Bits and Bites

I was chopping vegetables at the kitchen counter the other day and telling Paul a bit about my walks with the dogs that day and how Waffles could not stop watching and following a trail of ants. It was a lame story, but sweet cause we love our dogs. Without me knowing it, Paul was videotaping me on his cell phone. Later, he showed it to me and I watched cringingly. 'Am I always that...exuberant?' I said. Paul smiled the smile that you give to small children when they are just not so bright and said 'yes, dear'. I became aware in that moment that I would never be friends with someone like me, I'm irritating.

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Months ago when I posted pictures of the new rich-red colour of our bedroom, my friend Chris told me that it looked like the set from a 60's porno movie. Then last week when I posted pictures of the bedding that I wanted, he told me that it looked like the bedding you would find in a whorehouse. Does this mean that I have bad taste or is Chris just sex obsessed?

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Another friend, Angie, emailed me this yesterday and I thought it was spot-on. I am -
VIRGO - The One that Waits
Dominant in relationships. Someone loves them right now. Always wants the last word. Caring, smart, loud, loyal, easy to talk to, easy to please.

Paul is -
ARIES - The Liar
Outgoing, lovable, spontaneous, not one to mess with. Funny, excellent kisser, EXTREMELY adorable, loves relationships, addictive, loud.

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I am not one of those people who watch old movies, in fact, I really dislike old movies. But, there is nothing on TV during the day and I need something to watch while I eat lunch, so when I noticed that 'Rebecca' was on On Demand, I queued it up and spent the last three lunch hours watching it. *SWOON* It was so utterly, fantasticly terrific. I never knew what all the fuss was about Laurence Olivier, but I sure do now. He is (was) so sexy, I could barely control myself and I personally think that one of my faves, Cary Elwes, has a significant Olivier thing happening. The book Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier is one of my all time favourites, and the movie (directed by Alfred Hitchcock) was almost as good. The only problem with gothic novels being made into movies is that they sometimes seem to progress in a bit of a bizarre fashion since a movie doesn't have the time to explore the slow build of insanity in the main character (and if you don't understand that, you have never read a gothic novel and you really, really should).

I majored in English in University and specifically took numerous classes on the Gothic novel, I never quite understood what the appeal was for me, but I thought that the following paragraph (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61821-2004Mar15.html for credit) explained it well.

"Almost from its inception in 18th-century England, the gothic novel has been adored by readers and deplored by critics. For the fastidious ladies and gentlemen of the quarterly reviews and academe, its central conventions -- nature red in tooth and claw; haunted castles atop windswept moors; defenseless young women at the mercy of strange, obsessed men with terrible secrets; bondage, imprisonment, sexual torment and ambiguity, raging fires -- are simply too too. But readers love it, as well they should, for in the best gothic fiction, realism and romance join forces to create a territory somewhere between this world and some other in which almost everything is slightly, deliciously over the top. "

Anything or anybody that uses the phrase 'windswept moors' is always a winner in my book.