Category: Newsworthy

Not Dead!

Despite appearances, the blogathon didn’t kill me. Hoorah! It did wipe me out for a bit there, though, and then I had to spend some time catching up on the things I’d got behind on while I was thus wiped out. But anyway, now I’m back and feelin’ fiiiiine.
So!

I survived the blogathon!

And I raised a fantastic $199.66, which translates to £98.64 in real money, all thanks to my wonderful sponsors:
– Heather
– Ally
– Noxie
– Ramona
– Mum
– Carla
– hellolovely
– Anonymous
– Ambermoggie
– talesfromtheplain
– Liz

THANK YOU, guys. And thank you to my excellent charity, MDF, who sent me a lovely email and have invited me to submit a piece for the charity’s quarterly magazine about the blogathon and why I chose them as my charity. I’ll be sending that off to them shortly, so you never know, I might even get in print. :-)

I’d like to highlight a few of the posts I made during the ‘thon – the ones that got the actual content, really. It was amazingly hard to write what feel like ‘full’ posts to me for every one, because it just takes me too long! So there ended up just being a relatively small number of more meaty ones, interspersed by briefer comments. Anyway, the ones I wanted to point out are:
– Bipolar Disorder, and MDF: The Bipolar Organisation
– Fetching So Far
– Excitement! I Won!
– Forest Canopy
– My First Socks
– Loopylou and the Multitude of HP Scarves

I guess that’s all on the ‘thon until another year, then. Maybe next year, maybe not! It’s been three years since I did it last, so I’m not going to commit myself now. But I certainly do intend to do it again… and try to remember next time not to do pretty much a full day’s activity *before* I start, next time…
And now we return you to our non-regularly scheduled knitting posts!

Is it a bird, is it a plane…

Is it a bird, or plane? No, it’s Angle Grinder Man!! Hah. Well, it amused me, anyway. As for me, I’m still a bit fuzzy in the head, and sleepier than normal, but much better than I was! It’s definitely improving, and hopefully I’ll be right back to normal soon. Mum and Dad have been … Continue reading “Is it a bird, is it a plane…”

Is it a bird, or plane? No, it’s Angle Grinder Man!! Hah. Well, it amused me, anyway.

As for me, I’m still a bit fuzzy in the head, and sleepier than normal, but much better than I was! It’s definitely improving, and hopefully I’ll be right back to normal soon. Mum and Dad have been up to stay for the last two weeks, and I think it helped having them around, even if they did nag me to death! ;-)

While I’m here, I think I’ll do the Friday Five (a bit late, obviously):

1. Is the name you have now the same name that’s on your birth certificate? If not, what’s changed?
It’s exactly the same: Louise Anne

2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?
I quite like my name, so nope, no changes. Although, I’ve been vaguely musing for some years on adding “Margaretta” before the Anne, purely because it’s a family name (“Margaretta Anne”) that’s been in every generation for ages. But hey, maybe I’ll inflict it on the next generation, somehow. Mwahahah!

3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)
Mum and Dad chose it between them… and it was mainly because they liked the name and agreed on it. And that’s pretty much it! Both my grandmothers have the middle name “Louisa”, but that’s more a happy co-incidence than a deciding factor.
There’s more of an odd story behind what I’m *not* called – my parents liked the name Claire, and were going to call me that until they realised that it really doesn’t work with our surname (which also begins with Cl). But the strange thing is, whenever someone gets my name wrong, they call me Claire – it’s happened it many, unconnected places, to the point where I’ve even answered to it sometimes. Very odd indeed!

4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why?
There are names that have certain associations for me, but I think those are impressions I’ve picked up when I was young. For example, the name “Wayne” makes me think of a snivelly whinger, and I’m positive that’s because of a kid I was at infant school with! Also, in the stories that I’ve written when I was younger (15 and below), there are always characters called Jo, Charlotte, and/or Caroline. I don’t know why I had an affinity for those names… I knew several Joannes and a couple of Carolines, but I didn’t associate the characters with them. I dunno. I just liket them. Names I like now are often due to having friends with those names, or favourite book characters. But I can’t think of any in particular that stand right out for me, at the mo.

5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? How or how isn’t it?
Heh. Some of the things on kabalarians were fairly accurate, but then again, it’s a very general thing, so… eh…. *shrug* As for triggur.org:
LOUISE
========
From the Italian root meaning “Complete Bastard”
========
Expression: Louise is a stinking kleptomaniac.
Personality: Louise would not be a good candidate to babysit your children.
Natural: Louise has no native instincts for survival.
Emotional: Louise uses and abuses friendships.
Character: Louise will turn on you in an instant.
Physical: Louise could use major dental surgery.
Mental: Louise can be apathetic to a fault.
Motivation: Louise hates dealing with the details.

