I am the Biggest Asshole in the World
Mood:  down
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
I am the Biggest Assohole in the World (BAW). Why?

I went to see Happy Days at the National Theatre Last Night and forgot to turn off my phone.

And thank the Lord above, no one call, no one sent a text message...but it COULD have happened. I would have been mortified and scarred for the rest of my life. Nevermind have completely ruined one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen.

Happy Days, but Samuel Beckett is often classified as an "existentialist" piece of theatre, but could just as easily be classified as a realist piece of theatre.

Ok, so a women is burried up to her waist in earth for the first half, and up to her head in the second half, but take away the visual of the earth, and ask yourself, how many people do you know (including yourself) are restricted, confined and alone? What realities do you try to ignore in order to just "get on with it?"

And Fiona Shaw, the main (and almost only) actor, was sublime. Such command, awareness and humour...I feel priviledged to have witnessed her at work.

Anyway, Stephen's off to do a sleep-in at work, and I'm just bumming along....

stuff pt. 39787473c in an endless series of stuff
Topic: Stephen Says
It's been a while since the last update...

Me: Been working a lot. Management kinda sucks because it's a headache and a half. The Infiltrator hasn't started yet and today was, technically, her deadline so I should find out whether I've been demoted (Screwed over) this Saturday, Sunday or Monday. All days that I'm working (Tuesday too). Elisabeth is majorly pissed off that today, on my day off, I was woken up at 9:15AM, asking if I could come in to work (I said no) and, within seconds of switching my phone back on after seeing a play tonight at 9PM (see below), I was rung by work asking me to solve a problem (Which I deferred).

She: Is working and has a million and one driving lessons this weekend (2, actually) and her test is on Thursday. Probably had more to say but I'll let her say it. Whenever.

We saw a fascinating version of Sarah Kane's Blasted tonight. follow the link for details about it that I don't feel like getting into. As a play it was okay but disappointing. As a play that incorpoates access for blind, deaf and non-disabled people, it was a rousing success. If you've ever wanted to see a play where a man is raped with the stump of another mans severed leg, this is the show for you.

Nothing more to say other than London sucks.
Deal with it.
rock'n roll.

Rainy Insaney
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: BBC Radio 4
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

Thank you to those who submitted their own pizza poetry. I think this is the start of something really big.

It's raining pretty hard this morning and I can't decide whether cycling or walking (with a brolly) will get me to work drier.

RANT: It is illegal to cycle on the sidewalk in England. However, sometimes it is dangerous, or impossible to cross traffic on Woking's mean streets. So for most of my journey between work and home, I ride on the road (after almost being fined 30 pounds for being on the sidewalk--I'm not taking my chances...much). But there is one section...two blocks in fact, where I ride on the pavement so I can whizz around the corner into our street, and avoid the busy road.

Now, it seems that whenever I arrive at this point on the sidewalk, there are a million bitter pedestrians, who are so incredulous that I am cycling on the pavement that they don't make any room so I must wait...ok fine.. I don't mind. But yesterday, when I left the sidewalk and cycled on the grass section adjacent, one pedestrian stopped theatrically and made huge sweeping arm gestures as if my presence was simply ludicrous.

The main thing that bothers me though, is that so many people are bothered by such a trivial, inconsequential event. Why do people let this bother them, and why does it bother me?

Going to work...

Bike Ride
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Here are some pictures from our bike ride along the Basingstoke canal. An uneventful trip...no pubs, no villages...just tow-path. But, it was sunny!

Pizza madness
Topic: Stephen Says
We got back last night after a truely bizarre shop in Sainsburys where I bought random things that we could eat for dinner (flapjacks, nachos & cheese, pizzas, carrots & humus, stilton, crackers, whisky, advocaat, etc.) and ate lots for dinner until I was full and then ate an entire pizza on top of that and spent the rest of the evening in excrutiating pain with a grossely distended stomach, spacing out and writing pizza poetry:

Pizza gives me pleasure,
Beyond any measure.
It's crust is a must,
but is just not as tasty,
as the cheesy tomato pasty.

and

Pizza, pizza,
Why'd you hurt me?
ALL I WANTED WAS CHEESY GOODNESS,
And maybe some grease.
But now I'm so full,
I think I'm gonna die.

