WelshPixie

The Main One

2009-07-29T14:08:00.001+01:00

http://welshpixie.efx3.com - I'm over there these days :)

Warring In The Bedroom

2009-03-09T07:03:00.000Z

Jaco and I were discussing the principles of a few styles of martial arts that we're familiar with and how the beliefs and practices involved can translate very well to apply to sex - and following on, how we both naturally utilise and apply those practices and beliefs with each other when making love.

Kung Fu - "In Chinese, kung fu can be used in contexts completely unrelated to martial arts, and refers colloquially to any individual accomplishment or skill cultivated through long and hard work".

Aikido - "Aikido is often translated as "the Way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the Way of harmonious spirit." "

I'm a fairly spiritual person. I try to involve, and be aware of, as many of my senses as possible when I'm doing something. If I look at something, I like to touch it also, and correlate how something feels with how it looks. If practical, I like to smell and taste, wrapping myself in a blanket of perceptions while I strive to know something intimately.

Part of me being like this is a result of my brief dalliance in Chi Aikido many years back. I learned how to extend myself, to not be confined to the physical limits of my body. When I stretch out my hand, my reach isn't limited to the tips of my fingers; it moves beyond, flows through the skin and into whatever it is I touch. I also learned a few breathing techniques and meditations, and how to use those techniques to focus energy. I learned how to visualise that energy and to use it with the flow of my movements.

These are all good principles when concerning the art of fighting; awareness of self and surroundings, efficient distribution of energy, an understanding of your environment - all of which can combine to bring about a deeper understanding of your opponent and a prediction of their movement, actions and reactions.

But the same principles very seamlessly apply to sex.

Consideirng four basic principles common to many schools of martial arts;

1) Aim beyond your target

Regarding fighting, this has a simple translation; when you're throwing a punch, don't aim for the face. Aim beyond the face. You'll hit harder.

Regarding sex, the 'target' could be considered the orgasm. How many people begin having sex with just one goal being aimed for - the climax? Sex is so much more. It's equally about the journey as the destination. Think not of where you're going - think beyond the orgasm, think through it, think regardless of it.

2) A weapon is an extension of the body

In martial arts, students are tought that they don't fight with a weapon; they learn that any weapon they use is an extension of their body, not a separate entity. With this lesson, movements flow more smoothly, have more meaning, feel more natural.

The 'weapon' in sex could be the genitalia. It is very easy to have sex that concentrates on and focuses around stimulation of the sexual organs, forgetting almost that the rest of the body is - or can be - equally as involved and stimulated through the act of love-making. Extend yourself; be aware of every limb, every inch of skin, every touch and every movement.

3) Chi-Sau, or 'sticking hands' - using touch to understand your opponent's body

Chi-Sau is a practice that involves maintaining constant physical contact with your opponents' body as a method of predicting their movement and coming attacks or defenses.

With exactly the same principle used, Chi-Sau can become a means of anticipating your lover's movements and flowing with them. Becoming one entity rather than two separate bodies; a process of intimate learning where each partner anticipates the movements and actions of the other and reacts in tandem, creating a seamless flow of movement.

4) Chi - the focusing of energy through controlled breathing

Focusing Chi before fighting can give a heightened awareness of self, a more direct and focused attack and defense, and a greater conservation of and more effective expenditure of energy.

The implications of Chi in love-making are pretty much the same; a heightened awareness of self and surroundings, a more efficient distribution of energy, a more stimulating and intense experience.

So there you have it. Take your Kung Fu into the bedroom, people.

Updates

2009-03-08T09:48:00.002Z

Blogging something for the sake of updating my adsense ads with new content.

Hopefully.

I'm in South Africa! Of course, if you follow my other blogs, as you probably do, you'll know this already.

I'm in Gordon's Bay. (Cue links for Strand, Gordon's Bay, Western Cape...)

Mmmm yeah. That'll do for now. Maybe I'll start duplicate-blogging from my main blog or something.

Anyway, if you're here, there are adsense ads. They make me money! Woooh. Be kind.

EFX2 Test Blogs

2008-09-10T09:49:00.001+01:00

Courtesy of the one and only Styles:

"teh test blog is efx2blogs.info and there's links to the forums and bugs tracker on the frontpage."

Go sign up and, y'know, test it. ;o)

--
Lick the Lid of Life!

Hmph

2008-09-10T09:11:00.001+01:00

Down again. Utahcon doesn't know what's going on since he doesn't have any access to the server stuff and Keith probably doesn't know either since he hasn't heard from Martin for a long while.

We'll wait and see.

I'll get the details of the 'test blog' off Utah and post here.

--
Lick the Lid of Life!

Fuckin' A-Right!

2008-07-24T21:23:00.002+01:00

Batman rawks.

*runs around in circles singing the batman theme*

Yeah, the movie was awesome.

WOOOOOOH

I can only imagine what magnificence the next one will bring. I hope Christian Bale stays (out of jail? hah).

Duh nuh nuh nuh BATMAN!

2008-07-23T11:11:00.003+01:00

From http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/commentary/alttext/2008/07/alttext_0723;

Back to the Batcave: Grading More of Batman's Gear
By Lore Sjöberg

Part of the enduring appeal of Batman is that he accessorizes. He was toyetic before toyetic was even a word. A horrible, horrible word.

In that sense, he's much like those who fanatically follow his adventures: He avoids the sun, dresses in a, shall we say, idiosyncratic manner, collects neat stuff and spends a lot of time on a computer looking for excuses to get into fights. We'll just gloss over the fact that he's in tip-top physical shape and probably doesn't have the complete Buffy series on a hard drive somewhere.

This, then, is Part 2 of our look at Batman's stuff. We look at the Dark Knight's various possessions, and subject them to the harsh, cold light of judgment. Because when you don't spend every night wiping crime from the streets like a vengeful Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, you have plenty of time to write stuff like this.

