Localfreak's blog

localfreak @ 2009-11-05T21:55:00

2009-11-05T21:56:41Z

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November,
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot,
I see no good reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Bonfire Night!

And I've done precisely naff all. Today has not been a good day, writing wise or otherwise. It's all a bit poo today.

Tuesday Travels

2009-11-03T22:19:55Z

5,441 thus far.

Today I went to Liverpool with Auntie Irene which was (mostly) yay, especially as Hawkins-Bazaar has reopened which is shiny and good, though unfortunately AI does not agree and thus my visit there was shorter than wished. Nontheless I made a good start on Christmas presents including one rather good one for my Mum :) and some other bits and pieces. I got myself a bat-shaped biscuit cutter reduced in the Lakeland shop and a lot of Christmassy socks in Primark, as well as some winter t-shirts (Only 3 and a jumper, I was very restrained). It was a good day out.

The beginning of this month a lot of stuff has gone wrong- lights breaking and the roof is just...well it's very bad. Many leaking and such. But there's a man coming to assess it tomorrow evening so at least I can hope something will get done about it soon. My ebay sales aren't doing so well this time around, I made a profit of £3 from my last batch of things but if things don't sell soon I have a horrible suspicion that the profit will be lessened by covering the insertion fees of the second batch. Most annoying, particularly with the comics. With some of the other stuff, like old computer stuff, I'm going by the premise of 'if it doesn't sell, I bin it/give it into the shop' but with the comics I can't bear to do either of these things, which means they sit around until I try again, because I can't bear the thought of them damaged or not going to good homes. Particularly the signed ones or the really good ones that I just happen to have by accident and don't collect, but other people would surely appreciate.

I didn't go the comic shop today. I may have to start practicing what I preach and buying issues on ebay. I have done it before, it's just I kind of have charity-based plans for my profits for the next couple of months and I don't really want to feel guilty and spend it all on more comics when, until more sell, there's no sodding room.

Head is tired and dizzy now so I suppose I'll have to go to bed soon. HH work tomorrow. Boo.

localfreak @ 2009-11-02T07:44:00

2009-11-02T07:46:12Z

Nanowrimo started yesterday. I'm on shaky ground with this plot but I have hopes it'll improve as I become more interested in it....

of course I poleaxed myself this morning because instead of getting up early and writing I sat around feeling depressed and world-hating. I go to TNG in quarter of an hour on the Doom Bus.

I hate my life.

localfreak @ 2009-10-29T20:53:00

2009-10-29T21:08:07Z

Horrible day. I don't have the energy to explain it so I shall allow Scar to summarise for me here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfSea_Q4WXg

*heavy sigh*

Tomorrow we are dressing up. I did intend to go in my Toby costume but owing to the recent upheavals of the hovel (including several visits from The Tidying Fairy this week) my binder is entirely AWOL. And believe me, I've been searching everywhere for it. So no Toby costume. Instead I have a lacy shirt, possibly a waistcoat, trousers, etc and am going as a dandy. A shame I don't have any red makeup to do a line around my throat. I might see if Morrisons have any in the morning.

In pleasing tech related news, my new cable came which will enable me to record from my old mixtapes onto mp3. This is a marvellous thing, should I suceed, as I do have quite a few tapes of albums which were taped off now-AWOL LPs owned my Uncles and Aunties and Mum, and which fail to have a CD counterpart. Examples include a lot of folk bands, and also a Muppet one. I bought the 'new' version of the album on CD only to find that they didn't have all the same songs and some of the ones not available were my favourites (e.g. Lydia the Tatooed Lady, Willow-tit-Willow-tit-Willow, Coddleston Pie)

so...yay. Now I just need to find free time in which to do all of this in. And Nanowrimo starts in TWO DAYS *DIEZ*

The Not-Belonging

2009-10-27T21:23:44Z

As I was sitting on the bus of doom yesterday, after spending a day cooped up in a small room being generally miserable and treated like scum because I'm unemployed, I suddenly experienced a peculiar feeling. The feeling of being the outsider.

I've always, to some extent, felt this of myself- the name 'localfreak' wasn't coined out of thin air, you know. But in many ways, I don't quite fit being neither of one thing or the other. Being...well..strange. I'm not teetotal,but I don't get drunk. My hobbies are...eclectic to say the least, and just generally there's always been something a bit odd about me. I felt it very sharply just then.

