Book update
(sorry, finally submitted a fellowship app, so playing catch-up on ye olde blog now that I got part of my brain back)

I finally finished Watchmen (it took me shamefully long to plow through a couple hundred pages of excellent, haunting, troubling, challenging story). Despite high expectations, it managed to live up to hype. If you're the type to be scared off by graphic novels, get over it, and read Watchmen. Hurry, before the movie comes out and ruins it!

I have managed to start In the Name of the Rose, but clearly won't be able to finish it in time. Nevertheless, I'm headed to the Eco lecture tomorrow and Tuesday.

And in response to one of the books a little further down on my To Read list, Reyn sent me this, which is a nice summary of the kind of argument I am (hopefully) no longer susceptible to.

Time for the weekly crazy cat lady update!

We're now two weeks out from the shaving. If I could, I'd keep her this length permanently. She hardly sheds, and the fur on her body is long enough to be soft, but still short enough to make her look hilarious (hey, she's here for my amusement, right?). My favorite part is that the combo of short body hair and long front paw hair makes her look like a bull dog - whenever she climbs stairs she looks like she has these over-sized, out-turned front legs.

Here she is looking all tiny (and still a bit bat-like) sitting in my window:
And here's a closer look at how long her fur has grown in just two weeks!

A commenter over at Zuska offers up a much more coherent version of what I was trying to say back here.

You need to be willing to do the unspoken emotional work and social barometer-reading that our culture expects women to do. If you are paying attention to the object of your affections as a person, and reading and responding to her with unfeigned respect for her feelings, you're already most of the way to avoiding the jerk trap.

I also hadn't thought this deeply about compliments that really make me feel good, but I love this rule of thumb:

Learn the different levels of compliments:

Things that are not intrinsic to her person, and that she has control over are safest: "That's a great haircut."

Things that are intrinsic to her and she has no control over need to wait until you've established that your attentions are welcome: "You have incredible eyes."

I don't know that I necessarily need them as different levels of familiarity, but, at least in my case, compliments regarding something I make a conscious decision about are way, way more flattering.