Random observations

[aadler]

Some months back, my son told me about an accidental discovery (accidental in the sense that he or some of his friends just tried mixing whatever was left over after a party) that turned out better than he expected: spiced rum and Mountain Dew. I’m a big believer in experimentation, since there are so many things I wouldn’t even know I liked if I hadn’t tried them — smoked oysters, coconut rum, pickled okra — so I bought the ingredients today and tried out.

Nope. Not bad, but not for me. My daughter likes it, so all that remains is hers.

***

Two weekends ago, while I was away at Reserve drill, sroni brought out the Playstation 3 that my son left when he moved to China, and not only hooked it up to the main television in our den but used it to arrange a free month’s trial with Netflix. Since then, we’ve been overdosing on Glee and Make It or Break It, and I’m waiting for the trial period to end and us to get into the regular program so I can start sroni on the Sarah Connor Chronicles, and start in on Dead Like Me for myself. And then, after all this was arranged, I started seeing at Walmart online connectors that we can use instead of Playstation (which, once I’m willing to spend the money, will allow us to control with a remote instead of having to get up and walk across the room to start a new episode).

It’s basically what I was already doing with online streaming, but this allows more ease, greater range, and facilitated family viewing, for a nominal cost. I can live with it.

***

sroni’s Irish fiancé got tired of waiting for his work visa to go through — honestly, we don’t know what’s holding it up, the company that hired him has been trying to expedite it and there’s just some hang-up that nobody can figure out — and suggested that they just get married at the end of July. It’s one of those weird deals where he’ll have to fly in on a tourist visa, they’ll go through the ceremony, then he’ll return to Ireland and apply for a marriage visa. It would have been a lot simpler if the work visa (which really was supposed to have been taken care of by now) had gone through as scheduled. As it is …

Honestly, I don’t think it’s possible to be properly prepared for marriage. It’s one of those things where you get as ready as you can, and then still have to jump blind; like parenthood, you can only learn it by doing it. Things could go wrong — things can always go wrong — but, with all my trepidation and reservations, I’m glad to see her making this commitment. It had to come sooner or later, and there’s no reason to believe that later would be better.

***

Grammar/language peeve of the day:
palette/palate/pallet. I actually saw this misused twice, in entirely separate sources (the first one used to represent each of the second two), on the same day.

• palette – a thin oval or rectangular board or tablet that a painter holds and mixes pigments on; the set of colors put on the palette; a particular range, quality, or use of color.
• palate – the roof of the mouth separating the mouth from the nasal cavity; a usually intellectual taste or liking.
• pallet – a straw-filled tick or mattress; a small, hard, or temporary bed; a portable platform for handling, storing, or moving materials and packages (as in warehouses, factories, or vehicles).

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Best wishes to your daughter on her upcoming nuptials. I think of all this visa nonsense as a good omen - getting all the glitches out of the way BEFORE their marriage so that afterwards their lives will be smooth sailing.

Ugh! People confuse "palette/palate/pallet"? The one I keep seeing is "discreet/discrete" and it's driving me batty.


Gabrielle

[aadler]

I don’t know about omens, I just hope the varying complications don’t wind up making it all impossible.

As for “discreet/discrete”, I’m pretty sure I considered putting that one on my list but just never remembered it. The thing on matters like this: the people who don’t know the difference have trouble understanding how much it matters to those who know (or, sometimes, that it matters at all).