Peer pressure

Carly and Jon are a bad influence.

10x10 3x3

10 Things I am fed up with:

1. Applying for jobs I don't even want

2. Applying for jobs I do want, when I won't find out if my application is successful till Match 2010

3. Not having a paied job

4. Job applications in general

5. Living at home and being a million miles away from Malvern

6. Not being able to legally drive

7. Losing my possessions

8. Being clumsy and almost falling down cellar and in the process almost breaking my elbow. I'm also a bit fed up with falling down the stairs at least once a day, I don't know how much more bruising my poor legs can take.

9. Missing people that live far away

10. The internet on my stupid laptop being stupidly slow

10 things about my life that are actaully quite good:

1. Having super fantastic friends

2. Having a super fantastic sister. Clare is good too, but she is also 13 and therefore sometimes quite evil

3. Having super fantastic parents, even Dad isn't so bad at the moment

4. The weekend, my lovely friends and I can go out and dance and have fun

5. Seeing Regina Spektor OR John and Edward on Monday, it's a tough decision that needs much deliberation

6. Having time inbetween job applications and taking the dog for a walk to read good books

7. the builders have finally left, hurrah! Downsides are 'number 8' on the fed up list and also the arrival of the outside builders which, while having less of an effect on my day to day activities, they are still depriving me of sleep from 8am onwards

8. LIBRARY, volunteering is super great :D

9. My sewing machine, making animals/patchwork quilts/bunting/altering charity shop clothes is how I am currently spending much of my time.

10. Fantasies by Metric, I'm listening to it loads again :D Help I'm alive and Gold Gun Girls are brrrrrrrilliant

(11. IT'S NEARLY CHRISTMAS!)

Compassion for crustaceans!

This morning Helen and I were enjoying breakfast and Helen read me this article in the paper

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/ill-have-my-lobster-electrocuted-please-1824925.html

Firstly, I am pretty happy that there is now a humane way to kill the lobsters, even though I wouldn't kill them in the first place, but that's neither here nor there.

Secondly, it made me sad thinking about the horrible way lobsters and crabs die and how its such an everyday occurrence that a lot of people don't really care. I guess crustaceans aren't particularly cute and I guess people don't think they're very intelligent which is why killing and eating them doesn't seem so bad. The saddest/most annoying part is probably this:

"These are sentient animals, who feel pain and distress, and you should not boil them alive, or drown them in fresh water, or cut them in half while they're alive," he (Simon Buckhaven) said. "A lot of people who love to eat lobster do not like preparing it at home because they have to cook it in boiling water. And restaurants are more frequently hearing questions from customers about how their lobster will be killed."

Poor lobsters :( at least now they can die painlessly so well done Mr Buckhaven. It makes me sad when people are distressed or upset by killing animals when they have to see it or read some horrible facts about battery chickens or lobsters or whatever, but then they'll quite happily sit down and have roast chicken for dinner :( originally I wrote a million reasons why I get annoyed with people with like that, but it could probably be interpreted as preachy and annoying, and as I'm not bothered about changing the opinion of anyone bored enough to read this so I shall say no more.

Two of my favourites, numbers AND lists

It is twenty past eight on a Saturday morning and I have been awake for over an hour. This is clearly absolutely ridiculous. I HATE THE BUILDERS. Luckily I am staying at Carlys tonight so I won't have to get up quite so early tomorrow.

Last weeks highlights included:

1. Helen and I have nearly finished Gossip Girl season 1. Hopefully I can persuade Hel to buy season 2 as I still haven't seen the last episode.

2. Jane Eyer is getting really good. Oh Mr Rochester, I think I'm in love with you. I'm enjoying finding out about Mr Rochester's dark past and hearing him so eloquently telling Jane he is in love with her.

