The frustrations of shopping with a three year old.

Argh! That's just for starters.

I promised Principessa a trip to the bookshop today with the added motivation of picking up the last of my Christmas pressies. She's been pretty good with going shopping of late, so I thought it wouldn't be any problem. What's that phrase about not counting chickens?

First we went to Boots. Christmas is the time for smellies, after all! So I bought the last few adult pressies, and a hat and mitten set for Principessa. But she happened to find a bag of Christmas choccies that she absolutely had to have, then went on to try and pick up the 'sweet' looking smellies. It was hell trying to get her to put them down. Then when we got to the till she tried to pick up a few bags of crisps and a pack or two of Smints. Grrrr! Then the chocolates... We had to rip the label off the bag because she wouldn't part with them. Pain!

Next to the bookshop. On the trip up to the back of the store we passed a watercolour painting kit. Oh, it was so necessary for her to have them. I ended up having to compromise with her to stop her having a tizzy in the shop by buying a pebble painting kit. Up to the kids books finally, and she sat and thumbed her way through all the 'In The Night Garden' books. But once she had 'read' through them she didn't want to take any home. Thank God! Problem was, she found a Charlie and Lola activity set that she has only had bought for her twice already. Familiarity breeds contempt where spending £7.99 on something that gets thrown away after it has no more use (sticker books really have no point except for the five minutes they are actually useful!) occurs.

So now we have finished looking at the books, so I pick up a mythology book, one of the 'Ology' series (the one that includes 'Dragonology' and 'Pirateology'. I think these books are fantastic.), and down to the magazines to buy a writers mag. To the tills, and that's where the trouble starts. I really hate the till queue trap. You know what I mean. The horrible little shelves alongside the line of the queue where they put things that they think may be exactly-what-you-need-and-can't-do-without-but-only-realise-you-need-and-can't
-do-without-until-you're-in-the-queue. Well, it has a world of things that Principessa needs-and-can't-do-without! So it's tizzys galore when we hit the queue, exactly the thing I don't-need-and-can-do-without. We finally get out of the queue, pay for the stuff, and head off up to the coffee shop. More tizzys to follow, but I can't be bothered going into them!

Out of the bookshop/coffeshop, and off to HMV. "Mummy, we have to go to HMV to buy a new DVD of Night Garden." Well, I had promised her about two weeks ago that the next time we went shopping. We got that DVD without much trouble. Phew.

Then to the Early Learning Centre to buy the last Christmas pressie. We don't have too much trouble here, there is plenty to keep Principessa occupied. But therein lies the problem, so much to do, too little time to do it in. We go to pay for the pressie, but Principessa knows when you pay, you leave. Stink is kicked up. Not enough people on the tills. Waiting in line for way too long. Principessa runs off and finds a chalkboard to draw on, but also finds paints and tries to open them. Noooooo! I send Grandand off to sort Principessa out, but while he is off the till becomes free and I can't push my chair with one hand whilst holding stuff in the other hand. This is the one flaw of a self-propelling wheelchair. A lovely woman standing behind me helps by pushing me to the till, so I pay, Grandand comes and pushes me from the tills and to the exit, but Principessa doesn't want to leave. I have to threaten to take the Night Garden DVD back to HMV if she doesn't come with me. Luckily enough that works. We leave the shops, and not a minute too soon!

Finally home, and tizzyfits continue. There's a problem with the DVD player, so there is no Night Garden. Then Grandand almost crashes the computer, so I have to argue with Grandand to push the table over to me so I can fix it. It's bad enough having to calm Principessa down, but trying to get past a Grandand's stubbornness, that is something else entirely! I fix the computer and all is fine for while.

On the plus point, when I got home from the shops - parcels galore! All the stuff I had bought from Ebay before the postal strike had arrived (books, books, and more books). Whoop-de-bleeding-do! About time too. But, phew, I'm glad it's all here and that none of it was lost.

Now I must go, as the tizzyfit mistress is off again. She has been told to leave the pebble kit alone until tomorrow, but all must be had now.

Day 15: 304 words
Day 16: 100 words so far.

Who needs a title anyway?

'Tis the best I can do this morning!

This evil cold had me up at stupid o'clock this morning. You know when you get that horrible tickle in the back of your throat that forces you to cough? Well, that's the stage this cold is at. And it's not exactly a tickle neither. It's more an irritant on the the left side of my tonsils that jumps and waves "Gotcha!" on near enough every breath. Grrrrr. At least the snot is not as free flowing as it has been the last few days.

One good thing came out of being up early. It was wonderfully quiet so I wrote some more. It's so much easier to write when everyone else is asleep, there is no incessant noise from TV's, DVD players or computers. Absolute bliss. And the little bit of writing I did do released my mind from working allowing me to go back to sleep. Bonus!

Day 13: 0 words
Day 14: 586 words
Day 15: 250 words (so far)

Five things I did today.

1: Cooked a lovely beef and vegetable miso soup for lunch.
2: Played 'Oopsie-Daisy is a wicked witch and the Tombly-boos must be saved' with Principessa.
3: Played 'Oopsie-Daisy is sad and must lie down on the Doctor's couch and have some psychotherapy' with Principessa.
4: Did a little bit of writing (about 180 words).
5: Paid some money off the credit card bill.

Yes, Oopsie-Daisy has featured a lot, though they were the names I gave to the games. But the actions were all Principessa's. It was also her who said that Oopsie-Daisy was sad and laid her down on a little couch while sitting the Doctor down on the chair next to the couch!

The writing has taken a knock again. Principessa didn't go to sleep until about midnight last night, so I was so knackered and washed out from this cold that I just went to sleep. I didn't do any writing yesterday daytime because I was playing with Principessa and intermittently playing my Wii game. Poop! The slacking has begun. At lease today I have focussed on a different character and introduced a new character too. Woohoo! Will do word count tomorrow.

Night night, time for bed.

Death warmed up feels better than I do right now.

:( Still not well. Principessa is a little better. She still has the sniffles just before going to bed, transforming her into a tiny snoring, growling duvet monster. My poor babe.

The hardly temperate zone of yuckiness has put a stop to my plans of going to the cinema with Laura tonight. We were going to watch 30 Days Of Night, but now we're not. It will have to wait until next week. I hate having to cancel plans with Laura because she now has to travel all the way from Manchester. I really am sorry for canceling.

Gaz bought me my birthday pressie early, and it's so nice to be spoiled! He bought Metroid Prime 3 for the Wii. Whilst I am enjoying playing it, I get very frustrated with the game. Every now and then there will be a section that I really struggle with. Argh! It makes me so mad. And the Wii-mote also plays up a lot, which only adds to my frustrations. But I am muddling through.

I shall say "Hello" to Kleddie now I know he reads this. Hope Val gets well soon.

I managed to get somewhat back on track with the NaNo story last night. I am hoping that I can match the word count from last night with my efforts tonight. I will be most pleased with myself if I do. Here is the updated word count for yesterday.

Day 12: 546 words

Bleurgh!

Ill. Ill, ill, ill. 'Tis both Principessa and I. Bleurgh! Stuffed up with cold, noses like taps. If only snot was a saleabe commodity!

I think being stuck outside the Empire on Saturday night didn't help. Went to see Cats with Gaz, and it was very enjoyable. Nothing like I expected, though I couldn't help thinking of a stand up comedy show I saw a month or two ago, with this English comedian and his back-up musicians doing his Lloyd-Webber rendition inspired act. It really was very well observed! So really, I should have known what I was in for!

Principessa is becoming somewhat of a computer whizz. (Hang on, sneezing fit approaching...) I bought a USB (shouldn't that be an? It doesn't sound right though... an USB?) keyboard for the old laptop to access some of the files that were on it. So now that I have a way of making it work (can you just see me with a spotlight shining into the laptop's screen saying 'I have ways of making you work"?) Principessa has been able to use it. Gaz got a USB mouse that is just about Principessa hand-sized, so now she knows how to go online, Nanny bookmarked Stage6 for her and some Night Garden and Tom and Jerry on Google video so she can go straight to the things she likes. She sits at her table, watching Dr Seuss stories, while opening up paint files and drawing! She also knows how to get Notepad up is she wants to type random letters!

On the NaNo front, I am so behind with words now. Didn't do any on Saturday, Principessa was still awake when I got home from the theatre. Didn't do any yesterday, I was feeling so washed out. Haven 't done too much today, I will buckle down after Principessa goes to sleep.

I am still surprised at how this story is turning out. It is nothing like what I had planned in my head when I started plotting out. I still haven't got to introducing the main characters!

Day 8: 368 words
Day 9: 298 words
Day 10: 0 words
Day 11: 0 words
Day 12: 168 words (so far)

From the mouths of babes.

