All Change Please.

Another christmas just shot past at breakneck speed! I've had a very chilled Christmas with family and friends and I fully intend to make the most of the rest of my week off.

It all gets serious from now onwards.

First up for 2011 is a new job. Since I got screwed over by the Facist party in charge, I need to get my bum in gear and start some thorough weekly job searching. I have until March.

Another interesting change could be on the horizon... but as things stand I don't want to jinx it just yet by blogging about it because technically it's not quite a done deal yet.

It's all change for 2011.

2010 in BlogWords.

I yoinked this from Miss P because I thought it was cool. :-D

Speedy Weekend.

I've spent today customising some toys for Christmas. It's so nice to be in my studio with my music blaring, doing something creative again.

Tomorrow... Job hunting. Thanks very much you Tory Fascists.

Guess What?

I now tweet.

I am SO down with the kids.

Slink Inked.

So last Monday, I paid someone some of my hard earned squids to stick an inky needle in my back. Loads. It hurt at times but I'm really pleased with the result. I was even commended on my bravery by two of the tatooists... especially for a first timer like me, but credit has to be given to my good friend Mark for coming with me for support and talking to me for an hour to keep my mind off things.



It's healing nicely and I have to go back in 3 weeks to have a check up and a touch up if required. Woop.

Chillaxxxxxed.

Aside from the evil Nazi Pope who is currently worming his way round my country...

... I am having a nice day. That is all. :-)

... And relax.

So, after six weeks it looks like my time working weekends at the studio is coming to a close. I can't wait to see the final result and will be sure to post a link to it as soon as one becomes available. So. Excited.

The working weekends malarky was starting to get to me. I've been quite tired and achey this last week so the return of my weekends is a welcome one. However, I'm going to miss the studio and having such a great creative outlet. It's been so nice surrounded by likeminded, creative people again. I realise just how much I miss the company of creatives.

Still, bills still have to be paid. Once I get my full energy restored I want to set to work on some experimental/practice model making projects. Hopefully involving making some pirates. Why I have never done this before I have no idea since Pirate-ness is so ingrained in my life and has been for many many years. See the great Pirate Investigation for more information.

I have a few other possibile bloggable events going on in the foreseeable future so fingers crossed that all good stuff happens to me. :-)

Post Holiday Holiday Post.

I spent last week in Scotland with family. After working almost two weeks solid without weekends I was desperately in need of some R&R. I feel so much better; replenished. I spent this morning transferring my photo's from my SLR to my computer and I'm pretty happy with the results of most. The odd one or two needed a bit of a touch up where I got the exposure completely wrong for the lens filter I was using but hey, that's what photoshop is for! I facebooked the best ones but I think this one is my favorite.




I need to find a web space to start hosting my photographs. I used to host them all on a website called photobloggers.net which wierdly vanished one day along with all my pictures I presume. I've never quite found a photo site as good with a decent layout, tagging and organisational structure like that one had. Plus, uploading the gazillion photographs I've accumulated since then is a task I know I'll never get the time to actually do.

I have today and tomorrow before I have to go back to the rat race so I'm going to spend that time ironing the mountain of laundry I brought back, writing a few letters, eating scottish fudge and finishing off my book: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson. I have my eye on a few new cds's too but I need to wait until I get paid in a weeks time for those. Patience is a virtue and all that nonesense.

Little Things.

Some little things that have made me smile today:

• I know he was trying to sell something but still... " Need any flowers Gorgeous?". Thank you Mr Flower Seller.
• A cheeky wink by the tall maintenance man across the corridoor.
• Finding a stain on a train seat which looked like a dinosaur. I was too self conscious to take a photo dammit. Regret of the day.
• Hearing my Grandad telling me he was bored from his hospital bed. At least he's okay.
• The thought of my new handbag arriving tomorrow.

CRANK IT.

Currently listening to: Naked by Reef.

I am in my studio. Sculpting. Or I will be when I finish blogging.

Good Music. Fishfingers in my belly. Sculpting hands at the ready. More sculpting projects in the next month or two.

