ryan adams

got love is hell part 2 by ryan adams this morning. sounds good on 1st listen, but not quite heartbreaker standard. expecting part 1 any day now

also got the new rosie thomas album yesterday - again - not quite as endearing as her first one, but good none the less.

off to meadowhall today, and then another 5 till close shift at the cat tonight.

have been finding several people like to buy you drinks - one merry old chap with a pipe brought me a pint of beer, a girl bought me a tequila, and a cool looking scottish lad bought me a pint of saxon cider - they're all very lovely... support your bar staff and buy them drinks people!

am getting on well there - the people i work with are all easy to get along with (albeit a bit much news of the world readers, a few of them!), and not a great deal of bitching about each other either.

things getting me down at the moment though:

- my employability/ ment situation (being practically the oldest person working at the pub - the manager himself is only 24! plus the process of finding new jobs seems unbelievably depressing and difficult)

- plus i'm back at hallam uni, notetaking - and it seems i have lots of sciency ones - not good when i'm trying to forget those 3 years of pharmacology. but then notetaking itself is pretty bad - coming up to 5 yerars - no one should be in the same job for 5 years.

- my teeth - the cyst that was removed may come back apparently, and it does now feel like it used to, so thats not good.

- something else i cant remember now - obviously not too much of a problem....

but it was good to see emily again/ for bea to meet emily - had a lovely evening on the tuesday (see how little i have blogged recently). she's now in France, but back in a week or so.

none of you know her (apart from emily herself who may well be reading this), but may meet her one day too.

lost in translation

a film both bea and i both loved, albeit for slightly different reason... we both loved the sentimental elements loads, and it kinda reminded us of the 2 weeks we spent at new wine when we first met... not everyone's liked it, but we'd highly recommend it.

the bloom of the ball

But daughter of Megan tomorrow I'm going,

On ocean to sail where the rude billows roar,

I feel my full heart with affliction o'er flowing,

For perhaps I may gaze on your beauties no more.

The daughter of Megan so lovely and blooming,

I met in Glenavonís gay glittering hall,

And high rose my heart, ambition assuming,

To dance with the damsel, the bloom of the ball.

another to remind you of the wonder of prose

by the usual.

read it and weep... new high score

Actual quotes from GCSE essays...

They get better as you go down the list.......


The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a
bowling
ball wouldn't.

McMurphy fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a paper bag filled
with
vegetable soup.

Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the centre

Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.

The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you
fry them
in hot grease.

Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the
grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having
left York
at 6:36 p.m. travelling at 55 mph, the other from Peterborough at
4:19p.m.at
a speed of 35 mph.

The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the full stop after the
Dr.on a
Dr Pepper can.

John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had
also
never met.

The thunder was ominous sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet
of
metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.

The red brick wall was the colour of a brick-red crayon.

Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only
one that
had been left out so long it had rusted shut.

The door had been forced, as forced as the dialogue during the
interview
portion of Family Fortunes.

Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

The plan was simple, like my brother Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan
just
might work.

Oh, Jason, take me!" she panted, her breasts heaving like a student on
31p-a-pint night.

He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck either, but a
real
duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or
something.

Her artistic sense was exquisitely refined, like someone who can
tell butter from "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter."

She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes
just
before it throws up.

It came down the stairs looking very much like something no one had
ever
seen before.

The knife was as sharp as the tone used by Glenda Jackson MP in her
first
several points of parliamentary procedure made to Robin Cook MP,
Leader of
the House of Commons, in the House Judiciary Committee hearings on the
suspension of Keith Vaz MP.

The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg
behind
her, like a dog at a lamppost.

The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because
of
his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a
formerly
surcharge-free cashpoint.

The dandelion swayed in the gentle breeze like an oscillating electric
fan
set on medium.

It was a working class tradition, like fathers chasing kids around
with
their power tools.

He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as
if she
were a dustcart reversing.

She was as easy as the Daily Star crossword.

She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was
room-temperature
British beef.

She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.

Her voice had that tense, grating quality, like a first-generation
thermal
paper fax machine that needed a band tightened.

It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to
the
wall.

the mysterious cities of gold

in response to si w's latest addition to the musical education of our dear readers, i thought i'd help him out with this piece of our nostalgic musical heritage. right click here and select "save target as"to hear the mp3 of it.

the drugs

i'm sure somethings gone a bit funny with my taste - probably the mouthwash - i cant really taste things anymore - apparently all its side effects will go once you stop taking it - till then, i'm eating wierd things like extra hot pepperami's and coke to try and wake my taste buds up again. even they just taste watery and/or soapy.

very odd.

penguin bashing

you have to check this out - its dead funny - i got 311 on the first go, and not got anything close since. i hear 331 is the highest score so far.

http://1337-face.dk/pingvin.htm

ooh no - just got 321.2

a rose in april

if you've been following the series in folk lyrics by waterson: carthy and kate rusby, here's a particularly good, sad one i've just discovered.

its even sadder when you hear it on the CD, with the music an' all... i was walking down towards philidelphia, listening to it, and was almost in tears. sniff away young clifford...

