Fishy Business

The newbies are sick. Our remaining oldie is sick. It's not good news on the old goldfish front.

We named the newbies Little Tallulah (which I believe is Choctaw for Leaping Water or something like that; she's goldish brown) and Dumbledore (who is grey with black speckles). They all (including Edgar Alan Poe) have White Spot, which we're trying our hardest to treat but so far there's no sign of improvement. We've had to seperate Dumbledore because he seemed to be trying to eat the fins of both Poe; who is about three times his size I might add, and Little Tallulah who seemed to be suffering from a lot of stress. Since Dumbledore's been seperated Little T has been doing much better but all three of them still need to shake off White Spot before we're all in the clear. Man, who said keeping goldfish was easy!!! By a strange twist of fate though, if they hadn't got sickm, requiring an emergency visit to the local garden centre for fish medicine supplies I wouldn't have bagged myself my bargain of the year. They only went and had a half price sale of all their christmas stock! So, never to miss out on a bargain I bought half our christmas baubles for next years red/white theme for half price!

Saturday, we met up with Rfa, Ktp, John and Dave and a whole host of Rfa's friends for his birthday tour of the Wychwood brewery/curry night. Despite having to leave early at 8, it was a great weekend; made me feel all studenty again sitting outside in the dark with a log burner, eating curry. The tour wasn't too bad either despite it being cold and smelly. I even tried some of the beer and it didn't taste like poison or wee so that was a first! We got a free glass each, a nice little half pinter with a hobgoblin on it. :-)

So, incase it's escaped your notice it's christmas day tomorrow. The pressies under the tree have seemed to multiply after numerous parcels last week, my nails are painted a bright purpley-petrol colour, I bought a wicked cool She-Ra T-shirt for tomorrow, the flat was vacuumed and tidied to a musical soundtrack of Bill Withers and System of a Down for tomorrows un-wrapping-presents-freny and my friend Becko is coming tonight to help me highlight my hair and drink Baileys and so I'm feeling the twinkly christmas spirit. Awesome.

To anyone reading, have an awesome christmas!

*waves*

My kidneys returned to normal functioning a few weeks ago I'm glad to say; just in time to completely re-arrange the lounge to accomodate the christmas tree which I put up last thursday. I love it. We've stuck with black, white and silver again this year... but next year it's going to be red and white. I'll have to set up a bauble fund though I think to cope with the complete new range of decorations we'll need.

Check out my wrapping baby... the bows aren't bad eh? The pressies look a bit sparse this year which totally does NOT reflect just how much I've bloody well spent but still. To be fair alot of them had to be posted to Ireland and Japan. I should also introduce you to radiator monkey too by the way in the background of the last photo ... :-) He's cool.

We do have some sad news unfortunately. Wenda, our goldfish died last week. She hadn't been well for a while and despite our attempts to stem what seemed to be some sort of internal bacterial infection, she died. It was pretty sad actually because we've had her for years and I'm pretty sure Edgar Alan Poe went through a few days worth of fish-grief. Seriously he seemed really blue and lonely, so obviously we had to go right out and get him a new friend. I couldn't resist getting two new little ones to add to the tank. So, we now have two new fishies who are currently nameless. They're both really small still and look teeny compared to big old Poe but they all seem to be getting on nicely so far.

RIP Wenda.

Kidneys.

They exploded.

Well.. not really. But for the last week it's felt like it. I've had a kidney infection and even though I finished my antibiotics on monday... it still feels like I'm being punched over and over again in my sides and back. Urgh it's horrid. My doctor didn't retest me to see if the infection was still present, even though I was still complaining of pain... he said it may take a few days for any swelling to go down which is probably what the pain is. Hrmmm... that or he just wanted to get home and couldn't be arsed. I can't decide which yet. All I know is that it hurts.

And because I'm some sort of sadist I just took a look at my bank balance. All my christmas shopping is DONE but my god does it show.

Pain and debt. Just peachy. Could be worse though... I could have had a huge furball like this woman.

BAD. Mood.

I have had a stinking headache all afternoon at work.

I'm cold.

I'm hungry.

I'm on my period.

My wisdom tooth has suddenly decide to twist into the side of my mouth and cause me pain.

Today is NOT a good day for Asda to STILL be out of their cheese topped rolls.

Bauble Edit

To correct the last post...

I have actually purchased four loose baubles, four fancy decorations, one pack 27 of mini baubles, and a pack of 6 baubles. So er... that actually makes 41.

Holy crap. And I was even in denial about it.

I have a problem.

dance chameleon dance!

We went to the reptile store recently to get Gizmo some more crickets, and there he was; the cutest little chameleon I've ever seen. He did this awesome funny little wobble dance which was just hilarious and if they weren't so difficult to look after I would have been tempted to get one. Alas, it's not to be. They have a lot of requirements and besides we don't have the space at home for one. However, I'm adding a dancing chameleon to my list, beneath tortoise of course, for possible future pets when we're rich enough to get a proper house with a garden. :-)

Other news? Well the japanese lessons are going okay. We're half way through learning the Hiragana table and I seem to be strangely good at learning the symbols. I keep suprising myself how quickly I can remember them, but I think it has something to do with my amazing picto-brain and the handy pictures we have to help us learn each symbol. The word side of things has been a little bit more complicated, as has learning numbers, but all in all I'm just glad to be still enjoying learning a language since I've never enjoyed learning one before.

I've started my christmas shopping too. It's always bittersweet because I love getting presents... well no, actually I love GIVING the presents. I love the wrapping them to look all nice and I love giving them out... the shopping bit beforehand is stressful, tiring and frickin expensive. I spent a fortune the other day and I only got one main present, some christmas cards and two smaller presents which barely count. I'm just avoiding looking at my bank account altogether for a few months I think. If I can't see it... it's not there. Looming. Screaming at me to NOT BUY THE POSH WRAPPING PAPER!!!! Nooooooooooooooooooooo! It all HAS to match my christmas tree. I've so far only bought like five baubles this year. That's good for me. I refrained from spending loads on a pack of three wicked black baubles with skulls on them which only showed up when you shone light through them. So, for that amazing show of strength I'm planning on going to selfridges to get some posh white ones. :-D Yeah yeah.. I'm weak when it comes to christmas trees. But, I have to perfect the art of my black and white christmas tree before I move on to next years Tim Burton-esque green tree with red and white candystripe decorations!

