Gung hay fat choy!

It's the year of the dog, bitches! My time has come! muahahahahaha! ...ahem. And since it is the year of the dog, we decided to forego the promise of amazing celebrations in China town (dancing dragons, a river of red confetti, and Tai Chi demonstrations galore!) and take Puppy for a day out to Wales! First, we had a lovely breakfast of croissants and hot chocolate, and it was utterly delish! Puppy is now snoozing happily; covering me in muddy footprints really seems to bring him a sense of peace and contentment.

Last night we were meant to go to Jojo's house party, but we tried to squeeze in a quick bite at the Mexican first and were told there was an hour wait for a table when we arrived, so that was that out of the window. I'll have to get her a nice pressie to make up for it! I wore my new boots, waistcoat, and tan coloured jacket my mum got me and felt rather smart if I do say so myself! Boyf had the national dish of Mexico, Chicken Mole, created in 1620 by nuns apparently. This small fact coupled with the spicy effects it had on poor Boyfy has inspired me to rename it the Holy Moly! I had a gourmet burger, which despite being covered with sauteed onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and soured cream, was surprisingly bland. The restaurant has a lovely ambience though and the starters were gorgeous, I had halloumi fingers in a red onion chutney - yum!

God I am really making myself hungry! Peking duck tonight methinks.

Quack.

"Baby baby baby, you can have my private number..."

I know, I know, I'm meant to be working, but rather than slacking off, I'm publicly announcing my current word count in an effort to spur me on to greater word production! The dissertation from Hell currently weighs in at:

Introduction: 3,226

Garbled mess that needs to be split into chapters at some point before the end of the millennium: 8,685

It sucks that I've already had three days off ya'll!

...I'm really gonna regret doing that aren't I?

The A-Z of avoiding doing any actual work

I stole this from Janelle. It counts as a study break, m'lord!

A - Age I got my first kiss: 16
B - Band I'm listening to right now: The Thrills
C - Crush: Jake G./Jeremy Edwards
D - Dad's name: Pops
E - Easiest person to talk to: MJ, always
F - Favourite band at the moment: I've been rediscovering No Doubt
G - Gummy bears or gummy worms: Bears
H - Hometown: Liverpool, Liv-er-pool!
I - Instruments: Eyelash curlers, hair straighteners
K - Kids: Ewww, where?
L - Longest car ride ever: Car - Liverpool to Toulouse, coach - Liverpool to Berlin
M - Mum's name: Mrs. Christmas
N - Nicknames: Don't think I have any?
O - One wish: Long, healthy, happy lives for me and everyone I love
P - Phobia(s): Heights, up to and including flying and the central staircase at work!
Q - Quote: "I'm covered in bees!" Izzardisms largely inform my day-to-day speech
R - Reason to smile: Turning off the alarm function on my clock radio
S - Song I sang last: Mr. Cellophane (I recently watched Chicago and was ignored in conversation with housemates :P)
T - Time I hate: 7 am
W - Worst habit(s): Procrastinating... ahem
X - X-rays I've had: A couple on my hand
Y - Yummy food: I really want to go back to that Mexican!
Z - Zodiac sign: Aries

I'm guessing nobody's interested in J, U or V? Suggestions on a postcard, please! :P

Mr. Motivator

I just thought I'd post this e-mail my tutor sent me in an attempt to fenegle some work out of me. This is actually the nicest he has ever been towards me, so I'm thinking he must have a rather desperate outlook on the whole situation regarding my dissertation?

Dear Chica,

I'm sure you'll understand my concern at not receiving a reply to any of the emails I've sent you since early in September. Please, if you are experiencing any difficulties, get in touch. It's better in the long run to meet any blocks head on rather than to go into ostrich mode and hope things'll get better. (See how well he knows me?)

