But how do we determine what the accurate picture is?

[sovay]

I meant to brag about successfully ordering takeout Indian goat, but then I came home and smashed my face into a glass door. Accidentally: I had my hands full of groceries and couldn't catch myself. I don't think I can have broken my nose or there'd have been blood everywhere, but the amount of pain and swelling is rather extraordinary to me. I look like Alec Guinness' Fagin.

At least once I could see around the icepack I was able to perceive my contributor's copies of Archaeopteryx: The Newman Journal of Ideas, including my poems "The Color of the Ghost" (Wittgenstein) and "A Find at Þingvellir" (Mjölnir). The first of these was written for my godchild, the second for my brother. The cover is the famous fossil. I approve.

I ate my goat jalfrezi anyway. It felt like a small victory. I really hope it doesn't snow until later tomorrow.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

Owwww.

I hope it's better today.

[thistleingrey]

Ouch! I hope the swelling has gone down. One can break one's nose incompletely and without blood, yet with lasting effects about how well air travels through and so on ("dented septum," said a nurse practitioner to me once); I hope that it isn't the case with you.

[sovay]

One can break one's nose incompletely and without blood, yet with lasting effects about how well air travels through and so on ("dented septum," said a nurse practitioner to me once); I hope that it isn't the case with you.

I'm not sure I needed to know that! I hope so, too.

(I am sorry to hear that about your septum, if indeed the septum in the story belongs to you.)

[sovay]

I hope it's better today.

Thank you. It's still bruised, but I could at least wash my face this afternoon without screaming (last night's shower was a stupidly complicated experience), so I think we are improving!

[thistleingrey]

(It's mine, yes--thanks. It didn't hurt much, at least!)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Mmm, goat jalfrezi. I have myself been currying goat recently, as it's readily available at the Hispanic grocer down the road. I am however still kicking myself over passing up the chance to eat goat brains at a restaurant last year (I didn't want to trouble Karen with the contents of my plate; she has observed since that she would not have been troubled, though she might not have wanted to share). Another restaurant down on El Camino offers - according to its website, at least - lamb's brains as a house special. I might need to go and check that out.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

My entire household and my visiting sister send sympathies on your nose, because ow.

One of my favorite authors did the same thing earlier this week, so you're in good company.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I'm glad for your Indian goat takeaway victory, but very sorry for your smashing your face into the door. I wish you swift healing with minimal intervention required.

I'm not sure about the linkage between blood and broken noses. I broke mine once when I was maybe fourteen, after taking a fence wrong.* I'm not sure that I bled that much, other than from the abrasions I took at the same time, but I have to admit I wasn't in an ideal position to notice such things.

Any road, I hope your nose isn't broken. Mine was this shape already, as near as I can tell, so I don't reckon you necessarily need worry on that front even if it is, but I hope it's not, all the same.

Congratulations on the contributor's copies! I like those poems, and the fossil, so I approve the juxtaposition.

I really hope it doesn't snow until later tomorrow.

I agree.

ETA: I see that you're sharing a TOC with Frederick Turner. He's done some interesting things in the field of SF epic poetry. Have you read any of them?

I read The New World (1985) when I was at University of Chicago, mostly on account of having stumbled across a negative review that left me thinking the reviewer was somebody I at least wouldn't agree with and probably wouldn't like. The most striking memory I have is of surprise at reading something set in 24th century Ohio; that and the fact that the Maumee valley had become a major wine region.

It's been reprinted in 2011; a sample's here. I should read it again, I suspect. I remember having written a scene some years ago, one of those numerous things that never went anywhere, where people on Mars watched a news video of a cavalry battle in North America. At the time I thought I was being influenced by Alexander Jablokov's Carve the Sky (1991) and River of Dust (1996), but now I find myself wondering if I was thinking of The New World as well.

It was years later that I realised Turner had been on the faculty at my undergrand alma mater, although he'd left eight years before I matriculated. Not to mention that he was the son of the anthropologist Victor Turner.**

I've ridden that sweet country that the characters war in towards the end of that sample. Strange to think upon. Stranger the sentiments distance does make.

*Left foreleg below the top rail, right above, and the horse goes down on his left knee and shoulder. I go off over the left shoulder. Broken helmet, broken glasses, broken nose, knocked out for some number of minutes.
**Nobody mentioned this fact when we read Turner in my anthropology courses--I wonder if my old professors realised it.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Goat is tasty. It's too late for me to go out looking for goat.

