Monday, March 18, 2024

A Maggie Interlude

I went to a trunk show at a yarn store with friends on Saturday, and between that and online buying, I'll have some yarn to show, but this morning Miss Maggie demanded attention be paid to her peak adorableness.

After napping on my lap for a while, she moved onto the footstool next to me and did this:






Gotcha!


Friday, March 15, 2024

The Boarding School Story

As requested, here's the story of how I ended up doing a year at boarding school in England between high school and college. Looking back, trying to recall details, has been an interesting exercise!

My high school was a fairly small private school outside Boston (my graduating class was 62 students, for reference), and at least in the mid-80s, felt very strongly that all its students would go on to college (aka university: I at least tend to use the terms to mean the same thing). I had no idea what I wanted to do (isn't that a theme, hey?), so I was politely resisting the pressure. I guess that was part of my teenage rebellion? All I remember is that I didn't see the point, so why bother doing all the work of searching and applications. Funny story, my mother remembers them calling her in to discuss it with her--bless her, her response was why force me?

 You know, I'm a pack rat, I may still have the list I clipped out of the school paper, which said where everyone was going, and my line read:

C_______ R____ did not apply.

Ha! Sounds as if they were washing their hands of me. But they didn't quite. Like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, they found a boarding school in England that was looking for not-quite-exchange students to attend. I wonder why they were? My school suggested that this was something I could do, though again, why did that make them feel better about me not trotting off to college? I guess at least they wouldn't have to say I went from their hallowed halls to work in a McDonald's.

It's funny to look back on the facts, at least as I remember them, and wonder now about the reasons why...

I flew to London in the spring of 1986, so that the school and I could have a look at each other. You know, I see no reason not to name it: Benenden School, which is in the countryside in Kent, south of London. And if you're wondering what kind of place it is, just know that when I did an online search for it, it suggested the question, "What royals went to Benenden School?" (For the British royal family, btw, the answer to that is Princess Anne, well before my time.)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The school and I agreed that we liked each other well enough, and in September, my mother and I flew over to get my trunk fitted out, metaphorically speaking*, with all the uniform requirements at Peter Jones (a department store, in US terms), the list for which had much amused us over the summer. (I wonder if I kept that list, as well?) I can bring a tuck box, can I? Oh, and I should pack a cagoule, should I?

*We had actually packed a trunk** full of the things from home that I thought I would want/need, and sent it across the ocean on a boat, which I thought was so crazy. But the uniform itself we had to shop for in London.
**I kept that trunk until I moved to Florida six years ago. It made a good coffee table!

There were two other Americans there when I was, one in my year (six-one) and one who got put in the year above us (six-two). But there was no American enclave: different years and/or different houses meant I was immersed in Norris House first, six-ones second. The six-ones had a hallway of little studies, so we did mingle there, and weren't only reliant on our shared dorm rooms for our stuff, as you can see.

I spy with my little eye ... the Bruins, Depeche Mode, Calvin & Hobbes, Swatch watches, books...

In the dining room, we sat by house for one meal a day (was it lunch, was it dinner? I think it was dinner), and the tables rotated so no one house complained about their spot. When I was leaving, I encouraged my friends to lift one of the blocks for me, a possession I still treasure. Whoops, here I am, admitting to the theft! I hope the statute of limitations has passed. 

But what was it like, you are probably wondering. It was overwhelming to me, and even with the shared language, the culture shock was considerable; I was badly homesick. Plus, I was both a fairly sheltered, not quite 18-year-old who had essentially been an only child since my brother moved out, and had been gaining independence, driving myself to school for a year, going into Boston with friends, etc. Suddenly I'm sharing a room (the first term I think my dormie had five of us? all ages), following so many rules, "cabined, cribbed, confined" (to quote Macbeth) .... it was a lot of change!

One of the first days I was at Benenden, a teacher saw me going upstairs and asked where I was going. I said I was going to my dorm room, and she said we weren't allowed to go to our rooms during the school day. I was baffled. Because I had to figure a lot of things out by guesswork, and I didn't always guess right. I came from a mixed-gender high school where most of my friends were boys, and we had no uniform, and I was plunked down into this:

My treasured school photo! Can you pick me out? (So hard to get a photo of it without reflections on the glass! Is there a trick to that?)

