Seviteba ’26

Thirty days have September, April, June, and November. And here we are at the end of September.

Where have the days gone? The days when I was living in them, went by slowly. Or, maybe time only slowed down when I was bored, but sped up when I was busy and my attention was occupied.

Things learned

I learned a few new things this month, some interesting enough to me to note and remember them here.

Honi Soit

French and pronouned O-nee swah, it’s part of the phrase “honi soit qui mal y pense” which translates to “Shamed be [the person] who thinks evil of it” or “Shame on him who thinks evil of it”, and is the official motto of the Order of the Garter, one of the British’s honours system. And if ‘Garter’ reminded you of an item of underclothing, yes, that’s precisely what it means.

The mongoose hole that brought me to that Garter motto was a post on the University of Sydney’s newspaper, Honi Soit, on Canadian author Rupi Kaur’s work. I was working on a poem and was thinking about lineation when I remembered a YouTube video on what some call ‘Insta-poems’ as represented by Kaur’s ultra-short pieces. I don’t think of Kaur’s work as poems because they sound more like quotations or phrases than poetry.

Maybe Kaur and her Insta-ilk are quoting (invoking?) the Garter motto upon all those who speak evil against their ‘work’.

I detest sex scenes in books

Especially explicit sex. And too much of it that it becomes disgusting and is a major part of the ‘plot’ that the entire story falls apart without it. Like the horrible (romantic?!) fiction Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren, a book I bought as part of my ‘ten books for one dollar’ haul from Bargain Box Lautoka on 15 August.

What is the point of writing in sex scenes in books? Isn’t it enought that we’re already inundated with it through films and TV shows, songs, and advertisements?

A good theme

If you’ve visited my website and blog before, you’ll notice that it’s gone through a few design and layout changes.

I changed to a new theme today, and it feels like it matches my style better than the previous one. I hope it remains so for the rest of the year.

I feel that a good theme inspires you to write more on your blog. A fancy looking theme stopped me from writing freely because I felt that my writing had to be perfect to match the look and design of my website. With a plain looking theme, I feel that I can write and post about anything as long as it’s something I find interesting.

Books I read, still reading, or CNF

• The Wife and the Widow by Christian White. I finished this in one day. It’s about two women whose lives are affected by the actions of their husbands.
• Beautiful Barstard by Christian Lauren. I could not finish this book because of the explicit sexual content and ultra weak plot. I’ll either give it away, resell it, or use it as kindling, or compost. The same for the three Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley novels that a former co-worker gave me.
• Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. I’ve only read a few pages and yes, there’s some heavy sexual content but there’s a story there, I just haven’t encountered it yet. I’ve set it aside for now.
• To Jerusalem and Back by Saul Bellow. I’m currently reading this delightful little book, an autobiographical account of Bellow’s visit to Israel with his wife. Bellow’s writing is like watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Places Unknown. I think Bellow and Bourdain would have been great friends if they’d ever met.
• A Pattern of Islands by Arthur Grimble, an autobiography of his time in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. I’m still in the prologue which is forty-one pages long.
• Cracks in My Foundation, Essays and Stories by Marian Keyes. I’m reading this slowly at one chapter or one essay each Saturday, if I remember to open the book at all.

Entertainment

While I kept my time on YouTube to only the necessary videos on poetry writing, I re-watched a few films on www.goojara.to as boundaries to my thoughts when I had a lot to think about.

The films or TV series I watched this month are:

• The Devil Wears Prada 2
• Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy, though I’ve yet to complete re-watching The Return of the King
• The Hobbit movie series. I’m now re-watching The Desolation of Smaug.
• Cracker, only season 1 episode 1 and 2. These were my favourite out of the entire series,
• Agatha Christie’s Poirot, various episodes.
• Finding Forrester, my all-time favourite film. I’m incorporating re-watching this film into one of those things I try to do every year.
• Limitless, the TV series. I stopped because the actors and the plots were just trying too hard. The film is much better.

I didn’t listen to a lot of music this month because I’d decided to decrease my time on YouTube, and I can only listen to my favourite music on there.

What’s next

What indeed. More good books, better writing, and hopefully, no more web design changes.