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Monday, July 13th, 2009
silly_narziss
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12:26a
first night
Shared wines with Natasja in the new nook. It's become a very pleasant place with a wide view of the study. Perfect for reading.
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(comment on this) Sunday, July 12th, 2009
cleanskies
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10:58p
no longer in storage
As I write, I'm watching Jeremy Clarkson being blown up by soldiers.They're right up his trumpet, apparently. But if they'd been really trying he would be dead by now. Television, full of lies.
Today was IKEA. I have shelves. Yaris tetris be praised. We returned gingerly through Bletchley, fingers white on the flatpacks, ill-advised impulse purchases rattling against improvised padding made from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) timscience's trendy jacket. We didn't break the car or get stopped by the police, but we did annoy two young men in red joyrider cars. From the hand gestures, they planned to have sex later; I hope it was the regular type, rather than crash-style.
returning house of leaves
Originally uploaded by Jeremy Dennis.
The picture is from waistcoatmark's copy of House of Leaves, which I finally returned to him, shortly before I moved house. I'd filled the book with little scribbled notes, on scraps of paper. I should probably get my own copy. Um, when we have more shelves, the current lot are full.
Last night I was pulling similar little bookmarks out of another book while timscience editidied a couple of pieces of music. Tomorrow we take them to Helen the registrar. Wow.
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silly_narziss
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7:09p
box
Things you could have known, but didn't anticipate: when leaving a flat box of silver sand in the room, of course it'll smell suspiciously like cat pee the next morning.
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(comment on this) Saturday, July 11th, 2009
silly_narziss
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6:30p
saturday diy day
Trying to finish my walls today. Sanded them. Of course if you want a couple of hands of silver sand through your latex paint, they only sell it in 25kg bags... :/ ouch.
( one more... )
More progress... good day so far, while Natasja sat here smoking, being the good cheer girl.
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(6 comments | comment on this)
ignote
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4:07a
so
we remembered MJ in style. we drank black and white martinis, watched vids, and danced around my apartment.
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offensive_mango
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9:42a
Sleepy
What do I do now? Anya is asleep with her head on my hand! Isn't there some story about Mohammed cutting of the sleeve of his shirt so as not to disturb his favorite cat who had gone to sleep on him? Send help; I'm writing this one-handed on my phone.
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(7 comments | comment on this) Friday, July 10th, 2009
chiller
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9:59p
the stuff of civilisation
My diamond necklace went missing.
It was on the mantelpiece, Lali jumped up there last night, and this afternoon, after I'd unknowingly vacuumed the living room shaggy-rug in prep for Mum's visit tomorrow, the damned necklace was nowhere. Clearly it had been kicked off the mantelpiece onto the shaggy-rug, sucked up in the hoover, and the uber-delicate chain must have been destroyed in the cleaner. There was zero chance of finding the stone on its own. Nonetheless, I went through the contents of the cleaner, fibre by fibre, wearing marigolds and plucking at the dust and fluff with a pair of chopsticks at arm's length on the basis that last week I sucked up two enormous black spiders and unexpected physical contact with a severed leg or chelicera would have disconcerted me.
You probably need to know this if you're planning to come 'round to my place for noodles any time soon.
Anyway, I was on the phone to webofevil this evening, talking about something else entirely[1], and was digging around the fireplace as we nattered and to my delight I discovered the necklace resting in the bottom of my orchid vase.
 webo kindly reprised the situation and pointed out that the worst point of my day was when my oriental cat kicked my diamond necklace into the orchid vase.
On reflection, I have to concede that my life is perfect.
[1] I can't justify this other than to restate what you already know: that I am a button-headed little idiot - but a couple of days ago I discovered that for a number of years I have been misreading the letters "QNI" in your posts. I now know that they mean "Quiet Night In". But all this time, in my head, they have meant "Quite Nice Indeed", and have served as a gentle commentary on the quality of your day. I am aware that "quite nice indeed" isn't even a sentence. It doesn't even make sense. It's rubbish. But I've friended a number of you on the basis that you pepper your posts with QNI, and given my interpretation of those three letters I have rested in the comfortable belief that you are all a bunch of tea-drinking, cricket-watching Englishers, probably dressed in a natty trilby, doubtless with pipe, spaniel and walking stick; or, if you are of the lady persuasion, in something classically understated, some decent pearls, and a chignon. In fact it turns out you're probably a bunch of chardonnay-swilling pizza-orderers, slumped in front of The Bill with your feet on the coffee table, and if I find out that this is the case I shall be most disappointed in you.
current mood:  mischievous
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fridgemagnet
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8:13p
iPhone GoogleFodder - screen going dead on left hand side and how to get it fixed
I mention this less because it's of general interest and more because somebody else might have the same problem, try to google it and find that they can't find a damn thing.