I know that some students feel able to complete the dissertation module without any assistance from their supervisor. However, this invariably isn't the case. In recent years we have had students who've done this, and it has resulted in their dissertation being referred. This has then necessitated a lengthy re-writing process. In no case was the student not well able to complete the dissertation, simply that they didn't take advantage of supervision and the work submitted therefore wasn't up to scratch. I wouldn't want this to be the case with your dissertation, as your best work is easily capable of passing.

Best wishes,

Mr. Motivator

You'd really think that an e-mail like this would galvanise me into action, no? If Mr. M. does have a rather gloomy outlook on the probability of me finishing my dissertation any time soon, it's likely that I'll prove him to be correct. Especially when we consider that until yesterday, I hadn't even looked at my dissertation since I received this e-mail... on November 10th!

Please, cross everything you can for me.

Fishing for, um, compliments

And on a completely different note, Jess of Blind Cavefish posted a link to a transcript of the Colin Farrell sex tape, so I thought I'd share it with you. Enjoy!

London Whale

I just had to post some pics of the Whale in the Thames. I was really upset that she died. I think they're so beautiful and would love to go see them in the wild one day. So I just wanted to say a sad farewell to such an amazing creature.

Just as an aside and to lighten the tone of this post, anybody who has been to the aquarium in Newquay may recall a sign outside that declares "Dare to put your head inside the mouth of a Killer Whale!" That particular whale though happens to be plastic and suspended from the ceiling, so I don't know how they got away with that advertisement.

Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock

This week is gonna be such a good week as I have three days off - count 'em! Just today and my TNL (Tuesday Night Late) to get through and then I can lay in bed instead of dragging myself up and getting dressed in the dark - dunno why I don't just switch a light on :P In other good news, Boyf was meant to be going off to work in London today but it's been cancelled so I've got him all to myself (what's the bets he makes plans with Butthead now I've said that? :P)

Weekend was great, but passed in the blink of an eye, what is up with that? Boyf and I cooked together on Saturday and made a to-die-for pasta, then settled in for the film fest I spoke of in my last post. Yes, we watched all of two films over the entire weekend! And we had to stay up until 2 am on Saturday watching one of those. We cleared our schedules on Sunday to watch DVDs all day and watched not-a-one! I couldn't even tell you what we did instead, the day just sort of drained away like sand in an egg timer. On Sunday night we ordered some pizza and stuff in but it turned up nearly two hours later, and it was stone cold. Gutted.

Managed to squeeze Big Bro in though; oh my goodness what a plonker George Galloway is! I really hope Chantelle stays and the other two get the boot on Wednesday. I also couldn't help but notice that Jodie Marsh has made it into the halls of fug fame! That'll show 'em!

Am I the only person who hasn't seen Brokeback Mountain yet?

"I hate anal sex, and I've got a piano!"

So it's the morning after the night before. It was Lady Penelope's leaving do last night and for it we headed for some Mexican food after work. (Fajitas burned my face off.) Unfortunately, the Foot Perv tagged along to add a little freakiness to the proceedings and stare at our high heels all night.

A brief aside about Foot Perv. He is the object of much fascination amongst some in our office (and the chief topic of conversation for Lila and Burnsy), but I try to keep out of it as much as possible cos I think that on the whole he's harmless (though I do wonder sometimes, particularly since Guillermo's One Hour Photo reference.) Yesterday in work, he walked past the counter and bashed straight into a sign we have out there without even flinching or missing a step. Burnsy was in the process of serving someone and just stopped to stare at him, then apologised with a matter-of-fact "Sorry about that, I'm just obsessed with that member of staff."

I almost got left to walk over to the pub we were meeting in on my own with him but Burnsy came to my rescue and declined a lift from Jojo. I spent most of the night with Jojo and got to know a few people a bit better, like Lila for example. She reckons that she doesn't really talk about herself much (true) until she's had a few drinks, and then she's all like "My name's Lila, I hate anal sex, and I've got a piano!" These are her own words folks. Well, close enough :P

After the meal we went to Labinsky's on Mathew Street (I never go out in Mathew Street), drank horrible cocktails and had a bit of a boogie. Lila's voice is amazing and she busted some moves to make everyone laugh until practically the whole place was watching her in a strange mixture of amusement and admiration. Then I called Boyfy to pick me up and sat in Jojo's car for a bit until he turned up, when, to his delight, all the girls cooed over his Land Rover.

