I read it for the first time when I was in sixth grade, and about three or four more times since then. Last time I read it was about a year or two ago, I think. A few things that come to mind right now: the portrayal of Prissy in the book makes her seem a lot less infantilized, since in the book it's pointed out a whole bunch of times that she is a child. When Scarlett gets to Atlanta and her relatives see that Prissy is the one taking care of Wade, their response is basically, "Are you nuts? She's just a child herself, how can you leave your son in her care?" And yeah, she's flighty and scatter-brained, but she's a kid. I'd say she seems like somewhere between 10 and 12 or so. In the movie, they give her pretty much all the same lines and actions, but the actress playing her looks at least 15.

Also, in the movie, the scene where Ashley and Rhett and all the other white Atlanta men go to burn down the black shantytown where Scarlett was attacked really makes it seem like "Scarlett screwed up, and now the men are doing the right thing by going to fix it." "Fixing it" by burning down the houses of and possibly killing a whole town, when only one man attacked her. In the book, we get much more of the perspective that it's a completely pointless gesture of trying to do what a "Southern gentleman" would do in a world where they haven't realized yet that the old rules can't apply anymore.

But I totally would have set you up if R hadn't moved!

Thanks for the thought, though.

I wish someone would set me up on a blind date.

I have a good friend here (actually, Miss P's mom, the one I saw give birth) who would dearly love to set me up on a blind date. However, she knows I'd kill her if she did. She still makes tenative forays and sighs when I give her the look. If you were in B'more, I'd sic her on you. I almost feel bad for thwarting her inner matchmaker. Almost.

I'm sure some of my lack of interest is the whole hates-change thing, but I don't look too closely anymore. Which sounds bad, somehow. Oh well.

I just finished setting up my new desk. Holds all the stuff my old desk held, but way more organized and in less space. And much prettier and goes better with my other furniture. Plus, it let me rearrange some cables so could eliminate one extension cord and have way less of a cord tangle. I now just need to buy a new lamp, because rearranging the furniture moved the lamp further away from the corner, so I need a bit more light there.

OK after that previous post, I was reminded how after the roughest labor & delivery she'd had, after announcing that and swearing off any more kids on that account, she asked me when it was my turn. She never really does give up! Not even exhausted and in pain!

Did you get rid of the old desk, Hil?

Did you get rid of the old desk, Hil?

Well, right now, it's still in my apartment, but a friend said that he wanted it and will probably pick it up on Friday.

Hey Hil (or anyone else who knows about jewish customs): one of my coworkers is taking friday off to finish thoroughly cleaning everything in her house for Passover. Is that a common thing? What's the idea behind it? Is it the leavened stuff thing?

We were all offering to invite her to clean ours in a bid of, um, solidarity? OK, fine, laziness.

What's the idea behind it? Is it the leavened stuff thing?

that's my understanding from my coworkers & minion.

but also? day off from work to clean? that's pretty darn smart.

You mean next Friday, right? Not this Friday?

The Passover cleaning is because we're supposed to get rid of every crumb of chametz (levened bread and other levened stuff). So that means a bunch of scrubbing and vaccuuming and dusting and making sure that everything that could be a bread crumb is gone. The most work is the kitchen, where everything has to be seriously scrubbed and either turned off or kashered (like, if you want to use your regular oven during Passover, which just about everyone does, you need to kasher it. In the old days, this required fire. Now, putting it through a self-cleaning cycle is good enough -- safer, but not nearly as fun. If you want to use your sink, you've got to pour boiling water over every inch of it.) And, if you're like me and tend to eat while sitting at the desk or on the couch, all that needs to be cleaned too, though not quite as seriously cleaned as the cooking surfaces.

As for taking Friday off, that's probably because Passover starts Saturday night, and you can't do any of the cleaning on Saturday, but if you want to be able to use your kitchen for regular food on Thursday, that leaves Friday as the only day to do the finishing-up cleaning. (I usually eat out the last day or two before Passover, because I just have no patience with leaving a tiny bit of non-Passover kitchen space to cook for a few days.)