In a social community and class in which gender roles are oddly strictly defined, in millions of little ways, I listened on the bus to the boys talking. They made the usual jokes at each other, vicious little slurs, backbiting and teasing, using the idea of 'bumming' one another as a threat. I smiled a little at their antics, both uncouth and swearing like navvies but also like little wolves or dogs squabbling and mounting trying to climb up the pack hierarchy. I've compared boys like this before, and girls too, because the majority of the girls were the same. In the rooms where I had just been, they huddled around the same table automatically, with the same kind of biting and sniping at each other (all in a friendly and affable vicious way) and occasionally foraying out amoung the boys, bantering and snapping at them.

And then there was me. Who didn't fit into either. It's not a concious thing for them, just a subconcious shift that there has always been in groups like this, since childhood. I sat, briefly, on the 'girls' table when they were out to share fags and when I returned they tolerated me affably,but with an air of bewilderment I don't think either of us could articulate.

The same thing occured when I moved back to sit with the boys on the computers. Over the years both groups have tried to fit me into the category they feel I should be in, from the boys in high school making sexualised jokes at my expense (although only very rarely) to the girls in juniors teasing me and pressuring me into clothes and magazine collections that I did not initially wish for. But I have never quite worked. Never quite belonged.

I understand what a friend-blogger I know means, when he refers to himself as the lonely gender.

And I'm not the only one who suffers for this 'not-quite'ness. I have known several trans and genderqueer persons whom have had this occur. Two in particular spring to mind, one was accepted by the other boys but only in a strange, unsure sort of way,the other I don't know about so much,but the girls- well so many of them expressed an irrational seeming dislike of them. I would ask 'why don't you like them?' and the responses would generally be vague and unclear 'I don't think they like me' 'I think he looks down his nose at me' 'She's a snotty bitch' etc, with no real basis. To me it is another symptom of the not-quiteness.

I don't make an effort to 'pass' as male or female, these days. I don't announce my gender or sexual orientation from the rooftops. I work on the premise of being totally open, and therefore having no need to announce anything unless someone asks a direct question on the subject. Very few people do. But whether I leave them to come to their own conclusions about me or not, the Not Quite Belonging is always there.

LUCKITY LUCKITY LUCK

2009-10-25T15:45:45Z

Today...well, last night, THE CLOCKS WENT BACK.

For those of you unfamiliar with this, this meant the end of British Summer Time and also An Extra Hour In Bed.

It was wonderful. Despite usually being an early bird, lately I've been having quite a difficult time raising myself out of bed and waking up chirpily at 6am in the dark mornings but today there was sleep! Lots of sleep! And when I woke up I felt like a properly qualified early bird again, singing and chirruping down the stairs and around the house.

Altar Served today. I had hoped it wouldn't be Ole Punch but then again, not all prayers can be answered. He was atrociously late, ran in about one minute to ten to fling on his alb. No prayers or prep at all- a very bad example. The girls are happy because it is half term and our glee was generally infectious.

Uncle Paul and Auntie Janet appeared- with PRAWN in tow- home from Uni for the weekend. His paperwork has come through at last so he's extremely happy about that, but then they were all happy as Uncle Paul has got a job! :) I'm terribly pleased for him, his garage shut at the beginning of the month and everyone lost their jobs 'cause of the recession and he was really dreading the idea of being on the dole (but then, doesn't everyone).

So there was a lot of luck around this weekend. I have a lot of plans for the coming week in my non-existent free time. I'm considering getting the train to southport to take Ad out on Tuesday afternoon but I can't decide whether the running around might kill me or not. If I didn't have the interview in the morning it'd be an easy choice. I also want to go to the Park and maybe Pickering's Pasture to get some nice autumn pictures.

Finally, I've signed up for NaNoWriMo again this year. Despite my success last year I'm still in a tizzy over it. More so as I realised my original plot was far, far too much like Midsomer Murders and thus could not be allowed. And would probably cause me to burnout because murder mysteries aren't often my thing at all. I'm very picky. I've joined the viddler group this year; procrastination ahoy! :) I'm hoping, too, to donate something to the charity this year but as money remains scarce I'm selling some stuff on ebay. I can't donate directly to a US based charity without listing on .com rather than .co.uk but I've decided that if I make enough profits on my outgoings, then I will donate the proceeds. Unfortunately the minimum donation comesout as just over £6 and out of my listings only one thus far has a bidder (an X Box game. The SIGNED Magneto comic? Nooooo. People are so strange.) and thus I'm nowhere near a £6 profit mark yet.

localfreak @ 2009-10-24T19:54:00

2009-10-24T18:57:53Z

Er so. Yeah. Shit. Life.

