Tuesday 5 June 2007

Miscellany

  • First the public service announcement: if you go here and put your site feed (or anyone's site feed) into the relevant box, it takes your post titles and makes them into cat macros. (for example: A Better World: Graeme Bird For High Office; the dullest blog in the world; or, from the department of x-treme self-referentialols, view the I can has cheezburger? feed put through a different and wholly unrelated random cat macro generator (thanks and blessings tigtog.)
  • It looks like the awesomely fun job is go. 85% sure, today. So I will tell you what it is. It is teaching a course called 'rethinking Jane Austen.' So I'm sitting here having a good time thinking about rethinking Jane Austen today, although I really should be marking essays about something completely different. I'm considering putting into the syllabus that each person will be allocated only two (2) iterations of utterances containing the phrase "I love it"for deployment during the semester, so the two goes had better be used thoughtfully. Which means not wasted upon Mr Darcy's wet blouse.
  • Your comments about the idiot on the plane reminded me about an encounter many years ago with a man who seemed to be suffering uncontrollable anger. I thought of this man because he was frightening and appalling but at the same time he seemed very much aware of what a shit he was being and to be struggling against himself. I have thought about him quite a few times since and I wish I could remember the details of the conversation, or could come up with a convincing approximation of how it must have gone. This was when I worked in the jeans shop. He was buying jeans from me. As you will know finding the right pair of jeans is a something of a process with a fair amount of trying out different possibilities. Normal people regard this as, well, normal, but with each fresh pair that didn't fit, or was the wrong colour or style, or was too expensive or not in stock, he became more and more enraged, and this manifested in him as a red face, clenched fists, and angry, hostile, insulting sneers and jibes. By the time we found the right jeans he was worked-up to such a degree that he had could not stop trying to pick a fight with me. Working in a jeans shop is like an opiate so I didn't find it hard to not rise to the bait. I think, though, that I did ask him if he was always this way. And I'm pretty sure that he said he was, and that he was sorry. I can remember the extraordinary look on his face: he appeared to be genuinely and profoundly sorry - not just apologetic, but also horrified by the effect he had on other people - but at the same time, my question ratcheted him up another notch. The whole exchange was rendered even more peculiar by the fact that I was prostrate upon my knees and servilely fussing around at his feet, which is what you do in jeans shops when you're getting the jeans ready for hemline alteration.
  • p.s. I finally remembered to buy some new batteries for my camera so I anticipate a full tilt blog renaissance any moment now.....

8 comments:

tigtog said...

Thank 'ee for the thanks and blessings, but lauredhel gets the credit/blame for sharing the LOLfeed more widely.

Bizarre little utility, isn't it? GB's blog was a great choice to play with for it though - only you coulda thunk of it. Brava!

Ampersand Duck said...

Golly, that does cheer up a dull blog, doesn't it?

Congrats on the most interesting course... I hope you will share choice morsels with us along the way!

Anonymous said...

I got so excited I made you a present.

Ben.H said...

Thank you for sharing this important information. I have a new favourite pastime.

Anonymous said...

Great news about the course, Laura. Bravo.

cristy said...

Ooh, that is extremely exciting. I hope that it all works out and look forward to hearing all about the course.

Rosanna said...

But what a wonderful thought Mr Darcy's wet shirt is!

A said...

'upon Mr Darcy's wet blouse'? 'Wasted'?!!! Bah!!