Batcave

The Batcave has aged well. Underground bunkers never go out of style! If anything, in this age of constant surveillance your secret base would have to be underground to avoid space lasers and Google Maps. I am, however, disappointed whenever the Batcave is depicted without a life-size dinosaur statue. I don't care how gritty and morally ambiguous your story is, there's always room for an anatomically inaccurate T. rex. On the other hand, Wikipedia informs me that the Batcave originally just held a desk and filing cabinets. Bat-cubicle!
Grade: A

Rebreather

This is usually depicted as a small device that Batman can hold in his mouth like a Binky. A Bat-Binky. However, rather than providing Batman with comfort while teething or tripping on ecstasy, the rebreather turns Batman's superheroic exhalations back into life-giving oxygen, allowing him to survive unpleasant gases or even breathe underwater. Carbon dioxide into oxygen? Batman could solve global warming on his own, but he won't. Global warming didn't kill his parents.
Grade: C+

Batplane

I'm not even going to consider how Batman deals with air-traffic control. I assume he just tells them he's the god-damned Batman and they'd better get all the other planes out of the sky because some villain is launching a series of awkwardly themed crimes and needs to be flied at. I like to think that Batman also has another Batplane, a simple woodworking tool he uses for home improvement. One shaped like a bat.
Grade: B

Explosives

Batman has explosives? Many sources agree. It seems to me that if you have explosives you don't need much else. Really, Explosives Man is probably going to frighten more cowardly, superstitious criminals than a bat theme. Criminals have one main superstition: "If someone explodes you, you die." Yeah, I know Batman doesn't kill, but if he plays his cards right, nobody ever has to find that out. Just convince them you're completely crazy. In that outfit, that's not tough to do.
Grade: C-

Flashlight

In some incarnations, Batman has night-vision lenses, but I like it when he just has a plain old regular flashlight. Why? Because I carry a flashlight. That means I am, in some small way, like Batman, if Batman had a key chain. Which I guess he doesn't? At any rate, I'm hoping in the future Batman will carry around a Leatherman, a BatPod MP3 player and a miniature bottle of Tabasco. Then the parallels will be uncanny.
Grade: B-

Shark-Repellent Bat Spray

Whenever I talk about Batman's utility belt -- and I do that far too often -- someone always mentions the Shark-Repellent Bat Spray from the Adam West Batman movie. Yeah, that was pretty awesome.
Grade: A

Das Wochenende

2008-07-21T09:46:00.001+01:00

Friday night - Waaaaaaaaaaaallll-Eeeeeeeeeeeeee! Was awesome. I'd go so far as to say it was revolutionary.

Saturday - charged up my PSP and played Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade for about six hours, hehe. Maybe longer, I can't remember. Then decided to revamp my blog - the results of which you see - and spent many hours messing around with header images and backgrounds and all that nice coding stuff. Then suddenly it was 3am...

Sunday - more blog stuff (if you go to my profile I've set up a design-fiddling blog called Flaying with Pire. Heh. It's mostly just for me to import templates that other people have made and then 'personalise' them - hopefully learn a thing or two about CSS along the way. Who knows? Hehe.

Watched The Machinist last night (I'd seen it before but Ewan hadn't), then spent the night having paranoid dreams. Awesome.

Right then, time to show Monday who's boss. ^.^

--
Lick the Lid of Life!

The Dragon...

2008-07-20T13:59:00.003+01:00

Kristian, I changed the header just for you.

JUST for you, you understand?

:P

Epic Win

2008-07-20T03:19:00.002+01:00

So yeah, I gave my blog a makeover using a template from um... eblogtemplates.com ^.^

It's very 'mac'.

It also has a lot of nifty features.

See the boxes in the sidebar? If you click on the top bar, you can drag them around to rearrange them. Also, if you click the little green button, they minimise. ^.^

The 'recent posts' and 'recent comments' widgets come with the template, as well as the 'live traffic feed' which is kinda nifty. I can add any links I like to the main top menu bar also - just haven't got 'round to doing many yet.

You can't upload a header image to use with the design, but with some creative use of background images and transparent PNG's I've made one I like - and because it's transparent and simple I can change the background and not have to change the colour scheme of the header.

Okay, bed time.

Let me know how the functionality of this design works from a 'visitor' perspective. ^.^

Hmm

2008-07-17T12:29:00.000+01:00

Found out yesterday that the man responsible for a spate of wheelie-bin fires in our neighbourhood (including our own) is none other than the guy who called the fire brigade on each occasion and also alerted the owner of the bin (including ours) that it was on fire!!

"Dear Diary;

Today I set fire to three bins! It was fun. As soon as I saw the smoke, I knocked on the owner's door, received heartfelt thanks for letting them know that their bin was on fire, and called the fire brigade. I do love watching those men work. The way they handle their hose pipes... ahhhh. Tomorrow, I think I shall set a small fire over on the scrapyard and maybe a couple more wheelie bins."

Idiot.

Going to see WALL.E tomorrow. YAY! And then - on Sunday - we're going to see Enter The Dragon on the big screen in an art-house type cinema over here ;)

WOOOH!

That is all.

--
Lick the Lid of Life!

Buy Your Own Forest

2008-07-15T10:50:00.001+01:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4315740.ece

I want a forest!

How awesome would that be? And completely impractical on my current wage, but when I'm rich and famous I shall most certainly be buying myself a plot of woodland.

Wheee!

--
Lick the Lid of Life!

Another song thing...

2008-07-14T22:02:00.001+01:00

Cleaner than the last one. Getting the hang of this ;)

Buddy X - my remix -

That song thing...

2008-07-14T17:37:00.001+01:00

I think this'll work to download it.

http://www.zshare.net/download/1531058100571d2b/

It's an mpeg4 audio file.

Disclaimer - cheap software, crap webcam mic.

Zzzzzzz

2008-07-14T11:10:00.001+01:00

Spent the weekend honing my didgeridoo skills. I can now make a 'hopping kangaroo' noise, a kookaburrah (sp), a kind-of barking dog, a trumpet, um... and some other stuff I can't remember. Also practiced my (currently weak) circular breathing which invovles blowing bubbles with a straw into a glass of water. Always fun.

Made a song too - a 'remix/cover' of Maroon 5's 'Woman', slightly changing the lyrics to suit a female singing it, and did a backing track with the help of HipHop E-Jay and the microphone on a webcam. Yeah, I know, don't laugh. I work with what I've got ;p I actually quite like it, but it needs refining. I might work on that this week and eventually post it here when it's okay. It was certainly fun to make.

Today, I finished all my work by 9:30am. This is me bored for the rest of the day;

[Del] <------- bored

I think I'll be taking advantage of the flexitime system and leaving early. 4-ish.

*snores on keyboard* nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

--
Lick the Lid of Life!

Funny Story

2008-07-12T14:29:00.002+01:00

Once upon a time, an unsuspecting Petty Officer 2nd Class found a pair of black Little Miss Naughty knickers on a table in a military dormitory laundry room.

Amusingly, he knew instantly who they belonged to.

*cough*

Testing E-mail Blogging

2008-07-11T09:34:00.001+01:00

Let's see if this works.

Yesterday was a very quiet day at work so I got some writing done - picked up an old project from a fresh angle. Was fun. In theory it could be brilliant if I finish it. Key word - 'if'!! Heh. Someone kick me up the arse.

