| pruning for autumnal reawakening... |
[Friday 05 September 2008, 23 29] |
ladies and gentlemen...
by the time you read this, i will have reduced my friends list quite considerably. as you'll probably have noticed, i haven't been very active on here for a bit, or indeed very socially active in a general sense. i feel like i'm getting there, but i was finding the size of my friends list pretty daunting, so. i have reduced it in the hope that it will hasten my return to being sociable.
generally, if you've been removed it's because either you've disappeared from LJ, or i don't feel like i know you. however, if you would like to continue to read my friends locked posts [once i start writing them again...], please ask to be added back and i will probably do so. after all, if i didn't want you reading my stuff, i'd had removed you from my friends list a while ago. :)
if i've caused any offence, please accept my apologies. however, this is something i feel i need to do, so. whether i've kept you on the list or not, i wish you happiness and fulfilment. |
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| in lieu of a proper entry... |
[Sunday 09 December 2007, 23 04] |
| [ | Tags | | | meme, music | ] |
| [ | I am feeling |
| |  getting sleepy | ] |
| [ | I am listening to |
| | Metallica - The Unforgiven | ] |
1. "Shorley Wall" by Ooberman
i think i discovered Ooberman when i obtained a few MP3s from someone i know. they sort of lurked in my music folder until the random function found them. i rather liked "Running Girl" when it was chosen, but when this song came on...wow. it truly is a thing of beauty, particularly the poem read at the end, which can bring me close to tears [no mean feat]. possibly my favourite song.
2. "Precious Things" by Tori Amos
one of Ms Amos' more dramatic moments. i must confess to not knowing this album all that well yet, though i suppose i've not had it that long. expect me to say that about at least a few of the songs that come up...
3. "Pseudo Silk Kimono" by Marillion
the introduction to "Misplaced Childhood", followed immediately by what is perhaps Marillion's best known song, "Kayleigh", without which it seems almost incomplete. if i ever get around to writing and recording a concept album, i'd love it to have an introduction as effective as this. i once worked out how to play the keyboard part, somehow...
4. "Soil" by system of a Down
i think the random thing picked this deliberately to provide a contrast with its previous choice. SoaD are not one of my favourite bands, but when i'm in the mood i quite enjoy their music's frantic, insane quality. this song contains a pleasant mixture of silly rhythms, maniacal screaming and melodic guitar work. probably a good microcosm.
5. "Push Me, Pull Me" by Pearl Jam
from "Yield", the most recent PJ album i've actually bought. it contains some really good songs, of which this isn't one. while it's lyrically interesting, the music is a mess. this may add to the effect, but i could just be looking for something good to say...
6. "San Francisco" by Scott McKenzie
i've not been to San Francisco, though i would like to at some point, if only to bash the trolleybuses and trams. being very much a product of its time, this song sounds very dated now, but i would like to find out if there are many people there now with flowers in their hair. there don't seem to be anywhere else.
7. "In Your Shoes" by Terrorvision
one of those bands loads of my friends were into about ten years ago but i never really discovered, the wonderfully silly "Oblivion" being the exception. this is on an album that has apparently arrived on my computer courtesy of my other half, who also discovered them while i was oblivious, rooting through my parents' record collection.
8. "You Can Have It All" by the Kaiser Chiefs
when i borrowed the album on which this is from a friend, i didn't really expect to like it, but was pleasantly surprised. this isn't a favourite track of mine, probably because it lacks the rather silly vivaciousness of most of the rest of the album, which is what i enjoy about it. it's probably a good song, but it's one to which i've paid little attention because of its context.
9. "Glass Bottom Boat" by Kathryn Williams
from her most recent album, which is marvellous but for whatever reason isn't one i listen to that often. this is one of the more becalmed moments; it has an almost dreamlike feel.
10. "Coldsweat" by the Sugarcubes
another song i don't know all that well, though it's one of the ones i recognise on the compilation of theirs that i possess. it has an almost Sundays esque feel to it, which perhaps sounds more unlikely than it is.
