Mentally Pregnant: Adventures of the Unborn - Part 1

So, my hubby and me have talked about our hypothetical first-born male, Lenny, for more than three years now. Before you congratulate me: nope, we're not anywhere near pregnant, except mentally of course. What if the actual Lenny turns out to be a a first-born female? Well, we'll just call her Leoni or Eleonor or Helena or something, so we can still call her Lenny as a nickname. Who cares that the other kids will think she's a freak? That'll only make her tougher.
Anyway, whenever we go to a place of interest or play a good board game, the husband says "We have to come here with Lenny." or "We can play that with Lenny." I suppose by the time he finally does get born (2011, biology allowing), he'll have had so many adventures that he'll be quite exhausted.
Well, today I went swimming while the hubby went to the cinema. While I was swimming, I thought about Lenny and me having coffee with my tutor (not a very likely scenario). First this brought up the question of whether Lenny should call my tutor "Sir" or by his first name. My colleague/ friend Rubén and me call him "Sir", but actually we're supposed to call him Keith. "Lenny, be nice and say hello to Sir.". Then, Lenny didn't want to eat the sandwich (or butty) that his father had lovingly prepared for him with his own clumsy hands. So I said to him "Daddy has made such a nice butty for you. He'll be really sad, if you don't eat it." "Bah, I don't want me butty." "Right, mummy will eat your butty then." So I ate up the whole 'butty', after which Lenny shouted for cake. Now, if we had had coffee with Rubén, I would have used this as an opportunity to practice Spanish with poor two-year-old Lenny, threatening that Rubén would eat the sandwich if Lenny didn't want it: "Si no quieres tu bocadillo, Rubén va a comerlo." This brings up the question of whether to call guy friends "Uncle". My mum always hated that kind of thing and never taught us to call her friends "Uncle" and "Aunt", but I rather like the sound of "Uncle Rubén".... Also, should it be "Mummy wants to read her book now." or "I want to read my book now." and "Would Lenny like a butty?" or "Would you like a butty?"?
By the way, today Lenny had dark blond curly hair, greenish eyes and a pot belly. But probably he'll have black eyes and brushy brown hair like his dad next time.
Later on, I told the not-yet-prospective father about it when we had coffee at Neros.
Me: "I thought of Lenny today. He didn't want to eat his butty, so I ate it."
Husband: "And I bet he shouted for cake afterwards."
Me: "How did you know that?"
Husband: *meaningful look*
Me (thinking that this is totally unfair, because I never refuse to eat my sandwich and than shout for a treat, so this can't be because Lenny takes after me in any manner): "Well, did YOU never shout for cake?"
Husband (1.93 metres/ 6'3", 66kg/ 10st 5.5lb; also known as the living calorie-to-height-conversion-engine): "I always ate my butty and my cake!"

As my best friend tactfully said: "Lenny will have a fat arse and a big mop of hair like you ["Woooosh!", indicating a huge halo of hair around her head], and long arms and black eyes like the hubby." Well, if he has my Stone Age genes (put on weight while food is available, the next famine is around the corner), but his dad's appetite, I'm afraid she's right about the fat arse.... Daddy has just eaten his butty and is starting to cook dinner now.

books

grrrrrrrrrr. After I graduated I was so fed up with reading literature that I decided to ban novels and only read reference/non-fiction books for a while. I swore not to buy any books in England and of course I ended up buying eight, only two of which are non-fiction.

• Empire by Niall Ferguson. I mainly bought it because it's got an elephant on the cover ;). - Waterstones, buy 2 get the 3rd free, Milton Keynes
  
• The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. - Waterstones, buy 2 get the 3rd free, Milton Keynes
  
  
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. - Waterstones, buy 2 get the 3rd free, Milton Keynes
  *Shudder* This is sooooo blah. I've read 3/4 of the first instalment and it makes me puke. I like the idea as such, but how many times can the silly girl hyperventilate about the vampire boy without suffocating? Besides, the ending is soooo predictable (I mean the ending of the whole series, not that of the first book). Bella is so annoying, I think the only reason she is so klutzy is so that Edward can be a little macho and protect her. Keeps him busy when he's not protecting her from himself.
  I heard Meyer's gone and rewritten the whole thing from Edward's point of view. Whatever for? (Grrr. where are the smilies in this stupid blog? How is a net-age leo supposed to express her emotions if she can't find the smilies???)
  
