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Nella - goddess of dynamite, ducks and dodgy songs
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| True colours? |
[08 Jul 2009|07:02pm] |
That charming British patriot Nick Griffin has highlighted many of my least favourite of our national traits by suggesting that "The EU should sink boats carrying illegal immigrants to prevent them entering Europe". When the BBC interviewer, in a brave departure from the norm, challenged him on this callous suggestion, he replied that "I didn't say anyone should be murdered at sea - I say boats should be sunk, they can throw them a life raft and they can go back to Libya.". Which of course is very likely...
There is one bit of good news, however: despite entering the European Parliament, Griffin has failed miserably to form an alliance with other far-rightests there. I can't help wondering if this boat-sinking bravado is an attempt to impress them into wanting to be his friend. It is a typical tactic of a pathetic schoolyard bully, which is quite frankly what is to be expected.
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| My evening |
[07 Jul 2009|07:23pm] |
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Class was somewhat frustrating but there were redeeming features in terms of potentially getting messages through to students. Went to Teh Sco after and managed to buy a bottle of wine, so either I look more of an adult in my work clothes or the frustrating aspect of said work has aged me noticeably in the space of a few hours. Good thing I bought facial scrub if so!
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| It's murder... |
[05 Jul 2009|10:25pm] |
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I just had a MySpace message from a guy I used to work with in America asking if I could show him any of my crime fiction. When I was at PETA I was also at probably the peak of my attempts to write fiction, which dried up a bit for some reason at university. I know that 'she writes murder stories' was how I was often introduced to new people, but didn't think it would be so memorable nine years later. I don't know, maybe I should resurrect it, if only in an online form.
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| Ow |
[05 Jul 2009|04:44pm] |
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Hair dye on a sunburnt scalp is not fun. And there's a limit to what I can do without rubbing the stuff off on anything that affects the return of my deposit, blogging being an exception, which is why you get to hear about this! Hopefully it'll be worth it not to have brown roots.
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| *Whinge* |
[04 Jul 2009|04:36pm] |
I got my ID checked for the first time in a year this morning, and refused for the first time in about two years. (In a supermarket buying alcohol for future use - I don't start that early even on Saturday!)
A few reasons why this annoys me:
Underage drinkers are often pushing it to pretend to be 18. Why would they risk adding an extra 10 years?
I was using a debit card. Do UK banks even give those to under-18s? If they do then I am *obviously* old, because I remember a time when this was unheard of.
The other contents of my basket: lasagna sheets, broadsheet newspaper, cornflour, vegetables, wholemeal bread and walnuts. If this is what 16-year-olds buy for themselves, they're more sophisticated than I was, and I could cook pretty well at that age.
The booze: a magnum of French red table wine. Not expensive, but outside a teenage budget unless they are (again) a sh*tload more sophisticated than I was at their age. And I certainly wouldn't have had the foresight to buy sufficient quantities of the stuff to cook with and have two nights' worth of drinking.
There's also the fact that I never got ID'd when I *was* underage. I went to high school in a university town where bar and shop staff tended to assume young people were undergrads. And I did *not* drink enough in those two years to remotely feel that this morning's problem and other incidents like it are karma!
Still, I did at long last buy a full-sized espresso pot - obviously I'm old enough to drink coffee then...
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| A good day |
[03 Jul 2009|07:15pm] |
I managed to drag my arse out of bed early-ish at about 730 and do some work before Blu texted to say she was on the train (about an hour's notice to get there). It started raining so I threw some tights and a coat on before leaving, still with the intention of walking into town on the route that would get me to the station fastest and dragging Blu along on the errands I couldn't do before she got in. It took me five or ten minutes to realise that neither idea was a good one - I was soaked *already*! So I got the bus in and did two errands, one successfully and the other less so, acquiring an umbrella along the way. Then I met Blu at the station and we decided to dash back to mine, making a quick stop at a newsagents so she could get cigarettes and I could get something secret for Ducki. We spent they day at my place drinking coffee and eating pasta. The weather improved no end in time to walk to the station, and I managed to do my remaining errands on the way home.
