I feel defined.

I really like A Word A Day. It's a great site.  Today's word really hit home for some reason.

http://wordsmith.org/words/today.html

Xanthippe or Xantippe

PRONUNCIATION:

(zan-THIP-ee, -TIP-) 

MEANING:

noun: A nagging, ill-tempered woman.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Xanthippe, wife of Socrates (c. 5 BCE) who has been portrayed as a nagging, quarrelsome woman. The name Xanthippe is from xanthos (yellow) + hippos (horse). Also see xanthodontous. Earliest documented use: 1691.

NOTES:

Socrates is said to have advised, "By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher." It's not known what Socrates thought would happen if the roles were reversed. Also, there's the question of which came first: philosophizing or being ill-tempered. Would being married to a philosopher turn a woman into a shrew?

USAGE:

Mistress Foster is a grasping shrew, a Xanthippe, who bosses her husband about."
Jean Howard; Theater of a City: The Places of London Comedy; University of Pennsylvania Press; 2009.

(c) 2013 Wordsmith.org

Where did Jersey go?

fun weekend in nyc

My friend Fren came to visit last weekend and we started off the weekend with dinner with Frike and Fraul at one of my favorite restaurants, Marseille.  It's a part of the Tour de France restaurant chains, and is solid in my book.

Then Saturday morning, we decided to start the day off right with breakfast at Sylvia's.  We both had the breakfast of champions, fried chicken and grits.

Then we walked our way down to the Met with Frussell, Frob and their friend Frarry.  We saw lots of interesting things:

Then, Frynn suggested a great exhibit to go to:  Ann Hamilton's Event of A Thread.  It was closing last weekend so we of course got in line to see it.

Me and Fren

Frynn who refuses to be photographed

For more information about this exhibit go here:  Ann Hamilton's Event of A Thread

I don't want to go into the details, but will just show you the videos and photos:

 It was an excellent exhibit and a great weekend.  Thanks for visiting, Fren!

And of course, what post isn't complete without a photo of Nomi.

I may be sick...

but my feet are happy

FOUR YEARS SMOKE-FREE!

I can't believe it's been four years.  Actually I thought last year was four years, but one of my smoke-free rehab partners reminded us all that it was in 2009 that we were holed up at Kripalu in the first week of January, snow all around us.  I had joined this smoke-free workshop that included talk therapy, hypnosis, acupuncture and meditation.  Well, our group wandered around together like a bunch of rehabers, dragging ourselves around in sweats, in a nicotine-withdrawal fog.  It was hard, but there was something about being isolated in the snowy Massachusetts woods, going through this with a bunch of other people that pulled me through.  That and I was seriously determined to stop.  I was driven to do it.

It was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do and I struggle with it still.  I think once an addict, always an addict.  I still have my moments when I think, I want a cigarette, but I have to remind myself why I quit.  I will always be smoke-free.

Ye Olde PSAs from the 80s

PSA - Time for Timer - Breakfast

PSA - Time For Timer - Hanker For A Hunk O Cheese