| nightingaleshiraz / blog |
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yes, this is me -- whining about weather again.
i can't help it. it's meno-due here. Patrizia from the Embassy in Rome tells me (albeit with credit, for sounding almost apologetic as she did so), that she was "still without socks". i spend my mornings and evenings playing roulette with all the thermostats in the house (at what temperature will my pipes be guaranteed *not* to freeze? -- that's what i want to know...). my Italian immigration lawyer (a man who should be sainted for what i and other Italy-mad women have put him through) emailed me yesterday (again, i actually asked him to tell me what the weather was like in Rome), to say: "Qui per il momento siamo ancora con le maniche corte ed in macchina ieri ho dovuto accendere l'aria condizionata!! Mai visto così caldo alla fine di ottobre." cavolo. [nightingaleshiraz] [?] [Rue Sainte-Catherine, Montréal] [tuesday 31 october 2006 at 12:46:01] [¶] so much for saving daylight. for anyone who might be wondering on a somewhat regular basis how i am dealing (or not), and how much closer or further i am from complete resignation to a life of dry skin, mittens and misery -- here's a pretty accurate way to check. and for extra fun, feel free to read also about the IMPORTANT AUTUMN STORM that has deigned to come our way, the GREAT AMOUNTS OF RAIN, and the SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW. we're hoping that next week one of the VERY IMPORTANT ones will make an appearance. we can't wait. [nightingaleshiraz] [?] [Avenue Girouard, Montréal] [sunday 29 october 2006 at 12:02:29] [¶] turns of phrase. in response to queries about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin (at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Moscow) had really marveled aloud about President Moshe Katsav (and the multiple rape-and-sexual-harassment charges he's currently facing), and had really said "What a mighty man he turns out to be! He raped 10 women - I would never have expected this from him. He surprised us all - we all envy him!" -- poor Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov had to tell the BBC "Yes really, these words were pronounced." Peskov's explanation, however, is almost better (or worse -- depending on how you look at it) than the original gaffe. in addition to insisting that "Russian is a very complicated language," and that he didn't think "that the proper translation is able to reflect the meaning of the joke" (one can only wonder then, what the "improper" translation would be) -- he also starts off his "damage control" spin by underscoring that the joke "in no way means that President Putin welcomes rape". goodness. i should hope he doesn't. [nightingaleshiraz] [?] [Avenue Girouard, Montréal] [saturday 21 october 2006 at 09:17:21] [¶] can you be nostalgic about your own writing? here's to remembering what you thought you couldn't put into words. and to the places you have always-and-allover wanted to be. [nightingaleshiraz] [?] [Avenue Girouard, Montréal] [friday 13 october 2006 at 23:18:49] [¶] |
