miscellany

[raven]

One of my favourite episodes of Sports Night is "Intellectual Property", mostly because it combines the a) incredibly sweet (Dan! Sings Happy Birthday to Casey live on air! It's vaguely gay!) and b) incredibly geeky (It's against the law to be vaguely gay sing Happy Birthday on air!* It's still in copyright!) but also because of what Dana says to Natalie, later. "What's the last good idea you had?"

Quoth Natalie, "When I woke up this morning, I decided not to stick my hand in the blender."

It's been that sort of a day.

Things achieved today:

-Not throwing myself into traffic at any point, by the simple expedients of hiding in libraries and toilet cubicles and other such places where this would be a) messy and b) inconvenient.

(This is a judgement on me, I feel. Yesterday I went to see my sweet, reassuring and competent GP, who said he was glad that the citalopram was working for me, it was good to hear I was feeling better, asked about my past history with depression and then, contemplatively, what my degree and post-grad are in. "PPE, then law," he said, still contemplatively. "Well, you're not very stupid, are you?"

It pleased me. Anyway, of course I start acting like an overwrought lunatic the day after I assure a doctor I'm quite sane, thank you.)

-Losing my house keys, by the similarly simple expedient of being a fucking idiot. I have lost a single key off a ring. I have not lost my bike key (for which there is a spare), my house key for up north (for which my parents have spares), or my room key (which I never use) or the remote access control on the ring (of which there are several). It is my fucking house key, for which the spare is missing.

-I had a bath. This actually wasn't an achievement. I mention it because I managed it without major disaster.

-I saw a car with an Obama bumper sticker! This was exciting.

-And, finally, went down to our letting agency with my housemates, and met the obstructive, rude and obnoxious woman responsible for sorting out our new contract. It was a horrible experience, especially coming after a day of ick, but at least she was unambiguously awful and wrong. We don't understand, she said, we don't understand the difficulty in drawing up a contract. We don't understand.

At which point I could have, but didn't, pull Poole's 667-page Textbook of Contract Law out of my bag. But I didn't. Scratch everything, that was my big achievement for the day.

In other news, my mother had, when she was about seventeen, an enormous crush on a Hindi film star called Dev Anand. She saw all his films, she cut pictures of him out of magazines, the whole shebang.

Today, nearly forty years on, she met him. She saw he was doing a book signing on a poster, and went and was first in line to buy tickets and sat at the front and asked him a question and was breathlessly, flailingly excited. She just rang me up and shrieked, "I met Dev Anand!"

I think, all in all, she had a successful day.

---

* This is not actually true.

Comments

[lizzip.livejournal.com]

I thought everyone got the desire to throw themselves under traffic just because it was there LALALALALA

Bah. You are not a failure. *hugs* I managed to lock myself out of my room today. :/ Is not just you; you are super. Really.

[insaneizzi.livejournal.com]

What? Other people don't get that desire? Why did I not get the memo?

I am glad that neither of you threw yourself into traffic.

[lizzip.livejournal.com]

Likewise I you.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

<3 <3 thankyou. And well done us, on the traffic issue. :)

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Not throwing yourself in front of things really IS an achievement. I am definitely counting not doing - a lot of things I won't go into here - as an achievement. *HIGH FIVE*

(also, hearts and sorry for being a bit out of it when I was around. I am glad September is almost over, it has been a damp and grey month.)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

<3 <3 I heart you beyond the telling of it, you know? Also, I can see Russia from my house.

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

We should get these shirts (http://shop.cafepress.com/design/30091907) and wear them round Oxford together.

I'm not the only person who thinks our lives would be infinitely more hilarious if we wore matching clothes more often, right?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

omgWANT. yesyes, we should do this. Also, matching clothes! I pride myself that I look better in your clothes than Jon does, although possibly not as good as Jacob does.

[marymac.livejournal.com]

My sister's flat is on their fifth set of keys. For three people. In two months 1. I think you're doing ok, there.
Your mum is so cute in her fangirling!

1) You should never allow yourself to be treated by anyone who graduates UCD medicine 2012, clearly.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*grins* I shall bear this in mind. Having keys again is GREAT.

[the-acrobat.livejournal.com]

Whenever I lose my keys, they turn out to be in a pocket. Yours is actually lost; that seems like so much less fail.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Heh! That's one way of looking at it. I felt very faily when I went to get it recut.

[troyswann.livejournal.com]

Hello! At my Venerable we have a website where they post pictures of People Who Have Achieved Things, and they are often quite interesting people and so on, but a colleague and I have said repeatedly that what they really need to do is to put up a picture of some of us regular pr'fessery types with the caption: "Drs. So and So and Thingy survive another day."

Because sometimes, man, that is an Achievement.

And so, I congratulate you on your masterful survival and negotiation of the great big obstacle course we call "The World." Also, go you with the Bathing Without Disasters!

This email is brought to you by Significant Capitalization.

*hug*

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

About ten years ago I stopped reading my alumni newsletter. I've felt much better ever since.

Now if only they'd accept notes like "Jonquil Serpyllum '81 successfully avoided running through the workplace naked screaming 'Blood and Souls for Arioch!'. This makes the tenth straight day she has avoided this, and she tells me she is hoping for an eleventh and possibly a twelfth."

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Gosh, yes. We Survived, dude. That needs to be on a bumper sticker. But, hey, I survived yesterday, and I survived today, and I might survive tomorrow.

*hugs you too* Also, baths are great. I should have another one.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I once had my neurologist ask what I did and say, "Gosh, you must be awfully smart!" I mean... my neurologist. Wondering at my intelligence.

Makes one nervous. That is all.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Gosh. Yes. I can understand this nervousness. Wow.

ps. BLOOD AND SOULS FOR ARIOCH. You crack me up.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Man, I am SO with you on the "Intellectual Property" love. As you have probably gathered from my tendency to, y'know, foist it off on unsuspecting victims.

"Well, you're not very stupid, are you?"

*dies laughing* That is always a useful thing to be told on any day, but especially a borderline-blender day. (This is actually how I think of them to myself: borderline-blender days.) It is also, incidentally, a true thing.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

PS, every time I hear either of these songs on iTunes, I think of you and smile. (In the case of the former, after I've caught my breath from WHEEZING WITH LAUGHTER.) So here's hoping they make you smile, too:

"Common People," William Shatner (http://www.yousendit.com/download/bVlEYUlvWlRTSUJjR0E9PQ)
"Edith Keeler Must Die," Pump Mother (http://www.yousendit.com/download/bVlEYUlvWlR1Yk94dnc9PQ) (have I ever made you listen to this song before? It is deeply, deeply awesome.)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Borderline-blender, yesyes. Today, also, was sort of like that. But not very stupid! This is a good thing!

ps. THANKYOU. William Shatner makes my life better.

[amchau.livejournal.com]

Is it wrong that I sort of want you to go back to Awful Contract Woman and beat her round the head with your law textbook? Probably.

Also, your mother is adorably fangirlish. Do you remember, the... err... second?... time we met in Oxford, we walked past the line of women of considerably more years than ourselves, queueing for tickets to hear a singer I'd never heard of, and we said that we hoped we lived to be like that?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Daniel O'Donnell! Yes! That was wonderful.

[osymandias.livejournal.com]

"We don't understand, she said, we don't understand the difficulty in drawing up a contract. We don't understand.

At which point I could have, but didn't, pull Poole's 667-page Textbook of Contract Law out of my bag. But I didn't. Scratch everything, that was my big achievement for the day."

Oh, but the missed opportunity! Things like this come up so very rarely... :-(

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

i second this!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

This is true. But it would've been cruel. :)