Vocabulary Lesson

So amazing. Real word:

palinode

PRONUNCIATION:

(PAL-uh-noad)

MEANING:

noun: A poem in which the author retracts something said in an earlier poem.

Also,

14.71% of visitors to this blog this month searched for etrog vodka. How timely.
5.88% for "susan harris" ucla.

Trouble is My Business

If you don't actually know me, you may not know that I am obsessed with all things Raymond Chandler. And, as such, I have started a blog that I actually update with quotations by Chandler and pictures by me. It's basically a photo blog with captions, or a quotation blog with illustrations. Either way, you should check it out.

Also, on this blog, see the incredibly growing sidebar list of books I read this year--go me!--and how Chandleriffic it is.

The real inspiration for this announcement is ErGo's "Metaphorplay" post. Chandler is nothing if not a craftsman of metaphor and analogy. One of my favorites from The Little Sister:

At 3 a.m. I was walking the floor and listening to Katchaturian working in a tractor factory. He called it a violin concerto. I called it a loose fan belt and the hell with it.

Finally, if I do know you and you like movies, please join me on my more recent quest to watch every movie based on/written by Raymond Chandler. Unfortunately, about half of them are not on Netflix, so this might be a challenge.

Disservice

To whom it may concern,

If I call/email/chat with you for any of the following reasons:

• my computer suddenly loses all sound
• you charged me for wireless internet with included router but did not send me a modem/wireless router
• you don't tell me that the price of the service is actually the price after a mail-in rebate, which won't be applied until four to six weeks after you received the filled out rebate, which I won't even receive until over a month after service begins
  

Please do not thank me after every step of your mind-numbingly repetitive process. Please do not call me Ms. Laura. If you deleted both of these horrible things from your script, we could solve problems much more efficiently. Seriously, all of the following were stated just for "Bert" to tell me that I need to reinstall the audio driver for some reason which he does not know.

Bert : Thank you for confirming.
Bert : Thank you for the information.
Bert: Thank you for the information.
Bert : Thank you for your efforts inchecking all the information.
Bert : Thank you for the information.
Bert : Thank you for the information.
Bert: Thank you for confirming.
Bert: Thank you.
Bert: Thank you for your time and patience.

And now, to especially you, Verizon, please do not tell me you can not give me my money back (for your, of course, incorrect charges) because you have not yet generated the bill when I have the bill in my hands. And when I tell you I have the bill in my hands, don't just ignore that and move on like there is no such bill.

Also, Micaela, please learn how to speak English. "Just to confirm, is the music files are same on external hard drive earlier also?" Huh?

Best,
Laura

Happy Anniversary Canter's!

Um, so, I ate beef yesterday. Weird. But, seriously, at least it was super incredibly delicious, oh man. And, even better, this is what 60 cents bought me: an entire (2 halves) corn beef sandwich, a pickle (a little too bitter, not sour), a "taste" of potato salad (I don't like potato salad, so I gave it to a friend who actually ended up with three such tastes), and a rugulach! SO good. SIXTY CENTS. ridiculous. I feel like Huell Howser should have been there for this moment.

The most important thing one can take away from the film Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton

Make sure your workspace has hardwood floors and you sit in a chair that has wheels. Do not ever get up. Do not ever give up.