random meetings!

one of the things I love about London is that although there may be 7m people living here (and many, many more on the last Saturday before Christmas), you still randomly meet people you know!

today it was my friend Jane in the changing rooms at Oasis in Covent Garden which led to a lovely pre-Christmas drink - how random is that?

how times have changed...

... something just happened to my laptop whilst I was playing CivII and working on my CV. I got confused and a little scared - what were these error messages?, why were they attacking me?, was my lappy about to die a permanent death?

and then it happened... Blue Screen of Death!

It's been that long since I had a BSOD that I'd forgotten what they look like!

I just hope it's not the shape of things to come...

just like buses...

wtf? just caught the very end of Newsnight and they had their titles over the Eastenders theme tune... I think the world has actually gone mad.

ok - so no blog posts in over a month is bad

but having been doing lots of cool things with lots of cool people, and quite a bit of work.

one thing I have being working lots with GoogleDocs. I'd highly recommend for anyone needing to work from different machines, although it is obvious that it's still in beta. The word documents are great but the spreadsheet is not a replacement for Excel - it really is just a spreadsheet and not the flat db that Excel can be. Also - the presentations are rubbish, but I'm looking forward to what it will be when it's finished.

I also can't believe that it's fewer than 4 weeks to Christmas - I'm sure last time I looked it was August... Next few weeks will be great, albeit very hectic. Work, comedy gigs, Christmas parties, indie gigs, trip to Sheffield, trip to Brum seminars, classical concerts (not necessarily in that order) and then back to Stortford for actual Christmas before Charlie's NYE party. Then it's January and time to start it all over again!

gonna have capacity for a new client in Jan, so if anyone knows of anyone - let me know.

new radio!

have just bought a new kitchen radio from Argos that's both FM and DAB. It has actual presets, which means that I can now listen to something other than Radio4 (I'm so rubbish at tuning radios that I have a fear that if I tune it to something else, I'll never find Radio4 again!). And it was only £25 - yay!

all change in booksville... again!

yes, I know - it's only been about 3 minutes since I last re-organised my books, but I'm at it again.

the new sideboard has taken the place of one bookshelf, and I've also taken another one out of the lounge (where to is as yet undecided - they're both sitting in the hallway at the moment!). This means that the whole organise-my-books-by-colour thing has gone as the only two left in the room were the black and white ones. This looked odd, rather than quirky so needed to be changed.

currently, I've just selected all the books that I either like the most or use often and put them randomly across the two bookshelves. The only books where they should be are the English language reference ones - so I don't have to search all over the place for them!

the lounge now looks rather nice (if I do say so myself) and I am very excited about people seeing it on Saturday!

general loveliness!

what a great week it has been!

seen lots of friends, had interesting evenings with interesting people, there is not going to be an election this year and I am now the proud owner of the most beautiful sideboard in all of the world!

didn't get quite as much sleep as was strictly needed, so going to make up for that now!

bugger...

... looks like November 1st.

a lovely evening...

... started with going to a Q&A with Neil Gaiman at the Criterion Theatre which was great - he's genuinely nice, incredibly talented and very witty. In it he mentioned that he's likely to do some more things with the BBC which will be completely fab!

next was a big queue at Waterstones on Piccadilly for a book signing. I got my original copy of Good Omens signed, and thanked him for improving my grammar geekery credentials (for publishing my response in full on his blog to a bit of grammatical neepery). Paul took a couple of photos that I will link to as soon as he puts them up.

then on to Wagamama with some of Paul's friends who were also at the reading (but skipped the signing in favour of food) for lots of green tea and some of the most amazing mango and lychee sorbet in the 'verse.

we finished the evening at Albannach which was lovely (it's on Trafalgar Square, but surprisingly nice and not a tourist in sight).

am a happy bunny.

ok, I give up...

... I have been steadfast in my "not accepting winter" stance. It has now crumbled.

It's cold and wet outside.
I have a horrid cold.
I've turned the heating on.

why can't I just hibernate until the spring?

free shopping!

am very excited as this week, I'm going to be able to go shopping for homewares for free - yay!

Well - actually, I'm going to look through M&D's loft at all the things that Jules and I have banned them from throwing away, but it's still very cool!

the problem with being a Spurs fan...

... is that deep inside, you know you're going to lose.

and that feeling has spread to other things that I care about - like politics - I just can't be optimistic about our chances at any election.

now - if the next GE is 18 months away - then I'm ok - I can just worry about the Mayoral next year.

all day Radio4 has been interviewing people and suggesting that a GE this autumn in likely... I just can't stand it. Every time I hear another pollster or union rep saying it's a good idea, I get this feeling of dread that I can't shake. And almost everyone I know in the party is at Conference and I'm not...

I think we're going to lose the next election, I don't want us to, but I think we will. The thought of a Tory government before Christmas is just depressing.

where am I?

ok - so I think I may have moved to an alternate universe. I don't mind - in fact I'm going to stay for a while.

the proof? I've just bough a Lexmark colour laser printer for £20!

From an actual shop (before you start thinking back of a lorry!).

And it's working.


god bless the good ship Maplin and all who sail with her!

my task for this evening...

... is to write 200 lines of "I will not go into the business section of Waterstones to browse".

grrrr to those evil people with all their great books for sale.

but a distant memory....

... on Thursday I was looking up at blue skies from a sun lounger and today I had my winter gear on... am not amused.

wow - your logic is very different to our earth logic...

...about to go to bed and was just doing the round-up of various blogs I read.

came across this link on Neil Gaiman's blog.

the Chinese government have stated that the Dalai Lama has to get permission from Beijing before reincarnating - yep you read that right.

I really want to know how they're going to enforce this one - or how they're going to know if he does..!

birthdays, birthdays, birthdays...

Happy 30th to Mike - 4 days late - although I did try to text him on the day but didn't get the time-zone thing-ey right, so it was about 6 hours early!

Happy 34th to Keith - brother-in-law - actually today!

and - the most important, and incredibly amazing...

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY to my nephew Jay for yesterday! Wow - that went really, really quickly!

I'm not rude - my tact filter just works the other way...

... This is just fab! There's not much more that I can say - it's completely true and I want to tell everyone I know (hence the post!). Also - thanks to Paul to bringing to my attention!

Other great quote from Paul this eve: "Your books don't need organising - they need a government"!

TARDIS bookshelves..?

I'm confused.

I'm re-arranging my books and bookshelves. The first thing was to move the shelves into their new places, so I took all the books off them and put them in piles for their new classifications. I'm now putting them back onto the shelves, only there doesn't seem to be enough space.

The only explanation I can come up with is that my bookshelves had some kind of TARDIS facility that has now been switched off...

why I love Slashdot...

... just reading the comments on an article about the US blocking entry to a Black Hat presenter to an annual security conference, and someone posted the following:

Another evil terrorist plot foiled! Tax me some more so i can be even safer!

gotta love those slashdotters! (and no, I haven't RTFA, but if you'd like to - here's the link to the /. page!).

the art of procrastination

I think I could teach a course in this... I'm going on holiday in 2 week's time and I've written a complete list of everything that needs doing in the flat beforehand - mostly tidying and cleaning.

since I wrote the list, I have re-arranged and cataloged my DVDs (not on the list) and am half way through completely re-arranging my books, including moving bookshelves around the flat and deciding on a cataloging system (again, not on the list)...

