The Yoghurt Shooters of – who was that again?

Oh bugger.  I was Wrong.  Well, not entirely wrong.  But partly wrong – and that, as everyone knows, is the worst kind of Wrong.  And now I am wronging – I mean, ringing – bugger, I mean wringing my hands in an access of misery.  Can there be anything worse than a cherished idea that turns out to be mistaken?

Ah, the samskaras!*

Yes, my ideas about the pronunciation of Patanjali have come crashing down.  Apparently (according to Mark) you CAN say Per-tan-jer-li OR you can say it my way: but the gospel according to Stephen is that you can ONLY say it Per-tan-jer-li.

I am utterly humiliated.  But I prefer Mark’s gospel, since at least I’m half-right.  And that, as everyone knows, is the best kind of right.

I stick my head under my wing and go back to sleep, secure in the knowledge that since I can’t see any light, it must be night-time.

TTFN

* this is of course not a Sanskrit word for “an attachment” but a dancing troupe from Eastern Europe

Think Freud

Mark mentioned Pink Floyd this morning and for a moment, I thought he’d said it wrong – for a moment, I thought the correct version was “Pink Freud”.  Or I guess that should be, “Pink Froyd”.  Must be the episode of “Friends” which appeared on Friday when i was channel-surfing with Steve (no, that’s not a euphemism for something which would render me Unfaithful to Mark) which was the one – sorry, The One – with the musical “Freud!”  As they correctly say, the exclamation mark* should have given it away.  If you haven’t seen it, do so immediately.

My hair is pink.  I may have said this before and it may be unnecessary to remind you, but I just thought I’d mention it.  Actually, I should probably put a heading, “New Readers Start Here”.

New Readers Start Here

My hair is pink.  When people ask me why, I say “It’s because pinks have more fun”.

And it’s true!

Philosophy without tutor today.  Sounds like “minister without portfolio”.  Apparently she is off rescuing the countryside with Bill Bryson.  Sounds like fun.

Murray on court today.  A TV, a TV, my kingdom for a TV!

Enjoy the match.

PS a phrase in my mind when I .woke up: “I was receding in an elderly direction”

* I guess that really was an “explanation mark” ( see previous post)

Who killed Michael Jackson?

Who killed Michael Jackson?  After careful thought, we have come to this conclusion:

It was the sunshine, the moonlight, the good times AND the boogie.

the sunshine because it showed up his skin and made him want to whiten it.

The moonlight because – well, there was a lot ot moonlight in “Thriller”

The good times because he had enough money to live in isolation and go mad.

The boogie because – well, isn’t it obvious?

I rest my case.

Ladimir and Oestrogen # 4

- you can twitter these things now

-  I can what?

-  Twitter

-  Oh god

-  You can just…

-  Why would I want to?

-  What do you mean, why?

-  I mean, why? why would I want to do that?

-  It’s Twitter!

-  “It’s Twitter”.  That’s an answer?

-  It’s a statement.  What more do you need?

-  I don’t know where to start with that one

-  then don’t.

-  I won’t.

-  that it then?

-  Yep.

I suppose Twitter is like grooming.  Was that an anthropological moment?  I guess.  Watched a lot of Michael Jackson videos back to back in a hastily cobbled-together “tribute” programme and was awed by the things the man could do with his body.

Great day yesterday.  Tennis, strawberries, cream, and conversation with Stephen.  Will Murray beat Federer?  I can’t see it.

I feel a novel coming on.  Soon.

Enjoy the day, whichever time zone you’re in.

TTFN

PS Having actually watched both Murray and Federer, yes, I can see it.

PPS Hate to admit it, but I actually quite like Twitter now.  Not that I have done any, you understand – I’m just coming round to it.

PPPS  I used to have a Round Tuit, a plate which hung on my wall and waited.

So farewell then…

Michael Jackson.  I have two memories of him – wait, no, three.  One is of him as a child in the Jackson Five, with bouncy hair and a joyous voice.  The second is in his “Thriller” incarnation, the only time in my life when I really got into his music, buying the LP and dancing to it in the dark.  The third is of a bizarrely whitened “elephant-man” figure peering out from behind a curtain.  In the main, I felt sorry for him – with the exception of JK Rowling (who isn’t a pop star) fame seems to destabilise people.

In fact, you could say, “Fame destabilises; absolute fame destabilises absolutely.”  (Lacks the punch of the original, somehow.  Needs work.)

And how shall I handle my own fame, when it arrives (as surely it must)?  Don’t write in.  Especially not to say that this won’t be a problem.