3. True Blood. It was a good episode this week, I'm well happy Bill and Sookie are together.

4. Random Thursday night battered-ness. Jon and Carly, Noel Edmunds shirt, sexual flavours, Mike the creep, Natalie Portmans rap, drunken phone calls to Pete and Dan, Natwest steps, silver bullets, no-one remembers the walk home, Carlys ultimate bed, the ultimate darkness of Carlys room because none of the lights work, Sarah apologising to Jon for hoovering?! Deal or no Deal etc etc...

5. Winning £50 in premium bonds.

6. Radiohead Vs Phil Collins day.

7. falling over in the front of the builders, who laughed at me for about an hour without asking if I was ok :( I then had to change clothes so I wasn't covered in mud. Being clumsy is the worst D:

8. Mum made a stollen and the Christmas cake.

Today will consist of:

1. Carly and I going to Birmingham and buying lots of things, or at least Carly will be buying new things, I will try not to buy anything because I'm super poor.

2. I nearly forgot. TV is super mega awesome tonight, X FACTOR! and also if we are home in time and not eating our dinner then Merlin and possibly hole in the wall. I think every time I watch Merlin I wish I was married to Colin Morgan a little bit more.



Ghostbusters is my favourite John and Edward performance so far. Although I love them both, I think John is probably my favourite, amazing.

3. Going to the Marrs with some of the best people I know and dancing till our shoes wear out. (I guess this is technically tomorrow as we won't get there till 1, but whatever)

4. Getting a shakees.

5. Sleeping in the best bed in the whole world and probably only getting about 3 hours sleep because I am going to see New Moon with my sister at 10am at Vue.

I really want to get into my pyjamas and go back to bed now :(

Gahhh

Things I achieved today:

Getting up at the crack of dawn so I can beat the builders and get downstairs before they do.

Failing my driving test. Urgggh, stupid bloody roundabouts. I failed right at the start, so for the rest of the test I was like fuck this and didn't bother driving properly. I only got a few minors though so I guess that's good. I guess I'll pass next time, siiiiigh.

Booking a hair appointment. Finally.

Getting my boots fixed. Hurrah.

Overall, a BAD and EXPENSIVE day :( :(

Tell me anything you want, any old lie will do

Lunch today was home made veggie stew with dumplings AND mash potato. Best Mum ever?? It was so good, living at home is sometimes amazing. I also listened to some Fleet Foxes for the first time in ages, lots of Laura Marling and some She & Him.

This weekend has been pretty good, on Friday night Jon, Carly and I went out in Malvern and all got horridly drunk. So much for staying sober for my 10am driving lesson :( Me and Carly got the really good wine and then we went to ollies and Jon bought us shots and jagerbombs but made us down them :(:( after that I can remember pretty much nothing. Apparently we went to Priors and I danced loads and talked to people from school, ohhhh dear. No one remembers the walk home but I do remember that when we got home we watched Take That videos on youtube and Jon made me cry with laughter for about an hour. We didn't get to sleep till about 5 and then I had to go home at quarter to 8 because my Dad is mental and gives lifts home at the worst times. I somehow got through my driving lesson without being sick all over Colin and then I stayed in bed all day pretending to Mum and Dad that I definitely hadn't been drinking last night and that I was definitely not hungover. Jon text me after my lesson saying him and Carly were still in bed and they had just ordered a large pizza feista :( I nearly cried with jealousy. Apart from the most horrid driving lesson ever and being sick twice all I did on Saturday was watch X-factor. Oh and I had a super lovely chat with Kirsty on the phone.

Today Kirsty, Carly and I went for a cake and a tea/coffee/milkshake which was lovely. We got super excited making plans for Christmas and deciding what we were going to go as to Kirstys Christmas party. Carly is going as a Christmas pudding and I think this is the best costume choice ever. Then Kirsty had to go back to London :( and me and Carly took about 3 hours to decide not to go to the pub quiz.

In conclusion, with the exception of mega hangover-ness a good weekend :)

Librarian!

