The next person to post in this thread...

[Elendil's Heir]

Hmm, no, I've never done that, but I have used their helpfully-provided postage-paid envelopes to reply to candidates and causes I loathe.

TNP has donated to a political candidate sometime in 2025.

[Jizzelbin]

Well....if you count my contributing to make Australian patriot/hero/legend Paul Hogan a member of parliament, then, sure.

TNP is pretty sure texting an on-again-off-again girlfriend "I wish you were never born" is probably not the most diplomatic of retorts. Bonus TNP if TNP has ever said worse via text.

[Elendil's Heir]

Yes, I'm pretty sure it is. And no, I've definitely never texted worse than that!

TNP has a particular movie he or she would like to see before the end of the month.

[Jizzelbin]

Actually yeah. Just found out a bit ago about a documentary about and featuring snooker legend and enfant terrible Ronnie "Rocket" O'Sullivan, called Ronnie O'Sullivan: The Edge of Everything. I think it might be on Amazon Prime or something, but haven't been that diligent about searching it out. I think it was released in 2023.

Also, haven't got around to watching The Roses, a pretty recent remake of the semi-classic War of the Roses directed by Danny DeVito himself.

TNP would like to take about a six month sabbatical from working his or her straight job and just doing some other things. And is kind of annoyed he or she isn't in a position to do so.

[Elendil's Heir]

I could definitely put a six-month sabbatical to good use, but it's just not gonna happen.

And yes, I'd like to see The Roses, too. The trailer looks great (although I've never seen the original).

TNP likes pumpkin spice flavor in... something.

[Jizzelbin]

Sure. Preferably on someone else. Like in their eyeballs.

TNP suspects comedian Ricky Gervais might be a "tankie"; or at least a deplorable person.

Alternate TNP: TNP was stoked that the Blue Jays came so far in this MLB season.....anybody but the Yanks or the BoSox, amirite! And Seattle? Who knew?

[Elendil's Heir]

Well, the Cleveland Guardians had a terrific comeback late in the season, but then they fell apart at the end. Still, it was exciting while it lasted.

TNP needs a space heater tonight.

[Jizzelbin]

Yep. I've had mine set up by my desk for a week or so now.

TNP would consider making and eating a blood sausage made from non-pathenogenic human blood.

[Elendil's Heir]

Eww, no thank you!

TNP will now tell us about the most disgusting thing he or she ever ate.

[Jizzelbin]

Uhmmmm....a sip of my on-again off-again girlfriends blood that she captured in the aftermath of oral (periodontal) surgery.

It is not good. But she did collect per my request a few ounces in a mason jar, and when she returns from a family visit I'm going to insist we each drink a cocktail mixed with it.

It's vile, and potentially a very real biohazard. But one's only young once, right?

TNP thinks cheap motels are the ultimate solution to the "your place or mine?" minefield of dating a person with whom one is in an actual relationship.....if neither partner is particularly willing to change the interior decorating of his or her abode. That or a taxicab/Lyft, out the door at two or three AM.

[Elendil's Heir]

I was in cheap motels a few times with a cute girl back in the day, yeah, and I have lots - well, some very good memories of them, too.

TNP will be seeing a movie this weekend.

[Jizzelbin]

Yes. I've been reading four or five books by John Waters (in the memoir, not fiction category) in the past week, and I've never seen *Hairspray* nor a few others. That should be corrected.

TNP manages to remain calm when one's car passenger (for example, one whom one sacrificed quite a bit to pick her up from the airport) starts literallly screaming "go straight! don't turn here!" and so forth. Outwardly calm but irritated to the highest degree.

[Elendil's Heir]

Yes, definitely. Fortunately my passengers are usually better-behaved than that.

TNP has taken part in a Zoom meeting today.

[Jizzelbin]

No, thank God. I hate those things. It's better than commuting to some shithole place to sit at a table, in some cases, but it's never as satisfying as face-to-face.

TNP played a sport today. Or watched one. Whichever.

[Elendil's Heir]

No, not today. The last sports I watched was, I think, a postseason Cleveland Guardians baseball game.

TNP has been in Ohio in the past four years.

[Jizzelbin]

Far from it. Haven't been through Ohio in some years indeed. I don't even think I stopped for gasoline last time through. After all, who can contain their enthusiasm to stay over in Indiana next door?

TNP considers himself or herself to be competitive or better at a card game, such as gin rummy, yet fails to find people willing to gamble for small stakes at his or her game. TNP will answer yes or no, and if yes, will state the game.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

No, not much at cards at all. My wife loves them, though.

TNP is planning on travelling this Holiday Season.

[Elendil's Heir]

At this point, no, although we'll be visiting my dad in Naples, Fla. early in the New Year.

TNP has been watching Ken Burns's excellent new documentary series on the American Revolution.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

No, am not feeling too enthusiastic about American independence these days.

