|
Pink Pachyderms on Parade
|
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jul. 14th, 2009|04:26 am] |
It never rains, but it does drizzle, spits, and blats.
There are metal statues of horses at the camden stables market. Derek looked under a horse's tail and noted it had an anus.
Thursday Nikki came down to see people and she stayed over. It was good to see her again, after so long not.
(I managed to wash bedclothes so they'd be clean and dry by the time Nikki went to bed. go me.)
On Friday my brain went *fzt* and I didn't go out and see people like I'd meant to.
As if to compensate, Saturday was very social:
Woke up early to see Nikki off, she was meeting people on the other side of London and the beloved and I gave her directions (the tube is disrupted on weekends) and reminded her to set off in time.
I met Derek and Rose in Camden for lunch, and we wandered around the market, and the canal, and Withnailed (that is wandering around in the rain in the park near the zoo. It makes sense if you've watched 'Withnail and I'. Never watch it unless very happy and in company. And drunk, probably.).
At the park we settled on a bench and watched men being manly-and-heterosexual and playing probably Australian football. And watched more closely when they changed to street-clothes.
There was lots more wandering around while it rained. I got out my umbrella and it did not cause the rain to stop. So I used it to keep the rain off, instead.
We went back to the market and looked at lots of horse statues - Derek noted the anatomical correctness of the horses. Also looked at clothes and stalls and went into Cyberdog, where I started giggling and could not stop. It is a silly place.
Later I went to ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) aster13's housewarming party. That was fun and good and people who were newly introduced asked 'where do you know aster13 from?' rather than the tedious 'what do you do?' and I liked that. |
|
|
| I get to things late. I only just saw Star Trek. I will catch up with Torchwood later |
[Jul. 7th, 2009|12:33 am] |
I went out with ccooke this evening and it was good!
We met in central London for food, and a movie. It had rained and the pavement was wet and the air felt cool and washed. The buildings were in shade, but the sky was bright. It was beautiful.
At Yo! sushi, there was food already prepared and on the conveyor-belt, so I didn't have to decide what to order and to wait for it, and wonder if I had chosen the right thing, and whether it would be enough: the food was already there, prepared and ready to eat, and set out on plates and I could take a plate if it had stuff-I wanted on it, and stop when I had enough. Also, they had a special on, all dishes on the conveyor belt were the same price - £2.20 (it usually varies between £1.70 and £5.00). They are small plates.
We saw Star Trek and I have squee.( New Star-Trek Film Squee ) |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|03:06 pm] |
The BBC news website says: Gay sex decriminalised in India .
It also said:' The ruling overturns a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an "unnatural offence". '
Down with colonialism. Up with equality. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|06:16 pm] |
Today, new washing machine has been delivered and installed. Day is sunny and too damn hot.
I had ripe cold melon for breakfast.
Yesterday: present to me and ccooke arrived from my sister: a beautiful ex-libris set, with stickers and a stamp and an ink-pad, and a book of poems, all in a pretty wooden box.
( boring details of the week )
Monday: I reported the washing-machine broken to landlord's maintenance people. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|03:21 am] |
-the bearing in the washing machine is broken. That makes it uneconomical to repair the washing-machine.
- On Saturnday, Supermouse came for a visit. I went to get Supermouse from the station, because of tube lines being closed for maintenance.
- On Sunday, went with Nye and Supermouse and ccooke and watched 'Waiting for Godot' at the Haymarket Theatre . It starred Patrick Stewart as Vladimir and Ian McKellen as Estragon. It was beautiful and funny.
Vladimir and Estargon were old friends, supporting and mocking and helping each other. And hugging :)
After the play, ccooke and Supermouse and I stopped at a Yo!sushi opposite the theatre. I had non-sushi food, because I'm wrong and do not like the taste of sea-weed nor of fish. But I did like the miso soup.
- On Tuesday, went to the Pub with Supermouse, and there were ten of us, so we played Mao. Aquarion led it, and it was fun. I find that the fun of it depends on who is playing.
