Q&A

I found a Q&A in the latest Waitrose Magazine and decided I would answer the questions here.


1. What can you see out of the window?

That's a question one can take many ways. Today I can see ocean and the approach to a foreign shore. I love to travel, so not too surprised that is where the windows of my mind are showing me. Of course it's the perfect foreign place - warm but not hot, with only friendly insect life, where as-yet-unmet friends abode. Somewhere to swim and explore and be happy. Somewhere the natives are extra friendly ;-) Rapatoka Island, then.


2. Choose five words to describe yesterday

Filling, delicious, educational, sunny, demanding.


3. Tell us something that would surprise people about yourself

I don't know . . . I am pretty outspoken about myself, especially when hiding behind pseudonyms. Also, which people? What anyone knows about me varies with how I know them. I suppoose in hiding behind so many nomme de plumes you readers might not know I am actually a fat and quite ordinary female from the UK?


4. What was the last conversation you had with a well-known person?

I stuttered and clammed up and lost my nerve with Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto from Torchwood). He's so beautiful I was in awe!


5. What is the kindest thing someone has done for you?

Gosh, people are kind so often . . . Got it! A B Gayle and her husband very kindly provided for me during a whole week's holiday that I could never have afforded myself.


6. What is the most expensive item you have bought in the last month?

I bought a copy of the latest text on Dylsexia. I used to teach dyslexic adults and I like to 'keep my hand in'. It was written by a former tutor of mine, Kath Kelly.


7. Recommend a book, film or album from the last year.

Epitaph, by Andrea Speed.


8. Who has inspired you most in your career?

I've had a few different 'callings', but probably the person who most inspired me in my life as a whole was my first year Juniors teach, Mr. Arthur James Raynor. He taght me my first lessons in being myself. He also got me reading and advised 'Must write more'.


9. What three things would you take to a desert island? 

If people count: Jessie Blackwood, Bear Grylls and Tom Hiddleston. If we could have items as well: An axe, a tarpaulin and a long bow.


10. What are your plans for the weekend?

I am going roleplaying with a couple of good friends. It involves a road trip, so thats a bonus! I'm also going to be doing some research concerning the Tarot, playing with my cat and talking with my best friend.

Blue Gillespie - The Oblivious

Lyrics (c) Blue Gillespie

Have you thought beyond the lie that all is real till the day you die?
That what we're told is all there is and nothing is said in silences?
Have you stopped to think? Gasped in your stink?
Have you seen the link to nothing's brink?

Soak me in your ignorance I'm jealous of your flaws
I'd be happy like you if I didn't open doors
To sincerity to awaken me
To really see just what could be

Teach me oblivion
Please show me how to come
Show me oblivion
Give me a loaded gun

Tell me all the secrets to how you live so bland
Quenching curiosity your head deep in the sand
Tell it plain to me to enable me
Throw away the key to my philanthropy

Teach me oblivion
Please show me how to come
Show me oblivion
Give me a loaded gun

Babies left on filthy streets
Hit by grime in violent beats
Boarded up in an empty home
Nowhere soft to sleep no telephone to call for help

Teach me oblivion
Please show me how to come
Show me oblivion
Give me a loaded gun

This just might happen to me
Trapped in this solitary
Fuckers have swallowed the key
To the man I could be
Fitting in filthy dark shame
Trying to ignore the pain
Searching for someone to blame
Waiting to die again
Losing the seeds I can sow
Losing the me that I know
Having no true place to go
Having no room to grow


Blue Gillespie is:

Gareth David-Lloyd - Vocals
Anthony Clark - Guitar
Nick Harrison - Drums
Rhys Bryant - Bass

They can be found at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Gillespie/140836548672?v=info&ref=ts
http://twitter.com/bluegillespie

Grrrrowling all the way to the bank

I'm fed up, so I am going to have a public moan, which is unlike me.

I am sick of 'teens with issues'. Right now my brother is dying of cancer, so I don't give a flying f*ck about who said what to upset whom. I don't care that someone's Mum is (gods bless her) trying to make them behave in a civilised manner. I don't give sh*t that X or Y 'can't be bothered', 'don't like' or otherwise doesn't want to act like an adult about stuff.

'Teenagers' were invented in the 50s by cynical marketing people, are maintained to this day by that same mechanism, and in my opinion should be damn well uninvented. I don't agree with paying 'teens' to get an 'education'. If they want an education they would attend regardless. Most of them just want to avoid the world of work and adult responsibility for a couplke more years, and their parents and our swestern society indulge them in this regard. They have unearned disp[osal income and they spend it on crap like tattoos. (Yes, I had a student complaining to nme this week that he couldn't get the new tattoo he wanted because he hadn't yet received his Education Maintenance Allowance). The majority of them are pig thick, arrogant, self-centred little ar*eholes who need a good dose of reality.

There, rant now finished.

One Good Turn

My best friend sent me this as part of a chain letter. I don't do chain letters, but I like the story so I've decided to share it. I don't know if the story is true, but I'd like to think it is.


His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy, Farmer Fleming had saved.

'I want to repay you,' said the nobleman. 'You saved my son's life.'

'No, I can't accept payment for what I did,' the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family home.

'Is that your son?' the nobleman asked.

'Yes,' the farmer replied proudly.
'I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.' And that he did.

Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill .. His son's name?

Sir Winston Churchill.


Someone once said: What goes around comes around.

Motto of a True Friend

1. When you are sad -- I will help you get drunk and plot revenge against the sorry bastard who made you that way.
2. When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.
3. When you smile -- I will know you finally got laid.
4. When you are scared -- I will rag on you about it every chance I get.
5. When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining.
6. When you are confused -- I will use little words.
7. When you are sick -- Stay the hell away from me until you are well again. I don't want to catch whatever you have.
8. When you fall -- I will point and laugh at your clumsy arse.

This is my oath..... I pledge it to the end. 'Why?' you may ask? 'Because you are my friend'.

Friendship is like peeing your pants: everyone can see it, but only you can feel the true warmth.

Thanks to:

http://www.bestoday.com.au/sick/archives/newsworthy/

I'd love to believe in angels

So beautiful.

Thanks to:

http://www.bestoday.com.au/sick/images/angel_male-thumb-360x389-1630.jpg

Etymology

Cretin
From the French "Crétin," which originally meant "Christian."

Thanks to: http://www.westegg.com/etymology/

Still Here

Still here !

Important Link for Creative People

I like Neil Gaiman's writing. He has his own blog, where today he says he as yet has not definitely been asked to write an episode of Dr. Who. (It would be mega cool if he was given that gig, though !)

More importantly, though, Neil has a crusade running at the minute to get creative people to write a will. Go here to see the details and to take action:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html