magictreehouse | Recent Entries

Right, a quick update from me. I've had a quiet weekend really. Didn't do much on Saturday apart from potter about really. We've booked all of our stuff for Chantal's 30th birthday in London in September. It's very exciting as we haven't been to London for a good while. We're going down on the Thursday which gives us Thursday and Friday to do what we like really. It was touch and go for a while as to whether we could go as it took time to find cheap trains and a hotel. But we've found an utter bargain for both train tickets and accomodation. It's suspiciously cheap! But we're in Kensington which is where all of my favourite museums are so it should make for a great long weekend. We were looking for a show to go and see on Friday and so we looked at Sister Act. And dear God it's expensive. The stalls are £90-£75! Not that we go for stalls seats, haha. So instead we've gone for Legally Blonde which will be great I'm sure. Plus Sister Act is touring in autumn 2010 so we'll just see that when it comes North and therefore cheaper.

We've watched a lot of films lately. We watched Lethal Weapons 3 and 4. Surprisingly they're all pretty solid, which I didn't expect in a way. We rounded off the experience with Loaded Weapon 1 which had its moments but wasn't a patch on Hot Shots really. Also watched The Graduate which was a good film, funnily than I thought it would be actually.

What else did I do? Oh yes, went out and bought the Daily Mirror to get the new Prince album. I chucked the paper without reading it of course so a Prince album for 65p is a bargain. I've only listened to it once but it's good stuff. I'm an easy Prince fan to please really. His old stuff is stunning obviously but I really like some of the newer stuff. 3121 was brilliant for example. I've ended up buying so much of his stuff though that I don't know it all particularly well. Must sort that out.

I also bought the Speical Edition of Monkey Island 2 which is on Xbox Live Arcade. It look stunning and there's commentary from the creators which is really good. I'm loving playing it again. I've also recently finished The Longest Journey which was notable for not only the amazing story but it's the only game that I know of that has convincing gay characters in it. Probably becuase it was written by a Norwegian, ha. The problem with adventure games with great stories is that they end up being very wordy without very many puzzles. I've been spoiled by Lucasarts I guess and it was a brilliant game, don't get me wrong.

Forgot to mention that I finished my Kathy Reichs book 'Death De Jour' which was a good thriller I have to say, sometimes very grizzly though! I'm now going to read some classics at the same time as James so we can discuss them. I've just started Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. A good start so far.

On Sunday we were going to go to Kirkstall Abbey but it was a bit chilly so instead we wandered round Leeds (including the Victoria Quarter which James had never been through!). We ended up at the Museum Cafe which is one of my favourite places in Leeds. So we sat there for a little while and then came home and played Super Scrabble. I lost but I was always going to when James played blinders like COCCYX and HYMEN.

Music-wise I've just bought the new Liz Phair album which has been sneaked out on her website and is that sound of a woman having a breakdown after being shafted by record company after record company. Still, it's listenable so far even if Liz does rap on it, haha. Also, the Scissor Sisters new album is brilliant and I wasn't fussed by it's release to begin with. I always thought that they were missing something when actually they were getting bogged down by something - their characatuer. So by taking themselves seriously (ish) they've produced something very catchy and very good.

Right, off to see Spamalot tonight. Fun times!

Current Mood: bouncy

Right, well I haven’t updated for ages as I wanted to give my Bruges trip the attention it deserves as we had a really lovely time. Tried not to let the immense tiredness over shadow the whole thing but I’ll get to that in a bit...

Wednesday

We set off from work early in order to get the ferry from Hull. We ended up being really early but I wiled away the time playing DS. Never a bad thing. We were allowed on board at about 5 so had a little wander about. We spent most of the evening in the cabin really, reading and the like. As we were losing an hour and didn’t want to carry shopping around with us we saved most of the attractions for the way back. We did take advantage of the all you can eat buffet though! Unfortunately our air conditioning was dodgy and so our room was stupidly hot. We didn’t get a wink of sleep, even after transferring rooms at 3 in the morning. We weren’t the only one though. James said that a guy was in front of him the queue asking to swap rooms as his friend was snoring. Ha.

Thursday

So Thursday morning was not fun in the slightest, although once I showered and ate I didn’t feel so bad. Drank some tea outside on the deck just as we coming in to Zeebrugge which perked me up. Greeted by windmills too which was nice. Eco ones though, not the nice kind, they came later.

Once we’d arrived we got a coach to Bruges. This only took around 15 minutes which isn’t bad. We were dropped off at the train station and let loose! I didn’t quite realise how popular cycling was around the town so the sea of bikes at the station was a nice surprise. Not that I got on one *city shouts hurrah*. We couldn’t check into the hotel until 12 so with two hours to kill we had a wander round. We thought we’d walk up to find it first and then go from there. So we walked near Minnewater, a lovely lake, becoming acquainted with Bruges’ love of towers. They’re everywhere! Even little ones on houses.

After that we headed up Katelijnestraat and found our hotel. We quickly realised that every other shop was either a chocolate shop or a lace shop! No bad thing. Carrying on up the street we came to Onze Lieve Vrouwkerk (Church of Our Lady) and had a look inside. There are plenty of churches in Bruges and this is one of the main ones. It contains the only piece of Michelangelo’s work to have left Italy during his life time so our visit was cultural, it wasn’t just about chocolate! Sadly it’s covered in scaffolding as they’re doing it up, but I’ve been to York loads and I‘m used to the Minster been covered in it too so I don’t mind.

Another thing that Bruges seems to have is loads of groups of visitors. It makes walking down the streets perilous, especially if the roads are full of horse and carts, of which there are many. Next stop was Sint-Salvatorskathedraal which has the most beautiful stained glass windows I’ve ever seen. Mind you, York Mister may have beautiful ones too but I’ve never been inside due to my excessive tightness (honorary Yorkshireman strikes again!).

From there we went up Steenstraat, had a sit down and laughed at a poor woman whose large Andrex-type puppy dog had sat down and refused to move anywhere. In the end the guy she was with had to pick it up! I might try that one next time I’m in the supermarket.

With still more time to kill we walked to the Markt which is pretty much the centre of the city. All roads seem to head there anyway. No bad thing though as it’s the sight of the Belfort. We thought it might be a good idea to climb all 366 steps with rucksacks on. Fools. It was half price to do so though as we’re under 26. I’m going to hate my birthday. 26 seems to call time on all the great discounts (free theatre tickets, railcard etc.). Boo to that. It’s a trek to the top but worth it. They’re doing it at the minute so the bells don’t chime and you can only see two sides when you do reach the top. But that’s what you get for having a discount! Great view fro the top though.

We walked to the Burg after that. The Heilige Bloed Basiliek (Basilica of the Holy Blood) is also there. The latter was closed for lunch though so we didn’t go in. I’ve since found out that there’s a holy relic in there, a vial of ‘Jesus’ blood’. Missing a relic, what would Lara Croft say? The Berg, like a lot of the architecture in Bruges, is beautiful. It also has the added bonus of having an archway leading to Blind Donkey Street. Best street name I’ve seen since Dame Judy Dench Way.

It was time to go back to the hotel by this point so we picked up a sandwich onthe way (Chicken, mango chutney and rocket) and pastry (lemon tart). And after that I fell asleep watching a Disney film about a blind teenager. Hardcore! I’m not sure how long I slept for but I certainly felt better for it. We went back out after a little break. Up to the Markt again and then along Hoogstraat, Langstraat and then up towards windmills! There are four along the river. Nice as they are we only saw two as the wind was so bitterly cold that we couldn’t take anymore and headed back into the city. We were lucky with the weather. Thursday was glorious but both days were so damn cold. Mostly because of the wind. And we were outside a lot.

We walked past a nunnery on the way back. We were quite disappointed that we didn’t see any nuns but on closer inspection it seems that the front door was open so we figured they’d all escaped. We bought some chocolate goodies and then went and sat in Koningin Astridpark. I know I said earlier that was full of tourist groups but on the whole it was really quite. And sat next to the fountain it hit home how quite the city was.

He headed right down to the side of Minnewater we hadn’t seen and then decided for tea to get some chips (with mayonnaise, the Belgian way). And go back to the hotel. We didn’t head out in the evening as we were totally knackered by that point. So we watched Belgian TV, mostly Jim which was surprisingly sweary. Humping rabbits, UK TV shows with swearing in per-9 o’clock and the climax – Hit or Shit. Amazing stuff. The Belgians seem quite a relaxed bunch I have to say and they’re lovely in general. I certainly didn’t feel like such a failure for speaking English there! Unlike Paris where I felt like I was going to spat on for being a dirty Brit (I exaggerate of course but the French do seem the most uptight of all the European countries I’ve been to.)

