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25746. iiibbb - 11/12/2009 3:43:52 AM Great video 25747. alistairConnor - 11/12/2009 9:41:43 AM So, a few weeks ago she was irritable, distant, something was wrong but her explanations were not convincing. There was something else going on.
Eventually she spat it out : her former boss (everyone assumed they were lovers at the time, but they weren't, she says) wants to hire her again, to run his operation in Casablanca. Very good pay and everything. It's obvious that she's been thinking seriously about it.
I was somewhat panicked by the idea. It would be an elegant solution to a number of her difficulties... including our relationship? Could I get a job there? What about my kids? etc.
Yesterday, she's joyful, radiant. She tells me she has until tomorrow to give her final answer. OK, I say. I'll stop working, I'll be a writer. There's a daily flight from Lyon, my daughters can come for weekends. I'm only half joking, and she knows it.
I'll stay with you, she says. i.e. the decision is mine. We don't need to discuss it formally; we both know what that means. We'll stick with the set of difficulties we know. 25748. iiibbb - 11/12/2009 3:35:25 PM You did see the mathematical Women = Evil proof that I posted in the slow thread? 25749. alistairconnor - 11/12/2009 5:05:34 PM Yes, I loved that.
But it doesn't equate for us... for a start, she now earns more than I do, and I can see a time coming when my salary will be relatively marginal.
For me, it's more like time squared.
Money can't buy me love. But perhaps it can buy me time? 25750. iiibbb - 11/19/2009 5:43:00 AM I got a 9 point deer this morning. It's my biggest to date.
I had a pretty frustrating first few days of the season. It has been very warm. Deer don't move when it's warm; they have their winter coats and just don't need to. This morning it was cold and windy. I was leaving for home at 8:30, and shot the deer about 8:15...
I did get to see some cool stuff this weekend: a mess of turkey, and a squirrel who did some ninja move against a hawk when it dove on him and lived to tell the tale. It was pretty cool to see. 25751. arkymalarky - 11/19/2009 3:51:57 PM Congratulations! We don't hunt, but we get deer meat more than we eat it. The deer population is out of control here. 25752. iiibbb - 11/19/2009 4:10:29 PM I'm happy because we have some deer meat in the freezer that just needs to get used.... been in there too long for best quality. I'm fixing to go offer it up to all the neighbors.
I thought I was going to goose egg this year. I was gone a week and had only 3 days and a morning in the woods. It was super frustrating.
I need to figure out the hunting around my new state... not much public land here, and I don't know anyone with land. I may be making forays to Virginia for a few years. 25753. iiibbb - 11/19/2009 4:15:54 PM All I know is you can't hunt with rifles here (which is too bad because if you're going to shoot an animal, why not with something that will increase the odds of a quick death).
They do allow muzzle loaders, which are effective and nearly as accurate (I get 1" groups at 100 yards with my rifle, and 3" groups with the black powder), but if you only wound a deer you're unlikely to get a second shot off.
I won't hunt with a bow... too many horror stories of deer running a mile with a arrow perfectly in their vitals. I don't want the animals to suffer, and I don't want to deal with getting permission to track on other peoples' land. 25754. arkymalarky - 11/19/2009 4:17:05 PM Peoole were tying land up here with leases to hunting "clubs." Haven't noticed that lately. 25755. iiibbb - 11/19/2009 4:27:40 PM Some of those are ridiculous. Literally paying 1000's of dollars. Idiotic given the free spaces that exist. I don't think you're really guaranteed a "safer" experience.
The key with hunting public land is to get far away from roads... 1/2 mile or more. 25756. arkymalarky - 11/19/2009 4:37:29 PM I imagine less safe, considering the amount of drinking in a lot of them. 25757. iiibbb - 11/19/2009 4:59:29 PM Although I've known some good hunt clubs, I'd not make bets on the ratio. Leases are less patrolled by law enforcement too I suspect.
Pick your poison I guess.
As it is, I hunt on friends' land in VA and two others and I are the only visitors. 25758. webfeet - 11/19/2009 9:42:46 PM C'est moi!
Did I hear the name Webfeet?
Wabbit, I thought of you yesteday en route to the Met when I was walking in full foliage past Central Park.Yes, I was in full foliage, not the trees. I seem to have the opposite of seasonal affective disorder; I love autumn and think I am a living tableau. I was the only woman in Manhattan wearing a pencil thin skirt in mustard; had ijumped into the trees no-one would have noticed! I could spy on Manhattan with my binoculars, but then, of course, i'd be likely to fall and give myself away, as I always do.
