Meaning of Liff

There really is always something good :)

Things which are good about living alone;

Every single thing you cook is because you like it and doesn't need to take any account of someone else preferring it cooked longer/with less chilli/not liking an ingredient you consider vital/complaining that potatoes with green bits and pepper seeds are deadly poisonous, etc etc.

Fresh sheets really are best when you have the whole bed to yourself.

When I don't have the bed to myself the cats snore less loudly and also fart less than the previous bed sharee.

Things stay where you put them.

The sofas stay plumped and I haven't picked a cushion off the floor for over a week.

There is no washing up waiting to be done.

You don't have to clean up shaving foam or toothpaste from any random place in the bathroom (although I suspect I'll find a bit somewhere in a few weeks - I once found shaving foam on the ceiling - I really have no idea how it gets places!)

I don't have to listen to some elses alarm for half an hour in the morning before my own goes off and then still have to wait for him to use the bathroom before I can have a bath.

Brit ID Cards - WE CARE!

A while back I said everyone in the Uk  should sign up for rge Pledgebank Pledge "refuse to register for an ID card and willdonate £10 to a legal defence fund"

Well a lot of people have done. A few days ago I got an email saying

Thank you all - what a success!

When I started this pledge, I hoped we could show the government the
depth and strength of feeling against their draconian ID system, and
begin to build a fund to fight a series of legal battles against it.
YOU have now done this - and more quickly than I ever dared hope.

Some of you have already asked exactly how the pledge is going to work,
and now that we have reached the 10,000 mark I hope you'll bear with me
while I explain in a little more detail what we (NO2ID) intend to do:

1) We shan't be asking you for your £10 until or unless the government
manages to pass the Identity Cards Bill. It is by no means certain that
they will be able to do this - and you can help us NOW to stop them*.
Once you send your money in, it would be administratively prohibitive
for us to refund it so we only want to ask for it once we are
absolutely sure that we are going to need it.

2) All funds that you send will be held in trust, in a seperate bank
account administered by an independent third party (a couple of law
firms have already offered their services). NO2ID will not mix your
pledges with campaign funds, i.e. every penny you give will go towards
fighting the Act in the courts, and supporting those who are fighting
the necessary legal battles.

3) It is just possible that even if the government do pass this Bill,
they may drop the current ID scheme - leaving the legislation on the
statute books. In this case, we shall still need to get the Act
repealed (it contains some very dangerous powers, even if they remain
dormant for a time) and so the fund will be used to pursue that end.

4) Once we have won utterly (no Bill, no ID scheme, no law sitting on
the statute books) then any monies remaining in the fund will be
dispersed - depending on how much is left - by either donating it to an
appropriate charity (we'll hold a vote on which one, should this ever
become necessary) or drafting a Bill, the aim of which is to inhibit
any future government from imposing compulsory registration and ID
cards on the people of the UK.

HOWEVER, this pledge does not end just because we have reached 10,000.
We know that many tens of thousands more will refuse to register, and
we still want to reach them and have them sign up before the closing
date of October 9th, the day before Parliament sits again in the
Autumn. The more of us that there are by then, the harder we make it
for them to proceed.

We shall also shortly be launching another pledge - one that you may be
highly motivated to promote.

Raising £100,000 in a little over a month from people who will refuse
to register for an ID card is astounding, but now we want to raise
£1,000,000 from people who - for whatever reason - feel they CAN'T
refuse to register, but who will wholeheartedly support those of us who
do. I know from the comments and direct mails [*please* don't write
expecting an answer, I simply can't handle the volume of mail] that
there are many people like this out there already.

I'll be notifying you of the URL for the new pledge shortly - DON'T
SIGN IT YOURSELF, but see if your friends, family and colleagues will
now back YOU up in your fight for our freedom and privacy.

*Finally, I said that there is something that you can do to help us
now. Don't forget that we are fighting hard to defeat the Bill so that
your pledge may not even be called in. Many of you have said that you'd
happily give more than £10, some have already seperately donated and
joined NO2ID. If you haven't done so already, please:

1) Sign our petition at http://www.no2id-petition.net and get others
to, too.

2) Donate to NO2ID - via Paypal from the front page of our website
http://www.no2id.net or by post (cheques payable to 'NO2ID') sent to
NO2ID, Box 412, 78 Marylebone High St, London W1U 5AP.