Today I started at Malvern Library, it was well exciting, I got to issue books and sort out loans and scan things and be nice to people. WELL GOOD. Everyone was really nice and I was promptly invited to the Christmas party, gosh. I was told to bring a bottle of wine even though the party is only two hours long, good lord. I'll be wasted if I'm drinking at least 1 bottle of wine in two hours, apparently Viv (who organises everything) brings wine for everyone on top of your own bottle. I'll have to eat extra loads before I leave the house on that day.

I was also asked if I can help make lanterns with the 7-11 year olds, yes please!! Help decorate for Christmas and most importantly, be a helper for Santas grotto. lol. Apparently Santa is arriving in a Morgan (could they get any more quintessentially Malvern?!) and the grotto is staying in the library. So I have to potentially dress up as an elf whilst getting people to join the library and telling Santa the names of the children in the queue for the grotto. It's actaully pretty exciting and the Christmas lights will be turned on and all the kids will be excited, I'm well looking forward to it :D I also get to read to the small kids on Wednesdays and generally be helpful. Yay library! I don't have a badge though which makes me a bit sad, when I get a librarian badge I will be happy times a thousand :D Hopefully one day I will end up in a super ace library and be head librarian :D



I don't think this is a real library but it would be good if it was, it's well Rivendell!

Yesterday Carly and I watched 'Me, You And Everyone We Know'. I liked it lots, it was really cute and funny and Miranda July is ace. I especially liked that John Hawkes from Deadwood was in it, and it was nice to see him in a comical role. The film also made me really want to start a Hope Chest.



Carly lent me a book of short stories by Miranda July which I'm looking forward to reading but I'm going to have to put it on hold as I have millions of other things on my 'to read list' at the moment. I am most looking forward to reading The Reader. Claire from the vintage shop in Worcester told me I'd love it :) but first I have to finish Jane Eyre. It's quite good at the moment and I really like Jane but so far its no Wuthering Heights, sorry Louise. I'm also looking forward to reading Nine Stories by J.D Salinger that Joe got me for my birthday :)

I also woke up yesterday and went downstairs to find that my dog had devoured an entire loaf of bread whilst she was left on her own. The bread had been left on the side, so she must have jumped up, used her paws to get the bread down onto the floor and then eaten almost all of it. Worst dog ever.

Tonight is pizza Express pizzas for dinner, hurrah Mumbo! And I am well looking forward to going out tonight and seeing JON WALL and CARLY PEARSON :D



The last time Carly, Jon and I went out together, Jon and I were pretending to be a couple so that a creepy man coming on to me would leave me alone. The creepy man then proceeded to tell me that he didn't believe we were a couple because he didn't think I was good enough to be going out with Jon!! And then after that he randomly told Carly that she wasn't good enough for Jon either. What a creep!! Jon did tell him that owed us drinks after insulting us like that though, so we did get a free Gaymers out of it. And it was actaully a really good night, and I think this was the time when we went all the way to Worcester the next day just so we could get Wetherspoons for breakfast, yum.

Sadly, I can't really drink tonight as I have what may possibly maybe, be my LAST EVER driving lesson. Although I'm pretty sure this will not be the case. I am also feeling like I will really easily give into peer pressure and get drunk tonight, oopss.

I also reeeeally really really want to go see The White Ribbon:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-white-ribbon-15-1819430.html

It looks ace :D

Barcelona, Betty and Roof

Barcelona

Owen took me to Barcelona for my birthday, yeah! I had a super time :) The plane on the way there was pretty average, a horrid couple were behind us though. The guy 'Matt' was TALKING ON HIS PHONE?! What an idiot. They took a million photos and the girl was super loud and shrieked loads about how she looked fat or stupid in every photo. Anyway we didn't have to see them again until the journey home, horray! The best part of the journey was when we landed and got a fanfare, brilliant.

When we arrived at 5pm we had a bit of an issue using the Spanish ticket machine but got to the hotel safe and sound, yay. Aside from the crazy air con that made you feel like you had a fever, the hotel was lovely. We went out and had a look round some Medieval streets in Barri Gotic, we then got a really tasty pizza that hardly cost anything, I got some mega nice ice-cream and then we went home to sleep. The next day we got up dead early and had a nice pastry for brekkie, we then went for a stroll round the Barceloneta ports followed by a walk up La Rambla and a few markets and then headed to Casa Batllo.

