Paul Gravett came down for a visit today, which was a chance not only for him to have a good look around Birmingham, but also for me to see stuff I haven’t seen for ages. There’s much more to Brum than meets the eye, you know.
We had a nice look around the pre-Raphaelite display in the museum/gallery—some stunning work to be seen there. Mom tells me the last time I went there was when I was just about out of nappies.
Nearby, Paul posed for a snap:
So, should I officially make this a ‘one entry per weekend’ blog or what? Nah. Then I’d feel like writing stuff all the time and wouldn’t be able to stick to Der Rulez. Um, right.
I’ve been organising a bit. It’s amazing how you can live somewhere for nine months and still have a room that’s a stinking pit of disorder and clutter. That needed to change. I still have to get a couple of cheap, small bookcases and lots of stuff to fill the walls (I’m working on it), but generally things are much nicer now. The dog would now doubt attempt to sabotage my good work if he wasn’t on restricted access. 🙂
I’ve also tried to improve my career prospects a bit. I’m not willing to talk about that in detail until something firm develops—but progress on the journalism front could be on the horizon.
Read More »Weekend Roundup
Oh, haven’t I been quiet. Here I am, disappointing an audience of thousands! The arrogance of celebrity is an awful thing!
The dog had his second jabs last week, so he’s allowed outdoors in seven days or so. The fact that we still have him is a minor miracle—mom’s found it particularly tough to cope with his antics. He needs proper exercise badly.
I’m still on the old computer. I tried formatting the hard drive last weekend as a last resort. It being so large, this took the better part of 24 hours, at the end of which I found the process had settled the issue permanently—chug chug chug on the bios screen ad infinitum, unable even to boot from floppy! It’s dead, Jim…
Read More »Flaming June, Huh? Where’s Bleeding Terry?
Gone but not entirely forgotten. To tell the truth, I haven’t felt like writing anything lately. Trying to cope with the new puppy, who can’t be described as the most instantly disciplined dog ever born, has eaten a fair bit of time. (And we still haven’t settled on a proper name.)
Read More »All Quiet
Yesterday reminded me that our dog, Fred, would’ve been ten years old a few days ago. He died in July 2002, following a drawn-out period of illness I prefer to forget. Mom was dead against having another dog back then, but feelings change over time, and lately we’ve been watching the local classifieds regularly.
Read More »Puppy Wanted
I was outbid on the Orson book! Losing one’s virginity isn’t a guarantee of reaching orgasm, etc. 🙂 I’m bidding on something else at the moment, but I’d better not get smug about it.
E-mail news: being a bit flabby is one thing, but being told you look pregnant is another! I don’t tend to fish for compliments I don’t deserve, but this is ridiculous! My name is not Fern Britton and I don’t have my own personal ozone layer. Yet.
Read More »When’s the Baby Due?
Another warm, though not excessively bright, day. The hot stuff is coming! As you can see, I’m making a token effort to get in the mood for the weather… alas, less clothing only tends to prove I need to lose a few pounds. *sigh*
I’ve been thinking about money a lot again recently. I’m not stressing over it, though. I still want to be able to earn some cash from writing at some point—the recent writing I’ve done has been heaps better than any of my earlier work—but it’s going to be a slow road ahead unless I get lucky. (BTW: I’m talking about journalism, not creative/fiction stuff, which is a lost cause to all but the stubbornly dedicated and hugely prodigious.)
So the rat race beckons a little again. I’m resisting. At this exact moment in time, life is fairly comfortable, so I’m not letting the pressure bring me down. In some ways, though, I think the routine of a regular job would benefit me: it would break my horrendous sleeping patterns, for instance. I keep fairly busy—I do most of our shopping these days, as mom’s health is not great and she wants to hold down her part-time job for as long as she can. So I don’t feel useless. But an income can boost a person’s self-esteem and routine isn’t always a bad thing. Hmmm.
Read More »In the Mood
Tuesday afternoon, a spot of shopping in Brum, reaping the following highlights: *New pair of sunglasses. My other pair is four years old and rather… Read More »Lots of Weather
Just watched a fairly interesting TV documentary on all this Mel Gibson/Passion business. I don’t know if interesting’s the right word, really. Hmmm. I’ll give that some thought.
60% of Americans are Christians, apparently. I don’t think this figure surprises me—I’d be curious to hear the comaparitive statistic for the UK. I’d imagine it would be significantly lower, but perhaps I’m wrong.
I wonder how many of these people could articulate a coherent/credible reason for their faith, as opposed to it being something they take for granted, having been indoctrinated from an early age and not having the presence of mind to ask the right (or wrong) questions? Is the dynamic really so different to the acceptance and reinforcement of bigotry (because your parents were, yada yada yada), the status quo, etc? ‘My family/tribe’s dogma/system says thus—who am I to say otherwise [bleating sound]?’
Read More »Ditch the Habit!
The received wisdom apparently goes: as you get older you get more Right Wing, more disposed to religion and more inclined to embrace the establishment. How true is this?
I’m finding that as I get older I get more Left Wing, more staunchly atheist and more rampantly anarchistic. Should I be worried?
Read More »Worry Not