Bed – at 9.50pm Tragic but it had to be done.

Friday

On Friday we felt tonnes better having actually slept. We left the hotel fairly early (which was really nice despite only being an Ibis). Bruges doesn’t seem to wake up until 10 o’clock though so there wasn’t much to do. We walked to ‘t Zand (I’ve no idea how to pronounce that ‘t. I figure it’s like ‘t’internet’, haha.) After that we walked right up Noordzandstraat to the Markt again. Bought some fizzy iced tea and sat down for a bit. Then headed up Vlamingstraat to the Friet Museum.

A museum about chips! Best museum ever! Although once inside we were informed that although chips were invented in Belgium there was no evidence to support this. That brings the whole museum into disrepute if you ask me. Either way, it was quite an interesting little place believe it or not! The only let down was there not being a cuddly Fiona the chip to buy in the shop. After we left we looked back and saw that the museum was in an old church! God would be proud.

After that we went back to Katelijnestraat for Belgian waffles and hot chocolate. Good stuff although I think I’d have a bit too much sugar by that point. It was on to Dijiver then, which might be my favourite street in Bruges. Just because it runs along the canal and is really picturesque, road works or not! We did a boat tour there which was really interesting. The driver was an amazing moustachioed man who told us all kinds of things. It’s certainly a great way to see the city.

Another museum was next - Choco-Story. You will not be surprised to hear that this is a chocolate museum. Although we’re still none the wiser as to why Belgium is so associated with chocolate, apart from the praline being invented there. We just caught a demonstration at the end of the visit and got to taste some chocolate. Always a good thing. They also had a chocolate Obama! Amazing!

Chocolate and potatoes – all great things come from South America.

We walked to the Stadsschouwburg then and found the tiny frog statue outside there. I’d had a tip off it was there so I was glad to find it! Opposite was Van Mullem which does the nicest pastries ever! I bought a rÿsstartt (I have tried to find out the proper spelling for this but failed) which is a rice/custard filled pastry. Om and indeed nom.

The final place to visit was back at the ‘t Zand, well, the concert hall to be precise which you can go to the top of. And indeed we did. Some great views from the top. There was an exhibit a few floors down too. I thought it might be about the concert hall but it was, well, I don’t know what it was but it was far too arty and modern for our tastes! Lasers, music and just, weirdness.

After that we sat down near Minnewater and headed back via coach to the ferry, which I’m glad to say was much better on the way back. I bought a watch in the shop which has a little furry ghost attached to it. Brilliant. We took advantage of the ‘cinema’ too. We watched Sherlock Holmes which was really good. Thankfully not as unnecessarily macho as I feared it might be. But it was fun and I was quite sucked into the mystery of it all, ever if some of the explanation was muttered so quickly that it was hard to follow!

Is that it? I think it is. We tagged a trip to see James’ Grandma on to the end of the trip but I’ll write about that later. We got a bit sick of seeing Hull at the end of Saturday! We did wonder if any Belgians come over to the UK from Zeebrugge and there were certainly a few on our bus back. I hope for their sake that they went to York or even Leeds rather than stay in Hull!

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Dannii Minogue - The Hits & Beyond

On Wednesday night we went to see The Princess and the Frog. I feared it would be full up as it was half term. Thankfully I was wrong. I hadn't seen a Disney 2D animation at the cinema for many years but I was so glad that it didn't disappoint. It's absolutely stunning on the big screen. Beautiful in a totally different way to Ponyo. There's so much about the animation that I don't understand, like how do lights work? You can paint brightness! Oh, it was all so beautiful and it was funny too. I think Empire got their review spot when they said that it was thoroughly traditional but threw enough curve balls along the way to make it interesting. So true. I didn't think that having a black princess would make any difference but I'm glad that it added a whole new edge to the film. Loved it.

Yesterday, we headed to The Living Room to spend my comedy cheque of a voucher on tasty tasty food. I probably mentioned the scheme before but the Yorkshire Post are doing £25 for a £50 voucher at certain Leeds restaurants. Anyway, it was lovely. I had crab, guacamole and tomato to start (that does sound quite odd) followed by ostrich fillet with parsnips and mash. Sooo good. I love ostrich. The first time I had it was at Disneyland Paris in the Pirate restaurant which oddly may have been the best meal I've ever had. The waiter's ostrich knowledge was second to none too. I was going to plump for well-done but he suggested that it be left slightly pink and he was right! So the question remains - what do you do when you can't decide on one dessert to have?.......

HAVE THEM ALL! That's eton mess in the middle with cheesecake, a tiny lemon meringue pie, creme brulee and chocolate orange sponge. One each. Yes, we're fat arses! No I don't care! It was soooo good.

On a less tasty note, they've gone and found a body in Clarence Dock. Amazing. For anyone that doesn't know Leeds, that's round the corner from my flat. A year or two back they did it all up and put loads of boutiques in...only for no-one to visit them. It's always dead and we often make jokes about it. When I told Eleanor at work about it the first thing she said was 'was it one of the shop keepers?'. It's bad down there but I don't think that people are killing themselves quite yet. Let's hope it brings the flat prices in the area down!

The other depressing news is that I'm getting a new line manager at work. Depending on who gets this internal vacancy it could be a good thing or a bad thing. We shall see. Unfortunately this puts more mega pressure on me getting this job next week :( I don't know what I'll do if I don't get it.

My Mum, brother and sister are coming up today. We're taking them to York tomorrow which will hopefully be good. It depends on the weather. None of them have ever been before so I'm looking forward to showing them round, not that I know where I'm going. York is the only city that I'm familiar with and yet still can't find my way around! I blame the vikings.

Did anyone watch The Brits? God they were ropey. The only good things were Lily Allen, Lady Gaga's acceptance speeches, and the Florance/Dizzee cover which I quite liked. It even made me want to re-visit her dodgy album (but not that much clearly, I'm still listening to Prince and The B-52s).

Current Mood: hopeful

My head isn't really in the shape to think about what I've done as I'm coming down with the evil cold thing that's going round. It hasn't quite come out though so it's all in my head. I'm glad I'm off tomorrow :( Get the violins out people!

Things have been fairly slow though. We started Friday night off with a pizza from Yum Yums. A good start I feel. And we watched Broken Flowers which was not half as terrible as I feared it might be. Not a lot happened but when it got going and Bill Murrey got out and met people the interactions were quite compelling. The evening then met a crap end when the neighbours decided to have a party. We've put a complaint in about them as we're no longer living in student digs. The music stopped at around 1am. I think someone had gone round there. What a way to intigrate yourself with the neighbours eh? Thankfully that kind of thing never happens where we live.

What else did we do? Watched The Muppet Show a lot (the Swedish Chef is a current fave), played Kerplunk, and watched Never Say Never Again. We're a bit out of order as our original copy had warped so we've had to buy it again and go back to it. It's not really up to much though. It's just very very long and really dragged. It wasn't bad but even the action scenes didn't feel especially exciting.

Speaking of dragging, this week is going far too slowly. I've been keeping myself occupied by buying more Xbox Live Arcade games. I've bought Alien Breed, Shadow Complex (excellent, reminds me of the old 2D platform shooters like Flashback), OD Beat Drop (the thought of playing a tetris clone to the sound of Dragonette is far too appealing) and Chime. Should keep me busy!

I've finished reading Me Cheeta, the autobiography which wasn't as interesting or funny as I thought it might be. I guess it might be more interesting if you know a lot about Hollywood in the 40s. I may have made a bit of a mistake by starting two non-fiction books at the same time. I'm reading Tim Moore's 'Do Not Pass Go', and Andrew Marr's 'History Of Modern Britain'. I'm thinking that one might take a while!

Current Mood: sick

In a desperate attempt to cheer ourselves up we've been watching The Muppets a lot lately. It's doing the trick certainly. We also watched 'Sunshine Cleaning' the other day as well. I expected it to be a bit more funny than it was somehow but I think that's to do with how it's sold. However I really enjoyed it. I think it helped that it wasn't overly long and the acting from the leading ladies is especially good. It's only downside was the slightly uneven plotlines, some are tied up, but some are left completely hanging. The DVD also comes with a fascinating short documentary though about the real life people who clean up after crime scenes. What a job!

In other news, we've booked a mini-cruise to Bruges. I know, all I do is book trips and holidays but this was too good to miss. It's costing me £70 for two nights on a ferry and an extra night's stay in Bruges itself. Fun times. We've bought a Belgian guide book and it looks lovely. Very exciting.