Feeling better already.

Mood: Don't ask.

I feel stupid.

That is all.

Mood: Rotten.

I feel weak, tired, lonely and annoyed today.

So much so that I can't even write about it. I need an uplift.

An apology and a hug would be enough.

Things to Think About Instead of Redundancy.

1. I wish I had my own cat. But then it couldn't possibly be as cool as my other two family cats could it? No way.

2. I am going to see Tim Minchin in December. Could be jobless by then so will need the laughs... doh!

3. After reading books about the Taliban, Nazi's and Mugabe I was leant PS. I Love You by a colleague at work. The pale blue and pink cover immediately put me off but I perservered and whilst the ending wasn't as sickly sweet as I predicted... it was all still a bit rubbish. I'm now reading a story based around a suicide and illegal immigrants and I'm already enjoying it far far more.

4. I also have queued up to read: Richard Dawkins- The Greatest Show on Earth and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

5. The word Queued is really weird. But then most words are when you look at them long enough.

6. I had groceries delivered from from Ocado today. My driver was called Rex and he drove a purple cabbage van. I was very impressed despite buying the worlds biggest bag of pasta by accident.

7. I really need a hair cut. And a new bag. Well actually I don't really really need a new bag... but I do want one.

8. I dressed like a gypsy pirate on Sunday. I think I looked wicked cool. I wore my new octopus necklace.

9. I love clouds.

Ace.

So, England are through. They made scraping through the first round pretty hard work. Goons.
I have FOUR. Cound 'em 1, 2, 3, 4 days off work now. I walked home in the Sunshine feeling pretty good. Sat down with a moments disappointment when I realised I missed Andy Roddick's match on tv... but then felt better once I realised there was an equally fit guy playing Federer on the other channel. Score.

I'm currently watching an epic 45 game fifth set with two players who are clearly more machine than human. One of the players, Inser I think his name is, his head is way too small for his huge, elongated body. He looks stretched and wierd and for that reason alone I don't want him to win.

I think I found a gland in my chinese tonight. It was orange, with smooth black shapes inside. It looked like a gland. It smelt like a gland. And there was no way in HELL it was going anywhere near my mouth.

I am looking forward to a well earnt lie in tomorrow. I've been waiting to catch up on this sleep for months. When I do finally wake up... I have a mammoth house clean/chore fest to look forward to. *groan*.

Derren still hasn't called. The marriage might be off.

Parcels.

I love parcels.

I have a very special friend, L, who recently sent me a parcel to cheer me up. She sent me camomile tea, bath bubbles, some hair treats, a candle and an oil burner all wrapped up in a lovely purple tissue paper package. All because I was feeling blue. :-)

I'm still waiting to hear from Derren.

ENIGMA.

I went to see Derren Brown last night. I think I fell in love with him a little bit more than is normal. He blew. My. Mind. Well he would have done if I hadn't read his book and worked out how he did most of the stunts he pulled. Let's settle for he semi blew my mind.

First of all I need to admit to turning up on Thursday evening with a ticket for Friday night's performance. Some embarrassment was spared by realising BEFORE reaching the ticket collectors and calmly making an exit without drawing too much attention. Then, yesterday evening I struggled to get home in time from work so I stayed in Birmingham and got there early. Because I got there so early N and I had our faces photographed and our names taken down by some guy working for the show. This immediately made us nervous.

So along comes a game of "Guess Whom?" in the first half of the performance. A photo of yours truly being held in Derren Brown's very hand while our names were read out. There was about 20 of us altogether and I was fortunately NOT picked on for looking like a total dork in my photo. I also like to think he paused for a second on reading my name... possibly taking in the image of his future wife- he'd know of course being a master of prediction. His audience particpators had to pick a person from the photo's and Derren guessed who they had chosen through a series of questions which the audience member answered silently in their heads. Obviously Derren already knew who they were going to pick but it all makes for a great show. :-)

I worked out how a few of the more magic-trick- based stunts were done... but as for the mind/prediction/nothing-is-random based stuff- that's what blows me away. If I ever win a billion on the lottery I'm going to pay him to teach me everything he knows so that I can take over the world. It's hard to believe that as much as we like to think everything we do is free choice, a scary amount of everything we do can be controlled, influenced and easily predicted by intellectual, borderline obsessive experts.

