Hippie's Hunt for Happiness

The world is fairly disastrous at the moment, I feel. It scares me.

I am trying desperately to find some positive things to write about. Community events, creative resistance, something... Not to pretend the shit isn't happening - that's impossible. But as, I guess, a way to try to re-balance the things we are exposed to, things we hear about, things we see. I need there to be more going on in this world than what I hear on the news.

Sheffield's annual Off The Shelf festival of reading and writing is happening this month.

Now in its 13 th year, Sheffield 's annual literary fortnight is a well-established festival which is one of the highlights of Sheffield 's cultural calendar and one of the largest festivals in the North of England.

Radio 4 comedy really has its pretty impressive moments. A new series of the rather splendid The News Quiz started today. I slept through it this evening but will be listening again once it is up on the site.

I thought googling happy might be the next step in my quest for despair-erasing enlightenment. I was sadly wrong.

But it's got to be promising that there are about 39,900,000 results, yeah? I'll keep looking.

Ok, result number 470 informs me that there is such thing as a Happy Number in mathematics. Note the cunning use of the full word to avoid any potential UK + AUS (maths) and US (math) semantic conflict.

I don't understand a word of the first paragraph, so will slip in an easier extract, as follows:

The first few happy numbers are 1, 7, 10, 13, 19, 23, 28, 31, 32, 44, 49, 68, 70, 79, 82, 86, 91, 94, 97, 100

.
There, see. Happy numbers. Follow the link there if you actually understand maths stuff and want to know more.

You know when you look at a certain word a lot, and it starts to look odd. That is now happening with HAPPY.

Willkommen Im Happychat is actually the absolutely last google result for happy.

Not sure any of this is actually making me any happier. Keeping me occupied, mebbe, but not making me happy.

The article entitled Reassurance sounded promising, even if it was from Dermatology Times. The image search shows some odd perspectives on reassurance, though they were significantly less garish and harsh on my tired eyes than the results for happy.

Maybe, just maybe, the answer is more in contentment, or friendship, or love, or sunny days. Not the thing, but rather a combination and build-up of many small things.

Maybe.

Laydees and Gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for!

Hippie's Oh My Gawd link of the week award goes to...

[drum roll]

WKetchup.com.

Their slogan is (really and truly, this isn't Hippie ripping the piss - there's no need for that, they provide you with it all! Where was I? Oh yeah, their slogan),

You don't support Democrats
Why should your ketchup?

It's true! I don't even have to make any of my own jokes!

Cool web address of the week has to be www.hop-skip-jump.com/ which is just ultra cute - and entirely fitting for the Beatrix Potter website.

And the not seen for a while but totally worth a click award of the week goes to Tom Lehrer's Elements song animated in Flash.

'Next Blog' of the Week (if you don't know what I'm talking about you can see here. Or just leave, if you want), chosen from four randomly clicked on 'Next Blogs', goes to Witchesland, for pure oddness value.

Cool poster - Boycott Stagecoach.

I'll go in a minute - this is the last of tonight's Hippie Awards. Soooooooo, Quotation of the Week (that being the week I heard it, rather than the week it was said...) goes to the aforementioned Tom Lehrer.

'I'm not tempted to write a song about George W.Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporise them.'

Saturday Superstore

I won 5 competitions this morning. Five!!

The postman came with some stuff I'd bought from ebay, a free gift from a magazine subscription, and five competition prizes!!

• Lindor chocolates
• Sanex shower gel, deodorant and mirror
• Kent Minihog hairbrush by appointment to her majesty the queen brushmakers g. b. kent and sons plc
• Rolson tool kit
and
• a Learn Portuguese in a day DVD

.
As Faintpraise so aptly put it - not bad for a day's work!

Someone has compiled a list on amazon of authors with, umm, unfortunate names. Entirely childish and silly, but here it is. My favourite really does have to be the poor sod called Norman Conquest... :))

And you know all those tricky questions which keep you awake at night? The intricacies of creation vs. evolution, could an all-powerful God build a wall that he couldn't climb over? Well, all is solved by the publication of this comprehensive God FAQ.


Incidentally, I am fully aware that while I write silly stuff, much of the world is being ripped apart in one way or another. I am not ignoring it, I'm just not able to blog about it for now. I liked what Billy said.

It's keeping me awake at night, it makes me cry several times a day, it fills my thoughts. This, this, this, this, this, this, this... Need I go on? Because I could have done. For pages and pages.