Not a lot else to report. The beginning of the end has started at work as the Director responsible for my area is leaving. Due to cost cutting he's not being replaced but (get this) three people are getting a promotion of sorts to cover the work. It begins!

Oh my God, news flash! Just got a phone call from the Department of Health job that I'd given up hope for and they've asked me to go for an interview! Amazing start to the weekend! Better fish out that job description, I've completely forgotten what I applied for. I only remember that the application took an age to do.I

Current Mood: excited

God I'm depressed. And it's not even January anymore. I just want to a job that tests my brain and used my degree as I feel like my brain is becoming mush. I'm currently looking into short crusies. P+O have BOGOF on ones to Amsterdam, Bruges or Rotterdam. Very tempting. However, we did book a load of things at the weekend, including a 10 day holiday to Cyprus over our birthdays so I'm clearly never happy! I'm excited about the holiday though. We've never been away that long together. In fact, I can't remember the last time I was away for so long full stop! We're going to Paphos which sounds like a nice compromise between art-y things to do, nice walks and time to relax in the moderate temperatures. So that's the end of April.

We've also booked shows, plays and comedy up to about July so I'm now poor! Good stuff on the cards though. Comedy-wise we're seeing Reginald D Hunter, Arthur Smith and Andy Hamilton, shows are Hairspray (yes, again but there's 14 of us going this time), Billy Elliot and Oklahoma and I think the only play we've got is the Oscar Wilde one. Hmm. In my defense I've done very well with money lately. I do plan to buy less music this year, or at least hang on for a bit regarding releases I could live without for a while. Although, that's a habit I've never been able to break!

Last week we went to see Up In The Air. Thankfully it was a tonne better than the overly-twee Juno. Everything about it was just great. It was very funny, brilliantly acted and had some interesting things to say regarding old vs young and male vs female without the content even being shoved down your throat. I even liked the ending was a bit of a downer. It worked really well in the context of the film. However, every time I see the word Detroit my heart just sinks.

The only other film we've seen lately is View To A Kill, the next one on our Bond trek. It was good, even though it has the most useless Bond girl in it ever and Roger Moore looks rather old in it. It's a bit lazy overall though, and really feels like a step back, especially as it was made in 1985. It could have easily have been made in the 60s. Still, at least it wasn't Moonraker eh?

Anything else to talk about? I don't think so. My sister's just finished her work experience at my old primary school. It sounded interesting. She was there during 'art week' and was making 'Fair Trade' board games! Infinitely more exciting than my job!

Current Mood: bored

In all the excitement of writing about what I'd be watching recently I totally forgot to mention that I didn indeed leave the house last week. We went to Las Iguanas which I'd never been to before. I'd definitely go back though as it was very very tasty. Cocktails were buy one get one free so it was cherry fizz a-go-go and we had such wonders as lamb meatballs, chips that weren't chips, cheese salad, duck wraps. My God it was good. And there was passionfruit cheesecake for desert. Yum. Neither of us have been that great recently. I've been stuck in January-pus-being-in-job-for-three-makes-me-want-to-kill-myself-mode and James hasn't been much better. So going out for food felt like a turning point as we got to talk stuff out. It was nice to be back on an even keel. We talked holidays too which I've researched. Can't decide where to go. We want a cheap sun holiday as we've never had one, but it's hard to find somewhere that has stuff to do without being on a self-contained resort. We'll see though.

I rang my family last night to keep uop-to-date with all the Crewe news. Top of the pops was the news that the water has had an influx of chemicals put into it! Wonderful stuff. My Mum went to work on Saturday and two colleagues said that boiling the kettle made the entire kitchen sink. Nobody knew anything else until Wednesday when the local paper reported that because of all the extra salt running into the water supply they'd had to up the amount of chlorine that they added to the sytem. Young children had been ill and all sorts. Nice of them to let the public no right? Crazy stuff.

The other news was that there had been an acid attack at my sister's (and my old) school. Three girls were attacked although they're ok. They had burns to their legs though. This happened on Friday afternoon so Bethany couldn't find much info out. She saw two ambulances and a police car race past though. And she's on work experience this week so won't be able to find anything else out! Madness. Naturally James made some sarky comment about how it was 'just another day in Crewe' but things have never been quite this bad before! To counteract the horridness it was nice to see that the Mornflake Oats factory was having a bumper January. Sales are up 108% due to the bad weather. Hurrah for porridge!

In better news, I made a bread and butter pudding last night which ruled a lot. I used hot cross buns instead and added blueberries too it. So damn tasty! It'd been a while since I'd done some proper baking. Oh how I love it.

Better add in what I've been watching. Lots of Farscape, 30 years of Newsnight (Jarvis! All very interesting), 30 years of Brits performances, is that it? I think it might be. Seems like not a lot for me. No matter, as Nurse Jackie and Hustle are on tonight. I'm trying to cut down my TV watching, honest. Actually, saying that, I wanted to do that so I could read more but it seems like I'm doing that anyway which is great. I haven't mentioned my 40 years of Sesame Street book which was amazing and really gave me such an insight in education and television and how it's changed over times, puppetry, writing for children, oh all kinds. To celebrate its awesomeness here is a picture of The Count follwed by my favourite Sesame Street sketch ever!

Current Mood: cheerful

I forgot to mention in my last entry that I watched a fascinating documentary on Scrabble the other day. It was part of the Imagine series presented by Alan Yentob and looked into the history of it. However, it mostly concentrated on the current championship games that take place. It was a little distressing to know that most of the World Champions are mathematicians who don't have an appreciation of the words they play. Hell, some of them don't even speak English! One of the British players said that he'd been challenged on the word 'legend'. It was still very interesting to see that the large tournaments feature a wide variety of players, not just geeks!

During the week we've been working through all of the stuff from Xmas that we'd taped so we watched the making of Victoria Wood's Xmas show, which was much better than the actual show. Go figure. We also watched Call Me Claus which we'd mostly taped due to the Whoopi factor but it still wasn't as funny as it should have been.

Face/Off was a little better, even if it was the most ludicrous thing I've seen since The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And despite it's ridiculous science, stupid action shots, general stupidity and John Travolta's insanely skinny wife, I couldn't help but be sucked in hook, line and sinker. You don't get body counts like that anymore do you? Stupidness aside (and ignoring the fact that even I, the most unobservant person ever could see stunt cords on show for most of the movie), I quite liked the structure of it and there's a good idea in there waiting to get out too, it's just executed in the craziest manor possible.

In a bid to actually leave the house (and which thankfully gives me something to write about apart from what I've watched) we went for a wander. We wanted to explore Leeds a little more so we walked up past the Uni, through Hyde Park and stopped at the shops just past there. I got my hair cut there. I don't think that there's anything I hate more than getting my hair cut. I hate everything about it. It's done now though and it's nice and short. Hurrah. We than bought something for dinner, got wonderfully undercharged and had a walk back home.

Honestly, my life could not be more thrilling could it? I hate January. We've been looking at holidays. Thinking Cyprus might be good. Otherwise I've just been listening to artists from 1998, Garbage and Cardigans Best Ofs and Pulp Deluxe editions. Yawn.

Current Mood: cheerful

Last Wednesday we went to see 'Avatar'. I find that it helps to go and see films with the lowest expectations possible so that you'll enjoy them no matter what. Either way, I got past the ropey plot, predictable bits and boring script and had a brilliant time. I got absolutely sucked in. It took me a while to get used to the 3Dness of it all and there was still something a little off about the 'real' bits, they were slightly blurry somehow. Still, the bits on Pandora were amazing to watch and even ignoring the 3D some of the shots were incredible. So yeah, I really enjoyed it. It's a four out of five for me. I'm still not convinced that 3D is the future. It works for CGI but in other respects it can be really distracting. I'd never want to see a slower film in 3D for example. It worries me that there's talk of 3D TV. I don't want it!

I'm aware that this makes me sound like an old fuddy-duddy but I don't think that it is that. So much of technology seems superfluous to me, I just don't get it! The tiniest upgrade seems to be lauded as the next big thing, it no longer seems to be about big leaps. Now if they invented hoverboards then maybe I'd be interested...

Over the weekend we watched 'Baby Mama' which was good simply because Tina Fey can do no wrong. Actually, it was funny regardless of that. And it didn't over-labour the romantic aspect which was great. Sigourney Weaver in a comic turn is always a treat too.

Things have been slow otherwise. Julia came to visit over the weekend so we played Trivial Persuit and Lego games. I still need a new job although there's one going at the University of Huddersfield which is looking promising. Anything to get me out of here! I hate January for many reasons but one biggie is that there are no jobs out there to make being back at work more bareable.

