briarwood | Entries tagged with life:general

Current Mood: grumpy

I hate my hair.

Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I know, if this is the worst of my problems I'm doing well. But it's bugging the hell out of me. Especially since Asylum 'cause I had all those great photo ops and I frakking hate my hair in all of them. Even though I wore my hat so I wouldn't have to see too much of it.

Here's my dilemma. I really, really prefer my hair ultra-short. A couple of years ago the weather got so hot that one morning on an impulse I shaved my head (not bald, but darn close) and it was awesome. So cool, literally, so easy (and cheap!) to look after, no bed-hair...I loved it. Everyone else didn't love it. Mum threatened to make me homeless if I ever do that again.

I have this tattoo on the back of my neck and the logic behind letting my hair grow for a few years was to give me the option of covering it up. Not that I dislike my tat - I love my tats. There's just times - like family events - I'd rather hide it so I don't have to answer dumb questions.

My hair still isn't long enough to completely cover the tat (it's about to my shoulders now) and it's driving me crazy because I hate my hair like this.

*Sigh*. I think I need a mullet. No, I know I need a mullet. It's the perfect solution: long at back so I can cover the tat or clip it up as needed; short in front so I won't hate myself every time I pass a mirror. I'm just not sure I can find a stylist who'll believe me when I tell her or him I really do want that "terminally stuck in the 80's" look.

Still. Gotta do something about this or some morning I'm gonna wake up and reach for the hair clippers again. I don't want to be homeless.

I want to tell y'all about my not-a-date, but can't decide how much to tell. I'll post later today, but probably under flock. Doesn't seem right to talk about someone else in a public post.

My Great Room Clearing Project - last night I sorted through all my books. I didn't think I'd be able to part with any books, though I'm still desperate for the shelf-space. But I've filled four bags with books I'm willing to part with. Some I've owned for years but never read; others I've read and disliked, or didn't like enough to want to keep. Now, of course, they're cluttering up my floor until I can take 'em to the charity shop. Unless sis will drive me it's going to be one bag a week or something: books are heavy.

I may skip the cinema this weekend: I've looked at what's on offer and there's nothing that really interests me. The George Clooney film, maybe... But everything else interesting I've already seen.

I'm back to being snowed under at work as my team is one member down for a few more weeks. There are some big changes going on with the technical side of what I do, and I'm once again being asked to take the lead with that. Which is okay, except I'm really not the expert the boss thinks I am. When it comes to software, if you give me something that works I can usually figure out why it works, but that doesn't mean I can write it from scratch. And the data aggregation system we've got is so ancient there is no manual in existence. Oh, this is gonna be an adventure...

Lois Maxwell has died. I adore the Bond movies in all their political incorrectness, and I loved Moneypenny. Although toward the end, Lois seemed to be getting too old for the role, I think it's great that she was able to play the part for so long. Never a "star" she always came across in interviews as a very warm, down to earth person and I'm sad that she died. Glad that she died with her family around her. She'll be missed.

( My weekend - cut for length )

Tomorrow is my not-a-date with K. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

I am officially exhausted.

I barely slept last night. I don't know why. Something woke me around midnight and I just couldn't sleep after that. I caught up on some fic, worked on some art. Nothing special.

Today I did a major spring clean and clear out of my room. And I do mean major. I filled six...no seven sacks with stuff I'm getting rid of. Mostly old video tapes that are just taking up space I need for other things. I chucked almost everything except my Sentinel tapes and a few favourites I don't have on DVD. Some old clothing that's too crappy for the charity shops. And some actual rubbish. Sis is going to take it up to the tip for me later. Plus I filled another sack with stuff that is suitable for the charity shops. The result? Well, my room doesn't look any cleaner but I do have more shelf space available at last.

The really disheartening thing is this isn't even a third of what needs doing. I've been trying to go through my crap a little at a time, each weekend. You wouldn't believe how much crap I have. Had. Have. Er...both.

What with that and a sleepless night, I'm now too knackered to do anything. Except I'm hungry so I've got to go cook. I've earned my meal, that's for sure.

Then I'm gonna put on something relaxing like Harry Potter and just do nothing for the rest of the day.

For no particular reason, I was wide awake at about 4am this morning.

I pulled back my curtains and the sky was the clearest I've seen it all year. I could see all the stars, picked out Orion and Taurus in the sky above my house clear as day (y'know, in a manner of speaking). Which, with the amount of light pollution in this area, is really unusual.

And then there was the moon, right there in the East, a slim crescent and so completely beautiful.

With the sky so clear, it should have been cold, but it wasn't, so I opened my window wide and just stared at the sky.

And I watched the dawn over the Bristol Channel, watched the sky turn slowly blue, saw the moon wander out of my sight and the stars wink out one by one.

I haven't done that for so very long. Nothing's gonna top that today.

OMG! I'm back, my internet is back!

I had to take a day off work to wait for the guy who came to fix it. But I don't care. It's fixed!

Though, looking at the number of times my cable modem service has screwed itself up lately, combined with the continuing utter incompetence of their telephone tech support line (which is now premium rate - outrageous!) I think it's time to give serious thought to switching to a new provider.

Any of my UK friends care to rec an ADSL provider?

NTL's (sorry, Virgin Media now) tech support has always been crap but the engineers they send out to houses are really, really great. Alls you've got to do is convince the idiots on the phone lines that a) you're not completely ignorant and b) no, it's really, really not a PC fault. Then they send someone friendly and competent.

I've been loyal to NTL for the simple reason that the only alternative (for TV) is Sky and I hate the thought of lining Rupert Murdoch's pocket. I didn't consider switching when we lost Sky One because I believe it will eventually get sorted out and I really want to see the Competition Commission smack Murdock. Hard. But this is too much. Freeview still isn't up to scratch (though it does get ITV2 so I wouldn't lose my Supernatural) so Sky is the only realistic option. I know they do a broadband package, too, but I haven't checked out the TOS.

