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11:49 PM: Holdailies Triolet IV
Midnight is nigh; I find that I
Have forgotten to write an entry.
I said I'd keep up! I don't want to lie.
Midnight is nigh; I find that I
Need to step up, 'cause it's not July--
This ought to be elementary.
Midnight is nigh; I find that I
Have forgotten to write an entry.
(Ah, tradition...)
Friday, December 09, 2005
11:42 PM: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
First, a word to those of you who plan to see the new Narnia movie and normally leave as soon as the credits start: stick around a minute or so. You'll see why. You can leave once the credits start up again; what follows is of interest only to those of us who usually stick around for the credits.
So... I've seen the film. The good news is that it doesn't suck. If you don't think that's cause for celebration, then you weren't paying attention about a decade ago, when the previous set of producers wanted to move the setting to L.A. and change Edmund's Turkish delight into a cheeseburger and fries. This is a pretty damn faithful adaptation; kudos for that.
On the other hand, I haven't yet decided whether I think it was good. Preliminary impressions are that the White Witch was creepier than I'd ever imagined; Aslan was a CGI wonder that would have allayed any of C.S. Lewis's concerns about a live-action Narnia looking silly; and Lucy was the weakest link, smiling at all sorts of inappropriate moments, but what can you fairly expect from a 9-year-old actress?
The rest of it I'm still assimilating. But, hey, it didn't suck.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Proof that my forgetting to note various birthdays and such over the past year was nothing personal: I forgot to wish Phebe a happy birthday on December 1st. If I can miss that, I can miss anything.
Meanwhile, Erin's tagged me with this meme, and my sister must be obeyed...
List 10 things that bring you joy and tag 6 friends to do the same.
Off the top of my head, and in no particular order:
- Having books.
- Lending books out.
- My friends.
- Figuring things out.
- Whipping a piece of writing into shape.
- New York City.
- Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink.
- The outro [opposite of intro] of "Uncertain Smile" by The The.
- Being productive.
- Breaking chains.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Another December, another round of Holidailies, which I'm participating in for the fifth straight year. I'm pledging to do my best to update my journal every day from December 7th through January 6th; while I haven't usually managed perfect attendance, I've certainly posted more during this period than I have during the rest of a given year. It's also the time of year when I have the most readers, thanks to the spiffy Holidailies portal. For those joining me for the first time, welcome! For those stopping by for the first time since last January, welcome back! For those who haven't gotten around to updating in ages... well, that'd be me. So here's a quick summary to catch everybody up.
- Me: I'm Shmuel. I'm 32. I like pop culture and the English language. I have a somewhat out of date biography page.
- My journal: It's Shmuel's Soapbox, on the Web since January 1999. As you swing through the Holidailies entries, you will know mine by their garish, blinding yellow background. Although I prefer to think of the color as cheerful. There are also RSS and LiveJournal feeds, should you want to bypass my color scheme; the links are in the sidebar to the left. (Note, however, that comments should be left on my site, not on LiveJournal.)
- Grad School: I'm almost done with it, thank goodness. In a couple of weeks, I shall be done with this program and ready to receive my second master's degree... assuming I make it through the next couple of weeks. One of my classes is all but done. In the other, I should be on my final essay, but I'm kinda backlogged, so I have one in the pipeline and two to go. I ought to be working on those right now, in fact, but I want to get things off to a good start here.
- Employment: I'm almost done with working at an almanac, which job was full time over the summer, and one day a week during this past semester. If you know of anybody in the Boston area looking for a copyeditor, ideally working late at night, let me know. I'm gonna need a job in a couple of weeks, so I can cover my rent and start paying off my student loans.
- Living Conditions: Much improved from last year. I'm no longer in the center of downtown Boston, but I'm also no longer living in a shoebox; my entire last apartment could fit in my current living room... plus I have a dining room, kitchen, a bathroom, and a couple of bedrooms. My books are unpacked for the first time in a couple of years. Someday I'll get a full-sized refrigerator, a coffee table, and a few file cabinets, and I'll really be living the good life.
- Social Life: Slightly improved. I've mostly dropped the karaoke, but I'm on a trivia team with a few classmates; we meet every week at the bar frequented by those in my program and generally kick butt. I'm also vaguely planning a Festivus party for January. This is actually my second attempt; I'd sent out invitations for a Festivus party on Festivus itself -- Friday, Dec. 23rd -- but nobody was able to make it. (I'd realized it was two days before Christmas and three before Chanukah, but had missed the fact that this made it the night before Christmas Eve. No wonder everybody's gonna be out of town by then.)
- Romantic Life: None. I don't think I've been on a single date in the past year. I need to take some new photos and get my personal profile back online.
- Family Life: Still not talking to my father. Missed the most recent sibling wedding as a result, but I did show up for a post-wedding celebration a few days later, at which my father wasn't present. Seemed the best course of action for all concerned.
- Brain Chemistry: Hunting down the elusive best SSRI combination for my natural anxiety. Paxil had really bad side effects all around. Celexa seems to reduce the anxiety, but makes me too tired to function properly. I'm currently finishing my second week on a combination of Celexa and Wellbutrin. We'll see how that goes.
- Food: I can't order Chinese food at 2:30 AM at my new location, but it is available at slightly more normal hours. And I can get very yummy beef tacos right down the block. That said, I can't wait for my next trip back to New York, so I can get a good pastrami on rye sandwich. (Putting aside the quest for pastrami, I can't find any rye bread around here that doesn't contain caraway seeds in some form. This mystifies me. It also takes rye bread off the menu, because I hate the taste of caraway.)
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