1 day on, 1 day off
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
What a weekend! Two newspapers in two days!

It's still quite hot, and a bit muggy here, but I'm not complaining. Although, ahem, some people just can't stop sweating and pouring water on their heads...

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JENN TODAY! EVERY YEAR IT'S JUST A WONDER HOW SHE MANAGES TO LOOK SO YOUNG!

Tonight we watched another Amaldovar film: All About My Mother. This was Stephen's 1st time, my 3rd time. Set in Madrid & Barcelona, it encorporates love, life, death, transvestites, mothers, theatre, trains, taxis, apartments, and most of all: women (ok, so some have spent a lot of money to get that way, but nevertheless). An inspiring film.

Work is as to be expected this time of year: short staffed. Lots on holiday, and somehow we must keep up the work level. But it's good.

Tomorrow we've both got the day off to meet Stephen's father who's in London for a short time. The natural history museum might be on the menu?

A bientot!

Hassley
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
We were just waking up after a relaxing sleep-in when the phone rang. Someone called in sick and Stephen had to go to work since no one else was available.

Needless to say, Stephen was not amused.

So I puttered around and we met up at the apartment this afternoon where I plied him with guacamole & beer.

We decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and went to rent videos. But we stopped off at the pub for a pint, and then had dinner at L'Aroma (free sangria starters to all customers-yay!) before heading home to relax.

Tomorrow, who knows what will happen?

The outlook for the week is that we are both taking Tues. off of work to meet Stephen's father in London for lunch, and then perhaps stay in town for the evening. The 14th is our 3rd anniversary, but haven't decided how to celebrate it just yet. With the trip to the US looming, a weekend away is not possible.

I've been reading some Noam Chomsky, and am learning some revolting and enlightening facts about US foreign policy. For starters, the US government is a serial killer, an ethnic cleansing machine. Only, we don't hear about it. Maybe because we don't want to? But if the information is out there, and these atrocities are happening, what are we going to do about it? And its not just the US. Its allies, like Canada, the UK, and others, are all bedfellows. Maybe central governments have proven they can't handle the amount of power that they have been given. And that's the key: the people give governments power. Therefore, the people should be able to take it away. However, I feel very impotent.

And I feel tired.

G'night.

Fagged & Shagged & Fashed & Bashed
Mood:  hungry
Now Playing: Tropicalia
Topic: Stephen Says
It's like all the residents conspired to save everything up for MO & I to come back to work and all kick off at the same time being angry/ violent/ depressed/ suicidal/ need furniture to be built. So instead of a Fun Friday, it turned into a Fighting Friday where I was inside all day building things, sorting things, cleaning things up and filling out incident reports instead of playing badminton in the back garden and taking in some of this frankly fantastic weather.

All the same, after two days of being talked to like a child, it's nice to realize that you're not crap.

World Cup starts tonight. It's also evictions over in the Big Brother house. I hope Nikki isn't sent home.

XXX
Oh for crying out loud, this it ridiculous, this entry still hasn't appeared on the blog and I posted it hours ago...

Things I learned in management training:
Mood:  incredulous
Now Playing: E upstairs on the piano
Topic: Stephen Says
1) Everyone can be categorized into 4 types of workers. Even if they don't fit into a category, they're still of the category.
2) You can't fire people because they're crap.
3) You S.M.A.R.T. after you W.A.Q. (And numerious other management-speak acronyms & jargon-related B.S. that I'll never remember or apply)
4) Humour is not appreciated.
5) Lateness will not be tolerated.
6) Useful group discussions will not break up the days agenda or slow down the timetable. The tutor will carry on teaching the course while her pupils continue to have productive dialogue.
7) Explain the meaning of every word. Not matter how ovious the meaning of that word is.
8)You CAN fire people because they're crap.
9) Your shenanigans will not be tolerated.
10) Blu-tack requires warming up before it can work effectively.
11) Fierce boredom nulifies the effects of alcohol.

All in all two horrible days of learning things that I already know or will never need to while being talked down to by a lady with a little turned up piggy nose who has never actually managed anyone or worked in mental health and whose idea of tutoring involves reading the policies & procedures manual with emphasis and defining every major word that she reads out in seeming obliviousness to the vacant (and dozey) looks of those trapped in the room with her. As my manager pointed out, it shouldn't hae been called Managing Performance, it should have been called Managing Boredom.

