In a recent romance I read (a European historical), there is the following dialogue between the heroine and her suitor:
“… If you turn polite on me now, I shall become very bored indeed.” – “And that’s the very worst, isn’t it? Becoming bored?” – “I detest it. I will go to great lengths to avoid it.”
Intellectually, I completely get the purpose of this little exchange. […]
Each winter, I suffer from a cold or two, and just occasionally this results in me losing my voice for a week or so. It’s that time again, and here I am struck mute. I am still able to, but really should not, whisper, so I limit my verbal communication to a minimum. And even though I am used to this situation by now (having experienced it several times during the last 15 or so years), I still feel weird. […]
Next weekend, I will be travelling to Berlin for the first time in years. After procrastinating for several months, a few days ago I finally called an old friend whom I hadn’t talked to in about three years. We used to live the same town and shared the same workplace, but then she moved to another company and to Berlin. We kept in touch regularly over several years, but then we just stopped. […]
So I am feeling rather low today. It’s icy cold outside (9 degrees Fahrenheit at night, which means most of my garden plants will probably die). And I was told today that two people I work with are seriously ill: One may need heart surgery, and the other is in hospital suffering from depression.
Now I need to cheer myself up somehow. […]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCya1yiFFP4I heard this song on the radio during a recent train journey and was impressed enough to note down the singer (whose name the presenter mentioned, thankfully). I looked it up (thank you, YouTube!) and like it more and more. […]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk8g1yAe5yYYesterday I called an elderly friend after what must have been about six weeks, and found out that she’d spent three of these weeks in hospital with a broken ankle. She was obviously still in great discomfort, and worried she might need further surgery. We talked for a while. While I am glad that I called when I did, I am also going through a bit of a struggle with my conscience that I didn’t call earlier. I was busy, and she didn’t ring me either, but there it is: How often should you call people that need to be called, be they elderly or ill or lonely or a stay-at-home mom with three little children? […]
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I’ve been thinking about Voltaire lately. Specifically, one of his most famous quotations: “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”
Last Monday, my campus newspaper printed a column by a male writer. In this piece, he called feminists and gay activists “a sniveling bunch of emotional cripples,” declared that date rape is an “incoherent concept,” and essentially that drunken flirtation is consent.
As a result, the internet exploded. Angry Facebook statuses and comments on the article grew. Some people said they were ashamed to go to a school where such views would be espoused, and that it was a sad day for the campus. Apparently threats were made against the writer, and the story grew […]
With all the recent snow, my bike spent more than two months hibernating in the carport. Now that even the last icy drifts are gone here, this morning I took it out again. I’m telling you, this was my first true spring moment this year. There I was on my faithful Drahtesel (wire donkey), hightailing it down the hill on my way to work. There was wind in my hair (the part that was protruding from my cap), I was dodging pedestrians and sticking my left hand out widely to indicate to drivers I was not leaving the roundabout just yet, thankyouverymuch. When I arrived at my workplace, my face was flushed both from the cold air and from exertion, and I was wide awake and ready to face the day. […]
Although we live more than 200 miles from Munich, we are Bavarians, so this year, we did what all Bavarians (in my husband’s opinion it’s an act of patriotic duty) should do: we visited the Oktoberfest. In order to avoid the sad crush of the weekends, we scheduled our work so we had an afternoon off, jumped on the train, and off we were. […]
Way back in March or April (I don’t remember exactly when), we put out house on the market because we plan to build in a new neighborhood outside of town. Unfortunately, our house hasn’t yet sold. At first, I was okay with the fact that it didn’t sell immediately, but now I’ve reached frustration mode.
To be safe, we decided to sell and then build, which means most likely we’ll be in a rental while the new house is under construction. Also, I wanted to be settled in a new house by Christmas so I could decorate and because the boys are worried about Santa being able to find them. Plus, I’m terrified all the lots will be sold in the neighborhood we plan to build in before ours is even under contract. Fortunately, there are plently of lots left because the market has affected the developer as well. […]