I'm Hip to You

2005-12-16T16:17:00.000Z

Ridiculously amazing website for when you're having a bad day at work. Which, unfortunately for me, seems to be all the time at the moment. Blah.

My birthday was brilliant though, and I've got a photo that I must remember to post...

And in other random news, finding lunch has become a tedious task when the Great British Lunch choices consist mainly of jacket potatoes and sandwiches. So I was thrilled to discover that a mexican takeaway called BarBurrito has opened in Piccadilly Gardens. It's proper tasty tex-mex, they actually barbecue the meat, the prices are fair and nary a bowl of nasty tuna sweetcorn or coronation chicken in sight. There is a god!

2005-11-17T11:24:00.000Z

This t-shirt made me chuckle this morning. So cool, yet so scruffy.

Available from the excellent Digital Gravel.

2005-11-16T11:43:00.000Z

Aww, bless.

2005-11-10T14:30:00.000Z

I'm tempted to buy the new albums by the Cardigans and Kate Bush, but want to make sure I'll enjoy them. My record buying pennies are limited these days, so I don't want to be let down. (read: Broadcast "tender buttons" - though it did grow on me a bit...)

I've heard a few tinny snippets on t'internet, but not enough to help me make my mind up.

What do you think? Some info that might help:

1. Cardigans: I've been listening to Gran Turismo a lot lately - is Super Extra Gravity a good match?

2. Kate Bush: I was quite taken with "King of the Mountain" - is the rest of the album in a similar vein?

2005-11-02T16:13:00.000Z

Sign spotted in the frozen food section at the Asda in Harpurhey:

"None of our products contain that colour that's been in the news."

2005-10-17T10:45:00.000+01:00

It amazes me how geographically inept some people are. As I do many times every month, I just got a phone call from someone asking for someone in our London office. She launched into a big speech and I had to stop her and say she'd contacted the Manchester office.

She said: "Oh. I thought I'd phoned London."

0161. 0161 is Man-ches-ter. Y'know, *not* 0207 0r 0208. Did she think it was some secret code for a small pocket of north west London?

2005-10-05T15:43:00.000+01:00

Catch up...

NYC was great, as it always is. The only downside was that we probably could do with another holiday - 12 solid days of sightseeing, shopping and exploring didn't exactly leave us in a relaxed, recovered state. Our charming but noisy flat on the corner of 47th and 9th also got to us after a while - constant traffic, honking, police sirens and even the odd catfight.

But! There's plenty of good stuff to tell you about:

* Bubby's (Tribeca location) - amazing comfort food (think crispy hush puppies, chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and bbq corn) and the biggest slices of pie I've ever seen served up by friendly staff in a low key atmosphere. So good we went twice! ZAGAT says it gets rammed with wealthy parents and their trendy toddlers for brunch at weekends, but to me it just seemed like a restaurant that actually welcomes kids. Or just go midweek!

* Catching up with Sheila - first at a Katrina fundraiser put on by her magazine, where Anamatronix DJd, (which actually meant rallying the crowd next to her tour DJ... but she did seem very nice - and much thinner than on telly. I know, shallow.) Second, hanging out in Williamsburg, her new home. We had lunch at the wonderful Diner, went shopping in an amazing vintage warehouse and I also stocked up at the excellent Brooklyn Industries. Cool t-shirt for my boyfriend, gorgeous handbag for me.

* The Russia! exhibit at the Guggenheim.

* Enjoying all the fresh food available around the clock in our neighbourhood, Hell's Kitchen - especially the delicious Italian at Basilica, which is apparently a well-loved secret across town. The penne alla vodka with grilled chicken was so good that my boyfriend had it three times, and I've been trying to recreate it at home after the waiter gave me the recipe. Apparently it's all about the marinara...

2005-08-17T16:42:00.000+01:00

Cool toy!

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2005-07-01T10:49:00.000+01:00

Happy Canada Day!

Poutine at the ready...

2005-06-30T14:01:00.000+01:00

For lunch, I'm having one of those new M&S "Fresh Fruit in a Bottle" drinks.

It's very, very green. And very thick. 4 pureed apples and 2.5 pureed kiwis.

I know it's good for me, and it does taste quite nice. But I'm trying not to look at it as I drink it, because it looks like green swampy sludge. Mmm.

2005-06-28T14:49:00.000+01:00

Creative Finance:

Between some eBay auctions that finished yesterday and the current prices on ones ending today, I've managed to drum up enough money to pay for my Big Chill ticket. And possibly a bit of spending money too, depending on how they finish later today.

I've also been meticulously collecting all 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p coins we bring back to the flat, the proceeds of which will go towards Big Chill spends as well. A bit sad, I know - but there's something quite soothing about making up the little bags, and you'd be surprised how soon you have £40.

(the photo is a weak link; 60s barbie records = music =Big Chill. An excuse to play with the new free Blogger photo feature I just discovered...)

2005-06-23T15:24:00.000+01:00

We recently wangled invites to a meet-the-author party put on by Penguin at the Malmaison, courtesy of the bf's mum. The posh nibbles and free booze was a nice incentive, but I'm not that cheeky - I had actually read Live Bait, P.J. Tracy's second novel. I did wonder why the nice rep from Penguin kept saying "They're really lovely authors, so friendly." Duh. I'd zoned out on the dust sleeve, and no idea they were a mother-daughter writing team. They floated into the room, dressed in fabulous, impractical, floor-length designer coats, and immediately started chatting up the room.

It was one of those surreal and cool moments where doing something completely different felt so refreshing. Chilled white wine gave us courage and we went to chat with daughter Traci first. We talked about Minneapolis, Santa Monica, how her mom used to write romance novels and their current characters.

It was all going so well - and then... I have a bad habit of gently tugging at my necklace when I'm a bit nervous, and suddenly my 50s vintage choker broke and beads sprayed everywhere. Traci, bless her, got on the floor with everyone else to help retrieve what we could.

This caught the attention of P.J., who thought the whole thing was very funny. We ended up at her table and I made her laugh some more. Apparently talking about bars and drinking is a no-no in New York publishing circles, and she kept saying how fun we were. I guess she liked the bf and his mum's northern sense of humour, and I've probably acquired a bit in the last few years. Hey, happy to please...

They were, without a doubt, what I'd call a hoot. Dead Run is a good summer read, too.

2005-06-14T12:59:00.000+01:00

My mother has sent me more chain-letter spam. This time, it's a dubious tale of a serial killer who lures his victims by pretending to return a $5 note. The message ends with:

Ladies, really DO forward this to EVERYONE you know. Even if this man wasn't a serial killer, he looked nice, he seemed polite, he was apparently doing an act of kindness, but HE WAS NOT A NICE PERSON!!!

Urban Legends clears this up as an unsubstantiated scaremail that started around the time of the Baton Rouge murders in 2003, and is still making the rounds. Oh, and it's badly written and melodramatic - so why is anyone taking it seriously?

Handling this kind of thing is tricky though. One friend had sent me an email petition against those pesky Bonsai Kittens. When I sent her a link explaining the hoax, she retorted "I just wanted to protect the kittens!" and now that I think about it, I haven't heard from her since. But hey, if you're going to send it to me...don't expect me not to try and save some future bandwidth.

2005-06-13T16:38:00.000+01:00

This article by Germaine Greer in today's Guardian really made me angry. Although much of her article goes on about the environmental impact of the tidal wave of suburban housing, there was the underlying suggestion that wanting your own house and space is a selfish and unnecessary desire.

I've come to peace with the fact that we'll have to live in a flat for a while yet now, but the truth is that I'm pretty tired of it. Unless you enjoy hearing constant reminders that you're surrounded by people above, below and next to you, that is - doors slamming, rows, toilets flushing, bad music. Sometimes I would feel like the walls were closing in on me. I had to work really hard on calming techniques to change my perceptions of the noise around us.

So many of the city centre flats look well made on the surface, but the truth is that very little thought has gone into their construction. They're crash pads, not homes. Dividing walls between flats are hollow; doors are thin, cheap wood and don't seal anything out. Our common hall area is so echoey that when our neighbour opens their front door lock at 3 am, it sounds like they're attacking it with an ice pick.

So no, Germaine - I don't think apartments could be as much homes as houses. Unless you want to give me £500,000 for a penthouse.

2005-06-07T14:24:00.000+01:00

I didn't think we'd manage it, but we're going to the Big Chill and I'm as pleased as a happy thing can be. If we hadn't gone, we'd be like two puppies with their noses pressed against the window as everyone rode off. Most of our friends are going now, and one mate has been booked to DJ alongside the release of his first album - so we just couldn't miss out. Saturday night we went to the Marble (try their Summer Marble ale, if you're passing) and after a few jars, we decided to stumble home and book tickets online before we could change our minds, or sober up - whichever happened first.

Now I've got an excuse to shop for fun things like girly wellies and a good festival-friendly shoulder bag. I haven't been camping in at least 12 years, but I was a pro out in the Canadian semi-wilderness so I think I can manage Eastnor.

Looking forward to seeing Nouvelle Vague, DJ Patife, Hexstatic, and DJing from Tom Middleton, Bent, Mark Pritchard and Treva Whateva - to name just a few. I've also heard good things about Tortured Soul. Dreadful name, but I'm intrigued by the idea of live house music. The line up is here - but check for updates...