To switch, we'd have to switch phone service, too, which is a major PITA, but I think Mum would, as she's sick of VM herself. She hates the new channel numbers and the black TV guide.

Ah, well.

New fic posted - check.

Now I've got some work-related stuff I must do even though I'm on a day off, and then I can re-start work on all the things I've promised to do.

Our wonderful next door neighbours appear to have bought a piano. Or a keyboard that sounds like one through the walls.

You know what's not-fun? Listening to someone play Men of Harlech thirty times, and hitting the same freaking wrong note in the same place every single time.

Don't get me wrong; I can't even play chopsticks and whoever's playing is pretty good. But I wish she/he would play something I don't know, so I won't notice the mistakes!

I so couldn't concentrate in work today. I can't believe how excited I am about Asylum con. I don't think it's about the guests, it's all the new people I'm gonna meet. Not that the guests aren't something to look forward to!

But I finished my work; now I'm home and I've got to pack. I don't think I'm going to finish that fic tonight; I'll get it done in a spare moment over the weekend and post next week.

I know I've got some comments to respond to but I am totally staying off LJ until tomorrow night because I'm SPN spoiler free and want to stay that way as long as I can. If I can get online over the weekend I will, but I don't know if that's gonna be possible.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. See you on the other side!

So, this story I started writing... I have no idea where it's going. I mean, none. Maybe I should just ditch it, but the bits and pieces I have aren't bad. I'm trying to "find" the plot in it all and it's being elusive.

Am still on a downer, emotionally...still don't really know why. Just one of those things, I guess. A bunch of little bad things all happening together.

I took myself out to the cinema last night: saw Perfect Stranger with Halle Berry (who I love in everything) and Bruce Willis (who does nothing for me, but it's okay if he's playing an unlikeable character so for this film it worked out fine). The movie: fairly standard thriller/whodunnit fayre, pretty good up until the end, where I get the feeling the story writer just got a little too clever. A twist in the tale is one thing, but in this case it felt just too carefully tied up. It might be one of those films that makes a much better experience on second watching, but it's just not good enough to go see twice.

I'm not sure what to make of the gay themes in the film. I mean, it wasn't homophobic, exactly, but I didn't get a good vibe from it, either. Maybe I'm being oversensitive on the subject.

Two great things about the movie though: Giovanni Ribisi was creepy as hell. I've seen him in a couple of things but I only really remember him as Phoebe's weird brother in Friends. In this film, he's damned good. Probably the best of the cast. Secondly, Nicki Aycox was in it! She only got about five minutes screen time but it was cool to see her on the big screen. And her role: totally Basic Instinct :-)

One last thing, for those who asked... ( Here's that tattoo I got a couple of weeks ago )

The good news is I started writing again. It's not my fic for

betagoddess and it's not particularly good, but it's something. Slash, plot...a pairing I haven't tried before. Dunno if it'll go anywhere, but it's something. I'll get back to the other fic when I'm out of this funk.

I guess I'm a bit depressed, though I haven't a clue why. I've been watching Ally McBeal and on Saturday, I bought myself a dress. I think the world must be ending.

Okay, there's an actual reason I bought a dress: I was looking for something to wear for a particular occasion: my plan was to get a top I could match with some trousers I already own but I couldn't find a damn thing the right colour in my size. So 'sod it,' I thought and the dress was cheaper than both new trousers and a matching top would have been. But me in a skirt? The world will stop turning, I swear. The worst thing is I kinda like how I look in it.

Also I saw The Curse of the Golden Flower at the cinema on Sat. Wonderful film. I love movies that don't feel the need for a Hollywood ending. A very dark storyline with an amazingly colourful set. The constrast is quite unsettling. Are those colours realistic? I mean, did it really look like that? I don't know how a person could live amidst all that colour. It would be like living on an LSD trip (not that I've ever, you know, but I hear...). Wow. But a fantastic movie. Makes me want to learn Chinese so I could get a hint of all the stuff that gets lost in translation.

Back from Memorabilia. Boy, that's a long journey to do twice in one day. (Usually I'm smart and stay in Brum for the weekend.)

I bought two new t-shirts (fantasy prints) and a fantastic Luis Royo signed (!!!) print which was a very early birthday gift from

garretsuze61 (thanks again!). It's a print of this painting but the full version in landscape format - the link only shows about a third of it. Fantastic. I'm a sucker for Royo's art; I don't care how un-PC it is - Royo's gets me on a very visceral level. I just love his women.

I'm now looking around my room wondering where the hell I'm gonna put it. I can't sacrifice my slash wall, though maybe I could take down the big poster. Otherwise I'll have to give up my beautiful angel in chains... I'll find a home for it.

We also talked to a guy who does some lovely fan art. This is the chap's web page. Sue bought herself a great Star Wars print from him (or, actually it was a set of four, presented as one). I didn't see anything I liked that much - most of his display was Star Wars - but he also does custom work, and oh, boy am I tempted by that idea. The Asylum con is going to take up all my cash for the time being, but I'm definitely saving his card for when I've got some extra cash. (Like if my annual pay rise ever actually shows up!)

Plan for the rest of the weekend: write fic. I have a deep insecurity about the fic I'm currently writing; no one's gonna like it, or if they do, they won't "get" it... I'm paranoid. But it's damn near writing itself so I must get back to it.

Ow! Ow! Ow!

I'd forgotten how much a tattoo freaking hurts!

(Actually, I don't think the last one hurt this bad. Ow!)

Note to self: buy painkillers.