Casa Batllo was sooo good. I wish all architecture was as good as Gaudi, it must have been well revolutionary at the time. Apparently the building is representative of saint someone killing a Dragon. The humped back represents the Dragon, the cross at the top represents the saints sword, slaying the Dragon and the skull balconies represent the helpless souls of the Dragons victims. The inside is possibly even better than the outside. After reluctantly parting with 2 hundred million Euros to get in, we got a highly amusing audio guide and spent a trillion hours admiring the amazing house.

After that we saw the Casa Mila from the outside and I felt all wibbly wobbly. We trekked to Zara so I could buy a nice blue velvet dress (like the fiiiiiiiiilm) and a cardigan/coat/coatigan thingy. Then Owen was rubbish and too tired to do anything so we had a siesta and then when Owen had finally recovered we went to the park near us where there was a giant mamouth statue and a big waterfall thingy. I can't remember what we did after apart from we saw the Spanish arc de triomphe (why is it there??) and went in the well gothic Barcelona cathedral. I think we also had an average pizza/paella for dins followed by more ice-cream.

We woke up not so early on Tuesday as nowhere is open until 10. We went straight to the Sagrada Familia where it was tourist-tastic but also fantastic. I liked it muchly. We then went an absolutely horrid 'museum' that Owen loved. It was a kind of funeral museum I guess. It was impossible to find because it was under a funeral home and you had to ask at the desk. Then a woman took us down in a lift and unlocked some doors so we could get in. When we arrived in the awful room I thought our tour guide woman was going to LEAVE US DOWN THERE ON OUR OWN. I had a mild panic attack, but luckily she stayed put until we left. It was a big massive room with only low lighting and it was all eerie and silent. There were a bunch of horridly creepy funeral carriages with WAX MANIKINS, and fake horses arrrgh. It also had some hearses which could have been cool, especially the Ghostbusters* one but they had coffins and probably ghosts in. it was pretty much the most creepy place I've ever been. Horrid.

After I was mentally stable again we went to Park Güell, much much happier and nicer yay! It was pretty fun and I loved Lizzy the Lizard :D I did not love the crazy tourists or the mental homeless man that wouldn't let anyone in the cool cave though. After the Gaudi park we went to a photography exhibition. It was pretty good, but there was a bull fighting bit which I hated. I read about the photographer and he was Bull fightings number 1 fan :( I wrongly assumed he was anti bull fighting because there were loads of photos of the dead bulls being abused and things. But he said all this horrible stuff about the death of bull being the only way humans can experience true happiness wahh :( :( We then went to an AWESOME Mexican restaurant. They celebrate day of the dead every day there so it had mega decorations and was super cool. They also played the pixies, the postal service, some of the kill bill soundtrack and some traditional Mexican music. We got mega tasty enchiladas and an amazing jug of white wine sangria nomnomnom. (note to self, one jug of sangria between two people is waaaaaaay more than enough)

We then got back to the hotel and were stupid and drunk and I thought I had the best Spanish accent you ever heard and Owen disagreed. We woke up at 5:45 (uuuuugh) so we could get the bus back to the airport and make our flight. We had loads of time to kill at the airport and brought sweets with our Euro change. Sadly we saw the horrid couple again, so we made sure we didn't sit near them again. We landed at Birmingham and got the train back to Malvern.

Overall, a lovely few days in lovely Barcelona :D Thank you Owen times a million trillion :D :D

Ruth

So, when I finally arrived home I found a birthday gift from Ruth waiting for me :D she wrote me a beautiful letter and found me an even more beautiful pet owl. After much deliberation (it was a close call with Maude) I named her 'Betty' and she's amazing. I think Betty and Ruths owl, Stuart would get on brilliantly :) I'm sad I haven't seen Ruth for ages though :( I 100% want to visit when I have some money.



