A thousand words

I'll admit, sometimes the news becomes background noise. Ok, often the news is just background noise, and although I've heard about the fires in Australia, I hadn't registered them consciously as a real event until I saw this series of photos from The Big Picture. The wheels of the cars melted. People have died. And those pictures made it real to me in a way that concerned voices on the radio just didn't. My thoughts go out to those affected by this tragedy (translated from news-speak: Australians, I am so sorry. For reals).

The Big Picture is a thoroughly wonderful blog, and I recommend it if you're even vaguely interested in photography.

I've had a good week; I finally feel like I'm getting things together a bit. Today I gave blood and signed up for the bone marrow donor thing, and they gave me some chocolate chip cookies. Done, and done!

I'm going home on Friday - Home home, Isle of Wight home - which will be lovely. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. And by everyone I mean the eleven people who haven't yet left.

Also, you know those maple and pecan plaits? They ROCK. I'm craving them hardcore these days, mostly because I'm trying to cut back on chocolate! Stupid substitute addictions.

I feel pretty

I felt a bit out of my element when I first went in; but the guy I had arranged to see was very friendly and quickly put me at my ease. His bleached blond hair and a skinny scarf around his neck made him seem younger than he told me he was. He seemed surprised that it had been a year since I was last seen to; a year and two days, to be exact. And he was right, it was high time I was sorted out!

He started out with a head massage. We spent a bit of time just chatting before we, well, got down to things, and he told me that his trade name is Jay. (Most people who get into the business take on another name, something I knew already - my aunt has been known by another name to everyone since she started working in Soho.) It felt wonderful when he ran his fingers through my hair, and that naive little voice in my head started saying "Oh em gee he loves me!!," and I had to silence it by reminding myself that it's his job and that money would be changing hands afterwards.

For the next hour, I was the absolute centre of his attention as he made me feel beautiful, occasionally taking something out of the toolbelt around his hips to use on me. He was professional and gentle, and truth be told I enjoyed the fact that there was a big mirror on the wall so that I could better see what he was doing to me.

I left with a spring in my step, feeling more like a woman than I had in... ooh... about a year!

I must get my hair cut more often.

Come cheer up, m'lads!

Just discovered some absolutely hilarious Star Trek videos! The YouTube user gazorra has cut together... well, see for yourself.

Blueballed by Firefly

Recently, Gav bought me Firefly on DVD. I'd heard so much about it, and I've been wanting to see it for ages, so I was very excited and already had a lot of expectations. I've heard it called 'the show Star Trek could have been.' Well, pfft. Pfft I say!

It only took me a few episodes to decide I didn't like it. It was absolutely nothing like Star Trek, and if River didn't stop being mystical all the time I was going to demand that she be thrown out an airlock. I was all ready to announce to the world that Firefly was overhyped, and not that great actually.

But... I began to like the characters, Kaylee in particular. And I began to understand that what Firefly actually is... is a Space Western. Not sci-fi. So, more Wars than Trek, more guns than phasers, more sex than diplomats. You get the idea. And after that realisation, I really warmed to it fast!

Of course, as we raced through the episodes towards the inevitable end, I remembered why Firefly has such geek cred in the first place. It's because it's obscure. Not massively, not any more, but it has the rare 'limited edition' feel of a truly wonderful programme that was foolishly cancelled just before it found its audience.

Joss Whedon, the creator (also the creator of Buffy which shuttup was totally awesome), wisely chose not to try and explain everything in the last two episodes. There were a lot of loose ends that he could have tried to tie up in a hurry, but he didn't, and the series is much better for it. It gives the impression that somewhere out there, they're still flying.



The interesting thing of the day, in keeping with the blueballed theme, is a fantasy webcomic that I absolutely adore but was abandoned before completion. I'm not sure entirely of the reasons, but I think the artist / author found out there are mean people online, and left the internets foh evah. (Actually, it seems that he's updating again now! Ace, where did I get to...)



(Regarding the title: I realise that, as analogies go, this is a fairly crude one, but nothing else quite sums up the sense of enjoyment culminating in eventual disappointment and frustration with quite the same bluntness.)

