Nasty, Bad Pagans

I recently stumbled upon a blog I really enjoy called Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom. And today I read this post and it made my blood boil. Kathy Lee Gifford referred to 'nasty, bad pagans' in what was meant to be a light-hearted quiz about weddings. Now if she has said 'nasty, bad Hindus' or 'nasty, bad Muslims' she no-doubt would have been fired. However, it's ok to offend practitioners of religion where many of her on customs come from. (Uh, Kathy, let's look at the timing and customs of Christmas) She then went on to issue a blanket apology in the next show without saying specifically whom she had offended or what she had done to cause the offence. (You can get to both these clips from the Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom site and it will boost her readership if you go there) I watched both the clip of her offensive remark and then her blanket apology, and I gotta say her apology offended me even more than the original remark. She obviously didn't mean it and thought it was all a joke.

I signed the on-line petition and then emailed my friends about this. I'm also writing to the Today Show (today@nbc.com) and demanding she either be fired or make a formal on-air apology. I'd like to ask that you do the same.

I originally logged in to write about seeing The Police last night. That will have to wait.

My Musical Weekend

Well well well this is turning out to be a musical weekend. I'm going to Eric Clapton tonight and The Police tomorrow night. Sheryl Crow and John Mayer are opening. KT Tunstall and Starsalior are opening for The Police with other bands tba. Both concerts are in in Hyde Park and this far the forecast looks lovely (fingers crossed). Ooh and I just realised the time. I gotta go. :)

I Have A Lot to Do Today

I just wanted you to know that I am not spending my Summer holiday just sitting in the sun or sitting on-line. I do have things to get done today.

1. Write Laura and wish her a happy birthday. She's one of my dearest friends from Seattle who moved to New Zealand shortly after I moved to Mexico. I've not seen her since her wedding many years ago and lately I've just been crap at keeping in touch with her (or anyone really, aside from writing this blog that is). I miss her loads and wish I could just pop around with a batch of brownies and spend the whole day with her catching up. Plus, I have yet to meet her daughter and that doubly breaks my heart. Happy Birthday Lars!

2. Sort my Kitchen. Gwen came by and dropped off a bunch of stuff yesterday since she's moving back to the states. These new (to me) items are better than what I currently have, but now my kitchen table looks like this.


There is no room in my cupboard presently, so I must rearrange and chuck some stuff out.

3. Sort my bedroom. I was so busy all last week and weekend that most of my clean clothes went straight to the drying rack to the chair in my bedroom and on my floor.
(I can't help but wonder if this pic is making Raechelle cringe.)
As you can see there is a thigh-master, which I recently acquired from the free table at work. I need to find a place for that which makes me actually use the thing. Also, my old broken hoover is there between the drying rack and chair. I replaced it months ago. All I have to do is take it to a charity shop, but I'm afraid they won't take my broken hoover. I'm fearful that the charity shop people will berate me for trying to push my broken junk off onto them. Surely someone can fix this hoover and use it again. It's a Bosch for crying out loud. Still, I tremble at the thought of a lecture by volunteers, who are obviously better than I am since they are donating their time to work at a charity shop. That yellow pile is my cycle jacket which fell to the floor from the drying rack just before I snapped this pic. I decided to let it stay as it added to the artistic effect of the picture. You could say the the yellow pile symbolises my yello-bellied fear of taking my hoover to the charity shop. I've given some serious consideration to just dropping my hoover outside the shop around midnight.

3. Tidy the rest of my flat. I don't think I need to take a pic of this as the bedroom chair and kitchen table tell the story. To be fair the rest of my flat isn't as bad and it's definitely been worse. What I really need to do is stop just throwing things down when I'm obsessively busy and actually take the small amount of time it takes to put things where they belong. I'll bet I'd be less stressed then as well.

4. Finish up Module 1 for my on-line course. It's not due until Monday, but I want to get it out of the way.

5. Go to Beka's students' exhibition. I'm quite curious to her students' art work.

6. Go to a talk about media development followed by Carolina's book launch. Of course Carolina will be speaking at this talk as well.

7. Write the next bit of My Luck with Cars and Boys.

And somewhere in the midst of all this, I have to find time to sit in the sun and read and get on line.

So, I best get started. I've got a big day ahead of me.

Inspiration from London Bloggers and a Long Hot Bath

Last night I went to my first ever London Bloggers Meetup. I have to admit I felt quite uncharacteristically shy and rather self-conscious. This was due to not having met these people nor having a chance to really peruse some of the blogs they authored before I arrived. Everyone I met was friendly, interesting and obviously intelligent. Andy, who organises this, had four speakers come. The people I met along with the first two speakers really got me thinking about this little H in London blog and why I do it.

Today, being my first day of Summer Holiday, I found myself lazily getting out of bed about 9:30 and then taking what had to be the world's longest bath. As I've mentioned before, long baths tend to get my little grey cells working. I thought about that book that's been in the back cobwebbed shelf of my mind waiting to be written, about my plans for working my way through Artist's Way to tap my creativity, about how I began to write about my luck with cars and then just let it fizzle and about all the journals I have filled up since I was a teen. Then, suddenly a little light-bulb went off. I decided to create a new blog.

