Reassuring thoughts on the economy

I know it's all doom and gloom at the moment, but I'd like to bring a little ray of financial optimism into your life.

Think about it like this: If the economy got into a terrible state, and we were all suddenly very poor, and prices went up, nobody would be able to buy anything. Nobody would be able to buy anything from Tesco, or from Rupert Murdoch, or from Microsoft. This is a classic case of the goose that lays the golden egg shitting itself to death, and you can bet that these huge GloboHyperMegaCorps with billions of dollars at their disposal don't want that to happen. It is in their best interests that things stay basically ok, and they've got the leverage to make sure that happens.

I do research for these posts, you know. I even looked up Forbes' list of the top 2000 companies, but it was boring.

So to summarise: Very rich and powerful companies want you to be able to buy what you need to live, and also plenty of stuff you don't need. We also want to be able to buy this stuff. Happily ever after.

Change of subject. I was thinking earlier...
Chocolate in winter doesn't melt as quickly. Somehow this gives it an entirely different feel. I'd go so far as to say that it seems to have far fewer calories than the heavy, sweet, sticky-as-sin summer chocolate. Not as nice though, especially when your face is so cold that you can't taste it properly and the momentary look of mild disappointment gets frozen onto your face and you spend the rest of the day looking slightly despondent until you find a radiator to hug.

Does this website make my butt look big?

I KNOW EXCITING ISN'T IT

Welcome to the all-new (i.e. slightly different) Almost Daily Exploits! MARVEL as I make slight adjustments over the coming weeks! (You did marvel, I distinctly saw you marvelling.) By the way, if anyone knows where I could get a 5-star rating widget for each post (á la YouTube) please let me know in the comments. You may be interested to know (although I can't think why you would) that I've also added a wishlist to my profile.

Heartfelt thanks to my Beloved for showing me how to do basic CSS adjustments. I am now a technology wizzard. Although I would like to point out to anyone else who says "That's the gay rainbow, you know" that rainbows meant different things before Gay Pride and they'll mean different things after. Symbols are like that. Flighty little scamps.

So where to start! Since moving to Cardiff I have finished and sent off a Very Important Essay, been kicked out of a pub, had multiple creative splurges, and been voted honorary mayoress of Wales. Three of the above are true.

It's amazing how conducive my new room is to creativity. It has a skylight, which allows inspiration falling from the sky to seep into my brain as I sleep. That's the current theory anyway.
In the space of two days, I modified a white waistcoat, decorated a strappy top with flowers, fixed my black trousers (the ones I've been holding together with a badge for about three years), started a scrapbook, made two (very professional-looking) cards, and decorated my nails in pointless but wonderful ways! Photos are, of course, forthcoming - I'll let you know when they're up.

I heard on the radio today, in a text-in segment about what Zippy is, that he is in fact a Zippy; part of an entirely separate species from the planet Tickle. (So he is a RAMBUNCTION?!) Zippy still terrifies me. By 'still' I don't mean 'since childhood', you understand. I mean 'since a year and a bit ago, when I was introduced to the concept of Scary Zippy who cuts peoples toes off with pliers. One... by... one.'

I'm currently penniless and destitute due to accidentally paying my rent twice - bravo, me! - and it's taking weeks to sort out. I'm living off the scraps people throw to pigeons. It's not as fun as it sounds; there's something about the sight of a grown woman diving after soggy chip-ends in the street that makes people clutch their children and hurry past.

My recommended track right now is Wheels by Cake. After discovering this song on YouTube I found a few more by Cake, and ended up buying two of their albums from HMV. (This was before the aforementioned Rent Crisis and therefore is mild fritterage rather than extreme.)


And with that, I think I'll leave you. Please let me know what you think of the new look - do you love it? Hate it? Does it threaten your masculinity? - and, as ever, thank you for reading.

Entropy and rain

Today, it rained. I walked. Computer. Laminater. Velcro. Posters. Guillotine. Database, database, database...

Still it rained. I walked, waited, watched My Fair Lady. I read.

I read this. Read it. You'll like it. Ben probably already knows it backwards.

I don't know enough to stop my boyfriend having panic attacks. Hell, I can't stop MYSELF having panic attacks: the string, fluff, and optimism that I'm made of seems to fall further apart every day. Entropy. Hah.

He can reverse it of course. In theory, He does. By His wounds we are healed. But still, my life is a bit of a shambles.

I need to retake a module to get into UWIC like I hoped. I need to submit an essay. A really long, big, difficult essay - you know I have trouble with them at the best of times. While holding down a 9 to 5 job.

I'm halfway through my overdraft... getting paid tomorrow though, hooray! And I'm seeing a very special friend soon! And I'm going home soon after that.

And it rains.

Cardiff Bristol Bath etc.

Wow. What an incredible weekend. I'll race through the main points!

Friday: Travelled up early. Gav met me at the station to give me sandwiches, a solar-powered keyring and some cuddles. I love this man!
The interview was easy, I was in there for ten minutes and as long as I pass my first year, I'm in.
So I'm moving to Cardiff.
I'm moving to Cardiff!!!
Then we went out to watch Son of Dave. I met a bunch of Gav's friends, which was ace, and SoD was awesome musically. I freaked out though. Got all claustrophobic; it hardly ever happens, but when it does I would give ANYTHING for people to stop brushing past me. G was a star so I didn't have to run away like last time.

Saturday: Slow start, which was lovely. We watched the rugby, England deservedly thrashed by Scotland, and watched Withnail and I which I'd never seen before.
The Bristol Beatbox heats were awesome!!!!! it was so good to see everyone again! There are photos here if you're interested, which you should be you ungrateful spoon.
Gav and I were on photo duty; he got some truly epic shots with TyTe's digital SLR.
After that, Gav, yasSon and I went back to Mr.T's house and crashed on the floor. It was so wonderful! We got all giggly and went to sleep fairly quickly.

Sunday: I woke up to realise that I'd slowly and steadily inched myself towards Gav, almost pushing him off the mattress. Heheheh. I'm a somnuggler.
His church was awesome. I'm not going to church enough, and it was very touching to be handed the bread by a man I respect so much. I got a bit weepy afterwards.
We had lunch with his family, who are all total stars, and T took us to the station. G and I said goodbye to Yass and got our train - I think I fell asleep on G! I was very good on Sunday night, I let Gavin get his sleep.

Monday: agh, I hate leaving in the morning. No more 8am trains for me. The frantic rush to get everything ready, and the fact that got there 1 minute before the train was due to leave and couldn't find my ticket so I had to buy a new one... gahhh! I'm a student, y'know? It's slightly scary to realise that I'm spending over £100 a month on weekends in Cardiff. On the plus side, when I move there, I'm gonna have more cash than I know what to do with, possibly maybe!

Anyway, it's back to Plymouth and back to work for me. I have an essay to do and three books to read, so I might not update for a bit... take care, all!