My DVD's arrived earlier this week so the plan for later on today is to snuggle in front of our new TV/DVD/Video Combi (so neat) and have a movie fest. Boyf gets really bored of films quite quickly though so it'll probably end up a solo effort unless I can trade him for MJ.

Yesterday I was again called upon to take the minutes and it was a bloody 'mare. Everyone was milling about in different groups talking about where was the best place for these new machines we're getting and my notes are so complicated that they hardly make sense. P.Diddy has to make sketches!

It was also Grinch's birthday. Bovvered?

OMG how good was Big Brother when they showed Preston and George nominating?! It was so funny when George was like "We'll just tell them we've been punished," on the way out and they were all watching it on the screen. Best Celeb Big Bro ever (despite the lack of Jeremy Edwards)?

Desperate Scousewives

There's this feature on a local radio station called Desperate Scousewives. They get people calling in asking to be set up with someone they fancy, with often disastrous results. The most recent one I heard (I'm usually in work when they do this, so I only hear it if I'm lucky enough to cadge a lift in on a Tuesday afternoon) went a little something like this, except I can't remember the guy's name so let's just call him Bob:

DJ: We have someone who's rang us and they want us to let you know that they quite fancy you!
Bob: Oh... Really? Me?
DJ: Yes, are you single at the moment?
Bob: Ummm.... well, who is it?
DJ: Are you single or not?
Bob: Well, who is it first?
DJ: *Laughs* Have you got someone in mind you'd like it to be?
Bob: Well, there's a couple...
DJ: Oh right, you're a one aren't you! Well it's actually Lucy! You've known her a long time but she never had the guts to tell you before.
Bob: Lucy??? ...Oh, Lucy! Yeah, I know her.
DJ: So what do you think, do you fancy a date with Lucy?
Bob: Erm... God, I'm just so shocked!
DJ: Don't you fancy her?
Bob: Well, she's a nice girl and everything but she's not really...
DJ: Is she not your type? What colour hair has Lucy got?
Bob: Blonde.
DJ: Do you not like blondes?
Bob: Well, yeah, it's not that... she's just not... my type.
DJ: So what is your type then?
Bob: Ummm... not female.
DJ: Oh right. You're gay then?
Bob: I thought she knew!

It goes on for a bit. As soon as the DJ finds out Bob's gay he starts calling him luv :P But my point is that hilariously contrived debacles like this happen way too often on Desperate Scousewives for me to suspend my disbelief. Like the other day they rang some guy and he was like "She's a psycho, tell her to stop calling me, I've confessed to my girlfriend and everything, it was one stupid mistake!" Surely, it has to be fixed? I quite like the name of the feature though :)

Work, Rest & Play

How is it Monday already? What happened to the weekend?! Saturday was great - we watched a Bill Bailey DVD, which made me laugh SO much, and got squiffy, and I ordered all kinds of stuff off Play.com. Then on Sunday we gave Puppy a haircut, and I ordered some more stuff off Play! What? They're having a Sale! But that was it! How can that possibly take up an entire weekend?

For the record, I purchased:

Black Eyed Peas - Monkey Business. An impulse buy.
Gwen Stefani - Love, Angel, Music, Baby. I heart Gwen.
K.T. Tunstall - Eye to the Telescope
The Best of Wet Wet Wet. Boyf's Valentine present cos he's a fan, the big sop!
About A Boy. This is the first movie I went to see with Dedalus and we both loved it.
Along Came Polly. Could've been funnier but I have a soft spot for Aniston.
Chicago. Despite the fact that I despise Richard Gere in this role. He just is not Billy! CZJ looks great in this.
The Day After Tomorrow. For Jake G ogling purposes.
Donnie Darko. One of my absolute favourite films. And more Jake G :)
Forrest Gump. An always watchable Classic.
Identity. Such a good film and I really like John Cusack for some reason I can't quite put my finger on.
Mean Girls. Need I elaborate on this one?
The Great Escape/A Bridge Too Far/Some other war film. Also for Boyf.
The Wedding Singer/My Big Fat Greek Wedding/The Wedding Date. I've never seen the Wedding Date but this combo was too good to be overlooked.

