Tails from the Bark Side

Can't stop listening to Due! I love myself! I love how the chorus I sung an octave higher is all there in the background; it sounds so lush. YAY. I love it so much. It's so dancey and delicious.

I might hit up the British Library tomorrow 'cause I want to check this out. It's relevant to my interests. Then I might go and meet some crazy BAMFs for a pint or twelve, and get messy. This may be unwise, but who cares.

I would like some SUMMER, please. Dog paws + mud + kitchen floor = GRRR.

I just got an e-mail from the OU and for a minute there I thought it was my last assignment being marked but it was just reminding me to make sure my TMA scores are showing up okay on my StudentHome page. Argh, don't DO THAT TO ME. I want to knooow what I gooot...

I have the lurgy. Boo. Well, I did yesterday and a bit of today. I have so much catching up to do tomorrow because of it. I missed all my dancings today. Double boo. How interesting this entry is.

Oh I want to mention Claire Rayner, too. Because she died today, and she was awesome. :(

Done so much stuff! So much stuff is done! I cleaned four houses today, including ours. I did laundry and washed the dogs' stuff and everything. Our toilets needed emptying and descaling, so I did that too. That wasn't the best...

So let's go back to the thrilling subject of my essay of d00m! I would say it is now about 97% complete. I got to the word count and almost wept with excitement and relief. It has a coherent argument and a good structure and this is the last one! I've nearly finished the course! It still needs tweaking and submitting but my goodness I felt so damned accomplished last night, unf. I mentally gave myself a motherlovin' high-five. I really wish I could be that prolific and, well, good at writing all the time. I want to go to bed with that amazing feeling every night. Touch me and feel my awesome, for I've been sooo productive.

I got my chest x-rayed today, a routine asthma check-up. Those things are SO much fun, seriously.

Not a lot else to say; this was just a quick round-up of my day and a note-to-self recording how good I'm feeling at the moment. Oh, and I am being a total LJ whore right now. I'm zooming around leaving comments everywhere, even in communities, and I never do that. Heehee. I want more e-interaction, I guess. Hi, new friends!

(It is kinda scary posting things now, knowing that new people are looking! *waves timidly*)

So, I've got about seven A4 pages full of notes. It's all practically verbatim though, from the course materials. Like, I re-read the Roman Villa chapter and there's shitloads of material about Horace and Pliny and their vast country retreats. They're obviously sacred spaces to which people ascribe values. So, lemme hear ya say yeah - I have loads of things to write about now. But! These things are already in the course materials. So they've already been written. So why, then, do I have to write the damn stuff out again, in my own words? This is my problem with university!

So, vague idea, 0/2,000 words complete. No idea what to actually say. So I'm hoping I'll be able to go to sleep tonight and just DREAM the damn thing.

*scoffs cheese*

Can anyone sort me out some sort of bad-ass brain-inspiring mind drugs? I'd be most grateful.

So it's midnight, and I ain't even gone upstairs, let alone enter the room that the essay information is in, let alone read the information, let alone actually do the essay. All aboard the failtrain!

Last cigarette: Midnight, July 1st 2007.

Last kiss: I placed one on my sleeping day-old niece’s head.

Last good cry: When I looked at my niece for the first time.

Last library book checked out: I can't remember, I haven't borrowed from a library since I lived in Hythe I don't think! I just buy books these days, and borrow from friends.

Last movie seen: The Runaway Bride was on telly t'other night. I want to see Toy Story.

Last book read: Currently reading about 6. Nearly finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Last cuss word uttered: Fuckin’ ell, I think I said. Probably about the flea on my arm.

Last beverage drank: Coffee, black ‘n’ strong… probably not wise at 1:18am, but oh well.

Last food consumed: A sugar-free gingerbread man.

Last phone call: From me to Katy, to see what’s going down in Hythe tomorrow night.

Last tv show watched: Supersize Vs Superskinny.

Last shoes worn: Brown slouchy boots.

Last cd played: The Burial of Thebes, a play.

Last item bought: A red bucket to contain my dirty cleaning cloths in the car.

Last downloaded: A picture of my dogs from my Photobucket account.

Last annoyance: A FLEA. ON MY ARM.

Last disappointment: Seeing that pesky flea, after I was so sure I’d beaten them!

Last soda drank: A swig of flat lemonade earlier today. Yuck.