Well, a couple of those are actually kind of accurate ;-) I’ll let you decide which. Hehehehe :-)

Yahoo! News – Caped Crusader

Yahoo! News – Caped Crusader Saves the Day in English Town That’s just excellent! Bizarre, but excellent. Go, caped crusader, go!! *vbg* In Tun Wells, too…. heh. I shall have to ask Aliiiiiiiiiison if she’s seen him. I think Clara works in that general area, too. Hmmm, maybe it’s Chaz. You never know! Every town … Continue reading “Yahoo! News – Caped Crusader”

Yahoo! News – Caped Crusader Saves the Day in English Town
That’s just excellent! Bizarre, but excellent. Go, caped crusader, go!! *vbg* In Tun Wells, too…. heh. I shall have to ask Aliiiiiiiiiison if she’s seen him. I think Clara works in that general area, too. Hmmm, maybe it’s Chaz. You never know!
Every town needs a caped crusader, I reckon. Woohoo!

Dress Kylie. Oh go on,

Dress Kylie. Oh go on, you know you want to. Heehee! And this might seem a strange one, but after seeing all those egg adverts, I checked out eggrecipies.co.uk…. and it has lots of recipes! Of things that you can make with eggs. Big surprise there, huh? *g* But useful – eggs are goooood. Yum.

Dress Kylie. Oh go on, you know you want to. Heehee!

And this might seem a strange one, but after seeing all those egg adverts, I checked out eggrecipies.co.uk…. and it has lots of recipes! Of things that you can make with eggs. Big surprise there, huh? *g* But useful – eggs are goooood. Yum.

And it’s bye-bye Queen Mum.

And it’s bye-bye Queen Mum. It’s strange, I suppose it’s not really that much of a surprise, but on the other hand I kind of expected her to just go on forever. She was a tough lady. :-) My first thought when I saw the news was actually “oh no, poor Queen!” – losing her … Continue reading “And it’s bye-bye Queen Mum.”

And it’s bye-bye Queen Mum. It’s strange, I suppose it’s not really that much of a surprise, but on the other hand I kind of expected her to just go on forever. She was a tough lady. :-) My first thought when I saw the news was actually “oh no, poor Queen!” – losing her sister and now her Mum within a few weeks of one another. That’s just not good.

Er, and in case anyone feels the need for some cheering up, I had a sudden mad inspired (or cracked-out, more likely) few hours yesterday. Which produced Fellowship of the Rings – Moulin Rouge Style. It’s a kind of parody / spoof of the movie done all in song lyrics. I had fun writing it, anyway. *g*

Britain mourns comedian Dudley Moore

Britain mourns comedian Dudley Moore – I’m sad now. Although, with a disease like that, I don’t think continuing to live would be great either. :-( Rock on, Dudley. And to lighten the mood a little, some news from the slightly bizarre world of the Xander-cat: His bed is under the radiator in the living … Continue reading “Britain mourns comedian Dudley Moore”

Britain mourns comedian Dudley Moore – I’m sad now. Although, with a disease like that, I don’t think continuing to live would be great either. :-( Rock on, Dudley.

And to lighten the mood a little, some news from the slightly bizarre world of the Xander-cat: His bed is under the radiator in the living room, but apparantly he was feeling a draft. Because he got up, went to the living room door, pushed it shut with his paw, then went back to bed and curled up to sleep again. I tell you, never a dull moment…..

Klepto-kitty!

Oh, and something I forgot in all the Worf-excitement. Earlier on Friday, I glanced out the back window (happens a lot, cos that’s the way I face when I’m on the computer) and saw one of the cat toys (a small pink plastic ball with a bell inside) sitting outside the back door. I thought … Continue reading “Klepto-kitty!”

Oh, and something I forgot in all the Worf-excitement. Earlier on Friday, I glanced out the back window (happens a lot, cos that’s the way I face when I’m on the computer) and saw one of the cat toys (a small pink plastic ball with a bell inside) sitting outside the back door. I thought this was a little odd since it hadn’t been there went I went out the day before, and asked Willow if she’d taken it out there. She just twitched her ear. Tcha, cats. ;-) Anyway, later on when I was outside after looking for Worf, the next door neighbour came out, and asked if we had a yellow, and a pink one of these little balls. I said that yes, we did (there are two pink ones). Turns out that their cat Billy, a friendly chap who visits us quite frequently, is a bit of a klepto-kitty. He nicks ’em and takes them back to his, where he then completely ignores them. LOL. Oh well. As long as he doesn’t start going for cash or jewellery……

I saw this link at not.so.soft. I kind of know this story….. only the version I remember was a bit different. But I can’t remember how! Anyone?

