I was not a Michael Jackson fan. I've always enjoyed his music. Never been a fan. Never really hugely come down either way on whether he "did it" or not - although I've always been more on the "he didn't" side of the fence. Always felt a little sorry for him. But he has been there, all throughout my life, as pretty much the most famous person in the world. My mum used to own his albums on vinyl and play them constantly when I was tiny. One of the strongest memories of time spent with my real father is of watching the Black Or White video and being amazed at the changing faces. Moonwalking was a staple at school discos. The "What did Michael Jackson say to Pamela Anderson?" joke is pretty much the only one that I remember from childhood. Earth Song was this incredible video that I used to watch with an open mouth at the elephant getting back up and being alive. His life was just something that was always there. In the news. On the television. In the magazines. A One-Man Circus. And even in the present, the things he did and started were a part of my every day life. Not a day has gone by until he died when Suckhi and I didn't do Michael Jackson-isms at each other. We haven't since. She was a big fan. It upsets her.

So, no. I was not a fan. But hell, he was a part of my life. After I heard that he had died, I kept wondering why people were saying that it was such a sad loss for the music world, since I figured that it was pretty much a given he would never do anything again that would impact it much. But it's not so much a loss for the music world, is it? It's the death of a few generations' worth of childhoods, that he helped to shape the world culture of. I can't remember where it was (I imagine it was The Times Online), but somewhere I read an excellent article about that very point. Actually, wait, I'm pretty sure it was India Knight. Yes, here we are. She says it so well, better than I ever could.

Jackson’s passing means we are now officially old. Of course he was a musical genius and an extraordinary person at all sorts of levels, and so on and so forth. But for many of us he also functioned as a sort of figurehead — the pop star you grew up with and always assumed you would grow old with, you with increasing amounts of Botox, he with increasing amounts of looniness.

It isn’t simply that his death brought on a strong dose of intimations of mortality, but rather that — combined with the death of Fawcett, the last old-school pin-up — it marked the passing of an entire era.

And that's it, really. I don't particularly want to talk about him much anymore. I've had several rows with Jodie and Rory as to his significance and guilt/innocence. I'm all Michael Jackson-d out. And the world is different. There are not many people who could die and have that said about them. RIP.


ETA: And I knew this would happen, given the state of the UK charts, but check out the Last.fm charts.

This is one of the best stories I have ever read:

Via The Times Online

Every week about 600,000 pieces of mail are unable to be delivered because they are so badly addressed or packaged, while 25,000 letters posted have only the recipient's name printed on them.

Anything that cannot find its way to the recipient goes to the Royal Mail's National Return Centre in Belfast, where 'address detectives' investigate the origins of the mail and try to track down who the package is for. Unclaimed items of any value are eventually auctioned off.

This is the only place in the country where it is legal to open someone else's mail. And some pretty strange things end up there...

1. Milk

A woman posts two two litre bottles of milk to her grandson each week, but unfortunately the address is incomplete so they are never delivered - arriving in Belfast without fail, and always slightly curdled. Despite numerous attempts to track down the granny's identity she remains elusive.

Can't you just picture it?

Grandson: Hello?
Grandma: Hello dear, it's your granny.
Grandson: Oh, hi gran, how are you?
Grandma: Well, my hip's playing up a touch but I'm right as rain otherwise. Your grandpa says hello.
Grandson: Give him my love.
Grandma: I will do, my dear. Did you get my milk last week?
Grandson: ...Yes...yes...got it as always...thanks...
Grandma: I know how you like your milk!
Grandson: ...Yeah...it's great...
Grandma: Well I'm sending this week's tomorrow, make sure you drink it all up!
Grandson: ...Yeah, will do gran. ...Thanks. Speak to you later.
Grandma: Goodbye! Love you!
Grandson: ...Yeah, me too... *hangs up phone*
Grandson: *to friend* That woman is obsessed with her make-believe milk. Maybe it's time we put her in a home.

You can read the rest of the weird posted items here.

This is something that's been bugging me for a few days now. And lolloping around in my head. I tend not to let things out of my head very often because of how once they actually start being written down, they mushroom in size by about 515 squared and sprout more side-bits and questions than there were originally answers, and then I get horribly confused and have to go away and be quiet in a corner.

But this...worked. Kind of.


