Domestic update, 1

Man, did I chose the right profession. Or, at least, I didn't chose the wrong one. I'm waiting to hear back from my attorney on our latest offer to the seller. I still hope to get some money for the electrical, if not the full amount the repairs have been estimated at, but mostly I just want to end the suspense so I can move on to the business of planning my move.

monshu and I made a little progress on that yesterday. Since I couldn't sleep in at my place, I rode up to his in the hope of napping there. But, by then, I was up and ready to go, so I suggested we get the shopping out of the way and I'd nap in the afternoon. Unfortunately, he had several errands to attend to that morning and it was almost noon before we left. In our haste, we hadn't consulted the weather report and come to regret that decision when we were sheltering under overhangs, waiting for a break in the downpour.

We checked out four places: Eastern Deco, Retrospect, and Room and Board, all in the same Michigan Avenue vertical mall. None of the lacquered cabinets at ED appealed to me much. Most seemed to be not that antique and not in the best of shape. (I don't require that they be perfect, just that the doors close properly.) We did better at the other places, especially the last, where I found an extraordinarily reasonably-priced metal frame bed I'm thinking of buying and some strong sofa candidates.

Then we braved the storm to arrive at Marshall Field, which is undergoing transformation. The men's department was displaced to the second floor by an FCUK boutique, half the seventh floor is empty, and the furniture department was marked by transition. However, that's good for discounting and we found a living room set there that's a strong contender. The plan would be for me to take the love seat while monshu gets the couch and chair and, one day, they would all be reunited.

Really faking

In an entry a while back, made after watching an episode of the British show Faking It in which a Yorkshire lass is passed off as posh, I complained:

I would've found it far more interesting to take one of the priggish toffs featured in that show, make him over with a working-class brogue and shabby clothes, dump him in a Black Country pub and see if he could survive the evening without getting his arse caved in.

It's like the BBC is reading my LJ.

In last night's episode, a 145-lb., gay, Oxford-bound "country toff" is dropped in a "council estate" (i.e. housing project) in Inner London and given four weeks to learn how to pass himself off as a bouncer from Hackney. How did our boy do? Fantastically! He fooled every one of the veterans who were working the door with him on his final night as monshu and I howled with laughter and cheered. Others might have found more pleasure in the scenes where he's beaten bloody by his trainer's girlfriend, but I had nothing but admiration for the guy. He mastered his fear (which was very palpable as he got his first look at where he'd be living) and completely inhabited the role he was asked to play.

Later that night, I amused myself trying to think up a challenge for monshu. I think one that he might find difficult would be imitating a former football player turned coach--even though he has the look and demeanour--just because sports is like the most tedious thing in the world for him.

Toot toot toot!

At Eastern Deco, which had some nice pieces mixed in among all the mass-produced kitsch, we came across several short texts written on bamboo slats. One was in indecipherable grass hand, another was Night Mooring at Maple Bridge, a very popular poem we already have two or three copies of, and another was the beginning of the Three Character Classic. I only vaguely recognised the title, but I was actually able to read enough of it to determine it was a Confucian text of some sort.

We looked it up when we got home and found this awesome interactive version. Turns out it's one of the most basic Confucian texts of all, a 13th century catechism that was once memorised by all Taiwanese schoolchildren. No wonder I could figure it out! The site's approach is so terrific, I really wish they had more and more interesting texts, but what's there should be useful to some of the Chinese learners around.

The clerk picked up on our scrutiny, which gave us a chance to show off a bit. I made casual remarks about the content, then turned to monshu and asked, "Would you say that's more lishu or kaishu?" "Oh, definitely lishu." (For an explanation of these terms, see this incredibly informative and well-designed webpage.) Damn, it's fun being one half of an erudite couple with good taste and a little money to spend.