- On Wednesday: I saw Supermouse back to the train station, and Supermouse left.
I went to meet st-lemur after he saw the Matinee of Waiting for Godot, but I got to the theatre at four, during the intermission. ... The theatre doors were open, and people were standing outside. I smoked passively for a few minutes, then realised that nobody checks tickets after the intermission, and went in to watch the second half of 'Waiting for Godot' again. There were some empty seats - not many, but it was a mid-week matinee. I found a seat in the royal circle. Ushers and an intermission-ice-cream-seller noticed me, but they told me to go in, and the ice-cream guy told me where to find a seat - nobody asked me about a ticket.
So I watched the second half of Waiting for Godot again, and it was good. I think the sadness showed more, seeing it the second time, because I knew where the funny bits were already.
- After the play, met Edmund, and his friend Susan, and showed them to De Hems, where we sat and talked and had a drink. That was fun.
There's a restaurant opposite De Hems that has Singapore and Malaysian cuisine, there are prawns and rice and spiciness, I think ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) random_c might want to try it sometime.
- There was bab5 and two episodes of woe. at ccooke's and my flat, and it still had most of the tidiness that was for the supermouse's visit.
I hurried home from De Hems, so as not to leave abigailb waiting for me. I waited for the bus and worried she'd be there already, and then she showed up, and we took the bus together.
- Saturday ccooke and I went shopping, together, and bought necessary things and pretty things and useful things. there are new books.
We ate at Sagar - near Tottenham Court Road. Nom. |
|
|
| A Quote with a link |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|03:15 pm] |
chiller wrote A more realistic re-imagining of the texas chainsaw massacre:
You know, if the Texas Chainsaw Massacre had been a bit more true-to-life, it would've gone like this:
Leatherface: *runs through woods*
Student: *runs through woods*
Chainsaw: RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Student: *screams*
Chainsaw: RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Student: *trips over root*
Leatherface: *stands over student*
Chainsaw: RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Leatherface: *brings blade down*
Student: *screams wildly*
Chainsaw: *hits rivet in jeans*
Chainsaw: *tinkle tinkle*
Leatherface: Oh, blast.
Student: *screams die out*
Student: What's up?
Leatherface: The chain's gone.
Leatherface: Can you wait a minute?
Student: Sure.
Leatherface: I've just got to ... *waves thumb at house*
Student: No problem. I'll be right here.
Student: *points at ground and smiles*
Leatherface: *ambles off, muttering darkly*
Student: *pegs it*
It continues over there. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|02:44 pm] |
Today: have attended GP appointment, that went well and I am fine.
This evening: Mitch Benn and the Distractions.
In-between: the to-do list is lunch, and laundry. What I'm actually doing: gazing into the internet. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[May. 28th, 2009|12:13 am] |
I did stuff today.
Got laundry done.
Cooked food:
Spring leaves (it came in the organic box, it seems to be a sort of cabbage-y thing), sauteed in salted butter with garlic and almonds, and a bit of soy sauce, yum
And a bolognese sauce, which was tasty.
Gravity attacked when I went to boil the pasta, and one jar fell and spilled lots of cumin seeds and one pasta packet spilled lots of pasta, but I managed to put pasta on to boil and clean up the spilled stuff.
Also I talked to my friend Simon about going to a BBC radio recording tomorrow. Yay.
Mitch Benn and the Distractions are playing on June 4th at the E4 Udderbelly and I have tickets, for me and for friends who expressed interest.
*
I finished the story I was reading in the most recent issue of Granta and it had a sneaky ending. I like the sneakiness of it. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[May. 11th, 2009|11:36 pm] |
I am back from an evening out at the Canal Cafe Theatre, where I saw apiphile do stand-up! She was funny. Also there were Jo Breeze, Laura Claxton, Tony Dunn, Josh Widdecombe, and the house band (one man and a guitar. The man had a name, which I do not remember. possibly the guitar had a name as well, but the guitar was not introduced).
and headliner, Natalie Haynes, who was not there, and was replaced by Robin Ince, who wasn't there, who was replaced by Matthew Kirshen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcedOwnDVBY is a youtube video showing Matthew Kirshen in an USAian thing, NBC television's 'Last Comic Standing'. -- beware islamophobia in the clip. It doesn't last long, but it's there.
