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I feel like I ought to seize the moment...
Jul. 8th, 2019 07:05 pmI've spent a lot of this summer so far feeling crappy and angry at myself, but I don't feel like that right this second, so I thought I might do something zany and post an entry on LiveJournal (uh, and Dreamwidth, which I still don't really believe in).
My reasons for being proud of myself are silly and fleeting, but so the fuck what; they feel good right now.
1) I spent some money this summer. Ordinarily I only spend money (which is not to say I am at all frugal; I'm NOT) on groceries and lots, and lots, and lots of Amazon e-books. There's something about being able to carry probably almost 2,000 books around in my purse that is deeply rich-feeling. Book security. ANYWAY. Things I have bought with money this summer:
* a knife block. A good one -- I think? I mean, I read a lot of reviews of various blocks in the price range I thought I could stand. This one is Chicago Cutlery, with the knives forged, all one piece. It has a serrated bread knife, which I've been lacking for several years now; an in-block sharpener; nice, hefty knives including hella sharp steak knives which I'll barely ever use, and a good butcher knife.
Tangent: my mom had a couple of venerable pieces of kitchen ware that for some reason hold a lot of childhood memories for me -- a really old glazed bowl, some linen dishtowels from England, mostly, brought back by my grandmother, some melamine dishes and glasses that were my grandmother's (I really like melamine, and my mom and I would always check at Target to see if they had any pretty patterns, and buy, like, one small plate each... I like having mismatched, colorful plates, as well as a set of plain grey ceramic IKEA plates & bowls...) -- and, point of this aside, an old butcher knife that was practically black, whose tip had been broken off sometime in the early 60s. That butcher knife was weirdly talismanic to me -- nothing worked as well as it; my mother would carefully get down on the floor to roll it sharp in one of those little rolling sharpeners; it was perfect for smashing garlic... anyway, I have no idea where that butcher knife went to after she moved out here. But my new one seems good, so far. Maybe I'll cook more? I mean, that's the point.
* several pairs of stretchy black pants and "swing tee-shirts" in different colors. I have beloved black stretchy pants, but they all have many, many holes in them, and I've defiantly worn them to work anyway, which sends my sister into a disapproving tizzy. So these not-as-nice, not-as-soft jersey trousers are my new effort. We'll see. Swing tee-shirts have a seam down the back so they are loose and don't cling, and damn, they're lovely. I bought some gorgeously intensely colored cotton ones last summer with my sister at a very expensive store, but these are just mostly oil-based cloth cheapish ones from Lane Bryant. Still comfortable and pretty, though.
* Because no spending frenzy for me would be complete without more books, I got five books that have been deaccessioned from various libraries, i.e. ordered used hard backs of historical fiction by one author that are all long out of print, and do not exist electronically. The author is Gillian Bradshaw, and I have just really enjoyed everything I've read by her -- people compare her to Rosemary Sutcliff... they both often write about Roman Britain, for example -- but she's less detached than Sutcliff. I'm really looking forward to reading them.
-- Dark North, about an African Roman official who visits Britain in the waning days of the Empire.
-- The Bearkeeper's Daughter about Byzantium and an Empress.
-- Imperial Purple an early Christian weaver, murex (the purple shells that create imperial purple), and the Byzantine emperor.
-- Alchemy of Fire 672 CE, Byzantium -- Moslems threaten Constantinople, a woman struggles to raise her daughter, some alchemist is involved.
-- Horses of Heaven 140 BCE in Afghanistan (Ferghana)... um, this one doesn't sound as good as the others now that I read a different description of it... and it has magic. Hmm. I think it's one of her earlier efforts. She published her first novel right out of college, and it was the start of a Celtic Arthurian trilogy that is A LOT like Sutcliff. I'm reading that now, but I took a break. I'm not all that into Arthurian retellings. One year, when I was twenty, THREE DIFFERENT PEOPLE sent me, as a birthday gift (in England; I was there for my Junior Year Abroad) Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. Honestly, even though she is absolutely a fucking nut (though not an abuser, unlike Bradley), I prefer Patricia Kenneally "Morrison"'s Arthurian trilogy, The Hawk's Grey Feather, The Oak Above the Kings, and The Hedge of Mist.