Problem: The left hand edge of my iPhone's screen went dead. It wasn't responding, which is a bit of an issue, since in landscape turned anticlockwise that means the space bar and shift don't work, and in portrait you can't type Q or 1 (though you can do shift, just).
Solution: Take it to the Apple Store and say "uh my iPhone it don't work proper, look". Wait a bit to see someone, because you don't have an appointment. Apple Store Genius in blue shirt says "okay I'll reseat the screen" i.e. take it off and plug it in again. iPhone then works properly. Repair process takes about five or ten minutes; it's a connection that's come a bit loose. I suppose if you were confident and had all of the teeny screwdrivers and pincers and whatever else is required, you could do it yourself, but if you live a couple of miles from an Apple Store like I do, why not take advantage of that and pop along after work?
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warsop
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12:08p
quote
When Steve Jobs gave a commencement address at Stanford a couple of years ago, he said this:
I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Hmmm.
current mood:  thoughtful
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chiller
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12:51p
If any of you is looking for a cat right now, the Oriental Cat Association has some that are in desperate need of a loving home.
It's not just mogs who lose their owners through sad circumstances, so if you were thinking of getting an affectionate, beautiful companion, let me point you at this webpage. Val, who runs the rescue association has just put the call out saying she's swamped right now - these aren't cats in some big charity-funded rescue centre, they're being cared for by Val, at her own cost (vet's bills, feeding and so on), which is pretty amazing of her, I think.
My four are typical of the breed - kind, clownish and very loving.
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(3 comments | comment on this) Thursday, July 9th, 2009
cleanskies
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11:44p
works hard for a living
I spent an invigorating hour this afternoon watching the database majestically migrate across nominal space from one server to another, doubtless in the same, humming, overcooled room. Not that I'd know, it was on the other end of the phone, where a man called Stephen reacted to my having a series of quick tests ready to run while he listened in with faintly bewildered surprise. Maybe people just usually don't bother checking, and spend the rest of the month ringing back and shouting.
It safely dodged the crocodiles, so I went back to the vast read/research list which hopefully will bring me up to stage on IAG and checking the information schedule for the next few months. Which was when I found out that National Samaritans Day is on my birthday. I mean, I don't begrudge them and the whole 24/7 thing makes it an obvious choice, and yes, OK, but nevertheless it was a real Saturday's child moment.
Got home to discover that we'd achieved wall and Handy Andy the Indie Builder came round with some beer to regale us with tales of backstage boosh and relieve us of some of our savings. Upstairs, last night's sealant fit had made the shower uglier but less inclined to wash water down the wall. Me last night: I thought the black stuff between the tiles was dirt, not gaps! More learning from last night; check how to get silicon sealant off your hand before your hands are covered with the stuff.
I harvested my first aubergine. Tim used it to bulk out a kedgeree. It was delicious.
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(comment on this) Friday, July 10th, 2009
chiller
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12:06a
Aww, John Barrowman's eyes go all werewolfy, like mine, when he cries.
current mood: tired
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(25 comments | comment on this) Thursday, July 9th, 2009
silly_narziss
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8:37p
today
Another step completed: removed the metal rail that held the plasterboard, after I first had to go out to buy a good metal saw. Bought some wood board and paint as well, so all should be finished in no time.
( one more... )
Good thing of bicycling through town to the bank's Main Office *cough* again, was passing by all those herring stalls in the streets. So enjoyed my first fresh herring of the new season. Yum.
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chiller
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2:33p
no more "sorry sorry"
I made baked beans today: pancetta, tomatoes, onions (SOM), garlic, thyme from the garden, plenty of flageolet beans and a little seasoning. Really, really good.
The top patio's cleared and I've moved that bloody lion twice, and three of the enormous buxus-es. There are occasions when one craves a helpful boyfriend: this was not one of them. I am actively seeking out things I can do that are physically difficult, at the moment. I want to get better, and I'm not going to get better by magic, I'm going to get better by work. That lion might find himself relocated with monotonous regularity, until I'm up for something heavier.
This garden's not perfect. There's no destination, with a garden. It's all journey.
( Come on, then. )
current mood: relaxed
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(21 comments | comment on this)
ruudboy
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2:13p
Here's some good old fashioned misogyny from Australia!
