To old/new friends and new experiences

We met up with an old friend which we managed to lose contact with about three years ago for various reasons. She is in a new relationship and is absolutely sparkling and the new boyfriend is a sweetie. Well done Kaz - we are proud of you!



We decided to meet up an hour before a talk we were all going to attend at the Spread Eagle pub in Croydon (a redeeming feature, I may add for this town). The talk was held by the SPI and this is the link to what the talk was all about - http://www.croydononline.org/whats_happening/tmshow.asp?wtid=63200763111 - initially I thought it was going to be pants, but looking at the varied selection of people who attended the talk, I stuffed my prejudice in my pocket and sat down to listen. And it was really quite interesting and very good. The chap who presented the talk, Malcolm Robinson did a good job in introducing what they did - i.e. investigate ghost sightings and paranormal investigations, alongside UFO sightings. I wasn't particularly interested in the UFO stuff, but listening to the first half of his chat about the paranormal and ghosts, naturally worked up my imagination and so out came the notebook and several ideas were jotted down surrounding a young paranormal investigator who gets into a world of trouble.



I shared my obsessive note=making with Kaz and new bf, Nick (whilst the Gecko nodded sagely, knowing that he would be able to crip ideas off me for writing and gaming sessions too) and we were all saying how the muse seems to strike at the strangest times. I was gratified to learn that Nick did the same thing with movies and books that he read - as does Mark. It's sort of: money begets money...only in this instance: imagination begets muse fodder which begets snippets of interesting writing and ideas.

Hmmmm. And knowing my mind, I HAVE TO write these down because they will flit away to someone else if I don't scribble it down. I've decided to make a notebook full of ideas = paste scraps of paper in there with my thoughts and ideas - the heavens know I've got enough random journals lying about with storylines half-worked on in them, rearing to be told at some stage.



So, the next talk being held at the Spread Eagle in Croydon is the 4th of August but I don't think we'll be there - think its the chili festival then? But yes, interesting stuff, glad I went, even if you take it all with a pinch of salt, especially the UFO stuff. Ghosts and poltergeists I am happy to give you the benefit of the doubt, having seen and experienced some pretty weird stuff myself, but UFO's and abductions....not quite sure.

Potter Mania

These guys deserve a medal.

Voldemort rules.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epotterpuppetpals%2Ecom%2F

Goes off singing: Snape, Snape,Severus Snape, Ron, Ron, Ron Weasley, Dumbledore! Dumbledore!

Gangland = Beckenham

Monday morning it was all over the news - a teenager got himself killed here in Beckenham, thankfully the other far side of Beckenham. I feel badly for his mother, his family - you can't not feel bad for them.

The article from the Beeb here sets out the story. Naturally, the victim, eventhough he was in a gang and they actively took part in gang-related violence in the area, has suddenly become a saint. He was a lovely loving boy. He wouldn't do anyone harm. Blah blah blah.

My god - they act like hooligans - we've seen enough of the way they act, the way they break car windows, the way they taunt the elderly people in the area and frighten them so much that they don't want to leave their homes. They honest to god think they own the world, they fear no one, not the cops, not their parents. They live by their own "standards" and see being in a gang as cool - mainly because it's been glorified by shows like Prison Break, music video's - these kids have NO IDEA what they are doing. Because society prefers to look the other way, with the nanny culture in this country, no one is prepared to take a stance. Thanks to these so called pissy gangs, people are moving out of the area, because the police can't do anything - the kids aren't scared of them because what's the worst that's going to happen? Community sentence? A few months in juvie? Nothing to be scared of. In fact, it just gives them more street cred. Woot.

Back to the sweet talking of the innocent lovely dead boy. Why doesn't anyone ever stand up and say "You know, this guy was a shit. He behaved abysmally and he was never really liked. He fell in with the wrong crowd, got into trouble and was a genuine nuisance to society?" Is it because newspapers sell sympathy more than the truth?

Anyway - now there is going to be retribution. Yay. More bloodshed on our streets. I can't wait.

Apocalypto

We madly splurged on the new release of Apocalypto on DVD. The extras suck, big time, but the main movie is completely awe inspiring. The scenery, the costumes, make up, the - dare I say this of a Mel Gibson movie - passion of it, is just complete muse-fodder.

Not for the faint hearted, Jamie! Pretty gruesome and tense, but worth it.

