*grumble*growl*snarl*snap*

[truepenny]

Stomach bad. Head bad. Back bad. Hands bad. Mood bad.

Writing stuck like a hippopotamus in a revolving door.

Dissertation an onerous obligation, like kissing your least favorite great-aunt who smells overpoweringly of peach potpourri, only it takes longer.

*grump*grump*grump*

Comments

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

Hi, there. That sounds awful. I hope that you're having a better day by the time you read this.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

About half of today's problems have cleared up, so I am doing better.

[vass]

Ugh. I hope the Dissertation's grateful and polite to you and doesn't pinch your cheek or give you socks for Christmas, or snail and slug bait like my aunt gave my mother two years running.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's an aunt very nearly worthy of Wodehouse.

No, the dissertation isn't that kind of aunt. It's a terrifying battle-axe of an aunt. And it is cruel. The sort of aunt who was a Petrarchan beauty in her heyday and still plays that sort of power game with those stuck in her orbit.

(I do not myself, I should probably mention, have an aunt (or great-aunt) like that. Just a dissertation.)

[vass]

Wow. That's an aunt very nearly worthy of Wodehouse.

She sure is. But it's not her fault. Her parents named my mother Susan, and her Berenice. The only reference I can find for that name is the Edgar Allen Poe dead heroine with the insane, teeth-fetishist lover. It'd make anyone original in their Christmas presents.

No, the dissertation isn't that kind of aunt. It's a terrifying battle-axe of an aunt. And it is cruel. The sort of aunt who was a Petrarchan beauty in her heyday and still plays that sort of power game with those stuck in her orbit.

*shiver* It must make life exhilerating.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Berenice was the name of several ancient queens.

Berenice I (ca. 340 B.C.-271 B.C.), was the mother of Magas, king of Cyrene. She was also the wife of Ptolemy I (and his step-sister), and the mother of Ptolemy II Philadelphus.

Berenice Syra (Berenice I's granddaughter through Ptolemy II) married the Seleucid king Antiochus II and was murdered (along with her son) by his first wife Laodice in 246 B.C.

Berenice II (Berenice I's granddaughter through Magas) was quite the gal. Born around 273 B.C., she was betrothed to Ptolemy III, but after her father's death, her mother called in a Macedonian prince named Demetrius to marry her. Berenice led a rebellion against Demetrias and her mother and had Demetrias killed. She married Ptolemy III in 247, and he called a star "the Lock of Berenice" after her. After her husband's death she became joint ruler with her eldest son Ptolemy IV, but was murdered by him in 221. In 221-210, he appointed a special Alexandrian prietess in her honor.

There was also a Roman Berenice (b. A.D. 28), a daughter of Agrippa who led a rather tumultous life. Her third husband was her uncle Herod, King of Chalcis, and after his death she may well have been carrying on an incestuous affair with her brother, Agrippa II.

So I'm not sure any of them are great role models, but Poe at least isn't your only option.

In Greek, by the way, Berenice is pronounced Be-re-NEE-kay, which I think is quite lovely.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

~hugs~ Is it any consolation at all to say that I know exactly how you feel, and I really, really sympathise? Working on the misery-loves-company principle?

~joins you in grumping~

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yes, actually, that does help. This is not the sort of thing where I want to revel in the uniqueness of my suffering.

And misery does love company. But it loves sympathy even more. :)

Thank you.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Writing stuck like a hippopotamus in a revolving door.

Snarf!

Feel better soon. Okay? George will come and massage your head until the words come out.