I've got to get ready to go out now, but I've promised myself that I'll make a start on the list tomorrow...

Studio 60 is finally on UK TV!

yay! Thursdays on More4 at 10pm - and they're showing all 22 episodes in one run! This show is amazing and if you haven't discovered it, now is the time. It's written by Sorkin and exactly what you'd expect from him.

even though I've seen all of it already, there is something exciting about watching on telly! If you've missed the pilot tonight it's repeated at 11.05pm on Sunday, again on More4.

(apologies about the number of exclamation marks but, as you might have guessed, I'm quite excited about it!)

different world...

... there has been some kind of serious accident on the New Kent Road and the whole road has been shut off (since at least 9pm).

I've just been across the road to get some Diet Coke and it's like a different world - no cars and lots of people about - far more than usual. Everyone was being friendly and talking to everyone else - not about the accident - about the weather, the new M&S at the garage - basically, just chatting.

It was odd - nice, but odd. I always find it quite friendly round here, but hadn't realised before how much effect the road has on people, in so far as being a barrier that makes everyone keep to themselves - the whole London thing.

oh dear...

... I still occasionally get IET things through the post and the latest newsletter came yesterday (I was so excited about The Deathly Hallows that I didn't notice until today!).

The headline on the front page is: "UK skills gap 'continues to deteriorate' ". I thought this was good news - the gap is deteriorating - but no, they meant it was widening. I don't know who the sub-ed is, but they either have a very limited knowledge of grammar, or they hadn't read the article..!

approximately 10 hours after it arrived...

... I've finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm not going to put any spoilers here at all, only to recommend that people read it.

(also - once you've read it - let me know so that I have people to talk to about it!)

update: am really annoyed - most of the good sites have shut down until the 24th or 25th... if people don't want to get spoilers, then they shouldn't go on the forums - there's not need to shut them down!

first Harry Potter review

the NY Times got hold of a copy of The Deathly Hallows from a store who broke the embargo. Here's what they say about it (contains some spoilers, but doesn't give away the ending).

hopefully my copy will be in the post on Sat!

learning... at last!

just had another great day - went to a gig with Paul at the Union Chapel, which is a church in Islington that has acoustic gigs. Saw Kate Walsh, supported by Ruarri Joseph who were both great, and am now about to eat.

the learning bit comes in here - I've actively planned to do nothing for the next 4 days, just to see how my body is coping with the increase in activity! I'm not amazingly shattered and could probably get away with doing something, but I'm not going to. Now this is a first for me, and I'm celebrating the fact!

what a lovely day!

it started with breakfast at my dining table (I finished dismantling the shelving units yesterday and move the futon into the office), then went to meet Mum for a coffee. After that we went shopping, bought some lovely summer clothes and finished it with a meal at Loch Fyne with Dad.

the sun has been shining most of the day and I'm going to watch a film and then head to bed.

splinter inducing...

... oh dear.

can I suggest that if you find yourself awake in the middle of the night and have a thought about re-arranging furniture, stop at the point where you've made the diagrams.

I've just dismantled one of the massive shelving units in the office and have about 3 splinters in my fingers (my feet are safe as I put on a pair of New Rocks!).

on the plus side, the office now looks much bigger and when I get rid of the other unit, I'll be able to move the futon in there.

on the down side - I have splinters...

think I'm going to try and stay awake for the day now, with a nap at sometime mid-afternoon so that I'm awake and ready for shopping tomorrow with Mum.

Update: ok - the staying awake thing isn't working, so I'm going to go to bed now, but get up before midday!

strange world...

... I just came across the following quote on the Beeb website:

The clip of the al-Qaeda leader features in a 40-minute video on a militant web site that carries the logo of al-Qaeda's media wing.

they have a media wing. The US shouldn't be offering a reward for his capture, they should be getting Warren Buffet to invest and then buy them out...

after an hour of ceaseless searching...

... ok - it's more like a week than an hour, and not really searching, more like ceaseless devotion to moisturising - but that's not the point...

... the point is that I now have almost pretty feet! Hard edges are nearly gone, and skin is pretty silky, so I'm not completely ashamed to show them in public when I go on holiday (4 weeks today - yay!).

I put the blame for the fact that I've had to spend time doing this squarely at my mother's door... I think it goes hand in hand (or foot in foot) with the whole feet-radiating-cold thing.

also - dyslexia can be a bugger sometimes - I knew the quote verbally and it has just taken me about 20 mins to work out how to spell the word ceaseless (seasless, seesless, sealsus - yeah - I knew the quote before I knew what the word meant, so I'd never thought about it before... another airing cupboard moment!)

have you checked that it's plugged in...?

I am a complete muppet of the highest order...

... my wifi hasn't been working since I've had the new lappy which, although annoying, hasn't been a major stress as I've just connected directly to the router.

I have tried various things though - rebooting the router, checking that I've set up the wireless network from the lappy etc, but to no avail.

about 5 mins ago, I noticed that my lappy has a "wifi" button on it - can you guess what happened when I pressed it?

grrr....

recommendation...

... if you are up watching tv quite late because your brain is being noisy, may I suggest that watching Monster in probably not a good idea...

it's a great film, which I've seen before, but really - not for that "just before bed" time...

type-cast actors...

... are really annoying! I've just watched an ep of CSI that I haven't seen before and so, one would assume, I didn't expect to know who-dunnit until at least part way through... Unfortunately, the same actress who played Mary Marsh in the West Wing (a leader of the Christian Right) was in it. I made the assumption that she was the baddie, and she was - grrr....

scary...

... just finished watching All The President's Men on telly (lovely insomnia has popped up to say hello again) and came to check my mail. The first thing in my inbox? An alert from The Washington Post reporting that Bush has commuted Libby's prison sentence...

what's that phrase? The more things change...

July!

ok, so I know that I've lived here all my life and therefore don't expect summer to mean warm sunshine, but lying on the sofa under a duvet (I refuse to put the heating on...), taking cold and cough medicine is frankly ridiculous...

... if only I was going away somewhere warm and sunny in say, 37 days - oh hang on, I am!

the best political satire I've seen in ages, and from an unexpected corner...

... well, I've probably overloaded on Doctor Who this eve as, along with the last ep of the season (amazing btw), I've been catching up on the Doctor Who Confidentials (the BBC3 fanzine show).

In the Confidential for Ep 12, the footage of Mr Saxon (the Master) taking office as Prime Minister has Things Can Only Get Better as a sound track, and some of his poses in the shots are direct copies from when Blair took office...

I'd never really thought of RTD's politics before, but I'm guessing he was anti the war!

the media...

... I'm really annoyed at how the media are portraying the two car bombs in London yesterday. As far as I can see, everything worked as it should: A member of the emergency services was vigilant, noticed something was wrong and reported it; the second car had been towed away on parking violations and was therefore no longer in a crowded place. Both devices were gotten to before they exploded.

In a major international city, this is what's meant to happen. The police are not going to get a heads-up on every person who wants to kill people with bombs and it is ridiculous to think that they should. What should happen is that people are vigilant, report things they see, and the emergency services deal with these things in a calm and professional way.