I'm blogging about daft stuff, I'm taking the happy pills, but my soul hurts.

rainbow 

If You're Not Outraged You're Not Paying Attention.

Yuck. I hate that I published that last entry. As I said several days earlier, I was inspired by an amazing woman's words, but in my own writing there, obviously momentary confidence led to me posting it. The proceeding reality and self-flagellation have led to me regretting it.

So mainly I'm writing here so it's not so bloody visible at the top of the page.

I'm kind of getting obsessed with the Next Blog link at the top right of the page. You never know if one more click won't take you to the ultimate blog of all blogs. Generally it doesn't, and lots are in Spanish, which I don't speak, but there's always a feeling of I'll just click it one more time...

Several times I was led to what could be a great blog, but which only had one entry. You can't judge a blog on that basis, so I didn't save them, though had there been more in them, chances are I may have done. Ah well.

I've added some new links to incurable hippie tonight. Over there to the right. Yep, there. A few new blogs and a bit of extra stuff too.

I wonder sometimes if I should categorise the Blogs I Like links, but generally I quite like the randomness. Though it is getting longer. But I'm crap at categorising things. Nothing is ever that simple, in my experience.

Next Blog

Next Blog

Next Blog

Next Blog

Next Blog

Next Blog

Next Blog

need...to...stop...clicking...

Next Blog

[sigh]

Weight? Wait!

Until I was 23, I was slim. Periods of anorexia nervosa meant that for some of that time I was more thin than slim, and received very mixed messages from the world around me.

Those who knew me well cautioned me about how ill I was and looked, while those who were more passing acquaintances complimented my then emaciated figure. I, of course, chose to only pay attention to the latter, enjoying the attention and praise.

Nowadays, four years on, things are quite dramatically different. Firstly, nowadays I eat. I enjoy food and do not allow myself to submit to any inner voices berating me for being 'weak' or 'greedy'. Secondly, I am now overweight. Medication I have to take has resulted in significant weight gain, and adding that to the result of the anorexia I used to have on my metabolism, means that my body now, compared to my body then, bear little resemblance to each other.

The medication-induced weight gain occurred remarkably quickly, and it took me a long, long time to adjust to living in what was seemingly a stranger's body.

It wasn't just that I was heavier - rather, my whole body shape had changed, people's reactions to me had changed, the shops where I could buy clothes had changed, as had the styles of clothes I felt comfortable wearing.

Fortunately, there had been a long enough passing of time since my last period of disordered eating that, although I found my 'new body' somewhat difficult to adapt to, I wasn't especially traumatised by the sudden and rapid weight gain, as I am sure I would have been had it happened earlier.

I still regularly did double-takes, though, shocked at what I saw and didn't recognise when I caught an unexpected glimpse of myself in a mirror. Who is that round person?!

I had been flung from the world of the thin person (Top Shop, short skirts, can eat cake without people tutting) to the world of the fat person (badly fitting clothes, random disapproval from strangers, outraged stares if you dare to even think about eating cake), and I was secretly quite enjoying it!

I think this was, at least in part, because I could quite justifiably absolve myself from any responsibility for the weight gain. Within the mental health community which I am part of, the mere mention of the medication involved provokes knowing nods and mutterings of others' 3 or 4 stone put on while taking the same pills.

Nowadays I know where to shop for clothes which will fit, I eat as I please, and I am pretty damn comfortable with the body I'm living in. But even that in itself can lead to horrified reactions from (invariably thin) people who sincerely believe that I should hate my body, and constantly work against it to make it 'fit' the small sizes which are, it seems, the only ones which are socially acceptable.

Quite simply, I refuse to do this. I refuse to starve, and I refuse to apologise for my weight. More to the point, I will not apologise for not apologising!

We all have the right to live in the body we live in, without feeling a societally-imposed need to battle against, and hate it. I have gone from anorexic and underweight, to big and overweight, and for that, I refuse to apologise!

Fathers, Fakes and Foxes.

This last week seems to have been characterised by so-called breaches in security. First of all, Batman climbed onto a ledge on Buckingham Palace. The next day we found out that Robin had also been in attendance, but arrested early on.

Then we had pro-hunt protestors who got onto the floor of Parliament during the debate on hunting. Amusingly, this article goes onto talk about a breach of security in May when protestors threw (and I quote), purple powder missiles at Tony Blair. Purple powder missiles eh?! They were condoms full of purple flour!!!!