3) If you're able to give £15 or more or set up a regular payment,
please do become a member - we hope it will be the shortest
subscription that you ever make! Forms and bank details are available
online at http://www.no2id.net/getInvolved/join.php or by post from the
above address. If you send an SAE it will save campaign funds for our
ongoing essential work in Parliament, the media and across the country.

Thank you for your patience with this long e-mail, and my heartfelt
thanks for your commitment to fight this thing. Together, I am sure we
shall win.

In solidarity,

Phil Booth
National Coordinator, NO2ID

So I think that deserves to be reproduced :)

And here's some more TTPMO

children kicking our office door until the alarm goes off, the police attend, the alarm company makes me wait three hours for attendance and we have to pay good money for wasting everyones time.

people driving slowly who have to speed up when you go to overtake them, then slow down again when they've prevented you overtaking.

phone calls from people who mean to be nice but keep on and on and on and on and on about stuff which you'd really rather not discuss with them however much you know they care about you.

needing a hug really bad but being an hour from the nearest person who's actually not doing something else tonight and being abandoned by even the cats. I wonder if fish are good to hug? I've taken to sleeping with my old teddy at the moment :)

Big Brother.

Now we have 10 planets!

Astronomers have discovered a 10th planet in the solar system. How cool is that.

The planet is located about 9.7 billion miles from the sun and is about 1 1/2 times the size of Pluto, the researchers said.

The new planet orbits the sun once every 560 years and is now at its farthest point from Earth, he said. In about 280 years, the planet will be as close as Neptune, he said.

Like Pluto, the object's surface is believed to be predominantly methane, but its size -- about 1,700 miles in diameter -- qualifies it as a planet, Brown said. Earth is about 7,900 miles in diameter.

The new planet is believed to be part of the Kuiper Belt, a large ring of icy objects that orbit beyond Neptune and are believed to be remnants of the material that formed the solar system.

Wow - I'm not quite sure what the actual definition of a planet is (I mean basically they're lumps of rocks, ice or gas orbiting the sun, but then there are millions of lumps of stuff orbiting the sun and most of them aren't designated planets so it must relate to size, or how the chief astronomer feels on the day, or something.

This is really going to much up that Space Men Vote Earth Most Jolly of the Solar Universes Nine Planets thing isn't it? Lets hope the call it something starting with T then we stand a chance of changing the thyme to .....Universes Now Ten Planets :)

How do they know?

Is it some hormonal change do you think? Is there a pheramone thing that goes on when you become newly single?

Only I got asked if I fancied a drink sometime this morning (and it's a long time since I've been hit on at 6.30 in the morning believe me!).

And he was a very nice man as well (I think Brazilian - whatever he was he had that accent thing going on that makes me feel like Jamie Lee Curtis in A Fish called Wanda).

But anyway - I don't think I'm nearly ready for that at the moment. I'm still at the bad dreams and waking up at 4am stage. I guess once I hit the 'desperately needing a man' stage (or even worse, resort to taking off my ring finger ring so that it's obvious it's not an engagement ring) I'll get that predatory look in my eye and they'll all be running away.

Such is life :)

Horrific vision of the future

I love Gaping Void, funny stuff, clever stuff, generally applause all around - but this post surely has to count as one of the most blogpuppyfuckwit (TM to Nick at Threadwatch) posts I've ever seen in my life.

I'm happy for someone who got their job offer and boyfriend via blogging - hell I'm happy for anyone who got something that made them happy whether online or off - but

Here's where I think a lot of bloggers would like to be:

1. Let's say you needed a job. So you post a "looking for work" post on your blog, and within days another blogger e-mails you and offers you an interview.

2. Or let's say you wanted to hire somebody for your business. So you'd post something on your blog, and some other bloggers would e-mail you, and the next thing you know you'd have a few interviews set up.

3. You're moving to a new town. So you blog about it, and the next thing you know a couple of bloggers from that town with apartments to rent send you some details.

4. Your girlfriend and you broke up a few months ago and you're looking to date again. So you blog about it and the next thing you know a woman blogger e-mails you, and you two go meet up for coffee the following week.

5. You're looking to buy a car. So you blog about it and the next thing you know a blogger looking to sell his 1999 Honda sends you an e-mail.