Weight in gold

The above is a 1 kg bar of gold. I have lost over 12 of them. In excess of 26 lbs = in excess of 2 stone.

Beam.

Countdown to Greece = 7 weeks. Hopefully that is one more stone down or a further 6kg's. It will be hard work, but it is possible.

Mature Student

Today I received fab news.

Preen.

I have been accepted to the College of Estate Management to do my Diploma in Surveying Practice. I also discovered that I could do my ATC through the RICS at the same time...which means that I can be a Technically Qualified Member of the RICS in two years time. How cool is that?

Preens some more.

Naturally this means no life for two years starting from September. But it does go a long way to fullfilling FG's dream of becoming a househusband. He is a much better housekeeper than me. And the coolest part about all of the above - the company is paying for it. Which is amazing and fabulous and stonking - I even did a little dance at the office this morning. Fortunately no one was around to see the madness.

Preeeeeeeeeeen.

Awful movie

OMG, cycling through the channels I came across a movie which I have not seen in a million years.

Kickboxer starring Jean Claude - Damme I'm Good - Van Damme.

The awful cheesiness, especially the "dance scene" where he has to prove to his sensei he has "grace and style" is just so cringeworthy, I wanted to loll about on the floor crying out in pay. Also, badly dubbed on the oriental's conversation. Twenty seconds of speaking but only five seconds of lip movement. Now, I am all for OTT martial arts movies, but this is just something beyond the call of duty, even for a martial arts movie nut like me. I even prefer Jackie Chan to this! Even his old stuff!


Speaking of the 80's and 90's and heroes from the silver screen: I am so glad we've grown with our heroes, like John McClane. To be older and grubbier and broken. And to be so bad ass you take down a helicopter with a car.

All I can say is: Yippy Kai Ay!

Watch this space for a review!

Countdown to Greece

We visited our friends Tracey and Taff on Saturday. They are the couple who are getting married in Greece within the next few months. The party was really to celebrate their daughter's 4th birthday...but then they invited a lot of their mates who are going to the wedding too, so that everyone could at least meet up and know who we all are. Which was a very good plan.

What a bunch of complete and utter nice people. No qualms in saying that - we fit straight in, as the laughter lines which I discovered this morning in the mirror can testify to. It is always my biggest fear when there are those dead lulls in conversation when groups of people come together who don't know one another. This wasn't like that at all. And there was no need to feel uncomfortable at any stage during the visit. We stayed till after half ten, I think, when we eventually made our way home (only half an hour's drive, which is even better) and we were exhausted by laughing, eating and generally having such a good time. I am really please she invited us - we discovered that the one couple going to the wedding have a fear of: sand, water, bugs, the sea, open places, any drink that is not alcoholic, seen in public with no make-up...(for the wife, that is) so naturally the piss was taken royally out of them. It's a Greek ISLAND, for heaven's sake.

All in all, a fantastic time. Today we went to gym, took Sparrow for a looooooooong walk in the park, crashed on the couch. I slept and FG went online and tried to convince a friend of his in Scotland to send her daughter to military school as it's hormones have gone into overdrive. Waste of time. It's probably in the family way already. Can a fourteen year old go on benefits and get money to get its own home and money for the baby? Who needs a responsible life, eh?

Dinner is chilli con carne cooked for two and half hours. Yum!

Entertainment for the braindead

I can't help but wonder what the talentless idiotic oafs will be coming up with next. BB is crap, rubbish, awful shitty tv and personally I resent that we have to pay television licences to be saddled with television shows this ludicrous. The producers take a shedload of money and piss it into the wind. Why not plow it into the British television and film fund?

There are phenomenally talented artists and writers out there, who would live off bread and water to have the opportunity to have their brilliant scripts made into shows and movies.

Personally, I think people who create trash tv like BB are cowards. Every single one of them - they know what lures the audience. Braindead tv. Create something stimulating, another Spooks or Hustle series, even more Torchwood, for God's sake. Why dumb down tv? Is it indicative of the way the country's going? Stupid tv for stupid sheep people?

Look at the debacle the last time around with that mentally deficient Jade and her tirade at the Indian girl - can you get anyone more backwards? And believe me, ignorance is not an excuse, in any shape or form. Not when you are on tv and you know that whatever you do and however you will act, will have an effect, detrimental in Jade's case, on your career.

