Doctor Who and Wimbledon, day 6.

As much as I enjoy tennis, I enjoy Doctor Who so much more. I was almost to the point of throwing things at the TV as programs started being moved in favour of the Murray/Haas match. I was willing Murray to win every single point just so Doctor Who would not be interrupted. But, luckily enough, Murray won the match about 30 minutes before the Doctor graced the screen. *Phew*

So, what happened at Wimbledon? Not much. Caroline Wozniacki gave Jelena Jankovic a good run for her money. I was hoping that Wozniacki might win. But no. After a fantastic first set, she lost the match 6-2, 4-6, 2-6. Ah well.

Other than that, nothing spectacular really happened. Janko Tipsarevic ousted Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Shahar Peer took out 9th seed Dinara Safina 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 8-6.

As for Doctor Who. Fantastic! I loved The Stolen Earth. I especially loved the crazy Dalek Caan. After all, every race needs its crazy psychics! The sound of drums popped up every now and again... Is this something to get excited and shiver with antici..... pation about? But anyway. I shall stop there in case I let anything important slip that spoils it for anyone (*waves* hello Dave!). I can and I can't wait for next week.

Wimbledon, Day 5.

Big news for the day: Ana Ivanovic, the number one in the world, was ousted by wildcard Zheng Jie. Zheng, ranked 133, decimated Ivanovic, 6-1, 6-4. I don't think I've seen Ivanovic break down like that since the final at Roland Garros last year.

11th seed Marion Bartoli (FRA), a finalist last year, was also knocked out. This was due, in part, to injury. Bethanie Mattek (USA) soldiered on to the fourth round 6-4, 6-1.

But yay! for Marat Safin! He finally made it through to the fourth round after a tough fight against 29th seed Andreas Seppi (ITA). In fading light he came through 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. I think I enjoy watching Safin even more now, as Principessa will sit on my knee and watch with me, cheering everytime he gets a point: "Yay! He scoreded another point!" She is just soooo cute!

So, Andy Murray takes on Tommy Haas (GER) today. I'm not sure I'll be watching all of the match as Doctor Who will probably be on when he's playing. I am NOT missing the Doctor, not when there are only two more episodes left. And not now, when Davros is coming back to the fold. I am really looking forward to these last two episodes.

Wimbledon, Day 4

Another day of mixed fortunes. While Andy Murray triumphed, Anne Keothavong and Chris Eaton both fell despite valiant attempts. Keothavong lost to Venus Williams, 5-7, 6-2. Eaton lost to Dmitry Tursunov, 6-7 (2-7), 2-6, 4-6. (Considering that Tursunov is ranked 639 places above Eaton, I think this is an amazing result. It was also very refreshing to see someone who served and volleyed every point. It's something you don't see very often nowadays. The wind did affect both players at one end of the court, and I think had the conditions been slightly better Eaton would have had Tursunov. I really hope he fights his way to the top 100 soon.) Andy Murray beat Xavier Malisse (BEL) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

On other Wimbledon news, it was a day for falling seeds.

• (6) Andy Roddick (USA) vs. Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-7 (4-7)
• (9) James Blake (USA) vs. Rainer Schuettler (GER) 3-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 4-6, 4-6
• (19) Nicholas Almagro (ESP) vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 2-6
• (24) Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs. Marin Cilic (CRO) 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 5-7
  

The biggest surprise was in the women's game:

• (3) Maria Sharapova (RUS) vs. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 2-6, 4-6
• (10) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 3-6, 6-4, 1-6
• (13) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) vs. Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 6-7 (10-12), 6-4, 3-6
• (22) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) vs. Ai Sugiyama (JPN) 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 2-6
• (25) Lindsay Davenport (USA) vs. Gisela Dulko (ARG) Walkover (Knee injury)
• (26) Sybille Bammer (AUT) vs. Shuai Peng (CHN) 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 3-6
• (32) Sania Mirza (IND) vs. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP) 0-6, 6-4, 7-9
  

So that's now the third seeds from both the men's (Djokovic) and women's (Sharapova) gone. Who'd have thunk it! It's also nice to see that Tamarine Tanasugarn is continuing her great run after winning at 's-Hertogenbosch last week, and that Ai Sugiyama is still battling on.

