Re: Scheduled downtime!

1

If I can find my way out of this dog, consider it done.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 06- 3-13 9:58 PM
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2

I laughed out loud at 1, and then wished there were a more concise way to tell you of same.


Posted by: k-sky | Link to this comment | 06- 3-13 10:00 PM
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3

Blog will be down
Don't give it a look
Outside of a dog
We'll be
Reading a book
Burma Shave


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 1:18 AM
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4

Maybe read a book?

The obvious choice.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 1:24 AM
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5

I am assuming nothing involving the nameservers and/or you are not using ogged as a consultant.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 4:54 AM
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6

Testing


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 6:47 AM
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7

Antisemite.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 6:48 AM
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8

I assumed the comment lull was because everyone was practicing for tomorrow night.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 7:14 AM
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9

I'm supposed to be writing a paper, but failing at it.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 7:15 AM
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10

Succeeding at failing at it, you gloomy Gus!


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 7:21 AM
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11

||
Michael Douglas says oral sex causes throat cancer.

This makes me sad.
|>


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 8:36 AM
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12

11. He seems to be trying to walk that back. Rather incoherently.


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 8:54 AM
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13

Rather incoherently.

What with his throat cancer and all.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:29 AM
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14

Inside a vagina, the acoustics are too bad to read aloud.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:45 AM
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5: no, the phsyical water droplet we're on is being let go (presumably in the form of rain), so we need to migrate to a different water droplet.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 10:43 AM
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16

It saddened me recently to realize how long it has been since I finished a book.


Posted by: Di Kotimy | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 1:47 PM
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17

I've never even written a book!


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 1:52 PM
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18

I'm already super grumpy today, and the blog is going to be down? Terrible.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 5:36 PM
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19

It's like Blume and I were the only ones to really plan for this well in advance.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 5:45 PM
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20

I'm not even sure what tomorrow means anymore.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 8:02 PM
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21

It's when you get the free beer.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 8:03 PM
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22

For your downtime: how do you ripen peaches? Opinions differ.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 8:08 PM
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23

The downtime coincides well with my difficulty establishing internet service at my new place. Thanks, downtime!


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 8:27 PM
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24

22: Stick 'em in a bag with bananas?


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 8:49 PM
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24: Opinions differ rather strongly. Some say that peaches are not like tomatoes, with the sticking in a bag with bananas thing. I'm inclined to this view.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:06 PM
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26

I totally forgot about this! Ha! Downtime!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:13 PM
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27

"Your position is 661 out of 661 queued migrations in this Linode's datacenter."

Helpful!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:13 PM
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28

I'll try this. Some say that you can't actually ripen peaches at all once they're harvested -- you can only soften them. Dang. Foolish to have bought them so early in the first place, but I got excited.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:14 PM
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29

the bananas thing is a red herring (so to speak), its ethylene that does it and apples apparent give off waaaay more than bananas.

and can i just take the opportunity to say that while i understand everyone deals with the misery of minor ailments their own way, and i am willing, nay eager and happy, to provide hot water bottles, blankets and hot drinks basically on tap, not to mention shouldering the parenting load single handed (child is easy, this is not a burden) it does in fact escape me why someone would decide the onset of illness is the perfect time to dive into that cd of the saariahao opera re: simone weil? particularly when she was basically a religious maniac and the ill person is a committed atheist?


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:18 PM
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30

although i hasten to add that i am grateful this minor virus has not inspired a fit of nancarrow. i likes me some nancarrow, but not on a school night.


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:19 PM
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31

If there's going to be downtime here, I guess I'll keep refreshing this thread elsewhere because even though I don't really understand what they're doing it's been pretty entertaining so far today. The smallest gap for which there are proven to be infinitely many prime number pairs, decreasing before your very eyes! Extrapolating naively I assume they'll have proved the twin prime conjecture by morning. (I'm joking, to be clear.)


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:24 PM
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32

Their MathJax install must be broken, and that $latex H$ shit is really annoying.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:27 PM
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33

Oh huh. I don't know if it was somehow working earlier today, or I'm just so used to writing LaTeX that I read it without even noticing.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:29 PM
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34

Huh, works fine in the comments. Weird.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:30 PM
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35

Utah reggae bands with a seeming penchant for sexual-geomorphological puns both verbal and visual for your downtime entertainment. Wasnatch!