And now I'm back in work with the Jim'll Fix It theme tune stuck in my head! And you, and you, and you!

The Christmas Highlights

So much happened since my last post before Christmas and my first one of 2006 that I won't even attempt to record it all here. In a bit of a Davina moment, here are my best bits!

On Christmas Eve we filled the living room up with all our presents. You could hardly move in there! I charged the video camera up and filmed the Boyf opening his kayak. He was so surprised and looked really chuffed! We start opening our pressies on Christmas Eve because all the family descend on us on Christmas Day and we never get time to open our own gifts. We also have a tradition of having hot turkey and stuffing sandwiches and opening a bottle of champers - the champers didn't happen this year cos Boyf didn't feel like any. Christmas Day is a blur of arrivals and kisses and presents; my sis was really happy with her Sugababes tickets, and Pebbles waved her silky knickers in her boyfriends face then said "Sorry nan," to my mum. My mum, holding Pebbles' baby, replied "It's a bit late for that!" In a stroke of pure indulgence, I snubbed our Yank's Boxing Day meal in favour of some very decadent me time. I ran a bath using some nice scents and stuff that Pebbles got me for Christmas, lit some candles and had a good long soak with a glass of Baileys and some Ferrero Rocher! Then I made my tea and settled down in front of SATC. Fabulous!

Then there was our French Expedition. We left Liverpool at about 3 AM and started the drive down to Portsmouth. For half the journey I texted Guillermo, who was en route to the airport for a Polish New Year. We got a cabin on the ferry and had a bit of a sleep, and when we arrived in France it was snowing. There was deep snow at the roadside for our whole journey, and they closed the motorway a couple of times because of light blizzards. The roads were so icy that it was a bit of a treacherous journey, and when we reached our destination we decided that it was so not worth it! The place we had initially booked with the whole family (who all subsequently dropped out apart from my folks) was an absolute shit bin. It was freezing fucking cold and they had all the (useless) radiators set to minimum, and were surprised when Boyf asked them for logs for the open fire. The duvets were the thinnest summer duvets you could possibly find, and there was an enormous draft blowing through the house from all the doors, windows, and even the light switches! On the first night we were there, the gas ran out in both of the houses we were all staying in. The next morning, we awoke to find ice on the inside of the windows. We all decided we couldn't possibly stay there, and so set off to Domfront and a lovely gite where we've stayed in the past, but the owners were out. We wrote a little note with our phone number and stuck it on the door. We had to restrain my mother from writing HELP in the snow. When we got back to Maison Les Miserables, we plugged in the electric heaters we bought at the local supermarket, and the electricity blew and was out all night! But we weren't too downhearted as we got a phonecall and were off to Domfront the next morning! We were thrilled to see our rescuers as they ushered us in to sit by the roaring fire and made us tea. New Year was saved and we had a great time from then onwards, wrapping up warm and walking around the gorgeous grounds, sitting in front of the log fire, and enjoying a couple of bottles of bubbly on New Years Eve (one at midnight and one at 1 AM - cos it was midnight in England :P) We adopted their cat - called Hercules, but we renamed him Boghead after we found him drinking out of the toilet - and the bugger kept me up all night wanting a stroke and a fuss. We also had numerous visits from a local farmer who spoke no English, and as we speak very little French it was a bit of an awkward business to conduct a conversation. He brought us some homemade cider on his first visit and then kept turning up every night around the same time; there was lots of "so, you have cows?" with accompanying impressions and hand gestures from Boyf, and "oui, la vache!" from him. I also recall a conversation about Euro Millions and a recitation of different alcoholic beverages. Still, he was a friendly sort, so we left him a little note in phrasebook-French and some beers, and a bottle of champers for the gite owners too. It's funny how the little French you do know completely escapes you when you actually need it!

