plangent plucks of shamisen strings

from this month's AAA Magazine AAA Explorer, "A Tale of Two Cities" by Don George:

"On a dusky April evening in Kyoto..down a cobbled alleyway framed by weathered wooden buildings. The plangent plucks of shamisen strings floated from a screened second-floor room..."

My spouse said "plangent" was an unusual & not modern word, likely confined to the Oxbridge crowd or equivalent.

I was willing to accept it was just a word I didn't know the meaning of until I looked it up.

 

CPAP parts pricing

 Bookmark here for rant on the outrageous pricing of CPAP replacement parts and the annoying method required to order them.

Why must bathing suits make us miserable?

Rebel against the oppression of stupid bathing suits!

Women over 60 years old or over 150 pounds do not want to wear the current standard woman's bathing suit. 

Forget the tiny skirts with which they try to appease us. Not good enough. I want more dignity, and sunburn protection.

From now on, I'll be wearing men's swim trunks and a nylon t-shirt* to the beach. Mens' swim trunks are longer than the ones I've found for women, and they have lots of pockets.

 

stray thoughts September 2024

• Who does all the sewing for that seamstress in Bridgerton? In the fictional world that is. We don't see anyone else in the back of the shop, but no way one person can sew all those dresses and still have time for a love affair.
• Had I known, I'd have saved the "Intel Inside" sticker when it fell off. For nostalgia.
• "Pull yourself together" worked for a hundred years, didn't it? Could I make it my mantra? Would it help?
• Grout for mosaic from flat rocks picked up on beach. I suppose the clay already in the house won't work?
• FISH IN THE MICROWAVE! No problem - I'm working from home.
• Really, what is wrong with the word "stuff"? Why the present near-universal substitution of an expletive for what is already a reasonably fun word?
• I gathered a flower pot full of acorns. Left them outside. Will the local squirrels find and take them? It remains to be seen.
• OK, a few years ago I made acorn flour. It was not worth the effort. But, it did add a nice flavor when 1/4 cup or so added to bread-machine bread. 
• Maybe if the squirrels don't grab all the acorns I'll try it again. There are mistakes I won't repeat in the process. There's some advantage to experience. It wouldn't be quite as bad the second time.
• Jasper Fforde will be the Guest of Honor at Boskone, which is at the cold forbidding Waterfront Westin where I had not wanted to return, but, I've read all his books. I don't expect to ever get to his Ffiesta, so..
• If I do bother to go, he had better be entertaining. Hear that, Mr Fforde?
• I want something like Instagram that ONLY has pretty pictures to look at-- no videos, minimal words.
• The Amica Insurance ad on music.youtube.com, the one that starts with the black and white subway scene--it's entitled "More Human", it's a good mini-movie. I bet it wins an award somewhere. 
• The Voce Viva perfume bottle deserves to win a design award, perhaps related to its usability for the vision impaired.
• Dark Star : Scary Beachball
• I never wanted to *be* a writer. I wanted to do justice to the people who were living in my brain.
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