This is a happy post. It is long and has a fair bit of lead-in.
It is, in fact, a determinedly happy post. Yesterday's news was tragic and horrifying, and something like personal, except not--it's whatever the word might be when cities are connected in a meaningful way. Boston and Halifax go way back, and also my parents lived there long before I was born. I haven't spent much time there at all, but I know their stories about it, and have always wanted to visit properly. So I've been thinking a lot about what happened, and will keep on doing so.
But several good things happened in the last 24 hours or so despite that, and I was already thinking I wanted to deliberately make a post of happy things. (I also want to link to this poem: "A Brief for the Defense" [Jack Gilbert].)
This post is not about any of those things. It is also not about Newsflesh, although if at a glance you think it is, I wouldn't blame you.
Two pieces of background info:
First, as I've mentioned a couple of times before, I've been anguishing over whether to get the girl to read Newsflesh, because I've been pressing it on essentially everyone and because I love sharing stories with her, but there are a few things in it that I worried might distress her.
Second, yesterday was my birthday. I don't usually talk about it here, because I try to keep the whole thing low-key (it's only in the last few years that I've moved up to even admitting when my birthday is except under extreme pressure; it's a neurosis I don't know the root of). Since it was a Monday, we did birthday-ish things on Sunday:
scruloose and I watched a couple of episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles with Kas (only eight episodes left! ;_;), and we went for tasty, tasty Indian in a small group, and then
scruloose and Kas and I hung out some more in the evening. And Kas made me a cake, even though I didn't do any kind of actual party-thing, complete with thirty-five (!) candles, and now I've had cake for breakfast two days running.
Somehow I'm always taken aback by how generously Kas offers to do lovely things for me, even though he's one of the kindest people I know and does lovely things for people all the time and has already done things like spend nineteen hours driving me to and from Maine in one day so I can buy ice cream.
(Given the news yesterday, I'm extra glad we did those low-key fun things when we did.)
So: the girl told me on Sunday that she'd ordered me a present that hadn't arrived yet. Today it arrived, so she established that I was going to be home from work early enough in the evening that she could bring it over.
She knows very, very well how hard I've been trying not to actively pressure her about the unspeakable awesomeness of Georgia Mason, and I've talked to her a bit about it. Several days ago, actually, I noticed the Newsflesh trilogy box was almost out of stock at Amazon, and I mostly-jokingly told
scruloose that I should order a copy in case the girl opted to read it. (On the theory that even if she didn't, sooner or later I'd find someone I want to give it to.) And then suddenly it was out of stock, with a "ships in 1-2 months" note, and I kinda panicked and ordered it from Chapters.
(I had previously told her that if she decided she wanted to read it, I would be at her door in fifteen minutes to give her my box set, and would go home and order myself another one.)
Odds are good you can see where this is going? But just to add to the amusement factor, I had also told
scruloose that ordering a box set "in case" still wasn't as bad as it could be. After all, I could tell her that what I wanted for my birthday was for her to meet Georgia. But I wasn't doing that, was I? (If you are now thinking my definition of "succeeding at not pressuring someone" is set at a very low bar, you are not wrong, especially when you factor in that I did buy her both InCryptid novels to test the waters on her enjoyment of Seanan's writing. She enjoyed them very much.)
And tonight she came over with a pink, glittery gift bag (apparently actually what she had on hand, but funny given that pink is my least favorite color, and also given what I had told her about Georgia). In the name of not QUITE buying herself something as my birthday present, she had carefully bought me a new Newsflesh box set, which would of course mean I no longer need my old one and could pass it on to someone. Say, her.
Side note: she handed me the bag, and I held it by the bottom as we went upstairs to the living room, and I had the very distinct thought that the shape and heft of whatever-it-was felt weirdly familiar*. ^_^
scruloose and Kas both knew about this a week or two ago (
scruloose did try to talk me out of ordering my "just in case" set), because the girl was worried it'd be tacky rather than UTTERLY AWESOME, to which
scruloose was apparently just like "...YOU MUST DO THIS THING".
I don't think I actually screamed. I did squee and flail and bounce and do all manner of undignified things for...I think about half an hour. (The girl and
scruloose are partly to blame, even beyond their conspiring--we have a sectional couch, and I was sitting in the corner with one of them on either side, and they kept cracking up at me, which made it that much harder to get a grip.)
I'm just ridiculously delighted on so many levels. The fangirl in me who's still utterly obsessed with these books is thrilled to share this story with her. And it's so perfect, and well played, and I feel very, very loved. My thirty-fifth birthday goes down in history as "the year I was given something I already owned, and it was one of the best presents ever".
*And not that anyone but me is keeping count of this, but including the set I have in the mail, this means I've now bought six full sets of Newsflesh, plus two additional copies of Feed on its own. It's no surprise I know the feel of it pretty well.
