Monthly Archives: June 2008

Sunday Roast: I’m a time traveller. I point and laugh at archaeologists

Honey, I’m home!

Sort of, kinda, very nearly.

Charting the ongoing return of Cas (I have been very firmly, boring old Claire Louise the last month or so), I think my true personality might be pretty much back. On Thursday morning one of my lovely colleagues pointed out that I still didn’t seem like my usual self, very quiet and unengaged (which is true). Then I had a run-in with Occupational Health shortly after that converation. I don’t like Occupational Health. I do understand rationally that they have a role to play and that they are, in general, good people there to help. But I just don’t like them and every contact I have had with them has been negative. However, I had to go see them on Thursday, so go see them I did, determined to keep as open and a positive a mind as possible.

A little over an hour later I returned to the office and let fly to a rant of epic proportions.

A rant along the lines of how I had just wasted an hour of my life with a fat, supercilious, patronising cow who had insisted on prying into every aspect of my personal life and medical history stretching back to when I was 14. And yes, I did actually use those words, which earned me some respect from the new EDLO in the office. As a side note, we have a new EDLO in the office, and very nice to look at he is too. Sadly, as they all are, not single, but you can’t have everything in this world.

The same colleague who had commented on my quietness just that morning just looked at me, grinned, and said “she’s back”. And you know what, I think I am. So thank you Occy Health for giving me a reason to get mad again.

Other than that, who saw Dr Who last night?!!!!! I didn’t watch it live as I was dozing through the aftershocks of a migraine that struck out of no where at Saturday lunch time, but I could hear Moose gasping at the TV in the living room and her incredulous “No….!” as the credits rolled and the Crazy Canalman was on the phone straight after with a “NO!!!!!”. I sat down to watch the video with my morning cup of tea just now and all I have to say is “No…!” Or more crudely “fuck a duck!”

I won’t go into any spoilers but roll on next week, that’s all I can say!!!!!

Which brings us to the links. I’ve been collecting them as usual since the last roast but it looks like as far as the internet is concerned, I am not quite back to standard operating procedure, because I am still damn hard to please! The links that have made it in this week, they are great 😀

When something can make me giggle at the moment, you know it has to be good. I am SO glad this sort of thing happens to people other than me

Rarely have I come across a better description of what blogging means to me

PENGUIN!!!

With my concentration shot and my mood as black as a very black thing, I have been reading a LOT of chick-lit, regency romance, and trashy thrillers lately. You know you have been reading a LOT of books when you take the latest stack back to the library and the librarian comments on the amount and speed with which you have been devouring the books! I refuse to be embarrassed because It re-boots the mind and heart after plodding round life’s treadmill day after day… it gives us hope, energy and makes us laugh

Is the internet changing the way we think? I put this link in here with no further discussion simply because I want to be able to find it again when my brain is working and I can actually do the topic justice!

Bonekickers. As Moose queried when she heard me wailing in disbelief at the trail the other night, I am not sure if this looks so bad because I am an archaeologist, or because it just looks so bad! But it’s from the Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes people, and both of those were sheer genius (and, coincidentally didn’t have very good trails either), so can it really be as bad as it looks?!

And some movies because where would we be without some trailers?
My Best Friends Girl

Red Roses and Petrol

The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button – warning, Flash site

The Long Shots

C’est tout. I am now off to Waitrose to buy some disgustingly healthy food for next week. I hate being forced to be healthy. Silly body. *grumble*

The Wednesday Wiggle

This post is brought to you thanks to the nagging of Moose. She has elected herself Motivator-in-Chief and if I don’t blog something to show I am alive I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t start denying me cookies.

Which would be bad as I am in the middle of an inexplicable cookie craving (big, chewy American style cookies). And cucumber. Truly, I have been craving cucumber. My body is behaving very oddly at the moment.

So how am I? I am hanging in there. Things are starting to get back on an even keel but, paradoxically, I am now feeling the need to hide from the internet (this is the first time I have turned my computer on in four days!). This might in part be due to starting back at work this week. I am only doing four hours a day but I am coming home knackered! It takes more mental energy that you realise to work in a busy office, plus I haven’t totally beaten the insomnia so I am still a little behind on sleep. But everyone is being lovely and understanding, so I am starting to get back into the swing of things.