2005-04-07T13:45:00.000+01:00

I'd like to wish my foxy boyfriend a very, very happy birthday. xxx

2005-03-09T11:48:00.000Z

I'm joining in Mike's blogger disco for Comic Relief, and my nominated tune is LFO - "LFO". Bit of old school for you...bleep!

2005-03-01T13:50:00.000Z

I had just checked a couple of my regular blog reads and was disappointed to see they hadn't updated in a few days - and then I remembered I haven't posted in weeks. Erp.

I've definitely got the winter blahs this year. January was a haze of flu, and then my grandfather passed away. February's been just as chilly and grey, and although we've started socialising again, I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to do anything creative musically apart from being an appreciative listener. And thankfully there's been plenty of opportunities for that, whether it's at a club, round ours or an impromptu party at a friend's house.

I'd really love to get past this creative block, though. Hmmmmmm.

2005-02-11T12:43:00.000Z

Call me childish, but I really, really want one of these.

2005-02-07T14:38:00.000Z

Movies have been such a disappointment lately...

2046 was too long, had no character development and the futuristic scenes sat incongruously with 1960s Hong Kong. I know it's cruel, but it was about as much fun as sitting through a Peter Greenaway film.

I had high hopes for Sideways, fuelled by glowing reviews from trusted sources. I enjoyed Election and loved About Schmidt - but this fell a bit flat. That's not to say it's not worth seeing, or isn't good - but it just didn't move me in the way I'd hoped. Perhaps in a year of so-so, ok-to-good is getting a higher grade. It did, however, make us desperate for a good bottle of wine.

And in the stoopid category, give Meet the Fockers a big 'ol pass. The humour's gone a lot more cliched - and a bit moralistic. Why on earth would a woman in her early 30s not want her dad to know she was pregnant before her wedding day, when daddy knows she's been living/sleeping with him for ages?

2005-02-01T14:56:00.000Z

Would you believe it - I got food poisoning on Friday night, which wiped me out for the weekend. That meant no Winter Ales Festival, no going out, no nothing! Pah. Even worse, said food poisoning meant I was ill in a spectacular fashion while walking around town with the bf. Classy, I know...maybe it was the smelly anoraks at the record fair that set me off.

We'll make up for it this Friday though, as it's the first Eyes Down of 2005 at their new home, The Roadhouse.

Back to banishing the winter blahs/SAD - today's unexpected sun & blue sky was a good start.

2005-01-28T13:05:00.000Z

We're going to check out CAMRA's National Winter Ales Festival tomorrow night - though possibly not from 12 noon to 10:30 PM if we want to recover in time for work on Monday. Hic!

2005-01-20T14:04:00.000Z

Two things that annoyed me in the past 24 hours:

When I went to make a deposit at my bank, the teller suddenly hit me with a hard sell for a personal loan. This annoyed me because most people going to the bank are in a rush - and the bank already frequently sends me offers in the post. I'm sorry, but I'm half asleep and I need coffee. Please don't bother me.

And this morning Wogan played a Beautiful South cover of the Zombies' "This will be our year", which was diabolical enough - until he said: "Ah, the Beautiful South. Such great songwriters!" I expect better from you, Terry.

My search about this did lead me to an interesting website though - Second Hand Songs, a covers database.

2005-01-20T11:41:00.000Z

So exciting I could cry: photos from the set of the upcoming Nathan Barley tv show. The seventh photo is my favourite... thank god for Chris Morris.

2005-01-14T11:04:00.000Z

We've found a new toy. The bf accidentally discovered that if you text a landline, the message gets converted. Your unsuspecting recipient will hear a little fanfare, the mobile number and then a prim BT womanauton repeats the message.

Why we love it: the service accepts any words, no matter how rude.

2005-01-13T11:54:00.000Z

I'm really fed up of of the constant stream of retarded adverts selling sh!t products, starring moronic women marko-babbling about their virtues. Nutri-peptides and poly-ceramides my arse - it's an insult to the intelligence of women everywhere.

On the male side, the equivalent are those "vroom-vroom my razor's a big motorcar" ads...

2005-01-05T13:28:00.000Z

Bubble Pop Electric

Happy new year and I hope you all had good holidays. I had a great break, apart from being felled with a nasty flu that's still hanging around. On the plus side this meant we stayed in, snuggled away from the world, and had a dvd marathon that included the 3rd series of 24, Shameless, Spiderman 2, Jimmy Carr and lots of seasonal telly. To actually stop and do nothing for a week felt like the biggest treat in the world, and in that sense I wouldn't change a minute of it. It was a lovely traditional christmas, even with the flu - lots of family time (and I don't know what I'd do without the bf's family, who took me in from day one) good food, friends stopping by and just generally relaxing.

Presents - so many! A sexy Kitchenaid mixer, which I've been pining after for at least 5 years. Kurt Geiger cowboy boots, Creed perfume, some groovy clothes, the Gwen Stefani album, and a big fluffy robe that I practically lived in while I was ill.

I managed to work up the strength to celebrate the new year properly, and we had a brilliant night at the very last Eyes Down at Band On The Wall. The venue won't reopen for two years - but luckily Eyes Down is moving to the Roadhouse. I nicked an ashtray as a souvenir of our favourite venue - we'll miss you while you're gone.

A few days later, I also realised that our mashed NYE barman, who brought you either the wrong drink or a triple (wahey!) and made up your total also played the dreadhead who gets beat up in the first series of Shameless. Things like that are what I love about living in Manchester...

And now I'm back at work - tired and skint - but very, very happy with everything and looking forward to a good year.

2004-12-21T17:01:00.000Z

I just got a lovely homemade christmas card from someone at work that included some anagrams of my name - my favourite was true kissable hit. Awwww.

2004-12-13T13:24:00.000Z

We went to see Napolean Dynamite on Saturday. Although there were some genuinely funny bits, overall I was left thinking:

a) Wes Anderson rip-off

b) Why are they playing Alphaville (circa 1984) at a school dance in 2003?

c) Hmm, the director is obviously about my age, cos the When in Rome track at the end was released in 1987.

d) Let's see how many stereotypes we can fit in one film! OK, so it wasn't malicious - but it felt a bit lame.

2004-12-10T15:13:00.000Z

So it was my birthday..

And amongst so many fantastic presents, I got a gorgeous mini iPod in titanium pink, a bit like the colour in the heading. With my name engraved on the back no less. As I put it, whilst sipping some lovely champagne - another present - "I feel like I've arrived..."

I happily spent hours configuring and adding a first lot of songs, and it's still only a quarter full.

I was thoroughly pampered and made a fuss of, and although I'm not quite sure how I got so lucky or deserving, I loved every minute of it.

Now playing: LCD Soundsystem - "losing my edge"

2004-12-08T11:15:00.000Z

"But I Don't Care" is one of my all time favourite 60s singles - and I've just discovered Claire Francis has a website. Her life now couldn't be more different from her 60s mod chick days, that's for sure. Interesting reading... and you can listen to her singles on the site too.

Sleep deprived and cranky is not my preferred state to be in when I've got lots of christmas shopping to do, but I'm hoping complaining about it here will get it out my system. Bleurgh...

Update: I'm feeling much better - had a brain-clearing walk at lunch and actually managed a successful xmas present shop. And I've been promised posh steak & chips by the bf for tea tonight, too. Mmmm. (yes, I know I didn't used to eat red meat!)

2004-11-30T15:11:00.000Z

This will be my last post as a 20-something, since tomorrow is my 30th... so here I am, observing this last day of youth. To be honest, I've been thinking of myself as 30 for the past six months, probably in some subconscious attempt to make the transition as gentle as possible.

But you know, life's good. New (quiet!) flat that we're slowly decorating to our tastes, and best of all, a gorgeous boyfriend who spoils me rotten. We've got lots planned for the next 4 days, which makes it more of a birthday mini-festival. Many of my friends are scattered far and wide though, so if you're inclined to raise a glass from afar, that would be lovely. If it's a peach bellini, well, that would be even more sexy. Chin chin!

Or as my dad would say, "á sveikatà" - the only Lithuanian vocabulary he passed on to me...

2004-11-17T11:46:00.000Z

I'm living in a state of exhaustion at the moment. Our new flat is a 5 minute walk from our current place, so since Saturday we've been spending every free moment going back and forth getting fragile items across or sorting necessities like putting up curtain rails. The owner took "unfurnished" literally...

The bf was saying last night he couldn't imagine what sort of state we'd be in if we'd decided to change neighbourhoods. I'm also thankful that we had all this time to gradually move in, even if it meant paying double rent this month. You'd have to be crazy or incredibly lucky to give a month's notice, find a decent place in time and move in one go.

So needless to say I'm looking forward to a small break from it all tomorrow night, when I'll be seeing Bent with Mike in Nottingham. (They're also playing in Manchester on Sunday 21st at Night & Day.)

