I met a man who wasn't there / he wasn't there again today / I wish I wish he'd go away
Posts
Evolutionary semantics
1 hour ago
Friday, April 30, 2004
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Hatred, Holiness and Hamsters
A SocietyGuardian article today tells of a CAB report that people with mental illness face widespread discrimination. This comes as no surprise, and the article and the report make depressing and not very surprising reading. On the one hand it's good to have statistics like these to back up arguments and make your point, on the other, of course it would be better if this was never the situation so statistics weren't necessary.
Holy Disorders is also an article well worth reading, comparing "modern" anorexia with the starvation and self injurious behaviours of female saints throughout history. And of course, race training for all mental health staff can only be a good idea. Follow it up with awareness of women's and LGB issues and we might start getting somewhere...
On what was supposed to be a *nicer* point, here are some photos of my hamsters. It was supposed to be a nicer point in a chilled, cute way. In fact it was stressful in a *you can't do tables in html using only instinct* way. I like things to be instinctual, hence being a music- and language-type. In any case, at some point I will actually learn how to do them and re-do the page. For now, hopefully their cuteness will take precedence over the crappy page layout, font, colours etc. etc. etc.
Hmmm...
Holy Disorders is also an article well worth reading, comparing "modern" anorexia with the starvation and self injurious behaviours of female saints throughout history. And of course, race training for all mental health staff can only be a good idea. Follow it up with awareness of women's and LGB issues and we might start getting somewhere...
On what was supposed to be a *nicer* point, here are some photos of my hamsters. It was supposed to be a nicer point in a chilled, cute way. In fact it was stressful in a *you can't do tables in html using only instinct* way. I like things to be instinctual, hence being a music- and language-type. In any case, at some point I will actually learn how to do them and re-do the page. For now, hopefully their cuteness will take precedence over the crappy page layout, font, colours etc. etc. etc.
Hmmm...
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Burlap, Blogs and Boredom
Billy "Smiles" Evans
I am a very sick little boy. My mother is typing this for me, because I can't. She is crying. Don't cry, Mommy! Mommy is always sad, but she says it's not my fault. I asked her if it was God's fault, but she didn't answer, and only started crying harder, so I don't ask her that anymore. The reason she is so sad is that I'm so sick. I was born without a body. It doesn't hurt, except when I go to sleep.
The doctors gave me an artificial body. My body is a burlap bag filled with leaves. The doctors said that was the best they could do on account of us havin' no money or insurance. I would like to have a body transplant, but we need more money. Mommy doesn't work because she said employers don't hire crying people. I said, "Don't cry, Mommy," and she hugged my burlap body. Mommy always gives me hugs, even though she's allergic to burlap, and it chafes her real bad.
I hope you will help me. You can help me if you forward this e-mail. Dr. Johansen said if you foward this e-mail then Bill Gates will team up with AOL and do a survey with NASA. Then the astronauts will collect prayers from school children all over America and take them up to space so that the angels can hear them better. Then they will go to the Pope, and he will take up a collection in church and send the money to the doctors. The doctors could help me better then.
Maybe one day I will be able to play baseball. Or maybe just use my lungs and heart, when the doctors make them. The doctors said that every time you foward this letter, the astronauts can take another prayer to the angels. Please help me. Mommy is so sad, and I want a body. I don't want my leaves to rot before I turn 10.
If you don't foward this e-mail, that's OK. Mommy says you're a mean heartless person who doesn't care about a poor little boy with only a head. She says that she hopes that you stew in the raw pit of your own guilt-ridden stomach. What kind of wretched person are you that you can't take five lousy minutes to forward this to all your friends so that they can feel guilt and shame for the rest of their day, and then maybe help a poor, bodiless nine-year-old boy?
Please help me. This really sucks. I try to be happy but it's hard. I wish
I had a puppy. I wish I could hold a puppy.
Thank You.
Billy 'Smiles' Evans,
The boy with just a head.
And a burlap sack for a body.
This is about as good as subverting the perceived power of chain letters as anything I've ever come across! Go, burlap boy!
