| Look what I did! |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|09:41 pm] |
I caught the tail-end of Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers last night. Usually I'm grumbling at him for forgetting, despite living in my borough of London that there are barely any allotments in Islington and that we aren't all blessed with a townhouse walled garden with raised beds. Weirdly Slater's been in sync with me this week - his Guardian recipe last Saturday was for a Jerusalem artichoke and parsley dumpling stew which I had almost all of the main ingredients sitting aorund for - so I might try that on Monday...but this is his stuffed squash - there's no recipe in the BBC website for some odd reason. I fried some onions, chilli, a scant two tablespoons of leftover veg curry and some quinoa and mushrooms in a pan with cumin seeds, ginger and topped with cheese - an hour for the squash and I had time to clean the bathroom, tidy the kitchen, put away the shopping and then 20 minutes with the stuffing in whilst I washed up.
It was very very tasty and warming. |
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| Just gets better |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|09:26 pm] |
For those who haven't seen my facebook updates. The boiler packed in today just to top things off. 'Have you any other form of heating in the house?' asked the lady at BG 'Well technically you've condemned my fire because the batteries went in the carbon monoxide detector' I replied 'so no'.
Just so you know, if you've got no central heating and no other form of heating in the house (but do have an immersion heater) and you have an 8 month old baby the earliest date for an engineer was next Tuesday earlier today, presumably it is longer now. I'm not dissing them for that though, I would imagine there is unprecedented demand at the moment and I do have other options.
Which is why we're at my parents. We came earlier and G came home from work and got it going again so after tea we went back home as I'd not brought overnight stuff and preferred to be at home. When we walked in though it was obvious it had failed again and this time wouldn't resurrect so we're back and I expect me and Georgina will be here till Tuesday now. Big G went home to keep an eye on things, he's worried about pipes bursting with no heat in the house.
So anyway, delays aside looks like I'm going to be more in profit on my BG service agreement shortly. |
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| Waxeth Whymsykall (and self-referential) |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|09:12 pm] |
Went to get my hair cut today (which it badly needed, as my stylist said, 'Weren't you due to come in before Christmas?', which indeed I was, but didn't have time). The junior who did my shampoo was referred to as Miss Scarlet, which I feel is a not entirely happy soubriquet for someone whose job involves sharp instruments: *Miss Scarlet, With Scissors, In the Shrubbery*
Coming back via Tavistock Square I observed the statue of Gandhi, clad only in a loincloth, and probably wishing someone would bring him a nice cup of hot chocolate from the Starbucks opposite, since o noez som1 B steelin his scarf.
In Gordon Square, the Hounds of Spring B Curled Up In Thier Kennel, I should think.
This entry was originally posted at http://oursin.dreamwidth.org/1159671.html. Please comment there using OpenID. View  comments. |
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| Mexico City advice? |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|04:09 pm] |
Hi everyone, this is basically my newbie intro post
I haven't rally ever gone travelling anywhere and would like to a start.
I will be going to Mexico city with some of my other Canadian friends in the second week of February. Luckily I'm not on my own as it's a school program where we would get to meet some students there from the university who apparently also speak English phew.
Now I'm wondering if anyone has any advice to give me because I totally don't know what to expect, I've never even been that side of the hemisphere so I don't even know what kind of weather to expect and I don't speak Spanish either. I've only been hearing stuff like to be careful as I may get robbed and the police are corrupt and whatnot so I'm getting kinda scared now heh, so yesss any advice would be good =) |
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| The frustration it renders me hateful |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|08:50 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sore | ] |
| [ | music |
| | All the King's Men - Wild Beasts | ] |
I've been on these swanky new experimental superdrugs for my ankylosing spondilitis for about six months now. I have to inject them into my thigh or my stomach every two weeks. They cost 500 quid a pop. Thank you Aneurin Bevan. In the six months I have been taken them they have massively improved my quality of life. Previously I had two take pain killers a couple of times a day and my mobility was decreasing rapidly. I had kids taking the piss out of my posture on the street which was very upsetting. But since banging myself up with these beauties I've become noticeably more flexible and about two inches taller. Best of all was the reduction in pain. Instead of a couple of painkillers a day, I was down to maybe one or two a week. My specialists were amazed by my progress. All was good.
