Dinner Do/n'ts
Mood:  hungry
Now Playing: BBC4
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Stephen's lying on the couch thinking about what he wants to do. Oh wait, he's gotten up and found a book. He's postponing starting to cook dinner even though we're both hungary. Sooner or later hungar conqueres laziness.

I finished reading White Noise by Don Delillo. Extremely evocative of life in America. Very illuminating in the observations of consumer culture & fear of death.

Big Ben is chiming...it's 6 o'clock. The news with Alice Arnold...Danish embassy set on fire b/c of cartoons, Iran is defiant in the face of action against its nuclear program, corruption in the Palestian authoritie's accounts...

Things are heading towards boiling point, no?

But life here goes on in Woking. Friday afternoon I met Stephen in the town center & told him that we should celebrate the fact I've been signed onto a permanent contract with a bit of a higher salary---about 50 pounds more...but nevertheless, we celebrated with drinks at O'Neills, Weatherspoons & then onto a fabulous dinner at L'Aroma...Stephen had Gnocci & Tiramisu, I had basil pasta with shrimp and cherry tomatoes and a cheese plate. I cannot get enough of cheese plates...oh creamy goats cheese, mmm.

Saturday we bought a blender, to ward off aging. Stephen's turning 30 in a couple of months don't forget...and is starting this pre-midlife crisis thing.

We also bought an electric hair grooming set so I trimmed Stephen's hair this morning. Pretty fun.

Short working week: Stephen's off on Wed. & then we go to Barcalona on Thurs. Can't f-n wait.

Oh no. The filo pastry is off...we must find something new to eat for dinner. Gotta go.

Categories
Mood:  spacey
Now Playing: BBC4
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

Just a quick update: it's Thursday, I'm waiting for Stephen to come home. We'll eat, I'll go out and drink with some old co-workers, & Stephen will chill out here.

Looking forward to a weekend where we are both not working and have nothing planned!

Wrapping up the Barcelona itenerary....less than a week now! YAY!

Yesterday I got a telemarketer who was obviously new, and actually read the same line out twice, then said "Oh I just said that. Ummm..." and I told him we were just tennants of this property to which he sounded relieved and promptly told me I was not the right category and this offer was not for me.

Thanks for calling.

Bingo Was His Name-o
Mood:  hungry
Now Playing: Julian Cope (Dark Orgasm)
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Right. What's been going on? On Thurs. night we got trashed with Stephen's co-workers, which involved 3 bars, some dancing with pre-teens, opening the curry house after it closed & paying 20 quid for some leftovers & papadoms, then being pushed around the street in a trolley, eating curry and walking shamefacedly home by 3am.

Luckily the canteen at my job serves a fry-up breakfast every Fri. morning...I definately took advantage of that.

Stephen had the luxury of having an afternoon shift the next day, but the bad luck of having to sleep-in at work, only to wake up the next morning to meet me at the train station (I was only 2 minutes late!) to go down to Dorset to celebrate his grandmother's 92nd birthday. We had a very pleasant day, albiet after we had some breakfast upon our arrival, and then had to scoot out quickly in the evening to catch the last reasonable train home.

Maybe I should learn to drive soon?

Ok so Sunday...Stephen went to work, and I practiced my wife skills by cleaning the flat, cooking and baking...but I failed on the ironing.

Tonight we're going to see Munich. And that's about it!

Really just enjoying life right now. We've actually managed to save over 200 pounds in January...believe it! And so we feel generally optimistic.

Been teaching Stephen piano, he's actually very good, although he really should practice and not just show up to the lessons...

Ok---wine please!

***
Stephen here, hijacking Elisabeth's entry.

re: The book club: I think it's still a good idea but I think we need to find a good book. Greg, I think your choice of one is really good and I do want to read it, the only problem is that I find that people who like the Dead Dog book are really, really irritating. It goes back to the days at the bookstore. But I'm taking your advice on board. Stay tuned...

On other news, I haven't been doing much blogging because there's some general silliness going on at work that I hope to share with y'all at a later date once it's all blowen over. I thought it would blow over a long time ago but it's really, really dragging out. Just a teaser: There's a sexual harassment complaint being made against me by a member of staff. Who is a man. Who knows I'm straight & married. Stay tuned.

Oh, and a special thank you to Elisabeth who didn't mention how, on the night out the other day, I was sick in an alley-way and then in the middle of a roundabout. It felt like I was camping all over again.

Overwhelmed
Mood:  surprised
Now Playing: Steel Pole Bathtub
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Due to the overwhemling response on the book club idea, we will henceforth start new rules:

1. Never mention books on this site again.
2. Please leave no comments to let us know how you feel.
3. Remember that Elisabeth gets passive agressive when her ideas don't bear fruit.

But really, we're going out drinking tonight on invitation from some of Stephen's playmates.

And also, I've been confirmed in post & will be granted a permanent contract with health benefits, stock options...at least I think so...should I dare ask for a pay rise as well? Double or nothing?

Barcelona soon...getting excited...must drink now.

Tuesday
Mood:  lyrical
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Due to the overwhelming response to the book club idea, we will start the book club officially today.

