It snowed!

Wednesday as I was walking home after going to dinner with Matt, my internal 'client' at work, it snowed on me! In the middle of London. Unfortunately it was too hot for the snow and it melted as soon as it touched the pavement, and then turned into sleet, but it was definitely the white, fluffy stuff for a while there.
Last night I went out to see Head/Case at the Soho Theatre and Writer's Centre. Really nice place, smaller even than La Boite (was) but very Writer's Centre. Read the review on the other blog. I am off to see 'The Plough and the Stars' tonight at the Barbican, and then off to Tate Britain tomorrow for some exhibition or other that Tam has invited me to.
If I'm feeling energetice I'll go out with Jo after the show tonight.
Oh, and I picked up my christmas presents from the family when I was up in Brum, and what a gold mine it is!

• Capoeira Calendar
  This is beautiful, all black and white with black and white men doing the more acrobatic Capoeira stuff. Works really well. I guess dancers get off on dance calendars too....
• Chaser Annual 2004
  Satirical Paper from Australia releases their annual every year, which is useful for us over seas people who can't subscribe any more. The only dissapointement is it only makes it to July, when Reagan died, not to the election :(
• Shirt and TShirt - really nice ones too, the TShirt has a 'subtle' anime-ish face on it, and the shirt, brown, has cleat/dart things running all the way from the shoulder to the bottom of the material a la Nick Cave (though his are white :).
• Cyrano De Bergerac
  With Gerard Depardieu. When I was a young-un I fell in love with this movie - it is fabulous and still very moving. My sister sent this to me - thanks Neek!!!
  

Hegemony Or Die!

Map of US plans for global hegemony. Very scary stuff, but at least we know what's going on. This guy is an adviser to the Department of Defense (or at least was back on March 2003 when he had this article published in Esquire magazine).
Just remember that the US definition of 'liberty' seems to be 'rich US citizens can do anything they want'. So spreading liberty results in farcical situations like the Australian Free Trade Agreement (we went to war for that?!)

Mean Streets

Friday night I had a little dinner with Alistair and Brona (sorry, don't know how to spell that), then headed off to see Mean Streets, another film at the NFT. Stumbled home, to be up at 7 so I can catch a bus to Birmingham.
Managed to get to Grandma's on the dot of 12, as I intended. That's the first time I've managed to get there when I intended though... Anyhoo Janice arrived and went through some financial stuff with Grandma; Grandma has now decided that she will go into a home so all that had to be organised. Finally we got some lunch - at 2:30! Both G and I were very hungry!
Grandma had a funny night on Thursday, an 8 year old version of Janice came to play on the front lawn with some scarves of Grandma's, but Grandma knew that it couldn't be Janice because she's not 8 anymore... This frightened her a bit and was, largely, the last straw that has made her decide to at least try the home and see what it is like. Most worrying for us is we did find some of her scarves on the lawn; I wonder what the neighbours saw my gran doing!
Saturday night I rushed into town to see if I could catch a performance that Adam (my cousin) was in. This show involved an audience of 14 sat around a table, interspersed with actors. The actors then largely improvised around a few set pieces to entertain (and confront a little) the crowd. This sort of thing is really up my alley, and I was very dissapointed to miss it.
Missing out did give me an opportunity to catch up with Janice and Khaled though, especially to ask Khaled if I could visit him in Cairo at Easter. He said that was alright, as long as I don't mind all his sisters falling in love with me! Originally I was going to spend a few days there and then go up to Croatia, but I think I'll do Croatia another time, or extend my holiday, because I really want to spend a good 9 days in Egypt (actually longer, but you know how it is.)
Then we went back to the El Hagars and I watched a 30 minut film of some German/Spanish contemporary dance. This is the first dance I've seen in a long time that I've actually enjoyed; I could make some inferences about what they were trying to do/say, it wasn't all just 'pretty movement'. After that I went and played a little guitar with Adam, and was happy to help decipher a little of 'Californication' by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers for him - made me feel a little less of a lame guitarist :)
Got home to gmas at 1:30, happy to find she had gone to bed and not stayed up for me in the cold house, as I had instructed.
Next day I got up late, and sat with Gma for a while talking about things, doing crosswords, reading the paper and playing dominoes. At 11:30 made bacon and eggs before rushing off to catch my 1:30 Bus back to London.
For some reason I had an aweful bus ride back; very hot, dehydrated, uncomfortable etc. Once I got home it was all OK though, and I rushed off to get to Jo's so we could eat before going to the comedy benefit that I had booked us tickets for. We had a great time there, got home at 11:45 and crashed, ready for another working week
(reviews of Mean Streets and the Comedy Benefit on my other blog.