This is what happened, but rather than herald it as a success, the media (and the Government) seem determined to use it as a way of scaring people. The only person who sounded sensible about it all was Ken - I just hope he gets re-elected next year...

OK - rant over now, I'm going to watch the final ep of Doctor Who (and then spend the rest of the evening dissecting it on message boards!).

useful insomnia...?

am not asleep, although I'd like to be - I thought I'd make myself useful and do various bit so admin that I'd been putting off. One of them was my tax return (not due until the end of the year, but I'd already done the hard bit of working my way through about 3 trees' worth of invoices and receipts, so it was just a job hanging about). I thought it would be a nightmare as I couldn't find the bit of paper they sent me a while ago, but it wasn't.

the same, really complex user name and password (think random alpha-numeric for both) that I used last year and, more importantly, cunningly wrote down in a Safe Place (has to be the first time I've put something in an SP and then found it again!) are still valid!

so the whole being awake thing has been quite useful (even if it does now mean that I know how much money (that I don't have...) I need to give HMRC in January).

and can I just say that whilst I'm really happy paying tax and think it's a great thing to do, I really dislike Class 4 NI. I don't know what it does or where it goes, but and extra 8% on everything over your basic tax allowance sucks.

mmm... this seems to have turned in to a rant so it's probably time to sign off... I'll try and think some happy thoughts and then head to bed...

oh dear...

... another one of those "where did the last 10 years go" moment. Just watched Claire Danes being interviewed on The Daily Show and she was looking much older than I'd thought she was - my thought process went "she was in Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo DiCarprio and she was really young then - it can't have been more than 5 years ago that it came out"....

... so I've just looked on imdb and it came out in 1996! That's just plain scary...

ouch...

... well, today I had, what I can only call, my first proper clarinet practice: The first eight Demnitz studies for 20 mins and then the first three bars of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet for a further 20 mins.

by the end I was able to play those three bars at 84 bpm, with the right tonguing, phrasing etc... the correct speed is 120 bpm... oh well - practice makes perfect!

I now hurt, so am going to sit down for the rest of the evening...

whatever you think of him...

... I can't think of another time when the whole of the House of Commons will rise to their feet and give a standing ovation to an MP, let alone an outgoing PM...

new lappy!

lots of excitement over the weekend, but right now I only have the brain to be happy about the lappy! I haven't quite got the whole wifi thing working as yet, so am sat on the floor in the hall, connected directly to the router!

am slowly getting used to where the keys are (the home, end etc have all changed!) and am also getting a bit confused by the fact that it's so quite - I keep thinking it's about to shut down!

most importantly I have Civ2 installed already!

going to sleep soon, as have been up and awake since 9am waiting for lappy to come (it was due to come between 9 and 5, and arrived at 6.45.... oh well - not really that surprising!

tomorrow I'll probably digest all the cool politics that's been happening, but Radio4 said that Hewett has been sacked, so it's looking up!

also - check out Sian's blog for a fab description of Saturday!

UPDATE: still no wifi, but my printer is working - Yay! slowly but surely....!

UPDATE 2: mmm... spoke to soon - the test page printed, and half of the page I was looking to print - then the printer kind of got confused....

exciting few days!

it all kicks off with meeting Sian at Euston at 7.30 tonight. We're going to have a chilled evening watching DVDs and knitting (the bobble for a Jayne-hat!).

tomorrow we're going to a showing of Serenity at Leicester Square Odeon (in aid of Equality Now) in the morning and then at some point go up to Brum. This is because I need to be in Manchester on Sunday morning (too early to get a train from London) as I'm going to the Labour Leadership Conference!

then I'm either coming back to London on Sunday evening, or going to stay at Jules and Keith's in Liverpool and coming down on Monday. Then my lappy is being picked up on Monday afternoon and my lovely insurance company are going to give me a new one, that actually works!

not quite sure what I'm more excited about - very close one!

irrepressible

went to a fab debate tonight hosted by Amnesty International's Irrepressible campaign titled "Some People Think the Internet is a Bad Thing". It was great - very broad ranging and a really interesting panel (both live and virtual), including a the BBC Technology Editor, a blogger who was in jail in Iran for 5 years, someone from TOR and many others.

it was broadcast as a webcast live, and as of tomorrow you should be able to watch it here.

anyway, Sailing By is now on, so it's time for bed!

UPDATE: They've included the Q&A at the end (listed as Debate on the site), so you can see me asking a question!

tone!

have just finished 20 mins or so of clarinet practice and for at least 5 mins of that I had, what I would consider to be, decent tone! Not great tone - decent, but worth a celebration as it's the first time that I've been semi-pleased with how I've sounded!

also - sight-reading has come on a bit and I'm now almost comfortable in the third register!

100th post joke...

... just heard on a Radio4 show called "Ha Ha Science":

A neutron goes into a bar and orders a gin and tonic. When the drink arrives, he takes out his wallet, but the barman says "for you, no charge"!

Quote UnQuote Shock...

... a few years ago, I heard Quote UnQuote and was horrified to find myself enjoying it (this will only make sense to those who are familiar with I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue !).

and it's just happened again! I'd even go as far as to say that I will actively try to listen to it in the future... I don't know if this means that QuQ has suddenly got funny, or that Humph is wrong... I'm assuming the former, as to believe the latter would mean a serious paradigm shift that I'm not willing to contemplate!

newsnight...

... if anyone missed newsnight this eve, the whole programme can be watched online here. It was fab - a special, live debate with all the candidates for the deputy leadership.

now, I'm supporting Harriet Harman, so I may be biased here, but I found it really interesting that the camera went to her a lot for reaction shots whilst others were speaking, and I didn't really see it go to anyone else... not sure if this means that newsnight sees her as the front-runner...?

also - I've realised what Hazel Blears reminds me of - a jack russell terrier! (apologies to those strange friends of mine who are supporting her...)

lovely music!

had an early morning (for me, anyway!) but it was worth it. I went to one of the coffee concerts at Wigmore Hall and saw a brilliant string quartet play some Mozart and Haydn (yay) and some Dvorak (very dramatic, but I always find it over done).

definitely a great way to spend a Sunday, even if it did mean missing the Monaco GP!

having never been to Wigmore Hall before, I have to say I was impressed - the acoustics were amazing. On June 12th I'm going to see some Bach violin concertos, but am going to try and go again before then!

finger memory and co-ordination...

... I've started playing the clarinet again (only a few mins a day until I'm better) and am really looking forward to getting up to a decent standard again (probably about a year away).

two things have amazed me so far:

1) finger memory. Even though I can't remember what all the notes are called, or sight-read properly, I can still remember how to play the first movement of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet (albeit very badly...)

2) co-ordination between tongue and fingers. This one sounds strange, but when you play the clarinet, you sometimes 'tongue' each note. This means that rather than just blowing, you bring your tongue to the reed at the start and end of each note. It sounds really simple, but I've just tried playing a basic scale at speed, and it didn't work! My fingers and my tongue were working at different tempos, so I either had 2 identical notes in a row, or missed out one...

oh well, just one more thing that I'll need to re-learn. I've also got to get used to the pain again - my right thumb, my lower lip, both wrist at the moment! - and get my embouchure good enough to get over the second break, into the third register!

new discovery...