Have a bit where he talks about call-centres: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP9IfCocl7c . He used it last night.
The comedians were funny.
I introduced ihavecake to Fruli beer! I met and talked to bethan_b_bad! There was sitting in the pub after and talking. And I stole chips. |
|
|
| London-centric |
[May. 4th, 2009|04:23 pm] |
I mention things and see if people who are not me want to go see do them too:
Things to go see:
Coraline (in 3-D!)
Mitch Benn and the Distractions on June 4th at the South Bank If I get around to buying tickets.
Waiting for Godot at the Haymarket Theatre if I get around to buying tickets and it doesn't sell out. (Stewart and McKellan)
Eating foods:
9th May, Free Food Festival, small and organic food makers. (I have got tickets for this).
18-21 June, Taste of London, stalls by expensive restaurants. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[May. 3rd, 2009|02:13 am] |
Went out to the pub for to celebrate a friend getting her PhD.
Got to the pub stressed (was later than I'd meant to get there, was hungry, there were many people, lots of them I did not know well!)
And then , the pub had stopped taking orders for food because the kitchen was back-logged. Why did I leave home where I had a nice lamb-stew all ready? I worried for about a minute, at which point someone else organised a foraging mission, and permission from the landlord to bring take-away back to the pub, and a person who was familiar with the area led us to the local cheap-and-cheerful Chinese. We went and got food - neonchameleon lent me cash and I paid him back at the pub .
People were kind and helpful and cheerful and once I had eaten, I felt better, more cheerful and braver.
It was fun! I was glad I had come.
Took the train back, with sci. A person on the platform let us know the sign had announced a platform-change while there was still time to get to the right platform.
On the way home from the station, I saw an urban fox. Hi urban fox! It did not stay and pose for my camera. |
|
|
| London-centric plan for Sunday |
[Apr. 24th, 2009|02:48 pm] |
On Sunday I am going to see my friend Del Des Anges do stand-up comedy, I went last time and she was funny, and there were other people who were less funny, and I got to LAUGH at the funny and JUDGE the unfunny and it was good.
8PM, LIBERTIES BAR/CAMDEN HEAD (CAMDEN), 26TH OF APRIL
Address:
Camden Head (formerly Liberties Bar)
100 Camden High St, London,
NW1 0LU
Travel:
Camden Town tube
Del says:
PLEASE SHOW UP AND AT LEAST LOOK PITYING WHEN IT ALL GOES HIDEOUSLY WRONG. Or, IDK, laugh at the bits which are funny so I know which bits to keep? HALP. |
|
|
| exciting things |
[Apr. 20th, 2009|11:43 am] |
Omg, omg.
Excitingly, Dreamwidth have an automatic cross-posting option.
(P.s. I have an invite code, would you like it?)
edited to add that didn't work. Hoom.
AND as soon as I added that comment, it did work.
*
I had a weekend that had in it pleasant company, tasty food, and DUCKLINGS, which were neither food, nor precisely company - more scenery, really - but DUCKLINGS!
Also there were different-sex and same-sex pairs of ducks.
insufficiently sharp picture of duck with ducklings
Possibly a better camera or a better photographer would have provided better pictures. But still, DUCKLINGS! |
|
|
| 'The Centre of the Universe' by Paul Durcan |
[Apr. 16th, 2009|07:32 pm] |
i
Pushing my trolley about in the supermarket,
I am the centre of the universe;
Up and down the aisle of beans and juices,
I am the centre of the universe;
It does not matter that I live alone;
It does not matter that I am a jilted lover;
It does not matter that I am a misfit in my job;
I am the centre of the universe.
But I'm always here, if you want me-
For I am the centre of the universe.
ii
I enjoy being the centre of the universe.
