(no subject)

[fiercebunny]

I had a good time at New Year's. Usually my friends wait till after Christmas to exchange gifts; this year I got Tudors Season 2 (where all the interesting head chopping action occurs), Harajuku Girls perfume and some fancy glass jewelry from Nicole and a Star Wars Cookbook and a bookstore gift card from Sarah. Yay, awesome stuff. It amuses me that the Star Wars cookbook has a recipe for Dark Side Salsa. Okay, I'm easily amused. I gave Nicole and her family some BPAL perfumes and the new Star Trek movie and I gave Sarah the Pioneer Woman cookbook and a Little House cookbook. (yes, we are all big on cookbooks, as it happens.) Nicole was making fun of Pioneer Woman for including a recipe for egg in the basket ("Seriously, Pioneer Woman?"), which is admittedly kind of lame. And now I just now realized that the Star Wars cookbook has the same recipe, except that they use two eggs and call it Twin Sun Toast.

I have a vague NY resolution to travel more this year, except that I have no set plans but for an idea that I'd like to see Chicago or Portland. Chicago might make an easy trip for day or two. This was in no way influenced by my finding out that there is a Mitsuwa market there and I could eat lots of fresh ramen and buy Japanese craft books. Possibly.

My other resolution is that I would like to read the Sherlock Holmes stories, in chronological order, if possible. So to start that, I have the Annotated Novels on order and then maybe I'll get Vol 1 of the Annotated Stories. The funny thing is, is that I've actually read a lot of them before, but I've forgotten most all of it. The capstone course for my English degree was on Sherlock Holmes, but it was also one of the worst classes I've ever had, so I somehow repressed it or something. My professor was really into Freudian theory, so pretty much every class was about the sexual symbols in the stories. Like Doyle will describe a hallway, but what it really represents is the vagina. Pretty much every class was along those lines and pretty much every expression in the class was like O_o. Now I think there are some books where this type of analysis would work (Dracula is definitely at the top of that list), but it's kind of pushing it with Sherlock Holmes, I think. It killed any enjoyment of the stories and also, I had terrible grades. Finally at the end of the semester, I gave in and wrote my final essay about how the caskets in one particular short story were vagina symbols and the trail of blood that Holmes discovered really represented menstrual blood and the fear that Doyle had of feminine power as a result of being repressed by Victorian sexual mores, etc. It was pretty cracktastic. I basically went over every line in the story to find anything that could even vaguely be a sexual symbol. It was the only A I ever got in that class. I ran into that professor the next year and not only did he remember my paper, he told me that it was the only one out of the class that did not disappoint him. O_o Yeah, I don't even know.

Anyway, now I just want to read the SH stories and enjoy them for the the popular genre fiction that they are. Sometimes a hallway is just a hallway.

Comments

[aoi-no-neko.livejournal.com]

OHHHHH, come to South Bay LA and you will find more than just Mitsuwa but lots of markets, ramen shops, bookstores and way more including beaches and Volks. I need to post more photos and then you won't have any resistance. (yeah I know, that was bad)

What's up with college professors anyway? I was talking earlier about the English teacher who made me read a lot of depressing books like "King Rat" and refused anything else. Won't even get into how messed up a few psych teachers were. Tenure is a dangerous thing. Funny when I was a teenager and read my way through the complete Sherlock Holmes I missed all that grody stuff. Don't remember any of that, was more into just figuring out who done it and if Professor Moriarty would do him in.

Although I would say that Freud and Holmes did have one thing in common...that little drug habit.

I'm guessing if you can stick with it the power of the stories will get you past that teacher's hang-ups. And of more fun, I did a bit of a nihon shisu search last night and hoping at least one of the stores I saw listed for where I live may still be there. I'd really like to get back into needlework and am curious as to what they might stock. If you are interested, can let you know.

[caerbannog.livejournal.com]

I've had some good professors, but there were a few who were into crazy literary theories and it becomes less about the actual text and more about coming up with an argument to justify the crazy bs theory. I only had a handful of psych classes, but most of those teachers weren't too crazy. :)

I think I'm going to ignore all that and just enjoy the stories for what they are, good escapist entertainment.

I'd love to visit LA sometime. I've only spent a day or two there years ago and would like to back. But I know this is a city that would require lots of saving up in order to do all the stuff I would like to do.(Volks!)Someday though.

Nihon shisu is so gorgeous. (And looks so difficult too.) If you do go to one of the stores, please post about it. I would love to hear about it. I don't know that I could learn it myself without getting first hand teaching (I'm a visual learner), but I'm still really interested.

That reminds me, from what I've read, this book The Techniques of Japanese Embroidery (http://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Japanese-Embroidery-Shuji-Tamura/dp/0873416279/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262839725&sr=8-1), is supposed to be the best on the subject but it is sadly out of print. I still haven't tracked down a copy.

[aoi-no-neko.livejournal.com]

I have that book on my book list to look for when I finally have time to go to the libraries here. They do have a copy, sadly it looks like it's permanently checked out.