{ you said that I was naive / and I thought that I was strong. }

[delga]

In case it wasn't obvious, I am trying to get back into the habit of regularly updating, which is why these weekly quasi-summaries keep showing up. I've done okay this week, though. I posted other things to places that aren't my tumblr! Hurrah! I've been quite busy at work, too, and trying to catch up on sleep since gallivanting around London last week.

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On Monday night The Mother and I bought pizza and watched more of Justified series 1. I have not managed to catch up with 3x01 yet, but hopefully will get to that today. I have Bones and two episodes of Fringe, too. I have accepted that if I don't watch Borgen this week then I am never going to get caught up.

But: early Justified when the villain du series was much subtler, and the individual stories held more weight! The last episode The Mother and I watched was the first one with Arlo Givens, but the one before that was the one with the dentist. The Mother seems to be enjoying it; I'm getting a kick out of re-watching.

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On Tuesday I went out with some co-workers to see Shame. It was the second time I'd seen it (film fest!) and I was feeling weird about it because a) coworkers and b) it turns out Michael Fassbender is a lady beating asshole, gdi. I normally have quite a hard and fast rule about dumping things because of the leads being dicks, but. Gosh, I'm finding myself being a massive hypocrite. The film was put together by Steve McQueen, and the music is wonderful, and it's galling to me that Fassbender is the face of it, because I love them film. I do. So I spent a lot of time thinking about social responsibility, and not getting very far.

I did enjoy having the opportunity to talk about the film afterwards. Am very, very much the New Girl in that circle of people, but enjoyed a drink after the film, then took myself home. Am in the process of flat-hunting right now, so maybe I won't have to skip out so soon in future.

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Thursday was weird for me at work because I was super busy but not doing the job that I usually do. It was brilliant for that - I talked to a lot of people that I do not normally talk to. I think I've mentioned before that the nature of my work and the arrangement of seats in the building makes interacting with people a little awkward sometimes, but being up on my feet and interacting with people was great. Had a good day.

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My aunt went into hospital at the top of the week, and it didn't go as planned. She's still there today, but from the sound of things is doing a bit better. I don't know; there's not been much news.

My gran is in India, did I mention? That, too.

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I got some post this week - a card and some lovely bracelets from (and made by) fallapartagain, and a lovely long letter from belantana. I'm in the process of trying to send some packages. I say trying because I keep forgetting to leave work and go to the post office. (I try to go at opening so I don't have to queue for a long time.)

I also received a copy of Stacie Cassarino's Zero at the Bone which I had forgotten I'd bought, plus two copies of Richard Siken's Crush which I am going to distribute. A new dress should arrive next week - dropped from £30-something to £12, so I do not feel bad about the additional purchase. I should probably try to find some trousers, ffs, but I am having a hard time on that front.

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The Duck Cheer tumblr has some pictures and a video from last weekend. I'm opening it up a little this time. I'm going to send out the eight ducks I bought for round 2 (I really am! I am just waiting on the arrival of some info cards) and track those like I did last time, but this time I'm also opening up to submissions from other people. Have a duck of your own? Share!

A few people have been asking me: why ducks? And this project has never really been about the ducks as much as it has been about the people and the places. Ducks are just an easy way in. But the root of the story is that at secondary school water used to collect on the roof of the cafeteria. My friends loosed about 10 ducks up there once. It's just our thing, I guess, and it took off. Either you find plastic ducks inherently cheering, or you don't.

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Have you seen these posters? I love them.

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But, yes, Cassarino's poetry. I started reading it on the train and fell into a collection that is basically a long list of my lexical kinks. Words for earth, light, water. I am trying to be better at reading poetry on two levels again - the semantic, and the syntactical. It's been a while since I've pulled something apart, and I've never done it without guidance of some sort. I am trying to do this because reading at a syntactical level informs writing; it always will. And I think it would be good practice, if nothing else.

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Lastly, hestia8 and I went to see Di and Viv and Rose last year, written by Amelia Bullmore and starring Tamzin Outhwaite, Nicola Walker and Claudie Blakley. I have recently discovered that copies of the text are available. Does anyone want one? Let me know.