Bloglet, the gentleman's mock turtle soup --
Moss made it sweeter than myrrh ash and dhoup


Aaagh! I got up early to do my physics homework, but the freaking site's down! This isn't my fault! Grargh! _
respond? (14)
06:46:01 AM, Wednesday 18 September 2002

A lot of people in my classes (me included, of course) have foreign names. They almost always sound false and awkward when they're pronounced with a normal American accent. One professor I had once always said my name "Meer-a-baii" with this little lilt and tongue trill, and though it was certainly more exotic that way, it was still pretty silly-sounding. The solution used to be overt Anglicization, not just of pronunciation but of spelling and sometimes even a complete rearrangement -- I guess Anglicization isn't the best word, 'cause it was across and among all European languages. You were Giovanni Battista Lulli in Italy and Jean-Baptiste Lully in France, Georg Friederich Händel in Germany and George Frederick Handel in England. I know that when languages got further apart it started making much less sense -- Confucious for K'ung-Fu-Tze is really a stretch -- and I know that's how it would be if you tried to convert everybody's names these days (I'd probably end up as Mary-Belle {shudder}.), but it's just one of those things you lament the Old World for while realizing damn well all the glorious stuff in the New. Saints' Days fall into this category, too. I'm named after a saint! Why don't I get a saint's day? Oh well. _
respond? (1)
01:23:02 PM, Tuesday 17 September 2002

I just noticed today that in the part of the hotel where the businessmen go all the walls' corners have little plastic strips riveted to them. I guess they're so nobody hurts himself if he falls against a corner. But they look tacky and bizarre. I didn't notice them 'til now, of course, so they can't really be that bad, but honestly... they never would have tolerated that sort of thing in the old Grand Hotels. I figure it's some kind of weird safety code. How many corner-related injuries have you suffered lately? _
respond? (6)
01:09:10 PM, Tuesday 17 September 2002

"And he leans on her neck, and he whispers low, 'Whither thou goest, I will go', and they turn as one, and they head for the plane. No need for the whip, ah, no need for the rein." _
respond? (1)
07:31:49 AM, Tuesday 17 September 2002

Gevalt. _
respond? (3)
04:04:10 PM, Monday 16 September 2002

Mornin'! The most stratospheric nose-bleeding zenith of the mornin' to you! Foooooowah! _
respond? (1)
08:46:01 AM, Monday 16 September 2002

Ha! Yes! Way, way better. Forget that nasty crashing hanging Quintessential player. Back to Winamp for me. Maybe the sound ain't so good, but with a feature like this? Hoo-ha! _
respond? (8)
08:12:08 AM, Monday 16 September 2002

Wheee! Now you lucky people watching at home can see what I'm listening to, every waking moment! _
respond? (5)
05:11:44 AM, Monday 16 September 2002

Ravenous. _
respond? (1)
11:51:22 PM, Sunday 15 September 2002

Mongolian Pop Music. _
respond? (4)
09:47:58 PM, Sunday 15 September 2002

T.I.A.I.L.W.: Irene Adler, cross-dresser, opera singer, and the only woman to get the better of Sherlock Holmes. {sigh} Nope. There's no more perfect woman in fiction or truth. Alack. _
respond? (2)
09:06:02 PM, Sunday 15 September 2002

I've linked to it before, or at least mentioned... harped... on it, but I don't want to forget. So. The Compleat Bellairs.

The man who made me want to be a real Catholic instead of a baptized-heathen one. _
respond? (2)
08:59:14 PM, Sunday 15 September 2002

Mama, I didn't call you today 'cause I'm a cretunculous schnunk. Please forgive me. _
respond?
08:23:46 PM, Sunday 15 September 2002

Gradus ad Parnassum _
respond?
06:21:46 PM, Sunday 15 September 2002

Blow me down! By the briny beard of Neptune, if it isn't a shoal of dated Arrrrrrrrchives! _
respond?
11:19:02 PM, Saturday 14 September 2002

Moira just summed up my Senior Essay! Whee! _
respond? (3)
03:03:32 PM, Friday 13 September 2002

80 pounds of cow food costs about $3.50. How much does 80 pounds of human food cost? _
respond? (2)
07:29:31 PM, Thursday 12 September 2002

There are worse things than being a grammar fetishist. _
respond? (4)
07:19:38 PM, Thursday 12 September 2002

That's... peculiar. I was randomly typing things into Google, as is my wont, and for no particular reason tried "blackstrap treacle". The only two pages that came up were a newsletter I wrote with my friend Drano in 1995 and... a Harry Potter slash story. I don't really want to think about the metaphysical implications. _
respond? (5)
05:48:06 PM, Thursday 12 September 2002

I just saw the coolest thing. This guy (young guy, our age) walked by on two artificial legs. It looked like his own legs had been amputated above the knee, and he was walking on these skinny metal things -- didn't look too high tech to me, but what do I know about prosthetics -- wearing gym socks and sneakers. He had the slightest limp, noticable but negligible, and he was moving at a brisk pace, not breaking a sweat. Somehow the whole thing was so graceful and natural. I didn't know artificial legs could work that effortlessly.

When I got into the hotel, I saw they'd put a big American flag in the lobby and filled the two balcony "planters" (the two floors housing University students, with great big acid burns in the carpet and nasty letters posted telling us not to eat the businessmen's food) with sprays and garlands of colorful, exotic -- fake plants. Yup. More of them. They looked ok from below, but I just knew they were fake, so they sure didn't impress me. Incidentally, all the plants on the ground floor where the actual hotel guests go are real, lush and meticulously pruned. Fooey all over 'em. _
respond? (1)
07:35:15 PM, Wednesday 11 September 2002


older entries
complete archives by date
bloglet script by Moss Collum