This new blog is My Luck with Cars and Boys and I will post on it at least once a week (this is my solemn vow). It will be a memoir of sorts with a bit of embellishment and changing of names where deemed fit. Maybe in the long run it will turn into something more.

As for H in London, she will remain. I will post with as much frequency about the thoughts-n-things that pop into my head. I'll even put the 'My Luck with Cars' posts here, but to read about my past luck with boys you will have to venture there. I decided to kill off 'H in Pain'. Who wants to read about my moaning of the mysterious side pain that plagues me? Hell, even I don't.

Thus, I've posted my first post on MLwCaB and then surfed through blogs finding a few from folks I met last night. Gwen also came over and gave her a load of nice kitchen items as she leaves soon to go back to the US. I'll really miss her...sniff. I just realised that it's almost 5 and I have yet to eat a proper meal or do work that needs doing for my course. I'm also thinking about heading to Nine Yards tonight as my plans for going out this evening were cancelled. I best get moving.

Breaking News!

Oscar the Grouch has cleaned up her act. The patio no longer looks like the junk yard from Sanford and Son (actually the garden in Sanford and Son was in much better condition than Oscar's patio, so that's not really fair to compare the two)

I've been insanely busy this last week. Thus, my silence.

Oh and can I just say how much I love Facebook. I've gotten back in touch with people from my past who I was afraid I would never speak to again. The same thing has happened on Linked In. Yay!!

And I've 2 more days of work and then I'm free for 6 weeks. I will be taking a course and working on that book-you know the one I've been threatening to write for the last 4 years. We'll see how that goes.

I spent this weekend eating and drinking a bit too much (Twickenham Green Festival, bbq's, etc) but loved every minute of it.

That's about it. Oh, I had a bit of an epiphany during the week, but that's another blog.

Hooray Pt 3

So, date number 2 went very well. There is a date number 3 in the works, but at this point I'm going to stop blogging about them. Don't want to jinx it after all, and this is a part of my life that from this point needs to be a bit more private. That being said, thank you for your crossed fingers.

Today was a lovely day and I walked into Kingston to buy the award books for our students and on the way I came across a swan family. So I took a pic.


Aren't they cute? After buying the books I decided to treat myself to a frappuccino. Unfortunately, I dumped almost half the contents over my jeans, shoes and floor when I was at the bank. You know, I didn't really even care aside from the fact that I was very embarrassed.

Time to get to that marking.

Slide those fingers...

...back into their previously crossed position, as date number 2 is this evening.

I'm far more nervous about this date than I was about the first one and am fretting over what to wear, etc. I think I really like this guy. He's been texting and calling throughout the week and I can't help but smile when I see it's him. We're meeting in town and then wandering about to find a place to go for drinks outside since the weather is lovely. Thus I need comfortable, yet sexy shoes. I was thinking of heading to Clarks to buy a pair that I had my on, but Linds cautioned me against that. I'm also wondering if I should wear my new purple top with the funky straps or the black top with the unique neck-line. I figure a skirt is in order.

I feel a bit embarrassed being this nervous. If (no H think positively) WHEN this works out, I'm not going to tell him where to find my blog until we are a solid item.

You know, last time I blogged about being nervous before a date, things went really well-well aside the fact that it ended. But, we're still friends. Please don't let blogging about this date jinx it...PLEASE.

So anyway, fingers crossed, and thank you.

Childhood Games in Adult Clothing

Tonight I met some friends of mine at Shunt. This was my second time there. Last year I went to Shunt on a first date. Although I wasn't really taken by the person I was with, I fell in love with this space and what it offers.

Shunt is located in dark corridors and tunnels just off London Bridge station. I'm not certain of the history, so I will have to do my research. When we first entered tonight, we were met with a kind of Gregorian chanting, which echoed throughout the halls. It was romantically creepy. On the tables in this space were little scraps of torn brown paper scrawled with crayons inviting us to a 'tea party in the penthouse'. The penthouse ended up being a space cordoned off by pillars, strip of transparent material and lights from the rest of the venue. People, in clown-like makeup (white faces and big red painted on smiles), invited us in and acted like children and played childhood games. Mark A. and I were cajoled into a hula-hoop competition, which I won. My prize was a badge that said, 'Winner' and like our invitation it was scrawled in crayon on brown paper. We decided to leave the penthouse and head to the bar where we were entertained by some rather esoteric/eclectic dancers and singers randomly appearing in the audience. Eventually they went off and we entertained ourselves with conversation.

Later we happened into another area which was in another room off the main venue.
We were given headphones and sent into complete darkness, not being able to see the hands in front of our faces. What we heard on the headphones can only be described as artistic porn accompanied by a heartbeat which we felt inside our beings as well as heard inside our heads. It was odd, disturbing, fantastic, and amazing all at once.