Must get out more.

Ladybird.

I saw a Ladybird today. It's October but there's still Ladybirds about. Wierd.

Anyway. The Creative review ad seems to be working... but in the wrong sort of a way. I've had two offers for more advertising prospects, costing an arm and a leg of course. One would be extremely advantagous but I simply cannot get the money required in the space of time I have, especially this near to Christmas. I feel like I'm passing up a really good oppurtunity here, but I simply don't have the money to do it and a bank loan doesn't seem to be a sensible option either. So, I have two more months in Creative Review and I think thats going to have to do for the time being. If I can just get rid of the sales calls and get some actual commissions from it I'll be far happier about my decision to pass up on this latest offer. :-(

Sucks.

Ichi, Ni, San, Go..... no stop.

So we have a one week break from our Japanese night classes this week for half term. I discovered last wednesday that my Mathematical dyslexia/brainfreeze/utter uselessness is still just as bad in other languages.

We had to do simple maths. And I mean simple... very simple; like sums involving digits under 10, or should I say Jū. This poses a second obstacle for my poor little mathematically reundant brain. Not only do I have to do basic, under pressure maths in front of a crowd of people, but I have to think of the numbers in a different language!!!? It was painful. Almost. My way of tackling it was to just take it slowly... which of course made me look like a bit of an idiot... but even then the brain freeze kicked in and I couldn't remember the word for one (ichi) which was the answer!! The shame...

Our first lesson back is going to be maths again as a review. Maths is crap. In any language.

F1 is not recommended for sick people.

Well. I wasn't well anyway... but thankfully my heart held out for the entire race. It was possibly one of the best races of the season, full of action and full of drama but unfortunately not on the right side! I'm genuinely gutted for Hamilton but if it wasn't going to be his title, I'm glad for Kimi. Just a great big huge freakin shame that he won it in a Ferrari. Hopefully next year the FIA can be sorted out and we can have a scandle free racing season.

I think I've just about recovered from it. It was indeed, very stressful viewing! Who needs exercise!!!?

Now... where've I put my Sudafed?

RAOK

Yep. I was subjected to a RAOK today. I was so shocked by this Random Act Of Kindness, that I just had to report it. It's kind of sad that in this day and age I should feel the need to blog about something that's sadly so rare! But still, the young Aston Villa fan who offered me his seat on an otherwise packed train of footie fans who only had a one stop journey, really impressed me and just about made my day. I declined his offer but thanked him for being so sweet. He put all the other fat arsed lager lout men to shame.

Invasion.

No way. It's been almost a MONTH since I last posted???? And that means we've been back from Japan for THAT long?!?!? man ... time needs to slow down a bit.

Anyways... there's an invasion. Yes... my arch nemesis species is launching its invasion. No less than a few weeks after THIS article appeared in the news, there's been many sightings of the beasts... more so at work where TWO tarantula sized crawlies and one possible baby-tarantula-sized spider have found their way onto the shop floor. One is still on the loose, evading capture and death three times. Worrying times people.

Other than that, this month I'm trying to get my groove back. My Creative Review ad should be coming out soon. It's cost me the earth but it might just be worth it if it gets me that elusive commission. I'm also trying to book onto a seminar in November which could be helpful in providing me with some business tips.

I've been chilling to Newton Faulkner also. He's cool. And today he's going to help me focus on the two projects I'm embarking on- More work for The Picture Show, and a self promotional Japanese figure illustration. Can't wait to get stuck in to those. :-) Tonight is also my very first Japanese lesson. I'm a bit nervous about going back to "school" and particularly for doing a language, but I'm also looking forward to it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Laters x

Booooooooo...

... for the post-holiday blues.

Why is it whenever you come back after a superb holiday that everything that you left behind feels so much more boring and daunting. :( I'm trying not to dwell on the fact that coming back means at some point I have to get round to doing more projects, getting a new website, job hunting, career hunting, and a few other emotionally draining nitbits.

However, enough of that... I'm still trying to ride out the wave as long as possible after arriving back from Japan and holding on tight to the good vibes from such a great holiday.

Fact. The weather was stifling and I'm pretty sure most of us had a minimum of five strops a day because of the heat and humidity. It was like a sauna, everyday.. or if you've ever worn jeans and had that heavy damp jean-suction-to-legs feeling... then you know what I'm talking about. I bought a hat, a parasol and oober strength suncream to get me through, and fortunately Japan has nifty vending machines on every street corner with tasty sugary hypotonic energy drinks so I survived. Oh how I miss those drinks.

Fact. We had an earthquake on the last day. Funnily enough it didn't feel half as bad as I thought (though I was half conscious at 4.30 in the morning) and being in a 9 story tower block all I really felt was the bed moving and that queasy swaying feeling. The tremor we had in the UK a few years back felt much more like an earthquake... the shaking, the noise etc... but as I said, I think being in a tower block that's designed to sway I think did me out of the whole scariness of the earthquake experience, for which I *think* I'm grateful. yep. I'm grateful.

Fact. My luggage made it all the way to Tokyo and half way back before getting lost at Amsterdam. It arrived the day after which put a great deal fo stress on my anxious little body. I had Japanese Koala biscuits in there for heavens sakes!

