Saturday, 30th January 2010

Starsailor - Tell Me It's Not Over

Friday, 25th September 2009
Posted 7.40pm

Newton Faulkner, candles and a Lush bath bomb. It doesn't get much better than that.

If This Is It - Newton Faulkner

Sunday, 30th August 2009
Posted 6.20pm

Hello girls and boys. Thought I ought to pander to the hecklers (all two of them) and update this dusty excuse of a blog. I haven't written for various reasons, the main one being that I haven't needed to. Or maybe I have needed to but haven't been able to, I'm not sure. Anyway, with the list of words that Alvin left (in orange) in the previous  comment section, I'll attempt to fill you in on what's been happening over the past few months.

Well, you know what they say - when life throws you a lemon, you make lemonade. That's pretty much what I've been doing, although not sure if my lemonade is good enough to sell on one of those little street stalls you see manned by cute little girls with pigtails in Suburban Midwest America, but I digress. I've had some pretty low moments if I'm honest; my Nan passing away in January was one of them.

However, I've had plenty of high moments too. I saw Snow Patrol play live in March - they sang Chocolate, one of my favourite songs. I also saw U2 and Elbow a couple of weeks ago - they were fantastic, obviously.

I still have 2 cats, both of which you've seen pictured here often I'm sure. As much as I'd like to own a penguin (I mean, who wouldn't?!) I'm not sure the logistics of getting it here and it subsequently surviving in my hot little house are viable. A bird that can't fly in a house with 2 cats is a recipe for disaster anyway, let's face it.

I went to a party last night. It was a collaborative knees up for 3 family members who are celebrating milestone Birthdays this year (18th, 21st and 50th). I bought a little pink dress and white Go-Go boots a la 60's as it was a themed occasion. Those of you who are connected to me on facebook will have seen the evidence. I didn't get drunk, but I did have to pop a couple of happy pills this morning as my back ached a little from dancing in those damned heels!

Ok, some trivia for you now. When I first started journaling 11 years ago I settled on the name Carpe Diem. However, the original name was going to  be Licking The Knife. When I was a child I was always told not to do that as it was considered dangerous and ill mannered. So Licking The Knife was going to be the name of my risky and inappropriate ramblings but I realised other people were writing about what they bought at the supermarket and were playing it safe so I buckled and wrote about what I was buying at the supermarket too. I still have some risky and inappropriate fodder in the archive of my brain and if you're really unlucky I might unleash it one day. By the way, don't even think about pilfering that title. I haven't patented it or anything but it’s mine. I may be small but I'll still hunt you down and kick your arse.

Well thank you Alvin for sending me that inspiring list of words. You've gotta love a guy who expects me to incorporate the words light, black, cellphone, japan, pencil, dragon, mint, brush, handle, door, knob, mask, speaker, wood and orient into an entry without cheating somewhat though.

Until the next time my friends.

I'll leave with you a seductive little ditty from Elbow...

An Audience With The Pope - Elbow

Friday, 10th April 2009
Posted 4.10pm

Still alive and kicking. Will update soon. In the meantime I give you...

Set The Story Straight - Tom McRae

Thursday, 4th December 2008
Posted 9.19pm

Testing a new media player (click Play button to hear song or right click on text and "save target as" to download mp3).

Because I miss the Summer...

Feeder - Home for summer
Death Cab For Cutie - Summer skin
Dashboard Confessional - The Shade of Poison Trees

Monday, 3rd November 2008
Posted 9.48am

Just a quick update on the Father situation, for those that were paying attention. We received a reply and, as suspected, he doesn't want to know. Apparently it's "a really bad time for him"; he's got a Son who's about to become a teenager (I'm sure there's a cream for that?), he's got a large mortgage (hey, me too!) and he's just found out that he's being made redundant and we're another inconvenience he could do without basically. I don't know if he was hoping for the sympathy vote with his tales of woe but it failed and we sent a Fuck You letter back, so that's the end of that. Moving swiftly on then...

I need to tell you about Elbow, incase you haven't heard of them. They're a Mancunian band who I've liked for several years but recently been listening to again. Guy Garvey writes beautiful lyrics and has a voice like honey.  Download the following tracks and I guarantee you won't be disappointed: One day like this, Weather to fly, Starlings, Mirrorball, An imagined affair, My very best and An audience with the Pope. Starlings is a particularly beautiful song and gets me every time. 

In total contrast, I'm loving the new Kings of Leon song. You've no idea how fast I could get Caleb Followill's clothes off. Or Jared actually, I'm not fussy.

Finally, If you haven't already (Mr Prop) go and buy Snow Patrol's new album, A Hundred Million Suns. Tracks 1,2,7 and 8 are clear winners I think. I fell asleep listening to it last night and woke this morning with an iPod earphone embedded in my face.

Anyway, short and sweet as a cavalry of workmen have just arrived.

Friday, 19th September 2008
Posted 2.51pm - Listening to : Royworld - Brakes

Twice in a week - I'm borderline consistent. Better nip that in the bud.

Since last week I've joined Facebook (finally, the technophobe that I am) and sent a letter to my Father. I've also had the Kitchen wall knocked down and there's a big, gaping wound in the back of the house and it's constantly cold. So very, very cold.

But let's talk about the letter to my Father. It was a standard, unemotional note that basically provided a few ways for him to get in touch, should he wish to do so. I made sure to point out that we weren't after anything and pretty much left it at that. I don't anticipate a response but I'll keep you posted.

