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� Cordelia, unless otherwise noted. Do not reproduce in any form! Thanks.
Sunday, June 16, 2002
All right, it seems that everyone who's anyone has a celebrity crush. I have been sadly devoid of one up until tonight, when I stumbled upon the witty words of Sean Biggerstaff. I mean, how can you not like a guy who, when asked "Are you single?", replies "Well, in that there's only one of me. Yes."
Of course, as I'm Canadian, I'm also quite partial to a guy who makes sweet comments like this:
The main difference between Canada and the rest of the world, in my experience, is that in Canada when a waiter, cashier, shop attendant etc. says "Have a nice day." they sound like they mean it. This fundamental difference in attitude runs through everything. [From www.thesnitch.co.uk/sbs/]
*insert Canadian flag-waving here* Gotta love this guy!
Oh, and one final thing... When asked "If you had one day left to live, where would you go and what would you do?", his reply was (wait for it)...
"I hear Brighton is lovely."
(If you're an A&E P&P fan, you know just what I'm after... "I want to go to Brighton!")
I always have lovely intentions to doing the Friday Five, but I never quite manage to get around to it. However, I just found a wonderful Wednesday prompt/survey/whatchmacallit, and it has some rather- er- unusual, but fun, questions.
Shiver Me Timbers
1) If you were a pirate, what would your cool pirate nickname (ie Blackbeard, Grimtooth, etc) be, and how did you get it?
My name would be Samantha the Sleepless (okay, okay, so it sounds more like a Viking... whatever!). This- er- fearsome name was bestowed upon me by my loyal crew due to my habit of staying up all hours of the night poring over charts/books/summaries of the Russian Revolution.
2) Every old pirate has their favorite story to tell of the open seas, exotic islands, battle for plunder and buried treasure. Tell us yours.
Young and naive, I set sail for the island known only by its initials- IB. Stories abounded of the terrors met on the voyage to this island, but being young and unwise in the ways of the world, I said innocently to all those who questioned, "How bad can it be?"
A few months into the voyage, my parrot Molly loved to mock me, cawing "How bad can it be?" while sitting on my shoulder, as I led the crew into battle against the fearsome sea-monster with infinite tentacles (again, known only by its initials... TOK) or bailed out the rapidly-sinking ship as rocks (referred to by locals as "Physics Labs") ripped gouges in the belly of the ship.
Years later, the crew and I (far fewer people than when we began, I must add) reached the island at long last. Heaps of gold lay scattered carelessly about, and the vegetation was lush. Hardly daring to believe it, we set foot upon the island and began to walk in... but suddenly, right in front of us, the most hideous beast appeared. It was the size of at least ten men, and had four thousand ugly heads. "What is this horror?" I screamed. It leered at me, showing rotted teeth in every head, and replied, "They call me... the Extended Essay."
Jumping out of the way of the swipe of its massive paw, I drew my sword from its scabbard, brandished it high above my head, and shouted, "I can write four thousand words or more on Jane Austen, so there! Hah!"
The creature turned slowly to look at me, then collapsed backwards with an "Ooof!", twitched once, then lay still. It was dead.
3) There are lots of pirate stories out there. As a child (or now), what was/is your favorite, and why?
I suppose Peter Pan (the Disney animated version), if that can be considered a pirate story. Hey, it has pirates in it, that's close enough for me! I recall just liking the idea of being able to fly. :) *singing* You can fly, you can fly, you can flyyyyyy...
4) Describe a recent dream.
I had a horrible nightmare the night before I took on a new responsibility at work- birthday parties. I dreamt that the kids arrived five minutes after I'd arrived, and I didn't have the tables ready, the food ready or anything, and I had to do the tour as well, because there was noone else in the museum. *shivers* It didn't really work out that way, thankfully!
Jabbering Flibbertigibbet is a wonderful, literary blog. She's incredibly witty, with a true soul. She can crack me up and make me think. Plus, she's a total Janeite :). She's extremely flattering about my blog...