I really miss it actually... and I think the post holiday blues is always a sign you've had an awesome holiday. The wedding was lovely, the country, the city, I just loved everything we saw there and there's far too many pictures images and thoughts roaming about my head that I wouldn't know where to start even talking about it; but I have my photo's. All 290 or so of them... a handful of which have been uploaded onto FACEBOOK and on to my temperamental PHOTOBLOG. I'm also going to put together a great big scrapbook of the whole trip with all my photo's and tickety-bits I collected along the way. It'll be awesome albeit HUGE and possibly taking over a year to complete. But hey, I like a challenge. I have many happy, sunny memories and also many lovely purchases from my trip to Japan which I will cherish for a very long time. I just loved all of it.

The cake topper survived by the way ( I recieved the bouquet from Yumi (my new sister in law) as a thankyou :) )... and it went down fantastically well and I'm getting much advice to start selling them asap. Which I'd love to do of course so that's in the pipeline also.

In other quick news.. I think I was far too muffly-headed before I left to tell you all that HeavyRed finally used some of the artwork I made for them on their Myspace page... check it out *here*.

I shall leave you with a list of my purchases from Japan:

* Four boxes of Koala biscuits
* Two boxes of chocolate and biscuit mushrooms
* One box of biscuits
* Two fans
* Some Tokyo Disney chopsticks
* A moomin!
* Two little phone charms- one Ninja, one Pirate
* A Monokuro Boo phone charm
* A Nightmare Before Christmas wallet
* A 100 yen Monokuro Boo Facecloth
* Four mini fan pressies
* A mini Japan map wall hanging
* One beautiful Yukata (dressing gown/summer Kimono) with a print of cranes on
* One AWESOME toy story alien over glove from Tokyo Disney!
* A birthday bear wearing a Kimono (present from Yumi)
* A Henry the Hoover T-shirt
* A parasol
* A Hungry Caterpillar magnet
* and one awesome furry dude with a big mouth toy who's name on the tag is only in Japanese so I've no idea who it is.... but I love him!
* A Pirate bag from Tokyo Disney
* A Pirate card holder
* Pirate earrings. (anyone would think I had a thing for Pirates!)
* A rather funky belt
* A cool hat :)

Not bad eh? And I didn't even get charged for being over my 20kg weight limit!

Now go check out my photographs while I get down to some serious scrapbooking!

Slink xx

Konbanwa

Just a quickie to let you know I`m safe and well although I`m struggling with the humidity here a bit. This is no place for hair straighteners let me tell you!

I`m having a totally amazing time here; taking far too many photographs of course. The wedding was beautiful also but I'll be sure to fill you in on the details when I get back. Right now, I need a nice cool shower.

Mata Ne!

xx

All Packed and (almost) Ready To Go...

Well now I'm packed my head's feeling a bit clearer. Today's been pretty busy and stressful- we sent Gizmo off to her boarding.. er... vivarium, popped into town teice for extra bits and have spent the rest of the day packing. I only cried and got in a tizzy once. Woob.

We leave early tomorrow morning and my brother tells me it will take a good 11 hours on the plane to get to Japan. *must remember to buy Puzzler* We even bought some wicked-ass scales today to make sure our luggage was under the limit, but we had a good old play with the body-fat and body-water percentage functions too. I am only 14.8% fat and 55% water. *buy extra chocolate for the journey*


I have much to do tonight still. Most of the night will consist of me doing all the necessary girly things that I need to do to make myself look and feel presentable for the rest of the holiday. Particularly seeing as the humidity is going to make my hair look thoroughly crap for a fortnight.

Fairwell people. I shall return with photos and much to talk about.

:-)

My Head Right Now...

goes something like this:

work. friday-meet Lou. Must get holiday sticks for fish. Gizmo-dropped at Reptile store on wednesday. Hope she's ok. Worryworryworry.must get batteries. camera?! is it too big to get into hand luggage?shit-cake topper-handluggage?potential problem with it being made out of wire and foil armatures.xray.bleeping.intterogations.crap. Planes!??! too many planes. Konbanwa.camera batteries. fish sticks. food?!don't buy much shopping this week. post office-get Yen.Water leak-hope it doesn't start when we're away again.must put stuff back in cupboard when dry. Air. Planes. eek. Fear. pub this weekend. cooking for mum and dad saturday.sunday meal with grandparents.pub in evening. baileys.yum. Harry Potter. Must Get puzzler for plane. Sayonara.BATTERIES!packing? time yet. stuff. What about the crickets!?!??! facebook.calm.remember to sifen shampoo.Must write list. whats the time? use up milk before we leave.But they've only found three Horcruxes?! Damn. work tomorrow. breathe. hand luggage. travel. Buy Tissues! Pub. Soon.

REEEEElax.

I feel stressed at the moment. I feel like I've had or have still got too much to do, and yet when I actually think about it or list it all, it doesn't seem like much at all.

We fly to Japan a week on thursday. I've already spent a fortune on lightweight clothing and managed re-do all the hard work I did at paying back my overdraft. It's depressing. Niall has used a big chunk of his savings for spending money for the trip as well... it will take us months to save it all back up. I know that this trip is a life-time oppurtunity and of course, I shouldn't complain too much because if my parents hadn't footed the bill for accomodation and flights I would have missed my brothers wedding altogether, but still... it's a worry at the back of my mind I guess.

Then there's the cake topper that I've made for my brother for the wedding. This, thing, is the biggest reason I haven't blogged in the last few weeks because it's taken me that long to complete. It was hard. I had to start from scratch at one point. Vast quantities of Baileys were consumed in the making of it just to calm myself back into focusing onto the task at hand and not letting my perfectionism get the better of me. I like a challenge of this kind, but my god... blood, sweat and many many tears have gone into making that cake topper, and if anyone at any airport, any passenger or customs staff or ANYONE is responsible for breaking it on the long journey over to Japan... well I might just explode there on the spot.

To make things more worrying for my little anxious brain... there was the earthquake! Whyyyyyy it had to happen just before we go I have no idea, but it's scaring me. Apparantly this is the most active Japan's earthquakes have been in years. Great.

