I know everyone loves nothing better than to hear about other people's dreams, so here goes:
I was exploring an office building. On the first floor was a scarily trendy ad agency called Softened Image. A stereotype Cruella De Vil/Devil Wore Prada lady worked there, along with Dawn from The Office. The stairs to the first floor went up, as you'd expect, and then immediately round a corner and down again, meaning that the first floor must technically be occupying the same space as the ground floor, which was odd, as there was some other stuff on the ground floor. I forget what. The stairs were made out of giant versions of those plastic covered wire things you use to secure sandwich bags - we used to call them twizzlers. They moved slightly
On the stairs lived a giant slavering Black Shuck dog with yellow eyes. He would try to kill you, but could be vanquished by making shooing gestures and saying 'Shoo, shoo!' Then he would slink away, embarrassed. Also on the twizzler-tie staircase I encountered a number of cars, some vintage, some pedal.
I looked down at the sheet of paper that was my guide to the building. 'The time machine on the top floor', it read, 'is said to turn humans in into vampires and vice versa, but this has not been confirmed'.
Then, sadly, I woke up.
YES, THIS HAS BEEN THE ENTIRE ENTRY. YOU'RE WELCOME. |
... Where were we? Oh yes. I didn't win the bake-off, unsurprisingly, but then I was foolish enough not to use any of your kind suggestions, so that's not surprising. I fully intend to make all those things though, once I can look at flour again without crying (that last night of baking got somewhat stressful). I did get a nice apron and a Sainsbury's gift certificate, though. And they took our picture. I saw those pictures in the 'system' at work (perils/perks of working for a newspaper what still employs the odd photographer. Don't know why they can't employ a normal photographer really). Anyway. There were three pics. I looked awful in all of them, partly due to being on the wrong side of a fish-eye lens (just say no, photogs) and partly because I'd been forced to don the new apron, which was hanging in bulges about my person.
Oh, and in one of them, I had my eyes closed.
So guess which one (of the three, in two of which I had my eyes completely open) some BASTARD chose to publish in the (national) company-wide intranet newsletter thingy that gets sent to everyone in the company, company-wide, nationwide? Yes. I mean, not that I'm bothered but WHHHHHYYYYY O GOD WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT WHY??
And that is the end of my baking story.
***
In other news, my attempts to learn Italian are not going *hugely* well. Languages are really hard when you can't actually be bothered to learn them, I find. My mother told me I should watch a programme on BBC4, called Inspector Montalbano, which is in Italian, because it is Italian. So when I came across it on iPlayer one idle evening, I did so.
Then I wrote Inspector Montalbano slash in Italian. This is not quite as impressive as it sounds because I was using only the words I had so far gleaned from the BBC's Italian Steps language learning website. Also, I was looking at the website at the time, I didn't actually remember any of the words.
But, like, whatever. I did it and I am well proud, so here is the finished fic! :D
( My first Inspector Montalbano fic )Current Mood: accomplished |
People are so annoying!
Aren't they?
Anyway. I'm sure I had stuff to say, but I can't remember any of it.
Who's on this Tumblr nonsense then? I did say it was the last straw, it was Where I Drew the Line, I'm putting my FOOT DOWN, I'm too old for any more technology (ha, I know), I've reached the point where I simply can't go on and learn a new one of these things, I DO NOT understand it, it's WEIRD, I DON'T LIKE IT I tell you, I can't be doing with it, and I SIMPLY SHAN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT SO HELP ME SO THERE.
Then I got a Tumblr.
I'm not really doing much or indeed anything with it at the moment, except looking at random pretties as they float past, my jaw hanging slack and ever so slightly dribblesome. I had a special life-ruining tutorial from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.3) lazlet
So if you are on it please tell me so I can follow you and have more pictures to dribble at and eventually spend my life in a brightly-coloured cocoon of pixels, being fed liquidised sandwiches through a drip by hamsters in the hospital for people in an advanced stage of procrastinatory illness (which is run by hamsters).
I am sheldrakus there. You're very welcome to follow me but as there is currently nothing to follow I'll quite understand if you do not.
***
Also, we are having a charity bake-off at work. It's called MasterBake 2012. The first round was cakes, and mine was nice but didn't look that great. It was Nigel Slater's orange marmalade cake, which I totes recommend making if you're that way inclined. It's all orangey. I spent the day working myself into a state of tearful idiocy because nobody was eating my cake, and occasionally saying things in a shrill, slightly hysterical voice. Baking turned me into a twat on that occasion.
