Mediterranean?

Despite my knackeredness and a gentle suggestion that I should really go to bed, I have decided to attempt a post for today.
So yes. Um.
Well yesterday the boy came round and we were nice and almost chaste together on the bed (with the possible exception of the removal of socks) until suddenly at midnight, while I was comfortably curled upon his shoulder, the fire alarm went off. We dragged ourselves downstairs to find that someone had set one off - whether accidentally or on purpose remains a mystery. Suffice it to say that, though I technically live in a girl's college, he wasn't the only male specimen to issue forth from the hall! Rather amusing. He was also the only one who didn't look uncomfortably like he'd just been caught with his trousers down.

Anyway, on to today. I read an article on the collapse of the `Abbasid empire, I noted with glee that the library is now open for longer hours thanks to exams, I went to Ed's picnic and met lots of wonderful random people and we made putty models of half-owl half-walrus type beings with bits added on. We also played with Ed's vibraslap (a Valentine's present - 'The way to a man's heart is through his vibraslap!') and discovered it was better when hit with a banana ('It works better when you use a banana!' 'Let me try.....Ooh, you're right, it does work better!')

Then was Dr Who time, and I love K9. He is the cutest.

Then time for the Bus revue, which was muchly funny. I discovered that I had in fact met Michael the Musical Monkey before the Annual Dinner last term - I was at a Northern Food Party in summer last year, where there were mushy peas. Michael came along in a green shirt - pea green in fact. It was so strikingly green that someone remarked that he had just the right shirt for a mushy pea party. Alice then chipped in with, 'Yes, Michael, may I compliment you on your pea-ness? Why are you laughing.....oh. OH!'

Kim and I went to get chips after the show, and we were giggling an awful lot ('It's like being drunk only without the alcohol and slightly more verticality') and I was trying to tell her a story about Magdalene College's vegetarian food. The conversation went thus:

'At one point, they had such an inadequate mediterranean budget that.....did I just say mediterranean?'
'Yes you did!'
'Why the hell did I say mediterranean?'
'I don't know!'
'It must have been written down somewhere and I read it out loud by mistake. Hmm, can't see it. Ah well, anyway. Story. So they had such an inadequate mediterranean.....I've done it again! I've said bloody mediterranean again! What the hell is wrong with me?'

So yeah. Um. That was my day. And as the boy wouldn't let me go to the party this evening (suggesting instead that I get some sleep) I shall drag myself off to bed! Good night! xxx

Prepositions

Awkward little buggers. I hate them. Apart from when they are useful, which at the moment is not at all.....dratted items.

Does anyone have any idea what ladaa might mean in English? I am still trying to translate my text about the Gynaecology Unit and it is FULL (and I mean full) of this blasted preposition, which means, variously:

'At, by (place or time); in the presence of, in front of, before, with'

How very useful. It also means a lot of other things in different contexts, only I can't find the one I need. Gahhhh!!!

`adam ishbaa` al-raghba al-jinsiya

Which roughly means 'a lack of gratification of sexual desire' - a phrase lifted directly from the text I chose to translate from Arabic into English for my supervision tomorrow. This may give you some idea of what the text is about. I thought it was about mental illness - an understandable mistake to make since the words for fertility and mental illness are pretty much the same. Didn't realise my mistake until almost at the end of the passage when it started talking about menstruation.....however it is too late to choose another now! It'll be fine, she says confidently, taking her life into her hands.
I saw a duck today. It was in the little courtyard that leads from my side of Sidgwick to the library. The interesting thing about seeing a duck in this courtyard is that it is very small and enclosed by very high walls. Not to mention a long way from the river. Usually there are no birds there. And yet, suddenly there was a duck, wandering around the courtyard and quacking to itself. It was a large enough surprise to jolt me out of my usually internal dialogue (between me and myself) and say out loud, 'And there's a duck in the courtyard.' It was gone by the time I left the library, so I'm beginning to wonder if I imagined it.
However, I am not the only one to have had a strange experience with birds today. Tris MSNed me almost as soon as I got back to my room, saying, 'THERE ARE 15 PARROTS OUTSIDE!!!'
He lives in Central London.
This inspired Fan to say, "Well, parrots are common in London. No wait, I'm thinking of pigeons. Same thing really..."
I also had a mock Akkadian exam today, and it's going to be scary. I'm not very good at writing things down until they're entirely clear in my head. And unseen texts are never entirely clear, so I'm a little buggered.
I'm still obsessed with Good Omens.
And now I'm off to watch Desperate Housewives. Toodle-oo peeps xxx