[cross posted a few minutes ago to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) musicshuffle, a community best not added to your flist.] |
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| let me close my eyes and lie invisible, and perhaps the clouds will pass through me... |
[Monday 03 December 2007, 20 42] |
well, i've been doing well with this LJ updating lark again. November 2007 was the first calendar month since September 2005 in which i posted no entries, in case you're interested. i have actually been spending productively some of the time in which i would otherwise have been posting, so all is not lost. here's a brief [?] rundown: ( so brief i have put it behind a cut )
i feel ready to stop being an internet hermit again, so hopefully circumstances won't continue to conspire to prevent me from doing so. we shall see.
edited to add at 2046: sorry i've used for subject line of this entry a line i used relatively recently. my excuse is that it's from a great song. so there. |
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| is this some kind of joke they're trying to pull on us? |
[Tuesday 30 October 2007, 22 17] |
in internet terms at least, i seem to have gone into hermit mode again. i've not been especially down or anything, i've just not felt especially sociable, and for that i apologise. it's been caused mostly by being unwell, and being exhausted as a result. i had a rather nasty cold, which was followed within a week by a second, nastier cold. as a result, my asthma has most definitely returned, having looked like coming back for a while. the joy. it isn't too bad, but having to use a preventer inhaler regularly again isn't exactly welcome. at least i'm not waking up short of breath any more.
time for some edited highlights of the past six weeks or so. i've been on a few bashing type expeditions, which may get bashing log type entries in due course. ( here is a bit about some of the places i visited )
i've also been a couple of noteworthy gigs this month. first was iLiKETRAiNS at the Social, which sadly suffered from poor sound engineering and therefore wasn't quite as impressive as when i first saw them. still a great sound in which to immerse oneself. then the week after i went to the Rescue Rooms for the first time and saw Maps. one of my colleagues discovered them when he happened upon them performing at the Mercury Prize thing on the telly. he lent me their album, and i was sufficiently impressed to go and see them live with him and two other colleagues. i bought the album at the gig and it's continued to grow on me.
last weekend featured a brief visit to the West Midlands, in order to join ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) catoui for her birthday type celebrations in Birmingham. it was the first time in ages that i'd seen a lot of the people who were there, so it was rather overdue really. going out of an evening in Birmingham is something i've hardly ever done, so it was a fairly unusual experience. in a major departure from my usual manner i managed to have a rather strange conversation about wine with a woman at the bar. very odd.
anyway. before i finish this off, it's time for a small update on the Superdrug Saga. the bag i had been reusing consistently for several weeks finally had to be withdrawn from service as one of its handles looked like it was about to break. sadly, this came shortly after two separate comments on its longevity from different members of Superdrug staff, including an observation that it "must be the most well used bag to come through this shop". its replacement, donated to me by a colleague, is made of thinner plastic and is therefore unlikely to last as long. thankfully, i have some non Superdrug bags available in case the worst happens.
so yeah. time to post this and make sure i've posted at least one entry this month; it's likely to be the only one as i'm out tomorrow evening. i hope all's been going well with you while i've been semi away. |
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| who knows? maybe this time things will turn out just the way you planned... |
[Monday 17 September 2007, 20 06] |
a poor start to the week, walking wise: i was up too late to walk to work this morning, and then the weather worsened rather as i left work, so i got a bus to Sainsbury's. annoyingly, the weather deteriorated further as i walked back. when i was about a third of the way into the ten minutes or so walk, the clouds finally did what they'd been promising for three or four hours. for the first time in a long time, i actually had to remove my outer clothing when i got home so it could dry.
perverse as it may sound in view of the foregoing, i actually quite enjoyed today's weather. at last, it really felt like autumn. years ago, i hated September: it symbolised the end of the relative freedom of summer, and hailed the beginning of yet another seemingly eternal year of captivity. now i am free to appreciate it for the beautiful month it is. yesterday evening, the sky was incredible: almost entirely covered with slate like cloud, but with just enough clear pastel sky just above the horizon to silhouette the buildings and trees. as Mari said that "if you painted that sky it would just look fake." the windy, darkening evenings of autumn beckon. what a fabulous prospect.
in other news, it would seem that i have a lookalike, in the shape of Pakistan allrounder Sohail Tanvir. scary. |
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| some people stand in the darkness, afraid to step into the light... |
[Sunday 16 September 2007, 13 06] |
yesterday, a small quantity of progress was made on my forthcoming model railway.* only a small quantity, as i felt rather bleh after lunch [mainly because of an on/off headache] and so had a good look through the October issue of Model Rail. after that i felt rather better, so i finished sorting out the edge i messed up when cutting the Sundeala, and then i sawed the timber for the frame. this is mostly finished; one cross member needs to be sanded to size, but once that's done i'll be able to assemble the frame.
after that, Mari and i went to the Wake, which i managed to enjoy in spite of the continuing headache. i even had a bit of a bop, to "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" by Specimen. i'd have danced to both of the songs i requested**, had they come on, but i've a feeling none of the DJs had either of them.
there was, as expected, no journeying to far off lands yesterday, but there was a lie in, which was good. i was hoping for one this morning, but alas it didn't materialise. here's hoping for decent sleep this week...