Last thing handwritten: Shopping list, and some scrawled notes for my assignment at the bottom.

Last word spoken: “G’night!” to Anna.

Last sleep: Earlier this afternoon, I was cleaning all day so I came home and jumped in the shower, lay down on my bed to read and chill and ended up having an unexpected nap.

Last IM: Ah I don’t really bother with these any more. Only use MSN if Leeps is online. So yeah, it was prolly Leeps. Ages ago.

Last weird encounter: Steve and me went to the park for a walk the other night and ended up shooting the breeze for about three hours. I think we had a few revelations about the human race. Weird in a good way. Also a lady in Sainsbury's asked me if I 'danced'. I said, 'Sort of.' Which was a silly thing to say, because I dance all the damn time. She said it was obvious in the way I stand, that it was 'so feminine', which is 'nice'. Awww.

Last ice cream eaten: Crunchie ice lolly. Delicious.

Last amused: Supersize Vs Superskinny. A lady described ballet as ‘the hardest exercise I’ve ever done!’ I lol’d because my thighs are killing from the pliés I was doing to Combichrist in the lounge last night.

Last time wanting to die: I can’t say I’ve ever wanted to die. I’ve wanted to not exist, which is very different. The last time I wanted to not exist was very early Sunday morning, after a great party. Only for a brief moment though. Then I just cried and thought, ‘I better get my brain somewhere happy, sharpish.’ But couldn’t ‘cause I’d been drinking. Aaah. Always happens to me, this. Actually considering knocking the drinking on the head.

Last time in love: Oh that’s a bloody great can of worms. Let’s not.

Last time hugged: Oh man, I’ve been hugging a lot of family members this week, can’t remember who was last!

Last time scolded: When I scolded, or when I was scolded? I was scolded by Mum, about three weeks ago. Haha. I scolded Didz about half an hour ago for putting a flea on me.

Last chair sat in: This sofa? What a question.

Last lipstick used: MAC, Mellow Flame. That was a while ago too.

Last top worn: A pea-green vest top.

Current clothes: Brown t-shirt with the neck cut off, with a greenish logo saying ‘Ron Jon Surf Shop.’ Black leggings. Black net skirt. Socks and slippers. Black cardigan.

Current mood: Tired as hell, actually.

Current music: Radio One’s Essential Mix live from Ibiza. They've been playing Ibiza hits on the radio all day today. I’ve always wanted to go to Ibiza. But not with everyone else who goes to Ibiza.

Current taste: Coffee, a smidge of sugar-free gingerbread man after-taste.

Current hair: Clean, short, natural colour (dark brown), black bow... lame. In fact, I was bitching about my hair earlier and took a picture. It's boooring. I'm getting some mad stuff done to it in September though.



Current smell: House?

Current thing I should be doing: Assignment 6! Argh.

Current refreshment: Coffee.

Current worry: Assignment 6. My car, which is in the garage, having stuff done to it that my wallet will very much dislike.

Day 20 → A hobby of yours
I've already covered dancing, gigs, music... Ummm. I love swimming/being in water. And walking, I wanna do all the national trails. I might do it for charity or something one day. Sponsored dog walk. Other hobbies include looking for camper vans on the internet, and daydreaming.

Day 21 → A recipe
Yum yum. Flaxseeds pwn the fuck out of eggs when it comes to brownies.

Day 22 → A website
Yaaay!

Day 23 → A YouTube video


Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy
I'm SUPPOSED TO BE DOING MY STUPID ESSAY but instead I'm doing this STUPID DAY MEME.

