Sickness is mine, always

[hawkwing_lb]

Gods and little fishes, this has been a bad year for me. Illness after injury after virus after infection after depression after bad shit. Annus horribile, or however one conjugates the Latin.

So. Have a meme.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, hawkwing_lb sent to me...

Twelve marius drumming

Eleven libraries piping

Ten herodotus a-leaping

Nine antiquities dancing

Eight weapons a-reading

Seven bookshops a-writing

Six suetonius a-running

Five anci-i-i-ient societies

Four wb yeats

Three michael collins

Two pharaonic tombs

...and a stalin in a gracchii.

Get your own Twelve Days:

Comments

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Poor you! Nobody likes being sick all the time, and there's probably enough stress in your life to keep you susceptible to every passing virus. I think your annus is horribilus indeed.

But perhaps there is some thing in the air that is not a virus, winging its way towards your home even at this very moment. Slow though it may be, as it beats its wings furiously against the current of the winds, it shall someday attain its goal.

Tonight is the first night of Hannukah. Remember the Maccabees, and light those oil lamps against the darkness. :-) Only don't imitate the Maccabees too closely, as they were pretty vicious themselves.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Every three weeks, since coming back to college, I've caught something.

*hates viruses*

And yes, that. Arrived this afternoon. I meant to write in effusive thanks, but I'm right this moment dithering between email and handwritten. (It'll be handwritten, if I find my good paper and it's not too mildewed. :))


Maccabees... Oh, yes. They were the martyrs, with their rather violent revolt, the one that Vespasian and Titus so effectively crushed, weren't they? Is that what Hannukah is about?

*learns somethingnew every day*

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Every three weeks??!? No wonder you're tired of being sick! Oy! Maybe you'd better stock up on chicken soup and garlic. ;-) There is something to the old wives' tales, eh?

Well. Ol' Amazon managed to get it sent out earlier than their dire predictions would have it. Enjoy, and if you absolutely must, donate it to a library for others to enjoy as well. :-) No guilt allowed.

Maccabees were revolting against Antiochus, or so my aging brain would have it (and the last remnants of our propaganda, yanno). The Temple (whether the One in Jerusalem or another capital-T temple, I never really knew) was recaptured from Roman hands and they went to light candles to celebrate. Only there was not enough oil for one day, but they went ahead and lit them, leading to the miracle of the eight days.

So now we celebrate with candles and lots of presents what was essentially a post-battle glorification session. Yes, it was a violent revolt, as most of our revolts tend to be. My brother and I once tried to find some Jewish holiday that didn't commemorate something bad happening. Other than Sukkot, which is a harvest festival, Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, and Simchat Torah, which celebrates the Torah, all the rest are about something horrible. Purim? The planned slaughter of the Jews in Persia. Passover? The planned slaughter of the Jews in Egypt. Hannukah? Yom Kippur? Yom ha-Shoah? etc., etc.

We're very depressing, we are. Perhaps that's why we did so well in Russia. ;-)

But then, as I've seen mentioned elsewhere on LJ, we eat. Latkes -- or potato pancakes (fried) -- for Hannukah. Since I can no longer consume potato (heresy for an Irish-American), I'm reduced to just remembering the heavenly latkes my grandmother made. Mmm. Latkes. With applesauce.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Trust me, I'm planning to go all-out overboard on vitamin supplements and tonic-things as soon as I can get to a pharmacy.

*bans guilt*

But, seriously, if there's anything I can send you? Tea, perhaps? :)

I need to check up on my revolts, clearly :). Since I am supposed to be studying this stuff this year.

I suspect remembering horrible events with celebration is a coping mechanism. As well as putting the finger up to all the old enemies, I suppose. :)

Talk not to me about food. Today I caught the seasonal Baking Fever. A deadly disease, it leads to death through over-eating and arterial failure. (Trifles. Sponges. Double cream.) Usually, I'm immune, but this year I guess my defences were lowered. :)

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

I do recall finding some lovely zinc lozenges at a chemist in mid-Ireland that were (1) much tastier than American versions and (2) worked better. You all have some good stuff in your pharmacies. ;-)

Tea is always appreciated. I got several flavors of tea for my birthday, including one I've never even considered: tiramisu. Oddly enough, it works, at least for me. It has a very nice cocoa aroma that translates to a faint hint of cocoa flavor after the main tea flavor has gone by.

