Front room gig

Do youngsters still do front room gigs these days?

I thought I might do something at the party, but its too late now. I should try and find the tape with the track I did with Mark Lowe and encode it.

We are getting some music kit and hopefully powerbook g5 w/garageband/logic next year so I'll get the kids and Lou involved and at the next party we'll be the fokin vonTrapps.

Panini tshirt

I'd like a blue tshirt for Christmas with the Panini logo on it. Not that I'm picky or anything. I can't find any.

On my pilgrimage, though, I did find that you can buy old sticker books and full sets of stickers from their online shop! For someone who never ever got close to filling an album this sounds fantastic. The joy of taking your hard fought pocket money up to the papershop getting some stickers and finding those gorgeous silver team ones is very very hard to beat. Somehow buying the whole thing in one go wouldn't be as much fun. Hmm

James is 7 today

Countdown

Because Lara's teeth have been bad this week we've been up to watch the early repeat of Countdown (5.30am). It really is a clever programme - but its popularity is all about the rhythm of the format. I don't engage with the word rounds because it makes my head hurt, and I'm trying to get Lara back to sleep so the sound is barely audible. Its like squinting at a picture - you miss the detail - but the rhythm becomes all the more apparent.

All this is a gcse media studies preamble to a great Richard Whiteley link.

Wise words

Ususally my goldfish like concentration span doesn't cope with stuff lke this - but this is quite good...

16 THINGS THAT IT TOOK ME OVER 50 YEARS TO LEARN:

by Dave Barry, Nationally Syndicated Columnist

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.




2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."



3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."



4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.



5. You should not confuse your career with your life.



6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. (I wish I had!)



7. Never lick a steak knife.



8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.


9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.


10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.



11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 21.


12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.



13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to a waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)



14. Your friends love you anyway.



15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.



16. Thought for the day: Men are like fine wine . . . They start out as grapes, and it's up to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

FINAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2030, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.

Time to move abroad

Those living in the East Midlands are the most enthusiastic shoppers, while young people in East Anglia and the South-West the least.

WTF? I'll see if I can find the Matthew Fox samples about western society, "we're bored and we're violent" (Found some). What can I do to stop this bull5hit with the kids? Unfortunately for James buy nothing day is on his birthday. Oops, might not be able to sell that one.

<fanny_magnet/>

I know what'll look cool - wait 'til the honeys see this... Doh!

Stop energy

This is one of the most personally profound things I have found on the internet. Obviously - stop energy is not confined to software, its a state of mind, a kind of personality.

The future of shopping?

This sounds clever - not for bulk shopping but for stuff you see in the street, or on other people (HAHA) that you want to find out where to get it from. A web enabled barcode data base with links off to sellers. Froogle enhancement?

Big in Japan

wow - flood defences, tokyo style

Holidays postponed until the crazy is detained

I like the idea of doing this - although I wouldn't like to work with the crazy who actually does it.

The cress is my favourite - simple and effective. But you can tell its not a software department because there is no way the cress could survive against the primordial slime that have almost gained conciousness in most of the keyboards.

Delia's new cookbook?

Delia's got competition with this one - she might have a chance to rush out a book for Christmas, I've already sorted out the cover.

A perfect coffee table accompanyment.

Everybody hurts: technolust

Drop it in a dishwasher?

Virgin Mary In Grilled Cheese NOT A HOAX ! LOOK & SEE !

From ebay: "people ask me if I have had blessings since she has been in my home, I do feel I have, I have won $70,000 (total) on different occasions at the casino near by my house, I can show the recipts to the high bidder if they are interested, I would like all people to know that I do believe that this is the Virgin Mary Mother Of God."

Consider yourself warned

Click to enlarge

I can look after dogs - with supervision

http://dogtoyormaritalaid.com/

New babies

Its a funny time when you find out your partner is pregnant. For James and Anna I remember being excited and scared (with good reason). It was a very different story with Lara.

Lou and I hadn't been getting on fantastically and had been going to Relate (which was a bizarre experience on its own) We didn't know whether we were going to stay together, so when we found out Lou was pregnant we both felt sick - and it wasn't morning sickness! I couldn't get my head around having another baby. But, for the whole of the pregnancy we tried to be honest with each other about how we felt - even when it was the deep dread of not wanting a child, of having a trapped future with a partner we couldn't live with.

I think with about a month to go we stopped verbalising our fears - but in my head I was still very scared that I would resent the baby. Even after Lara was born and we had her back home remember still feeling mixed up, but I think we managed better after we got into a new baby routine.

Now, a year and a half on, that all seems a bit like a bad dream that happened to a more dysfunctional couple (if there is one haha). The whole experience strengthened us and cut through the relationship shit that builds up over the years. Lara is an absolute delight. She is the fun loving criminal that we need when we get caught up in our own banal life-shit.

Who loves ya baby

I had to stop myself saying to Lara "stop being a baby", this morning. haha. (she's 1)

Specs

Its that time again.

After 3? years its time to buy a new pair of specs. Lara snapped an arm off for fun the other day. But for me its not as easy as a trip to Dolland and Aitchison on a Saturday morning to replace them.

Specs redefine who you are in a way no other fashion item does. I can track what was going on in my life and what I was trying to portray to the world, through my various choices of specs. What is interesting about this pair is that I don't need to look intelligent, older or a technocrat as I have in the past in order to succeed in whatever job I was in. Now I feel free enough to wear what I want to wear, even if that maybe out there - and that is a good feeling.

My Joe 90's have served me well, but now its time to move on. But it takes time to choose and source new ones. My old ones are taped up for now as the quest continues - its a good look.

The funniest thing is the friends, with shall I say conservative tastes, who tell me I should get a pair of "modern specs".

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Invaluable: attaching click() to a link in Mozilla

Just put this in the head...

HTMLAnchorElement.prototype.click = function () {
var evt = this.ownerDocument.createEvent('MouseEvents');
evt.initMouseEvent('click', true, true, this.ownerDocument.defaultView, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, false, false, false, false, 0, null);
this.dispatchEvent(evt);
};

Photo of anna

My old, cheap, shitty, held together with laggy bands, digital camera still does the business sometimes. Chiaroscuro anyone? hehe

I want to be a woman: Reason 105

Gorgeous clothes from Adidas and Stella McCartney

Voices with Soul

Anna: Those ladies are fat.
Us: They're just built that way - they can sing well can't they.
Anna: Well thst lady looks like she has ate a whole chicken <gestures big size> by herself. <gestures gulp>