I kinda got the job. Sort of. And then nearly collapsed in a cold sweat. Because, the thing is this job will be one Saturday around every three weeks, but I still want to do it. It won't save me from my plight and may very well make my life more complicated as I'm going to have to talk to a lot of people and arrange it so that I can do it. And...yes. Shit. Heh.

So I can't do anything till Monday, and then possibly not much even then until I get a letter with a start date and such. I'm not very good with uncertainty.

I will celebrate when I'm not quite so stressed about the organisation. And I've still got Tuesday's interview to prepare for.

Life is TOO SHORT to read BAD FIC

2009-10-23T19:25:21Z

So the interview went well. Sadly, it is only for casual employment which wouldn't be enough to help me escape my current plight. On the other hand, in lieu of better offers I would probably try to do it on top of everything else for the experience alone.

Next one on Tuesday. Eek.

My Wolverine Origins DVD came yesterday :D SQUEE. So I spent the whole evening watching it. I'm glad I did. The thing is with the film is that, when you're not near it you only remember the really bad plotfails the giving consent to the adamantium project and the complete logic!fail of being shot with an adamantium bullet through the brain kills off his memories, thus destroying the ever-creepy memory implant plot but also failing to take into account how thebrain actually fucking works. but when I SEE it, I remember all the reasons why Wolverine is brilliant and cool and marvellous, and get caught up in shouting at the baddies and goodies alike and howling for blood and such.

Anyway, it made me hunger for fic. So, for your entertainment/pain

here are examples of why I rarely trawl for X-Men fic:

(these are real)
Summaries:
Summary: Logan works for Scott on his farm and here comes this young sexy thing named Mari. She's legs like a goddess and the wit like Aristotle, can Logan keep his footing or will he be swept away by the tide of love?

A new student with extraordinary vision arrives at the school. How will he handle his teenage lust for his mentor when it turns to far deeper emotions? SLASH WARNING! BeastxOCxLogan.

Daken, Kim and Maria come over to the Howlett mansion for a family barbeque. Maria has some fun with her cousins. What else could possibly go wrong..? and the author of this one is called 'wolverina cullen' >< THE HORROR

Meet Aleana, a new mutant hired to kill Logan for Weapon X program. see what happens when she's trapped at the School

Two new OCs at the school for 'gifted youngsters', Kris and Tess, find their way through the X-Men's world in a way only mutants can. (getting shipped with Wolverine and Collosus along the way...

WolverinexOC Wolverine and Wolverina take a trip to Japan, and only the expected can happen. Rated 'M' for a reason. ...Yeah... WOLVERINA. SO ORIGINAL.

And they're just a handful of summaries. The majority of fics I find (I'm not saying there aren't good ones out there, I'm just saying I can't seem to find them) are either

1. Like the above. Self inserts to either have sex with the character I like best (Wolverine) or to be his long lost child who is uberpowerful and shag another character I like along the way.

2. Short, generally badly written sex scenes with no real plot

3. Parodies. Enough said

4. Ships I don't like, aside from being ill-spelt. (e.g Wolverine/Cyclops is the big one here as well as Wolverine/Rogue O.o)

5. If I'm lucky enough to find a ship I reasonably like one of the characters (never Wolverine) is going to become an insulting representation of 'gylrig'. Eg he will cry at every moment, always bottom pathetically, and probably get raped by Sabretooth somewhere along the line.

If anyone can find me good Wolverine fic. GEN IS GOOD WITH PLOT. PLOT is more important to me than ships, although if there have to be ships, slash is preferred and most pairings aside from Wolverine/Cyclops I will try.

O.o

and you can't fool WORMS.

2009-10-21T20:14:11Z

Bloody hard graft, all day. We had an attempted pickpocketing followed by general ill-feeling at the way certain things have been run/dealt with/rearranged.

A load of people decided to completely clear The Cupboard today, and instead of being reasonable about it, sent every single bag of toys up to us on the shop floor to sort out, despite us not having anywhere to put the items!

This sorting was made the more frantic by the fact that we had a real rush of customers. In fact, it was revealed that today we made the most money in a day the clothes and babyroom floor has EVER MADE since the shop opened.

So...yeah.... kind of BUSY. In response to the frenetic pace I worked myself up into a super-speed effort, which is the cause of my now murderous muscles, and thus after finishing the tenmillion bags of toys I had to then sort out the tip that is the Shoe and Bag Filing Cabinet of Horror and Doom.