2004-11-11T10:53:00.000Z

We went to see The Corporation last night. At well over 2 hours long, my butt was numb - and I found some of the other attendees a bit irritating (more on that later) but we came away feeling informed, horrified and yet hopeful. Worst bits - although there was much that shocked, it was the historical anecdotes that bothered me the most. Fanta was apparently created by Coca-Cola in Nazi Germany so they could continue to be profitable throughout the war, and they alleged that an IBM early computer and punch cards to log holocaust victims were supplied to Nazis by IBM in New York. I say alleged, but there was a photo of the head of IBM with Hitler which left little to the imagination.

Best bits: footage of Kathie Lee Gifford squirming during her sweatshop PR fiasco many years ago, even if the promised changes didn't last; and the water riots in Bolivia that ended privatization of a natural resource. Oh, and just laughing at some of the ridiculous quotes. Like (and I'm paraphrasing here) "You should have faith in corporations because they'll always be around... and if you don't, well, that's not good."

As for my issues with some of the the other moviegoers, well... I just think that you can accomplish and persuade more if you retain a sense of humour. A lot of people just seemed really uptight. Oh, and the guy next to me kept tutting and snorting, and at one point he gave the finger to someone on screen. Ooooh. Plus he brought his entire *supper* along and crunched through packets of very corporate crisps, bottled drinks and coleslaw for the first 45 minutes.

2004-11-10T14:41:00.000Z

Ah, it's bliss to have my office to myself for a day. Yes, we are now five staff plus all the volunteers instead of two, which has pros and cons when my office measures about 11' x 10'. Sometimes I have 5 or 6 people trying to work in here with me, which gets to me after a while as I'm definitely one of those people who needs their own space to recharge and get on with things.

I've got a lot on at the moment,what with the move (booked in for the day after I see Bent with Mike, erp!) as well as our office move later this year. And there's getting family xmas parcels in the post in time to Canada, and spending quality time shopping for presents for the bf.

Speaking of which, I've realised I haven't bought a single present for him in an actual store. It's not laziness, I just manage to find much more interesting things on t'internet...

2004-11-04T13:57:00.000Z

Someone's been honking their horn outside my office for the past 4 hours, and I'm really loving it. Oh yes.

2004-11-03T13:54:00.000Z

We've found a flat! I don't want to jinx it by saying too much though, so more later.

I was fascinated, though, by the pot-stirrers of fear otherwise known as rental agents. When I stopped by the office to drop off our forms (and shell out a ludicrous £160 for "processing") they were all sat in a long intimidating row. You're completely ignored at first and have to stand there like an idiot until someone finally decides to speak to you.

Also, snippet of a conversation:

"5 pm viewing, sure. You're booked in. But are you sure you don't want to go earlier? The 4 o'clock might decide to take it and you don't want them to get in there ahead of you..."

And so forth repeated to the 3 pm vs. 2 pm, stirring up insecurity and panic bidding to fill those flats asap.

They did the same thing to us, encouraging me to slap the fee onto plastic the second we'd agreed over the phone "to hold the property" (hang on, didn't they just accept our offer?) and suggesting I come in at 8:30 AM sharp to sign the papers "just in case". And you know what? No one else had put in an offer anyhow. Not that we didn't want to sort things quickly, but why the scare tactics?

Anyhow, at least we know to take it all with a grain of salt next time...

2004-10-22T11:46:00.000+01:00

There's been lots of moaning about the changes made to the Star Wars DVD box set for eps 4-6, but I hadn't really been that bothered until we watched Return of the Jedi last night. There are no doubt dozens of changes in the first two that I didn't particularly notice. But ROTJ was the first film I saw of the three, and I was obsessed, so I was much more set in how I remembered it.

First of all, when they're at Jabba's palace and he throws Oona the dancer girl to the beast, the band originally performed this great little plinky electro disco number called Lapti Nek. In the new version, it's some souped up broadway jazzy rubbish.

Even worse, there's new footage at the end with jubiliant crowds, which reminded me of those awful victory scenes from the Matrix. And as many have pointed out, Luke sees a ghost image of Hayden Christensen instead of wrinkly old dead Darth. But even worse, they've taken out the Ewok Celebration song and replaced it with generic modern perky muzak. Why??? I can understand wanting to tidy things up a bit, but for me the original charm was lost by replacing audio cues that would have brought on some happy nostalgia. Sigh.

I'm going to have to watch the bf's vhs to get my fix...

2004-10-21T13:36:00.000+01:00

I was at Toni & Guy yesterday, trying a new stylist - the last one was good, but very pushy on trying to sell me products and extra treatments, so it put me off. But as soon as I walked in, I felt really out of place. Everyone there had fiercely trendy hair, fake tans, white cowboy boots with leggings and denim minis. There was nothing wrong with my outfit, thank you (velvet blazer, Dickie trousers and a white shawl) but it was so miles away from their look that they looked at me like I was an alien.

And then there's the small talk. Two girls were getting their hair washed next to me, and they were all gossiping away about flats, boyfriends and girls they hated. They all seemed to know each other. My junior asked me "Been anywhere nice?" but when I said "No, I've come from work - not too exciting..." that killed the conversation. I can do a bit of fluffy chat when I feel the person is genuinely friendly, but when it rings false or is just going through the motions I feel so desperately uncomfortable.

My stylist wasn't much better. She was nice enough, but she seemed to interpret my quiet persona as a sign that I should have a really basic haircut. I asked her for some suggestions, and she had none. I then had to ask her to chop it up more once it was dry, which she reluctantly agreed to. If I'd walked in and asked her for a "Shell" she probably would have fainted. It turned out well after all, but I hadn't exactly enjoyed myself.

Reading this back now, my instinct is "fuck 'em" - after all, it's just a bunch of shallow fashion sheep trying to make me feel small. What irritates me is that there isn't room for anyone different, and yet we all like a nice hair cut. I don't *want* to go to a salon that I can only trust to give me a trim.

The sad thing is, I had the most amazing hairdresser back in Toronto. She worked at Coupe Bizarre, and was quite bold with her own style (think French Canadian punkette) - but had a brilliant knack for suggesting things that were daring enough for me. Although it wasn't a particularly happy period of my life, I always had damn good hair.

2004-10-19T10:40:00.000+01:00

Sasha wrote about her concern over parabens and other nasty chemicals in her beauty products a while ago. I thought it was interesting, but didn't give it much more thought. After all, I was spending a fair bit on reputable products that contained lots of natural ingredients. Right? Wrong.

In the last few years, I've developed ultra sensitive skin, characterised by red irritation and mild breakouts. I'd tried everything I could think of - every product under the sun, skin vitamin supplements, giving up wheat, drinking gallons of water. Nothing seemed to have any lasting effect. Lancome, Fresh, Dr. Hauschka, Dermalogica, Creme de la Mer, Clarins, Avene, the latest indie beauty companies from Space NK... I'd been attracted to their products because they contained natural ingredients or were marketed for sensitive skin. And then I stumbled across a small company based near Brighton called Organic Botanics and read this:

DAILY APPLICATIONS of chemical cocktails found in most cosmetics, including so-called ‘naturals’ have been found to cause toxic overload which can impair the general health and vitality of otherwise healthy skin. Toxic overload has also been found responsible for numerous skin problems and allergies such as hyper-sensitivity, rashes, oiliness, blemishes, dryness, flaking, redness, blotching and other allergic reactions.

Having looked at the ingredient lists closely, Dr. Hauschka is the best of the lot I was using, but even they use cetearyl alcohol - a plant derived stabiliser that has this list of possible health concerns, and at the very least may have been irritating my skin. I also have to consider that naturally derived ingredients that aren't certified organic could also be irritants.

Anyhow - Celsi, the owner of Organic Botanics, gave me a consultation call and sent a couple of samples of her moisturisers. And I can honestly say that after just a few days of use, the change in my skin is amazing. Not only that, I like the fact that I'm supporting a small business who genuinely care about the products they make. Celsi even sent me a 1/2 price voucher good for ordering up to three full size products, which is a steal when you consider their prices are already much lower than most of the products I've been using, and p&p is free within the UK. Highly recommended.

Now I'm planning on ditching all my other products and switching to all organic as soon as possible. I can't afford to do it all at once, but here's some other interesting sites I found:

This place makes their own organic soap - I want to try the shampoo bars. Try here for ammonia and peroxide free hair dye. Avea sell organic shampoo and paraben-free cosmetics.

2004-10-15T13:03:00.000+01:00

A phone call I've just taken here at work:

Me: Hello, this is the XXX XXX.

Him: Oh hellooo there, this is Pastor So-and-So. Is that Sara Ewing?

Me: No, you've reached the XXX XXX and there's no one here with that name.

Him: What are you called again?

Me: XXX XXX. We're a registered charity and a counselling service.

Him: Oh. I've been told to call you - do you know anything about the 20 cases of Palestinian olive oil I'm expecting?

EH??

2004-10-14T11:33:00.000+01:00

I was going to post about how down I'm feeling about work, finances and all that kind of stuff, but it was incredibly boring so I deleted it. I don't know what the answer is, but I hope something changes soon.

On a happier note, I'm completely enamoured with Anthony Wilson's new advice column in City Life. Thoughtful, funny, sharp, and well-read is our Anthony. I met him once, when he came in for a development meeting at a tv production company I used to work at, and the whole office fell over themselves to look after him. Not because he was a VIP we had to keep happy - there's just something about him.