Principessa had one of those nights last night. For some reason she was too wired to sleep, so it was after 10.30pm before she actually got into bed. Even then it was my bed. She was chat, chat, chatting away, about nothing in particular. Finally I engaged in the conversation instead of telling her that she needed to be quiet and go to sleep. So we were having a little talk and then she says to me:

"Mummy, how am I supposed to go to sleep if you're talking to me?"

I couldn't help but laugh. So I lay down and gave her a hug and said goodnight. She was quiet for about a minute before her chattering started again.

"How are you supposed to go to sleep if you're talking to me?" I asked her.

"I'm sleep-talking," was her reply.

You couldn't make it up! Well, I suppose you could, but it's so much better when it isn't! I love the night-time ramblings of a three year old!

Today we have had a no television morning. Well, a mostly no TV morning. The cable has gone haywire again, and I can't change the channel. It is stuck on ITV. I can't even get behind the unit to turn the box off at the plug to reset it. None to pleased about that. I ended up sitting and taking half notice of Jeremy Kyle while Principessa sat and watched some Dr Seuss on Nanny's computer. Well, now I know one thing for sure, I DON'T like Jeremy Kyle. I don't think I have ever seen such an outright display of smug psychological bullying in my life! He really does think he is a god! He just baits and baits the guests (though some of them really are the scum of the earth, but still,) trying to get a rise out of them. Wouldn't it be good if one day one of them were to rise to the bait and just lamp him one. I'd pay good money to see that!

Time for the daily word count now, me thinks.

Day 7: 310 words.

Lights.

Firstly, didn't Liverpool Besikt-their-as! 8-0! What a score!

I was having a look through a few blogs today and I found the image below here.


Looking at it made me think of last year. Grandand and I had taken Principessa to the Catalyst museum, and just before we left we visited the gift shop (as you do). I bought a box of light sticks for Principessa to play with when we got home. As it was, Gaz, Kayte and I played with them too. Our light stick pictures are below. (Okay, I know they are not as twirly as the one above, but hey, we had fun!)






At the moment I am losing my mind watching CBeebies with Principessa. I wish she would just get a book for us to read! I can cope much better with the reading than the watching. Maybe we will build some castles later, if I can turn off the TV without someone having a tizzyfit.

I am quite surprised at how long the introduction of my NaNo is turning out to be. It seems important that it is this long, as some crucial events are happening. But the main characters of the story still haven't been introduced. I'm finding that quite strange! Amended word count for yesterday:

Day 6: 456 words

Pomp and circumstance.

Bonfire night would be good if it wasn't for the smell of melting plastic as idiots throw stolen bins on the fire. Yep, they had searched around and pinched bins from people’s gardens just to throw on the bommie. All three of Gaz's bins were pinched, and our green bin was also fated to become a molten pool of petrochemical muck. The smell cut through everything, and it was still stinking at about 3am last night. The one good thing was the free firework show, which I could watch from my chair. Why go out in the cold to see professional shows when the ones from peoples back gardens are just as good.

I sat and watched (I don't know why) the opening of Parliament this morning. It's the first time I have ever done that. What a load of rubbish! Okay, tradition is all well and good, and I am not averse to a little tradition myself, but talk about taking themselves seriously! Nothing new was put forward for the coming parliamentary year, it was all the same as previous years: fight terrorism, sort out housing, and fix education. Hah! That is relatively impossible. Most kids don't want to be in school, and with reforms in policing and corporal punishment kids no longer have respect for anyone, so how do the government propose to keep kids in education until they are at least 18 years old?

Talking about school, Principessa is no longer going to nursery. Well, at least not until next February. The school called yesterday after she went in, and half an hour after starting she had managed to get herself in such a state that the teachers could not calm her down. I had a long talk with one of her teachers and we agreed that she would not go back until February. If she doesn't settle then, she will not go back until next September. I am now looking into home schooling her. It might be the easiest (though harder for me) option.

I am still plodding on with the NaNo. I'm actually surprised I have stuck with it for nearly a week. Things have happened already in the story that I wasn't expecting, but I think it is sounding okay. Here are the updated word counts:

Day 5: 297 words
Day 6: 213 words (so far)

It's strange how you can go off a person.

So, as most people who know me know, I recently nominated a certain writer for a weblog award (mentioning no names, nah, bugger to that. 'Twas Neil Gaiman). Now, I know this may give the impression that I am a stalker (can you stalk in a wheelchair?), but I messaged aforementioned writer to inform him that I had nominated his journal as my way of appreciating his work. When the journal was selected as a finalist I messaged again to tell him, and to ask if he could direct the rest of his readership to the website so that maybe they could vote too. No response, no message on his journal. My mission then was to get peeps that would like to vote to vote. I left a message on his forum, and on a number of groups on facebook. I asked my friends to vote. I checked today to find he was about 200 points in the lead. So how irked was I after reading his journal today to see that someone else had also told him he had been nominated and that he was currently in the lead? Pah!

Okay, enough grrrrrr. I am still plodding along with my 'using the NaNo to get into good writerly habits, even though I am not participating' story. I'm going to have to do loads today whilst Principessa is at nursery. Here is the full word count for yesterday:

Day 4: 307 words

Moto

Valentino Rossi did ride in the Valencia GP, but had his hand strapped up in a big way as he has three fractured bones in his wrist. Ouch! Truthfully, I think they are completely silly to ride with injuries (another rider - can't remember who - was riding with suspected appendicitis), but I suppose it's up to them.

Anyway, Rossi was up for second place, but had to pull out of the race after his bike broke down (hmmm, just tried to spell broke 'browk'. For all intents and purposes, it still looks like a proper word!), so Dani Pedrosa ended up with the second place in the world rankings after finishing the race first.

Update on the NaNo:

Day 3: 337 words.
Day 4: 90 words (so far. Will do some more later.)

Stepping back in time; five months ago

This was the time I was potty training Principessa. I was having trouble getting her to use the potty, though I did finally work out what I needed to do. This happened after hours of trawling the net, looking at advice pages. The best piece of advice I found (after "Let the child get used to having a potty around, so they know what it is") was "Just stick with it, no matter how many times a nappy is asked for." Yeah, I know, kind of obvious. It isn't when you're doing it, the easy option is to just give in and put on the nappy. So I followed that advice and within three days she was potty trained. Even more amazing than that was she took to night-time trained two days later and was completely out of nappies a few days later (with a couple of little accidents, but not as many as I was expecting).

Anyway, the point of this post was to share this video. It nearly made me wet myself when I saw it, and as the subject is potty training, then it is quite apt for the post.

Slow, unconfident words.

So I have started the mini Nano, as I am not confident in my self to do the full NaNo yet. So the word counts so far are:

Day 1: 469 words
Day 2: 230 words

So I shall sit down later tonight and write some more, but this time I'll try not to over think what I am writing. Therein lies my problem. I need to switch off and write, rather than reread what I have already done and start making changes. I'm never going to get anywhere until I break this cycle. I have to get it in my head to just write, finish and leave it alone for a while. Maybe I might end up with something solid. Once I've got that far, maybe I'll learn something. *sigh*

On sports matters, 'tis the final Moto GP of the year. Rossi can't win, but he could get the runner up spot. That is if the crash he has had today in qualifying doesn't stop him, and if he can make his way through the field from about 16th place. If he can't do it, then Dani Pedrosa gets the second place. Ah well. Not an easy end to the season for the Doctor!

Anyhows. I couple of weeks ago I mentioned a web program called Sanctuary. Well, here is the first episode. Enjoy.

Ah well..

He gave it his best.

It's no go for Andy Murray in the top eight for the tennis masters series. It was exciting following the race this week though :D

Toilet Riser

I have this piece of machinery that reminds my brain-that-works-in-mysterious-ways of Ed209 from Robocop. This piece of machinery is to help me get on and off the toilet. Over the last few weeks the seat part became decidedly dodgy, making it feel like it would break down at any minute (no, it's malfunction was not telling me I had 20 seconds to comply). Well, a new riser was delivered this morning, but lo and behold if it doesn't work.

When I say it doesn't work... I mean we can't assemble the damn thing as the arm attachment rod has been put on backwards! Not good! It's times like these I really wish that I had an iron bladder. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I found out yesterday that my nomination for Neil Gaiman's journal was successful enough to take it to the final stages in the Weblog awards. Now all I have to do is rally some support and get people voting for it. I hope he wins!

Argh! Mini NaNo starts today!

Panic! Panic! Panic!

I feel like a headless chicken! I still have not managed to hash out the middle of my plot, and it is time to start writing! At least there I have managed to get something started. Only problem here is I am not sure how strong the start it, and I still don't really have a title. Poop!

Principessa woke up at 6.45ish this morning. My poor head! I hope I can concentrate later today when she goes to nursery. We had to play 'Keep Hammy warm' before coming downstairs. This consisted of wrapping Hammy (the squirrel from Over The Hedge) in a pink towel and then rocking him like a baby and calling him 'My little terror'. I don't know! Then Principessa started moaning for a bottle 'o' tea (relaxed parenting - she still gets comfort from a bottle, and I'm sure she'll grow out of it when she is ready), crying out "Oh woe is me"! Talk about a character!

