Why ?

Why did I drink too much red wine yesterday ?

Why can I not watch Pride and Prejudice to ease my hangover ?

Well the first answer is anybodies guess. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

The second answer is simple. I have a boyfriend who is into computers and, rather than have a dvd like normal people, we have a media pc. A linux media pc. Which I don't know how to work.

I like simple things. Put the dvd in, press play. This does not suit Boyfriend. He needs it to be something you need to have a degree in computer science to operate.

Grrrr.

Madness

It's that time of year again folks.

Exam time.

I will go and bury my little head in my notes and text books for ten days and hope to take in all the information I need.

'Scuse me while I go laugh it up for a bit.

Bah Humbug

I realise it's a bit late to complain about this but I going to anyway.

I hate the Christmas build up. The part that happens before December.

I was asked today if I had my Christmas shopping done, then treated like some sort of alien because I haven't started. It's hideous. Screw you. I have better things to do thanks.

Ha Ha Ha

Well, it's taken quite some time but it looks like there will finally be a resolve to the noise caused by my neighbours heating system.

Environmental Health have been into the property, located the problem and been in touch with the landlord to advise him that it needs to be dealt with as a matter of urgency. Nice. I am very happy about this. I am looking forward to some sleep, not having my Christmas ruined, and maybe laughing my ass off.

Why the laughing you ask ? (Yeah, I know you didn't.)

If the landlord had just dealt with the situation when I first contacted him about it he wouldn't now have Environmental Health checking his electrics, and possibly all the other renovations he completed last year. From what I understand he is at least going to have to rewire the place.

That don't come cheap. And I'm not sure it can be done with tenants in.

The State Of My House

The World Needs . . . .

. . . more Wallace and Gromit. Wensleydale anyone ?

Lamb - Gorecki

Possibly of the best tracks ever. In my opinion anyway.

More Music I Like

Regina Spektor's On The Radio folks. Enjoy.

Man Attempts Sex With Bike

No, it's not a joke. A man has been arrested, tried and sentenced for simulating sex with his bike. In a hotel room.

He is now on the sex offenders register.

What the hell is going on here ? I admit his tastes are . . . . unusual, but putting him on the sex offenders register ? How deranged is that ? It's not like he dropped his trousers in a public place for all and sundry to see. He was in a room in a hostel and the cleaners walked in on him.

I don't see that any crime was actually committed. But he was charged with the catch all "breach of the peace". Which, to me, still makes no sense whatsoever. Until the cleaners unlocked the door and entered his room no one was bothered by his behaviour. His conducted may have been disorderly, but he was in the privacy of his hostel room until someone else disturbed his peace.

Personally, had I been one of the cleaners, I would just have apologised for the interruption, closed the door and then, possibly, have died laughing.

Coin Operated Boy By The Dresden Dolls

I love this song.

Here Is An Unpopular Point Of View

Let's get one thing straight right away. I hate terrorists. I hate people so fucking cowardly that they kill defenceless people and claim there is a defence for their actions. Their actions render anything indefensible.

To me there is nothing as precious as a human life. It's an opinion that informs much of what I do and what I want to do. The whole "one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter" thing doesn't fly for me. My opinion, which may be entirely irrelevant as I have never been in any position that required me to think about it really, a freedom fighter, where needed by a population, should be very specific in their actions. If those actions are needed then civilians should not be targeted.

Yes, I do understand that the whole point of a terrorist is to inspire terror. The clue, folks, is in the name. That's why terrorist and freedom fighters should be separate things and never confused. And that's why I think they, terrorists, are pathetic. I don't care who we are talking about, whither that be organisations, individuals or states. Terrorism is the cover of cowards. Ya bo sucks to you, loser.

I am going to assume that none of this has been so controversial as to be totally unpopular. What might be unpopular is my opinion on what we (speaking for the alliance in the war against terror, hey you assumed you could speak for me, just returning the fave ass) have allowed.

Okay so the extremists in this case happen to be Muslim, or at least they claim to be. I ain't so sure. Does this mean we assume all Muslims are with them ? I'm hoping you know the assuming making an ass out of you and me thing. Otherwise, get a fucking education folks, that's pretty fucking basic. What we (yes fuckheads "we" 'cause I sure as hell didn't agree to this shit) seem to have done is alienate the very people we need help from. There is a huge Muslim population who despise the actions of the extremists. Huge populations folks, of really nice people who despise the actions taken, supposedly, in the name of their faith.

