which I LOVE!).

[HerenIstarion]

Hola, hola

Nice to see you all gathered here. Happy B-days, Maika and Hobbitlass (though belatedly a bit) :D
Welcome all who entered since my last visit :)

[Nerindel]

Hey all, I'm not sure if I belong here or with the oldies smilies/wink.gif

I am 28 and was introduced to Tolkien from a young age, My mother being a member of her local Tolkien society and both my parents being avid Rpg'ers in their younger years, I don't exactly remember when my mother first read The hobbit to me, as she read it to me and my brother many times smilies/biggrin.gif I was first intoduced to LOTRs at the age of 9, when my father read it to me, and I certainly did not understand all of it from the first telling, what I do remember most is the brillant voice my father did for Gollum smilies/biggrin.gif

I was 12 before I picked up the Hobbit and read it for myself and 14 before my mother allowed me to read her copy of The Lord of the Rings and I have been hooked ever since smilies/biggrin.gif With every reading revealing something new to me.

I must admit that I have only recently read the Silmarillion, and it reveals sooo much more, that I don't know how I ever lived without it! smilies/rolleyes.gif

My mother has just sent me her 1976 copy of Farmer Giles of Ham and a 1975 copy of Tree and Leaf, Smith of Wootton Major, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, with the simple note saying "Enjoy" smilies/biggrin.gif

My only problem now is to decide which one to read first smilies/tongue.gif

[Thenamir]

Just a drop-in to say that at age 40 (soon to be 41) Thenamir qualifies for the Middle-Age Middle-Earthers.

Found Tolkien as a High School Sophomore in 1978, in part because friends were quoting passages from Bored of the Rings, the Harvard Lampoon parody, and though I did not know the subject being parodied, it ad me in stitches. I hit the library next day and found myself a copy of FOTR, and was inextricably hooked.

I was a casual, almost closet fan of LOTR until news came out that a movie was in the works, whereupon I became a crusader for canonic purity, and found the Barrow Downs. After frequenting the chat for several months, I found myself in the good graces of the Barrow-Wight, who allowed me to use the name of the site for my openly-capitalistic Tolkien store. We formalized a joint venture, and I've been associated with the Downs ever since.

Good to be here, and to have some mature perspective. Party on, dudes.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

(psssst, Thenamir - having read Tolkien's books more than 18 years ago qualifies you for the Tolkien Coming of Age Club (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=14&t=000840), where the geezers gather. Come on over! Rocking chairs provided - please bring your own teeth...)

[Lyta_Underhill]

You know, most of these Tolkien "middle-agers" are younger than me! But that still does not make me an "old folk" Tolkien wise, for I did not crack the LOTR until 1991, although I had read the Hobbit in 1988 and had oddly attempted to start my Tolkien readings with the Silmarillion in 1987, getting 100 pages through it and giving it up in confusion. So, I guess that makes my first Tolkien (incomplete) 16 years ago, not quite enough for the old folks and on the outer edge of this group as well! Then again, I've always been "on the cusp" and never quite fit in with any group, being on the edge of Gen-X and Baby Boomers and alternately identified by those who claim to know as being one or the other, depending on where Mars and Venus are in the sky and whether the Milky Way is visible through the clouds that night... smilies/wink.gif

Cheers,
Lyta

[HerenIstarion]

16 years ago, not quite enough for the old folks

That's the point :) Welcome, Lita
and Nerindel

Hola, Thenamir, stray grandsires are also welcome here :p

Estelyn, your graciousness and beauty always makes any place of your presence more lovely. We of the middle age club are honored and fascinated to have you as our guest

*H-I bows

[Diamond18]

Hi all my fellow tweeners...

Today is my 1st deathday! It was indeed a short time before midnight (Eastern time) on the 27th of September that I signed up here, so, I am posting as near to the exact time as I can guess. (Also, three days from now will be my 19th birthday. Nice to time my deathday and birthday three days apart, is it not? smilies/biggrin.gif)

I couldn't think of another thread which this would not be horribly, shamelessly off topic in, so this is just a wee bit off. smilies/evil.gif

Edit: Well, all the clocks in my house say it's 5 minutes till 11, but apparently even with a whole 24 hours to work with, I missed posting on the right day BD time by two lousy minutes. Man.

[ September 28, 2003: Message edited by: Diamond18 ]

[Meela]

Well, I'm older than 18, but it has been less than 18 years since my introduction. The Hobbit was read to me when I was about three, four, or was it seven - I have very distinct memories of imagining Bilbo in a cave, and not much else sank in - but I had never heard of Lord of the Rings until two years ago.

[HerenIstarion]

Welcome, Meela :)

and, of course, happy Birth(Death) Days(Nights) Diamond18 :D

[Mariska Greenleaf]

For some reason, I've never heard of the Tolkien Middle Age Club before, but guess what, I fit in perfectly.

I'm 24 (25 on the 31st!) and haven't been reading the books for more then 18 years.
I first read the LOTR at the age of 15, after that The Hobbit and after that The Sil.
First in dutch, and last year, I read all of them in english. And now I tend to read parts of all the books when I feel like it.

