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Mpls, MN, United States

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Sunday, November 16, 2008

Unproductive

As I mentioned, I am loving Love in the Time of Cholera. Yesterday, this passage made me laugh out loud:

Dr. Urbino was reluctant to confess his hatred of animals, which he disguised with all kinds of scientific inventions and philosophical pretexts that convinced many, but not his wife. He said that people who loved them to excess were capable of the worst cruelties toward human beings. He said that dogs were not loyal but servile, that cats were opportunists and traitors, that peacocks were heralds of death, that macaws were simply decorative annoyances, that rabbits fomented greed, that monkeys carried the fever of lust, and that roosters were damned because they had been complicit in the three denials of Christ." (Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera, p. 21)
Today, another passage made me cry.

So far today, I've done very little other than sleeping way too late; making C's apple pancake with a bag of inherited Granny Smith apples*; eating the pancake; baking bread; running four miles (in the cold--by the end, it was starting to snow); and a tiny bit of reading. I've been in my pajamas since the long, hot shower I took after running and eating, and now all three things--plus the fact that I should be writing a biographical statement, and putting the finishing touches on the project proposal, for a grant--are just making me sleepy and uninspired. Maybe I'll study some French, since I also need to finally take that exam. (I searched my blog just now for "French," so that I could provide a link that mentioned this correspondence French class I've been enrolled in since October of 2007, though I finished the coursework while I was in California this summer, and discovered a passel of procrastiblogs. I am SO PREDICTABLE.)

Okay. French studying it is, then. I think I'll schedule the exam for... next Friday. Yes. Hopefully having a firm deadline will improve my productivity.

*Which did, actually take me quite a bit of time, as I peeled, cored, and sliced all the apples (smaller than baseballs) by hand. I missed Teri's peeler-corer-slicer!

3 comments:

strovska said...

i loved that book too. in fact, i (accidentally, really!) stole one of the copies from the language-program library at sagunto. i had plans to send it back, but i finally realized that after so long they've probably replaced it and then replaced the replacement copies. i still feel guilty about it. maybe i'll reread it to assuage my guilt.

Leah said...

Ooh, I love the peeler-corer-slicer. I've always wanted one, but I don't make enough apple-based dishes to warrant the purchase.

CëRïSë said...

Strovska, I'm very impressed that you read it (I assume) in Spanish.

And Curly Sue, it's the sort of thing I don't think I could justify buying for myself, but they're so much fun to use when there's one handy!