Then there's torture. Guantanamo Bay. A hell that should never be allowed. I don't care what your so called reasoning is, torture is wrong. Just plain fucking wrong you arrogant sons of man. Apart from the fact that it's just plain wrong and barbarous, who really thinks that's going to turn up reliable info anyway ? Even on the off chance you manage to swoop in and kidnap someone with any actual involvement in terrorism. While I haven't tortured anyone to check my hypothesis, given that I think its immoral, I strongly suspect that by the time you actually manage to break some they will tell you anything they think you'll want to hear. Anything to stop the torture.

Imprisonment with out charge, there's another pile of crap that's come out of this. Sorry, that's just not on you bunch of pigs. Actually that's insulting to pigs, more like you bunch of immoral, uncivilised human beings. We trumpet our great civilizations based on democracy, the rule of law, and all those other great things that took time to develop . . . . . wait, let's back up a little . . . rule of law ? What the fuck is that ? Oh no wait, it's fine just change the law to suit what ever passing fancy you have. Mind you why worry, according to our Glorious (ex) Leader the worst thing that could happen in our legal system is that one guilty man goes free. I thought that it was that one innocent man was imprisoned. Oh well, silly little me, it must be because I'm a girl.

Okay, this ranting can not go on any longer 'cause I . . . . feel the need to scream.

More Important Things In Life Than Clothes

So stop bitching that you hate Trinny and Susannah and their makeover shows.

Tell me about the more important stuff instead.

That aside, I actually like T & S. They make me laugh. But not so for some as this article shows.

Apparently T & S's makeover shows teach us how to play by the rules of the game that oppresses us. Okay. . . . . . sorry, you lost me there. Maybe I'm just a dumb brunette.

Make up is an random thing for me, it's for a sense of occasion, playing at dress up, when I can be arsed to bother about it. I suppose I wear feminine clothes some times, but I prefer to think of them as my clothes. Actually, what counts as feminine clothing ? Is it just skirts and dresses or are we talking anything that suggests a female form underneath ? In which case all my clothes should be included 'cause I don't own a ghost outfit.

I don't really get the "perfect (real) women are not flawed" argument, or the protests against it. I am really perfect and I'm perfectly flawed. It's the flaws that make it interesting. I don't know about you but Barbie dolls were dull. Identikit dolls, variation only found in hair, eye and lipstick colour. Dull, dull, dull people. So very dull.

Perfect beauty does exist, there is just no standard form of it. Beauty is, to be cheesy about it, in the eye of the beholder. Boyfriend thinks I am beautiful, possibly the most beautiful woman in the world. My best friends husband thinks she is the most beautiful woman in the world. We don't look anything alike.

No one has ever actually tried to tell me that my womanhood is dependent on fashion and make up and all that other guff, but if they did I'd have to think of a witty reply that wouldn't suffer from a five minute laughter filled delay. That could be tricky.

The first article has a follow up, a little afterthought.

An interesting view is brought up here. T & S, it seems, refuse to accept that some women just really don't care about things as superficial as looks, because there are more important things in life. Fine, I can go with that. Some people aren't bothered. I would suggest, however, that arguing that T & S refuse to accept this point of view based on any participant of their makeover shows protests is useless. If any of the women truly didn't give a mad monkeys uncle about a T & S makeover or, in the case of one show, £2000 to spend on clothes, they would refuse to appear on the show. Maybe my logic is flawed but it seems to me that if you agree to appear on a makeover show then . . . . . you do indeed care about how you look, and would like to change it and perhaps feel like you could do with some assistance. Personally I'd tell them to take a hike.

There is a slightly more disturbing point in this little afterthought. To quote;

"It occurs to me that I have fallen once again into the trap of misdirected anger. Trinny and Susannah are, after all, also a product of the society that pushes the anti-women values I outline below, and as such should probably not be blamed quite so vehemently for their actions.

It’s always a difficult one, this: if we took that argument to its logical conclusion it would mean rapists weren’t to blame for their actions because they were brought up in a society that more or less condones, or at least ignores, male rape of women. I of course believe that rapists must be held accountable for their actions. So where is the line? Where do we place the blame for xyz?"

