Dept. of Saturday/Sunday Sloth

[kaffy_r]

Lists, Or I Don't Happen

1)I have been busy. As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, my work blew up, largely because Tribune Publishing's board of directors has been taken over by a newspaper/news outlet killer (Google "Alden" and "Tribune" if you're interested; I'm not linking, since I did some of that in the earlier post, and it just makes me sad/mad.) and Tribune has also decided to shut down its Spanish-language newspaper - in a city that's 29 percent Spanish-speaking.

So there are campaigns being planned and undertaken. And, because it's Chicago, there as assholes in the union being assholes. But there are others who are working hard and are sweethearts. So there's that. I did some lobbying - my first ever - on Friday, and will be doing more Monday morning, in order to get signatures on a community petition to save Hoy or at least get the company to commit to continued Spanish-language coverage, with jobs for the editorial staff. 

2) I am sad - make that close to very sad - that fandom_stocking  isn't running, apparently. I know it's been a big job for the community mod, so I don't begrudge her. I wish we could get news on her; I hope she's OK. (I  did get one long-delayed IOU  from last year's stocking completed this past week. Go, me, I  suppose. 

3) I have just received my first holiday cards - hi,cathicaand eaweek ! That's the signal for me to start my card writing. And that I'm looking forward to. However, BB and I are wondering whether we want to do a tree and decorations this year. We're tightening our belt because my Tribune checks are now over (I think I get one more), so as of January, I will be contributing Social Security and possibly a small (very small) pension to the household.

Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, our family - Andy and Miss Em - may not be coming home, and they really are the reason we've held onto traditions thus far. This, combined with our complete exhaustion after even our very small Thanksgiving, is making the idea of finding a good tree, hauling the decorations out, etc. somewhat difficult to contemplate.

4) I am still trying to put together a response to someone who commented on my last very political post. The person deserves a thoughtful reply, and I told them so in a placeholder response, but I haven't been able to get the spoons together to do it. 

5) Good Omens update:  I've read up to and past the "and" chapter in the GO lengthy "Crowley sees a trauma counselor" fic. I continue to be impressed by the care and skillful creativity of the writer. I am intrigued by the characters, and what the writer is creating and saying. I'm still not drawn in. Ah, well. Doctor Who begins in, what, fewer than 3.5 weeks now, and that I can get excited about.

6) Poetry Update:  Afraid I'm going to have to send "The Ode Less Traveled" back to the library, with only the first two chapters read. But perhaps another time, another try. At least I now know the various types of pentameter ... 

And that's about it. I need to go and get the rice-cooker ready, and chop things up for stir-fry. 

Comments

[liadt]

Oh well, maybe 2020 will be the year of poetry!

[kaffy_r]

I don't want to abandon the idea of learning more about knowing and creating poetry in the classical English-speaking tradition. It's something that maia sparked in me, and she suggested the book. I got it and started reading with enjoyment ... and then Everything Happened, and by the end of the day, every day, all I could do was play Solitaire on the computer.

So perhaps 2020 is the year I'll take another (very un-poetic) whack at it!

[maia]

Have you ever tried listening to recordings of poetry? It's something I've found very helpful when I can't sleep; I have a pillow speaker, and it's lovely to lie in the dark listening...and often it does help me fall asleep. I think poetry is best heard before it's read (or studied, or analyzed) - it's far more embodied than prose, rooted in the rhythms of our bodies and brains.

[kaffy_r]

Long delayed response; I am happiest reading poetry first, or reading and speaking it at the same time. I feel the poetry most strongly that way - perhaps because I can see the patterns, whether in blank or classic verse, but more likely because I want to understand what the poet is saying, even if it's something that speaks to emotions rather than intellect. I have gone through periods of reading poems, and, when struck by a piece, I will read it to Bob. I'll admit to liking that. But hearing poetry ... no. It's not something that appeals to me.

We do do life differently, don't we? I'm smiling as I say that, because I enjoy a great deal hearing from you how you do life. There are times and there are ideas, where you and I become congruent, which is all the more enjoyable because of the ways in which we are so different.

[kaffy_r]

And an addendum ... we do have much in common, which is why I find it so intellectually stimulating (and emotionally, too!) to explore our perceptual differences. For instance, I suspect we share at least some musical tastes, while at the same time enjoying those tastes in different manners. Does that make sense to you

Edited to correct "manors" to "manners" - although it's true that we do have different manors. Heh ....

[maia]

Does that make sense to you

Yes. Thank you, kaffyr.

*Hugs you*

[kaffy_r]

*hugs back*

[kaffy_r]

And one more addition, although I meant it to have been a response to one of your other comments.

I wanted to thank you for reccing me those Aziraphale-centric stories. As it happens, I'd already read and liked one of them ("Evil May Triumph When Good Angels Do Nothing") and I very much enjoyed "The Movement of Molecules," which I found to be rather gorgeous. I haven't yet gotten to "Overboard," but I know I will.

In response to your supposition ... while it's a reasonable one, it doesn't obtain here, because I'm affected, or not affected, equally by stories that centers one or the other of our supernatural characters.

I don't know why I failed to fall in love with GO, but I have to thank you, and elisi, promethia_tenk, and owlboy, because the love you all have for the show and/or book, did introduce me to it, because it is something I like very much. And I am grateful, because things that are intellectually chewy are to be treasured.

[maia]

As it happens, I'd already read and liked one of them ("Evil May Triumph When Good Angels Do Nothing")

Oh, I'm so glad you liked it too!


and I very much enjoyed "The Movement of Molecules," which I found to be rather gorgeous.

It is gorgeous! I'm so glad you think so too!


I haven't yet gotten to "Overboard," but I know I will.

Well, I do hope you're not feeling obligated to read further in a fandom which doesn't grab you. But I would be interested to know what you think of "Overboard". It's a story that means a great deal to me.

[kaffy_r]

I enjoy reading in the fandom; it's full of excellent writing. And - this is the hard thing to tell people, because I admit it's a bit odd - I have enjoyed reading in GO, almost precisely because I'm not emotionally grabbed by it. That wasn't the case at first, because, as I've said before, I desperately wanted something to fill the temporary hole of not having new Who to love. However, after I got over my disappointment, I realized there is intellectual enjoyment to be had in reading fic and meta about this fascinating series.

[maia]

there is intellectual enjoyment to be had in reading fic and meta about this fascinating series.

I'm so glad.

[kaffy_r]

As am I. Heh.

[maruad]

On the holiday trimmings front, my mom, when she sold the family home (a very modest home), and moved into a 65+ apartment complex, found she had very limited space so she gave me almost all of the existing holiday trimmings and got herself a small tree that was small enough to sit on an end table. It was inexpensive and unimpressive but it worked for her.

[kaffy_r]

One of the challenges for us is that we can't bring ourselves, even now, to having anything but a real tree. We're undoubtedly in the minority; I know my own mum had both a regular sized fake tree and one like your mother's, something she could put on a table. I have friends who have a really nice fake tree that's hard to see is fake. But I just can't do it ....