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, second-hand book shop, Warwick.
  
• A Monk Swimming by Malachy McCourt (Frank McCourt's little brother). second-hand bookshop, Warwick. Doesn't really have a plot but it's lighthearted and entertaining.
  
• British short stories. I hate short stories, but I'll give them a try anyway. Oxfam, Shrewsbury.
• Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters, forgot what volume it is. Oxfam, Shrewsbury

now watch out, here it comes!
Tales of the Night (Fortaellinger on natten) by Peter Hoeg. I stumbled on this at Oxfam in Shrewsbury. I didn't mean to buy any more books but it was snowing and there was nothing else to do because I'd already seen Cadfael's Abbey, gone to Chester, Manchester, Birmingham... Anyways, this just goes to show that good things will come your way when you're least looking for them.
Here's what it says on the back cover:

Love as violence, love as curse, love as redemption, as suffering, as wisdom, as innocence, as delsuion - each story takes place on the night of 19 March 1929 and a character tries to understand or express love from his or her perspective: as dancer, lawyer, astronomer, mathematician, artist, actor, doctor, mirror-maker.

Sounds soppy? In fact, the stories set out to talk about love, but in the end they are more about truth.. or love as truth.

In writing that is frankly free of the burden of realism, Tales of the Night offers its readers a poised, puzzling and beautifully written diversion

I wouldn't say it's "free of the burden of realism", but then my perception of the world is probably warped by the burden of romanticism, so....

In a controlled and almost chillingly distanced prose......

yep, that hits the nail on the head. I like controlled and almost chillingly distanced prose :-) bog off, Stephenie Meyer :-)

Anways, here's some quotes from the stories themselves:

I wouldn't say that, up until then, I'd had much knowledge of love, but if nothing else I was quite convinced that at some point a fusion of the two sexes would have to occur; that one way or another, sooner or later, they would have to sleep together. As the years went by I realized that I was mistaken and I am grateful for having been set straight on this point. As time went by Andreas and the girl explored, for themselves and for the rest of us, including myself, the love that flourishes in the space between two people who never conjoin.
...
...
Naturally, Andreas and the girl performed La Sylphide, that quintessential ballet on the impossibility and the necessity of love, and God breathed on them , and when Andreas came off into the wings after the last curtain call, he stopped in front of me, clasped his hands and said, as slowly and fervently as if he were praying: 'May it always be thus', and at that moment neither he nor I was in any doubt that his prayer would be answered.
- from: Homage to Bournonville

Anyone wishing to understand the history of Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries should turn to its civil servants. To their enigmatic, monotonous, dogged industry, their talent for self-denial, its sequestered and yet overweening sensibility.
Planning entails generating a certain tension. Realizing one's plans entails sustaining this tension. In the history of Europe the art of planning was brought to perfection among the civil servants. And with it: the art of creating and withstanding stress.
Seismology is the study of surface tremors caused by tension built up below the earth's crust. The study of love represents the seismology of the individual and of togetherness. Which is why - when seeking some intimation of the future - the world and the family will always, in the first instance, look at the love life of their children.
...
...
...
"You know that modern man bears the head of Janus. That he looks outwards at the world with features that are fixed and tense, and inwards at his private life with a calm, relaxed countenance;...
- from: The Verdict on the Right Honourable Ignatio Lanstad Rasker, Lord Chief Justice

"He told us that what he prized most in life was solitude and silence. I have a notion that he came over to join us and told us all of this in the hope that together the three of us might prove to be three times as solitary and three times as silent. So I made him no answer."
- from: Portrait of the Avant-Garde

grrr, I ought to be studying Spanish.
Just to spoil the controlled, almost chillingly distanced prose, here's a random pic of a potato beetle
(Leptinotarsa decemlineata - the light-footed ten-striped little guy. I know your sort!!!). Cute, isn't he? ... grrrr, where are the bloody smilies? If this stupid blog won't let me use smilies, I'll pull a controlled and almost chillingly distanced face at it. :-| There!