I've been trying to figure out what prompted me to make contact now, after toying with the idea several times in the past and never acting on it. This man walked out when I was 4 and my Sister was 2, whether he was coerced into doing so or whether he done it willingly is a bit of a mystery. Whenever I broach the subject with my family they tend to skirt around the topic and dismiss it. All I know is that he left two young children and having a child myself now cements how difficult it would be to do that. I think that's the reason I'm doing this, that and the fucked up hormones obviously.

It's not an issue that's dominating my life (despite the fact that I've written about it twice) and it's not that important to be honest. The simple act of writing the letter made me feel slightly invigorated and it's one more item I can cross off my List Of Things To Do If I Wasn't Such A Yellowbelly. Even a non-response is a response, if that makes sense. And either way we win.

Anyway, gotta run - school's almost out.

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Friday, 12th September 2008
Posted 2.40pm - Listening to : One Night Only - Just for tonight

OK, things that have happened since I last wrote..... I bought a new printer, started an extension on the house and had colonic irrigation. That’s the condensed version. Be grateful.

I also turned a year older and it made me pause for a while. Well, quite a long while actually. I have a milestone Birthday looming next year and I found myself re-evaluating my existence, I suppose. I have a good man, an adorable kid, nice stuff but there’s something missing and no amount of stuff can fill the void that I shall herein refer to as The Mid Life Crisis.

The Mid Life Crisis manifests itself in various ways; I play my music too loud, I prefer spending time on my own, the housework isn’t important, I frequent Starbucks too much, I’m lacking photographic inspiration, I care less about the things I should care about and too much about the things I shouldn’t.  I’m reckless, irrational, high, low, distant.

My Sister and I have also been discussing the possibility of contacting our Father. We're prepared for (and fully expecting) rejection but feel we owe it to ourselves to at least try. Obviously any correspondence would have to be sensitively composed and my draft letter so far goes something like this...

Fear not folks, I’m reliably informed that these mid life blips only last about 2 years so you can expect a semi-coherent entry from me sometime around 2010.

Tuesday, 15th July 2008
Posted 9.15pm

The little guy grew these sunflowers from seed. He wasn't best pleased when I lopped their heads off and stuck them in a vase.

Wednesday, 9th July 2008
Posted 2.44pm - Listening to : Muse - Map of the problematique

Thought I'd better update before you abandon me altogether. I think I'm going through some kind of dysfunctional teenage episode right now. Since getting back from Florida I've had no enthusiasm for anything, including photography, and have spent more time than any sane adult ever should playing this moronic x-box game which, I'm ashamed to say, is very addictive.

The apathy is compounded by the fact that my stomach has been all messed up since I returned from holiday. Plus it's been raining for what feels like forever. Basically, life's a bit lacklustre right now, but I'm working on it.

Tuesday, 16th June 2008
Posted 11.07am / Listening to : Cure - Catch

Wednesday, 4th June 2008
Posted 10.39am / Listening to : Linkin Park - Shadow of the day

Well, we arrived home safe and sound early yesterday to 66° and rain.  A bit of a shock to the system after 2 weeks of blistering sunshine but hey ho. We had a 5 hour drive back to Orlando airport from Sanibel and a further 8 hour plane journey home. Despite my best attempts to convince BF to do a Thelma & Louise and just carry on driving, he wasn't  up for the nomadic lifestyle and insisted that he had to go back to work today. So here I am. Still trying to get the sand out of my teeth.

The more I visit Florida the more I'm convinced I could live there. The crazy weather, the food, the oversized parking spaces. Even the people for the most part were friendly, with the exception of Wendy's in Lakeside where the server made it quite obvious that serving us was really inconvenient and she'd rather get back to chewing her fingernails. She was so hostile infact that I was quite reluctant to eat the chicken burger I'd just purchased incase she'd spat on the bun or something. I want you to act like flipping burgers was your lifelong ambition. Believe me, I've had worse jobs than that. I used to clean cabins on a cruise ship and if a passenger came back to the room while I was scrubbing the grimy tide mark off their bath I'd still smile and say good morning, even though I may have been inwardly fantasising about flushing their head down the toilet.

My only other bug bear was the raccoons. We put the rubbish out one evening at the Orlando villa as the garbage trucks were due to collect early the next morning. About 4.30am two critters decided to raid our dustbin and drag the contents around the neighbourhood. We hammered on the window but they just kind of looked up and threw us a "Yeah, you wanna mess with these teeth?" look and carried on. Still half asleep, BF catapulted himself out the front door to try and scare them off but forgot to remove the door chain and split the wooden trim around the edge. They still didn't take the hint and continued to rummage through the trash until the sprinklers went off a couple of minutes later. So, picture a couple of stupid English tourists retrieving sodden food waste from the lawn in their pyjamas and you might understand why I dislike them. And they look so damn cute. The bastards. The following day I e-mailed a photo of the damaged door to the owners of the villa with a sincere apology and a promise to pay for the repairs but they were very understanding and insisted it wasn't our fault as they should've purchased a raccoon-proof bin. Good enough for me.

There were several fires in Florida while we were there and we saw a very large plume of smoke over lake Okeechobee on our approach to Orlando. There was also a brush fire on Sanibel close to the cottage we rented and we thought we might get evacuated at one point. Further North, in the great plains, they were experiencing one of the worst tornado seasons in history apparently so I consider myself lucky, given my track record with holidays.

So, to surmise, a fab time was had by all and I guess I should say it's nice to be home, but it's not.

I did miss my cats and my garden, however. And fabric softner! Don't they have it over there? The towels were so starchy they could stand vertically on their own.

Monday, 5th May 2008
Posted 8.51pm / Listening to : Hysteria - Muse

I was a little nervous about pointing an expensive camera directly into the sun so I had to block it with my bony fingers to capture this sundog.