The ending was phenomenal. He truly is a master of his art.

LOVED IT.

Hellish Week.

I had a mini break down this week. Worse still... this mini break down was at work. At my desk.

In the space of a few short months I have...

... had a few niggly health issues,
... bagged myself a promotion,
... been told our jobs will be under review at some point in the near future,
... commenced training for my new job which has been REALLY hard and stressful aswell as doing late duty all week.

So consequently, the day I made a silly mistake on my first day "flying solo"... I cried at work. I couldn't stop it. It just happened. I feel completely stupid about it but I guess it's been brewing up for a while.

To make up for such a horrible week, I got treated to dinner on Friday along with plenty of alcohol. I feel much better already.

I re-diddled my blog too today in the hope that I will post more. :-) I've also been pondering whether to start tweeting...

Sometimes...

... I think I'm actually going to explode.

Distraction.

I got distracted for 15 minutes today by a dead bee. I found it in my kitchen sink.

I've decided they look like tiny little buffalos with alien eyes and wings.

Pope? Nope.

Dear Mr "former"-Nazi Pope,

And I say "former" with trepidation.

You may receive a welcome from a proportion of our mostly welcoming country but I hope you know just how many people feel you don't deserve to step foot in our country.

You have let down Catholics the world over. You have let down innocent children in an unforgivable way and you still refuse to acknowledge the damage you caused. You protected yourselves, harboured and protected those committing the worst crimes on this Earth. You allowed this to happen and then protected those who did it, ignoring the victims. Ignoring everything you supposedly stand for.

I have always hated the outdated and bigoted views your faith seems to have but I am outraged at what you now stand for- lies, evil, abuse, corruption, bigoted views, hatred and judgement. I judge you on all these things. You are sick. You think you are above the law... you're not. You're just a man. Barely.

I wish you'd fuck off quite frankly. The world will keep spinning without the shit you pour out of your gold encrusted churches. Your faith is based on fear, self loathing and hatred of others. You are old and undeserving. I command a respect you haven't earned and will never be worthy of asking of ever again in my eyes.

You're not welcome here. I hope you know that. You're pissing people off, harming people and this damage is unrepairable. Part of me wants you and your cronies to keep coming out with your ludicrous accusations and stories; the more you do, the more we can point and say how shit you are, show you for what you are- nothing, with nothing good to say, nothing positive to share, just a great big empty space where your fucking brains may have once been. The other part however wants you to shut the hell up.

I have no respect for you or anything you have to say. Fuck you.


I joined the Protest the Pope campaign today. I hope I can take part in the demonstration in September.

If there wasn't people like Richard Dawkins and organisation's like the Secular or Humanist society I would actually exploded the other day. Mr Dawkins trying to get the Pope arrested just about restored my faith in intelligence.

I am SICK of the Catholic church. Not Catholic people, believe what you want to believe, I just choose to believe in humans, compassion, and science... just the Catholic Church, how it is organised, how it's corrupt to the core and the sick, demented things they like to brainwash into people. True enough, if people weren't dumb enough to believe it, or on the other hand if more Catholics actually shouted out against the bigoted, evil people speaking on their behalf then there would be some hope. I am SICK of it'd twisted, skewed views on just about everything and low and behold, the paedophile-protector is coming to England to ponce about our largely tolerant country and throw judgments around and offend people.... and I have to PAY for this privilege with my hard earned money?! I don't think so. If the pope really has to come here at all, and quite frankly, as a country with discrimination laws to protect people from this frankly out dated and completely fucked up faith, then I sure as heck am not paying for it.

Hypocrisy will make me explode one day. I am sure of it.

RAGE.