In fact, the year after I was there, my two closest friends, who were still there for their six-two year, sent me a booklet the school had put together with various rules and guidelines, and I was incensed: where was this when I needed it last year! All that time I spent reading notices on bulletin boards, trying to figure out how things worked...when the assumptions each side doesn't realize they are making don't align, it's grinding-gears time.

So, yeah, it was certainly an experience, and not one I regret having, but a lot of my memories are of frustrations and feeling in over my head. I was more comfortable going up to London for the half-term break than I was navigating the school at times! And I still shudder to think about how I was dropped in a classroom full of younger girls to supervise their prep period (aka homework) without the slightest idea how to (or, as it turned out, the ability to) maintain order. But then there are better memories:

  • my two friends, who I'm still in touch with today (thank you, FB), and memories of going on walks, playing very loosely scored tennis, climbing trees, writing stories--one of my friends wrote a fabulous story that both was and wasn't about us, and I so wish I had a copy of it
  • classes that went into subjects in much more depth than I was used to, so that we first read through Measure for Measure without stopping, then went through it again stopping constantly to discuss meaning; or read the prologue to the Canterbury Tales, olde English and all; or introduced me to art history or sewing or piano or or or, so much more (including acting in productions of The Snow Goose and of another play whose name escaped me, in which we had to be the least convincing middle-aged Englishmen chatting over their drinks ever [with watered-down Coke for Scotch])
  • the thrill of getting letters from home; was mail ever better?
  • turning 18! feeling both so grown up and not at all grown up


I went back to visit a year later, seeing the school afresh after a year at UMass (yes, I finally decided I might as well go to school and put off getting a real job, and wasn't that experience a huge change from this one). And I was back in England two years later, visiting my friends at school (Cambridge and Newcastle) before going to Rome to visit another friend doing a year abroad there. 

I did go back to Benenden one more time, in 2008, for Seniors' Day (aka reunion, for what we would call alumni, in the US), because who could resist? 

You know, a school reunion with HRH, why not? How can you miss that? I've been meaning to frame the invitation and put it up next to the photo.

So, any follow-up questions, let me know!

P.S. Following onto the idea of sheltered/protected kid I was, the summer after I got back was when I got called to jury duty, and ended up serving on that murder trial. No wonder it was jarring!

Thursday, March 14, 2024

A Pressing (ha) Question

I'm working on the write-up about my experience at boarding school, but in the meantime: is anyone else a dental wimp? Can anyone explain to me why toothbrushes labeled "soft" are in fact not at all soft? My mouth is definitely a delicate one, and the new brush that I just got at the dentist's a few weeks ago, which claims to be soft, is so firm (by my standards, at least) that it's painful. And this isn't the first time I've experienced that!

Are the ones labeled "extra soft" or "ultra soft" actually any better?

I'm tempted to buy one that's labeled "firm" because I just can't believe they're that much harder. How can they be?

Please weigh in. Thank you.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Movie Ratings in 2024 So Far

There haven't been a ton of movie ratings to catch my eye so far this year, other than this handful and the one that I couldn't wait to show you, a month ago. (Here was the last longer one.) But here are a few.

Safe to say I'm not the target audience for Mean Girls. That sounds unpleasant.
Multilingual profanity, on the other hand...
I'm not sure I want to know what this is like.
Same with "explicitly" here.
No, no, no thank you. 
Ha! I like that one. Not that I plan to see the movie--I liked the first one, but I don't think I even saw 2 or 3.

In June, Mom and I will be going to see The Muppet Movie in the theater*--that's much more my style than most of these.

*Again--we saw it in 2019. Perfectly happy to see it again!

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

How I Read

Engie wrote about her reading habits recently, and I thought I would answer the same questions she did, so here goes!

1) How do you define mood reading and are you a mood reader?

I sometimes find I’m not in the mood to pick up one book or another at a given time, but is that what this means? I don’t think outside circumstances affect what I read, though.

2) Do you have a TBR? Do you stick to it?

