Just passing through

I can't decide if my philosophy on life (for today, at least) is good or simply just lazy. I was going to go to the gym this morning and then I thought "nah, I'll go later" purely because I fancied hanging around drinking tea, admiring the blue sky and picturesque hills, and reading the news.

Let's face it. I'm one of these people that will retire to France and while away her days drinking coffee and red wine in little cafés and bars on dusty side streets. Yeah.

Can you tell that I went to church last night and am now infinitely happier/more content than I was before I left? Three nights out in a row didn't make me this happy! (And plus, I now ache from so much dancing).

Good stuff.

* * * * *

Drinking: Lukewarm tea
Just ate: Berry Special K with yogurt
Excited because: The language essay is being handed in today - good riddance!!

Yawns...

The Monday Melee

1. The Misanthtropic: Name something (about humanity) you absolutely hate.
Men and women using language differently. Because I have to write an essay on it.

2. The Meretricious: Expose something or someone that’s phony, fraudulent or bogus.
Tesco 'Green Clubcard points'. What do they ACTUALLY do?

3. The Malcontent: Name something you’re unhappy with.
The fact that I'm sleepy despite not doing anything of note today.

4. The Meritorious: Give someone credit for something and name it if you can.

Just had a text from a friend to say she's back home, having travelled from Lampeter to Swansea (and then back) simply to go to the cinema. I am both impressed by her effort and am pleased because now I can phone her.

5. The Mirror: See something good about yourself and name it.
I remembered to actually join in the Melee this week.

6. The Make-Believe: Name something you wish for.
A hug.

WWJD

So there I am, wandering through blogs, like you do if it's a Wednesday night and you're a few hundred miles from a decent night at the Welsh Club. And I came across this post which asks "What Would Judith Do?" about a particular feminist issue.

And I experienced a mix of laughter and sadness. Laughter because I knew exactly which Judith was being referred to. Sadness because I recently spent the best part of 2 days working my way through a rather complex extract of her Gender Trouble book and it's a slightly traumatic memory.

I wasn't sure I entirely appreciated the use of WWJD but hey, it's late and I'm sleepy, so it's off to bed for me.

Pretty in pink

In a superb moment of grown-up-ness yesterday, my flatmate and I found ourselves wandering through Next, looking at homeware. Not that we can technically afford Next, but we're excited about our house next year and, well, furnishing it somehow seems rather exciting.

However, the thought occurs that I really will need a summer job if I am to get in the habit of desiring things like this £20 bread bin:



Ha.

Nothing much else to say today as my essays beckon. Sigh.

D is for Dangerous

1. The Misanthtropic: Name something (about humanity) you absolutely hate.
The seeming inability to have clever academic theories AND write about them in a clear and concise manner. I've just made my way through a Judith Butler reading which just makes the mind boggle. She's got some interesting ideas but they would be so much more powerful if she used the occasional everyday word to talk about them.

2. The Meretricious: Expose something or someone that’s phony, fraudulent or bogus.
The facility to listen to previous Radio 1 shows online - it's telling me that I'm listening to Jo Whiley's show from this morning, but it can't be it because I already listened to it and it doesn't sound the same at all. Yeah, I am such a cool person that I feel the need to listen to the Arctic Monkeys' Live Lounge performance twice in one day.

3. The Malcontent: Name something you’re unhappy with.
It's all sunny outside and I've just been offered a trip to Borders in Southampton which would combine my joint love of books and coffee, but instead I am staying home to continue my essay on sex and gender for Cultural Criticism. Hmmph.

4. The Meritorious: Give someone credit for something and name it if you can.
Edith on Radio 1 has literally just started playing the Arctic Monkeys cover of that Amy Winehouse song that they did this morning. Result!! Good woman.

5. The Mirror: See something good about yourself and name it.
I intelligently figured out that working my way through my entire bag of dark chocolate covered espresso beans from Whittard would not end well (i.e. with a rather hyped up Lucy) so I let my mum eat some.

6. The Make-Believe: Name something you wish for.
Haha, Alex Turner. 'Nuff said. For his voice and the fact that he isn't yet confident enough to not sound nervous on the radio.

* * * * *

Listening to: Favourite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys (YouTube has spoilt the surprise there)
Drinking: Redbush tea with lemon
Feeling: Fuzzy headed from too many hours working. Wimp!

Can I just mention...

...how much it amuses me that Prince William's split from his girlfriend is in the headlines of my news feeds for the second day in a row. I don't think I've ever had this happen to my headlines, except for cases like political crises where the situation has developed overnight.

What exactly is being updated here? They haven't turned round and said that they've made a terrible mistake and want an imminent engagement, right? So basically all I'm being updated with is more quotes on why they might have split up. Excuse me, but they were together for 4 years and were just about to experience the joy that is the long-distance relationship. Do we really need to ask why they might've decided to call it a day? And if it wasn't for those reasons, do we really need to analyse them til we figure it out? Thought not. And if anyone can explain why the BBC quoted someone from Hello magazine I'd appreciate it.