(X-posted from HDG
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| Poi |
[27 Jun 2009|03:21pm] |
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Well, I tried to scope out some poi in Norwich, but the only proper ones I could find were ten quid and in really ugly combinations of colours. Plus most of the cost seemed to be going on an instructional dvd which would be wasted on me because, amazingly, I don't fancy swinging the things around indoors with electrical equipment nearby! So I got some tennis balls and a pair of over-the-knee socks that were a bit too loud for me to wear and made some decent makeshift poi by putting one in the other. I had a bit of a go outside just now. I am a bit rusty, but can do most of the basic things and nothing fancy, which is about where I was. I care less about doing fancy tricks than about having a vaguely fun form of exercise. I managed for the most part to make the things collide with each other rather than with me, although there will be a few bruises. (most notably on my right cheekbone!) My arms are also rather tired, which I guess suggests that exercise is necessary.
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| Wodka! |
[16 Jun 2009|07:24pm] |
I am going to a friend's leaving party at the weekend and thought that some flavoured vodka would be a nice thing to take. Except, being skint and in need of diversion, I decided to make the stuff. I have fresh blueberries, so will spend this evening poking holes in them and inserting them into a bottle of Teh Sco's (inverse) finest. I also have some dried cherries and cranberries - anyone know if they'd work for flavouring spirits?
And because things sometimes fit together (although not often), I also wound up buying some beetroots to make soup with. Now, I always flavour this with horseradish and paprika, but know from experience that the *best* thing to put in is a shot or two of vodka. So that solves the problem of how to make space for fruit, and how to unwind after a rather intense seminar without downing half a bottle in a mouthful...
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| Random marking-break talk |
[04 Jun 2009|12:48pm] |
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Should I feel bad that I want to be on here? Ok, my day-to-day look is a whole lot more practical than the folks on here - right now I am wearing a black t-shirt and loose black linen trousers, with dye-covered hair piled on top of my head, and my going-out clothes involve enough cleavage and fishnet-age to ward off any thoughts of overheating, and my normal concession to summer is a tube of factor 50 and a huge floppy black sunhat. And I know that the site is to a great extent taking the piss out of goths. But still, I WANT!
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| By the power of caffiene and empty carbs... |
[07 May 2009|12:07am] |
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One flower among the manure - I FINALLY finished my chapter today! That puts me halfway through my thesis, which I'm pretty happy about as I can start at least vaguely looking for jobs and be honest about when I might finish...
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| huh |
[05 May 2009|12:17pm] |
Too good to be true that I could EVER get through any length of time without ANOTHER setback. I have three options:
1: pay a whole year's tuition
2: write my entire thesis by the end of the month
3: try to finish the thing over the next year without access to library, card-controlled doors or anything that requires being registered as a student.
And even if I offer to pay for another year, if this qualifies as getting an extension there is NO GUARANTEE WHATSOEVER that I will get to do it. Because registering for a small-ish fee in your writing-up year is only available to full-timers. Which nobody told me when I went part-time, of course. Because nobody wants me to pass.
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| Mission accomplished |
[02 May 2009|05:59pm] |
Well, I bought the dress - think it had been reduced a bit, which was a bonus. They had the smaller of the sizes that I would normally try to get into, but not the larger. Luckily on trying it on I realised that this was actually the largest size my boobs would hold up. (admittedly still the smallest that would go over the rest of me, SULK) I hate changing rooms, though, especially when it is necessary to queue for the privilege! Also managed to get an ickle baby battery charger so I don't have to cart my usual one up to Duckula's place if I want to use the camera there. (which I do, because I'm getting goffed up and want evidence...)
Also, yeah, I know my open posts have been a stream of froth lately - sadly, that's all I'm mentally up to right now... Normal service will be resumed, but at this rate it may take a while.
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| I hate surprises |
[30 Apr 2009|12:17pm] |
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Specifically, I hate surprise 3-day-early periods, especially when away from home, supposed to be watching a friend's young daughter, no sanitary towels to hand and no idea where friend keeps hers, ditto painkillers, having to hide hormonal freakout from friend's daughter and keep things together until I can go home at school time. Especially when said period is accompanied by the sort of vomiting that makes it a relief to have one. And I have to go to work in a little while. Oh yeah, and my partner is pretty much out of range for the day, in a job interview. So I'm venting about it here in the absence of anyone specific to talk to about how crap my day has been.