Here you can see Betty looking super cute and me looking like an idiot and a huge geek as I'm wearing my Barcelona t-shirt already, it's well great though, you got pens with it to colour it in!! Amazing :D

Also I did take photos when we were away, honest! But I took all the photos on my Mini so I've gotta go the lab and get them developed and things. So at the moment this post looks horrible and word-o-rama :(

*and speaking of Ghostbusters, I thought John and Edward were done for!! Haha! Hurrah for Simon :D:D:D:D:D:D Goodbye rubbish Lucy. I'm pretty sure she'll be in FHM or something next week though. Sigh.

Aleph-null

So, really briefly, Aleph-null is part of a super great maths theory. Georg Cantor discovered that there are various levels of 'transfinity. Aleph-null is the first level and is the ordinary infinity that people talk about. The next level is Aleph-one which is 2 to the power Aleph-null. Easy!

Today Catherine told me I can start at the library next week, yay! I get to be trained up on computers and meet some cute kids :) :) super news. I also took Lib on a lovely walk and am hopefully going to see Grizzly Bear in March. Yay! Rubbish parts of today are that I really really really hate library job applications. My least favourite question is 'explain about a time when you provided a product or service to a customer'. NO THANKS. Second worst question 'what makes you stand out from other applicants' Ahhhhhrgh! Boasting about yourself is 100% absolutely awful, uuuuurgh.

CRB

I'm not a criminal, huuuuurah! I'm looking forward to calling Catherine from the library today, having a chat with Tara in her lunch break, seeing Peter Clifford Curran at the weekend, wearing my new boots and taking some photos on my neeeew camera, yeaaaah :D Also True Blood is on tonight and I'm going to play some Mario Kart as a reward for all the horrid 2 hour library applications I'll have completed later. I also need to transfer some of my savings into my current account for spending in Barcelona and booking my Scandinavia flights :D:D Owen is back this weekend too so he can watch his animation at the flip festival in Wolverhampton and to take me to Spain :D

It's only 11am but today is looking like it will be rather lovely plus, it's mega sunny :)

Halloween/Birthday treats in London

Halloween was excellent excellent excellent and looked a bit like this:








Loads of great Halloween songs were played such as monster mash, Thriller, the time warp etc etc. Due my lack of left/right awareness time warp isn't exactly great for me but it was fun anyway. Apparently I took a bunch of holga photos but I can't remember taking any so lord knows what they'll come out like, it is probably going to be a pretty embarrassing trip to the lab... Other highlights were JR taxis letting everyone drink/smoke/eat in the taxi there and back. Jess' awesome haggling skills. Firework display. Hot soup. Free vod. Everyone being drunken idiots. Dancing until 4am. Win win WIN!

London was also mega mega fun and also surprisingly successful. It looked somewhat like this:







1. New boots <3 Helen and I were both in desperate need of some winter shoes for our poor feet and against all odds (take a look at me noooooow) we both found some appropriate pairs.

2. DIANA MINIIIIIII, <3<3<3<3<3 mega mega MEGA excitement, I can't wait to take some photos :D

3. Aquarium, the woman in black and my super amazing sister :D

Helen and I had a super two days shopping round London buying cameras, boots, bags and lots of foody/drinky things. Hottie McVampire man in urban outfitters. Enjoying cider in Covent Garden. Eating amazing Mexican and getting tipsy off margaritas at my favourite London Mexican, Cafe Pacifico. Watching the Woman in black and being absolutely bloody terrified. Meeting Yas and staying round hers while falling asleep to Brads dulcet tones in Interview with a Vampire. Getting up horridly early. Enjoying Marks and Spencers porridge for brekkie. Getting 50% off at the aquarium and spending something stupid like 3 hours in there. Going back to Topshop and buying boots for everyone. Meeting Pops on the train. Mum making us gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce for when we got home after our long and tiring journey. Hurrah!