LOVE:

Lamps:

I love light. The more light you have, the prettier you look, unless it is fluorescent lighting, which makes everybody look dreadful. I wonder why that is? In my lounge, I have too many lamps, but for me, it still isn’t enough. I have two pedestal lamps, a side table lamp, and a picture frame lamp, all in addition to the overhead light. I rarely use it, though. Instead, I gently illuminate the room with the lamplight. It gives the room a soft, cozy, warm, almost romantic feel. I was reading of a way to connect all the lower outlets to the switch, but I haven’t figured that out, yet, it would be nice to flip a switch and have them all turn on. Lamps are, I think, one of the best and most affordable pieces you can bring into a room to give it character.  I need more.

Daydreaming:

Yesterday, I was having the most wonderful daydreams. Noting spectacular happened in them, but I was elegantly dressed in rich fabrics, sitting alone in Angelina’s on the rue de Rivoli, slowly sipping on hot chocolate while I typed away on my iPad about how amazingly chic I was at that moment. I’d go walking through the streets near the Louvre and peruse the shops. I was fabulously wealthy, which made life so nice, I could buy whatever I wanted. I had refined tastes, so I didn’t buy much, but there was the occasional trinket that I delighted in. I’ve been daydreaming a lot these days. I’m not really sure why. I’m sure there’s some reason, maybe I’m trying to avoid reality. I don’t think that’s true, I don’t mind reality much. I’ve turned it into something amusing.

iPad Mini:

Oh you marvelous, beautiful, absolutely unnecessary product! I adore you, and yet, I loathe you. I only loathe you because I cannot justify you in my life. I have a perfect iPad that I love tremendously, it does everything I require of it. And yet, a passion burns within me to own this latest gadget. It doesn’t do anything new. The only thing different about it is the small screen. I know that before too long, I will buy myself one. I can’t resist Apple. It would be rather marvelous to have such a device in the pocket of my blazer to whip out and read and take notes and sketch and all the many things I do with my current iPad. I’ll have to see one in person before I make up my mind. I do a tremendous amount of typing on the iPad, and I feel that the keyboard is just perfect the way it is–I can’t imagine what it will be like on the smaller screen. I bet it will be fine. Apple wouldn’t make something that was unusable. Perhaps it will be a Christmas gift to myself?

The word “winsome”:

I always say that a person is never truly fluent in any language. I know a lot of English and consider myself fluent, being a native speaker, but there is a world of words I know nothing of. This word, winsome, was one of them–until today. “Attractive or appealing in appearance or character.” And it sounds lovely, too, I will work on putting this word in my common vernacular.

Online Shopping:

I love shopping online. No, I adore it. I can sit in my ridiculously chic lounge, iPad in one hand a homemade macaron in the other and shop, shop, shop. You can find absolutely anything online and I’m passionate about finding bargains. If you look long enough, you can get most everything over half price off. I’d like I discuss my latest purchases. 1) I found a luxurious pair of lounging pants for $15, savings of $10. 2) I bought an iPad SD card reader for $18, savings of $11. 3) I bought Karl Lagerfeld style driving gloves for $5–this pleased me. 4) This was my favorite of all. Last night on eBay, I found the official Calvin Klein outlet. I was in heaven, fashion heaven, which is my kind of heaven. When I die, Coco Chanel will meet me at the pearly gates, St. Peter was too démodé. I bought myself a brand new blazer for $89, saving myself well over $200. I’m thoroughly impressed with myself. It’s a bit big, but that’s what tailors are for! I’m going to be Count Lagerfeld for Halloween, it will be the epitome of chic.

Languages: 

I am passionately in love with languages and I take great delight in speaking so many of them so poorly. I can speak French, get by in Spanish, order food in Czech and talk about the children I don’t have, I can book myself into a hotel in German, and I’m confident that I can gesture emphatically enough to get what I need in Italy. Languages are one subject that never bore me, I find them endlessly enthralling. For me, there is nothing more delightful than verb conjugations. Others will disagree. Others are silly.