While the NHS foots the bill, the drugs are delivered by a private company called Healthcare at Home. The drugs have to be refrigerated so they come in a special ice van and go straight into my fridge. They deliver about 8 weeks' supply at a time. Until recently, their service has been superb. They have phoned me in advance to ask my preferred day, called me on the day to give me an approximate time, and then called me when the driver was outside. It has all gone as smoothly and pleasantly as one good hope for. Until this week.
I was expecting a delivery on Monday - the day I was due to have my latest injection. I phoned them up and, after queueing for ages was told they had previously attempted a delivery on the 15th December. This seemed odd, since I hadn't been expecting this, they hadn't left any note suggesting they'd been to the house, nor had any attempt been made to reschedule. I expected they'd been enjoying Christmas a bit much. No harm done. We rescheduled for Wednesday.
I was told to expect a delivery between 8am and noon. I got home from work about 7.30am and waited. And waited. At 1pm I attempted to phone them. I was put in a queuing system. Eventually I was put through to a messaging service. I informed them of my plight. They called me back at 3pm, full of apologies. The snow meant they couldn't make a delivery that day. I was a bit annoyed that they'd had to have me call them for them to tell me what must have been obvious fairly early on. But I was just cranky through lack of sleep. Fair enough. Although I was now getting a bit anxious that the soonest they could reschedule was Friday - five days after I was due to inject.
So this morning I got home for 8 again in anticipation of a much needed delivery. I was back on the pain killers and I could really feel my joints seizing up. The main benefit of the drugs is that they slow down the fusion of the spine. Untreated, sufferers end up with one rigid, and very twisted bone down their back. I don't fancy that much.
I watched Johnny Rotten on the Culture Show and read a bit. By noon I was getting a bit worried so I phoned them up. I was sixth in the queue. Eventually I got through to somebody at 3pm. I was absolutely shattered, delirious with pain and lack of sleep. "A delivery attempt was made at 12.15," I was informed by a woman who sounded like a robot. I completely lost the rag. I was in the whole day. Even if our dodgy bell hadn't rung why hadn't they phoned me like they always had previously? "A delivery attempt was made at 12.15," replied C-3PO.
"I'm in fucking agony here, my bones are freezing up, my medication is almost a week overdue, what am I supposed to do?" I yelled rudely.
"I'm not a medical person so I can't advise on that, but according to our records a delivery attempt was made at 12.15," she replied.
They were unable to reschedule for today. Or Monday. So the next exciting date is Tuesday. Annoying since I'd planned to do overtime that day. Instead I face the exciting prospect of waiting at home all day for a delivery that may or may not arrive. I asked if they could make sure they phoned when it was on it's way.
"We can't guarantee that, sir."
"So basically you're saying that I might have to wait forever and your driver will repeatedly make failed delivery attempts until one of us dies?"
"All I can advise is that according to our records a delivery attempt was made at 12.15pm today sir."
Perhaps fortunately iPhones are not very suitable for slamming down in the old-fashioned style. |
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| What can I say? I love the crazy ones with very little grasp of the English language. |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|12:36 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  blah | ] |
Here's a message I found in my inbox a few days ago. You tell me if you can figure out what this guy is getting at.
alright, this might sound a little crazy, but, I subscribed just because I wanted to email you ... believe it or not ...
haha .. look at the smile .. one lie, and the whole world is awesome .. . I am sure these kinds of lie's are allowed ... :P ... also, remember, if we get along well, and something comes out of this, it won't be a lie anymore ... I am right now doing my own personal research on "how do we define good and bad" .. and this email has sparked me to think in the lines on lie's like this .. . I am leaning towards good ... smack me with words if I am wrong ...