Day 25 → Your day, in great detail
Well, last night I went to The Malt and I stayed there and I kept waking up EVERY FIVE MINUTES with DERMATITIS, it made me so sad. Then I woke up with the world's fattest finger, seriously it had swollen so much. I got up, got dressed, went to the loo, brushed my teeth, cuddled my sis and curly niece, then left. I had Sublime playing in the car today! I went to my customer Jen's house and said hello to Alfie the cockerpoo and Tess the jack russell, then Jen's husband Dave made me a cup of coffee to drink while I cleaned their two bathrooms, cleaned and polished the kitchen, dusted the lounge, dining rooms and bedrooms, hoovered throughout, polished three mirrors, went back upstairs and had another go at the pesky shower door, mopped the kitchen and bathrooms and utility room and used the remaining time to have a go at shining up the windows in the utility room, as they were quite dirty. Then I hopped back into the Hundwagen and picked up Zac the black lab, and headed up to my Dad's house. On the way there I saw his van at the garage, so I popped in there instead. Then Dad got in my car and we went and picked up his dog Meg, and we went for a stomp over the heather at Hill Top and got the dogs nice and muddy. Then we went back to the garage and I had a chat with my auntie Christine, then Dad had a look at the tyres on the Hundwagen for me 'cause I was worried about this skiddy feeling, but he didn't notice anything. So then I jumped back in my car, dropped Zac off home, nipped to Tesco's for an onion bhaji wrap, yum yum, then went straight to the hall for ballet! We did toddler ballet, then baby ballet and primary ballet, and because it was end of term we had mummies watching! Loads of fun. Then we sorted out all our dancing equipment and I drove home through immense traffic (boo) and rain. When I got home I unloaded the groceries that were still in my car from yesterday, and cleaned up the poo Didz had left for me in the lounge. Disgusting child, he hasn't done that in SO long! So I was not happy with him at all. I then let them out in the garden, gave them mucho love and gave them their dinner (chicken, apples and some Ryvita, hahaha!) then went upstairs, put a hoody on, put Hollyoaks on, ate rice salad and soya pudding, drank some peppermint tea, looked through my e-mails, eBay (caravans), Muse board, did this entry, watched a programme about life and death, neglected to do my essay which is due on Friday, and then ate some crackers and strawberry jam, and now I'm just furiously typing and am about to tell Didz to come here for a cuddle. Then I'll go to bed, probably. And a drink of water! I don't drink enough water!

Day 26 → Your week, in great detail
I'll start last Wednesday morning: I cleaned Kyzo's house, walked Kyzo (Kyzo is a staffie), walked Charlie the springer x collie, walked Lois and Koda and... I really can't remember what I did in the evening! Probably just watched telly/internet, usually how it goes. Then Thursday I overslept and got to Sue's house really late, and they'd gone to a meeting! Oops. So I picked up Zac and took him out, then went to see Jeannie and Dan was round, so we had coffee and a lovely chat. I took Zac home about midday and went back to Sue's to rearrange the cleaning for Friday morning, then went over to Shirley and picked up Lucy and Holly, walked them, took them home, picked up Lois and Koda (labs), walked them, took them home, then went home and surfed the net... ended up going to Dad's at 11pm because I was fed up on my own, so I stayed there again. On Friday I got up and did Sue's cleaning/ironing, then Martina's cleaning, then Lorna's cleaning and then I walked Charlie. Phew! So much cleaning! That night I went to Hythe AGAIN, to the Malt, because Ric and Jerry were playing (guitar dudes, so they are!) It was a great night, and Leepee got totally drunk and ruined his phone. Nooo! Haha. Stayed at their's yet again! Heehee! Saturday morning I sat around with Dad and Christine and we talked about shops/barns/warehouses, the idea of me renting one for the business etc. I was so excited and was surprised that nobody thought it was a stupid idea. YAY. Then I went back home, Anna was in, and I was starving so we went over the pub for lunch. NOM NOM. Then I felt really bloody ill. Nice. So I snoozed all afternoon, and basically did bugger all for the rest of the day, internets, internets, internets. Same Sunday. I watched Eastenders and ate naughty food, and just felt pretty damn awful. I planned a new diet, which I planned to start yesterday (Monday), but didn't... I ended up eating loads of chocolate, 'cause I went to Lidl, naughty naughty. I made some rice salad, then walked Charlie with Didz and Floyd, then picked up my new dress from the post office, went to Eastleigh and bought some groceries, went to the bank, went to meet two new customers - one a lady in Eastleigh who I know from ballet, and the other is somebody who heard about me through Holly & Lucy's owners, and want me to clean their house for them. And they have two mini schnauzers! Bonus! So I met them, then picked up Tam and Dan and we went to the Malt again, and I had three drinks and ended up staying over. Then it was today, which I already explained. Heehee.