... about my lappy.

even though it is being totally rubbish and over heating at the drop of a hat I can, in fact, watch movies and tv programmes on it - I just have to be sat out on the balcony like I am now!

it seems that it is happier whilst there is cooler air and wind, so for now (i.e. whilst it's not too cold out for me, or too hot for the lappy), I have a solution!

grrr...

... I spent yesterday feeling not great (itchy throat, sore eyes) and had real probs sleeping last night. More of the same today, combined with itchy skin and a general feeling of something being not right. I put it down to continued illness-thingy.

it was only when I was out earlier having a coffee and overheard someone talking about hay-fever that the penny dropped! So, having Ok'd it with my doctor, I've just taken some piriton.

bloody typical - if I'd been well and had these symptoms, I would have known what it was immediately...

I think that there should be some kind of rule, where if you have an ongoing illness, you should not have to deal with things like hay-fever...

I'm really going to pay for it tomorrow...

... but have just had a fab evening. Went to a seminar hosted by Involve, all about engagement and participation in politics and meet some great people. Hopefully I'm going to do some stuff with some, about engagement of youth in particular!

then went to the pub for a few drinks (non-alcoholic!) and debated everything from Spin to the Middle-East to choice in hospitals in schools... my throat is now quite sore, so I'm going to have to be quite for a few days!

also - the wonders of facebook, not only has everyone I know joined in the past few weeks (including me), but I've also just had a text from an old school friend (Jane Currie), seeing if I'm on facebook and am going to meet up with her soon as well! I heard tonight that there have been about 50,000 Londoners join facebook in the past 2 weeks... doesn't surprise me!

I know I should have gone to bed already...

... but just as CSI finished, I flicked over to ITV2 and A Few Good Men was on. Even though I love the West Wing (and have watched it far too many times to be healthy), I sometimes forget quite how amazing Aaron Sorkin is. And even though Tom Cruise stars, it really is one of the best films of all time.

and it was the first play Sorkin ever wrote...

sunday nights...

... not sure when this happened but I've realised that, even if I was well, I'd be unlikely to go out on a Sunday night. Reason - 5 hours of CSI on FiveUS! Very sad I know. It's not even like I'm a huge fan, I just don't seem to be able to do anything but watch it when it's on!

my lappy is being stroppy again...

... and the worst of it is that the mouse pad keeps sticking.

this doesn't sound to drastic, but I've just finished a game of Civ2 and it stuck on the high score page, so that when I clicked "ok" to exit, it actually wiped all the high scores (button to the left).

I had my highest scores ever on this computer (they were all over 130%) and now I have to start all over again... not a happy bunny.

don't know why it's misbehaving again - it had been really good for the last month or so, but it's overheated and shut down twice today... either way - BAD LAPTOP...

I have a strange head...

... am listening to an episode of Clue to go to sleep, and they had "one song to the tune of another" on. In the half hour since that round, I've been going through "Tipperary/Pack up your Troubles" in my head, including singing out loud the alternate lines of each song, as in:

It's a long way to Tipperary
Smile, Smile, Smile
It's a long way to Tipperary
Smile boys that's the style
Goodbye Piccadilly
It never was worth while
It's a long long way to Tipperary
Smile, Smile, Smile

and:

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
It's a long way to go
While you've a lucifer to light your fag
To the sweetest girl I know
What's the use of worrying
Farewell Leicester Square
So, pack your troubles in your old kit bag
But my heart is there

well, I'm going to go back to trying to go to sleep now...

still ill...

... but if there was ever a day to be in bed listening to Radio4 between dozes, it was today! and tomorrow, I'm going to have to do what I haven't done for a very long time, a sweep of the broadsheets - just hope I have the brain for it!

just caught the end of Newsnight, which was fab - a round-table debate with the likes of Alastair Campbell, Michael Howard, Charles Kennedy, David Hare and Polly Toynbee - don't you just love the beeb!

Blair's speech earlier was fab - I only have the transcript on email (can't find it on the interweb yet) - if anyone wants to see it - let me know and I'll forward it on.

bed now - but have just heard that Radio4's audience has risen over the last 3 months to 9.6m per day - second only to Radio2 - so Yay for the beeb again!

damn...

that feeling ill thing I was having last night has turned into tonsillitis...

have been to A&E and have some lovely antibiotics and am now going to hide under a duvet until I feel better.

urgg....

... am ill again.

hopefully not too bad or long lasting - but my glands round my neck are up and my right tonsil is not looking so good....

good things and bad things...

on the bad side - had the most rubbish date ever with a complete wanker.

on the good side - Mel is here, we've had lovely, healthy food. We're watching Cat Stevens on telly and will probably watch some kind of chick-flick after that.

so - all in all, the balance is on the good side!

book shops and the movement of time...

... not quite sure how, but whenever I step into a bookshop, time seems to pass at an alarming rate! I'm sure that I've only been there for 10 mins or so, but when I come out, I discover that over an hour has passed...

Waterstones have some of their great 3 for 2s on at the moment. I got:

Holes by Louis Schar
Girlfriend In A Coma by Douglas Coupland
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Tescopoly by Andrew Simms
Failed State by Noam Chomsky
As Used On The Famous Nelson Mandela by Mark Thomas

So that's my reading list for the next few months... now all I have to decide is which one to start first!

yay for Good Omens!

there's nothing like re-reading Good Omens when you're feeling sad about the future of the world. Yes, I still think we're all going to hell in a hand-cart, but now I find that thought quite funny!

when they came for me, there was no-one to speak out...

... a poetry professor in a small college in the Northeast decides to recycle old manuscripts and becomes an object of suspicion.

this is scary, and very sad - it just goes to show how the culture of fear that western governments and the media are peddling can only spiral downwards...

if we are fearful, we will elect them.
if we are fearful, we will buy papers.
if we are fearful, we can be controlled.


first seen on Bruce Schneier's blog.

no Mozart at the Proms...

...what is the world coming to? This evening they put all the details of the 07 season on the BBC Proms website but the only Mozart to feature is two weekday afternoon things... when they can find the time for loads of Elgar or Benjamin Britten - just not fair!

I have requested tickets for a few though - Prom 69 - Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Prom 52 - Handel and Purcell with the OAE look particularly fab!

you can request tickets here.

I am not alone!

thanks to Jude's recommendation, I am now a member a group on Facebook called "I judge you when you use poor grammar". One posting is transcript of an AIM conversation where a guy (Alex) is trying to explain some basic rules of grammar to someone. It contains the following exchange:

Anon: hey guess what
Anon: i got an acedemic award 2day
Alex: Did you spell "cat" correctly?
Anon: no
Alex: Well, at least you tried.

Genius - pure genius!

UPDATE: Sorry, just realised that the links only work if you're a member of facebook.

clever body...?

this time of year can be a challenge when it comes to deciding what to wear. The day may start off sunny, but will it last? Will I be too hot if I take a jacket to be on the safe side? Or too cold if I just go with a sun top?

well, my body has obviously thought this through and come up with a cunning solution...

to take away this dilemma, it has decided that I shall be too hot and too cold, all that the same time... yep - since Sunday, it's been hedging all bets on the weather and ensured that I get both options. Sweating whilst cold!

