Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder

16 Jul 2002, 22:04 p.m.

I have a free DSL modem and bike helmet, left…

Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2002 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.

I have a free DSL modem and bike helmet, left over from flatmates at my old place, for anyone who wants them.

The velorutionary angel is littering! But yeah, she is beautiful, as per the MemeMachineGo! mention. Then again, is she wearing a bindi?

Kris-style Pet Observations: My new place features two cats, Little Kitty [sic] and Juniper. I keep thinking of Juniper as "Paul," since Juniper seems oversensitive and difficult to manage, much like Paul in Willa Cather's "Paul's Case" and Paul in D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers (my current reading). This follows my months-long habit of accidentally calling Scott, a friend of a former flatmate, by the name "Roger," since I thought "Roger" suited him more. Seriously, Scott didn't seem like a Scott, he seemed like a Roger, and this cat acts like a Paul. As my new flatmate puts it, "Junie is damaged goods."

Today I playfully sprayed Paul with a bit of water and he immediately ran away. Not even bouncing the gold string around got his trust back right away. I don't really like the cats, but I hope neither of them grows to despise me and pee in my bed or anything.

Speaking of Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, like other Lawrence I've read, develops characters unerringly. Every interpersonal relationship is spot-on realistic. Ideas with a capital I don't receive Ayn-Rand-style pages and chapters of blathering except in the context of how characters struggle with their own conflicts, and I like that. There's no better place to read Lady Chatterley's Lover (and de Maupassant's stories and The Great Gatsby) than on a long train ride between St. Petersburg and somewhere else, but wherever you are will do.