I'm still so full this morning that I'm only having a smoothie for breakfast (and a few flapjacks). Elisabeth is having her smoothie with advocaat so I don't know what to say about that. (More poetry!) The weather's beautiful - sunny and cold. We're off for a bike ride along the canal in a bit.

Toodleoo!

Hello Blogosphere
Mood:  surprised
Now Playing: Back in the Saddle
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

It's welcome back to blogging for me today. My last blog was the 23rd of Dec...the day before I became ill. I still have phlegmy throat, which impedes on singing, but otherwise I only now feel about 100%. I've started jogging away the Christmas flab, and like Stephen points out in the blog below...have been doing some global-warming-winter clutter clearing.

There are flowers blooming down the street...is this a normal English winter-blooming bush?

Well since the 23rd of Dec. I've stopped volunteering at the YMCA, bought a MacBook laptop, a new printer, broke our coffee maker, bought a bodum, and am reading "Happenstance" by Carol Sheilds (whom I adore).

Soon I will buy the cable to link my laptop with my digital piano & be able to record myself, which hopefully, will give me the push into improving my skills. This is my plan anyway, to listen to, analyze, practice, correct, re-record, make better...to actually master some piano pieces that I have been playing for over 10 years in some cases. What if I actually tried to memorize them, to know these pieces more intimately?

I suppose this is my 2007 resolution...anyway...I hope you all are not still eating and drinking as much as you did over the holidays like we are...blurp!

Saturday morning stuff
Now Playing: Tom Waits - Orphans
Topic: Stephen Says
"Television is more interesting than people. If it were not we should have people standing in the corners of our rooms." -Alan Coren, 1938- , English writer

Um, yeah. That's neither witty nor intelligent, Alan. Who'd you ribe to get that stuck in Elisabeth's diary.

All week long we've been de-cluttering our flat. At first I was spazzing out and trying to figure out how we've gotten all this stuff all of a sudden and Elisabeth pointed out that we've just celebrated Christmas and it's normal to suddenly have a bunch of stuff.

So it's been off to the charity shops with old clothes, pots, pans, tea pots, books, etc. We've also cleared out our shelves and have recycled 3+ years of keleptomania and gotten rid of all the various pint glasses that we've stolen or accidentally 'borrowed' from pubs.

I've realized that I really like getting rid of stuff. Hence the baldness. It's lie every day's a trip to the charity shop for my head.

We watched The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou last night and were left totally unimpressed. Please, can someone explain it? I get the sense that Elisabeth and I both missed something but it really wasn't as funny/ clever/ original/ interesting/ whatever as I was led to believe. Or was it?

We're off to see the Last King of Scotland today which promises to be horrible and depressing and much more up our alley. I somehow get the sense that there aren't and Jaguar Sharks in it...

Joke:
Now Playing: Joanna Newsom - The Milk Eyed Mender
Topic: Stephen Says
Joke I heard on the BBC:

"For a Christian to say he hates gays is like a Jew saying he hates Rabbis."

PS- 600th entry(!)

(Edited for terrible grammar!)

Oh, and another thing...
Topic: Stephen Says
According to the lovely lady who runs Life on Manitoulan, it's International De-lurking Week. So please, use this opportunity to say 'Hi!'

Yay!
Topic: Stephen Says
Guess who's going to Egypt?

Now that I'm not sick any more, I'm feeling especially chipper and efficient and have booked us for a week in Luxor in March. Happyness ensues.

I've also booked tickets to see Sarah Kane's Blasted performed entirely with actors with physical disabilities next week but the Egypt thing is far more exciting.

I will untie Elisabeth and let her out of the airing closet sometime in the near future so that she can blog again.