The Leaping Year

How often does one get the opportunity to post on a 29th of February? For some reason, once that thought attacked me, I had to post today, whether or not I really had material. Not that there's been any dearth of material, though. I have a cool half-dozen or so unfinished drafts of posts nestling sleepily here. As I remarked to Ananymous, it's like having worked on the principle of "Well begun is half done", and having gone that far, I've given in to the demands of - umm, not just work, but nightly episodes of Jeeves and Wooster on YouTube and a chapter of this book to calm me into a happy-pig-like frame of mind before bed. Didn't I mention I love pigs?!

Right now, my head is pronouncing every word in the accent and style of Stephen Fry (Jeeves). That can be a bit maddening at times, so I'm off to go read a chapter of A Good Good Pig. I actually wish I had Whipple's The Care Of The Pig, but blame Wodehouse for those high expectations! Luckily, Sy Montgomery has referred to what seem like a couple of excellent books on the lives, lifestyles and thought-processes of these wonderful animals - so if anyone's looking to get me a gift, you know where to look!

Until the next time I deem momentous enough to write, Yoicks! and Tally ho!

Errmm... not to forget, Oinks!

Of This and That...

*** Another odds-and-ends post, this one inspired (nominally, in a literal sense) by a friend who has ventured - for the second time - into this world. I mean, the blog-world. Hopefully her current stay here will be more permanent than the last time she jumped 'in'. I'm looking forward to reading of this and that a lot more, Ananymous!

*** Just a silly thought for the Monday morning that just went by, but - I've yet to come across a 'Cindy' whose real name is actually Cinderella. Do you think she exists? "Hi, pleased to meet you, I'm Summer ... You're - what? Ummm, okay - well, I lied, I'm actually Rapunzel." (What? I'm growing my hair long these ... years.)

*** The other day my eyes opened at 5:00 am in the morning. I usually wake up at 7:30am, so basically, by 5am I've had the first stretch of deep sleep. My usual reaction to waking up at that time is - "Oh man, just a couple of hours more and I have to get out of bed", followed by half an hour of toss-'n'-turn back to sleep. That day, in following the tradition of starting new traditions, I went "Wow, it's another day - I cannot wait to wake up!" I swear, that was my first impulse. And I actually slept right back after it. Absolutely!, as Bertie Wooster would say. Life is good. (Touch wood.) Isn't it weird that all it took was a 'new boss'?

*** Speaking of Bertie Wooster, I have to publicly thank all those wonderful people out there (i.e., on YouTube) for putting two of my favorite fictional characters online, giving me another line of access to worlds that I've grown up in, people I've read and reread, and traditions that I will definitely pass on to my children (assuming I have any): Jeeves/Wooster and Sherlock Holmes. Not fit for much else today, I've been idly watching some episodes of both Granada productions, sitting home and making up for the frequent late evenings and a recent very late night at work. I'm NOT complaining about the long hours at work - I love it, and I'd do it again, every time. Work is wonderful these days, it's just that I've been a bit under the weather today - nothing severe, just a sore throat and a little bit of a fever. I'm longing to get back tomorrow!

*** What do you think of when you see the standard euphemism for bad language, i.e., "$#%*@!" and the like??? This should have been obvious to me - but I guess it acquired significance only when I thought about it: the fact that my definition of "$#%*@!" has changed over time. As a child, I used to see it on the very occasional comic books I read, and I always thought they were saying "Bad boy/girl!" or "Stupid fool!" or - at the maximum, the 'I-word' - Idiot. I don't see "$#%*@!" very often any more but I happened to run into it the other day - I forget how - and realized, with a bit of a shock, that my definition of bad language has altered quite a lot. I won't say I use a lot of bad language, but I am exposed to more juicier, 'thought-provoking' phrases as an adult, and that has colored my perception of what's acceptable in general social company. "Stupid fool!" is positively cute now. I am sort-of upset that I have allowed the use of words that I formerly would have publicly upbraided people for using. Hmmm - I think I'm sounding school-teacher-ish, so I'll stop now.