The online version is pared down from the print unless you want to pay £1.50, so I'll have to write about my favourite bits another time when I've got the magazine with me. (You can read the interview with Goldie Lookin' Chain by my friend Ruth though!)

Right, back to my dandelion coffee - which is thoroughly disgusting by the way, but is supposed to be very good for sorting out your energy levels. We'll see.

2004-10-06T11:51:00.000+01:00

I've posted before about my weekly streetdance classes, and went along last night as usual. Sadly Becky was off for some reason, so we had a stand-in. I had a bad feeling when I saw him - silly tattoos, hair gel, string vest and Bart Simpson socks - but I still went in.

Normally, we have a good combination of dance routine, abs work and stretching. It's hard going, but she uses mid-paced hip hop or rn'b so we don't burn out. Mr. Stand-In had different ideas. He made us watch him go through his routine, which total Sparky, the crap choreographer from Bring it On. Splits, high leg kicks and funky moves stolen from a Black Box video, all set to some 130 bpm high NRG song we didn't know. Uh oh. And did I mention that he had the stereo at top volume, but hadn't brought a headset so we could hear him?

20 minutes of hopeless flailing around later, all but three of us had walked out. One girl said "I can't figure out what you're doing, so I'm going..." to which he obliviously chirped "OK, seeya!!!!!"

For reasons unknown I felt badly for him, so I didn't have the heart to go. My goodwill vanished when he turned to me 10 minutes later and said "Maybe you'd better try it without the arm movements... right girls, dead funky and dead sharp!"

I didn't think it could get any worse, but then he made us warm down to Mariah Carey's "Hero". The second it was over, we legged it as he called out "Hope you had fun ladies, and put in a good word to Becky for me..."

2004-09-30T11:17:00.000+01:00

Still working out the kinks in my new template, and as for the archives... don't even go there yet - but at least it looks less of a dog's dinner. Wahey.

2004-09-29T14:12:00.000+01:00

I noticed there's a new Russian cultural centre open in the northern quarter, on Spear Street near Stevenson Square. A quick peek through the window revealed lots of imported Russian grocery items, which is quite novel - but here's hoping they'll also be running a little cafe serving homemade food. Preferably borscht, blinis, and pierogies. Which are probably called different things in Russia - all my terms are a mix of what my Lithuanian granny and Ukranian/Polish childhood friends used to say.

Anyhow, more on that once I've had the time to check it out properly.

2004-09-28T15:57:00.000+01:00

It happened again: last night we were woken up at 2 AM by a group of lofty students below our flat who thought it would be like, soooo hilarious to play their french horns in the street before they drove home. I was half asleep and too groggy to react, but the bf had had enough. Knowing they weren't likely to retaliate with pint glasses, unlike some less salubrious types who might be knocking about at that hour, he opened our window and bellowed "SHUT UP!" in his most convincing "don't-fuck-with-me" growl.

Result: immediate silence followed by the sounds of a quick and sheepish getaway. Hurray for cowardly students!

2004-09-15T09:12:00.000+01:00

We were woken up at 2:30 am last night by a man serenading his friends with a saxophone as they walked back from...I dunno, a jazz bar? Manchester is such a weird place sometimes.

2004-09-03T14:58:00.000+01:00

So I was walking back from a drinks-after-work 'do at the Cornerhouse, when this cheeky 15 year old sidles up to me and starts with all this "hey baby, what's happening?" stuff. Not that I think I look old, but I found it absurd that he'd be hitting on a 29 year old so I just ignored him.

To which he said: "So now you be hating the black man?"

That's one of the funniest things anyone's said to me in ages...

2004-09-02T12:54:00.000+01:00

If I see one more flat that has the kitchen all along one side of the living room, I'm going to implode.

2004-08-27T12:30:00.000+01:00

As part of a lovely evening that included posh fish & chips, champagne, rosé and Spaced, we finally saw the trailer for the Alfie remake. As I posted a while back, much of it was filmed in Manchester right here in our neighbourhood.

A shame then, that it looks like absolute pants - but it was still exciting to see the bits filmed around here.

Today, I'm trying to flat hunt online whilst managing a slight hangover and a busy workday. You know what really, really irritates me? Flat listings that are left online after they're taken. Seriously, there are loads that are left on for weeks after I've found out they're gone. I wouldn't mind except for the number of times I've been fobbed off by snippy office juniors who don't want to go through flats with me on the phone and insist their website is up to date.

But never mind, I'm sure we'll find something...

2004-08-25T11:26:00.000+01:00

Not that anyone will be reading this, as I've disappeared for a while, but I am still around. Been on holiday and generally all over the place, so I haven't sorted Dreamweaver and a new template yet. So rather than stare at the generic blogger 'plate for another second... I've put the old one back, wonky hosted graphics and all.

But hey! I've got that back-from-hols zip in my step, so I do mean to do something about it asap.

Toronto was ace: not too hot (usually August is all air-con and battling muggy soup outside) and lots of great shopping and outings. We caught a fabulous movie - the gorgeous Garden State. Yes, starring and directed by that guy from Scrubs, as everyone seems to be saying. I dunno, I always turned it off after 5 minutes - it always seemed like cheap slapstick to me. All hail Zach Braff now though!

It's not out in the UK until October (nyah) so get a fix from here.

Listening to: various Neil Armstrong mix cds, Bent "Ariels", Arovane "Lilies" and Nouvelle Vague s/t. Most of those links have samples to listen to - enjoy.

Also loving: the bf spotted that season 4 of Six Feet Under is now showing on Channel 4 - what's with the Tuesday 11:05 PM slot though?

2004-07-16T14:45:00.000+01:00

Two worlds that should never meet: Watermelon Pudding. Love the cooks' comments at the bottom...

2004-07-13T14:45:00.000+01:00

Computer woes...

Yeah, I know this is a Blogger template - but my old hosting service for most of my images has really been playing up. I was sick of looking at white boxes where my graphics should be and old playlists, and I'm sure you were too. I don't have Dreamweaver on my computer at home at the moment either, and I need to sort out some new hosting access. So until then, enjoy all the pretty dots.

To make this post more substantial, may I recommend a good read? I devoured The Confessions of Max Tivoli while on holiday - a bittersweet love story right up there with Love in the Time of Cholera. Brilliant.

2004-07-09T14:30:00.000+01:00

I'm so excited - one of my favourite movies, Two for the Road, is finally being released on dvd on 19th July. 60s style, snappy dialogue and a genuine spark between the leads Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney - legend has it they were involved on set at the time. Get it for a very reasonable £11.99 post-paid from here.

And to think I only found out by accident... huzzah for it's-Friday-I'm-bored-browsing.

2004-07-07T12:20:00.000+01:00

Speaking of delicious Spanish meals from our holiday - the bf's found me a recipe for Spanish Garlic Sauce. It was usually served with grilled pork fillets, ribs or steak, and it's out of this world. Just be warned though - you may not be very snoggable for a while afterwards...

2004-07-06T13:41:00.000+01:00

Can I tell you something that's been annoying me for a few weeks now? Most mornings I take the bus, and most mornings I pass the Kelly office on Cross Street - just one of the many temp/staffing services in town. However, in a sad effort to lure in potential temps, they have an assortment of ridiculous posters hanging in the windows. Each one emblazoned with the logo "Get discovered!" and pictures happy people in various "fun!" situations - the worst one has a trendy 20-something girl DJing.

Excuse me, but do they really think people are that stupid or deluded? (well - maybe...)

As a former seasoned temp myself, I know that 99% of assignments were mind-numbing admin at some ropey office where possibly:

a) Some of the computers still had DOS only operating systems (Wordperfect anyone?);

b) Your job involved filtering calls from people wanting either to speak to incarcerated friends or to apply for entertainment licences;

c) an office dragon (who begrudgingly hired you) would spend the whole day breathing down your neck to make sure they got every penny's worth;

d) You were made to shred four years of paperwork with a machine that could only take 3 sheets at a time, and in a unventilated box room.

Maybe I should suggest my alternate scenarios?

2004-07-01T13:51:00.000+01:00

Happy Canada Day!

I hear there's a heaving 'do at the Maple Leaf pub in London every year - sadly there isn't much of a Canadian contingent in Manchester, so no parties here. Nevertheless, I will do my bit by making poutine for my tea tonight. (the bf has refused, saying he thinks it sounds rank. I never!)

2004-06-30T11:38:00.000+01:00

Four days ago we were eating gorgeous grilled garlic sole in the Andalucian sunshine... and now I'm staring out at soggy, dirty Salford streets as the rain continues to pelt down. Sigh. Then again, holidays are supposed to be an escape, right?

Although we spent a lot of time just chilling in our fabulous apartment, which had amazing views of the Mijas golf course and the surrounding mountains - best viewed at sunset with a cold beer - we did get out and about as well. Top tips if you're headed to Costa del Sol...

Malaga City itself is fantastic, and apparently overlooked by most tourists. It's a refreshing breath of sophistication after the package holiday madness of Fuengirola et al. It's only 35 mins from Fuengirola by train, with a lovely, straightforward centre to stroll around. The new Picasso museum is well worth a visit, even if you're not a fan - we really enjoyed the cool, quiet atmosphere of the exhibits and the basement is an actual archaeological site (unrelated to Picasso of course.) Then I'd suggest you relax with a gorgeous cafe con leche and some plum cake in the cafe, which had a 4 star presentation for a mere 3 euros.