We made the most of our last day in France by touring up to Bayeux to the most gorgeous little Tea Salon and having coffee and cakes. Then we had a poke about the Cathedral for a bit before making our way towards the port. Bayeux is really pretty and I might post some pics from last time we were there soon since we didn't take that many this year. We also stopped at Pegasus Bridge and Boyf jumped the fence and had his photo taken on the bridge itself.

Anyway, I'd better vamoose and get ready for curry and beers in aid of my sister's 34th.

Bye Bye Jodie

I am very disappointed that Jodie Marsh was evicted from the Celeb BB house last night. I thought she was a complete mess and utterly vile when she was talking to icky Denis Rodman about lesbian sex and all the rest of it, and it's so obvious that it was all a big front she put on to get attention. But the rest of them were so harsh on her and bullied her terribly; it was a total witch hunt and I couldn't actually believe what I was seeing. The most ludicrous crime they pinned on her was that it was actually her who was orchestrating all the bullying in an effort to make the public feel sorry for her. Michael Barrymore has got to be mentally ill and I can't believe the rest of them not only stood back and let him give her so much abuse but actually supported him. Oh, and Rula Lenska and George Galloway pretending to be cats? I nearly lost my lunch.

By the way, Pete Burns (right) totally reminds me of a woman I work with! Which also reminds me of a rather back handed compliment I overheard in work a while back.

Burnsy: Lila, you know who you look like today? Heidi.
Lila: Range? Sugababes?
Burnsy: Yeah, with your hair like that.
Lila: Aw thanks! Do I really?
Potter: Yeah... but I think it's just the hair though...
Weezer: Oh yeah! Heidi or that one from Black Eyed Peas.

Team Aniston

I nicked this from Wondy (who nicked it from www.perezhilton.com), LOVE it!

And I am SO Team Aniston!

Anti Climax

So, it was the Lost finale the other night. I'd missed the show before so I didn't see them launch the raft and get the warning about the black smoke or owt, gutted! I managed to get really into it just before the series finished! Typical. Channel 4 showed a funny announcement about how they, like us, are disappointed with the end of Lost and that, like us, they want to know what the eff is going on, so they're gonna show the second series in the Spring. I stayed up past my bed time to watch the double episode on Wednesday because I knew that the next day at work somebody would be bound to spoil the end (the next day I walked past Potter and Lila and heard "did Sawyer get shot?!" so it's a good job I did.) But anyway. The Walt bit was a good twist and they found a long ladder, ooh! The guy who was showing them how to handle dynamite was so funny until he exploded. I love it when a show takes the piss out of itself like that.

I am so glad it's Friday because it's been a bitch getting used to the back-to-work routine. We have meetings Friday mornings, and this morning after we had all settled down the boss looked up at me and, quite unexpectedly, said: "[My real name], you can take the minutes, get your note pad." We have never taken minutes at meetings before. Furthermore, I don't have a notepad. But anyway, after a look of shock rippled around the room - really, we live such bloody sheltered lives that that can surprise us so much - I pilfered some paper and scribbled down everything everyone said, and now I have to like, write a staff bulletin. Wednesday was something new too cos I got sent to work in a different building with Lila and Elspeth, which felt a lot like going on a school trip or getting sent to another class cos you've been naughty! I think we all must have regressed or something because we tried to crank call the building we usually work at but the phones were broken, and we kept getting the giggles. Plus we were all wearing really similar coats so we looked like a posse walking through town, for shame. Then Boyf had absolutely no idea where to pick me up from so I had to wander around in the dark looking for the Jeep, which I walked straight past and we didn't see each other. And to add insult to injury I'd left my trifle in the fridge at our normal workplace, and when I got home MJ said he'd wanted it so I had to bring it home for him the next day! How unfair!

