There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune
Everyone talks about the weather. . .
Published Wednesday, June 28, 2006 by Sunset Shazz | E-mail this post
. . . but nobody does anything about it. And cliches are cliches because they tend to be true.
After 8 years in San Francisco, I'm glad to be back in a land where there are actual seasons. However, the displaced Californian must learn to adjust to seasonality's concomitant inconveniences.
Istanbul is hot. At times, very hot.
I have to wait until 8 pm before going for a run. And I am finding it increasingly difficult to adhere to my old standards of dress. My old boss Swojo will be dismayed to learn that I have all but abandoned the tie. I had a meeting this week wherein the clients showed up in linen shirts and I immediately thanked the Lord and pulled off my tie. I have, moreover, begun to wear polo shirts to work on occasion(!) I mean, what's the point of bringing a jacket to work if you can't wear it outside since you'll start sweating like a Frenchman? Nevertheless, I agonized about this decision, and I report it to you with pangs of shame and self-doubt. And I fervently hope that such compromises do not portend a significant moral or professional decline.
After 8 years in San Francisco, I'm glad to be back in a land where there are actual seasons. However, the displaced Californian must learn to adjust to seasonality's concomitant inconveniences.
Istanbul is hot. At times, very hot.
I have to wait until 8 pm before going for a run. And I am finding it increasingly difficult to adhere to my old standards of dress. My old boss Swojo will be dismayed to learn that I have all but abandoned the tie. I had a meeting this week wherein the clients showed up in linen shirts and I immediately thanked the Lord and pulled off my tie. I have, moreover, begun to wear polo shirts to work on occasion(!) I mean, what's the point of bringing a jacket to work if you can't wear it outside since you'll start sweating like a Frenchman? Nevertheless, I agonized about this decision, and I report it to you with pangs of shame and self-doubt. And I fervently hope that such compromises do not portend a significant moral or professional decline.
5 Responses to “Everyone talks about the weather. . .”
Leave a Reply
About me
- I'm Sunset Shazz
- Living the dream in Istanbul, Türkiye
- I grew up in the hardscrabble streets of suburban Ottawa, Ontario, committing petty crime, insulting the elderly - basically the classic misspent youth. When I was 19, I moved to West Philly, where I put myself through the Wharton School by dealing crack and hustling. After stints in Paris and London, I eventually graduated and moved to San Francisco, where I put in eight years hard labor working for The Man. But now I pop bottles with models, deciding cracked crab or lobster - who says mobsters don't prosper?
More information about this blog. - My profile
"Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous, chief in that."
- Hamlet, I.iii.
You forgot to include the character's name. In the same speech he says "Neither a borrower nor a lender be/for a loan oft loses both itself and friend/and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry." Polonius is a clown and a moron. Like Iago, his quotes are not meant to be taken seriously.
Sorry, that's Polonious. Did you just pull that from memory? That's impressive. You got the commas wrong and there's an 'a' in the second line that shouldn't be there, but otherwise, impressive. I'm reading a story by Bellow (The bellarosa connection) about a guy who "deals" in memory.
Back on topic: With P. I think parts of it are supposed to be taken seriously, and parts not; he starts out sensible - Don't borrow or lend, it complicates friendship and sometimes you lose the money - and then gets silly - and it affects your marriage prospects. So I think, similarly, that the first part in the quote I provided - Don't spend more than you have, don't be gaudy, the clothes make the man - stands; it's the second bit - Frenchmen are well dressed - that is silly.
Polonius talks rubbish. I feel very strongly about this. (And yes, sorry about the punctuation, that was off the top of my head. It's a very quotable speech, but should properly be cited only in order to mock conventional wisdom. For example, I quoted it in my old Britney Spears email from way back when she was hot.)
Who in the what now?! How did you link Polonius and Britney? And, did you hear about the interview w/ Matt Lauer all the way in Istanbul?