I keep lists of books that are coming out soon, to request from the library, but I don’t do any of the challenges or top lists. Sometimes I’ve read about a book, sometimes someone mentions it and it sounds appealing, so I pop off to @mazon and read the sample, to get a taste of it… it’s kind of random, actually, and I often don’t remember by the time I get it where I heard about it.

3) Do you cry reading books? If so, what books have made you cry?

Almost never really cry over a book, though I might tear up a little. 

4) Do you use reading to escape, learn, or critically reflect?

Escape, definitely, that’s the main one. To learn sometimes. I don’t think I ever pick up a book to be critical.

5) What is a book that made you laugh out loud?

Ummm, nothing is coming to mind.

6) What is a book that you don't really know how to feel about?

Hmmm. The problem with this question for me is that I don't generally finish books I'm not enjoying in some way, and since I don't keep a list of DNFs, it's hard to call one to mind. I guess I'll go back in time to a book I used to own, and read multiple times, despite not liking the protagonist at all. It's called The Travels of Maudie Tipstaff by Margaret Forster, and Maudie is a bitter, narrow-minded person but yet I read the book! More than once! Why? I can't answer that.
P.S. I ordered a copy to read again, so we'll see what I think of it now.

7) Are you more likely to read on a sunny day or a cloudy day?

Weather doesn’t matter. I read, period.

8) Do you usually "set the mood" when you read? Candles, lights, etc.?

Nope. I want to be comfortable, and that might lead to a blanket on my lap (which often leads to a cat on my lap), but no mood-setting required.

9) Can you leap from book to book or do you need buffer time between books?

I wouldn’t say I need buffer time, but sometimes I want a buffer between similar types/styles of books. If I just read a great book with dragons, say, then I might not pick up another book with dragons to be next.

Any follow-up questions? Or want to answer any or all of them yourself? Have at it!

Monday, March 11, 2024

A Book Rec, and About Me

This isn't a full book review, but I just read The Beginning of Everything, by Jackie Fraser, and really enjoyed it. Not sure where I read about it, but it's a novel set in Wales that's kind of a romance but not completely, and with protags in their 40s, which was a nice change from the young ones, and I really liked the writing: more than once I stopped to read a bit aloud to myself. Two thumbs up.

