When we were in London, I bought a DVD with the recent TV series Cranford. I’d heard it lauded to the skies, and now I’m about to start watching it. I think it’s about 5 hours long, so will not finish it today, but I’ve been looking forward to it very much. I love the novels, and would watch almost anything created by Sue Birtwistle, so I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.
Not sure I’m qualified to call myself a Gentle Lady, but who’s going to complain?
Drinking peach ball jasmine tea – the kind where the tea leaves are rolled up tightly, and unfold into a kind of blossom when you pour hot water over it. We’ve had this tea for some time, and so I thought I’d finish it before it gets too old. Also, I’m watching Galaxy Quest. I’ve seen it once before but remember almost nothing. It’s a lot of fun, and has Alan Rickman.
An hour later – subtitles rolling: oh yes, lots of fun. So very cheesy and sentimental in such an intentionally over-the-top way. A good evening’s entertainment.
In my tea glass is now something that looks like a sea anemone, or a Tentacled Being (TM). I don’t think I’ll add more water – it’s still nice, but I’m about to go to bed instead of taking in more caffeine.
Once upon a time, I had two or three T-shirts with funny prints on. (That’s funny peculiar and/or funny ha-ha.) When I went to a long sf convention such as the four-day Eastercon, I brought them all, plus a couple of shirts without wittiness.
THis has changed. In my choir, and also at work, I am known for my funny T-shirts with unusual prints, and as I packed my bags tonight for tomorrow’s journey to England and Eastercon, I had to pick and choose which ones to take. And I still brought about two T-shirts for each day. I’ll just have to go off to our hotel room and change at lunchtime. Nothing wrong with that. Because I didn’t want to leave my two new Steven Brust-themed shirts, nor my new NAFS(k) shirt, or the Book Wyrm one, or the Edward Gorey one that says So Many Books, So Little Time, or the Nightmare before Christmas-themed one, or…
The paradox here is that (as you probably know, if you are reading this blog, because those who read it generally know me) I don’t like to buy clothes. It’s boring, and tedious, and difficult, and expensive, and as soon as I enter a clothes shop I want to leave again; but T-shirts are different. They are like jewelry, or something. Just decoration with the extra benefit of also functioning as clothing; and I don’t have to pay any attention to the clothes part of them, except to check that they are the right size.
I had no idea they were making a movie on the life of one of the people I admire most in this world: Barbro Alving, who wrote under the pen names Bang and Käringen mot Strömmen. Am listening to a review of the film now – it opened yesterday in Stockholm. I do hope it will be shown in Uppsala at some point, even if it’s apparently not the best film ever, according to reviews. I really, REALLY want to see it. Here is a trailer. The voice overs don’t sound much like her – much too modern inflections. Oh well, it’s a quibble.
There’s also a book I will need to get, Bang’s diary from the Olympic Games in Berlin 1936, which has just been published. I’m very pleased that I am not the only person who thinks she isn’t yesterday’s news and irrelevant today.
Today I saw the naprapathist, which was good. My lower back, which has been one of the most painful areas recently, is now much better. I have seen about three different naprapathists before in my life, I think – the last time was probably 10 years ago – and this was the first time the naprapathist was younger than myself. Turned out we went to the same school, he slightly later than me, so as he was tormenting me we chatted amicably about which teachers we remembered and things like that. Anyway, despite his extreme youth he knew his stuff. I’m going back there on Monday.
Yesterday, I went to an Apple service place to ask them about why my computer no longer warns me before the battery runs out of power, and why it dies when the display says that I still have almost 30% battery time left. I had already bought a new battery, on Saturday, but wanted to find out about the battery warning or lack thereof. The service technician looked at the battery and its serial number and told me I could get a new one under my computer’s warranty, because the one I had was in a series of faulty batteries. So I got a new one right there in the shop, and got to leave the old one there instead of sending it in myself. All for free. Luckily I hadn’t started using the new battery I bought, it was still in its unopened box, so today I returned it and got the money back. (I’m not sure how a faulty battery, the actual hardware, can cause the battery warning to break, and the service technician said it might not be the battery but a Leopard bug. I haven’t checked to see if that problem is still there.)
At this moment I should have been having my back fixed, but was woken up this morning by my mobile phone ringing – because for once I’d forgotten to set it to silent before going to bed – and was told that the naprapathist I was going to see today is ill.
Bother.
I got a new appointment for Tuesday, when hopefully he’ll be back and well again.
Yes, yes, I failed. I didn’t manage to blog every day during PeBloWriMo. I guess I got fed up with writing pointless posts just for the sake of writing, and also I got home much later from choir practice last night than I’d intended. But still, I wasn’t supposed to fail, and definitely not with only two days left to go.
I did write a lot yesterday, though, and ended up submitting a chapter to my supervisor, plus an updated and corrected version of the chapter I sent her last week. So that’s some writing done. And then I had a – not sleepless, but insufficiently sleepful, night, so am not doing much of anything today. The “not much” includes watching some episode commentaries on Buffy the Vampire Slayer; we’re re-watching the series, and are currently just started on season 3, so I’m watching a couple of Season 2 episodes, which unfortunately are commented (commentaried??) by one of the series’ staff who says the most inane and frankly rather stupid things. This bothers me. I may have some more specific comments to make later, after I’ve watched the whole episode.
I now have a supply of contact lenses that will last me 6 months if I use them every day. Which I don’t, so I should be good for a bit longer than that. Last time I got new lenses was in 2004.
I also have three different spectacles, or frames anyway, to try out for a couple of days. They look radically different from my old ones. Scary, that.
Also, I have booked an appointment with a naprapath on Friday. I have needed one badly for months now, so it’s quite impressive, knowing me, that I actually did it. (I probably wouldn’t have if they hadn’t had a web booking form – much less scary than picking up a phone!)
Next thing you know, I’ll probably book a dentist appointment. Which is also way way overdue. I am turning into Efficient Néa. (Well, not really. But more so than usual.)
There is going to be a pilgrimage to me on my next birthday. Which is something not everybody can say. Oh, not exactly to me I suppose, more because of me. But still and anyway. Several people I haven’t seen for years will be there, and some people I’ve known for a long time and never met. It is still a little bit up in the air, but it seems it definitely will happen.
Meanwhile, J and I are both ill at the same time, which is unusual. We never seem to get each other’s colds, but this one we both got from the same source, most likely. Which is my excuse for yet another short and fairly pointless post…
I really enjoy reading Dorothy Dunnett. The first time I read Niccolò Rising I found it slightly hard going, but this time I was better prepared, both for the prose style which is lovely but demanding, and for the setting which is rather alien: Flanders in the 15th century. I very much look forward to reading the next book, now.
And tomorrow I’m going to get my eyes checked for new glasses. About time, too.
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