Beyond My Control

Finished!

Yes, after multiple attempts over who knows how many years, all it took for me to finish Mansfield Park was a 14 hour flight to Los Angeles. Come to think of it, it's entirely possible I first started reading the damn book when I lived here. 18 years ago. Actually, I had the book finished within a hour or two of taking off, and my satisfaction was entirely in relation to achieving the task, not the book itself. It just doesn't work for me. Fanny remains so wet all the way until the finish. The whole thing is resolved in a thrown together chapter at the end. I would have been more interested to follow Maria and Henry's illicit relationship than Fanny sitting around waiting for people to do things for her and make sure she gets enough exercise. Anyway, the classics project has now moved on to Dickens. I've never really been a huge Dickens fan, but I put that down to a couple of things. First, aside from A Christmas Carol, the first work of his I read was Dombey & Son, and I was compelled to do so by a class at university. Getting through such a tome on a deadline and with analysis required just wasn't the next way to go. Since then I've read Great Expectations, which was fine except I've never been a huge fan of the Downtrodden Child genre (on any re-read of Jane Eyre I skip all the school stuff). In this case, however, I've picked up Bleak House and have been whipping through it, quite enjoying it, even in a post-flight no-sleep addled state. So far, so promising. PS Excuse the lack of paragraphs, I'll fix them when I'm on a computer that will let me add them in.

Stuff and Bits

What's been going on? Let's see:

- I'm still reading Mansfield Park. It still has not swept me up. I think it's because I find Fanny extraordinarily wet for an Austen heroine, though I'm aware at least some of that is because all the other characters keep telling her she's tired and not up to much. But I will prevail and finish it. I will.

- I finally, finally, bought a new watch. For the past year I have been wearing my $10 watch held together by sticky tape. Literally. And I've half-heartedly looked for a new one, but nothing's grabbed me. Then finally I saw something and ordered it right away. Complete opposite of what I was wearing before, completely over-sized mens-style watch:

I am very happy with it.

- My 'good eating' plan for the new year isn't going too badly. I seem to have largely given up chocolate without much effort. And a friend and I indulged in the 8 course degustation menu - with matching wine - at Grossi Florentino a couple of weeks ago. It was so, so good. It also cost considerably more than the watch.

- The 'less drinking' thing has been more variable, but I am not declaring it a failure by any means.

- As for exercise, well... Well.

- I've been keeping an eye on the new fashion from New York Fashion Week.

- Next up is a bunch of travel unexpected before this past weekend, but I'm actually looking forward to it, especially the opportunity to catch-up with my old college flatmates in LA. More on that later.

- I plan to finish Mansfield Park on the plane. Definitely. Surely. Maybe.