(no subject)

We went to see "Gypsy Caravan" and now I urge you to do the same. It's a concert tour movie, but it's also a lot more. And the music and the dancing are wonderful.

Something I found out: the song, "Djelem, djelem," which I had scooped up from somewhere long forgotten and put on my playlist and assumed was Middle Eastern or klezmer, turns out to be the Romani national anthem, and it's all about travelling long distances, having no money or food, and being taken in by your own people and fed: and persecution. it's a really moving song even when you don't know what it's about.

Something else: remember how I was once talking about Johann Trollmann? The Sinto (like a Gypsy) who was probably not related to the Trollmanns the nice fellow comes from? And the tantalizing detail of the Sinto Trollman having really similar features to the Trollman men I know?

Well, I kept seeing that Trollman mouth all over this movie. Now, I don't think this means a thing but that we're all very closely related and features like that can pop up all over. I don't think I'd have noticed it unless I'd read the Johann Trollmann story first. But I did notice it, and it's a thing I'm free to add meaning to, since I am a member of a species that does that. So there. (by the way, double-n Trollmann and single-n Trollman are historical and geographical distinctions)

Another thing: 2005-2015 is the decade of Roma inclusion.

early to bed

Tonight, anyway.

I'm more and more dissatisfied with the book, which is I believe a developmental inevitability. Here are some things that irritate me at the moment (when I am about 4.5K from the end of the first draft -- i.e., three days' work):

1. If the protagonist is going to be such a whiny little guy, shouldn't he be deliberately ridiculous?

2. Or maybe he should be less whiny instead.

3. If the love-object is going to be so relentless in pursuing the Truth About Skip, maybe I should give him a better motivation than Love At First Sight, which he's already been noted not to believe in?

4. Maybe this guy ought to have some motivation at all? And maybe a little more back story?

5. If the title of the book is A Suitable Lover, and the germ of the book is that conversation about how Skip is a perpetually unsuitable lover, maybe the idea shouldn't be introduced and dropped in a few chapters?

6. Why on earth do I find it necessary to have the people who like Skip the most bitch him out at every opportunity? If he's that annoying,how do I expect anybody to want to read about him?

7. Skip's sex schtick seriously needs tweaking. Also Marcus's. I don't so much think that the scenes themselves are so bad, but one of the things about Skip is supposed to be that he'll do whatever the other guy wants -- whatever, within reason -- so the three? sex scenes in the book shouldn't read the same, should they?

8. Why should anybody care about the minutiae of Skip's back story? Why does it matter whether he ran away or was thrown out of his ex's apartment? Why does it matter whether he tried to call afterwards or not?

On another front,I have made large strides towards cleaning up my front yard. I cut quince branches for hours today. We filled the greencycle can and we have a pile more of sticks. I hoed away at the dirt strip that ought to be a sidewalk. Tomorrow: more raking and sweeping, and if I can find the sticker for extra recycle pickup I'll bag the extra sticks and label the bag for pickup Wednesday. I also made leek and potato soup, only a week later than I said I would.

Frank looks glowy and golden in sky blue.