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| What makes a 'good' period? |
[29 Apr 2009|10:35am] |
I promise this post won't go into gory detail! But I was shopping yesterday and picked up a few supplies to improve the quality of my period (due at the end of this week sometime), and that got me thinking about what exactly made a period 'good' or 'bad'. Now, if you know me, you know what a 'bad' one entails, and I don't feel like going into that here. But here are a few things that make a good one:
-Being able to stay at home
-Hence, being able to wear decrepit black pants, fluffy black tracksuit bottoms, a maxipad instead of anything internal, apply a hot water bottle when I want to, and be able to make noises when necessary.
-Having my work at a reasonable stage so I can temporarily ditch it in favour of more 'interesting' activities such as rolling around on the floor
-Having a good supply of hardcore painkillers to hand but not needing that many (more likely to need them if I have to handle periods in company or away from home).
-All pay-as-you-go utilities (ie gas and internet) topped up with more credit than I'll need to save worrying about it.
-A lot of sleep
-The ability to have hot baths.
-Having had a bath or shower and washed/dyed (if necessary) my hair before the start of the period, so I don't have the added worry of being extra-ugly and skanky as well as hurting
-Knowing when my period is due and working around this - also helps manage PMS if I know I have it and can partly blame it for anything else that goes (or just seems) wrong
-Having sheets on the bed that are in a tolerable state but not so clean that accidents would be a disaster. Smelling of my partner from his last visit is also a bonus here.
-Taking certain vitamins in the run-up - usually iron and zinc.
-Having healthy-ish but convenient food around, as not eating doesn't go well with losing blood.
-My partner being around to hold my hand and make coffee also helps, but the guilt I feel at inflicting this on him two periods in a row really doesn't!
-Reminders that being bloated and over-emotional and in pain isn't the sum total of my existence - for example finding the dress I plan to wear for a night out the week after next and hanging it over the bed, making to-do lists for the coming week (which include some nice things as well as work tasks), etc.
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| Maybe not |
[25 Mar 2009|01:12pm] |
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So, I hear about this blog called 'This is why you're fat'. At last, I thought, an explanation! Then I looked at the blog. Every.fucking.thing on there is meat-based. So I'm left still wondering...
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| Dear Co-op, |
[11 Mar 2009|08:58am] |
I know that as a vegetarian already my opinion might not count so much. But, amazingly, knowing who an animal's mum and dad were doesn't make me feel more inclined to eat part of their arse...
Love but no ducks 'cos I know what you do with them,
Nella
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| 'Healthy' synonymous with 'thin' shocker... |
[28 Feb 2009|02:56pm] |
There is a 'healthy eating week' going on, don't know if it is just our campus or further afield. Anyway, while queueing just now for my newspaper and (fairtrade) fizzy drink, I had plenty of time to read notices with the following little rhyme:
'Ditch the crisps
Take the fruit
You'll look better
In your birthday suit'.
Because, obviously, the only purpose of healthy eating is to 'look better' - and maybe I have a particular thorn up my bum on this issue, but is it really much of a leap to interpret this as meaning 'thin'? I don't think so.
I have nothing against healthy eating. I know that I'm healthier if I have time to eat breakfast, make a proper packed lunch, cook meals from scratch and, yes, eat fruit as a snack, than if I have a week of living on crisps and instant noodles and fried stuff. I'm certainly healthier - less tired, less chance of getting a cold, skin in better condition, etc - but what does *not* happen is that I go down a trouser size. Certainly not in a week. Not in a month, in fact. And I'm a vegan, so the potential for dietary mischief is fairly limited in terms of what I can lay my hands on junk-food-wise. Certainly, unlike the authors of Skinny Bitch, I don't think that a vegan diet is automatically going to make you thin and healthy (because they tend not to seperate the two) - my existence is pretty much evidence that this isn't true. But there are fewer opportunities to pile in the crap, and less of a wide range of said crap. Yet, still not 'thin' by today's standards, and certainly not willing to let more than a very select audience see my 'birthday suit'.
And you know what else? I tend to be healthiest when not worrying constantly about what I eat. A packet of crisps with no guilt trip might be better some days than half an apple after rejecting a banana as having too many calories then wondering whether eating a whole apple might tip the balance by itself.
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