[HerenIstarion]

Reason being, the club represents the temporal (in a sense of mean age of its members) minority on the BD (or so it seems)

Happy Birthday (alongside with New Year, o'course :)

My own occurred on January 21, so we have been of the same age for 3 weeks (me being 26 this last 9 days, but, mark you, 25 between 1-20). Must be sign of Fate, or something :rolleyes:

[Gorwingel]

Gosh, now I am 18!
That means I can now be a member smilies/biggrin.gif

I read the books for the first time 2 years ago, after I saw FOTR and thought it was the most amazing film I had ever seen (luckily for me the books ended up being even more amazing than the films!). So I am still rather new to the world of Tolkien. But I love everything about it so much.

I have gone on from LOTR to read The Sil, The Hobbit, and The Book of Lost Tales 1, but I still have so much to learn. Even though I have been here at the downs for over a year, I still feel I am very much a novice.

[Neferchoirwen]

It's going to be February in a few hours over at where I am, and that would mean two years of being dead, being a Tolkien thinking fan, and two laps of LOTR reading!

I still have much more to learn as well, and the Silm to finish too.

[HerenIstarion]

Welcome, dear new members :)

I guess ours is the club with most of the perspective and opportunity, since youngsters of the other club will grow up one day to be our members too, and there will be some decade to go before there is a time for us to move on to oldies :)

[HerenIstarion]

Surely, we of MAC form a minority here on the Downs. Most of the members are either younger or older then we find ourselves to be. But, I suppose, there are some newly deceased souls meeting our requirements? So this thread is bumped up :)

cheers

[Mithalwen]

*peeks through the window and wishes she hadn't read the hobbit quite so precociously, thus qualifying herself for the old fogies group rather than the bright young things*.... the fogies are friendly on the whole but Old Prof Hedgethistle can be quite cantankerous... :p

[HerenIstarion]

ah, we are not bright young things, we are sober grown-up ones. Bright ones can be found in Tolkien Under Age Club (http://69.51.5.41/showthread.php?t=4674) :)

[Mithalwen]

All things are relative... I definitely wouldn't make the cut for that one .. I will just have to console myself with being the "baby"/ juvenile delinquent of the pipe and slippers brigade - though I don't smoke and my slippers are of the fluffy panda variety... so until you reach years of discretion Namarie ..... maybe I should start a person of a certain age club... :p

[tar-ancalime]

I think this is the place for me.

I read The Hobbit and the LotR as a kid, then rediscovered Tolkien in college. However, I have to admit that my interest didn't extend to his other works until it was piqued again by a certain recent movie trilogy....

Before that, I was content with my once-a-year summer rereading of LotR.

It's nice to find others here of about my age--I was feeling rather alone amidst the young 'uns and the sage professorial types.

[HerenIstarion]

Welcome, tar-ancalime :) Have a seat by the fire. Backgammon? Pool? Soft drinks?

[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

It's a shame to see the best of the "Age" clubs molding at the bottom of the heap while the old people have so much fun on page 1 of the forum! ;)

I'm actually here to celebrate the 14th anniversary of my reading of the Hobbit. As I posted what seems like an age ago on this thread, I first read aloud with my mother when I was 8. I'm now 22 and I still think reading Tolkien aloud is a fabulous way to pass grey winter afternoons. :)

Sophia

[Milady Revenwyn]

I had to introduce myself to LOtR about 7 years ago. I've read it an average of almost 11 times a year since then. I'm 22. I started with the Hobbit when I was 13. So I started reading them rather late compared to some.
My family is of the serious type, the people who are forever stuck in the real world. My mom read LOtR once upon a time, but she didn't really like it. So thus, she didn't introduce it to me, especially since I already lived in a fantasy world.

[HerenIstarion]

Welcome, Milady Revenwyn to the board in general and to this particular corner of it too :)

[Celuien]

This looks like the right place. :D

To find the origin of my Tolkien obsession, we have to go back about 12 years, where we find a 9 year old eagerly reading a grammar text. What, a grammar text? Yes, for this was no ordinary grammar book, filled with nothing but sentence diagramming exercises and information about the parts of speech. In the last pages, there were excerpts from novels that had been turned into some sort of assignment, mostly of the "correct the removed punctuation in this paragraph" sort, and one was from The Fellowship of the Ring. After reading the passages several times and wondering where Mordor was, why Frodo wanted to go there and why Sam wanted to go with him, I went to ask my mother if we could go to the library to find this set of books called The Lord of the Rings that I had just been reading about. Unfortunately, my mother is a lifelong member of the fantasy is not real literature society, and flatly refused to facilitate my "wasting my time" with such books. That put an end to my reading. Temporarily.

And so the years went by. Every time I went to a bookstore, I would walk past the Tolkien section, look at the books, and wonder if I would ever find out what happened in the rest of the story. Finally, my younger sister was assigned The Hobbit as part of her book club. She hated it, but as soon as she put it down, I grabbed the book and read it cover to cover. The old curiosity was renewed instantly, and when The Hobbit was dropped off at the library return desk, I left with a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring, which was shortly followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King. I've never turned back. :cool:

[Beren87]

I, oddly enough, graduate to the MAC now, having turned 18 a few months ago. I first read Tolkien when I was 9, so it looks like I've 9 more years to go until I can graduate again.