It is not easy being the centre of the universe
But I enjoy it.
I take pleasure in,
I delight in,
Being the centre if the universe.
At six o'clock a.m. this morning I had a phone call;
It was from a friend, a man in Los Angeles;
'Paul, I don't know what time it is in Dublin
But I simply had to call you;
I cannot stand LA so I thought I'd call you.'
I calmed him down as best I could.
But I'm always here, if you want me-
For I am the centre of the universe.
iii
I had barely put the phone down when it rang again,
This time from a friend in Sao Paulo in Brazil;
'Paul - do you know what is the population of Sao Paulo?
I will tell you: it is twelve million skulls.
Twelve million pairs of feet in one footbath.
Twelve million pairs of eyes in one fishbowl.
It is unspeakable, I tell you, unspeakable.'
I calmed him down.
But I'm always here, if you want me-
For I am the centre of the universe.
iv
But then when the phone rang a third time and it was not yet 6:30 a.m.
The petals of my own hysteria began to wake up and unfurl.
This time it was a woman I know in New York City:
'Paul - New York City is a Cage.'
and she began to cry a little bit over the phone,
To sob over the phone,
And from five thousand miles away I mopped up her tears.
I dabbed each tear from her cheek
With just a word or two or three from my calm voice.
I'm always here, if you want me-
For I am the centre of the universe.
v
But now tonight it is myself;
Sitting at my aluminium double-glazed window in Dublin City;
Crying just a little bit into my black tee shirt.
If only there was just one human being out there
With whom I could make a home? Share a home?
Just one creature out there in the night-
Is there not just one creature out there in the night?
In Helsinki, perhaps? Or in Reykjavik?
Or in Chapelizod? Or in Malahide?
So you see, I have to calm myself down also
If I am to remain the centre of the universe;
It's by no means an exclusivley self-centered automatic thing
Being the centre of the universe.
I'm always here, if you want me-
For I am the centre of the universe. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Apr. 15th, 2009|04:55 pm] |
Yesterday:
I met a friend for lunch in China Town.
I returned some media to her that she'd lent me, years ago.
We ate in a Malaysian Singapore Chinese restaurant (opposite DeHems). My food made my tongue burn pleasantly. I have been developing my tolerance of hot-spicy food, mostly via Indian food, so now I can have my tongue burning be a pleasant sensation.
I ordered chicken and rice, with a fried egg on top. The fried egg had lots of tiny fish on it, dried, and they had *eyes* . I don't like fish nor sea-food, and I don't like food being served with its eyes. I gave the fried egg with the tiny fish on it to my friend.
Then I gave her the prawns in the rice, too.
I was goaded by her into a comic-book shop. I bought comics, and this was entirely her fault. Okay, somewhat her fault. Mostly the fault of Warren Ellis (Doktor Sleepless #12, Ignition City #1). I also bought Pull Shapes, 1 of 7 of the Phonogram Singles Club, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. (This too is Warren Ellis' fault. He linked to Gillen at some point. At several points.)
She had to go to the bank after lunch. I hate going to the bank, I find it boring.
Yet she couldn't get rid of me and I didn't leave and she had to make me leave and I realised I should have left already and felt bad, boring, clingy, and stupid for not leaving sooner.
Bah.
*
I walked home from the tube stop. I don't walk it often enough.
One of the shops on the way had ad posters for the UK WIRED, but I didn't see it in the shop. If I had seen it, I would have bought it, and that would have been Warren Ellis fault again.
*
I got a Spotify client to run on Ubuntu using wine.
(Spotify have a page with instructions on it and I followed the instructions. It was not hard to do. Also I have a handy sysadmin who would have helped had I ran into trouble).Went to the pub in the evening, and played a
I have 9 Spotify invitations to give away, if you want them.
They stream music to you on the internet. If you get an invite, it's free, with ads every few songs. (You can upgrade to paid, and then there are no ads).
They have The Mountain Goats there. The Mountain Goats are worth listening to.