Oh, I finished Sarah Waters' 'The Little Stranger' which I really enjoyed. It probably wasn't as good as 'The Night Watch' but that doesn't mean that I wasn't compelled until the end. It's an interesting period to set the book in too, you don't often hear about the late 1940s, probably because it was very much still wartime in many respects. I love books which are clearly well researched. Speaking of which, the next book that I desperately want in paperback is Michael Crichton's last book. It's about pirates!

January is also miserable because there isn't much new music about. The Delphic album is pretty much all I've been listening to lately and I adore it. It's wonderful. Guitar music as it should have evolved. The lull in activity does mean that I get to re-visit some older albums though which is always good.

Current Mood: bored

I can't say that I have much to update about really. I had the most amazing week last week. Due to the show and the way my days off fell I didn't have to go back to work until Friday, and I can tell you it was amazing. I played on the Xbox, read lots and generally enjoyed the warmth. My God I miss it now. I hate January so much and I hate being back at work, especially when there aren't any jobs to apply for!

The snow's mostly gone today, which is good as it was getting very boring. Aside from it being on the news all the time it just makes everything soggy and reminds me of Iceland and how much I wish I was there right now.

So what have I been up to? Well we've got back into our James Bond watching, ticking off Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only. To be honest, I think we'd stopped watching them because Moonraker was next. My God it was dire. And so depressing to think that it was the biggest grossing Bond film until Goldeneye. Proof that people will go to see any old shit if it jumps on the zeitgeist. It was such a rip-off of Star Wars I wanted to weep. Reasons why Moonraker is shit:

1. A double taking pigeon.
2. Hovercraft gondola
3. Jaws coming back even though he'd been eaten in the last film
4. Jaws gets a girlfriend. I mean really, WTF?!
5. There is a laser shoot out in space.
6. the first hour is useless. Bond goes all over the world to find that a man has stolen his own space shuttle.
7. Sexism a-hoy! And it's bad, even for Bond.
8. Rotating space station with an emergency stop button. Christ.
9. Evil man plans to poison all humans with a gas that doesn't kill animals or plants. How does that work exactly.
10. Did I mention that there's a double taking pigeon.

Awful. And what was more frustrating is that it had the making of a normal, good Bond film in there, it's just because they didn't stick with the original plan and tried to cash in on Star Wars. Grrr. For Your Eyes Only though, I'm happy to say was brilliant, maybe Roger Moore's finest. Strnage Blofeld death prelude aside, it was bang on form, possibly because Bond employs a lot of outside help which feels quite different and interesting. Hell, Bond even turns down the offer of a woman which is very rare. A great film. While on the subject of Bond films - What's your favourite Bond theme? I'm intrigued to know.

The other thing we've watched lately was the documentary on Barack Obama. James sums it up better than I can here: http://theresnotime-jrm.blogspot.com/2010/01/by-people-election-of-barack-obama-2008.html , putting that 1st degree to good use! But I really enjoyed it. Obama could read a shopping list out and I'd feel inspired. It was very interesting to see what happens behind the scenes though, American politics is much more interesting than here. It brought back memories of how exciting the Democratic nominations were compared to here where I'll be voting for a middle aged man in a suit - again (mind you, look what happened when we broke the mould last time...) So yes, a good watch.

Oh, we watched The latest Muppets film too, Letters to Santa. It was surprisngly good, especially the lengthy out takes. I'm a big believe that there's still room for the Muppets on TV (probably because I'm reading an amazing book on Sesame Street at the minute), they just need to kill the Disney-fied cutsy-ness stone dead.

Yesterday we went to see Nine at the cinema. It was very good, but not great. The cast is amazing, absolutely stunning and it's well acted. And the Dame Judimeister sings which is obviously amazing, but the whole thing was missing the wow factor like Chicago had. I don't know what it was. maybe the plot? Enjoyable at the cinema though, and it looked stunning.

Thankfully I've found another job to apply for. It's at the University of Huddersfield which seem like a great Uni. Commuting is an issue but hey, I'm desperate.

Current Mood: bored

January – Spend New Year in Crewe and went to Chester Zoo which was brilliant but bloody freezing. Introduce my Grandma to James for the first time. Picked over the remains of Woolworths (RIP). Lucy comes to visit. My sister goes to hospital with chest pains. She’s fine. Apparently a lot of teenage girls get it. Hmm. That stuff aside, January is a bit of a killer mostly because work was terrible. I couldn’t wait to get to the end when I visited Iceland.

February – Had the most amazing time in Iceland. It’s just a stunning country, even under all the snow. I saw the Northern Lights, visited Pingvillar National Park, saw the Gullfoss waterfalls, saw the original Geyser, and many other things. They have some damn tasty snacks. Their chocolate is great as are pastry products. Not the dried fish though. Ugh. Ended the holiday by bathing in an outdoor geothermal pool. One of the most amazing things ever, my skin felt wonderful for weeks after and I still daydream about the place even now. I should probably move there. I bet I could buy a house for a bag of chips.

In other more boring news I went for a job interview at Keighley library. I didn’t get the job but it’s the first of many I’ll go for. Start to look for flats in Leeds and then secure one.

March - Went to see Lenny Henry in Northern Broadside’s Othello and West Side Story. Moved to Leeds, a great decision even if we did get stung by our cunty landlords and suffered stupid deliveries.

April – Uni starts to come to a climax and the fear sets in. Saw The Tempest which was disappointing despite it being performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. My line manager leaves her job leaving me as the sole Quality person in the College. Go back to Crewe for a bit and visit my old colleagues at the library. Bought some amazing knitted peas from a stall on Brewery Wharf. Ordered my Girls Aloud singles box set. Frivolous yes, but I never got to have a proper pop phase when I was growing up.

May – My 25^th birthday. I spend it in Tropical World, walking round Roundhay Park and having tea in Little Tokyo, my favourite restaurant. (up to 10^th). Visited James’ grandma and family for his birthday. It was ok although james didn’t have a good time :s Have to deal with an OfSTED visit at work on my own. Went to see Ross Noble in York who is hilarious as usual. Go to see Saint Etienne in Sheffield who perform the whole of Foxbase Alpha and some other hits. Went to a BBQ at Rich and Greg’s but had to come home early as it was Eurovision night! Went to London for the weekend and saw Hairspray, had an explore around Greenwich, took a boat down the Thames and went to see Girls Aloud at the O2. Saw An Inspector Calls at Leeds Grand. It’s the most awful play I’ve ever scene and we nearly walked out.

June – Went to see Bedroom Farce which turns out to be the best play I’ve seen. Finally got round to having a house warming party with lots of board games and then a night out at Baja and introduce the world to my ‘Single Ladies’ routine. My Mum and sister come to visit and we take them to Harewood House where we watched a bee-hive demonstration.

July – Go to the Thackery Museum in Leeds. On getting to the section entitled ‘pus’ I promptly pass out. This was the worst thing that happened this year as, as a consequence, I suffered numerous panic attacks and anxiety related problems for as long as six months afterwards. It’s just shit. July’s a rough month. My Girls Aloud box set arrives! Went to see The Saturdays in Manchester. Went to Party in the Park in Leeds. Highlights are Dizzee Rascal, Little Boots and Frankmusik.

August – Went to Leeds Gay Pride. Had an interview at Halifax Central Library, another job I don’t get. Visit my family in Crewe and go to the Blue Planet, and have ice cream at Snugbury’s!

September – Come back from our holiday in Mayrhofen in Austria. Wonderful Alpine country with glorious weather. We did loads and saw a lot – waterfalls, farms, mountains, glaciers, cities. Really good fun. And beautiful, everywhere was covered in flowers. Some great experiences. Write my dissertation. It makes me want to cry and I resent writing every single word. When I finish it James takes me to Little Tokyo to celebrate.

October – Saw Dial M For Murder at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Went for an interview at Leeds College Of Art, I don’t get that one either. Jonathan comes to visit and we revel in computer gamer-y at the Expo exhibit in Leeds. Had a lovely day in York too. Went to see Alesha Dixon in Manchester.

November – Went to see Alphabeat in Leeds. Went to see Frankmusik and then VV Brown as well. Two years worth of studying leads to me getting a merit for my MSc making me a proper Master of Science and a master of libraries. Not that I work in one…Go to London to see John Barrowman not perform in Les Cages Aux Folles (boo), and Blood Brothers. Meet Melanie C who is lovely.

December – Interrupt a game of strip gay Wii bowling when we go to Rich and Greg’s flat. Several icy weather causes me to fall on my arse a number of times. Inspires me to buy three pairs of trainers in the Xmas sales though – more than I’ve ever owned! Went to see The Pet Shop Boys At the MEN. Spend our first Xmas alone and cook a lovely dinner. Visit James’ family for more food and then my family for New Year.

