Sinister: beauty by chance

[Toy Stephen]

Hello wonderful Sinister kids. In a fit of inspiration
(no doubt brought down by St Peter & his Isobel
Odyssey), I will try to part the sea of all yr
fabulous posts that have inundated my mechanical
senses & say hello.

first: a theme: In an Independent article abt Sri
Lanka, Sophie James saith:

'Serendip, the name given to this island when the
ancient Greeks discovered her. It means, literally,
"beauty discovered by chance".'

Yesterday was my Viennese housemate's 25th birthday.
We celebrated as kids celebrate. Generic blues chords
played meanderingly, improvised Blues lyrics from all
at the table, punctuated wit hwine bottles & bee rtins
slammed onto surfaces. 'plank' and 'bucket' are good
end words for the first two verses; the rhyming pairs
in 3 & 4  (preferably with 'flank' for the 3 &, er...,
for 4) then set such a lovely tone. Any, at 2am, a
good friend (born in Sri Lanka, by chance) swept into
the house with one of her friends and snow like the
train of a wedding dress. By sunrise, exceeding
everyone's secretest conceits of blissful love
affairs, a boy went with a boy & a girl made plans to
go with another girl. There was such joie &
self-satisfaction I thought we were in an Iris Murdoch
novel set in a country house in Dorset. My Sri Lankan
friend succeeded on an impossible task & turned Toy
Stephen into a Diva. Blond short wig, forest green
ankle length dress, creme-coloured feather robe-coat,
a broad knitted muffler, & mysterious sunglasses. When
the films develop, I shall send a scan to Honey so
everyone can feel as if she was there (& I invited you
all; where _were_ you?). Plans hatched for an eclectic
band, guitar, saxophone, keyboards, a keen opera Tenor
(another housemate) & whatever rubbish about the house
that makes noise. I hope we can do some B&S covers; Id
love to sing those dressed like Andy Warhol's Candy
Darling.

Peter Carter pined:
>'I've never been Sillistrated and I haven't seen that
>film about Iris Murdoch yet, these are terrible
>things'

I share yr shame, Peter. ssupposedly Broadbent finds
the Bayley in him. & Ive no clue when itll be released
in America. When it does premiere, I cannot envision
anyone younger than 40 in the theatre (are there any
younger Murdoch admirers in the States?). Only ageing
English philosophy professors. Like Hugh C., an Oxford
man with long white hair who was always sucking his
teeth during lecture. He recalled his sister (who's
still at Oxford) seeing Mrs. Murdoch many years ago
when her dementia had her watching the Teletubbies in
the afternoons in delight. Murdoch wandered seemingly
happy through the town, drest in workman's blue
overalls, unshowered for days. Beauty by chance.

affectionate tugs to the many who welcomed me after my
first post. CarsmileSteve answered me what Ladybugs
prefer for tea: aphids. He even used his knowledge in
a sentence: 'this is why gardeners like to have
lots of ladybugs about, to eat the nasty pests, and
they're more ecologically sound than pesticide'. Now,
through this exchange, we discovered epiphany. We
found the etymology for 'Ladybug' conjectured to be: 
'Probably from its seven spots being considered a
symbol of the seven sorrows of the Virgin Mary'.

I shared my bed with the Virgin Mary. A lusty new
sheen to my earlier dilemma. Tho what a blundering
dolt if I served her the wrong dish. But nevertheless
I bless her for being an agent of environmentalism,
acc. to Steve. There's a Sinister logic there to
support the creation of 'The Virgin Mary was
an Environmentalist' tee industry. or at least a
submission to Ken Chu to devise a new B&S title (with
his numbers & patterns & esoteric prophecies)
promoting the Lord's mother as the first Green.

Im tweaked to hear all of us go on-and-on abt love so
much. By Valentine's day, perhaps by the shear love
that's going around, Ill have a sweet thing to call my
own. People think toys are only for Christmas,
birthdays, or S&M parties; but we still must trudge on
the rest of the year too, you know? (could I settle on
a letterbomb from Tom?)

etymologies, exegesis, & elegy for Iris,
Stephen.

p.s.: thanks to Laura Llew for consoling me. She
allayed my fears that my (dead) great Aunt Tanti would
come back to reclaim her gray-and-white candycane
striped bedsheets that Im currently sleeping on. & I
will take yr test with grate trepidation. If I fail, I
couldnt survive knowing I missed the cool blue sheets
and new coolest LOW pillowcases.

pps.: welcome to baker,baker; the Cat's Pyjamas
dreamed of a Chicago meetup, & we'll need yr poetic
airs.

ppps: the title of the Sophie James article is 'Wanton
Seduction in Paradise.' I move to etch this on the
pearly gates of Sinister, at least until Valentine's
Day.



=====
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What's a Toy to do?

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