I am so fucking angry at both these indescribably obscene and utterly disturbing items that I can't even blog properly. I might. At some point. But it aint gonna be pretty.

*This*


and *This*.


STAB. STAB. STAB. STAB. STAB. STAB. STAB. STAB. STAB. STAB. STAB.

PROductive.

After a manic-paper stuffed-two hour overtime-day at work yesterday I was a lot more productive today.

Left overs from yesterday- filed. Bam.
Results completed- Bam.
Filing- Filed. Bam.
Danish- eaten. Bam.
File checks- completed. Bam
All envelopes filled and sent out to necessary people. BAAAM.
Three court's phoned. Three answers to my questions. Bam Bam.
ALL enquiries completed. Tied up. Filed. Put into my special DEALT WITH folder. BAM BAM BAM.

I was like some sort of machine today. And I feel good about it.

Sore Bronchi.

How can one nose on one relatively small, petite person produce such a HUGE quantity of mucus? I reckon I've used about 3 trees of tissues to help remove over 5 pints of mucus from myself today. Ironically, despite feeling like my brain is slowly liquidizing and pouring out my nose, I actually feel better today than I have the last three days, my temperature seems to be normalising itself without drugs. Tuesday I felt dead, Wednesday I looked and felt dead and Thursday I think mentally I was dead. Despite this, I've still been going to work this week, just finishing work early so that I can get home and sleep as much as possible. I've also been carrying a bag of drugs around- legal of course, mainly neurofen and beechams, strepsils and some covonia bronchial balsalm which feels like your lungs are filling with Whiskey... in the nicest possible way of course.

Tonight I'm off to see Newton Faulkner. Typical that the first time I've been to an acoustic gig in ages and I have an irritating cough. Actually it's past irritating... it's now painful.

Pass the Bronchial Balsalm.

To Women.

Happy International Womens Day!

Wonder(land) Weekend

So. Another busy weekend. Out for a meal at Around The World In 80 Dishes on Friday evening. Alice In Wonderland on Saturday evening followed by birthday drinks for Markuus in Scruffys, and then a last minute, impromptu trip to Eddies to rock the night away. Today I recovered with a bit of light shopping, a bento for lunch with lots of re-hydrating Calpico and then to Mum's for a slap-up Roast Lamb dinner. Awesome, I think you have to agree.

Alice. Well. I was a bit disappointed at our Imax seats... although the 3d effect was still very much watchable, I didn't get the full on effect because we arrived only ten minutes before gates opened so we didn't get great seats.

I'm not sure where to start. I left feeling slightly underwhelmed which was probably my own fault for a) not getting there early enough for some better seats and b) for being so freakin' excited about this for months. Still, Tim, as you would expect, didn't fail to disappoint in terms of visuals. So stunning and so familiarly-Burton-esque, it was like being welcomed back home. I loved the Queen of Hearts castle, so sumptuous and rich with beautiful deep colours and textures. Mr Depp was superb... and not quite as scary as he looks which I wasn't sure was a good thing or not. The story lacked punch, but you come to expect that from Burton and the visuals and characters more than made up for it. Alice was slightly more limp than I expected her to be, but then I don't know the story all that well having never read it. I think my favorite characters were the Cheshire Cat and the Caterpillar voiced excellently by Alan Rickman. You could almost touch and smell the smoke coming from him.

It was slightly slower paced than I expected, probably due to the story lacking slightly. Not as dark or scary as some of the trailers and marketing portrayed but the detail in some of the scenes and visuals made up for it.

Having been out and about this weekend I can see the film is already filtrating it's way into the shops. I've seen countless earrings with teacups, teapots and old victoriana style jewellery which have been obviously brought out to coincide with the film's release. Lots of shop windows slapping on playing card window stickers too, just to avoid feeling left out.