Originally posted at http://umadoshi.dreamwidth.org/431125.html. Comment here if you like, or comment there using OpenID. Comments at DW:
But several good things happened in the last 24 hours or so despite that, and I was already thinking I wanted to deliberately make a post of happy things. (I also want to link to this poem: "A Brief for the Defense" [Jack Gilbert].)
This post is not about any of those things. It is also not about Newsflesh, although if at a glance you think it is, I wouldn't blame you.
Two pieces of background info:
First, as I've mentioned a couple of times before, I've been anguishing over whether to get the girl to read Newsflesh, because I've been pressing it on essentially everyone and because I love sharing stories with her, but there are a few things in it that I worried might distress her.
Second, yesterday was my birthday. I don't usually talk about it here, because I try to keep the whole thing low-key (it's only in the last few years that I've moved up to even admitting when my birthday is except under extreme pressure; it's a neurosis I don't know the root of). Since it was a Monday, we did birthday-ish things on Sunday:
scruloose and I watched a couple of episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles with Kas (only eight episodes left! ;_;), and we went for tasty, tasty Indian in a small group, and then
scruloose and Kas and I hung out some more in the evening. And Kas made me a cake, even though I didn't do any kind of actual party-thing, complete with thirty-five (!) candles, and now I've had cake for breakfast two days running.
Somehow I'm always taken aback by how generously Kas offers to do lovely things for me, even though he's one of the kindest people I know and does lovely things for people all the time and has already done things like spend nineteen hours driving me to and from Maine in one day so I can buy ice cream.
(Given the news yesterday, I'm extra glad we did those low-key fun things when we did.)
So: the girl told me on Sunday that she'd ordered me a present that hadn't arrived yet. Today it arrived, so she established that I was going to be home from work early enough in the evening that she could bring it over.
She knows very, very well how hard I've been trying not to actively pressure her about the unspeakable awesomeness of Georgia Mason, and I've talked to her a bit about it. Several days ago, actually, I noticed the Newsflesh trilogy box was almost out of stock at Amazon, and I mostly-jokingly told
scruloose that I should order a copy in case the girl opted to read it. (On the theory that even if she didn't, sooner or later I'd find someone I want to give it to.) And then suddenly it was out of stock, with a "ships in 1-2 months" note, and I kinda panicked and ordered it from Chapters.
(I had previously told her that if she decided she wanted to read it, I would be at her door in fifteen minutes to give her my box set, and would go home and order myself another one.)
Odds are good you can see where this is going? But just to add to the amusement factor, I had also told
scruloose that ordering a box set "in case" still wasn't as bad as it could be. After all, I could tell her that what I wanted for my birthday was for her to meet Georgia. But I wasn't doing that, was I? (If you are now thinking my definition of "succeeding at not pressuring someone" is set at a very low bar, you are not wrong, especially when you factor in that I did buy her both InCryptid novels to test the waters on her enjoyment of Seanan's writing. She enjoyed them very much.)
And tonight she came over with a pink, glittery gift bag (apparently actually what she had on hand, but funny given that pink is my least favorite color, and also given what I had told her about Georgia). In the name of not QUITE buying herself something as my birthday present, she had carefully bought me a new Newsflesh box set, which would of course mean I no longer need my old one and could pass it on to someone. Say, her.
Side note: she handed me the bag, and I held it by the bottom as we went upstairs to the living room, and I had the very distinct thought that the shape and heft of whatever-it-was felt weirdly familiar*. ^_^
scruloose and Kas both knew about this a week or two ago (
scruloose did try to talk me out of ordering my "just in case" set), because the girl was worried it'd be tacky rather than UTTERLY AWESOME, to which
scruloose was apparently just like "...YOU MUST DO THIS THING".
I don't think I actually screamed. I did squee and flail and bounce and do all manner of undignified things for...I think about half an hour. (The girl and
scruloose are partly to blame, even beyond their conspiring--we have a sectional couch, and I was sitting in the corner with one of them on either side, and they kept cracking up at me, which made it that much harder to get a grip.)
I'm just ridiculously delighted on so many levels. The fangirl in me who's still utterly obsessed with these books is thrilled to share this story with her. And it's so perfect, and well played, and I feel very, very loved. My thirty-fifth birthday goes down in history as "the year I was given something I already owned, and it was one of the best presents ever".
*And not that anyone but me is keeping count of this, but including the set I have in the mail, this means I've now bought six full sets of Newsflesh, plus two additional copies of Feed on its own. It's no surprise I know the feel of it pretty well.
Originally posted at http://umadoshi.dreamwidth.org/431125.html. Comment here if you like, or comment there using OpenID. Comments at DW: