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Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
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3:06 pm - I Vant Your Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud!
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Today I realised it's coming up to a YEAR since I gave blood last.
That's bad.
It would be miles easier if I could give locally but they are always in my local town on the ONE DAY in the week that I can't make it, and although we have a blood mobile that comes to the village, it's always booked up several weeks in advance so I can't use it.
I also have been injected with Typhoid and Hepititis A in the last year and been to a place that had a malaria risk quite recently, but I think I can still give ok.
I think that this time they send me a shiny blue card rather than a bog standard red one as a present for being so good.
There is a session on the 12th June in town, but I'll be in Scotland so can't go!
And the next one after that is in JULY.
Argh!
current mood:  guilty
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| Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
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12:34 pm - This is a degu...
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I love it when my 2 chatter to each other and have arguments.
Sorry I haven't been replying to comments very well. I haven't forgotten, I'm just being a bit useless.
Update soon though... I have a job interview! But can't jinx it by talking about it, so you have to pretend I said nothing and if I don't update about it then you must never mention it again.
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| Friday, April 17th, 2009
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1:24 pm - Religion
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I've been having a think about that big old Religion question recently.
What do I believe? By thinking that I am right about it, does that not make me extremely arrogant? Who am I to say I'm right when much cleverer people than me have put far more study and thought into it than me.
And can the human brain even comprehend life the universe and everything?
First: Disclaimer:
I am all for people having faith and belief and if it gets them through life and helps them and makes them happy then they can worship frogs for all I care.
I have people of various faiths on my friends list and you all work in your own way and you are all great and lovely people. I'm hoping some of you will comment and give me things to think about after this. And By faith I totally include Atheists as well. You have faith in science and logic and I think that has to be taken as a belief in its own right when it comes to the REALLY big stuff. Obviously we all believe in anti-biotics and the circulatory system.
[Unknown LJ tag]
Next: I was brought up Church of England.
This was the chilled out version of Christianity that allowed the King to be all powerful as head of the Church, but also was designed to be forward thinking in that it allowed divorce. (Ok at the time it meant divorce as in "trading in your boring older wife for a pretty younger model" but still, I know we are all far happier not being tied to a person for life even if they turn out to be lying violent scumbags.) I liked the Church of England in that it was pretty much a live and let live and just come hang out here on a Sunday if you fancy it kind of church. But over the last few hundred years, it's got more and more entrenched in the ways of the older more judgemental churches. One Bishop recently said that floods across England were God's judgement for legalising gay marriage. I realise that many vicars are fab and get that the church needs to carry on with it's original function of staying modern, but others do not and that is what puts me off it.
The vicar that married my sister in law to her husband was REALLY pushing her to say "honour and obey" in her vows.... Eh??? I made damn sure that I promised to honour and respect, never obey. That would have lasted about 5 minutes and then our marriage would have technically been voided.
The Old Testament:
I'm not a big fan to be honest. It makes a lot of sense if you read it in a historical context. Genesis roughly makes sense (correct me on this you science types) first came the light (big bang) then the land, then the creatures that crawl on the sea, and then the land and blah blah blah, finally comes man.
The laws and rules also make sense if you take them in the context of advice to run a tribe in the middle of the desert 2000 years ago. They may not be right, but they work as a rough guide if you use them right. Eg, women on their period must be sent off to deal with it outside the city walls for a week. Brilliant, no cooking or cleaning or babysitting for a week for her, just her and her close girlfriends who are on at the same time having a bit of a laugh. Eg2. Don't pick up sticks on a Sunday - everyone in the group gets a day off one day a week.
Yes some of them are rubbish, but as I say, they are 2000 years old and must be treated as such.
So Yeah: Jesus.
I honestly think I would have got on well with Jesus.
[I'm accepting that there is enough historical evidence that he existed, whether he was the son of a God is another matter, so we'll take that with a pinch of salt.]
He hated organised religion, he hung out in the rough end of town, he knew that he had the power of GOD ALMIGHTY within him and used it to get a Bride drunk out of her mind at her wedding.
But then there is: Science.
Science is awesome. But we have to separate the science of inventing iPods and cures for Man-Flu, from the science that is basically theories of everything.
I believe firmly in science. I think Stephen Hawkings and the Hadron Collider could provide us with some answers that will explain a lot of the great unsolved mysteries. But will they ever prove beyond doubt that nothing you do in life will ever make a difference in the grand scheme of things? That it really is just survival of the fittest as we should just kick people in the head that get in our way?
</lj>
So what is my theory on life... well I hate to disappoint you but I don't actually know.
I take my phillosophy from my all time favourite religious film though:
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
The 2 Commandments I will always try and live by are:
1. Party On Dudes!!
Always make the most of what life has to offer.
2. Be Excellent to One Another!
This covers everything from murder, theft and global warming, to littering and indicating to change lanes on motorways.
AIR GUITAR!!!
current mood:  thoughtful
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| Saturday, April 11th, 2009
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11:36 am - Stop all the clocks...
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As some of you may know, I am an agony aunt on a problem page style website.
Now I know we have a global recession going on and having a read of Amnesty International's website, one might even think that some not very nice stuff was going down in the world but this problem from a 14 year old girl puts it all in perspective for me:
H1 i'm 14 and i have a boy friend and he has been busy for like at least a week for his basket ball thingymajig so i haven't talk to him in a while and his friend his best budd "J" has liked me for a while and has not told no on but he finally told me that he likes me and i like kind of like him a little to we have so much in common but i have a boyfriend that i really like so its hard for me to pick but my boyfriend doesn't know this issue!
HE'S BEEN BUSY FOR A WEEK!!!! What kind of evil minded misogynist arsehole is he???
current mood:  amused
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| Sunday, April 5th, 2009
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5:50 pm - We have degus!
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Don't ask me how it happened. It just did, this afternoon while trying to buy peanuts and plant pots.
Anyway, since they are the last major purchase using army paycheques and they will be with us for the next 8 years, we decided to name them after something that would symbolise this past few years of our lives.
So we now have Euphrates and Tigris.
They are cute and I will update with a photo as soon as I get one.
Yey Degus!
current mood: giggly
current music: Degus saying nim nim nim
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| Saturday, March 28th, 2009
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9:09 am - I know I don't do these things but....
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Is it wrong that I'm quite proud to have a seduction style that's a bit too evil for them to feel good about?
You've got to have dark or you can't have light.
And I do want a puppy...
current mood: amused
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| Monday, March 23rd, 2009
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10:22 am - A thought that I blatently stole from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nytoljunkie
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The lovely Selly was talking about the person she was in her teens.
And it just spoke to me.
Who was I back then and what would she think of me now? Am I still there?
I look back at my teens and remember the bad stuff. I get taken back there by all the crap pop music that was on the radio at the time and I remember how much I felt a complete freak back then, not cool, not part of any culture, not part of anything. I thought I was one of nature's oddities back then but in the worst possible way.
Unfortunately all those songs have now reappeared on the playlists of the stations I work at now. My age group has become an advertising target group, and they want to remind us all all the great tunes we had during our happy school days so we'll go out and buy a new kitchen.
I hear them and remember crying myself to sleep at night.
But, the point that Selly made was that there was good stuff about me in my teenage years. I grew, I figured out who I would like to be. I found peace with certain things and although the scars have faded almost completely now, I still remember finding myself completely and knowing who I truly was through pain and alcohol and misadventure.
Yes it was clouded by a fog of what is now known as Emo hormones and I was a bit pathetic and cliched but deep down I was me. I was a little girl becoming a woman and picking the path I wanted to follow, finding my feet in the world.
And through all the alienation I was able to sit in a corner under my oversized school uniform hidden away under my greasy hair and watch everyone else having fun, and I was able to observe their behaviour and figure it out. I felt like a scientist observing wild animals. I learned but was never able to imitate it well enough to be accepted into the tribe, it's still a second language to this day.
But although I know all the sadness and anger is still inside me, is the passion and longing, and creativity, and ME.... Am I still there?
I look in the mirror and I think I would be happy with what I've become. I now have to power to dress as I want but I do wear the more conservative stuff. Is that because it's what I'm used to after all this time? Is it because I work? Is it because I am lazy? I have been trying to let that side of me out again more recently.
So I think every now and then I am going to have a teenager day. I'm going to put on dark red lipstick and eyeliner and go into Norwich to pick up all the bits I needed to pick up today and then go to Morrisons on the way home.
It's a bit windy for the short skirt but next time.
Have a teenager day.
What would you wear?
current mood: thoughtful
current music: Garbage - I think I'm paranoid!
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| Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
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11:03 am - Mothers Day...
