(no subject)

[jianantonic]

Each of the last four times I've seen a doctor in Charlottesville, I'll pay my copay at the office, then get a bill later for basically everything else. The bills are often worded as though my account is on the verge of collections, even though it's always my first notice. I mean they don't say "final notice" or anything, that's just the vibe I get from the bills. Anyway I always pay them, and then several months later, I'll get a refund check from the doctor's office. This has happened four times. I just got another check today. I'm never expecting the refund check so it's sorta like free money, I guess, but wtf? Is my insurance company just really slow to pay for my treatments? The health care industry is so fucked up. I consider myself lucky that I've been able to afford all of my own treatments this year (I have expensive, crappy insurance that covers almost nothing), but I'm very anxious for the much needed health care reform.

Anyway.

We dropped Mom and Dad off at the airport about an hour ago. We'll take dinner to WT and Rachel at their hotel and say goodbye tonight, as they have a very early flight tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, I will sleep in for a long time, and it will be glorious. But I will miss my family.

I finished Mansfield Park on Saturday.  I liked it very much, as I do all the Austen novels (I still haven't read Northanger Abbey or the second half of Emma, which I probably need to start over by now, but I've read all the others), but the more Austen I read, the less I respect her as an author.  I mean, she's good.  Each of her books is good.  And I love them all.  But they're all kind of the same.  Even this one, which is billed as her "most daring" or "most modern" is pretty much the same as all the others.  The characters have different names and slightly different situations, but there's absolutely a formula to her stories.  Which is fine.  It's a good one.  I just always know exactly how the book is going to go.  This is why I've been spreading out my Austen reading.  I think it would be harder to enjoy (or finish) the novels if I read them all back to back, because it would get tedious.  

I did think that of all the Austen novels, this one would be the easiest to adapt to film while staying true to the story.  I think a good director could make a good movie out of this without changing or cutting the story much at all, so I'm a little disappointed that a movie doesn't exist, because I'd like to watch it.  There is one movie, but it's only loosely based on the novel, with many details drastically changed.  I'll probably watch it anyway.

Now that I'm finished with MP, I'm reading something from a genre I've never read before:  a bridge book!  Greg sent me the Granovetters' A Switch In Time.  Because someone else paid for me to have this book, and that someone is my bridge partner, I feel doubly obliged to actually read it, so I am.  And it's not going so badly.  I've tried to read bridge books before, but it's so much like reading a textbook, and without a grade to strive for or homework assignments to turn in, I just can't keep engaged.  I know I could think of actual games as the tests or grades, but my brain won't play along.  Anyway, I'm working now.  I'm trying to step up my game and I'm hoping that the studying sinks in and pays off.  I want Greg to want to keep being my partner for a long time.  This book is pretty easy to follow, and makes good points, so I'm looking forward to testing out some of its theories at my next game.  Maybe I'll get McKenzie to take me to the club this week.

On Thursday, I'm giving a bridge lesson to a guy I met through Max, one of my other partners.  Max lives in SLC, but went to school at U of O, and introduced me to a bunch of his friends up here.  All of his friends here are math types, and many of them have at least a basic understanding of bridge.  Alex is brand new to the game, but seems enthusiastic, and I'm really excited to teach him.  And to have a cool new friend in Portland.

I'm really excited about lots of things, but most of all I'm looking forward to Saturday -- college football omg omg!  Z's dad is taking us to the OSU season opener vs. Portland State in Corvallis.  Barring many, many overtimes, that game will be over in time for us to get back to Salem to watch VT open their season against Alabama at my in-laws' house on their big screen.  I'm really nervous about that game.  Tech has a history of weak starts, but Alabama is a serious opponent.  The Hokies will have to charge out of the gates this year.  I hope they're up to the challenge.

What a brain dump.  I haven't had enough time for blogging this week!  I'll leave you with this:

Smokey says "Pull my finger!"
 

 

Peace.

Comments

[capriciousbee.livejournal.com]

What what?! There IS a movie for Mansfield Park! In fact, there are several. One of them is one of my favorites! See here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178737/ A&E also did a version (I think), and I know the BBC did one for the recent anniversary of Austen, because they did all the novels. I like the 1999 version because they give Fanny a spine (though yeah, some details are changed for drama, I think it turns out well). I enjoyed the book a great deal, but she's more than a bit too mousey for her own good. I'm a bigger fan of the Lizzies and Elinors of her world.