"man youre tall" ... taller than me ... I am 4 feet 2 inches ... when I am naked, and trying to cover up stuff with my arms ...
thanks for the "gee thanx jerk" response ... :P
I am no Andy Kauffman when it comes to making people laugh ... I am better :P jk ...
I am a taurean, so I have got a raging bull inside me :P ... my browser says taurean is not a word .. but, I do not care what it thinks .... I thought there is a word ... well anyways, I wanted to become an english teacher .. and since my command of the language is this great, the people at Oxford sent me a request .... to not try and become one .. oh, me and my drifting thoughts .. . ... hate my browser ... adding the word to the dictinary .... and now it complains about "dictinary" ... going insane .. anyways ...
alright .. . I am going to shut up now and click the send button ... hoping you would be interested to write back .. . if not, please write left to right . .that works too ..
keep smiling ...
- "Arthur AnyMoreDonuts"
ps - as the name sounds weird, so am I .. weird in a good way ...
ps (ps) - aaah, I thought I had something, nope, got nothing |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|07:04 pm] |
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Aargh. There is a drummer in the next table at the restaurant i'm in and if he likes a song he drums along. It's shaking the floor! Annoying. I wonder if I should say something. I'm just grumpy because one of today's songs in recording sesh was awful drumming. Possibly need to get the baseball bat out to banish thoughts about it. |
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| Aldi birds |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|06:12 pm] |
Reading through some old posts to find out some info I saw the bit where I said we were going to try Aldi 9.99 bird-in-a-bird this year. We did, and their turkey crown and their beef joint, all about 9.99 each. They fed 17 people with a small amount of leftovers (nothing that survived christmas day mind) and were all really really nice.
So that's probably it for the expensive farm shop meat at christmas for me. |
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| Fun. Fun. Fun. Sarcasm. |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|05:41 pm] |
I just spent 40 mins digging my car out of the snow. There were people trying to get the car behind me out, so I gave them a hand - and we all were a bit worried about them hitting my car, so we dug mine out and they gave me a shove, and I got moving. Once moving, you keep going (on a hill, with slush and ice) ! I'd said that I'd go and find somewhere safe to park, where I would be able to get out again tomorrow morning (pace any more snow) and be back to help them.
I ended up parking about 20 mins walk away on a main road that had been properly gritted all the way to the kerb. Got back to where I was originally parked, and they'd managed to get off - good! But they nicked my spade and brush. Bastards.
Oh well.
This is going to be a tricky weekend; I've got a rehearsal tomorrow, which I really must try to get to - and the get-in on Sunday. Thing is, snow is predicted for both days, and it'll be falling on icey compacted snow. It's really all quite touch-and-go. If push comes to shove, I can stay at my Mum's, but it's not ideal. They are factoring in plans for an understudy, but I really should make all reasonable efforts to be there.
Guess I'd better polish off the last of the line-learning, just in case it's all AOK. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|05:11 pm] |
You remember that period of time when there were both blu-ray and hd-dvds around, and while we all thought blu-rays were gonna win, we weren't sure enough to actually buy any?
I remember the moment when I realsied that I was *properly* on the side of blu-rays (in the way one took sides in the console wars), and that was when ghost in the shell 2 (one of my favourite films ever and the only film I've watched on a dvd which has left my jaw open with it's beauty) was announced for blu-ray.....
So I pop by HMV (after my longstanding bedroom dvd player starting picking up sound errors that a lense cleaner couldn't fix)......... total cost of a blu ray player - 50 quid.... total cost of the ghost in the shell double pack - 35 quid.... I mean *seriously*, did hmv not see borders going tits up and go "hmmm maybe there's something wrong with our pricing model"........
in other news, stolen from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) asw909, now at least i'm not the only one who habours total david cameron hatred |
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| cat incantations |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|03:59 pm] |
Should you ever find yourself in need of an incantation to summon one of the Four Monkey-Cats of the Monkey-Cat Circus - let's say you find yourself in need of entertainment (Henrijk); or you have discovered a monster in your house which needs to be destroyed (Anton and Lalia); or if you just want to look at something and go: Damn, that's unbelievably cute, but what is it? (Millie), within this page you will find the right spell to bring them to you.
