*puts down bottle of rageahol*
Sep. 8th, 2005 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
constanceWhen I realized today that I was going to get fired from my job if I kept neglecting it in favor of surfing news sites and doing my inexpert but steadily-improving imitation of the angriest dog in the world as each day's news brought both fresh relief and fresh horrors, I decided to get right back to work, but also I decided that I was going to take the advice of the delightful (now gainfully employed!) ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
21stcenturysei and do something frivolous, and I was darned well going to do it every day. I mean, I will still be spending a fair chunk of my day straining at my leash in a state of near rigor mortis, but I am going to try to take the time to sniff at the cat piss in the corner by the fence, as well.
Hence the last night's long journey into the realm of hospital drama recaps starring Bertie Wooster, and hence tonight's post coming to you live! as I discuss two new books I am reading, sort of by turns: True Enough by Stephen McCauley and Necklace of Kisses by Francesca Lia Block. On account of the fact that I am not quite sure how much I am enjoying Block's hyper-whimsical style translated into middle age (mostly, it seems, we are whimsical in our choice of clothing when we reach our forties), I am preferring True Enough, which is an amiable novel about characters I probably ought not to like as much as I do; so far, it is light, but it hits unexpectedly hard in places. Stephen McCauley has a knack for the mot juste I haven't seen since maybe Ellen Gilchrist, and since I'm finding True Enough more generally palatable than Gilchrist--he has such obvious sympathy and kindness for his characters--I say McCauley wins. So says me.
:::
My friend J--you might remember him as the coworker for whom I spoiled Order of the Phoenix accidentally yet conclusively--sent me an email today telling me about the new Harry Potter iPod (and the fact that you can buy all six audio books for the fantastically low price of USD$249.00). It's a good thing that I have spent all my pocket money for the next couple of weeks, because I was sort of tempted. I am feeling a little iPod-y lately, after reading about the Nano--so tiny and pretty!--so I am just having to remind myself that I already have an iPod. A perfectly good one. Must. Resist.
In related matters, I never post song lyrics, but I would like to share with you what iTunes is currently slapping me upside the head with. "Cammy," iTunes is saying to me. "Cammy, there is a time and place for frivolling, and this is not that time, nor is it that place. I like you best when you are choking with outrage and guilt and helplessness."
Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger
Stranger in a strange land
He looked at me like I
Was the one who should run
We asked him to smile for a photograph
Waited a while to see if we could make him laugh
Oh...oh...
A soldier asked for a cigarette
His smiling face I can't forget
He looked like me across the street
But that's a long way here
Oh...oh...
And I wish you were here
Oooh, and I wish you were here
Oh...oh...
Stranger
A stranger in a strange land
He look at me like I
Was the one who should run
I watched as he watched us get back on the bus
I watched the way it was
The way it was when he was with us
And I really don't mind
Sleeping on the floor
But I couldn't sleep after what I saw
I wrote this letter to tell you
The way I feel
Oooh, I wish you were here
Oooh, I wish you were here
To see what I could see
To hear
And I wish you were here
21stcenturysei and do something frivolous, and I was darned well going to do it every day. I mean, I will still be spending a fair chunk of my day straining at my leash in a state of near rigor mortis, but I am going to try to take the time to sniff at the cat piss in the corner by the fence, as well.Hence the last night's long journey into the realm of hospital drama recaps starring Bertie Wooster, and hence tonight's post coming to you live! as I discuss two new books I am reading, sort of by turns: True Enough by Stephen McCauley and Necklace of Kisses by Francesca Lia Block. On account of the fact that I am not quite sure how much I am enjoying Block's hyper-whimsical style translated into middle age (mostly, it seems, we are whimsical in our choice of clothing when we reach our forties), I am preferring True Enough, which is an amiable novel about characters I probably ought not to like as much as I do; so far, it is light, but it hits unexpectedly hard in places. Stephen McCauley has a knack for the mot juste I haven't seen since maybe Ellen Gilchrist, and since I'm finding True Enough more generally palatable than Gilchrist--he has such obvious sympathy and kindness for his characters--I say McCauley wins. So says me.
:::
My friend J--you might remember him as the coworker for whom I spoiled Order of the Phoenix accidentally yet conclusively--sent me an email today telling me about the new Harry Potter iPod (and the fact that you can buy all six audio books for the fantastically low price of USD$249.00). It's a good thing that I have spent all my pocket money for the next couple of weeks, because I was sort of tempted. I am feeling a little iPod-y lately, after reading about the Nano--so tiny and pretty!--so I am just having to remind myself that I already have an iPod. A perfectly good one. Must. Resist.
In related matters, I never post song lyrics, but I would like to share with you what iTunes is currently slapping me upside the head with. "Cammy," iTunes is saying to me. "Cammy, there is a time and place for frivolling, and this is not that time, nor is it that place. I like you best when you are choking with outrage and guilt and helplessness."
Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger
Stranger in a strange land
He looked at me like I
Was the one who should run
We asked him to smile for a photograph
Waited a while to see if we could make him laugh
Oh...oh...
A soldier asked for a cigarette
His smiling face I can't forget
He looked like me across the street
But that's a long way here
Oh...oh...
And I wish you were here
Oooh, and I wish you were here
Oh...oh...
Stranger
A stranger in a strange land
He look at me like I
Was the one who should run
I watched as he watched us get back on the bus
I watched the way it was
The way it was when he was with us
And I really don't mind
Sleeping on the floor
But I couldn't sleep after what I saw
I wrote this letter to tell you
The way I feel
Oooh, I wish you were here
Oooh, I wish you were here
To see what I could see
To hear
And I wish you were here
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:19 am (UTC)We have some Tulane students on-campus these days. They're last-second transfers that fit in under a special admissions class, and the community here is welcoming them with open arms to the point of GIVING UP FOOTBALL TICKETS FOR THEM HOLY GOD. I haven't met any of the transfer students, but whenever I see a group of people I don't know chattering away in the courtyard, I feel a little bit better about the crazy, crazy state of things.
May the cat piss be deeply, deeply entertaining. <3
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 06:13 pm (UTC)*saves world's angriest dog cartoon because she, too, relates*
no subject
Date: 2005-09-10 01:25 am (UTC)http://slate.msn.com/id/2126065/
no subject
Date: 2005-09-10 03:51 am (UTC)There's just such solace in ordinary daily life, sometimes.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-10 03:53 am (UTC):D:D:D:D:D
I know it is silly to be tempted, but I am! La coeur a ses raisons, you see.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-10 03:57 am (UTC)Also: I realized after I'd sent off my letter the other day that I'd spelled her name wrong. This article makes me feel badly about that all over again. :(
I owe you an email, but I am not sure I will get to it tonight. I am so extravagantly fond of you, though. You are the best. Sleep well.