18 and middle aged! If I die at 36, I'm going to be severly dissapointed. ;)

[Holbytlass]

AAAAH! The place where I belong. Okay now for my story. As stated before, I will turn 30 on April 15.
September 2001 is when I had heard about the movie for LotR. It brought back a memory of me playing at my best-friend's house 18 years earlier. There was some weird cartoon on the T.V. and all I remember is a frog biting off a short person's finger and falling in lava. I wondered if this was the same story.
Few days later I found the Del-Rey paperbacks at Wal-mart real cheap so I snatched them up.
I read The Hobbit and Lotr in a week. I couldn't put them down but I had to, to take care of my three girls.
I stayed up all night when I was finishing Return of the King. I had to pick up my mum and sisters from the airport the next day. I was on such an adrenalin high that I was wired the whole next day.
Since then I have been collecting Tolkien's works.
I discovered this place last August. I love it here. I'm with others that have a common interest (AKA obsession). So I'll be dead here a long time.
This is me, I had to re-incarnate, but the story remains the same! ;) I still love it here and in 8 months I turn 33 and I come-of-age in the Shire-reckoning!

[HerenIstarion]

Though gradually, the club still grows :)

Welcome, Beren, and welcome back, hobbitlass :D

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

How wonderful that the day I find this club is under a week after I qualify for it.

I'm only just 18, but that makes me... old, I suppose. You truly feel it if you ever head over to the chat room where fourteen-year-olds bemoan their love-struck fates.

I did not "discover" Tolkien's work so much as I was forced to read it in 7th grade by a teacher that by common consent is just plain nuts. I have very clear memories of her reading aloud "Riddles in the Dark" and screaming at the top of her voice (disrupting other classes, mind you) about how Baggins is a theif and we hates it forever.

Even apart from that though, I loved The Hobbit and finished it ages before my classmates. I was... *counts on fingers* 12 at the time.

It was my brother's fault that I ended up a bigger LotR fan than him. I make a point of not telling him, but I tend to share his interests and so make a point to check up on new things he's doing to see if I might like them as well. He flatly refused to let me read LotR. He wanted to experiment with me and make me wait until after the movies came out (this was a month or so before the Fellowship came out in theatres) to see what kind of fan I would be.

I objected fiercely and "went behind his back" to beg an old, beat up copy of The Fellowship off of his English teacher (who just happened to be my 7th grade reading teacher who introduced me to Tolkien in the first place). She handed one over immediately and ever after, I fell in love. I finished it in a few days, borrowed TTT and RotK and read them fast.

I read The Silm for the first time last summer, and I recently got my hands on an old copy of The Tolkien Reader, which I've started. What kind of a fool throws a Tolkien book (published in the 60s, no less) on a free rack at the local library?

*Fea throws a banana peel to see who will slip on it*

[arcticstorm]

I have been 18 for 7 months, so I guess I qualify. I started reading the hobbit when I was in the spring of my sixth grade year, so I would have been 12 at the time. After that it took me awhile to actually finish reading the Lord of the Rings, I read each book as a book report for my seventh, eighth, and ninth grade years. The first movie came out 3 months later. So once I found out about the movie, which would have been in December. I reread the Fellowship again quickly so I could see how close it was to the book. Immediately afterward, I read the Silmarillion for the first time, and did not understand a word. So I started reading through the Hobbit and LOrd of the Rings again. By the end of my tenth grade year I was reading through the entirety of the Lord of The RIngs and the Appendices in 1 week. I decided to try the Silm out again. This time I knew more about the world it was set in and it wuickly became my favorite of all of Tolkein's major works. I have currently read through HOME 5, The Tolkein Reader, the Unfinished Tales and Sir. Gawain and the Green Knight. and I have read peices of HOME 1-4.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Why did people stop posting here a month before I joined ? No wonder I never found it. . .

How come the ancient folk can keep their thread alive, but the younger ones neglect theirs?

Anyhow, I have been 21 for a month and 3 days now, I first read the LotR around the time the movies came out. By the time I sa FotR I had just started reading TT amd when I watched the TT, I had finnished TT and RotK and had just gotten my hands on The Hobbit.

[Brinniel]

Now that I've been 18 for several months now, I suppose I've advanced from the Underage Club to this one. I knew there a club for young adults somewhere- I'm glad I finally found it. :)

Anyways, I discovered Tolkien almost five years ago. It feel like I've been a Tolkien fanatic for ages, but when I think about it, five years isn't very long, now is it? :rolleyes:

[Macalaure]

Why did people stop posting here seven months before I joined ? ;)

I didn't know this place existed. Thanks to ninja, SpM and Rune who dug it out with joint strength.

Me, I'm 27 (for a few weeks left) and read the books only after the movies were out - and I'm absolutely hooked since then.

[Naria]

Naria approaches the club's Common Room window. She uses her sleeve to rub away caked on dirt from the window and peers inside. To her surprise there were three people standing in front of the fireplace talking. Naria wondered if this would be the place that she was searching for....a place to get out of the cold, to put her feet up and enjoy some conversation.

Naria approached the weathered door and slowly opened it. The creaking door made it hard for her to stay unnoticed and all three turned to see her walk through shaking off some rain. "Ummm, Hi everyone! I hope I am in the right place. By the looks of the dust and cobwebs no one has been here for awhile."

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

But that is all to be changed. . . let us get some talking started.

