(no subject)
It is dark outside. I hope it isn't raining when I leave work, because despite being warned I forgot my umbrella.
Friday: after-work work celebration, followed by meeting monkeycommando and S and F at Lick's. I was extremely full of after-work snacks so didn't actually eat, but it was fun. Then home and watched much TV.
Saturday: seminar on trim carpentry at Lee Valley. Jen was fending off a cold so I went by myself. WAY COOL. I can now build door and window casings, install baseboard, make mitre and cope joints with confidence and (in theory at least) straighten a wall. Oh, and measure. All taking into account that Nothing Is Square.
Then had a birthday celebration at the Rivoli, wherein we played some truly terrible pool -- I'm convinced there was something wrong with the table. pretentiousgit, monkeycommando, lostvoice, themusesbitch, and others who are not on LJ were present and a fine time was had by all.
Sunday: mmmm sweet sleep. Chamber choir practice (our conductor is a lovely Newf and occasionally says things like "When you move to a new section, the arse keeps falling out of her"). Then I went and bought underwear at the Bay and pondered metaphysical questions like, why don't manufacturers make matching panties for their bras? I don't care so much if it's black or white, but I do for colours. Luckily Wonderbra bucked the trend so I got a lovely chocolate-brown set. (Triumph bras, for some reason, didn't fit me at all. I held one up to a bra that fit perfectly well and the band and cup were identical except that the Triumph cup was cut a little lower -- mystery.)
(Yes, raithen and pretentiousgit, one of these days I will go to a specialty bra store and get properly fitted. Although in fact I don't believe I'm actually wearing the wrong size.)
And then I came home and watched Tristram Shandy, which I enjoyed very much although it does help to have read (most of) the book (wonder where it's got to?). And I didn't realize until this morning that you never actually do get to see the same movie they're all reacting to at the end! Brilliant.
Books read this week:
The Boy's Tale, Margaret Frazer
Does She or Doesn't She?, Alisa Kwitney -- my least favourite of hers so far, I wouldn't recommend starting with it; it's written in the 1st person, and I found the heroine really infuriatingly scatty, and the fact that the heroine is married -- even if her husband is a complete ass -- was kind of a turnoff.
Lady Fortescue Steps Out, Marion Chesney. I liked the premise (a group of Regency poor relations club together and open a hotel), but I never really connected with any of the characters; I think in this case it was the 3rd omniscient POV that was rather distancing. Plus too much explaining what each character is thinking and feeling about what's going on. Is she MC Beaton? Because I've noticed a similar problem in the Hamish MacBeth novels. (Checks: Yes. However, she's clearly had a long and successful career, so what do I know?) There was also a bit of a tendency to let the research take over, which was annoying. (As a random example: The heroine is waking up and it's really noisy because of all the bells from all these different churches and street vendors. Do I need to know who owns every single bell? Or that there were petitions to Parliament to cut down on the noise? No I do not. It was noisy because of all the bells. I got it.)
Abandoning halfway through:
For a Few Demons More, Kim Harrison. Desperately in need of faster pacing -- it could easily be tightened by about 50 pages from what I've read so far -- and I'm starting to find Rachel really irritating, like Stephanie Plum with no sense of self-preservation and a whole lot more vanity.
There may be more, but that's what leaps to mind.
Friday: after-work work celebration, followed by meeting monkeycommando and S and F at Lick's. I was extremely full of after-work snacks so didn't actually eat, but it was fun. Then home and watched much TV.
Saturday: seminar on trim carpentry at Lee Valley. Jen was fending off a cold so I went by myself. WAY COOL. I can now build door and window casings, install baseboard, make mitre and cope joints with confidence and (in theory at least) straighten a wall. Oh, and measure. All taking into account that Nothing Is Square.
Then had a birthday celebration at the Rivoli, wherein we played some truly terrible pool -- I'm convinced there was something wrong with the table. pretentiousgit, monkeycommando, lostvoice, themusesbitch, and others who are not on LJ were present and a fine time was had by all.
Sunday: mmmm sweet sleep. Chamber choir practice (our conductor is a lovely Newf and occasionally says things like "When you move to a new section, the arse keeps falling out of her"). Then I went and bought underwear at the Bay and pondered metaphysical questions like, why don't manufacturers make matching panties for their bras? I don't care so much if it's black or white, but I do for colours. Luckily Wonderbra bucked the trend so I got a lovely chocolate-brown set. (Triumph bras, for some reason, didn't fit me at all. I held one up to a bra that fit perfectly well and the band and cup were identical except that the Triumph cup was cut a little lower -- mystery.)
(Yes, raithen and pretentiousgit, one of these days I will go to a specialty bra store and get properly fitted. Although in fact I don't believe I'm actually wearing the wrong size.)
And then I came home and watched Tristram Shandy, which I enjoyed very much although it does help to have read (most of) the book (wonder where it's got to?). And I didn't realize until this morning that you never actually do get to see the same movie they're all reacting to at the end! Brilliant.
Books read this week:
The Boy's Tale, Margaret Frazer
Does She or Doesn't She?, Alisa Kwitney -- my least favourite of hers so far, I wouldn't recommend starting with it; it's written in the 1st person, and I found the heroine really infuriatingly scatty, and the fact that the heroine is married -- even if her husband is a complete ass -- was kind of a turnoff.
Lady Fortescue Steps Out, Marion Chesney. I liked the premise (a group of Regency poor relations club together and open a hotel), but I never really connected with any of the characters; I think in this case it was the 3rd omniscient POV that was rather distancing. Plus too much explaining what each character is thinking and feeling about what's going on. Is she MC Beaton? Because I've noticed a similar problem in the Hamish MacBeth novels. (Checks: Yes. However, she's clearly had a long and successful career, so what do I know?) There was also a bit of a tendency to let the research take over, which was annoying. (As a random example: The heroine is waking up and it's really noisy because of all the bells from all these different churches and street vendors. Do I need to know who owns every single bell? Or that there were petitions to Parliament to cut down on the noise? No I do not. It was noisy because of all the bells. I got it.)
Abandoning halfway through:
For a Few Demons More, Kim Harrison. Desperately in need of faster pacing -- it could easily be tightened by about 50 pages from what I've read so far -- and I'm starting to find Rachel really irritating, like Stephanie Plum with no sense of self-preservation and a whole lot more vanity.
There may be more, but that's what leaps to mind.