We've had pipe/water/leak troubles still. I was woken at 3am this morning by a loud tapping noise coming from outside the bedroom door, which turned out to be water pouring out of our airing cupboard so a sleepy rescue operation was undertaken in the early hours to save everything in the cupboard from becoming water damaged. We managed to rescue my lovely black christmas tree and our decorations, plus the vacuum and alot of nialls old uni work. For once in their lives our letting agent, GREENS, yes you, you crap, over paid-dumb-assed-lazy-arsed-good for nothing idots, actually did their jobs properly and managed to fix the problem within a whole day by actually calling a plumber when they said they would. There, that wasn't too hard was it? I was quite blunt with them on the phone this morning... I even made a comment about wether or not it would take 6months to fix since that had been how long it took to fix our toilet... to which she replied in a snotty tone "no it won't take 6 months I'll phone someone immediately"....My patience ebbed many months ago with this particular letting agent. Quite frankly they're shit.

What else? yes... rain. Lots of rain. That always makes things feel worse doesn't it?

I have a list in my head of things I need to get round to doing after Japan. Like looking for a better job, sorting out and funding another mail out for my illustration work etc. Right now though I can't focus on anything other than the next few weeks which is being taken up with getting things prepared for Japan. I think this is probably the cause of most of my mystery stress. I am excited don't get me wrong... but for me... that means a degree of anxiety too.

My time has also been spent lately playing on facebook (I think I've got used to it now); learning the odd word or two of Japanese, oh and of course, reading the new Harry Potter book which I'm about half way through. I have lots to do this week and next. I'll be catching up with a few good friends before I go away whic should be enough to keep me sane as my anxiety escalates!

Here's the topper anyway:

The main thing was.... they loved it. :-)

Speed Slinkster.

Look out for my face (or rather a picture of it!) on the left side pod of David Coulthard's Red Bull formula one racing car this weekend at the British GP. I'm there. Square number 02961. Cool eh?!

:-)

Spider Theories

Highlight of the week: Getting a new kettle at work. woob!

Lowlight of the week: Nearly losing Gizmo as she explored the mysterious world that lies behind the un-used sofa.

Spider Theories.

We've had a sudden influx of the beasts lately. Some say it could be because we just had a new toilet fitted and many were disturbed in the process and are now scouring our flat in search of a new home. Some may say it's the weather or the time of year for them to come inside.

Slinks says: They're up to something.

It started off with a littlun. This one has lived in a corner of the bathroom under the sink for some time. A strange place, I've always thought, for something whose web is meant to be for catching flies. I mean I can't imagine how many flies it actually catches down in a dark corner of a sink... but I'll play along with this little idea to keep the spider-loving, fool-hardy members of soceity amongst us who think they're helpful and just go about their business catching annoying insects. Anyway, I digress. It's chosen location is a handy place if only because by the time you've managed to reach it's web, it's already run away... or vanished as they seem to be able to do. This one though, I've got used to and since it wasn't the sort to move about much... I put up with it. I know this one. I know it's size and shape. I have a good eye for detail. It's front two legs are longer than the others and it's a sort of semi-small size that I can just about cope with. Well before long... others started appearing. The same shape and size. We tried to kill them... but they kept coming back. Clones. All of them clones of the first bathroom one... OR, the very same spider which never died. My theories were laughed off at first... but then someone of great authority (well.... my boss anyway) told me that spiders have learnt to survive being washed down the plug by clinging on to the sides of the pipe, turning themselves upside down, thus creating an air pocket from which they can breathe and remain alive to crawl back up the plug. Shit. They already know stuff... they already think and build crafty webs and know how to fly and now they're fighting back our well known and loved defences.

Well, things only got worse. I dreamt one night, about spiders... loads of them in a tank. They were white and kept escaping. The very next evening I walked into the bathroom and was confronted by the Mother of all spiders; staring at me it was, from the wall just above the sink. It's legs were the size of straws. Well maybe toothpicks... but still they were thick and black against the pale plaster and white tiles. I backed away, obviously and got Niall to remove the beast. He heard it crunch as he screwed up the tissue paper. And then it all made sense. Almost too big to be just one spider... this spider was bigger, thicker all over... I'm pretty sure now that it was a combination of all the other little clones... some sort of frankenstein spider.

It took a few days for it to all sink in. And it took a few days for me to also re-aquaint myself with the bathroom and all of it's hidden evil. My latest anxiety is that they're hiding in the loo roll tube... waiting. It's almost enough to make me start using the loo roll holder again.

So, now I'm just waiting for the next one. Possibly bigger, I don't even know how many clones there may have been. I suspect our bathroom pipe problems and leaks were all because of them somehow... maybe causing a blockage training the clones in their plughole defence exercises. Who knows what they'll learn next.

Shoop.

The puke vanished.

I don't think the culprit cleaned it up though. I think the old man did. Either way... it's gone and I'm glad.

I got a new Tee shirt the other day. It says:

" To Err is Human, To Arr is Pirate"

... which I thought was pretty cool.

I've also completed another model but I've yet to photograph it and turn it into a finished illustration yet. It took me four days to finish the model and it's the first time I've tried to get a likeness of a real person, so it was quite a challenge. I'm pleased with it though, I think, and I'll post up the result soon.

And to round up this mini-post... here is Gizmo in all her smiley glory...

Everybody needs good neighbours...

Some one has puked on our floors landing carpet and I'm pretty annoyed to find that FOUR days after it appeared, the culprit STILL hasn't cleaned it up.

I know it's one of two people... the bald footie fan who I heard struggling to put his key in the lock in the early hours of sunday morning. (Hmmm... saturday night would have been the football cup final, footie fans usually go hand in hand with mass drinking and struggling to put your key in the door is a common symptom of being pissed. As is puking on the floor) I really should be a detective.

OR, it's the gay guy upstairs.

I really don't think it will be the remaining three occupiers as the two oldies on the bottom floor probably can't get up the stairs, and the oldie UPstairs I think would have the decency to a) not puke on the floor, and b) if he did, he'd god damn clean it up.