So on paper it looks like I've had a pretty good year and I have. It was just marred by an over bearer anxiety, but let's forget about that because wirting it all down has made me feel that 2009 was full of a lot of highs for me and that's the main thing. And there's been some great music and films released this year which have bucked the mainstream in a way.

Music-wise I've made a list of my favourite albums but to be honest, the to p could seriously go in any order as there have been loads of excellent albums I've had the chance to listen to and yet there has not been one absolute stunner. Not that this matters when things are as good as this. Still, there were a few reliable groups that really let me down, mostly electro ones. Client, Fischerspooner and IAMX produced albums I wasn't fussed by and I thought they were a sure bet. Cheryl Cole's was beyond disappointing as well and La Roux's effort and Florence and the Machine's could both have been better.

Top albums of 2009:
1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
2. Little Boots - Hands
3. Annie - Don't Stop
4. Lady Gaga - The Fame/Fame Monster
5. Venus Hum - Mechanics and Mathematics
6. Frankmusik - Complete Me
7. VV Brown - Travelling Like The Light
8. Dragonette - Fixin To Thrill
9. Peaches - I Feel Cream
10. Dan Black - Un
11. Pet Shop Boys - Yes
12. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
13. The Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts
14. Charlotte Hatherley - New Worlds
15. La Roux - La Roux
16. Depeche Mode - Sounds Of The Universe
17. Florence and the Machine - Lungs
18. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

My soundtrack to 2009 (in no order):

Shakira - She Wolf
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
Depeche Mode - Wrong
Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
Lady Gaga - Just Dance
Bat For Lashes - Daniel
Lily Allen - The Fear
Peaches - Lose You
Frankmusik - 3 Little Words
VV Brown - Shark In The Water
Alphabeat - The Spell
Charlotte Hatherley - White
Pet Shop Boys - Love Etc.
Natalie Imbruglia - Want
La Roux - Bulletproof
Noisettes - Don't Upset The Rhythm
Venus Hum - Mechanics and Mathematics
Mini Viva - Left My Heart In Tokyo
Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway
Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers
Annie - Anthonio
Little Boots - Remedy

I'm not going to do a retrospective of the 00s because every time I think about them all I think of is how bad it all was. Terrorism, the economy, the music industry going down the pan etc. Hell even something that seems to be quite good like the internet falls apart on closer inspection. It's addictive but a lot of it's superfulous and trivial. For every 2.0 application that brings people together there are plenty more that concentrate on individualism and self-promotion. You only have to look what it's done to the music industry. I can't help but feel that people have lost the appreciation of music as an art form. The internet has its plus points though, I'd just like to see the next year or so move away from depending on it, and that goes for me too. Anyway, it's hard to be optimistic about the 2010s when the Tories are likely to get in in May. Boo.

Current Mood: cold

1.What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?: Went to Iceland, saw the Northern Lights, bathed in a geothermal spa, saw the original Geyser, move to Leeds, went on a boat down the Thames, wore a bee-keepers helmet, pass out in a museum, have panic attacks, write a dissertation, become a Master of Science, visit Innsbruck and Salzberg, eat proper wienerschnizel and wild boar, see snow in August, take a cable car (or rather three) up to a height of 3200m, go to a computer game exhibit, met a Spice Girl, cooked my own Xmas dinner. That’s a fair amount!

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?: I don’t make them although this year I vowed to not become so encompassed by work. I succeeded I’m glad to say and my LJ was filled with less boring work witterings than normal. The only thing I definitely want to achieve this year is getting a library job. I have faith it’ll happen, I know that patience is the key and I’ve only just got my full qualification after all. I’ve certainly gone about it the long way round though.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?: No

4. Did anyone close to you die?: No.

5. What countries did you visit?: Iceland and Austria. I’ve been spoilt for holidays this year and I’ve been very lucky to visit two beautiful countries.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?: A library job and my full health back.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?: This question’s always a load a rubbish. There aren’t many dates I remember! Moving to Leeds was a big thing though.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?: Moving to Leeds, getting my MSc, travelling a bit.

9. What was your biggest failure?: My health without a doubt.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?: Yes! Panic attacks and anxiety related disorders for six months of the year was just not very good. I didn’t think it was anxiety related as that just seemed so stupid. But I’m accepted it now. I’m a very rational person so to have this completely irrational thing completely threw me. It just doesn’t make sense but I’ve battled it irrationally and won for now thankfully!

11. What was the best thing you bought?: My Xbox 360 felt like a frivolous buy to me but it’s given me endless fun. Sad I know.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?: James as usual.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? The human race. This is the first year that I’ve ever thought, ‘right human race, you’re fucked and you deserve everything you get’. It wasn’t even the failure in Copenhagen to come to an agreement about what should be done about climate change although that helped. The thing that broke me was people rushing to buy old light bulbs in order to stock pile them. I thought that if people don’t even want to make tiny sacrifices like that (and it’s not really one at all) then they deserve to drown in the rising seas. Gah!

As well as that right-wing groups made me very angry. And scared.

14. Where did most of your money go?: Well rent I suppose, and holidays! And CDs as usual.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?: Going on holiday to wonderful places. Getting my MSc results. Seeing some wonderful gigs. I was very excited about Girls Aloud, Alphabeat and Saint Etienne especially.

16. What songs will always remind you of 2009? It’s been the year of Lady Gaga hasn’t it, so ‘Poker Face’. Quite a few songs will remind me of the year as it’s been quite a good year for varied pop music. Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ too, and Shakira’s ‘She-Wolf’. Awooooo!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier, illness not withstanding.
b) Richer or poorer? Richer.
c) fatter or thinner? The same, and I’m fine with that.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?: Read.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?: Watching TV although what I watch is always planned. Panicking.

20. How did you spend Christmas?: I spent it with James at home.

21. What was your favourite TV programme? QI, The Big Bang Theory, The Thick Of It, Cranford, Life and Life In Cold Blood, was Reaper this year? There’s probably more than that.

22. Did you fall in love in 2009?: I was already there but I continued to be very much in love all year.

23. How many one night stands?: None.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?: Frankmusik, VV Brown, Dan Black and Little Boots are all very good.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?: Nope.

26. What was the best book you read?: Three spring to mind - Kate Atkinson’s ‘When Will There Be Good News?, Armistead Maupin’s ‘Michael Tolliver Lives’ and Markus Zusak’s ‘The Book Thief’.

27. What was your favourite film of this year? There were a few. ‘Up’ was amazing. I loved every minute. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was great as was ‘Star Trek’. Also a mention for ‘The Hurt Locker’. War films are really for me but this was just stunning. There was also ‘District 9’ which was great and ‘The Hangover’ was surprisingly good as was ‘Julie and Julia’. That’s not answered the question has it?! The point is that there have been some great films released this year and none of the ones mentioned were superhero films which makes a nice change.

28. What did you want and get?: A bona fide library qualification.

29. What did you want and not get?: A new job.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009: This year I totally rocked the Sheldon-from-The-Big-Bang-Theory look.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?: I was 25 and I went to Tropical World and had a meal in Little Tokyo.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?: A new job. Not passing out in a medical museum.

33. What political issue stirred you the most?: Not sure really. I wasn’t especially riled by the MPs expenses scandal at I found it sadly quite typical. The general thing I’ve fretted about is the Tories getting in. 2010 could start the decade off very badly.

34. What kept you sane?: James, music, computer games. Note how I haven’t listed my dissertation because that did the opposite.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?: I’m getting worse with age. I didn’t used to fancy celebs at all but I feel like there’s a growing list! Jake Gyllenhaal is still my favourite of course. 2010 promises Prince of Persia and multiple orgasms. Others I can think of are very of ‘my type’. The one that breaks the mould is Zac Efron who I’d do unspeakably filthy things to. Well, unless Lucy and Jaqui got to him first I suppose.

36. Who did you miss?: No-one really.

37. Who was the best new person you met?: I can’t think of anyone new I’ve met this year!

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: Don’t ever take your health for granted.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: I can never do this. How about – Shakira – ‘I’m start to feel just a little abused like a coffee machine in your office’? Amazing.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Darren Hayes B-sides

A quick update and then I need to do 2009 stuff. It's never too late and I want to do quizzes and general post and all sorts. We've been in Crewe over the New Year. Always a pleasure. Actually, it was good as I spent most of the time at my family's house playing board games and generally not doing very much. We had lots of fun playing Cluedo and Rapidough, it has to be said. Looking over at the other team after hearing James say, 'I don't want to say what that is!' and seeing my Mum shaping what can only be described as a giant cock may stay with me for a good while yet. Jonathan's 'ladybird' had me in stitches though, like only he can. We played on the Wii a lot as well. Super Mario always rules. So yeah, we had a nice time. As we'd already had two Xmas dinners my parents made us a buffet for New Year's instead and we ended up watching TV programmes we'd never usually watch like Eastenders (it had a gay interest story, I'm allowed!), and Waterloo Road (I got far too into this). To be honest, the New Year itself was an anti-climax even for me who stays in every year. The BBC had really scaled down the celebrations by sticking Myleen Klass in the cold for a few minutes before the fireworks went off. Disappointing!

