five words and a bookstore reprieve

Not-so-bad news: a friend who can read Chinese (and is also a Reader) checked into it: the bookstore I love is not closing. I can’t call it good news, because they are closing another branch (that I’ve never visited) and bookstores closing are never good news. But I’m not bereft. I’m figuring on a jaunt there (and maybe to the second-best bookstore in town, a few blocks away) a week froom Saturday, for an anniversary treat to myself.

Oursin gave me the following five words to write about. Usual memeage rules apply: comment here if you want five words I associate with you.

Expatriate
Rowing
Knitting
Earrings
Marriage

Expatriate: Yup, that’s me. Wish I’d done it years ago, both for realizing how America-centric most Americans’ views are (I bet this is similar in Australia and China and Russia; people in smaller countries have world-awareness forced on them to a much greater extent) and because my relatives would have been younger and in better heath. On the other hand, I think it would have been much harder without the internet, and even by the mid-90s it wasn’t what it is now. To me it’s socialization with other people I can speak to, news, information source and place to order stuff I can’t get here. Of course it was all those things back home too, but I think I depend on it much more here.

Rowing: I’ve told this story before: in 1990, Ted talked me into trying it, saying ÿou can always quit if you don’t like it. And here I am, though I’m still not sure if I like it. That’s OK: I don’t “like” reading either – it’s just part of who I am. I get out on the water a lot less often these days which means I have a close and deep friendship with the erg. I miss the water. I mean, I literally miss water: I like being close to water, on it or beside it, plus there are aspects of rowing you don’t get to practice on the erg. What I like about it, though, is that it’s a lifelong sport. The oldest competitive rower I ever knew was rocing at 91. So anything I don’t do this year I can always do next year. (Plus, next year I get to move up an age category!)

Knitting: I knit because I read and row. When I did something like beadwork or embroidery, I had to stop doing whatever else I was doing, which is why I don’t embroider at all and only bead every couple of weeks these days. I learned to knit because it was something I could do while reading or while in the car on the way to regattas (these days, while on the way to work). So I don’t take on really complex projects, and the Icarus shawl I just finished took me three months, but I get to play with pretty yarn and make things I couldn’t buy. And have sweaters with armholes that fit!

Earrings: What I make most when I do beadwork, because they’re what I wear most. Also, they’re kind of like knitting socks: you can make something quite simple to show off a beautiful yarn / bead or something complex with plainer materials. And my nom online, Dichroic, was inspired by the earrings I was wearing when I began my first blog in March 2001.

Marriage: A week and a day short of 16 years, so far. Marriage, when it’s to the right person*, is a wonderful thing and I believe with all my heart that it should be available to any consenting adults who love each other and want to commit for a lifetime. (*The “right person” is not only one you love and who loves you, but also one who commits to the marriage and is willing to put effort into making it a good one. Also, I do not believe marriage is defined by weddings or that a couple who is not legally wedded is necessarily any less committed to each other – but it’s important for people who want them to be able to have legal weddings to give them all the rights they need to take care of each other, since legal marriage is the system on which we currently base those rights.)