So, after I've made it pretty clear that neither Niall or I will clean it up, and after I've made several loud mouthed attempts at attracting attention to the brown sick stain that is invitingly awaiting people on the stairs ... nothing has been done about it and it's pissing me right off. I'm thinking about popping a note through bald guy and gay guy's door.. something along the lines of "oi you freakin piss head, clean up your puke from saturday night you gross, lazy arsed fool" but then ultimately I risk offending one of them because only one is guilty of the crime.

It really is bang out of order and I'm NOT a happy slink.

From out of nothing...

Well readers, (if any of you are left!)

I must apologise once again for a very sad case of blog neglect of late. It's less out of a lack of care, and more out of a lack of an interesting life I promise. My days have largely been taken up by working and I've only managed to scrape together the energy to do one mini project in the last month or so. It's unacceptable of course, and I will be giving myself a right royal kick up the arse very soon. I want to start planning another mail out to prospective illustration agents and clients soon so hopefully a few more mini projects and I can set about making plans for some proper shameless self promotion. If you haven't already seen my latest addition, check out my illustration myspace or website. :-)

In other news, there was a blast of excitement last month when I went to get a bank balance and I noticed that I was... wait for it... ONLY £27.90 overdrawn!!!! This is the closest I have EVER been to being in credit in the past four or five years thanks to being a student, and it's showing that I am managing to slowly slowly bring my overdraft down. Even more depressing though if I think I could have been IN credit ages ago if I'd got a proper job and not a part time one. Though my illustration would have no doubt suffered. But anyway, the miniscule overdraft was promptly destroyed when I paid my rent, bills etc. but it was nice while it lasted. I'm also managing to save. Just about.

I don't remember if I informed anyone about my mass panic last month when I sleepily went to switch off my phone alarm and realised I'd been connected to the internet for 9 hours overnight. I cried. ALOT in a great big girly mass panic sort of a way because I had visions of getting a £500 phonebill that I couldn't pay. Niall even had to phone carphone warehouse for me to see if they could shed some light on how much it was going to be... and I had to embarrassingly confirm that it was okay for him to discuss my account by answering a few questions while in the midst of my girly hissy fit. Well anyway, needless to say that very phonecall cost a whopping..... 51p. That's right. The tears, the hyperventilation, the sheer panic, the bright red face and frown wrinkles that ensued where all meaningless and a stark over reaction. Ah well... at least now I know how much a 9 hour internet call is.

It was Niall's birthday in April too. I cooked him a meal of lamb cutlets with a herb and garlic crust, with a Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles birthday cake for afters. His present from me was tickets to see Bill Bailey in November, which will be a good laugh.

We visited good old Uni-ville last Monday for the traditional freefest. It was a nice day, relaxing on the grass hoping it didn't rain and watching everyone enjoy the festivities and bands, even if some of them were a bit rubbish. Only downer was that we had to leave pretty early so we didn't get a chance to go to Post-fest but since we all had work the next day it probably wouldn't have been a good idea.

Lastly, if anyone is wondering... my 5kg chocolate bar is still intact and waiting for it's use in my chocolate fountain party. All other chocolate has been eaten except for Myrtle Moo's (the chocolate cow) torso and face. I find it hard eating things with faces. Her smashed up arms and legs did make a nice addition to my otherwise bland tasting multigrain cereal though.

Too Much Sugar.

At present, our flat houses the following:

• A still intact 5kg bar of Dairy Milk from my birthday - 5kg
• Creme Egg Eater Egg with two creme eggs x2 - (195g each) 390g
• Flake Easter Egg with two flakes x2 - (185g each) 370g
• Celebrations Easter Egg - 189g
• Dairy Milk Egg with two Dairy Milk bars- 215g
• A box of Thorntons chocolates- 335g
• A Myrtle Moo chocolate cow- 230g
• Two Milk chocolate ducks- (45g each) 90g

Which totals 6.819 kg.

If we take away an average of 75g per egg for packaging, a total of 500g

We're left with 6.319kg of chocolate.

That's alot. Even by my standards.

Stuff Matters

Well while some tri-hards would say that my mundane life is nothing to blog about, I'm quite content with using this blog as my own space to say what the hell I want. I don't aim to collect friends or appear 'intelligent', or impress people with lifeless attempts at being some sort of reporter for the masses. It's my space for me. I write about whatever comes up.. the things that are important to me, the things that I'm bored with, the things that matter, the things that don't but the things that make up the day to day. I expect that anyone reading this either cares about me and my life, or they're here by accident... and I couldn't care less if you're thrilled or bored because this blog is about me. Deal with it. There's plenty more shit out there... I couldn't care less what some random person thinks I should be listening to or looking at or doing with my time, I'll make up my own mind thanks. I guess I'm not cocky enough to assume my opinion matters to anyone but me.





So,





if you don't want to hear about the stuff that makes up real life.. MY life for that matter... ignore the following pictures of my little gecko. Who I happen to think is awesome and beats some hand-me-down crap about what we should all be listening to; Which if you have any taste will be NIN. ;-)






:-)

My Violent Heart

You and I, we may look the same

But we are very far apart

There's bullet holes where my compassion used to be

and there is violence in my heart

Into fire you can send us

From the fire we return

You can label us a consequence of how much you have to learn

NIN

I don't know why I get so angry. Well actually I do... I know exactly why... because I can pinpoint the feelings, the rising, the actual moment it all started and I was introduced to a new level of hatred and hurt... but still so angry? I think a part of me doesn't want to let it go. There's protection there; as long as it's there, there's distance and with distance is protection.

And that's how it's staying for some time. I'm not forcing it away becasue I have a right to this anger.

There are other people I'm still angry at. A lesser anger that I'm happy with. I'm angry at the lack of care. I pity you in many ways. I'm not sorry for you though. I'm not sorry for anything because it was all you. And I don't think you realise the damage really, you don't care enough to. That's okay. This anger doesn't amount to anything really... not unless I think about it a great great deal. But that would be pointless. I just don't feel you're a friend anymore. A distant nothing is all you are.

