November 2006 Archives
"Magic, madam, is like wine and, if you are not used to it, it will make you drunk."
Clarke, S., 2006, The Ladies of Grace Adieu
Susanna Clarke has written her follow up to "Johnathan Strange & Mr Norell", a door-stop of a hardback that I finally made my way through this summer. Her outing this time is a sliver compared to that previous block of text, charmingly titled, "The Ladies of Grace Adieu". It's a great concept of short stories that build off the 19th century concept of theoretical versus practical magic in good British Society. The best part of the book is that it is filled with charming illustrations which I find delightful. I'm becoming more and more enamored of good illustrations. Who doesn't like a picture book?
It is true, that for as much as I tried to downplay my not being one of those unkempt, crazy-ass geekers who have been standing in line for four days to get one of these, I did have a looped dialogue running in the back of my head constructing elaborate plans for getting my hands on one. It was important to me that those around me were clear that I wasn't going to have any kind of psychotic break over it. I did have to casually mention to Jeff that I would be staying up until 3am this morning to be one of the first on the Amazon site when the product launched at 12am PST 11/19, and he thought that was just about as crazy as one could get. He hasn't been watching the news about the boys in that four day line or the muggings of ripe teen geeks to pluck fresh PS3's from their hot, hairy palms as they walk out of Target so I'm not convinced he has a good grasp on how crazy crazy can be.
I thought the staying up until 3am was a viable, reasonable compromise on my part. It wouldn't inconvenience Jeff like making him stand in line with me at some God-forsaken Wal-Mart for hours with other undesirables or worse yet, flummoxed parents of psychotic children who simply MUST have the console for their holiday this year. Scary. So yes, I did stay up and by 3:30am when Amazon still had not released their stock, I said "fuck it" and went to bed because I'm just not that crazy.
This morning after I woke up, Amazon still hadn't released their stock and the internet was having a meltdown over it. For some reason, someone has posted a comment on the Amazon blog that Toys-R-Us actually had bundles of consoles and games available. I calmly found the product bundle, ordered it, waited for the "out of stock" message which never came and by the end of it, I had a confirmation of the order for next day shipping. Of course, the Amazon commenter line about Toys-R-Us then posted about the fine print regarding their absolution from unavailable stock, blah, blah, blah and as a life-long believer in "Oh sure, it would have to happen to me", I figured I'd been dupped into ordering the really expensive bundle that I still wouldn't get even though everything I'd received from the company told me it was in stock. Still, there was no blood coming out of my ears from a melting brain. I'd hit that Zen ambivalence about it and already had moved on.
And yet, I checked my order again this afternoon and it had moved from "processing" to "order located and shipping in process". So waddayaknow? I'm totally getting a Wii, possibly before Thanksgiving. Woot to the geek boy not so deep inside.
UPDATE: OMG...TRU canceled my order. WTF? Now I'm going to be that crazy person I was trying to suppress.
Guy on a cell sitting at the back of the 116th street crosstown bus Sunday night:
"No, no, n*****...he's in jail. Shot her. In. The. Face. I mean, she shoulda known. God rest her soul and all that shit but it's her damn fault. When he told her he was comin' over to kill her, she shoulda packed up those kids and went to the cops. She didn't do nuthin. That's what I'm saying. Stupid bitch got herself killed."
"Page 31 - Love Should Not be Stimulated. Do not excite your love by foreign stimulants. The influences of love and wine should never be united. Men, when under the excitement of intoxicating liquors, are not in full possession of all their faculties: they have excited their animal propensities, and by so doing have rendered the manifestations of their feelings brutal. There is no woman of sense and purity throughout the land, but must, having the knowledge of the debasing influences of ardent spirits, the foul and demoniac crimes which have been committed under the auspices of drunkenness, view the attentions of persons under this animal excitement as an insult of the blackest kind."
M.B. Allen, MD & A.C. McGregor, MD., 1912. Girlhood to Motherhood or Love, Marriage and Maternity, containing Full Information on all the Marvelous and Complex Matters Pertaining to Women, including Creative science; Bearing; Nursing and Rearing Children; Hereditary Descent; Hints on Courtship and Marriage; Promoting Health and Beauty; Vigor of Mind and Body, etc., etc., Together with the Diseases Peculiar to the Female Sex, Their Causes, Symptoms and Treatment; the Whole Forming a Complete Medical Guide for Women
I'm off to see Rachel Ray at her new daytime talk show. I love living in New York for being able to do this kind of stuff. Now if we could only get tickets to The View, all would be well.
Ain't nuttin better then star-fucking people who really matter. Who doesn't feel like the special kid who gets to play (or in this case, drink a lot with the cool kids out in the smoking lounge) with the big boys?
