Valentines and Snow
Feb. 17th, 2023 05:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cafenowhereI can barely believe that Valentine's Day was earlier this week. Already it feels like forever ago. I guess that's what happens when you're busy.
José has always been enthusiastic about Valentine's Day. This year, he took the day off without telling me, although he made clear that if *I* wanted to work, I was free to do so without interruption. Which I did. (We both work from home.) He brought us fancy doughnuts for breakfast, gave us cards, gave me a beautiful flower arrangement and a box of chocolates, and made a special dinner. I don't know how he can stand me, as each year it's a struggle for me just to get him a card on time.
Yesterday it snowed quite heavily. The weather report said we got ten and a half inches of snow, but I think it was closer to a foot. That's how high it was stacked on my patio table. Today was below freezing, but the sun was bright, so now we have icicles hanging from the eaves. This weekend it's supposed to be warmer, so we may see some melting then. That would be good, since our driveway and road are still snow-covered, though José shoveled and the city plowed, respectively.
Workwise, I finalized my picks from the Strange Horizons submissions pile, and I've already gotten signed contracts back from some of the poets. I posted my weekly poem recommendation on Patreon, and last week's book review is now available to the public. I broke 30K on the novel and feel pretty good about where I am. I'm looking forward to tackling a pivotal scene next week, a conversation between the protagonist and a person from her grim past. Hopefully over the weekend I can finish reading Duende by Tracy K. Smith. It includes the poem "Flores Woman," which I recommended on my Patreon a while back. It's been very hard to finish reading any poetry collection while I was also reading for Strange Horizons, but now that I'm in a different stage of editing, maybe I'll get my brain back.
I'm still watching Hot Skull, but I took a break to see the movie Piggy, a Spanish horror flick I've been aching to see for maybe a year now? I'm so glad Hulu picked it up. It's such a neat play on slasher-movie tropes, and I appreciated the fat protagonist. Her weight was crucial to the storyline, but I didn't feel like the director was judgmental about it. Of course there are the obnoxious popular girls who tease the protagonist relentlessly, but their behavior never felt endorsed by the movie and, boy, there are consequences. I might watch it again this weekend.
José has always been enthusiastic about Valentine's Day. This year, he took the day off without telling me, although he made clear that if *I* wanted to work, I was free to do so without interruption. Which I did. (We both work from home.) He brought us fancy doughnuts for breakfast, gave us cards, gave me a beautiful flower arrangement and a box of chocolates, and made a special dinner. I don't know how he can stand me, as each year it's a struggle for me just to get him a card on time.
Yesterday it snowed quite heavily. The weather report said we got ten and a half inches of snow, but I think it was closer to a foot. That's how high it was stacked on my patio table. Today was below freezing, but the sun was bright, so now we have icicles hanging from the eaves. This weekend it's supposed to be warmer, so we may see some melting then. That would be good, since our driveway and road are still snow-covered, though José shoveled and the city plowed, respectively.
Workwise, I finalized my picks from the Strange Horizons submissions pile, and I've already gotten signed contracts back from some of the poets. I posted my weekly poem recommendation on Patreon, and last week's book review is now available to the public. I broke 30K on the novel and feel pretty good about where I am. I'm looking forward to tackling a pivotal scene next week, a conversation between the protagonist and a person from her grim past. Hopefully over the weekend I can finish reading Duende by Tracy K. Smith. It includes the poem "Flores Woman," which I recommended on my Patreon a while back. It's been very hard to finish reading any poetry collection while I was also reading for Strange Horizons, but now that I'm in a different stage of editing, maybe I'll get my brain back.
I'm still watching Hot Skull, but I took a break to see the movie Piggy, a Spanish horror flick I've been aching to see for maybe a year now? I'm so glad Hulu picked it up. It's such a neat play on slasher-movie tropes, and I appreciated the fat protagonist. Her weight was crucial to the storyline, but I didn't feel like the director was judgmental about it. Of course there are the obnoxious popular girls who tease the protagonist relentlessly, but their behavior never felt endorsed by the movie and, boy, there are consequences. I might watch it again this weekend.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-18 12:46 am (UTC)In a normal winter, we'd be having big snows like that too--maybe not so many this month, but definitely in January. But this year we've had an eerily warm winter.
So do you enjoy José's Valentine's day attentions? Sometimes it can be hard to enjoy a thing when you're just not constitutionally into doing that sort of thing yourself. It shouldn't be transactional but you (well, I, anyway) end up feeling some sort of shade of guilt/chagrin because I'm not doing that amount of whatever-it-is.
(hopefully you *can* just enjoy it--I'm sure that would make José happy!)
no subject
Date: 2023-02-20 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-02-20 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-02-18 03:15 am (UTC)I'm glad you mentioned Piggy. I'd never heard of it and just scrolled past it earlier this evening on my way to watch something else on Hulu, but it sounds great.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-20 06:45 pm (UTC)I think it's interesting that the director expanded it from a short film of hers, kind of like how we might take a poem and turn it into a story, or a short story into a novel. It means certain elements are already well-ironed out. I read that both versions of the film use the same lead actress, that the director wrote the feature-length version already knowing what that actress was capable of. The synergy of that collaboration is pretty impressive.