One thing I am not in the swing of is writing. My brain has turned into one big pile of mashed potato – I have the attention span of a labrador puppy and the memory retention of a brain injured goldfish. Some days I am having a hard enough time remembering my name (had to tell someone my email address over the phone today and had to read it off a business card as I couldn’t spell it from memory!), let alone stringing sentences together in a gripping narrative. I am still having ideas and the characters are starting to chatter away in my subconscious again, but I am not quite back to typing the stuff out.

Or being witty on the blog. Sorry. Normally it is easy for me, but writing this has been like pulling teeth and I know it is not really coherent or up to scratch. It will serve its purpose however: I am still here, alive and kicking, albeit a little fuzzy around the edges. I still love y’all and I will be back soon 🙂

Sunday Roast: Mars is a different timezone

Hello again dear things. Miss me? I’ve been hermiting and fighting off chronic insomnia this past week, hence all quiet on the blogging front. Still, I am back now with a bumper bag of links for y’all. Looking through the sheer number that have accumulated in various folders, I am going to split the roast. It is either that, or drown you in links and that way runs the risk of the good stuff getting missed. Plus, Safari keeps crashing under the strain.

So, today I shall post the non-news stuff and the videos (because Abi will come after me with a sharpened microwave meal if I miss them out). I shall post the news/more serious stuff later in the week, most likely on Wednesday. How does that sound to everyone?

This photo is called “dancing nancies“. Now, whilst I can’t help but think of the derogatory meanings of the word, it is a damn gorgeous picture.

FriendFeed or Twitter: you decide. Me, I like Twitter because it does what I want it to, and that is let me participate in the rumbling background noise or not, as the mood takes. The last few weeks especially it has been a godsend, keeping me “connected” with the people who care about me, but at one degree (unlike the blog) so I can step back from their concern when it all gets too much. I’m not making an argument that says FriendFeed can’t also let me do that, but… I guess I just prefer not to get everything aggregated into one place too much.

The other week I linked to that Emily Gould piece in the NYT magazine with a throw-away “have a think about this” comment. Heads wiser and more savvy than mine have since stepped up to the plate, especially Violet Blue in her reaction, living online (caution, NSFW blog)

Why Twitter? Because you get pithy words of wisdom from clever people: it’s not about features, but community

Never knew there were so many sushi recipes

2008 is the National Year of Reading. What are you doing?

Blog and save wildlife. Well, why not?

Sometimes the Old Testament got it right (explore the site for some other truly surreal bits taken from the Old Testament and reenacted in Lego)

A sensible solution to eBooks – now publishers, take note!

Point One. ‘Nuff said.

One thing my recent unexpected time off from work has shown me is that I really like to have my own desk space set up just so. They could tell you that at work already (I am very picky) but I have got extra neurotic lately. I don’t want to go back to work because my desk is so boring! Perhaps I can get some of these tips implemented?

I never thought hippos were cute, but just as I’ve managed to persuade Moose in the past three years that penguins are evil, she’s convinced me that hippos are cute.

And now the movies (and random video clips)…

City of Ember – I expect it is an adaptation of something I have never heard of, but it looks intriguing.

Tom’s video of the water at Chalice Well Gardens has the ability to make me feel monumentally homesick and totally at peace all at the same time. Wish I was back in those gardens right now – if you are ever in the area, do go, as it is one of the most tranquil places I know of.

Good at playing Snake on your mobile phone? Try it on a building

Tropic Thunder viral promo – well, it passed Moose’s giggle test

MUTO – a video that will probably cause me nightmares with its surrealism, but still, fascinating to watch

Boy A

The Women – corny, but still, you’ve got to give me some licence. I’m depressed you know 😉

And that is me done for the day. It only took three hours and a trip to get some pick’n’mix… As I said, expect the more serious current-events related portion of the roast during the week. Till we meet again, my chickadees.