TNP watches a lot of YouTube videos.

[Jizzelbin]

Unfortunately, it seems to be the native medium. So, a "lot"? No, not when avoidable. But, occasionally a pool or snooker clip of a great run or match is irresistible, and some obscure artifacts turn up occasionally. Gr.ex., some OOP album that I might have on LP but can't be bothered to cue it up at home.

TNP is pretty annoyed by the sentimentality of some of his or her peer cohort, despite the obvious allures of physical textures such as vinyl recording discs and so forth.

[Elendil's Heir]

Plenty of other things to annoy me right now, but not that. My youngest son is into vinyl, though ("It's expensive and has poor sound quality," he jokes).

TNP has spoken to a police officer today.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

No, thank god. Glad it’s not in my job description, even. Being a magistrate must be wearing.

TNP finds the idea of having a compost pile interesting, but can’t manage to make one that isn’t just a garbage pile.

[Jizzelbin]

No. Not at all of interest. Having grown up in a household where recycling was revered, and including most of the relevant branches of the family who lived nearby, it's frankly farking déguelasse, for no common good that I've observed.

TNP has been or has ever been disillusioned about the "recycling" business, and as a result no longer cares much for that charade.

[Elendil's Heir]

The practice has certainly had its ups and downs, and isn't always convenient or cost-effective, but I still think it's worthwhile overall. We try to be diligent in recycling (and also do composting).

TNP will be seeing a movie this weekend.

[Jizzelbin]

No. I used to have a woman to do things like that with, but had to put her down. Reading Graham Greene instead. Better sorts, what. Evelyn Waugh. Keeping banker's hours.

TNP would probably put about twenty points on "the book better than the movie." Could go either way, one understands, but puts the spread at about twenty points difference. If one were a bookmaker and had to set the odds. Not much of a game there. Some better, some worse, but 20% in either direction.

[Elendil's Heir]

Yes, most books are better than their movie adaptations; a cliche that just happens to be true. Two exceptions I can think of off the top of my head, though: Patriot Games by Tom Clancy and Contact by Carl Sagan.

TNP can think of another movie that was better than the book.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM. Movie was only mildly incoherent. The book was totally incoherent.

TNP talks to Alexa or Siri a lot.

[Elendil's Heir]

No, very rarely. Kind of creeps me out.

TNP is concerned about AI and its eventual impact on humanity.

[Jizzelbin]

Sort of. I don't try to engage with smaller children, but what they say is upsetting to me.

TNP suspects about 75% of the "content" he or she reads when trying to find out stuff online is "written" by some kind of robot machine.

[Elendil's Heir]

Not nearly that high, but probably more than I suspect.

TNP has a dog sleeping nearby right at this moment.

[Jizzelbin]

No. I had to break it off for once and all with her. Too ill-tempered, too many times. Kristi Noem would have been proud.

TNP just can't get into the whole e-ink reader gadgets, like the Kobo Reader, or even a smaller regular tablet, for that matter, when it comes to reading. And is thus resigned to having whole forests decimated (much less than that....quadrillionth-i-nated maybe) for the sake of his or her own reading pleasure.

[Elendil's Heir]

I've never been tempted by any of the e-reading gadgets. I like having a book I can hold in my hands, and see, and touch, and smell. I do listen to audiobooks, though.

TNP has read a good history book recently.

[Jizzelbin]

Sure. Some books designed for students studying Latin, which have the appropriate amount of historical information. (I like Carla Hunt's tiered reader of Vergil Aen. IV, and Chris Smith's (overly, perhaps) glossed version of some Martial epigrams -- both those arrived via the Zon just earlier today, although they each make available their texts for free on their websites....I was happy to just plunk down some coin and have the actual print-on-demand texts available for thumbing through, though).

Nothing by and for professional historian...just a slight hobby of mine, seeing how the younger children are being taught these days. And with Hunt and Smith also, I can easily spot an error if there were one and e-mail them myself. Both texts are well proof-read, so far, though. Although, especially in Smith's Martial, the author is very clear about editorial liberties he took with the original text.

I'd never deign to teach those filthy buggers myself, but it's amusing to me to inspect some of the materials published, just out of general interest.

Haven't even thought about Martial's epigrams in decades, but I have the OCT critical edition of the text arriving in a few days. I should think I can read anything Martial wrote without translating, but it is like a muscle one must exercise. You know, if one must use a dictionary that is not monolingual, one is not really reading, but just translating, IMHO.

TNP kind of sympathizes with complaints of children who, when they come to study ancient times, nearly always complain about "Enough of gladiators and emperors and battles about Gaul and ze Dzjermanz...." Und dennoch.

[Elendil's Heir]

Sure, although I think complaints about memorizing battles and dates and years are much more common.

TNP will be flying in a helicopter sometime soon.