Well, I will leave here with a little snippet of some of my NaNo attempt. This is the curse that happens in the first few paragraphs.

The fairest of friends,
The bitterest enemies.
By Bark: Bough and Trunk,
This is the Wyrd of the Trees
The heart of a Folk boy
You both seek to win.
To the victor; a husband.
To the loser; darkness within.
In two Lands - Buck and Folk
Always divided to be.
To leave, be cast down.
Withered wood shallst you be.
A Father's love
Returnst you here,
On the thirteenth day
Of her thirteenth year.
This Wyrd shallst reverse
By an apple; pure and white.
The truth of all things
Revealed in the light.
But a childs heartache
Is a Mother's cross.
A loving sacrifice
Is a family's loss.

(c) A. Tresidder 2007

Creating monsters

I am slowly, but surely ( I hope), working through the plot for the middle of my mini NaNoWriMo story. I've been flustering about what to do in the middle, like what I was going to call the creature that has just made it's presence known, but that has just fallen into place. I now have its name. I feel a bit disappointed now, because I know that this particular monster will not be part of the story for very long. Ho hum, maybe I'll try and find a different name and keep this monster for another story. Then again, maybe not.

Principessa is home today. Her nursery starts again tomorrow. So I will have to entice her to get some books out and we can do some reading. Okay, she may not be able to read yet (though I am sure she can. I was logging into facebook the other day and Principessa just happened to be sat on my knee. I've not mentioned facebook to her, or alerted her to the facebook logo, but as soon as she saw it she said, "Ooohh, facebook."), but she loves her books. And I need to drag her away from Tom and Jerry!

Still piddled off about the post. It is not back to normal yet, and I still haven't received some of the stuff I ordered just before the strike started and some things I ordered after it finished. Grrrrrr. If I had super powers....

Well, time for lunch.

Time to live on one level?

Today the occupational therapist came to see me. She had visited yesterday as we are exploring the option of having a through-floor lift installed as it's becoming decidedly dodgy for me to stand from the stair lift. Anyway, the engineer had a look around the house yesterday trying to site where the lift would go. A place was decided, but the next problem to arise was that the original problem of me standing from a seat had still not been addressed as the lift would include a seat. The engineer then had a look at the seat I have downstairs. The seat has a riser mechanism attached to it, that brings me to a standing position. That threw up further problems as both the OT and the engineer agreed that the lift may not be feasible. Poop.

So, the visit today included a surveyor. They came to look to see if the option of building an extension was a feasible one. It looks like it might be, and having a bedroom and bathroom built onto the back of the house. Well, I suppose it's better than what I have now.

On other news, I have now applied for my first course with the Open Uni. Kirst and I are on the list for the Feb 2008 start list for the introduction to Humanities course. Yay! I think I am quite looking forward to it!

Nobleism

Last night I went to the Empire to see Ross Noble. That man can't half make you laugh! The only thing is, even though I spent most of my time laughing my socks off, I felt like I'd been to see Derren Brown because I couldn't remember half of it when it finished! What I do remember is the show was being filmed and there were satellite link-ups to Vue cinemas across the country. I do remember a girl confessing to peeing in a bin because she was desperate and her mum was on the toilet. And I do remember the glass eye.... Yeah, it was a strange, but fun, night.



On other matters... I seemed to have stalled with my story. Again! I don't know what it is, beginnings and endings seem to be no problem. Getting from the beginning to the end, now, that's a different kettle of fish completely. I have no idea where my plotting takes a holiday, but middles are my mental block. I can't seem to get past it! I think I might need to put a nail in my head just to confine my train of thought. (And here is the bigger problem... I know what needs to go in the middle of this latest story, but I can't seem to put it down in a structured plot that would keep people interested in reading. Sucks, hey?)

Principessa is getting funnier by the day. She is her own stand up comedy show! Now, a few posts ago I mentioned about the 'Niamh, Destroyer of Worlds' quote. She has now expanded on the quote. The second part of the quote came into being after Nanny had told her off for playing with the stove. Nanny had told her that if she played with the stove and turned it on, the stove would get hot and blow up. To this I said:

"Well, you keep telling her she is destroyer of worlds. The addendum to that is 'One cooker at a time'."

So now, when you ask Principessa her name she says:

"Niamh, Destroyer of Worlds! One cooker at a time!"

She picks things up so quickly!

Things I hadn't thought about.

I was reading about what made children in fairy stories heroic yesterday, only to realise a hole in the plan of the story I am plotting out for the NaNo. Oh poo! I kept myeslf awake last night by thinking of how I was going to fill the gap in my story. I am still thinking. At least through that thinking I have worked out two new incidental characters and their introduction to the story, so that's good, at least. I shall work on the ideas more today if Grandand takes Principessa to the park.

Yay! The post is now being delivered. So far, I have received the DVDs of series one of 'Heroes'. Woohoo! Still waiting for my books and comics though. And the USB keyboard. I am hoping that I can use that on the old laptop to access files and folders that are, at present, locked into it.

Well, back to the plants and plot.

Change.

I hate it when TV programs change the film that it is filmed on. I can see the difference instantly, and a lot of the time it totally distracts me from the program. The sharpness of the picture completely throws me. I know it sounds silly, but it does.

I remember the first time it happened. Red Dwarf, series 7. The first episode. I never watched another episode after it. Okay, part of the reason was that I didn't think it worked well with only Doug Naylor writing it, but the change of film really put me off. I hated it.

More recently it has happened with Casualty. I only watch Casualty as it is Dad's favourite program, but this season introduced the new media it was being filmed on. It was the first time Dad also noted the change. I have to say, there was something about it that really grated on my nerves. Okay, so they had changed the set too, it was darker and it didn't suit the program (I've never seen a hospital painted in such dark and dreary colours), but the sharpness of the media also detracted from the atmosphere of the program. I finally worked out tonight what was griping me about it all. The old media leant to the 'grunginess', the feeling that a hospital has, and the backdrop was also much lighter and more reminiscent of a hospital. What griped were the mix of the new media and the use of the dark backdrop. The dark backdrop only made it seem more depressing and oppressing. It didn't add anything to the program, only detracted from it, taking the atmosphere that it had spent about 20 years building. It was just wrong.

Ah well, I was only saying a few posts ago that change happens and people should get on with it. Maybe I should take my own advice and not focus on it.

She is Principessa*, Destroyer of Worlds.

Well, that's what she told me when I asked Principessa what her name* was!

I took a break from the plotting yesterday, and it seems to be going that way today too. I might do some tonight after Principessa goes to bed. I think when I am writing the ideas fir the plot down I am writing 200 words per day. That's good seeing as that's the word count for the mini NaNoWriMo. I'm now looking forward to taking part in it.

Feeling rather peeved.

Yup. Very peeved off at the moment. I have bought things from Ebay and because of this stupid unofficial strike I am not receiving any of it. I am in a very hmph mood with the post. It's a good job I can phone the bank to get credit card balances and pull up catalogue bills online. Otherwise I would be having charges placed on my accounts. That would make me very angry.

I feel sorry for the people who depend on Royal Mail for work etc. Case and point; the CRB send out disclosures through Royal Mail. How are people who live in Liverpool feeling if they are depending on receiving a disclosure to secure their job? How many people are going to lose jobs because of it? Okay, so the RM workers are peeved about their hours changing, but hey, that's life. Other people have their hours changed too. It doesn't matter to them that other peoples lives are being disrupted and destroyed because of their pettiness. My life isn't dependent on RM, but I would be so mad if it were. I said to my Dad that I hoped they were having their pay suspended, but Dad pointed out that they would only earn it back in overtime that they will have to work to clear the backlog of mail. I don't think they should be paid overtime. After all, it is them causing the disruption in the first place.

Anyway, enough of my rant. I have been working hard on getting this story plot going. So far, so good. A few new characters have emerged, characters I hadn't been expecting. It feels strange plotting and not writing parts of the story as they come to me. Maybe it will help with training me to have a consistent train of thought while writing, instead of jumping from one scene to another and not writing linking bits in between.

Principessa is going back to nursery tomorrow. This nursery lark hasn't been all that successful as yet. I think she managed the stinted first week, then she was off ill for a week, then she went in the week after but only managed two half-half days and two full-half days, then she has been off for the last nine nursery days ill. I know I was bad with going to school and feigning illnesses, but I was at least in primary school by that time! Okay, Principessa has really been ill, but if it continues like this, week in, week off, then I might just think about keeping her home. We shall see.

Finding plots and programmes.

It's been a strange few days. Principessa went to the hospital again with Grandand on Saturday night after suffering with a fever for two and half days. Unfortuately, the doctor at the hospital was unable to examine her properly because she would launch into a tizzy when the doctor went near her. I think she might have an ear infection.

