Random, but mostly about food

[trinityofone]

I got a package from mciac! She sent me Kate Atkinson's Case Histories and lovely bath stuff and, best best of all, chocolate! Scharffen Berger--so the really good chocolate. Chocolate so dark, eating it is kind of like getting attacked by an army of cocoa beans. But in a tasty way.

Thank you, mciac! Finding the package slip in my mailbox was exceedingly exciting. Seriously, if anyone wants to send me empty envelopes, I would still appreciate it, because really, I just like getting mail. I'm a mail whore.

***

Marks & Spencer, further solidifying its status as THE DEVIL, is selling mini mince pies, 12 for 3 euro. I was in there the other day, and all these packages of happy, Christmas-looking pies are stacked up by the cash register. Now, I really shouldn't be spending money on anything unessential. So I thought: I know! I'll get the cashier to tell me that mince pies are essential! Watch:

Me: Are those mince pies?
Cashier: Yes.
Me: Not the kind with meat?
Cashier: No. Fruit.
Me: They don't have that kind of mince pie in the U.S.
Cashier: *blank look*
Me: You know, where I'm from?
Cashier: *blankety blank*
Me: See, accent? Oh, never mind. But yeah--I've never had a traditional Christmas mince pie.
Cashier: *is supposed to say, "No!" "That's awful!" "But you must!"* Do you need a bag?
Me: No, I've got one. *starts to pack groceries into used Arnott's bag, because in Ireland, supermarkets charge for bags* You know, just the other day, I was telling some friends of mine that I'd never had mince pie, and they were like, "How have you lived?"
Cashier: That'll be 19.24.
Me: *sigh* Why don't you thrown in some of those mince pies?

So Marks & Spencer really needs to train more enthusiastic cashiers. Because damn, mince pie is good! If you've never had any...How have you lived?

***

Random fic revelations, specifically regarding character shortcuts I sometimes use to write:

1. John’s dad is the dad from Dirty Day. Which would make John Bono. Which is weird.

2. Rodney’s mom is my Grandma Jan. Which would make Rodney my dad, which is BAD and DIRTY and WRONG and we are all going to pretend that this sentence DOESN’T EXIST.

***

My mom is awesome. Last night she sent me this e-mail:

*

From: trinityofone's Mom
To: trinityofone
Subject: Just so you'll know--

--and keep fingers crossed--I'm trying to book our Christmas dinner
(it'll be lunch, really) at The Clarence. You know--Bono's hotel?

Mum

*

I wrote her back:

From: trinityofone
To: trinityofone's Mom
Subject: OMG!

YOU WIN AT LIFE!

*

And she replied:

From: trinityofone's Mom
To: trinityofone
Subject: Re: OMG!

Heh--your internet parlance cracks me up! I'll let you know when it's confirmed.

Yr Mum

*

So I guess it's okay that LJ has eaten my brain, because it amuses my mother.

***

Finally, since I had five minutes to kill yesterday, here's a little cartoon mini-me:


Yep. Definitely plotting something nefarious. Just look at those shifty eyes!

***

Okay, I lied. To make this post truly random, we need a pointless poll.

[Poll #613884]

Comments

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I've never heard the opera--I wasn't even aware that there was one. But hey, I'm willing to try anything once. Twice. Repeatedly, as long as centipedes aren't involved.

Not Robin Fox, by any chance? He seems to be the King of Incest Research.

Edward O. Wilson, actually. I've never actually heard of Robin Fox. Man, I am striking out all over the place today!

you're apparently more popular than either Sheppard *or* McKay! I think that's pretty impressive...

Except for here, apparently. I...don't know whether to be flattered or disturbed, frankly. Mostly I'm just surprised that the few straight boys on my flist are still reading this journal at all. ;-)

I do love that icon. Especially since I read the original poem.

Oh God, T.S. Eliot...he just breaks me. I'm no Dante, but if I were, he would totally be my Virgil. *g*

[wychwood]

Hey, don't feel bad for not recognising all my random babble *g* The opera is pretty obscure! But if you like Vaughan Williams at all, it's *well* worth a listen. If you can't find a copy, I could, um, make it available for you to hear?

Edward O Wilson... don't think I know him. Maybe I shall do some research :) Fox is an anthropologist; I had to read some of his stuff for my first degree (I did Archaeology & Anthropology). His best-known book is probably "Kinship and Marriage", which has some incest stuff in, but he also wrote another book called, um, "The Red Lamp", or something weird like that, which was all about incest.

I'm still discovering Eliot. Until quite recently, all I'd ever seen of his was "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats", which is good, but not exactly... thought-provoking *g* But people keep using him for titles, and things - I came across The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock in two or three different places. And then that line you've quoted. Because it's... well, at first it makes me think of "Jerusalem" (I shall not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand), which is a positive resonance for me anyway, but then the more I think about the rest of the line
We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time
the more I get from it, I think. It works for me on a number of levels. Even directly applying it to SGA, it means about three different things - one of them being a meta thought about fanfic, and how it changes our perception of the canon around which it circles.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

If you can't find a copy, I could, um, make it available for you to hear?

Ahh, euphemism. ;-) Sure, that'd be cool--I'm all curious now.

Edward O. Wilson is a biologist; I think he's vaguely famous (IOW, famous among biologists) for some studies he did about ants. I'm reading his book Consilience for, erm, research purposes, and it's very cool. I have shiny new science love--whee!

"Prufrock" is my favorite poem in the history of the world. I know the whole thing by heart, and I was J. Alfred himself one year for Halloween. *is lit dork* "Four Quarters," as you said, is amazing; you should also try "Journey of the Magi" and "Rhapsody on a Windy Night." Then take a stab at "The Waste Land"--it's just...oh, so shivery good.

It works for me on a number of levels. Even directly applying it to SGA, it means about three different things - one of them being a meta thought about fanfic, and how it changes our perception of the canon around which it circles.

Yeah--that's really cool. And speaking of circling--it goes back again to my innate love of stories about journeys, stories where a physical journey reflects an emotional or spiritual one. Gets me. Every. Time.

[wychwood]

Ooh, "Journey of the Magi", I know that one... it's the piece that starts "It was a hard time we had of it..." isn't it? Yes. Very good, very dark, very very good.

Clearly I must read more :) I'm not very good at reading poetry, but sometimes I see or hear things and they just grab me - probably my favourite poem is "High Flight", which did just that. And some of those bits of Eliot do something similar.

Ooh, journey stories. Yes. Always a good thing. Got any good recommendations? And have you read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?

[wychwood]

Can you play .ogg files? The "full" free version of Winamp supports them, but WMP doesn't.