Blank pages

It's a constant source of frustration to me that my idea-times and my blank-post-open times never quite seem to coincide. I try to keep a text document with which to share my inspirational nuggets, but once the ideas go in there, they have a nasty tendency to wither and die, once again forcing me to post a guilt update consisting mostly of links and pictures. (Not that there's anything wrong with links and pictures; it's just that you're unlikely to think to yourself, "My word, that was a well-written link. And those pictures! Why, that's the equivalent of 3,000 words! Truly, this is something I must share with all my friends and facebook friends.")

One of the reasons for this is that I only open up a blank post with which to fill with my genius at ridiculous 0'clock in the morning (which for the uninitiated is after bedtime o'clock, but long before maybe-this-counts-as-getting-up-early o'clock), a habit that tends to cause every original and creative brain cell in my skull to shrivel and whimper softly to themselves.

Part of it is that I'm just out of practise. I haven't been writing as much since I started struggling with uni work, favouring instead the relatively easy point and click of my beloved camera. I'm not saying that photography is easier than writing; merely that it's about a million times easier if you have no idea what you're doing. Which I don't.

On that note... I'm planning to go on a photography course, if I can get my butt in gear. And, with a similar butt-in-gear proviso, I also intend to take up dance classes. That is so unlike me... I've spent the vast majority of my life trying to avoid any and all forms of strenuous physical activity, possibly explaining why I haven't flunked out of Starfleet Academy (surely the best euphemism ever). Fnarr fnarr, etc. I don't know what kind of dance classes to take, but I confess to being intrigued by the possibility of pole-dancing lessons. I hear you've got to have great muscle tone, which I do not. I never succesfully managed to climb the rope in those dreaded PE lessons in middle school. Perhaps I'm setting my sights too high and should just chain myself to a treadmill until I'm thin?

Yes, that's another thing that's been on my mind lately... excess blubber. I can no longer dismiss it as Christmas weight, or hope that if I just ignore it it will go away. The temptation is not to mention it to you lovely people, so that nobody will notice if I fail to lose any of it, but maybe a bit of pressure is what I need. Besies, it's high time I took up some form of exercise.

Besides, what is 2009 if not a blank state? I should make of it what I will.

And with that metaphor I segue seamlessly back to my starting point. Did you see how I did that? Ohyeah. I'm good.

Artitude

I've had a wonderful week. DanX's birthday celebrations were a resounding success, because I got to listen to people playing guitar and harmonica and singing. You have no idea how much I enjoy that. It was making me super nostalgic, and I don't think I shut up about Open Mic Nights for ages!

I've been making a playlist of songs from the OMN back home in Cowes; if anyone's interested and has Spotify, the links below will take you to it.
http://open.spotify.com/user/thiefree/playlist/5so5BVD4uX3HgsvjqhzwCh
spotify:user:thiefree:playlist:5so5BVD4uX3HgsvjqhzwCh
(I'm never sure which one you need.)

I've been having a lot of fun with my beloved wacom tablet! Here, check out my artitude:

I traced it from a pic someone sent me, and I'm pretty pleased with the result!

Well. It's raining, and i feel terrible that I've essentially done nothing for the past two days, so I'm going to shut down the laptop and... do... something. Maybe wander around my room in ever-decreasing circles.

Interesting thing of the day: A two for one today. Firstly, I Hate Jake: a grown man reads out a childhood diary entry. I've kept a diary for a long time, maybe I'll do this some day.

Secondly, Wonderwall... as composed by Microsoft Singstar.

This youtube account has loads of Singstar-butchered classics, well worth checking out to remind yourself what actual musical talent sounds like (i.e. not like this).

Multiple Personality Disorder

Due to some recent trouble with sock puppets, anonymous comments are no longer permitted, and comments on posts older than 14 days hafta be checked by me before they go up. This shouldn't inconvenience most of you, but I'm sorry nevertheless.

Worst Death Imaginable

Interesting thing of the day: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, a daily (more or less) one panel (more or less) comic. Just thought I'd share this one, because... well, how true!

Corrupted (plus photo recap)

Well, it's official, my mind has been broken.