While Principessa was at the hospital I sat upstairs with Mum. She was online, looking at webcams in Canada. One of the cameras had been positioned on a bridge. Someone was in the middle of putting a banner onto the bridge with www.sanctuaryforall.com written across it. "Ooohh," we both said, "wonder what that is?" While we were waiting for the page to load the theories were mentioned. Mum thought it was probably for immigration, I thought it could be for an animal home. But no. We were both surprised when it led to a page relating to an online program called 'Sanctuary'. I've watched two episodes now, and it looks like it could turn into something good.

To further keep my mind off Principessa being at hospital, I started fleshing out characters and plot lines for my mini NaNoWriMo attempt. I still have no idea what the story is going to be called, but the preparations are starting to take the story somewhere I wasn't expecting. Just characters and ideas are making inventing the plot more interesting, if not more challenging. I'm not sure I am up to this challenge, but we shall see. Hopefully I shall have more of a concrete plan before November the 1st.

My Daemon

(Edited 20/10/07)
Okay, so it was a spider to begin with. Then the personality thing was changed and the demon changed with it. Ah well, a fox rather than a spider, that's okay by me.

Star Trek meets Cthulhu

Here I go, off on another geek speak.

So chuffed that Simon Pegg will be Scottie in the new Star Trek movie. What a great piece of casting. Just wondering now if he will go to speech lessons to find his inner Scotsman? Another great piece of casting is Zachary Quinto, otherwise known as Sylar in 'Heroes', as the young Spock. So far, I like the beginnings of this Star Trek film.

As for Cthulhu, I was giggling happily to myself when I found out that you could buy cuddly versions of the Great Old One. The one that tickled me the most was this one:

Santa Cthulhu

Now that is done with, normal news time.

Poor ikkle Principessa hasn't been well again. She came home from school yesterday and fell down with a temperature. She didn't get much sleep last night, though if she were in any pain she wouldn't tell me. She's still got a slight temperature today, but she's much better and bouncing about like a caged rubber ball. It's a good job that school was closed for a training day!

I have almost finished my Christmas Shopping! Woohoo! Just have to buy something for Mumbles and Nathaniel now. The only thing I have to worry about is buying birthday pressies for people whose birthdays are in the run up to Christmas.

Ah well, time to blubber with insanity as I have been perusing the Great Cthulhu's countenance for far too long now.... Blub, blub, blub!

I felt like such a heel.

Over the last four days, Principessa hasn't wanted to go to school. She cries continuously, demanding hugs, for half an hour before she leaves. Today she started as soon as she saw her clothes. I managed to calm her down enough to get her dressed but as soon as it was time to put her boots on she legged it upstairs to Nanny.

Uncle Gaz went upstairs to retrieve her, and took her boots up so that she could hug Nanny while he put them on her. She came downstairs with Gaz, but started her 'Oh woe is me' routine, dropping onto her knees and crying. Give her her due; she acted like a little trooper once her coat was on. She hugged Nanny and me, held onto Gaz's finger, and walked out of the door whimpering and sobbing. She didn't stop at all during the walk to school. When Gaz told me that, I felt so guilty. I felt like a bad Mum for sending her to nursery. I think if she carries on like this I might just stop her going. It's obviously causing her some trauma.

On the plus point for Principessa, she now has her own portable 7" DVD player. She doesn't know about it yet, as she is at nursery right now. I thought it was the best option as there isn't room for a DVD player on the downstairs TV and I am not letting her watch DVDs on the laptop any more. I hope it will be a nice surprise for her when she gets home.

I'm still feeling the loss of the old laptop. It had all the Japanese linguaphone discs copied onto it, so now I am unable to study Japanese until I am able to borrow the discs from J again. Grrr. I'll just have to sit down one night with my Kanji and Kana books and resume learning to read Japanese.

On the subject of Japanese, or Japanese culture, the fabulous Mr. Gaiman left a link to the Japanese art of Dorodango on his latest blog entry. I think I might want to try and make one. I think it's about time I went all Zen and reflective!

Well, it's time to start getting ready for the return of Principessa. TTFN!

The Legacy of the Mango Smoothie

It all began at 11.30am, Monday morning. I sat Principessa down to watch 'Charlie and Lola' while I sorted her lunch out. She followed me out to the kitchen, so I gave her a small beaker of mango smoothie. Happy, she goes back into the living room to resume her DVD watching.

Three minutes later I go into the living room with Principessa's lunch.

"No!" I said. "What have you done?"

"Oh no!" Principessa said. "I have to say sorry to Mummy."

There, on the table, my laptop sat. 'Charlie and Lola' still completely danced on the screen. The keyboard bathed silently in mango smoothie.

I have no idea how I kept my calm. I mopped up what I could from the surface of the keyboard. I had to dress Principessa for school, so I put the laptop down until she was dressed and off to school with her Uncle Gaz. Then I painstakingly removed each key to dry up as much of the smoothie as was humanly possible. Then I left it sitting upside down for 24 hours.

Tuesday afternoon, 1pm. I turn on the laptop. Woohoo I think, as the screen flicks on and the hard drive boots up. The password screen pops up. Tentatively I press the first key, hoping above hope that everything would be fine. Poop! No such luck.

Each time a key was depressed, three characters appeared in the password box. Each time the delete key was depressed one of two things happened. Either the cursor would jump over all of the characters already present and sit at the start of the password box or a new character would appear. Sugarplum fairies!

So I am typing this entry on my new pink laptop. It's good, sits better on my lap, but I miss my old laptop. I have lost all of my bookmarks, some programs I had downloaded online, and some photos of Principessa. Oh, and the kids story I had almost finished and other various bits and bobs of story ideas. So not happy about that. I can't believe that I would do that to myself, and not back them up on the pen drive. I have done with other my other story stuff.

So the morals of the story: Mango smoothie and laptops just don't mix.
Don't put your work on one hard drive. (Kinda like chickens, eggs and baskets, me thinks!)

Falling Seagulls

Not literally, though that does conjure up a fabulous image in my brain (I'm giggling at myself now).

I had a fall last night. God, I hate falling. Principessa had been playing with an empty Gravy Granules tin and had taken off the plastic lid and left it on the stair lift. I had knocked it off so that I could go downstairs, and it had ended up on the floor in the hall. Well, when it was time to go to bed, I walked to the stair lift, sorted it out so I could sit down, put my foot on the lid, it slid on the floor, and I went over hitting my face on the banister on the way down. I hit the floor so hard that my hips are still hurting today. I had to call Gaz over to help get the inflatichair out and to get me up off the inflatichair once it had fully inflated. Ho hum! Needless to say, I went to bed in a horrible mood.

Now, the seagulls. This morning laughing seagulls woke me up. It has been so long since I heard the cry (or laugh) of a seagull that I thought I had woken up in a horror movie sound effects studio! And my, were those seagulls noisy! Maybe they were falling!

Principessa was in over share mode this morning. She was sat in my bed watching 'Dora' when she turned to me (I was still snoozing), grabbed my face and said, "I need to go for a poop." It was all quite matter-of-fact, so she toddled out of the bedroom and to the toilet. I think she still feels quite proud of herself that she is a big girl and uses the toilet rather than the potty. She makes me laugh!

Kirst and I have decided that it is time we got a degree. I did try, years ago, only to be defeated by condemned halls and depression. Only three exams stopped me from getting a degree in Biomedical Science. Robbed, I was. Anyway, we have decided to sort out a degree in Humanities with English Language with the OU. It's going to take about 5 years, but at least I will finally have a degree.

The chains of consumerism.

So 'Heroes' is being released on DVD. Yay! I say to that. I really loved the show. It allowed me to feel very comic book ungeeky as it was something I hadn't read beforehand, so it was all new to me. Anyway, that's not the point.

I was looking around the sites, seeing where I could buy the complete season for the cheapest price (I have to shop for a bargain!), when I found that the online graphic novels attached to the show have been compiled into a book. I just happened to scroll down the page of one of the sites to find thhis question on the discussion board:

Why would anyone want to buy this? You can easily get the graphic novels online and read them for free, so why pay for it?

To which someone gave the best ever plain and simple reply:

I can't read a PC comic while I'm on the toilet. 'Nuff Said...

Love it!

On becoming ever so slightly obsessive and just a little compulsive.

I've always had my favourite authors. Being a big fan of reading, I think everyone who has an attachment to books will have at least one favourite author. The reading bug bit me when I was 13. I had found a paperback of James Herbert's 'Rats' and from then on all I wanted to do was devour anything he had written.