It felt like we were there for a good while really. I didn't get to see Jonathan all that much on account of his rubbish hours but bethany was around a lot with it being the school holidays so there was always someone about. It never occurred to me that going to Crewe and just being in a full house wold do wonders for my anxiety shiteness. It hasn't bothered me a jot and (touch wood) it's sorted. A good start to 2010. Another good start was filling in a job application for the Department of Health library. It took me bloody ages so if I don't get an interview I'll be so pissed off. Oh, we went to Lac Thai on New Year's Day too. I had a very taste sweet and sour chicken and of course we had the mixed starter with the vegetable bird. I took a photo this time so I'll upload it soon. Dessert was so disappointing! Tinned fruit salad with a few lychees! Not impressed!

One of the things that I didn't do while at home was see my Grandma. She'd had a fall and so wasn't very well. She's getting worse sadly. My Mum said that she visited last week and she was asking about why my Auntie hadn't rung. Her being dead for five years might be the issue here. If I didn't laugh I'd cry as it breaks my heart to see her deteriorate.

We did do some shopping though. We did really well in the sales as it happens. We got some dirt cheap photo albums in the right size. A miracle! I got Sarah Water's latest book as it was book of the week in Smiths. Very pleased as I've wanted it for ages. I got the Cake Wrecks book too. Amazing. james got some CDs and we had a nice time really. It is ncie to do some shopping elsewhere in Leeds, even if it is in Crewe.

I haven't mentioned what other presents we got. It was mostly smelly stuff but Bethany got us some Morph book ends (y'know, I was accidentally wrote 'bell ends' then! Now that would be inappropriate.) and Jonathan got us a Lego game. We also got a Trivia Persuit 'wedge' of Food and Drink which is really hard! Just finished off my Malteasers too. Yum.

I'm off until Wednesday. I'm no fool. Hurrah! We've watched TV stuff a lot lately. Doctor Who was good. Not the best but very good. The second half was better than the first I think but like the first it was very up and down. Wilfred was great though, really brilliant. David Tennant's death was very strange, it being so long. It was nice to see all of the old characters though so in that repesect it really worked. I can't think what else we've watched of late. Bits and bobs really.

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You

Christmas has been a pretty successful affair, although it's not quite over for me yet as I've not seen my family yet! My haul's been very good. James' presents had a broad muppet theme and I got:

The Mupper Show Season 3 on DVD
A cuddly Count and Janice
Angel 'Smile Time' graphic novel
Muppet Christmas Carol Soundtrack
A Swedish Chef mug
Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind Graphic Novel
Cuddly Totoro
Monty Python Fluxx card game
A Muppets Christmas DVD
'Animal' belt
Sesame Street DVD 1969-1974
Sesame Street 40th anniversary
Various chocolate goods

I haven't looked through them all properly yet but the Sesame Street stuff, especially the book makes for fantastic reading. I'm quite into the Muppets (good job eh?) so seeing what work goes into the shows is really interesting. We watched the first Sesame Street episode the other day and James keeps singing the songs round the house. In 1969 the only characters to appear were Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, Kermit and the Cookie Monster (who doesn't even eat cookies!).

Ourliving room on Xmas day

My presents to James weren't themed at all:

Tetris Cube
Zac Efron calendar (so fucking hot)
Cow candles
Black Eyed Peas 'The E.N.D' album
Beyonce 'I Am...Sasha Fierce' album
The Argyle Sweater 2010 desk calendar
Top Trumps tournament
Cows In Action book
Mr Bump stress reliever
Mr Bump mints

Think that covers it all. Oh, and a cute toast cushion which I bought for both of us as I loved it! Haha. We played with the games and stuff a fair bit during the day. We've got various other bits from James' family too. Too many chocolates and biscuits, Ross Noble DVDs, a strange penguin thing, a digital photo frame (re-inventing the wheel? We're not convinced by it yet!).

James with toast cushion and other various gifts

On the day itself we played games and cooked the dinner. Very exciting as we'd never cooked a Xmas dinner before. It was a roaring success though. Should have taken a photo of it but we forgot! I was dead pleased with it though. Once that was eaten I'm ashamed to say that we watched a lot of TV. Top Of The Pops (I sung along to everything naturally and it was tonnes better than last year even though it still had Fearne 'The Programme Murderer' Cotton [who appropriately turns into Fearne Bottom when you type it into predictive text] and Reggie 'Please Punch Me In The Face' Yates), The Queen, The Gruffalo (beautifully animated), Doctor Who (OK. Got better. Too much confusion and contrived goings-on at the beginning), Strictly Come Dancing (vaguely), The Royle Family, Gavin And Stacey (Like week old sprouts. ie, off the boil) and Catherine Tate's Nan's Christmas Carol. Quite surprised by The Royle Family. I can take it or leave it usually. I find it a bit too depressing, like a lot of stuff about 'normal' families but it's miles better now they've left the house! A good day all told.

Me looking quite smug with my gifts

On Boxing Day we braved the shops just to leave the house. Town was busy and a lot was open. We did pretty well. We got the DK Prehistoric Life book from Smiths which we'd been after for a while. For dead cheap too. I bought the Ministry Of Sound 80s 3CD set, although I think I've over-dosed on electro 80s a bit now :s. I also got three pairs of trainers in the Schuh sale. I'm quite excited by this as I've never owned so many pairs of trainers!

Yesterday we went to visit James' family. The farm was nice, still all snowy, and we got fed lots and although we didn't do a lot it was nice enough. We played Scrabble today. I won the first one, James' Dad the second. He's worse to play board games with than James, haha. Julia and James' Dad don't get on all that well and Julia always blame me for his behaviour when we visit. Unfair! He'd show off with any visitor!

Caught in bed with another man

Back home now. Quite glad that we've got a break before we head off to my family for New Year. I want a rest!

Current Mood: thankful
Current Music: Annie - Don't Stop

BBC Breakfast had unwittingly put two features on backward institutions back-to-back this morning. The first was on Gareth Thomas coming out and the second was on the church. I was watching them and just thinking, blimey, it's like being in a time warp. Obviously I'm aware of the issues of homosexuality in sport and all kinds of issues in the church but sometimes I'm reminded of them and I just think, my God, we have so far to go. The church especially always surprises me by what it comes out with. The feature this morning was about stealing and so much of what they say is out-dated and just daft in modern society. There's undoubtably a place for faith today (although as an athiest I don't think it's to be found in religion) and to some people religion is important, but if the church can't evolve then they deserve to go the way of the dodo. Rant over!

Congrats on Mr Thomas' bravery though. It just proves that even today it's sometimes important to make an issue out of sexuality and we still have a long way to go. It's funny, the other day I finally realised why feminism is some important to me. It's because it's becoming a latent cause. In a country where women's rights are drawing more and more level, inequalities can often go unheard or ignored, which makes it all the more important to keep abreast of the situation. It's a feeling that is becoming more significant with being gay too, what with the increased rights in the last ten years. It's interesting.

Boring stuff out of the way, on Sunday night we went to see the Pet Shop Boys. It's the last time I travel to a gig in December! Manchester was cold and slushy so I was soggy by the time I got to the MEN. Bad Lieutenant were the warm-up group. They're made up of bits of New Order and were mostly awful. Their mistake (but my gain) was them doing some New Order stuff which showed their new stuff up to be boring guitar tunes. I'm trying to remember the first oldie they did. It might have been Bizarre Love Triangle, but they also did Out Of Control and Crystal (which I looove).

