Flotsam and Jetsam
Dec. 17th, 2003 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciroccojOK, what's up with rain a week before Christmas? That's just plain wrong.
***
This morning Chris and I somehow got on the topic of Neverwhere, a Neil Gaiman book we've both been told we must read. Chris mentioned it was being made into a movie, and said, "Maybe I'll just rent the movie when it comes out. I've never done that, actually. Just seen the movie, skipped the book. Not even in school."
"You know, I think if I ever taught, say, grade 6 English, I would tell my students to do a book report on Hans Christian Anderssen's The Little Mermaid. Whoever wrote that the Mermaid married the Prince would fail."
Chris laughed, then said, "You're so mean. Did you ever do that, just see the movie?"
"Nope. Although I did once read only the Coles Notes version of something."
"Oh, you're going straight to Teacher Hell for that one."
"It was Wuthering Heights."
"Oh, well that's different. That and Great Expectations - I can't imagine anybody wanting to read them. Unless they're masochists. Can you imagine that, a BDSM Book Club? People go get tied up and then forced to read crap? The sadists assign the readings, and the masochists do them. And they can't stop until the sadists tell them."
Actually, I enjoyed Great Expectations. Shhh. Don't tell Chris.
***
Flu shots yesterday. Ouch.
***
Justin saw Santa Claus today at the mall, and talked to him. He was grinning and floating about two feet off the ground for about two hours after, and told everyone in the mall, "I saw Santa Claus! I think he was the real Santa Claus, too. You know why? Because he gave me this toy. And I told him I'm going to Calgary. And I told him I wanted a chocolate Santa for Christmas. And he talked!!"
***
Then we got home and made a snowman. I've taken pix, so hopefully they'll turn out. I'm really, really glad we took pictures, because unfortunately the snowman was knocked down flat and stomped on. And I really can't even say anything else about it because there's a lot more to it than that, and... nah, maybe some other day.
***
I really hoped to write a drabble for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
thursday100 Mary Sue challenge. Unfortunately, my muse appears to have gone out for cigarettes and not come back.
I'm actually rather flabbergasted at this. I can't believe I can't come up with a good Mary Sue. It's like trying to get pizza coupons, you know? They're bloody ubiquitous until the day you actually need them, and then the only ones you can find expired in 1998.
***
Later Edit: Just realized I better clarify something about the snowman incident - the reason I'm feeling so horrible about it is that the kid who destroyed the snowman was Daniel. So in case anybody was going to comment, "That's horrible, kids can be so mean, why don't parents teach their kids that destroying other people's things is wrong"... please don't.
This morning Chris and I somehow got on the topic of Neverwhere, a Neil Gaiman book we've both been told we must read. Chris mentioned it was being made into a movie, and said, "Maybe I'll just rent the movie when it comes out. I've never done that, actually. Just seen the movie, skipped the book. Not even in school."
"You know, I think if I ever taught, say, grade 6 English, I would tell my students to do a book report on Hans Christian Anderssen's The Little Mermaid. Whoever wrote that the Mermaid married the Prince would fail."
Chris laughed, then said, "You're so mean. Did you ever do that, just see the movie?"
"Nope. Although I did once read only the Coles Notes version of something."
"Oh, you're going straight to Teacher Hell for that one."
"It was Wuthering Heights."
"Oh, well that's different. That and Great Expectations - I can't imagine anybody wanting to read them. Unless they're masochists. Can you imagine that, a BDSM Book Club? People go get tied up and then forced to read crap? The sadists assign the readings, and the masochists do them. And they can't stop until the sadists tell them."
Actually, I enjoyed Great Expectations. Shhh. Don't tell Chris.
Flu shots yesterday. Ouch.
Justin saw Santa Claus today at the mall, and talked to him. He was grinning and floating about two feet off the ground for about two hours after, and told everyone in the mall, "I saw Santa Claus! I think he was the real Santa Claus, too. You know why? Because he gave me this toy. And I told him I'm going to Calgary. And I told him I wanted a chocolate Santa for Christmas. And he talked!!"
Then we got home and made a snowman. I've taken pix, so hopefully they'll turn out. I'm really, really glad we took pictures, because unfortunately the snowman was knocked down flat and stomped on. And I really can't even say anything else about it because there's a lot more to it than that, and... nah, maybe some other day.
I really hoped to write a drabble for the
thursday100 Mary Sue challenge. Unfortunately, my muse appears to have gone out for cigarettes and not come back.I'm actually rather flabbergasted at this. I can't believe I can't come up with a good Mary Sue. It's like trying to get pizza coupons, you know? They're bloody ubiquitous until the day you actually need them, and then the only ones you can find expired in 1998.
Later Edit: Just realized I better clarify something about the snowman incident - the reason I'm feeling so horrible about it is that the kid who destroyed the snowman was Daniel. So in case anybody was going to comment, "That's horrible, kids can be so mean, why don't parents teach their kids that destroying other people's things is wrong"... please don't.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 08:32 pm (UTC)i ran into your muse here in the south U.s.a. she was buying salems while i was getting marlboro lights.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-18 11:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 08:40 pm (UTC)But I love Wuthering Heights.
I know, I'm a freak. But I'm also a non-Dickensian Victorian scholar.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 09:51 pm (UTC)read the book, yo. so much better than the movie.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 10:43 pm (UTC)I hated that book with the fire of a thousand burning suns. More than any other class-assigned reading except for Camus' The Stranger and The Worst Book Ever Written And Assigned For Class, AKA The British Labour Party Since 1945.
Anyway, to this day I can't decide if I don't like Dickens because of the book (I don't much care for A Christmas Carol, either) or if I don't like the book because it's Dickens. Is it worth giving GE another shot? Or trying to, at any rate?
no subject
Date: 2003-12-18 11:10 am (UTC)Um, IMHO, no. Not at all. I liked it, but not in any kind of passionate way. It was more like a, "It's not nearly as bad as everybody told me it was." And I've never read it again. Glad I read it, smile in nostalgic appreciation, in no hurry to repeat the experience or recommend it to anybody else ;)