After my teenage crush on James Herbert, I found David Gemmell and Brian Lumley when I was about 18. Stephen Donaldson made a brief appearance with his 'Thomas Covenant' novels but David Gemmell's 'Druss' and 'Drenai' novels, and Brian Lumley's 'Necroscope' and all the following novels, really lodged themselves into my psyche. I don't know what caused my love of these characters and novels, but I couldn't resist them. I fell completely and fully into their stories.

In my twenties (late, I should add), I discovered Harry Potter - but only after all the kafuffle surrounding the release of the fourth book. I spent a week reading the books, then impatiently waited for the fifth book, which I was terribly disappointed by. Out of all the 'Harry Potter' stories this one was the worst. I stayed with the books until the end, and although there were some unanswered questions left at the conclusion, I very much enjoyed the last book. Enjoy it as I had, 'Prisoner of Azkaban' will remain my favourite, as I was not expecting the twist at the end.

And so we come to my new obsession. It started with 'Stardust'. Yes, you've guessed. My new author love affair is with the writings of Neil Gaiman. I know I've mentioned things in my blog lately regarding Mr. Gaiman, but I find it strange how the fascination with one person's writing can creep up on you.

Like I said, it started with 'Stardust'. I bought it out of interest after hearing about the release of the film. While I enjoyed it as I followed the story, I was unaware of how Mr. Gaiman's style was gently edging its way into my brain. Feeling suitable happy with 'Stardust', I picked up the more substantial 'Neverwhere'. I began reading and soon found myself unable to put the book down. I was champing at the bit (even though I do not slightly resemble a horse) to find out what happened to these characters, completely immersed in the word craft of Mr. Gaiman. Oh, how I felt the grime and slime of the mud and the stench of the ground as Richard fumbled about looking for the boar statuette. I was completely taken in with the inventive use of the names of London Underground stations, and how the characters themselves evolved. I think it is safe to say; I was simply and utterly in awe of the story.

The obsession has only grown of late after I purchased a copy of 'The Wolves In The Walls', even though it was intended for Principessa. The only new thing here was the introduction to the art of Dave McKean. At first I was not overly impressed. But then, as the book progressed, I found myself studying each picture. I can't put my finger on what changed in my perception of the artwork, but I began to see the texture and the depth of the work and now I need to buy anything I can find by these two artists (the word artist and the picture artist) to continue this magical feeling. I only hope I can learn from these masters of their crafts and produce anything half as worthy!

I hate being obsessed!

Where, oh where, has my sanity gone?

I think I must have enjoyed Wednesday to Friday las week a bit too much. Principessa came down with a temperature over the weekend so I have kept her at home for the past two days. How I miss those precious few hours that she spends at nursery! I sound really horrible there, but it is the only time I have for myself, and Principessa has progressed from the terrible twos to the totally demanding threes. It's just nice to let someone else deal with her for a few hours! As you can guess, she's better now.

Facebook has been eating up a lot of my time just recently. I will have to remove the wireless card from the laptop if I am to get down to doing some writing and learning some Japanese.


I received an email from a Japanese pen-pal yesterday telling me of her trip to Yakushima and visiting 'Jumonsugi', which is located at the top of a mountain and took her and her friends 12 hours to climb to reach. 'Jumonsugi' is the oldest tree in the world, estimated to be around 7000 years old. Wow! Just imagine what that tree must have seen! Imagine the stories it could tell. I'm going to have get to imagining! It takes my breath away that there are living things on this earth that have been around for that amount of time.

On that note, I shall go and imagine being such a grand tree, with its wealth of stories and memories.

What a week.

Well, Niamh completed her first week at nursery. She was doing brilliantly until Friday, when the teachers tried to take her and the other kids to the school hall to play with all the big toys. Well, Niamh (according to the teachers) was inconsolable. They took her back to the classroom, where she asked, "Are we home now?" Porr little thing. By the time Linds got round to the school to pick her up she was happy as Larry and didn't want to leave. Ah well!

Over the first half of the week I went to school with her, but by Thursday my stomach couldn't take it. There are too many roads on the way to the school, and being leant backwards in the wheelchair really turns my stomach. I am petrified that Gaz is going to lose his grip and I am going to fall backwards. Eugh. Horrible.

It was also Halo 3 release week. Gaz received his copy on Tuesday, so on Wednesday, after dropping Niamh off at shcool, we went back to his ('twas very strange being back in that house after moving out years ago!) and played it for about an hour. Now I have to save up to get an Xbox 360. I quite enjoyed Halo 3, and I really would like to get PGR 3 too. Ho hum!

Ooohh, I saw this yesterday (thanks to the link from Neil Gaiman's blog) and I really want one;
The Great Old Ones are coming!

Next week I'll get back to writing and learning Japanese. I've let both slide a little, well, a lot really. I need to get back to it. I have been putting off the writing for a long time, I've just not had the motivation or the confidence to carry on. I think it is time to bite the bullet and force myself back into these things. Though I don't recommend biting bullets, it's a slightly dangerous pasttime! But no, in all seriousness, it is time to shake these nagging self doubts and get down to business. Wow, that is really assertive! I think I have just shocked myself into action with that!

Happy Birthday to Principessa!

Well, whislt Principessa is off bugging her Nan, I thought I'd post quickly.

'Tis Principessa's 3rd birthday today. Two of her pressies were a giant Shrek and a cuddly giraffe. They were the things she wanted.

We're off to the bookshop again later. Well, it should be sooner, or I may have to have surgery to have my ears reattached. Then it's off to pizza hut for the birthday meal. Principessa is really looking forward to that.

Best be off... A birthday girl wants some attention.

Written by Mum, dictated by Principessa

Burp, The Hospital.

Principessa is banging.
The Hospital.
Principessa has questions.
Principessa is looking for Broken.
He is sitting on the toilet.
He is giving a tea party.
The Hospital is wobbling.
The Hospital has the football.

I really don't know what goes on in her head! Can you tell she's recently visited the hospital?

She gave me one of those 'I can't believe it' moments this morning. She had found one of those resistance elastic excercise bands, and was playing Stretch with her Uncle Gaz. She let go of the band and it fired back at Gaz.

"That is deadly," said Gaz.

"Evidently!" Principessa said.

I nearly fell off my chair! I nearly fell over laughing last night too, when Mum told me what she had been saying and doing.

Mum has a massage mat that Principessa likes to play with. She was sitting on it last night when she said;

"It's easy to make them jump."

"What?" Nan asked.

"It's easy to make them jump," Principessa repeated.

Nan then turns round to look at what Principessa is talking about. She had only emptied a packet of crisps on the mat and was happily watching them jump! There is method to her madness, and that is scary!

And here is a story co-written by Principessa.

Once upon a time, there was a deep, dark wood.
In the deep, dark wood there lived Big Niamhy.
One day, Big Niamhy went to the hospital.
She had gone to the hospital because she had hurt her cup of tea.
She stayed at the hospital until teatime, when the doctor came and fixed the handle on her cup of tea.
Big Niamhy was very happy because she could drink her tea without burning her fingers.

If you are a Heroes fan...

And if you haven't seen this already, then check out The Trials of Takezo Kensei.

It's been a horrible few days.

I'm not a big fan of puke, I'm not a fan of puke full stop, but that is what the last few days has been filled with. Principessa started throwing up on Sunday afternoon and didn't stop until 6.30 Monday morning. I was worried she may be dehydrated, and the NHS Direct doctor told me to take her to the hospital. So off we went. Principessa had not been for a wee nearly all day Sunday, so that was also worrying me. We were discharged from the hospital just before 11am, after Principessa peed all over the floor in the obs ward! She's all fine now.

I was in bed all day yesterday. Thank God I wasn't puking. I was feeling so ill all day, I couldn't move. Linds was puking, Mum was feeling yucky, and Principessa was actually amazingly good most of the day. Gaz came down with the tummy bug today. Hopefully we will all be better by Friday, when Principessa turns three.

I finally got my Brian Lumley book. Yay! I haven't started reading it yet, I have other things I am reading. It is sitting there, looking like a piece of chocolate that I am saving as a treat!

Well, have to go. I need to be ready to sign for the delivery of Linds's new bed.

I think my head may just explode!

Principessa and a keyboard.... Not a good combination. The keyboard she has been playing with is one of those old Casio keyboards with a demo tune on. I swear to God she has had it playing constantly for about the last half an hour. It's enough to turn a person into a raving lunatic! Argh!

I tried, once again, to take Principessa to Clarks to have her feet measured. I don't know why, but she has an irrational fear of the foot gauge. She screams so loud it is frightening. It is also very worrying. You can see the looks across peoples faces as they wonder 'What in hell do these people do to this kid?' It's horrible. And while all this is happening I am trying to calm Principessa down, floundering like a kipper, as I sit trapped in the stupid chair. Argh! Again.

Well, I am getting close to finishing my kids story. Problem is, I may have to rethink as I think I may have written myself into a corner that has no exit. Poop! All I have to do now is ask someone to illustrate it for me (I have clear ideas of the pics for it). I just wish I had more support from peeps around me, instead of slightly interested indifference. Ho hum. I'll just have to battle on....