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* i should decide on a name for it, so i can refer to it by name. for some reason i'm thinking of setting it in Coventry, so it may end up being named after somewhere like Spon End or Earlsdon or somewhere.
** "Promised You a Miracle" by Simple Minds, and "Life's What You Make It" by Talk Talk.***
*** while i think about it, where a footnote marker appears after a word which has a punctuation mark after it [like the full stop and comma in the main text of this entry], should the footnote marker appear after the punctuation, or between the word and the punctuation? one for your good self perhaps, ems? |
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| you and all your jewellery and my bleeding heart... |
[Friday 14 September 2007, 20 33] |
| [ | Tags | | | metro, walking, work | ] |
| [ | I am feeling |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | I am listening to |
| | Wire Daisies - Just Another Day | ] |
today i walked both to and from work, so this week i made nine of the ten journeys on foot. walking home today i really felt like i'd achieved something. ten out of ten next week, i wonder? to achieve that i'll have to make sure i get up in decent time every morning, something with which i've struggled lately.
thankfully i got up in good time today, as it was my favourite Metro distributor's last day in the job, and i've been too late for her lately. i'm definitely not alone in my appreciation of her: one person had given her flowers, while another had written a song for her and gave her a framed copy of the lyrics [complete with the Metro masthead at the top]. the morning won't be the same without her.
there's little else to report. i discovered a bug in the software i've been learning, unfortunately as a result of accidentally deleting an essential user account. what fun. i've no idea what i'll do tomorrow before the Wake, aside from hopefully having a decent lie in. if i succeed in this aim, i am unlikely to go anywhere especially far afield, if anywhere. i may try to get more done on my [hopefully soon to be] model railway. given a few hours i should be able to make good progress. we shall see. |
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| it was my fate from birth to make my mark upon the Earth... |
[Thursday 13 September 2007, 19 40] |
| [ | Tags | | | poetry, walking, work | ] |
| [ | I am feeling |
| |  unremarkable | ] |
| [ | I am listening to |
| | The Wildhearts - Naivety Play | ] |
my prediction regarding the effects of my productivity at work last week has sort of come true. i haven't actually run out of stuff to do; i've merely run out of stuff to do instead of trying to make sense of some new software i shall be using in future. to be honest, i'd actually forgotten about it, even after receiving the manual the other day. so far, of course, i am finding that the manual doesn't entirely make sense, as some of the names of menus don't match those in the program, and it features sections relating to aspects of the program i can't find. the joy.
on a rather more positive note, i've done very well with walking this week. i've walked to work every day except today [i really didn't get up in time, alas] and walked home every day, the latter by three different routes. for some reason, i've not walked home via the route i take to get to work. i've usually walked home along a main road out of the city, which isn't as unpleasant as it could be because, even in the evening peak, the traffic isn't very heavy. i need to cross it to get home and have usually found a sufficient gap in the traffic to cross without the aid of a pedestrian crossing. those moments where no traffic passes and all is quiet are my favourite part of walking home at the moment.
otherwise, there's not really a great deal to report, hence the relative lack of entries this week. i'm still not doing too badly though. only two poems so far this month though. perhaps my poetry writing rate will increase as the nights draw in, as it did spectacularly last year. i wrote 40 poems last year; this year's total so far is 30. eleven more and i'll be happy... |
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| i am all the people hiding... |
[Monday 10 September 2007, 20 23] |
my lack of updates does indeed indicate that i've been busy. Wednesday evening was dance practice, then on Thursday Mari and i went to see Honeyspider at the Royal Children. unfortunately, we were both pretty tired by that point in the week, so we weren't fully able to enjoy it. therefore, Friday evening was composed of very little, in the interests of resting. in spite of the tiredness and my consequent inability to get up for work in good time, i had a madly productive couple of days in which i got a lot done. this surge was probably caused by having little to do [or at least, little to do that could actually be done] earlier in the week, and therefore may prove to be self defeating as i'm in danger of running out of stuff to do again.
