Rome Journal

Andrew moves to Italy. Hilarity ensues.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

i am zee count, and I love to count!


The countdown begins: T minus two weeks: yow! So much left to do, to say, to defile... I'm in the phase of thinking less about all the cool stuff that's going to happen over the next year, and more about all the stuff I'm going to miss. Ah, well: time to post a picture!

This is from the dinner I had last weekend at the Herbfarm in Woodinville, WA. They have two Vietnamese potbellied pigs which were very sociable and photogenic (though I really ought to edit out the redeye...) The owner referred to them as the "recycling system", but then got all snippy when I asked about whether they'd end up on the menu. Which is weird: if she'd meant that they were pets, she should have said that: "recycling system", to me, implies that they'll be, like, reused for something, right?

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, Andrew. I'm really enjoying your blog, and very much looking forward to hear what you have to say about living in Rome.

I found my way here via your link posted to mouthfulsfood.com. I post there as 'Squeat Mungry'.

I minored in 'Classical Languages and Literature' in college. (A made-to-order minor at a tiny liberal arts college.) I'm still very interested in classical antiquity. Right now I'm reading Tom Holland's Rubicon: the Last Years of the Roman Republic. Have you read it? I'd love to hear your opinion of it.

Anyway, just wanted to say 'hello' from a fellow Latin enthusiast, and let you know I'm enjoying your blog.

Cheers,

Neil

11:16 PM  
Blogger Andrew said...

Hi Neil! Glad you're enjoying it, and hope you'll keep reading. (I'm quickly becoming a slave of the hits counter.) Glad, too, to have a name to put to the handle.

I haven't read Rubicon, though I noticed the post on the Mouthfuls reading thread. Historical fiction is always a dicey proposition, though I enjoy a lot of it. (Last summer, I read the last couple of Colleen McCullough's Rome books, and while there's plenty of stuff for a pedant like me to grumble about, I thought they were fun. I found myself cheering for certain minor historical figures, like Varro and Asinius Pollio. Rock on, Pollio!)

Where did you go to college? I'm the product of a small liberal arts college myself: Carleton College, in beautiful Northfield, MN.

Best,
Andrew

1:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually, Rubicon isn't fiction (though apparently Holland has written some novels). It's more along the lines of a Barbara Tuchman/A Distant Mirror sort of deal, only about the twilight of the Roman Republic rather than medieval England. History for the masses, so to speak. So far I'm finding it to be an interesting take on Julius Caesar and that lot, with lots of expository narrative; I'll have a more considered opinion, I'm sure, when I'm done. His writing style is engaging enough.

Just noticed on Mouthfuls that you're a fellow Nabokov fan, as well. Hail fellow, well met! I'm an absolute VN junkie. (Years ago I actually won a prize from Dmitri Nabokov for solving a riddle his father had written for him. The prize was a copy of the riddle written in VN's own hand!)

Anyway, carry on... I look forward to hearing about your adventures.

Neil

[I went to Dominican College, in Marin County, California -- now billing itself as 'Dominican University'!]

3:13 AM  

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