Wuthering Hearts

The book that really got me to thinking about being an author was Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I loved the poetry of the words and the plot, the tight timeline and characters.

I know what some of you are thinking. Characters? Aren't Heathcliffe and Catherine and the rest merely caricatures? Isn't the plot unrealistic? What about the legality of what Heathcliffe does to Hareton? It couldn't really happen, right?

Well, I  hear you, I hear you. I've been told these things to my face and had to face disgusted expressions on some people's faces when I tell them I've read the book over thirty times.

But I have come up with what I think is the real reason for the book. I know that when you take this novel in school, you read the notes that tell you that the book is about the nature of love. Hah!

I heartily disagree with this and think the book was written as a warning.

I think Emily Bronte, as a pastor's daughter, more than likely heard all sorts of domestic problems, like wife-beating and such. Stories about weak husbands and strong-minded women she probably heard before breakfast.

I think she looked at all these problems and came up with the reasons for them. Wuthering Heights, in my opinion, is a warning. She's educating people. Why do women marry abusive men? Emily Bronte thinks women are looking for 'heroes of romance' and suggest if they were more realistic about me they could avoid that fate.

Am I right? Well, I think so.

She also warns that nothing can divide a person from their happiness, it's you and you alone who make decisions to leave happiness. This is what Heathcliffe says to Catherine when she's dying. That she decided to leave, not Hell or anything else.

And how is the happiness resolved, when two parties are bending to please and be pleased, like when Hareton and Cathy go from enemies to friends. They have the same goals. Catherine and Heathcliffe were selfish and only looking after themselves.

Why does any of this matter? Well, I think it's still good to learn and realize these things today. There are still women who marry abusers, thinking they will changes and become princes. And there are still selfish people who destroy their own happiness.

So, when next you read Wuthering Heights, at least consider what I say and see if you can learn and take to heart any of the warnings and lessons in it.

Snow Days

It snowed for one day this month but didn't stay on the ground. So we haven't really had snow this year yet. I like that but sometimes, I have to admit, I actually do like snow.

I know that as an adult, I'm supposed to hate snow but I don't drive so I'm not privy to all the trouble it causes on the road. I still like to watch it come down and I like the quiet it brings.

It's always described as a blanket and I think that's a great way to put it. As long as you have a good pair of boots, snow shouldn't affect you that much.

But ice is a different thing altogether. As I'm getting older, I find I've become afraid of ice. I once fractured my thigh bone by falling on ice, that was ten years ago. I'm even older now and getting to the point where I stay in on real icy days because of the danger.

But for the most part, this season is okay with me. It's Christmas and New Years and my birthday so I get a lot of holidays at this time. Okay, technically, my birthday is not a holiday, but it feels like one to me.

Anyway, except for the falling down bit, this season is good. For a while a few years back, I began to dislike this season but I've changed again and don't mind it now. I can hardly wait to be out in falling snow.

Maybe it's a second childhood.

Which Package Is Whole?

The whole package.

How many times have you heard that said about a woman. It means she has 1. A beautiful face 2. A gorgeous figure 3. Brains.

But wait. Is that all there is to a woman, just those three things? What about a heart? What about patience? Or bravery? And the thing is, these are what women say about women.

Men don't really care about face. All sorts of plain women have husbands who treasure them. Men don't care if their girlfriends or wives are chubby. Nope. It's all coming from women. And of course, men don't care if they're smarter than their women.

So why are women limiting each other to those three things? Maybe it's what they want for themselves that they think can make them successful. Like a supermodel or something.

Just to prove a point. Think of applying the term, the whole package, to a man. What traits would a male whole package have. I bet that he has a lot more leeway than three traits, two of them, luck of the draw, so to speak.

But is this an insult? Probably not. It does prove, I think, that women limit themselves and tragically, limit each other. I had an inkling of that when I was in painting and any girl with a lot of talent but no 'female' instincts, like going out for lunch after an hour of painting, was not supported by the women in the school.

Women are afraid to step out of their safety zone, I think. They want to be assured that they will still be worth loving if they do something like mechanics. That's why, whenever I've found women in men's professions, like welding, it's because their boyfriend decided to teach them and bring them into the business.

All the women's lib screeching about wages and such doesn't make any impression on women who are more worried about being lovable. I'm just writing about this because I think women have some thinking to do. Instead of just doing what men do in a feminine way, maybe they should think about what makes a woman happy.

I'm not saying that a women can't work, just that most women are happy when they're taking care of somebody and they should make sure of their happiness before they go out and try to be successful.

Maybe then they'd have a more reasonable idea of what kind of traits a woman needs, not just what they think will make them able to compete with a man in a different way. The face to attract them. The body to make them helpless and the brains to outsmart them.

