On pride

Pride is a weird thing.

Sometimes I have it in myself - not often, but sometimes. Mostly it has been pointed out by other people - like the 'rents when I graduated this year after 8 years. 1 1/2 years normal the rest obscenely dizzy and rediculous. *bows* *bows*

Pride in my friends *passes around sick bags for those with dispositions like my own - im honestly not used to such saccharine revelations* is more normal. They have done amazing things.

A brief list would include : Thwarting unhelpful teachers and their criticisms to go on to being successful lawyers training for the Bar. Dropping out of school but now working on a PhD. Travelling to wartorn countries to work for the benefit of others. Following their dreams around the world. Being there for others even when it hurts themselves.

Today there is a new thing to be proud of. Ducko's book. Physical. Real. Able to give people papercuts and the shivvers. I have a copy. Im proud of his realisation of a dream. Im extra impressed that its creation involved a not inconsiderable amount of dressing gown wearing.
Big cheery grins to all those who deserve them.




p.s. When I get my pink hair back I'll be prouder than an entire bunch of lions with new bowties.

oh its so cold!!!

OOOOhhhh its COLD!
Today is monday. Mondays arent always good. They arent always bad.
Things that make mondays bad include : Getting HUGE phone bills. Sleet. Seemingly uncancellable contact lens deliverys (ok so I havent tried very hard to cancel them, but I will tomorrow.) Depressing job applications. Money worries. Dizziness.
Things that make mondays better include : Prospects of seeing Ducko. Potential use of free starbucks vouchers - tho due to sleet this will have to wait till tomorrow. The beautiful sky when its not sleeting. Chicken soup with added chillis. Chocolate orange.
Admittedly these things apply mostly to today. But could be relevant to all mondays everywhere.
Thats why there are Happy Mondays and Boom Town Rats.

Ways to start the day

There are of course many ways to start the day.
Heres a shortlist of those that came my way this morning alone.

*thought* Oh Im awake. Aaaahh warm and comfy.
*frowns*
*memory* Dream dreamed last night
*thought* Hmm that wasnt a pleasant dream. Having Gordon Ramsey yelling at you and threatening to cut your toes off for not having tidied your room and for being unpleasant to your mum Dame Helen Mirren isnt nice.
*thought* telly telly telly telly telly telly telly telly telly telly telly telly telly telly
*action* Turns TV on
*thought* Frasier's on... must be erm... earlyish o'clock.
*action* Turns phone on
*thought* will there be? will there be? will there be?
*action* Smiles
*action* Reads txt from Ducko
*action* Txts a response, then deletes following sudden bursts of fear about financial situation
*action* Worries about finances
*action* Gets up
*action* Turns radio on, bemoans the state of music today, goes to make coffee
*discovery* Theres nothing breakfasty to eat for breakfast
*action* Eats chocolate and orange minibites for breakfast with giant mug-o-coffee
*action* Smiles

subsequently stolen off B's fabby blog Watching Geordie Life

Stolen from mysty twilight who I found through the blog widget.

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now,(even if we don't speak often or ever) please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me.

It can be anything you want - good or bad - BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.

When you're finished, post this little paragraph in your blog and see what your friends come up with.

(go on. i DARES ya!)

Cold

Its cold.

I could put another jumper on. But a blast of the toasty-warm device is much more appealing.

Weekend away with Ducko was

fun horribly early fun tiring expensive interesting sentimental amusing beautiful dizZifyinG cold monstermunchtastic exciting disturbing cheesecakey hilarious HOT infuriating suprising LOVELY

Now its back to the everyday - the applying for jobs when all the news shouts of companies downsizing and people being made redundant. Another interview with the jobcentre looms - I dont care anymore. Il take work - so long as the price isnt my integrity. The world has enough nastyness without me adding to it - except for my usual jibes at friends and loved ones. They know if I ever mean to be nasty I'll let them know in advance.
Ive helped another friend book in for a tattoo - shes having the numbing gel which I hadnt even heard of until the guy was nearly finished mine.
humph.
ah well, I'm tough. 7 tattoos in one sitting - no pain, no pretty birdies.

Also managed to come up with an idea for a way to solve the world economic crisis - cant say too much here - must talk to Mr Brown first - but I'll tell you this much.... it involves pretty shoes...

On excitement...

