2012 — 4 December: Tuesday
On other mornings1 sleep barely departs even if I'm in a hurry. But, with a pub lunch avoiding the need to prep a packed one, all I have to do now is grab some hasty breakfast and hope the roads aren't too icy-scheissey2 out there. The porch thermometer is claiming it's +2C but various neighbours' cars are still somewhat afflicted by Jack Frost's overnight ministrations (micturations?)
Some people...
... thought too much, I suspect. This chap, for example, strove to prove that God is unhappy. Is that any way to spend your time? Source and snippet:
Above the age of five we are probably too old for happiness. We can, of course, experience transient pleasure, moments of wonderment and great enchantment, even ecstatic feelings of unity with God and the universe; we can know love and joy. But happiness as an immutable condition is not accessible to us, except perhaps in the very rare cases of true mystics.
Me? I'm content. With Christa's untimely departure that may well now be as good as it gets. We shall see :-)
I shall draw a veil over exactly why our 7-mile stroll burst through the 8-mile barrier.3 No matter. The pub lunch at "The Chestnut Horse" (or some such) in Easton at roughly the midpoint was excellent — thanks again, Brian. It's remained pretty damn' cool and, at 15:45, we're already seeing the last of today's sunshine. I don't greatly care for this time of year. But then, nor do I much care for the celebratory spasm coming up. Just call me Scrooge.
Having recently reminded myself (or discovered, depending how you look at it) that my 1995 CD of Arvo Part's "Fratres" on William Orbit's initial release of "Pieces in a Modern Style" was quickly withdrawn from sale and is therefore not widely available, I'm now renewing my acquaintance with it. I notice, however, that the VLC player has gone out sniffing on the Interweb and located the artwork for the later re-release:
Having heard and very much liked several other mainstream performances of the same piece, I really can't see what the composer's objection was. It's been treated respectfully; better, in fact, than the way that Isao Tomita manages to mangle other 'classical' pieces. Lovely music generally speaking remains lovely music.
Right. The washing machine has just about done its thing. (Since hearing an item on the steam radio yesterday about so-called 'biological' washing powders I've now decided to run a cooler, shorter cycle and maybe save a penny or two.) Time to think about the evening's food and entertainment options. "Food" being very easy as I have a final portion of crockpot to (h)eat. "Entertainment" could be trickier though I suspect I can find the odd item. Last night, for example, I re-watched "Easy A" and thoroughly enjoyed it again. I expect, if I inherit the full extent of dear Mama's dementia and my senility comes fully onstream, I'll be able to watch it ever more frequently. Sorry, what was I saying? I forget what I forget these days!
Crikey
Sunday's wish (a Blu-ray release of "The Sterile Cuckoo") has been granted, and is even now on its way to me. Since I've waited 42 years, I guess I can manage another couple of weeks for the American import to wend its way over to Albion. This is the sort of thing that makes me more than "content" :-)
My evening entertainment? I've been watching "Ted" with dialogue subtitles on while listening to Seth MacFarlane's commentary.
I'm a ¬sad person :-)