Oh…… bah!

Oh…… bah! Wrote a great big long post, didn’t think to copy it, and of course the browser crashes when I go to publish. Typical! Doi. I’ll have to try again. My archives had apparently gone for a wander. Odd. I’ve republished them. Still, if that’s the only fallout from the actually-not-very-Great Site Disappearance, I … Continue reading “Oh…… bah!”

Oh…… bah! Wrote a great big long post, didn’t think to copy it, and of course the browser crashes when I go to publish. Typical! Doi. I’ll have to try again.

My archives had apparently gone for a wander. Odd. I’ve republished them. Still, if that’s the only fallout from the actually-not-very-Great Site Disappearance, I can live with that.

Had an unusual experience at lunchtime. Not interesting, just unusual. See, I’m just under 5’2″, so while maybe not qualifying as ickle, I’m certainly not a big thing either. So I had a bit of a surprise when I tried on a pair of very-fake-but-very-very-cheap fake leather trews and discovered they were a fair bit too short. I think I’d picked up some kiddies ones. D’oh!

I like what this guy, Tom, has to say about letters. Though I don’t quite get why 12-point Arial is sarcastic. It never seemed it to me. Maybe it’s when it’s in contrast to, say 11-point Arial in the same email? Hmm. And I can’t write with a fountain pen, either. My writing is kinda thin and spikey, so however narrow a nib I use, I end up with ink splodges everywhere, the letters all running into one another, and all in all, a great big mess. Nope, it’s ball-points for me. Tom seems like a nice bloke, anyhoo. Maybe I’m just biased towards musicians ;-) But he’s a flautist, and all the flautists I know are cool, so I reckon he is too. *g*

That post, though, has made me realise I really should write to my best friend. I don’t use the phone much for actual voice calls these days (mainly internet access, you see), and I don’t know if she checks her email much, so I’m not even sure if she knows my new address and phone no. Slack of me, I know. When we were in school *in the same class*, we used to write to each other all the time. Even when we were sitting next to each other (which was mostly). {work? what work?}. I found some of those letters not so long ago – paper conversations that probably wouldn’t make a blind bit of sense to anyone else, but were, and still are 10 years later, funny and personal to both of us. So yeah, I’m going to do it. I’ll write her an actual letter. I’m really looking forward to it now. :-) So thanks, Meg and Tom. Letters are good. Letters can be doodled on. Heehee!

Interesting.

I’m finding this really interesting. Haven’t read it all yet, but I’m getting there. Did a course on Technology and Society on the OU, but in the end I was only really interested in the internet side. I think if I ever do another course anywhere, I’d rather go for something more on the practical … Continue reading “Interesting.”

I’m finding this really interesting. Haven’t read it all yet, but I’m getting there. Did a course on Technology and Society on the OU, but in the end I was only really interested in the internet side. I think if I ever do another course anywhere, I’d rather go for something more on the practical design / coding / programming side now. But I still enjoy reading this kind of stuff. The site in general is also well worth checking out. Geek definition fits me to a T….

{“fits to a T” – where does that phrase come from? Hmmm.}

Oh, and the Referral Madness section over on NotSoSoft inspired me to take a peek at my own (embarassingly modest) stats. Most of the hits I’ve had have been from links, but I’ve had 3 search engine referrals (not too bad, I guess, since I haven’t bunged any keywords up or registered with any engines yet). Nothing strange and bizarre, but nothing really relevant either. One was for ‘alien pictures’ (that’d be the background, then *g*), and two for ‘Emily Bouffant’ (the girl I went to school with who’s now on telly).

Watched Shanghai Noon last night. Nicely entertaining – the funniest thing, though, has to be the subtitles for the American Indians. Tis impressive though, considering that Jackie Chan must be getting on a bit now – some of the fight scenes were pretty damn cool. And the subtitles were better than having it dubbed, too – some of his earlier stuff is kinda spoiled by the comedy dubbing IMO…. but on the other hand that’s kinda sposed to be like that, and you do get used to it. Heh. B has corrupted me. And talking of which, we’re sposed to be going to the pub quiz tonight…. I want to, but I’m sooooo tired. And also, these headaches aren’t of the good. I ought to go to the optician, I reckon. Maybe I’ll have a night of a bit of telly then bed, and no computer (yeah, right). Last couple of days I’ve also been playing with graphics for B’s new site, and updating the HRFHS site for Mum. I need fewer websites. Damn.