Yes.
Im excited.
And nervous.
And itchy - but thats wooly jumper related.
Im excited and nervy and bobbing about. I have to print out tickets. I have to get my passport. I have to empty my rucksack of its debris and fill it with exciting and useful stuff. I have decisions about shoes to make.
Im concerned about taking my eyebox on the plane. Are eyeboxes allowed? Do they have to be in special seethru bags? Ditto for perfume I suppose. Ah the added difficulties of not taking a bag other than a carry on. hehehe what a carry on. sorry.
Ipod is charging. Ipod has new stuff to listen to on it. Camera battery is charging... at least I assume that its charged when the light on the thingy goes out. Should charge my fone... but nah. (watch me regret that one)
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek and I still have to wait HOURS. tum te tum te tum... I know I have lots to do in the meantime.. theres a very exciting looking parcel that is begging to be opened... but nailvarnish must dry first... Its already getting dark, there is a beautiful sky out there. Dove grey, peach and blue. Hurry up Ducko... Im excited!!!

Drizzle, more fun to say than proper rain... but more annoying.

Yup. Its drizzling. How terribly English to start a blog with a weather report. Tho as I was recently pointing out to Ducko, talking about the weather is a delightful trait. Its not just that English people can only talk about the weather coz we are all terribly boring, its just a nice, open, inclusive way of starting a conversation with a stranger. To people who criticise the English for doing so I would like to ask, how do you strike up a conversation with someone you dont know? Jump in with a debate about Rachmaninov? The weather is something anyone can talk about, everyone can have an opinion about. Its a universal topic. Also, being England, the weather is generally a bit crappy, giving the people talking something to unite against, promoting a feeling of togetherness as we whinge about the rain again.
As for another recent debate, I asked Ducko one of my lifelong questions - Is fire alive? Now I know my opinion on this, I think it is. It adheres to all of the things necessary to be alive, spelled out in the acronym MRSGREN. My explaination of just why I was right about all this fell down a bit as I can now remember what very few of the letters stand for...
Bugger.
Perhaps...

Movement
Respiration
S
G
Reproduction
Excretion
Nutrition

Any biologists out there?

Apple Ogies for this being a bit of a rant... I blame the drizzle.

Sore feet...

Well... the initial dressing smart and use of bag that isnt rucksack went well, and a second interview was granted.
Second interview showed job to be sadly something I just dont want to do. Canvasing people for money in their homes, even for charity... just aint my bag baby.
So I bought stickychillichicken to make myself feel better. Time is the best healer for sore feet tho, canvasing involves a lot of walking. In smart shoes this = sore tootsies.
The 'rents agree I made the right decision in saying I didnt want the job. If Im going to be soulless and evil I really dont want to have to do so much walking in smart shoes for it.
For some reason my room is freezing. Id curl up by the radiator in my comfy chair and read my book, but Pile-O-Stuff (TM) has reincarnated on the chair.
Dr Ducko is maintaining loveliness levels. Of this I am more than pleased.
Ooooh! I just remembered I bought chocolate... excellent. That makes searching for work again slightly more bearable. Wouldnt it be lovely if someone would pay me to sit about making sarky comments? Id be good at that. And now I have smart trousers I could do it in. And I could wear my uncomfortablest and therefore most beautiful shoes...
Anyone hiring?
Anyone?

Wastes of time

Once again I am reminded of the futility of organisation and tidying. For the third week in a row, someones ill and plans have been cancelled. A welcome reprieve for some, a big ole waste of time for others. Admittedly, my room was a tip. And Pile-O-Stuff (TM) was getting out of hand. But since brother+lovely wife were coming to stay, I actually got around to removing one of the mattresses from BottomBunk - no easy task - as Pile-O-Stuff (TM) has a cousin, BottomBunkBottomlessPit-O-Junk (TM) and it lives there. It has squatter's rights its been there so long.

So Ive made a huge mess of temporarily tidy floor by sliding a mattress out Jenga stylee - knocking a fair amount of BottomBunkBottomlessPit-O-Junk (TM) off in the process. Mattress then knocked a picture off a wall, and washing off hangers, and the doorknob off the bathroom cupboard. The bathroom was the only open space of floor available for hoovering of Mattress. Floor gets partially tidied as larger bits of BottomBunkBottomlessPit-O-Junk (TM) were thrown back onto remaining mattress.

Phone rings.

They arent coming. humph. Now Im faced with having to put Mattress back - an even bigger job than removing it in the first place. Unless Im VERY clever. And VERY careful, It may just be possible to slide it underneath the one already on there - avoiding tipping BottomBunkBottomlessPit-O-Junk (TM) back onto the floor.

Ah well. At least I get to wear new dress tonight - a dress inadvisable for wearing when eating with family, and not just coz it will show off new tattoos, which by now are all lovely and healed.
That and the gypsy cremes made for people coming can now be munched at any time!

