I am inattentive: I did finish the first chapter of War and Peace, and many others - I just confused first chapter with first part, which I have yet to finish. And as at 16 or wherever I last read it, I still feel sorry for Vera. Oh yes, I do identify with her a bit, but still. An older daughter in a large family - probably the oldest child, as far ( Read more... )

Both circumstances and someone's blogpost kept me thinking today about what do you do if someone dear to you has problems. How can you help, if you're not at the same city at the moment, for example. If you can't give practical help and they are not in the mood to be distracted/entertained with random fun/pretty things. If you can only sort of give ( Read more... )

Today was itchy and unsettled. Maybe because I awoke to a friend's phone call about her family problems, and kept worrying about it - and checking up with her - all day. And then, maybe not only that - it feels like a transition time. Last year's October was really physically difficult - I had no strength and felt like sleeping all the time; now I ( Read more... )