Irish Melancholia Meets The Decemberists

[carnivee]

Mr. Cassidy was an Englishman who stayed, once a month, at the Strathearn, the hotel where I worked in Scotland. For a few of his visits, we found ourselves talking for several hours at the bar of the Wishart Suite once my shift was over. He told me, in the midst of one of these conversations, that he wasn’t surprised that I had Irish blood in me.

Comments

[urlgirl]

The melancholy state is indeed to be cherished and enjoyed, I've found. It's a good place to be. A little self-indulgent sometimes (for me, because there's always something else that needs doing while I'm sitting around sighing), but satisfying.

And it's funny that you mention it in terms of the Irish, too. Where I come from, they even have a name for it, this sort of sadness of the land. They've named it after Mioritza, a central character in an old folk tale about nihilism, of all things (not at all what melancholy is about, IMO, but that's what the happy people always like to think, no?). Not to dwell on that, it's a horrible story. The pertinent part is that Mioritza happens to be a sheep, the object of her affection being her shepherd.

So now I wonder. Is it to do with sheep, this melancholy business? Don't the Irish like their sheep too? I'm only half kidding.

Sorry to tread on a personal topic.

I hope you sleep thoroughly, well and soon :-)

[carnivee]

hi there! thank you for the comment, and please, tread all you'd like! i've actually been a reader of yours for a lot of years now, since, oh... 98 or so? when moments was still going strong. i fell madly in love with that project. it's probably what inspired me to start blogging. so you're a bit of a celebrity to me, and gladly welcome you to my friends list! :D

in any case... the story of mioritza sounds like something i should look into... i'm googling it as we speak. thank you for sharing!

and the sheep connection is something to ponder... :)

[urlgirl]

Thanks for the kind words, it's always nice to know when you make something that touches people somehow. I fell in love with that one too, FWIW.

I love your stories and your style, immensely, and I love making new friends, so I thank you for making me yours, of a sort. And ditto :-)

If you decide you like Radiohead, try also Muse. They may just be too far into pop-land, but you never know...

As for the sheep... OK, maybe it's not the sheep. Maybe it's the shape of the land, that particularly green, rich, rolling land that sheep like, maybe that's what supports this kind of feeling. Maybe.

[theorems]

Half-Irish himself, he had spent a lot of time in the country, and he saw that, culturally, they cherished melancholia-considering it a state worth experiencing on the level of other so-called “positive” emotions.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love it!

radiohead's "how to disappear completely" is a good one too. fact.

[carnivee]

thanks again! i'll have to get that song... i've never gotten into radiohead that much, though i've liked what i've heard.

[theorems]

i just really got into them about six months ago.
run out and buy kid a rightnow plz.