The politics of T-Fal
Mood:  hungry
Topic: Stephen Says
Ok, this is irritating. All our T-fal frying pans are simultaneously going from non-stick to super-glue. Granted they get heavy use but we take good care of them and they're only about a month shy of being 3 years old. Any ideas? Or are fairies sneaking into our kitchen at night and rubbing them down with steel wool?

E is in Reading today at some heating conference in a stadium. Boy o boy it sounds exctiting. Just think: all those radiators, boilers & plumbing equipment in one space. Plus sales reps, marketing people and sales administrators. Fun for all the family or great big cosmic joke? My heart goes out to her because unless something totally bizarre happens, it sounds like the kind of day that will add 5 years to her life.

As for me, I finished Garth Nix's Sabriel and am onto the sequel Lirael. I imagine that, come the end of the month, I'll be reading the final book in the series, Abhorsen. So much for coming across as some kind of quiet intellectual for our trip to the States, I'll be reading a fantasy book. A children's fantasy book at that.

At least summer is here at last... I'll be working out in the garden today (I hope) and working on my tan. My goal for the next few weeks: Get a base tan before hitting the States so that I don't burn to a crisp while I deal with the South's God-forsaken heat and humidity. I'm sure that by the time I've spent a few hours in the Carolina's, I'll be nothing more than a puddle.

***
Ugh, Angelfire's doing that irritating thing again where it doesn't post blog entries right away. Could a move over to Livejournal not be far off?

The return of
Stephen Colbert.
And you thought we'd forgotten.
Heh.

Thank Goodness...
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: Fabriclive.26 - The Herbaliser
Topic: Stephen Says
It's the end (for me) of another busy week and it was capped off with a fun football match in the back garden at work followed by a well deserved pint (or 2) at the pub with E & Suzannah afterwards.

Yep, it's World Cup fever over here... Will Wayne Rooney be able to play? With that 17 year old twat live up to the high hopes that are being imposed on him? Who cares? There have been rumblings around Parliment that it's every MP's duty to root for England and the Scottish MP's have pointed out that, since there's no Scottish team playing, what's wrong with rooting for other countries that have a majority of Scottish players playing on them? BLASPHEMY! says Gordon Brown - Traitors! he says. Send them to Guantanimo! God bless the flag of St. George.

And of course every chav car has at least two England flags fluttering from it and manky England flags are hanging from peoples window sills and every clothing / sports / food store is selling England shirts, trousers, shorts, flags, stickers, bags, and so on and so on and so on to celibrate the Great English Football Team.

That doesn't stand a hope in hell of winning.

That said, I can't wait. This is big and I can't wait to hit the pub for the England matches and get caught up in the excitement and the stupidity and the fun. The is going to be World Cup fever in Montreal times 10,000.

I stumbled across this this morning and I think it's pretty cool:
Topic: Stephen Says
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny ipmortnat tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Sunny Saturday
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
It's actually warm and sunny, and that's news enough.

But here's an update anyway:

-Stephen's working hard and welcoming the first murderer into the residence.
-Susannah (my friend) is still in town and we met up Fri, night for movie & dinner. We saw "Friends with Money" which was good for shutting off the mind. A positive aspect of the movie is that the main actresses are not flattered by the camera so wrinkles and lines are in abundance. Thank god some people think aging is a normal process that happens to everyone, including actresses.
-Today I had a lot of hair cut off, and I finally bought the right dress for my brother's wedding.
-My skin is really dry.
-We've got wine & cider and are now going to watch Ghost in the Shell...a japanimation?
-I've realized I'm addicted to food, and I can't go cold turkey.

Big Brother Musings
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues
Topic: Stephen Says
Been quite busy lately and with that comes a degree of productivity, it seems. Still there's always more that needs doing; I can't beleive we're only a few weeks away from summer and the second half of 2006.

Of course, that time of year also means that it's Big Brother time. And there's a Canadian in the house which lends it'self a balance to the excessively flrtatous & smutty young Brits all vying to have sex live on air first. Of course, the Canadian is also vying for that but at least he's going about it in a way that I can relate to.
Uhhmm, sort of. Yuh'know?
Of course, this year's Big Brother isn't as good as last years, which wasn't as good as the previous years (Whose winner was a Portugese transexual from - you guessed it - Woking), ad infinitum... But this year has a dude with tourettes on (Click me for a sample) who is charming, fascinating and hilarious, so it's only a matter of time until he wins.
Right?
Anyway, voyeurism at it's best and it keeps me busy during my sleep-in's and keeps me off the streets.