no wonder my electric bill's so high

this fat fucker (bad bob) absorbs all the heat.

and budgie (or should i say 'pudgie'/barrel cat) is just as bad.

worryingly i don't have one of dinah, the smallest but eldest one.

worrying too that i am resorting to blogging my cats....

edit: d situation now rectified - here she is in all her sultry glory........


double edit: with acknowledgements to manu for posting this elsewhere:

"a translation of a poem written at the same time (800 CE) by a monk who was a copyist and I'd like to post the translation."


Pangur Ban

I and Pangur Ban my cat,
'Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.

Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill-will,
He too plies his simple skill.

'Tis a merry task to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.

Oftentimes a mouse will stray
In the hero Pangur's way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.

'Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.

When a mouse darts from its den,
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!

So in peace our task we ply,
Pangur Ban, my cat, and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine and he has his.

Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.

-- Anon., (Irish, 8th century)

9x9

ok, i somehow got by tagged by mr jim bliss on the great 7x7 blog meme. . and, as he's pointed out, he's so fantastically productive, he's shamed me into getting my butt in gear and actually doing the thing. so i did.

and then i got tagged by merrick on bristling badger, who has transformed it into an even more time-consuming and edit-inducing 9x9. bastard.


so here goes, kids

they are in no particular order.

Nine Things To Do Before I Die

1. play the violin properly
2. be in a band
3. help someone change their life (someone can't change *your* life, but they can be a catalyst)
4. go to australia (providing someone de-spiders it first)
5. have nice teeth
6. eat some mushrooms (more than two teeny weeny ones)
7. quit smoking. (nb if i am diagnosed with a terminal illness, then ignore that one)
8. build a house or something like that
9. get my mum mortal drunk


Nine Things I Cannot Do

1. argue successfully and intelligently
2. survive my family for more than 24 hours in one go
3. eat avocado
4. be near a spider or a slug
5. fail to get incensed at fuckwittery and wilful ignorance
6. get through a uni degree (i'm determined to prove that one wrong this time though)
7. stand anyone talking about bodily functions, goriness, mould or meat production (i guess that counts as goriness) when i'm eating. i can't finish my food.
8. tell the 'ewar woowar' joke or the 'ba-boom!' one without giggling
9. stand the feeling of a tongue in my ear

Nine Things That Attract Me to... (a person)

1. something about their eyes
2. humour
3. honesty
4. intelligence
5. sparkle
6. smell
7. music taste
8. cat tolerance
9. words

Nine Things I Say

1 where the fuck is/are my bastard keys/books/money/phone/cats/mind????
2 oooooh!
3 cake?
4 sorry
5 this might sound stupid, but..
6 have you heard the national?
7 *not now*, bob
8. shall i dooley him? and does she need tweaking?
9. do you mind if i make a joint?

Nine Good Books

1. the unbearable lightness of being - milan kundera
2. if nobody speaks of remarkable things - john mcgregor
3. the accidental - ali smith
4. extremely loud and incredibly close - jonathon safran foer
5. the female eunuch - germaine greer
6. cock and bull - will self
7. riddley walker - russell hoban
8. therese raquin - emile zola
9. the god of small things - arundhti roy

Nine Good Movies

1. miss sweden
2. donnie darko
3. goodbye lenin
4. harvey
5. gattica
6. the proposition
7. the big lebowski
8. the haunting (1963)
9. threads (1984 bbc film)

Nine Things I've Only Done Once And Don't Expect To Do Again

1. tried stuffed vine leaves. and spat them out again.
2. had a night out with a woman whose initial begins with j. and i never want another night out with again.
3. dressed up in a giant tweetie pie costume for the opening of a national pet superstore chain and made kids cry
4. regrettable aussie ex
5. licked a spikey cactus
6. been to a united reformed church service past the age of twelve
7. stated in a tutorial that god said somewhere in the bible 'i am what i am'. i somehow doubt he does showtunes.
8. kissed the wrong girl when the right girl was under my nose
9. villagers

