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.

Hmm...
Topic: Stephen Says
2007 may be the year of not too much blogging. At least it seems to be starting off that way.

Tim & Vicki have left after a blow out involving much too much alcohol (At least for Tim & myself) and the rather grim discovery of a couple of syringes on the landing of our flat. Our handy-dandy neighbour got in touch with the police about it as Woking becomes even classier.

Speaking of Woking, I stumbled across this website which is a guide to Woking from the perspective of a cat. I don't really know what to say about it except oh... my... God.

Crap.
Topic: Stephen Says
I did get sick after all. Woke up at 6AM during my sleep in with a sore throat and feeling spaced out. Foolishly chose to work 'till 6 after being offered the chance to go home at 10AM.

Got home with no food in the flat after only eating a cheese pizza for breakfast all day and realized I'd forgotted that Elisabeth, who has agreed to go grocery shopping, was at the Y-Pod so I resorted to eating chunks of cheese and some little Swedish almond cookies. When Elisabeth did get back, she'd forgotten sauce for the eagerly anticipated pita pizzas so I spazzed out; we ate some grilled cheese instead and I went to bed at 8PM. Woke up at 2:30, couldn't sleep, went back to bed at 5AM and slept 'till 9:30 and am feling slightly more human.

Elisabeth got her brand new super computer last night as well so it's probably for the best that I went to bed to give her the chance to play around with it. Expect more CD's to come out shortly as a result.

Happy New Year?
Topic: Stephen Says
Hope y'all had a good New Years!

Our plan: To bike 30 minutes in the rain to Byfleet, party it up until just after midnight in a (semi)responsible way and then bike back home in the rain so that I'd be fresh for working the late shift on the first of January.

The reality: Elisabeth's cold was still in full effect so she had a snooze to re-energize at 5PM. At 6:30, she rang to say we wouldn't be coming. We played a game on Monopoly for old times sake (Still can't bear to dust off the good ol' Game of Life) and then she went to bed and left me to binge drink alone until midnight where I was too uncoordinated to send a bulk text out to people and then staggered to bed.

The good news: Her cold lifted yesterday morning. A lovely coincidence that it was also her first day back at work which, as far as I'm aware, equals a pretty sucky Christmas holiday.

Me: I'm holding my breath that her cold has passed me by because I don't feel like being sick. That said, if I do get sick it means that I'll get to use up some of my sick days so I'm not holding my breath very hard.

And now for these short messages
Topic: Stephen Says
Well, well, well. Looks like the busy holiday season has temporarily put the blog to sleep. It’s been a couple of busy weeks what with the Christmas party season directly conflicting with the arrival of Tim & Vicki which, in my case at least, led to being very busy, staying up past my bedtime and going above the legal alcohol limit for driving a few times. They had barely left when we had to organize ourselves to head down south to spend a lovely and quiet Christmas with my family where Elisabeth promptly got sick and lost her voice. Since we’ve been back, I’ve been back at work, Elisabeth is still struggling with her cold (Though Champaign & organic Chardonnay is helping her along better than any pills seem to have done) and we’ll be biking to a New Years party this evening where we will be well behaved because I’ve got to work tomorrow.

So that’s it for the re-cap. It’s been a pleasant two weeks with lots of good food and drink being (mostly) consumed in moderation. No New Year de-tox for us!

As for me, not too many New Years resolutions. Other that the usual ones to get more healthy, I’ve actually started to use a diary to keep track of things and over my past 5 day trial, it’s been pretty good and I’m more on the ball with doing things. Will it last into February, though? We’ll see…

Happy New Year to all ( Or, happy Eid al-Adha, if you’re so inclined) and your regularly scheduled programme will resume after the holidays.

Meowy Christmas!
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
We're leaving today for Dorset/Wiltshire where we'll spend Christmas with Stephen's English family. We'll be back on the 27th, so until then, have a very Meowy Christmas!