Laters.

Fresh

Here it is, Meme Numero Dos. Thanks Wondy, I'm finding these a bit addictive!


1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was thirteen years old, or nearly fourteen as I remember telling people. I was at a school I hated, and I think I had a crush on this tall, dark guy; we used to buy each other little presents, he bought me an enormous lollipop one time. I started writing a novel that is still incomplete, but which I worked on quite slavishly for a good while in my teens. I loved Take That, festooned my walls with posters of them, and expected to grow up and marry Mark Owen. I hung around with three other girls, and we attended not one but two PJ & Duncan concerts together. I occasionally see a couple of them in the street but never say much to them beyond hello.


2. What were you doing a year ago?
A year ago... I was working on my dissertation trying to get it in for the February deadline (um, yes, the dissertation I'm still writing!) Deciding to start up a blog but not writing anything on it. Staying up all night on MSN with Guillermo. And filling out endless job application forms. The only difference now really is that I'm stuck in a 9-5 job while trying to juggle all the rest of it.



3. What are 5 of your favourite snacks?
I'm good when I'm at work and snack on fruit or yoghurt, but for Christmas I got a box of Toffifees (luv 'em!) and I like Doritos when slumping in front of a DVD. Oooh, and chocolate hobnobs for dunking into a cup of tea!


4. What songs do you know all the words to?
Never Ever - All Saints, due to a rather tragic Boxing Day karaoke many years ago
Lots of stuff by The Beatles, particularly from the White Album and Abbey Road
Destiny's Child - Bootilicious
Cry Me a River - Julie London
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme tune


5. 5 things you would do if you had money
Buy a nice little house in Cornwall by the sea
Make sure my folks, sisters and nieces were sorted for cash
Buy properties across Europe to renovate and a camper van to travel between them all :)
Quit my job and spend all my time writing
Give more to charidee... no I'm not just being corny, if I was I would've put it first! :P


6. 5 bad habits
I worry far too much
Procrastination
Empyting the entire content of my warddrobe when attempting to dress for a night out and leaving it all over the floor
Flirting with boys I shouldn't
Starting books and then not finishing them, something that would've driven me mad before the days of speed reading 3 novels I had no interest in within 3 days for classes


7. 5 things I love to do
Spend quality time with my nearest and dearest
Shop for clothes
Watch movies
Write my blog/read others'
Eat gorgeous food in nice restaurants!


8. 5 things I would never get new, buy new or wear again
Hair scrunchies - the worst
Leggings or footless tights - why they were revived I shall never know
Flared or baggy trousers - look absolutely ridiculous on me
Leopard print anything
Fur - perhaps the only thing I admire Jodie Marsh for is having a go at Pete Burns for his disgusting monkey coat on Celebrity Big Brother


9) 5 favourite toys
Okay, this Christmas I was like a ten year old with the presents I got; they even included a gorgeous dolls house that my boyfriend got me because my dad had always promised to build me one when I was growing up, so that has to be one.
My pink Nintendo DS!
My laptop, don't know how I ever lived without the thing!
Board games
I'm struggling to think of a last one, but I had lots of fun with this outfit! :P


I'm also meant to do five tags, but you know the score whoever wants to play. (David, you could resurrect your blog with these, you got a fan asking you to come back!)

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Happy Birthday to my sis! 34 today, and the most unlikely grandma in existence!

Parlez vous Meme?

A few lightyears ago, like before Christmas, I was tagged by Wondy. I have finally got around to finishing the first one, and am still working on the second!

Meme 1: Tell 5 random things about yourself that nobody else knows.

I have very few secrets, so this lot is the best I can do! At least some people will know all about these, but a couple of them may come as a surprise!