Thank god there are songs that touch this part of me and connect with it enough to just burn it back for a bit. Singe the edges and keep it at bay... make it okay. Breathe.

Introducing...

...Gizmo!

Well we've had Gizmo just over a week now. He's eating a little better and seems to be getting a bit more active at night which I'm taking a sign to mean he's settling in well. At the weekend we made him a moist hide out of an old plastic container and he loves it; he's slept in there pretty much since we put it in! I've taken some more pictures but obviously they're all red because of his red heat bulb.

Birthdays!

Well despite me being a bit wary of it, my birthday weekend was pretty awesome.

The weekend got off to a good start by getting some pressies from the girls at work and going to see 300 at the cinema on Friday night. It was brilliantly done, and it's such a relief for a film to come out that's actually worth paying money to go see. It chose cinematography over script, it chose art over cliche'd nonsense and substance over the usual shallow, pathetic nonesense that get called movies these days ... so I LOVED it.

On saturday Niall caught up with two of his old coursemates. He hadn't seen them since graduation so there was much talk of engineering jobs and widdly bits and bobs that I don't understand, but I held out long enough to chip in that we should go eat at the local Carvery. Good stuff. It was also hinted to me that I would be getting pet related presents for my birthday...

Sunday morning, and I open my first batch of pressies. Niall's parents got me a bear kit and an itunes voucher, and Niall got me this awesomely teeeeeny mp3 player which seems like it'll make the commute to work much more appealing... once I get all the stuff installed of course! At mum's house, I got more pressies including lots of money, a chocolate fountain, a whopping 5kg bar of chocolate... yep SOLID chocolate... (see below, modelled by Niall)

... a DVD, a few tops, a book about gecko's and probably best of all... a Gecko terrarium! I got far too excited and we drove straight to the pet shop to buy a gecko and all the bits and bobs you need for it. I love him. I really do. He's awesome... well he's not necessarily even a he... the jury's still out on that one... but his name, is Gizmo. Once he's settled into his new surroundings a bit I'll take some pictures and introduce you formally. :-)

The rest of saturday was spent eating a rather large course at Frankie and Bennys, then almost falling asleep back at home as my stomach tried to digest the meal, staring in wonder at Gizmo explore his new house, then out to the pub for some birthday drinks. Miss Bitchy Bitchison was working at the bar that day, and proceeded to ask all of us for I.D... on my 24th birthday, one member of the party being 26, in my local where I've spent many an hour and fiver drinking. Karen forgot hers, so she popped home to get it before presenting to the Bitch of the century behind the bar. I know she was only doing her job, but this cow was arsey and smug and blatantly on a power trip. There were people around who were years younger than us, and not everyone at the bar was being I.D'd. Lame bint. Anyway, we had a few drinks there, then went back to mine where more drinks were consumed. It was a nice way to finish the day off, even if I did have a laughing fit for about an hour and then fell quite promptly to sleep.

Today was my last day off before returning to work for the week... but friday is payday so that's something to get me through. Today I went shopping, and bought two T-shirts... one with Animal from the Muppets on, and one with Rainbow Bright on it saying "Made in the 80's". I thought they were pretty cool. I also did AAAAAALLLL the food shopping all on my lonesome, and bought Gizmo a log to climb on. I also bought some containers and some veg for the crickets that we've got to gutload ready to feed to Gizmo tonight... looking forward to his first feeding.

:-)

Spring!

Daffodils, crocuses, green grass from the spring rain...

or snow blizzards.



I don't think I've ever had snow to contend with so close to my birthday.

Yes, next sunday I'll be a whopping 24 years old, and have been a graduate for 2 years. Holy Crap. I'm trying not to panic at the fact that I still have no career to speak of, nor a totally stable relationship, nor any hard fast future plans. But that's okay for 24 right?

I do know that my future plans involve more pets. I've already selected my next fish for when Wenda and Edgar Alan Poe pass away... if they ever do the hardy little blighters. Not that I want them to die any time soon of course. I'm also dead set on getting a tortoise... but right now it's pretty impossible since we don't have any garden space where they could roam about. Lizards, seem to grow too big, so my options are fairly narrow for the time being. Hopefully I'll be able to afford a gecko or frog or something after my birthday. :) Should keep my mind off having no career. woohoo!

Crippled.

I'm a cripple this week. I managed to break my neck... by... well, sleeping as far as I can gather. Well, maybe it's not broken... but it bloody hurts and I've been unable to move it for two days solid. It's amazing how many muscles we use without realising. It's only when you're in intense agony that you realise even the slightest sneeze or twitch uses half the muscles in your neck. I have work tomorrow as well so I hope it's loosened up by then. I do have of course, full sympathy from Niall... who upon witnessing my physical state of cripple-dom ( propped up by two pillows, scarf wrapped tightly roung my neck in bright sunlight, and a travel-neck-support pillow around my head and unable to move) did the obvious thing... and burst out laughing. I got my own back later though when I heard the use of a new acronym on the news.

We've all heard of:

YUPPIE- Young Urban Professional
YUMMIES- Young Upwardly Mobile Mommies
DINKY- Double Income No Kids Yet.

but I hadn't heard of this little gem:

Northern Irish Professional Person Living in England.

That's right... Niall is a NIPPLE.

I laughed SO hard it probably destroyed what little flexibility I still had in my neck... but it was worth it.

*cough*

Yup... yet again, I have time off work and I get myself a nice, stinking, throat-murdering cold/infectious disease. Ew. Ouch. Yeuch.

I did lots of work last week... the results of which can be seen on my portfolio website. There's even a small chance they could be used by the company they were inspired by so I have my fingers crossed on that one.