Shropshire Snowscapes

Here's some pics of the snow in England. I took them from the train, so some are a bit blurred. There was a lot more snow the next day. edit: Oh, nice! click on the pics to see the other half :)

10 things that have changed - part ONE

So, this is my first blog entry and I'll start off by saying that I hate blogging and never know what to write. Do I tell the world what I had for breakfast today (a cup of coffee and two cups of black tea)?
Do I give a speech about the state of the world? This country is going to the dogs and the state of the world is : crappy. Besides, this is not a f*cking newspaper. *joking*. Do I spill all my dark secrets? My close friends know all of them anyway and my not so close friends can at least guess at them.
So, seeing as I've finally graduated, I thought I'd recap the last 7 (!!!) years to see what has changed in my life, how I have changed. Usually, those things (like graduating, moving home etc) just kinda pass me by. I suppose I am a stoic at heart after all, even though I'll throw the occasional fit if/when people get on my nerves too much.

1. things still pass me by

got my exam results the day before yesterday and.. well, yep, I did raise an eyebrow, but so far I've refrained from posting them all over the internet etc. er, well, technically, that's not something that's changed, then, is it?

2. the hubbers

I've been together with my 'hubby' (boyfriend), the Beany Bear, for more than three years and we've been living together for 2 years. I love watching him sleep, shower, eat his breakfast, shave, grumble, whatever... I used to think that I'm not cut out for cohabitation but it turns out I'm really dull and all I want to do after a long day at univ/ work is go home and sit on the sofa with the hubby.
Yeah, I know it sounds boring. Life is boring. Get used to it :)
If he knew I've been showing around pics of him sleeping and pointing his beany fingers out of the blanket, he'd still strangle me, though :)

3. I always kinda knew this...

... but I learned it again: I don't like 'funny', attention-seeking, desperate or 'sociable' people.
If you get along with everyone and anyone, that's fine. If you're "(best) friends" with everyone and anyone, it means either or both of the following: a) your perception is warped, b) there isn't enough of a you for me to be friends with.
It said in Glamour (yep, I read Glamour... once a year) that if someone creates more negative emotions in you than positive ones, they're not a friend and it's time to gently let them down. Well, some people just won't take hints and insist on having their head bitten off. Serves them right. Anways, the point is that sometimes it's better to rely on your intuition and not be rational and look for people's good sides or make up excuses for them. I'll try to rely on my intuition more from now on. If someone makes me happy, I'll be friends with them. If someone makes me feel angry, jealous, envious, arrogant, insecure etc, I won't have anything to do with them.

3. 1/2 I still don't like blogging

So I'll take a break now and write about the other 7 things that have changed later. Grrrr, I made a mental list of them the other day and, of course, I filed it somewhere with "aunt's birthday", " 'wedding' anniversary", "turn the heating off", "do the hoovering". :(

~~~ random youtube stuff~~~

here's some random links. I'll spare you the Kirk/Spock or Spock/McCoy slash vids...... for the time being :D

Roomies
my new "favourite" drama/sitcom series by lilredheadstudios.

Random Children of Bodom Song of the Day: Punch me, I bleed
tru leet metal. Alexi rules. "What doesn't kill you only makes you pissed off!" *lol*

Random Schmaltzy Song of the Day: Anthony Hamilton - Do you feel me

Random Old Geezer Song: Otis Redding - Try a little tenderness

Picard techno (?) :)
a cool song made up of Picard quotes.

Patrick Stewart goes to McDonalds
a hilarious cartoon :)

grrrrrrrrrr

I already hate this thing and I haven't even posted. it appears my first blog was eaten up by deep sea monsters or something, so I can't access it from my dashboard even though I can see it by entering the URL.
I hope this one won't disappear.
grrrr