Picture lickin good!

Yesterday, Principessa found one of her little Thomas the Tank Engine aquadraw mats. She asked me for the 'special pen' that you fill with water, then use to scribble on the mat to make the picture appear. I didn't know where it was, so Principessa found a new way of making the picture appear.

Well, what can you say to that!

That's it for today. I've got to go and type up some story stuff and put Dr Who on for Principessa to keep her distracted. (Oh no, Principessa has just told me that the bookshop is falling down to the ground! What are we going to do?)

6 years ago today...

... I was next door, painting the front room white (it was a horrible shade of maroony red) with molotov Rob. We were happily going along, trying to give the horrible anaglypta wallpaper an even covering when my Dad came in and said, "There is no point carrying on, World War 3 is about to start." We turned on the TV and watched the destruction of the Twin Towers. Then we gave Rob a lift home, and all the radio stations were playing depressing music. I remember 'Everybody Hurts' by REM playing, and the streets seemed silent. The music was the only thing that could be heard. It was surreal. It's mad to think that was six years ago, and it's more insane to think of what has happened since.

But enough of that. The hospital appointment went as expected yesterday. Apart from being stuck there longer than expected. So, nothing new to report. I had to bribe Principessa with a trip to the bookshop so that she would behave while we waited.

At the bookshop, Principessa decided that what she needed was some flashcards. Good for her. I also bought a Neil Gaiman kids story - 'The Wolves In The Walls' ('tis very good) - and an updated Aesop's Fables (good bedtime reading for Principessa).

I thought I'd try to get an early night, but to no avail. Just as I started dropping off, a story that had been percolating in my brain finally decided it was ready. So I had to get up and write it, or risk losing it with myriad other stories and poems to the wicked far, far away land of Sieved Words and Phantom Musings.

Well, I'm off to finish said story and try to attempt calming Principessa down. Grandand has just left for the shops without her. Oh, joy!

Such a Nerd....

Me, that is. A comic book nerd. Okay, so I was watching Smallville last night, as I do, because I quite like it. Clark was off trying to save the boneless bags of folk in an accident in Seattle after they had been attacked by some strange alien blokie who liked to eat bone marrow. Near the end of the episode, a mysterious stranger turns up and kills the strange Maybe-I-Should-Just-Eat-Pal-Dogfood-As-That-Is-Made-With-Marrowfat alien, and Clark sees the silhouette of the new stranger. Then the stranger blinks with his little red LED lightbulb eyes. "Ohhh, is that the Martian Manhunter?" I say to Dad, though I know he doesn't know what I am talking about. To answer my own question I have been having a look on Smallville sites and have finally found out that I am right! So, like I say, "Comic book nerd, I am!"

Must go now. Need to get sorted out so I can go to the NRU for my six month check, bloody stupid illness.

Out of print.

That's something I hate. When books go out of print. Over the last few months, I have been trying to get hold of a good copy of Brian Lumley's 'Compleat Crow'. I tried to get a copy from Ebay, but was outbid, tried to get a copy from Abebooks, but no luck. Now finally, I have managed to get a copy. WOOOOHOOOOOO! Now I'm really looking forward to reading it.

I've mostly been reading Neil Gaiman stuff lately. I did something I promised myself I wouldn't do; read 'Stardust'. I wanted to see the film first. Ah well. If they do not manage to get everything from the book into the film, I will be really disappointed. I think 'Stardust' is one of the shortest books I have ever read (around 180 pages). I also read 'Neverwhere', a much more substantial book. That I really enjoyed. If you get a chance to read it, do. It's a very interesting concept for a story.

There has been a lot of crap happening here, but I am not going to go into it. It is not my story, it is my cousins, but it is affecting the whole family. I am very worried for both of them.

Time to get back to Principessa and her new interest; playing the keyboard. (My head hurts.)

Writers' blogs and J-rock

Not long ago, I was reading an article on a website for one of the authors whose books I enjoy reading. The article was regarding the writing of a blog if you are an aspiring writer. For something as simple as a blog, to have such strong feelings about such a small part of the internet struck me as quite insane. But, as I read further, there seemed to be some words of wisdom hidden in the prose. Take a look for yourself: 'Vampires of the internet' . I think this is quite a selfish standpoint to have, for I very much enjoy reading the blogs of other authors who can share their knowledge and experiences with us lesser mortals.

I must admit, I have been blogging more than writing recently. My brain is not geared to write at the moment. So, for all the writing I am doing, I am not actually writing anything. Sometimes I feel quite frustrated by this, but I just haven't the motivation to carry on with some of the stories I have on the go. There are too many other ideas, some I feel could make really good stories, others which are only part ideas - a character or a scene - jostling for postion in my priorities. I don't think I'm ever going to finish anything, the way I am going now.

Anyway, time for tea. I will finish by sending you to look at the 'Will it blend?' page and the link for one of my favourite J-rock bands, Triceratops.

Oooooh, shoes.

I have indulged in buying some shoes. It's not often I buy shoes, I'm not one of those 'I really must have a million pairs of shoes' type of people. I am really happy with my purchases:

Rocket Dogs.

Vans.

I think it's safe to say I have been spending a bit lately. I'll have to stop, it's getting close to the buying of Chrsitmas pressies time of year. Argh! I've usually started by now, but I have no clue what to buy people this year. And God knows what I'm getting for Principessa, she has too many toys as it is. And the Charlie and Lola books and DVDs are teaching her bad habits. She is getting very mouthy and answering back a lot lately. And, oh woe is me, the 'I am not tired and I will not go to bed' Charlie and Lola book has been more a bane than a help. Silly me.

And now I have Principessa sat on my knee, vying for space with the laptop.

"Can we go to the bookshop, Mums?" she asks.

"Not today, babe," I say.

"Can we go to Boots, Mums?"

Something tell you she wants to go shopping?

Stupid Sky

Again, not much has been happening. The tennis and athletics are being watched, and lots of “Why aren’t they showing the Tim Henman/Andy Murray (delete where applicable) matches? I’m sure people are more interested in them than other matches,” has been said. The reply to which; “That’s Sky’s fault. They can make money from it as they have the rights to the matches.” I know it’s true, but none-the-less… Harrumph!

But, yay! At least Tim Henman proved me wrong. I was utterly convinced he would be out in the first round as his record against Dmitry Tursunov has not been brilliant. But lo and behold, Tim gave all us none-believes the bird and won the match. Woohoo, go Tiger! I don’t hold out much hope for him against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga though. That young’un is fearless in his tennis.

The perils of Ebay and the loving of Lobo comics have cost me £16. It has been 13 years since I spent that amount of money on Lobo comics all in one go. Ah well, it’s nice to splurge out on something you don’t need once in a while. I usually spend money on things Principessa doesn’t need.

Coffee shop muse

It’s been a quiet few days, really. Spent some time with my friend Kayte, twas nice. We took Principessa to the bookshop, and Auntie Lindsay came along too. After browsing the books, we trundled up in the lift to Starbucks. Principessa gets very upset if we don’t go for a drink. After all, looking at books is thirsty work!

Well, we found a table, ordered out stuff, got ourselves settled, and then I spent the whole time watching a bloke at another table. No, I wasn’t perving! All I can say is JK Rowling and creative writing courses have a lot to answer for! There he was, his drinks (three of them, in varying colours) all lined up alongside his laptop. He was trying to be inconspicuous but he was so obvious as he looked around, his gaze lingering on a person here, a person there. I was so tempted to roll over to him and ask him what he was writing about. Maybe I should have. Well, more power to him. I know I couldn’t concentrate doing something like that in Starbucks, the music is just slightly too loud.

Principessa is doing a lot of drawing and scribbling lately. She was sat at her table yesterday with her Uncle Gaz perched on the second seat (that looked crazy!) having scribbling races. Then, as she always does, she starts asking for specific pictures to be drawn. Yesterday it was volcanoes. So, Uncle Gaz draws a volcano, telling Principessa what he is drawing.

“And that is your pyroclastic flow,” says Uncle Gaz. “Can you say ‘pyroclastic flow’?”

“Pirate-clastic flow,” says Principessa.

Genius!

I have fallen foul of the perils of Ebay. Okay, so I bought some clothes for Principessa, but I also found myself browsing and bidding on a load of Lobo comics. I loves the Lobo comics! I couldn’t help myself. They were there, and the titles needed replacing in my collection as the originals had been pinched. So yay, but oh so naughty!

Transformers. Robots in Disguise.

All I can say is, wow! I went to see Transformers last night with Laura, Jules and Gaz. I was knocked out of my chair. It was fantastic. The animation was amazing. I think I could sit there for hours watching the film over and notice new things each time. I am really glad it was a good film. Too many of the films I have been to see over the last few months have disappointed me. (With the exception of Harry Potter 5, though the ending did seem a bit rushed. It was better than the book, I thought.)