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:45 PM
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36

Oh yeah, link NSFW.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:46 PM
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37

And so, off to bed.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 4-13 9:53 PM
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38

"Your position is 148 out of 177 queued migrations in this Linode's datacenter."

So ... downtime sometime today!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 7:43 AM
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39

A few years ago I started keeping a list of all of the books I finish reading, as a way to try to guilt myself into finishing more books. (I can't seem to stop buying them, and it's depressing if all the bookshelves are completely filled with things I haven't read.) So the last book I finished reading was on May 21, and it was Going Clear, Lawrence Wright's book about Scientology. One thing that surprised me when I started keeping a list was that I was reading way more nonfiction than fiction, although so far this year it's only about 40% more. (Soon to increase, though, as I'm most of the way through James Kasting's How to Find a Habitable Planet and Katherine Book's Behind the Beautiful Forevers.)


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 7:59 AM
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40

Boo, not Book


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 7:59 AM
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41

Me, I read books all the time, but it's been forever since I've read a work of fiction.

I was like that for years, but I recently started reading novels again. Plus, I'm reading Harry Potter to the boy.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:01 AM
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39 is really interesting. Lee doesn't read fiction. I've read Railsea twice in the last few weeks and I've read at least 23 novels and 12 non-fiction books this year. I would lose my mind even more than I do already if I couldn't steal a few moments every day to sit and read.


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:05 AM
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43

A few years ago I started keeping a list of all of the boos I finish reading, as a way to try to guilt myself into finishing more boos. (I can't seem to stop buying them, and it's depressing if all the booshelves are completely filled with things I haven't read.) So the last boo I finished reading was on May 21, and it was Going Clear, Lawrence Wright's boo about Scientology.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:05 AM
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44

Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Thought this boo was amazing


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:09 AM
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45

31: that is great


Posted by: Annelid Gustator | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:09 AM
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46

I would lose my mind even more than I do already if I couldn't steal a few moments every day to sit and read.

Yeah. I trade sleep for this. Doesn't have to be reading, it might be practicing guitar, but 30 - 45 minutes a day, alone, doing something.*

I haven't read much non-fiction recently. Maybe two or three books in the past 6 months. I've probably read 60 or more novels in the past year, though.

* fnarr [for British readers]


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:12 AM
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47

I read hardly any nonfiction.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:27 AM
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48

re: 48

Except, presumably, academic stuff? Although I suppose that's more journal length rather than book length.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:33 AM
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49

Well, these days, not that much of that, even.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:34 AM
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50

I read nonfiction for work, of course, but almost never for entertainment. Novels, novels, novels!


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:34 AM
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51

Maybe I should read VW's book. It would probably help with this cholera.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:35 AM
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52

Obligatorily, I prefer to read good literary criticism.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:36 AM
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53

In other news, shoulder injuries suck syphilitic squid-proboscis through a fine mesh.


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:37 AM
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54

||

I sometimes dream of carrying around a sign which said, "your turn signal isn't working" which I could flash at cars when appropriate. Totally impractical idea, of course, but if I ever get a toon-style hyper-dimensional pocket . . . .

|>


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:38 AM
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55

On the actual topic, I'd like to recommend Patti Smith's Just Kids generally. Has that "hey, book, I've finished you but I don't feel like leaving quite yet" thing.

(Also, stand by for a review on the blog.)


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:39 AM
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56

55: and in the other pocket, "You're still flashing your turn signal", I hope.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:40 AM
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57

In other news, shoulder injuries suck syphilitic squid-proboscis through a fine mesh.

While most authorities were happy with "The Leith police dismisseth us" or "She sells seashells by the seashore", field sobriety tests took a rather more unnerving turn in the hands of the Miskatonic County Sherriff's Department.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:47 AM
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58

I read next to no fiction. I try from time to time but unless it's all spaceships and dragons and trashy shit like that I don't much enjoy it.


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 8:53 AM
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55: and in the other pocket, "You're still flashing your turn signal", I hope.

That comes up less often (though more often than it might for some people because I live a block away from the senior activity center).


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 9:12 AM
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60

That went smoothly!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 9:40 AM
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61

Geez we had a baby to keep us occupied for that?