I've also been shaking quite a lot and not been able to hold more than half a thought in my head at once.

oh well... I assume this is one of those "two steps back" phases.

what's slightly more disconcerting is that my vocal chords seem to be getting worse again - so can everyone please "touch wood" that this doesn't turn back into full blown laryngitis again... I've had enough of that!


UPDATE (4.56am): Just seen this quote on my Google homepage:

When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.
Oscar Wilde

mmm... I really kind of wish now that I hadn't been telling everyone that I dreamed of only needing 3 or 4 hours sleep a night (rather than the recent minimum of 12hrs)... logical conclusion of the quote - yup - you've got it: Insomnia! grrr.....

new obsession....

... I finally took Anna's advice and got hold of Season 1 of Babylon 5 (£9 on ebay!).

oh dear.

after only 4 episodes, I know that it's a new obsession. I'm going to have to get hold of all 5 series, and then get hold of lots of essays written about the series...

a week of rest and soup....

... well, after the adventures of last week, I managed to get up for 3 hours on Friday (8pm - 11pm!) and then do nothing on Saturday. Sunday was lovely - we had a baby shower for Jude who is due in the next couple of weeks. It was great, but I faded quite a lot and needed much strong coffee to get me going again. So I've decided that this week is a week of rest.

I've got no work lined up (should be back at that next week), and nothing at all in my diary. I plan to rest, eat lots of soup, maybe try the tiniest bit of pilates, watch lots of DVDs and do a lot of reading. Bliss!

he's not the messiah...

... was just reading the latest on the Virgin/BSkyB thingy and came across this fab quote from the BBC website:

"Last month the National Consumer Council accused Virgin Media and BSkyB of "behaving like children".

fab... just fab!

flip-flops and bombs... not a good combination!

my feet hurt.

I've had a lovely day - worked on a client site (second half-day in a row!) and then went out for a drink afterwards (yay!) and then had some food, and then had one alcoholic drink (I know that I shouldn't, but I had a blood test this morning and if my liver has improved - test results due on the 24th - then I'm able to drink again, and if it hasn't, then I'll be tested again in 6 weeks and one drink can't be too bad!) and decided I had enough energy to walk half way home (i.e. over a bridge and then get a bus for the not-so-pretty-or-safe part of the journey). I was in Soho, but decided that I fancied walking towards Waterloo Bridge (longer, but prettier walk then Westminster Bridge) so headed that way. It was a lovely evening, so I meandered a bit. Got to the Strand... well actually, I go near the Strand...

...there was a big bomb alert on Waterloo Bridge and the whole thing was shut off (well, they said "police incident", so I'm assuming it was a bomb). So I walked to Whitehall and got a 453 over Westminster Bridge after nearly an hour of walking.

and I was wearing flip-flops today.

and now my feet hurt (yes, I know I said that already, but they hurt a lot and so deserve another mention...).

In other news, I had the most lovely Easter weekend. It was Mum's 60th on Friday and I was over at theirs from Thursday till Sunday. Great party on the Friday, very chilled on Saturday, and then left to go and watch the Malaysian GP at Dunc's on Sunday. Ended up sleeping on his sofa after a chinese take-away and lots of movies and then watching Easter Parade on Monday before coming home. lovely!

the beginning of the end of DRM...?

fab article from this week's Economist:

A change of Tune

EMI decides to embrace unprotected digital music, to Apple's delight
WHEN your back is against the wall, you might as well try something unexpected. That, at least seems to be the thinking at EMI, the world's third-biggest record company, which on April 2nd said it would start selling digital music online without the "digital rights-management" (DRM) technology normally used to hamper piracy.

EMI certainly needs to do something. Its sales of CDs are plummeting and it issued two profit warnings in teh first two months of this year. So of the four big record labels, or majors, it has the least to lose by moving to DRM-free digital downloads. This was something Steve Jobs, the boss of Apple, called for in an essay published on his firm's website in February - even though Apple owns the dominant DRM standard, FairPlay.

Mr Jobs grumbled that he had been forced to introduce FariPlay by the majors, which would not otherwise have sold their music through Apple's iTunes, the leading online music store. As well as limiting piracy, DRM makes it hard to move music from one device to another. This annoys people and hurts sales, Mr Jobs argued. Most music is still sold unprotected, on CDs. By ditching DRM, the majors would gain more in sales than they would lose in piracy, he implied.

EMI is about to put this prediction to the test. It says it will make its digital catalogue available through iTunes and other online music stores without DRM and at a higher audio quality than existing downloads. The new tracks will be sold at a higher price - $1.29 per track rather than iTunes' usual $0.99 (and £0.99 rather than £0.79 in Britain) - justified by the improved quality and greater convenience, say Apple and EMI. Protected tracks will continue to be sold at the lower price.

It is a cleaver move on EMI's part, but it is even cleverer from Apple's point of view. It should reduce the pressure on the company from some European regulators, who worry that FairPlay is quite the opposite, and "locks in" customers by tightly linking iTunes with Apple's iPod music-players. Furthermore, the majors have long been keen to raise their prices on iTunes. Mr Jobs has always said no. But he has now, in effect, stated his terms: if they abandon DRM, they can charge more. EMI clearly thinks this is a good deal. But will consumers and the other majors?

I'm getting me a cardboard cut-out of a techie...

... oh dear. Interweb disappeared about 45 minutes ago. ADSL said it was on and wifi said it was working, so I rebooted the lappy. Then the ADSL light went off. So I turned off the lappy, the wifi and the router, and turned them back on again in reverse order. Nothing... nada... Next thought - Force9. They had some problems last month with one of their servers, so I thought I'd try them and see if it was at their end.

I ring them and am put on hold (and not so helpfully, their on-hold music includes suggestions to look at their website for hold times on the phone - If I could get online - I wouldn't be phoning.... but that's another rant for another day). 14 minutes later (and about 40 mins after the ADSL went away) they pick up.

As I'm giving them my password, the ADSL light comes back on...

"don't worry miss" says the guy at Force9 - "happens all the time"... I bet it does.

funniest thing EVER.... please listen!

wow - everyone MUST listen to this (before Wednesday April 4th as it's a listen-again from Radio 4).

It's Mark Thomas telling of his campaign against SOCPA.

This is definitely one of the funniest things I've ever heard - enjoy!

(and yes - I will go to bed soon, but I've had a delightful bout of insomnia again - joy...).

holiday...

... the weather is cold, wet and miserable and I want a holiday. With the not earning money thing, I can't afford one this year. All I want to do is sit in the hot, near a swimming pool and relax for a week.

If anyone has friends or family who work for hotel groups, or knows anyone who has an apartment anywhere, who'd let me rent it for a week, let me know (I know this is a long shot, but hey - if you don't ask...).

aftermath of the longest day...

... wow - yesterday was long! started at 7am (yes, 7am) to be on a client site at 9.30. I worked through to 12.30 and then went home via the bank. At 4pm I left to meet Sian at Euston and we came back via the Chinese to pick up a take-away.

the plan was to watch some Buffy and then head to bed at about 9pm-ish. At 1am, we finally went to bed after lots of chatting, some collapsing on my part, and lots of Buffy!

in total, I was up for 18 hours!!

today... Sian left at 8am to head to the airport (she's going out KL for holiday) and I went back to bed. I've slept for most of the day, drank some coffee and the plan for the evening is some Civ2... lovely!

ok, now I really know that I should go to bed now...

