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It's fascinating to observe what the mirror does
This time last year, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rushthatspeaks and I were in Providence for one of the most bipolar weekends either of us can still remember, split between highs like Myopic Books, Lovecraft's grave, and the bathroom at Julian's and lows like attending a funeral in company of Rush's mother.
I am pleased to report that for our first anniversary, we have managed to avoid all but an e-mail from said mother and absolutely no funerals were involved.
Due to weather/transit shenanigans on the part of New York City, Rush arrived several hours later on Thursday than planned, so that night we mostly ate mlukhieh from Garlic 'n' Lemons and passed out, but on Friday we got up and went out to procure Rush new shoes; adding to the shenanigans, the Tevas had bought it in New York. You must understand that both of us hate clothes shopping, of which shoe shopping is the most pernicious expression, so a lot of this process was indistinguishable from walking into Central Square, being distracted en route by savory BerryLine flavors (honey lavender, lemon basil), cheaply priced used Robertson Davies (Happy Alchemy (1997), although ultimately we left it for the next passerby), and free samples from Follow the Honey, a hitherto undiscovered honey store on Mass. Ave. (tithenai, when you visit, try the avocado blossom; cucumberseed, they sell killer bee), but it got us to Payless, where we were only mildly traumatized by some of the things American women are expected to put on their feet, and I got some kind of cranberry hibiscus iced thing from 1369 on our way back that almost staved off the total stamina crash later that evening. Dinner was that combination of sandwiches and leftovers that happens when you're too tired to cook, but you'll be more tired if you don't eat. I showed Rush the first two episodes of the BBC's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). We curled up.
Saturday was the Readercon debrief at noon, and thereafter a lovely day. I had never been to Inman Oasis; we got half an hour in the wooden hot tub, which Rush tells me is very much like a traditional Japanese onsen except for the privacy. I felt better afterward. That hasn't happened a lot lately. We found the used book store that turned out to be Lorem Ipsum, but first we found a spray-painted graffito of a wolf eating the sun. It was less than five minutes' walk to Bosphorus, where we are resolved to reverse-engineer their manti the next time we feel like making dumplings and the hünkar beğendi was possibly the best eggplant either of us has eaten. Also it is a truism that anything is good with pan-fried halloumi, but there is no reason that pickled okra should have been delicious. We even made it back to Davis Square in time for the curtain of Theatre@First's As You Like It, but the combination of nowhere to sit and smokers in the audience eventually inclined us to repair to the Diesel and then home for the next installment of Tinker, Tailor. The dogfight that broke out behind us was rather authentically Elizabethan, though.
I read Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (1959), which Rush gave me. It is a masterpiece.
On Sunday we saw Amos Poe and Ivan Kral's The Blank Generation (1976) at the Harvard Film Archive, which really deserves a post of its own. Black-and-white concert footage from CBGB's, all songs deliberately out of synch; I wish the soundtrack were available, since it seems to have furnished my favorite version of "Psycho Killer," Stop Making Sense included. Baby David Byrne: my God, adorable. Jayne County when she was still Wayne, with fishnets and a toilet plunger. Television and the Heartbreakers. I'd never even heard of the Miamis, the Marbles, or the Shirts. In the spring of 2005, Rush sent me Horses (1975) via YouSendIt, because I had no Patti Smith: the first thing you hear in The Blank Generation is "Gloria." On all points, it was the correct movie for us to see this weekend. And yesterday we had planned to go to the MFA, but instead we found Summer Wars (2009) at the Arlington Library and the obvious course of the evening was to watch it with pizza and later ice cream, which we did, also brownies. It is an almost absurdly heartwarming film and I plan to bring it to this week's Movie Night with Alison. We finished Tinker, Tailor, which remains some of the best television I have seen; we watched some episodes of Shaun the Sheep (2007) and The Supersizers . . . (2008). We never got around to making an apple pie, but there is all the rest of the fall.
My poem "Scythe-Walk," written forteenybuffalo on the occasion of her purchasing a scythe from a jumble sale, was accepted by Mythic Delirium.
Rush left this morning. It was a good visit.
I'm not unhappy right now.
rushthatspeaks and I were in Providence for one of the most bipolar weekends either of us can still remember, split between highs like Myopic Books, Lovecraft's grave, and the bathroom at Julian's and lows like attending a funeral in company of Rush's mother.I am pleased to report that for our first anniversary, we have managed to avoid all but an e-mail from said mother and absolutely no funerals were involved.
Due to weather/transit shenanigans on the part of New York City, Rush arrived several hours later on Thursday than planned, so that night we mostly ate mlukhieh from Garlic 'n' Lemons and passed out, but on Friday we got up and went out to procure Rush new shoes; adding to the shenanigans, the Tevas had bought it in New York. You must understand that both of us hate clothes shopping, of which shoe shopping is the most pernicious expression, so a lot of this process was indistinguishable from walking into Central Square, being distracted en route by savory BerryLine flavors (honey lavender, lemon basil), cheaply priced used Robertson Davies (Happy Alchemy (1997), although ultimately we left it for the next passerby), and free samples from Follow the Honey, a hitherto undiscovered honey store on Mass. Ave. (
tithenai, when you visit, try the avocado blossom; cucumberseed, they sell killer bee), but it got us to Payless, where we were only mildly traumatized by some of the things American women are expected to put on their feet, and I got some kind of cranberry hibiscus iced thing from 1369 on our way back that almost staved off the total stamina crash later that evening. Dinner was that combination of sandwiches and leftovers that happens when you're too tired to cook, but you'll be more tired if you don't eat. I showed Rush the first two episodes of the BBC's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). We curled up.Saturday was the Readercon debrief at noon, and thereafter a lovely day. I had never been to Inman Oasis; we got half an hour in the wooden hot tub, which Rush tells me is very much like a traditional Japanese onsen except for the privacy. I felt better afterward. That hasn't happened a lot lately. We found the used book store that turned out to be Lorem Ipsum, but first we found a spray-painted graffito of a wolf eating the sun. It was less than five minutes' walk to Bosphorus, where we are resolved to reverse-engineer their manti the next time we feel like making dumplings and the hünkar beğendi was possibly the best eggplant either of us has eaten. Also it is a truism that anything is good with pan-fried halloumi, but there is no reason that pickled okra should have been delicious. We even made it back to Davis Square in time for the curtain of Theatre@First's As You Like It, but the combination of nowhere to sit and smokers in the audience eventually inclined us to repair to the Diesel and then home for the next installment of Tinker, Tailor. The dogfight that broke out behind us was rather authentically Elizabethan, though.