6. You've got a nice little freelance business which you regularly talk about on your blog. Once a month or so a blogger e-mails you, offering you good, solid work...

We'd like to be able to be more reliant on the blogger's market, and less reliant on other markets.

Puh-lease...  - do I care where my business comes from? No I don't - feel free to contact me whether you're a blogger or not - I don't think your business is somehow worth less because you're not a blogger. As long as your money's good and we can work together I don't mind if you never heard of blogs (although in fairness you won't be reading this if you haven't) I do not want to become "more reliant on the bloggers market". Where's the benefit in that?

And frankly if I blog about being ready to go and start dating, I will be scared if a blogger contacts me. I have a life, when I want to date I plan to go out and meet people. If I happen to meet someone who blogs then that's fine but if I can't meet anyone outside of the blogosphere I know I have a bloody sad life ahead of me.

I have no problem with meeting people and doing business as a result of blogs. I've already said I made some good friends online. But blogs aren't the *only* social network worth having now and they certainly aren't the best way to do everything. What is this blogger obsession with blogs being the only thing worth doing? Blogs are a simple database and a webpage.I blog therefore I am is becoming a very tired meme to be honest.

I guess I should be thankful, while all my blogging peers are geeking out online and meeting each other in coffeeshops I can get out there and meet all those nice men who really couldn't give a toss about blogging. Sounds good to me :)

Home alone :)

Well he's sort of moved out - when I say sort of he told me last night he was going, and I agreed he could come back to use the computer today, and then we both got really upset and he left and I got even more upset, but then it has to be said when I got up this morning I discovered he actually hasn't moved out at all - as in he hasn't taken his clothes, his toothbrush, his toiletries, in fact he hasn't taken anything at all.

And (this bit made me really really mad) - he left his washing here.

Hmmm. Well I won't be doing his washing and ironing any more after this - he's moving back to his mums, she can do it!

Anyhow, turns out it was good that he managed to annoy me because my dad phoned and I just had to tell him, which wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done. Some things just make you want your mum and dad, but I've been putting off running to dad because I knew I wouldn't be able to hold it together once I'd told him and I didn't want him to get all stressy knowing I was still having to live with someone when we were splitting up. Being pretty pissed off however meant I got almost right through the story before having a nasty sobbing fit. I knew anger was good.

I do feel better now I spoke to my daddy though :)

Drinking

see, the problem with drinking is it just makes me feel *more* of what I'm feeling anyway

And this evening that would be "shit".

The police shot an innocent man, there have been bombings in Egypt and Spain, people are starving to death in Niger, Israels f'cked, Beirut and the Yemen have people being killed at random and more people get killed every day in Iraq than I can even bear to think about. And George W is still president of the world.

And lets not even get onto the other stuff.

And in response to this I'm drinking KWV and watching Van Wilder? Yeah I really really need to sort my priorities out....

Home

Ok - now this man is getting on and doing something about his life.....

Delia, and my slightly shameful cookery secret.

I love cooking and I'm addicted to cookery books (like I have almost 200 - I do mean addicted!) and now we have satellite I also have two channels of constant TV cookery programmes to watch.

Actually I can't watch them for long because I've seen most of them before and it drives me mad to watch a full series of repeats - but they're good while doing the ironing and today is Delia's "One is Fun" which, aside from being somehow appropriate is also so old that I don't really remember it from when I first saw it (I was probably about 10 judging by what she's wearing....)

Anyway - it just made me realise again that Delia has to be a competitor for the most patronising person in the world. If you think teaching people how to boil eggs is bad she's just demonstrated at length how to stir something ("circular motions in the pan")

I think the only more patronising person I can think of off hand is Gary Rhodes. Clearly there's a TV Personality Chef thing that goes on here.....

Ok - to let you into a little secret, I always used to do this when I was a kid, and I actually sometimes do it when I'm alone in the house, but sometimes I pretend to be a celebrity chef when I'm cooking something.  I'm not patronising though - I expect my viewers to know how to stir, shop and know when pasta is cooked.

I don't think I'm the only person who does this type of stuff I just think everyones too scared to admit they do it. At least I hope I'm not the only person who does it. 

Oooh - Delia does vegetarian 70's style... this will be well worth watching ;)