The creators of BB are whipping a dead horse. They can't come up with anything else. Oh, actually, they did. In Holland, they now have a show for people to compete with one another, I think three contestants, compete for the kidneys of a dying man. WTF is that?

I cannot fathom how tv station bosses can think that's a good idea. I am so glad my tv has an off button. I only wish to the heavens that the newspapers would not back the idiocy. Or that the people I work with, otherwise relatively normal and intelligent people, can stop pondering the intricacies of freakshow tv. I can't help, honestly, to feel pity for them.

Give tv back its coolness. Give us decent shows. Things that make sense. Not crap reality shows where you actually want people to kill themselves and others, just to make it stop. Forever.

Oh, shyte, did I just say this out loud?

No Words

Our cultural week

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Gym

You know, I never thought I would say this, quite this blatantly. But gorram it to hell. I am actually enjoying gym.

Barring the posers who are hilarious to surreptitiously watch and then snort at, most of the people there actually go to zone out either on the treadmills or cycle machines. I did that today for over half an hour - plugged myself into my mp3 player, stuck on Iron Maiden and various other mullet rock favourites and even some Disturbed, spinkled it with some Metallica, Linkin Park and Marilyn Manson and hey presto, Demon Cycling Liz.

It was fab. I cooled off by pumping some iron for the flabby bits, did some hip reducing thinghies (very technical descriptions approved of by several of the instructors), some more iron pumping for the flabby bits then absconded downstairs to the sauna for a few minutes, then into an incredibly long and hot shower in which I almost managed to drown (I am not good in showers, thank you Mr. Bates) and almost lost a contact lens. Thrilling stuff. Hair dripping, with flung on clothes I staggered onto Charing Cross station's concourse, only to discover I had one minute to heave my shaking self to the platform on the other side of the friggin station, which I did (if anyone finds that old lady's walker, I'll happily for the repairs) and got myself a seat too. Which is the most impressive part of running for a Southeastern trains as all trains are running reduced carriages.

So.

Check out these guns baby!

Live Journal

I have been tempted and lured away to use Live Journal as a sometimes posting site - they have thriving writer communities, some of which I have subscribed to.

I feel a bit guilty, but reading some of the short stories / assignments that have been posted in the most recent challenge, I feel hugely humbled. These people have genuine talent. It's real and tangible and out there to see. It is a completely different ball game compared to the writing group I belonged to many moons ago on Yahoo. The moderator was a manic depressive and probably a bit unbalanced, using the writing group as a soapbox to air his thoughts of paranoia and general weirdness and his very bad drug induced writings - I escaped and I know some of the others on the site are wishing they could do the same. Life is too short to pander to strange men in NY suffering too many psychoses.

Back to Live Journal: the assignments are good fun to do and act both as prompts as well as cranial exercise. I look forward to my tenure with musemuggers!

PotterMania

I feel strongly about HP and JKR. Not all of it good. I pity Bloomsbury Publishers for trying to fill the HP gap.

I read the following article online today and it just blew me away.

Amazon UK nets 250,000 Potter pre-orders

Amazon.co.uk has seen pre-orders of the Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows, reach the quarter of a million mark. The UK pre-orders, at an initial
price of £8.99, make up a quarter of Amazon's worldwide reservations for the
final installment in J K Rowling's series.

"The sales of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the UK and across the
globe are eclipsing those of the previous Harry Potter books by a considerable
margin," said Christopher North, head of books at Amazon.co.uk. "Although the
children's version remains the bestseller, we have seen a strong uplift in sales
of the adult version compared to previous years, perhaps illustrating that
people who have grown up reading Harry Potter are taking their love of the
series of books into adulthood."

Amazon.com said it was confident that sales would outstrip the 1.5 million
pre-orders for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ahead of its release in
June 2005. It took 174 days after the announcement of the publication date for
the retailer to reach the one million order mark with Half-Blood Prince; with
Deathly Hallows the milestone has been reached in 94 days.

I can't help but wonder if the hype is completely OTT? I've said it before - JKR is not the best writer there is but Bloomsbury got behind her after they realised they were onto something. The books started small, it ran to word of mouth, schools picked it up and voila! the marketing gurus stepped in, foreign rights were sold along with movie rights and the whole circus came to town.

I applaud them for making kids read. Fostering the love for a good book at a young age is fantastic. What I disagree with is how many well-thought-of already established authors there were, LONG LONG before JKR came onto the scene. The circus stole everyone's thunder and suddenly these fantastic children's books were being repackaged to ride on the coat tails of a rather whimpy bespectacled apprentice wizard.

