girlyswot

Nicked fromwhite_hart 

Pick a number to get an answer from me. Or give your own answer to someone else's question. Or just borrow the meme!

 I don’t actually know if I have answers to all of these, but I’ll try.


1. A book that haunts you

2. A book that was an interesting failure

3. A book where you really wanted to be reading the "shadow" version of the book (as in, there are traces of a different book in the work and you would have much preferred to read that one)

4. A book with a worldbuilding detail that has stuck with you

5. A book where you loved the premise but the execution left you cold

6. A book where you were dubious about the premise but loved the work

7. The most imaginative book you've seen lately

8. A book that feels like it was written just for you

9. A book that reminds you of someone

10. A book that belongs to a specific time in your mind, caught in amber

11. A book that came to you at exactly the right time

12. A book that came to you at the wrong time

13. A book with a premise you'd never seen before quite like that

14. A book balanced on a knife edge

15. A snuffed candle of a book

16. The one you'd take with you while you were being ferried on dark underground rivers

17. The one that taught you something about yourself

18. A book that went after its premise like an explosion

19. A book that started a pilgrimage

20. A frigid ice bath of a book

21. A book written into your psyche

22. A warm blanket of a book

23. A book that made you bleed

24. A book that asked a question you've never had an answer to

25. A book that answered a question you never asked

26. A book you recommend but cannot love

27. A book you love but cannot recommend

28. A book you adore that people are surprised by

29. A book that led you home

30. A book you detest that people are surprised by

I have spent this evening planning my funeral.

Not, I hasten to add, because there is anything wrong with me! As far as I know, this is an event which is not imminent. But we were talking about it on Christmas Day (cheery family that we are), and although my mother has provided us all with a detailed description of what she wants (a conversation which began with 'You'll need to book a double slot at the crematorium'), none of the rest of us really have a clue what the others would like. My father has been exempted on the basis that he doesn't much care, and my mother is very likely to outlive him and will actually enjoy planning his funeral.

I still have some admin to do on a list of who should be notified, where it should be announced online, and other information that would be useful for my executors and family to have. But the funeral planning was surprisingly fun. You will not be surprised to learn that I have strong views on what I do and do not want. In bold capitals I have written: NO EULOGY AND NO PHOTOS. They can have them at the wake if they want, but not in the church. I have specified bright colours for the flowers, but that no one is to be told what to wear. I have chosen proper hymns and they are not to be played in modernised versions with bits added and terrible tunes.

The readings will be: Song of Songs 8:6-7, Isaiah 25:6-9 and Revelation 21:1-27
The hymns are: For all the saints who from their labours rest; Love divine, all loves excelling; O the deep, deep love of Jesus; and From the Squalor of a Borrowed Stable.

The overall theme is the love that is stronger than death.

I am very pleased with this. Obviously I shall have to revisit it every so often, especially the notes on who could be asked to do what. But I think it is a service that conveys the things I most want people to be thinking about at my funeral, in a way that is particular and special to me.

This was a comment on someone else's blog, but it seemed like it ought to be here too:

It’s not days, any more. It’s weeks and months. It’s not lockdown, it’s just life. It’s weird and it’s normal. It’s quiet and it’s hectic. It’s staying home except when it’s going out. It’s knowing things are scary and it’s not knowing how scary. It’s staying the same and it’s constantly changing. It’s impossible to process and yet we’re constantly processing it.

If you’re getting dressed every day, if everyone in your household is fed, it you’re doing the minimum that your work expects or requires, you’re winning.

My friend and work colleague who was hospitalised with coronavirus a few weeks ago is home and recovering. Others who’ve had it but more mildly at home all seem to be getting better. But a friend of a friend has now been in intensive care for nearly 4 weeks and it’s not looking good. Famous people who I am sad about are dying. Not famous people who I don’t know are dying. Health care workers are dying, and in the UK, very disproportionately health care workers from ethnic minorities are dying and no one knows why.

I’m sad and scared, and fine and happy, and getting on with life as usual, and coping and not coping. We’re making plans at work but we’re not making plans because we don’t know what plans to make.

And I’m about half way through The Mirror and The Light, though I have had some breaks for occasional romance reading along the way.

1. Are you an Essential Worker?
No, but I am working from home. From next week, I am planning to go into my office one day a week to do the things I can't do at home.

2. How many drinks have you had since the quarantine started?
I found a can of G&T at the back of the fridge, so I had that.

3. If you have kids... Are they driving you nuts?
I don't have kids.

4. What new hobby have you taken up during this?
( Read more... )

Earlier this week, things started to get real in a new way, at least from my perspective. I know for some of you this all kicked in much earlier. But Tuesday was when work suddenly became full of cancelling, planning, re-scheduling, moving online, and working out contingencies on minimal information. I found myself getting sucked in to constant checking of news updates. Every group on Facebook was full of endless discussions around different implications or scenarios which no one had answers to. And there was, if not actual panic, measurable anxiety.

I needed to find some space. Not from people, but from the headlines, the clickbait, the panic and the scaremongering. I needed to limit my consumption to actual news, and that only at specific tmes.

So I made a Facebook group that would be virus-free. It's called Space and it's here and it has been wonderful. Joyous, even. This is what I just posted there:

Thanks for another great day! It's been really fun seeing people from different parts of my life (and some not from my life at all!) connecting over a shared love of The West Wing or Cabin Pressure, Pickled Onion Monster Munch or cat videos, crochet and poetry, and all the other good things in life.

This is a virus-free space, but that doesn't mean it has to be a relentlessly upbeat space. It's okay if you need it to be somewhere to post about the normal frustrations, worries and sorrows of life. I hope it can be a kind space and a gentle space.

It has been reminding me a bit of Live Journal back in the day, actually. I've been excited to keep checking back and see what new threads have been started and who's commented on existing ones. I know most of you don't know each other, and it will take a while to build the kind of trust and community that LJ was so good at fostering, but I'd love to see bits of that starting to happen too.

And once again, a reminder that if you know someone who might need this space, please do invite them.

If you need a space right now, you are very welcome to join us.