Listening to: Big City Rhythms – Michael Feinstein

Reading: Soft Focus Jayne Ann Krentz

Weather: 47, overcast

Trivia: Why do people say that they had to pay through the nose?

Anyone caught in a squeeze that cannot be escaped without meeting an exorbitant demand will typically say they had to "pay through the nose." This unpleasant course of action, according to legend, stems from the brutality of warriors who overran Ireland around 900 A.D. As the story goes, Norsemen who mastered the land then demanded heavy tribute. Anyone who couldn't or wouldn't pay was seized and forced to suffer the torture of a slit nose. Those that escaped this brutal punishment told their descendants that, once upon a time, they had been forced to pay through the nose. While the story may be apocryphal it does have some basis in fact, as Ireland really did fall to Vikings in the 9th century. But no real evidence exists that they ever engaged in the behavior. Eight hundred years passed before a literary work included a character who was forced to pay through the nose. However, a more simple explanation may be that, whenever a quarrel erupts over money and one party ends up with a bloody nose, the loser could be said to be paying through the nose.

Cool word:bowdlerize (BOWD-lur-ize) - To "cleanse" or modify a work of literature or art by removing parts considered offensive or otherwise altering content or style.

Well we seem to have survived the Y2K transition unscathed. No disasters, no terrorists (thank God), no computer crashes. It was all a lot of worry for nothing.

I suppose that you could say the reason that nothing happened was that everyone had prepared but I’m not so sure…..I feel slightly cynical about all this.

My niece refused to go to bed last night until she checked to make sure the phone was operational. For some reason she had decided that all disasters would be centered on whether or not the phones were working at midnight.

Actually, she gave me the biggest chuckle of the night. (Keep in mind she's seven.) She managed to stay awake until midnight (it was touch and go for about the last hour), and as she was on her way to bed I said, "Well I'll see you tonight."

She stopped in her tracks, looked out the window, stared at me and said ,"What do you mean? It is night."

I said, "Well, we're having Papa's birthday party tonight so we're going there for supper."

Matilda: "We already had supper."

Me: "Well no, it's Saturday now, it's not Friday anymore."

Matilda: "I don't believe you."

Well, this went on for a good fifteen minutes and there was no way that she was going to believe me, her uncle, her father or her brother no matter how hard we tried to convince her. And when I threw in that it was actually not Friday night but Saturday morning she really dug in her heels.

We finally had to find television stations that had the date and "Sat." somewhere on the screen in order to convince her. Once she grasped the concept she said ,"Well how come no one told me this last year?!!" As if that might have made a difference. I had tears pouring down my cheeks I was laughing so hard.

Finally she stood, put her hands on her hips, and said, "Well, good morning then!"

The New Year’s Even party was fine. Even if I didn’t like all the people who were there. We watched "Mickey Blue Eyes", it was a cute film.

I most enjoyed watching each country celebrate the millennium. I think France wins the most spectacular award. That Eiffel Tower was really gorgeous to watch. The U.S. did ok too, with the lighting of the Washington Monument.

Neil Diamond wins in the "Most perfectly timed" category. His countdown in the middle of "Coming to America" was pure theater, really beautifully timed.

I never heard Streisand, even though I tried to stay awake. I had the television on all night, so I really thought her voice would penetrate my sleep, but I guess not. I had really wanted to hear her too…

I never woke up till 10:21 this morning, and probably wouldn’t have gotten up then if my mother hadn’t called. I’m, not used to this late night stuff.

I’ll be paying for it tonight.

We had my father’s birthday party tonight. I ended up cooking the dinner again. Except for the scalloped potatoes that my mother had prepared. I don’t’ know how this happens all the time now, but somehow it does.

Fortunately my brother helped with the dishes and clean-ups tonight, so I wasn’t chained to the kitchen the entire night.

That’s the last of the family togetherness for a while. I’m glad that it’s done until my mother’s birthday in February. I need a break. I love them dearly, but don’t need to have that many nights and days with them.

Phone calls will suffice.

I don’t know what I did to my right hand, but it is really very painful. It’s swollen between my first two knuckles and I didn’t even have the strength to lift the coffeepot to pour coffee this morning.

It really really hurts, but there’s no black and blue mark. I must have whacked it on something.

I still have a wracking cough that in another century would have sent me to a T.B. ward.....

It makes my head hurt and makes me so tired…..

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