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I was going to post a big rant about Mother's day and my Mother and why she was quite shocked when she thought she might have put me off raising children...
But some one KINDLY texted me to tell me Jade Goody was dead first thing this morning.
Despite me talking about my feelings on this subject and assuming that this person knew me in some way since she is allegedly my friend, she followed up my reply with "Sorry. LOL!" and I realise she is only my friend because I do not have any others. I don't actually have anything in common with her and I don't even go out to meet her for coffee thinking "Oh good, I'm going to have a good time today."
So, I have realised that she falls into the category of most of my Darlington friends. We hang out because we are both there, and have no one else.
So now I am annoyed.
Annoyed with the whole Jade thing, and annoyed that I am going to lose a friend, because she was never really my friend to start with.
My mum is in Wales and didn't bother telling me so I'm not going to call her anyway.
current mood:  annoyed
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| Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
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9:41 pm - Stupid Emily With Stupid Dream Attention Span....
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I dreamt last night that I really wanted a Chocolate Orange. This is not unusual. I love them and can happily eat a whole one - even though there is about 300000000 calories in them.
However in my dream I suddenly remembered that there WAS half a chocolate orange hidden under my bed and I was really happy. But then I got distracted and then woke up.
I COULD HAVE EATEN A CALORIE FREE CHOCOLATE ORANGE AND REMEMBERED THE TASTE AND BEEN SATISFIED WITH THAT AND I GOT DISTRACTED!!
Arrrrrrrrrgh!
Now I still want one, but if I eat one in real life, it will make me fat. If I'd eaten the stupid one in the stupid dream I'd have woken up and been happy with my salad.
There are no words.
current mood: annoyed
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| Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
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9:19 pm - Geeky Entry
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I'll always be a Nintendo Bunny, but the graphics for some of the new games on the Xbox360 are fucking sexy. I am a bit turned on.
I'm off to the parents for a few days so expect me to regress to being 15 in my little room. I may post 1am updates about how no boy will ever love me and I hate everything and the darkness of my soul is an infinite cliche.
The next weekend I am meeting the SUZmeister in London Town which should be awesome.
How are you?
current mood:  geeky
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| Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
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4:32 pm - I have decided...
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Sometimes I wish I could be a sheep. That I could be satisfied and enthralled by such wonders as X-Factor, Football, and Children.
I wish I could just blend in and my only wish for the year would be to get a new carpet and to go on holiday to Malaga. That I could listen to the music they play on the radio stations I work at and say "Oh I love this song!" That I could update on facebook without all my neighbours commenting "Lol! u nutter!" and being utterly confused by it all.
But then I remember that all the best people I meet, all my close friends, all the coolest, most kind, creative and intelligent people, are not sheep.
I remember that where I really fit in is with all the odd balls, and we are all odd together and celebrate the Great Oddness.
Here's to all the Odd people out there, and this means most of you on my friends list. You are all odd, you are just like, and nothing like, me and I love you all.
Continue being odd and never change.
current mood: happy
current music: House of the Dead on pause
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| Monday, February 2nd, 2009
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11:38 am - Hahahaha
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Just looked out of my window to discover what amazing gritting technology the Modern British Army, the best in the world, has:
A Landrover, pulling a small trailer full of salt very slowly, followed by some very bored and cold looking young lads with trowels.
Awww, they look so sad. They didn't say anything about this on the big flashy recruitment advert did they???
current mood: amused
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| Thursday, January 29th, 2009
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2:40 pm - Writing and Stuff
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Well I have been plodding on with my new Hard Disk and I'm just starting to realise that I really have lost a lot of things I have written.
All the short stories and the little bits and bobs of ideas that I started.
Worse still I have lost a good chapter and a half of my novel. The fist 2 are still safe as I can get them from sent emails.
However, I had come to a plot point in the middle of chapter 4 that had formed quite a big barrier. However I wrote it, it still came out like a rejected Disney happy ending made entirely of vomit. SO being forced to go back to the end of chapter 2 and scrap everything that builds up to that point may allow me to come up with some thing much better.
This is the one thought that might get me over the fact that I've lost a lot of thoughts and notes and rough drafts of later stuff.
We shall see. Now I just need a bit of time and a big bit of paper to get different plot thoughts doodled out with big arrows linking everything and scribble and draw little stars and crap.