I also saw a trailer for Stardust. That, too, looks fantastic. I will have to go and see it at some point. I’ve not read the book, so hopefully I will be happy with the film. I was so looking forward to Eragon a few months ago after reading the book, but was sorely disappointed. I think Laura got sick with me at that film I was shaking my head and tutting so much throughout it. I was so angry that a book I had thoroughly enjoyed reading had been carved up so much that the only things the book and the film had in common were the names of the characters and the dragon. Not good. It was as if the producers had read the book and said, “This is a great story. Here you are (the screenwriters), make it into a film.” The screenwriters then took the book, ripped a handful of pages out of the book and said, “This’ll do. We don’t need the heart of the story. What do we need consistency of story for?” Idiots.

Ah well, enough of my ranting.

Will you please turn down the decibels!

You know, sometimes I wish for a power cut. Sounds mad, but it’s the only way to get some silence here.

Nearly every second of the day is constantly bombarded by noise. The TV, the radio, the computer. Principessa noise is okay, but I, over the last few years, have developed sensitivity to noise. All I really want to do is go somewhere that is not here, and not a city, and listen to birdsong and nature. Something that is not manmade. It is time to clear my head of the constant noise conflict clamouring for attention every day. To tell the truth, most of the time it drives me crazy.

On the subject of birdsong though, we had taken Principessa to the park the other day. As it was quite a way from the main road there was not much car noise to be heard. Unfortunately, there was no birdsong to be heard either. Where have all the birds gone? I can’t remember the last time I saw a sparrow. There was a murmuration of starlings about two weeks ago, but I don’t remember seeing many birds since then. Even winter doesn’t bring the regular visitors; great tits, blue tits, robins. It really is quite depressing. Bill Oddie would not be a happy chappie.

Back to silence now. I have just been having a surf (online, that is!) and happened to visit Bruce Campbell’s site. I started having a read through some of his ‘blogs’ and found his take on the whole silence thing: 'Stop, look, and listen'. You know, I knew there was a reason I liked him! Keep it up, Bruce, you’re only giving me a greater reason to appreciate you!

Potato Olympics and super sized bugs.

I took Principessa to the bookshop again today. I'm so made up that the bookshop is her favourite place. But, with the bookshop comes the coffee shop, and that means smoothie and fudge brownie. The drink and cake happens after a good long look at the books, taking them to the reading table and thumbing through them. That's another thing I am really happy about. Principessa loves her books. I've lost count of the number of books she has stored in her little head now.

She has just finished competing in the Potato Olympics. This morning, she stole a potato from the kitchen and this afternoon has been finding as many new sports as she can with it. I'm just glad she didn't think of playing tennis with it. She first practiced her potato bowling, shouting "Nasty split," when her duplo block skittles didn't all fall down. She has just given up practicing potato shot put, after she nearly knocked me out with the potato! Funny little thing.

On the super sized bug front... I was quite happily watching TV with my dad last night when I heard this scuttling noise. Looking around, I saw nothing, so thought no more about it. About five minutes later I caught a glimpse of this thing scurrying towards me. ARGH! Focussing all of my attention on it, I saw this horrible, huge beetle heading straight for me. Now, I'm usually a bit eurgh with normal little black beetles, I am so not a bug person, but this thing was massive. I've only ever seen beetles that big in the zoo, where they are behind glass and not so scary. You can imagine, therefore, my horror at the sight of this thing coming to get me. Luckily for me, it didn't have another horrible little bug riding on it's back with a skull and crossbones bandana tied around it's head and wielding a pitchfork! God knows where the thing went to after Dad sent it packing away from me. The last I saw of the thing, it was running towards the chimney.

Want that one!

I hate having those “I want it NOW” moments. I’ve had to buy some new notebooks so that I can do some writing, because I don’t really like sitting at the computer and typing. In fact, typing is my least favourite part of writing. I suppose it’s something to do with why I don’t like e-books. I really love books and reading, the texture of the paper under my fingers, the smell of the pages, and just the general feeling of substance in my hands. It’s almost like it’s an achievement when you get to the end of a book and you close the final page. You don’t get that with an e-book. No smell, no substance, no feeling of achievement. Just the whirring of the fan and the clicking of the arrow key as you scroll. And I hate scrolling.

The same goes for writing. When you write you can feel the paper under your hand, and then pen in your fingers. There is the satisfying scratching of the pen on the paper as it carves out the words you manipulate it to shape. There is the smell of the ink. All the intrinsic components that, without them, makes writing soulless. That is how writing on a computer makes me feel.

Okay, so you can spell check on the computer in a flash, and when you write you have to thumb through a dictionary. But thumbing through the dictionary can be a journey of discovery itself. You stumble across words that are magical and fantastical all at the same time. Then there is the word you want to use. The dictionary provides distraction as you search for your original word and this can spark other ideas just on the scanning of a word you were not originally interested in. Fantastic.

But now, back to the ‘I want it NOW’ thing. I was looking at notebooks online yesterday and found a site selling digital notebooks. Curiosity piqued, I looked further into this wonderful and alien conception. Well, I want one. The pads are simply pads of paper; though special, magic paper. The magical digital pen partners the magical paper pad. The pen films your handwriting as you scribble on the pad. With the special software the computer reads your handwriting and transfers it into a Word document. Abracadabra! No more losing the all-absorbing enchantment of writing.

Incy Wincy Spider gets flushed again.

It is once again too raining. If rain really were cats and dogs, then it would have been a lions and Newfoundlands downpour this morning.

I am currently being tortured by children’s programs. Go Diego, Go is on at the minute and he is saving Baby River Dolphin. Principessa is not taking much notice of the television; she has a little table set up with her pens, pencils and paper on. She can be so organised when she wants to be.

She had a bad night last night. She fell out of her bed for the first time since setting it up last week. That led to an hour of crying. First, she wanted me, then she wanted Nanny, then she wanted Grandand, then she wanted her pink potty, then her blue potty, then the white toilet. She finally settled down after she had her first ever wee on the toilet. She was very happy with herself about that. We then had to go and lie in bed and watch cartoons. I just wanted to go to sleep!

There was a horrible eight-legged harbinger of tiny fear in the bedroom last night. Oh, I hate them. Grandand tried to catch it, but the little bugger jumped off the wall. EEEEEEEKKKKKK! It appeared later on, and me, being stupid, was afraid to go to sleep. I didn’t want it’s filthy, little, sticky legs crawling over me. Nope Sir, I don’t like it, thank you.

It's too raining...

And it is. It is very raining. This does not make Principessa a happy girl.

"Mummy, I want to go to the seaside."

"We can't go to the seaside today, babe."

"Why Mummy? Is it too raining?"

So this is why Principessa is going to be a horror today. Despite the fact that she has two new Charlie and Lola books, which she has decided are not as good as the first three Charlie and Lola books she owned, the seaside is the only place she wants to be. But then, she has never been to the seaside, as I have never been abroad, so I can understand the attraction of wanting to see somewhere I have not seen before. Hopefully the weather will get better and we can take her to the seaside.

What must it be like to be in her head?

Principessa had another funny day yesterday. It must be fun to live in the mind of a child, and oh, how I wish I were in that state of mind.

Principessa was playing in her Nan’s' room. Nan has a large circular magnet living on her walker. Principessa was trying to remove it from its place, but the magnet was too strong for her. She goes to her Nan and says, "Nanny, the money button is very too stuck." Don't ask me where she came up with the idea that a magnet is a money button, but it sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

A little bit later, Nan shows Principessa how the magnet sticks to a metal coaster. "Oooohhh," she says, "a helicopter!" I wonder what she would see in inkblot pictures.

Nan then shows Principessa how the magnet sticks to the coaster when a tissue is put between them. "Aaaaahhhh," she says, "it's a Binky-bonk!" No, I don't know either.

In my world, which is not that different to Principessa's world, as I too live in my imagination lately, I started writing down the plans for another story? I might, one day, sit down and finish one of these damn stories. I have to put ideas down when I have them, otherwise, like spaghetti in a colander, they will slip from my memory.

A day in the life of....

Principessa.

She had a good one yesterday. I had been sorting out my room and her cot, so that the cot magically transformed into a bed. With this, she was very happy. It was the in-between of cot and bed that brought the giggles.

Grandand and Uncle Gareth were sorting out the cot. The sides were taken off and leaned up against wall and wardrobe until they could be moved somewhere else. Principessa decided that the cot sides would now be her ladders and ran around shouting "My la-dah, my la-dah!" She then commenced climbing up the cot side leaning against the wardrobe. She got to the top and climbed into the top shelf compartment, turned herself round, sat down and began shouting "Help me, I'n stuck!" (Yes, really. It is "I'n", not "I'm".) To give you the picture, she is bent over double with her head sticking out of the wardrobe over her feet. Uncle Gareth then films her on his phone and moves the camera closer to her until she can take it from him. The camera is pointing to her pyjama trousers and she says, "Ohhhh, Niamh trousers," and then giggles, as if it is something really amazing. Funny little girl. We then proceed to freeing her from her self-imposed wardrobe prison.