The photography comp seems to be one big steaming pile of pants since people seem to be voting tactically. If you vote people one star the rating decreases, and people seem to be using this to get people off the top ten spot, which bloody sucks! I mean I had no problem voting a few times for my own, but I had the decency to leave other peoples ratings alone. So, that's it, no more Ms Nice Slinks... you wanna play dirty?.. you got it... jerks. I also feel compelled to add; some of the photographs SUCK. Seriously, they just shouldn't be there.

In other news, tickets have been booked, travel insurance sorted and holiday time off work booked for the big trip to Japan! The Slink will hit Japan on 2nd of August 2007... estimated time of impact is currently uncertain. It's highly exciting but I've yet to sort out what I'm wearing to the wedding. Whatever it is will have to be minimum budget that's for sure.

I know my blogging frequency has been slack of late. There's been a hell of a lot going at work that I'm not allowed to talk about and generally things have been in a bit of a slump, but not in a serious slump sort of a way... more of a normal-winter-slump way so that's not too bad. Amongst this period of slumpiness however, my creativity seems to be soaring and I have lots of mini-projects and ideas to be working on as and when I get my health restored.


Right, that's it for now anyway, I'm off to write my lines....

I promise to be a better blogger.
I promise to be a better blogger.
I promise to be a better blogger.
I promise to be a better blogger.
I promise to be a better blogger.
...

I need your VOTE!

Some of my photographs are currently in the gallery page of *THIS SITE* and I need YOUR ratings and votes to get me in the running for £1000 which would do very nicely thank you.

You can find my name beneath them.. there are currently about 12 listed under my name and are on about page 5 and 6 though this will change as more are added.

Thanks guys and gals!

SNOW!

I was expecting the snow to thaw out today... not keep on falling as it has all flippin day. I could feel my anxiety hit the roof as it dawned on me that there wouldn't be a lift home since Niall was stuck in the road chaos... and that nothing was moving all round the town centre. Not even buses. Thankfully I'd worn my walking boots to work.

5.00 pm- I was kindly allowed to leave work early after we all slowly realised that the ringroad was gridlocked. I get some change just in case there are buses running and I go wait at the bus stop with many confused and freezing cold commuters. There's the usual camradery for these sorts of occasions... some old man is saying to a friendly young lad that if he was as young as him, he'd have walked home, and that the "british spirit will get us through"... eskimo spirit more like.

5.15- I give up waiting and decide to walk. There have been no buses arriving at all... and I hear talk of people waiting up to an hour.

5.30 - I'm starting to get smug walking past all these people in stuck sitting in their static cars, even though my nose is running and I feel like I'm breathing ice. My lungs are hurting from inhaling too much snow. My scarf is no longer black... it's white, along with half my coat and my umbrella. I wish I had my hat. I resist the urge to stop and take photo's of the traffic jams with my camera phone.

5.40 - I pass the fire station where two fireman are wandering down the middle of the road ready to push any struggling/skidding cars and trying to keep the entrance to the fire station clear.

5.55 - I'm nearing home... my legs are starting to ache but I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for taking the plunge to walk. I see a lady crouched in a phonebox crying, and stop to ask if she's alright... apparantly she's had a car accident and is waiting for a lift home... she looks so upset and I feel sorry for her. She insists she's alright, and seeing as I'm still a fair way from home, there's not much I can do for her... so I plough on. This whole walk is bizarre. I haven't even been targeted by snowballing idiots either. Even stranger.

6.13 - I arrive home. I'm roasting hot from the walk, and wierdly half of my face is red and feels burnt. I get changed and hang all my clothes to dry and now I'm sitting with a nice cup of hot chocolate blogging away.

This global warming is getting interesting.

Yoinked.

I meant to yoink this ages ago from Ktp and didn't get round to it... until now.

My life according to my itunes:

1.) Put your music player on shuffle
2.) Press forward for each question.
3.) Use the song title as the answer to the question.
4.) NO CHEATING!!!

1.) How am I feeling today?
Sleeper- Katatonia well that figures!

2.) How will I feel getting married?
Pierrot The Clown- Placebo hahaha!

3.) What is my best friend's theme song?
Township Rebellion- RATM

4.) High school is?
Jimmy- Tool huh?

5.) I am?
Nimrod's Son- Pixies you learn something new everyday!

6.) How is today?
Last Cup Of Sorrow- Faith No More eek!

7.) What is in store for this week?
Open Heart Zoo- Martin Grech not sure I like the sound of that!

8.) What song best describes my parents?
Alligator Wine- Jeff Buckley ?!

9.) How is my life going?
Shout 2000- Disturbed yes... indeed.

10.) What song will they play at my funeral?
Back to School- Deftones suits me! Not sure my folks would approve.

11.) How does the world see me?
Megalomaniac- Incubus HAHA oh dear!

12.) My friends think?
Sunspots- NIN do they?!

13.) My life lived?
Lost in Hollywood- SOAD I sure would be!

14.) This makes me happy?
Bullet Theory- Funeral for a Friend not sure what that says about me!

15.) What should I do with my life?
We Will Rock You- Queen haha ACE!

16.) I will be happy when?
Xmas Day- Sevendust Well that's quite true, I do feel happy on xmas day!

17.) What is some good advice?
Starfuckers Inc. - NIN erm... ?!

18.) What do I think my current theme song is?
Music for a Found Harmonium- Penguin Cafe

19.) What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Cave- Muse ... I could take that many ways

20.) The type of men/women do I like?
Demonoid Phenomenon- Rob Zombie HAHAHAHA oh lord...

21.) What should I do with my love life?
Orestes- A Perfect Circle I was hoping for better advice than that!

22.) What will your neighborhood be like?
Noise and Kisses- The Used 'spose it could be worse!

23.) What will your dying words be?
Cars- Gary Numan :-( Does that mean I get run over?!

Blockage.