As a side note, I'm really in a reading period! It's funny to me how it goes in waves, where I'm not reading much, or only re-reading, or reading/re-reading bits but not finishing books, and then there's a time like this, where I devour one after another*. Does that happen to you?
*Still not the book club book, though, so I told my friend to take me off the list. No point in feeling pressured to read what I don't want to, even if I'm the only one putting on any pressure!

~~~~~

Anyway! When I described myself in passing as an English major, Nicole said she hadn't known that about me, and Kyria also asked for more info, so hey, always glad to talk about myself!

I did not go to college (UMass Amherst) knowing I would be an English major or having any plan beyond choosing to go rather than get a job (and this after already putting things off for a year by taking an opportunity to do a year at a boarding school in England). In hindsight, of course, it was obvious: as a high school senior, I had to get permission to take three English classes at once, which apparently no one at the school had ever wanted to do before. 

English classes were certainly my favorite at UMass--I wrote a killer paper on the Critical Response to Winnie the Pooh for a children's lit class, and the lexicography* class was awesome. But practical? Not so much.
*dictionary-making

So once I had my English degree, what did I do with it? Well, worked in bookstores for some years (an independent in MA, then Barnes & Noble in NC). I finally had enough of retail and started working any old office job* I could get, still not knowing what I wanted to do.
*My supervisor at one job saw me in the break room, trying to read the first H@rry P0tter** book in French and, when I explained why***, asked not unkindly, "What are you doing here?"
**I absolutely hate what the author of those books has shown herself to be, but the books were a big part of my retail experience.
***I was trying to brush up my very-basic-level French, so thought I would try material I was familiar with.

...I may have gotten a little carried away with nesting footnotes there. Let's break it up with a photo. Have you ever noticed the big old bookcases in the background of one of my photos? Those are from my B&N days. They are solid, and I love having the adjustable shelves (I have these two and two others). 

For that matter, the Oxford English Dictionary there at the bottom, all 20 volumes? Also bought that when I was at B&N. The OUP had a sale and with my employee discount, it was almost reasonable. Fun fact: I was on the phone with my oldest friend and said, guess what ridiculous English-major thing I bought and she instantly said, the OED.

All right, so, I moved back to MA, and signed up with a temp agency. The job I got was at a medical device company, the diabetes division of Abbott Labs, and while it wasn't an editorial position, I was in the process of transitioning to their label editor position a year later when the company announced that they were moving the business to California. Whoops! Layoffs!

I didn't want to move, but I did stay with them for another year during the transition, and then got what I suppose was my first "real" editing-type job, as a proofreader for an educational company. Three years later, whoops, layoffs! 

My next job was called labeling coordinator, with a dental implant company, and wasn't officially a proofreading/editing job, but I was known as someone who could look over your thing if you needed another set of eyes on it. 

I left that job, which was increasingly oddly run*, for a temp proofreading position at a publisher, then back to the educational company as a temp for more proofreading, and then got an editorial job at a company that made training material for pharma sales companies. And eight months later, whoops, laid off again!
*Oh, the turnover was crazy there at the end

At this point, I had enough editing experience, and at enough medical-associated companies, that I was hired at my current company as a medical editor (I like to say that I'm not a medical person, but I have a good amount of familiarity with it for an English major). I was there for two years and left for a job at a small company that was expanding after being bought by a larger one; the role was deep-level content editing. A year later, the bigger company pulled the plug and, yes, laid us all off. Sigh. That's four times.

I did look around for another job, but the boss where I had worked asked if I would come back, and sweetened the deal by offering work-from-home, and I was hooked. Happily for my sanity, when I was getting ready to move myself to FL to be with Mom, I asked if they would let me work from here, and they said yes. Hooray for not having to job search on top of an interstate move! I complain a lot about work, but there are ways that they are really good--that's one of them, and also that my boss allowed all the flexibility that I needed for Mom last fall, too. 

Not that I won't ditch the job the minute I win big in the lottery, but who wouldn't, right?

So that's the work history side of the English-major thing. On the personal side? Well, there's the OED. There are my bookshelves full of books, and my marked-up, written-in books from high school:


There's my inability to read so much as a restaurant menu without noticing double-spacing between words. My friends asking if I can look over their resumes and cover letters for them. There's this blog, where I play around with words like they're legos, fitting them together this way and that to see how best to tell a story. 

So: questions? What am I not thinking to tell you?

Thursday, March 07, 2024

Book Reviews: What's In a Name?

I've read two Shakespeare-related books recently (I know, such an English major), and they could NOT be more different! So different that it amuses me.

1.

The first was called Shakespeare Was a Woman & Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature, by Elizabeth Winkler, which I got from the library.

When I say that I am not recommending this book, I mean generally, because it isn't a topic that most people will be interested in such a deep dive into. No judgement, I swear! It's not for everyone, fine and valid. But if you look at it and think, oh, interesting, then I do recommend it. 

