(no subject)
I saw my parents off to Quebec (and for my mom, Tai Chi camp in Ontario after that) at the airport this morning. As the one who's usually getting on the plane, it was pretty weird that by the time I'd driven home, gotten and eaten breakfast from Tim Hortons, inspected the garden, done a couple of hours' worth of reading, called my grandparents, and taken a nap for an hour and a half, they were on the other side of the country! Of course, super-short connections like my parents had help, but it always feels so much longer when I'm travelling.
Anyway, I'm here to report on my accomplishments since yesterday. I have:
• Written up copies and sent my letters to my bank in France
• Finished reading Word of Honor
• Decided on my final lecture dates and topics for my core course this fall
• Written a new course description blurb for my syllabus (pending rereading)
• Called Grandpapa about using his car this week and Nana about lunch
• Been thoroughly instructed in the watering of the gardens, pots, and houseplants
• Acquired spare keys to both grandparental abodes and reassurances about the function of their lifeline systems
• Borrowed my dad's parking permit for the college
• Acquired food money from my parents
• Called Norton customer service about the phishing phone call I got today from someone claiming to be from Symantec
Speaking of Word of Honor it's early modern, but I think it's actually pretty relevant to your interests,
highlyeccentric and also maybe yours ladybird97. The fuller reference is Kristen B. Neuschel, Word of Honor: Interpreting Noble Culture in Sixteenth-Century France (Cornell, 1989). It's about noble relationships and power in the sixteenth century, but I think it has useful implications for thinking about medieval noble relationships too, because of the way it discusses how relationships might have been experienced in societies with relationships to literacy and knowledge that were different than our own.
~
Speaking of reading, other things I've read in the past few days, fanfiction edition:
Hockey at the End of the World by ionthesparrow: A long, plotty, delicious Hockey RPF dystopian AU that is, did I mention, plotty and delicious? And angsty? And features a dystopian North American union that seems to be suspiciously closely entwined with the structure of the NHL as it currently exists (like, regions are named after the colors of their corresponding NHL teams, hence Ontario as "the Blue & White" and BC as "the Blue & Green" suspiciously entwined). It's a satisfying freestanding story on its own - did I mention long and plotty and full of awesome worldbuilding? - but is also the first installment of a longer series. MY REPEATED SIGHS, SO HAPPY.
A Jolly Kind of Detective Game by Custardpringle: A novel-length Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries spinoff featuring Hilary Thorpe and Lord Peter's nephew St George getting into things (and each other). I spent most of the afternoon reading this and it was like OMG NEW CANON! I haven't read all the Jill Paton Walsh Lord Peter Wimsey continuations, but I think this one was better than the one I have read. Highly recommended!
~
In other news, the Bank of Canada is in the process of releasing a new banknote series, made out of some kind of plastic rather than paper (I think it's the same thing current Australian banknotes are made out of?). My dad left me my food money for the week in new fifties, which feature the PENETRATING STARE of the Right Honourable William Lyon MacKenzie King (Prime Minister 1921-1930, 1935-1948) AND HIS STARING PROBLEM. They are... kind of creepy. And even the inoffensive arctic map and research icebreaker on the reverse side aren't free of WLMK, because a mini-version of the same portrait appears in a holograph there. Seriously, William Lyon MacKenzie King, go and sit in the corner and play with string and love your mother like anything, and STOP LOOKING AT ME.
This entry was originally posted at http://monksandbones.dreamwidth.org/689847.html. Talk to me here or there, whichever you prefer.
Anyway, I'm here to report on my accomplishments since yesterday. I have:
• Written up copies and sent my letters to my bank in France
• Finished reading Word of Honor
• Decided on my final lecture dates and topics for my core course this fall
• Written a new course description blurb for my syllabus (pending rereading)
• Called Grandpapa about using his car this week and Nana about lunch
• Been thoroughly instructed in the watering of the gardens, pots, and houseplants
• Acquired spare keys to both grandparental abodes and reassurances about the function of their lifeline systems
• Borrowed my dad's parking permit for the college
• Acquired food money from my parents
• Called Norton customer service about the phishing phone call I got today from someone claiming to be from Symantec
Speaking of Word of Honor it's early modern, but I think it's actually pretty relevant to your interests,
highlyeccentric and also maybe yours ladybird97. The fuller reference is Kristen B. Neuschel, Word of Honor: Interpreting Noble Culture in Sixteenth-Century France (Cornell, 1989). It's about noble relationships and power in the sixteenth century, but I think it has useful implications for thinking about medieval noble relationships too, because of the way it discusses how relationships might have been experienced in societies with relationships to literacy and knowledge that were different than our own.
~
Speaking of reading, other things I've read in the past few days, fanfiction edition:
Hockey at the End of the World by ionthesparrow: A long, plotty, delicious Hockey RPF dystopian AU that is, did I mention, plotty and delicious? And angsty? And features a dystopian North American union that seems to be suspiciously closely entwined with the structure of the NHL as it currently exists (like, regions are named after the colors of their corresponding NHL teams, hence Ontario as "the Blue & White" and BC as "the Blue & Green" suspiciously entwined). It's a satisfying freestanding story on its own - did I mention long and plotty and full of awesome worldbuilding? - but is also the first installment of a longer series. MY REPEATED SIGHS, SO HAPPY.
A Jolly Kind of Detective Game by Custardpringle: A novel-length Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries spinoff featuring Hilary Thorpe and Lord Peter's nephew St George getting into things (and each other). I spent most of the afternoon reading this and it was like OMG NEW CANON! I haven't read all the Jill Paton Walsh Lord Peter Wimsey continuations, but I think this one was better than the one I have read. Highly recommended!
~
In other news, the Bank of Canada is in the process of releasing a new banknote series, made out of some kind of plastic rather than paper (I think it's the same thing current Australian banknotes are made out of?). My dad left me my food money for the week in new fifties, which feature the PENETRATING STARE of the Right Honourable William Lyon MacKenzie King (Prime Minister 1921-1930, 1935-1948) AND HIS STARING PROBLEM. They are... kind of creepy. And even the inoffensive arctic map and research icebreaker on the reverse side aren't free of WLMK, because a mini-version of the same portrait appears in a holograph there. Seriously, William Lyon MacKenzie King, go and sit in the corner and play with string and love your mother like anything, and STOP LOOKING AT ME.
This entry was originally posted at http://monksandbones.dreamwidth.org/689847.html. Talk to me here or there, whichever you prefer.