Nine Songs I Don't Think I Could Live Without

1. the devastations - coal
2. jeff buckley - grace
3. king creosote - not one bit ashamed
4. mum - green grass of tunnel
5. the national - about today
6. calexico - alone again, or
7. laura veirs - through december
8. r.e.m. - you are the everything
9. tindersticks - dancing

this next bit can wait to be edited

Nine Blogs To Tag

1. quirky quigy (his blog appeared in my stat counter. nice attitude towards women, especially elderly indian ladies. his angry rant has made me develop an angry rant. let's all spam his comments.*
2. sister spinster's tour diary (it counts as a blog in my eyes, ok?)
3. my swamp
4. miss badger says 'love your cunt!!'
5. bristling badger
6. between my legs
7.dr phunk opinion
8. loose lips sink ships
9.crazy lowdown ways (nb - if you *do* happen to read this, you answer whatever questions you like, sweetheart) :)

and jim, in response to your wish to learn russian....

"ooh minya' yest yawjj jeevyot vuh tipleetsa". (rough transcription)
you can now proudly declare to any passing russians that you have a hedgehog that lives in your greenhouse.

will you have a greenhouse in dublin?
and are you around next weekend (as in this coming fri/sat/sun) for a herbal cuppa?


bah. it's too late and i have packing to do.

look out australian violinists and random internet people across the uk.

i'm on my way. and i have whisky.




*stat counter and pmt. what a great combination.

heh it got deleted within two hours

top albums of 2005

yes, i know it's late.

at the mo it's the top ten, but it will end up being edited and shuffled around to a top 20.

it's not necessarily albums *made* in 2005, just ones i heard for the first time in 2005.

the national - alligator
the arcade fire - funeral
film school - film school
the go! team - thunder lightning strike!
the devastations - devastations
calexico & iron and wine - in the reins
nick drake - five leaves left
king creosote - kc rules ok
slumberwall - the spacecat concert
arthur lee & love - forever changes

chasing clogs and the books

i do like this chasing bands around the country thing. thanks for introducing me to it, m, and for encouraging and abetting me in it (when you remember) :)

righty. clogs and the books tour dates:

1.28.06 :: Sat :: Bristol, UK :: Cube Cinema

1.30.06 :: Mon :: Norwich, UK :: Norwich Arts Centre :: 8:00 pm

1.31.06 :: Tue :: North Yorkshire, UK :: The Shed :: 8:00 pm

2.1.06 :: Wed :: Glasgow, UK :: The Arches :: 7:30 pm

2.2.06 :: Thu :: Gateshead, UK :: The Sage Gateshead :: 8:00 pm

2.3.06 :: Fri :: London, UK :: The Luminaire :: 7:30 pm

2.4.06 :: Sat :: Brighton, UK :: Corn Exchange :: 8:00 pm

2.5.06 :: Sun :: Coventry, UK :: Warwick Arts Centre

clogs: they're not really like anything else i listen to. it's not a bad thing though.

the books are really exciting me at the moment - can't wait to see how they come across live.

press blurb about clogs:
The biggest drawback to Thom's Night Out is that it won't fit logically anywhere in your music collection. A case could be made for including it with your world-music stuff or with your classical discs or even with the rock CDs-somewhere between Camper Van Beethoven and Costello, Elvis. The four-piece ensemble uses Western classical instruments to play pop-structured songs that can sound like klezmer music, traditional Indian melodies or even medieval monody. Padma Newsome plays the violin and viola and also composed most of the tunes. Thomas Kozumplik plays all manner of percussion, including steel drums, and Bryce Dessner plays classical guitar while Rachael Elliott fills out the ensemble on bassoon. Sound like an odd combination? It is, but the honed chops and unique harmonic sensibility somehow hold it all together. Fans of rock's slo-mo movement will feel right at home, and so will their parents. It is overall refreshing in its originality and bravado; few new CDs in any genre will do as much to challenge the way you listen to music.

the books ("Appalachian-tinged electronica ensemble) interview & faq:
http://www.thebooksmusic.com/news/interviews_2002.htm


right. i'm gonna go to the gigs at The Shed, The Arches, possibly The Luminaire and The Corn Exchange. (phunky, take note - i'm gonna be in glasgae from about five on the first of feb, through to five on the second. i will be drinking with lesbanians after the gig, but think i will have some free time the next day, if you're around?

