May 2008
40 posts
“I walked into the theatre hoping for a nice evening and came out as a hard-line...”
– Anthony Lane, who makes me realise just how far I have to go in terms of my development as a critic.
Ho-hum
Since I spent last night exhorting people to start their own blogs and make them interesting, the pressure is increased for me to write things that are diverting and amusing here - to follow my own example. Unfortunately, I’ve spent most of the day doing laundry and reading books that I’m going to review - a perfectly lovely way to spend a Saturday after quite a gruelling week, but...
Ce soir
I am presenting a BLOGGING MASTERCLASS at the V&A. At the moment, I am preparing the Powerpoint presentation and thus this post will actually go in the presentation. It’s so meta.
Sometimes
I am so excited about tomorrow that I hate to have to waste several hours sleeping. It’s quite a nice feeling.
I don't
Recommend the hours between two and four in the morning for fretting.
The things I will do to make people happy
I went to a party at Seb’s on Friday. Seb lives on a kind of dodgy road, so I took a cab there. “Your friend lives where?” said the driver when I instructed him, obviously thinking that Seb is some kind of a drug dealer. “He’s an up-and-coming photographer,” I said, by way of explanation. The driver handed me a card when he dropped me off. “Call me when...
“I like Sundays, but only in moderation.”
– Me, so over this rainy Bank Holiday weekend
Progress
In the town where I grew up, driving was a requirement if we wanted to do so much as pick up a pint of milk. Before we hit our glorious sixteenth birthdays, therefore, much parental carpooling ensued, and I was given many a ride by my friend Pennie’s father. Every time we went somewhere in his car (a quite cool low-slung maroon-coloured Chrysler, if I remember correctly) he’d be...
Here's the thing
When I was in university (or high school, for that matter) I used to always write my papers at the last minute. I’d spend all of the time leading up to maybe a day before my deadline not writing the papers but thinking about how I needed to write them and generally making myself feel rather miserable and ill. I would always get the papers in on time and they would always be reasonably good...
Litopia Writers' Podcast →
I am the ‘special guest’ on tonight’s Litopia podcast. Edit: Hurray!
An appearance by Godot is more likely
I am waiting at home this morning for someone to come and repair the bits that have fallen off the facings of our cabinets and replace some lightbulbs and whatnot. I don’t have a good feeling about this; I fear a repeat of the last time we tried to get some mending done. I will try to control my temper this time. But in the long run, is it not better to be in the thrall of repair people...
Returning to regularly scheduled programming
This week I have been working in an actual (temporary) job in an actual office, which somewhat interferes with my personal blogging time. But anyway, to provide you with entertainment to make up for this dearth of posting, let me tell you about the other night when I found myself out at a party at a hotel bar and a really well-meaning young man tried to impress me by telling me about the cars...
The Big Green Bookshop
in Wood Green (I found it! It’s on the Piccadilly Line!) is where I will be tonight, all Guardian Book Bloggers LIVE!-style. Several friends have suggested that I wear a stab-proof vest. You (the public) are warmly invited, from 7-9. Here is a link to their blog, which has directions et cetera.
I am feeling my age
Because as I walked in to the office this morning, a young man approached me and tried to worm his way into my heart with the immortal pick-up line, ‘Have you finished school?’ And I couldn’t help but feel slightly touched. I even let him escort me for several blocks before I told him about my fictional boyfriend.
“[McGill] university has been a fertile recruiting ground for future spies, just...”
– The ‘spy’ who loved him: Autumn gave up chance of joining Intelligence Service after meeting Peter | the Daily Mail How upsetting! No one ever invited ME to be a spy.
“That article is extraordinarily good.
Sigh. I wish I could write like that.
I...”
– Geneva correspondent, in response to this essay in the LRB.
It is fascinating being a woman
Without fail, every month, I find myself spending a few days moping about the state of my career and regretting having not gone to law school, which surely would have guaranteed me a life that was both wealthy and uncomplicated and steadily (as opposed to intermittently) miserable. It’s dependable: ‘What day is it?’ ‘Well, I am regretting not being a solicitor, so it must...
Books: How To Never Get Published →
Gawked again! This always makes me feel quite spesh.
How to outsource the slush pile | Books | Guardian... →
Why I am an epic failure
I am very bad at Mother’s Day. Each year, it swings around here in England in March and I think, ‘ah, I will wait for American Mother’s Day.’ And then do I remember it? No. Because I am rubbish. It’s fairly inexcusable. My mother, you see, is utterly marvelous. While it might be traditional to write a post summing up all of the ways in which she is kind, talented,...
A new professional challenge
So, after nearly six months, I am really feeling that I’m quite into the freelancing groove: I have quite a bit of work (although always could do with more), a good space to work in, I have gotten to do some excellent travelling, started writing a book, and I have struck a balance between being reasonably disciplined with my focus and taking advantage of the flexibility that freelancing...
What if Augie March were a woman? | Books |... →
We have no water again, so
I am currently breakfasting on muesli. Out of a large plastic tumbler. With a fork.
There's no place like home
And now that I’m back, I seriously need a vacation.
Johnson snatches Tories' biggest prize | Politics... →
I’M SORRY.
How was your flight?
Christine: I don't think I've ever been so squashed in economy class. The person in front of me pushed their chair back and the tray went right into my knees.
Jean: Mine was fine. Oh, except that the plane went on fire.
I feel totally responsible
Apparently Boris is about to win the election? Due to foolishness, I didn’t set up an absentee ballot. I do hope he wins by more than one vote or it will be entirely my fault. I feel quite sick.
My kind of town
Now that my parents have left my native climes (and the family home) in upstate New York, and it is thus unlikely that I’ll ever return, Chicago feels like the next-best-thing in terms of something approaching a sense of roots and home in America. I flew in last night for my grandfather’s 90th birthday party (on which more later), reading The Adventures of Augie March, which was loaned...
Bucking the stereotype
Ross: I'm not really a typical academic.
Jean: Honey, you're wearing a corduroy jacket.
Ross: You should see the one I have with elbow patches!