T'eyla Minh

Right. This is mostly a placeholder entry, or a precursor, I suppose, to a much longer entry (or more likely entries) because I won't have time to get down everything I want to before Paul and I go out for a meal later. (Our table is booked at 9.00pm and it's just gone 5.00 as I type this; yes, there is a lot to say!)

Anyway, to explain: on Thursday night, Paul, commoncomitatus and I went to see Sunset Boulevard at the London Coliseum. This would be an exciting enough event, but what made this doubly and especially special was the fact that Glenn Close was reprising her role as Norma Desmond in her West End debut, for a very limited five-week run. The only reason I knew this was happening at all was thanks to Eni tweeting it at me about a week before the tickets went on sale in September, which happened to be the day after payday.

When I heard about it, I was in simultaneous states of "We will never ever be able to see this, LIFE IS WOE" and "This is non-negotiable and we are seeing this no matter the cost". Thankfully the latter won out, because the seats weren't as pricey as expected. We were Row K in the dress circle, which was a little further back than I'm used to, but stalls were far too expensive. To be honest, barring being up in the Gods, the location of the seats wasn't particularly important given that this was quite possibly one of the biggest London theatre experiences in any of our lifetimes. It's up there on a level with seeing Michael Crawford in The Woman in White all those years ago, and indeed seeing the Actual Cast Who Are On The Soundtrack thanks to getting seats so early into the run.

So, Paul and I bought Eni a ticket for her birthday (in February), as well as it being my birthday present, because if there's ever a reason for someone to come back to the UK, it's to see Glenn Close as Norma Desmond in the West End, right? Exactly.

Needless to say, it was EPIC, so my impending write-up will be ridiculous - as they always are, but particularly so this time. Throughout the entire show I was having to make little mental notes - "I'm going to remember that, it's important!" - so they didn't fall out of my head, and honestly I think the only way I'm going to be able to approach said write-up is to literally break it down scene by scene, so I don't forget anything. Just, so many little nuances and differences and references, it was almost impossible to keep up!

Before that, though, I need to mention something else which is perhaps not quite so monumentally exciting but equally as important, which is this:

Eni and I have not met face-to-face / IRL in just over three years - she moved to Sweden shortly after I started in my CP job. Before that, we only ever really met IRL every few months or so around the time of our respective birthdays, and generally communicate through email / Twitter, occasional LJ comment tennises and even rarer IM sessions. On Thursday we were basically only in the same room for about three hours, if that, but the three-year gap did not even seem like ten minutes. (Though possibly the Underground shenanigans and rush to find the theatre meant that we kind of met in London and immediately started navigating rather than engaging in pleasantries! And TBF the majority of our email conversations begin in the manner of capslock'd flailing anyway.)

In particular, the interval of the show stands out for me because we spent the entire thing discussing headcanons and interpreting what we'd just watched, and basically just having a massive fangirl geek-out over Sunset. I feel very, very sorry for anyone sitting in our vicinity at that point, as they must have thought we were completely insane - particularly anyone who came along purely to see Glenn Close without any prior knowledge of the show / movie.

I also find it hilarious that within those said three hours of being in the same room, we managed to create a meme, namely #JewishMotherNorma. This came out of a discussion about the potential movie version of the musical, which seems to have gone quiet again (thank goodness) and an old rumour that Barbra Streisand was in the running to play Norma at one point - and whilst Barbra Streisand is awesome, neither of us can quite see her playing Norma, and if it were to happen then Norma would be a Jewish Mother. We then immediately came up with two examples of #JewishMotherNorma, namely, "Are you married? A nice boy like you should be married...", and making sure Joe is eating enough even though she's starving herself to prepare for Salome.

There will be more coming, believe me. :P

(This meme is a companion to our #SunsetBlvdExhibition meme, which was a series of terrible, terrible puns that arose out of my dreaming about a Sunset Boulevard exhibition, where we took SB quotes and made them vaguely relevant to exhibition-type words. When I say terrible, I mean terrible. "You know what you can do with your vi-queue-na" levels of terrible. Basically, we are awful people who should not be allowed near anything, or each other.)

The crux of this is that it really demonstrates the longevity of internet friendships and throws mud in the face of all those people who think they're not valid or not real or not "proper" friendships. It's always been the case that when I meet online friends IRL, even for the first time, it's like we've known each other for years - because ironcally, we probably have.

So yeah. I wanted to mention that in case it got lost in my latter write-ups, which I will now make a start on. Hoping to get at least one up on Sunday, if not both, as I think I may have to do one for each Act, unless it devolves into Yet Another Shipper Analysis and churns out a third. :P

Watch this space!