After work I drove to Nanny's to cook tea. Unfortunately Auntie Irene and Auntie Maura had changed their plans and would not be coming, and Mum had an emergancy meeting in work in preparation for a pile of seriously more-money-than-sense-bastards coming to look at the spaces where the mustard gas works was until it was dismantled and decomissioned A YEAR AGO. They intend to spend three days looking at blank spaces. Yes.

Therefore I tootled on AI's computer a bit and then cooked tea when Mum came in.

And my WORMERY WORMS have arrived in the post :D

so when I got home I set them up, which is happyshiny lovely. I love worms. They are ADORABLE :D

Day off!

2009-10-20T17:28:34Z

DAY OFF!

So I couldn't wash Betty today as rain was forecast and therefore it'd have been pretty pointless. And it was blooming cold. In the morning I lounged leisurely before having a bit of a tidy around my computer desk so that it's slightly less of an explosion of paper, ticket stubs and biros and then I read a little before starting to fill out an application form I'd requested that I got yesterday.

Yesterday, after a particularly bad day at work in which everything seemed to go subtly wrong for me, I went to the ASDA to buy tights (because crossdressing is fun! :)) and cornflakes for Nanny. Whilst there I found Moonwalker on DVD for £5!! MOOOOOONWALKER! :D Epically awesome film and okay soI have it on video- I couldn't resist!

I also realised that the Wolverine film had come out whilst I was sleeping, but I didn't have enough money on me so ordered it for £3 cheaper on amazon when I got home.

WHEE!

So I drove to Nanny's today to give her her cornflakes and ended up leaving with 2pks bacon, 1 bunch of scallions, 1 bag of teabags (about 100)and 2 cross stitch kits. lol! And also I have another interview coming up next week *diez*.

I have realised a minor flaw in my 'wait till Wednesday' for my computer project- the waiting may kill me. But tomorrow I shall be going to Nanny's after work and doing some work on AI's computer, and cooking tea. :)

localfreak @ 2009-10-19T18:32:00

2009-10-19T17:32:12Z

You are The Magician

Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.

Eleoquent and charismatic both verbally and in writing,
you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.

The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud. Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

So many things to do! Free time? What is this crazy thing?

2009-10-18T18:22:47Z

I am also deeply unimpressed with ebay's new ruling, that certain media items should be, as standard, offered with free P&P. Which is all fine and dandy but when I sell comics I ask for, say, 20p and then charge for my p&p which is between 70-90p depending upon weight. That means that I will from now on be unable to offer anything looking like a reasonable bargain to people, because I'll have to put my reserve asking price higher if I am to be able to afford to send the wretched things and cover the listing fee, let alone make any sort of profit.

Today Auntie Maura brought Amber Jane and Daisy Mae to Nanny's and stayed for dinner. Fern is very not well, the new food hasn't agreed with her and she's all swelled up and bloated like a balloon, poor love. Auntie Irene has been squirting milk of magnesia down her throat day and night. It was lovely to see Amber and Daisy Mae but sad, too, because there was a rather large body missing from the group. This was compounded when I was fiddling with my camcorder later and went to check a tape and discovered a recording of Adam's 10th birthday- complete with visit from Amber, Jack and Daisy Mae. Okay so most of it is tails and backs and bums (Nanny's living room being rather small for four dogs, plus Auntie Maura, Auntie Nicola, Uncle Rob, Nanny, Mum, Uncle Paul, Auntie Janet and Prawn and myself).

I may have solved the BT problem, as Auntie Irene has offered loan of her computer if I require it. :) huzzah!

I'm going to be pretty hectic this week, I can forsee it. HH tomorrow, a million plans for my day off on Tuesday, HH Weds and Thurs and I have an interview on Friday (prayers, good thoughts etc much appreciated) HH on Saturday...it's going to be a bit mental.

localfreak @ 2009-10-15T18:07:00

2009-10-15T17:14:06Z

Definitely one of those days. I am in a horrendous grump and my brain is all bleugh out of my ears. I spent most of the day as I could in the steam room, purposefully locking myself away from human beings until I could act decently among them.

Checking Mum's email for her, I then discovered not only a letter from BT telling me last month I had exceeded my download 10GB allowance (!) but also the 7GB warning letter for this month.

This is somewhat insane. And there are 2 possibilities:

1. BT are lying hounds. This is not unlikely, our phonebill often comes back with lists of calls that no one remembers making/having/otherwise indulging in. Add to this the fact that for a week last month I used NO INTERNET WHATSOEVER, it does seem strange to have exceeded the limit.