At lunchtime, I went and bought a copy of the new Viz, then bought a pork sandwich on Borough Market and went to sit in the grounds of Southwell Cathedral to eat it. After I'd finished eating I was sitting reading when some bloke came up and stated talking to me. He had a strong foreign accent and it was hard to tell what he was saying, but I worked out that he wanted change for a £2 coin. The only problem was that the coin he had in his hands was fairly obviously a €2 coin and not a £2 coin. If he was trying to con me, he was terrible at it. When I pointed out that it was euros, he moved on to trying to get me to give him two fivers for a tenner (which I didn't have, but wouldn't have done anyway) and then sat down next to me. The benches in the cathedral grounds are divided into two, so that two people can sit in each half but they'd want to know each other well. This bloke plonked himself into the small gap and started showing me a tube map, and saying something indistinguishable. Then he burned me with his cigarette and got ash all over my clothes. I still don't really know if he was a really bad conman of some kind, or just a confused tourist, but that kind of thing's beyond the pale and I told him so in short order. He cleared off apologetically, but really!
Other than this, the week has been quite good. On Monday night I went out for a curry at the excellent Indian Rasoi in Fortis Green, on Tuesday I went to see the Lucksmiths at the Luminaire and last night I went to Karaoke Circus, which was great as ever, if not better. Tonight I'm going out for a work meat at a Peruvian restaurant and tomorrow, if I have any energy left, I'm thinking of going to Quacks and Cures at the Wellcome Collection. Or I might just come home from work and collapse from exhaustion, as per for a Friday night these days.
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ruudboy
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1:40p
Lest we forget, these are the kind of people who are probably going to be the government in less that a year.
The report says council estates "deliver a risible return on assets".
Right, because that's what they're there for.
Oh, and while we're on the topic, why does David Cameron not have to be concerned about the kind of people he surrounds himself with as Gordon Brown had to when that tw@t who worked for him had to resign?
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martylog
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11:49a
KC5
Those of you who very kindly came along to see Karaoke Circus V at the 100 Club last night might have some idea of the gargantuan amount of work that went into it. My "free" time for the past month has been occupied by little else. Reverse-engineering ten songs for full orchestra is a fiddly, time-consuming process. There's a dozen different instruments all playing their own tune all the way through, and trying to hear them on old compressed recordings is a bit like unpicking a very tightly knotted shoelace with a pin. It is a strange feeling now, not having to listen to Live And Let Die and Macarthur Park on permanent loop. But it all paid off in a massively cathartic show, where everyone from the open mic volunteers (congrats offensive_mango for winning!), to the celeb guests to the twenty-six players of the Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra did us immensely proud.
Some of the highlights for me:
- John Hegley's scat call-and-response with Steve Pretty on comedy mute trumpet
- Kevin Eldon turning the One Day Like This outro into Hey Jude
- Everyone, band, orchestra and Nick, pulling off Macarthur Park in such barnstorming fashion
- the general sense of euphoria after the show. Everyone left the place with a smile on their face and a spring in their step
Andrew Collins (who sang Way Down In The Hole) has kindly written about the show on his blog: http://www.wherediditallgoright.com/BLOG/2009/07/utterly-brilliaaant.html The article also links to some photos.
I think Dan Maier put it best when he said that the whole thing was like a strange dream: "It was Karaoke Circus, but it was at the 100 Club, and Garry Richardson was singing Daydream Believer..." (Yes, Garry Richardson really did sing Daydream Believer)
We'll be doing a mini Karaoke Circus at the Latitude festival (Cabaret Arena, 7pm on the Sunday night), then we're doing a show in Edinburgh (Pleasance Ace Dome, 23rd August late night or 24th August very early morning, depending on how you see it). After that I guess it's back to the Albany in October and hopefully some kind of Christmas extravaganza in early December.
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silly_narziss
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1:34a
ha
Grandmas Margaret & Helen on Palin's resignation:
"Her problems come because every time you stick a microphone in front of her mouth a whole lot of stupid falls out. Things are getting tough and once again she is trying to hide behind that dysfunctional family of hers. She actually stood there and talked about how the Palins had a family meeting and everyone agreed it was time for her to step down as Governor.
Well, I call bullshit. The only family meetings the Palins have usually involve someone peeing on an early pregnancy test stick."
...
"Freedom from government is her battle cry until a vagina gets involved and then watch how much involvement she wants."
[ source ]
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(comment on this) Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
(21 comments | comment on this)
silly_narziss
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5:31p
main office
At my bank annex I was told I could only get cash advances without my (stolen) bank cards at the Main Office in the centre of town. When I arrived there they had already closed at 4pm. So what's so Main about that Office? It's a frigging farmer's market stall. Pah.
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silly_narziss
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2:57p
the wall
Finished taking down the wall, had coffees with Natasja who came back from work early, and took all the debris out. Funny how we can see the study now from the bedroom...
Far from complete of course; still need to remove all the rail, plaster walls and ceiling, paint and decorate.
Was told I can get money on my passport until my new bank cards arrive. So that's what we're going to try this afternoon.
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Thanks so much for your interest in the free sample chapter of my book, "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip."