She would lie prone in the bracken

Five hundred. That’s the number of tissues I’ve used in the last week and a half. Lord, how does all this snot accumulate in one body?! You know it’s bad when, in the absence of tissue, you’re desperate enough to blow your nose on a pair of dirty socks. I can’t wait to go to the doctor on Monday and get some real help.

I’ve been reading like there’s no tomorrow lately (and have the library fines to prove it). I wish Clark District would extend their lending period to four weeks. Two weeks is just not a sufficient amount of time. I found eight GREAT books that I just HAVE to finish reading. But my time is up! (It’s been up for a week already…) And I’ve only finished four and half books. I would like to win a library card with a lifetime-fine-exemption feature. They should invent a card that you pay for and then not charge you fines when you have overdues, don’t you think? Maybe when I get rich I’ll become a biblophilic philanthropist and my generosity to libraries worldwide will earn me a sort of “get out of jail free” no-fines-to-pay-ever-library card. That’s my idea of heaven.

Fines or no, I’m still thankful that libraries exist: free education at your fingertips! Take a look at some of the great vocab I learned from D. H. Lawrence this week:
insentience – devoid of sensation.
cataclysm – violent catastrophe involving upheaval of the earth’s crust.
intelligentsia – the intellectual ellite of a society.
simulacrum – an image or representation, an unreal or vague semblance.
laconically
sere – dry and withered (like flowers).
lambency – flickering lightly on or over a surface; effortlessly light or brilliant.
blether – nonsensical talk.
bolshevism – a.k.a. Soviet Communism.
soporific – tending to cause sleep
insouciant -blithe unconcern.

I dare you to use these in conversation! What new words have you learned recently?

In other news, my trip to SF last weekend was great! I have a new favorite hotel: Hotel Pickwick. I don’t know why Expedia only gave it two stars, it deserves many more in my opinion!

3 Comments

  1. Carrie · September 7, 2004

    HI! Hopefully you are starting to feel better. I know how to get a lifetime of fine-free library loans.. working at the library! 🙁 Remember how we used to delete the fines all the time? That rocked! Luckily the library here loans for 3 weeks like WML. I haven’t been reading any fiction so it’s easy enough to flip through the books I get in that amount of time.

    I think if I tried to use “blether” in my technical documents, I might get fired. Quel horreur! No jargon! No BIG words! Even with the challenge of skimming down on my vocabulary, the work is still sometimes “sporific.”

    You need to reply to my 800 emails! All I got back was some Rachel Ray bashing… lol. 🙂 Talk to you soon.

  2. MOM · September 7, 2004

    Don’t they let you renew by phone?? Even LeRoy lets that happen, and it’s a great idea. Maybe they have a suggestion box?

  3. Nicole · September 10, 2004

    hope your feeling better shira!!!