2. It's those SODDING RAR files. I had to kowtow to them a couple of times last month, much to my hate and general grumpiness, and had to get the software and do it again in the past week (and then immediately deleted the software as my virus scan does not like and nor do I and I think it a damned cheek that, particularly for the reasonably sized piece this month, the little sod sending it me couldn't have stuck the files together into a proper and sane format themselves. But Nooooo.

So yes. No Iplayer, No youtube, No RAR files (or any other similar files) until next month. I'm on an electronic diet. Because either way, I'm not giving BT the opportunity to charge more, the bastards.

There are TWO MORE WEEKS left in this month.

I may die.

My Day Off

2009-10-13T17:41:03Z

Huzzah! For today was My Day Off and it was, on the whole, quite reasonably good, except for a depressing lack of House thus far *sigh*.

I had planned, originally, to walk to the barber's for my seasonal haircut (I looked like a mop with glasses) and then return home to wash Betty the Bloodaxe ;) and spend some time writing, filling out forms, a bit of tidying and sewing and maybe some baking.

This didn't exactly go as planned. Nanny has hurt her leg, and is therefore climbing the walls at not being able to go out and do things. So the ....Order had been decreed that I would buy her a loaf (and whilst I was in town, Mum had some requests for snacks) and then go and visit her for a while. I still got the first two of my plans done (I HAVE EARS! THEY WERE STILL THERE UNDERNEATH THE MOP!) but I didn't get everything I wanted to done. Oh well.

On Sunday we went to the Game Fair at Tabley for a few hours. We had a reasonably good time, although it was rather too cold. I keep putting off digging out my Serious Winterwear but I think the duffle coat, at least, will have to come into more frequent use. I don't think I got anything really noteworthy, but I had great fun looking at all the pet dogs people had brought along and trying to identify breeds. I am sadly out of practice at this old game. As a child I had a 99% success rate, but these days....well....I gave away my old index game years ago. I could really do with a new version! There were two gorgous husky puppies, one about 6months older than the other, a greyhound with a lovely colouring at heterochromia- very cute, and a very regal-faced Hamilton Hound- lovely :D.

localfreak @ 2009-10-10T18:29:00

2009-10-10T17:53:53Z

Had a potty dream about a lady who was married to a giant and was in an abusive relationship and decided to run for it. Her half-giant children at first weren't sure about it but eventually understood and were on the run with their mother. They went to all sorts of different places and their father was never far behind being terrible. It was an imaginative dream, but a very scary one. O.o

Today was horrendous, really. I didn't get half what I wanted to done- there was always something and in truth I'm getting a bit sick of running round handing out jobs and orders without any sort of official recognition of my seniority. It makes me feel terribly guilty about giving jobs to the others, even if it needs to be done, and of course in terms of CV it counts for nothing officially which is quite annoying. And then Mad Shoe Lady was around so we couldn't close until a good twenty minutes after time because she was there.

Nanny has hurt her leg and didn't tell anyone for ages until Auntie Irene took her the hospital for an x-ray. They couldn't find anything on there but she's in pain and dosed up on cocodomal. I asked Mum to go and visit her and if she was really bad tell her that I'd cook the Sunday dinner, which Mum entirely failed to do. Tsk.

Betty had a flat the other night so Uncle Paul put the spare on and now her wheels don't match. He's fixed the wheel now though so hopefully will come to Nanny's tomorrow and put the proper wheel on again. I shall be glad of that!

Do excuse me whilst I die, won't you?

2009-10-09T20:21:23Z

I'm tired out. That's putting it mildly. I'm BLOODY KNACKERED. The past few days have been particularly hectic at HH although I've been glad of some of the more...higher up the chain...duties that Kev has pushed my way- minor office stuff but still far more...occupying for me somehow than wandering up and down the clothes turning all the hangers the right way.

Running round like a blue-arsed fly makes me somewhat too tired to type it seems.

Babblesome Update, with House Squee attached!

2009-10-06T17:56:45Z

Squeeing about House can be found

Under the

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Okay, many levels of awesome in the Episode. I don't know what's going on with Chase now (personally hoping 'refinds his faith' but then I ALWAYS HOPE THIS FOR HIM) and WOAH just and Foreman?

WOAH. I wonder if it'll go all Crime and Punishment in which Chase becomes tortured with the guilt until he can find a way for atonement and absolution?

But to the MAIN THING OF AWESOME IN THE WHOLE SHOW

no, not House and Wilson being a married couple with a probably homophobic arsewipe of a neighbour (until House fixes him)

WILSON ADMITTED IT

"Garlic, Shoes, I AM VAMPIRE"

HE SAID IT IN HIS MOUTH I SAW I HEARD.