... but just in case I needed more motivation, I've just been looking at the Search History function on Google. It has a trends section, which shows things like what time you do most of your searching... oh dear - the 11pm to 1am section is the highest - and not just that, but higher than almost everything else put together... that's what I shall now be calling the "danger zone". I reckon that if I'm bored enough to be doing lots of google searches, I'm probably finding things to spend money on!

from now on, I'm going to try and be aware of this, and hopefully, that will mean I'll do it less (or is that the twelve-steps...?).

in other news, had a great day today - did midday to six for a client, and wasn't feeling completely shaky when I left! Yay - that's a first! I'm not going to overdo it though - tomorrow is going to be a Day Of Rest.

mmwwaa-ha-ha-ha...

... another convert to worship at the alter of St Joss of the Whedon!

had a lovely day today - meet my friend Aisha for a coffee which turned into coming back to the flat to watch Firefly (she'd seen Serenity and loved it, but hadn't heard of FF).

she's a complete convert and I believe will be ordering the DVD tomorrow!

what was that amazon quote? "Fox just got another pissed-off fan".

quite.

pilates!

well - today I've done a pilates class and it was fab! my teacher rang earlier in the week to see if I was ok as I hadn't been for ages and I told her the situation. She suggested that I come to a level 1 class, but only do part of the class - to build up my strength. She also told me not to bring my own equipment so that the journey was less tiring.

it was great. I stayed for the whole class, but only took part in about half. The rest of the time I did remedial and passive stretches, so as not to tire myself out.

am very tired now, but a good, healthy, kind of tired - in fact, I have more energy than when I got on the bus to go to class... and this is on top of doing two half-days of work during the week!

I'm going to go to class again next week, and if all goes well, I'll try doing the Wed evening class as well - but still only taking part in half of it (leaving the more powerful work for when I'm better).

going to spend the rest of the weekend relaxing... lovely!

newsci readers, I salute you...

... A question submitted this week to The Last Word:

Why do we like shiny things?
Jonah Lawton
London, UK

brilliant - nothing more to say!

another day written-off...

... urggg... spent most of the day in bed and have just got back from a cafe - I thought it best to try and get out, even if only for an hour.

tomorrow is a big day - am going to a client site to do some work - nothing amazing exciting, or well paying, but a really good test of my strength. hopefully I'll be feeling a lot better tomorrow.

I think a chinese take-away, an episode of firefly and then an early night with some NightNurse should go some way to helping.

a lovely weekend!

Mel's been here, and we've eaten healthily and been generally good. Lots of Buffy has been watched (starting at Season 1).

about to finish the season and to celebrate our healthy-ness, a chinese take-away is in order (and yes, I know the logic is a bit flawed, but deal with it!).

then an early bed, I'm a very tired girl from a busy week, but it's been worth it - I may have a day of paid work in an actual office next week!

wow...

... just got back from seeing the RSC Tempest and it was simply amazing. I don't think I've seen a production like that for years, if ever.

Patrick Stewart was just fantastic and Ariel - well. Rather than being the normal, wirey, Puck-like creature, he was more silent-horror-movie-statuesque-disdainful.

the whole thing was amazing.

words have actually failed me at this point, so I'll go to bed!

mirrors

I've just read another article about slimming mirrors in changing rooms and how they're trying to get rid of them.

I have another solution, one which I think is much better.

firstly, these mirrors don't make fat people look thin, they just take a couple of pounds off - making you look more svelte.

secondly, I know that I look a hell of a lot better if I feel great about how I look - much better than I look if I've just lost a couple of pounds.

do you see where I'm going with this?

rather than get rid of these mirrors in the changing rooms, just make all mirrors like this.

that way, everyone will feel great about how they look, feel confident in their new clothes, and have a much better time!

maybe we should start a petition ??!

first F1 weekend of the season...

here are all the details of the rule changes, and here are all the new team line-ups.

and yes, I am going to bed now!

new task

right - March 17th is the last day of TheShow and although I'm pretty sure that all of the past shows will still be on the interweb on March 18th, I'm not taking any chances. I've watched a fair few already, but haven't gone through all of them.

yet.

so I'm going to.

in the next 5 days.

if anyone hasn't yet discovered the joy - I recommend completely. Ohh - and lest I forget, he also features Jonathan Coulton in this one. Jonathan is the guy who did the flickr song (go to the video tab - it's free to watch - so no excuses) - one of the most beautiful and sweet things I've ever watched.

Update: I've actually realised that it's easier to watch the flickr song straight from youtube, so here it is!

getting better?

for the second Saturday in a row, I over did it... I had a lovely time - went to see Grandma, and my cousin Nick was there. Had a hoot and talked nineteen to the dozen (not just me, Nick as well!) and before I knew it, it was nearly 10pm (I'd been planning on leaving before 8).

I knew I'd over done it, and thought back to last Saturday and the following 3 days that I'd spent feeling really ill again.

and yes - I was tired yesterday and didn't go out. But I did make a cake in the morning, and tidy the flat, and when Keith came over yesterday evening, I was awake to have a take-away and watch Starship Troopers!

I'm still tired, so not going to go too far today - I'm planning on holing myself up in a Cafe Nero somewhere and then coming back for an early night.

definitely progress!

age

now I think it's weird that I'm in my late 20's, as I don't think I look any different to how I did at 20 (albeit a slightly larger version...). I'm really enjoying my late 20's (proof of which is that I've very excited about getting a new cooking apron - it's beautiful, retro and pink!) and don't have a problem with it, I just can't see that I look that different - I don't really have any wrinkles or anything like that.

but it all makes sense now - the famous people that I assumed were about 32 are, in fact, much older. Example of this - Selma Hayek is 40! I just read an article about her on People.com and did a complete double-take when they mentioned her age.

so in actual fact, I probably do look my age - I'm just really, really crap at guessing other people's!

follow-up to the Steve Jobs / DRM post...

... here is a really interesting article about Apple's DRM system, which they call FairPlay. It's quite long, but worth a read as it looks at the motivations behind why Apple want rid of DRM as well as the technical aspects of the system.

first noticed on Schneier on Security.

still very tired...

... but feeling much better. Had a very relaxing day which involved making broccoli soup, having a long bath with Original Source Lavender (big thanks to Sian for the recommendation - it's the best stuff in the world!) and then an early dinner with M&D in town.

the cotton wool in my legs seems to have been replaced my muscles again (albeit very weak ones) which is nice and I think I may start to potter again tomorrow.

now I'm going to watch a very loved, but quite rubbish romantic comedy on DVD and then have an early night - bliss!

so I'm still up...

... I know I should be in bed. Everything is telling me to go to bed. There is nothing on TV (that's actually quite scarey). My eyes are red and hurting (which looks so good with the massive bags under the eyes - really would scare children if I was seen in this state). I'm tired.

and yet I'm not in bed.

I'm surfing the interweb for all it's worth, thinking about going to bed.

I think it ties in with the having-over-done-it-thing and the not-feeling-very-well-again thing.

I shall try and re-start the pottering again tomorrow. That should help. Oh, and I might feel a bit better as well. That would be nice.

one step forwards....