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, so the pro-hunt rich blokeys got onto the floor of the House of Commons and there has since been much talk of banning the public from Parliament buildings now, and such. Outrageous. How can we have even a pretence of democracy if we don't have access to our MPs and to the proceedings of Parliament?

Then, the icing on the government security embarrassment cake was that a reporter from yucky tabloid paper got a job as a waiter in the House of Commons, and smuggled in a fake bomb.

Sure, there are many questions being asked at present. Mine is... what on earth constitutes a fake bomb?? A ticking clock? a plastic hand grenade? A fake bomb?!

To the person who wondered whether I said that Fathers 4 Justice were misogynist in order to be controversial. No I didn't. I may write more about that issue in time, but until then Caroline hath spake wisely and more articulately than I could manage :)

About fox hunting. Get it banned! It's barbaric, and has been dragging its feet for so long. Calling it a vital pest control method is a ridiculous argument. One fox being ripped apart once a week on a Saturday afternoon is surely a totally inadequate way to keep any kind of pest under control.

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I am a Hippy



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Batman@BuckinghamPalace.com

The press are having kittens. It's not every day the news begins with, "A man dressed as Batman has scaled the walls of Buckingham Palace and is protesting on a ledge".

Cute trick. Unfortunately it's one of the gits from Fathers 4 Justice. They threw the condoms full of purple powder at Tony Blair from the public gallery in the House of Commons too.

We need to take from their ideas for funky stunts, but we need them to not ever succeed in any more of their misogyny and the hatred of women which fuels so much of their action and words.

In terms of the Batman stunt there is, of course, much speculation now of what if it had been an Al Qaeda terrorist and what if the royals had been there. I still stand by what I have said before. The royals are no more or less important than any of the rest of us.

dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner bat maan 

You Learn Something New Every Day...

Lembit Opik is so called because of his parents' Estonian background, and he speaks fluent Estonian.

FrankenBush Complaints

Here and here, little.red.boat talks about the Disneyfication of Pooh. She writes really well, and has summed up my own grrr about it perfectly.

I grew up with a magical Winnie the Pooh, the drawings in the books feeling like they had been drawn for me. It was personal and lovely. But now it's mass-produced, marketed, wrecked. It's just not at all the same.

And if she is right that videos called Cowboy Pooh and Frankenpooh have been made, well, I rest my case.

I like slow afternoon, who has a great list of Bush sites here worth a look at. For instance, you can see my own better Bush which I built. Frankenbush, if you will ;)

As you know, we don't have relationships with Iran. I mean, that's - ever since the late '70s, we have no contacts with them, and we've totally sanctioned them. In other words, there's no sanctions - you can't - we're out of sanctions.
- George W. Bush, forgetting about America's arms sales to Iran, Annandale, Va, Aug. 9, 2004

When I had a TV, I made the odd complaint. About offensive (misogynist, racist, prejudiced stuff) things I had seen. Not loads. Probably 3 or 4 in total over my lifetime. I know several friends who do / have done the same. The Filth and the Fury, about different things people call in to complain about, is funny and enlightening. Though I may, of course, have to complain about their use of offensive language regarding those with mental health problems...

Fat Feedback Flurry

She's fat. And that's fine. Good, even. Telling her she isn't is nonsensical. Fat isn't a bad thing to be.

I want her confidence, but for now I shall just love her words.

Ebay feedback seems to be becoming a theme here recently. It wasn't deliberately so, it just keeps being worth mentioning. Today's randomly selected ebayer (well, kinda) has an almost inconceivable 8320 negative feedbacks. Eight thousand three hundred and twenty! Negatives! And the buyers keep buying... Mad!

Genuine Idealist Freak

I referred to strange ebay feedback a few days ago but now I have been directed to some feedback extraordinaire.

Ebay tells us that

The Feedback Forum is the place to learn about your trading partners, view their reputations, and express your opinions by leaving feedback on your transactions. Such member-to-member comments help the millions of buyers and sellers in the community build trust and share their trading experiences with others.

Ebay user Andy46477 seems to have a somewhat different comprehension of its purpose...

• I'll bid on you til there's nothing left but crumbs! Then I'll bid on the crumbs
  
• The box you sent was open-proof. I had to use a BIG KNIFE and act MENACING. Bad!
  
• I'm eating a helicopter, I mean a hamburger. Did you send this? DELECTABLE!
  