I want to link to some of my friends' LJs and blogs. There are some Open Diaries too but not sure if they're secret so I won't yet.
Anyway for now I give you...
/drum roll/
faintpraise, Becksydee, Shy_Fae and Snowball.
/applause/
When I get round to it I will add a links section to the right to blogs I like - the best ones tend to be the ones you get to through following links from links and more links. You find a gem and have no idea how you got there.
There are some really impressive photography ones for instance. And very good social and political commentary from all over. And funny stuff too, of course, I'm not totally boring and serious.
Optical Illusions are always good to fill a few minutes of boredom.
I am a very sick little boy. My mother is typing this for me, because I can't. She is crying. Don't cry, Mommy! Mommy is always sad, but she says it's not my fault. I asked her if it was God's fault, but she didn't answer, and only started crying harder, so I don't ask her that anymore. The reason she is so sad is that I'm so sick. I was born without a body. It doesn't hurt, except when I go to sleep.
The doctors gave me an artificial body. My body is a burlap bag filled with leaves. The doctors said that was the best they could do on account of us havin' no money or insurance. I would like to have a body transplant, but we need more money. Mommy doesn't work because she said employers don't hire crying people. I said, "Don't cry, Mommy," and she hugged my burlap body. Mommy always gives me hugs, even though she's allergic to burlap, and it chafes her real bad.
I hope you will help me. You can help me if you forward this e-mail. Dr. Johansen said if you foward this e-mail then Bill Gates will team up with AOL and do a survey with NASA. Then the astronauts will collect prayers from school children all over America and take them up to space so that the angels can hear them better. Then they will go to the Pope, and he will take up a collection in church and send the money to the doctors. The doctors could help me better then.
Maybe one day I will be able to play baseball. Or maybe just use my lungs and heart, when the doctors make them. The doctors said that every time you foward this letter, the astronauts can take another prayer to the angels. Please help me. Mommy is so sad, and I want a body. I don't want my leaves to rot before I turn 10.
If you don't foward this e-mail, that's OK. Mommy says you're a mean heartless person who doesn't care about a poor little boy with only a head. She says that she hopes that you stew in the raw pit of your own guilt-ridden stomach. What kind of wretched person are you that you can't take five lousy minutes to forward this to all your friends so that they can feel guilt and shame for the rest of their day, and then maybe help a poor, bodiless nine-year-old boy?
Please help me. This really sucks. I try to be happy but it's hard. I wish
I had a puppy. I wish I could hold a puppy.
Thank You.
Billy 'Smiles' Evans,
The boy with just a head.
And a burlap sack for a body.
This is about as good as subverting the perceived power of chain letters as anything I've ever come across! Go, burlap boy!
I want to link to some of my friends' LJs and blogs. There are some Open Diaries too but not sure if they're secret so I won't yet.
Anyway for now I give you...
/drum roll/
faintpraise, Becksydee, Shy_Fae and Snowball.
/applause/
When I get round to it I will add a links section to the right to blogs I like - the best ones tend to be the ones you get to through following links from links and more links. You find a gem and have no idea how you got there.
There are some really impressive photography ones for instance. And very good social and political commentary from all over. And funny stuff too, of course, I'm not totally boring and serious.
Optical Illusions are always good to fill a few minutes of boredom.
Degrees and DJs
I got an Aegrotat Degree. That is the first definition I have ever come across of them. Not that I've especially looked, mainly through the shame / denial of the whole thing.
I shouldn't be ashamed, they say, because not only is it a full degree, but they are very rarely awarded because it is rare that someone's work is at a good enough standard to have guaranteed that they would have passed had they sat the final exams.
Hmmm.
I hate chain letters. I hate chain letters. I received one today and am angry about it. Not the email kind - they're bad enough, but this was a real, paper chain letter, making me feel it has even more power.
Yeah I know it's a stupid piece of paper, but that's not how it feels.
I am currently having a not-so-mentally-healthy reminiscence over Red Rose Rock FM as it used to be called.
Weirdly, it seems that Adele from Big Brother is now a DJ on there.