I am currently re-reading all my Tolkien books (in Danish), after that I have a few other books that needs my attention. When I am done with them, I think it is time for me to get something new Tolkien material.

I have The Hobbit, LotR and Silmarillion in both Danish and English. I have the UT in Danish and Tales From the Perilouse Relm in English. What should I get next ?

[Macalaure]

I have LotR and Silmarillion in both English and German and the Hobbit and UT only in German.

Then the Letters and HoMe 1-5 and 10-12.

Each of these has some very interesting parts and some, well, not so interesting parts. It depends on what you are interested in. Out of the History I'd recommend parts 3 and 10-12.

Part 3 (The Lays of Beleriand) has the lovely Lay of Leithian, the story of Beren and Lúthien in verse (the verses in the Silmarillion are from it). The language is just awesome. I think I memorised half of Canto IV (Before Thingol), I read that part so often. The Lay of the Children of Húrin is great, too, I'm sure, but alliterative rhyme is not so to my taste.

10-12 contain the latest version of the Silmarillion. Part 10 (Morgoth's Ring) also contains 'Laws and Customs among the Eldar', the 'Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth' and 'Myths Transformed', all extremely interesting texts. Part 11 (The War of the Jewels) has 'The Wanderings of Húrin', and Part 12 (The Peoples of Middle-Earth) has 'Of Dwarves and Men' and 'The Shibboleth of Fëanor'.


I'm currently thinking about reading some of the secondary literature on Middle-earth. Can anybody recommend something?

[JennyHallu]

You mean there's a club for people like us?

I'm 21, and I think I was 7 or 8 when my dad first read The Hobbit aloud to us. It must have been that age, or thereabouts, because my younger brother and sister sat rapt with me. The volume he read from was illustrated, and I remember my father creating separate voices and idiosyncracies for each and every dwarf, so that everything came alive for me on the page. I read The Hobbit for myself only a few weeks later (I learned to read before attending kindergarten, thanks to my father's stories), and when I was eleven I talked my grandparents into buying me a LotR boxed set that was in the Scholastic Books catalog my teacher sent home with us, and intended for much older students. My public school teachers were appalled. Those poor paperbacks! I read them so many times the bindings split. The Return of the King had been inadvertently re-edited into three volumes last time I saw them.

Homeschooling soon left me plenty of time to read at whatever "grade level" I chose, and I tackled the Silmarillion and a plethora of books of legend and myth, a passion directly aroused by the sense of epic and continuity in Tolkien's works. I usually had two or three books open at any given time (and scattered on flat surfaces throughout the house, to my mother's intense frustration).

Now, though, having married and moved half a country from my parent's house, I own no Tolkien but a cherished copy of The Hobbit, given me by my siblings for my high school graduation. Oh well.

I envy those of you who've read the books in multiple languages. It seems to me something that could give such an interesting perspective on the stories, but I don't speak anything but English well enough even to try.

[Brinniel]

when I was eleven I talked my grandparents into buying me a LotR boxed set that was in the Scholastic Books catalog my teacher sent home with us
I remember those catalogs! My mom would always let me pick out 3-5 books of my choice. The day those books arrived at school was like Christmas. :D

I wish I had the opportunity to read the books at a younger age. It remained unknown to me for 13 years that there were actually old copies of the trilogies and two copies of The Hobbit- one per parent (the one my dad owns is an ancient copy, printed shortly after RotK was published- it even has Tolkien's artwork in it)- sitting in the bookshelves at home, collecting dust. Strangely enough, my parents never read their books (well okay, my mom did read The Hobbit, but it was decades ago). Since my parents never got into his books, I suppose that is why I was never introduced to Tolkien at a young age. It wasn't until a few months before the FotR movie was released that I even slightly knew what the trilogy was about. After hearing my friends constantly jabber about their excitement for the movie, I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about and picked up my mom's copy of The Hobbit. Aside from being slightly discolored from old age, those books were in almost perfect condition. Let's just say there was a reason why my mom decided to buy me my own copies of the books.... :rolleyes:

[Celuien]

I also recommend The Lost Road, which I think is in HoME V, and from which I've taken my current signature. I haven't finished it yet, being short on time lately. Makes the signature rather appropriate, doesn't it? :rolleyes:

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I don't have any of the HoME series, should I not buy them all at once or at least 1-5 ?

It just seems "wrong" for me to buy 5, I assume there is a reason to them being given numbers.

garr what is it with all you americans marrying young, it makes me feel so old.

[Macalaure]

I wouldn't buy them all at once, they're not that cheap after all.

Here (http://www.forodrim.org/daeron/md_hm.html)'s a nice page that has a synopsis of the parts. I guess it's best to first take what interests you most.

The reason for the numbers is that it's way too much for one book. :p It took Christopher Tolkien 13 years to sort all (well, not all, but much) of his father's writings. They're arranged (roughly) in the order J.R.R. Tolkien wrote them, so Book 1 contains his earliest writings and Book 12 his latest. Unless you want to follow J.R.R. Tolkien in his thought process, I don't think you should mind to read in whatever order you like.

[Farael]

No! For the last time I am NOT 28!.... sorry guys, the guy dressed in gray with a weird stick in his hand was holding me at the door... he kept saying "you... shall not pass!!!! unless you are young enough for the middle age club." But I'm here!