Today looks to be much of the same. Friday, which is a quiet day anyway - and not many staff around. Even quieter! Fortunately I can leave early so the torment of boredom won't be as prolonged as it was yesterday ^.^

I made a Vox account yesterday. Had a look around, took note of the hugely un-user-friendly interface which is just all over the place (I know I'd get used to it, but that's not the point), and then realised the glaring lack of customisability. 'Personalising' your blog on that place means adding your own header image. Screw that. I want to see the HTML and CSS and fiddle with it. I don't want a generic 'two hundred people use this template' deal. Meh. So I deleted the account again and I won't be back in a hurry. 'Vox is better than Blogger' my arse - no it ain't, it just makes you think it is because of all these 'seamless integrated' features. 'You can get straight into your photobucket and flickr!' - yeah, in the time I wait for it to load my images I can open the site in a new tab. I can post the same media into a Blogger post that I can into a Vox post. I can e-mail and even text to my blog here. Vox doesn't offer anything new or improved - and it lacks one of the main attractions that pulls me to a blog site - customisability.

So ner ner ner.

--
Lick the Lid of Life!

Madness Hamsters

2008-07-09T20:12:00.002+01:00

So today was interesting. Spent the majority of the day (9am - 4pm) musing on the insanity of the psychologists I work with (and, ironically, their absent-mindedness), and from 4:15pm, spent the remainder of the working day wondering if the crazy man trying to break into the building would still be there when I left. Fortunately his care worker had found him by then (24 hour care my ass) and managed to drag him off, almost literally kicking and screaming (well, okay - shouting and hitting things with a stick he'd picked up somewhere).

But that's what you get when you work in a mental hospital!

Came home fighting off a headache, had a bath in bath salts and rose petals (luxury!), ate an oven-baked potato with real butter, cheese and mango chutney (delicious!), got made a hot chocolate by my man, and now I'm playing Warcraft. Woo hoo!

Rar

2008-07-08T12:13:00.003+01:00

So my stuff hadn't arrived by 4:30pm yesterday. I called them up and they said, 'Oh, the stuff got to us late on Thursday (read: Our company was late picking your stuff up on Thursday) so if it's not with you by 5pm today, it'll definately be with you tomorrow.'. Why the hell couldn't they tell me that on Thursday so I didn't have to book Monday off? Retards.

Anyway, I'm off work again today to hopefully receive my stuff.Yay!

Meanwhile, I leave you with this tasty tidbit.

Interlude

2008-07-06T14:01:00.002+01:00

So yeah, efx is down... again. *snore*

Meanwhile, some catty photos!

New Digs

2007-09-14T16:37:00.001+01:00

http://welshpixie.efx2blogs.com

Wooh!

EFX2 Blogs Back in Business!

2007-09-13T13:40:00.000+01:00

In a fashion, at least...

http://efx2blogs.com/

Watch this space, as it were!

Yay All Over

2007-09-12T20:49:00.000+01:00

The office didn't burn down. Yay!

I got asked to write a story for a friend's magazine - and I'll get PAID! Yay!

Facebook is quite fun. Yay!

Am a happy pixie.

Yay!

Blah blah blah

2007-09-11T22:35:00.000+01:00

I joined Facebook... eugh *involuntary shudder* - I feel like I need to take a hot shower with lots of disinfectant! (And it's all because efx2 went down... harrumph)

In other news... I left the heater on in work today when I left early at 4. I'm hoping the boss checked the room before he went home, but I tried phoning between 4 and 5 and didn't get an answer, even though he was there when I left... hrm. I'm sorry if the office burns down overnight >.< (Not really sure who I'm saying sorry to... but I'll feel bad!)

I got N3 (Ninety Nine Nights) delivered today from Amazon Marketplace, for £13. It was as new, without the wrapping. I played a demo and it was mad hack 'n' slash fun. The game itself is no different! Nice glossy anime characters, army units to command, goblins and orcs to attack, and hugely overpowered attacks to kill 'em with. Wooh!

And now, we're watching Scorpion King - because neither of us are of sane and present enough state of mind to deal with anything more intelligent!

The First Day

2007-09-10T21:53:00.001+01:00

... Was good!

Kinda quirky place. It's a small office in a converted mid-terrace house on a hill. It's kinda wonky and shambly, hehe, which gives it a good character. We're on the first floor and there's another company on the ground floor (or if you're an American reading this: we're on the second floor and there's another company on the first floor). It's a very laid back place. I got there at 8:50 and the front door was closed and locked. At 9am, I got let in by the guy who I guess owns the downstairs office. I went upstairs and sat on a chair in the hallway until my boss showed up at 9:05, hehe. He apologised for his immense lack of organisation, gave me the smaller of the only two office rooms (aside from the teeny kitchen and bathroom complete with bath tub) to set up my PC in. Yes, I had to set up my PC before I could start work - and by that, I mean take the brand new PC out of the box and get it set up with Vista, MS Office and Sage Line 50 accounting. The boss left me to it as he had to go to a meeting at 9:30, and said he'd be back for 10 - meanwhile his manager arrived and was in the other room at his desk.

I got the PC set up and running by about 10, then twiddled my thumbs until the boss came back finally at around 10:30. He got me a few software CD's and I was installing stuff until around 11:30. Then, he showed me briefly around Sage and what I'd be doing, and I went on lunch at 12:15. The rest of the day (1:15pm - 5pm) was spent transferring the bank statement of April 2005 onto Sage and reconciling it. o.O

So yeah, it was good.

Meanwhile, I've been working on some photos that I took ages ago but hadn't formatted from RAW or uploaded... anywhoo, here's a few.

Back To Work

2007-09-09T23:21:00.000+01:00

So tomorrow, after living for the past few weeks as a lady of leisure, I'm back to work for two weeks. I'll be doing data entry onto an accounting system for the office of a company in Inverness who provide social care in the area. This menial (in comparison) work will be at £7 an hour, whereas for utilising a significant percentage of my IT knowledge in the last place on an IT helpdesk I was earning £5.67 an hour. "£5.67 an hour?!" I hear you say. "I thought the minimum wage was higher than that!?" Yeah, me too, heh. Ah well - all over now! Meanwhile, another agency are putting me forward for a Project Manager role with the NHS. It sounds promising, what I know of it so far - but I don't know much as it's a new position they're creating so they're kinda sussing it out when they see CV's. I'm confident enough in my CV that I'm sure I'll at least get some serious consideration for the post.

In other, more interesting news...

I was browsing some blogspot blogs today and came across this little bit of funny:

Overheard Lines

Check it out. Made me chuckle a few times. Yes, people really are that stupid (note the country of origin!).