Bellowhead and assorted

My ankles are aching. And my wrists feel as if they are about to fall off. And my ears have gone slightly deaf and my throat is sore. And I had no tea tonight.
Why? You may be asking that, and you may not be asking that, but I'm going to tell you anyway, because tonight was the night of the much awaited BELLOWHEAD CONCERT (which is harder to type while holding the shift key down than it really sould be - perhaps I should use Caps Lock in future.....).
And it was fabulous.
Utterly splendid.
Tremendous.
Marvellous.
Effervescent.
Wonderful, excellent, and totally groovy, spiffy and wicked!
So groovy, in fact, that I was jigging along so violently and compusively that I failed to take many photos. However, here are the few I did acquire - for once posted in the blog piece itself rather than via Hello - thank Helen for that! :)














A very blurred photo of the band, featuring Jon Boden's pink tie. And another featuring the famous Sousaphone (the metallic shiny circle just above the silhouetted head).







Another image of same.










These two clearly demonstrate how good the music was - I even stopped to focus both of these properly, then got carried away while taking the shot! The one with two stripes is the fiddlers, the other is god knows what.....







The gig was stupendous fun, as earlier intimated. Saw quite a few acquaintances and friends there, had a bit of a gossip and was once more tempted by the Molly people to come over to the Dark Side - I am leaning in that direction, and even Isla is convinced I will be a morris dancer eventually; she knows how Scottish is just not hitting all the buttons for me!
On that note, Katie and I were having some fun in the second to last number, 'The Prickle-eye Bush' - one of my favourites, which we were singing along to very loudly and doing actions to suit the words (not hard), before launching into a little bit of Molly dancing (well, as much as space would allow). I think we were enjoying ourselves rather too much, but then again, is that possible?
The evening was nicely rounded off by an incident in the car park involving an unexpectedly -spouting ticket machine, followed by Isla's, Colm's and my entertaining inability to get Isla out of the back seat of Colm's car. It was rather like one of those moments when you have five people standing around a jar of jam all saying to each other, 'Nope, it won't open.'


In other news, today I spilled hot tomato juice over my coffin, to match the blanched leather of my bureau caused by the spillage of hot water yesterday. Which absolutely didn't happen.

Also view this item:
This is my sock, or more correctly WAS my sock. I was putting it on and a huge hole appeared in it. Miraculous, eh? No idea what could have caused it.....
Ahem.

(brute force. you have seen what I can do to socks, you have heard how I kill things. Be afraid.....)

Hair

More specifically the fact that I washed it at 10am this morning, and it's now 10pm and it's still not dry. Now that's impressive!
Dr Who goodness back on our screens! I think David Tennant is actually a pretty damned good Doctor. Not to mention the fact that he's a little foxy.....Mm. Foxy Doctor.
:D
Also managed some work today in the library, despite the presence of the constantly sniffing girl who was making quite a racket, I can tell you! There's very little that's more annoying than someone sniffing constantly when you're trying to work in a library. It's inconsiderate, and also, I don't want to catch it! And before anyone says, 'Oh, but she can't help it' yes she bloody well can! If you're that ill, you shouldn't be in the library anyway, for the sake of the other users. Gahhh!

Ooh. Briefly soap-boxed there. I do apologise!

In other news, I have definitely not damaged my valuable 19th century bureau by spilling boiling water on it. Indeed no. Ahem.
:-s
Rod Stewart's Great American Songbook albums are amazingly good easy listening, btw.

An intriguing question

Why oh why is it that Easter eggs, even after they have been partly consumed and their circumference decreased, will NOT fit back into the foil wrappers they came in? Is it some sort of conspiracy? Does the foil shrink in between unwrapping and rewrapping? Or am I just an incompetant idiot*?

I apologise for the split infinitive, but I feel strongly about these things.


*This question does not require an answer.