I remember Mike Toolan but really I was looking for (just worked out his name) Paul Jordan who, according to Digital Spy Forum, dotJournalism, Emap and many others, is now MD of Rock FM, though MediaUK says he is Head of News. I'm guessing that's out of date.
The Digital Spy Forum also mentioned Claire Anderson and Kev Seed, both of whom I remember.
97.4 Red Rose Rock FM from the Rocking Church at St. Pauls Square, to the Tower Of Power at Winter Hill across the Great North West
More rock, less talk
Buy a bike, buy a bike, get down to Charnock Richard Cycles. Buy a bike!
We're rocking the north west!
Charnock Richard cycles doesn't seem to have a website, but it was certainly worth linking to the google search results, as every single link to it seems to mention the ad jingle!
I have no idea where I was intending to go with that, but all that googling has taken me way off the track of whatever it may have been.
I shouldn't be ashamed, they say, because not only is it a full degree, but they are very rarely awarded because it is rare that someone's work is at a good enough standard to have guaranteed that they would have passed had they sat the final exams.
Hmmm.
I hate chain letters. I hate chain letters. I received one today and am angry about it. Not the email kind - they're bad enough, but this was a real, paper chain letter, making me feel it has even more power.
Yeah I know it's a stupid piece of paper, but that's not how it feels.
I am currently having a not-so-mentally-healthy reminiscence over Red Rose Rock FM as it used to be called.
Weirdly, it seems that Adele from Big Brother is now a DJ on there.
I remember Mike Toolan but really I was looking for (just worked out his name) Paul Jordan who, according to Digital Spy Forum, dotJournalism, Emap and many others, is now MD of Rock FM, though MediaUK says he is Head of News. I'm guessing that's out of date.
The Digital Spy Forum also mentioned Claire Anderson and Kev Seed, both of whom I remember.
97.4 Red Rose Rock FM from the Rocking Church at St. Pauls Square, to the Tower Of Power at Winter Hill across the Great North West
More rock, less talk
Buy a bike, buy a bike, get down to Charnock Richard Cycles. Buy a bike!
We're rocking the north west!
Charnock Richard cycles doesn't seem to have a website, but it was certainly worth linking to the google search results, as every single link to it seems to mention the ad jingle!
I have no idea where I was intending to go with that, but all that googling has taken me way off the track of whatever it may have been.
Friday, April 16, 2004
Bush, Lush and Personality Disorders
I can't decide whether this Personality Disorders poem is cute or offensive...
The world and the news are too depressing currently to comment on, so I will leave you with my latest poem :))
Lush and Bush
If George W. Bush
Ever visited Lush
I just know he would chill out so much
Poor countries he'd feed
He'd legalise weed
Following the footsteps of the Dutch.
With each bar of soap
He'd increase our hope
For a world with no fighting or war
All fresh and organic
He'd be the mechanic
Of justice, equality for all.
He'd melt in the bath
Enjoying the aftermath
Of all of his spending and giving
With a smile in his eyes
Amidst bubbles he lies
Knowing he just improved someone's living.
So go on, Georgie B,
Buy a bath bomb or three,
And help make the world a nice place
A refreshing quick shower
You'll use all your power
And abolish the nuclear arms race.
by me
The world and the news are too depressing currently to comment on, so I will leave you with my latest poem :))
Lush and Bush
If George W. Bush
Ever visited Lush
I just know he would chill out so much
Poor countries he'd feed
He'd legalise weed
Following the footsteps of the Dutch.
With each bar of soap
He'd increase our hope
For a world with no fighting or war
All fresh and organic
He'd be the mechanic
Of justice, equality for all.
He'd melt in the bath
Enjoying the aftermath
Of all of his spending and giving
With a smile in his eyes
Amidst bubbles he lies
Knowing he just improved someone's living.
So go on, Georgie B,
Buy a bath bomb or three,
And help make the world a nice place
A refreshing quick shower
You'll use all your power
And abolish the nuclear arms race.
by me
Monday, April 12, 2004
Sunday, April 11, 2004
Manchester
I spent yesterday in Manchester with an old friend (in length of time we've been friends, rather than her age) and was quite shocked to see Manchester city centre nowadays.
