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Enjoying the Obvious

FSU: Sometimes I like to mis-spell words for alliterative affect.

***

Last night so many people asked if I missed working where I was working.  It was all I could do to wait for them to finish asking the question, before answering.

***

And for all the times each year I have to send this to someone who needs to understand (because it’s better sent than heard), this be the Larkin:

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.


Word.


[nightingaleshiraz] [?]
[Via Marco Aurelio, Roma]
[domenica 24 luglio 2011 ore 11:34:08] []

80 voglia

Andrew’s off to replenish our dangerously low sunscreen supply.  And I should be showering so we can go to Elisabetta’s little birthday do right after.  Instead I am spending way too much time reading the Heath brothers et al (my favorites for today is Are You A Horrible Boss? and The Gripping Statistic: How to Make Your Data Matter -- no prizes for guessing which work environment is on MY mind...).

Last night we went to Divin’Ostilia for Stefano’s not-so-little 80s party.  Ten euro for all you can eat and drink (including mojitos -- whoa) and all the Madonna you could ever want.  Twenty-four years on and all it takes is five seconds of Starship to see Andrew McCarthy in my head again.  The day before, I’d stopped in to do some writing, and caught Stefano "testing" the playlist (Kim Wilde singing You Came, in that way that has you singing it for the next seventy-two hours).

Next week might be hard, or it might not.  But at least there is the thought of Tuscany after.  And of that point in the Roman summer when things get really, really quiet.

Andrew comes home and breaks my last red wineglass.  Ah well.


[nightingaleshiraz] [?]
[Via Marco Aurelio, Roma]
[sabato 23 luglio 2011 ore 20:08:08] []

On the grapevine: volunteer interpreters needed in Germany this August

There are a few mailing lists that I don’t have the heart to unsubscribe from and Babels is one of them.  They’re an "international network of volunteer interpreters and translators," and despite how that sounds (and despite what you would suspect of an organization with a name like "Babels" -- erp) -- they do what they do rather well.

I don’t usually pass on their calls for volunteers though -- but this one was unusual in that, for once, the deal includes travel compensation, accommodation, and meals for the volunteers.  Which to me, is a rare instance of the non-profit sector *not* exploiting the mutually-unhealthy love affair it has with volunteering.  Yay!

FOR VOLUNTEERS COMING FROM FRANCE, BELGIUM, SWITZERLAND OR GERMANY
Dear all,
The ENA (European Network Academy) will take place on August 9-14 in Freiburg im Breisgau.
The organizers urgently seek committed and/or volunteering ENFR interpreters.
Travel expenses, accommodation and meals will be provided by the organizers.

Capture-2011-07-23


It’s not quite Bavaria, but I’m sure the beer is good.


[nightingaleshiraz] [?]
[Via Marco Aurelio, Roma]
[sabato 23 luglio 2011 ore 13:40:08] []

That time of year, again

When the cherry tomatoes from Tuodì are so ridiculously packed to bursting with their tomato-ness, you have to make a conscious effort to seal your lips together, or else the shrapnel goes shooting out in six different directions.  No wonder tomatoes have such a reputation for sensuality: flirtatious rhymes with squirtatious.

When waking up earlier in the morning isn’t such a bad idea, because the world hasn’t warmed up yet.

When even the cat tells you it’s too hot to eat.

When the after-sun lotion sets up permanent residence in the fridge.


[nightingaleshiraz] [?]
[Via Marco Aurelio, Roma]
[domenica 03 luglio 2011 ore 15:58:08] []