Thursday, November 22, 2012

when i watch the living meet

I completely forgot about posting today...yesterday, really. I'm up though, and everyone else is asleep, so I'll just do this before I go back to being L's foot warmer. I'm so very glad to have him home. Tried not to fuss at him when he came home and failed completely, I think. He was cold and wet generally miserable looking. Much better by the time we got to bed. 

Sherlock said something about interpretive dance for the school Christmas show... I don't know whether that's actually what his teacher said, or if he's just heard the phrase from L and picked it up. Should be interesting either way. 

Yeah. Sleep. 

-

When I watch the living meet
A. E. Housman


When I watch the living meet,
And the moving pageant file
Warm and breathing through the street
Where I lodge a little while,

If the heats of hate and lust
In the house of flesh are strong,
Let me mind the house of dust
Where my sojourn shall be long.

In the nation that is not
Nothing stands that stood before;
There revenges are forgot,
And the hater hates no more;

Lovers lying two and two
Ask not whom they sleep beside,
And the bridegroom all night through
Never turns him to the bride.

63 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, but who does Sherlock think will be doing the interpretive dance? And are there wings involved?

Love the poem. AE Houseman always makes me think.

rsf

REReader said...

Sherlock said something about interpretive dance for the school Christmas show

This should be one interesting show! (And it sounds like Sherlock is enjoying the putting-together of it a lot more than last year. Which is the main thing, really. :))

That is one fascinating kaleidescope of a poem--give it a little turn, and it looks completely different. *goes to read it for the fourth time*

Greg Lestrade said...

You didn't fuss. You just cared. You were great. Are great.

Anonymous said...

I wish I had a "John". You are so lucky. Even if it does sometimes seem like everything happens to you.

Greg Lestrade said...

I wish I could clone him and send one to anyone who needed one!

And I think I'm right in saying happy thanksgiving to any American's reading.

REReader said...

Yep, Thanksgiving it is here--thank you, L! (And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating today. :))

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't the clones need tattoos then, like Sherlock's theoretical clone? Although I'd take one, regardless.

And thank you! I'm looking forward to some turkey.

rsf

Greg Lestrade said...

They would definitely need tattoos. And John would need an 'Original' tattoo.

But think of the fun I could have if they weren't all needed.... ;)

REReader said...

:D

(But they would definitely all be needed!)

John H. D. Watson said...

This is precisely why we have a 'no clones in the flat' rule...

Greg Lestrade said...

Spoilsport.

I could let them stay in my flat though...

John H. D. Watson said...

No clone harems in your flat either!

Greg Lestrade said...

My flat my rules!

John H. D. Watson said...

My clones, my rules!

Greg Lestrade said...

....damn.

Okay, okay. I shall just clone you in my dreams, man of my dreams...

Want a coffee?

John H. D. Watson said...

That'd be nice, yeah.

Greg Lestrade said...

Good. Need to talk to you.

John H. D. Watson said...

Should that sound ominous? Because it does a little. There soon.

Anonymous said...

And my hopes of having a John clone are dashed. Ah, well, if I did he'd just be pining for L and London and the boys anyway, right?

I hope the ominous conversation goes well, and will be thinking of you all as I set forth on Turkey Quest.

rsf

Greg Lestrade said...

Sorry, no, not ominous. Just wanted to ask you medical questions. Mum's blood pressure is going through the roof now she's in withdrawal. Just wanted to ask you about it.

John H. D. Watson said...

Hopefully I've answered most of them now, but I can call and talk to her doctors too if you want me to. Did you eat already? I could get you a sandwich while I'm...buying this muffin that seems to be the size of my head.

Greg Lestrade said...

Not really hungry.

I'm sure they know what there doing. You just explain stuff better to me.

REReader said...

I hope the rest of your day is less worrisome, L.

Any more news about the Christmas show, Sherlock? Has your class settled on what you're all doing?

Hope everyone celebrating Thanksgiving has gotten to wherever they're going safely and are enjoying themselves with or without turkey!