10 million girls in 20 years

story here

seriously serious - mothers against knives - please sign the petition

click here


"The campaign was started in 2003 after the tragic death of Robert Dunne, Barbara's son who was stabbed in the back with a samuria sword and bled to death in the street, Barbara tirelessly campaigned and then joined forces with councilor Joan McTigue, and the successful mothers against knives campaign was founded.



mothers against knives


Mothers against knives was founded in July 2005 by two Middlesbrough Mothers, Barbara Lesley Dunne & Councillor Joan McTigue.
This campaign has the full backing of many Chief Constables and MP`s from all over the U.K. and these two Mothers have gathered 5,000 signitures.
The Rt. Hon. Hazel Blears M.P. has proposed a blanket ban on samuria swords from being sold in the High Street, car boot sales and the Internet.
However ,the campaign is to have some form of legislation to either ban or restrict severly the sale of bladed weapons e.g. machettes, combat knives ect.
Figures out recently show that the crime rate involving knives is at an all time high, far higher than gun crime !
We urge anyone reading this page, whether they are a parent or not, to join us in trying to make this country of ours a safer place for all.
Please sign our petition. Thankyou."


and thank you lisa for bringing this to people's attention. x

happy new year!

ok, so it's technically monday now but i'm going to treat it like it's still new years day.

hope any/everyone reading has had a good festive period and that your 2006 is better,bigger and brighter than your 2005.

i'm in glasgow at the minute, wide awake from a bit too much coffee and not nearly enough alcohol. i've been here since friday afternoon, meeting a group of fantastic internet lesbanians i've been 'talking' to for a few years now, but have never had the opportunity to put faces to names before. i'm one of the splinter group of durtae bisexuals, but i insist that my lesbian passport's still valid.

i'm having a ball. i made cheesecake yesterday, which was gorgeous this evening. the top bird who's putting me up (or should that be putting up with me?) has two brilliant kids, a wicked sense of humour, cooks a dinner that makes me want to propose, and, uh, has a very large cock, according to illicit photos. i spent last night with a flatful of br'ers, drank too much wine and fell asleep on the sofa far too early, apparently snoring gently. got woken up at twoish? to find we were being kicked out due to High Lesbian Drama's (which are inevitable when you get more than one lesbian in a room). sadly, although someone brought it, no twister was played.

i have very very large gaps in my memory, but i'm assured i was neither being a tit, nor getting my tits out. which is nice. got in at 5am, crawled into a bunkbed, demanded cups of tea and passed out. hurrah.

thanks gd, kiwi, seiva, sneezy (i love you), clam, teaqueen, uppy, thongy, ureally, glossy, glossy's beloved, charmed, ster, ib, and scottie , both for one of the best new years eves i've ever had, and for making me laugh, snort, cry, mad, smile, frown and boke via the glory of the internet and the blue rooms.


x x x x to you all

edit: due to insomniac caffeine drinking and habitual bad tendancies, i had a joint on gd's doorstep after posting this. i looked at the sky for ages before i lit up, and it was clearer, more midnight blue and had brighter stars than i have seen for years. everything was quiet. i knew that the dark hills were on the horizon, even though it was pitch black. glasgow is such a beautiful place, i'd like to live there more than i would sweden. as i was marvelling at the loveliness, i saw a shooting star.

even though i almost missed my train this morning and hopefully entertained gd with my flapping about, it's been sooooo nice.
tar lots tarce. and pure excellent to david for saving my ass this morning! x