The History of Middle-Earth, Part III

Wow. I completely went back on my word, and it has now been a week and a day since my last post, and I really am very distraught at this turn of events and I promise upon Skippy Khan that this will never happen again. I have, actually, been fairly busy, though, between keeping the hacienda clean (my house, not the club owned by Tony Wilson of Factory Records fame), and laundry, and shampooing the carpet, and trying to make sense of my schedule for MMI and what have you, as well as my horrific ordeal at BioLife this morning. This will require something of an exposition regarding the last two days.
Monday night marked the time that some DVDs my brother had rented from Premiere Video were due, and I promised him that I would take care of them, since he has to get to bed rather early for work in Madison at 6:00 A.M. But, they slipped my mind until the fateful hour of 10:45, at which point I threw on my snow boots and some earmuffs and began jogging for Premiere. (That didn't last for very long since I'm out of shape, but I kept it up for at least a while. Okay, about five minutes.) I made it there finally at 11:57, and already I could feel blisters developing, but I figured that since I had delivered the goods, I could take my time getting back home, thus not overly aggravating said blisters. I did take my time, and I got back home at about 3 in the morning, and I promptly went to bed. However, the puppies had other plans, and they awoke me at 5:30 demanding to be let out. I saw to their request, but they decided to wake me up every hour until 10:00, at which point I said "Forget this," and got up and finally gave them breakfast, and had some myself. In short, I'm up, and have had very little sleep, and I have the biggest blisters ever known to mankind, and my right leg was so sore that I could scarcely put any weight on it. Then, I had to call Kayleigh in sick, so she stayed home, which is why I didn't post yesterday (along with all of the other stuff).
So, I went to bed a little after midnight last night, figuring I would still get up at the usual 8:30 or at the latest 9:00, but instead awoke at 9:45, as Jon was showing up at my house so we could donate plasma. So, I quickly threw on a sweatshirt and grabbed some C.S. Lewis books, and we took off to get poked with needles. Needless to say, I looked pretty haggard. To compound matters, when we donated this morning, I was taken to one of the recently re-opened section ( the Pink Section) where I was stuck by a lady named Shannon, who was clueless on procedure and whatever else. She stuck my left arm, but the machine wasn't cooperating (that's why the section was closed for some time in the first place), so she did the sensible thing and started yanking the needle around under my skin for several minutes whilst my arm gushed forth crimson streams like some terrible fissure of gore. After this, the machine shut down. So, she had to do my right arm, else I would have a 30 day deferral for "refusing," and this produced similar results. It appears that the machine is still a piece of crap, dog gone it. What's worse, it ate up a bunch of my red blood cells, so I had a "cell loss," and if I have another within the next 8 weeks, I get an 8 week deferral. So, after having all my blood mopped up and having my arms bandaged, I found that I still got paid my normal amount since I was technically stuck. That's good, because I would not have been a happy camper if I wasn't recompensed in some manner. However, I'm definitely going to ask to not have "Shannon" stick me again (I've had difficulties with her in the past) and my arms can't take any more of it.
It hasn't been all gloomy the last several days, though; in fact, it's pretty pretty good. I don't mind the housekeeping and whatnot, I could just do without the bleeding to death portions, that's all. Furthermore, Saturday was spent sledding with Kristin, Sara, Nate and Jenny Galbrecht, and afterwards was Game Night, where we rocked some Ghost Recon 2 (and a little bit of Halo 2, since Eric hates Ghost Recon <what a dweeb>) and had chili pizza. "Chili pizza?" you ask. "Yes, chili pizza," I answer. Jon invented it and extolled its virtues to me, and upon tasting its delightfulness on Saturday, I am a firm convert. Kristin made cheesebread that Kayleigh's rude pals ate (they waltzed into the house when Kayleigh was gone, and one of them punched me in the collarbone) and there was much merriment and rejoicing and slaughtering.
The next day Nate and I went sledding with Brad, Jim, MutationPakes' daughter (and half of her family) at Riverside Park and we dominated. To cap off our joyful experience there, we made a five person Chain of Doom and annihilated (mostly ourselves). Jim tried to snowboard with the Sno Thrasher, but mostly ended up executing some gnarly Frontside Facegrinds. During the Chain of Doom, Brad had the Fruit Roll-up at one point and was in the middle of the chain and ended up burning out and getting run over by everyone. I had a similar experience with the Sno-Car, where Brad, Jim and I basically collapsed together as I lost control and ate hillside. All in all, it was a most remarkable time, and some of the most fun I've had in a while. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.
Now that all of that is out of the way, we can finally get to:

The History of Middle-Earth, Part III

Now Elu Thingol ruled over all the Sindar of Beleriand with Melian the Maia as his Queen, and they alone of the Elves who never saw the Light of the Two Trees grew comparable to the Eldar of Aman. Beleriand prospered under the the light of the stars, and there was a peace of countless ages. Many companies of Sindar would wander throughout Beleriand without permanent dwellings, singing as they went, but others settled throughout the land. Some lived at the western edge of Beleriand in the Falas ("the Coast") and were ruled by Cirdan the Shipwright under Thingol. They had two great havens there, at Brithombar and Eglarest, and were the only Elves of Middle-Earth at this time to sail upon Belegaer.