* a new comforter set for my mom's bedroom... I gave the old set away to my friends R. and D., who slept over with their toddler J. last week over the Fourth of July... they were escaping, for the second year in a row, the extravagant neighborhood insanity of Oakland's 4th of July. The new comforter was pretty online; it's not on the bed yet, so I don't know how it feels and looks in real life yet.
2) My house is clean, my dishes are done, the last load of laundry is drying, I have a pot of tea and toast, my cat is here between me and the keyboard as it should be.
3) My nieces and sister and bro-in-law get home from the Midwest tomorrow, and I will get to hang out with Ruby and Rosie. Ruby's going to be a freshman at Cal in a little more than a month! Insane!
4) I bought a tape-into-digital device and software months ago, and FINALLY used it (and am still searching through the tapes) to make digital recordings of my mom singing. She did not leave very many examples of her voice behind, but Mary brought me out some tapes with handwritten labels. Most are just junk -- things my mom recorded from records... but a couple had her singing and playing guitar. I've transferred five so far, and although they still make me cry, it's so good to hear her voice, and to hear her singing and playing. One is a song I'd never heard, which she wrote herself, about her brother and father's suicides.
5) Adam and Lucie (his new wife) are coming to stay over this Thursday; it will be really nice to see him. We chat online as often as we can, but the time difference with Saudi Arabia, where he teaches at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, is wretched. I'm looking forward to meeting Lucie; we've Skyped, and she seems hella sweet. But I will be glad to actually meet her. I just read this thing a nihilistic-kid posted on FB about how scientists may have cracked the problem of cat allergies with some kind of egg-powder coating for... I didn't really get that part... a pill? Everything you eat? (That won't work) and I wish it was in circulation NOW! Adam is allergic, though he takes antihistamines when he visits...
So. None of those are earthshaking things, none of them are political, but whatever. LJ feels like a fucking echo chamber these days, so I decided to try to add a teaspoonful of written noise.
My reasons for being proud of myself are silly and fleeting, but so the fuck what; they feel good right now.
1) I spent some money this summer. Ordinarily I only spend money (which is not to say I am at all frugal; I'm NOT) on groceries and lots, and lots, and lots of Amazon e-books. There's something about being able to carry probably almost 2,000 books around in my purse that is deeply rich-feeling. Book security. ANYWAY. Things I have bought with money this summer:
* a knife block. A good one -- I think? I mean, I read a lot of reviews of various blocks in the price range I thought I could stand. This one is Chicago Cutlery, with the knives forged, all one piece. It has a serrated bread knife, which I've been lacking for several years now; an in-block sharpener; nice, hefty knives including hella sharp steak knives which I'll barely ever use, and a good butcher knife.
Tangent: my mom had a couple of venerable pieces of kitchen ware that for some reason hold a lot of childhood memories for me -- a really old glazed bowl, some linen dishtowels from England, mostly, brought back by my grandmother, some melamine dishes and glasses that were my grandmother's (I really like melamine, and my mom and I would always check at Target to see if they had any pretty patterns, and buy, like, one small plate each... I like having mismatched, colorful plates, as well as a set of plain grey ceramic IKEA plates & bowls...) -- and, point of this aside, an old butcher knife that was practically black, whose tip had been broken off sometime in the early 60s. That butcher knife was weirdly talismanic to me -- nothing worked as well as it; my mother would carefully get down on the floor to roll it sharp in one of those little rolling sharpeners; it was perfect for smashing garlic... anyway, I have no idea where that butcher knife went to after she moved out here. But my new one seems good, so far. Maybe I'll cook more? I mean, that's the point.