There haven't been any more developments with the neighbours. I sent the abridged version of the note (by 'sent' I mean 'crammed through the letterbox'), but we've had no reply. This morning, we saw an ambulance taking the woman's drunken mother away strapped into a wheelchair, so I don't know what was going on there - later on, the woman was carrying a plate of food through into her mother's house so she must've been back. Maybe she had a seizure because she ran out of booze, or something.

Kilty's almost at the end of bioshock - he has some two chapters / missions left, the second of which is the big boss fight. Right now, he's... ah, I won't say as it'll be a bit of a spoiler to those who haven't played!

I've ordered a couple of games from Amazon... one was Ninety Nine Nights after playing the demo, and er... I think the other was Bullet Witch (I looked at a few and can't remember which I ended up ordering). Bullet Witch sounds like hacking slashing fun, which always has a place. Ninety Nine Nights was purrrrdy!

Oookay, this is turning into a fairly significant post! Will be calling it a night soon - for the past week we've been staying up until 3 or 4am and getting up at noon, heh... but not tonight, since we're both back to work tomorrow!

Anyway. Byeeeeee!

The Latest From Keith

2007-09-09T11:56:00.000+01:00

"(It's) better if we just get our own server. I plan on doing that in a few weeks.

I am not giving up on EFx2. :D

Here is some information some people may or may not know depending on if you were forwarded some of my recent e-mails.

My blog script on EFx2.com was exploited and a phishing scam was put on the server through our site. Apparently this is the 3rd time this has happened in recent months. The problem is this is the first time I have heard about this. If Martin would have said something to be the first time I could have done something to prevent it from happening again.

So now since its the 3rd time in recent months it violates the main hosts TOS so that single server was canceled (he has a total of 4 servers with that hosting company) so he is trying to work with them to get it back.

I personally feel he is no longer going to host us though .. even though its not exactly our fault this happened. It is not something that was done intentionally.

This whole thing completely sucks and is the cherry on the top of my crap cake this past month ..

Because or script is exploitable and I don't have the time to redo it all over again I am going to try out Wordpress MU. Wordpress MU is a multiple user Wordpress script and is developed and tested by professional and will be the fastest way to get back up.

http://mu.wordpress.org/

Check out the FAQ there. It has all the features of EFx2 as well as some we never had. Some of the cool ones include multiple authors per blog and the ability to post from a 3rd party software. Almost all the wordpress plugins work for it as well as all the wordpress themes.

I will pass on any information I get to various bloggers so they can pass it on to everyone else. :D"

Have faith, oh faithful followers of EFX - all is not lost! ;o)

Want To Know What's Up With EFX2?

2007-09-08T14:53:00.000+01:00

Here are the emails I received, for those who don't know what's going on:
________________
I was just informed that the whole server was taken down because someone exploited our site and was using it for a phishing scam. I have no idea if or even when the site will be back up. I am going crazy because I don't know what to do now. I need to figure out what my options are for the site or if it needs to be removed completely. Martin our host got a message from the main server hosting company about the phishing scam and told Martin that the site needs to be removed in order to resume service.

I am trying to work with Martin in order to get the site content and database content so we have an updated backup and hopefully we can continue blogging soon .. but not sure exactly when.

I still have efx2blogs.com domain if efx2.com is no longer usable if we need to start over as a worse case scenario ... we would still have the same content but the actual blogs themselves would have to be very restricted to prevent further exploits.

Man this is the worst thing that could happen right now and totally caught me by surprise. Please pass this information around and I will keep you updated so you can keep the others updated.
_________________

OK I have had a few e-mails asking about some information. At this time all I know is that the phishing came from our domain efx2.com. It happened within one of our cache directories. I don't believe its someone from the community because most of the time when it comes to phishing its usually done by bots looking for exploits.

I have been going over my options and after the restyle and now going back to work I would hate to have to recode the site once again especially with less time then I had before.

So I am looking into some other blog hosting scripts that we could possibly use and most cost money so as of right now those are out of the question.

I would like to give Wordpress MU as go and see how it works but currently don't have access to a server to check it out. Wordpress MU is completely free and open source and if you need some more info be sure to check out the FAQ on this site ... http://mu.wordpress.org/

As I said I don't have a lot of time like before and Wordpress is a very nice blogging script and it would be nice to have something up and running quickly once we have access again. Of course I will work with everyone to get your posts back if we end up going with a completely new setup using Wordpress MU.

It has all the features of Wordpress and developed by the Wordpress guys so it will come feature packed and from what I read all the good plugins work with it so that would be fun for everyone. I can also customize it once we are up for future stuff such as alerts and other things.

I will e-mail back once I have more .. still waiting to hear back from Martin about the final decision on what to do with the domain.
________________

I'll keep you updated if I hear anything new.

When Circumstance Calls...

2007-09-07T23:31:00.000+01:00

Well, efx2 is down for who knows how long - and so I'll post here until a resolution is found. It's been a while since I've used blogspot - but I'm glad I still have this set up! In fact, if you have a gander at my profile page and scroll to the bottom, you'll see I have a few more blogs here...

Anywhoo, I'll pick up from my last post on efx that detailed my proposed response to the bird haters. Well, we sent them a letter, but it wasn't that one! It was a more civilised (though less fun) version:

_____________________________

Dear neighbours,

We are sorry to hear that you are having problems with the birds we attract to our garden.

I took the liberty of contacting both the Environmental Health Department of the Highland Council, and Albyn Housing, on your behalf to advise them of your complaint and to enquire as to whether we were in breach of any rules or regulations regarding the feeding of wild birds in a residential area.

The Environmental Health Dept. responded that if a formal complaint is made, they will visit the area in question to determine if there is an issue with the provided food (mostly loaves of bread and other large items of food) attracting vermin (namely large numbers of seagulls and / or pigeons) and would advise the residents to instead use a bird house and small feeders. I explained the set-up we have here (namely one bird house and a number of bird feeders designed to only accommodate small birds), and mentioned that the majority of birds we get in the garden are starlings, house sparrows and finches; Environmental Health don't believe there should be any problem with this.

Albyn Housing stated much the same. I explained the set-up we have and the birds that visit, told them of the nature of your complaint and asked if they have any policies about feeding wild birds. They stated that a formal complaint has yet to be made - but if one were made, they would expect the residents to reach an agreement between themselves, and would offer the same advice as the Environmental Health department; they also mentioned that they can't foresee there being any issue as so many people now have bird feeders in their gardens, and with the general bird population in the area, it would be difficult to distinguish if the droppings are being caused specifically by the birds visiting our garden. However, the above being said - we will soon be the sole owners of this property and such matters will be out of the hands of Albyn Housing.

We also checked with our downstairs neighbour, thinking that as she is closer to the bird house and feeders than yourself, she would have the same problems (if not more so) - but she hasn't noticed any bird droppings on her washing, windows or garden and barely even notices the birds.