Marbella is more of a struggle to get to if you're sin un coche, as there are no trains west of Fuengirola. So one 45 minute milk route bus later, you'll arrive a bit hot and tired. The best solution is to head straight for the beach, where the numerous beach barbecues serve up fresh, delicious seafood - from dreamy swordfish to a string of smoked sardines if you're so inclined. The old quarter is also worth a stroll around, with some nice cafes in the Naranjas square. But the 31 degree heat and the difficult travel made us tired and a bit fed up. We noted in this week's heat that Rachel Stevens was there the same week as us, and she looked like she was having a good time - so there you go.

Mijas is a bus ride or 10 euro taxi trip from Fuengirola, and definitely worth it - the views from the highest points around the old fortress walls are breathtaking. There was also a panoramic restaurant near the tourist office that we wanted to check out, but our afternoon visit didn't coincide with the Spanish eating hours. (7:30 pm at the earliest - but 9 pm onwards is more like it...)

Fuengirola is, well, Fuengirola. It's good for supermarkets and a meal, and if you're after a full english breakfast then you're in the right place. Although it's lobster brits on parade hell, I found myself curiously fond of the place. There was one store that really made us laugh, a photo of which I'll post later on.

Oh, and don't forget the siesta hours - we kept forgetting most places shut between 1 or 2 pm until around 5 pm. Duh!

2004-06-29T21:27:00.000+01:00

Experimenting with the new free image hosting deal at blogger... seems pretty cool. This is the pebble beach at Brighton, btw.

2004-06-16T11:51:00.000+01:00

Hello and welcome to post #400.

I must confess I haven't been feeling very bloggy. What with Malaga on the brain (31 degrees expected on our Sunday arrival...) it's been a case of wishing the days away until we fly. I've got my stock of bikinis, flip flops, sarongs and sundresses sorted, and just need the help of the old spray tan before we go. I thought about picking up a pair of Havaianas (small stock at Schuh; larger stock at Selfridges) but y'know, they were £19 and they're just plain ol' rubber flip flops. Update: that was just me moaning because my bank account was in a sorry state - I did secretly want them - and thank you to the bf for the present...

Right now I am surrounded by piles of work to finish before Friday, and it's killing me. Can I now? Pleeeeeeeease?

2004-06-08T13:15:00.000+01:00

I'm in a wonderful mood, for lots of reasons.

One. My lovely bf surprised me with a week's posh villa holiday in Spain - we leave in 2 weeks. He even managed to sneak past me on our phones here at work to book the time off with my manager. I was so surprised and amazed that I burst into tears when he told me - and now I have just enough time to sort out girly beachy things and get incredibly excited.

Two, my lovely new trousers from Gentle Fawn arrived in the post yesterday and they are awesome.

Three. I made the most delicious roast pork fillet yseterday - you just marinate the medallions in some orange juice & olive oil, then roast for about 10 minutes. Add the drippings to a pan with some honey and a bit of chilli powder and you get one seriously delicious glaze. With a side of chilled fattoush salad (I add some cumin to the dressing, and apparently ground sumac is key too although I can't get it near me) it was the perfect hot weather meal.

Four, I've got my streetdance class tonight at the gym and I'm really looking forward to it. Yes, laugh if you must - but there's something quite liberating about deciding to throw your inhibitions to the wind and pretend you're Britney for an hour.

2004-06-03T10:48:00.000+01:00

Psssst. Do you like disco? Yeah? Excellent. Now how about disco lessons from a dapper Senor decked out in gleaming Captain & Tennille-esque whites? I thought so...

(NB: it's about a 37 mb download...but oh so worth it, especially when the music kicks in...)

2004-06-02T12:23:00.000+01:00

Well, the London birthday party at the Goth's studio was bizarre but fun. I went to buy the bf a vodka tonic, and they told me that I could only have one if I'd brought my own bottle - which they then keep behind the "bar" and charge you £2 for the pleasure of serving it to you. I said I didn't have one, and then they served me the drink anyhow. The barman was a goth listening to Evanescence while our party had a lovely mix of hip hop and brazilian drum & bass in the main rooms. It felt a bit like the warehouse booze cans* I used to go to in Toronto and made me slightly nostalgic...

We also celeb spotted. Err, well - D-list spotted mostly. First there was Danny from Hearsay (about 2 stone heavier these days!) at the Northern Star pub in Shoreditch. Then I saw Josh from Big Brother 2 stroll past the Hoxton greasy spoon where we were having some breakfast the next morning. Later that day, the bf finally spotted a decent celeb - the lovely James Lance, he of The Book Group, Spaced and more recently Absolute Power fame. I missed out as I was inside Monmouth Coffee stocking up on espresso - sigh.

Just before heading back to St. Pancras, we stopped for drinks at the 15th floor bar in St. Georges Hotel near Oxford Circus. Plonky Blackpool Tower-esque muzak and expensive drinks, but worth it for the chilled, quiet atmosphere and the views looking out over London.

* a booze can - well, here's an article that explains what Canadian ones are like...

2004-05-25T10:32:00.000+01:00

Sheesh, suddenly it's 11 days since my last post. I swear my brain enters this weird vortex every so often where I don't use my computer for anything more than checking my email and reading the crappy advice columns at the Toronto Star.

Which is pretty funny considering we now have THREE computers in our little flat. My ungainly PC (made slightly cooler by Windows XP), the bf's mac laptop and our new baby, a lovely eMac with OSX. The plan is to only use the eMac for music, which is going very well - although it came with Tony Hawk Proskater 4...

So we're off to London on Friday for a bizarre birthday party hosted by a goth, and then back on Saturday to enjoy the rest of the long weekend in Manchester. There's a soul allnighter at the CIS New Century Hall on Sunday night that I've been invited to, which is also quite weird - corporate finance and northern soul. Wahey.

2004-05-14T15:37:00.000+01:00

Winding down for the weekend - there are several bottles of good white wine with my name on them just waiting to be downed. But first:

One of my volunteers asked me to take a parcel to the post office. I noticed that there was no post code on it, so I offered to look it up on the (actually quite useful) Royal Mail online postcode finder.

"Oh no, don't! My gran hates postcodes - she doesn't believe in them. We're not allowed to send her anything with it written on..."

Ah, grans and their lovely funny ways. Mine refused to give up smoking when she moved into a supported senior's flat - and she set off the smoke alarms week after week by smoking in her loo. She was known to alternately give $100 or shoe laces for christmas, and she would travel miles on the bus to buy milk for 50 cents cheaper than her local store. I miss her.

2004-05-12T10:44:00.000+01:00

Went to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind last night at last, and it was even better than I'd expected. It's a perfect mix of all things bittersweet, fragile, funny and melancholy that pushed all the right buttons. Miles better than Adaptation, too.

I'm now listening to the new Troubleman (aka Mark Pritchard) album, which is totally wonderful. Think bossanova-laced soul with pulsing beats and beautiful female vocals - the perfect soundtrack for spring. We went to see Mark DJ at Eyes Down on Saturday, and he was brilliant - I highly recommend checking him out if he's appearing near you. He's in Brighton on the 15th, Fabric/London on 19th May and will also be appearing at the Big Chill in August. Which, I hope, we'll be going to as well.

This cd has made us really want our new music toys to arrive though... eeeek!

2004-05-10T14:53:00.000+01:00

Ugh. New Blogger... not so good. Maybe I just have to get used to it.

Anyhooo... went to see Derren Brown last night. It was excellent, marred only occasionally by the difficulties of working such subtle techniques in such a large venue.

There were lots of chances to get picked to take part, and the bf found himself standing up as a potential participant for a memory stunt involving Derren memorising the entire Manchester Central phone book. He was second to be quizzed, I think - and it went something like this:

Derren: What's your name/surname?
BF: Xxx Xxxxxx.
Derren: And your initial as it would be in the phone book?
BF: X.
Derren: OK, and what's your street?
BF: Err, well it's Flat XXX and XX Name Street... (darn complicated address)
Derren: I don't know that one... wait - is the street number 51?
BF: No, it's XX.
Derren: No, sorry - either I've forgotten it or you're probably not in the phone book. Sorry. (moves on)

Now, I felt badly for the bf because I knew he was definitely in there - I'd seen the entry myself ages ago. The number 51 kept jumping around in my head, too. And then in the interval, as the bf enjoyed a little tub of ice cream, I remembered something.

"Didn't you tell me once that there is an alternate address for our building? One that no one uses?"

The bf said there was, but we couldn't remember it there and then. He did think he was probably just under our usual address, but it was worth checking. So once we got home, he went straight for the phone book, and there it was. Xxxxxx, X. 51 Xxxxxx Street, Manchester 0161 xxx-xxxx.

Cool. Stupid BT for screwing up the bf's chance to be part of the show, though...

2004-05-05T13:08:00.000+01:00

I thought Carol Vorderman was bad enough as Cher on Stars in Their Eyes...