on Saturday i definitely needed to get out and about somewhere. as i awoke before it got too late, i headed for ( South Yorkshire ).
i thought i had better cut the foregoing, as i had a lot to say about what was really not a very long or varied day out. it was certainly an enjoyable adventure, and has left me determined to have a fuller day out in South Yorkshire before too long, hopefully taking in Doncaster and the remainder of Supertram. there are more pressing targets though; watch this space.
on my way home from work today i had a mini adventure. i decided to walk home, as i finished in unusually good time and it was a nice afternoon. i ended up walking through some of the Park, the rather strange private estate to the west of town. normally i walk through some of it on the way to work, but this time i explored some parts i'd not visited before. it's very hilly in parts, so it was good exercise too.
next on the agenda is food, which i shall begin to cook once Mari returns and decides what she wants. therefore, i shall get this posted. hope all is well. |
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| my sister says she never dreams at night; there are days when i know why... |
[Tuesday 04 September 2007, 20 15] |
| [ | Tags | | | gigs, music | ] |
| [ | I am listening to |
| | The Goo Goo Dolls - Ain't That Unusual | ] |
on Sunday night, Mari and i went to see the Silversun Pickups at the Social. all we knew of their music beforehand was gleaned from borrowing their so far only album from a colleague, so they were something of an unknown quantity. they were rather impressive: putting everything they had into their performance and obviously enjoying doing so. in stark contrast, their support act, SonicFlyer, were lacklustre and seemed pretty bored. frankly, had i been a member of the band and had to play that set, i would be too. it all sounded the same, and the singer mumbled her way through the entire set. i couldn't tell whether Mari was shutting her eyes to try and concentrate on something else, or whether she was just nodding off.
i just dropped a Cadbury's Eclair on the floor. i can't see where it rolled to.
otherwise, there's little to report, hence lack of entries until now. i ended up removing musicshuffle from my friends list, as it was just filling my friends page. i'll probably pop along and have a browse occasionally, but it is definitely less important than your writings. for now, i think i shall probably go in search of food. take care. |
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| i forgot my shirt at the water's edge; the moon is low tonight... |
[Sunday 02 September 2007, 17 53] |
| [ | Tags | | | cricket, going out | ] |
| [ | I am feeling |
| | pleased | ] |
| [ | I am listening to |
| | R.E.M. - Nightswimming | ] |
at last! an Email from me has been posted in the live text commentary on a cricket match! it appears at around 1628 BST on here, courtesy of Sam Lyon, who may as a result come close to usurping Ben Dirs as my favourite live text commentator. it would appear that the rain at Headingley helped me there. sadly, it hasn't helped England much; they're almost certain to lose now, unless there are some serious batting fireworks.
of course, after all i said yesterday, the evening consisted of no correspondence and featured a brief visit to a local ish pub we'd not sampled before. it was quite nice, had decent hand driers and seemed relatively inexpensive, at least when the 500ml size of the bottle of still mineral water i had is considered. one to visit again i think.
and now i am sitting at the computer, scoffing Cadbury's Eclairs and awaiting Mari's return from her mother's. having discovered musicshuffle through the "spotlight" thing on the LJ homepage, i joined it and posted a short time ago. however, adding it to my friends was a mistake, judging by how much of my friends page it's taken up. i'll give it a few days, i think. some people have been posting interesting things on there, so. we shall see. |
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| (no subject) |
[Saturday 01 September 2007, 17 57] |
well, it turned out i didn't need new speakers after all. i had assumed that the reason for one of the ordinary ones not working was that its connection from the subwoofer had transformed from being a dodgy one into a completely nonexistent one, since jiggling the wire didn't solve it. of course, when i went round the back of the computer to unplug them so i could plug in the new speakers i bought today, i discovered the plug was partway out of the socket. so i plugged it in properly, started the computer up and the old speakers worked properly. thankfully i didn't splash out too much on the new speakers [£4.99], so i won't bother trying to get a refund; they can just wait there until my current speakers become actually knackered.
aside from the fact that i've been a prat, today has been pleasant. i'd wondered about heading off somewhere for the day, thinking first of going to Cambridge but then deciding i'd not want to go so far. therefore, i settled on going to South Yorkshire if i got up in good enough time to get a decent day there. however, my body decided it could do with a lot of sleep, so i awoke after eleven and decided not to go anywhere much. Mari and i popped into town to get things like cold sore cream and unnecessary speakers, returning home for a late lunch.