Adventures in eating

I just remembered that I tried calamari last night. Well, it was called that on the menu. It's supposed to be squid apparently, but my parents insisted that what was actually on the plate was octopus. And no I do not want to know how you can tell the difference.

I don't know what came over me. I had a reckless moment. Or maybe it was the drinking red wine on a stomach of pineapple and maltesers. But as I sat there picking my way through my caesar salad starter, I found myself uttering those words..."Dad, can I try a bit?"

(In case you hadn't figured it out yet, I am not a fan of anything much that has ever been underwater. Or anything that is blue cheesey, spicy, hot etc etc)

So, my verdict is: alright taste - I'm not big on fishy sorta stuff but it was quite nice. The batter stuff that was on the outside was good. But the texture? Not so good. It just didn't feel right when I chewed it. The image of an innocent octopus that I had in my head probably didn't help, but I just didn't like how it felt to actually eat it. But hey, I tried. I'm the kind of person that doesn't like jelly on the basis that it tastes slippery, so weirdly textured foods are never going to be my favourite choice. I've come round to mashed potato though...
I must be growing up.

AI (Animal Intelligence)

I couldn't help but think today, as I glared at the seagulls that were disturbing my peaceful lying in the sun, that they must get a bit confused sometimes. I mean, in the winter they see those human types driving past in their cars and huddling up in raincoats and big jumpers, always hurrying somewhere. And then the sun comes out and all the humans are suddenly lying prone on the ground. It must seem a bit weird.

Then again, my younger brother figured out that simply gesturing as if you were throwing bread makes the seagulls fly in that direction, even if you are in fact not holding any bread. Bless, I don't think they're particularly intelligent.

Sadly my other animal experience today involved a certain amount of death. One of my brother's 3 and a half year old gerbils died, which kind of wasn't a surprise as they're old, but still. The thing that got me was how the other gerbil reacted when it (sorry, she) got out of bed and discovered her sister (?) was dead. She nudged her a few times with her nose and then put both front paws on her side and did what remarkably resembled the presses you do in CPR. It seemed like such an intelligent reaction somehow. Poor thing - it's hard to tell how much they understand. But that could turn into a big philosophical debate and it's late. Maybe later.

I don't get it

What exactly is the Sarah's Law trial supposed to achieve? Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but what good does it do to know that there might be a paedophile living in your general area? Considering the number of stories in the news about kids and teenagers being attacked or raped or abducted, surely it's better for parents to assume that they always need to keep a close eye on their kids. It seems to me that the best you can do as a parent is be aware of where your kids are, what they get up to, and make sure they know how to look after themselves. Whether or not a paedophile might live a few blocks away from you doesn't rule out anything else that could happen to your kid. The thing is, I'm the first to say that of all the crimes a person can commit, paedophilia really makes me sick. But a part of me still wants to believe in second chances, even when it's hard to be convinced that anyone can reform from that.

Of course, I'm saying this from the point of view of not being a parent, and I guess there are parents out there who really want this law. I get that if you've got kids you're not going to want to take any chances with them at all. Sadly I can only find the story on Reuters so I haven't found many opinions on it.

On a lighter child-related note, I was sent a photo of a friend's baby niece this morning, and she's gorgeous! I was almost jealous, in a don't-want-one-of-those-for-a-long-time-yet sort of way.

* * * * *

On in the background: TMF (Avril Lavigne playing at the moment. No comment.)
Eating: Incredibly dark chocolate, mmm.
Waiting for: My parents to get home and admire my hoovering.

Ever so slightly single-minded

Just enough time left in my area of the world to do The Monday Melee...

1. The Misanthtropic: Name something (about humanity) you absolutely hate.
Teenage girls that deicde to bring their mum to an Arctic Monkeys gig and let them dance wildly in front of particularly small members of the audience. Brownie points for mother-daughter bonding, but minus several hundred for totally blocking my view of the Sheffield lads and also getting me hit in the arm a few times.

2. The Meretricious: Expose something or someone that’s phony, fraudulent or bogus.
The people selling knockoff band t-shirts outside the venue. Much as I'd like to get a cheaper one, I'd feel bad if my money was ending up nowhere near the actual band. Though the bands could do with bringing the price down a bit - the face value of my ticket was £19.50 and the official t-shirts cost £17.

3. The Malcontent: Name something you’re unhappy with.
The fact that I am home alone and very hyper still, but with no one to express this fact to.

4. The Meritorious: Give someone credit for something and name it if you can.
The Arctic Monkeys!!! Because tonight was a fantastic night and they put on a really good gig. And Alex said nice things to the audience. And happens to have a very gorgeous voice.