You’ll see!

Enjoy the day.  In Britain it’s somewhat dull.  Almost, you might say, “desperately dull”.

D’ja get the reference?  Monty Python again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h-wVe9a6rQ

TTFN

Black Beth

A thought which occurred to me (I can’t do anything about these – they just come)

Black Beth – the Scottish plague!

Deconstruct and enjoy!

TTFN

(was that my Myers Briggs type?)

And lo! I am an ISBN

Very interesting session with Claire yesterday discussing my Myers-Briggs test results.  Now, I am a little reluctant to be put in any kind of box, personality-wise, but I did find the results quite revealing – or shall we say, confirmatory of what I generally think about myself.  But more importantly than reading about yourself and going “Oh, wow!  Yes, totally – this is me!” it’s about groups and how go get on with others who are definitely not your type.  So – interesting.  At home, Mark took one look at the papers and said, “Oh, it’s Jungian.”  The results are expressed as a series of four letters written (I think) in order of importance – so you come out as a TTFN or HSBC or something.  (I jest).  If you’re really interested I am a – shit, no, I’ve forgotten now.  Was it ISFN?*  Anyway, I’m intuitive, feeling, erm… something else and another thing.  I could look it all up but I’m in the middle of tea.  Yes, it’s that time in the morning again.

Apparently they use this in churches as well.  (Myers-Briggs, not tea.  But also tea.)

Mm.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator

*If you’re interested, I’m an INFP – Introverted, INtuitive, Feeling and Perception.

PS I still am, even if you’re not interested.

When I am old I shall wear mauve…

this morning’s conversation in bed (picture, if you will, the two of us sitting up in bed drinking tea and coffee, conversing animatedly on whatever subjects float across the akasha of our mind)

Ah! Did you spot the Sanskrit word there?  “Akasha” means “space” and “chid-akasha” means “mind-space”.  But I digress.

The subject of today’s bed-tea-and-coffee-conversation was the word “mauve” and how nobody ever uses it any more (my mate Tony in Chester reckoned that only middle-aged ladies in Harrogate tea-shops ever used it.  I think he’d been reading too much Alan Bennett) and then Mark dredged up from the recesses of his memory the fact that “mauve” used to be a euphemism for “gay” (which in turn used to be a synonym for “happy” but let’s not go there.)  Then I dredged up (though with somewhat less effort) from my memory the line from “Withnail and I”:

-  He’s so mauve, we don’t know what he’s planning.

Check it out.  Great film.

Incidentally, “Withnail” is pronounced “With-nerll” with a schwa on the second vowel.  Which pretty much brings us back to where we were yesterday.

Watched the tennis.  Andy Murray through.

Today I am going to meet my new friend Claire and discover what kind of personality I have.

TTFN

PS I am reading John Peel’s autobiog, “Margrave of the Marshes” and in between bouts of affection and sadness that he’s dead, trying to analyse his highly individual writing style.

Hotel Facebook

A friend of ours has had enough of Facebook.  (Remember the song?  “I’m getting bored of Facebook”?  It was funny for about three bars.

Listening to Cohen in rented car.  Life doesn’t get any sweeter than “Everybody Knows” blasting me down the M1.

Anyway, as Mark pointed out, you can just not go onto Facebook.  But can you leave?  Which gave rise to the thought:

You can sign out any time you want

But you can never leave

I really am getting up now.

Rot, or what?

A conversation on Sanskrit triggered off by a teaching observation I did yesterday where my pronunciation of Patanjali (“Pat-an-ja-li”) gave rise to comment.  Most people pronounce it “Per-tan-jerli” which seems utterly wrong to me since, although I don’t know much about Sanskrit, I do know that there is no schwa as we have it in English but an “a” sound between the consonants.  When I mentioned this to Mark he instantly grabbed the laptop and started to surf the net about Sanskrit and then we had a conversation (such as it was) about where the stress goes and I said you mark the stress with a line above and he said “No, that’s the emphasis” and I said, “What’s the difference” and he went all horribly technical and incomprehensible and then I said in exasperation:

-  Mark!  You’re emphasising me out!

and then we laughed and I said, “Give me the laptop – I need to blog.”

The title was a thought about the website “Hot or Not?”

www.hotornot.com

Rot – or what?

Enjoy the day – and if you’re hot -

remember that in the evening you’ll cool down!

TTFN

PS After discussions with our resident (and non-resident) Sanskrit experts I am forced to conclude that either pronunciation of Patanjali is acceptable