HATE:

Websites sans PayPal:

Aside from one infuriating transatlantic debacle, my relationship with PayPal has always been a charmed one, and out of my extreme and excessive laziness, I’ve grown dependent on it. When I want to buy something on a whim online to cheer myself, I don’t want to have to grab my wallet, pull out my card, type in numbers, etc. I just want click buy and have it on its way. All websites should have PayPal built in.

Laptop or Desktop or What?

Yesterday’s announcements by Apple almost put me into a severe depression. First was the iPad Mini, I can’t justify it and that cuts me to the quick. Then, they had to introduce a beautiful new iMac and a stunning new MacBook Pro. I’ve had my current MacBook Pro for years and it has been nothing but good to me, but it isn’t the whippersnapper that it once was, it’s becoming slow and grumpy. I’ve been meaning to upgrade for some time, but have waited for these new computers to be announced. Now that they have, I’m lusting for one, but can’t justify the prices. I understand why Apple transitioned to solid state drives, really I do, but the cost is almost ridiculous. The computer I want starts at $1699. Starts! This is madness. My first Mac was $899, and that was a pretty awesome machine for its time. Oh well, I can’t fight it, I’ll never be a Windows user, I love and am loved by Macs. But, I got to thinking about the new iMac. It’s so very beautiful and I really don’t use my laptop as a portable device. Do I really need a laptop, isn’t my iPad a replacement for it? I haven’t decided, yet. I’ll probably get a new laptop next year, sometime, but it will take a lot of thinking and justification.

Phone Conversations:

I hate the telephone. We text for a reason. I have never been able to understand what people say over the telephone. I hear scratchy voices that don’t say a whole lot and then I forgot to say much and feel a fool when I end the conversation too soon. I don’t understand why the sound quality is so very atrocious. We don’t live in the 1800s. We have fast data networks, when I use Skype I can hear everybody perfectly. I don’t think this is just me. I’d rather text an entire conversation anyway.

Internet Censorship:

I’m very grateful that we have wireless Internet at the school where I work, even if it is ridiculously crippled. I don’t understand why so many things are blocked. I can see why FaceBook is blocked and I can stretch my imagination as to why Twitter is blocked, but for a lot of other things I don’t understand. There are so many resources that are denied. YouTube is filled with educational videos that I can’t watch or use. Plus, because it was blocked, I couldn’t watch The Son of Frankenstein during my lunch break. I was denied classic cinema! The pictures on what feels like a majority of websites don’t load either, which is ridiculous as they are just as important to convey information as the text. Anyway, that annoys me.

Halloween wigs:

For Halloween, I’m dressing as the vampire of Karl Lagerfeld, it is going to be an amazing success, I’m sure. What’s chicer than a Lagerfeld vampire? I’ll be Count Lagerfeld. I’ve bought the gloves and the blazer and I have most of the rest of what I’ll need, but I’m having difficulties finding the right wig. I don’t want a Lady Gaga wig and I don’t want a patriotic wig, I just want a simple white wig. Why is that so hard? And why are all Halloween wigs so fake looking. I should have grown out my hair and then powdered it. That would have been simpler. I’ve been meaning to grow my hair out again, but I’m not sure if I’m ready for the responsibilities of having luscious locks that will make everybody weak in the knees. I need to find a wig.

Whitewashing my life:

I take great delight in my website and in social media, I’m able to share my interests and ideas and jokes with people all around the world and I take great delight in doing so. But now, students at work are browsing through my Facebook page and that’s rather annoying. There is nothing there that shouldn’t be, but they have become obsessed with looking at my pictures and reading my statuses. Not everything I do there is politically correct, I suppose, and wouldn’t it be boring if it were? I have a hearty dislike for being agreeable. So, I blocked my Facebook page to people who aren’t my friends, and that annoys me. I had so many lovely subscribers. Tant pis…