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The 'almost' caveat also refers to the heat -- the days are still hot, but the last two nights have been heaven. Cuddle-up-in-my-duvet, it's-so-cool-that-the-critters-sleep-under-the-duvet heaven.
The judicious application of Pilates and a chilli sticking plaster yesterday helped a lot with the back pain, and today -- Bayram and a public holiday in Macedonia -- Gerald and I had a joint tennis lesson with Elena, and lo it was good. We had coffee afterwards at the tennis club and then went to work. There's literally nothing to do, so working only a half-day doesn't hurt. On the contrary I'd say.
I also went to buy groceries (and chocolate and biscuits for the girls) on the way to work, and for tonight's dinner I'm envisioning something nice that involves chards, mushrooms and chicken. Some vaguely Asian noodle dish, methinks. Since lunch consisted of cherry tomatoes, bread and cream cheese, dinner ought to be on the lean side.
Did I mention recently how happy I am with my trio of critters? The progress is almost imperceptible but there. On Sunday, for example, Lucius was sleeping on the backrest of the couch and Lola on the armrest, maybe at 30 cm distance. Also on Sunday, if I remember correctly, Cornelius and Lola were eating from the same bowl -- Lola was growling all the time, but since they're both so greedy they had obviously come to the conclusion that eating was much better than fighting. Much credit goes to ze boyz, though, because they never, ever behave aggressively towards Lola, even when they're clearly quite unnerved. (Small wonder, given her habit of ambushing them behind corners...)
I still wouldn't leave them on their own for long periods of time, but feel quite comfortable and not at all worried at the thought of one week's absence -- with the proper care of course, but that's a given anyway.
Stefanie is back in Skopje -- squeeeee! -- and joined us yesterday for Pilates. There will be another lesson on Thursday at 6 p.m., followed by a girls' night.
I ordered the rest of the Song of Ice and Fire tetralogy yesterday; the books have already been dispatched. I'll want to read them anyway and still remember how I was biting my nails while waiting for The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest or season 3 of Ashes to Ashes -- no need to repeat the experience.
Re. Game of Thrones (and I suppose Fantasy literature in general): I'm rather puzzled by the way women are being depicted. I mean, there are strong characters, like in this case Arya and Catelyn and also Cersei, but on the other hand there are also doormats like Daenerys, who get all the dubious consent and she-may-be-screaming-but-then-realizes-she-likes-it-rough (apart from her being only 13) and male fantasies of cleaving apart a slip of a girl with their mighty penis, and somehow I don't quite understand how the author's mind is working. I would understand it if the strong female characters were depicted as masculine, but that's not the case. True, Arya is a bit of a tomboy, but Cersei certainly isn't and neither is Catelyn. Add to that -- although I have to admit that I'm only about 350 pages into the first book and might also be wrong -- that the truly evil male characters are all a bit on the effeminate side, like e.g. Daenerys' brother and prince Jeoffrey, and you see me thoroughly flabbergasted. You can't say it's misogynistic through and through because it isn't, and since none of the characters are simplistically black or white it's even more complex, but right now I have the impression that certain "typically feminine" (debatable I know) traits are clearly associated with "evil" or at least "despicable", whereas certain "typically male" behavioural patterns are associated with "good", at least insofar as anybody in those books is "good".
This notwithstanding, I'm truly impressed by the range of shades of grey displayed by the various characters, and the author's ability to present even the most sympathetic characters in a sometimes unfavourable light, and vice versa -- Sansa changing her mind about the Hound after being a total shit for most of the book is only one example of the latter.
Oops, that got longer than I intended it to.
Thoughts and discussion as always welcome.
More mahjong now I think ;-)
The judicious application of Pilates and a chilli sticking plaster yesterday helped a lot with the back pain, and today -- Bayram and a public holiday in Macedonia -- Gerald and I had a joint tennis lesson with Elena, and lo it was good. We had coffee afterwards at the tennis club and then went to work. There's literally nothing to do, so working only a half-day doesn't hurt. On the contrary I'd say.
I also went to buy groceries (and chocolate and biscuits for the girls) on the way to work, and for tonight's dinner I'm envisioning something nice that involves chards, mushrooms and chicken. Some vaguely Asian noodle dish, methinks. Since lunch consisted of cherry tomatoes, bread and cream cheese, dinner ought to be on the lean side.
Did I mention recently how happy I am with my trio of critters? The progress is almost imperceptible but there. On Sunday, for example, Lucius was sleeping on the backrest of the couch and Lola on the armrest, maybe at 30 cm distance. Also on Sunday, if I remember correctly, Cornelius and Lola were eating from the same bowl -- Lola was growling all the time, but since they're both so greedy they had obviously come to the conclusion that eating was much better than fighting. Much credit goes to ze boyz, though, because they never, ever behave aggressively towards Lola, even when they're clearly quite unnerved. (Small wonder, given her habit of ambushing them behind corners...)
I still wouldn't leave them on their own for long periods of time, but feel quite comfortable and not at all worried at the thought of one week's absence -- with the proper care of course, but that's a given anyway.
Stefanie is back in Skopje -- squeeeee! -- and joined us yesterday for Pilates. There will be another lesson on Thursday at 6 p.m., followed by a girls' night.
I ordered the rest of the Song of Ice and Fire tetralogy yesterday; the books have already been dispatched. I'll want to read them anyway and still remember how I was biting my nails while waiting for The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest or season 3 of Ashes to Ashes -- no need to repeat the experience.
Re. Game of Thrones (and I suppose Fantasy literature in general): I'm rather puzzled by the way women are being depicted. I mean, there are strong characters, like in this case Arya and Catelyn and also Cersei, but on the other hand there are also doormats like Daenerys, who get all the dubious consent and she-may-be-screaming-but-then-realizes-she-likes-it-rough (apart from her being only 13) and male fantasies of cleaving apart a slip of a girl with their mighty penis, and somehow I don't quite understand how the author's mind is working. I would understand it if the strong female characters were depicted as masculine, but that's not the case. True, Arya is a bit of a tomboy, but Cersei certainly isn't and neither is Catelyn. Add to that -- although I have to admit that I'm only about 350 pages into the first book and might also be wrong -- that the truly evil male characters are all a bit on the effeminate side, like e.g. Daenerys' brother and prince Jeoffrey, and you see me thoroughly flabbergasted. You can't say it's misogynistic through and through because it isn't, and since none of the characters are simplistically black or white it's even more complex, but right now I have the impression that certain "typically feminine" (debatable I know) traits are clearly associated with "evil" or at least "despicable", whereas certain "typically male" behavioural patterns are associated with "good", at least insofar as anybody in those books is "good".
This notwithstanding, I'm truly impressed by the range of shades of grey displayed by the various characters, and the author's ability to present even the most sympathetic characters in a sometimes unfavourable light, and vice versa -- Sansa changing her mind about the Hound after being a total shit for most of the book is only one example of the latter.
Oops, that got longer than I intended it to.
Thoughts and discussion as always welcome.
More mahjong now I think ;-)