Obviously, first of all I need to set the scene. My friend and colleague Rubina is Muslim - born in England, from a Pakistani family, proudly Muslim. She's also quite beautiful, and, hell, she has the most gorgeous long thick glossy ALIVE hair I've ever seen in real life. She's funny, chatty, warm, open, and extremely sassy and strong. Occasionally this will come across as petulance...occasionally it just downright is petulance, I guess. But I have never, hand on heart, met someone who can cheer me up and encourage me as much as she can. She's one of those people who always has (vomit-inducing as it may sound) the exact right, warming, cheering, strengthening words to say to anyone who is having a bad day. She's also one of the most generous people I've ever met - even going out of her way to buy me a scarf I liked (without me having asked or hinted - as if I'd do that) as a surprise on one occasion.

And yet, at the same time, she can often make me burn with...well, perhaps not anger. Certainly it's my own special brand of I DO NOT AGREE WITH ANYTHING THIS PERSON IS SAYING, ARGH, IT IS ALL SO WRONG I CAN'T TAKE IT, anyway. This usually happens when we get into debates about world events. Or religion.

One such choice "I AM BURNING UP WITH THE WRONG" moment was when she stated how she hated America. Not "disliked", not perhaps "disagreed" with its foreign policy, but pure hated America for its (in her view) desire to stamp out the Muslim religion and go to war with every country that it could. During that particular debate, when she got onto how 9/11 was all a government hoax, I actually had to leave the room. I feel strongly about these things, okay? And someone telling me that just because I don't believe that the entire tragedy was engineered by the US government as an excuse to go to war with Iraq (hmm) this means I do not research my opinions sufficiently...well, that's enough to make me realise I'm about to blow, so leaving the room is the best option.

Another such moment came when I happened to mention that I had asked for The Qur'an for Christmas, as I wanted to read it. See, my opinion on all organised religion is the same: I don't like it. That's an entire other story, really, that I can't be bothered to go into today So, when she (as expected) asked my opinion on Islam, I gave it: that it seems pretty much just like every other religion (and so my base opinion covers it also). The response? Clearly I couldn't know anything about it enough, or have enough of a justified opinion upon it, due to the fact that I am not Muslim. They were interesting scorch marks, the ones left on my ears that day.

So, where am I going with this? Well, I was hoping to provide a basic view of how Rubina thinks in this context. Because I am about to move onto the main crux, and that is Rubina's fondness for the phrase: "Only God Can Judge Me".

I am going to hold my hands up at this point and say that there are not many people in this world who are not hypocritical, or who do not act hypocritically at times. Hell, I know that I can be hella hypocritical sometimes. Hypocrisy seems to be part of being human. Therefore it's not an extreme surprise that people of any religion can be hypocritical. Ha, surely this goes without being said? Christians who preach love for all and yet condemn homosexuality, Palestinian apartheid, "Butcher those who mock Islam" placards, Scientology just in general, etc. Yes, that last sentence was just to make sure I offended most anyone who could be reading this. But seriously, we have to fully expect that young men and women of all religions will have pre-marital sex and yet still take full advantage of every religious holiday and other partly self-serving parts of their belief, yes? A Muslim girl who holds "Only God Can Judge Me" as her code of life will perhaps tut and sneer at and, dare I say, judge another Muslim girl who is wearing a skirt (and therefore displaying her legs), yes?

Therefore, it's not so abnormal that Rubina, as an apparently devout Muslim, has a boyfriend of three years whom she is planning to marry at some point, but in the meantime she'll have sex with him whenever she sees him. I mean this with absolute sincerity: perfectly normal behaviour. However, it does become tempting to use it against her (as an affectionate tease, never with genuine malice) whenever she climbs up on her fundie branch. I honestly can't say that I ever have, but others have done. And it does become alarming how, each time, she responds with: "Well, Only God Can Judge Me, nobody else can, so that's fine". This is also the response to questions about any other religious niggles: frippery with her money (she can spend more in a day than I can in a week, and that's saying something), extreme vanity, not praying as often as she should, not performing Hajj etc.

I had a mini BURN moment the other day after yet another repetition of "Only God Can Judge Me" (yes, it's like working with Tupac), and snapped.

"That's such a ridiculous phrase." Said I.

"What?" asked she.

""Only God Can Judge Me" - seriously, think about it. Surely that's such a ridiculous thing to live your life by. It's like saying "Hey, I think I'll kill someone today - who cares what anyone here thinks about it, Only God Can Judge Me!""

The outcome of this was probably what I should have expected: disbelieving silence.