5. The Mirror: See something good about yourself and name it.
I remembered to buy bread, milk and juice today, so that my parents don't come back from Spring Harvest to an entirely empty fridge.

6. The Make-Believe: Name something you wish for.
For my videos of the gig to play on my laptop so that I could share them online, despite the understandably dodgy sound quality.

Hmm

It is only now that I'm getting round to some contemplation. The folks down at Minehead started today with a 7am service on the beach. Me? I started the day at 8.30am, sleepily shoving coffee and croissants in my mouth before jumping in the shower to be ready for church on time.

This is the first time in 8 years that I have been at home on Easter Sunday. I spent the previous 7 at Spring Harvest. Which by my maths also means that I have been a Christian for 7 years. It's funny to think of my tiny blonde self making that commitment all those years ago with no idea what was ahead, just knowing that it was the right thing for me at the time.

In many ways I feel like this should be some kind of birthday celebration. Of course, sat here with my cup of tea and easter egg remains, it is not exactly that.

But I still reckon that it's good to have done something with my life that, 7 years later, still seems like a good thing.

Whatever you say

According to an advert for L'Oreal collagen filler, the product contains "collagen biospheres", along with many other scientific-sounding things.

Call me naive, but until now I thought biospheres were those things at the Eden Project that contain the rainforest plants and everything.

Pffft.

"Shake it!"

So, I've had the house to myself quite a lot over the last few days. I've got into the habit of having all my stuff - phone, coursework etc - in the lounge, with the TV music channels on in the background for most of the time. I like having them on for background noise and to catch good songs that I haven't heard yet. But after quite a lot of hours with them on, the visual aspect is starting to get to me. They're all scantily clad women gyrating and men in baggy jeans grabbing their own crotches. The one thing that both genders have in common is the fact that they're all very very toned.

It's sort of tiring to watch while you're eating breakfast in your pyjamas.

* * * * *

Drinking: Instant coffee
Eating: A banana
About to: Make more notes on gender and language...yeah!

Hangin' around

Answering a few days of Question of the Day.

What color will we never ever ever see in your wardrobe?
Yellow. I don't think I have ever possessed anything in yellow, and I don't intend to start now. In fact, I think the only yellow clothing I own is my grey and yellow striped knee socks. Which are sort of retro so it works. But yellow is just never going to look good on me - I am incredibly pale and, well, it wouldn't be pretty.

What is one item that you own that has minimal monetary value, but has such sentimental value that you wouldn’t sell it for any amount of money?
I have a little koala soft toy that was in my incubator with me after I was born. It even has one of those hospital wristbands around its neck, saying who it belongs to. I like the fact that it was in there with me even when I was basically in a hi-tech plastic box. And it's gratifying to see that I am now a lot bigger than it.

Does killing time damage eternity? What do you do to kill time?
I don't know about damaging eternity. I mean, what does that entail? But I do think it can be a bit rubbish from the point of view that there's often way more productive things that you could be doing! Which is hugely hypocritical coming from a student who is very good at killing time, I realise. I do often think that I should pick up the phone and call a friend instead of staring blankly at *just one more* episode of ER. But there you go. My killing time usually involves the Internet - wandering through blogs, checking the news headlines...and, that student staple, going on MySpace. No, I know, I'm not proud of it. But it keeps me in touch with people, alright? (As you can tell, I'm slightly sensitive about being called part of the MySpace generation as if I don't have an IQ.)

* * * * *

Thursday Thirteen - #87

13 things, constructive or otherwise, that I could do this week while my family are all busy:

1. Watch rubbish daytime TV
2. Do my Language essay
3. Do my two Cultural Criticism essays
4. Bake things
5. Watch old Disney movies and reminsce
6. Get up to date with paperwork stuff like my mobile phone contract
7. Take lots of baths
8. Attempt some form of exercise
9. Drink the bottle of wine that my parents bought me
10. Back up my laptop files
11. Invite my friends over and watch endless amounts of DVDs
12. Spend my student loan online
13. Drink lots of real coffee from the coffee machine

* * * * *

Listening to: E4 Music
Drinking: Spanish orange juice
About to: Use a facial steamer thing to try to ease my very attractive hacking cough

Loadad Questions

Hypotheticals: If you could be a character in any novel, who would you be?
Sophie, from Sophie's World. What a cool way to learn philosophy, and you even get trapped in a philosophical game yourself.

Anything Goes: What outdoor activity do you consider the most dangerous?
Skinny dipping. Freezing cold, could injure yourself when you dive in, and - of course - huge embarassment factor. Why why why would you do this.

No-Brainers: What is your favorite genre of movies?
I'm never sure. I like ones that make me think or that teach me stuff, but in reality I end up watching romantic comedies most of the time, for sociability purposes.

Personals: How good is your long-term memory, on a scale of one to ten?
8, though I tend to remember the pointless stuff!