Well... that was an entertaining trip home. I get the bus home on a Monday night, and it's usually a pretty cold, dull, with-an-air-of-trepidation- affair... the usual bus trip I guess. As per usual, I got out of work at 5.40ish.., just in time for me to miss my normal bus by about a minute. This never ceases to surpise me anymore... so I trundled off to the bus stop, having clocked the unusually excessive traffic and a few blue flashing lights. Hmm... police... but getting nearer it becomes clear that absolute chaos is ensuing. There are groups of young people crowded to the left of McDonalds. Now on a usual night, they'd be crowded outside McDonalds... but this time, they have something more interesting to look at. I can't see what it is over the traffic, but I could see a a few police standing about in the middle of the road. This is about a three lane road which merges two routes IN to the town centre, one coming from another town, the other coming from the one way system, and about a hundred bus routes. Nothing is moving, and in a fortunate way, this means that the bus I usually miss is standing there. Except it's not that bus, it turns out it's the one before it... which hasn't moved for half an hour because of traffic. On the bus is a slightly nutty but entertainingly liberal woman who seems to be full of life and trying to organise the police who are standing about on the blocked road. I hear rumours of "a man on top of a bus" and "arrests" but no one really knows what the hell is going on. One thing is for sure though, the nutty lady is insisting on trying to find out, and giving a running commentary as to what the plolice ought to be doing.

Fifteen minutes later, I'm sitting on a bus in the dark. The driver has switched the engine off and is reading his paper by streetlight and the odd flash of a police siren. Nutty lady is getting more vexed at the lack of police controlling the traffic and toddles off to "tell one of them coppers to get over here and sort out the lanes". Man, she's funny. Of course, before she went she insisted on getting the driver to promise he'd not drive off without her.

Another five minutes, maybe ten minutes after that... and a few more police are starting to join the rabble, though traffic is no better. Everyone in desperation are ignoring the traffic lights, which keep helplessly switching from green to red but with no one moving under their command. Nutty lady has been up and out of her seat about twenty times. Finally we see a few bobbies running up towards the three or four lanes of chok-a-blok traffic that are being forced into one lane. One needs to be fully diverted and blocked off so that we can move... as Nutty lady and about another fifty passengers worked out ages ago. Finally there is a break in the traffic and we have to wait for a few other cars to nudge their way into line before we can all be on our way home. The driver of the bus in front of us has other ideas of course. He sits there. His lane is FINALLY clear... but he sits there. Cue Nutty Lady, who charges up to the bus in front and starts thumping on the back of it shouting "MOOOVE". Our bus driver joins in, now having switched back on the engine and lights, by beeping his horn. More Police arrive, I think a little bit scared of a mutiny, and they finally encourage the driver to budge. The bus in front gets the hint and we actually make a move.

Fifteen minutes later, I'm in me slippers at home.

Chaos can be highly amusing when you're an innocent bystander just caught up in it all. If I was more tired or hungry it could have been another story, but I quite enjoyed watching the Nutty Lady offer to control the traffic herself. I still have no idea what was kicking off. I'm sure I'll find out over the next few days.

...Fly away home...

Bernice died. She stopped moving. I left her there for a while in case she was asleep but her legs were all curled up underneath her. :-(

My mood today is: Fed Up.

My bum hurts from sitting in front of the computer all day doing one thing or another and trying to sort out my Illustration Myspace which could prove useful for networking. I have some projects I want to get started with but things keep coming up, like doing overtime at work, like flying visits from Miss Tubb from Uni and the untimely deaths of temporary pets like Bernice. My back aches and the days gone far too fast, AND I have to work tomorrow. Thursdays are always busy and stressful and with bitchboss there... who knows what hell will be bestowed upon us on arrival. I'm keeping an eye out for new part time jobs in a lazy sort of a way... my priority at the moment is getting my butt in gear with these new projects I've been wanting to get my teeth into.

I miss Bernice.

Ladybird Ladybird...

I found a Ladybird in my bathroom this morning. After some investigation I worked out it's a type of 2 Spot Ladybird, which was wierd because it actually had four spots.

Anyway, I decided to call her Bernice.

2007

I last posted back in the old days of 2006...

I'm taking my christmas tree down later and I don't bloody want to because I've got used to it being there and I don't want a big miserable empty space. I don't like January much... it's generally pretty sucky for most people I think. Bad weather, grumpy and tired, it's like the annual hangover month. It just feels.. bluergh. I know that as soon as the tree is down, things will feel 'back to normal' again... that's the worst bit. I'm back at work, Niall is back at work, Matthew and Yumi will be flying back to Japan on Friday... and then it's the normal dredgery of daily life again.

BUT, I went to check my email this morning to find another online artist community asking for my input, so I'm taking that as a sign that I really need to keep pushing my illustration work this year. Start as you mean to go on and all that...

Sooo, christmas... yeah it was good. I don't want to use the word nice... but it was. It was cosy enough, as christmas should be, and I was kept pretty busy all through. I think I've beaten the record for the most amount of christmas/roast dinners in a week... I think we must have had about four in a row! Great though... you can't beat a roast dinner. The annual traditional christmas eve pub gathering was carried out in the usual fashion, though I didn't get drunk this time. New years eve was also a quiet one; choosing to spend it round my mums rather than at a friends house party, where last year I got VERY VERY ill.

Highlights of the holiday include:

• Giving out the cool pressies I got everyone.
• My array of pressies, santa did good this year :-)
• Having a quiet New Years Eve round the folks house avoiding vast money spending, drunkenness, illness and getting soaked in the rain.
• Spending a first christmas in my own place
• Matthew and Yumi announcing their engagement!
• Not having to work with BossBitch

Yep my bro is getting married... not sure how he's managed to convince the poor girl, but Yumi is great and I'm looking forward to having a sister in law! The wedding will be in Japan next year, so we're looking into trying to scrimp and save to afford the flights over there. All very exciting!

Right, I have things to do this year: I have to make sure my portfolio's are up to date and looking spanking good. I need to keep pushing my work and improving. I need to keep trying to be positive and like me. Annnd, I need to take more photographs. Those are my resolutions. Happy New Year readers.

Only another 356 days til christmas!!!