radfrac_archive_full: (Default)
radfrac_archive_full ([personal profile] radfrac_archive_full) wrote2005-01-23 08:59 pm

I put the fizz back in fizzle

Lately, I've been trying to practise thankfulness, not because I think there's anyone to thank, but because I want to remind myself that things-going-right is not the natural order. Convenient good fortune is not the normal state of things, with misfortune a horrifying deviation. They're equally-weighted outcomes of the same unpredictable processes. So when I find that, for example, my paycheque is not lost, but just folded up in the change tray, I want to be thankful, not just accept it as ordinary and forget about it. I figure that way stupid minor things-going-wrong won't bother me nearly as much, because I'll be so excited when they don't.

Sad things are happening, but they are the good sort, and I am also thankful for those.

The Importance of Second Drafts

"Lately, I've been trying to practise gratitude, not because I think there's anyone to grate,"

Chemistry in the Kitchen

Impromptu theorem: Flat soda water, when combined with an acid (like orange or lemon juice) and a base (like bicarbonate of soda), will re-fizz.

Results: [1st trial] Unusual, slightly medicinal, but not entirely unpleasant. And probably very good for the digestion. I may be drinking home-made carbonated beverage from now on.

[2nd trial] I do, however, encourage a light hand with the baking soda.

A lovely thing just happened -- a neighbor somewhere in the building or the street below started practising the saxophone, at just the level that I could hear it, but not be overwhelmed by it -- just scales, but the sound was perfect for the golden Paris evening -- and then a charmingly hesitant version of "Fly Me to the Moon".

That reminds me of my one grievance -- the Art Gallery is putting on a "Parisian Cafe Evening," and I can't go. I'm working, of all the absurd things. But if anyone wants to go see the French Masters show, or whatever it is, I'm Game. (Probably a Role-Playing Game. Certainly nothing too rugged, like Stratego.)

{rf}
radiantfracture: Beadwork bunny head (Default)

Re: Pick me! Pick me!

[personal profile] radiantfracture 2005-01-25 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, I s'pose I should have specified Lars Peacock. Je m'excuse, mon paon fabuleux. (Does only Lars get to call you Lars?)

I have a reprinted antique map of Paris. I think we should all dress up, take a little bit of coin for emergencies, and try to follow it from an agreed starting point to the Sights, stopping off in key cafes, etc.

Saturday?

{rf}
radiantfracture: Beadwork bunny head (Default)

Re: Pick me! Pick me!

[personal profile] radiantfracture 2005-01-25 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I suppose really we should start at Shakespeare & Co., n'est pas? If we can find it on my map -- 12 rue de l'Odeon, by the Internet's reckoning.

{rf}