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 9:41 AM
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62

The down time is over?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 9:41 AM
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63

Yep.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 9:44 AM
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64

I was going to finish vw's book while you were down. It's right here in my office.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 9:45 AM
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65

And you'd just mentioned it, so it was on my mind.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 9:45 AM
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66

I almost ordered some non-fiction last night because I was about to order sheet music and the non-fiction book (T/im P/age's memoir about learning in adulthood that he had Asperger's) was exactly the right amount to get me free shipping but then I had one of those "why am I spending $25" moments and bailed on all of it.

I was fairly enthusiastically reading a bio of Bette Davis but got sidetracked by more bite-sized readings, some of them interesting like the Harper's thing about the AR-15 and why gun control is doomed and some good stuff in the last New Yorker.

But now the down time is over so back into the dog with me. Wait, did that sound kind of....?


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 10:15 AM
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67

Inside a dog no one can hear you scream make double entendres.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 10:25 AM
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68

I meant to bring a copy of the evolving Unfogged book list to D.C., but I plumb forgot. It's a big ass Excel sheet. Should I put it in Google Docs or what?


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 10:26 AM
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69

A word of warning to urple.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 10:26 AM
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70: Someone was supposed to help you with that!


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 10:39 AM
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71

I figure if we get it online there can be some crowdsourcing.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 10:43 AM
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72

(No one should click on the link in 71. It's horrible.)


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 10:43 AM
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73

It is, but it is also a masterpiece of understated horror.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 10:54 AM
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I meant to bring a copy of the evolving Unfogged book list to D.C., but I plumb forgot. It's a big ass Excel sheet. Should I put it in Google Docs or what?

Yes.


Posted by: x.trapnel | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 11:05 AM
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75

74 and 76 get it exactly right.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 11:06 AM
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76

56: Yeah, Just Kids made me wish Patti Smith could re-write everyone else's memoirs of New York in the Seventies.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 11:15 AM
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77

It's likely to be an unusually productive day in which I *don't* finish a novel, let alone nonfiction. I read the way problem drinkers drink.


Posted by: clew | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 11:31 AM
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78

79: Grimly determined, without pleasure, in secret and shamefully.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 11:40 AM
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79

There are people who read too much: the bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as other men are drunk on whiskey or religion.


Posted by: Opinionated H.L. Mencken | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 11:55 AM
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80

I have pro-reading quotations too, of course, but that one fit best. Even if "Opinionated H.L. Mencken" is redundant to the point of tautology.


Posted by: joyslinger | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 11:56 AM
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A few years ago I started keeping a list of all of the books I finish reading, as a way to try to guilt myself into finishing more books.

I started doing this on FB this year, to see if vanity/guilt would lead to me reading more and perhaps making more interesting choices beyond my default setting of a certain type of fantasy/sci-fi/young adult. However, I think it probably just comes off as strange to most of my friends. I really like the conversations that occasionally come out of it, though, so I'm going to keep on doing it, with hopes that nobody thinks that I'm either a braggart or an insipid, slow reader, depending on where they fall on the reading spectrum.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 3:22 PM
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82

78: most interesting thing, I think, that Mapplethorpe's bisexuality was less troubling to them as a couple than his social climbing. Class is the king of hatreds.


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 3:43 PM
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83

also, alternative title: The History of a South Jersey Autodidact.


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 3:44 PM
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84

84: I don't know if that was the most interesting thing, but I came to it without a great deal of biographical knowledge about either of them, so a lot of things were somewhat surprising. Especially looking at that period where neither of them were in any way famous, but they had bummed around the scene long enough, and were cute enough, and things were in flux enough that they were able to do all of that social climbing. It was more, it seemed to me, that RM had the one big success, where as PS had worked her way around a bigger chunk of the scene, without hitting the jackpot. Obviously, neither of them was content to just go along to get along.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 4:00 PM
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79: Grimly determined, without pleasure, in secret and shamefully.

Wait, were you kidding? Because that kinda is how I read.


Posted by: x.trapnel | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 6:53 PM
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86

That's how you do everything, no?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 7:11 PM
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87

I came to Just Kids with basically no appropriate background knowledge; I found it engaging but felt clearly that I was missing some of its rewards.

It's been more than a year since I read it, and the extremely vague impression that's still left in memory is that while reading it I was struck by her candid tone, and after reading it I noticed discretions that hadn't come to my attention in the moment.


Posted by: joyslinger | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 7:22 PM
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88

Touché.


Posted by: x.trapnel | Link to this comment | 06- 5-13 10:05 PM
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