I read Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (1959), which Rush gave me. It is a masterpiece.
On Sunday we saw Amos Poe and Ivan Kral's The Blank Generation (1976) at the Harvard Film Archive, which really deserves a post of its own. Black-and-white concert footage from CBGB's, all songs deliberately out of synch; I wish the soundtrack were available, since it seems to have furnished my favorite version of "Psycho Killer," Stop Making Sense included. Baby David Byrne: my God, adorable. Jayne County when she was still Wayne, with fishnets and a toilet plunger. Television and the Heartbreakers. I'd never even heard of the Miamis, the Marbles, or the Shirts. In the spring of 2005, Rush sent me Horses (1975) via YouSendIt, because I had no Patti Smith: the first thing you hear in The Blank Generation is "Gloria." On all points, it was the correct movie for us to see this weekend. And yesterday we had planned to go to the MFA, but instead we found Summer Wars (2009) at the Arlington Library and the obvious course of the evening was to watch it with pizza and later ice cream, which we did, also brownies. It is an almost absurdly heartwarming film and I plan to bring it to this week's Movie Night with Alison. We finished Tinker, Tailor, which remains some of the best television I have seen; we watched some episodes of Shaun the Sheep (2007) and The Supersizers . . . (2008). We never got around to making an apple pie, but there is all the rest of the fall.
My poem "Scythe-Walk," written for
teenybuffalo on the occasion of her purchasing a scythe from a jumble sale, was accepted by Mythic Delirium.Rush left this morning. It was a good visit.
I'm not unhappy right now.
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Also, congratulations on selling the poem you wrote for
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Congratulations on the acceptance!
And I'm happy that you're not unhappy.
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Please keep an eye on your LJ message box. Soon it will contain the poem you requested.
Fondly,
Owlet
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Congrats on the poem sale!
But do they have devil bees?
I'm glad to hear it, even if it is rare.
we found a spray-painted graffito of a wolf eating the sun
I could be persuaded to bet that was left there for you.
Congratulations on "Scythe Walk;" I believe the day you write a poem I don't love will be the day the wolf does swallow the sun.
Re: But do they have devil bees?
That's the best of all.
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Happy anniversary. Next time you are in BC, do not neglect to come visit or the sheep will never forgive you.
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Nine
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Nine
Re: But do they have devil bees?
Or perhaps a Digger-obsessed street artist?
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Mostly, I am so, so, so happy that you got a weekend to recharge your spirit and heal your heart a little.
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By the way -- are you familiar with Virginia Lee's artwork? I ask because I very briefly met her a few weeks ago and was gobsmacked by how much she looks like and generally reminded me of you.
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I am very glad of it. I would consider it the wrong kind of apocalyptic if you were not.
Mostly, I am so, so, so happy that you got a weekend to recharge your spirit and heal your heart a little.
It was good.
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I'll take it!
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Heh. Thank you on all counts!
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It was the very badly needed kind of weekend and it all worked out. And neither of us was actively sick, which was a huge improvement from the last couple of visits.
I'll be sending you The Last Pale Light very soon, once I've uploaded it all to Box.net.
Got it! Thank you.
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It's a good one, too . . .
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Thank you. There was joy.
Also, congratulations on selling the poem you wrote for teenybuffalo. I'm looking forward to seeing that one.
Buy a subscription to Mythic Delirium, she said shamelessly!
(Thank you. I'm glad it found a home.)
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This is true. We almost watched The Haunting (1963) on Monday, but it ended up being saved for a later visit; Summer Wars was the right note to go out on.
Congrats on the poem sale!
Thank you!
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I don't know if you can sell devil bee honey in stores; it has this way of burning through the jars.
I could be persuaded to bet that was left there for you.
Congratulations on "Scythe Walk;" I believe the day you write a poem I don't love will be the day the wolf does swallow the sun.
Heh. Thank you. Hm.
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Thank you! Noted and believed.
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I'll still take it!
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Thank you.
When did you see Summer Wars?
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It's rich and savory. You wouldn't think avocado would be a good flavor to add to honey, but it was my favorite of all the samples we tried.
Thank you for thinking of me!
Of course.
I ask because I very briefly met her a few weeks ago and was gobsmacked by how much she looks like and generally reminded me of you.
Whoa. Okay; I've seen her art, but I've never met her. Thank you?
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I fear your immune system.
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I don't know if I could get used to it, but I'd like the chance to find out.
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I don't think so, but I'd approve profoundly if it happened.
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Then again... The curiosity does make me wonder...
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--excellent :-)
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(I'd love to see it.)
Yay for "Scythe-Walk," and for a pleasant day with
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I tried with my cellphone on the day, but it was rather low-res, to be generous. Maybe.
Yay for "Scythe-Walk," and for a pleasant day with rushthatspeaks.
Thank you. I'm holding to it.