I added a new link---Civility by Cordelia. Beautiful layout and very well written. Check it out. :-)
Groove Theory is just plain fun. She's got sharp wit, but can be so poetic (ah, the envy- if I didn't love her blog so much, well, I'd just have to hate her for being so poetic when I can't be... *winks*). Oh, and look at the beautiful thing that she said about me!
Cordelia is adorably sensible. She is, simply said, like children in a golden field with butterfly nets. She truly does remind me of a young Jane Austen, with a sweetly cynical twist on the world.
Both these lovely ladies have said sweet things about me *blushes*, and I've decided to set up a little section with those kind words others say about my blog- just for my ego, basically :). If you're interested, click on "For my Ego - Kind Words" on the sidebar.
I just found an amazing blog: Confessions of a Sweatshirt.
Dovie is an Avonlea Forumer (note the capitalization- she's an institution there! Even has a smilie created for her- the WORD one), and she's fabulous! Her blog is incredibly witty and amusing, with a real heart.
She works at a restored Victorian house (as do I), she's Canadian (as am I), is a Christian (as am I), can't understand the appeal of Survivor (like me)... is she me? No, close as it may be... because she (sigh) doesn't like Jane Austen. It's a mark of how much I love everything else about her that I'm willing to forgive this! *winks*
In other news... Cordelia has no glasses and is wearing her hair down. I'm a ponytail addict, especially during the summer. I realized that I must wear them a little too often when my uncle saw me wearing my hair down and said "Hey, you're wearing your hair down!" and pretended to die of shock (my uncle's kind of like an older brother... loves to bug and tease me). It's taking a little getting used to, but having my hair down is rather comfortable. And I adore contacts! I have a totally different look now. Plus, I can see so much better, especially in the rain. :)
I went to go and get fitted for contact lenses today, and had the oddest experience. When I walked into the store, I saw this lady who was an absolute dead-ringer for Rose of Keeping Up Appearances. She had blond hair (big hair, too), wore a mini-skirt and high heels, and had bright pink nail polish on her long nails.
She introduced herself as the contact lens fitter, and I just about fell over. She had a British accent! I have to say that she was extremely nice and most competent, but the initial shock still hasn't quite worn off.
It was raining heavily out today, and as insane as this may sound, I quite enjoyed it. After my contact fitting, my mom and I went shopping and out for a late lunch (such fun!). We dashed around downtown in the rain, trying in vain to keep our umbrellas turned the right way, then found a British-style restaurant. It was so incredibly cozy being inside the dimly lit restaurant, which was filled with dark woods and British memorabilia, and looking out at the grey sky and torrents of rain falling on the street outside the window.
Ah, the happiness of being up late and getting up early. I know that it's horrible for me, and I can't do it often, but I feel like I'm getting the most out of my day that way. *Gets up and goes to look in the mirror to find out if I look like a lunatic, or just sound like one*
Anyway, we're having our big family garage sale today... my "leg" of the family (immediate family) isn't really into them, but the rest of my family swears by garage sales- it's practically their religion. We have the newest garage, so voila! - those who are ambivalent towards garage sales are currently giving up their weekend to host one. You just have to love the logic of that one.
If you haven't already, visit Civility, run by Cordelia. It's a wonderful blog--full of pretty graphics and quotable quotes and good writing. I visit it often.
*runs and hugs Sea* Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sea! And let me say a few words about you... Happy Little Serendipity (I just love the name, to begin with!) is a wonderful blog, so full of life and personality. If anyone hasn't visited yet, make sure that you do!
Okay, as you all know by now, I'm obsessed with Camille's blog. However, no matter what I do, I just cannot copy that beautiful, poetic style of writing that she projects in every single one of her entries. I suppose that I must face the fact that my style is far more Austen, Fielding or Wodehouse than Montgomery, Tennyson or Shakespeare *sigh*. I mean, I'm certainly not presuming to say that I can write anything like Austen, Fielding or Wodehouse, but I simply mean that I tend to imitate their straightforward, slightly cynical/ironic style rather than the beautiful flowing poetic prose (a little oxymoron there for you) of the latter three.