Again, I am sorry that you feel offended enough to want us to remove the bird house. By all means, please make a formal complaint to both the Environmental Health Department and Albyn Housing - I have advised both that I will suggest to you that you do just this if you feel so strongly about the issue.

Meanwhile, as a temporary gesture of good will until we are the sole owners of the property, we will take down a few of the small bird feeders.

____________________________

We haven't had any response yet. I'm eagerly awaiting one!

Gwyn's Custom Tags...

2005-10-24T22:55:00.000+01:00

Where? Anywhere I can find food and fresh water I guess, hehe

Book? JD Salinger, Catcher in the Rye

Film? Aside from the fact that I wouldn't if I were on a desert island, lol... Pirates of the Carribean. Arrrr!

Music? As above, but... hmm... I have loads of faves. Linkin Park / The Prodigy if I were in an adventuring mood, otherwise... Jeff Buckley, I think.

Partner? (Your reply was very ambiguous, Gwyn ;p I can't say who mine would be. Is a male, but is secret.

Essential Item? Machette (have to agree with you on this, hehe)

Thing you can't have but want? Internet. :o(

Clothed or Nude? Scantily clad.

Once you have set yourself up. Saved or Stay? Saved. I have too many people I love that I'd miss otherwise.

Ce'st moi.

2005-10-24T22:01:00.000+01:00

'Cause I haven't put a pic of me on here for a while. ;o)

Tagged

2005-10-24T21:52:00.000+01:00

Myself - small and wicked, loving and affectionate. What more could anyone want? ;)

Wisdom - I am the All Knowing Goddess. Just sometimes I have to pretend that I don't know stuff, 'cause otherwise life would get boring.

Regrets - Listening to my teachers and family when I was in school.

Family - Not quite far away enough from them yet.

Films - Moooooooovies baybee. Love watching DVDs and going to the cinema.

Faith - Pagan/Humanist.

Blogging - Duh.

Words - Can't live without them. ;o)

Friends - Lots; only a handful of good friends though, and unfortunately haven't met a lot of them in person.

Ideas - are the seeds of creation, and stuff. Get lots. Head gonna kersplode one day.

That enough for you, Mister Ankh? ;)

SAD

2005-10-24T08:36:00.000+01:00

As in, Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Was almost dark when I got up this morning. How SAD is that? Raining and cold and windy - SADder still.

Very tired this morning. Guess I didn't get much sleep on the weekend - Charlie kept waking me up at inopportune moments -.- Derned cat.

Hmm, I know I had some spiffy news to write here but I can't remember what it was.

Oh!

I have a job yay :D (Thanks for the vote of confidence Rache ;o) )Been offered a 1 year contract at the place I'm working now, starting on the 1st of November. I'm temping here until then through my employment agency so I'll be working straight through. Yay!

I've extended my break to Italy for two days - I was going to come back on a Monday, but then Iain told me about a market I'd like to go see on Tuesday, so I'm coming back Wednesday. Had to pay £20 to change my return flight but hey - still £50 including tax and insurance for almost a week's holiday in Italy. Can't be bad, can it? Am quite excited now - could do with a break, and haven't seen Iain since the beginning of August. Miss him.

Next weekend is Avebury with TWI, yay. Excited for that. Weekend after is London with mum and aunty. And then, not sure when but on a weekend I'm free, going to visit a friend in Bath who works too much and needs to hang out with a silly pixie for a day to see the lighter side of life. ;o)

Anyway... guess I should go do some work now. Zzzzz.

Another day, another rip-off

2005-10-12T15:08:00.000+01:00

Last month I got charged £360 by AOL for one month's service that should have cost £6. I phoned them, got £195 refunded to my bank and £64 credited to my AOL account for four months free service, and was promised that nothing would be taken from my bank account until January when the 4 free months were up.

Yesterday, I got charged £157 by AOL for the following month's service. -.- I called THREE TIMES, and finally got £100 refunded. I've still been overcharged by some £160, not including the £50 (at least) bank charges I've incurred because the bill from AOL took me over my overdraft limit.

Grrr!!

Always happens to me, dunnit. But then I believe that bad things happen to nice people 'cause nice people can take what's dished out to them without flipping out drastically.

I'm still alive. So it's all good ;)

Weekend went well... and that's all I'm gonna say cuz I'm hiding shyly from Alex-shaped blog readers ;)

Planning to go and visit Iain in Italy from the evening of the 24th November 'til the 28th November - for Thanksgiving weekend, since he has a 4 day weekend then. Wheeeee. Just need to find the airport 'cause it seems to be a very obscure one.

Should be hearing about a job I applied for this week - whether I've been shortlisted or not - then they're interviewing Monday. Arrrgh stress hate interviews - and this one's gonna be with people I'm already working with so double arrrrgh.

Oh well - week is over half done, yay.

Who's the King of your Satelite Castle?

2005-10-06T19:20:00.000+01:00

Almost Friday. Almost, almost, almost.

(That's from the DMB song 'Satelite')

I spent 4 hours photocopying at work today. Wow. That's probably the bordest (yes, bordest is a word, cuz I just made it up) I've ever been. I was so bored that it inspired me to write a poem about photocopying (see my 'Waxing Lyrical' blog).

Tomorrow we're having a 2 hour lunch because a few people at work are leaving and we're going out for a meal. 2 hours w00t!! Mmmmm good food too I hope, not canteen food (but the canteen in work is nice and cheap and they always have a great salad selection).

Mkay, time to say some interesting stuff. Y'know in my last post I mentioned a few people I've been talking with from that loopy love website thingy? Well, one of them is coming to visit me on Sunday all the way from Worcester - called Alex. He's very nice and interesting and all the good stuff; we've spoken on the phone and online with webcams and stuffs - though obviously reserving final judgement (that sounds so ominous, lol) 'til we've met in person. But he reads this blog I think so hi Alex ;) (feels weird writing about someone when you know they're gonna read it... but he's part of my life at the moment, and since this is a blog about me, lol...). I'd post a pic of him here but he'd likely kill me ;oD

Anyway, that's about it for now. Other stuff has happened but I can't be arsed to write about it 'cause it's annoying and icky and makes me feel very... uncomfortable to think about it. Will fill y'all in another time.

Lost and Found

2005-09-29T10:32:00.000+01:00

Rar!

Every day should start with a Rar. And end with one, if possible, but that's a little more difficult and should only be attempted by individuals experienced in the skilled art of Raring.