*
In the evening, went to the pub, saw friends, played a game:
The Red Dragon Inn. What D&D adventureres do between adventures - meet at the Inn, drink, gamble, and roughhouse with their friends. (yep, stabbing friends in the back happens - sometimes just by buying them a drink when they're near their limit and making them pass out :) then stealing their gold.
*
I have friends and shiny technology and money and much health.
I still felt flashes of sadness or anxiety often, through the day. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Apr. 15th, 2009|12:46 am] |
Dreamwidth is a new site, like livejournal, but a bit different.
You can sign in to Dreamwidth with openID, (using your Livejournal ID, for instance). You can even set up a reading page as yourname.livejournal.com and follow people on Dreamwidth that way, and people can let you read the locked posts as yourname.livejournal.com.
rss feeds of dreamwidth can be set up in livejournal.
Dreamwidth has seperated the reading list from the trusted list.
That means: if you want to read what someone is writing, and keep up with their updates automatically, it doesn't automatically let them read your locked posts.
They're not using the loaded terms 'friend' 'friendslist'. I like that they are not using those terms.
There's a tool there available for transferring one's livejournal over. copying. importing. whichever.
It's going into open beta on the 30th of April.
Some of it is because people were unhappy with the way livejournal has been going for the last -- few years.
Some of it is because they think they can make a thing like it, but better.
*
Links today:
Susan Boyle on 'Britain's got talent': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
There was a competition to make linux ads:http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24408/1231/
the winning ad was made by an Israeli designer from Bet Shemesh: http://video.linuxfoundation.org/video/1154
I think it's beautiful. (The Israeli accent annoys me, and i don't know if it would annoy me as much if it was an accent from a different country).
two posts not actually about the FedEx logo:
There's an arrow in the FedEx logo, and once seen, it cannot be unseen"
The FedEx arrow and how to deal with it.
The Captain's Wife's Lament by Paul and Storm. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Mar. 27th, 2009|12:38 pm] |
There's a scifi magazine for free to download:
http://www.shimmerzine.com/issue-ten/
It contains a story by Shweta Narayan, who I know of because she wrote this poem and it was linked to by papersky, that is, Jo Walton.
And also because puritybrown posted about a story by Shweta Narayan in Strange Horizons, Nira and I.
It also contains a story by Nir Yaniv (translated by Lavie Tidhar), who I know via a friend, from Israel.
Nir Yaniv is also the one who filked sang and recorded 'Klingons' to the tune of 'Flintstones', which you may, or may not, be familiar with. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Mar. 24th, 2009|09:11 pm] |
Last Thursday I got a letter , advising me I had a time for an interview to get a British National Insurance Number.
The interview was today, at ten.
(I got there a little after ten. There were enough other people there that it didn't seem to make much difference that I got there a bit late).
So I have applied for a National Insurance number.
*
When I was done there, it was quarter past eleven or so. I was outside and still had energy.
I headed to the Israeli Consulate1,with the help of friends telling me what tube station I needed, and ordered a new passport to replace the one that's about to expire.
After that I went back to Walthamstow, visited the register office - the library claimed they'd have copies of the form I have to fill, but they do not.
Went to the market and bought printer-ink(to print forms with.)
*
And in the early evening I went to the laundrette to make sure there are enough clean clothes.
*
All the London maps I have looked at - google, streetmap.co.uk, TfL - have the Whitechapel underground station in the wrong place. The only map that had it right was the one at the Whitechapel
underground station. It felt disorienting. Luckily the newspaper-seller was familiar with the area, and recognised where I needed to go, and gave good directions.
(And I also had my Nokia that does GPS with me.)
I found the place. But the maps are wrong.
This evening I am mostly very tired. possibly quite out of spoons.
The Israeli Consulate is not where the Israeli Embassy is, but it is close. This is probably to confuse the terrorists or something. This information is not obvious from the embassy website. But to do things like passport renewal and getting visas etc, it's the Consulate at 15a Old Court Place. London W8 4QB return to text |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