Now, I can't even recall when it was the first time I read LoTR. I actually started by the Hobbit, but I can't recall when I read that either. I must have been around 14-ish when I read the Hobbit and immediately after I read LoTR. The thing I remember the most was finishing The Two Towers almost by midnight on a Saturday and trying to convince my parents to take me in a wild hunt for any open bookstores that might have The Return of the King. THEY WERE TAKING FRODO, AND HE WAS ALIVE!!!!

That was a looong loong night, first thing the following morning I got RoTK.

Since then I have read the Silmarillion, finished (reading) Unfinished Tales, Roverandom and Tales from the Perilous Realm. I also started Lost Tales but didn't quite catch on with it.

But hey! I'm glad to be here... and don't worry Rune, I'm still far from married... Perhaps we should start the "Tolkien Singles (and not looking to get married soon) club"

[Laitoste]

don't worry Rune, I'm still far from married... Perhaps we should start the "Tolkien Singles (and not looking to get married soon) club"

I heartly agree! :D Anyway, I'm 19 and have been reading the Hobbit since I was 12. LotR and the Sil followed shortly after (I had read them both by the time I was 14), and next the UT, the Tolkien Reader and a few failed attempts at reading HoME. Occasionally, I'll pick up Letters, when I feel so inclined. My goal for this year was to read at least one of the HoME, but now that I'm back in school, the chances of that happening are slim to none! Seeing as I have SO much to read, constantly...well, we'll see.

[JennyHallu]

But then we'd have to start a married club and pester you with St. Valentine's Day greetings.

I'm aware I married rather young: it's sort of a tradition in my family. My mother was nineteen, my grandmother 20...but I have plenty of much older friends who haven't married and show no signs of nuptials in the future. It just ended up being the right decision for me at the right time. And my hubby's all sweet and cuddly and lets me buy things and schtuff!

I'm all excited because he bought be $140 worth of fabric last night to make a slipcover for our couch. It's a hand-me-down from my parents, with upholstery that's much the worse for wear. I bought this beautiful old-gold material with a lovely soft suede texture, and the finished product is going to have dark brown trim. The package says "Mocha", if that means anything to anyone.

I think I've checked individual volumes of HoME out of the library two or three times--and never opened the covers. The Canon, the Hobbit, and the Silmarillion remain (and are likely to continue to remain) the only Tolkien reading I've done.

OH WAIT!!!

I just remembered I read "Roverandom" as a very little girl. Years before I'd ever been introduced to the Hobbit. Tee-hee...if that counts I could qualify for the old-peoples' club in maybe three years. Not that I'll likely leave here unless kicked out. I may be the "old married woman" according to my still-single friends, but I don't intend to ever count as an old fogey.

P.S. My husband, Neal, is 25 and all old like dirt and stuff. My mother refers to him affectionately as the "cradle-robber". When I turned 21 last summer I think he was more excited about it than I was! Finally he could look for live music or whatnot without feeling guilty about it!

P.P.S. If I ever move back to Indy I am so going to the Vogue. And the Neon Cactus. Thing that sucks about turning 21 so far from where you think of as home...I've never really wanted to go to any of these bars, even if I did live in a city big enough to have a music scene to speak of. Which I don't.

[Gothmog]

Hello people! Here's an other member that qualifies for the Middle Age Club!

I'm now 21, but how old I was when first introduced to the Tolkien world I can't remember. Like so many others, I started off with Bilbo. But I can't say that I was thrilled. It was an interesting story, sure, but it wasn't until I read LotR that I was caught by the magic of the professor. I'd guess that I was something like 12 years old when I read Bilbo and LotR followed soon after.

I rememer lying in the couch, reading and having Enya playing in the background... I read whole days and could hardly put the book down to eat. I tried reading the books in English when I was done in Swedish, and got through them all even if I can't have understood everything. I even made an attempt to read The Silmarillion in English, but gave up. I was to young then, but now I read mostly in English.

Since then I've read Silmarillion, UT and BoLT, but haven't tried HoME yet. "Roverandom", what is that? And how can I not know what it is?

What can I more say? Rune can take it easy, I'm not close to getting married either:) Even if my girlfriend says that she's going to marry me sometime...

Belonging to a club now, right? Yipee!
:D

[JennyHallu]

Well, fellow Middle Agers, I think it can be declared official.

We're really boring. Has anyone done anything interesting lately?

I've lost 3.6 lbs (yay), gone to the beach (yay, there were dolphins), and am eagerly awaiting the reappearance of fresh spinach in supermarkets (it was declared safe on Monday...so impatient...)

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

mmm fresh spinach. . .

I actually ment to write, I even wrote a note about it. . .I must see if I can find it, as I cannot remember all I wanted to say.

[Farael]

Well, there's not much new at this end of the line... school and work take up most of my time, and that's not fun... I think we should start a tolkien-related discussion that only we "middle agers" can join. It should be something interesting and fun, so that all the other age groups envy us.

DId the balrogs have wi.... no, wait, I've got it... Who's Tom Bo.... done already, huh?

Well, I'm out of ideas. Any bright minds around?

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

well we have talked about it before, but never come to an agreement. Maybe that should be the quest of our club, atleast it is a long-term quest. . . .