IT IS ALL TRUE

my cup, it overfloweth. I just hope more watch soon so I may have someone who UNDERSTANDS how awesome that line is, instead of my mother who just cackles at me.

She did so this morning too, because whether the lemonade-and-lime I bought from St Bede's Club last night at the Young People's Social Evening (pleasantly suprised at how good it was. And there were FOURTEEN or so of us! Shock!) was as dodgy as it was overpriced, or whether I am just developing diverse and interesting diseases I awoke with a strange under-the-skin rash, noticable around my eyes. Had to set the greasepaint on it in order to leave the house. I showed mum of course in my vaguely melodramatic way

"I'M DYING! IT COULD BE LEPROSY! MEASLES! MENINGITIS! BUBONIC PLAGUE!.....MUM....I'M HAVING A HYPOCHONDRIAC MOMENT HERE, WILL YOU STOP LAUGHING AT ME"

Mother: *CACKLES BEHIND HAIRBRUSH*

it probably was the lemonade and lime really

The church social evening was surprisingly good, despite the fondness for Christian pop and taize chants (yes they may sound pretty but one can't really BELT THEM TO THE HEAVENS in the same way) and I knew very few of the people there. Most of them were a few years above me in school, even if they went to the same schools. One lad and I got to talking quite a lot and he was very nice and gave me a lift home. He pointed out that the pretty bright star I'd being admiring was infact jupiter. Which has some moons apparently (yes....physics was my worst subject, why do you ask? lol) and I knew his younger sister who was two years above me and played opposite me in one of our school productions. She looks astonishingly unlike him so it took me quite some time to connect the dots!

The course has been somewhat awful, mostly because of the sheer tedium, but tomorrow I get to go 'on placement' and that's at HH- the charity shop I already work at! So that's great because I know everyone and they like me and it'll be shiny and such.

*gallops off into the night*

localfreak @ 2009-10-05T19:03:00

2009-10-05T18:04:41Z

First day:
Boring, silent, stuffy, headachey, noisy, THEYMADEMEDOMATHS *howls at the indignity*, horrendously carsick and when I got home an inbox full of people asking me complicated things.

And now I have to get ready to go out of the young people's church meeting thing. If anyone besides me and Fr James show up at all. Hmph. (I'm only going because he'll be sad if I don't.)

localfreak @ 2009-10-04T21:21:00

2009-10-04T20:29:12Z

Hiding in my little corner humming Isn't It Grand Boys? and quietly detesting the world and life and why mine happens to be particularly shitty at present.

So. Very amused by a scene on todays Antiques Roadshow in which two cousins brought their recently-deceased uncle's portrait in. The portrait, which he had sat for a friend as a young man, showed a young, clean-shaven lad with a green tie and a particular....look...on his face. My suspicions raised, my radar heightened. Then I saw it- on the man's little finger, very prominently shown in the picture, smiled a fat green ring.

Why...HELLO says I.

Then had the pleasure of the valuer, who blatenly knew just as well as I did, pussyfooting around about the picture so as not to become too personal or give the cousins any Suprise Revelations. At least one of the cousins, probably knew, but equally wasn't Verbalising That Particular Thing so there was a lot of,

"The ring shows he was a man of ...artistic taste perhaps."

"Oh, yes, yes, he was very artistic. He was a flower arranger- owned a shop on .....street"

"And the expression is one that seems to show great depth of emotion, contemplative, refined, with perhaps a hint of fragility..."

I burst out shouting at the TV: "WHAT HE MEANS TO SAY IS THAT IT IS BLATANTLY OBVIOUS THAT THIS GENTLEMAN WAS A HAPPY SNIFFER OF THE GREEN CARNATION."

In some ways this entire scene was Utterly Hilarious. I suppose in other ways it's a little sad how natural it was for both parties to Not Talk About It, but in other ways it is very reflective on that particular brand of culture in which Things Are Said without Things Being Said.

localfreak @ 2009-10-02T21:26:00

2009-10-02T20:27:55Z

So, starting Monday I will be at TNG until the New Year unless I'm lucky enough to get a job. So long Time and Joys. (And playing with Betty for most days of the week it seems :()

The Epic Posts in honour of the 1000th secrets submission over at fandom secrets was definitely what I needed to make the evening okay.

mind is like a compass I'm stopping at nothing

2009-10-01T19:07:08Z

Took Betty out for her first spin today. Well...in truth it was more a tootle than a spin. Had a (in hindsight, hilarious) moment of LIFE FAAAAIIILL when I screwed up my courage to take her out, sorted out all the mirrors and P-plates and paraphanalia and then couldn't get the handbrake off. My little wimpy hands were too wimpy and thumbs too week evidently. *SHAME*

Then Nanny showed up, leaned in and did it immediately with no trouble. Gah!