Did you see the VErmeer? It was astounding; here I thought it was all hype, and yet the Milkmaid is a luminous work, breahtaking in the way he recaptured daylight. Apparently all the Delft painters were gifted in that respect, it was their signature style, if such a glib phrase can be applied to that artistry--and yet, nobody does it better. That was what I concluded, upon leaving the exhibit which featured works from other artists given by the Dutch collector, Riuejevk something.
Only another week or so to catch it...if you haven't. November 29th along with the roof garden and fini.
Well, Alistair, I am happy you have taken my advice and that Lodge is inspiring to you. There are many resemblances to your work; witty and engaging, erudition and fancy, and you should stick to what you know. It's homely advice, but it's true.
re: yesteday (Wabbit--isn't tht so hilarious? I did an automatic proof read and saw that--but I'm going to leave it because it's so disgustingly funny. It's so New York.)
We should do lunch. I mean it!
25759. alistairConnor - 11/20/2009 1:04:52 AM Ha. We saw the Nestlé wench in Amsterdam in the spring. She's in NY now is she? Doesn't surprise me. Flighty. Nice light though. 25760. webfeet - 11/20/2009 6:01:46 PM So blasé...a season ahead of New York. Yet I didn't see the dirty allusions. I think I was too blown away by the light. I got up so close, even the security guard looked at me as if I were an art terrorist, a lunatic, pencil in hand, about to puncture the canvas.
Belle-mere just left NY by the way. Ta-ta and she came for ten days and planned an intrepid program of sight-seeing, visiting everything from the Whitman House in LI near my parents' to crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, which I believe, figured prominently in one of your erotic vampire orgies. They even did the Roosevelt Island tramway (their second time, ohhh those French ladies!) crossing over from Queens to First Avenue like homing pigeons. It may surprise you to hear that BM, as I once called her, actually loves me now. A long period of diplomacy has resulted in an accord; I seduced them with artful dinners, including a seasonal pumpkin pie, and they came bearing fig confiture, lavendar honey, chocolates and Calissons, and my favorite fragrance, Allure. It was a little bit like the Indians trading wampum with the first settlers, in a weird way, only we have yet to bond over a bong. And if anyone is going to get skinned, its not going to be me.
25761. wabbit - 11/20/2009 6:27:46 PM Webfeet, I envy you, living in NYC. I will always think of you chasing after a cab that has just gone off with your faux leopard hat - but that thought has room to incorporate the autumn season! When is your book coming out?
I will likely miss the Vermeer, having too little unscheduled time over the next week to get there to see her. Honestly, I don't understand why these museum curators don't check with me beforehand (ha!). On the up side, it makes a good excuse to visit her at home. I do plan to get to NY in the not too distant future - I'll email you beforehand and if you can manage it, I'd love to see you! 25762. wabbit - 11/20/2009 6:28:35 PM I just noticed that we are out of sync with NZ time again. 25763. alistairconnor - 11/20/2009 10:38:12 PM Yet I didn't see the dirty allusions.
There aren't any. Just that everything reminds me of sex.
No, I think that the subtext (intertextuality?) of that remark is the French expression about wanting the butter, the money of the butter, and the milkmaid's arse too. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Gentlepersons of the jury, consider your verdict.
25764. webfeet - 11/21/2009 1:35:46 AM Wabbit
That would be wonderful! And I will shout from a bullhorn my good news--when I have it. I have been engaged in a courtship that, I am happy to say is not entirely one way, with various agents, but the fish hasn't bit yet. I have had my share of disappointments (an agent who jumped on me but my novel wasn't ready but then subsequently turned into the Vampire Lestat when it was) and unrequited love; but I also have some suitors. Otherwise, I am mum. What I will say is that I probably have worked harder this year than I ever have in my entire life. It's the business side of writing, of selling your work that is, without question, the hardest part.
Alistair, the most important advice I can impart is 1) join a writer's forum 2) to truly immerse yourself wholeheartedly and with genuine love toward your work 3) and to exfoliate scaley negative emotions as you would slough away dead skin.
It's really not productive. And boring. Self pity is really boring. And I am highly selective of my time--I only do what I love...like look at dirty paintings by Vermeer.
What is the expression in French?
25765. wabbit - 11/26/2009 6:23:33 PM Happy Thanksgiving, folks!
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