Friday 24 August 2012

Friday Night Girls

Well, I have a big artsy day ahead of me planned. I am going to wash some of the dishes still left over from B.A.'s birthday, send congratulatory cards to two friends who have recently had babies, do an hour or so of Polish homework, hie me down to the Poetry Library to read Miłosz and do some Real Writing, see "Wojtek the Bear" at the Edinburgh Festival, possibly meet a pal for a drink, and, if I can stay up that late, see "Miłosz in Living Pictures" at the Edinburgh Festival.

I am doing all the Polish stuff without B.A. because he has decided firmly that anything having to do with Poland is my department. If I were a lot younger I would worry that various people would look at me and think "Who is that sad non-Polish lady all by herself at this Polish cultural event?" I never worry about this anymore because I have realized that the last person anyone in an audience wants to think about is someone else in the audience.

Speaking of the Edinburgh Festival, B.A. and I were on the Rough Bus last night, and if you ever want to be incognito as a North American, poppets, don't take a bus in Edinburgh with a group of very loud American or Canadian boys wearing kilts. (As a matter of fact, I determined that those particular loud people had to be Americans, but Canadians are loud too. It's soooo shame-making when an embarrassing pair of noisy Americans start yakking loudly about Tim Horton's and I realize they are not Americans but Canadians.)

Newsflash to American and Canadian tourist men: in the royal city of Edinburgh, men between the ages of 20 - 60 wear kilts only to weddings, sports events, clan gatherings and formal dinners. You aren't fooling anybody. Keep your voices down on the bus. If you are a loud American (or Canadian) man in a kilt or a loud American (or Canadian) girl who is loud on the bus, you should know that your departure will be celebrated by the quaint elderly Scots with mutters of "Bluidy Yanks."

Anyway, I will be running around town tonight by my little self going to theatre events and looking down my nose at loud American (or Canadian) men in cheap kilts. What are you doing tonight?

15 comments:

TGWWS said...

Oh-ho! Hosting a reading of "Much Ado About Nothing" at my house.

n.panchancha said...

^I like TGWWS's plan.

BUT I think I have long-lost out-of-town friends coming in to play music at a bar AND possibly informally, with us local friends, afterwards, so I cannot possibly complain.

PS: For your daily dose of culture hope: a few of my paganish poet buddies ADORE Milosz, but they are becoming bad examples of paganish poet buddies as one has just been baptized into the Church of England. Regardless, they swoon for beauty. :o)

Maggie said...

I will have just finished my first week of teaching college (eep!), so I've planned a quiet Friday night: late afternoon Holy Hour, early supper, tidying my little home, and perhaps a movie with a glass of wine once my domicile is in order. Or I'll have the glass of wine while I finish Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins. Either way, it will be a night in with an early bedtime.

April said...

Oh, how fun!

I am working late and then going to a contra dance in a nearby city with a pal.

Also, I LOVE Milosz. I was turned on to him by one of my undergraduate professors, and I have found some of his interviews (like this one: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1986/feb/27/an-interview-with-czeslaw-milosz/?pagination=false) and his prose commentary to be enjoyable as well.

TGWWS said...

Contra!!!

rmvb said...

My older and only sister is coming into town to visit me, so we'll probably go out to dinner. Then, later that night I'll be participating in my first "Fantasy Football" draft with some college pals cross-country. Why? Because I really do love football (americano).....
Contra sounds fun though!

Anonymous said...

I'm going to a Girl's Movie Night showing of Downton Abbey at a friend's house.

Ladywisdom

Anonymous said...

Watching my teenage siblings so that my dad and stepmum can celebrate their wedding anniversary. Also, cooking caramel-filled brownies for my boyfriend's barbeque tomorrow (the "don't bake for men" rule takes a backseat to "don't show up empty-handed" rule).

~theobromophile

Catholic Bibliophagist said...

Attending a meeting of The Widows' Club with my mother. We are the only members of said club, and our activities consist of going out to eat and talk together. And since my mum is 82, this will actually be an afternoon event. So the evening as such will probably be spent with one of the many new books in my To Be Read stack.

JustAnotherCatholicGirl said...

Watching my brothers and sisters while my parents go to a concert. Already started the evening off with pizza and a movie, with plans to cream my brothers in a round of Age of Empires 2. Yes, it is a nerdy strategic computer game from 1999, but hey, who says you have to be a grown up all the time? Lol

Eowyn said...

Going to a choir concert with my two closest friends from high school, preceded by a little picnic which I am currently late for! (on the bus!!)

Eowyn said...

Also, TGWWS, am I to understand that you are hosting a reading of Shakespeare AND going to contra? What sort of magical place do you live in?

Urszula said...

Just got back from meeting a friend for dinner and am planning on spending this evening quietly in my own comfy armchair, catching up on emails and relaxing before the crazy conference-organizing period at work really hits!

Hope everybody had/has a wonderful evening!

Nzie said...

Rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for two wonderful friends whose wedding is tomorrow and whom I hadn't seen in over a year. :D

~Nzie

TGWWS said...

Eowyn, no no! Not on the same night. Both things happen in the area in general, but I was just expressing the fact that I really like contra (which I wasn't doing that evening) as well as Shakespeare (which I was).

But yes, it is a fairly magical place, the DC metro area! It has its major downsides, but the upside is that there's frequently a lot going on.