"I mean, it hardly promotes ethical behaviour, or personal morals that lend themselves to charity and care for your fellow humans, does it?"

Again, silence. I think I may have struck a nerve.

However, I also struck my own curiosity with why exactly I hate that phrase so much, and how much I wanted to explain this. It seems almost blatantly obvious to me, but perhaps it isn't.

Consider this: whether or not you believe British involvement in the Iraq war to be right, surely you cannot believe, if this involvement had been entirely down to your decision, that Only God Could Judge You for it? That it didn't matter what the hell the bereaved families of soldiers thought, because all that really mattered was what The Big Deity's thoughts were?

See, I can see where the motive for this phrase comes from. To the people that use this phrase, God is the sole reason for their existence. God created them, He created their world, He shapes their life and He is all that has ever been and ever will be. Stands to reason that He is all that really matters - since it'll be Him deciding whether His beloved creatures burn for eternity or live with Him in the afterlife, sure?

Sure. But, also, sure, if He's judging us based on our actions and thoughts and words and basically everything...it's better to have lived through good actions and thoughts and words and basically everything. Yes? Else there beckons a world where it's fine to harm others, to make them feel bad about themselves, to hurt physically, because, hell, you don't have to answer to them. Only God can tell you that you have been very, very naughty, only God can punish you for it.

And so onto the punishment side of "judging". I remember here the Jesus story of "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". We're back right round to the hypocrisy I mentioned above. Because, indeed, if Person A is willing to lay down punishment or moral judgment on Person B for something that Person A has also done...here is where you reach the point that, hm, perhaps this "Only God Can Judge Me" makes sense here. Extend this a little further and you get the fact that everyone, every single person "sins". And if you "sin", how the hell can you shake your finger at somebody else who does? Shouldn't only the being that is above all sin be the only one who can lay down answers at your feet for your wrong doing? Shouldn't only the being who doesn't have a subjective moral yardstick be the only one who can punish you when measuring your crimes against said yardstick? WHAT THE HELL IS THE RIGHT ANSWER?? If we're looking at this from a religious perspective, is the notion of "Only God Can Judge Me" really quite sensible? Or is it still really a total crock of shit?

Well. Here's my opinion on the matter. If morality comes from God, then He decides it. Morals aid judgment. Judgment shows if something is good or bad. If Only God Can Judge, the average human can't judge anyone. Including himself. So he has no way of knowing if he is Good or Naughty. Morals become obsolete. God's words have no use. God's judgment becomes absolute. Free will is completely unnecessary. Humans become play things. But, but, "Only God Can Judge" is, at the end of the day, also a judgment. Play things making a judgment? BAD PLAY THINGS! HULK SMASH! END OF WORLD! MWAHAHAHAHA!


That's not how the world rolls, yo. If the God of major world religions exists (and you'll be surprised to learn I don't think so - yes, really), he's blatantly doled out thirds of "Please sir, can I have some more?" free will. People kill each other. People kill many, many people. People who believe that Only God Can Judge Them kill other people as a present to Him. I hope they're sitting on the VERY NAUGHTY STEP up there. Mainly I just hope whatever happened to them really, really hurt.

Overall, I basically think that "Only God Can Judge Me" is an extreme cop-out. It's a "shit, I know that was bad/I'm being a bit of a hypocrite...quick, how do I excuse myself?" thing for the religious and proud. Or the insane and mental. Even if they can't even admit it to themselves. But, as I said above, hypocrisy is an everyday, everyman thing. Doing bad things is the same. (Of course, I'm meaning "bad things" as in bitching about someone, lying, cheating etc. Murder and rape are not exactly everyday for everyman.) So, what's the Final Thought? It is this:

Only God Can Judge Me. So I think I maybe should be doing things, saying things, thinking things that He will judge me well for. But, crap. I know I'm going against His word with something I'm doing. Oh well, it's not like anyone here has the right to say anything. Only He Can Judge Me. Well, that's basically admitting I'm doing something wrong, isn't it? Oh, I'm judging myself, aren't I? So I'm being a bit of a hypocrite here, really. And, oh, shit. I'm judging myself. But, by my definition, God is the only one who can judge. Crap. I've just invalidated my own God, haven't I? So His word is not all. And the whole reason I said that thing in the first place has totally collapsed. So...maybe I just shouldn't say it anymore. Who's going to care? After all, Only God Can - shit.