i've little else to report really, and i'm not intending to do much of note for the rest of the day as i think i could still do with some rest. could be a good time to catch up on correspondence, as i've at least one letter and a long Email to write. hope all's well. |
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| (no subject) |
[Thursday 30 August 2007, 23 03] |
it's been an unremarkable couple of days, hence lack of entry yesterday. this is my eleventh this month* though, so i'm quite happy with my updating anyway. this afternoon/evening i've been keeping an eye on the cricket, at first pleased with England's bowling and then dismayed by their batting. they should have won fairly comfortably, but in the end it was a close thing. i Emailed Ben Dirs a couple of times but he's still not posted anything i've written, even though the second one included my observation that West Indian fast bowler Fidel Edwards looks a bit like Uma Thurman.
in complete contrast, this evening i beat Mari at Ludo, after which she did the same to me in Snakes and Ladders. much less stressful than international cricket. when i was a child i wasn't that keen on board games [well, most games really] because i took them far too seriously. thankfully, in the last decade or so i've learned not to care so much and enjoy, which is the whole point after all. i'm glad i'm not an especially competitive type, except when it comes to trying to outdo myself.
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* for those of you who like stats**, the last month in which i wrote eleven entries was October 2006. the last month in which i wrote more than eleven entries was July 2005, which was the month in which i moved back to Nottingham from Wolverhampton. maybe there's a connection there.
** this includes yours truly. i would quite like to do a graph of the number of LJ entries i made by month, and the number of poems i've written by month [which can only go back as far as 2002, since that's the first year for which i have complete records]. |
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| (no subject) |
[Tuesday 28 August 2007, 22 20] |
since i've been slightly badgered to do so by firefly_sky, i really ought to write and post an entry. it's been three days since my last one, so i'm slipping already compared with last week. the bank holiday yesterday can provide a decent excuse, i think.
said bank holiday was spent doing not a lot really, which was what i needed. it wasn't entirely unproductive though: we now have a very clean bathroom sink [and a slightly cleaner bath], courtesy of my fair hands. annoyingly, i didn't make any progress on my still embryonic model railway, though i did a fair bit of reading about model railways, so.
my day at work has been pleasantly productive, and included a brief visit from a former colleague, who moved away a few months back. this evening has also been rather productive, as Mari and i have managed to get her recently acquired computer connected to the internet. we tried on Sunday but discovered that a longer cable was required to reach it from the router, so i obtained one today. unfortunately, said cable developed an annoying habit of setting off the detectory things in shop doorways. i managed to get it home without being accused of shoplifting, so all is good.
anyway. now Mari is online on her computer and i am online on mine, i think i shall do the very silly thing i've always wanted to: i shall try to talk with her on MSN while we're both in the same room. hope you're well. |
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| and i came and i said my words...never want to hear my voice again... |
[Saturday 25 August 2007, 23 08] |
ah. i should have known i couldn't keep it up for a whole week. yesterday evening i was really tired, and ended up almost nodding off while flicking through adverts in Railway Modeller, checking the prices of stuff i don't need. what i do need is to make some progress on the model railway i started work on at the end of last month. i didn't get far then, and have made no progress since. yet stay! what is this i see on the horizon? methinks perchance it be...a bank holiday! a whole day in which to fail to get anything done...
having said that, today has been relaxed enough for the whole weekend i think. waking up at half past eleven, having a very late breakfast, reading about the railways in Leeds, having a nice long walk around Wollaton Park and then returning home for an easily prepared tea before an evening of, so far, nothing in particular: a recipe for a restful day.
Wollaton Park is a great place to go for a walk, as there's so much of it that we've still not explored, and yet somehow we've hardly been. today we tried to feed some of the water fowl, but they weren't as interested as they could have been, probably because we were merely the latest in a long line of people with bread today. there seemed to be a lot of small black ducks with slightly tufted heads and yellow eyes [and the odd similar one but with brownish feathers, presumably a female - the opposite of the local mallard population, which seems to contain a dearth of males], vying for bread with the coots while the few moorhens in the area stayed at a safe distance. we left the park via the gate at the western end that is near Wollaton Vale, and got to the bus stop in nice time for a 35 [an OmniCity, unfortunately].