It gets to bedtime, then past it, then to 10pm. I go upstairs to attempt putting her to sleep. Firstly, I try putting up some star lights so that the room is not dark. If only it was that easy. No, the lights only encourage her to try to climb up shelves to try to catch them. So the lights are switched off. Next, we try tucking Principessa into bed. So she is lying in her bed, and I climb into my bed. I sing her favourite bedtime songs - the A, B, C's and Sweet Child O' Mine. Yay, it seems to be working. I turn over and try to go to sleep, only to have my bed invaded. So, she lies next to me.

I say, "Are you going to be a big girl like Lola one day and sleep in your own bed?"

She cuddles into me and says, "I'm not Lola." (Lola is a character from her favourite books at the mo, the 'Charlie and Lola' series.) She then goes to sleep.

So, that is Principessa for you. (Oh, another funny incident. She was being naughty in the bathroom a few days ago and I tell her to get out. She doesn't, naturally, and shouts back to me, "I need discipline!")

Well, I'm off now to put a story plan into action. I'm just hoping it will be an A-Team moment and I can finish by saying "I love it when a plan comes together."

ARGHHHHH!!! Stupid internet. Or rather, stupid cable. I've been attempting to get on the internet over the last three days, but there has been a problem with the connection. Dunno what it was, but yay, it's fixed and I can get back to normality!

Not much has been happening, really, over the last few days. I've been doing a little bit of writing, but even that has been sorely hampered by Microsoft Works word processor. I thought I was going hell for leather with the writing, though there was a little niggle there that I hadn't done as much as Works word count was saying I had done. Well, the word counter suddenly decided to start counting characters instead of words. How piddled off was I, when I discovered this? Very, I can tell you. I've now installed Office 2000. At least that seems to be working properly.

Anyways, here is a post that I did want to put up two days ago. Thank God it's still relevant!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Okay, I read this over the weekend of its release and didn't say anything about it even though I was very excited. I just wanted to read it to see how it finished. I was happy and disappointed at the same time, though I couldn't work out what niggled at me. I thought the ending was a little weak, but couldn't put my finger on what was missing. Then yesterday I was reading a blog by the author ------ and suddenly all became clear. From the end of the last battle and the epilogue of the story there were 19 years missing (okay, I knew this as the last chapter is titled 'Nineteen Years Later'). What I mean to say, is there is nothing indicating what happened to the characters (except the relationships that happened between them) after the battle. After all that had gone on in the previous books, all the angst after the OWLS about what kind of wizarding career each would go into, after the fight to bring equality to the wizarding world; nothing.

So, I was thinking on that this morning, as I sat in the only place I am able to think (I'll leave it to your imagination where that is)....

I have two favourite series of books, and strangely enough both the main characters are called Harry. One as you know is Potter, the other is Keogh, the main character in Brian Lumley's Necroscope series. As I sat and pondered on this fact, it came into my mind that many people are hoping that J.K.R. will write further Harry Potter books. This led me to thinking about Harry Keogh. Well, there was a gap in the Harry Keogh timeline between Necroscope 3 and 4, allowing Mr Lumley to write two further volumes of the Necroscope series subtitled 'The Lost Years'. Maybe (hope upon hope), this is what J.K.R. will do with Harry Potter. By leaving the gap and tantalising us with no mention of what happens (apart from marriages and kids), she has left the story unfinished to be reopened at a later date when she feels ready to re-enter the world of Harry Potter.

Well, it has made me feel a bit happier to think of it this way. After all, hasn't Stephen Donaldson re-entered 'The Land' of Thomas Covenant after a sabbatical of 25 years?

I have decided it is time. 'To do what?' you may ask. Well, I'll tell you. I've decided it is time to start taking my writing more seriously. Principessa will be going to nursery next month, giving me a coupla hours free time a day.So I suppose it's the perfect time to start knuckling down and write some stuff. Lately I have found that the musing fairies are back with me, and ideas are starting to make themselves known again. This is muchos good news.

I have been looking into self publication. It is due to this that the idea of being serious about writing has finally imprinted itself into my head. I've found a good place to get my stories/ poems published, and it has additional services providing editing and proof reading. The bad news; it's a little expensive. So I will have to start saving up to get things done. At least I have the time to save, I haven't really moved for months with my writing! I think I have about 30,000 on one of my stories and about 11,000 on another.

Anyhoos, time to bugger off and make some lunch for Principessa. Otherwise I might end up losing an ear as she gnaws at me for food!

I think the word is "Ooooops".

I started nosing around Ebay the other day, just monitor-shopping. I so wish I hadn't. I was having a look at signed books, proofs, first editions and the like. I tell you, I could get addicted very quickly if I was to start clicking 'Buy Now'. It's taking an awful lot of willpower not to, especially when the wife of Brian Lumley is selling things, that are also signed by Brian, and when there are signed proofs of Michael Marshall Smiths book 'Spares'. I would be very much in bookworm heaven if I were to win the lottery tonight. Forget buying a house, there are too many collectibles I want!!!

So, after all my worrying about Principessa finding a place in school, I had a very welcome phonecall - whilst I was out - letting me know that she has a place in a nursery about a mile away from me. Luckily, bro was home to pick up the call, and we arrived home about half an hour before the teachers arrived at the house to meet us both.
The teachers seemed quite nice, and Principessa took to one of them really quickly. I suppose that was due to the bribes of new jigsaws to play with, but still, it's very unlike her to trust someone so quickly. The other teacher and I had a good talk and did all the silly bits of administration, though she looked rather shocked at some of the things that I told her Principessa could do. Maybe she thought I was lying when I told her that Principessa could count to and recognise numbers upto 20, that she knew and could recognise the letters of the alphabet, and that she knew all her colours and shapes. Can I help it if she is a sponge and can take things in quicker than little cat Z and the voom cleaning up the snow!
Anyway, we had a nice day out before the school news. We popped into Borders and Starbucks with Grandand and Nanny. Principessa loved running round the kids books section, picking up books and sitting at a little table to thumb through them. She was very happy when she chose a Peppa Pig book to buy. She also got a Harry Potter Hedwig owl and a chess set (yeah I know, bit young and all). I have to say she has loved playing with the chess set, making little Stonehenge style monuments with the chess pieces on the board!

It's nearly time for Principessa to go to school. She turns 3 in September, so I have to find a school for her to go to. The school I originally wanted her to go to said that the practice of having the childs name down on a list before she goes to school had been stopped, so I didn't think too much about it. I then changed my mind about which school to send her to in favour of a school closer to where we live. It was then I found out that this school still has a list. I am now worried that I might not be able to put Principessa in a nursery school. It is soooo frustrating. Especially as I could not afford to send her to private school (and the private school I was looking at taught the kids Japanese, I was very impressed).

Ah well, back to phoning round other schools.

Okay. So everything that happened last night was not just a security procedure. There had been some kind of bomb threat made to the airport. Sometimes I hate living so close to it. It seems that one, or maybe two people have been arrested after raids on houses in Liverpool this morning. What a horrible and scary world we are forced to live in now. And still, I blame it on religion and politics. I really believe that they are the bane of society. Oh, and the human rights lawyers. They don't really do anything more than lobby for the human rights of criminals. What about the human rights of the people that they victimised, I say. There just isn't real justice in the world anymore. Stupid place.

Well, it's been a strange day today. The world is going insane. Yesterday there were two supposed 'terrorist' car bombs in London, thankfully they didn't explode. Then today some idiots ploughed into Glasgow airport in a flaming Jeep Cheroke, trying to set the place alight. One of them ended up on fire, and I'm not sure if it was the same one that had a suicide bomb belt strapped to him. Then tonight my brother texts me to tell me that Liverpool Airport (I only live about a mile away from here) had been closed and the roads around it closed too, and there was a possibility of evacuations. Well, that had me scared, but it was later revealed that this was only a security procedure. It's all totally tits up.

But anyway, on lighter news, another disappointing day at Wimbledon, after it was rained off after just over an hours worth of play. Play had already been delayed due to rain, and the courts were covered until around 3pm. So I sat and watched little documentaries about Billie Jean King and Bjorn Borg. It was good to sit back and watch some tennis history.

My litte Principessa has been doing well with her potty training too. We've been training for about two weeks now, and (touch wood) she harldy has any accidents. I am so proud of her. I have only got to worry about training her for staying dry at night now, I think we're about done with the daytime stuff (apart from the fact that I have to stop her from tipping out her potty after she has had a poop!).

Anyways, sleep time now. Oyasuminasai!