[Laitoste]

But agreeing isn't any fun!

And my life has always been rather dull...even college hasn't changed that! :D

[JennyHallu]

Now, now kids...if the Old Folks' Home is any guide, we can chat a little here. It is after all a place to get to know eachother better, and build a stronger community here on the Downs.

Of course the Old Folks have little to speak of other than quilts and gardens...but we're young, vibrant individuals! Surely we can do better!

[Brinniel]

And my life has always been rather dull...even college hasn't changed that!
I can't agree with you more. I continue to live the same boring life....the only difference is I'm doing it across the country. :p

I have a question for everyone. Is there such thing as a college student who can receive a proper amount of sleep? Just wondering because I have failed to drag myself into bed before 2am ever since school started... :rolleyes:

[JennyHallu]

That depends...how much sleep are you aiming for?

4-6 hours? Easily.

6-7 hours? Sure. On weeknights. Which include Sunday, but not Thursday. Especially if you don't have many morning classes.

8-9 or other amounts actually recommended by doctors and other health professionals? Why would you want to? So many other things to do...except on Sunday mornings. Sleep until like 1 on Sunday if you want.

[Farael]

8-9 or other amounts actually recommended by doctors and other health professionals? Why would you want to? So many other things to do...except on Sunday mornings. Sleep until like 1 on Sunday if you want.
But Jenny, by the time I get home on Saturday evenings (or rather, Sunday mornings) if I sleep until 1 I barely get 6 hours of sleep! =p No... I'm not a party animal, I just haven't quite lost my Latino-ness and I love staying up at night, even if I'm home already.

I'm thinking of a good Tolkien idea for this thread, but I'm at work... I'll expand on it when I get home.

Edit: I just saw your other post... I ne'er said we can't chat, I just thought it'd be a good idea to have some Tolkien involved... let's face it the old folks tend to take up a lot of space on the interesting discussions... and after their elaborate, comprehensive posts, what is a young'un like myself going to say?

But here they are shut out looking in, MWAHAHAHAHA.

[Celuien]

We're really boring. Has anyone done anything interesting lately?
Not really. My life is boring. :) Most of our patients were no-shows this afternoon. Not that I do anything here anyway. It has been decided that students for the outpatient office on this rotation - even those of us who are seniors - get to sit in a corner and watch. Borrring, and fortunately over on Friday.

Highlight for the day is getting home, checking my inbox, and finding two more radiology interview invitations! That makes three so far.

I'm thinking of a good Tolkien idea for this thread, but I'm at work... I'll expand on it when I get home.
Can't wait to see it.

[Brinniel]

That depends...how much sleep are you aiming for?

4-6 hours? Easily.

6-7 hours? Sure. On weeknights. Which include Sunday, but not Thursday. Especially if you don't have many morning classes.

8-9 or other amounts actually recommended by doctors and other health professionals? Why would you want to? So many other things to do...except on Sunday mornings. Sleep until like 1 on Sunday if you want.
I'm not really aiming for anything...just asking out loud if any other college student here sleeps...or not. In high school, all my friends went to bed around 10- I had a hard time getting them to do anything late. Now in college, I have yet to find a student who will go to bed before midnight. I usually go to bed 2:30-3 and have to get up around 7 for classes and work. With so little sleep, I have don't have enough energy, so I stay burrowed in my dorm napping, doing homework, watching TV, and of course chilling out here at the BD. Ah, the pathetic life of a college student. :p

I really need to get out and do something.....

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

One of the things I loved about Argentina was the fact that people went out to eat around 10-11 PM. . .

Once I was leaving this club at 4:30 AM and people was still in a hughe line to get in. (we of course was allowed to skip the line because we knew the password, "we bring Scandinavian girls" :D )

I am having seriouse problems getting to bed before 3 AM and it is your fault!

If I was to buy a minor work of Tolkien, what would a bunch of middle aged people like you sugest ?

[Laitoste]

This may be rather pathetic, well, actually, it is, but I rarely stay up past midnight on weekdays, unless I have a paper due. Usually, on the nights I don't work, my roommate and I are in bed by 10:00PM. I like to stay up, but if I don't have any homework, I'd rather sleep!

[Farael]

If I was to buy a minor work of Tolkien, what would a bunch of middle aged people like you sugest ?
If you haven't read it yet, I think Tales of the Perilous Realm is pretty decent.

Once I was leaving this club at 4:30 AM and people was still in a hughe line to get in. (we of course was allowed to skip the line because we knew the password, "we bring Scandinavian girls" :D )

I am having seriouse problems getting to bed before 3 AM and it is your fault!
Don't hate me for being so cool :smokin: *ahem* but yeah... more often than not, people will meet with their friends around nine, have dinner by ten, decide what to do by midnight and get there around one in the morning.... and some people go to more than one club each night so that's why you see long lines pretty much until closing although... I could never understand why someone would want to pay eight bucks to go to yet another club when... they are all mostly the same thing! But then, I'm not big into clubbing, so maybe that's just me.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Oh actually I got that one. . . sorry
Other than that, what do you recomend ?


Yeah it is pretty much what we do as well, only it is not always we procede to the next club/bar/whatever. I never liked clubs and I still don't go to them at home, but in Argentina I was clubbing like crazy. I loved the place. . .I would not mind spending a year in BA! (What is up with those bars that serve free beer and don't charge anything in the door ?)

