Lyrics Break

You must have been a beautiful baby
You must have been a wonderful child
When you were only starting to go to kindergarten
I bet you drove the little boys wild.
And when it came to winning blue ribboms
You must have shown the other kids how.
I can see the judges' eyes as they handed you the prize
You must have made the cutest bow.
You must've been a beautiful baby
'Cause baby look at you now.

Another lyrics break

I do believe our love's in danger.
I might as well be loving air.
You look at me like I'm a stranger.
You look at me like I'm not there.

I gaze into your eyes of blue,
but their beauty is not for me.
You're thinking on someone who's gone.
You're dreaming of the one you really love.

I made you mine, or so it seemed.
Though he is dead he haunts your dreams.
I might as well be two feet tall.
You never will love me at all.

I gaze into your eyes of blue,
but their beauty is not for me.
You're thinking on someone who's gone.
You're dreaming of the one you really love.
You're dreaming of the corpse you really love.

Another guppie milestone

Last night we had a couple more firsts for my new place: First dinner party and first whoopee (though not in that order). monshu, e., and bunj all came bearing gifts and I tried to get as much of their stuff back to them as I could. e. was all ready to grab a brush or a putty knife and get to work again, but I compelled her to sit down (at my SHINY NEW TABLE!) and relax. The Great Red Wall got a lot of praise, which made me feel good; I think one more coat tomorrow morning will really do it.

We ordered pizza from Calo's and got down to the survey of What Needs Doing. I made out a list of some of the small stuff I could use and monshu will take it with him when he goes scouting the massive Lakewood-Balmoral co-operative yard sale tomorrow. bunj and I will join him in the early afternoon, when the sellers will presumably be in more of a hagglin' kinda mood.

While they all popped out to the Neska for a bit, I ran around assembling my table settings. At long last, I had more than two of the terracotta-coloured placemats monshu bought me four years ago in use at the same time. He had brought over a MASSIVE Chinese tiger seal, which I made centerpiece and surrounded with tea lights. I just stared at the little arrangement on the newly-purchased pandan-leaf runner down the middle of my dark birch tabletop and kvelled. Clearly, all these years of simple living have not made an ascetic out of me.

The fat lady ain't takin' the stage any time soon

My plans for tonight, for a radical change, had NOTHING TO DO with the condo. Taking care of it, from purchase to refurbishing, has involved so much time and energy that I haven't been down to see Nuphy in at least two weeks. (My sense of time is completely screwed right now. Something could've happened last week or two months ago; if I didn't liveJournal it, I've no way of saying for sure.) I was quite looking forward to seeing him back in his favourite chair, holding court in the beautiful townhome he's had for just over a year.

Then I get a call from Nemuci, who only flew back to town this morning. Her dad is back in the friggin' hospital again. From the sound of it, there's no immediate danger. He knew he'd have to return sometime this month to have his fistulas attended to. However, I know he was hoping it would be the second half of the month.

So, instead of visiting him at home, I'll see him in the hospital again. If I'm lucky, Héctor will be working the desk and I'll find something neither too skanky or too boring to eat in the café. And it won't take me forever to get back home afterwards. (Shouldn't be bad, now that I think about it--just O'Hare line to downtown, switch to the HoDaR. I can sample the nightlife on Argyle after dark. Whoo-hoo!)

Nice to look at, nice to hold

For months--maybe years now--monshu and I have been wondering what the Chinese is for "kitsch". They produce so much of it, I remember thinking, they must have a word. Of course, what did we in the English-speaking world call it before we imported the German term in the 20's? Our shorthand, developed from monshu's daily eBaying, was "kittens and peonies". (If you ever browse the Asian objets d'art on eBay yourself, you'll soon see why.)

Dictionaries have been of no help, so I turned to my favourite lexicographic tool and Googled for "Chinese" and "kitsch". This turned up an enlightening article from Chinese art scholar Li Xianting. The directly relevant bits are quoted behind this ( cut )