All in all... another visual feast from Mr Burton. I wasn't blown away... more comfortably satisfied that Burton had delivered exactly what I imagined he would for the settings and characters in the film. I would have loved to have seen what he could have done with the original story. Me thinks it would have made for a much darker and uncomfortable experience which is maybe what I craved in the first place. I would mark it at 7.8/10. Not his best, personally I don't believe his stop motion has ever been beaten by his live action films, but worth watching and enjoying just to be transported somewhere so colourful and sumptuous. Also definitely worth the 3d aspect for the falling down the hole scene which makes you feel like you're falling with along with her.

And then to follow it all in true style by rocking out at my favorite club. Perfect. :-)

Shooooes.

I have two pairs of shoes which are vying for the honour of being worn to see Alice In Wonderland on Saturday. Neither of these shoes have been to Rock Club yet either so that also needs to be sorted out. Fast. One pair, however, has visited my Grandparents... which wasn't the sort of place that heels are appreciated in all their glory. Quite the opposite in fact. I was told that they would "break my legs". Despite the scary ice cream faces... they wouldn't go that far. I thought that was a bit harsh. And funny. Still, in the interests of fairness and Yin and Yan, whichever pair get to go to the Imax won't be selected for Rock Club. It's a tough, tough world out there. Thank goodness I have my shoes.

By the way, my feet aren't as big as my head. It's a trick of the camera/perspective. I'll have you know I'm a size 4... or 5 depending on which shop or shoes I'm in.

In other matters, I got a letter at work today congratulating me on one year absence-free at work. How nice of them. So, I would like to thank my anti-bodies and immune system for looking after me for a year. Please don't give up the good work guys and gals.

Discovery of the day: Finding out that nose whistlers (you know that little nose whistle you here sometimes when people breathe? That irritating, constant, rhythmical, tuneless, benign whistle which signals there is SOMETHING blocking a nostril somewhere nearby) can distract me from reading and thinking about Johnny Depp AND increase my rage count by about 6.5. Blow.Your.Freakin.Nose... or get out of earshot in my train carriage. Thank you.

9 days.

I am counting down the days 'til I see Alice In Wonderland. I'm reeeally excited about this.

I have watched two different trailers twice in an attempt to make an effort to listen to the musical score after a conversation at work today... but each time I get soo sucked in by the visuals I can't even hear it! I guess a good film score adds to the emotion and feel of a film without you really noticing it... and if that's the case, then this is going to be one hell of a film.

Countdown.

Whyyyy does the week to payday go sooo slooooowly. Today was like five days all crammed into one... possibly something to do with the fact that I had 3 days of work to catch up on after taking some annual leave last week... but still. I get paid on Friday. And it's only Monday.

I'm going to see The Rocky Horror Show on Friday evening- but I don't think the usual Rocky Attire is very snow appropriate so I'll be pulling those skinny jeans on instead. And wearing snow shoes possibly. eek.

Material Goods.

Shit. I need to blog. In case anyone still reads... I have survived the snow.

I have no excuse. I'll be sitting on the train and see something wierd and think- blog it. But by the time I've got home, got changed and a mug of tea in my hand I've either forgotten said event or found something more boring-but-necessary to do. This sucks. I really need to get my phone synched to do this sort of stuff because there are things that happen on my commute that need to be blogged about. Things seen, heard, read... I mean we're talking really wierd stuff here.

I've spent alot of money since christmas. I have a lot of new clothes in my wardrobe which is good news. I have a couple of pairs of new shoes including some kick ass heels and some awesome patent platform ankle boots both of which will get an outing at Eddies in due course. Not at the same time though obviously. I have a replacement Mp3 player with some awesome ear phones that makes it sound like the music is coming from the very epicentre of my brain- this is very pleasing to me- I thank you Mr. Reznor for your delightful noise in my earphones. I also have a new wireless printer which does just about everything -scans, copies, prints photo's and can even do it's own graph paper. Not that I have much need for graph paper... but you never know- it could be vital one day.

Today I said goodbye to my brother who's gone back to live in Japan. Kinda wierd. So, now I need my friends to start having babies so I can play Auntie since I'm not going to get the opportunity with my brother's kids. Any takers?