This entry was originally posted at http://leenielou.dreamwidth.org/862.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Extreme friends cut. Of the most extreme kind. Same rules apply.

I'll be honest, this time round, most people fall into category D, and it makes me really sad, but I do just feel it has to be done. I'd like to thank everyone for having been my friend...it's not your fault I was such a crap one!

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

01. In movie trailers, when the deep-voiced man says: "THIS SUMMER", does he say "THIS WINTER" in Australia?

02. Do more people pronounce "hour" as "ow-er" or "ahr"? (i.e. two syllables or one syllable?)

03. How can someone think Dylan Moran is amazing and yet not have watched all of Black Books?

04. Would buttered toast strapped to a cat's back cause a hovering machine?

05. Why does KAAM have such a high-pitched girly laugh?

06. How the hell am I supposed to fit five days worth of clothes etc into a carry-on bag??????


The last one is the most important. I'm going to Florence! I'm going to Florence! XD I'm going to be out by about a month from the time-scale I gave myself to go in this entry, but still, I'M GOING TO FLORENCE!!!! Going from 10th-14th March with a stop-off in Pisa on the way. SO. EXCITED. Almost as much as I am for the impending visit of rastaban43. It's like Epiphany. Rusty-any. Heh.


I hate not having Sky One and having to miss new 24.


ETA: I also hate accidentally pressing 'enter' and posting before I've finished the post off properly.

Can't sleep. Too much stuff in head. The cat is sleeping. Why can't I be a cat?

The cat makes the strangest noises in his sleep of any living thing that I have ever shared a bed with.

So, naturally, bored, must do meme.

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. Okay.

At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged. No.

1. I have a strange obsession with putting things on my head. Anything that can go on my head. I will put on it.
   
2. It's possible that I sing my sentences more than actually speak them.
   
3. And yet, I never sing in the shower.
   
4. I like to dip my lollipops in fizzy pop. Mmm. Sugar overload.
   
5. I can use my toes as fingers. Ooka ooka.
   
6. I have strange ambitions. My most recently fulfilled one was to meet an American lady called Rhonda.
   
7. The end of my nose is really squishy, and people (and myself) get quite addicted to pressing it. It comforts me. Me pressing it, not other people.
   
8. I can't eat anything that lives underwater that has claws, limbs or tentacles. *shudder*
   
9. Corn on the cob freaks me out.
   
10. Sometimes when I'm driving, I'll pretend I'm The Stig.
    
11. My favourite jokes at the moment are of the "How many X does it take to change a lightbulb?", with 'X' being a person I know and the answer being a satire of their shortcomings. Possibly mean, but so freakin' funny.
    
12. I work in and with finance, but I have no idea what any of the following: stocks, shares, bonds, hedge funds, futures, indexes (indices?), derivatives, commodities...are or do.
    
13. I was struck by a massive urge on Christmas Eve to get a fish. I've never seen the point of fish. Go figure.
    
14. One of the most amazing experiences of my life was laying in my bed, half-asleep, half-awake, conscious but not, looking out the window at the moon and stars with Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah playing through my headphones. It was such a relaxing, atmospheric, melancholic-mindblowing moment that I've never forgotten it.
    
15. There's not a lot that can make me happier than a cloudless starry night sky, a blanket, and excellent company.
    
16. I kinda have a weird crush on this guy.

I may read some more of Frenchman's Creek now. I can tell I'm going to fancy either a) the aforementioned Frenchman or b) William the servant. This is how it goes in a Daphne du Maurier book. Now why can't I stumble across a swashbuckling charismatic sarcastic and charming French pirate?

Right. Because I live in the middle of England and any man of the above description is, oh, more likely to be a complete and utter tosser.

Another walk in woods - I could get used to this! Today I went to Calke Park, where I encountered a frozen lake, wild cows, the most evil-looking tree you ever did see...and a girlfriend for Ben (the dog). Except he wasn't interested. Men.

And as requested by la_guinevere, I took my camera and got photos! ( Cut for images. )

Lovely, very lovely thing to do with a Saturday. I was walking for two hours altogether. Now I'm home with not much else planned, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. It's back to work on Monday - need to get something exciting in before then :-(

The first day of 2009 is drawing to a close, and I finally feel somewhere close to human.

I'm looking forward to this year. I have been doing for a while. 2008 was...well.