Keep Rickrolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, huh!

Just watching the tennis, Chris Eaton vs. Dmitry Tursunov. We all knew it would be tough, but at least he's giving it a good go. He's currently two sets down, and it's 3-2 to Tursunov in the third. I'm very impressed with Eaton, though.

But, I had to post. Twice today I have seen the term rickrolled. WTF, though I. The first time I let it pass. The second time the rickrolling was there in front of me, so I had to see. And did I giggle! Here, for your entertainment, is Doctor Who, Rickrolled!

Wimbledon, Day 3. And other stuff.

It was a disappointing day, yesterday. Elena Baltacha could not build on her battling victory of the first round. She went under to Zheng Jie (CHN), 2-6, 5-7.

The big news of the day was the unceremonious dumping of Novak Djokovic. Former world number one Marat Safin bossed the game completely, not allowing Djokovic any foothold in the match. To be fair, Djokovic seemed rather out of sorts, but I haven't seen Safin play that well for a long time. I'm hoping he can keep this form, I like watching Safin play.

The tennis took a back seat to my tutorial in the evening. It was nice to meet the tutor, even though it seemed he didn't realise Kirst was there for the tutorial too. I think he thought she was my helper. Oops! But other than that oversight, he seemed to be a very good tutor, sooooo much better than the first tutor we had. He was able to start a debate about masculinity and femininity, and how they are contrasted within the works we are studying for Block 5. It was a big help going to the tutorial, and being able to throw ideas around with others. It really helps in shaping my own thoughts, and focuses me to get down to the work. That maybe why my Wallace essay was so bad. I didn't have that focus. I just wish there was a tutorial for Don Juan, as that was overlooked in the tutorial last night. Ho hum, will have to muddle through that one on my own. (I did sit down and listen to it properly last night, but I couldn't shake the image of a dandy with sparkly teeth skipping and jumping around lush green hills every time the Don Juan strut section happened!)

Wimbledon, Day 2.

Well, it was a surprising day yesterday.

Naomi Cavaday played out of her skin in the first set against Venus Williams, but Venus pipped her in the tie breaker. The second set was a bit of a non-event for Cavaday, really. Score: 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

Anne Keothavong, on the other hand, battled back from a set down to win her match against Vania King (USA). Score: 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Katie O'Brien also went out. At one point in the second set she was 5-0 up against Shahar Peer (ISR), but Peer won the next seven games to take the match. Score: 3-6, 5-7.

The blokes fared a bit better, two of the three of them getting through to the second round.

Andy Murray played in a highly entertaining match against Fabrice Santoro (FRA). In the end, Murray took the match in three straight sets. Score: 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

Ranked outsider Chris Eaton, who battled through qualies, rallied hard against Serbian Boris Pashanski, making it into the second round in straight sets. He faces a tough second round match against Dmitry Tursunov (RUS). Score: 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

Unfortunately, Jamie Baker fell to Stefano Galvani (ITA). Score: 4-6, 2-6, 3-6.

Game, set, and no rain?

So, it was the first day of Wimbledon yesterday. I have to say, it went better than I was expecting. Firstly, Elena Baltacha won her match against Angelique Kerber, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. Happy, happy, happy. Unfortunately for Melanie South, her match against Alona Bondarenko didn't go quite as well, although she put up a spirited fight, losing 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 4-6! Alex Bogdanovic also put up a fight, but went down 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7) to Simone Bolelli. Ho hum.

Today we have Andy Murray, Chris Eaton (who battled through qualies to get there), Jamie Baker, Naomi Cavaday and Anne Keothavong playing. Katie O'Brien might also be playing today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that more than just Andy Murray progresses through. I don't hold out much hope for Naomi Cavaday, shes up against Venus Williams, but I'd love her to shock Williams and go through!

I'm looking forward to pawing through 'Kult' now, while waiting for Wimbledon to start. 'Kult' is a roleplaying game from the 90s. I owned it way back when, but sold it because I didn't play it much. Over the last few weeks it popped into my head as being a way to feed my brain with some ideas for story writing. So I went on a quest to find it. Imagine my shock at finding out it was no longer in print, and that I would have to track the bugger down! I had no luck, then last weekend I found a copy on Ebay. 'Yipes,' thought I, when seeing the price. £40! I had a few quid left from my grant, so I thought, 'what the hell, let's just get it!' So get it I did. And read it - I will. Now.