PS: In honour of the occasion I have switched back to the glorious SB mood theme that Eni made me. :)

The last two weeks have been rather insane. I'll do a separate post later about this morning's work-related idiocy.

( Gigs and parties. )

So, that's that. The Killers gig has basically made me go a bit crazy fangirl, repeatedly listening to Battle Born and appreciating it even more than before the concert. It's my favourite album by far - as addictive as Day and Age and Hot Fuss, but less hit and miss, with just as many potential classics. As a result, I want to get the album's logo - a lightning bolt - tattoed on my person. I already have plans for an ouroboros on my right inner forearm / wrist, and I want to get the lightning bolt underneath it. Paul has not helped by suggesting we should both get matching lightning bolts.

It would be much more than just a Killers reference, however: it would be a memory of the gig, a sneaky reference to Rocky Horror, and a symbol of my love of thunderstorms. The ouroboros is a symbol of rebirth; the lightning bolt is for battle born, the wording of which is taken from the Nevada state flag (I want to visit Las Vegas; in fact I want to honeymoon there). I love the sentiment of the two together, a brand to mark the turning point I seem to have reached in my life at the moment. Also, they're one of the only bands Paul and I both like (though we like different songs and different albums: in his head there is nothing to top Hot Fuss, in mine they just keep on getting better) and the first Proper Gig we've both been to, so it would be nice to commemorate that experience as well.

Not sure when I will get them done, but hopefully soon. I'm feeling the desire for new ink really badly right now: mostly to get the ideas in situ before they fizzle out on me, but also craving the pain/adrenaline to reaffirm my own aliveness.

In that vein: I totally need some Killers icons.

Next entry: fee earners waste our time with pointless tasks out of paranoia that could have been avoided in the first place by not being skinflints.

Over and out.

Right, since the transcription nonsense the other week, I've been trying to keep my head down, and other than a few minor irritations (the same old story of people not reading / paying attention to the emails I send for informative purposes) things haven't been too bad. On the Monday after the event, I emailed Senior with my observations of what occurred in respect of the transcription, including Demoted's refusal to undertake the work and my worry that it might be perceived that I was 'avoiding' the work in Winscribe, and she responded in fairly reasonable terms that indeed, it is not my place to sort out Demoted when she's being difficult, and thanking me for trying to sort things out in her absence.

( Boring work stuff - not moaning! )

So last week was rather uneventful other than the above, though nonetheless I only managed to spend one evening actually at home. Monday we went to the pub with Lloyd and Denise, Tuesday (obviously) I had choir, Wednesday was Noel's birthday so we went to Paul's mum's, Thursday GLORIOUS NOTHING (read: catching up with household chores like laundry) and Friday we went back to the flat for Lisa's birthday and enjoyed a very tasty curry. Graham (the new tenant) popped down to join us and it we got to know him a bit better; it transpires he's a complete lightweight when it comes to booze.

It just took me about ten minutes to remember what we did on Friday; this month is so insane that my short-term memory is frelled. I did, however, enjoy my quiet weekend, as this week is also going to be insanely busy. On Saturday we finally went through the freezer and filled out the whiteboard, realising the insane amount of food we had bought but not eaten. If we are actually organised we won't have to go shopping for at least another month. (Ah, it's so scintellating being a grown-up, innit?)

So, this week:-

Monday (yesterday) was meant to be a gym day but neither of us really fancied it, so instead we went to Bella Italia. Oops.

Tuesday (today) - last rehearsal before Equinox.

Wednesday - going to Spring Hill Tesco to pick up chicken livers and various other ingredients in advance of Mother's Day

Thursday - spare shopping day in case Tesco have no chicken livers, also getting cards/gifts.

Friday - leaving work at half-three to get home and bake cake.

Saturday - rehearsal at 11.00am, concert at 7.30pm, out of house all day, Paul going out to get meat and Guinness for main course and whatever else is left to buy.

Sunday - up early to make pate and whatever else needs making, tidy and clean lower floor of house, rest for a bit, family arriving at 6.00pm, eat, drink, sleep.

The week after that is mostly uneventful except for seeing Oliver! on Wednesday. :)

On Sunday we went out for a pub lunch at the Kings Head, walking to Bearwood and trying out the Abbey for a quick drink. Seemed okay on the Sunday but I wouldn't want to go there of a Friday evening.

Roll on April and our week off; even if we can't book anywhere to go it will be nice not to be at work. :P

Oh, and talking of which, we've finally booked our holiday for September. 11 nights in Corfu. :) I've booked off an extra two days (18th and 19th September) in addition to the two weeks I already had as we arrive back at 6.30am on the 16th and I'll need more than a day to recover. :P

Okay, that's more than long enough. Over and out.