Hopefully things are a little easier to read

fianlly updated the template a bit...

Dinner and Dinner

Had a nice week so far. Festen on Monday, climbing on Tuesday (did some overhangs, worked my back quite nicely). Wednesday I took Keith and Anne to dinner as further thank you for when they let me stay at their place for 2 months!! We had a very nice indian meal, and good company.
Then last night I went out to dinner for (you guessed it) indian with Jo, Tam and his girlfriend Karen. Good evening, we all got on well which is great.
Tam and Karen are off to India next month, and I'm really jealous in their ability to be more organised than me :)
Of to Brum this weekend, but only for one night; it's too hard to get up on Friday night, so I am catching an early bus tomorrow morning

Fantastic Blog from Iraqi Woman

Mark pointed out this blog, written by a girl in Iraq. It is eloquent, articulate, and moving. Here is an excert.

This was an interesting piece of news a couple of days ago:

The United States has ended its physical search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq, which was cited by the first administration of President George W Bush as the main reason for invading the country, the White House has said.

Why does this not surprise me? Does it surprise anyone?[...]Over here, it's not really "news" in the sense that it's not new. We've been expecting a statement like this for the last two years
[...]
Zarqawi is so much better than WMD. He's small, compact and mobile. He can travel from Falloojeh to Baghdad to Najaf to Mosul… whichever province or city really needs to be oppressed. Also, conveniently, he looks like the typical Iraqi male- dark hair, dark eyes, olive skin, medium build. I wonder how long it will take the average American to figure out that he's about as substantial as our previously alleged WMD.
[...]
I hope Americans feel good about taking their war on terror to foreign soil. For bringing the terrorists to Iraq- Chalabi, Allawi, Zarqawi, the Hakeems… How is our current situation going to secure America? How is a complete generation that is growing up in fear and chaos going to view Americans ten years from now? Does anyone ask that? After September 11, because of what a few fanatics did, Americans decided to become infected with a collective case of xenophobia… Yet after all Iraqis have been through under the occupation, we're expected to be tolerant and grateful.

Terror isn't just worrying about a plane hitting a skyscraper…terrorism is being caught in traffic and hearing the crack of an AK-47 a few meters away because the National Guard want to let an American humvee or Iraqi official through. Terror is watching your house being raided and knowing that the silliest thing might get you dragged away to Abu Ghraib where soldiers can torture, beat and kill. Terror is that first moment after a series of machine-gun shots, when you lift your head frantically to make sure your loved ones are still in one piece. Terror is trying to pick the shards of glass resulting from a nearby explosion out of the living-room couch and trying not to imagine what would have happened if a person had been sitting there.

The weapons never existed. It's like having a loved one sentenced to death for a crime they didn't commit- having your country burned and bombed beyond recognition, almost. Then, after two years of grieving for the lost people, and mourning the lost sovereignty, we're told we were innocent of harboring those weapons. We were never a threat to America...

Congratulations Bush- we are a threat now.

Bush got inaugurated yesterday, saying he lit a 'fire in people's minds'. The Guardian points out that this is a quote from Dostoevsky, said by a tyrant about the success of terrorists trying to destroy his regime. So, does Bush identify with the Terrorists (who put the fire in people's minds) or the Tyrant (who is being threatened by the terrorists)? Well neither really, it sounds good, and I find it hard to think that Bush has even heard of Dostoevsky, let alone read any of him.
It's also been called the 'Burning Bush Speech,' so now he wants us to burn him? Again, is he the bush, or moses following the bush? The thing is that people respond to the imagery, not to the meaning behind the words, so none of this farce makes any difference : it sounds good.

Festen

Saw Festen last night on hastily bought 1/2 price tickets which was pretty good. See my review (rather scathing, but I did like it). I also tried to get tickets to one flew over the cuckoo's nest which I have never seen, but it was sold out completely until it finishes, this Saturday :(
Climbing tonight, then Keith and Annes on Wednesday, up to brum this weekend.

Which Mac?

Damn it, I am so sick of these crappy PCs, and while I don't think MOX is that much better, there does appear to be some really good shareware software that turns it into something OK (dragthing for one). I really want to start doing some ruby stuff - which I can't without a PC (unless I do it at work - yuck!!) - and I want to see some DVDs, or even TV, which I could do with a nice big Computer monitor.
So, there's the Mac Mini. Underpowered, relatively cheap, designed to be obselete (the next version of the OS has a brand spanking new feature that WILL NOT RUN on it, and is only being released in 3-4 months). But once you add memory (I need at least a Gig) in pounds it's suddenly 690!! That's enormous, and doesn't include a monitor.
Then there's the iMac. Kinda ugly (pinstripes to make things look thinner please guys), and quite expensive, and you can't upgrade the monitor so you have to start with a good one (ie 20inch). Extra memory isn't quite so harsh, and is apparently fairly easy to install yourself. It does have a G5 and is capable of running all the software to be released in the next little while. But we're looking at 1300 pounds (VAT is a real killer here).
Then someone here at work offered me his dual G4 for 415 or so. That's not too horrendous, though moving it is arse, and I'd still have to get a monitor. So he offered his nice monitor, which takes it to 800, which is very clost to a 17 inch G5 iMac....

