I love you so much, I crap hearts.

I will blog properly at some point this weekend (hopefully), but I just wanted to say this.


If you are my friend, and you read this, it's true. Every single one of you has, in some way, made me a better person. A more well-rounded person. Sometimes it's support, or something to make me laugh, or something that makes me pissed off. In some cases we rarely speak to each other, in others we don't know each other that well. In others we know everything about each other. But there is not one of you that has not made me a better human being.

You are witty and clever and weird. You are great people.
You guys rock and I wouldn't change a thing about you.

I love you so much, I crap hearts.


Ok, sappy stuff over.

I Am Not Robin Williams

Good morning, Vietnam!

I have been having a vague idea for a post swirling around in my neurons, but I realised it basically just boils down to this:
"It is nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice".

I like chatting to people. I am interested in their lives, and I enjoy finding common ground with them, no matter how tenuous the link is. I like... being nice to people. I compliment people on their clothes or dog or baby or accessories if said items/ beings are cool. Because I think it's nice to hear a compliment.

But, often, people are so surprised to be complimented. Is it not normal to show appreciation of cool things? I mean, I have my generation's attitude of feigned disdain down to a fine art, but I think my inherent enthusiasm about awesome stuff shines through.

I wish I'd got more pictures of people at the vintage fair that Rowenna and I went to yesterday. There was a girl in a Star Wars dress that I think she'd used the fabric from a Star Wars quilt cover to make. Honestly, I nearly swooned with delight (as did Rowenna).

Here are a few pictures I did get.





In the queue. I loved her outfit, and she and her friends were absolutely charmed by Zeph.


Earrings!

Suspicious eyebrows.

So, in conclusion, I advocate complimenting people when they have something awesome. Because it's nice.
The End.

Dance With The Rabbit

Peh. You know how some people with depression get all super-creative and whatnot when it gets bad? Well, that is not me. I get all mumpy and boring. And I irritate myself. You think I'm annoying now? Try living in the same head as me!

Anyway, I had this ghastly stomach virus thing which led to me not absorbing my anti-mental pills for a couple of weeks, and now I'm having to put up with the stupid brain chemicals until the meds start working again. Fun, fun.

The virus has also left me with short-term lactose intolerance, which is bloody awful, as it means I can't eat cheese without a lot of pain. And you guys know how much I love cheese. We were in a supermarket cafe yesterday, and I came thisclose to breaking through the clear barrier and licking the macaroni cheese. *sigh*

Mind you, it gives me an excuse to google new recipes (like I need an excuse), and prompted me to make Thai chilli sauce from scratch last night, so that's good, I guess? Silver lining?

Whatever. I want cheese.

So, new year. New EXCITING year, as we've booked our time off work to go and see Nettie and Christian! Yeah, it's not until October, but that's only nine months away now, and therefore it is easily near enough for Nettie and I to start being intolerably excited. Nettie's already posted a list of things we're planning to do, so I won't recreate that here, but you can see from her blog that it's going to be AMAZING. We love Perth, and we love Nettie and Christian, and now I'm working myself up into a state of incomprehensible excitement (again), so I'll stop typing about that.

Other than that, nothing particularly of note has been happening over the last couple of weeks. Work, sleep, books, food, N64. That's about it. So have some pictures from over the festive period (not of my stomach virus, though. You should thank me for that). Many of them are of Zeph and Belle, so if you are uninterested in toddlers and dogs, now would be the time to stop looking at this post. Seriously. Close your eyes. Try and navigate away from the page using only your own innate power of internets.

This is either Dave reading to Zeph, or Zeph reading to Dave. I'm not sure which.

The look of awe on a nephew's face as he sees all the Christmas presents for the first time!

On the way back from (my only annual visit to) church, Huw and I found this. I was all "Look! That rust! It's a rabbit doing a dance! Dance with the rabbit!", so he did.

Matt and Rowenna were the Dingbat Winners. To the relief of everyone, because that meant the game was finished (it's a madly annoying game, yet we still always play it).

Once Thomas joined the cage match, it was all over bar the screaming.

Sometimes Belle is just so mad that even the two-year-old notices. Here, she's staring at the wall to see if her friends (light reflections) are going to come and visit.

Zeph LOVED his little motorbike.

Cutest dog in the world.

I played around on Photoscape with this one. I like it. It's very 70s.

A walk round the loch at New Year. It sleeted. And Zeph gave up on the way back.

Swans!

Zeph!

I love this one of my dad, Rowenna and Zeph taking a shortcut.

Awwww... Huw and Kirsty, looking handsome and pretty, respectively.

Travelling in style.

FESTIVE!

The following are all jolly festive:

Tree

Wander

Carousel

Ice rink

Wreath

Big wheel

Snowman with Huw and Kirsty

Lights

Snow

Penguin with Matt and Huw

Giant snow globe

Pretzel

Matt

Fonzie the festive greyhound

Macaroni cheese

Mustard udders

Scary shop dummies

Reindeer

Cart and horses


Happy holidays, everyone!

Shazam

Oh, the pretty clouds. Taken at the bus stop that we walk to in the mornings. It's not long until the dawn will be after we set off for work, though.

This is a display in one of the posh shops in George Street. I understand it's supposed to be the Nutcracker, but it's fucking terrifying. Especially at quarter to eight in the morning when we go past it on the bus. Note the man's shoe in its mouth. *shudders*

Misty castle.

We went down to Portobello today. We went to the butcher (pork and leek sausages and two types of haggis) and the fishmonger (coley and haddock) and we dropped into this deli to see what they had. We bought goat cheese, and venison pate. Om nom nom. I always laugh at their sign.

Matt took me to a greasy spoon for lunch. I was charmed by their version of an omelette. It was folded over, but all the cheese and onion and bacon were on the top. It was, however, pretty damn tasty.

Mislabelling.

I think I might have reverted back a few years, clothing-wise. I was wearing my short pirate trousers with clumpy boots and stripy socks, and my new Sunnydale High School t-shirt.

Later, taters!

Hakuna Matata

I finished By The Pricking Of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie last night, and moved on this morning to Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. I wasn't deliberately finishing the quote, it was just a cool coincidence.

Something Wicked..., by the way, is creepily scary. It has carnival freaks and people that can change you, and horrible repercussions for wishes. And it totally unnerved me - I was finishing it this evening by the light of the lampposts as I was walking home. Don't read creepy books in the dark. Word to the wise.

What else?
My birthday was on Sunday. It was a good birthday. I now have a brand new (well, old) N64 and all my favourite games. And I got to talk to Nettie, Matt made me a cheeseboard, and I had birthday truffles.


The weather's got deliciously chilly. I am making good use of my big warm coat with the fur lining and giant hood. Mmm, snuggly.

We've made a start on the new El Toro Fuerte ABC, too. It was an awfully fun thing to do on a Saturday night, even if all the cool people were out clubbing and whatnot. Don't hold your breath for it, though - we're only about a fifth of the way through, and it's got to be in order!

I also got my blood tests back from the doctor, and it appears (in their words) that I'm normal. So put that in your pipe(s) and smoke it, all you doubters!

So, as it is a nice chilly night, I'm off to make potato and leek soup.
Now, be good while I'm gone, or else.