[Celuien]

I recommend Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham. Smith is my personality double, after all. ;)

I think I can beat everyone on early bedtimes. 9:00 sometimes. I'm not that bad right now since I don't have to be in to work until about 9 in the morning, but when I had to be in at 5 AM, 9 o'clock was definitely lights out time. :rolleyes:

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I feel like a little school-child with all this talk about bed times. . . Was that never the major talk of your class ?

Smith of Wootton Major it is. . . I once got Farmer Giles of Ham from the libary with alot of other books, but was frightened away by the aweful Danish titel. "Niels Bonde fra Bold" It is not really different from the English titel, but it just sounds really silly and Roverandom had two dogs on the cover so I did not even bother to open it. (Mind that I had borrowed more books than I could read)

[Celuien]

I feel like a little school-child with all this talk about bed times. . . Was that never the major talk of your class ?
We frequently commented that we felt like 6-year-olds, but 6-year-olds who had become their own parents. :D
Smith of Wootton Major it is. . . I once got Farmer Giles of Ham from the libary with alot of other books, but was frightened away by the aweful Danish titel. "Niels Bonde fra Bold" It is not really different from the English titel, but it just sounds really silly and Roverandom had two dogs on the cover so I did not even bother to open it. (Mind that I had borrowed more books than I could read)
Giles is a very good read too, in a different way. Sly humor. :D

[Laitoste]

I feel like a little school-child with all this talk about bed times. . . Was that never the major talk of your class ?

Not until college! Now, we brag either about how late we went to bed (I had a friend, who, last year, would run up and down the stairs in his building until 4:00 AM, just because) or how early we got to bed (I have friends who are known to go to bed at 7:00PM and not get up until 12-1PM the following day). No, I seem to recall arguing about official nicknames when I was in elementary school. All my friends wanted to call me Brussel Sprouts and I didn't want them to. :(

EDIT: cross-post w/ Celuien

[Brinniel]

Usually, on the nights I don't work, my roommate and I are in bed by 10:00PM. I like to stay up, but if I don't have any homework, I'd rather sleep!
What?! How does that happen? :eek:

I still don't know how any college student manages to go to bed at 9-10. It's too noisy in the dorms, besides that's when all the excitement occurs. Right now, it's after midnight and I'm still powering through. The latest I went to bed was at 4:30 and that was for a paper (groan)....shows how terrible of a procrastinator I am. Seriously, I would never survive if it weren't for naps. No, naps aren't just for pre-schoolers. :p

[Laitoste]

What?! How does that happen? :eek:

Yeah, I don't know either...last year I went to bed really late nearly every night, but I think that was because it was my first year and I wasn't prepared for the workload. This year, so far, I haven't actually had THAT much homework, for some reason. It's going to start picking up now, so I'll start going to bed later to compensate. It also might be because all my friends live across campus, and I'm too lazy to walk over there and they're too lazy to walk over here except on weekends. So, since all the people I know who live in my building go to bed at 10:00, I tend to, as well. And it's hard to stay up and do stuff when your roommate's asleep. Though I do kind of like it... :rolleyes:

[Farael]

. No, naps aren't just for pre-schoolers. :p
Reminds me of a funny story. During first-year I'd see people napping on some couches there are at the lounges at University and I'd think "what a bunch of loosers... sleeping? at University?". Then during second year it happened that I was just laying down, listening to music and i'd pretty much pass out on the couch... "Ok," I'd rationalize "it was an accident". By the end of the year, I was already going for a nap... and I couldn't be happier about it =P

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

So I have returned from England and with me I have brought the 2 first books in the HoME series and an Ilustrated hardback copy of the Silmarillion. I am really happy about these buys as you cannot get that copy of the Sil in Denmark and I saved 2.5-5 £ per copy, compared to the prize back home.

[Nogrod]

I am really happy about these buys as you cannot get that copy of the Sil in Denmark and I saved 2.5-5 £ per copy, compared to the prize back home.And what did the flight cost? :D

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

well I was going to England anyway. . .my errand was not to buy books. I was there to visit family and watch football. I went to Middlesbrough v Everton and Man U v FC Copenhagen.

(The ticket ended up not costing anything for me, my grandmother decided to pay for it as a pressent.)

[Nogrod]

And what did the flight cost? :DI wasn't so serious about it, really... My sister lives in London (In Vauxhall) and I don't think I would count the costs of the tickets anyway when I visit her and find a few bargains on the way from somewhere there...

Sorry. A bad joke.

But a thinkable one, at least... :smokin:

:D

[Laitoste]

(The ticket ended up not costing anything for me, my grandmother decided to pay for it as a pressent.)

I wish my grandma would buy me a plane ticket somewhere...or send me some money. As it stands, I am cashless, and am going to need money soon. Oh well. Such is the lot of the college student. Moral is, Rune, I'm jealous. :D

[Nogrod]

I wish my grandma would buy me a plane ticket somewhere...or send me some money.I would love that kind of Grandma's too... many of them! :)

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

well it is not something that happens often, infact this is the only time it has happened.

[Macalaure]

So I have returned from England and with me I have brought the 2 first books in the HoME series and an Ilustrated hardback copy of the Silmarillion.
The one illustrated by Nasmith? If so, then I have the same one.
The landscapes are so absolutely beautiful.