I will note that the author is not strongly pushing that a woman wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford; I almost feel the title is a bit of click-bait, since the was-it-a-woman argument is probably the least developed. But she did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people on multiple sides of the argument (there's only "both sides" if you simplify it to yes-William and no-William, but there are a lot more sides than that once you're in), and I found her writing compelling me to agree with the no-William side, though not 100% convinced for any of the choices she presents. If I had to pick one, I would probably go with Christopher Marlowe, but is that just because he was the last one she digs into? Maybe? I don't know, she makes such a good case for him...

Anyway! A good book for those who are interested.*
*I once read a movie review where the reviewer's attitude was a very dismissive, almost contemptuous, 'if you like this sort of thing, you'll like this movie,' and I was incensed, so I hope I'm not striking that tone here. No condescension at all from me.

2.

The second book is one I got an advance copy* of, called Hamlet is Not OK, by RA Spratt, which is a young adult (or maybe more young reader/middle grade) book and comes out in July.
*Thank you to IPG/Penguin AU for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

In the book, Selby is in trouble for blowing off her homework, and ends up with a tutor who helps her get into Hamlet--literally. (This is not a spoiler, as it's part of the initial description that they wind up within the play.) I liked Selby, even if I didn't relate to her (I mean, how much could I relate to someone who hates reading? though I appreciated the distinction she makes between reading and stories): she's written very believably, and her voice and attitude come across strongly. 

Also, the implausible plot is handled very plausibly, if that makes sense. With the caveat that I was reading this as a 55-year-old, not a teenager, and as one whose favorite Shakespeare play has always been Hamlet, so I know it very well, I absolutely enjoyed the book. There were a few plot twists that really got me, too! but I'll avoid the spoilers on that. Two thumbs up.

As a side note, both books mention a couple of things:

  • Freud--I didn't know how much he was interested in Shakespeare.
  • cryptic (in 1, discussion of the use of cryptic messages being common back in the day, and in 2, "And yet every line of dialogue is as confusing as a cryptic crossword."

Not groundbreaking, I know, but I wanted to point it out.

Have you ever read two books that both did and didn't tie together like this? Do you think you would have noticed if you hadn't read them one after the other? It's not quite the same thing, but I used to read a lot more mysteries, until I hit a long string of serial killers and just got fed up with it.


Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Book Review: In the Society of Women (Ladies Occult Society Book 3)

I mentioned in a post after the holidays that I had read some good new-to-me books:

...the last two that I read in 2023, in the Ladies Occult Society series, A Magical Inheritance and A Ghostly Request, by Krista Ball--it's basically Jane Austen but with magic, and so so so well done. I can't recall the last character I was rooting so strongly for, and please tell me at once if you read them because the third book comes out March 1 and I am really hoping for a scene where Elizabeth gets to tell her father, in front of others, just why she (redacted redacted spoilers argh).

These books are SO good, and I was very excited for the third one. I re-read the first two, a little nervous that I was overselling them in my own mind, but no, just as good.

I raced through the third, eager to find out What Happens*, and then it ended and I said, oh. Oh. This is not a three-book series. Whoops, did I know that? If so, I forgot! 
*Spoilers! So many spoilers! That I am not writing about!


Look what's coming in December. Argh. December! (At least it does spell out, The finale to the Ladies Occult Society series.)

So now I have to wait for the conclusion, which is somewhat crushing, to be honest, but at least it means I will get more of this wonderful series, right? Trying to look on the bright side.

Because they're really good. Seriously, Jane Austen but with an occult angle? And it's so plausible? (Not like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which was amusing but really not convincing, as I recall it.) So good. 

I'm not pushing anyone to read it if that description doesn't grab you (my motto, always, is that every book is not for every reader, and that's all right), but if it does? Read these books. And then let's talk about them.

Tuesday, March 05, 2024

Miss Maggie, As Promised

Here she is, the cat of the day! Today and every day, according to herself.




















Monday, March 04, 2024

Blogging Labels, and Photos of This and That

So, per the post about blogging and thanks to advice from Kyria, ye olde blogge now has the top 10 labels I have used in the sidebar, looking like this:

I had to fiddle this a bit, as it wouldn't just put my top-ten most-used labels up, it was either all, or select which. So I went with all, sorted by most used, and then noted which the top ten were. Selected them, and chose to show the numbers as well, and there we go.

I know I haven't always used labels, so it isn't 100% accurate, but based on when I did use them, well, guess I picked the right blog name, didn't I?

Meanwhile, it's been a while since I put up regular photos--not Key West, I mean. We're due!

There's the seen-about-town category:

Ibis!
Sunrise, reflected.
View from lunch:
A different view on a different day: dolphin!
Oh, my heart, a 1969 Caddy, just like the one I had in the 80s, except mine was red. I loved that car.
When I say pristine, well, wow.
Just gorgeous.
Interesting plate.
Waiting in the car for an appointment, and the pattern pocket clipped onto the steering wheel like it was made for it.
Who's driving that car?

Quotes of note. For the knitters:

So very true!
Microsoft is the devil.
I mean, true.
This book is very interesting, and also...
...I like the lighter touch to it!
No one has really good nicknames any more.

Maggie says she would like a whole post to herself, so I will end with yarn, yarn, yarn, and show Herself tomorrow.