Tuesday...

[fajrdrako]

1. Fabulous first French class of level B-13 at Alliance Française. The teacher, Yrena, is the same one I had in my first course there - and this made me realize how very much I have progressed since the spring, which is enormously encouraging.
   
   At first I thought everyone in the class spoke much better French than I do - though two people speak with Spanish accents. Then I realized that wasn't the case; I knew the most expressions and probably had the widest vocabulary. We studied an interesting poem, La Grasse Matinée by Jacques Prévert, and discussed shopping online.
   
   Funny how the different teachers have different styles. Some of them put the textbook aside as much as they can, and teach by other means. Yrena goes over the textbook very closely, very carefully. It's interesting either way, from the student's point of view.
   
   
2. The servers are down at work, so we can't print, so I couldn't finish the filing job I've been doing - since I still have to label a few hundred files. That's okay. I can do it later.
   
   Someone else said today how sorry she was I was leaving. Yes. Me too.
   
   I feel odd there now; I still love it there, but don't feel as if I belong any more. I find myself lurking in my offices, finishing up things I've been working on and interacting less.
   
   
3. Another person at work was worrying about my cough and my still-bad chest, in motherly fashion, which I appreciated. But I think I'm getting better. I certainly feel better today - more energy, barely; more brains. I think there's some improvement. Certainly I feel much better than I did yesterday, but I think the flu shot I got contributed to that.
   
   
4. Enjoyed working on more Dorothy Dunnett notes, on the chapter of The Game of Kings, "Blindfold Play" - the chapter where Lymond meets Christian Stewart. And I love the way that chapter ends, after Lymond has called Christian Shahrazad:
   
   
   Halfway back to Boghall, Simon spoke. "Who's Shahrazad?"
   
   "A farsighted lady who kept the Shah on a leading rein by telling him stories."
   
   Pause. "I don't see the connection," said Sym.
   
   "Oh, don't be a fool!" said Christian irrtably. "There isn't any."
   
   
   

Comments

Your notes on Game of Kings

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, my name is Kate and I have a livejournal (katiemorris) but have not used it for a loooong time. I came upon your Lymond tags via a link from Rusty_Halo. Would really love to read your notes on Game of Kings as I'm a long-time devotee of the Lymond series. Can't seem to access. Can you help? My email is kate.morrissey@vizim.co.uk.

Re: Your notes on Game of Kings

[fajrdrako]

Yes, of course. Go to:
http://www.azurite.ca/dunnett/dunnett.html

It's still a work in progress, and I've no idea when I'll get time to work on it more, but I've been having a wonderful time with it when I do.

Do let me know if you see things that need correction or addition.