Day 27 → This month, in great detail
Well, all of my weeks work-wise are pretty much what I've explained above, pick up dogs, walk dogs, drop off dogs, clean house, go to ballet, go home! Unusual things over the past month have included me taking the toddler ballet classes on my own, which has been a great experience and challenge and is great. Also I have been totally ignoring most of my uni course, and now have two days to do the assignment. Argh. So yeah, last week: dogs, cleaning, dancing as above. Week before: dogs, cleaning, dancing, I had a root filling and my tooth was all filed ready for a crown (waaahmbulance) and I went to Industrial Fallout with Dave on the Saturday night. Week before that: dogs, cleaning, dancing, I had a REALLY BORING uni tutorial (as usual, omfg I hate them so much) and... SCISSOR SISTERS! Was totally awesome. Floyd had his hair cut on the Monday, bless him. And at the weekend we went to Dubbing in Dorset, which was excellent, and Alfie the ridgeback stayed over on the Sunday night. Week before that: cleaning, dogs, dancing, and it was Father's Day on the Sunday, so went to see Mum & Paul, and Dad of course... then Leepee and Tam and Dan came over and we ate a fat load of pork.

( The rest. )

I've been joking on Facebook tonight that I'm the worst student ever. I stayed in on a Friday night to study Doctor Faustus. Fail. I managed to get the whole chapter done though, which now gives me almost a month to do the first two-part TMA. Get in. I love Faustus, and that always helps. Happy happy! I'm not too hot on this week's Cleopatra malarkey though - I'm at a dead end with that part of the assignment and I've only done half the word count. Still, got a month. Exciting and scary, just how I like it. :)

The next chapter is Cézanne, and I'm not looking forward to that. I've never really been too involved in the world of the fine arts to be honest. Or dates. I peaked at the first couple of pages and it's all dates, dates, dates. There's a lot of history involved in this course which, so far, I have found myself skipping over a bit. I can visualise things in the past really well and am great at studying things in context, but I've never really had a brain for taking in dates or giving much of a toss about kings and queens and details about religions and all that. I read a book called Sophie's World recently that was excitedly recommended to me (basically, it's philosophy for noobs) and I found it a little tedious. "This bloke thought this on this date and it was really clever of him."

I'll probably get really into it. I do like thinking about people creating art in a completely different world to mine, it's just the facts I can't be arsed with. I guess I should've been prepared; something called "The arts past and present" is bound to essentially be an art history course. Haha. I know.

So yeah, a productive day, again! Worked through my Faustus week, did some DVD recording, visited my mum in her office, took the boys for a hilarious walk, tidied upstairs a little bit, cleaned all the floors, made a lovely dinner of LOADS OF VEGGIES, watched (spoiler) admit to killing Archie, wrote two blogs... it's just a shame I didn't make any money. Boo. Aaand the roadworks are still going, 8pm-2am each night. I was listening to some Rotersand rather loudly in my headphones earlier tonight, when the whole house started shaking. I thought it was an earthquake! Oh, and I made a mugcake earlier too:



Messy, yummy times!

I got a place reserved on the course I want to do, with a bunch of forms to apply for finance. This was last Thursday afternoon, and I had to get the forms back to the office by Monday. Sounds easy enough, but I had to try to find somebody to confirm that my passport copy was a true copy, and this person has to be a person of status (doctor, lawyer, civil servant...) I couldn't think of anybody who could do it for me with a day's notice! It was especially annoying because that very morning I'd been in a room full of teachers. I went to clean the school on the Friday morning with the hope that the teachers would still be about, but they were all off enjoying the last day of the holidays. I told the caretaker about my predicament, and he said that his wife who works at the post office is classed as a civil servant so she could do it. So! I happily skipped along to see her, got it signed and sent off in the post immediately! Sorted. But nooo... I got a letter this Thursday, saying that they couldn't accept my forms because they don't accept certifications from post office clerks. I thought she might've at least signed it 'civil servant'... the n00b. Facepalm. The deadline has now passed, so I have to wait till February to start the course. Oh well, not long.

rhymeswithbooze is currently staying here and is being bearded by Floyd (faildog) and lovebombed by Didz on an hourly basis. Yay! We've done far too much (knackered) and spent far too much money on beer and food this weekend, but it's been pretty amazesome. Tonight we're staying in, chilling out, reading books, laughing at Muse, ripping CDs and eating EPIC CHOCOLATE CAKE. We saw AFP last night! She is stunning, so talented and omg brilliant. She signed my CD for me. The venue was fantastic too; I want to go there again! Damn gigs and damn London, eating all my money. We spent the day there again pretty much, had a lovely meal at La Tasca and hung out with maxnot and cottoncandy85 and missuschris and smurf_pop. Lol, people from the INTERNET. O HAI.