"Oh can I go to my love's side

Oh let me go this day,

Please let me go to my love's side,

Oh mother, don't make me stay.

I was a rose in April

And still a rose in June

I fear that come the winter,

I shall no longer bloom."

"Oh daughter, daughter you cannot go,

Oh you cannot go this day.

Your father, he forbade you,

And at home you must remain.

You were a rose in April,

And still a rose in June,

But God can send five winters

And I know my rose will bloom."

"Mother, mother, I must away

Unto my true love's side.

Bring to me my white horse,

And away to him I'll ride."

She's rode through fields of barley,

And she's rode throught fields of corn,

She's come unto her true love

One hour before the dawn.

Her father, being awakened,

Heard of his daughter's flight.

He's taken up his dagger

And he's rode into the night.

He's rode through fields of barley

And he's sped through fields of corn.

He's come unto her true love's house

Just before the dawn.

He's found his daughter sleeping

in her true lover's arms.

He's taken up his dagger

And it's deep into their hearts.

"Oh father, cruel father,

You've killed my love, killed me,

But now I'll rest beside him,

Locked in his arms I'll be.

Locked in his arms I'll be."

kate rusby; hourglass

what kind of theologian am i?

"God will not suffer man to have the knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity he would be careless; and understanding of his adversity he would be senseless."

You are Augustine! You love to study tough issues and don't mind it if you lose sleep over them. Everyone loves you and wants to talk to you and hear your views, you even get things like "nice debating with you." Yep, you are super smart, even if you are still trying to figure it all out. You're also very honest, something people admire, even when you do stupid things.

What theologian are you?

A creation of Henderson

i'm pretty happy with that.

i think on my more liberal days i came out as somebody called karl barth or desiderius erasmus neither of which i've ever heard of.

and out of interest, does anyone out there have our DVD copy of "so i married an axe murderer"? i can give you our video copy if you like...

ha ha! my husband has successfully educated me in the way of music!

Good. You know your music. You should be able to
work at Championship Vinyl with Rob, Dick and
Barry


Do You Know Your Music (Sorry MTV Generation I Doubt You Can Handle This One)
brought to you by Quizilla

elvish names and hobbits names and 70's band names

i think i've done this before, but my name in elvish is Valandil Elensar and as a hobbit is Podo Hamwich of Buckleberry Fern.

all very interesting stuff.

it would also appear that i know a fair bit about music (and not the stuff i thought i did - couldnt really care less about the beatles and david bowie):


Good. You know your music. You should be able to
work at Championship Vinyl with Rob, Dick and
Barry


Do You Know Your Music (Sorry MTV Generation I Doubt You Can Handle This One)
brought to you by Quizilla

a peer of mr si wilkins it would seem.

caleb quaye

having been roving the blogs this morning, i found this post on helen askews blog which referred to an article written by a guy called caleb quaye. "that's elton john's guitarist" i thought. thinking that would be rediculous, i looked up the article and it appears i was right. and out of a sense of completeness, i've copied the page with all the people on it for you to have a look at how they did album sleeves way back in 1970. heres just a pic of the above mentioned guitarist, but click here to see him with all the others playing on it, and here to see elton john, and a few more of the band from this era, where elton was actually writing good songs worth listening to. here's a pic of the album sleeve, tumbleweed connection.

>si wilkins, i hope you're impressed... even if no one else will be...

my first shift,

went well - got all hectic around lunch time, but thats to be expected... cant say it was the first time i've ever pulled a pint though - that was last monday that that happened. have to say though, i do enjoy the job. hardly glamorous, but it keeps my busy, and the others who work there are all dead friendly and helpful (as long as you stay out of the kitchen at lunch times!)

so anyway, last mondays training was kinda overshadowed by the events of tuesday and the grim goings-on that overtook the former part of the week. my mouths not hurting so much now, although eating is still quite a challenge. theres only so much yoghurt and bananas you can eat with you're antibiotics and painkillers, before you start craving a bacon and blue cheese burger at greatly reduced staff rates...

but for now, lunch tomorrow will be spent with my wife and the spritely martin pickles; more than enough to make up for the lack dietary variation, and a whopper 5pm till closing shift to look forward to.

if you fancy a trip out tomorrow, you know where i'll be.

some good news...

just had a chat with the person at the london label thats doing the compliation and wanting to put one of my songs on it- she (georgina) seemed very pleasant and friendly indeed, so thats a relief... they'll be sending me a bunch of cd's to see if i can move a few too. there wont be a great deal of money in it - after they covered the production cost, any left over's likely to be put towards future projects and split up between the artists appearing on it. not too bothered - not expecting it to make me as much as "42" has...(!)... good advert for the album too.

anyway, the painkillers are wearing off, so might have to go take a couple more, and hope the bleeding doesnt start again.

ouch!!!

