The Annual Moral Superiority Treat
Dec. 26th, 2004 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyringFor some reason Kerri almost always forgets my birthday. I don't think she's ever actually gone all the way through to the next day without giving me a birthday greeting and/or hug, but often it's lunchtime or thereabouts. It's because I'm the day after Christmas, you see. There's this big emotional buildup to the 25th and we're on the downhill run after the day. But for Kerri her birthday comes in isolation so the event I'm looking forward to so when her day dawns, my clock has ticked down to zero and I just look over at the pillow beside me and say "Happy Birthday, dear!"
And of course I get a certain amount of moral superiority, when Kerri realises that she's forgotten the birthday of her husband for the umpteenth time in a row.
But Patrick O'Brian teaches us that moral superiority in a marriage is not worth having, so I end up feeling guilty.
Never mind. I've had a marvellous Christmas and Boxing Day. We lazed, we ate, we watched movies, we had a great family dinner, albeit only the three of us, and best of all we got an email from our daughter, who has manage to traverse all of Vietnam and is now in Hanoi, counting down until she flies out tomorrow. We pick her up early Tuesday. Unfortunately the apartment in Sydney has fallen through - some nonsense about not being able to contact the owners overseas - so we'll drive up early and drive straight back.
Finished one book and started another. The first was fantastic, based around the woman who placed the following ad in the New York Review of Books: "Before I turn 67—next March—I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me.". As one might expect, the woman is fascinating and so is the book that resulted. The second is legendary - one of my Secret Santa books, except this one came from Angus & Robertson online and I have no idea who sent it. I haven't read Mansfield Park before, so I'm reading it now and enjoying Austen's delightful and insightful prose. It's another world, but like Shakespeare, the characters are timeless.
I'm pretending it came from Annuncial and I'm weaving it into my rewrite.
I'm also reading The Jane Austen Book Club. Amazon has it online in a searchable format, so all I need do when the free pages run out is to search for a word on the last page and I get a fresh set of free pages, two forward and two back from the searched for page. Tedious, but cheap.
It's been a joyful holiday so far, and every promise of more to come. Kerri is off until the 4th of January, so all are relaxed and happy. DS especially. He's deep into World of Warcraft, which seems to consist mainly of killing things and gathering skills and charms and weapons and spells and going on quests and getting superglued to the computer.
And of course I get a certain amount of moral superiority, when Kerri realises that she's forgotten the birthday of her husband for the umpteenth time in a row.
But Patrick O'Brian teaches us that moral superiority in a marriage is not worth having, so I end up feeling guilty.
Never mind. I've had a marvellous Christmas and Boxing Day. We lazed, we ate, we watched movies, we had a great family dinner, albeit only the three of us, and best of all we got an email from our daughter, who has manage to traverse all of Vietnam and is now in Hanoi, counting down until she flies out tomorrow. We pick her up early Tuesday. Unfortunately the apartment in Sydney has fallen through - some nonsense about not being able to contact the owners overseas - so we'll drive up early and drive straight back.
Finished one book and started another. The first was fantastic, based around the woman who placed the following ad in the New York Review of Books: "Before I turn 67—next March—I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me.". As one might expect, the woman is fascinating and so is the book that resulted. The second is legendary - one of my Secret Santa books, except this one came from Angus & Robertson online and I have no idea who sent it. I haven't read Mansfield Park before, so I'm reading it now and enjoying Austen's delightful and insightful prose. It's another world, but like Shakespeare, the characters are timeless.
I'm pretending it came from Annuncial and I'm weaving it into my rewrite.
I'm also reading The Jane Austen Book Club. Amazon has it online in a searchable format, so all I need do when the free pages run out is to search for a word on the last page and I get a fresh set of free pages, two forward and two back from the searched for page. Tedious, but cheap.
It's been a joyful holiday so far, and every promise of more to come. Kerri is off until the 4th of January, so all are relaxed and happy. DS especially. He's deep into World of Warcraft, which seems to consist mainly of killing things and gathering skills and charms and weapons and spells and going on quests and getting superglued to the computer.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
I have a copy of the Jane Austen Book Club
Date: 2004-12-26 09:51 pm (UTC)Re: I have a copy of the Jane Austen Book Club
Date: 2004-12-26 10:15 pm (UTC)But I need the Jane Austen knowledge now, for it is essential background for the rewrite of Manly Books. I shall keep on with Amazon - the hard way, and thank you for the offer.
Re: I have a copy of the Jane Austen Book Club
Date: 2004-12-27 12:58 am (UTC)Re: I have a copy of the Jane Austen Book Club
Date: 2004-12-27 01:40 am (UTC)Cheers, Peter
Re: I have a copy of the Jane Austen Book Club
Date: 2004-12-27 01:45 am (UTC)