Wednesday...

[fajrdrako]

An odd day.

I was feeling tired and out of sorts most of the day; PMS, I think; vaguely down and frustrated. Wanting to accomplish something - anything at all - I managed to clean off the armchair that I've been using as a fun-and-games-repository, and now it's a place to sit again. With the comics, fanfic, paperbacks, DVDs, and laptop still in arm's reach of the sofa.

Since I didn't feel well enough to do the things I'd been meaning to do, I opted for passive entertainment.

I watched four episodes of Spooks: "One Last Dance", "Traitor's Gate", "The Rose Bed Memoirs" and "Mean, Dirty, Nasty". I'm not sure that show doesn't keep getting better and better. What I like is the excellent plotting; not only do the stories keep me riveted, but they always manage a twist.

I totally loved Anthony Stewart Head as Peter Salter, and Hugh Lawrie as Jools Siviter of MI6. Sadly, I don't think he's in more episodes. Damn. I also love Jenny Agutter as Tessa.

Watched a few odds and ends of things John Barrowman has appeared in lately. Generally speaking, each thing was sillier than the previous item. Got me smiling, anyway.

Then I read a good part of The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer. I don't often reread Heyer, and when I do, it's usually one of my favourites, like Venetia or These Old Shades. So I don't think I've read The Corinthian since I was a teen. This is good, because I have forgotten it so totally it's like an entirely new book. Imagine finding a new unread Georgette Heyer novel! Treasure!

Then commodorified and raynedaze came over and we watched this week's Doctor Who ("The Sontaran Stratagem"), which I again thoroughly enjoyed, and Due South episode 11, "You Must Remember This".

Definitely a pleasure.

And even better, commodorified put up my curtain. See, I had this curtain over my bed, which one day in late March fell off the elastic and nail I had it hanging by, and landed on my head, as I discovered when I woke up in the morning. No big deal to put it back up - a simple matter of putting an elastic over the end of the curtain and climbing on the bed to put the elastic over the nail in the wall. But I decided to wash the curtain before putting it back up, so I put it in my backpack for laundering at work on March 31.

Which was the day I broke my ankle.

And after I got out out of the hospital, it spent a couple of weeks in the back of maaseru's car, and I finally washed it last week on our Laundry Movie Night. Problem is, after that, the last stage consists of standing on the bed to hang the thing. I can't stand on the bed. So last week, I got lmondegreen to do it. The next day... it fell down again. And when I ingeniously tried to replace it using the long-range grip that walkingowl sent me - the nail fell out of the wall entirely.

I begin to suspect a secret gypsy curse.

Now commodorified has hung my curtain. Will there be a sequel to this sordid story? Let's hope not.

Comments

[kiltfriction.livejournal.com]

I have days like that. I hate them. Hope hope the feeling gets itself over with soon.

On the plus side Jools does reappear, but I think only twice.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I have days like that. I hate them.

Yes. You feel... stuck, with no way out. And not even sure what you want out of.

On the plus side Jools does reappear

Yay! What a great character he is.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I totally admire your courage at trying to put the curtain back up yourself. And I apologize sincerey for laughing at the part where the nail fell out of the wall... certainly I shall spend some time on purgatory for that. Snicker!

Yeah, gypsy curse. You have a poltergeist.

Congratulations to she who hung the curtain! I was just that close to jumping in my car and heading for the border.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

A nail's gotta do what a nail's gotta do.

The curtain has stayed up - so far!

Perhaps the poltergeist has moved on to greener pastures.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping it stays up this time.

BTW, I'm tagging you [g] -- http://mmegaera.livejournal.com/84417.html

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

"Gypsy curse" makes me think of Janna... aka, Jenny Calendar. Did you really have to be so happy that Angel broke her neck? hm? Gypsy curse boomerang effect!

I was sorry to hear that you had a bummer of a day. I had a similar one today. Just couldn't wait not to have to be where I was; nothing sounded good, felt good, tasted good. I was deeply annoyed to have to be doing stuff I didn't want to do, and deeply annoyed that other people had broken their promises about some pretty major stuff (well, major to me; clearly, not really all that major to them). Crappy day! And now it's all over except for me driving home.

