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Friday, April 15th, 2011
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6:42 pm
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The Sentence
And the stone word fell
On my still-living breast.
Never mind, I was ready.
I will manage somehow.
Today I have so much to do:
I must kill memory once and for all,
I must turn my soul to stone,
I must learn to live again—
Unless . . . Summer's ardent rustling
Is like a festival outside my window.
For a long time I've foreseen this
Brilliant day, deserted house.
Anna Akhmatova
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| Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
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11:01 pm - Another for poetry month.
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in time of daffodils(who know
the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why,remember how
in time of lilacs who proclaim
the aim of waking is to dream,
remember so(forgetting seem)
in time of roses(who amaze
our now and here with paradise)
forgetting if,remember yes
in time of all sweet things beyond
whatever mind may comprehend,
remember seek(forgetting find)
and in a mystery to be
(when time from time shall set us free)
forgetting me,remember me
-ee cummings
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| Saturday, April 9th, 2011
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10:53 pm - Apparently it's Poetry Month.
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This seemed appropriate for spring, and less obvious than "The Windhover".
Pied Beauty
GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
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| Sunday, March 20th, 2011
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10:50 pm - Posting obscure lyrics to prove how deep I am.
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Hey mom, your pretty boy is coming home.
(He cares a lot.)
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| Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
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2:01 pm - Hoop earrings. Puffy vests. Mustaches. Drum machines.
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1:46 pm - In which not much happens.
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Valentine's Day was nice. Chris and I went to Blackfriars in town and had an extremely decadent lunch. Mmm. Mushroom risotto. Mmm chocolate torte.
I'm sort of allergic to spending money on myself, but I caved and bought a voucher for an Indian head massage, eyebrow wax and eyelash tint (?!) for Friday. The first two sound A-OK to me, but the eyelash tint seems like a slightly odd concept. Dye your eyelashes? But why? Oh, why not! I may even go for a French manicure! Lord, I don't even recognize myself.
My week off isn't quite going to plan. A lot of the historic properties we want to see aren't open until next month, and the weather is so changeable that we're never sure if it will be walking weather . (April is the cruelest month? Surely it's February!) And Chris got another brief from the music synch agency today, so he's got a last minute project due at....6 pm. Today. We're definitely going here tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that.
As it is, I am willing in spring with the kind of stubborn optimism normally reserved for Mary Pickford characters. Wearing a scarf indoors has never been my scene.
Now excuse me, I'm going to crawl back under my Slanket and hibernate.
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| Thursday, January 6th, 2011
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9:38 pm
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| Monday, December 20th, 2010
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10:12 pm
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If there's anything the Julian Assange case is showing me, it's that people are surprisingly OK with rape.
Did I say 'surprisingly'? No wait, I meant 'completely predictably'.
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| Monday, November 29th, 2010
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8:17 pm
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While searching online to find a new pair of slippers for Chris (ones that don't create quite so much static electricity), I came across...this. I don't even.
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| Saturday, November 27th, 2010
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7:46 pm - Be it ever so snowy.
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The eagle has landed. And by landed, I mean she has straggled her way to her snowy perch and collapsed. When we landed in Newcastle there was 3 inches of snow on the ground. Now there's five! We landed on time (because the Dutch know how to do snow) and then waited nearly an hour for our luggage (because the British do not). The baggage trolley was stuck on the ice on the tarmac, so we all crowded to the window so we could watch it attempt to go 200 yards to offload the bags. Finally, they got another vehicle to push it from behind, which got it moving but caused bags to fall off. Some poor schmuck had to go out and retrieve them. Like I said, the British don't do snow.
ANYway. I told Chris I must love him a hell of a lot to leave 78 F degree sunshine and return to 28 F degree gloom. But I do, so it needs to be done.
If you're looking for me, I'll be the one in front of the fire, wrapped in a Slanket.
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| Sunday, November 21st, 2010
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6:39 am
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OMG I am losing it in my old age. I left my glasses in Charles de Gaulle airport, so now I can't see past arms-length all week until I get home and get another pair of glasses. Now I can't find my purse. I hope it's out in the living room, where dad's sleeping, because otherwise it's at Cindy's or at the sushi restaurant in St Pete and it has my inhaler in it. ARGH.