The rules. If you want a book club, you have to ask us to read a book. Then we'll read it and share our reaction with you.

First come first serve. And Jenn...please go easy with the heavy religious stuff.

W/C 23 January: Day 1
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: Well what are you listening to?
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
It's been a nice vacation from blogging, but I'm glad to be back.

I've got a doctor's appointment this morning, so I'll be going into work a bit later than usual.

But before I get sidetracked, I must post some pictures from last weekend's journey to Stratford-upon-Avon with my co-workers for some 5-a-side football:

That's the winning team!

It was very cold and wet:

And the team, despite their best efforts, lost 3 games & tied 1. The crew certainly look like they tried hard:

But most imporantly, we went out for a curry & beer in the evening.

The best part of the trip for me anyway, was being able to see the beautiful town of Stratford & the Cotswalds...just stunning. Here's a picture of part of the village from Wilkopedia:

I will have to get Stephen up there this summer if possible.

Now onto more recent events: yesterday we had the family, with whom we spent 2004 Christmas, over for lunch. Stephen made most of the food so all I had to do was relax and try to remember how to be a good hostess. It's not good that I just assume if our guest is thirsty or hungary that they will just help themselves.

Stephen's been recovering from last week's marathon shifts just enough so he can embark on another relentless working week. I will be doing my best to be extra nice to the poor boy.

Anyway, gotta go see that doctor about my ears.

For your amusement
Topic: Stephen Says
Video mockumentries on chav scum. Now you can't complain that you're bored anymore.

***
Update:
Crap. The link doesn't look like it's working. Anyway, the site is: http://www.fat-pie.com/chavs.htm so there.

E&I just got back from Woking town centre and I'm a hairs breath away from losing it. Too many people. Just too many stupid, stupid people.

Friday night stuff
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: The Threepenny Opera (1954 cast)
Topic: Stephen Says
Well, Elisabeth and I both went to work hung over today because we stayed up late drinking wine and singing Kurt Weil songs.

Thank goodness we've both got the weekend off. I desperately need to sleep in.

E's gone all retro trendy and bought a hair straightener. Granted straightened hair was sooooo 2003 but everything old is cool so, woteva.
She's becoming very corportate, you know.

Yeah so it's a lazy, boring Friday night because it'llbe a busy weekend - People coming over on sunday and Saturday will be spent making the flat look somewhat presentable. It hasn't been properly cleaned in oh God, I can't remember.

So yeah, E's planning our Barcelona itinary and I'm just being myself with very little to blog about so I'll stop it now.

Thursday night stuff
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Topic: Stephen Says
The computer at work blew up the other day. Literally. It went BANG and then smoke came out of it. So now we've got no (decent) computer at work and it sucks. You don't know how much you'll miss technology until you can't access the internet, a good printer, that report you wrote that was due for today that you had to re-write at the last minute, or the the outreach flyer you were so close to finishing has all suddenly disappeared.

I haven't been working so hard but am still awfully tired. That whole February funk has set in already and I'm ready for some sun and vitamin D that won't surface in the UK until well into May.

Bring on Barcelona.

E has gotten us tickets to see Cat Power at the beginning of March. This is exciting because 1)We're finally going to see live music at long last and 2) We're finally going to see live music at long last. Her Christmas gift to us in the form of a subscription to time out has finally paid off and we'll be able to see good live music and know what the heck is going on in London.

Like a Nick Cave concert whose tickets are going for 40 (!!!) pounds a pop. Since when was I into a musician whose tickets go for over 100$Cdn?
Oh yeah, Tom Waits.
Anyway...

All is quiet. E has made me turn off the music so that she could play the piano & sing Les Miserables.

I'd like to reccomend Next Generation Wines (nXg). It's an Australian wine and we've had 2 of their reds over the last week and they're both very nice.

Bonus Blogging!
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: The Dehumidifier - Still ain't got a name
Topic: Stephen Says
Alright so today was a massive walk-a-thon:

To the town center & back (20mins) where I got groceries and bought The Corporation by Joel Bakan based on his movie that I mentioned below. E will give periodic reviews (Won't you, Elisabeth?) as she goes through it. A taster: The introduction alone almost made her cry. Hey, does anyone out there think we should start up a book club???
(I'm being serious)

To work (& Back): 40 mins.

From work I'm sent up to town to go to the bank to withdraw cash & then Sainsburys for milk & 4 cans of furniture polish. I'm reminded by my manager that I am nothing but his errand boy. (20mins)
(PS - this is all walking time & not counting shopping time)

From work I go and do outreach - walk to the dude's flat & then to the pub for a drink (30mins)
(We went to the pub & not the football match, FYI.)

Sooooooo, today I spent a total of an hour and fifty minutes walking around Woking.
I'll let you, dear reader, interpret all of that.

Oh, and how freakin' cool is this: Alan Moore interviewed Michael Moorcock this week as a live theatre piece that was open to the public.
But of course, I didn't see it.
But still, very, very cool.
I would vote for it.

And in conclusion, E wouldn't blog today because she didn't want to bump my entry down a notch. What do y'all think of restrictive blogging like that? C'mon, put her in her place!

Oh, and what about that book club?
I'm serious, you know.