Tidyness and Pile-O-Stuff (TM)

Spent several hours today tidying. And as yet nothing is tidy. A binbag of clothes and bags has gone to charity... another binbag of rubbish awaits the binmen, carrier bag of magazines and another of cans and bottles awaits the recyclymen. There are now patches of visible carpet - where the invisible carpet is is anyones guess. I have even tidied out some drawers that havent been opened since the last time I tidied them out about a year ago.
The Pile-O-Stuff (TM) residing in the wardrobe since the arrival of comfy chair a few months back has been sorted out. Pile-O-Stuff (TM) had been living on old uncomfy chair, and instead of actually tidying I did the usual of punching and kicking Pile-O-Stuff (TM) till it stayed in the wardrobe as long as something relatively substantial was holding the door closed.
Things found in Pile-O-Stuff (TM)
# Xmas presents from last year, bought for people and forgotten about so they got something else...
# Xmas presents for this year - astoundingly great stuff I thought Id lost and would have to re-buy...
# Bags of wool and material offcuts - but not the half finished knitted blanket or quilt...
# Lots of pairs of tights...
# Glow in the dark spider confetti...

Going to watch fireworks for Guy Fawkes day was great - even though I didnt get soup. Being distracted by Dr Ducko I did miss a fair bit of the pretty lights, but the distraction made up for that. As did Captain Boring who someone had employed to MC the event, as the final banger went off,
"Well, thats it."

By the Power of Greyskull!!!

No idea why. Never really liked He-Man, just enjoyed saying the name of one of his enemies over and over and over... Mantenna Mantenna Mantenna...
Welcome to the randomness of my Tuesday.
Today I have mostly been dicovering amazing necklaces that I NEED (they look just like party rings), sitting around waiting to be nice to people who didnt seem to want anyone to be nice afterall, and getting the monkies scared out of me, firstly by an unexpectedly noisy printer - it in itself was not unexpectedly noisy - just its not normally noisy at the time it decided to be. I jumped and ghost fought it for a few seconds before the surrounding giggles of others made me stop.
Secondly by a phonecall. Most unexpected. Could be good things. I could even have to wear my smart shoes and carry a bag that isnt my rucksack.
::note to self ::
Learn to walk in smart shoes without getting blisters.
Buy tights that arent stripy.
Find things to carry in bag that isnt rucksack.
Remember to check that all tags are gone from bag that isnt rucksack.
Remember to check all stickers are gone from smart shoes.
Find a geek who knows morse code to decipher if the Stig was listening to anything in particular on Sundays TopGear.
Finished reading Black Boxes by the marvellous Caroline today. My review here must be short as the timer has just gone off on my tea. In short, Loved it.

Excitement, waiting, worrying and general idiocy

Excitement, yes there is excitement today. Tis the last race of the season, and Hamilton might just win the title... Poor old Coulthard tho, last race and out on the first corner. People seem to have no luck in their last gp's - for geeky reference see Jean Alesi. Hmm I didnt even mean to think about those who died racing - obviously their last races ended not to plan. Also other excitement about a duck - but thats just for me.
The waiting involves the duck also. Waiting for Ducko.
Worrying - yes, theres that too. Am I really well? Was that sarnie for lunch a good idea? Shouldnt I really just crawl back into bed for a few more days to make sure? Its nice and warm in there... well not that warm - as the toastie warming device had to be called into operation last night when it became clear that three hours of shivvering just wasnt doing the trick.
As for the general idiocy - it may be expected that after mistaking the blue and white tube of writing icing on my desk for the tube of savlon for tattoo protection last night I would have moved one of them. A normal person would. A normal person wouldnt keep two such similar tubes next to each other. Je suis une idiot! (its also been a long time since I studied French)

Birthdays

Birthdays eh? Supposed to be fun filled days with games, enjoyment and tasty food... Not for me, not this year at least. Some evil bug or food found its way to me and decided to ruin my birthday.
Perhaps nothing in life is as surreal as having parents seranade you with 'happy birthday' as you stagger back to bed from the bathroom at 3am...

Its always annoying that everyone gets to party on halloween - much worse that my plans were cancelled to lie shivvery and achey and now I get to browse pictures of friends at their halloween festivities.

Major plans for today also had to be cancelled - a chairidee event involving a zipslide - didnt think it would be a good idea should the attacks of yesterday return. Not a pleasant mental image. Sorry. Had I any guts left I'd be gutted that I didnt get to do it.
So instead of scoffing cake and chocolate and more cake... I was sipping at diluted lucozade and fantasising about eating wedges of apple.

Today is toast. The apple cravings have passed. I dont really want toast, but its what there is.

The 'rents have eaten my birthday cake.