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| Thursday, November 18th, 2010
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8:10 am
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I'll be back in Florida tomorrow night. Unfortunately, I haven't done any laundry. Or packed. What's the weather like? Jeans only, or should I throw a pair of shorts in there, too? Also, my bathingsuit has disappeared at work (boo! It was the awesome vintage one ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) dizziedumb got for me), so I may have to buy a new one.
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| Thursday, October 21st, 2010
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9:47 pm - Ireland photos
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| Sunday, October 17th, 2010
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8:34 pm - Writer's Block: Past the expiration date
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Some little wheels of disappointingly-expensive and disappointingly brie-like cheese. Some garlicky hot sauce and lots of other condiments. Two kinds of olives (dry cured, stone in; brined, pitted). Some Polish pickles, which I've mostly devoured. Hm. Some leftover something the housemate made, which I'm afraid to open. Some eggs and milk. Butter and margarine. Apples. A few carrots. Half a cucumber. A lemon. A bottle of Leffe Blonde. Some tasty little yogurts (hazelnut, cherry, vanilla). Housemate has a slab of smoked salmon and some cream cheese on the bottom shelf.
I think that's it. We need to shop big time tomorrow. Which reminds me, I need to do the menu.
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| Saturday, October 9th, 2010
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9:16 am - And away we go.
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Right. Chris* and I are leaving for the airport in an hour, and by this afternoon we'll be on a train, wending our way to the tiny French village where his mother lives. Then it will be back on the train, up to that of-course City of Lights. Chris and I have been together nearly 4 years, and we've never taken any vacation time together just to spend together. We always go places for familial obligations, or things like that, so this will be a novel experience. We sounded like jaded bourgeois bastards though: "There's nothing I really want to see in Paris. I've been enough times already. Let's just hang out." Oh my First World problems.
Really though, I'm extremely excited with that delicious frisson of pre-travel nerves.
See you in a week!
*Did I mention Chris submitted his PhD thesis? I can't tell who's happier about it--him or me. Now all he has to do is get through his viva and then the real celebrating will commence.
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| Saturday, August 28th, 2010
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11:16 pm
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| Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
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8:19 pm
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I had to cancel my trip to Florida at Christmas because various family things and movings and comings and goings made it impossible. I started off not needing to worry about accommodation and ended up needing to find a hotel for 3/4 of my trip, which pushed it to 'just about affordable' to 'not going to happen'. It's pretty gutting because Florida in December is far milder and sunnier than northern England in December. Plus, I haven't spent Christmas with my family in, what, 4 years? Anyway.
My dad may come up here for Christmas, though, because apparently he only wants to come to England when it's a bleak and frozen hellscape and not when it's a leafy green oasis bathed in soft golden sunshine. That's my dad for you!
On the bright side, we're going to Donegal in September for my friend's wedding. Chris has never been to Ireland, believe it or not. I'm supposed to be singing a psalm between two readings, and hopefully my heathen self won't burst into flames upon entering the most holy shrine to St Mary. If I survive, there'll be cake, apparently.
Then in October, we're off to France to visit Chris' mother and grandmother. I'd meant to take some French lessons so I could actually talk to his grandmother this time, but I haven't found one starting at the right time. Merde. I'm looking forward to swanning around in lots of cable knit and drinking strong coffee while wearing scarves and big sunglasses and looking generally tragic.
And by then Chris will be finished with his PhD dissertation, which will be a relief for both of us.
This summer has been one of exhaustion and disappointment punctuated by moments of deep and subtle sweetness and bright sparks of happiness. I'm hoping the autumn will give me more of the latter and less of the former. We'll see.
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8:01 pm
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| Friday, July 2nd, 2010
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11:40 pm
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| Thursday, June 17th, 2010
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10:56 pm - Making up for what I lack
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So I'm B12 deficient!
I get to go in tomorrow to get a loading dose of B12, then we'll see if my levels can be maintained with supplements. If not, I suppose it'll be regular injections. I dunno, as long as I don't have to start eating liver on a regular basis.
I'm not that surprised actually, since grandpa Bill had a big B12 deficiency problem. I always assumed that was due to his Leukemia, but I guess not. I'm not really sure how this could be related to my gastro problems of late, but I'll ask tomorrow. I'm hoping I'll feel better afterward, and not feel like the world is draining me of every scrap of energy quite so much.
Fingers crossed.
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