I wasted so much of it. I don't think I was truly happy, content, relaxed - whatever - until late June. The second half of the year was so much fun, just so good in so many ways. And I'm glad it's over. I want my entire 2009 to be like the last six months. I'm going to take charge. I'm fed up of letting myself and how I feel be dictated by others.

I passed my probation period. It's almost an insignificant thing, really - it's generally a given that once six months are up, one passes.

One didn't pass his metaphorical one.

I can't, or rather, I won't, keep dancing anymore.

It's sad, but life keeps going. Everything runs its course, eventually. I do have some great memories. Obviously some crap ones too, but I can laugh about them, because everything counts towards the end result. And I really can laugh, now.


I'm good. I have great friends, parents who love me and who I love, a good job, health, and just the right amount of drama. It's quite excellent to be being me. And I don't intend on forgetting that, really.

Avante.

So, from yesterday:

1. Venture into town to try to take advantage of the fact that Zavvi is broke. - DONE. There was absolutely zilch to take advantage of in Zavvi and it was hideously crowded. Instead, I found half-price perfumes in Boots and bought two - Insolence (which I first bought two years back and absolutely adore, but it is pricey) and Inspire. I normally stay well away from celebrity perfumes, but this one is actually quite lovely. Citrus, rose and orange blossom, some of my favourite scents :-)


2. Back up my music in case of another computer freak-out deletion. - NOT DONE. I'm going to save this for Tuesday. It's likely to take all day.


3. Finish The Qur'an and The Other Boleyn Girl, which I decided to start re-reading last night. - NEARLY DONE. I'm over halfway through TOBG, nearly finished the shorter chapters towards the back of The Qur'an after starting at "Iron". I have quite a lot to say about it all, actually, but I'm saving it up until I've read some more.


4. Make a pie for my parents. If I could remember where the recipe for the best pie ever is. - NOT DONE. Not sure when I'll do this, as apparently they are making one of their own today for dinner. Maybe I'll make it on New Year's Eve as a stomach-liner for the evening ahead. It really is good pie.


5. So, find the recipe for the Best Pie Ever. - DONE. Found it!! :D


6. Clean out the big box in my room of which the contents are a complete mystery to me. - NOT DONE. I may do this later today.


7. Take Ben (the dog, the dog) for a long walk somewhere - possibly up to Tissington or Carsington. - NOT DONE. Am earmarking this for tomorrow.


8. Tidy my bookshelf so that it actually looks like a book/DVD shelf and not an explosion in a library. - NOT DONE. Like I said, it would be very possibly suicide to attempt this. If I get really, really bored I might do it.


9. Drive somewhere completely random. As in, I might just pick a place from the road atlas and go there. - NOT DONE. I was discussing the possibility last night with Greggy, but I'm not sure if I can justify the petrol costs, really. I probably won't actually do this. Unless I'm about to murder my parents and really have to leave the house.


10. Get hideously drunk at least once. - DONE (ISH). I got pretty drunk last night, I think that counts? Champagne, red wine and random rum. And I'm sure I'll tick the "hideously" box come New Year's Eve.


11. Purchase a 2009 diary from somewhere and putting it to good use. - DONE. Bought it yesterday! Not too big, a day per page, hopefully now I'll be able to actually keep track of what I'm doing.


12. Stalk Matthew Bellamy. - NEARLY THERE. Got the night-vision goggles, camouflage gear and the telephoto lens, now I just need the newspaper with eyeholes cut in it and the hat with a bird on it.

And now I bring funny and random (extremely random) photos from the past few days: ( Only a few. )

Y'know, I really think Starlight gets a bad rap. True, it's not extremely adventurous, but it's a lovely song. Along these lines, I have a Muse 2009 calendar BUT NOWHERE TO PUT IT. I need a nail. And a hammer. Hammer. Hammer-hammer-hammah sandwich.

Maybe I'll watch some Fawlty Towers.

I fear I may have become someone who has no idea what to do with their time when they are not at work.

To combat this, I am planning on, over the next week, doing the following:

1. Venturing into town to try to take advantage of the fact that Zavvi is broke.
   
2. Backing up my music in case of another computer freak-out deletion.
   
3. Finishing The Qur'an and The Other Boleyn Girl, which I decided to start re-reading last night.
   
4. Making a pie for my parents. If I could remember where the recipe for the best pie ever is.
   
5. So, finding the recipe for the Best Pie Ever.
   
6. Cleaning out the big box in my room of which the contents are a complete mystery to me.
   
7. Taking Ben (the dog, the dog) for a long walk somewhere - possibly up to Tissington or Carsington.
   
8. Tidying my bookshelf so that it actually looks like a book/DVD shelf and not an explosion in a library.
   
9. Driving somewhere completely random. As in, I might just pick a place from the road atlas and go there.
   
10. Getting hideously drunk at least once.
    
11. Purchasing a 2009 diary from somewhere and putting it to good use.
    
12. Stalking Matthew Bellamy.

Okay, I joke, I joke.

