In the midst of a hurricane
What up Livejournal. I am at work now! And posting this entry as a reward to myself for finishing (that is, I haven't finished yet) an extremely painful task. Argh.
It's Chinese New Year in a couple of days! We've hung up the red banner at our door, my mother has made her cold vinegared pork, and just this morning we bought the pussy willows which are supposed to bloom on New Year's Eve, on the dot. Right now they're just yellow buds, though. I like them very much. Usually I view the coming of Chinese New Year with a mixture of dread and excitement (food! but having to talk to relatives! I will probably fall sick! but then red packets! a couple of days off school or work! however, temples and smoke inhalation!) but this year feels special. We'll see.
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So I was just doing a bit of research and came across this article, which is looking mostly good, but also says:
When not trapped in the stereotypes of being "hypocritical guises" or "camouflaged farces", masks reflect the innocence of the primitive people of the world who were the real creators of these aesthetically sublime and culturally functional symbols.
... and then it goes on to talk about how sophisticated and complex masks from innocent, primitive cultures are. Okay then!
Which is to say, JRGHJRGHJRGH CONDESCENDING MUCH?
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I have also taken to packing my lunch recently! All those entries about cheese and avocado sandwiches, I don't know if you guys could tell. The problem is that I've gotten a bit sick of sandwiches, and I'm not really sure what else to pack. There isn't a microwave at our place, and I hate eating cold things if they aren't meant to be cold. So that means pasta salad (short pasta, pesto) is fine, but leftover spaghetti (long pasta, tomato sauce) isn't. I tried cold roast vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions) and that was stretching the limits on acceptable. It's a little bit weird! And very inconvenient! My palate, I mean. Does anyone have suggestions?
---
Today I went for a run in the gym, and listened to one of my podcasts. It's the podcast I always recommend for anything, In Our Time. People talking about absurdly nerdy things, in British accents! For a good while my life plans basically involved impersonating Melvyn Bragg (wrote some non-fiction, wrote some novels, talked to academics on radio, FOR A LIVING), I cannot deny.
This time I listened to him and some other people pontificate on Elizabethan and Jacobean Revenge Tragedy. One of those other people were Jonathan Bate, whom I also had a nerdcrush on until he released his latest book (kind of a disappointment). But still! Jonathan Bate! Talking about Titus Andronicus and Hamlet and The Spanish Tragedy! If I weren't running for my life I think my face would have been like this -- :DDD
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A couple of days ago I was on the train home when I saw a hipster-man (nerd glasses, v-neck t-shirt) cuddling his four year-old daughter. She had the stupidest haircut, and was wearing a black pleather jacket. They weren't beautiful, really, but I couldn't stop looking at them, how sweet and sensible they looked. There's this part in Julian Gough's Juno & Juliet where Juliet says, "If only we could look into all the lives of the wives and daughters we call strangers", and while I've always thought that was a kind of slip on the author's part, wives and daughters sounds strange in a girl's voice instead of mothers and sisters and husbands or anything else, it's always been a statement I appreciate.
---
So the thing about posting is you (I mean I) always want to post right away, after you've finished the entry, so even though I haven't really finished my extremely excruciating thing yet, here I am. Posting! Here I go.
It's Chinese New Year in a couple of days! We've hung up the red banner at our door, my mother has made her cold vinegared pork, and just this morning we bought the pussy willows which are supposed to bloom on New Year's Eve, on the dot. Right now they're just yellow buds, though. I like them very much. Usually I view the coming of Chinese New Year with a mixture of dread and excitement (food! but having to talk to relatives! I will probably fall sick! but then red packets! a couple of days off school or work! however, temples and smoke inhalation!) but this year feels special. We'll see.
---
So I was just doing a bit of research and came across this article, which is looking mostly good, but also says:
When not trapped in the stereotypes of being "hypocritical guises" or "camouflaged farces", masks reflect the innocence of the primitive people of the world who were the real creators of these aesthetically sublime and culturally functional symbols.
... and then it goes on to talk about how sophisticated and complex masks from innocent, primitive cultures are. Okay then!
Which is to say, JRGHJRGHJRGH CONDESCENDING MUCH?
---
I have also taken to packing my lunch recently! All those entries about cheese and avocado sandwiches, I don't know if you guys could tell. The problem is that I've gotten a bit sick of sandwiches, and I'm not really sure what else to pack. There isn't a microwave at our place, and I hate eating cold things if they aren't meant to be cold. So that means pasta salad (short pasta, pesto) is fine, but leftover spaghetti (long pasta, tomato sauce) isn't. I tried cold roast vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions) and that was stretching the limits on acceptable. It's a little bit weird! And very inconvenient! My palate, I mean. Does anyone have suggestions?
---
Today I went for a run in the gym, and listened to one of my podcasts. It's the podcast I always recommend for anything, In Our Time. People talking about absurdly nerdy things, in British accents! For a good while my life plans basically involved impersonating Melvyn Bragg (wrote some non-fiction, wrote some novels, talked to academics on radio, FOR A LIVING), I cannot deny.
This time I listened to him and some other people pontificate on Elizabethan and Jacobean Revenge Tragedy. One of those other people were Jonathan Bate, whom I also had a nerdcrush on until he released his latest book (kind of a disappointment). But still! Jonathan Bate! Talking about Titus Andronicus and Hamlet and The Spanish Tragedy! If I weren't running for my life I think my face would have been like this -- :DDD
---
A couple of days ago I was on the train home when I saw a hipster-man (nerd glasses, v-neck t-shirt) cuddling his four year-old daughter. She had the stupidest haircut, and was wearing a black pleather jacket. They weren't beautiful, really, but I couldn't stop looking at them, how sweet and sensible they looked. There's this part in Julian Gough's Juno & Juliet where Juliet says, "If only we could look into all the lives of the wives and daughters we call strangers", and while I've always thought that was a kind of slip on the author's part, wives and daughters sounds strange in a girl's voice instead of mothers and sisters and husbands or anything else, it's always been a statement I appreciate.
---
So the thing about posting is you (I mean I) always want to post right away, after you've finished the entry, so even though I haven't really finished my extremely excruciating thing yet, here I am. Posting! Here I go.