1. Escapism.
I want to run away and live by the sea in Cornwall, where I will eat pasties and ice cream and drink nothing but Scrumpy! :P I love the sea, even though I can't swim, and the thought of living there is so appealing right now. I could take Puppy for walks on the beach and get away from the craziness for a bit. Me and the Boyf could have a lovely little house together, it'd be perfect!

2. I like boys I do.
All my closest friends have been boys. When I was growing up my cousin Judas was one of my best friends. We spent absolutely hours together, climbing trees, sliding down mud banks on our bums, and... playing Barbie! Yeah, I'm outing the sucker! Judas is a Barbie lover! Revenge!!! ...Ahem, where was I? Oh yeah, then of course MJ is like the most amazing friend I ever had (and not just because he reads this blog, no sir!) At uni there was Dedalus; our friendship provoked all these rumours that we were having some passionate affair (note passing in class, trips to the cinema just the two of us, him breaking up with his gf) and to be honest we did teeter into weird territory for a while - he started doing this thing where he held out all these intense gazes and stuff, and there was a time it felt like he was my boyfriend. This is why being mates with straight boys gets complicated. I am not forgetting the lovely Guillermo, my new found Take That comrade! (Hehe, only kidding.) David, who sent me bouquets of red roses on birthdays and Valentines past when I didn't have a boyfriend. And at work the person I feel like I get on with the most is, surprise surprise, Potter, while all the women send me into a paranoid frenzy of "do they like me? what did that look mean? does she hate my guts? were they just laughing about me? I hate this place, I want to move away and join a kibbutz!" It's not that I don't have female friends, but girls are generally harder to work out. Like the prophet Lindsay Lohan says, in girl world, everything has to be sneaky. See also, postcard.

3. I'm a one-man girl.
I've only ever slept with one man. This is something I'm happy about, and the thought of sleeping with anyone else just seems so wrong. If I became single again, this would really worry me, though I know if I met the right person it probably wouldn't seem like such a big deal. It's not that I think it's wrong or bad to have numerous sexual partners or whatever; I just know it's not for me, and think myself very lucky to have met the Boyf and had my first time with someone who truly loved me.

4. I crave the freedom to write.
My job is totally zapping my free time and I hate the restrictions it's put on my life. I have hardly any time to work on my dissertation, never mind my novel, and I really miss it. I'd love to be able to jack it all in and just go for broke with my writing. But I know that's just too much of a gamble; I need money to live and unfortunately, working on my novel is not a very lucrative business. My biggest pipe dream is to be published someday... Or, I'd quite like to be Zadie Smith. Have I mentioned this before?

5. My lovely lady lumps - check 'em out!
I've gone up a bra size, but I haven't been shopping yet and I got lots of underwear for Christmas. Consequently, all my bras are too small!

Now, I don't understand this bit.. I have to take the name off the bottom of the list and put mine at the top? Was that it?

Chica
Wondy
Shelli
Mel
the rain queen(poody)

Meme 2: Coming Soon!

There's no place like home

So where did Christmas go? It's all gone by in a blur. I got back from France in the wee small hours of this morning after a ten day trip, and tomorrow I'm back in bloody work! Did someone lean on the remote and accidentally press fast forward? Belated as it is, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

It felt like it was still Christmas this morning (ahem, more like afternoon) when I got up and opened my mail. I had a delivery arrive while I was away of two big boxes full of clothes I bought online in the sales before I left :) I am chuffed with most of them, but I'm returning a duffle coat that makes me look like a second hand car dealer. Not the look I was going for! Then I switched on my laptop to catch up with everything and was greeted by 230 items of spam! Now I have to get ironing, and ferret out my new bag amongst the jumble of Christmas pressies stuffed in my room to prepare for tomorrow. Post-holiday blues anyone?

More later, when I'm awake!

P.S. I've heard much about the new series of Celebrity Big Brother but I can't get excited about it as there is no Jeremy Edwards for me to lust after and develop an unhealthily intense crush on. And all I can say is... Michael Barrymore?! I'm guessing there's no swimming pool then?