Kestrel337 said...

I sympathize, John. The grade school is doing a fundraiser at a bookstore. At a big huge shopping mall. Oldest daughter (WHO DOESN'T EVEN GO TO THAT SCHOOL ANYMORE) wants me to do entertainment. Although not dance...that's worse.

Happy Thanksgiving to those for whom that applies. And if you pick at the topping on the dutch apple pie I WILL KNOW.

Greg Lestrade said...

Can't really say it was less worrying. I mean, I'm glad to know what they think, even if it isn't good. She's just... lived a life that puts her high risk in just about every category. And I don't know how hard she'll fight to turn things around. Don't know if she'll have it in her.

Danger, I'm not going to the pub tonight, be home normal time.

John H. D. Watson said...

All right, love. We'll see you when you get here.

REReader said...

L--Yeah.

I'm afraid all I got is a hug via John and/or Sherlock, if you guys would be so kind?

Sherlock said...

You can play the guitar here because you have to play me every single Christmas and winter song you know so I can see if we want you in our show and that's called an audition.

REReader said...

Are you and your classmates auditioning for the show, Sherlock?

Sherlock said...

if you want a good bit yes but everyone has to be in it even if you just want a boring bit.

REReader said...

Are you planning to audition, then? (! would!)

Sherlock said...

I want a good bit but I don't know what yet there's some singing and dancing and reading and I'm good at all of them.

REReader said...

That's quite a dilemma. Maybe you should ask if you can audition for more than one thing? (And if you wanted maybe you could audition with your violin, too, even if there's not a violin part yet--there could be!)

Greg Lestrade said...

Did he mention he's modest, too?

I think your reading and your dancing are probably better than your singing, kiddo. Any idea which you'd rather do?

And why do I have to audition - I didn't even want to be in it! You told me I was!

REReader said...

(Isaac Asimov used to call it "cheerful self-appreciation." :))

Sherlock said...

You can only be in it if you've got good songs. I don't know because reading would be on my own and dancing would be with other people and sometimes other people are stupid but dancing is more fun.

Anonymous said...

Every Christmas and winter song? That's a lot of songs.

Small Hobbit said...

RR - it may be that Mrs N doesn't want a violin part. After all, if each of the children in her class wanted to do their own speciality she would have problems putting something together.

John H. D. Watson said...

Just to be clear, L was making up that bit about me dancing, right? Because that is not going to happen.

REReader said...

Well, SH, that's why I said he should ask. She might not even have time for people to audition for more than one thing--but then again, she might.

Sherlock, doing something in a group is always a bit of a risk because of not knowing how the other people will do, but if you find dancing more fun, I think you should go for it, because you're going to spend a bit of time rehearsing. (And remember, even if you know someone missed a step, the audience might not even notice. That's part of the excitement of being in a live show!)

Greg Lestrade said...

I'm not even sure anyone but Sherlock wants me to play guitar! We'll be asking Mrs N if this is actually in her plan, or just in Sherlock's own personal plan which he intends to spring upon all his unsuspecting classmates.

Sherlock said...

I think Lestrade is lying about how many Christmas songs he knows. Lying is bad and he should sit on the chair at the table and think about why it's bad like I have to.

Anon Without A Name said...

Well that's quite an accusation to make Sherlock? What's he said to make you think he's lying?

Sherlock said...

Because he says he doesn't know ANY and he's smiling when he says it like when he's pretending to John he hasn't done something when he has.

REReader said...

(Maybe, perhaps, if you asked a different way you might get a different answer. :))

Sherlock said...

I asked nicely!

Anon Without A Name said...

Ahh, I think you may have just encountered the fine line between teasing and lying, Sherlock. Maybe, instead of making him sit on a chair at the table and think about it, you could ask him to explain? Or you could ask John what he thinks Lestrade should do?

REReader said...

Ah, then I apologize. And think Nameless would be right about the teasing. :)

Greg Lestrade said...

