Warning: Spoilers and Swedish Death Cleaning
I finished reading Iron Flame, the sequel to Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing. It’s a dragon rider war college series. It’s not bad if you like that sort of thing. The main reason I bring it up is that Curmudgeon read the first book before me, then I read both books over the past three weeks, and as I was reading the second installment, he started it, too. I finished it before him. So today I was saying things like, “Did you get to the part where everybody dies?”
“What, is this a Shakespeare play?” he responded.
“Did you get to the part where she’s putting the flowers on the grave, and then a hand comes up and GRABS HER WRIST?! Oh, wait, that’s Carrie.
“Did you get to the part where they’re making out and he parts her robe and looks down and THERE’S A PENIS?! Oh, wait, that’s The Crying Game.
“Did you get to the part where ROSEBUD IS A SLED? Oh, wait, Citizen Kane.
“SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Look out! Forty-three monkeys escaped from a research lab in South Carolina. Curmudgeon said, “That’s how The Planet of the Apes started.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
I mentioned in an earlier entry that I had plans to throw away my jigsaw puzzles as I complete them. This is part of my plan to declutter. I realized the other day that I’ve entered a phase of my life that my friend Kirby Hall would approvingly dub Swedish Death Cleaning.
Kirby, who is half Swedish, told me a while back that it’s a tradition there, when one reaches the end of middle age, to begin serious winnowing of one’s possessions so that one’s heirs don’t have to do the job and also to lighten one’s load in life. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve dumped dozens of VHS tapes that I recorded, along with a couple dozen books. Curmudgeon and I have agreed not to buy anything for the house (like furniture, dishes and cookware, Christmas decorations, etc.) until we retire and move to wherever that will be, unless we need to replace something that gets broken that we use on a regular basis or something like that.
Well, it hasn’t gone all that smoothly. Curmudgeon is, frankly, a bit of a hoarder, and there have been spats. I’m sure there will be more. I feel really driven right now, though. Part of it is knowing that eventually we’ll have to shove all our stuff in boxes and then take it all out again somewhere else. The less there is, the better. Part of it is, having seen Mom have to downsize in an emergency situation and not have much of a say in what got left behind, I don’t want to find myself in that position myself. It’s harder to do, the later in life you wait because it is kind of laborious. I want to take steps now to make it a little easier on myself if and when that time comes. On the other hand, I do still have work and other priorities.
“What, is this a Shakespeare play?” he responded.
“Did you get to the part where she’s putting the flowers on the grave, and then a hand comes up and GRABS HER WRIST?! Oh, wait, that’s Carrie.
“Did you get to the part where they’re making out and he parts her robe and looks down and THERE’S A PENIS?! Oh, wait, that’s The Crying Game.
“Did you get to the part where ROSEBUD IS A SLED? Oh, wait, Citizen Kane.
“SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Look out! Forty-three monkeys escaped from a research lab in South Carolina. Curmudgeon said, “That’s how The Planet of the Apes started.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
I mentioned in an earlier entry that I had plans to throw away my jigsaw puzzles as I complete them. This is part of my plan to declutter. I realized the other day that I’ve entered a phase of my life that my friend Kirby Hall would approvingly dub Swedish Death Cleaning.
Kirby, who is half Swedish, told me a while back that it’s a tradition there, when one reaches the end of middle age, to begin serious winnowing of one’s possessions so that one’s heirs don’t have to do the job and also to lighten one’s load in life. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve dumped dozens of VHS tapes that I recorded, along with a couple dozen books. Curmudgeon and I have agreed not to buy anything for the house (like furniture, dishes and cookware, Christmas decorations, etc.) until we retire and move to wherever that will be, unless we need to replace something that gets broken that we use on a regular basis or something like that.
Well, it hasn’t gone all that smoothly. Curmudgeon is, frankly, a bit of a hoarder, and there have been spats. I’m sure there will be more. I feel really driven right now, though. Part of it is knowing that eventually we’ll have to shove all our stuff in boxes and then take it all out again somewhere else. The less there is, the better. Part of it is, having seen Mom have to downsize in an emergency situation and not have much of a say in what got left behind, I don’t want to find myself in that position myself. It’s harder to do, the later in life you wait because it is kind of laborious. I want to take steps now to make it a little easier on myself if and when that time comes. On the other hand, I do still have work and other priorities.