Mr Wallce, where is my divine intervention?

69%. Ho hum. My worst mark since TMA02. At least it was a pass, and more than 40%. Suppose that is something positive, at least.

I have finished the Pygmalion section of the next block. I think I have decided that this will not be one of my choices for the next essay. I am more or less decided on Medea, and I am toying with the idea to use Don Juan too. I found it hard to immerse myself into Wide Sargasso Sea, so I think I might give that a miss.

Cheesy Bread-face

Principessa has started experimenting with different mediums for her art. Here is a piece called 'Cheesy Bread-face on Cow Hide Couch'.

I really like the use of a halved Babybel cheese to make the eyes, and the carefully torn bottom crust from another piece of granary bread to make the mouth. The smeared Marmite nose finishes the piece off.

Memory...

(Pinched from Elizabeth Bear's blog)

"If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now,even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory ofyou and me. It can be anything you want -- good or bad. When you'refinished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (ormortified) about what people remember about you."

The art of a thousand walls.

Well, maybe not a thousand. In fact, it is the art of just one wall. My bedroom wall. Courtesy of Principessa. I think she has an irrational fear of using blank paper or something.


This little fella is above the radiator. He almost looks like a 'Chad was here' character.



This big beastie is above Principessa's bed. (Yep, she still sleeps in my room!) I think it looks a bit like a three year old's interpretation of the great Cthulhu! I would say 'but that's impossible as she has never seen a picture,' but then I remembered that her Uncle Gaz let her have the cuddly Cthulhu I gave him for his birthday.

She has been learning to write her name recently. I was really surprised when she shoved a piece of A4 paper in my hand with her name in her cute three-year old scrawl across the page. Made me so proud, it did!

Oh. My. Lashes.

Yeah, OK. Three posts in one day. What the hell!

After just about getting my money back on the Gold Cup bet I made yesterday, I thought I'd have another flutter today. I had a look down the Ascot races, but I was tripped up on the main race of the day. There were two horses I liked, and I couldn't choose. So I asked Principessa to choose the jacket she liked the most. Then I thought, let's just put a twist forecast on the two horses I couldn't choose between.

Wouldn't you just know it, the twist forecast came in! How chuffed am I? And all because I could make some tenuous connection between the horses - Lush Lashes and Infallible. Connection? Make-up!

*Dances round the room while wishing I had put a fiver bet on instead!*

Happiness is...

Playing with Wordle. I had a mess about with it earlier, and I have made this 'postcard' with the Wordle result from one of my poems.


(Click for larger image)

These dreams...

Don't you just hate it when you have a dream, you are quite sure you are dreaming, but you wake up feeling that the dream was real?

This morning I was woken with that kind of start. I was dreaming that I was asleep, yet I was somewhat awake at the same time - I was able to view everything in the bedroom. Or maybe I was dreaming that I was in the bedroom in the dream. Anyway. I could hear a buzzing sound. I pinpointed it to the curtains, but then it started getting closer. I had in my mind 'There's a bloody wasp coming to get me!' The next thing, the buzzing is right at my ear and I could feel the displaced air on wisps of hair, the proximity of the sting making me sleep wince! Then the wasp landed on my ear, and I was trying to move without moving, hoping that the thing didn't crawl into my ear and sting my eardrum or something! I gently and quietly moved my head, so that the wasp was brushed onto the quilt, and hid my head under the covers. It was this move, in my dream and in reality, that woke me up. I spent the next five minutes listening for waspy buzzing, just in case I hadn't been dreaming!

Can you tell I don't like wasps? I think that this dream was residual fear from last week when I was buzz attacked by an absolutely massive wasp in the bathroom. What freaked me out more than this wasp just ending up dropping from somewhere and buzzing around behind me for a few minutes, and me being just a little incapacitated to get away from it, was that the wasp somehow ended up caught in my hair just above my ear. The buzzing alone is enough to reduce me to tears, but the proximity of the sting to my head completely shook me. Then the bloody thing just dropped from my hair and onto the floor by my foot! Argh! I think I did scream, too!