And so now I'm home from all of this, but I knew I couldn't fall asleep without writing a bit about my eve. You'll have to excuse any mistakes in grammar as my eyelids are growing heavy and my fingers tired.

I wonder what my dreams will be like this evening.

My Arch-Nemesis

My arch-nemesis is innocent looking enough and grows in big bunches along the side of the road and along the side of the river. It also has a sidekick which floats down from trees in white fluffy bits. My eyes looked so red this morning and yesterday morning that people asked me if everything was ok. Apparently, I looked like I had been crying. At least they didn't automatically assume I was on drugs.

I'd really like to make peace with my nemesis and I'm completely baffled as to why it seeks to destroy me and others. I love both flora and fauna. I do nothing to harm it, and in fact I go out of my way to preserve it whenever I can. It is just not fair.

I just replenished my ammunition supply to fight my arch-nemesis, but the one which is most effective makes me drowsy. There just is no winning this fight.

Oh well...

I promise I'm not going to keep moaning about things like allergies and not being able to sleep. Sheesh...

Insomnia

Insomnia sucks.

I went to bed last night early-10:30. It was a really warm eve, so I had my window open. At 12:22 I was awoken by some loud drunk people chatting and laughing just outside my window. They were speaking in a language that sounded African-ish. I couldn't understand it. Too tired to move but too annoyed to sleep, I lay in bed and willed them to shut up. Eventually they wandered away from my flat and I fell back asleep.

At 2:30 I woke up thinking about work and all the things I needed to do (which I should be doing right now, really. But, hey it's my bloody lunch break. I'll do what I want.) I tried to fall back asleep, but every time I began to drift off I would think, 'Hey, I'm falling asleep!' and Bam! I was awake again. It was about 4 when I finally did end up heading back to dreamland.

My alarm went off at 6, and at about 6:20 I launched myself from my bed. I toyed with the idea of heading back to the comfort of my mattress and getting the later shuttle from Esher, but I pushed myself and made it out the door and on my bike by 7:05.

Now, I'm tired and crabby. And, I've a friend whom I've not seen in ages coming over to hang out later in the eve. After work, I will be biking home, taking a nap and hoping that I can be cheerful company this eve.

Again, insomnia sucks. Next time I'm sleepless I'm calling someone in Seattle to moan about it. It's early eve for them at that time after all.

H's Hair Experiment (gone wrong?)

After a very indulgent weekend, where I surely gained 10 lbs, I decided to go a little wild and sleep with my hair in rollers.

For your entertainment, I took a pic of myself this morning with my wild and curly look whilst wearing my new sunglasses.I'm not certain I fancy this look, and I hate this the picture (I look like I have 7 chins), but thought I would share. When I get home, I'm going back to my normal straight hair self.

Hooray!!!! pt 2

Again, at the risk of jinxing this let me just say that things last night went better than I expected. Thank you for crossing your fingers, but please keep them crossed as long as they don't become cramped.

I had a feeling things would go well when I had a place and time to meet in my mind to suggest, but he texted me suggesting the exact place and the same time first. :-D

And, today is Friday. :-D

And, the sun is still shining. :-D

Yay!

Hooray!!!!

I may actually get to vote FOR someone this presidential election!!! Barack Obama has claimed victory for the Democratic Nomination. Of course he still has to be confirmed, but I have no doubt that he will be. I have been keeping an eye on him with my fingers crossed since the beginning.

YAY!!!!

In other news, I'm off to see the Sex and the City film tonight with a lovely bunch of gal pals. I'm really looking forward to it. We will be consuming cocktails before going, of course.

And dare I say it... I have a date tomorrow. It's a first date, so I'm trying not to give it much thought. Hopefully, mentioning it here will not jinx it. I really hope I end up liking this guy (he seems really nice thus far) and that feelings are mutual. It's high time I met someone new who I will get on with well (VERY well if you get my meaning. nudge nudge, wink wink). So, please keep your fingers crossed for me.

The sun is shining today and it's nice and mild.

Life is looking up. Let's hope this continues.

My 11 Year Old Sense Of Humour May Have Saved Lives

I wanted to slug people at work today, and by people I mean colleagues, students, and parents. I had this idea for writing a blog called 'People Who Really Piss Me Off', but then I revisited this...



Some students introduced me to it yesterday. I have no idea why Dumbledore is suddenly naked at the end though. Yes, it's silly and immature but it kept me from moaning (a bit) and possibly killing people today.

Maybe living above Oscar the Grouch has rubbed off on me in some way. At least I'm not inflicting my mess on my neighbours. In fact lately my flat's been tidier than it has been in a while.

I'm a Cheater

I told the student members of my after school club that I would make them brownies and we would have ice cream for the last session. I usually make brownies by scratch, but I just can't be arsed to do so. Thus, I'm heading to the shop to buy a box of brownie mix. I just spent the last week 24/7 with students so I think I'm entitled this little fib to save my self the hassle.

I'll add chocolate chips though.