It is precious to me. :)

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

That is the one. . .

It is so lovely, good drawings, hardback and with nice big letters. . .what more could a guy want? (In a book that is)

[Farael]

I would love that kind of Grandma's too... many of them! :)
Hey Nogrod, howcome you are in the Middle Age club? I thought you qualified for the oldi... *ahem* coming of age club :p Not that I mind you being around, just kidding around a bit.

But I'm afraid my friend that while I hold you in the highest of esteems (no joke there) you were not the reason for my post.

It is precious to me.

Taken completely out of context, it reminded me of a situation today at work to which I hope at least some of you can relate (and perhaps even humour me with a little discussion). My co-worker is an avid movie LoTR fan (and I'm working hard to convert her to a book fan as well) and since we had had yet another upsetting talk with the 'piece of work' we have as a boss neither of us felt like working. I'll save you the long rant on my bosse's shortcomings but as it happens she tried (unsuccessfully) to take a picture on her cellphone to which I responded by taking mine and making my best impersonation of Gollum and his precious.

Then I realized how true that is. I don't know about you folks, but before I had a cellphone I thought they weren't necessary. I've only had it for two months, but I have to admit that I'd be lost without it. Ok, perhaps not LOST lost, but I wouldn't want to loose it. It's mine! My precious!!

What do I mean? well, thanks to my celly I've been able to keep in touch with two friends, one in Indianapolis and another in a nearby city I hadn't talked to often for a good while, I'm able to arrange for rides much more easily (which will be really useful when temperatures start dropping below -30 C which is what I'd call COLD cold) and let's face it... All those little gadgets like the camera and what not might be mostly useless but... they are cool.

While I'd like to hear your thoughts on cellphone-dependance, I'd also like to expand the question to "what other modern-day One Ring's can you think of?" and give a bit of an explanation of why, obviously... shopping-lists are good but not for an answer here :)

[Brinniel]

I'm not much of a phone-talker and rarely contact friends by phone, so I'm probably not quite a dependent on it as others my age. My main dependence for my cell is for family reasons. Now that I'm away at college, I enjoy talking to my parents and sister every few days- after all they're the ones who know me best. I mostly use my phone as an alarm clock. I nap a lot and without that phone, I'd never make it to class. :rolleyes:

My main dependency: my laptop. It has my whole world on it- my homework, my music, my pictures, my entertainment, and most of all the internet. Without my computer, I'd be out of touch with the rest of the world. From the internet, I check the daily news and keep in touch with friends. And of course, 90% of the time I'm here on the Barrow Downs. Oh boy, I don't know what I'd do without this site....

Computers are awesome. :D :p

[Macalaure]

There you have it. No cell phones here. Cell phone: nada. I don't even have an answer machine. If somebody wants to call me and it's important, they will call again later. The idea to be reachable all the time is, in fact, a little scary to me.

There were times when I wore a watch almost everytime. Then someday, some months ago now, it broke, and my second one just after it. Since I'm lazy, it took me some time to get them repaired, and in that time I was wearing none. The first days it was weird, but then I more and more realized that you don't really need one all the time. It is a liberating feeling! Now I don't wear watches anymore and it's no problem ever. My two ones still lie on my desk at home - unrepaired (I told you I'm lazy).

I feel like a modern rebel! :smokin:


PS: I heard about people who wear memory sticks around their necks. What does that remind me of?

[Farael]

PS: I heard about people who wear memory sticks around their necks. What does that remind me of?
What's a memory stick? you mean the things you plug into the computer to transfer files? (I.e; Modern-day floppy disks?)

Here's a thought for you guys. Want another "Ring"?

The Internet. And the 'downs is a part of it. Raise a hand if you have NEVER EVER procastinated and put yourself in a bad situation because of over-using the 'net (including visiting the 'downs for a bit too long :p).

hmmm.... see? I thought so.

[JennyHallu]

Wow...you must have internet 2.0...I can't see people's hands.

[Macalaure]

What's a memory stick?I meant these (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb_stick) little helpers. I have one too, of course, but I only have it with me when I know I'll need it.

[Brinniel]

I know I'm not a great conversation starter, but in an attempt to revive this thread, I'm going to find a new topic to discuss...

Okay, a lot of us in this group are students at a university or college. I'm curious...have any of you been in a class where one day the professor starts discussing or mentioning Tolkien, his books, or perhaps even just the films? Or maybe you've actually had a class on Tolkien or were required to read one of his books or essays...something like that. If you have, tell us about it!

I'll start off:

Last semester, I took a class called Making Monsters, where we studied different monsters from film and literature. One of the first things we had to read was Beowulf, and along with that, Tolkien's "The Monster and Its Critics." Imagine my excitement when I found out I was required to read Tolkien. Tolkien's essay was the main topic for multiple days, and it later became one of the main essays we based our arguments on. Later into the semester, Gollum was mentioned, and I also think my professor briefly talked about LotR and the importance of the roles the monsters have...something like that.

For my class Foundations of Visual and Media Arts, my professor often mentioned LotR as the perfect example of certain aspects of filmmaking, particularly when it came to the storytelling.

Anyone else have similar experiences to share?