2004-05-05T12:57:00.000+01:00

Oooh back to work, what's that all about?

We had a very nice bank holiday weekend, apart from the hangover from hell that plagued us on Sunday after a drunken evening the night before at Cord. It was one of those weird things where we didn't plan on getting particularly lashed, but we were already in a good mood from a nice meal at the newly opened Bluu. So the lure of good music (Eyes Down djs) and a surprisingly uncrowded Cord (which is often packed with annoying 80s-esque northern quarter types) persuaded us to go for it.

So Sunday wasn't pretty, but somehow we found ourselves at Dawson's ordering quantities of toys to make music with. New eMac, Logic Pro 6 and other bits & pieces we'll need to make recording much, much easier - which we hope will mean we'll finally get a lot more done. We have various unfinished songs floating around because we'd hit a technical brick wall that made it too complicated to actually finish anything. (nb: I've also since discovered that I am a NF songwriting personality type, which means I need to brainstorm ideas and then allow them to incubate, rather than trying to finish something all at once - which makes a lot of sense and makes me feel less pressured. (Pressure I've put on myself of course... all part of my type!)

We tried to go to the Friends & Family bbq on Sunday evening, but woozy heads and annoying students had us returning home after just an hour. Getting old!!

Luckily we felt much more ourselves on Monday, and our friend Trev persuaded us to take in a few pints at our favourite local, the Marble Arch on Rochdale Road. It was fitting to enjoy our last day of freedom sampling their lovely own-brew ales such as Heavy Chocolate and Ginger and admiring the original decor. There's something infinitely soothing about the pale green and brown tiles and slanting floor, all left intact from its early days and an honest example of a turn of the century Ancoats pub.

Today, back to the grind after a training day in Liverpool yesterday. It might be raining, and we've just heard about a student stabbed 13 times at an intersection just two blocks from my office (great!) but I'm having a nice chilled day all things considered. My manager bought me a lovely bouquet of lilies and birds of paradise (my favourite) to say thank you for sticking it out for the past year... can't believe I've been here that long!

2004-04-29T10:25:00.000+01:00

When I'm in Toronto in August, I'm gonna buy me a bottle of Nice Colour, Eh? nailpolish...

2004-04-27T10:29:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update - the Kill Bill box set was indeed amazing, except for the annoying fact that we had to quickly change the aspect to 14:9 and turn on English subtitles whenever the Japanese bits came on. We didn't want to watch the whole film with English subtitles, and sadly the subtitles appear below the film which means you can't see them if it's in widescreen. Sigh. Still, the packaging was absolutely stunning and the House of Blue Leaves bit is in full gory colour. And the little 1/10 Hattori Hanzo samurai sword and the wee Kubrick "Kill Bill" Be@rbrick are going to be treasured additions to our wall of fame in the flat, where Yoda, Harvey Pekar, the Sony capsule "Relax" family, Run DMC and various other figurines all live.

2004-04-26T14:13:00.000+01:00

Amazing how a little rant in writing can make you feel better. Also, the bf called to say that our splurge purchase, the Japanese box set editon of Kill Bill Vol. 1 had arrived in the post. (we got ours for cheaper than that link though, hurray!) 3 days from Tokyo to Manchester, blimey. Can't wait to get home so I can play with all the toys...

2004-04-26T10:42:00.000+01:00

I'm in such a grouchy mood this morning that I'm writing it out in the hope that it will snap me out of it.

I woke up tired and aching - tired because I stayed up later than I would when I have work in the morning, and aching because I've started going to the gym again and my complacent muscles are on strike. Even the beautiful portuguese espresso our friend Matt gave us fails to get me going. I sip, look around me and have the sinking realisation that I can clean our flat until the cows come home, but it never seems to look tidy. This really pisses me off as I've spent a good part of the weekend hoovering, dusting, chucking out old papers and putting stuff aside for the charity shop.

I leave for work, and leave the bf to his lie-in. He got in late from a festival last night, hence my late bedtime - and has two days off, lucky. I don't want to disturb him too much and being grouchy doesn't make me feel very cuddly anyhow, so I head out quickly and hope that the walk to work will clear my head a bit.

Ha! I should have known better. As soon as I reach Salford (and this is always the way!) I get catcalls from a couple of lorry drivers, which I am in no mood for. Then I spot not one, but two big piles of smashed glass on the sidewalk across from the Lowry Hotel - leftovers from last night's all-too-usual car thieving. Great.

I enter our building and spot a woman who works in a different service. We have nothing to do with them, but she's always popping in at the worst possible time to take flyers and annual reports for someone she's showing around. She never seems to notice if she's interrupting and is always gratingly yappy. Oh, and another time she just helped herself to one of our offices for a meeting and got very snippy when I told her she should have asked, especially as it was my manager's office which is full of confidential files and hello, WE pay the rent on it! Anyhow. I'm not in the mood for her at the best of times, but today I run to the lift and push the "up" button even though I see her finishing a conversation and heading for the lift as well. The door closes as she rushes towards me, and I feel a strange satisfaction at being a bitch.

But there's a bit of a happy ending here. I turn on my computer and have my usual quick read of other blogs, and spot that Mike and K finally had the chance to try out the best-ever rhubarb crumble recipe I'd sent at xmas. Nearly a year ago I'd taken it to (I think!) a pre-Ulrich Schnauss lovely spring lunch at their weekend cottage, and K had asked for the recipe. Reading about it made me slightly emotional for some reason and lifts my mood. Thank you Mike!

2004-04-19T16:23:00.000+01:00

Work is, well... pretty crazy at the moment. I've talked and talked today - on the phone, in person - trying to sort out practical emergencies for our clients. I know it's been a mad day by how croaky my voice is - I tend to get all parched and no amount of water seems to rehydrate me. I finish one call and the phone rings again before I even have a chance to write up my notes.

It's good - and I don't mind working hard because I believe in what we do - but it's starting to feel like it's all getting too much for two people. Hope that funding comes through...

2004-04-13T14:52:00.000+01:00

There's no better way to brighten up your first day back at work than by laughing at dodgy Michelle McManus and Cilla Black impersonators...

2004-04-08T13:07:00.000+01:00

Sometimes eBay really makes me laugh...

(too exhausted and in need of this easter break to write anything else...)

2004-04-05T16:05:00.000+01:00

It's day three of bad Manchester weather - rain rain rain and today, big chunks of hail as well. So to cheer myself up, I'm going to list some things that I like at the moment:

1. The theme song from Hustle (second series not til 2005 though, boo)

2. Platform 11 at Manchester Piccadilly Station (tucked away from the hub of the main platforms, but not as far as 13 and 14)

3. The plump black scottie dog I see being walked every day near my work

4. Squirrelling away birthday presents for the bf

5. Anticipating Shaun of the Dead and Kill Bill 2

2004-03-31T12:21:00.000+01:00

I got some weird spam at work today:

Salut
Merci d'avoir écrit à AZLEFANTOME ; la valeur de l'amitier se mesure par les actes car quelque soit la distance les veritables amis sont toujours là pour nous aider ou nous soutenir. Merci et à bientot dans vos box
azleghost pour vous servir
love is good
life is real
2pac is great
Beckh@m is really a big man
A tous ceux qui m'aime supporter manchester un*ted comme vous le faite avec moi et puis aimez beckh@m plus que moi
MERCI

For non-French speakers, the message says: "Thank you for writing to AZLEGHOST; the value of a friendship is measured by a person's acts, because no matter the distance, real friends are there to help or support us. Thank you and see you in your inbox soon, AZLEGHOST at your service..." and then "To all those who love me, please support Manchester Un*ted as you support me, and love Beckh@m more than you love me too"

2004-03-24T11:01:00.000Z

Sparkle alert!

Slowly but surely getting everything together for the big Spectropop party this Saturday at Bush Hall - have you reserved your (free!) place yet? (See my previous post for details.)

My dress arrived from America the other day, and my stars, it's a vintage cheongsam vision of turquoise satin and silver piping. It makes me*so* happy when my eBay purchases turn out exactly right. Armed with some vintage stilettos, liquid eyeliner and all things sparkly, I have a feeling it's going to be a good night. God I love dressing up...

2004-03-19T19:37:00.000Z

I'm watching the Pet Shop Boys perform their new single on Top of the Pops at the moment... what's with the dancers? They look like a cross between a bunch of Cyndi Laupers at a fancy dress party and someone's embarrassed auntie dancing awkwardly at a wedding...

2004-03-17T13:18:00.000Z

Supermarket speed dating

I was reading this Guardian article on customer profiles of supermarket shoppers, and it got me thinking about my own habits.

I used to be a die hard Sainsburys girl. But now, being in the city centre without a car means I'm limited to what's in town - otherwise it's a creaky bus ride to the Sainsburys in Fallowfield or Asda in Hulme.

We don't have Waitrose in the North, and Morrisons are in posh small towns outside the city. I don't thing Lidl exists up here either. But anyhow, in the city centre you have a choice of Marks & Spencer (one flagship store, one smaller in Piccadilly Gardens); Tesco Metro (Market Street); Somerfield (Piccadilly Gardens) or Sainsburys Metro (one in Piccadilly Station, one on Oxford Road and one on Deansgate - but only the one in the station is close to our flat.) Oh, and there's also the food halls in Selfridges and Harvey Nichols.