And then there's PCs, get a yukky box and I'm talking 700 for a really fast machine. Running Windows or Linux. But really fast. Oh, and has a big case.
Little case costs a little more (maybe 800 in total) and is a little slower, though still better than the iMac.

And then I have to go to Japan in March, Europe and Egypt in the summer sometime, and go home at somepoint, via India. Oh, and pay Mum and Dad back, and the bank for that matter (they come last :)

Catching up...

Lets see. Last Wednesday I had dinner with Alastair from work, twas good to have a chat and get out of the house too. Then I stayed in on Thursday (very cheap day!)
Then came the BIG MOVIE WEEKEND!!!!!!
On Friday I rushed from work to catch the screening of 'Two lane black top' at the NFT. I then saw 'The Godfather', which I'd never seen before, immediately after that.
On Saturday I went climbing with Tam, which turned into a wander around themarkets iwht Tam and Karen (His girlfriend) and a bit of a drink and a bit of dinner and a bit of a drink. Was a really nice day, relaxed and friendly. I think we all get on Ok, even if I do talk too much (this might come from not having people to talk to on the weekend to much - I over compensate!)
Sunday I went in and got my 'Unlimited Pass' which entitles me to unlimited films at UGC cinemas for the next year (£13 a month). I christained the card with Team America : World Police before going to a Punk art exhibition. Finally (after buying some books, naughty me) I saw Alexander at Hammersmith UGC (caught the tube there). I saw it because I am reading a history of western philosophy and I had heard it was crap so I thought I'd see how bad it was. It was... well, read the review on my other website :)

Found Jeremy Gates

(And Wendy, but that is a 'refind') He's got his name up on Schoolfriends.com.au and, while his biog doesn't give a very useful email (which I've removed for privacy reasons) I have a much better chance of catching up with him than I did say 3 hours ago :)
Here is his biog, very Jerm.

After leaving school I traded in my self respect for an identity as a Dolphin hugging hippy (having already had a string of highly unsuccessful relationships with trees). When I finally ran out of mushrooms and came back to reality, I was in an Ezbekistani concentration camp, where I was trained to concentrate - A LOT!!! (its also where most of the world's concentrated orange juice comes from). After using an old Jedi mind trick to convince the guards that my pet Ostrich was actually me (sadly pets do come to look more like their masters the more you sleep with them)- I thumbed a ride onto a Vogon spaceship that was just about to destroy the earth. Luckily for all you guys (not that I've ever had a scrap of thanks mind you) I was able to batter them senseless with some of my poetry, thus proving the scientific formula [ignorance of your unattractiveness]+ [conviction of your own intelligence]+[absentminded brutality]= Victory!!!! I won a nobel prize for that one... but nobody came to the ceremony. Am now studying Film and TV production through Griffith Film School & QCA and basically having a blast.

Wendy is in England (which I knew) and gave a decent email address, so I will see if we can catch up. She'll be 28! (as will Jerm)
Now I just have to find Dan Goodwin and Rebecca (Bobbie) McKinniery

Relaxed weekend

Ok, did a few little things on the weekend; I saw the movies '5 easy pieces' and 'Neverland' on the Saturday, then on the Sunday I went to an exhibition of Raphael stuff with Jo, and had a very long chat with her about pretty much everything under the Sun.
I am still feeling pretty ill, and am seriously contemplating taking Antibiotics tomorrow to just get rid of this chest infection, but everyone is telling me not to. I will have to see how I go at climbing tonight; 5 days to health is a lot more appealing than 5 weeks.

Festen

Because I was sick I _didn't_ get to go and see this play on Wednesday, though Jo assures me it was great. Have to admit I was in a bit of a mood when I handed the ticket over because

• I was sick
• I wanted to see the show
• I had caught the tube to just outside the theatre and was wondering why I was about to go straight home!

Sorry about being moody Jo!

I'm Back!!