Well, enough about wasps and dreams of wasps. *Shudder*

I should get my Wallace essay back in the next few days. I am so worried about it. I know now that I didn't answer the question properly, as I've moaned about already. I'm not even sure now that I had enough in there to give me a pass. I'm so disappointed in myself *sigh*.

Woohoo!

I thought I'd have a flutter on the gee-gees today with it being Gold Cup day. So, I bet on one horse in each of the six Ascot races. The first three came nowhere. Bugger. I had given up getting anything back. But then, a tennis-associated named horse - Fifteen Love - went and won it's race, coming in at 28-1! Yay! That'll do me. I'm just hoping that King Of Rome doesn't come anywhere, because I didn't bet on him in the end.

Wordy clouds

Hee, this is fun! Go to Wordle, then take a block of text, put them in the text box and create your own word clouds. Here's one I made earlier.

Go, play!

What's another word for leg?

Principessa, sitting at her computer, lifts her leg up and rests it on the desk.

• I've got stickers all over my tentacles, Mummy.

And that, with a lot of laughing, was that!

D'oh!

I am wishing I hadn't jumped the gun and sent my Wallace essay off on Sunday. I can now see ways it could have been improved, made to read more fluidly. Bum! I think I have put enough in to at least get the pass mark, but I could have mentioned the blurring of boundary lines between science and religion, and the resulting separation of science and spiritualism. Argh! That would have made the essay better by a whole lot! That'll teach me not to rush things just because I can't get my head around it at the time.Ah well, hindsight is a useless beast, foresight the evasive beast.

The sunburn is now turning into prickly heat. I don't which is worse - the heat and pain of the burn, or the incessant itch of the prickly heat. Grrr!

I'm all a bit grrrr today as it is. That stupid creature called a brother decided he'd try and pay off his catalogue bill with his XBox360. He bought it over with a bunch of games. Today, he came in saying that he needed money so he was going to take the games to Gamestation to exchange them for cash. When I confronted him about it he said that he had given me the XBox but not the games. When I told him that I was not stupid, that I had checked around to see how much a brand new XBox360 cost, and that I could get one for less than he owed me for the catalogue, he flipped his lid! He must really think I am a mug, that I would take the seconhand XBox without looking around first and making sure what he gave me would cover his bill. Idiot! (Me, not him, for believing he wouldn't try to rip me off. I shall not be believing anything he says again.)

Anyone for tennis?

I finally got to see some live tennis yesterday at the Liverpool International. What a great day!

The first match on court was a doubles match between Mansour Bahrami, Barry Cowan, Ilie Nastase and Peter McNamara. I was chuffed at having the opportunity to watch Bahrami, he is such a funny player.

Mansour Bahrami

Next on court was the first ladies singles semi final between Caroline Wozniacki and Tamaryn Hendler. Wozniacki won this match, 6-3, 6-4. She's a really good player, but I've said that before.

Caroline Wozniacki

Next up was the men's semi final between Paul Capdeville and Robert Kendrick. I thought Kendrick would have had this match, but Capdeville pipped him in the tie breaker in the first set, and outplayed him in the second. The result - 7-6 (12-10), 6-4.

Paul Capdeville and Robert Kendrick

After the men's singles, the crowd-puller match happened. This was the Legend's mixed doubles between Pat Cash, Jana Novotna, Mikael Pernfors and Martina Hingis. Another funny, yet serious, match. Cash and Hingis had many a tete-a-tete at the net, and many extremely high lobs were returned. It was a very good match, with Novotna and Cash winning 8-5.

Cash, Novotna, Pernfors and Hingis

I left after the doubles, the sun was taking it's toll on me.



Ouch! Can you see where I had been wearing my entry band and bobble? Asides from the sunburn I had a fabulous day. I think I might go again next year.

(I just wish I had recorded the Queen's tennis. SkiDaddles said that the Nadal match was a good'un!)

(All photos (c) ME! That's why they are not all that good!)

Strictly Come Star Wars

You haven't lived until you see a Wookiee dance Footloose, or Darth Vader... Well, see for yourself!



Fantastic!