Stu and I sat in the a bar here in Liverpool the other day and I read my book and he read his magazine and we just chilled out with a hot chocolate and some great music and relaxed for a little while. It was great. I think I need to just find a little cafe somewhere, settle in with a pot of tea and my notes and set up the lap top and type like a monster.
I just really need to give my self permission to go out and leave all the other jobs and do this.
current mood: hopeful
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| Monday, January 26th, 2009
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11:32 am - BBC vs DEC Gaza appeal.
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Right, as you may or may not know, the Disasters Emergency Committee in the UK (who forms a big umbrella appeal system and then splits money raised between the likes of the Red Cross and Oxfam etc) has just started their big push to raise cash for the latest disaster: Gaza.
I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs of who bombed who and why, but basically there were a lot of big nasty explosives dropped on that area and as a consequence there are a lot of dead and injured people wandering about with no water, medical supplies, or way to stop rotting bodies from spreading disease.
The BBC and Sky News have now said that they will not broadcast this appeal because they believe it will affect their impartiality. This, in my view, is fair enough and is their decision to make. There are far more ways to spread an appeal than just showing it on the BBC.
I would like to watch it though and have been looking for this bloody appeal to see if, in my view as a journalist, it is biased enough to warrant all this fuss. I was hoping to see if it's the nature of the appeal rather than the fact that it exists.
It's not easily findable on youtube. It's not on the DEC website!
I cannot believe that in this day and age, the BBC is the main method of delivery for the DEC. Are the only people that donate all in their 60's?
The Beeb aren't going to broadcast it and that is their right to decide. (Although the appeal IS getting a lot more publicity this way.)
But why isn't the appeal all over the internet? Why is it not on the DEC website? The only thing on the DEC website is the congo appeal from last year and that's only there so they can bitch about the BBC.
Am I missing the point? Or should that donation number be all over posters, the internet, newspapers, radio etc etc etc. Why are they waiting for this row to die down first? Or are the people in Gaza just sat there fine and dandy and they don't mind waiting?
The DEC is welcome to bitch at broadcasters, and the church and MPs can shout all they want about it. But if you get wrapped up in that argument rather than getting on and, you know, APPEALING FOR MONEY then you are a bit redundant in my view.
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| Sunday, January 11th, 2009
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10:08 am - Extra Resolution
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Last year, weekends were as silent as the grave and just as boring.
So this year I am determined to do fun things on the weekends.
I have discovered that on my local gumtree.com there are people REGULARLY selling train tickets from Norwich to London for very little money since they are only valid for a month if you don't use them.
I have a friend living in London, and my other friend has now moved to Leamington Spa which is not too far away. Plus I have (through the wonder of facebook) found a couple of school friends living down there so my mission is to meet up with them all before I move house to Aberdeen / Manchester.
Woo! Go Weekends! x
current mood:  determined
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| Sunday, January 4th, 2009
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7:52 pm - RIP Lovely Trainers
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My trainers have finally died.
I am sad.
In truth I think they died some time ago when they started letting in water and I became ashamed to take them off in shoe shops.
But the other day I bought new trainers so it's time for the old ones to go in the bin.
They've been with me to many exciting places, jumped off buildings with me, and walked probably hundreds of miles.
I thought I would document their sad demise with photos to show you all that I am doing the right thing in finally binning them.
( Good Bye Old Friends )
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| Thursday, January 1st, 2009
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9:02 pm - 2008 in review and 2009.
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It's that time again. When I look back at my year and figure out where to go next.
Thinking about this last night I realised I have done a fair bit this year and my life has not stagnated as much as I thought. It's just that all the good stuff was squished into 2 weeks and the other 50 weeks were evilly and soul destroyingly BORING!
Looking back at my Resolutions of 2008 I did fairly well.
1. Write more.
I did do a little bit and I have got a few bits of the novel of doom reviewed by writers group who were pretty impressed. This means a lot as they are brutally honest when needs be about when you are just wasting your own time on a project that's not worth it. I'm stuck on a plot point which is pretty big and I have just realised, pretty crap. I'll just write around it for now and see what comes into my head.
2. Career Goals.
I did not get into newspapers or much else, but my reading has improved, my discipline has improved and I did get a big shiney picture of me in blue body armour to put on my CV.
2a. Finance: Make, Save and Spend.
Well I got out of my overdraft which was good although I haven't done much saving. This time next year I could have a mortgage so who knows!
