Liane
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2008
- Messages
- 674
Here be the saga of the Nerd Diamond.
I''m a lifelong nerd. I blame my dad for this; he read me The Hobbit when I was about six, and ever since then I''ve been a fantasy junkie. I read the novels, play the games, occasionally watch the movies (although I draw the line at TV shows. If fantasy in general is a cheesy hobby, "Legend of the Seeker" and its ilk are the equivalent of week-old Velveeta crusts scraped from the bottom of a cheesesteak truck''s scraps bin).
A little over a year ago I got it into my head that it would be a fun lark to write a fantasy novel. It didn''t seem that hard, really, given some of the other stuff on the shelves. So I banged out a manuscript in about ten weeks, just to see if I could do it, and started submitting that to see what would happen. I didn''t really expect it to get anywhere, but I figured at least I''d learn what I was doing wrong so I could get it right next time.
To my profound and lasting surprise, the thing sold. Not only that, but it sold in a two-book deal to one of the big New York houses. It hasn''t come out yet, but if all goes well, in spring 2010 I will be an Official Author with a book on the shelves and another slated for publication a year later.
Alas, this does not mean I get instant fame and riches. Starting advances for genre novelists with no track record are very modest, and I won''t be quitting my day job anytime soon (which is good, since I like my day job). But it does mean I suddenly had a little spare money to waste on sparkly rocks. Specifically, it meant I could go out and buy a Nerd Diamond, the purpose of which is to signify to the world that I am a Professional Nerd (also, of course, to give me something sparkly to stare at).
My e-ring diamond is an OEC and I absolutely love old cuts, but after much waffling I decided to look for a modern RB as the Nerd Diamond, mainly because I just never found an old cut that I completely loved, whereas there was no shortage of RBs I liked.
So I went shopping for a suitable RHR RB. I wanted something that was either a warm color or had very strong fluorescence, because I like diamonds that are a little bit different. Cut, of course, was very important. I don''t mind inclusions at all, and actually rather like having stones with "birthmarks" (again, goes back to wanting something a little bit different). With those criteria in mind, it was off to the races.
The two finalists were the GOG 1.74 O IF diamond and a 2.01 "J" SI1 from a local B&M here in Philadelphia. (I say "J" because it''s an EGL cert and the real color is more like K-L, but since I wanted a diamond that would show some tint, this is not, for my purposes, a negative.) The price of each rock was basically the same, so I went with the larger stone even though it''s slightly less well cut (scores a 2.1 on the HCA, is rated a cut class 1A on the AGS scale). I am STILL second-guessing myself about this a week after the fact, because the GOG stone was truly a stunner, but in the end I''m a size whore and that''s that.
And so I settled on the Nerd Diamond, and here it is.
I''m a lifelong nerd. I blame my dad for this; he read me The Hobbit when I was about six, and ever since then I''ve been a fantasy junkie. I read the novels, play the games, occasionally watch the movies (although I draw the line at TV shows. If fantasy in general is a cheesy hobby, "Legend of the Seeker" and its ilk are the equivalent of week-old Velveeta crusts scraped from the bottom of a cheesesteak truck''s scraps bin).
A little over a year ago I got it into my head that it would be a fun lark to write a fantasy novel. It didn''t seem that hard, really, given some of the other stuff on the shelves. So I banged out a manuscript in about ten weeks, just to see if I could do it, and started submitting that to see what would happen. I didn''t really expect it to get anywhere, but I figured at least I''d learn what I was doing wrong so I could get it right next time.
To my profound and lasting surprise, the thing sold. Not only that, but it sold in a two-book deal to one of the big New York houses. It hasn''t come out yet, but if all goes well, in spring 2010 I will be an Official Author with a book on the shelves and another slated for publication a year later.
Alas, this does not mean I get instant fame and riches. Starting advances for genre novelists with no track record are very modest, and I won''t be quitting my day job anytime soon (which is good, since I like my day job). But it does mean I suddenly had a little spare money to waste on sparkly rocks. Specifically, it meant I could go out and buy a Nerd Diamond, the purpose of which is to signify to the world that I am a Professional Nerd (also, of course, to give me something sparkly to stare at).
My e-ring diamond is an OEC and I absolutely love old cuts, but after much waffling I decided to look for a modern RB as the Nerd Diamond, mainly because I just never found an old cut that I completely loved, whereas there was no shortage of RBs I liked.
So I went shopping for a suitable RHR RB. I wanted something that was either a warm color or had very strong fluorescence, because I like diamonds that are a little bit different. Cut, of course, was very important. I don''t mind inclusions at all, and actually rather like having stones with "birthmarks" (again, goes back to wanting something a little bit different). With those criteria in mind, it was off to the races.
The two finalists were the GOG 1.74 O IF diamond and a 2.01 "J" SI1 from a local B&M here in Philadelphia. (I say "J" because it''s an EGL cert and the real color is more like K-L, but since I wanted a diamond that would show some tint, this is not, for my purposes, a negative.) The price of each rock was basically the same, so I went with the larger stone even though it''s slightly less well cut (scores a 2.1 on the HCA, is rated a cut class 1A on the AGS scale). I am STILL second-guessing myself about this a week after the fact, because the GOG stone was truly a stunner, but in the end I''m a size whore and that''s that.
And so I settled on the Nerd Diamond, and here it is.
300x240.png)