just in passing

Actually, I'm not posting to my blog, I'm wrestling with structuralism, so this entry is more of a hallucination on the part of the reader. Having ducked simultaneously out of a family weekend away and manning the SCA craft stall today, I am morally obliged to spend the time actually doing some work; if I don't produce at least 1000 words today, khoi_boi has threatened me with Words. (Something of an empty threat, actually: both by profession and inclination, I rather like words). On the upside, the completely revised intro paragraphs I wrote last week actually make sense, which is probably a good sign. They're certainly an improvement on the previous tripe which, in defiance of all probability, actually garnered me a PhD.

So, quick summary of the last few days:

• Dinner and movie with jo&stv and my mother on Thursday night, extremely pleasant despite the need to negotiate tickets booked for the wrong night and the chosen restaurant being unavailable owing, in a bizarre twist, to an infestation of flamenco dancers.
• Saw Casino Royale. I Approve of Daniel Craig as the new Bond, he's a refreshing antidote to the unrealistically immaculate Pierce Brosnan, who, while I enjoyed his take on the character, always had the slightest suspicion of a nance. New movie is gritty, reasonably well plotted, well acted and has an incredibly cool parkour chase scene, although I reckon a good editor could have taken a good half hour off the whole to greatly improving effect.
• Things I Would Never Have Seen Myself Doing: spending the better part of an hour seated at the piano with my niece on my lap, playing endless variations on "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" while she pounded random keys enthusiastically and crowed. Note to parents: teaching a small child the hand-sign for "More!" only leads to trouble and, generally, exhaustion on the part of lesser, adult mortals who don't have small-humanoid energy.
• khoi_boi has invoked the hideous power of the Straight Dope to address stv's curiosity about the phrase "see what I did there?" Results here: the consensus seems to be that the phrase originates in vaudeville, although a definitive vector into blog culture is still lacking.

Now I shall work. Work worky work work work.