I was helping out with the lounge today, which is an event not unlike Soul Café for an older patronage (so, no dance mat. Boo!) It's held at our church, Woodville Baptist. It was a lot of fun, and I even know how to make lattés and stuff now (although, hey, let's not test that knowledge just yet).

But yes, the guys I was helping refer to the various coffee contraptions by female pronouns, as you do. And at one point, someone was making a hot chocolate, and that particular contraption was a bit tricky to use, and he said "Ooh she's a squirter... nice." And I was the only one who laughed.
Ok, right now half of you are laughing, and the other half are thinking "I don't get it," because I have a wonderfully diverse readership like that. But essentially that was the moment I realised that I have been seriously warped by the people I hang around with.

Hang on. I didn't say that was a bad thing. The way I see it, I just have a whole new sense of humour to supplement my regular sense of humour. Only, the new one involves piles of dead babies, and ducktaping cats.

In other news, I realise I'm stretching the term "almost daily" to breaking point since about mid-December. I'm not sure whether to apologise or not. On the one hand, my blog is suffering and my readers aren't getting their regular injections of wit and humour that I so skillfully bring to their otherwise drab lives. (I know. Thank me when you see me.) On the other, the blog isn't the only aspect of my life that's suffering, and you people don't pay me anyway. CONUNDRUM.

But I will try to be better. Really, really I will. Since I've been taking tons of photos lately, I'll use them to jog my memory about all the things I need to update you on.


Ah yes, this is the Elm Street legal graffiti wall. The girl in the picture was interviewing the artists as Ross and I walked past, so she found me on Flickr and emailed me a few questions. You can read what that was all about here.

Next...


Lucy! My lovely lovely Lucy! I had a great time with her. She's an old friend from the Isle of Wight, whom I have mentioned on multiple previous occasions, and she's very lovely and special. We went for a walk up past Roath Lake to a place where there was a river and squirrels and trees, which made me happy. (It was actually SUNNY, too!) We also went shopping - I bought a dress! And a not-diamond not-silver ring that was £1! It's so shiny! And we did face mud mask thingies, the pictures of which will NOT be finding their way online. Nope. Also we went to see Aladdin with Anthony Costa in the starring role. It was my first panto! And it was amazing! Ok, Costa (from Blue, don'tcherknow) was shit, but the 3d glasses made up for it. Then we had sushi, watched Iron Man, slept like babies in my lovely lovely bed, and had pancakes for breakfast round the corner from my house. It was so great to see her again.


Oh oh oh and then the other day, I spent from 1pm till 5am - holy poop, 15 hours?! - at Ross's house watching movies n' stuff! I know, I know. Shocking. But it was so much fun, and Ross, Rich and Dan are just about some of my favourite people. Being cuddled up under a duvet watching great TV with them (again) is no great hardship. We saw 3 Batman movies, several episodes of Nighty Night, some League of Gentlemen, the final episode of Avatar, and several hilarious personals on Gumtree. A++, would do again.


Ahh! It's Gav's Rock Face! Yes, last night I finally got to see Gav rocking out on the bass. Apparently his energetic performances I've seen thus far have been the restrained ones. The band, Gary and the Gutners, did some quality covers at a birthday party in Buffaloes. I took hundreds of photos - probably around the 500 mark! - and danced with some of the lads from church. Oh and also! A lady got talking to me about my photos, said she works in media... I'll definitely follow that up, she gave me contact details and everything. Exciting!

So, yes. While I have been low and am not getting on with uni work or organising my life AT ALL, at least I'm making time for the important things.

I wish I was a little bit taller

I apologise for the all-time low on the creativity front. Having the blues tends to take the shine off my writing-elbow. (Elbow makes no logical sense, I know, it just seems to fit there.)

So instead of making the effort, I'm going to make you work in QUESTIONULAR FORM.

My question is this:

What activity or pass-time do you secretly wish you were cool enough for?
For me, it's graffiti. I wrote a bit about it here, but basically, I do not have the hiphop credentials to pick up a spraycan and know which end to point at the wall.

Interesting thing of the day: The Life and Times of a Replicator Repairman.