I hope your nose is okay!

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Yowch!

The goat defended itself. I hope your excellent nose will resume its proper shape and the pain will fade quickly.

The poetry will last.

Nine

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

My sincerest sympathy to your nose!

I go back to trying to figure out how to acquire a copy of that journal now. *dubious*

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

I am wincing in sympathy, and hope your nose recovers quickly.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You *had* to eat and enjoy the goat. Otherwise all that pain was for nothing!

[gwynnega]

Ouch! I hope the pain and swelling subside soon.

I'm glad you had the goat at least.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Ouch for your nose!

I had my first meal of curried goat just a couple of weeks ago. It tasted pretty much like lamb: luckily I love lamb. I hope yours didn't get too much nose blood in it.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I hope your nose heals quickly. I also hope the goat was tasty.

[spatch]

Of course she had to eat the goat! Medical experts all agree that goat is the absolute best way to treat Smushed-On-Glass-Nose.


I count two medical experts in this room: Me, because I've been to a doctor before, and the cat, because he throws up a lot

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Who could gainsay such experts?!

[rose-lemberg.livejournal.com]

Ow. From bitter experience, not all broken noses bleed. But unless it looks decidedly crooked,there's very little to do about it.

Yay goat! And poems!

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

Crap. Sorry to hear this. Hope the goat more than made up for it.

[beowabbit]

Oh, I’be sorry aboud your doze! But yay on goat and poems.

[sovay]

I have myself been currying goat recently, as it's readily available at the Hispanic grocer down the road.

That's wonderful. I have never cooked goat myself, but I would enjoy the opportunity. It's one of my favorite meats.

lamb's brains as a house special. I might need to go and check that out.

I've never had anything's brains: I think it's the one form of offal I feel weird about. (Not for any instinctive reason like zombies; mostly because I like my brain in its present form, not stuck with prions. I internalized early on that nervous tissue was not a safe thing to eat and I don't see that changing by now.) What's your experience with brain as a food?

[sovay]

My entire household and my visiting sister send sympathies on your nose, because ow.

Thank you. It is better now, although somewhat ice-coated like the rest of my face: I seem to be spending a lot of today shoveling.

One of my favorite authors did the same thing earlier this week, so you're in good company.

Oh, yeah?

[sovay]

I go back to trying to figure out how to acquire a copy of that journal now.

Amazon!

(My nose appreciates it.)

[sovay]

It's too late for me to go out looking for goat.

Are you buried in snow, or could you accomplish a goat-trek tomorrow?

I hope your nose is okay!

Thanks. It's still bruised and it still hurts weirdly (hot washcloth applied to face in morning: not the world's brightest idea), but I think I'd have woken up with black eyes if it were really broken. At least I didn't have to shake hands with strangers looking like I'd been punched in the face.

[sovay]

The goat defended itself. I hope your excellent nose will resume its proper shape and the pain will fade quickly.

It's getting better. Thanks.

And I ate the goat.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I grew up on offal: brains and hearts and tongues and livers and kidneys and sweetbreads were a constant in my childhood. I always did like brains. And then they vanished, and I never saw them either in butchers or in restaurants until a publisher took me to a London gastropub for lunch, and there they were: just as yummy as I remembered. Then the whole BSE thing happened and they vanished again; I'm still not sure if calves' or sheep's brains are allowed in the UK food chain. But pigs' are, and I have eaten them with pleasure. (The flavour of brain is mild, but the texture is unique: something like soft cod's roe, but not really...)

[sovay]

I am wincing in sympathy, and hope your nose recovers quickly.

Thank you. I can't decide if this is weirder or not than getting hit in the head with a pot for Pesach.

[sovay]

Who could gainsay such experts?!

I trust at least one of them.

[sovay]

I count two medical experts in this room: Me, because I've been to a doctor before, and the cat, because he throws up a lot

Tiwiky.

[sovay]

I'm glad you had the goat at least.

Me, too. It's one of the meats I order wherever I find it—most impressively at Kramerbooks & Afterwords in D.C., but I've been quite happy with local curries, too. I should find out where it sells around here and just cook some.

[sovay]

Ouch for your nose!

The nose says thank you for the sympathy!