Now that I've had my little "oh-don't-I-feel-sorry-for-myself" moment, I'm all good :). As long as I have people coming to read my blog, I must be doing something right in my writing, right? *grins*
I've decided, on a completely unrelated note, that I want to read certain books this summer. Obviously, I would read this summer, no matter what (I mean, come on- it's Cordelia!), but there are some "milestone" books I want to read. I'm hoping that if I post them in my blog, I'll feel obligated to keep up my resolution. Anyone else care to be "book buddies" for the summer? Hey, if I get enough replies, maybe I can set up a little message board... *drifts off into grandiose plans and dreaming*
Here's the list (in no particular order):
Madame Bovary, Gustav Flaubert
The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins
An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde
Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford
Anyone have any other suggestions of classic must-reads?
Lady Dominica of The Gibson Girls posted this survey a while ago, and I finally got around to answering it. Some of the questions were a little harder to answer than others. :)
1) Name: Cordelia (that's Lady Cordelia to you, sirrah!) *winks*
2) Birthday: February 7
3) What are you doing at this very moment? Saving a whole bunch of Victorian-esque pictures off the Net
4) Favorite colors: blue, red
5) Favorite things to do: read, create websites, host a "girls' night"
6) Last time you laughed till you cried: at the last girls' night!
7) Last time you cried: out of pure stress at my English oral in April
8) Last time you said I love you: this morning
9) What's one of your favorite memories? Going to England with my mom to visit my friend
10) If you could talk to one person that has passed on, who would it be? My dad
11) If you could have a super power, what would it be and why? Super-learning; hold a book to your head and absorb all the knowledge within (for obvious reasons!)
12) Have you ever been in love? No- at least I hope not, or else love is quite disappointing
13) What's the nicest thing someone has done for you? My best friend calling me everyday for over two weeks from overseas after my dad died
14) Who is your best friend? Ohhh, hard to decide- I have my childhood best friend (K), my school best friend (G), my "life" best friends (C, H and D) and my online best friends (A, J, Lady E Clone...*winks*)
15) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? less of a procrastinator! I always get my work done, but I leave it until the last possible minute *hangs head in shame*
16) What's one of your pet peves? Pen-tappers, especially DURING EXAMS!
17) What's one thing we could all learn from? The Bible
18) What is something you like that most people don't?Rite of Spring, by Stravinsky
19) What experience have you learned from the most? Surviving IB
20) What's your favorite quote? "Imagination is more important that knowledge." (Albert Einstein)
21) Nicest thing someone has said to you today: Your new pantsuit looks stunning! (courtesy of my mom, of course *grins*)
22) Something youll never understand: the lure of watching sports
23) Something that has made you open you eyes and realize something: my pastor's new sermon series on the purpose-driven life
24) What's your goal in life? To figure out what God wants me to do, and pursue that
25) Hot or cold? Cold- you can always put on a sweater
26) Summer or winter? Winter- no mosquitoes!
27) What's one of your most valuable things? My mom (okay, not quite a "thing", per se...)
28) Your ideal day would be spent doing what? Waking up in an English country estate, dressing in a day gown, writing at a table overlooking the lake, taking tea with my dashing and kind husband (possibly named Fitzwilliam Darcy or Gilbert Blythe? *grins*), being hostess of a formal ball that evening
29) Beach or pool? Pool
30) What's your favourite food? Mashed potatoes
I went to go and get fitted for contact lenses today, and had the oddest experience. When I walked into the store, I saw this lady who was an absolute dead-ringer for Rose of Keeping Up Appearances. She had blond hair (big hair, too), wore a mini-skirt and high heels, and had bright pink nail polish on her long nails.