| 006. Caffe Culturale |
[2:06am, October 10th] |
Of late, I have found myself with a bit more free time than usual, and I have taken to teaching myself Italian. We have a number of heavily used Italian instruction books for English-speakers in the back of the book store in the section with the old Norsk-Engelsk dictionaries and the Rudyard Kipling translations of Ovid's Amores. And because I come across a great deal of Italian text at the Institute, I felt that it would be a valuable skill, and one that is relatively easy to learn given my experience with Latin.
So far, however, the book seems very focused on teaching me to order food in Italian and introduce myself to my hypothetical Italian acquaintances, both of which are probably very useful skills when you plan to visit Italy, but which are rather less helpful when you would like to read Dante or The Decameron. For now, I will soldier on with my Italian books and my te al limone or a nice caffe coretto and hope the book provide some slightly more literary information in future. And in the event that I am forced to move to Italy due to a violent government takeover, as now I will be relatively well-prepared.
I do find their use of the third person as a more formal second person fascinating...
Sirius, in the pantry, there are pita chips and hummus from the Lebanese grocery store next to the post office. Do not eat the turkey. I repeat, do not eat the turkey. Throw the turkey away.
ArrivaderLa,
-Remus J. Lupin
|
|
| 005. Fear and Loathing |
[8:42pm, September 14th] |
( Sirius )
( Lily & James )
And so the other shoe drops.
|
|
| 004. A Time to be Born and a Time to Die |
[8:28pm, September 7th] |
What is there, really, to be said when an 18-year-old boy you grew up with suddenly and inexplicably assassinates a world leader, before killing himself under the influence of a spell as reprehensible as the act it caused? The only explosive thing about Vesuvius was his name. My thoughts are with his family, and that of Minister Bagnold.
As much as I wonder how this could have been prevented, I shudder to think of the sort of reactionary policies that will undoubtedly be implemented in the coming weeks.
|
|
| 003. I'm Dazed, I'm Pale, I'm Sick, I'm Sore |
[1:23am, September 1st] |
I think I'm coming down with some nasty stomach bug. Only a few hours ago, I was sitting idly on the couch in the front room with a book when, suddenly, I felt violently ill. I've spent the last several hours becoming intimately acquainted with the smooth, white porcelain of the water closet and the slightly discoloured blue rug on the floor between the toilet and the shower. I was laying on the bathroom floor with my cheek against the cold tile for several hours before I finally decided to leave the room, and I will admit that this was no permanent separation. I took some anti-nausea medication, and I've been able to keep crackers down, but I don't think it's permanent, so if you're not keen on getting sick, I'd advise against a social call.
Bugger.
- Remus J. Lupin
|
|
| 002. Death and the Penguin |
[3:41am, August 25th] |
Sirius Black, did I or did I not tell you in no uncertain terms not to try to make a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich in the toaster? And did I, perchance, alert you to the fact that you should not attempt to fish out the other section of your sandwich with a metal fork even if you're wearing rubber-soled shoes?
Now we need a new toaster. And fork.
And some spackle, if we ever get the fork out of the wall.
|
|
| 001. Ex Libris Remus J. Lupin |
[12:07am, August 8th] |
Alright, then. Well, introducing oneself seems to be standard operating procedure for one of these devices, so I suppose that is what I'll do.
Hello, my name is Remus Lupin. A fair few of you already know me from school and a handful of others from various places outside of Hogwarts, but for those who don't, here's everything you might need to know. I just graduated from Hogwarts recently as a Gryffindor prefect, and have since moved on to big and better things. Glamorous things, like working part time at a bookstore, and coming in to the David Blayne Historical Institute that I think is about to fire me as often as they will allow. My work can be tiring and stressful, but I enjoy it. The general consensus among my coworkers seems to be that I'd live there if they'd let me, which felt like the case for a while.
Other than that, I can't really think of anything that the faceless, amorphous mass of the second person plural pronoun, "you," would want to hear about, but if I've left anything unaddressed, I'd be happy to correct it.
Cordially,
-Remus J. Lupin
|
|