3. Do Stuff! See more of the world before it is blown up / flooded.
I went to Prague in spring which was great and inspired me to do a lot more of that kind of thing. I also got to go to Iraq and Qatar which was rather fabulous as I'd never been out of Europe before.
4. Sort My Life Out.
I've done a fair bit, but I need to do so much more. This will be my big job for January I think.
SO... to 2009.
1. Write More AGAIN
Figure out another way to get Lyle back to his former self so he can have a happily ever after at the end of the book.... or die tragically, I haven't decided yet. Write stuff until I figure that bit out.
2. Really Really Sort My Life Out
Get rid of anything I don't want to move into my fabulous new apartment, where-ever and when-ever that may be. Chuck all the clothes I don't wear any more and buy new things.
3. Career: Get One!
I need to get a full time job in a city and it to be a fairly good one. I don't want to go back to a journalist position at Tin Pot Radio Nowhere. I want to go to a place where I can get my name known and move up the ladder a step. I want a middling to senior position in a big station, or a News Editor position in a small station. I think I want to get nominated for an award of some kind. That sounds like a big thing but UK Radio News is a pretty small world so it's not impossible.
4. Marriage
Out of the 2 years we have been married, we've spent almost half that time apart. The other half has been spent in preparation to be apart (visiting elderly relatives to say goodbye), or in that awkward Just-Arrived-Home, "Sorry, who are you and what are you doing in my house again?" phase.
This year Stu will be coming out of the army and we my become a Normal Couple who have weekends together and book things and talk without a satellite delay. I may stop referring to him as my boyfriend and having to correct myself.
5. Move Somewhere and Make a Life for Myself
I want friends, I want people who I can text after work and go to pubs with. I want girly nights out. I want to join clubs and groups and volunteer knowing I don't get home at 8pm after a 140 mile commute. I want contact with people who's children don't rule their lives. I want to be able to go out and dance.
6. Be Healthy and Fabulous
I've been a bit miserable this year and hence I have been eating a lot of chocolate and take-aways. I have also been crawling into the same jeans and top combination every day and sitting on the sofa doing nothing. I also hit 25 which means I am not getting any younger now. I need to eat healthier, put more effort in, do more exercise, and move to house with some form of heating in the bathroom so showers are not a 2 minute ordeal once a month. (I am exaggerating!)
I think that's all the big things to be honest. Things are going to improve no matter what happens so it's all going to be good.
Everything else will just be a bonus.
I'll also try to update more and amuse you all from time to time.
current mood: hopeful
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| Thursday, November 27th, 2008
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7:54 pm - Happy Turkey Day!
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Stu has sent me an email about wandering round an American base in Kuwait today.
He says there is bunting with turkeys on it, and pictures of turkeys everywhere smiling away. And dead cooked turkeys waiting to be eaten. He says it is very surreal.
Plus there are huge baskets of bread and fruit but you are not allowed to eat any of it.
I am aware of Thanksgiving, but I can imagine that it's really strange to actually see happening.
Anyway, I hope all my American friends are enjoying eating it all.
current mood: amused
current music: lorry driver - Chris Moyles
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| Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
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10:19 pm - Really Cool Advert....
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Just thought I'd share this video as I thought it really captured Britain over the last 100 years and puts it into 2 minutes.
It's an advert and I think that kind of investment in modern advertising is rare so it deserves to be given a boost by me making you all watch it.
With it being Remembrance day last week I may be a little sentimental at the moment.
current mood: weird
current music: TV
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| Monday, November 17th, 2008
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11:05 am - I WANT THIS JOB!!!!
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Journalist / Ski resort, Radio R Méribel (France)
This job is located in Méribel (map)
R’ la radio station is a commercial radio station broadcasting in french ski resorts (Savoie - Alps).
We are looking for a Journalist/Speaker, during the winter season (from december 08 until april 09), in Méribel ski resort.
This job is mid-time one and includes accommodation and ski pass.
A great voice is a must, as well as a ski practice.
A fluent french spoken is required.
For application, please email CV's and a short demo bulletin to
recrutement@laradiostation.fr
BUT I CANNOT HAVE IT!!!
WHY COULDN'T STU HAVE GONE AWAY ON A WINTER TOUR!!!!
AND WHY CAN'T MY FRENCH BE BETTER!!!!
*bitches quietly about wanting to ski and radio announce at the same time*
current mood: disappointed
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