I have next to no intentions of tidying my bookshelf. It would be suicide by books.

I accidentally accessed www.thetimesonline.com today at work instead of www.thetimesonline.co.uk.

The difference (of what I read, anyway) was palpable, and, actually, sickening. Fair enough, I'd had one hell of a lot to eat and drink by the time I clicked on this link thinking that, oh, the good old Times had a strange looking story here. Obama doesn't bode well for abortion? Huh?

( What I found. )

A few thoughts, because it's Saturday and nobody wants to be thinking about this (well, Idon't anyway):

1. The first one - yes, and the average McCain supporter is a delusional idiot who carves letters into their face and makes up tall tales *rolls eyes*
   
2. The second one - fair enough, not too bad, it's just the phrase "Shame on you" that made my blood boil.
   
3. The third - those last couple of sentences. I just have no words.
   
4. The fourth - yes, women are so free to have s*x in the eyes of society that we have to spell it s*x. UNCLEAN. UNCLEAN. And the rest of it...just...oh my goodness. I THOUGHT PEOPLE LIKE THIS WERE MADE UP.
   
5. The fifth - evil abortion supporters. Mmm. Dead Babies *rubs hands*
   
6. And finally the sixth - if you get an abortion YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED CHILDREN AGAIN. EVER.

I'm certainly not all "woohoo, abortion is the bestest thing in all the world and is a valid method of not getting tied down with sprog" and as I've said before I really don't think if push came to shove I could ever have one myself...but crap. I almost feel like pretending to be that way in reaction to the people above.


ETA: I do like The List Verse, but this is kind of ridiculous. The top tip for preparing for a Depression? Buy a gun.

Am running slightly late for work due to waking up at 10am. It was blissful, but now this is stressful. Especially since I decided to waste even more time doing this:

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Extroverted, Progressive, and Intelligent

0 Cubist, -3 Islamic, -14 Ukiyo-e, -18 Impressionist, -3 Abstract and -3 Renaissance!

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Which I feel is pretty accurate. If I'm going to look at a painting I like it to be worth looking at. I really don't like Impressionism (apart from a couple of pieces). I adore pieces from the Renaissance or abstract/cubist works. Lots to look at and think about. I feel this post of mine is always worth linking to. It's about my favourite pieces of art, for those who haven't seen it. I enjoy looking at it from time to time. Pretty.

Okay, really need to dry my hair now.

Today I was very poorly. I managed to get an appointment at the doctors in the afternoon though, so I was allowed to leave work early in order to cure myself. Because I think everyone's pretty fed up with me dying at my desk now. Anyway, I saw a different doctor who told me that it's not my chest, but instead my sinuses which are infected. Which...well, yes, I have had extreme sinus pain and that...but what about the cough? The main source of all my woes? I know not. I now have new antibiotics, anyway. Which is good, because I decided I'd rather digest my food than take the other ones. Which did zilch anyway.

Katy, bless her, treated me to lunch at the Harvester, which was so, so lovely of her because I am so poor right now I don't even have two beans to rub together. I have a bean and a half. Well, actually, after having to pay for my new antibiotics I now have one bean to rub on itself. Boo.

So, to cheer myself up, I've decided to revise the old Pet Peeves list. Ah, talking about things that annoy me. A great way to cheer me up :D A lot of the list has changed. Some things no longer annoy me as they used to. Some new things annoy me far more than they used to. ( And all are under the cut. )

Fun! Much fun! XD


PS. Am considering blowing my whole bean on this. Gosh. I can't stop staring at it. Imagine. The purple. The bow. Oh.

Post.
Post Post.
Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post Post.
Post Post Post.
Post Post.
Post.

Why will it not center properly.

Yes, I can't think of anything to say, how did you guess?


ETA: All hail rastaban43.

01. What a stupid day. The systems were down until 2pm. 2pm. And yet we still had to sit there. In the end Ben and I just played noughts and crosses for about half an hour then went for a pub lunch. Ridiculous day.