* several pairs of stretchy black pants and "swing tee-shirts" in different colors. I have beloved black stretchy pants, but they all have many, many holes in them, and I've defiantly worn them to work anyway, which sends my sister into a disapproving tizzy. So these not-as-nice, not-as-soft jersey trousers are my new effort. We'll see. Swing tee-shirts have a seam down the back so they are loose and don't cling, and damn, they're lovely. I bought some gorgeously intensely colored cotton ones last summer with my sister at a very expensive store, but these are just mostly oil-based cloth cheapish ones from Lane Bryant. Still comfortable and pretty, though.
* Because no spending frenzy for me would be complete without more books, I got five books that have been deaccessioned from various libraries, i.e. ordered used hard backs of historical fiction by one author that are all long out of print, and do not exist electronically. The author is Gillian Bradshaw, and I have just really enjoyed everything I've read by her -- people compare her to Rosemary Sutcliff... they both often write about Roman Britain, for example -- but she's less detached than Sutcliff. I'm really looking forward to reading them.
-- Dark North, about an African Roman official who visits Britain in the waning days of the Empire.
-- The Bearkeeper's Daughter about Byzantium and an Empress.
-- Imperial Purple an early Christian weaver, murex (the purple shells that create imperial purple), and the Byzantine emperor.
-- Alchemy of Fire 672 CE, Byzantium -- Moslems threaten Constantinople, a woman struggles to raise her daughter, some alchemist is involved.
-- Horses of Heaven 140 BCE in Afghanistan (Ferghana)... um, this one doesn't sound as good as the others now that I read a different description of it... and it has magic. Hmm. I think it's one of her earlier efforts. She published her first novel right out of college, and it was the start of a Celtic Arthurian trilogy that is A LOT like Sutcliff. I'm reading that now, but I took a break. I'm not all that into Arthurian retellings. One year, when I was twenty, THREE DIFFERENT PEOPLE sent me, as a birthday gift (in England; I was there for my Junior Year Abroad) Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. Honestly, even though she is absolutely a fucking nut (though not an abuser, unlike Bradley), I prefer Patricia Kenneally "Morrison"'s Arthurian trilogy, The Hawk's Grey Feather, The Oak Above the Kings, and The Hedge of Mist.
* a new comforter set for my mom's bedroom... I gave the old set away to my friends R. and D., who slept over with their toddler J. last week over the Fourth of July... they were escaping, for the second year in a row, the extravagant neighborhood insanity of Oakland's 4th of July. The new comforter was pretty online; it's not on the bed yet, so I don't know how it feels and looks in real life yet.
2) My house is clean, my dishes are done, the last load of laundry is drying, I have a pot of tea and toast, my cat is here between me and the keyboard as it should be.
3) My nieces and sister and bro-in-law get home from the Midwest tomorrow, and I will get to hang out with Ruby and Rosie. Ruby's going to be a freshman at Cal in a little more than a month! Insane!
4) I bought a tape-into-digital device and software months ago, and FINALLY used it (and am still searching through the tapes) to make digital recordings of my mom singing. She did not leave very many examples of her voice behind, but Mary brought me out some tapes with handwritten labels. Most are just junk -- things my mom recorded from records... but a couple had her singing and playing guitar. I've transferred five so far, and although they still make me cry, it's so good to hear her voice, and to hear her singing and playing. One is a song I'd never heard, which she wrote herself, about her brother and father's suicides.
5) Adam and Lucie (his new wife) are coming to stay over this Thursday; it will be really nice to see him. We chat online as often as we can, but the time difference with Saudi Arabia, where he teaches at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, is wretched. I'm looking forward to meeting Lucie; we've Skyped, and she seems hella sweet. But I will be glad to actually meet her. I just read this thing a nihilistic-kid posted on FB about how scientists may have cracked the problem of cat allergies with some kind of egg-powder coating for... I didn't really get that part... a pill? Everything you eat? (That won't work) and I wish it was in circulation NOW! Adam is allergic, though he takes antihistamines when he visits...
So. None of those are earthshaking things, none of them are political, but whatever. LJ feels like a fucking echo chamber these days, so I decided to try to add a teaspoonful of written noise.