• Would you like a bowl of soup? Of course not. See?

and so on...

I did this BBC What Am I Like quiz and apparently am an idealist...

Your answers suggest you are an Idealist

The four aspects that make up this personality type are:
spontaneous, ideas, hearts, introvert.

Summary of Idealists

* Make sense of the world using inner values
* Focus on personal growth and the growth of others
* Think of themselves as bright, forgiving and curious
* May sometimes appear stubborn

More about Idealists

Idealists put time and energy into developing personal values that they use as a guide through life. They may seek fulfilment by helping others improve themselves and often want to make the world a better place. Idealists only share their inner values with people they respect.

Idealists are the most likely group to say they are vegetarian, according to a UK survey.

Idealists enjoy discussions about a wide range of topics, particularly those that deal with the future. They are typically easy-going and flexible, but if their values are challenged they may refuse to compromise.

In situations where they can’t use their talents or are unappreciated, Idealists may have trouble expressing themselves and withdraw. Under extreme stress, Idealists may become very critical of others, or lose confidence in their own ability to cope.

Recognition for their work is important to Idealists; however, they are also good at spotting false praise.
Idealist Careers

Idealists are often drawn to jobs where they can help people reach their potential. They are also attracted to careers that allow artistic creativity.

I also got 18/20 correct when distinguishing genuine and fake smiles.

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And I leave you with something to bring tears to any man's eyes... Scary scary scary.

Positive Mental Attitude.

How to start your day with a positive attitude:

1. Create a "New Folder" on your computer
2. Name it "George W. Bush."
3. Send it to the recycle bin.
4. Empty the recycle bin.
5. Your computer will ask you: "Do you really want to get rid of
"George W. Bush"?
6. Answer calmly "Yes" and press the mouse button firmly.
7. Repeat as often as desired.

sky 

Dusty Demolitions.

I spent an hour or so this afternoon watching the old Claywood Flats being demolished by nibbling.

I have to say that, though Sheffield City Council refer to it as nibbling, having watched it for some time I think that is understating it. This is a vicious munching metal monster! I watched the thing actually eat two whole flats. And I got covered in dust. Weird, but quite compulsive to watch.

Whoever it was who found my blog through searching for shagging underwater, I was alarmed to be number 2 on the search results list. As it was, when I worked out that it was the most boring pets in the world that led you here, I giggled a lot. Ha!

munch 

nibble 

Desktops, Direct Action, Disturbing Feedback

My brother sent me to Tony Blair's Desktop which is totally interactive and well worth exploring for ten minutes. It's very clever.

Wednesday 22nd September is to be World Carfree Day. They have some quite fabulous direct action ideas. It got my brain ticking anyway.

The 90% for 90% campaign idea is brilliant. It is action to reduce the ridiculously expensive public transport costs. The same site also has a list of Fifty Ideas for Actions on Climate Change. I have also found a very comprehensive guide to protesting road building.

Raar.

I've just come across one of the more obscure ebay feedback comments I've come across.

As described and well packaged. Ate the sweets but not the blades.

Mmm. I guess that's good.

I also like,

You can overpay me again next time if you wish.

Velveteen - Meme

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog or journal.
5. Now go to page 67.
6. Find the third line from the bottom of that page.
7. Post that line in your blog or journal.
8. Write a blog entry based on either or both of these phrases, or any word contained within them.
9. Post the blog or journal entry along with these
instructions.
10. Invite people to guess what book they are from.

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Page 23, 5th sentence: It may have been known that Blanche was lonely, but having never known company other than her mother's, she did not notice it.

Page 67, 3rd line from bottom: velvet, soft and smooth, but not effeminate. It's too

---

Velvet takes me to velveteen, which takes me to the Velveteen Rabbit.

There's a blog called the Velveteen Rabbi too, by someone who insists she is actually not a rabbi!

People are breeding actual velveteen lops, though of course as they are alive (I can't say real after just re-reading the original children's story).

There are anime lyrics for a song called Velveteen, and Lenny Kravitz lyrics also.

There are study ideas, a musical, a selection of e-cards, velveteen fabric care and a strange account of being a Velveteen Mother.

I leave you with a recipe for Black Velveteen.
Ingredients:

• 12 oz Stout
• 4 oz Hard Cider

Instructions:Pour both ingredients into a large beer mug, and serve.

Mmmm mebbe.