A [collective noun] of Unas

[altariel]

I've read two books this week that each contained a character called Una. One was Provocation by Charlotte Grimshaw, a hard-boiled-ish crime thriller set in Auckland. The other was The New House at Winwood, by Clare Mallory, a girls' school story set near Dunedin. Two Una-tastic novels, both set in New Zealand. Neither Una was particularly brilliant, to be honest, which was a slight disappointment. Let's pretend that they're called "Yoo-na" then.

As an aside, The New House at Winwood was just great: it read like a political thriller. Winwood School has a new head, who has - in the term prior to the book starting - carried out all kinds of changes: tighter rules on sweets and sports and going into town and, worst of all, she has built a new house, accommodating forty new girls. The girls from the two old houses swear they will have nothing to do with the girls from the new house. But the Head has a number of cunning plans up her sleeve, not least moving two of the most popular old girls over to the new house, and making one of them head girl... So, really, a book about putting down a rebellion and generating a political consensus. Inspired. Loved it.

While we're on the subject of people called Una, here's that meme:

"Take a picture of yourself right now. Don't change your clothes. Don't fix your hair. Just take a picture. Post that picture with no editing. (Except maybe to get the image size down to something reasonable. Don’t go posting an eight megapixel image.) Include these instructions."

I went to bed with a migraine last night, and I've spent the day in bed reading paperbacks. So this is what I look like the day after a migraine, having spent a day in bed reading paperbacks. (You should be able to see the bed and a pillow behind me.) I look more like one of my brothers than I usually do. Oh, and you can see the new specs of repute.

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

You look brilliant, unlike the Yoonas. The pillow co-ordinates nicely with your eyes.

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

A [collective noun] of Unas

but-- but-- but 'una' means 'one'! You must be singular!

(aside: you got your hair cut! it's nice. :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I admit I don't think of myself as a herd animal. An "instance" of Una.

Thank you! I get myself sheared once a quarter!

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

You look remarkably unruffled for someone who's spent the day having a migraine and reading paperbacks. I like the glasses! They're very cool and sharp.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

A singularity?

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

You look much better than I do after a migraine! (;

(Hope it's gone, entirely, too!)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

By gum, you should have seen the dark pits that were my eyes yesterday. The day in bed has made all the difference.

I'm pleased with the specs too! I made mraltariel come along and help me pick them, and we went straight for the same pair. I got some prescription sunglasses too. My first new specs in over ten years!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh I looked ghastly yesterday! It's pretty much gone, thank you, just a faint echo around my eyes. Another night's sleep should clear it up.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

And with a small piece of blu-tack on the wall behind my head!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

An unrepeatability.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Like a tiny blue halo!

Now make it three in a row with The Faerie Queene.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Good for your brothers. They should feel honoured.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Will that help my headache?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

All six of us (+ mum) have exactly the same nose. It's weird in group shots.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Spenser makes everything right. Also, it's got a lovely Una, the grandma of them all.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Heh! With us, it's the eyes, eyebrows and foreheads: my late Grandpa, my uncle, my mother, my cousins, my cousins' kids and me. Fortunately, we very much avoid each other in these days (save mum and me), so there's not group shot weirdness.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

*goes bookmooching*

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

'una' means 'one'!

In which case the phrase "una Una" comes to mind, but Russell's paradox seems to follow it in quick succession.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

The Awful Book about which I was ranting at the weekend also made reference to an Una - Una Dillon of bookshop fame in this case.

I am glad Clare Mallory continues great, even if the Yoo-na wasn't. Hurrah for the cunning Head and her machinations of society.

*hugs* for migraines and I hope they have gone far far away. I think you need more sleep.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

You should have insisted on a nose each. Anyway, I'm glad that you had the use of it for the photo.

I think that you look good in your photo but, as with almost everyone who has done this, very stern. Perhaps it's just that I come from a generation where, if you were having your picture taken, a smile was de rigeur.

As best I can recall, the last time that an academic wrote "see me" I was in big trouble. :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Hee, I was hoping someone else was reading that sentence that way!

mraltariel says it looks nothing like me because I smile. Unfortunately, the moment a camera is on me, I change appearance.


the last time that an academic wrote "see me" I was in big trouble. :)

That's what the stern face is for! ;-)

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

You look remarkably calm and collected - after a day in bed I usually look something like a cross between Miss Piggy and the Creature from the Black lagoon.

With long hair.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Glad you're feeling better! :s

New specs are always exciting, it's amazing how they can change the way one feels about one's face, even if I think a lot of time people don't notice them half as much as one thinks. Or at least, I'm always surprised at how rarely people seem to notice whether or not I'm wearing my glasses, or forget that I *wear* glasses.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You haven't changed at all! (Well, except for the glasses but I don't remember the other ones.) You look very serious and intellectual whereas I'm spaced out and woolly after a migraine.

That book sounds great! I shall see if the library has it. It should. I had no idea there were school stories set here.

Did you watch SG1? There's a race called the Unas (singular and plural), a member of which was in the second ep I watched which was a brilliant standalone story of communication between two species with no common language: wonderful SF.

Your eyes are open whilst there's daylight streaming in

[(Anonymous)]

That seems a remarkable accomplishment, considering either the headache or the day spent reading.

What should a multiplicity of Unas be called? An Uniad?

Dwim