Yes, I agree that these celebrations are the release of pent-up energies, worries, letting go of fear and rage, and giving the old finger(s) up to the enemies. "They didn't kill us. Let's eat." I like eating.

Ooh, Baking Fever. That's a bad one, it is. What do you put in your trifles? I've seen recipes with and without alcohol, and the ingredients vary somewhat, although the basic idea is always the same. :-)

I just baked an apple butter-pumpkin pie, which has turned out not too bad. A little more sweet than I really like (and I shall cut back on the brown sugar by another third next time), but a nice under-taste of apple with the pumpkin, and a very moist pie.

Oh, sorry -- you said not to talk about food. Erm. Um. Oh -- just read two of Liz Williams' books (The Demon and the City, The Snake Agent). Fascinating. Reminded me of Melissa Scott in some ways, but really drew heavily on the Chinese cultures. I love that kind of approach.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Trifle: sponge cake, raspberries, raspberry jelly (I suspect that needs a USian translation), custard. Cream to taste.

No alcohol. Alcohol does odd things to the taste of a good sponge, in my opinion.

I read Snake Agent and found it pretty cool. Demon and the City is on my TBR pile (and it's saying something about my life in recent months that I have a TBR pile :)). Odd thing, though: the setting is pretty noir, if you know what I mean, but the tone of the story itself is fairly light by comparison. I'm interested to see how TDaTC matches up.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Ah, your trifle is very similar to the one my non-Irish grandmother made. She used whichever fruits she could find, particularly raspberries which she loved, and strawberries, blueberries, and whatever mixed fruit she had. Her own sponge cake, which was a thing of beauty indeed, and cream. I don't recall jelly or custard, but that may be because by the time I saw the trifle, all the jelly and custard were mashed into trifle-y goodness.

I've made trifle, so I do remember putting custard into mine. It were yummy.

Now I've gone and made myself hungry.

Yes, the setting is noir-ish, in an intense, crowded, Chinese sort of way. I envision New York City, in the area named Chinatown, because it has those narrow winding streets filled with vendors, odd and tantalizing aromas, strange and exotic items hanging in windows, and Chinese of various dialects being spoken all around.

TDaTC is more from the demon's perspective, and it's an interesting one. All these different demons!

For another take on Chinese demons, if you ever get the chance to rent or somehow see Big Trouble in Little China, you should. It's an 80's classic, but it has these cool Chinese demons. And David Lo-Pan, one of the hammiest of Evil Lords you will ever see. :-)

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

For the trifle, I followed the basic idea of a friend of my mother's, and added a lot of guesswork. :) It worked, much to my surprise.

Big Trouble in Little China? I'll keep an eye out.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Trifle seems to be one of those dishes where you throw the approximate amounts of items belonging to the general categories of "fruit", "sponge cake" and "cream", with varying amounts of jelly or custard or (for those depraved individuals) alcohol, and then let it all sit in gooshy goodness.

Mmm. Trifle.

Yes, keep your eye out and wince along with me over the dated sensibilities, and be patient for you will enjoy the Chinese demons. It's a very silly movie, and the actors clearly had a lot of fun. :-)

And then you will never be able to read Liz Williams without thinking of those demons. Or LoPan. And my evil work here will be done...dang. I'm thinking out loud again.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

...dang. I'm thinking out loud again

That's a bad habit, that is. Could get a person into a whole lot of trouble, wouldn't you think? ;)

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Hmph.

Just you wait.

:-D


Oh, and Happy Winter Solstice to you.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

*waiting*

:)

And belated Happy Longest Night to you, too. :)