But yes, I took Mum who did what I predicted she would do all along and backseat drove ALL THE WAY to St Bede's and then went to Nanny's for a cuppa and sat with the dog on my legs and read a book, until Mum was finished and then I drove us home. It'll take some getting used to- Betty feels very different to the car I learnt in. Her gearbox feels different, the biting point is different but the biggest one of all is her speed. Whoah! One zippy little car.

She is petrol, and lightweight, of which the Corsa was neither. I drove down one road at 30mph and I didn't have my foot on the accelerator and it held at 30 O.o. A bit scary really. lol.

When we were setting out to go the embarrasment struck again because JUST as I was pulling out of the parking space Vi, one of the nice ladies (and just as much a curtain twitcher as my mum IF NOT MORESO) stepped out and stood watching arms wide, mouth gaping open and then gave me a big thumbs up.

It was nice but I was mostly just going "STOP WAAAATCHING!"

lol. Exhasperating people!

I got A MOUNTAIN of post today. A MOUNTAIN. A Dear John, a letter from the Car Insurance, a letter from a bank telling me about "changes to your school account" which I closed WHEN I WAS TWELVE O.o, a letter from my other bank making me freak out by summarising the last twelve months of spending including things bought LAST NOVEMBER making me go "WHO IS THIS COMPANY AND WHAT IS THIS MONEY AND WHAAAAT?", my birthday present from Claire (^^) and a letter from the police.

Yes. THE FUZZ. Saying that the lost property had been given a bank wallet containing a library card. This is mine- I hadn't noticed I'd lost it! The library card is my Uni one, in my defence. I used to use the wallet to store my provisional license in when I had a driving lesson but of course the license went with my examiner after my test and now I have a new (hideous) pink one. So. Yes. I have to go down to the police station, probably tomorrow as I'll be in the area. Eep!

I wish I could work out where I lost it. I mean, I had it on my birthday (obv) but if I'd dropped it at the driving instructor place then they would surely have given it my instructor...so either it fell out of the car when she dropped me off at my Nan's or....some time between then and Friday morning because then I went on holiday. I can't for the life of me remember what I did (if anything) on Thursday.

*ponders*

If you love it I can do it again.

2009-09-29T17:39:41Z

Quiet day mostly. Walked to St Raphael's for Mass (feast of the Archangels) which was somewhat disappointing as Fr Tony (who is new and lovely) had arrived to do it and then Ole Punch showed up so they said Mass together. Worse luck- Fr Tony read the Gospel and Ole Punch did the homily :(. I said my prayers feverently throughout because when he started going on about things like "We are blessed with many good Saints in our five churches...St Raphael...St Bede etc" (*cough* YES AND YOUR GOING TO KILL HALF OF THEM*cough*) and then about St Raphael being the Healer and "People who hurt others, who cause upset, who cause discord and unhappiness...." (*cough* YOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU*cough*) were decidedly....non-conducive to the right mindset in which to recieve the Sacraments.

It took us ages to get on with things, Nanny and I, too, as people kept stopping us and asking for things and telling us stories as we were locking up the church and collecting the cassocks for washing and such. We finally went into town for Nanny to get her pension and do a bit of shopping and then Nanny gave me a lift home, where I provided her with a video for Auntie Irene and half of the banana-sticky-toffee-croissant-pudding thing I made yesterday (recipe courtesy of Anthony Worrall Thompson and the kind people at ITV who sent it to me when I emailed asking about it) because though the recipe had said "serves four" I had mistakenly believed it meant "serves four PEOPLE" when in fact it seems to have meant "serves four Elephants, if they are particularly hungry and haven't eaten anything for several days" :P

I then pottered around a bit watching episodes of House, reading fic and.....er....stuff.

Oh! And I finally sorted out my Insurance! So from 00.01am on Thursday I AM ENSURED AND BETTY WILL BE MINE. (Betty is the name of my new car :D) I got a special sticker from Whitby of a Vampire Bat to put in her and Mrs M said she's removed all the girly fairy-sparkle bits and the "Mum's Taxi" signs all ready for me and Mr M has been made to clean it where it has been gathering dust for a few months in storage so it's all ready for me.

