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I’m dangerously low on spoons for it to only be Tuesday.
Context-free quote from Keiki: “Hold onto your socks, Mummy, because they’re about to get blown off.”
Jan 22: Where is one place you wouldn’t ever want to be caught dead?
If I’m dead, I presume I won’t care where I am. But I would not like to be caught in a war zone.
Jan 23 How would someone who genuinely likes and admires you describe you?
I suspect those people know me well enough to understand that I’m very bad with compliments and therefore would not cause me the embarrassment of describing me within my hearing.
Jan 24 How would someone who doesn’t really like you describe you?
Well, having heard that from the mouths of several people who didn’t like me, apparently it’s “stuck-up bitch”.
Jan 25 If you had to teach a one-hour class with absolutely no prep time, what subject could you competently pull off?
Hahahahaha this is really funny for reasons I shall not be posting publicly, but I can confidently answer this with “spacecraft systems engineering”.
Jan 26 What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you while out for a meal at a restaurant?
I have probably told this story on this journal before, but here goes: As a babygoth/rivethead student, I went out in Hollywood with some friends. We watched The Crow in the cinema. We went to Johnny Rocket’s on Melrose afterward, sat at the long diner counter, and ordered burgers and milkshakes. I was very, very excited about the film, and kept quoting bits of it to my friends while we ate. Just as I did the following impression: “Caw, caw, bang, fuck, I’m dead,” I became acutely aware of the man sitting next to me, looking at me and smiling indulgently. The waiter came to take his order. “I’ll have a burger,” he said.
It was Michael Wincott (the big baddie in the film).
Jan 27 What aphorism or saying is helpful for you right now?
Something that is endlessly applicable to the university research funding landscape and academia in general: “You can’t eat prestige.”
This is neither, but from The Economist a couple of months ago: “We are fighting to vindicate the principle that small nationalities are not to be crushed, in defiance of international good faith, by the arbitrary will of a strong and overmastering power.” -- Herbert Asquith
Jan 28 What’s your favorite meme? (Post it!)
I used to like the letter meme, where someone would give you a letter and you’d post something that began with that letter in the following categories:
Happy to do this in the comments if anyone wants to give me a letter.
Context-free quote from Keiki: “Hold onto your socks, Mummy, because they’re about to get blown off.”
Jan 22: Where is one place you wouldn’t ever want to be caught dead?
If I’m dead, I presume I won’t care where I am. But I would not like to be caught in a war zone.
Jan 23 How would someone who genuinely likes and admires you describe you?
I suspect those people know me well enough to understand that I’m very bad with compliments and therefore would not cause me the embarrassment of describing me within my hearing.
Jan 24 How would someone who doesn’t really like you describe you?
Well, having heard that from the mouths of several people who didn’t like me, apparently it’s “stuck-up bitch”.
Jan 25 If you had to teach a one-hour class with absolutely no prep time, what subject could you competently pull off?
Hahahahaha this is really funny for reasons I shall not be posting publicly, but I can confidently answer this with “spacecraft systems engineering”.
Jan 26 What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you while out for a meal at a restaurant?
I have probably told this story on this journal before, but here goes: As a babygoth/rivethead student, I went out in Hollywood with some friends. We watched The Crow in the cinema. We went to Johnny Rocket’s on Melrose afterward, sat at the long diner counter, and ordered burgers and milkshakes. I was very, very excited about the film, and kept quoting bits of it to my friends while we ate. Just as I did the following impression: “Caw, caw, bang, fuck, I’m dead,” I became acutely aware of the man sitting next to me, looking at me and smiling indulgently. The waiter came to take his order. “I’ll have a burger,” he said.
It was Michael Wincott (the big baddie in the film).
Jan 27 What aphorism or saying is helpful for you right now?
Something that is endlessly applicable to the university research funding landscape and academia in general: “You can’t eat prestige.”
This is neither, but from The Economist a couple of months ago: “We are fighting to vindicate the principle that small nationalities are not to be crushed, in defiance of international good faith, by the arbitrary will of a strong and overmastering power.” -- Herbert Asquith
Jan 28 What’s your favorite meme? (Post it!)
I used to like the letter meme, where someone would give you a letter and you’d post something that began with that letter in the following categories:
- Something I hate
- Something I love
- Somewhere I’ve been
- Somewhere I’d like to go
- Someone I know
- A film I like
Happy to do this in the comments if anyone wants to give me a letter.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
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How about K?