Thankfully the arrival of the Pet Shops Boys made me forget all of that, and what a show it was. The crowd was generally older although not everyone, which made for a fairly relaxing show. Made a nice change. There was a general box theme, with the Boys coming on-stage with boxes on their heads which the dancers also had on for most of the show. White boxes littered the stage too with white-coated scientists moving them around at various points. It was very effective. The set-list was spot-on too. A perfect mix of new album stuff, random B-sides, other album tracks and hits, plus they merged some tracks together really effectively. It was all very good. Mostly it was nice to see a performance with such a sense of humour, especially during the second encore which involved the four dancers dressed as Xmas trees. Amazing. Highlights? Trying not to burst into tears during 'Being Boring', one of my favourite songs of all time. 'Love Etc' was also very good. There weren't any low points although B-sides are probably more effective if you know them! Set list:

1. Heart
2. Did You See Me Coming?
3. Can You Forgive Her?/Pandamonium
4. Love etc.
5. Building A Wall
6. Go West
7. Two Divided By Zero
8. Why Don't We Live Together?
9. New York City Boy
10. Always On My Mind
11. Closer To Heaven/Left To My Own Devices
12. Do I Have To?
13. Kings Cross
14. The Way It Used To Be
15. Jealousy
16. Suburbia
17. What Have I Done To Deserve This?
18. All Over The World
19. Se Vida É
20. Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing
21. It's A Sin
----------------------------------------------
22. Being Boring
23. My Girl (Madness cover)
24. West End Girls
---------------------------------------------
25. It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas (ha!)

The picture isn't mine sadly but it was one of the best bits. Singing skyscrapers! Last night I made a nutella cake. I'm off home for dinner a bit to try it. Yay! Might perk this dull day up. College is dead. Mince pies and mulled wine to go!

Current Mood: bored

The moment I stepped outside my building this morning I fell flat on my arse. Brilliant. Stupid snow. Our trip to visit James' grandparents tomorrow is cancelled because of the snow as well. Although it's a shame I'm secretly glad that we won't have to tackle the weather tomorrow.

Yesterday was my day off so I waited in for the Ocado man who was wonderful and delivered lots of wonderful food for us. It's not really our Xmas shop but it is very nice to have full cupboards again. I don't know why we haven't done online delivery before to be honest. For all of my hard work at work Eleanor has given me a £15 Tesco gift voucher so I'll be spending that on our Xmas chicken and assorted veg. It was very kind of her, although I have been doing the job of two people recently. Not so at the moment though. Work is dead, and thank God for that! That reminds me, must do that application form at the weekend.

After I wondered at all of the food I headed into town to finish off my Xmas shopping. I didn't do all that well considering the amount of places I went to but I did finish off James' shopping so I guess it was a success in that respect. I wrapped everything too while listening to Aimee Mann's Xmas album. I quite like wrapping presents, it's very theraputic. So now everything is under the tree and it's looking great. I'm dead pleased that I've finished, now to do the cooking that goes with it!

On Wednesday I went out for my second Xmas meal with work. We went to Kendal's. There were six of us - me, Eleanor, Liz, Louise, David and Peter and it was great to see Liz again. She was on fine form. The meal was nice although it was a bit pricey for what it was. Kendals always do nice food though, I can't complain. I've never seen the place so busy.

Other than things have really been winding down which is good. I shall have a slow weekend until Sunday when we're off to see the Pet Shop Boys. I'm so excited! I'm really intrigued about how they work live, I've stayed away from spoilers and the like.

Current Mood: relaxed

Apart from work which is hellish at the minute, things have quietened down for me recently. December's often like that though. There's no theatre to go to because of pantomimes and even music buying is taking a backseat as there aren't any albums being released. Not that this is a bad thing of course. With Xmas to buy for the money's gone to that instead. I'm nearly done actually which is a nice change. I need to find something for my sister of which I have no idea and I need to find maybe two more things for James. I've just found out that there's a Peggle update for the Xbox 360 which would be great. If only you could wrap virtual gifts. Gah. Might try and get Lego Indiana Jones 2 if I can find it for around £20. Hmmm. Anyway, we put our tree up at the weekend. It's looking good although it could do with a bit more tinsel. The lights are always my favourite though so I'm sure I'll cope.

We went to Greg and Rich's flat warming on Saturday. This was good as their flat is around the corner from our house. Most of James' workmates were there which was good. There were lots of other people there too which would have been fine apart from not being introduced to them, so mingling was limited. I didn't really care but still, it might have been nice to meet some new people. So we mostly hung around with Little Bev, Jay, Sarah and Vicky. No bad thing. Their flat is great too. It's lovely and new and with there being three of them it's slightly bigger. It's not much bigger than ours though, just the living room. The party did feel a little like going to a party when you're 17. If it wasn't people making out in the kitchen (get a room!) then it was Big Bev's 'scandal' that Rich and Greg's house mate is bisexual (oh puurlease). But the best bit was when we were leaving. Little Bev and Jay went to get their coats and seemed to disturb some randoms taking drugs in there. Actually, written down it doesn't sound particularly funny but I assure you, seeing poor little Jay going 'please can I get my coat' to some 6ft red-eyed loser was quite funny. It's a house-warming party for fucks sake! But yes, despite my moaning it was fun.

We watched Happy Go Lucky the other night. I was convinced that it'd be right up my street and when it was good it really was up my street. However, I couldn't help but find Poppy incredibly irritating sometimes. She's played brilliantly but she's on the border between annoying and cute. At her worst she sounds like Ricky Gervais. This is never good. There's also no plot so there's not a whole lot of point to it all. Despite all the negativity though, it's still a three out of five affair I think.

We watched the finale of Ugly Betty Season 3 last night, great stuff. I do love it so. I love that it's so ridiculous. I think the fact that the episode was written by the creator showed too. Other than that it's been Medium and lots and lots of Arrested Development. Amazing.

I've just finished my Q Electro-pop special from a few years ago (ordered on back issue) which made for a very good read. I really want to buy a load of 80s Best Ofs now but I shall refrain and stick with the ones I've got!

Current Mood: busy

The past week's been quite slow, hence the lack of update. We haven't really been doing much. I've been getting bits for Xmas which is very ahead of schedule and on Thursday I made James an advent calendar. I didn't realise how difficult it was going to be but I'm pretty pleased with the results. I have a Toy Story one this year :D We might put our tree up tonight as James' Mum is coming to Leeds on Thursday and it would be nice for her to see it. Still, we're heading to Borders after work to pick over its corpse. It's 20% off things others than maps (50%) so we might get some board games. I much prefer Borders than Waterstones, they have a bigger rnage of non-fiction which I prefer to browse. Novels I can just buy on-line as I don't need to flick through them. Where will people buy their strange magazines from now?!

On Sunday night we watched 'Priceless'. Audrey Tautou was in it so that's automatically a hooray from me. It was good though. When it first came out it was billed as the new Breakfast in Tiffany's. I see where they were going but they were wide off the mark. It was funny but there was something just stopping it from being really great. Very enjoyable though, and it's nice to see Audrey in something modern. On a vaguely similar note, the new Empire has Jean-Pierre Jeunet talking about all of his films. Very exciting. I want to skip straight to it but I've got to read the making of issue first. It's interesting how they put their magazine together. All of the previous editors seem to have fallen into the job really easily. One of their editors started at 26! *weeps* My time will come!

On Saturday we went to the German markets at Millenium Sqaure. We ate some great food. A lovely burger and a crepe with cherries in, plus a hot chocolate. So damn good! It was packed though, which was a shame as I could have done with a leisurely look around for presents for people. On the way back I got a HD cable for my Xbox. It makes a big difference surprisingly, especially as I still can't tell High Definition on DVDs (upscaled) or the TV. Technology is confusing!

New Goldfrapp album has been announced. Yay! In March! Boo. The new single's called 'Rocket' and it's a return to upbeat stuff. Excellent. I didn't realise how excited I'd be to hear that a new Goldfrapp album is on the way but it's great news. Yay!

Current Mood: busy

We've been in London for the weekend. We'd promised ourselves that this time would be a relaxing trip but as usual, it never works out that way does it? Actually, it wasn't too bad but we did do a lot of walking. Over the years we've done all the main things so it's nice to go off the beaten path a little bit isn't it? On Friday we had the day off from work so we got to London at about half 1. We checked in at the hotel and then headed straight out again. We went along Oxford Street and saw the Xmas lights. Christmas Carol has really got a big marketing budget right?! We then headed down Regents Street and to Hamley's. It's been a while since I've been in there. It was pretty packed but I love it so much, I didn't really care. We went right up to the top and had a drink in the cafe, then we had a look around. We ran into the new Lego boardgames which are just brilliant. I'd actually earmarked one to get to James for Xmas but it was blown wide open after we'd seen them because we fell in love with them! So we bought the Minotaurus one for ourselves. We totally failed at getting presents for anyone else but we succeeded in buying presents for us. We win.