"If you like Harry Potter you will love .... " - what rot.

Like the books for themselves - encourage them to read widely and differently in many genres, across the fields. You'll find duds, but ye gods, teach them to think for themselves and not to become sheep to slavishly follow the three for two promotions, but to think outside the box. Even if it is to fall for that awful Eragon drivel. At least it was written by a teenager.

One more thing: thank the gods of kiddies writing and JKR and her publishers' marketing department - it has thrown open the market for a fantastic opportunity to many authors who are unique and driven to tell their stories. Never before has the children's market been more alive with possibilities. And publishers are vying to find the next big thing. It could be you!

Tai Chi Class

Tomorrow night is my first tai chi class in around 4 years. Crazy or what? No doubt I will suffer hugely after the fact. What, I hear you cry! That nambi pambi slow moving stuff, that's easy enough to do. I can do it with one hand tied behind my back, and still be energetic enough to go out drinking afterwards.

Excuse me as I climb back onto the couch which I fell off of. Laughing.

Tai Chi is one of the most brutal exercises you can do. It is v e r y slow, it works all the muscles and it helps your breathing and the forms are beautiful and graceful and it makes you - generally - feel quite good about yourself. I know friends who will read this will be wetting themselves laughing, remember other friends being completely over the top about Tai Chi - swooping crane subdues waterbufalo and all that malarky, but hey, if it works, it works and I challenge anyone to try it and not enjoy it.

I will report back, if I will be able to lift my arms.

MIgraine Attack

Yesterday, for the first time in a long, long, long time, I got my butt completely wiped out by a migraine. I woke up to it. I was immediately sick. I couldn't stomach breakfast, I tried drinking down some asprin with water - it refused to stay down. And the pain. My god, it was excruciating. I was shaking and sweating like someone suffering a fever. Mark took one look at me and sent me to lie down with an icy cold cloth for my face. He rang my boss to tell him I wouldn't be in - I literally couldn't speak - I sounded stoned out of my mind. And that was my day. I was awfully ill in the am, then slept till past midday and that was it. End of day.

I hate them. With all my heart and soul.

Some good news and some mad news!

Today I attended WW and discovered that I have now lost - wait for it - 17.5lbs. How good is that? I was exceedingly proud of myself. To the extent where I celebrated with a single pack, my first crisp in excess of a month or two now...yes, two months. They were scrummy.

Ontop of the above, the other news is:

No, I haven't suddenly become astonishingly pretty and skinny and moved to the seaside. I've joined Fitness First. I know. I am crazymad. I even got a little backpack and a teeny weeny towel to mop my delicate brow. And my first attendance is tomorrow. Our local FF is however still being built. Which means I get to attend any of the others anywhere in the UK. Naturally it will be either Covent Garden or Charing Cross - and I am a bit excited and hugely worried. What if I fall on my face, break open my teeth and cut my lip and break an arm...whilst trying to use something utterly banal like the sauna or something.

Fat Gecko is inordinately proud of me. Beam. He thinks I've joined because I want to get fit, but it is really because they offer yoga, pilates, salsa, kickboxing and spinning all included in the price - as opposed to paying for each class separately from our local Spa - which, at around £7 a class, turns out to be a shitload of money. So, not only am I a rapidly diminishing Betty, I am a clever Betty!

My name is...Vin Diesel

Thanks to catching the dreaded lurgee off Mark, I sound like a cross between Vin Diesel and a highly emotional and distraught young male teenager whose voice is busy breaking. Oh, and I've been coughing my lungs up, too - so I have six pack in my stomache because of all the muscles contracting each time I cough like a loon.

Go team DJ!

Amy Macdonald

FG heard this young lady first being played on Virgin and XFM. I didn't pay much attention as our tastes are diverging quite a lot, but this evening I heard her most recent song - don't ask me what it was called, as I only heard her name on the radio - and I must say, I quite like her music. She has a lovely, unique voice. I was hoping to go out this weekend and buy a copy of the cd but lo and behold - only due out in Summer, June or July I think.

Rubbish. By then I would have forgotten about her! Gorram it.

Proud Owners of....

These to be delivered on Thursday to FG and myself, at work respectively.

Elated. Excited. Enthralled. All the E's.