He's going to use the power of YouTube to find some songs he likes, then I'll play the ones I can. I'm not about to play hundreds of Christmas songs to him in November! Surely search engines and headphones were built so I can blissfully avoid Christmas songs for as long as possible, despite his sudden urgent need for them?

REReader said...

Certainly no one plays their entire repertoire as an audition. Any one song would do for that, or one or two specific songs. Otherwise no one would ever be able to put together any show at all!

Sherlock said...

But how will I know which of his songs are good if I don't hear them all?

REReader said...

You could try asking him what's his favorite Christmas song to sing? Or you could ask him to play your favorite Christmas song.

(An audition is to see if the person can do the kind of thing they need to do well--in this case, playing a song on the guitar. Deciding what song exactly he would sing in the show could come later--or maybe Mrs N already knows which song she wants played.)

Sherlock said...

That's silly I know he can play the guitar anyway or I wouldn't have told him to play the guitar but maybe he's good at playing his music and rubbish at Christmas songs. I don't have a favourite one. And now he's singing a silly one about love to John and not even doing what he's told.

REReader said...

That's valid, to want to know if he can play a different kind of song well.

Here's an idea--two ideas, really: Ask Mrs N tomorrow in school what Christmas song (or songs) she wants played, and then you can ask him to play that one. Or find a few songs that are the right kind of song on YouTube and ask him if he knows any of those.

(And yes, it's hard to audition people who don't really want to be in a show. You have a lot less leverage that way.)

Greg Lestrade said...

I'm still not sure Mrs N has any idea about any of this, RR.

As for leverage...he's 7 - he doesn't have any!

REReader said...

I've noticed that any mention of the songs that Mrs N wants in the show have been ignored, yep. :)

Surely IF someone wanted to be in a show, that would be all the leverage--or is "incentive" a more accurate word? Yes, I should have said incentive--needed? ;) (Which is no doubt the reason Mrs N is giving her class the choice of auditioning for a good part or not auditioning...)


(I have a few Christmas-y songs on my blog, in the archives in Dec. 2011, if you want to check those out, Sherlock. They aren't religious Christmas songs, because I'm Jewish, and there are a bunch of Chanukah songs in there too, but there a bunch in the holiday spirit, so to speak.)

Greg Lestrade said...

If someone wanted to be in the show, it still wouldn't be Sherlock's decision whether they were or not. Unless I'm completely misunderstanding you. I think Mrs N has all the leverage and the kids have none. As I believe it should be.

REReader said...

No, no, that's now what I was trying to say at all! Sherlock said you weren't doing what you were told, and I was saying if you didn't want to be in the show, he really didn't have any way to get you to want to audition. ( I guess I should have put in more smilies or been more direct or something, sorry. :()

Greg Lestrade said...

Oh, okay, got you. And yeah, incentive would definitely be the better word.

But my point still stands regarding his age and any amount of leverage on any situation - he gets just as much decision-making power as we choose to give him - much to his frustration sometimes. Such is life as a child.

REReader said...

No argument there! (Ah yes, I remember it well. :))

Anonymous said...

I hope Sherlock found some good songs on Youtube. I found one I hadn't heard in years in my own wandering. But most of the songs are either good for singing, and not so good for dancing, or possibly good for dancing but not the sort of thing I think of for a school play.

I think the trouble with Christmas music is that we get bombarded with it for almost two months of the year, so most adults are pretty tired of it, but it's still new to kids. I'm at the point where I'm always hunting for songs I don't already own, even though there are many songs that I like in versions that are new to me, or in versions that I've known since childhood.

As for Sherlock and autonomy and leverage... well, maybe I'll stay out of that discussion this round, yes? :D

rsf

Anonymous said...

Rats, forgot a link I meant to give you. here. Kids in Cambodia doing the monkey dance for their Christmas pageant. Starts about a minute 50 in.

rsf

REReader said...

Thanks for the monkey dance link, rsf, that's quite amazing! They must have been training for ages to get that right.

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