So - it's Tesco for the main shopping, but I try to shop before work or at weekends, because it's chaos after 5 pm. Somerfield for bits and pieces - it's actually rather nice and has a good bakery section as well as self-check out, and it's usually pretty quiet too.

And then there's treats. M&S for when I'm in a traditional mood - it is definitely the kind of place you would go shopping with your mum. And it's true, the chickens do make the best roast dinners. Selfridges for American food (overpriced, but sometimes necessary for the soul!) posh cakes for dinner parties when I don't feel up to baking, or the very occasional splurge on Laurent Perrier champagne. There's something very seductive about walking back with your goodies in the yellow Selfridges carrier... I most often find myself going there after say, a nice trip to the hair salon or on days where I just need a bit of a boost. But for some reason, I never ever shop at the food hall at Harvey Nicks. There's something too snooty about it.

On the other side of the scale, I also top up on cleaning basics from the various pound stores in town. So unlike the people in the article, I don't feel overly loyal to any one store. Am I a consumer research nightmare?

I've thought about shopping online at Sainsburys and coughing up the £5 for delivery - but to be honest, when you have a miniscule fridge, limited cupboard space and no freezer, it doesn't make sense. One day...

2004-03-09T13:49:00.000Z

I've got another show coming up - here are the details:

Spectropop and The Actionettes....invite you to a party! party! party!

Saturday 27 March 2004
Bush Hall, 310 Uxbridge Rd (corner of Arminger Rd), London W12.
8pm - Midnight

Big screen 60s videos, live set from the Actionettes, Elisabeth/Swishette and Emma/Dustette, fabulous background music, pay bar and Malcolm B’s rare record rack for one-stop vinyl shopping. Admission is FREE but you MUST have your name on the guest list. If you haven't done so already, get your name on the list by emailing projects at spectropop dot com. LIVE SHOW STARTS AT 9.... DON'T BE LATE!

And can I just add that it's going to be an incredible night, with lots of 60s producers, Brit Girls and musicians expected as well - a rare chance to have them all in the same room. I'm nervous but incredibly excited and honoured to take part. You can help out the organisers with the cost of the room hire by buying one of my little cds on the night, too... 7 new girl group heaven-tastic tracks.

(I've taken out the direct email link to stop any spamming...)

2004-03-03T10:50:00.000Z

I had the most amazing, chilled weekend - and part of that was finally attending the Peter Saville exhibition at Urbis.

Now, Urbis is itself a bit of a letdown - fantastic building, but patchy exhibits that failed to draw me in. It doesn't help that many of them involve audio and video in an open space concept, which means you can hear them throughout the building and makes paying attention difficult.

However, we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the Peter Saville show, which is set up in a separate part of the building. At £5 entry, I was a bit wary at what would be in store, but isn't it nice to eat your words once in a while? I've since found out that it was arranged by the Design Museum in London - perhaps the Urbis curators should take heed.

As you enter, there's a wonderful backdrop grainy shot of the Arndale in the 60s with a telly showing some of Anthony Wilson's old music programme So It Goes. From there, you can pore over the scribbles, rough designs and varied sources of inspiration that led to some of the most famous record sleeve art ever. New Order, early OMD, Factory posters, the gorgeous Pulp 'This is Hardcore' era sleeves - to name just a few. Seeing how they all came about felt like being allowed into a secret world. He drew inspiration from unexpected things like dried leaves or quirky antique books. We agreed that it made design feel really accessible - in fact I felt really inspired to do a bit more myself.

The background music is also gorgeous, and I found out afterwards that it was specially created by New Order for the exhibit itself. You can buy the cd in the shop afterwards. (I haven't, as I'm trying to be non-shopping for a while... but I'm tempted!)

Anyhow, it's on until April 18th. If you're in town, I can't think of a nicer way to spend an afternoon.

2004-02-29T17:28:00.000Z

The bf went to a magician's convention in Blackpool the other weekend, and this was in the programme. I can't think of words brilliant enough to do it justice...

2004-02-24T12:34:00.000Z

OK, so I'm so over the Siemens SL55. Reviews panned it for breaking down constantly, so cherry red and titanium seductive sleekness is just not enough. I've stuck with my creaky Alcatel for the time being until I can be bothered to upgrade again.

But now I'm suddenly itching for an iPod mini. It comes in pink! And I could get it engraved! Ooooooooh. The perfect portable home for all my 60s girl group vinyl.

Only available in the uk from late April though, unless you want to take your chances with an eBay seller. Not that I can justify it at the moment - one for down the road I think. But it is so pretty...

2004-02-23T16:44:00.000Z

So I was checking out possible hotels near the venue for a show I'm doing in London in late March, and came across this self-penned description which made me laugh:

The Hotel is a very pleasant, friendly, but unpretentious hotel situated in Hammersmith. No1 Hotel on the road. Finest rooms, unchallenged locally. Try the newest and cleanest rooms in the area. The relaxed atmosphere of the hotel ensures that visitors are made to feel welcome. There are many good restaurants pubs and cinemas plus Apollo nearby. Please try us as we are the best and can prove it whether you are an individual or a group, no one in our road can match or beat us.

Awwww. It's only a fairly bog-standard chintzy b&b stylee place, but nice to know you're welcome!

2004-02-20T13:01:00.000Z

Somehow the bf & I managed to drink three bottles of chardonnay between us last night. Hic. And now I'm quite hungover, and tired too because I woke up at 5:30 am feeling ill and couldn't get back to sleep. I'm sure I'm getting punished for having fun on a school night...

I haven't written much lately due to being generally tired from work and a bit uninspired. But a few bits & pieces:

I'm Actionetting tomorrow night at the Water Rats in Kings Cross - more tipsy 60s glamour and glitter, with two packed sets with singing, dancing and all the usual girl-only DJing in between. Good value for your £4!

I scored a long sought-after girl group single on eBay last week by brit girl Judi Johnson, which prompted me to do a bit of web searching for some info as little was known about her. I stumbled across a tribute page put up by her daughter, which sadly came about since she passed away in 2002. There are some amazing photos though, and you can listen to both sides of the single I found too.

In other sad news, Dusty Springfield's cat Nicholas recently passed away. He survived Dusty by 4 years and was about 17 - a nice long life for a very lucky soul puzzah. Read all about it on Simon Bell's Dusty News page. (scroll down...)

2004-02-11T14:17:00.000Z

Manchester is the only place I've lived where the city buses let you ride for free because you're trying to pay with a fiver and they haven't got any change. You can't buy standard tickets any other way, so it's get on and see what happens. But seeing as they *never* have change, maybe I should always try and pay with a big bill! You also often see people desperately haggling with the change-less drivers: "I've got £1.20 and some pennies, ok?"

Come to think of it, it's amazing how often any bus I catch is missing something - laminate backings for weekly passes, friendly drivers, ventilation, upholstery, brakes...

But at least it's not like Toronto, where the streetcar (tram) or bus drivers don't carry any change. You can buy strips of tickets from just about any corner shop, so the attitude is there is no excuse for not paying to get on. I remember one passenger only had a $20 bill - and the driver told him with a straight face that he would have to put that in the farebox or get off. Bearing in mind a single fare was $2 at the time...

2004-02-04T15:05:00.000Z

Happy, tired and sad all at once.

Happy because my work launch party went amazingly well last night in every way. People seemed genuinely moved by the charity's work and there was a really nice atmosphere in the reception afterwards. It was also really nice to explain and show what I do to so many people, from the business side of things (out of town colleagues, supporters) to the personal (my bf.) Usually I try not to "bring work home" as it were, but it was cool.

Tired because, well - a big event is always draining. Plus I'm not always that comfortable with doing the meet & greet thing for hours on end, even though I'm actually pretty good at it. It usually hits me afterwards as I just go into overdrive while it's all happening.

Sad because I had some terrible news this morning about the death of one of my friend's good friends. My tired state meant that it hit me pretty hard.

I felt pretty hollow this morning as I sloshed into work through a batch of cold winter rain. As I walked through the Arndale to get to my bus stop, all the shops seemed too bright, forcibly cheerful and pointless. I made it to my office and had to have a good cry.

But... it's the afternoon now and I'm feeling better. Lots of nice calls and emails about the event and a big M&S picnic lunch courtesy of my manager, and I reconfirmed my bookings for a little sejour this weekend in Brighton with the bf. It's good to focus on the positive I guess - but what a very up and down day.

2004-01-28T12:08:00.000Z

The snow has turned to pouring rain - and I didn't bring my brolly.

Serves me right for making fun of how the UK copes with a few centimetres of the white stuff, I guess...

2004-01-28T10:47:00.000Z

Snow, snow everywhere...

Lots of it - for Manchester of course. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen actual snowfall since I moved here. And of course, it's always cute how this usually means that trains will be slow or cancelled, and drivers refuse to take to the roads. I also spotted some people using umbrellas...heh.

The bf mentioned that this cold snap and snow had come via Canada, so I had a look at the Toronto Star just now. I'm glad I'm not back home...