And no I didn't go overseas :) I have been holed up at home since Monday morning sick as a dog. I mentioned that I went to see house of flying daggers on Saturday; I didn't mention I got rained on on the way home. I also didn't mention that I had a cold sore.
Then on Sunday I went for a shop after feeling 'like doing nothing at all', and went to dinner with Jo and watched a movie until 2 in the morning. Slept at Jo's then home Monday morning to collapse in my bed in a feverish state with the 'flu that everyone (at work and jo etc) had the week before Mid-Winter Festival.
I proceeded to sleep and wake for 2 hour intervals until, well, Wednesday. Fortunately my fever broke on the Monday, so the rest of the time was spent just feeling terrible, forcing myself to eat, trying to do something about my sinuses and nausea and not hack up a lung.
Left the house for the first time on Thrusday to get a Medical Certificate and then go to work. Hadn't registered with a doctor so went to a place in Paddington station where they charged me £60!!!! but he was a nice guy... He told me to go home, and said he was only allowing me to go to work today (Friday) because I have the weekend to recover.
So I went home and got really bored (there's only so many days I can read/crossword/gameboy in a row without going insane - somehow TV is never ending though, so next time I'm ill I'll have to borrow one)
And now I've managed to come to work, and, now that it's 6, thought I'd catch up on some entries.

Happy New Years!

Well what have I got up to? Last week I went shopping with Jo for an overcoat. Eventually found one, though not until I was on my own the next day. We were looking at some Armani etc ones that cost 500 pounds a piece! I'm not about to spend a weeks wage on an overcoat.
I also got a new wallet and some books (including Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy, which I've been meaning to get for some time).
All told I spent more money than I should, but why would I want to break the trend?
Then Friday I went down to Keith and Annes for lunch and met up with Aynur, Ant and co as well. I had to rush off at 3, but it was really nice. I found out that A&A&Co all live at the end of the northern line; a lot easier to get to than I thought (easier than Keith and Annes really...) so I will go and visit them soon.
I had to rush off so I could get food to cook at Jo's bosses; he wasn't up to anything so Jo suggested that we all get together for a NYE dinner, that I cook :) I wasn't nervous really, but when Anne pointed out taht I would be cooking dinner for Jo's _Boss_ I did have a minor heart palpitation.
Anyway, it all went well. The food was a little plain (I needed to mix the melted cheese into the pasta a bit better before covering in the parmesan/breadcrumb topping) and I got a little tiddly (and was therefore a little louder, more effusive and opinionated than usual which didn't seem to go to badly except when I voiced my dislike of ballet...)
We rushed from there when we discovered it was after 10:30 (time flies...) and headed over to 'pacha' at victoria rail station for Groove Armada. We lined up, nervoud we might get stuck in the lineup for the countdown, but made it to the front only to find we were in the wrong line (we were in the one for people who already had their tickets, whereas we had to pick ours up).
So we ran around to the other line and felt even more trepidatious as the clock counted down, but somehow we made it in, though not enough time to drop our coats off before finding Fiona and Mo' to celebrate the ticking over.
We then danced until 6 or so, though I was getting pretty tired by then. I think Jo and I were the only ones without any 'extra stimulation' to keep us going. Jo and I danced a bit until she found a guy called kneel, I mean Neil. So I went and danced with Mo and co which was pretty good, except that one girl was making eyes at me (or was it just all the speed?) and I wasn't really interested in that at all - you know me, I need to meet and talk with someone before I'm ready for anything else... (mind you, this doesn't stop me from getting depressed about the fact, wish I could just jump in)
We went to collect our coats a little early to9 find that I'd managed to lose 1 (not both) of them! Fortunately the woman in the collection booth was very accomodating, and believed us when we described the number of the ticket, the initials written on it (TV) and the coat itself. Very happy we didn't find someone else had used the ticket earlier....
Struggled home, and then found that I still had Jo's keys, so I rushed over to her place and gave them to her and rushed home.
Fell into bed and woke up at what I thought was 1:15, had a shower, breakfast, read a bit, and discovered that it was only 12:45 - I must have misread 11:15 (under 4 hours sleep). I was awake by then so I thought, stuff it, I'll just stay up now. So I did.
I discovered one 'war wound'; my right arm is completely cramped (even as I write this on Sunday afternoon) and doesn't want to get better. I guess my exuberant dance style wrenched it a bit after 6 hours (I don't remember hurting it, and I didn't drink that much)
So I pottered around, and eventually went to see House of Flying Daggers at 6:30 before coming home and finishing my book and going to sleep.
Now it's sunday and I feel, um, better? My arm was even worse this morning but seems to be getting better. I have forced myself out of the house to come down and write this email and get some food, because I don't really feel like doing much at all.
Anyway, I hope you all had a great time, I know I did, and best wishes for you all, and to the people of the 'indian ocean rim' who I hope have good things coming their way (Lets declare a 'war on Tsunamis', then they might get more than the $15Million that the US had pledged last I read)