So even if I thought the author had a valid of view in the first place I would by now think she was a raving loon. Actually I do think she is a raving loon. At which point in time does the makeover show become comparable to rape ? A makeover show maybe entirely objectionable to some but as far as I know there is no legislation against it and it is not a criminal offence.

Rape is a crime. The system for prosecution of accused rapists may not be as effective as we would like but it's hard to argue that a society condones, or even just ignores something that it legislated against and is a crime.

Readings Of Late

Trying to take up space here. Since I am still under the sway of the evil lurgy this is the best I can come up with. Well this and pink biscuits.

The Awakened Mage by Karen Miller

The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller

The Beautiful And Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko

The Court Of The Air by Stephen Hunt

A Spot Of Bother by Mark Haddon

A History Of The Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani

The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

In The Earth Abides The Flame by Russell Kirkpatrick

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Fond Memories Of Biscuits

Pink wafer biscuits anyone ?

My Nana always had these biscuits in her kitchen. And I loved them. But it does beg the question, who thought that pink was a good colour for wafer ? Lets not get into the bad ingredients that must have been in them.

I haven't seen these in years but it may be possible to find them in Sainsbury's. Or so I have heard. Might have to take a peek.

Lurgy Still Here

Bah.

Sucky, Not So Sucky Day

The frickin' banging began at 5:30 this morning.

5:30

5 fucking 30

I don't see that time in the morning unless I haven't been to bed yet. Or I have a plane to catch to somewhere sunny. You know, real reasons to be awake at that time. Okay, I would consider getting up at that time for money, but we're talking lots of money. Pick a figure that has million added to it and I'll think about it.

My inability to function properly without a reasonable amount of good sleep is one of the things that tells me parenthood is not my calling in life. I make bears with sore heads run away crying. Then their parents come along to complain, and I make them run too. A dear friend once said she imagined even Medusa would have to consider things before she was willing to take me on when I'm tired. Turning people to stone is for amateurs. I prefer columns of fire followed by piles of ash. As long as someone else is doing the cleaning. And who needs them to look at you ? Pffff. Being in the general vicinity works for me. Rumour has it the air around me feels hot when I'm really angry. For me really angry and over tired are pretty similar. I can do flames.

So that's the sucky part of my day. That and just being tired all the fucking time.

The not so sucky part of the day ? Well, I got my essay on the Cuban Missile Crisis back. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I got a B1. It's good but not as good as it should be. The lecturer seemed pleased with it and more than a little surprised that I wasn't over the moon. To me, it highlighted that I haven't been working even half as much as I should have been. I need to get back on my A streak. Although that's a little problematic when I'm so tired.

Interesting . . . . But Nothing To Do With Me

I found a site, persephone books, through the f word.

It's a small publishing company, focusing mainly on 20th century female authors. The article on the fword goes into more detail, obviously. I am going to investigate and buy some books. I like new discoveries.

The name thing is a coincidence. I am not in anyway involved with this company, nor do I know anyone involved. I just thought it seemed interesting.

I Need Some Quiet Time

Wow.

Another weekend over, another party, another hangover. Thankfully there are no parties in our future for the next little while. I need to rest.

It was lots of fun. A slightly late Halloween/house warming party. Fancy dress and all. Since we only got the email the day before our costumes where . . . . a little thrown together. I was a cliche, a sexualised representation of an other wise innocent fairy tale character. I was told that was far too intellectual for fancy dress. Whatever, it was my justification for a cobbled together outfit and I'm sticking to it. We had fireworks too. And suitably gross food stuffs.

The hangover was killer. And I busted my diet again. At this rate I ain't making my target weight by my target time. I should stop having fun for a while I feel. Well, fun that includes red wine anyway. So that's my plan. For the next six weeks no booze, more exercise and sensible food.

Crikey, that sounds dull. What the hell, needs must and all that.

Need to go do some housework now, and then read some stuff for uni. Drat, and double drat.

And my essay is due for hand back tomorrow. Bugger, bollocks, hell and damnation.

I want my hangover back.

I Love Gogo Dodo

Childhood Memories

A Puss Cat To Cheer The Day

No Reason Other Than Cute And Lazy

I have the Dreaded Lurgy

I hate the lurgy.