(This is starting to sound like Gogol.)

It tasted pretty much like lamb: luckily I love lamb. I hope yours didn't get too much nose blood in it.

There was no bleeding, fortunately, which was one of the reasons I finally decided it wasn't broken. The jalfrazi was delicious.

I think of goat as gamier and more savory than lamb, but these are both good adjectives by me. I also like the milk, the cheese, and the way my leather jacket keeps me warm when I have to shovel three times in an afternoon and am looking at another effort before bed.

[sovay]

I also hope the goat was tasty.

There is none left. There wasn't last night.

[sovay]

From bitter experience, not all broken noses bleed. But unless it looks decidedly crooked, there's very little to do about it.

It's still swollen in a sort of bump across the bridge, which I'm hoping is not permanent. But it mostly doesn't hurt unless I touch it. So I try not to do that . . .

Yay goat! And poems!

Thank you!

[sovay]

Hope the goat more than made up for it.

Thank you. The nose is healing, and goat is always good.

[sovay]

Oh, I’be sorry aboud your doze! But yay on goat and poems.

Hee. Thank you.

(Do you read Old English?)

[sovay]

The most striking memory I have is of surprise at reading something set in 24th century Ohio; that and the fact that the Maumee valley had become a major wine region.

That's neat. No, I don't recognize the name, but I might recognize the poems.

[sovay]

I grew up on offal: brains and hearts and tongues and livers and kidneys and sweetbreads were a constant in my childhood.

Come to Boston and I will take you to DooWee & Rice. They have the best chicken hearts I've ever eaten. And ridiculously good served over fries.

(The flavour of brain is mild, but the texture is unique: something like soft cod's roe, but not really...)

That's very neat. I hadn't thought much about the texture. Curdy?

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Curdy: absolutely. Bravo.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

(shewhomust says that every time I say "It's all about the texture," she takes that as a warning; but it is so often true, especially down the offal end of things. We should rank texture higher, I think, as a part of the experience of eating.)

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

That's neat. No, I don't recognize the name, but I might recognize the poems.

The only grape wine from Ohio that I've ever had was terrible stuff, very acidic and unbalanced; that said, it came from South Bass Island in Lake Erie, well north of the valley in the poem. I couldn't decide if Turner was making a joke or simply pointing out that over a few hundred years of vintning all sorts of things can be accomplished, even without the advanced biological technologies that the societies in the book had developed in the course of recovering from the depletions of our era.

I thought his poems interesting, and I hope you'll not hold it against me if my memories are mistaken. (I got slapped once for recommending someone a book she didn't like, and am always a little nervous ever since.)

Also, I was thinking on getting myself copies of Singing Innocence and Experience and The Dybbuk in Love, and I keep forgetting to ask you if Amazon's as good a way as any or if there's some other source through which more of the proceeds (or any other benefit) would go to you yourself personally?

Oh, and my mother read this entry over my shoulder and demanded I should warn you that if your nose has got a bump it could be broken and out of place, and could then heal out of alignment and cause problems down the road. Happened to one of her brothers, apparently.

I reckon you've had enough dealings with the medical community to have a fair idea whether or not it needs seen to, but I said I'd pass the story along, so.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Hopefully a nice hot beverage awaits you after shoveling duty.

The author in question was Gordon Korman, who was sporting a nasty welt on his nose. He said at his appearance that it was his first day with the bandage off.

[sovay]

Hopefully a nice hot beverage awaits you after shoveling duty.

Beverage, hell; I'm making soup.

Gordon Korman

This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!

I shall consider myself in good company.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!

I love those books, but I love No Coins Please, Our Man Weston, Don't Care High and Son of Interflux more. :)

[beowabbit]

(Do you read Old English?)

Not fluently, certainly, but I had a year of it in college during which we read most of Beowulf and a couple other things. And I’ve studied a bit on my own, too.

(The userpic is from Widsith, which I haven’t read, and I cropped it for the phrase “word hord”. The fact that it’s got “maþþum” in it was an added bonus.)

[sovay]

(The userpic is from Widsith, which I haven’t read, and I cropped it for the phrase “word hord”. The fact that it’s got “maþþum” in it was an added bonus.)

Those are both entirely valid reasons.

PS

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I thought back on this today, and I'm sorry for letting my mother worry me and then inflicting my worries on you.