2675 Darkness

Friday, November 27, 2009

What bothers me about God is that He hates arrogance so much,
but doesn't seem to mind cruelty.
-- Paraphrased from Elaine May and Mike Nichols (actress and director) --

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I went to a movie in Albany this afternoon, "Fantastic Mr. Fox". We got out of the movie about 5:30 or 6 pm and went to a pub for dinner. I cracked up when S. asked the waitress if the kitchen was still open. It was so dark, cold, and windy out that he thought it was 9 or 10 pm.

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I must be a little more depressed than I thought I was.

I do almost all my small dry goods shopping online these days. I have rules - if I find an item I want, if it's under $20 I'll just buy it. Between $20 and $30 I'll buy it if it's unique. If it's over $30 I think about whether I really want it, and if so I comparison shop, and by the time I've done that, I've often changed my mind.

When I'm depressed all bets are off. Somebody mentions a book or a CD or a movie, and I'm off to Amazon. Somebody mentions a lipstick, and I'm off to look it up. Switched mentions an application or a gadget, and I'm clicking on the link. Woot is my best friend. And so on.

Apparently I'm finding a lot of <$20 items, or a lot of unique items, or I'm depressed. I am finding "shipping confirmation" emails in my inbox, and I have no idea what they are for, no immediate memory of having bought whatever it is. Today's item was described as "Sequin high-neck black M". It took me a long while to figure out that it was a kurta I'd ordered a few days ago. This one:
It was $22 at this site: http://www.eastessence.com/products/Sequin_high_neck_top-104-17.html. I think it sneaked past because it's pretty unique. (I might hem it at mid-hip, about where the model's right ring finger is, depending on how it looks on me.)

Anyway, until I followed the link in the email, I wasn't sure what it referred to.

I may be doing this on purpose - buying little things and then forgetting what I bought - because then when surprises arrive in the mail or are dropped on the doorstep, it's like getting a present.

[The site above, www.eastessence.com, has lots of pretty kurti at more than reasonable prices.]

2446 The lure of the kurta

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Michel de Montaigne: “Life in itself is neither good nor evil,
it is the place of good and evil, according to what you make it.”

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Another blogger (you know who you are...) mentioned having worn a beautiful sparkly kurta to a sort of country-style old-time-religion-y event, and seemed to have caused quite a stir among the other very plainly dressed women there. Their reaction confused me. I often feel like I'm dressed "wrong", too, even though what I'm wearing is chaste and good, and I'm seldom sure why. I had to think about it a while.

I think it has to do with sin. Fundamental types get all upset about sin.

To sin is bad. But to tempt another into sin is worse.

To feel envy is a sin. To cause another to feel envy is a worse sin.

I suspect the other women were envious, and to them it was a bad thing, and it was blamed on the lure of the kurta.

Likewise, to lust is a sin. To tempt another to lust is a worse sin, and that's why in older cultures and fundamentalist religions, women either cover their hair or otherwise make it ugly, and wear concealing clothing.

And that's why my mother wanted me to cut my hair when I became an "adult".
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