Work just asked me if I'd like to stay on here another month. Yay! Also applying for a permanent position they're advertising and interviewing for on Oct 18th. Wheeee! ^.^

Have I mentioned I've rejoined the role-playing forum I used to rp at? If not, then I have. It's an American thingy - Dungeons and Dragons. Anyway, I've been having some hassle there of late, this past week or two. The majority of players there are in their 40s, and it astounds me how immaturely they behave. When I joined the first time 'round, 'role-play' meant assuming the identity of a fictional individual, otherwise known as acting. Playing a part. Pretending to be someone different for a while.

Now, apparently, it means behaving completely as yourself and doing and saying everything with utmost individualistic sincerity.

Yes, I'm being sarcastic, thankfully - but jeez, these people take things WAY too seriously. A) It's a game. B) It's not real. My characters are elves and half-elves ferchrissake, they're make believe; pretend.

Yeesh.

So I've been kinda frustrated and exhasperated and stuff concerning the behaviour of certain individuals on there. On Monday night in particular - so much so that I decided to let loose on my punchbag for a little while. Accidentally glanced a left hook off the bag and into the wall, and now have what the nurse called a 'bad soft tissue injury'. It's not fractured, I don't think.

Apparently, I have a formidable left hook. Fortunately for the wall, it's tougher than I am. ;o)

In a sudden bout of loneliness last week I joined this site thing called 'loopy love'. Had lots of weird messages and chat invites off freaks and weirdoes and people 20 + years older than me *shudder* but have also met a couple of... intriguing... peoples. Making friends is fun. Building on the foundations of possibility is funererer. ^.^

Gotta get back to work now - I have a 17 foot (feels like it) pile of paperwork to pick the staples from *snips staple remover threatningly* and then put the papers in the recycling bag.

Oh Frabjous day, Callooh, Callay!

Heh. Gimme a Snark any day. ;o)

That Friday Feeling

2005-09-23T14:30:00.000+01:00

It's a Friday afternoon, and all is well in the World of Dely!

Working until the 30th September for the Asset Languages dept. of UCLES, finishing at 4pm today 'cause it's a Friday YAY!

Meeting Mark from Bury St Edmunds tomorrow to have a wander around Cambridge...

And that's about it, hehe. Hmm, will write more later.

Ooh...

2005-08-31T15:56:00.000+01:00

Lookie, an update. Whodathunk it? ;)

Have been bored at work for the past... *glances at clock* six hours! Gah! And suddenly remembered that I have blogs to update.

Yep, that's my excuse - bad memory. Keep forgetting I have blogs.

Anyway, what's new in the world of Del...

Kickboxing - don't think I've mentioned that yet. Have started kickboxing. Haven't been the past two weeks due to an annoying cold, but I'm going tomorrow night.

Contact lenses - which I'm getting for kickboxing. Picking them up tomorrow afternoon - got the afternoon off work especially. w00t!

Roleplay - I've joined the ADnD (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons) roleplay site that I left a couple of years ago. Mostly because I was bored in the evenings and needed to devote part of my life to not-having-a-life again, if you see what I mean. It's also encouraging me to write a whole lot more - at the moment, I'm knocking out two pieces of flash fiction, a poem and a couple of 1000+word stories a week, which is pretty good going!

Published - http://womanscorner.com My flash fiction, also check the 'more poetry' link and the 'meet the authors' link. Wheee!

And... that's all for now, folks.

Gah

2005-07-21T12:46:00.000+01:00

Messed up this post and accidentally deleted it. Mentioned going gliding though, hence the comments.

Wicked Weekend

2005-07-11T15:14:00.001+01:00

I have a friend who's girlfriend of 11 years recently split up with him. He's understandably devestated. They share a house, but this weekend was the first that she wouldn't be there (went away with friends) so I went over to stay with him - to keep him company and make sure he had some fun, hehe.

It was awesome. He has a super zooomy yellow Suzuki motorbike which we went out on a few times. On Saturday we went into Gloucester, looked in the Cathedral, had food in a very atmospheric pub/café, ate lots of fudge, and found a shop called 'Del's Delights' which was amusing! Then in the afternoon we went into Tewkesbury and watched the re-enactment of the Battle of Tewkesbury in the boiling mid-afternoon sun. Loads of the people in full armour fainted - and understandably so, heh. Was fun though!

He drove me all the way back to Huntingdon on Sunday afternoon - some 150 miles cruising at 100mph down the motorway ;) Very VERY fun!! But then I had to take my mountain bike back from Iain's in the evening - cycled 3 miles into Huntingdon with my full rucksack on my back, got the train at 10pm, changed at Hitchin, got the train at 10:46 to Cambridge, got into Cambs around 11:30, cycled home to reach there at about 12:15. After eating a little and talking on the 'phone, didn't go to bed 'till around 1am - was kersaughsted! Burned my ankle on the exhaust pipe of the bike, too :/ Not good.

Anyway, am in work so better start doing some! Got a couple of pics of the weekend - if I remember, I'll put those here, as well as those I mentioned in the last entry >.<

Ah, Life...

2005-07-07T13:25:00.000+01:00

Had an incredibly enjoyable weekend with the friend who visited (pics to follow). Will be going to visit him soon - most likely weekend after next. Yay ^.^

Life has taken some strange turns of late, the most prominent of which has left me in a position where I can start dating again. Which is exciting and fun - even though I'd rather not be in that position. But make the most of it, right? ;o) So I have a date sometime next week. A guy who travels to work on the same bus as me in the mornings when I don't get a lift. He's coming over and I'm cooking him something. Not quite sure how that'll go...

Also just contacted a friend I have in London who I haven't spoken with for a while. I've never actually met him - but I figure now that I'm much closer to London than I was, I should pay him a visit (or vice versa). I contacted him to check he was okay after all the kersplosions going on there >.<
Right??

:o/

Six Months in a Nutshell

2005-06-29T09:15:00.000+01:00

Well, if I'm starting this thing up again, I suppose I'll have to give readers a summary of where I've been for the past six months or so! (I know this journal hadn't been updated since around October or thereabouts, so even longer in this case...)

Split with boyfriend of a year around christmas - woebegone for weeks (still the best of friends with him, though, so that's good...)
Grandfather ill around the same time - which added salt to the wounds - fortunately full recovery was made
Lost my job - which I knew was gonna happen, but still...
Decided a change of life was needed, moved to Cambridge, stayed between boyfriend and his friend for a few months while settling, getting job, etc
Found a place to live (room in a houseshare), found a good job (temporary with a view to becoming permanent)
Finally, life settles again!!!

So, that's my past six months.

What next?

When I got back online, decided I needed to pool my circle of friends and expand it. Contacted a few people I'd been meaning to get to know - and one in particular is visiting me this weekend. Could be the setting in stone of a wunnerful friendship, could be something more. I'm still in love with the guy I split up with, but we can't have everything, can we? ;o) I need to move on - get on with my life. It's very strange wanting someone again that's not Him, but rather pleasant at the same time.