This week was the savoury round. I made parmesan biscuits with seed toppings, and they were much more successful, so I was able to behave like a normal human. HOORAY.
Next week is brownies, biscuits, cookies or flapjacks, so I would be very grateful for any any favourite recipes, handy hints, etc.
***
Now I shall go to bed and read a book. |
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Also... I absolutely love this vid wherein House is Sherlock's dad. *watches over and over* |
I have to scamper through the stuffs before I get too scared to post, so here goes. Picking up stuffs and throwing them back out at random. Sorry if you get hit by flying stuffs.
Stuffs:
Ermmm... no, I still can't do this. I'm weirdly embarrassed by the words escaping from my fingers. I shall try it in faux note form.
Stuffs:
1. Cabin Pressure. Genius of John Finnemore.
2. Work. Nooooooooooo.
3. Not made redundant again. Yay. But :( Work angst. Can't seem to spell redundant, keep wanting to put an extra C in.
4. Lack of words. Why? Stuffs either solidify in head or disappear in vaporous fumes from my ears. At least I assume that's how it works.
5. Cabin Pressure. Just... did I mention the genius?
6. Coffee and things with Lobelia and Calico yesterday - totes awesomes (we discussed slang).
7. Also went to the National Gallery and went on a Sherlock tour (haha, we had coffee at Speedy's).
8. Sherlock Holmes Museum. Yes, yes, they have a special noticeboard for people from Tumblr, but the best thing for me was THE ACTUAL CANE CHAIR. *points at icon in which you can see a tiny bit of actual cane chair of which I saw the actual one*
9. You may have heard this, but I can confirm that Watson does not have his own bedroom.
9. At the moment I am liking Art and Italy and The Renaissance and luckily these things combine rather well!
10. Went to the library. The library is good because it doesn't have the books you actually want so you pick things up and discover stuffs. Therefore, I am reading The Last Supper by Rachel Cusk, which is travel writing about Italy and Renaissance art... (Yes, as I said this choice is so totally out of the blue and random omg!). But look, the thing is, it turns out (so far) to be a wonderful book. Her prose makes my eyes drop out of my head in amazement, which is inconvenient when reading. The internet tell me that, actually, lots of people hated it, but there we are. I like that it's prickly and distant and rather melancholy. I like the way she looks at familiar things and makes them seem strange. This is not your everyday sun-and-olive-oil-drenched travelogue (not that I am averse to them).
11. This all started because I am going to Venice in October. A year's obsessive-compulsive research for four nights is normal, right? *compiles massive colour-coded Venice portfolio*
12. I have also started trying to learn Italian which I am rubbish at, but enjoying. Other foolish ideas for the near future: Resurrect bike. Attempt to run on feet. I even bought some shoes for it.
