Job Discussion Forums

Snoopy · Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 185

Not quite sure whether the decorations are worse in Doha (whence one recently departed) or in Brighton (just arrived back).

The spirit of Ebenezer Scrooge lives on, and I have a bottle of it.

Miserable Scroogemas, everybody

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

We were wondering what happenned to the bottle of scrooge. You managed to get it through customs then.

Capergirl · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 7:20 pm Post subject:

Alas, I won't be traveling this holiday. However, I'll be spending plenty of time with the one person who means more to me than life itself.

I'd love to go to Paris for New Year's Eve. Maybe next year. Very Happy

johnslat · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 10:03 pm Post subject: Expect coal in your stocking

Dear Capergirl,
You mean - you're spending the holidays with Michael Jackson on the Neverland Ranch. Wow!! Please be sure to tell us all about it; inquiring minds really want to know.
Regards,
John
P.S. Forgive me- I couldn't resist. I'm weak, weak, weak.

Capergirl · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:08 pm Post subject:

Hahahahahaha

Shocked

johnslat · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:18 pm Post subject: The last laugh

Ah, Capergirl - thank God you have a forgiving sense of humor. By the way, has anyone ever told you how dulcet your tinkling laughter sounds?
Regards,
John

Capergirl · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:21 pm Post subject:

Dang it, John, you made me pull out my dictionary. Laughing

johnslat · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:33 pm Post subject: La Dolce Vita

Dear Capergirl,
Hmm, it wasn't the word "God" that had you in a state of unknowing, was it? (I've got to admit, that term most often finds me in that state). Nope, it must have been "dulcet" (from the Latin "dulcis"). I believe I originally ran across it many a year ago, when I first read Coleridge's "Xanadu" and came across this passage. Had to look up "dulcimer" and from there it was a short step to "dulcet".

"A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,

That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome ! those caves of ice !
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware ! Beware !
His flashing eyes, his floating hair !
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise. "

Regards,
John

Steiner · Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Posts: 573 Location: Hunan China

I like "Xanadu." I wish Sammy hadn't been interrupted by whoever it was that came to his door while he was writing it.

Holiday plans? Thailand. Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and the beaches.

johnslat · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 3:49 am Post subject: A person from Porlock

Dear Steiner,
My mistake - the poem (or "fragment") is actually entitled "Kubla Khan" and Coleridge claimed that, on awakening from an opium-inspired dream, he had been the process of writing it down when he was interrupted by "a person from Porlock" and forgot the rest of the poem. This account is not accepted by everyone:

http://www.robertfulford.com/porlock.html

but heck, even if it's not "true", it ought to be. And sometimes the only way you can tell the "truth" is through fiction.
Regards,
John

jud · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 127 Location: Italy

Oh, the joys of living in a Catholic country. Off from the 24th till the 6th (Christmas, St. Stephen's, New Year's, and the Epiphany).

I'm spending Christmas as always with my man's family (very important in Italy, can't have Christmas without your family), and New Year's for the first time in 5 years in New York.

kattie72 · Joined: 31 Oct 2003 Posts: 49

"Natale con i tuoi, Capodanno con chi vuoi" Smile

Yes, school christmas holidays in Italy are great aren't they?! I finish on the 19th and start back on the 7th of Jan. Very Happy

I actually enjoy staying here, the atmosphere is definitely as "christmassy" as in Britain.

Steiner · Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Posts: 573 Location: Hunan China

Oh, yes. I'd not stopped to think about the title, johnslat. You're usually a good enough authority for me to quote. "In Xanadu did Khubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree..." is also found in one of my favorite movies--Citizen Kane. Works quite well there, too.

johnslat · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 8:54 pm Post subject: Look upon my works

Dear Steiner,
Yup - that's the name "Citizen" Charles Kane gave to his mansion. Though, considering the theme of the movie, he might have better named it Ozymandius:

" I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said--"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart . . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Regards,
John

Capergirl · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 8:56 pm Post subject: Re: La Dolce Vita