[Jizzelbin]

No. Why should I? Why should anyone? Did they lose a bet or something?

TNP has never been that big a fan of the English language. Yeah, Americans and some people from the islands abutting Europe, and other former colonies about the globe wrote some good stuff, sure, but not a great language except in that it seems to be capable of accepting all linguistic comers, like a common bar wench.

[Elendil's Heir]

No, I absolutely love the English language. Its adaptability, its willingness to take on new words, is one of its strengths. With surprisingly few changes over the centuries, it is still the language of Shakespeare, Austen, Washington, Wordsworth, Shelley, Lincoln, Shaw, Wilde, Conan Doyle, Hemingway, Churchill, Tolkien, Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, Kennedy, King, Scalzi, Chaon, McEwan and Obama. Their words would not be the same in some other tongue.

TNP literally had cold feet today.

[Jizzelbin]

Yes, I did at the time of your post. Unreasonably cold yesterday, despite having thick wool socks on and all that, nor having it been particularly cold indoors or out.. Not at the moment, though.

[Yes, I overstated my "case" against the languages marked English...after all, Greene, James, Waugh, Pound, Auden, Hawthorne, Dryden, Stein, even Milton....there are and have been many able at the meticulous craft in that language. I just don't find it a good use of my time to study the English language and have never...it is sufficient to read in lectio of good comprehension, and widely.]

TNP is thinking about catching a movie tomorrow (Xmas), after mass (or whatever one does, if anything)....perhaps including adult beverages, and shooting pool, or perhaps not.

[Elendil's Heir]

Yes, I'm overdue to watch a good movie, I'd say. Haven't decided quite what it'll be, though.

TNP has had a good holiday season so far, all in all.

[Jizzelbin]

No. What is this, a contest or something? Relax, small joke. No. Still upset about Liz Taylor and the recent unpleasantness.

TNP would one day to like to go down to around the Perth area, NSW down there, but it's a fucking long-ass plane ride. Am I right, people? Yeah. It's no joke, is what they say,

[Elendil's Heir]

Yes, Australia's been on my world-travels bucket list for a long time. I have a friend, a law professor in Brisbane, who's promised to show me around if I ever get down there.

TNP knows a law professor.

[Jizzelbin]

Yeah, I think so. Maybe one or two. A professor or two of law or legal studies. Close enough, I guess. I really don't know anything about The Law, nor much care to: so much damned Latin, and they pronounce it wrong, too!

And what'd they got to profess about, anyway? It's like being a "professor of medicine" innit (which I suppose is a thing)? It ain't the thing but how you use it, is my view, anyway. Practice makes perfect.

TNP has ever been so horrified and disgusted by the behavior of a woman that he or she almost forgot the golden rule, namely, "if you can't spot the sucker in the room, it's you."

[Elendil's Heir]

There have been some situations where I've come close, yeah. Not fond memories, even this many years later.

TNP will probably be going to a class reunion this year.

[Jizzelbin]

No. Never. I keep in touch with people I want to on my schedule and at my leisure. [Ad punctum professores de jure....no, I wasn't kidding around....I think I have known about two or so over the years, but not close friends of mine....just wanted to clarify I wasn't completely talking out of my ass.] TNP can explain why one would go to a class reunion, typically organized by the usual Holly Hobby types who probably have some kind of endocrine imbalance, instead of just calling up one's old pals, if any, and having an unsupervised play date? No judgment on my part....just curious. Hey, don't blame me for the formatting problem: some try-hard broke the board, probably while jacking himself off for doing such a good job as a mode on some scumbag board dedicated to beating legal immigrants or political refugees to death, or whatever the kinds of people who moderate boards favor aside from raping children and shooting domesticated animals for fun.

[Elendil's Heir]

I've kept in touch with several particularly good friends from prep school, college and law school, even after all these years. But there are others of whom I've lost track, and I don't mind catching up with them, to see and learn what's become of them. I don't go to reunions every year, but every five years or so usually suits me.

TNP is reading a really good book these days (I just finished Ian McEwan's new sf novel What We Can Know, and it's terrific).

[Jizzelbin]

Yeah, actually. I do remember you mentioned recently an Ian McEwan joint...TBH I didn't even know he was still alive, much less writing. Of course I'm reading good books. Good books is good karma and also learn some stuff. I'm liking Amin Maaloufs *Les croisades vues par les arabes*, but it's kind of boring compared to his other stuff, IMHO....he's treading water there, IMHO, and has not much interesting to say. Which is uncharacteristic for Maalouf. (Maalouf is an extremely important Lebanese-French author who is a member of the Académie Française...which should say enough....the highest honor in French and Francophone culture, by far). No, so I was disappointed by Maalouf's effort so I'm rereading Martial, the Roman author, and in many cases finding things I'd not yet found or had never read before.

TNP has ever been displeased by a handgun one has purchased, even though it is a solid piece.