13. I have been doing some singing also. Singing of music. Some of it is in Latin.
14. I have run out of things to say now. Actually not, but I'm going to stop saying them anyway.
15. I shall now have a bath.
GOODBYE. |
Originally posted by obstinatrix at To UK FlistiesOriginally posted by de_nugis at To UK Flisties(Taken most recently from lobelia321.) If you're from the UK and you believe in freedom of speech and an uncensored internet, you really need to sign this petition. There are others floating about, but that particular one is the best way to ensure that your voice gets heard. It's hosted on the directgov website and addresses parliament directly. If it gets more than 100,000 signatures, it becomes eligible for discussion in the House of Commons. Everyone's been getting so worked up over SOPA -- and rightly so -- that ACTA seems to have slipped under the radar. This is hugely problematic, because ACTA is a similar bill, but it has the potential to be far more damaging than SOPA ever could be. Some people seem to have this misconception that ACTA is the 'European SOPA', but that simply isn't true. It's a global treaty, and it's already been signed by eight countries, including the US, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore. Europe votes on Thursday. If they vote 'no', the bill will have to be taken back to the drawing board and reformulated, which should buy us some time at the very least. If you think this doesn't affect you, you're wrong. If ACTA passes, it could well signal the end of the internet as we know it, and that isn't an exaggeration. It's not just about watching movies and television online. If ACTA passes, sites like YouTube, Livejournal, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and even Google and Wikipedia could become impossible to maintain. ACTA would allow ISPs to monitor your net activity and cut off internet access for your entire household if one person is suspected of breaching copyright. Think Big Brother is Watching. I don't think I need to emphasise just how damaging it can be to be without internet access in this day and age, when we rely so heavily on technology. It's not only bloggers and fandom that would be affected, either. Small businesses, independent film-makers and unsigned musicians who have previously found their niche online would also suffer hugely, and would be at risk of being bullied into submission by Hollywood and multinational corporations under accusations of copyright infringement. All those artists who found fame by uploading covers of songs to YouTube would never have had the opportunity to do so under ACTA, as those cover versions would be prohibited. I know the internet has its problems, but to my mind it's the single greatest invention to come out of modern times, and it would be an absolute travesty if we were to lose that now. From a personal point of view, I can't even put into words how important this is to me. I've met some of my closest friends through the internet and online fandom, people whom I would likely never have met without it, and it's given me this amazing social support system. I don't want that to end here, and I want to preserve it for future generations so that they can have the same experience and opportunities I've been given through my online interactions. I know that opinions on the seriousness of copyright infringement and online piracy vary wildly, but that isn't really the point. Internet giants such as Google are opposed to this bill, and it's pretty safe to say that they're not in favour of copyright infringment, as anyone who's ever had a fanvid taken down from YouTube will be painfully aware. Whatever your stance on copyright, this isn't the way to go about dealing with it. This is dangerous legislation that impeaches on some of our most basic human rights, such as the right to privacy and freedom of speech. So if you're from the UK, please, please sign the petition. If you hail from elsewhere in the world, there may well be similar movements in your own country, but I think the most effective thing anybody can do right now is to keep talking about this. Talk about it on Livejournal, on Twitter, on Tumblr, on Facebook, and anywhere else you can think of. Make sure this issue is never far from people's minds. The internet is an amazingly powerful tool: let's utilise it while we still have the chance. Please repost and spread the word :) SAY NO TO ACTA!Please consider reposting this, especially if you have a large proportion of UK flisties. And please consider spreading the word via other platforms: Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, your own personal network. |
Or Father Christmas, as I know him.
1. I fear I am never going to want to knit even one dog, let alone ALL THE BREEDS.
2. Honestly? I think I'd rather have a packet of After Eights or a box of Quality Street than a fancy 70% dark chocolate slab with a hint of tangy something-or-other. Even if it is Fair Trade.
3. Spatulas? Again?
4. I'm sorry to be so continually specific about chocolate, FC, but every time I bite into one of these Elizabeth Shaw butterscotch crisp thingies, I wish it was mint.
5. I like mint chocolate, ok? Although not really that bitter mint fondanty stuff. Crisp and creme only, please.
6. Every year I spend a month talking about how I actually like soapy bathy type presents; how everyone thinks of it as a cop-out, but I GENUINELY WELCOME BATH SALTS AND LUXURY SHOWER SETS IN BOXES WITH RIBBONS ON AND STUFF. But no. Knitting my own dog it is.
Anyone want a dog knitted? |
... in the land of the commenters. Thanks to some nice people who helped me (not LJ) my clueless brain eventually cut through the fog of confusion. And apparently the not being able to comment thing was some kind of clash with the Greasemonkey Firefox add-on, so now I've turned it off I get to use the delightful, attractive, non-subject-liney new comment box. Hoo-bloody rah.
Also, I am tired and Christmas is making me a bit stressed and easily distressed, as it tends to do. But happy thing, all of you denizens of LiveJournal and Dreamwidth, anyway. :) Happy thing to you all. xxx |
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Because for some reason I feel so frustrated and stressed by this I genuinely feel like deleting my LJ. |
Thank you justwolf for the lovely card. Made my day! :) Happy Doctor Who and Sherlock Day to you too, my dear. xx
By the way, I look forward to posting all individual, personal comments up here for everyone to read in the new, comment-less LJ future. Or maybe I'll just find a new hobby instead. (Seriously, if you should happen to feel moved to comment and are on DW, I'd appreciate them going there so I can reply. If not, no worries. I generally cross-post from Semagic, but I might have to start doing it from DW instead if this goes on, so I can autolink the DW post. Oh ramble, boring ramble. Seriously again, is this just me? Not that you'll be able to reply if it isn't.)
I am going to drink some port now. |
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