I still smile proudly to think of you attempting to put the curtain back up with your pterodactyl-fingertip reacher. Well done! Feeling a little more comfortable moving around, yes?

Also delightful that you have rediscovered a Georgette Heyer novel. I'm in the process of re-reading all the classic SF stories that got me hooked on alternative/speculative fiction at a very young age; it's similar, I think. So wonderful to be reading them again after so much time has passed. I remember their initial impacts, at the same time that I am reading them from a much different vantage point (if you will).

I know your day got better... well, Thursday did! I'm glad. Maybe my Saturday won't be as bad as today was? Hope so. (Part of it was the sensory onslaught -- it got personal and impossible to ignore, as the tag in my shirt irritated me literally nonstop for six and a half hours, and my right shoe was much too tight on a foot that for some reason ached terribly today, a great distraction. I accidentally solved the shirt problem by getting dirt all over that shirt, which is yellow, and deciding to take it off and put on a darker one, which I had in my car... I tell you, the relief was quite instant and palpable. Amazing.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Gypsy curse boomerang effect!

Yes. I like that. I laos like it that ANgel, who saved her life, also killed her.

And didn't make her a vampire.

I'm glad you found relief from your shirt.

I finished the Georgette Heyer novel this morning; great fun.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Ooo, irony: Angel first saved her, and then killed her. I missed that.

My shirt...! Small things can become huge when you can't not pay attention to them! Today wasn't nearly as bad. And now I have three days off from work, so I can try to concentrate on diminishing my sensory hyper-awareness.

Are there any Georgette Heyer novels that you have not yet read...?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Angel first saved her, and then killed her. I missed that.

There's a nice symmetry to that. And then when she tries to reinvent the curse - she owes him.

I can try to concentrate on diminishing my sensory hyper-awareness.

I hope you can find a way.

Are there any Georgette Heyer novels that you have not yet read...?

I don't think so.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

It's hard to concentrate on Buffy, or anything else, when my immediate surroundings are clanging in my awareness as much as they are right now (yes, the thoughtless people still talk, right behind me, and those in the back room are still standing at one computer having their chat-conference,t oo, so I can't move). But I did watch the final two Season One Buffy episodes last night. I remember now that I never watched "Becoming, Part One" in full before this. I hated to see Kendra gone...! She was so level-headed.

And Whistler was much too much the carbon copy of Willie the Snitch, so much so that I thought it was the same person and was confused.

I hope someday you run across an unknown Heyer book!

As for my sensory hyper-awareness... right now I can't think of anything else to try to do. There were times in the past when it was this bad, and right now I'm so overwhelmed that I can't clearly remember those times -- if I could, I could find some parallels, and get some hints for what to do. Today marks three weeks like this. And it did start the weekend of the convention, so I am pretty sure it is hitting me because of the sudden intake of chemical assistants. Which I needed, to get through the drive without getting sick, and to get through the cleaning-solution-scented hotel without getting sick... but I'm left with this. All I can hope is that if I detoxify my system with good food and water, it will eventualy stop being this bad.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I hated to see Kendra gone...! She was so level-headed.

Level-headed? Kendra? I thought she was an obsessive nut case! Are we talking about the same Slayer? {heh - I'm sure we are. But I found her very unsympathetic.)

Whistler was much too much the carbon copy of Willie the Snitch,

They are similiar but I absolutely love Willie the Snitch and Whistler is boring. Willie has all the good lines. Great lines. And the personality. I certainly couldn't confuse them.

I hope someday you run across an unknown Heyer book!

Why? I suspect if I ever do, it will be because she wrote something too terrible for initial publication. Or something. I know someone who spent big bucks on her most obscure book - and I guess that's one I haven't read - which has been out of print for decades; and they were sorry they'd spent the money, as they didn't enjoy it at all. I wouldn't want anything to spoil my love of Heyer. Some of her later books aren't very good - so it goes. Someone with her phenomenal output can be forgiven a few duds. No point in being a completist there.

