Bit of Ivory

Anne Elliot

Which Jane Austen Character are you? (female)
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This is very true. I admire Lizzy the most, of course, but I am most like Anne. Is this surprising to any of you? I am MUCH less outspoken in Real Life than I seem to be on the internet. Except when I am provoked in debates. Then I channel my inner Elizabeth Bennet.

I have discovered that I can indeed read while riding the light rail (which is called TRAX, no lie, caps and all). This is both a source of joy and of consternation. I never thought I’d be able to read on the train– I get REALLY sick when I try it in a car or an airplane. But after 2 weeks of watching others read Harry Potter (I’ve seen 7 people reading it so far: 1 reading SS, 2 reading PoA, 1 reading GoF, and 3 reading OotP) and wishing I could join them, I decided to bring a book and try it. So I brought my current Heyer, and to my joy, it worked! Reading makes the time go much faster than just sitting there or even listening to music.

So what’s the problem, then? The PROBLEM is that I don’t want to stop reading! I get off the train and then have to put my book away and WORK for hours before I can get it out again on my break– and then a short 15 min. later I have to put it away again! It’s very annoying. And then, of course, I end up reading at night instead of doing more productive things (such as doing research on my Dumbledore fic as Rachel has been bugging me to), and staying up WAAAY too late to finish my current novel, and it makes me all tired. So when I finished Regency Buck (which had the first mention of Austen I’ve seen in any of Heyer’s Regency novels) on Monday night I decided I’d better not start a new one, even though I have Arabella, Cotillion, and A Civil Contract waiting for me. But I was bored out of my skull on the way to and from work yesterday, even with my Pirates soundtrack to keep me company. I decided I MUST read something.

So I brought my copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone with me today. I got some strange looks when I took it out on the train. I think some people thought I was reading a fake HP book. I love it, though. It really is like reading a different book, especially as I’m familiar enough with SS to notice the changes. It’s kinda like reading Pride and Prejudice with a different editor than I’m used to– I notice if they add “rein” into Lizzy’s letter to Mrs. Gardiner instead of leaving it the way it appeared in the first edition as “give a loose to your fancy.” Things like “You have a place at Hogwarts. . .” instead of “You have been accepted. . .” make me smile. Although Hagrid calling Dumbledore “Mr” instead of “Professor” is weird. I think the US editors made the right decision in changing that one.

Another thing about the train, while it is slightly connected. There one lady who gets on at my stop who always wears the same perfume, and in copious amounts. It’s a vile smelling perfume, too. I think I’m allergic to it. I always get off the train with my nose running and the urge to sneeze. I might start riding in the middle car instead of the last car to avoid her.

Today I decided to take my umbrella out of my purse, as I haven’t needed it for days.

It rained.

*sigh*

Oh, and for all those who want to hear further details on my coworker’s accident, I would love to hear them, too. We don’t know exactly how she fell out of the Jeep, we don’t know what she was doing, we don’t know what she was wearing or where she was. We *do* know that she got 7 stitches *somewhere*, and that she has to have surgery on her broken ankle tomorrow morning, and that she was bleeding out of her ears this morning which hopefully is only related to her concussion and not something more serious. My boss says that if I value my life and well-being, I might want to get out of their unit. In the past year, they have had one woman diagnosed with breast cancer (she just finished her radiation treatments), one woman have marital problems, one woman’s husband diagnosed with cancer (she’s the one I’m replacing, her husband died two weeks ago), one woman with knee trouble, and one woman with family problems. And now Heather fell out of her Jeep the day after she hit a deer.

Yikes. Maybe they’re right.