Well, thanks to severe incompetance, my cress developed mould after 3 days of my care, so I will have to start again with something less easy to kill, like a pet rock.
Otherwise I haven't worked very hard, but I have started thinking a lot about angels. To that end I have re-read considerable portions of His Dark Materials and have bought and consumed Good Omens in one afternoon, a feat of which I really shouldn't be so proud since it's keeping me from more important matters like my Part 1 exams which I need to pass with colours which, if not flying, should certainly be coasting on a thermal somewhere fairly high up if I wish to fulfil my desire to enter the academic world. Also involved in my angelic research have been some of the poems of William Blake (Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Songs of Innocence and Experience and soon to include Milton) and Paradise Lost. I really want to make a film of Paradise Lost. I think it would be a fabulous visual experience! Milton is wonderful. Every prospective writer ought to read him before even thinking of beginning. And Pullman too, actually. Unfortunately too few do.....

I also wish to know who Scarlet Emperor is - your identity is eluding me, Sir/Madam.

My cress seeds are sprouting :) 

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris. You're the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

What European City Do You Belong In?

the Scarf of Doom 

Yay!

Have finally finished the Scarf of Doom, now also known as the Not-quite-Moebius scarf. It has weighed in at a marvellous 12ft long (roughly) and is very pretty if utterly impractical.....
In other news, I'm trying to grow cress. This shouldn't be a hard task, but my green-fingered efforts so far have included the manslaughter by neglect of five or six cacti, which are famed for being hard to kill. On the other hand, the stench of cress in my bedroom will perhaps remind me to take care of it. Then I can eat it :D

An earlier image of the same, also featuring The Fat Cat, and my dad's feet

My grey cat, seen here having just awoken from lying flat on her back fast asleep. 

A sailor's yarn

Currently tied up in yarn and bits of my scarf. It's getting a bit silly - it's the length of me from head to floor, and then back up to my breasts. I must cast off soon.....

Boat Races and assorted parties :)

So we lost. Who cares? It was a good weekend for a party!

But to start from the beginning, this was a weekend of random firsts for me, once again. First trip to London completely alone, which led to some interesting navigation of the Tube when I realised the Circle Line which I was trying to pick up at King's Cross was down between Edgware Road and Liverpool Street - ah, the joy! Lalala. So yea. I met an old friend and another old friend half an hour late in High Street Kensington, and we wandered around doing shoppingy type things and eating at a place called Wagamama which does Japanese food and is utterly fabulous :) Then went back to www.dinoftheworld.blogspot.com's halls (which are right next door to the Albert Hall!) and played my first game of chess in AGES, which I lost. After that we went to www.dinoftheworld.blogspot.com's house in Blackheath, which is a totally marvellous place and not at all like London. His dogs are mad and silly and apparently one of them is in love with me. Awwww. And his mum is great and gave me loads of cakes and I slept in a half tester bed which was another first! :D

So having woken up ridiculously early in the morning, I had nice breakfast, was given an umbrella by www.dinoftheworld.blogspot.com's mum and set off to Greenwich, which was about 15mins that way *points*, and got to Toni's house in plenty of time to get to the boat race. We met the others at the station and while we were waiting, played the 'How many light entertainers can we fit into a photo booth?' game. The answer was 6 quite tall ones. Then me and Toni polka-ed around the station for a while before we all headed off to watch the race. We won the seconds, lost the firsts, got rained on quite heavily and drank Pimms - another first, at least for this summer! Afterwards we all trundled off back to Toni's and started the party :D Was marvellous, and the girl crying in the loo wasn't me for once!

Monday was very much a post-party day. Woke up feeling miserable (but that was partly tiredness, partly time of the month) but fortunately got to spend some time with someone I wanted to spend time with, which was pleasant. Then a hideous sound drifted up the stairs. It was 'Jerusalem' being sung by many voices in various keys, accompanied by a metallic banging. Hardly had the company leapt out of bed when into the room burst Ben Parker, dressed only in his boxers and repeatedly bashing (Gt stem!) with a spoon a poor colander which had never done anything to him! Accompanying him were various others, but honestly I can't remember who they were, having been traumatised for life by the sight of Ben in.....well, not very much. I shudder at the memory. Anyway, it turns out that this was our call to breakfast, so I got dressed and we descended to take our seats at the breakfast table, whereupon I got out the cakes which I had been given by www.dinoftheworld.blogspot.com's mum the day before and placed them upon the table to cries of much joy. The rest of the day was a bit random, but I ended up back at home having stopped off in Baker Street to visit the famous detective who's name I shall not mention for fear of exploding. I have been watching/listening to/reading far far FAR too much Sherlock Holmes.....oh no! I said it! I - aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhh...............

*BOOM!*

*sounds of plaster and dead pigeons hitting the floor, followed by silence*