Poem for Saturday

Soliloquy of the Solipsist
By Sylvia Plath

I?
I walk alone;
The midnight street
Spins itself from under my feet;
When my eyes shut
These dreaming houses all snuff out;
Through a whim of mine
Over gables the moon's celestial onion
Hangs high.

I
Make houses shrink
And trees diminish
By going far; my looks leash
Dangles the puppet-people
Who, unaware how they dwindle,
Laugh, kiss, get drunk --
Nor guess that if I choose to blink
They die.

I
When in good humour,
Give grass its green
Blazon sky blue, and endow the sun
With gold;
Yet, in my wintriest moods, I hold
Absolute power
To boycott colour and forbid any flower
To be.

I
Know you appear
Vivid at my side,
Denying you sprang out of my head,
Claiming you feel
Love fiery enough to prove flesh real,
Though it's quite clear
All your beauty, all your wit, is a gift, my dear,
From me.

--------

Adam felt better on Friday and apparently had a good time at the school orientation, where they had a scavenger hunt (they were told to find the swimming pool next to the gym, hahaha, which of course does not exist) and practiced opening their lockers, which Daniel laughed about but I remember his first week of middle school he couldn't get his open at one point and it nearly caused a crisis. In the afternoon, my father took them swimming. I had no transportation, as my van was in getting serviced (needed new brake pads, which was not a big surprise), so I wrote my review of "Heart of Glory" and plowed on through piles of Las Vegas convention reports, which did not get posted till it was already after midnight GMT.

came home and we went to my parents' house for dinner, where we had barbecue and my mother had unexpectedly made a Nubian chocolate roll for dessert...one of my favorite things! Came home and watched "42" which again is not one of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who -- reminded me a bit overmuch of "The Impossible Planet" only without the coolness of the Ood and without Rose...I'm sorry to say that as much as I like Martha, it just isn't the same. A lot of what I do like seems similar to Rose -- the family ties, the immediate bonding with people very unlike herself, the refusal to leave the Doctor even when he's begging her to do so -- and I keep waiting for them to do something with her that's totally awesome and unexpected, but it hasn't happened yet. Then Adam wanted to watch the second episode of Flash Gordon, so we did...it isn't particularly good, yet better than I was expecting, even though I think having an adversary from someplace called "Mongo" begs so hard for Blazing Saddles jokes that they'd have done better to break with canon and change it! Lots of scenes seem derivative of Star Trek, Star Wars and older science fiction, so it's kind of entertaining in a cheesy way. They better be building to a feminist revolution on Mongo!

: Back To School
1. Who was your favorite teacher? My freshman English professor in college.
2. Why was that teacher so special? She's the reason I went to grad school in English instead of journalism.
3. Do you think teachers get paid enough? No.
4. Do you have a favorite year of school? My junior year of college.
5. If you could travel back in time and tell yourself something now that would have helped you get through school, what would you say? Not to be in such a hurry to go to grad school. Wish I'd done a year abroad.

: Either-Or
1. Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley? If I must choose, Hogsmeade, because I am dying to see Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest and the Shrieking Shack, though I am also dying to see wizarding London...I can't decide!
2. The Gringotts trip in Book 1 or the Gringott's trip in Book 7? Book 1. Don't fancy being nearly burned alive or chased by a dragon.
3. Viktor Krum or Fleur Delacour? Viktor. I love how much he appreciates Hermione's brains, more than pretty much anyone else (certainly more than Ron), and he's obviously reasonably smart as well as a jock, plus he's the grandson of the wizarding world equivalent of a Holocaust survivor so I identify with him. Fleur is a real screw-up in the last two tasks of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and does all the screaming and crying that Rowling apparently feels is contemptible in women, since she makes such a point of mentioning that Ginny doesn't do it; other than being pretty and rather brave, she isn't terribly impressive.
4. Centaurs or Goblins? I don't see how I'm supposed to choose between entire races, especially given that we've mostly been told how much trouble they are and shown one or two exceptions. Individually, I suppose I'd choose Firenze, but we're led to believe that the goblins have been oppressed more than the centaurs by the wizards until recently.
5. Tom Riddle or Voldemort? Tom Riddle. I appreciate wanting to know and challenge, and not trusting anyone after growing up without any first-hand knowledge of love. But I can't think of a single admirable quality in Voldemort.


Evening view from the Bethany Beach boardwalk.


This, the Penguin Diner, was Adam's favorite stop among the beachfront stores.


Here he is out front with the mascot.


Inside, the decor is penguins on the walls...


...and penguins around the bar...


...and penguins for sale, in addition to sandwiches and milkshakes and the usual diner fare.


At Float-Ors we bought a little buoy, but we were tempted by this sign that was obviously made for us.


And the one souvenir I bought myself on this trip, also from Float-Ors: Jim Shore's Heartwood Creek Halloween witch for 2007.