02. I just spent fifteen minutes figuring out how to spell "onomatopoeia" *facepalm* You know how even when you spell a word wrong when Googling it, Google will generally throw up the suggestion for what you actually mean? Well let's just say it refuses to do this with onomatopaiea, onomotopeia, onomotopaiea and onamatopeia. Bad Google. Very bad. Also, bad myself. I never have troubles with spelling words. Never. Apart from diarrhea, which is for some reason a very tricky word for me.

03. I'm fighting a melancholy mood and I'm not 100% sure why. It is probably because it's getting so much darker each day. Showering in the dark is not fun. And before you smart people point out that yes, I could turn on the light: my bathroom window is huge and not frosted and I have an irrational fear of people walking in the fields at stupid o'clock in the morning and being able to see me showering. So, light off.

04. I wish this cough would hurry up and die. I seem to have given it to everyone at work. And yet it does not want to seem to leave me. I almost threw up on the way to work today because I was coughing so hard. Blah.

05. I need to decide what I'm doing for my birthday. Pleh.

06. How about a nice controversial DO OR DIE poll?

Poll #1270563
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Cats or dogs?

Obama or McCain?

Iron Man or Batman?

ScOne or scon?

Harry Potter or Twilight?

I trust everyone has seen this, yes?

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

( Cut because it's politics and this tends to result in me ignoring people. )

This upsets me far more than it should, as you can tell. Still, the following has given me a good giggle this afternoon which is a good thing as it's probably the only thing that will all day. Seriously, foul mood. As can only be expected. Anyway:



Fucking hell. Man Utd have scored. Pish.

ETA: 1-1. Slightly better, boys.

Today, I baked.

I have not baked in many months.

The reason for this is that for some reason, at some point in the last 5 years, I completely lost the ability to do so. Oh, I'm perfectly happy doing any other cooking, but baking? Cakes? Complete and utter fail. Hand on heart, I have not made a perfect or even close-to-being-edible cake in absolutely years. Not for lack of trying, either. I've done trial runs. I've used many different ovens, many different ingredients. All has resulted in epic fail. And so, it gives me great joy to say that Today's Baking has resulted in...

EPIC WIN!!!

Well, on a small scale. I only made four items and one of them had a slightly blackened top (I got too engrossed in The Sunday Times) but still, omg, the goodness. ( Pictures!! )

So that was a lot of fun. The cookies and some of the brownies are for work tomorrow, and the rest I'm keeping for myself and the parents, who got far too excited about the fact that I was baking and there was food and they could eat it, ha ha :D


In other news (although not really news) I did that meme that was floating around yesterday and it turns out I am a nerd. However, I'm also Faith, so suck on that! We'll ignore the slight psychotic tendencies.

Hmm...what else? Oh, there was an interview with and article on Smeyer in The Sunday Times which almost made me gouge my eyes out. Thankfully they made pokes at her writing as being pure teenage romance melodrama which made me happy.

I'm also desperately in need now of a haircut and colour, so I'm going to book it tomorrow for the 23rd of August. Why that date? Because it is PAY DAY and I want to have the hair done and dusted before I can change my mind and put it off for another month. I haven't had it done professionally in a year, although I've cut it myself a couple of times. I can't be bothered to do that now. I've actually been pondering upon how awesome it would be to have pink hair for a few months. Not pale pink like Lily Allen, but more of a compromise between this and this. However. I doubt my colouring would suit it and it would be a big waste of money if it faded relatively fast. I did have my hair done electric blue once which was pretty cool, but yes, it did fade quite fast and was a lot of money. So instead I'm going for what I had before (which has lasted nearly ONE YEAR now) but a bit lighter ( along these lines )

So I have just finished (finally) watching through the Ninth Doctor DVDs. Yes, this is the first time I have done this despite having owned them for close on to two years. Previously I've only ever watched up to "Father's Day". Today I have completed the lot!

AND I WANT MORE. MORE MORE MORE.

Those were some fantastic episodes. The two-parter set in the Blitz - oh hell, creeped me out something chronic. And I love "Father's Day" anyway. And the final two, yes, I have been crying some much.

I hope I'm going to like the Tenth Doctor as much as the Ninth. I really do think Christopher Eccleston is fantastic.

Unfortunately I have to wait until pay day before I can purchase (or even rent) the next lot :-(


Just thought I'd update with this anyway, since I know it'll make a few people happy at least ;-)