so yeah. not a great deal else to report. this will be my ninth entry this month; the last month in which i posted that many was December 2006, according to my calendar. i'm not sure why i'm given to statistical analysis of this sort of thing [as i am with my poetry], as quality is more important than quantity and anyway it isn't a competition. perhaps it's my inner Daily Mail reader looking for ways to prove the past was better than the present. but anyway. on with the present: time for more friends page reading. have fun. |
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| let me close my eyes and lie invisible, and perhaps the clouds will pass through me... |
[Thursday 23 August 2007, 19 38] |
| [ | Tags | | | music, poetry | ] |
| [ | I am feeling |
| | unremarkable | ] |
| [ | I am listening to |
| | The Wire Daisies - Let Me Love You | ] |
hm. the Wire Daisies' new album is nothing like their first. their vocalist doesn't even sound like she did on the first album until the third track. i listened to most of it yesterday evening, and now i'm giving it another go. while their first album is full of good songs played well and produced well, this one has a much more raw feel to it, in all senses. perhaps there are good songs hiding behind the production, playing style and so on; time will tell, i suppose. some albums are growers, i know, but this one definitely had a "what the hell is this?" effect on me yesterday. i will give it time, because they can't have gone from being a good band to being one that could charitably be described as "mediocre". can they? though perhaps the presence of a song called "Lost my Way" is not a good sign...
more positively, Kathryn Williams has had a video for "When", a song on her most recent album. the video is pleasantly strange. it also reminded me that i need to listen to the album, Leave to Remain, more. it's a lovely album, her best since Little Black Numbers if not her best yet, but i don't seem to have listened to it enough.
something else that cheered me up earlier was reading some of the "poetry" of William McGonagall, one of Dundee's greatest exports. he could perhaps be described as the Spinal Tap of late Victorian poetry, though there now seems to be some debate about whether he was genuinely trying to be a serious poet, or whether his poetry was intentionally bad for comedy effect. either way, his work is great fun [even when he wrote about his favourite subject, disasters], and serves a useful purpose in reminding poets why it's not a good idea to sacrifice everything else on the altar of rhyme.
anyway. as well as i've done at this entry writing lark this week [every day since Sunday], i've hardly read any of your journals. so i shall begin to put that write now. hope you're keeping well. |
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| send me back all the things she ever wrote... |
[Wednesday 22 August 2007, 19 16] |
today was the first day for quite a while to feature me leaving work before 5. in theory my finishing time is 1650, but in reality i am often there for half an hour or so after that, and occasionally i don't leave until nearly 6. today i took advantage of a quiet spot to leave almost on time. i decided to pop into Selectadisc on my way home, and ended up purchasing the self titled second album by the Wire Daisies. i've not given it a listen yet, but i will probably do so later this evening.
after that small quantity of retail therapy, i took advantage of the pleasant, if windy, late afternoon and walked home. my route featured a small but steep diversion through a bit of Nottingham i'd not ventured into before but had been meaning to explore for a while. it's a quiet enclave to the north west of the city centre, hidden behind the Catholic cathedral and the Playhouse, and seemingly composed entirely of rather grand houses that have been converted into office accommodation. i've really not done enough exploration of semi hidden places like that in Nottingham, so i'm glad i decided to take the opportunity today.
last night i wrote a couple of poems [well, one and a bit - the second was minute], my first for two and a half weeks. although my productivity on that front has increased considerably since last autumn, i'm still writing significantly less than i was five years ago. in recent times i've tended to bemoan this, but as i was walking home today i realised that i don't do as much that is conducive to writing as i did then. i used to write a lot of poetry when i was on buses, but i don't travel on buses nearly as much as i used to: i usually walk to work, the bus journey between home and town/work is very short [usually less than ten minutes] and i don't go bashing very often really. it was always well populated public places, like buses, pubs and clubs, which seemed to cause me to write, even if i wasn't writing about anything to do with where i was; perhaps it was merely the disappearing into a crowd that let it happen. so next time i walk home and have plenty of time to do so, i may pop into a pub or similar, purchase a drink and watch the world go by, and see what happens. |
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| sometimes i feel the fear of uncertainty... |
[Tuesday 21 August 2007, 19 16] |
| [ | Tags | | | cricket, music | ] |
| [ | I am feeling |
| |  pensive | ] |
| [ | I am listening to |
| | Incubus - Drive | ] |
in spite of not getting to bed that early last night [as the time of my entry yesterday attests], i got up in good time this morning and left early. hopefully this bodes well for the rest of the week. otherwise, today has been unremarkable. the great Ben Dirs [who now appears in my list of interests on here] is doing the live text cricket commentary on the BBC website today, but he doesn't seem as fired up as usual, alas. i've Emailed him twice, but i'm still yet to have anything posted in the commentary. to be fair, my second Email was sent while he was taking a break between the innings, so it may appear yet.