Thus:
Henrijk: rolling fine silver foil, such as comes wrapped around chocolate, into a ball. The minute you start, his head will appear, meerkat-like over the arm of the sofa or around the side of a door. He expects you to go "a ...ONE ....a ....TWO ... a.... WHEEE!" and throw it (each cry is accompanied by a mime of throwing it until the "wheee", when it actually gets thrown).
Anton: Take the bath mat off the edge of the bath and drop it on the floor. He will immediately arrive and roll madly and ecstatically on it. Appease him by rubbing his tummy when he does this. As an added bonus, Millie will appear shortly after Anton, because she is in love with him and copies everything he does, even down to the way he sits.
Millie: File your nails. She is obsessed with nail filings and the minute you start, her little grey head will appear over the back of whatever chair you are in. She will then hound you for the nail file because she wants to lick it. No, I have no idea why.
Lalia: Start cooking anything. She doesn't even want it. She'll just turn up and start shouting at you. Eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eeeeehhhhh! Alternatively, rustle some cellophane, which she is crazy about and will carry around the house in her mouth, eventually depositing it carefully in a food bowl. |
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| Work |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|03:25 pm] |
Ok, I could really do with some work. Here are some of my many skills:
-Researching (pretty much anything)
-Contributor finding for TV
-Editing (iMovie, Avid Xpress Pro)
-Writing SEO
-Writing scripts (comedy, drama, VO)
-Transcription (60-70wpm)
-Logging (Avid and Nesbit)
-Office running
-Typing (60-70wpm)
-Data entry
-Location finding/securing
-Filming assistant work
-Educational work (currently no CRB though)
-Cleaning
-Styling/set dressing
-Basic knowledge of genetics
-Basic knowledge of Photoshop
-Viral marketing
-Proof reading
-Knowing too much about Stephen King
If you would like to hire me for pretty much anything:
elise bramich @gmail. com
(remove the spaces) |
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| Friday Poll Reminder |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|03:17 pm] |
If you've still not sent a top up-to-20 tracks to leagueofpop@gmail.com, throw one together RIGHT NOW for the Poptimists Top Tracks of 2009 poll.
We've had a bunch more entries since the last reminder, so the list is fleshing out a bit but is still VERY close - as I'd sort of guessed there's not a lot of consensus behind all but a few tracks so it's definitely possible for your entries to get the, er, vast exposure the Poptimist list provides. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|10:09 am] |
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Treatise from Internet lawyer detailing the ins and outs of Godwin's Law. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|02:57 pm] |
It would be useful if the train station would use some of their large pile of grit on, you know, the actual platforms where people might, you know, fall under trains, or even at the foor of the bridge on the giant trampled slick of ice where you could merely break a hip or wallop your head on a rail...
{/snow kvetching} |
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| Crinkle cut chips are a chinese invention |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|02:20 pm] |
A lovely evening with ultraruby and dermfitz last night - Mexican food goodness at Wahaca and drinks on the Strand, where we saw PETER DAVISON!!! Yes, that's right. G said that I should go and shake his hand, but I was too shy and feel it was breaking two unwritten rules - the London celebrity code, that if you live in London and see a celebrity you make out that it's just normal and happens all the time; and the pint privacy rule, viz. never disturb a man when he's having a pint. We also discovered that this -
is basically Gemma's mum. Who knew?
Not much snow to contend with currently, but does this weather make anyone else absurdly sleepy? I am finding getting up in the morning very difficult - even more so than usual.
God the news is rubbish at the moment. I want to do a long ranty post about it, but it would involve moving away from sn*w and on to politics, which I can't really write about any more, other than in the most general terms. |
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| winter 09-10 126 |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|01:16 pm] |
This is her with her skanky brown hair, which to be fair looks okay here as she's straight out the box. I love her 70s outfit. She needs a name. My Pullip is called Jessie, my TaeYang is called Seb (and I've already broken his foot off! :( )
I am rub at naming dolls. Can't I just call her Blythe?
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