ANYWAY... enough reminiscing... roll on the weekend, and sunnier times ;o)

Rainy Days Don't Matter

2005-06-28T17:00:00.000+01:00

I stare down at the pillow through tear-filled eyes, the crisp white reduced to a dull grey in the darkness. I have my phone in my hand; I keep flicking between two numbers, indecisive as always. I highlight one number, hover my thumb over ‘call’ until the backlight fades from inactivity. The suddenly cast shadows draw my attention away from the pillow again and I look back to the phone, flick to the other number as the display lights up eagerly.

I sigh and rub at my eyes with the tissue I hold balled up in my hand. Must I always go through this? I can’t call the person who’s causing the tears – it’s 12:30am, and I know he was shattered at 10pm – if I call, even in this state, he’ll grumble. I don’t think I could stand that.

I stare at the second number – the alternative. He’s said I can call any time. So far I haven’t taken him up on that offer. I always have this fear of inconveniencing people – even with something they’ve offered sincerely, selflessly. Maybe now would be a good time to take advantage of his offer. The tears have almost stopped, but still – I think hearing a friendly voice will do me good.

Thirty minutes of thinking myself in circles, and I push ‘call’. He answers, I talk, he responds – he makes me laugh. His voice, smooth and rich, permeates my senses. Suddenly I’m happy. With friends like him, rainy days don’t matter.

(Thought I'd start up a normal blog again (aside to my writing one). Life seems to be settling down, with some exciting things happening... anyway, I'll see how it goes!)

Insanities

2004-11-09T10:23:00.000Z

I visited my grandparents yesterday from work. My grandfather said I'm looking skinny (apparently he's still blind, but on the other end of the spectrum as he usually tells me I'm looking fat, despite my 28" waist).

Gran: I think I'm allergic to new potatoes. Every time I peel them my skin itches something awful. Maybe there's gnats in them.

Yeah... best not to ask about that one, thinks I.

The insanities continued in work this morning as the manager asked me where HE saved HIS work.

"Did I save it in My Documents or on a Floppy?"
Um... I don't know..."
"Don't remember, do you?"

It ain't a case of me not remembering, it's a case of it was YOUR work and YOU saved it, dumbass. 'Course, I didn't say that. Good little employee as I am, I said 'No'.

Visual Fun

2004-11-08T10:32:00.000Z

Supposedly only 2% of the world's population can see the difference between these two pictures in under 30 seconds. I found it in 53 seconds. Oh well. I guess that means that I'm not in the "top 2%." I challenge any of you to find the difference between these photos before 53 seconds. If you do, my hat goes off to you. It's not easy. If you find it in 30 seconds or less, then I will bow to the master because evidently you are in the top 2%. Here's a hint: the difference is NOT in the water. Have fun!

http://members.home.nl/saen/Special/zoeken.htm

Unfair Representation

2004-11-04T17:01:00.000Z

Had a meeting this morning.

I'll tell this story very much in brief.

For the past six years this organisation has been planning the 'Bwllfa Mountain Centre' - a large park-type place on a local mountain that will incorporate walking trails, mountain bike trails, pony trekking, sustainable energy displays, a hill farm museum, campsite, log cabins, play areas, etc etc. For the past six years we've had backing from WEFO, Welsh European Funding Office, that we'll be able to receive European funding for this project. Since I've been working here, some three years, we've been getting closer and closer to putting in a bid for this money. We've come up against problems, but WEFO have always helped us find ways around them.

WEFO have had our Action Plan which details the project, and for a good few weeks have had our detailed Business Plan. They've known, for months, exactly what this project will entail and as I've said, there have been problems but they've offered us help in getting around them.

We went to a meeting today to discuss State Aid - one of those problems. Any project receiveing funding must not be in direct competition with other similar projects in the area - if they are, they can only receive a certain amount of funding. We were told that at this meeting today, there would be present a representative from WEFO especially to discuss State Aid and its implications on our project.

Instead, we were told by some WEFO representative we've never seen before that there's no way our project, the Bwllfa Mountain Centre, the project they've known about for some six years, the project they've had detailed information on for months and have STILL backed us, will get funding because it's predominantly a leisure project and leisure isn't eligible.

End of.

WTF? Angry? You could say.

Living in the Lap of Luxury

2004-10-26T10:35:00.000+01:00

Mwahahaha!

Some people came into the office yesterday and brought us a load of filing cabinets and puter chairs that a local council office was throwing out.

My old puter chair was nice - gas lift, wheels, spun 'round in circles (an essential quality for a computer chair to posess), etc.I got given one of the 'new' chairs that came in though. It has arm rests and it's all loungey and and and ooooh it's comfy! I wish I could take a picture. I'm sitting in my nice new comfy chair with my laptop on my lap and my feet up on an open drawer of my desk. Hee hee hee! Livin' in the lap of office luxury baybee!!

No rants today. Feeling too good, lol. Which isn't anything to complain about! Hee.

Rollercoaster Tycoon II

2004-10-20T01:27:00.000+01:00

I hate it.

I hate it I hate it I hate it.

I've been playing it almost every night for some two weeks, but I hate it!!

You have three beginner theme parks at the easiest setting. One of them has no priced rides but can charge entrance fees, the other two have no entrance fees but can charge for rides. Each theme park has an objective to reach regarding the number of guests in your park and your park rating after a certain period of time.

I've completed the one with no ride fees, just an entrance fee. That one was easy to reach the objectives on.

Crazy Castle... now that's another story. I must've tried that theme park some 10 times and I can't get anywhere near the required amount of people (1500) in my park after 4 years. I've used all kinds of tactics from playing it safe to extreme spendage, and none of them have worked.

HELP!!!

Has anyone played this? Have you completed Crazy Castle? Is it just me, or is this theme park TOTALLY impossible? Are they havin' a laff? Cor blimey.

I'm gonna throw the game in the river tomorrow.

*growl*

AF Madness

2004-10-19T03:38:00.000+01:00

Rant time! Wooooh rant rant rant

Just got back from a weekend with my boyfriend. Boyfriend sounds such an immature word, doesn't it? Reminds me of when I was in school and boyfriends were a necesarry commodity for raising of social status.

Anyway, my rant isn't about the word 'boyfriend'. It's about the US Air Forcce. Because they treat their staff/servicemen/whatever like kids. They have room inspections twice a month to check they're keeping the place tidy. They have uniform inspections to make sure they know how to dress themselves. They're not allowed to keep any items with heating coils in dorm rooms just incase they set fire to anything in a sudden mad fit of incompitence - yet they can keep microwaves. I imagine MUCH more damage can be done by mistreating a microwave than can be done by mistreating a toaster.