Cheap ass, affordable and relatively close places to go to for an overnight adventure would be appreciated.

All ideas by email or comments below.

And no, Ireland doesn't count, nor does the Isle of Wight.

Smirk.

Early morning walks

...are fantastic!

Sparrow and I saw FG and his cough off to a grading session in Crawley this morning very early - a sin!! - this lovely Sunday morning.

I slapped on some sun cream, dragged on ratty jeans, sandals and set off with the Mutley to our local country park, fully expecting to have it for ourselves. Hah. We were surrounded by blue bells, insane birds and flying things that seemed to have it in for the little dog. And naturally there were other people walking their dogs. I peered at my mobile phone. Yes, that's right, it is just after nine and loads of people are out. Damn.

But, even so, the park was glorious and cool, warming up in the strengthening sun. We walked for over an hour and made our way back home where Sparrow decided to crash on the windowsill, like Amsterdam Puppy, displaying his fat little speckled belly to all the world in the hot sun. I am in the dining room, watching the sun creeping across the back garden - once its reached the cement, I will be dragging out a blankie, some cushions, diet coke, popcorn and a book or two to laze about.

Ah. This is the life.

All hail the god of chocolate

I got to leave work early on Thursday because of yet another internal office move. So I got home just after two and walked right into a scene from any Guy Ritchie movie. Lots of scary looking men in cheap black suits lurked outside our house. Some were smoking in that really "I'm so tough I can break bricks with my dick" way that some men have about them, others sat around drinking Stella out of plastic cups. I nodded to my neighbour Mick where he sat in his usual filthy trackie pants and fag hanging out of his mouth. Many of the Scary Men in Black were speaking to him. They eyed me in sullen silence and I felt exceedingly endangered. I locked myself in the house. Then decided that I was being a silly white girl and jumped up on the couches to open the windows onto the street as it was a glorious day.

I popped back out again to go buy bread so I could have toastie sarnies for lunch, got back, fed the pup some crusts, changed and looked out the window and went ice cold. A bloody great hearse was parked outside our front door. There was crying and wailing. It was a scene from a Danny Doyle/Guy Ritchie movie. The hard men in black were standing about getting instructions from the tiny hearse driver, they were nodding. My scruffy neighbour was wearing his Moss Bros hired suit looking very uncomfortable. I retreated and turned the radio off as suddenly it was playing every sad song you could imagine - and I had turned it on loudly to stop the noise of the baby shrieking next door...I didn't think they would appreciate the "Long and winding road" being belted out at that minute.

They all bundled into large black cars, and went off to the funeral. I felt somewhat safer. I didn't hear them come back at all.

Spoke to the Fat Gecko during the cours eof the afternoon and it turned out that his sniffles had turned into a full blown cold. Not even man-flu, I would like to add, but a genuine ague complete with sweats, palpatations and wotnot. In time for the long weekend. Grand.

Clearly someone had thought it a good idea to wipe him out. Too many late nights and not enough sleep and Vitamin C.

So, the weekend where we thankfully had no one turning up for a cooked lunch had turned into an exceedingly restful and self indulgent one. Sleeping, taking loads of flu tablets for the boy, that is, not me, btw. Reading, watching DVD's, sleeping some more. Driving exceedingly slowly into town for a walk around and to drop off excess books at the charity shops - I also volunteered at one, go generous me (this is naturally just to syphon off the really cool books, grin) so will send my application in this week. And today, we had lunch at the pub, proper pub roasts which wasn't too bad, I might add. Go The Olde George Pub!

And that's been it. And of course, there are lovely chocolate bunny things to have later on, if either of us could be bothered, mine from Montezumas and his from Charbonnel et Walker on Bond Street.

Oh, and I found out whose funeral it was: my neighbour Mick's partner's dad.

Shorn

Yep, bareassed, that's me.

All gone - hair chopped to the shoulders, or just above, in layers, insisted Christie my very hunky but very gay hairdresser (dressed in his Highland costume - thankfully no kilts, but white Rob Roy shirt, black waistcoat and trousers).

So now, suddenly, my hair has got all this bounce and curl. Freaky.

I had the requisite fawnings at work today, which I graciously accepted, from both fem's and lads alike, so I was chuffed.

Bounce and curl. Who knew? Just goes to show what looooooooooooooong hair does to you. I also admit that I don't recall having this curl in my hair before. Hormones? Looking at all my pics growing up etc, my hair was 1970's John Denver straight. Then I got older and it had this mad kink in it...now its gone all flicky and curly.