I seem to have a knack for moving into new houses which have eerily similar numbers to their predecessors.

For example, I grew up at number 73 (which I remember because there was a Saturday morning kids' show called "Number 73" and I can recall being really amused by the fact that I lived at the same house number). Then I moved to number 53. Then 51. And my new house number will be 91.

Coincidence, or fate? You decide...

In other news - having obtained Rachel's details and texted her, she is unable to go to the wedding and thus has no information. Next option is to text Crystal (if she has the same number) and see if she's going, and then I suppose I go back to trying to ring Aisha again. After that, I'm out of options, and now rapidly running out of hours...

The subject will become apparent... I was going to wait a while on this entry but might as well get it over with.

I'm very glad that January is finally over, seeing as it seems content to keep kicking me in the arse. The following course of events are not bad, per se, but somewhat annoying.

( You couldn't make it up... )

So yeah. Seriously, January? I mean, I get that this is your way of sort of making up for being completely crap up 'til now, but honestly, there are better ways. :P

I have no idea when I last updated or what it was about, but here is what I've been up to...

( Birthday Stuffs )

After that Paul and I both had a week off work. The beginning of the week mostly involved doing nothing, going to Aldi, and watching Duckula, in my case anyway. I've got through the first two discs so far.

On Thursday we headed off to London for a couple of days. ( London Stuffs )

In other, more positive news, TAX REFUND, BABY!!! Apparently for 2008-2009 I overpaid over a grand in tax! Considering I had to extend my overdraft again last month just in case I spent too much money in London, this little windfall is very much appreciated. In addition, I achieved my pay increment at work and should be getting a chunk of backpay tomorrow in my wages, which initially I was going to spend on an eye test and new lenses. Instead I'm going to use the tax refund to pay a chunk off the credit card and pay for the eye test, and hopefully spend the backpayment on something NICE for a change. :)

I anticipate something horrible will happen to me in due course when Fate realises she made a horrible error in judgement. But in the meantime, it's nice to have a bit of luck for once.

Also, I started watching Damages on Monday night and I'm about nine episodes in. Quite enjoying it, though I can't decide if Patty Hewes is pure genius or pure evil... Whichever it is, Glenn Close is sheer awesomeness incarnate, but we already knew that. :)

I think that'll do. :)

commoncomitatus is forcing me to do one of those 30-day memes (and obviously picked the hardest subject possible, i.e. music) so I will start that when I've written down some possibilities and whittled them down. :P

In the meantime, here's an update of last week. ( Week of Sociability )

( Less Pleasant Colleague Stuff )

That's about it, really. We are currently levelling out at 48-hour turnaround on work, which is better than seven days as it was a couple of weeks ago. Despite doing three long days last week, leaving early on Monday and two long lunches effectively killed off any flex I might have gained (I only got 0.10 of an hour), so I need to make the effort this week. It does seem that no matter how hard I work to get through the typing, it just keeps on coming. I hope when Noor finally comes back from sick leave we'll be able to cope a bit better; KEH typists were helping out but were more trouble than they were worth, and couldn't access the matters on IKEN anyway, so I think they've given up now.

Anyway, I should really tackle said typing, I suppose.

Edit at 18.20: The afternoon did not exactly improve. I had intended on leaving work at 4.30, and picked up a longish piece of dictation at just before 4.00 to kill some time. It was 25 minutes in length and shouldn’t have taken as long as it did, except the fee earner in question has to spell everything every single time (not being content to spell, for example, the child’s name the first time and expecting us to be intelligent enough to remember it two seconds later…), which uses up precious minutes, and also being overly verbose. I disapprove of the phrase: “… has the ability to be able to…”. Calling the Department of Redundancy Department!

Anyway, I finished that at about 4.45 (I think) and was just filling out the receipt for it to take it upstairs, when Senior 1 tells me she’s put something in as urgent and it needs to go out that afternoon. Right. Okay. So I do that, and am in the process of printing it off when Senior 2 comes up to me and says he’s put an urgent in that also needs to go this afternoon and could I please do it. Having already been thwarted in my first attempt to go home early, I reacted possibly less politely than I should have done, but did it anyway.

You know what? This is getting a bit tedious now. I’m rather sick of being the only person around after 3.30pm to do any urgents that come in. Also I seem to have done nothing except urgents today, and there’s a lot of it because we’re still behind and people are panicking.