In Ossiriand ("the Land of Seven Rivers") lived many Nandorin Elves, Elves who turned back from the Great Journey upon seeing the Blue Mountains; but under one of their lords named Denethor, many decided to cross the Mountains and settle in Beleriand. Under Thingol's leave, they settled in what became known as Lindon ("the Land of Song"). They spurned the eating of meat, and made their homes in the trees of their land and one could walk all through their realm without seeing a one of them, for their raiment was in the green of the trees they lived amongst.

The greatest collection of Sindar were gathered in the forests of Region and Neldoreth in the heart of Beleriand, and this realm was called Eglador. Here Thingol himself resided and made his capitol. Through the rest of Beleriand scattered kindreds also resided, but in no great numbers wherever they were found. The Sindar did not love stone, but loved wood and stream, and were accomplished in song and storytelling, and their crafts grew almost as great as the Elves oversea.

During this time, the first dwarves entered into Beleriand from their cities of Belegost and Nogrod in the Blue Mountains, and they built a road from the mountains into Eastern Beleriand wherein they came to trade with the Eldar and to bring news of the world without. They learned the language of the Sindar, since the elves found the few words they heard of the dwarves' language to be cumbersome and unlovely, and the dwarves would not properly teach their tongue to any other race.

Likewise during this time, the Noldor and Vanyar grew wiser and stronger in Aman, having the Valar as teachers. The Vanyar were most beloved by Manwe, and they dwelt at the foot of the mountain Taniquetil, where Manwe resided. The Noldor took most after Aule the Smith, and he taught them much, and the Noldor made great towers of stone, as well as other great works that after a while rivalled those of the Ainur of Aule. The Teleri collected great pearls from the Bay of Eldamar and distributed them amongst the Noldor and strew them across the lands of Aman. In recompense, the Noldor built the haven of Aqualonde for the Teleri, who before had dwelt in simpler homes as they did not work with stone; however, they had no rivals in the building of boats, and they had great white ships in the likeness of swans, and these the Teleri cherished above all else.

During the Blisstide of Valinor (as this time was called) the High King of the Noldor, Finwe, had a son he named Curufinwe, but his mother-name was Feanor, the Spirit of Fire. His mother Miriel was greatly weakened by the effort of giving birth to so great a son, though, and she passed away, the first to die in the Blessed Realm. Finwe was greatly grieved by this, and found some solace in his son, but after a while he wed Indis of the Vanyar and was happy again. With her, he had his sons Fingolfin and Finfarfin, but Feanor was greatly displeased by this.

Feanor was the most gifted of the Noldor, and none have ever surpassed him. He loved to craft new things; he was also very proud, and none could dissuade him from any course. He had seven sons by his wife Nerdanel: Maedhros the Tall, Maglor, Celegorm, Caranthir, Curufin, who inherited most his father's skill, and the youngest twins, Amrod and Amras. They possessed many of his features in lesser extent, and they hearkened to his every word.

Fingolfin had two sons, named Fingon and Turgon, and a daughter named Aradhel. Finarfin married Earwen of the Teleri and had four sons, Finrod the Faithful, Orodreth, Angrod and Aegnor, as well as a daughter, Galadriel, whose hair was like a mesh of gold, due to her mother being of the Vanyar. His sons were so close in friendship to Fingolfin's sons that they could all have been brothers.

It finally came to pass the the three ages of Melkor's imprisonment came to and end, and he was brought to the Ring of Doom before the Valar, and he submitted to them. Manwe, not comprehending evil because he himself was not, believed the words of Melkor and freed him, but said that he must remain within Valmar for a term. Tulkas was much angered by this, but obeyed the words of Manwe, and eventually Melkor was allowed to wander freely throughout Aman. He taught much to the Noldor as well, for they listened to him, believing him to be cured of his evil, but his hatred of the Eldar grew upon seeing the Valar's love for them, and he resolved to destroy them and the Valar's love for them.

And it was about this time that Feanor crafted the Silmarils; three great jewels that contained some of the Light of the Trees, and they were the most beautiful works ever crafted. He had created other lesser jewels in the past, each greater than the last as his knowledge grew, and his works culminated in the Silmarils, and the Eldar and the Valar loved them, and Melkor coveted them.

As this happened, the Dwarves of Belegost and Nogrod gave word to Thingol that evil things were stirring in great numbers once more; orcs, werewolves, spiders and other foul creatures, and Thingol commissioned them to create arms of steel (for the Sindar did not work with metal), and to create a place of strength in his land. Thus, the Dwarves delved the Thousand Caves of Menegroth, wherein were placed images of Valinor wrought by Melian, and Thingol and Melian swelt there ever after with their daughter Luthien Tinuviel, and its armories were filled with spears and hauberks and axes and swords, and the Sindar, better armed, drove back Melkor's creatures and regained peace.

Whew. That was a lot, and the story's about to pick up with the next installment, believe you me. And furthermore, you can believe you me that I will deliver another post in the extremely near future, so sit tight. I'm back on track.

Love,

Ian

P.S. Should I not be re-evaluating my position on the Sex Pistols? I mean, I kind of like their song "No Fun," but I still think their (only) album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is rubbish. I guess my problem is that I have to concede that their influence was staggering, but that they themselves were not actually all that awesome. Oh well. Talk to you all later.