Anyway. New Liz - officially 1 stone odd lighter with less hair. Here's hoping I've lost at least five pounds cutting it off.

Off to write.

The big plunge!

I did it.

I booked a hairdressers appointment on Sunday morning. To cut off my loooooooong locks - they have now reached below waistlength. I was as nervous as a teenager ringing up a secret boyfriend to arrange for a rondezvous.

The sweet boy at Headmasters - Leon - was very understanding and when I told him I had not been to a hairdressers proper in 3 years he almost sucked the phone down his throat in dramatic shock. Yes, it is true. I have been to the hairdressers around six months ago to have the ends trimmed, and that's it. No styling - when I told him I am turning into the wild woman from Borneo I could hear him clap his little hands in glee and kick his little red heals and giggle ecstatically. I am going to become a "project".

I have been assigned a senior stylist, and I am getting a 50% discount because the girl I had been seeing more than three years ago, Louise had left, they had sent me a voucher, which I had never used. So I am pleased.

Now the question is....HOW am I going to have my hair massacred? I have visited online and found a few possible ways. I even bought a hair magazine. I am at a loss.

Please, what would suit a chubby little girl with pale eyebrows and freckles? I swear I have smaller chins now and higher cheekbones thanks to WW.

See the options above - all answers in comments, please.

With thanks.

Nervous Girl with too Much Hair.

This coming week...

...will see us going to a foodie event at Borough Market - after hours. "For those who like good food, but not the crowds." And I am thrilled. The boy got sent some invites to the event. Yay! It will be a preview of the seasonal foods for the coming few months. Here's hoping the snow and bad weather does stay away.

We are also going to go see 300 at the Imax - yes, we are thrilled. I am already taking my headache tablets in preparation. The noise! Grin.

I am a fan of Frank Miller's art and his style of story telling. It is brutal, to the bone, to the core. The trailers of 300 look amazing. Someone I tend to chat with at work about books and movies expressed his serious reservations about the movie, stating that it looks incredibly bloody, gory and not at all a historical fiction. I agreed, I could see all his points, but I did say to him, in my mind, this is mythic story telling...everything is darker, scarier, more profound and violent. This is about legends, the agents of chaos, the fears of a race about to be destroyed by a violent and unsurmountable enemy. This is Sparta the way it is not portrayed in Helen of Troy or in the Illiad or the Odyssey. This is the way Alexander should have been shot - uncompromising, an exploration of the myth and legend of a man so great his story is still sung in the countries he conquered in his relentless drive of world domination. Not the rubbish we got to see on screen a few years back with Mr. Farrell and his blonde locks belting out gobshyte in a ridiculous Oirish accent.

In 300, we hope to see the battle that still resonates within a nation, across the world today, thousands of years after it had happened. What would the world have been like had Leonidas not managed to withstand the army of Persia all that time ago?



I am looking forward to it.

Beam!

Yay! It will be mine...yes it will.

Yours,

Gadget-Freak-Liz

A baking day...

Chocolate Bourbon Muffins

• 3/4 cup flour


• 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 125gm butter softened


• 1/2 sugar


• 50 gm chocolate, melted and slightly cooled


• 1 egg


• 1 tbspn bourbon


• 1 tsp vanilla essence


• 1/2 cup chocolate chips


• 1/2 cup chopped pecans


• icing sugar or cocoa for dustin

Mix the flour, baking soda and salt. In separate bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the chocolate, egg, bourbon and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and combine, then fold in the choc chips and pecans. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans and bake at 200 degrees C for 15 - 2o mins.

Breathless

Well, Friday the whole company's happy bunch of employees get to hear about bonusses and increases.

Personally I am terrified. The team didn't do well at all. We made money, but just scraped in with the targets. But we did lose two crucial chaps, i.e. head of the department...and a new regime is now in place and the news lads are fabulous - very much for the team, not so worried about the company as such, but looking after the team has become a priority...so there is hope of some kind of bonus at least. But nottt so much.

Deep within my secret soul, the place I don't really like to look, where the monsters lurk, I know that I will have to move my butt, by this time next year - new job, new sumat. Things are stagnating there, eventhough it's an "exciting period of growth and redevelopment" - I sometimes think its all just to baffle you with bullshit, a trick tactic the magicians of old used to use - watch this hand, watch this hand, so that I can slap and steal with the other one you're not watching.