had one of the strangest and possibly most painfull 12 hours of my life. first having watched a film last night called audition, round at ants - i mean for a start its a japanese horror, so alarm bells should be ringing by now. but it really was the most uncomfortable, unpleasantly graphic film i've ever seen, and would be reluctant to recommend it to anyone unless they have a VERY strong stomach - one of those films, where you kinda wondered wether the film makers really thought about how much they wanted to put you through - those points where you think they're about to do something and pan away for it - oh no - they didnt pan away for it. it was all there. a truely disturbing film. the only other film that has such a difficult content i've seen is kids and that was for a different reason. irreversible i hear is another amazing film with some pretty brutal graphic scenes, again, of a different type, but an excellent film all the same, and one i would "like" (if thats the right word - probably not) to watch.

and then the mornings "minor oral surgery" having found a very small inflamation in my mouth, i got referred to the dental hospital. it turned out i had a little cyst in my gum, one that looked quite easy to remove and was no real worry to the guy i saw about it. someone at the dentist said it'd be like having a filling but without the drilling (which is the bit i hate the most - the scraping sound on teeth). so anyway, there i am a little nervous, waiting, in i go, getting not 1 but 4 (albeit painless) injections. then the scalpel comes out, then the scraping started. probably about 10-15 minutes of the stuff. i thought it was a simple cut and clean.... oh no, there was scarping and more scraping, and someone holding my head still cause they were scraping so much. blood. a bit of pus. then a few stiches. and we're done. it turns out i'm likely to look & feel like i've been punched in the jaw for the next couple of days. i've got mouthwash, painkillers, and antibiotics (amusingly, i should take them with a meal, even though i cant eat anything for a day or so.). i'm also likely to find it hard working for the next day or so.

and it does hurt (although less so if i dont move my mouth/ talk).

an odd time for pain. not sure what was more painful actually - the film or the surgery... i think the surgery.

and as always, a pic. enjoy:



am getting quite hungry now...

gone rightoff coffee since being pregnant but good to kow the following...

Results...: "
You're an Espresso


What Kind of Coffee are You?
brought to you by Quizilla"

for miriam...

a crazy bird of norway for the crazy bird of norway.

the last samurai

awesome - there were several bits in it were i was just so tense, gripping hold of my hands - truely stunning.

actually i think it'll appeal to any bloke who's read "wild at heart" even more than others... not everyone was too impessed with it, but those of us who liked it, really loved it.

a glorious film.

the old churchyard

Come, come with me out to the old churchyard

I so well know those paths 'neath the soft green sward

Friends slumber in there that we want to regard

We will trace out their names in the old churchyard

Mourn not for them, their trials are o'er

And why weep for those who will weep no more

For sweet is their sleep, though cold and hard

Their pillows may be in the old churchyard

I know that it's vain when our friends depart

To breathe kind words to a broken heart

And I know that the joy of life is marred

When we follow lost friends to the old churchyard

But were I at rest 'neath yonder tree

Oh, why would you weep, my friends, for me?

I'm so weary, so wayworn, why would you retard

The peace I seek in the old churchyard

Why weep for me, for I'm anxious to go

To that haven of rest where no tears ever flow

And I fear not to enter that dark lonely tomb

Where our saviour has lain and conquered the gloom

I rest in the hope that one bright day

Sunshine will burst to these prisons of clay

And old Gabriel's trumpet and voice of the Lord

Will wake up the dead in the old churchyard

waterson:carthy

rob

its good to see rob appearing in more photos these days - which is much more likely now he's moved up to sheffield. so its good to see more of rob in general.

today...

i had an interview to work at the devonshire cat and spent half the time talking about different beers we like.

said goodbye to joel and danny who've been staying here for the past week or so. they've left to go up to scotland for a while. was good to see joel again and meet his brother.

have been humming folky songs that have been going round my head since last night's trip to the red house (photos here).

briefly saw martin pickles around lunch time

check me out!

at long last, i have found some big silly slippers. and only £1.99 from a charity shop. bargain.

off to the red house tonight...

1st scan

so heres the 12 week scan we got this morning. its a lot lot clearer whats what when you see it live - you can see lots of movement in it too - at first it looked like it was flapping its arms, or boxing or something.

anyway, for those who can't see whats what, the answers (i think...) can be found here.

and the new eta for the baby is now 16th july.

new years walk

been out to some river place near (or in) rivelin valley - it was lovely - like the end bit of fellowship of the ring when they're fighting the orcs - very similar countryside. took loads of photos of the place too.

kinda odd having watched touching the void yesterday though.

new films

well, cold mountain was a suprisingly good film - very emotional and sad, but sooo well done. renee zellweger was perfect in her role - worth watching it for her alone. kinda gave the inpression they wanted to keep lots of bits from the book (even though i've not read it) - those subtle bits they'd normally scrap when making a film, but here keep it that bit more intriguing and characterful. brilliant soundtrack too - the white stripes' jack white singing bluegrass was particularly good

out of time on the other hand was just painfully trashy. not appalling but kinda stupid.

some photos!

here are some of last nights parties and then the view from out side our back window. how exciting. didnt think it'd snow that much really - very magical.

off to the cinema today to watch out of time and then cold mountain and then going out to the peaks for food and drink in some country pub with hodgson.

it does also have to be said that bea did cook the best ever roast pork last night.

and happy birthday rachel.