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over the minimum
August 22, 2011
It's such a struggle to be interested in life at the moment. If I had to pick a
single word to describe myself, it would have to be "BORED". No drive, no
energy to try and get anything done. No interest in anything. I am tired of
everything and everywhere and everyone I know, and lack the gumption to get
to know anything or anywhere or anyone new.
I attempted to do something "over the minimum" this weeked--accomplish a
few things beyond the "just scraping by" of doing the laundry and the grocery
shopping. It's a pathetic list. I baked a loaf of banana bread. I vacuumed the
pool and adjusted the chemicals. I wiped down some extra stuff in the kitchen
when I did the dishes.
And I dug around in my messy basement and routed out our old Emerson
VCR, as Nephew and his GF were looking for one to take up to school with
them, and having no luck finding a decent one second-hand. And, Spouse and
me being Spouse and me, we also managed to come up with all the necessary
cables, the (working )remote control, all the original paperwork &
manuals, and about three dozen VHS tapes they were interested in
having. (Disney stuff, The Wizard of Oz, some classic comedies we upgraded
to DVD years ago, etc.).
We are that way, what can I say?
It's not like we are breaking completely with the VCR technology of my youth.
We still have a working VCR, and a few tapes we wouldn't part with, like my
Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries, or Spouse's original release of the Star Wars Trilogy, (the "HAN Shot First" version). And what is the point of letting all that stuff rot away in a damp basement, if the kids would enjoy having it?
And they will. Nephew and his GF are poor, struggling students with limited
resources, and good heads on their shoulders. They aren't too proud or snooty
to pass up the free entertainment opportunities to be found in their old VHS
tape collections (or mine!) when they are thinking about that long winter up
north at school. They are still kids enough to pass a Saturday night with a pizza
and a re-watch of Schoolhouse Rock, The Lion King, Winnie the Pooh, or
what have you. Most of that stuff was originally purchased to entertain
Nephew, anyway!
Plus, GF works with little kids a lot (early childhood education major) and may
find some good use for it.
Reading:Hobby--"Secret History Revealed By Lady Peggy O'Malley" (1915), by C. N. and A. M. Williamson. Favorite quote so far: "I went with him to a nook on the veranda screened off with tall plants from an adjacent hammock. It was a nook intended for two and no more. There were a great many nooks of that sort on Mrs.
Kilburn's veranda. She specialized in flirtation architecture."
This Williamsons title isn't a motoring story. At least, it isn't yet--I am only a few chapters in. Could turn out to be, I suppose. I did just finish another of their motoring tales--"My Friend, the Chauffeur", from 1905. Recommend that one.
Also, "The Husbands of Edith" (1908), by George Barr McCutcheon. I think there's potential here. Main plot point so far (end of chapter one) is this: Young married chap needs to be known to be with his wife, visiting wife's friends on the continent--at the same time he is actually home in England, foiling some nefarious political machinations. Young chap ropes in our hero to do some impersonating, aided and abetted by young chap's charming American wife (the Edith of the title). Hero, despite some misgivings, allows himself to be roped in by Edith's winning ways.
The tone is light-hearted so far, and I fully expect gay, high-spirited hijinks to ensue. I only hope it doesn't descend into the kind of thing where the "humor" consists chiefly of the main character (OR ME) writhing in discomfort. (What W. calls the "Frasier Syndrome".) My sense of humor is not of the sort that finds the personal discomfort of others amusing.
Listening: The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Adele, Cheap Trick
Surfing: .
At Random:
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