From:
no subject
Something I love: Kung fu films. Jet Li! Donnie Yen! Tony Jaa! YAY.
Somewhere I’ve been: Kaua'i. When I was very small, my parents owned a condo on Kaua'i, and we would go there for our summer holidays. Some of my earliest memories are from there, including the very steep hike down the cliffs to the beautiful white sand beach we would go to every day. It was so beautiful and so isolated.
Somewhere I’d like to go: Kigali. Despite the bloke's regular trips there, the only place in Africa I've been so far is Kenya (Nairobi, the Maasai Mara, Mombasa and Lamu). The bloke sent me photos when he visited Kigali. The genocide dominates historical and even daily narratives. In contrast, the land and the city are rather tranquilly beautiful. I should like to experience that.
Someone I know: Keiki. I've known him his whole life.
A film I like: Can I pick a television series instead? I'm going to anyway. Killing Eve. It was a ridiculous premise with ridiculous plots but who cares when the story is so lush and the relationships are so complicated and fucked up and Sandra Oh is swanning around with her amazing hair, looking pained and lustful by turns?
From:
no subject
That boy is going to be the next-but-two Joss Whedon, I swear. =:o}
(And, if you think that's faint praise, then, well, *HEY*! May I point out that I'm *STILL* waiting to become the next-but-two Doctor! (That's who I told Mrs $something (the lunchtime playground supervisor) I was going to be, back in nineteen-seventy-mumble... )... )
From:
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From:
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Hahahahaha this is really funny for reasons I shall not be posting publicly, but I can confidently answer this with “spacecraft systems engineering”.
....I admit, I actualfax cracked up at this. *snerk*
From:
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From:
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From:
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From:
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I hope you get to hang onto your socks for at least the next few days.
From:
no subject
From:
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From:
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Something I love: Witches. Agnes Nutter! Hermione Granger! Maleficent! Kiki! Nanny Ogg! And of course...Morticia Addams.
Somewhere I’ve been: Walla Walla, Washington. Why wouldn't you?
Somewhere I’d like to go: Wellington, New Zealand. Formerly-UK-based friends live there and I miss them very much.
Someone I know: I know lots of Williams, although none terribly well. An ex from loooooong ago is named Wes. He pops up very occasionally and says a virtual hello. Last time I heard from him he was living in southeast Asia so I rate the chances of bumping into him at "negligible".
A film I like: What We Do in the Shadows. Both the 2014 film and the 2019 television series. My love for Nadja has almost equalled that which I have for Morticia, and that's a very high bar indeed.
From:
no subject
And, if you would indulge us for a letter, we quite like Zed, if it can be done.
From:
no subject
Something I hate: Zips. Not in general. Good zips are fine, but 95% of them seem to be badly made and it drives me bonkers. You can buy an expensive coat and it will have a terrible zip. Why?
Something I love: Zest. Specifically, the smell when you zest a citrus fruit. It's so wonderful.
Somewhere I’ve been: Zagreb, Croatia. We didn't spend much time there, though. We spent most of that trip in and around Dubrovnik. I'd love to go back and see more of Croatia.
Somewhere I’d like to go: Zurich, Switzerland. I'm still annoyed with myself that I didn't go there when I was having a career break and pootling around Europe on cheap flights and staying in hostels.
Someone I know: Zed. The last time I saw him, we were LARPing as pirates, so it has been a while. Seeing as he loves to drink beer and sing sea shanties even when he's not LARPing as a pirate, I don't think coming up with a character for that particular game was much of a stretch for him.
A film I like: I'm sorry, I'm failing at coming up with any films beginning with Z that I like. I know I've seen some (like Zoolander) but I wouldn't re-watch them!
From:
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I wondered if zed would end up with a stumper, but clearly all it means is that we need a really good film that starts with it.
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It was Michael Wincott (the big baddie in the film).
What a delightful encounter!
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I really enjoyed the Crow/diner anecdote. That's got to be the dream moment as an actor, right? Hearing people gabble away excitedly about the thing you are in?
From:
no subject
I had genuinely thought that way about the diner situation. I was very embarrassed at the time, and slunk outside for a cigarette.