2004-01-23T11:27:00.000Z

I've been walking to work recently - a combination of a) trying to save money before payday b) getting exercise c) feeling tired of paying £8 a week for a 3-4 minute bus ride. It takes me about 20 minutes, so there's lots for me to take in on my journey. Funny old Salfordian pubs that open at 8 am to serve breakfast to construction workers, and have old man karaoke crooners in the evening. Converted flats and swish media companies setting up shop in old warehouses, taking advantage of the original features and cheaper rents. A rash of solicitor firms specialising in 24 hour criminal law representation. The back entrance of the Lowry Hotel.

But one place sticks in my mind. Tucked beside one of the pubs, there's a tiny, brand-new corner shop. It's squeaky clean, freshly painted and has that real sense of wanting to do well. But what makes me sad is that it only has about four shelves stocked with a standard assortment of bread, biscuits and chocolate bars. There's always a little old man sat behind the counter, and no one ever seems to be in there.

The thing is, I never really need anything they stock when I'm on my way home, and it's not open in the morning when I could pop in for some milk for the office. And I guess maybe I feel a bit shy - like I'd feel I *had* to buy something if I went in to have a look. Like those posh clothing shops that stock about 5 dresses. Only it's Kit Kats and Hovis white.

2004-01-15T14:02:00.000Z

It's not often that I miss North American tv shows, especially as the best ones tend to get imported anyhow - but I have a soft spot for a good ol' made-for-TV movie. I looked up American Splendor (which we're seeing tonight), which led me to check out Hope Davis => About Schmidt => The Daytrippers => Parker Posey and finally Hell on Heels: Shirley McClaine, Parker Posey and Shannon Doherty in a tale about the Mary Kay cosmetics empire - fantastic! Maybe I should consider getting the Hallmark channel again.

2004-01-13T11:28:00.000Z

Blogger keeps swallowing my posts. Grrr.

So. Lost in Translation was every bit as fantastic as I expected. And the ending was heaven set to "Just like honey" by the Jesus & Mary Chain. The rest of the evening just had to be Japanese style too, so we headed straight for the Wagamama (also in the Printworks) for edamame, gyoza, tonkatsu and Kirin Ichiban. OK, it's not completely authentic, but it's close enough. And then back to our flat for more drinks and... karaoke. You see, I invested in a special karaoke dvd player a few years ago. It hasn't had much use since last spring really, but after a glass or two of wine, I wistfully said I had the karaoke bug. The bf surprised me by saying he was up for it too, even though my song list was mostly made up of 70s rock ballads, 80s pop, recent top 40 and the Carpenters. A boy after my own heart! I activated the scoring function too, and if you can believe it, our best result was 95% for "Bag it Up" by Geri. And I have now been instructed to find some hip hop karaoke vcds for the next time...

All things Japanese continued on Sunday, when we explored Chinatown for the first time in ages. The bf bought a Gundam robot model, we did some purikura and I also picked up some panko breadcrumbs and Japanese curry sauce so I can make tonkatsu at home this week.

We also wanted to make some edamame at home, but buying fresh or frozen soybeans still in their pods has proved impossible in Manchester so far. I?ve discovered that Mount Fuji do mailorder frozen edamame, but there's a whopping £9.95 delivery charge since it's sent overnight - a bit much when the beans cost around £2. Hmmm.

2004-01-09T12:06:00.000Z

I sniped an auction yesterday for a single I've been wanting for ages - Jackie Lee's "The town I live in" (which I first fell in love with many years ago through the Dream Babes cd). I had to bid a few times to win, but I *really* wanted it as I've never seen it for sale anywhere before. Moments after I'd won, I got an email from the other bidder, who turned out to be the person who runs the only Jackie website I know of. Oooops. I've promised him a scan though, and I don't feel *too* badly as he's got another copy, just not this one (which is a promo issue). Ah, girl group politics.

It's been a very cinematic couple of days, too. Sleeper and Far From Heaven last night. I cried my eyes out during Far From Heaven, especially since I'd had a crap day at work. And tonight, Lost in Translation is finally out in the UK, so we're going to a screening right after work. I expect to be floating around in a happy Sofia Coppola/Bill Murray/Japan bubble for the rest of the evening.

2004-01-06T13:48:00.000Z

Sinus cold, owwww. Drugs not working. Note: do not let the sweet but, at the end of the day, clearly on-commission pharmacist persuade you to buy the Boots brand of Sinutab. Half the price maybe, but that also must mean half the drugs. It just ain't happening.

Oh, and can I gripe about the supermarket cashier I had yesterday? I thought he'd said £3.10, so I gave him £10.10. He took my money, punched it in and, after a minute of painstakingly sifting through the till, handed me a bill and a big pile of change. £6.99 in fact. So I said:

"Umm, I thought you said £3.10? That's why I gave you £10.10...?"

Him: "No, it was £3.11." (silence)

Me: "Can I ask why you didn't ask me for the penny?"

Him: even blanker expression

In the end I just walked away.

2004-01-05T12:31:00.000Z

I haven't been anywhere near a computer since before christmas, and it was actually quite nice to just forget about emails and eBay for a while.

Got completely spoiled, which was lovely - too many presents to list, but off the top of my head: Creme de la Mer, trainers, an amazing hoodie from a brilliant new label, Duel Industries, dvds, 60s design books, the new Kelis album, Dream Babes 5, a beautiful pop art clock, and a nice little sum to add to my holiday fund from my parents, who say it's high time I paid Toronto a visit. (It'll be three years next September if I don't get back before then, ooops...)

Spent christmas/boxing day at the bf's parents' house, doing the usual sofa/telly/food thing (bliss!) and then it was back to Manchester for the rest of my break to just relax and do whatever. Let me tell you, sometimes it's pretty tiring living in town anyhow, but seasonal shopping hell made things even more intense. Just trying to do a run to Tesco for some milk required major psyching up, and forget about trying to just turn up at a restaurant to eat. So we mostly hibernated away with our ever growing dvd collection, except for new year's when we ventured out in the pouring rain to the That Amazing Thing party in a nice old pub tucked away off Chapel Street. And so 2004 started with a nice snog and dancing to Irfane...

2003-12-16T13:33:00.000Z

There's a thread on ILE about every job you've ever had, which got me thinking...here's my list, starting at about age 12:

Soy milk bottle washer (don't ask, but it was $1 a load!)
Saturday helper at an independant toy store
Saturday helper at my mom's bookstore
Saturday helper at a dressmaker/drycleaners
Correcting mislabled tofu/tempeh bags with stickers ($8 for a box of 1000)
Admin cover at a small insurance company (friend of the family)
Carol singer (paid for by the local council)
Food/sample demonstrationist at various veggie fairs and supermarkets
Receptionist at a colonic irrigation clinic
Runner/assistant at the English Language Association's annual convention (in Toronto that year...)
Kitchen staff/waitress/head cook (evolved gradually over 10 years) in veggie restaurant
Runner/camera person/presenter etc. for a community TV channel in Toronto
Runner/CG switcher for Ed the Sock (Canadian tv, don't ask)
Temp at various weird government and private offices in Toronto
Bilingual receptionist/bilingual case processer at the Ontario Labour Relations
Temp for various weird hospitals in Toronto
Temp for various television programmes in Manchester
Casting assistant for a television programme that shall go unnamed
Personal assistant/production co-ordinator for a small indie TV company
Telephone Advice worker
Office manager for a technology firm
Office manager for a charity

I'm trying to decide which jobs I liked the best. I have fond memories of the ELA convention, because Salman Rushdie was supposed to speak and security was really tight that day - we felt like we were in a movie.

2003-12-10T14:38:00.000Z

Our neighbours in the flat above went away for a long weekend, and it was absolute bliss. Shall I describe them a bit? Well, they wake up at about 6 am and it starts from there. They don't walk, they stomp. Constantly, back and forth across the flat. I swear they barely leave the house, and they sure as heck never seem to flop out on the sofa with a cup of tea. I don't sit around worrying about it or anything, but it does get pretty annoying sometimes.

On very rare occasions, I don't mind the stomping. This is when it's 3 am, and some late night revellers are still partying outside our building, blasting Guns 'N Roses from their car to keep the party going. You can time it - 10 seconds after the noise starts, she stomps over to the window. I don't mind it then, because I know she's probably calling the police or someone like that, and it means we don't have to.

We know we're not imagining things, because when people come to visit, they always look up with alarm when they first hear it. She's also been known to do extra on-the-spot stomping when they think the music is too loud, which always bugs me as not only do we take care to never play it *very* loud, especially if it's late - but I never complain when she blares the Corrs and Westlife.

Anyhow, they got back last night - you couldn't miss it really. I must have noise karma though, because some roadworks fired up outside at 7 pm and we had to put up with drilling for 45 minutes. Even worse, they came back at 5 AM (!!) and started up again for a good half hour, which prevented us from getting a good night's sleep. There's no way that can be legal...

This time, I'm not going to leave it just to Stompy. I've emailed the council to complain, but I'm also trying to find a good site that has info on relevant legislation. (If you know of any, get in touch...)

2003-12-09T12:07:00.000Z

A whole lotta fried chicken going on...

I've been checking out Dead Man Eating this morning, a site chock full of last meal requests from death row inmates. Compelling yet tasteless (pardon the pun) ...