Either way, whatever happens on Friday - even if it is a whopping £50 (it's been known to happen) it will go into the holiday fund towards our smashing holiday in Greece. It is looming closer and closer and I am smashingly pleased to announce that most of it has been paid off completely and all we have to do is book our car rental for driving around the Peloponesse. Yes, I should become an organisor of events of some sort, or a web designer or an artiste of some sort.

Yes, I am drivelling on about rubbish - I am tired, my head hurts and it's too late to make sense. Hold thumbs and toes for vast amounts of money so that pretty toys such as this can be bought! Before the rest goes safely into a savings account.

300

Mark and Liz decide to go out to dinner....

Ketchup!

After the looong wait, I am now the proud owner of a treasure of South Africa - a book written by one of the coolest ladies of literature (sadly now passed away) Dalene Matthee - called Kringe in 'n bos - which translates to Circles in a Forest.

This was a set-work book for us in High School and I loved it then, and I am loving it now, eventhough I am struggling my ass off reading the Afrikaans. I usually manage around 50 - 60 pages on the train reading an English book...not so with this one - I am averaging around 20 pages. But it is fantastic good fun - so thank you, Darren and May for bringing me my treasure!

And it is official - I now weigh way over a stone less than I did a few months ago - so yay me!

Creativity wise - writing odds and sods - have got a new bee in bonnet, one that has been festering - bookbinding...spent a shocking amount Friday past at the gorgeous Falkiners shop in Holborn buying "stuff" for my first two projects. Jamie and Viv, keep an eye out in the post - either something fab or something utterly awful only to bring out when we visit to make us feel good. Or not. Also tried my hand at drawing on Sunday and it turns out....I am less bad at it than I thought I was and I am more a manga illustrator than I am a impressionist.

Desperately waiting for warmer weather - we are planting out our chili's this weekend, and some other potplants etc. to make a nice cottage-ey feel to our clayclotted garden - we've given up trying to plant grass. The real thing, not marijuana, that is. So we are putting down paving blocks. Nervous laughter. Will be able to post about it no doubt, if we can pull it off.

Hasta!

Pan's Labyrinth

Yay!

Mr. Del Toro's fantastic movie walked away with THREE Academy Awards!

• Best Cinematography



• Best Art Director



• Best Make Up

I am so pleased. I frankly, must admit that I genuinely don't care about the frocks, the make-up and who else won as king and queen of the awards, but this is just fantastic news. I am so pleased Pan won - it is one of those utterly magical and astoundingly beautiful movies that is pure muse fodder. Yay, again.

I can't wait to own it on DVD.

My kingdom for a pound!

This is a picture of a 1 pound anvil. This is how much I have to lose to make my stone of weight loss at Weight Watchers.

Oh the drama. The trauma. I have consistently lost, even over Christmas and my birthday and all that stands in my way is one measly pound...

So today, we celebrated by eating an entire packet of doritos and dip this evening before dinner. Worried much?

Happy to me!

Yep, I am the grande olde age of 34.

It slipped in quietly on Monday the 5th. I am happy to report that this year there were no doldrums, I didn't hate it, I didn't want to cry, I didn't miss my family so much, my mom I always miss but this year it felt okay - I survived.

Brave smile.

My boss asked me what I planned for this year. I looked at him blankly. Then wondered about it.

This is what I want to learn or do this year:

In no particular order:

1. Learn how to play poker
2. Learn to pick out a few tunes on the guitar
3. Write at least 100,000 words on ONE story
4. Finish it, polish it and send it off to agents
5. Go on our Greek holiday and love it so much we don't want to come back
6. Lose another 2 stone in weight
7. Win the lottery
8. Enjoy being married to a lovely boy, even if he spends more time online fighting to save the world than is strictly good for him.

Och, I am sure there is much more I can think of.

But that is it for now. I am wondering if I have grown up? Or come to terms with the fact that I am growing older. Even if I don't feel it. Its strange, I turned 30 and I was petrified. The past three years I spent in tears on my birthday. I hated it all - my presents, me, hubby - all of it. Nothing was right. But this year there was this calm acceptance. I think it was shock.

But I feel better for it - spent a stirling day writing and chatting and communing with one another and loving the LWD and all the world.

So. Here is to a very good 34th year!