it took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.

I’m in a funny mood today. Enjoy this, from our friendly neighbourhood animator, Mata: God Makes a Sandwich.

You do find the oddest things in the NYT. The other day, I learned about pillows.
Apparently, “with pillows, the difference comes down to down versus synthetic fill… A good pillow of either stuff should last up to 10 years. You can test your pillow to find out if it’s past its prime. “You take your pillow, fold it in half. If it doesn’t spring forward and open instantly by itself, you’ve got a dead pillow. Replace it.”
Now, I can’t remember the last time pillows were purchased in my family. No, that’s a lie, I can. It was when I was 13, suffering from serious asthma, and the doctor suggested a synthetic pillow. It wasn’t a success. I like the cold side of the pillow and the feel that you just don’t get from synthetics. As it made no measurable improvement to my asthma, I soon returned to my trusty old pair of down pillows that are easily as old as me, if not older. So I just tried my pillows. Yep, a distinct lack of springiness from either one.

Now I face a dilemma:
1) Buy cheap synthetics I know I won’t really like sleeping on because the NYT told me to,
2) Buy really expensive down pillows that will be divine to sleep on, but will result in me not being able to afford to eat ever again, because the NYT told me to,
3) Or do nothing. I sleep ok(ish). I’m attached to my (if I must be honest slightly mangy) old pillows. They’ve been good friends. I never sleep well on pillows not my own.
Hmmmm. I shall have to sleep on this (oh, I am SO funny :P). That article of you are wondering, can be found here

ARG!!!!!!! There are times I really do wonder why I am doing this course. Today is one of them. I have spent the past two days wading through around 100 articles all claiming to relate in someway to by field. A good three quarters of them are complete and utter pants, the rest, ARG!!! Not one of the authors in ten can actually write a sentence that makes sense. ARGG!!!!

For example, the following is the abstract from an article I just finished reading:
The grand houses and gardens of William of Orange (1650–1702) and his courtiers in Britain and the Netherlands are strongly influenced by the French style, itself associated with Louis XIV, who was actually William’s arch-rival. This paper explores that paradox by probing ideas of power and friendship in 17th-century court culture. “. Now, I just read the whole 20 pages of the damn thing, and I STILL have no idea what the woman is talking about.

Ok, enough. I’m going to drink wine, eat coconut fairy cakes in an attempt to defeat terrorism (long story), and watch “Bubba Ho-Tep” with Moose.

Night.