... and back again...

had a really great Saturday. Sat in a lovely pub in Bloomsbury and read a wonderful book. Then wandered down towards Clerkenwell to get a bus home. I was really hungry, so stopped off in a pub to have something to eat and got talking to a group of people. Spent the next few hours having a great time and left at about 8.30pm.

I knew that I'd overdone it a bit, but I'd had a great time, so didn't mind that Sunday would be a write-off.

didn't realise that today would be as well... got up at 2pm, managed to go out for a potter, but when I got to my chosen pub, I realised that I was too shattered to read and came home again. Felt like walking through toffee all day.

slept for a bit on the sofa and now going to bed.

hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better...

yes brain, I am happy you have returned...

... but I would like to sleep now!

oh well - it was good brain activity. I have now created a spreadsheet which shows my potential earnings over the next 22 months, and I think I'll have the money I need for a deposit to buy a two-bed flat in central London in Jan 09 - Yay!

It's a wonderfully complex spreadsheet (as always, with me), which takes into consideration the likely number of days I will work in each month (allowing for a staggered start back into work from April, holidays and number of clients fluctuating) my monthly outgoings (increasing annually for inflation), spending money (worked out on a weekly basis), and my day rate increasing annually (but not by very much).

I know this sounds very far-fetched as there are so many variables, but I created one at the start of 2005 through to July 2006 to get out of debt and it worked. Everything changed (like moving jobs twice, have a month off and starting freelancing), but I kept and eye on it and it all worked out in the end. I'm just hoping that the same happens again!

this will mean that I'll be able to buy my first home in the months following my 30th birthday. Sounds pretty cool to me.

bed now.

pottering next week

well, working on the basis that I'm not going to be able to do any work next week, the plan is as follows:

monday - Ye Old Mitre, Hatton Garden
tuesday - The Princess Louise, Holborn
friday - The Sailsbury, Strand
saturday - Kings Arms, Waterloo
sunday - Churchill Arms, Kensington

the current plan is to meet up with M&D on Wed and then go over there on Thursday (for Dad to have a look at my laptop - it's not been a happy bunny for the past few months).

this week has been great - not sure about a couple of the pubs but, on the whole, I've added one or two that I'd happily go back to again. I've got one pub from the last list to visit tomorrow (The Lamb in Bloomsbury) and then on Sun, I should be meeting up with Aisha which will be lovely.

hello brain...

... it is nice to welcome you back into my life!

I spoke to mum earlier today and was able to, with perfect clarity, recall exactly what I have planned for the next two weeks and make an arrangement, which I knew I would remember by the time I got home! It might sound simple, but I haven't had that kind of clarity of thought for quite a few months...

the curse of Murray Walker predicts that as I've mentioned this, I will be back the land of brain-jam tomorrow, but what the heck, it's good even if it only lasts a few hours.

six feet under...

... have just finished watching an episode on More4 (and yes, I am actually going to bed now!). I watched the first season when it first aired and I knew that I liked it, but I drifted out of the habit of watching cos of the time-slot (11pm on a Sunday I seem to recall). I'd forgotten how amazing it is. Everything about it is perfect.

2 hours lost to amazon...

... on the plus side, I put lots of things in my amazon basket but haven't bought any of them...

... on the down side, I started looking at my amazon recommendations 2 hours ago and have since rated everything I've ever bought on amazon and gone through the entire recommendations list and stated what I own and what I'm not interested in...

Must. Go. To. Bed.

happy tired!

well, it's been a lovely couple of days.

had my liver scan, which the doctor said was fine, and been to two of the pubs on my list. The Harp was a bit rubbish and far too near to the Chandos for me ever to go there again, but The Ship and Shovell was great. Small, friendly and comfortable - will def. be going again!

have just watched America's Sweethearts which is a rubbish rom-com, but one that I love!

tomorrow I'm meeting up with M&D and then back for my blood tests (or bloodletting as my mum called it) and then a nice, quite afternoon and evening before heading to Camden to try Fifty-Five on Thursday afternoon.

hey - I think I'm getting into the swing of this not-being-at-work-thing. Now all I have to do is to be well enough not to need a minimum of 12hrs sleep and then hopefully I can start thinking about work - yay!

well, I should be in bed...

... and am going now, but have been doing some research on new bars and pubs to try!

I've found a fair few that sound interesting, all with easy bus/walk routes. So, next week I'll be trying:

sunday: The Harp, Covent Garden
tuesday: The Ship and Shovell, Strand
thursday: Fifty Five, Camden
friday: Cork & Bottle, Westbourne Grove
saturday: The Lamb, Bloomsbury

nothing on Monday (as I've got my liver scan at 4.15pm and I have to fast for 6 hours beforehand) or Wednesday (meeting up with M&D somewhere in town).

and all of this should be a good thing for the long run as, although I love the Chandos and Kettners, a girl really should have more than 2 bars that she likes in a city as big as London!

good pottering!

well, I've had two days of pottering so far and have happily sat in both the Chandos and the Jack Horner. Both have been good days and have left me quite exhausted, but in a kind of good way!

I think a chinese takeaway in front of American Idol is in order, and then bed!

can't stop the signal...

... just had a lovely evening with Dunc, the last part of which was taken up by watching the beginning of firefly. We watched the pilot and then Dunc asked "can we just watch the next one..."

ah Ha - another convert - Yay!

new plan...

... I have been meaning to go for a walk each day this week, but haven't due to either feeling too ill and feverish, or just too lazy.

whilst talking to Adam about this, he came up with a fab plan: Each day I shall go into town somewhere and sit in a cafe/pub and read a book. I can do any combination of walking / bus-ing for both outward and return journey. This has multiple benefits - I get to go somewhere other than the flat, I get to do some exercise each day (even if it is just a ten minute walk), and I get to remember that I live in London (which I love).

we then got on to reading materials, and I mentioned that I've just started HP4. This led to a very apt name for my walk/read each day - Pottering!

so tomorrow, I shall go for a potter, and am very much looking forward to it!

also - Dunc is on his way over and he's bringing a chinese takeaway with him - what a star that man is!

my body is punishing me...

... for having thoughts about working. Managed to drag myself out of bed this morning with a fever. Was just about to get into shower when the doctor's surgery rang to say that the nurse doing my blood tests was ill and so we re-arranged. I went back to bed, managed to get up at about 11am, doze on the sofa, where I have spent the rest of the day, alternating between too hot and too cold.

hopefully tomorrow will be better...

quite a good day!

that NightNurse the other day was a good idea - yesterday and today have been much better on the whole illness front - still knackered, but far fewer aches and pains, so a step or two in the right direction!

tomorrow is the day when I think they're going to have to take about half my blood - am having about a gazillion different blood tests, but it's actually quite good. If my liver has improved (hope, hope, hope) and everything else is clear, then I can get a referral to the King's Chronic Fatigue Clinic. No idea at all what they do there, but it's got to be better then not doing anything, which is the current plan (however lovely GPs are, when it comes to things like CF, they don't really have anything they can do).

am also starting to think about trying some work. This is really good, as it has been months since I've even felt like trying to think about it! I don't think I'm going to be able to do any paid work for now, but hopefully one of my old clients might let me do a couple of half days for free! If they don't, I might have start calling people I know and seeing if they'd like an office junior for an afternoon - I just need to know how knackering I'm going to find the whole work thing. If it only wipes me out for a couple of days, I might be able to get a proper freelance client that I could work for 2 days a week, and then just sleep for the rest of the time...

also finished Harry Potter 4 today - am really enjoying re-reading and really looking forward to when the last book comes out... soooo many questions need answers!

