Delaminating from ergonomic chair
Yesterday was dominated by an escalating adventure in telehealth, which I am pleased to report ended so far happily with the prescription of a steroid rinse by an ENT who did not, like the GP with whom I had spoken earlier that afternoon, tell me in the same sentence that they did not believe I had COVID-19 but because I was experiencing a respiratory issue I should come in to the COVID-19 clinic in Somerville, which for many reasons including logic I did not want to do. Cautiously, it seems to be helping with the problem, which is nice. Today has also contained too many phone conversations and will have to contain at least one other, but then I am hoping to leave the house for the first time since the weekend. It is sunny and not freezing and I feel I should take advantage of it, in case a blizzard happens tomorrow. Have some links.
1. Courtesy of
handful_ofdust: "How to Tell Whether You've Got Angst, Ennui, or Weltschmerz." I think my neurochemistry naturally generates angst, possibly where most people have melatonin. If there is such a thing as Weltzorn, I suspect I am experiencing it more than -schmerz. The gap between what the world is and what it could be is rather rage-making these days.
2. Courtesy of Diane Duane: socially responsible Force-choking.
3. Some truly great facial takes by Peter Falk. I feel like I'd remember that episode of Columbo based on the seventh still alone.
4. If you want to write about disasters in American history—Massachusetts or New England preferred but not required—the Massachusetts Historical Review is currently reading proposals. I kind of assume the slush pile will be full of molasses flood. And epidemics.
5.
spatch said something cogent on the internet and lots of people like it.
I do not know that there is any certain term for the emotion experienced when you discover one of your books selling on eBay for more than twice the cover price, but in terms of the seller, the ever-popular "chutzpah" did float through my head.
1. Courtesy of
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
2. Courtesy of Diane Duane: socially responsible Force-choking.
3. Some truly great facial takes by Peter Falk. I feel like I'd remember that episode of Columbo based on the seventh still alone.
4. If you want to write about disasters in American history—Massachusetts or New England preferred but not required—the Massachusetts Historical Review is currently reading proposals. I kind of assume the slush pile will be full of molasses flood. And epidemics.
5.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I do not know that there is any certain term for the emotion experienced when you discover one of your books selling on eBay for more than twice the cover price, but in terms of the seller, the ever-popular "chutzpah" did float through my head.
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2. That is excellent.
4. Also probably the Dark Day, the Runaway Pond, the Portland Gale, at least one of the attempts to invade Canada, and many many fires.
[ I looked through Wikipedia list of "Disasters by State". It included the Maine Flood of 1987! I was actually there for that! ]
ETA: Yes, and DEFINITELY epidemics. You could do an entire issue just on measles, smallpox, scarlet fever, Spanish 'flu, AIDS, and Lord Jeffry Amherst in New England.
5. That is also excellent.
when you discover one of your books selling on eBay for more than twice the cover price
As is this. Except for the bit where you wish you'd asked for a bigger advance.
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Neuenglandschmerz?
(What do you mean by geography-of-nowhere?)
the Dark Day, the Runaway Pond, the Portland Gale
I can't decide if these are the names of bands, traditional jigs, or beers.
It included the Maine Flood of 1987! I was actually there for that!
I didn't know that was famous! Does Hurricane Gloria also count, or was that not a disaster, just a lot of power outages?
(It's an industrial disaster, but I also now have "Granite Mills" stuck in my head.)
Except for the bit where you wish you'd asked for a bigger advance.
I do want a piece of that action.
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That's the title of a 1993 book, but also used by people (like me) who haven't actually read the thing to refer to what it describes: the way that strip development and suburbia have created areas that all look exactly like each other, and that don't really feel like places. There is no There there.
I can't decide if these are the names of bands, traditional jigs, or beers.
They WOULD be excellent names for all of those! I would like to enjoy a pint of Runaway Pond after dancing the Portland Gale.
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I'll let
Dark Day is a of course a porter; Runaway Pond is either a traditional English bitter with a twist or a weird summer brew with, Idunno, lingonberries or something in it; and Portland Gale bills itself as "A Winter IPA".
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I probably own their complete discography.
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That makes perfect sense. I had not previously encountered the phrase. The opposite of psychogeography: space without a soul.
I would like to enjoy a pint of Runaway Pond after dancing the Portland Gale.
I can totally see you doing that.
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Those Peter Falk images are great.
I just discovered my Aqueduct book selling for $33.87 on Abebooks!
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Thank you. I am just tired of my body feeling like it is falling apart system by system at the best of times, because this is not the best of times!
Those Peter Falk images are great.
It is a perfect live-action cartoon.
I just discovered my Aqueduct book selling for $33.87 on Abebooks!
I'm not saying your book's not worth it, but what!
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Hah! (I hope it boosted your sales.)
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The socially responsible force choking made me laugh!
The idea of making an immuno-weakened person check in at the Covid clinic is just ... I'm very glad another solution was found and that the steroid seems to be helping.
I wonder if anyone will write about the dam breaking on the Mill River--that was a good Massachusetts disaster. (I'm not in a nonfiction-writing mood, so it won't be me, but...)
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He says not! I think his tweets are under-appreciated.
The socially responsible force choking made me laugh!
I adore the work-from-home.
The idea of making an immuno-weakened person check in at the Covid clinic is just ... I'm very glad another solution was found and that the steroid seems to be helping.
Thank you. I'm not thrilled about the state of my head right now, but I am trying to avoid endangering the rest of me in pursuit of making it better.
I wonder if anyone will write about the dam breaking on the Mill River--that was a good Massachusetts disaster.
I didn't know the story, but when I looked it up on Wikipedia—
"In 1865, a group of mill owners from Williamsburg, Haydenville, Leeds, and Florence constructed a dam on the Mill River north of the town of Williamsburg, using a design drawn by one of the owners, a man with no engineering training. The dam was poorly constructed and leaked as soon as it was filled. On May 16, 1874, the dam failed catastrophically, killing 139 people in the towns to the south . . . Despite an inquest and the clear negligence of the mill owners, no one was punished in court for the disaster."
—it looks distressingly topical.
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