It's 3:42 am and I'm friggin' nackered, so I'm going to bed now to worry about my patronised military boyfriend while I sleep.

The She Bitch From Hell

2004-10-14T10:39:00.000+01:00

It's time to introduce one of my co-workers, whom I affectionately call (unbeknownst to her) the She-Bitch-From-Hell.

The she-bitch-from-hell is a farm owner. She works for our business 30 hours a week, while her husband tends the farm. One of our projects here involves renting part of her land for a big woodland/outdoors project that will, upon completion, take up some 25 odd acres of her farmland. So, it's quite handy that she works with us - makes dealings and negotiations easier.

Now, the she-bitch is a very strange character. She loves gossip. I think she thrives on it - sod food and water and fresh air and all of that, she'll take gossip, thank you very much. She also has a strange affinity for the phone. It's like they're having an affair. The phone will ring and she'll pounce on it, even if she has to bound across the office in a mad rush to get there before anyone else. She'll hold the handset close, lovingly caressing its moulded plastic as she whispers sweet nothings down the line.

Woe betide anyone should stand near her when she's on the phone. She'll lean down close to her desk, turning away from you and hugging her beloved phone in a territorial embrace, her voice slipping down a few decibels more so that it's a wonder the person on the other line can hear her at all.

As well as this covert liaison with the phone, she also seems to be predisposed to open everyone else's mail. The manager foolishly told her she can open mail 'addressed to the business' incase he's busy and it's something important. Her little malicious mind interpreted this as 'open anything that we get, even if it's marked 'CONFIDENTIAL, ADDRESSEE ONLY' '. And she does. She opens letters addressed to staff concerning matters of tax and national insurance. Private, personal letters - stuff she has no right to see. She frequently opens mail that comes through for me, even if I'm in the office and no more than five yards away from her, and regardless if my name is printed in underlined bold 50pt text on the envelope. She'll open it, read it, and then smugly declare that 'I think this one's for you...'

We've been trying for a grant with Environment Wales. We sent off our application, but they needed more information and so deferred our application to the next meeting and sent us a letter detailing which extra information we needed. Rather, more to the point, they sent ME the letter since I'm the one who put the application together, I've been dealing with them over the phone, and it's my contact name on the application. The next meeting was yesterday, the 13th, and the deadline for us sending in this extra information to them was the 12th.

Why, then, did I only see the letter today, when the manager handed it to me and said 'can you give them a ring and see if it's too late for us to send them the stuff?'. I looked at the letter, and noticed my name quite clearly on the top. Apparenly it came sometime last week. I was in the office all last week. If I'd seen this letter, maybe I could have reminded the manager to get the stuff in by the deadline and we would have got the grant. Now, it's unlikely we will, thanks to she-bitch and her wiley ways.

WEFO - The Bane of My Existence

2004-10-13T17:23:00.000+01:00

I'm thinking that a whole lot of my rantings on here are gonna be about work. That being the case, I have to explain the state of my current employment.

I work for a small community business. We're a non-profit organisation. We get our funding through WEFO - the Welsh European Funding Office. Every quarter, the manager receives a claim form. This claim form details the money we've spent and where it's gone, for WEFO to check we're spending their money in a way they allow. When this claim form is posted back, WEFO process it and send us a cheque for the amount claimed. This money covers staff costs, admin, bills, etc etc for the quarter.

That's how it's supposed to work. This is how it actually works:

Every quarter, the manager receives a claim form. He fills it in and sends it back within a matter of days (normally two or three). This claim form then sits on a desk at WEFO for three weeks or so until the deadline for claim form submissions is nigh. Once the deadline has passed, it continues to sit on a desk at WEFO until the disorganised administration and management staff can get up off their lazy friggin' arses and process the damned thing. Then we get our money a month later than pay day. This means we get two lots of staff wages at once. This also means that we have two months worth of bills to pay all in one go.

At this stage I feel it necesarry to point out that the manager is about as financially minded as a dung beetle (in that he constantly finds himself shovelling shit). He refuses to ringfence staff wages to pay us throughout the quarter until the next lot of funding comes through, instead using the money to pay off bills that could otherwise wait. My pay hasn't been on time since christmas.

To say I'm pissed off would be a drastic understatement. However, my attempts to find a new job have so far been fruitless. This area is one of the most socially and economically deprived areas of the whole of Europe.

Sucks to be me.

Christmas

2004-10-13T16:37:00.000+01:00

So, it's some ten weeks to christmas. Am I excited? Not really. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, due to circumstances beyond my control, I'm unlikely to get my christmas pay before christmas. This means that I'll have to scrimp and save (which is proving hard enough already because my pay is rarely on time - I'm a month overdue now) just to get SOMETHING for the people I buy presents for.

This brings me on to my second concern over christmas. What is christmas? Why is it celebrated? We all know the religious background to christmas. Trouble is, how many non-religious people still celebrate christmas? I'm a wiccan (kinda). I celebrate christmas. True, I could attest my activities to a celebration of Yule (which is on the same date, conveniently) - but that's not strictly true, as I don't celebrate any other wiccan holidays so I'd just be making excuses.

Now before I come across as a miser and a bit of a scrooge, I'd like to say that I do love giving gifts. Christmas is a time for gift-giving, which is good. But how many people are guilty of giving gifts ONLY at this time of the year? How many people use christmas as an excuse to catch up with paying regards to friends or family who would otherwise remain forgotten? Why should I wait for this one day from 365 to show people I think of them and care of them? Wouldn't your life be much better if, instead of receiving a truckload of rubbish one day a year, you receive random, meaningful gifts throughout the year? Thus, I'm not a big fan of christmas. I hate the commercialism that's been imposed on it. I hate that society is practically forcing me to spend oodles of cash on people all in one go - regardless of whether I want to buy them gifts or not.

So, this christmas I'm hopefully going to sod my family (who are just as drawn into this commercial crap as the next person) and spend Christmas with someone special (who's just as anti-christmas as I am).

Hello Me

2004-10-13T16:25:00.000+01:00

I wanted to start a new blog to deal with some issues that I don't always talk about in my AOL Journal.

I have no idea yet how this blog will turn out, how often I'll update it, what theme it'll follow - but I felt the need to start a new journal, so here it is!

This journal may be quite contraversial when I start posting proper entries. It'll deal with topics I feel quite strongly about, some of which not everyone will agree with. But, it'll provide an insight into me. On the other hand, it might be a load of insane ramblings that are neither here nor there.

Only time will tell ;o)