Friday Unrelated Information
1. If you ever wanted to branch out from “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” here’s a list of pangrams–even some in other languages!
2. This was on kottke.org this week, but I find it hilarious: Fake pronunciation guides. They’re eight seconds of pure awesome.
Celebrate the weekend with a glass of chimpoopisto!
3+2 Things: Book Report
So it’s February 2–how about that goal of reading a book a month? I picked Brideshead Revisited as the first one, as I knew the Granada series from the 80s well but had never read the novel all the way through.
However, it’s slow going: Because I know the plot from the TV series, I’m tempted to skip ahead, and I keep hearing Jeremy Irons in my head as I read. I’m also out of the habit of reading, I think; I tend to open my laptop instead of a book lately.
But I’m pushing through–can’t get too behind on the year of book already!
A Grammar Tip
I have a few tricks I use to keep things straight mentally (and to help explain my copy edits at work), but I’ve never shared them with anyone. Are you interested? Shall we see if this makes sense and start a Wednesday grammar tip series? Let’s try.
Today’s tip is about getting the possessive version of “its”–that is, the one WITHOUT the apostrophe–right. My tip? See if you can substitute “his” for “its”.
So, for example, take this sentence:
“The chair was missing one of its legs.”
Using our trick, we can pretend we live in a cartoon universe and say,
“Mr. Chair was missing one of HIS legs.”
Yes, this makes sense! DO NOT add an apostrophe to that “its” in the original sentence.
Another example:
“Paris is famous for its lights, its food, and its wine.”
Let’s use our trick again and substitute “his”:
“Bob Paris is famous for HIS lights, HIS food, and HIS wine.”
Yes! Resist the urge to add an apostrophe to “its” as it is used here.
You can also reverse this if you see an “it’s” with an apostrophe and you’re not sure it is correct:
Does changing “It’s going to snow tonight.” to “HIS going to snow tonight” work?
No, that makes no sense. Therefore, this apostrophe is OK.
So remember: If you can substitute “his” for “its” in the sentence you’re worried about, that “its” does NOT need an apostrophe.
Tuesday Project Roundup: More Fabric
I don’t have anything finished to show today, but how about pictures of my latest fabric wants?
This past weekend, I started working with the grey fairy-tale print Liberty of London I bought myself over Christmas–my first time using any really “nice” fabric in over a year. So of course I now want ALL my fabric to be Liberty, and of course Liberty has obliged me by coming out with new spring prints:
Becci C–can’t you see this as a tunic with contrast bands around the neck?
And here’s Gilliam A, which is telling me it wants to be some sort of ladylike tie-neck blouse.
(Hey, my budget and I can dream, right?)
It’s Monday
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Let’s just say, hypothetically, that you are going on a date for the first time in 4.5 years. What do you do? How do you act? Fortunately, Mystery Science Theater 3000 has found us this educational film, “What to Do On a Date.”
“How about a weenie roast?” “Nick, NO!”
2. Related but not as funny, this essay about a first dance could have been written by me, down to the dress I was so convinced I had to have and the inevitable disappointment:
I cried because I’d believed with all my being that once I put on eyeshadow and a turquoise dress, I’d turn into a heroine of any of the slumber-party movies I’d watched. […] I cried because at that moment, in a gymnasium decorated with crepe paper so that the gifted kids could feel not just smart but glamorous, I began to understand that not everything would come easy to me, and that some forms of failure could be intangible, inexpressible, and nonetheless undeniable. I cried because I wanted to be seen, and because nobody was ready or willing to see me.
3. And unrelated: Happy birthday to our friend W.A. Mozart.
Music History
In late winter I always revisit Russian music, and lately it’s been Shostakovich. How about the finale to his Fifth Symphony to get your blood going this morning?
He wrote this after managing to get on Stalin’s bad side with an opera and after pulling his Fourth Symphony to not further anger the dictator. The party was pleased with the Fifth (which the composer subtitled “A Soviet Artist’s Practical Creative Reply to Just Criticism”), but, as Shostakovich later wrote:
I think it is clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth. The rejoicing is forced, created under threat… It’s as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, “Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing,” and you rise, shaky, and go marching off, muttering, “Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing.”…You have to be a complete oaf not to hear that.
More music history here. Happy Thursday, comrades!
Things That Made Me Happy Yesterday
1. Cat pictures:
(from my “Happy” Pinterest board, of course); and
2. This quote from M.F.K. Fisher:
A well-made dry Martini or Gibson, correctly chilled and nicely served, has been more often my true friend than any two-legged creature.
(from the final essay in An Alphabet for Gourmets. It’s so true.)
Also: Happy birthday to Virginia Woolf today!
Tuesday Project Roundup: Namaste!
Around Christmas, I was talking to my yoga teacher and it came out that I knit. And she asked, “Can you make me some legwarmers?”
Because I feel the same way about my yoga teacher as I did about a few early grade school teachers (“You’re so pretty! And so calm! And you’re good at so many things I’m not!”), I said of course I would (“Teacher asked me to do a special project! Yay!”).
I’m using this pattern but left off the foldover cuff, as you can see. I left it off because I wasn’t sure I’d have enough yarn for it, but now I’m pretty certain I will. So do I go back to the first one and add it? I don’t know if the drawstring would be fiddly during yoga or if it would help with the fit.
Maybe the legwarmer needs to live its way into the answer….
(And no, that joke still hasn’t gotten old. If you couldn’t tell.)