Not reasonable at all. It's time to decide who we are and what really make us happy.

Shopping Addiction

I've been looking at online shopping. I'm always searching through my favorite site for the right size, the right price. The problem is, the bill comes every month. Now, I'm not unable to pay my rent or buy food but my credit card bill is a little high this month. Almost $200.00.

But I just like the stuff I get so much, the deals of 80% off, where I can get something that costs $300.00 for $39.99.

To be fair to myself, it's not just online shopping. I'm a voracious window shopper and if I find a great store, I go back time and time again. Like the coat store at Carlingwood Mall.
Twice a year, every year, after summer and after winter, they sell all sorts of expensive coats for about $20.00 or a little more.

That means people looking at me on the street think I have a lot of money. I like to tell them that people on limited incomes could go there and get great stuff. Some people don't even believe me. No, they think I have money.

I know so many stores where there are great deals to be had. There's jewelry store right downtown where they have sold sapphire bracelets (not to me) for $100.00.

Maybe that's why I like to shop. Why a lot of women like to shop. I tend to put that down to hunter/gathering when women searched through the landscape for good stuff for their families. So I'm just doing what I've evolved for, I guess.

Anyway, I don't intend for my window shopping/bargain hunting to stop anytime soon, but as soon as I pay this $200.00, I'm going to be more careful

Date Game

My mother used to say that she always knew when her anniversary was coming around because of the television shows on Hiroshima started to appear. You see, she was married on August 6, 1954, the date, not the year they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.

I always felt that this was probably the most unromantic way to remember a date. Not like being wed on the first day of spring so that ever after, when you see flowers starting to rise through the dirt you know your anniversary is coming.

It's funny, our family dates seem to hover around disasters and also celebratory dates.

My great-grandmother was born on November 11, 1868, the date, not the year of the Armistice. My mother was born on December 8, 1929, the date, not the year, of the killing of John Lennon.

This means that, I, too, think of these anniversaries whenever remembrances start to appear on WWI or John Lennon's murder.

I was born on Groundhog's Day.

Then there are the near misses. My brother was born near Thanksgiving (Canadian). My father died on September 10, 2010. Not quite, but still, whenever 9/11 shows appear on television, I know another anniversary of my father's death has come around.

My great-grandmother died on Christmas Eve.

I don't know how many families have the same 'date game' going on in their families but I've always found it interesting in mine that so many anniversaries are already marked on the calendar.

Tech Boys

There is a fashion tone to every era in human history. It is usually set by whomever is running the show. In Queen Victoria's day, it was very feminine, with lots of lace and bows and a lot of propriety, also very feminine.

I was thinking about that the other day and began to wonder who was setting the standard today, and came up with something that surprised me.

Just look at what is happening today in fashion, plastic surgery, with big boobs a specialty. Lots of those plaid nerd pants. You see them on everyone. Boys used to get beat up for wearing them. Lots of gaming.

Sounds like adolescent boys are running things? Hmmm. What about all those teen-agers making so much money in tech? That's what I came up with. All those adolescentish boys are setting the tone of the world we live in today.

Now, there's nothing wrong with that, I guess. It seems like the dream of the sixties - to have youth run things - is coming true, with the exception that it is all about money now. Which is another thing a lot of people want now.

It's not like my grandparents, who wanted a house they owned with a yard but a mansion is what today's people want and  lots of cars and excitement. Yep, definitely adolescent boys.

I'm not sure I'm completely comfortable with it but it is lots of fun. Lots of games and toys for big people. I just wonder what will the next turn in society come and who will set the fashion in the future.

Reading Shakespeare

One thing you have to remember when reading Shakespeare is that it was a different time. In Elizabethan times, the main teachings were of paranoid style of thinking. Everyone was out to get you in Elizabethan times, or so they taught everyone. So you can look for paranoia in Shakespeare or look at how he handles psychology and motivations and see how a paranoid audience would have thought about what he was saying.

Another thing, social ranking was everything. It dictated who walked into a room before whom and all the seating arrangements of a dinner party. Elizabethan people were supposed to stick up for their rank, too, but in a certain way. They also had to have self-control or decorum.

If an old man of inferior rank walked in before a young man of higher rank, the young man would say, for everyone to hear, "I'm very happy to let my aged friend in before me." Therefore letting everyone know that he understood his rank and was letting others know, while having the self-control and manners to let an older person take precedence.

This is another thing you can look for in Shakespeare and if you find a character who does not have self-control, you know that his audience would have seen that as very bad and unworthy. Hint: look for royal or high born people who lose it. The audience would have been scandalized.

I've got to read Shakespeare again myself, it's time to re-learn the Bard.