Michael:Is there mass on Sunday?
Me:Yes.
Him: But why, it’s the holidays!
Archives for July 2012
Barbarians at the Gate
From Saturday’s Irish Times, page 15:
“..in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, you can see the enormity of the task…”
No, you can see the size of the task or the vastness of the task.
Same paper page 9:
On a Senator who dislikes NAMA: “We were expecting a very heated discussion, seeing as he is such a public protagonist of Nama.”
Antagonist, perhaps?
Princess Mia
Herself loves the Princess Diaries books and when the Princess Diaries II was on the TV the other night, I let her stay up until 9 to watch it. It is the most unrelentingly awful film. The fictional kingdom of Genovia is inspired by a mish-mash of Monégasque, English and Eastern European influences. Accents are a bizarre mix, the linguistic regime is, at best, unclear and the whole thing is deeply odd. But she absolutely loved it. She watched the whole thing in a state of rapt delight.
Germaine Greer has a chapter of “The Female Eunuch” devoted to men and women’s different expectations of romance. I think the rot probably starts here.
Some Planning Required
The children have downloaded a number of apps on my phone. Battle Nations is popular at the moment and apparently “it’s even better, if you share it with friends.” They want to share but I have pointed out that the only friends available through my phone are my friends who won’t be interested in Battle Nation. Aside, I notice, that somebody posted an invitation to pet hotel on my twitter feed, that wasn’t me.
While he was washing his teeth, Daniel asked me whether I had any friends who were pregnant. “Yes, why?” I asked. “So that when the children are born and get bigger you can invite their parents to play Battle Nations and they can give the phone to the children.” What did I say in response? “We’ll see”. Of course.
I still maintain that I am doing better than Chris over at Rude Cactus on June 25.
Penance
We had the American priest for mass again. He made us call out “promise-bridge-freedom” during the sermon. Several times. We called out lustily because we knew he wouldn’t stop until we had made enough noise. But our tone was distinctly doleful. For the creed, he made us say “absolutely” as he read out each line in turn. Priest: “I believe in one God, the Father almighty maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.” Pause. Cringe. Congregation: “Absolutely”. And so on.
Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth II
Me: Does this dress make me look pregnant?
Her: Early stages only.
Me: I think I’ll try this skirt.
Her: That? It’s enormous, it’s huge oh, look at that, it fits.