Kevin's Watch

Good luck, Orlion. And take heart: it's only a day. The bride and groom are stuck with one another forever.

We have a local cheese shop called Cheesetique that's attempting to edumacate us brutish 'Muricans about the good stuff. I buy Ghirardelli chocolate for the peppermint bark I make at the holidays, and people always rave about it. As for coffee...I have no explanation. I find most of what Starbucks sells to be undrinkable -- I hate the burned taste -- but Folgers is too weeny for me. And I can't stand instant.

As for me: I don't want to speak too soon, but threatening to file for a partition on my mother's house may have worked. My brother is beginning the process of closing Mom's estate, at long last. And in his last e-mail, he actually opened the door to a discussion about buying me out of my interest in the house. I spent way too much time yesterday looking online at land listings in Colorado....

aliantha wrote:I spent way too much time yesterday looking online at land listings in New Mexico....

I corrected that typo for you.

you're welcome.

lorin wrote:

aliantha wrote:I spent way too much time yesterday looking online at land listings in New Mexico....

I corrected that typo for you.

you're welcome.

Somehow, I just knew somebody was going to do that for me. And I am going to look, never fear.

But wouldya look at this view!
www.recolorado.com/landlots-for-sale/17 ... -133381167

(...sigh...)

that is actually really beautiful. Doesn't look like you will be having a problem with neighbors. That's only about 4 hrs from Taos, I think.

That's a gorgeous view.

Maybe I should look for a cave somewhere. I want to be a hermit when I grow up. Think that's a viable career path?

I know a guy who built his own place out that way. He supports himself by writing books. He's sort of a simple-living person, though, so if that lifestyle doesn't appeal to you, you'd have a problem.

Edited to add: We'd practically be neighbors, lorin!

Frostheart Grueburn wrote:All this chat about American food made me wonder whether the habits of the little knot of European e-festers confirmed or demolished the existence of some Old World stereotypes.

what it did was to confirm that Europeans are just as susceptible to stereotyping people as any other country folk. I, am, on the other hand, very careful to NEVER say one countries food is a 'certain' way. I don't make judgements until I visit the country and learn about the full culinary range of food. Culinary tastes, even within one country vary from culture to culture, district to district, economics to economics. I have learned never jump to conclusions. It only widens the void.

lorin wrote:

Frostheart Grueburn wrote:All this chat about American food made me wonder whether the habits of the little knot of European e-festers confirmed or demolished the existence of some Old World stereotypes.

what it did was to confirm that Europeans are just as susceptible to stereotyping people as any other country folk. I, am, on the other hand, very careful to NEVER say one countries food is a 'certain' way. I don't make judgements until I visit the country and learn about the full culinary range of food. Culinary tastes, even within one country vary from culture to culture, district to district, economics to economics. I have learned never jump to conclusions. It only widens the void.

A lot of that chat on the previous page is sillybuggery.
The portions were too big, but a lot of the bar/restaurant food was very tasty. First experiences with Mexican-ish grub and not negative ones.

Fever is rising again, better go to bed before becoming a Baf Scatterwit clone.

Finnish food! Ananda will probably call these ur-vile droppings served in liquid snow.

Hope you feel better soon, Frosty.

If those are ur-ville droppings, I'll take two helpings.

Quiet suddenly, innit?

--A

I joked about fifty shades of grey and heard people talk about it and one of my BFFs has been bugging me to read it for a long time. So, I finally got it and started reading it.

The main character's name is Anastasia Steele... really? She is 21, never been kissed, never been drunk, gorgeous, but unaware of it, never had any interest in men, blushes all of the time and basically acts like a 14 year old girl. I am still reading in case the sex parts make it all worth while (haven't gotten to those yet, but I sense we will have some bdsm going on). If I get one wish, it will be for the author to stop using the term 'cheshire cat grin' and describing the blushing as 'cheeks flamed' for at least two chapters. I've never read a romance novel before (unless you count Anne Rice's erotica, so maybe I have!). Is this one supposed to be an example of a well written romance? Why did it become so big when books such as these are over looked?

My wife doesn't read much, but when she was sick last year I went out and bought that hideous book for her. I tried reading the start of it and picked pages at random to read - it's so horribly written and while I didn't glean much of the nature of the lead characters, your reference to a 14 year old is apt - my thought was that it seemed like it was written by a 14 year old.

oddly enough it seems every inmate who reads has read fifty shades.

Dino porn! I've heard about this stuff but have never read any.

OTOH, I read a regular ol' romance the other day. Supposedly the author is a USA Today bestseller. The dialogue was beyond wooden and there wasn't even any sex! I was so disappointed...

aliantha wrote:and there wasn't even any sex! I was so disappointed...

Rule number one of romance novels should be sex scenes! How rude!

I read a little more of shades of grey today and at least the foreplay has begun. The female characters really do come across as teenage girls. I guess that's a genre appeal? The 'I am innocent, and you, the sexy beast, are going to take me' story line works for fantasy. The names are terrible, but then the names in SRDs books are terrible, too.

I don't think I've ever intentionally read a romance novel, though I did work at one bookstore that filed Diana Gabaldon under romance. And that top 100 chart put Jacqueline Carey under romance, though I dispute that. There certainly was romance (especially in the second trilogy), but it's not the first word I would use to describe her books.

Ananda wrote:

aliantha wrote:and there wasn't even any sex! I was so disappointed...

Rule number one of romance novels should be sex scenes! How rude!

I know, right? What's the point of 'em otherwise?

I went through a bodice-ripper phase in college. You know: boy meets girl, boy rapes girl, girl decides he's okay after all... (BTW, romance writers get seriously pissed off if you summarize their plots this way. )

michaelm wrote:...it seemed like it was written by a 14 year old.

Considering it started out as a Twilight fan fiction, that's scarcely surprising, is it?

--A

Avatar wrote:

michaelm wrote:...it seemed like it was written by a 14 year old.

Considering it started out as a Twilight fan fiction, that's scarcely surprising, is it?

--A

Did it? Well that explains a lot!