last night i listened to most of Raintown, Deacon Blue's 1987 debut album [which i picked up for something silly like £3 a few years back]. it reminded me of bonedrogenous once telling me that someone he knew thought it was the best album even made. this set me thinking about whether i have a favourite album. i could probably make a list of at least a few favourite albums, but picking just one as an out and out favourite would be difficult, at least in part because of how different my favourites would be. Raintown is probably one of them, along with Dirt by Alice in Chains, Script for a Jester's Tear by Marillion, To Our Children's Children's Children by the Moody Blues, Shine Box by Picture House, Mer de Noms by a Perfect Circle and Blind by the Sundays. any thoughts? |
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| no jokes, no surprises, no crisis arises... |
[Monday 20 August 2007, 23 11] |
not a bad day today, though not an enormously interesting one. not that that will stop me from writing an entry anyway. i ought to be in bed by now, but i'm only just beginning to get sleepy, so. i've got my sarny ready for tomorrow, so little else remains to be done.
earlier, i did a stir fry using frozen mushrooms for the first time, which seemed to work well. i generally did quite well at keeping it all in the wok, with only a few small morsels ending up on the cooker and nothing as far as i can recall on the wall behind it. i got some honey on the cooker as well but managed to wipe it off.
it seemed to be Groovy Nail Varnish Day at Superdrug today. when i went in at lunch time to obtain drinks, i was served by someone wearing bright [almost luminous] green nail varnish, while the person who served me when i went in after work to get toothpaste sported a strong pinky red shade. it's good to see an apparently relaxed attitude to dress is taken there.
so yeah. with that, i think bed will be headed for. sleep well. |
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| i feel fine...don't wake me up yet... |
[Sunday 19 August 2007, 18 15] |
it's been a busy [not to mention rather tiring] few days, hence the lack of entries. on Wednesday evening there was a dance team social evening type thing at a member's residence in Derby, so i met up with Mari in Derby after she finished work to save her coming home and heading to Derby again. then on Thursday i went for a meal out with a few persons from work, as we had two for one vouchers from the Evening Post. we patronised Bella Italia [a first for me - finding something on the menu that didn't feature tomato sauce or cheese was a challenge], and then went for a drink in Wethie's afterwards. no one wanted to stay out especially late, but it was still probably too late a night for me, as i'd not done very well at getting to bed in good time during the week. therefore, Friday evening was spent mostly resting.
yesterday i headed for Leeds to spend the afternoon in the most pleasant company of captaintwitchy. due to my poor record for getting to bed in good time during the week, i got up rather later than i had hoped, so my walk to the railway station was a quick one, and to save time i delayed getting the second ticket* i required until i got to Derby, where i had to change trains. thankfully all worked nicely so i got to our rendezvous point on time.
it was the first time i'd properly been to Leeds for a while, so i had a walk down to the bus station to collect maps and such; a bashing expedition to West Yorkshire is definitely required in the near future, as i've not been bashing there for about five years. there have been numerous changes to the street pattern in the city centre since i was there last, especially around the City Square area, but the decent chippy i used when i visited Leeds University in 2000 is still there on New York Street, though it doesn't open in the evening. therefore, i made use of a Subway voucher, which i was assured would be accepted but then caused much confusion when i actually came to pay. thankfully, i still had enough time to catch my train once they'd worked out what to do with the voucher.
then last night it was the Wake, which i was too tired to enjoy properly, or at least i seemed to be. after leaving the venue i woke up again, even though it wasn't especially cold out, so i think being in Sugar made me sleepy in some way. strange.
i think a relaxing evening is now called for, plus hopefully an early night, though i'm really not good at those. i really need to be - i don't have weekday lie ins for recovery, which is a fact i should have become used to having been in full time work continuously for the past two years. sometimes i do better, so hopefully i will start to do better this week. i don't think i'm going out any evening this week, which should help. we shall see.
i hope you're all doing well.
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* ( footnote ) |
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