Lots of glass and such buildings - very modern, whatever that means, striking, and almost certainly built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games which were held there.
I also couldn't help but notice the sheer number of designer and exceedingly expensive shops around. This could have just been representative of the area we spent time in, though we were pretty central which could suggest this is how the whole of the shopping centre is. Selfridges was large and impressive, though almost frightening in prices, and it was not alone amongst an an incredible array of capitalist blatancy.
That's not to say I didn't have fun or indeed indulge in the shopping experience. I left Whittards with Almond Amaretto and Irish Cream flavoured instant coffees, and chocolate milkshake stuff, which I hope will go well with my soya milk supplies.
I also spent a little too much on purty things in Paperchase which is an incredible shop indeed, and I could easily spend a year's wages (if indeed I got wages) in.
I couldn't, however, imagine what Manchester City Centre is like for those souls who live in Manchester but, as will be the case for the majority, don't have the income to do their regular shopping in a centre like this. Sure, I spotted a Mk One and other such bargainous shops, but to be surrounded by such oppressive extravagence and indulgence must be somewhat depressing.
I got the inescapable idea that, in catering for the many visitors which Manchester must get, Commonwealth Games or not, they have perhaps lost sight of their city's residents' needs. It was a fabulous place to visit and see, but if I lived there, with the minimal income I have, I would find going into the city centre a thoroughly depressing experience as it highlighted how little I have and how much some have, the huge gap and unfairness implied within that.
It had been quite a while since I'd visited Manchester, and I would certainly go again, though most likely next time I would avoid the uncomfortable crowds which are so inevitable on Easter Saturday in school holidays.
Incidentally, this must be the first Easter ever when I seem to have managed to not buy a single Easter Egg. Impressive.
Lots of glass and such buildings - very modern, whatever that means, striking, and almost certainly built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games which were held there.
I also couldn't help but notice the sheer number of designer and exceedingly expensive shops around. This could have just been representative of the area we spent time in, though we were pretty central which could suggest this is how the whole of the shopping centre is. Selfridges was large and impressive, though almost frightening in prices, and it was not alone amongst an an incredible array of capitalist blatancy.
That's not to say I didn't have fun or indeed indulge in the shopping experience. I left Whittards with Almond Amaretto and Irish Cream flavoured instant coffees, and chocolate milkshake stuff, which I hope will go well with my soya milk supplies.
I also spent a little too much on purty things in Paperchase which is an incredible shop indeed, and I could easily spend a year's wages (if indeed I got wages) in.
I couldn't, however, imagine what Manchester City Centre is like for those souls who live in Manchester but, as will be the case for the majority, don't have the income to do their regular shopping in a centre like this. Sure, I spotted a Mk One and other such bargainous shops, but to be surrounded by such oppressive extravagence and indulgence must be somewhat depressing.
I got the inescapable idea that, in catering for the many visitors which Manchester must get, Commonwealth Games or not, they have perhaps lost sight of their city's residents' needs. It was a fabulous place to visit and see, but if I lived there, with the minimal income I have, I would find going into the city centre a thoroughly depressing experience as it highlighted how little I have and how much some have, the huge gap and unfairness implied within that.
It had been quite a while since I'd visited Manchester, and I would certainly go again, though most likely next time I would avoid the uncomfortable crowds which are so inevitable on Easter Saturday in school holidays.
Incidentally, this must be the first Easter ever when I seem to have managed to not buy a single Easter Egg. Impressive.
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Arsenal vs. Man United
I'm sitting here watching the game
And if I'm honest, it's quite lame
Apart from when United scored
Mostly I've just been quite bored.
Finally the game has ended
Feigning interest now suspended
Man United, in the lead,
To the final now succeed.
Arsenal must be quite frustrated
Thoughts of victory all abated.
It's taken over the TV
And is of no interest to me.
Even now the game has finished
Debate and woes are not diminished
They will discuss it now for ages
And fill up all the sports back pages.
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