*grumps*

It’s all flex. I just have to keep telling myself that. And I have a week off in September. I will doubtless return to similar levels of chaos as last time, but that seems to be par for the course.

On the plus side, I did manage to find a halfway decent cardigan in Primark with very little hassle, for once. It’s one of those buttonless ones with the dangly tails at the front. I have several tops which are longer than my standard cardigans / hoodies so it will come in very useful…

Wishing a very Happy Birthday to 803am!

Paul sends birthday wishes also.

...thought you'd escaped, didn't you? :P

My goodness, it's cold. And has been since about Friday, I think. The heating hasn't kicked in properly at work today, and as there's no work to do either, I'm just a tad chilly. *blows on fingers*

( Saturday )

Yesterday I had intended to tidy up in preparation for putting the tree up next weekend, but I was simply too tired and cold to do so. We put the heating on at 11.00 and also the fire in the living room (which is just never warm at this time of year), and I spent the majority of the day watching television on the sofa until 7.30, when I went to do tea.

We had roast turkey breast roll, which I'd covered with a honey and mustard marinade (of sorts), with roast potatoes, carrots and leeks, and stuffed mushrooms to use up some bits from the fridge (I used chopped tomatoes, garlic and herbs, plus the chopped mushroom cores, topped with cheese). Surprisingly nice. :) The remainder of the turkey has become lunch today, also, which worked out quite well.

Tonight I must clean the kitchen floor because I managed to spill oil on it last night when getting the tray out of the oven.

Oh yes, on Thursday we went to see Drew in his latest am-dram play, A Christmas Twist, which was quite enjoyable. I was incredibly tired and cranky by the time we left, though...

I am still skint. Thankfully I get paid again in three weeks rather than four, thanks to the early Christmas payday. Not sure it'll help, though; we get paid early again in January and then have to suffer in February when it all goes back to normal. Bah.

Over and out.

...here's something resembling an update of my two weeks of leave, apart from what I already LJ'ed about.

Monday: we cleaned the kitchen, including the oven, and had literally just finished and were about to do the floor when Phil (Trevor-the-Landlord's plumber / electrician / handiman mate) turned up to investigate the leak in Lisa's ceiling, which turned out to be the pipe under our kitchen counter having come slightly awry. Problem now fixed, though as a result I still haven't cleaned the floor. It's recycling night on Thursday so I'll do it then.

Tuesday: a trip by bus to Sutton Park, including an Aldi-bought picnic. Their fizzy raspberryade is yum. We ran into a herd of free-roaming cows but alas did not have the camera with us.

Wednesday: a barbecue of the evening.

Thursday: Lisa went with us and thus drove us to Prestatyn (North Wales) for the day, which was lovely. It was warm but blustery, and the tide went out over the course of the day so we got to have a bit of a paddle in the sea, walked about 15 miles down the seafront / promenade and finished the day with a short journey to Rhyl for fish and chips, whereupon we were attacked by feral and aggressive seagulls. (There are pictures on Facebook, but I don't have the link to hand.) Rhyl was kind of rubbish (like most things that were popular in the 80s :P), but Prestatyn was gorgeous, and we're going to try and get a chalet or caravan there for a bit longer, at some point. Sea air = cleansing for the soul. Lovely.

Friday: nowt, as far as I can remember.

And then I was on my own for the week after that, and went to Ikea with Lisa and not much else.

This weekend we had another barbecue (with Lloyd and Daniel in attendance), which despite being briefly rained on was quite pleasant. On Sunday we finished building the DVD cabinets and rearranged the furniture, and put Paul's CDs into his new units. We can't move the DVDs around yet until David comes over to drill them to the walls, but at least they all fit into the room...

So, as of this morning Paul is officially unemployed, having discovered halfway through Friday that he had to leave. Admittedly this was inevitable, but still rather shit. Hopefully by the end of this week, if not today, things will be a little brighter. I was feeling crap about it this morning, but luckily it's been so busy here today I haven't had time to think about it.

(I'm not bothering to filter this entry for the sake of one paragraph, so if you haven't got anything nice or sympathetic to say about the situation, don't say anything at all. In fact, that goes for everything I post here of a sensitive nature.)

DHL attempted to deliver my new embroidery frame (the old one finally broke) on Friday when both Lisa and I happened to be out, so I've just had to ring their automated re-delivery service number thing to rearrange it for tomorrow. Hopefully they'll turn up at a reasonable time when either Paul or Lisa are actually in and able to sign for it, otherwise I foresee this debacle going on for some time. Obviously, DHL don't deliver at weekends; that would be far too helpful.

I think that's about everything.