So I’m researching (actually, flipping through a book and giggling at, though also trying to find good examples of) old hipster slang — that is, white hipster slang — and what, pray tell, did I find? Goon from Saskatoon: An idiot, a square. No respect, I tell ya. We get no respect. Then again, it’s kind of true, and was probably even more true in the 1930s. Another one I got a kick out of was Hot pillow joint, which is, of course, a hotel that rents out rooms by the hour. Just the kind of thing I can actually …
Category: PERSONAL
Third Time’s When I Flip Out
Yup. My closet started dripping again on Friday, and as usual with sudden housing emergencies, this was a national holiday. The lowest-level guys on campus, who can’t do anything but stop the immediate problem, showed up and, well, sort of fixed it. If “fixed” means that it stopped dripping but could start again at any time, leaving me with a ton of washing to do, and a closet I cannot use, and who knows how much actual repair to be done because, you know, a pretty wallpaper job? It doesn’t stop a faulty water tank from drenching your clothes. Or, …
At the Conference (Besides Me)
This recent post by Ben Goldsmith, one of the people I met at the AKS Conference I mentioned here, reminded me that I didn’t discuss any of the talks I saw by other people — mostly, I like to think, because I was so overwhelmingly relieved by the fact my own talk was not a disaster. (According to Ben’s post, absolutely not, and he was very kindly encouraging in person too, as was everyone else.) Here’s what I saw others talk about: on the first day, I saw a couple of interesting talks in the morning. One by Paul Bradley …
Got a Copy?
UPDATE: I have a couple of copies coming in the post from the KH — thanks Matt — but if you have a clipping and you were saving it for me, don’t chuck it. I’ll take it from you next time we meet. Thanks! By the way, though I mentioned my essay in the Korea Herald yesterday, I didn’t manage to get a copy of the paper. (I had no chance to get off campus.) If anyone has a copy, I wouldn’t mind having a couple of copies of the clipping. If you have it, please do email me or …
The Irony of the Universe
So today, my essay on “Fending off Discontentment” is in the Korea Herald. It’s part three of a discussion that started on Tuesday here, and continued on Wednesday here. You can also read the essay online here. Roboseyo has posted a bunch of links to the original posts in the discussion, including the series of mine that led to this essay. Ironically, the dripping water in my closet has started again because the repairmen seemed to have gone to much greater trouble to re-wallpaper the closet than to prevent water leakage from repeating each time it rains. And since I …
Yaar, Free Booty
Shimmerzine did a pirate issue last year. Today’s Talk Like a Pirate Day. (Well, in US time it still is.) You can download a PDF of that issue of the magazine free here. Er, mates. It’s booty, it’s free. Go get it! And while you’re at it, pick up a copy of the current issue, which has a story by my excellent friend and, yes, classmate from Clarion West, Tinatsu Wallace. It’s been getting great reviews, and deservedly so… from what I remember of the first draft, anyway. (I just ordered my copy of the issue, so I haven’t seen …
fErthEr bRrilyaNtS on the bLlogossSFearz [all very sic, sic, sic]
Yes, it seems people out there truly want to be mocked in a public forum! On my entry here, a review of Jonathan Spence’s The Question of Hu, an entertaining little text which is also a great introduction to Spence’s approach to Chinese history, one Anthony Dawkin (let’s assume he can spell his own name, even if he cannot think) deemed to pronounce his well-considered judgment on the worthiness of the text spew his uninformed, microcephalic un-opinion onto the blogosphere to nauseate as many people as possible: Anthony Dawkin | at 2:14 AM | 2008/09/18 | 68.179.147.205 I would …
“Realer” vs. Real Life
Real life is nuts, is screwy, and I just don’t feel like writing about it now. Except to sigh. But I did get some editing done, and finally, a story I started in 1999 is ready to go out the door. The title is “Realer,” and it’s a far different story than it was when it started out–but better, at once more brutally real and more hopeful. I think, anyway. That’s one more story to put into my send-pile, I guess. Since it’s appropriate for all ages, I think I’ll be saving it till I hear back about “Vortex, Inverse” …
In Case You Couldn’t Login…
It was because of a plugin I’d installed that thought you were an evil spambot bent on ruining my website. Apologies; it didn’t mean to misconstrue. It’s just your haircut. It knows better now. Won’t happen again. We promise.
Sorted Update
An update to this… The guy who turned up today came a few hours later than I expected, but got the reconstruction part of the closet-fixing done, and a trapdoor installed, all in two hours flat. The higher-up who was supervising him also showed up, and was very professional. And the killer was, he very conscientiously swept up afterward — not just in my closet, not just the floor beside it, but even out in the hallway where a bunch of sheetrock dust had ended up. I’m hoping that the guy who shows up tomorrow morning for the wallpapering job …