*nervous glee*

I'm really excited. I'm also really scared about driving it- what if the indicators are in the wrong place? The biting point? And I still need to go to the shop in Frodsham to get myself some little Blind Spot mirrors because, despite my driving instructor's efforts, I would be FAR happier reversing around objects with them there! On the bright side, I do hope the lights will be in a better place. The car I learnt to drive in (a vauxhall corsa) had the lights seperate from the levers on the wheel towards my right knee on the dash which I found particularly worrisome as to even bend to twist the knob without looking would substantially decrease my ability to SEE WHERE I WAS GOING.

Auntie Irene has been giving me a million tips about care and maintainance. Mostly the kind none of my Mum's cars have ever had because Auntie Irene inherited, at least mildly, the hereditary bug from her Father's side of being car mad (along with his side's temper, which the vast majority of the family posess-except for me). I daresay I'll have to go on a splurge and buy the things she insists are needed like special cleaner for the wheels, and special wash and waxes for the body and a little hoover for the nooks and crannies. I am mostly concerned with the fact the car has a CD player and when, exactly, I will consider myself good enough to allow myself music in the car, and when that happens if there is any gadget I can buy to hook up my mp3 player etc ;)

So...yes. WHEEE! CAR WILL SOON BE MINE. WATCH OUT WORLD! :D

localfreak @ 2009-09-28T20:06:00

2009-09-28T19:34:53Z

My holiday, btw, was lovely. We stayed in this beautiful cottage in Yorkshire- by far the most beautiful we've ever stayed in. The weather was good, if cold, and in the garden there was an eating-apple tree, a baking apple tree and a pear tree so you could just go out and pick an apple for a snack any time you liked because the fruit trees were all Abundant.We went to some brilliant places, Burton Agnes Hall and Sledmere House are both to be HIGHLY recommended and I befriended a Baby Hedgehog which showed utterly no fear of anything or anyone. Which perhaps isn't just a good thing but I got some AMAZING photographs. A lot of my CUs of flowers turned out really well too, although some of my landscapes....not so good. Ah well.

We went to Beverley Minster which is DEFINITELY worth a visit for the gargoyles alone.

SO CUTE.

*ahem* and we went on a wooden ship designed as a model of Captain Cook's at Whitby and I got DRACULA rock. Which is like normal rock except it is BLACK and awesomely still tastes of mint rather than licorice or something horrible like that.

We went on the Goathland Rail Trail walking to Grosmont then picking up the steamtrain again back to Pickering.

We picked blackberries and made a blackberry and apple ....Experiment with yum-yums and custard.

We did a tour of the charity shops. There was much book buying. I finished two books I'd brought and I discovered a hitherto unknown love of the artwork of Anton Pieck.

Very good holiday. Wish I lived there. Or, you know, somewhere with Views rather than grey stone and red brick and sandstone. Ah well

Oh HEAVEN.

2009-09-25T19:27:49Z

I had a wonderful holiday. I'll tell you about it sometime. I came home to a pile of depression and life and feeling sorry for myself and then the phone rang and it heralded the news:

Baby Jack is dead.

He wasn't even fully seven years old. I don't know how, or why, although he was ill not long ago and the vets couldn't work out with what- but he improved with antibiotics. He was our baby and we loved him.

I want to say 'Rest In Peace' but I can't...it hasn't sunk in yet that he has gone.

Baby Jack! Oh, Lord, why him?

localfreak @ 2009-09-17T20:07:00

2009-09-17T19:20:15Z

^^. Still really happy about my birthday and everything. MASSIVE thank you-s to everyone who was kind and luverly to me. :)

Today I went to the dole (blah) paid my bills and also went to see about getting a usb internet wotsit for whilst I'm away (because....HOUSE!)and...emails yes, but this failed on both counts- the former because even the best value stick would probably not have been able to cope with a double-parter properly and the latter -and internet in general- because when I asked people for the different companies to check the connection ability in the area both went "ITS A DEADZONEOFDOOM. It isn't even on the EDGE of a zone there's just NOTHING." So that was...erm...good of them to be so honest. lol.

Ergo. Whilst I am away (and I leave tomorrow) I will have no internets. I will be taking my magic box, but even if we do find somewhere with wifi its capabilities are humble and the only thing I'd be doing, no doubt, is emptying my inbox once to make sure it doesn't explode.

So yes. I love you dearly, but not too many comments or emails plz. I don't want my inbox to start bouncing mail.

^^

Arrivederci!