I'm so overwhelmed that I can't clearly remember those times

Interesting that your usually very acute memory can't function either.

I can hope is that if I detoxify my system with good food and water, it will eventualy stop being this bad.

Hope so.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Heh! Well, you must admit that Kendra was all eat-sleep-slay, and Buffy tries to have a life... by that I meant Kendra to be "level-headed." She kept her goals simple, and in focus.

She was also hard to read; but showed a lot, in subtle ways. I remain quite fond of the character.

Whistler looked and sounded just like Willie to me. This is the same kind of visual/auditory confusion that had me watching The Fellowship of the Ring either seven or eight times before I could fully differentiate Merry from Pippin -- till then, they were identical to me.

Whistler just seemed like Willie in a different mode, to me. Playing the part of the Greek chorus (I'd have used the word that means "background info given in the course of a narrative," but it won't come to me). And then I was confused when he took Angel to Sunnydale, and don't we already know Willie from Sunnydale. Too close for me. Confusing.

Regarding Heyer: Ah, but I didn't realize that she had a voluminous output and that her works are all already known to you. Oops. Trust a writer that adept to have a fan following that wouldn't have left anything undiscovered, I see. ...Well, how about if I hope you someday run across a new Heyer work that you find as wonderful as the ones you already love? There you go.

Interesting that your usually very acute memory can't function either.

Yeah. It's something. Think of it as so much staticky noise inside my head that I not only can't think clearly enough to talk in sentences, which is common enough for me, but I also can't get access to the more-inward parts of my mind, either. Just too much noise. "Noise." You get what I mean.

Someday, it will not be this bad. Three weeks ago it was not, and someday it again will not. What an experience.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

by that I meant Kendra to be "level-headed." She kept her goals simple, and in focus.

Kendra was certainly focussed. Simple? Not so much: it takes more effort/energy to be on-track like that than to have wider interests. I found her judgemental, and I don't like judgemental people. She was fond of Buffy, but overfond of telling Buffy how she should act and how she should live. I found her a little overbearing.

Which is not to say I didn't like her part in the story.

Whistler is a demon, Willie is human. Different prototypes. I can see the confusion but I thought Whistler was a lot more like Principal Snyder!

Three weeks ago it was not, and someday it again will not. What an experience.

Yes. Like my ankle. It was fine once, it will be fine again, I just have to live through this spell when it's not fine.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

All you say about Kendra is true. Overbearing, tried to correct Buffy at every step... but also let Buffy correct her, too, when Buffy finally started to speak up about things. I found that endearing.

I know the plot differences between Whistler and Willie; I just couldn't tell them apart either visually/auditorially, or by how they were used in the story. I would not have had the problem if they had not looked so much alike, and had similar voices. Then, I would have said, Ah! even though this could be Willie the Snitch's backstory, it seems we have an entirely new character, because this one is seven feet tall and has green hair (or what have you).

Thinking about "the time before" can be weird, no? Such a clear and unequivocal point of demarcation in your present life. Oxbow lake.

(hee. couldn't resist)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Kendra did have moments of great charm. I liked it when she actually teased Buffy - and stopped taking herself so seriously. "Mr. Pointy" was cute.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Yes, Kendra was most fun when she lightened up a bit! As for Mr. Pointy -- now I know the origin.

I loved the exchange: "You named your stake?" "I- It's me favorite one!"

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Kendra seemed quite human - even sweet - in that scene.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Kendra seemed quite human - even sweet - in that scene.

I agree. And I'm now painfully aware that this show seems to have a pattern of giving a character a satisfying, excellent scene or two right before that character gets eliminated! It was so with Jenny, and also with Kendra.

Then again, Buffy's mom keeps getting good scenes like that, and she's still around.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm now painfully aware that this show seems to have a pattern of giving a character a satisfying, excellent scene or two right before that character gets eliminated!

Yes, indeed. It's a pattern.

Buffy's mom keeps getting good scenes like that, and she's still around.

Being a sympathetic character doesn't automatically mean you'll be offed, but it isn't necessarily a good sign. Being a teacher at Sunnydale High is definitely a step towards a speedy murder.