Anyway, after that we went to Piccadilly and then to the venue of the musical for the evening (more on that in a minute). We needed to get some food so we crossed over to the south bank and had a look around the Xmas market there. We didn't buy much, although we did get some cute tree decorations. We then ate in Giraffe. It's tasty but I'd have an easier time ordering if they put some chillis on the menu so I could see how spicy the food was!

After food we went back to the Palace theatre to see Les Cages Aux Folles. Mistakenly we thought that John Barrowman was in it but when we opened the programme the slip told us that we off doing Children in Need! Gutted. They could have told us when we booked it, it did when we booked Blood Brothers. It turned out ok though as we managed to convince ourselves that John Barrowman (who is now known in our house as John Barrowman Booo) wouldn't have been all that great. I actually think he'd have been better cast in the role of George. Anyway, the replacement was debuting the night we saw him and he may have taken a little time to get warmed up but it was brilliant on the whole. Not camp at all, oh no....I really liked the way that front of stage/back stage switched. Song wise, they could do with a few more uptempos at the beginning but the second half completely nails as, of course, it has 'I Am What I Am' which when you see it live just amazing. So yeah, great stuff. So great that a fight broke out in the stalls during the interval. We couldn't see what was going but we heard something, very strange.

On Saturday we took the tube to Notting Hill and went to Portobello market. It's years since I went there but I forgot how long they go on for! We didn't managed to buy anything but it was nice just for a look around really. We then went to Kensington Roof Gardens which is a pain to find. They don't advertise it. It was worth it though as it was very quiet up there. It's a garden on the roof of a department store and it was lovely exotic ducks and more excitingly, flamingoes! Strange but it's lovely to get away from the city up there. We then walked to Kensington Park, sat on a bench and had dinner and got rather cold. Then we had a wander round Kensington Gardens where I got stalked by a squirrel. It saw the carrier bag and was convinced I had food. It climb up a pole at one point and I was convinced it was going to jump at me! So I ran away and it stalked me from the bushes for a bit!

We then went back to the hotel and played Minotaurus (so good) as we were wet and cold. Then we came back out a little later on and found a lovely Thai restaurant called Patara, in Soho. I had crab salad followed by pear in coconut cream for dessert which was just lovely. I think Thai might be my favourite cuisine, it's all just so tasty. After that we went to Phoenix theatre to see Blood Brothers. I'd sort of been dragged along by James as Mel C was in it and he's a big fan. I'm so gald I went though because it's a great play. It packs so much social commentary in about class and modern history too with it been set in the 60s, 70s and 80s. And yet the move from year to year is seamless. I did wonder if the songs were necessary at all but it's because of the songs that the time moves so easily. The actors in it were great, with them having to play children through to twenty-somethings and I was quite surprised that Mel C was actually brilliant. I knew she'd be good but she was perfect for the role. We stalked her afterwards (ie, waited with about 15 others outside the stage door round the back) and met her! She signed our programme, had her picture taken with us and chatted to us all. I think people were a little star struck but she was lovely. I asked her if she was finding it hard work. She said 'yes' without hesitation, she'd done two shows that day. She was tiny as well. I'm not used to meeting celebrites, it was very strange. Good though. James was ecstatic anyway!

On Sunday we went to the Wellcome Collection on Euston Road. Unfortunately there were on the change over for exhibitions so we missed out on that. However, we saw the permanent rooms, of which there are two. One has lots of interactive stuff so we had fun playing with the touch screens, and the other if full fo Mr Wellcome's 'stuff', historical bits he'd collected from other countries over the years. So things like Japanese sex aids, models made out of teeth. y'know, the usual. It was fascinating. And I felt pretty good as I went to a medical museum and didn't faint, I faced my fear head on. Now I just hope that my head gets back to normal now. We had dinner in the lovely cafe downstairs and then wandered down to Foyles bookshop and Fopp. I got the new Phoenix album (thanks Steph!) and we finally found the new DK book, the prehistory one - the stuff of dreams. It will be mine when I can find it cheap. We have all the others. then we got a train back home and collapsed. A great weekend though. Pictures on Facebook. I would put them on here but it's such a faff that there's really no point. Boo LJ!

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster

After the success of Wednesday, James decided to have the day off with me on Thursday so we could head out somewhere. The weather wasn't great so we didn't go out until later but when we did we went to the Royal Armouries. I've not been completely ok with museums ever since I fainted in one in June and think I have anxiety issues related back to that. So we didn't do the whole thing as it wasn't making me feel great. I'm so terrified of fainting in public, I think it has an adverse effect on me. The thing is, I never do, but I do get headahces because of it. It's pissing me off no end. But I will conquer this. Anyway, it's a large museum anyway so doing half of it wasn't such a bad idea. It's a funny place. It still seems very new even though it's about 12 years old now and it's laid out really well. It's not in cronological order though which we weren't sure if we liked. Sometimes it's good to see the development of things across time but this would probably just means a whole floor full of boring armour if they didn that. There are a lot of things vieing for your attention too, probably to keep the kids interested but still, it can be a bit much sometimes. The best bit were the interpretations which we saw two of. They solo pieces based on memoires or real accounts. We saw a Falklands soldier and Anne Boleyn and it really helped to put historical events in context.

After work on Friday we went bowling for Bev Spence's birthday. This was only the second time I'd ever been remember and I now without barriers. In fact, I came third in my lane which I was very pleased with. My arm still aches now which is really some indication of how much I need to work on my guns. It was a full house out I think so it was good to see everyone. I didn't get to chat to half of them though as we had to head off at 8 to the Cockpit (yes, again) as we had another gig to see.

This time it was VV Brown. Out of Alphabeat, Frankmusik and her she was the cheapest so I expected it to be, not more amaturish especially, but perhaps less confident. Not so. She was absolutely stunning, and from the Grace Jones like mask she came on with to the absolutely brilliant big black man of a bassist it was just brilliant. I can't find an ordered set list online but she did the following:

Quick Fix
Game Over
Leave!
Bottles
Crying Blood (acoustic)
Crying Blood (reggae version)
Viva La Vida (Coldplay cover)
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Back In Time
I Love You
Caroline (new song)
L.O.V.E
Everybody
Travelling Like The Light
Shark In The Water
-------------
Sex On Fire (Kings Of Leon cover)

The covers I could have done without obviously but my favourite was probably the new song, Caroline which was just stunning, it really blew me away. The whole set was brilliant though. She did all the album apart from one track so kerching - value for money too. Everyone seemed really into it all, including myself. So, so good.

We've had a slow weekend. Yesterday evening we went out for a meal though, to Chaophraya, a Thai place not far from us. It was really nice inside. It's a little hidden away but we were surprised to find it quite full when we got there and by the time we left it was bursting! The staff bring you cake and sing to you if it's your birthday. We know this because we heard the same thing three times! Drinking a lovely fruit cocktail, I had a duck stir fry with a fruity sauce. I'm not a spicy fan and some people are funny about fruity stuff with meat but I love it. My duck had a peach sauce and had grapes and apples in it along with peppers and onions. So tasty. I then copped out with coconut ice-cream but James had chilled tapioca with melon ice. Weird but tasty, I suppose it's like cold rice pudding right? James paid which was very nice but really, it's how a Master of Science should be treated right? :p

We've watched a lot of TV stuff over the weekend and I don't often write about. However, over the past few days we've been watching:

Doctor Who (this really shook me up actually and has easily been the best of the specials. Lindsey Duncan is a brilliant actor)
Farscape (Just started, I've been missing Sci-Fi)
Medium
Have I Got News For You
The Thick Of It
Beautiful People (Like Gimme Gimme Gimme it often suggers from a weak script off-set by great performances, but it's set in 1997/8 so I can relate to so much).

Work is hell at the moment, today was just awful. But it's that time of year. What's that you say? Why yes, time to get a new job.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Republica - Republica

Profile

magictreehouse

Twitter

March 2014

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Neutral Good for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jun. 14th, 2025 09:50 pm

The Secret Life of Andrew

Recent Entries

Entry Du Jour

In Bruges

Frogs, bodies, ostrich, mini cakes...the post that has it all.

Anyone want to make me some chicken soup?

TFI Friday.

A View To A Number Of Booked In Treats

"I'm called the Count because I love to count. Err, that, and I inherited my father's royal title"

When I Grow Up I'll Be Stable

'I'm going to bang all your friends. Consider them banged!'

'Looks like he's preparing for re-entry sir'

My 2009

2009 quiz

'I am a weapon of massive consumption, it's not my fault it's how I'm programmed to function'

Christmas 2009

It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas

S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G, we're shopping.

'Imagine that, 92 years old and she never tried pesto.'

Priceless discounts

'I'll run to you now from somewhere you won't find me. A different place, a different time. '

(no subject)