I'm going to put all my faith in...

... night nurse! I'm finally paying for the lovely time earlier this week - am completely broken again - headache, knackered and head ache. Slept in until 1pm ish and then spent the rest of the day on the sofa under a duvet.

hopefully after a large swig of NN, I'll feel better (ish) tomorrow...

damn the interweb...

... I should be in bed! I stupidly thought "oh, I wonder if there are any new rumours about Harry Potter 7" about two hours ago.

found this great site called MuggleNet and, in particular, this page which lists essays arguing for and against popular theories for book 7.

really worth a read if you're interested in HP and have a spare hour or so (or are at work and should be doing something far more important, but have got procrastination down to a fine art!).

update: ok - am actually going to bed now (1am...)

followed the rules!

well - I managed to follow the rules today - I've sat on a sofa and watched telly - and that's about it. I plan on doing the same tomorrow.

am watching Big Love at the moment on Five Life. It's actually quite good - very shiny and american, but that's no bad thing - I think I'll move on to Project Catwalk (ultimate guilty telly).

then bed - quite tired.

well - not quite as bad as I'd thought...

... on some levels, today has been fine and I haven't struggled too much after having over-done it yesterday:

• managed to get up by 8.30 to get my delivery from Argos (new ironing board and iron)

• am still awake (albeit soon to bed) and it's nearly 11pm

on other levels, there are clear signs that I must not do anything that requires a brain (run with scissors, that kind of thing) for a few days yet:

• failed to make peppermint creams properly - I know - it's just egg whites, icing sugar and peppermint essence - but I failed to get the ratios right - it's currently a sticky goo that I hope will set at somepoint

• failed to boil chick-peas - I know - another very simple task - I did well with the vigorous boiling for 15 mins. and the next bit - the simmering for an hour. this is where I came unstuck. They weren't done, so I needed to boil them for, say, another half hour. This sound simple, but the reality is, quite predictably, that having watched the time so carefully up to this point, I completely forgot about it for 3 hours. Yup - burnt chick-peas, burnt beautiful-new-big-shiny-soup-pot (which I may have to re-buy as I think that I burnt through the protective layer at the bottom), and a kitchen full of smoke...

well - am going to go and have a shower (a tip from Sian to get a good night's sleep) and then go to bed.

tomorrow, I will not allow myself to do anything more strenuous than sitting on the sofa and watching telly (ok - maybe a bit of civ2).

Also - happy valentines day to all those partaking in it, and a happy "bollocks to this crap, day" for everyone else!

what a lovely day!

doctor's this morning (not the lovely bit!) and am now scheduled for even more tests over the next couple of weeks - oh well - I should find out more in about a month.

next went to the Science Museum with M&D and my two lovely nephews. Lots of playing and generally, a lovely time.

rest time - I was feeling quite weak from the earlier. I read the end of the third Harry Potter.

at about 5.30pm, got a call from Anni who was walking home from work (she's just moved into a flat by Fenchurch Street). She invited me over. Got a cab there and back (about 10mins each way - yay!) and had a lovely evening.

am now listening to Songs for Swinging Lovers by Sinatra. Perfect.

going to bed now - and when I wake up, I will get delivery of the things I ordered over the weekend, and a Sainsburys order which includes icing sugar, eggs and peppermint essence. This means one thing - peppermint creams - double yay!

I'm sure I'm going to pay for all of this activity, but right now I don't care.

tories threat to London's free bus and tram travel for under 18s

tomorrow is the final budget-setting meeting of the London Assembly and the Tory group are pushing to scrap the free travel for under 18s. There is an online petition if you wish to oppose this motion here. None of the the fields are mandatory, so it's not just a cynical data-capture exercise.

oh dear...

... yesterday was great - ate healthily, did some cross-stitch and did an hour of pilates... all good.

today - urgggh. am knackered, my shoulders hurt and have a head ache.

I think a chinese take-away and bed is in order!

reminder...

... interweb + after midnight = spending money

oh well - at least I have packages to look forward to in the post - shiny!

bed now...

Obama 2008

"...in my heart I know you didn't come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union."

It's like the West Wing, but in real life!

the full text of the speech is here.

a nice week

well, it's off to bed now, and I've managed nearly the whole week on GMT - I think I've finally cracked the insomnia - yay! (although, as the curse of Murray Walker is with us all, that was probably a really stupid thing to say...).

I've been listening to the radio and learning how to cross-stitch, so not a very demanding week but, all in all, quite a good one.

I'm going to try for pilates tomorrow, dependent on getting a good night's sleep tonight and then more rest until the seeing the doctor on Tuesday - she's trying to refer me to the King's Chronic Fatigue Clinic.

btw - have just watched Room 101 - Paul Merton's last ever one, with Ian Hislop as guest - very funny and worth watching the repeat if you missed it.

celebrity car crash continues....

Anna Nicole Smith has died... no news yet on what the cause is.

Both People Magazine and The Washington Post have covered it...

tee hee!

just watched The Show which is very worth a watch, and it also reminded me of my favourite sinfest.

grrr.. I've tried to paste the image in to the blog, but it's coming up too small, so to see it in all its glory, click here!

for those currently annoyed with work...

... a reminder from the lovely Quote of The Day people that this is why:

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. "

- Peter Drucker


In other news, I had my second GMT day today - yay!

Steve Jobs talking about DRM

from BB, here is a really interesting article.

a normal day!

wow - I went to bed at 9pm last night and was asleep by half-past! I then got up at 8.30am this morning... not quite sure what to do with all this time! I've cleaned the kitchen and tidied the rest of the flat and am now just listening to Radio4.

Am very tired and want to have a nap, but I know that it's not allowed until I've had a few days on UK time, so I think that rubbish telly and Civ2 is in order.

time zone...

... mmm... not sure which time zone I'm in, but I slept between 6am and 7pm...

Monty Python and the....

... dalek

... Star Trek

genius, courtesy of BB.

oh dear

I've just watched Davina McCall on Room 101. I thought that I liked her, but she's really rubbish - she hardly has a personality, and what she has, is annoying.

I always assumed she was bit like Claudia Winkleman, who is just the most fab person in the whole wide world, but she's not at all.

ads...

... "your chopping board has more bacteria on it then your toilet seat". Yes - so does your stomach - quick make sure you don't let that cleaning product near a yogurt...

... "less than 70 calories per bar". FEWER - IT'S REALLY NOT THAT DIFFICULT.

OK - vented now.

cake success!

yay! after a couple of failed attempts to make cake-like things, I've finally succeeded! I decided to go with a recommended recipe and am now eating a yummy almond cake (from Jules' friend Jessica), which is still warm!

mmm... coffee

well - I haven't been getting up at 8.30am, but I have been getting up before my body is ready. Coffee is key, Coffee is God, Coffee is yummy. All good.