Pierrot Passed Away. Bless.

Pierrot hamster left us for hamster heaven on Saturday. He was quite an astonishing little blokey, not least for living until a couple of months before his 4th birthday (hamsters generally live until about 2 years old). He was a very gorgeous and cute thing, and sadly he had become quite ill and deformed in his last days. He had a great life and my house is trying to get used to just having the one hamster in it.

Here he was in his glory days:

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Technorati tags: hamster; pets; incurable_hippie; video.

Photo Friday: Girl

Otherwise known, by us on the beach, as The Seagull Worrier.
Photo Friday: Girl.

Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; girl; incurable_hippie; photography; beach.

Breaking News...

http://fakegaynews.com/index.php/2006/08/toaster-ovens- replaced-by-newer-gadgets-in-effort-to-boost- lesbian-enrollment/

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Technorati tags: lesbian; incurable_hippie.

Amazingness on the InterWebNet.

http://www.futureme.org.

You can write yourself an email which it will send to you at a time in the future - I went for a year today.

I am in love with this idea and may do more of them. I have written about today, and wondered about this time next year. I quite hope that by next year I will have forgotten all about it, so when I get the email (from myself) I'll be surprised.

Special mention also to Eiffel Tower panoramic view like, truly panoramic.
and George Carlin on God.

(Quickie today. I'm around, just not so loquacious).

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Technorati tags: cool links; future; incurable_hippie.

Photo Friday: Bright.

100_1191
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Taken by me in the Winter Gardens in Sheffield earlier this year.

Photo Friday, topic BRIGHT.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; bright; incurable_hippie; photography; plant life; Sheffield; Winter Gardens.

5 Years Ago Today.

A lot of the online chatter today is 'what were you doing on 11th September 2001?' I can join in with that.

I had been at a day centre that morning, and a member of staff had organised a cinema trip for service users, and was quite upset that virtually nobody wanted to go. In the spirit of improving her mood, I agreed to go with her, and thus I sat through the incredibly dull and ridiculous Planet of the Apes. (Which one? The one that was out on 11/9/01!)

It was even more appalling than I had anticipated and I hated every minute. I have never been so glad to leave a cinema. We had a quick coffee in a nearby cafe, and then I returned home.

I sent a text to various friends, something about having just seen Planet of the Apes, and it was one of the worst films I had ever, ever seen. What a waste of a few hours, etc.

I received a bewildering reply from someone I didn't know so well, along the lines of 'How can you complain about that at a time like this??' but I had no idea what she meant. In the end, a friend phoned and told me to turn on the TV.

'Which channel?', I asked.

'Any', she replied.

At that stage I realised there was something very big happening. My friend on the phone was explaining what had been happening (two planes into big tall buildings, another crashed somewhere else, another into the Pentagon) and all I could think was that it was some kind of Armageddon (planes falling from the sky and all).

I didn't actually know what the World Trade Centre was, but as the news reports went on I got an idea of what they were, what they represented, and how many people this would have affected. This knowledge led me to believe that this was some kind of anti-capitalist attack. Wrong again (kind of).

I, like many others, watched hours of TV, mainly made up of the same few minutes of footage again and again and again and again. It looked horrific, the numbers injured and killed looked like they could have been going into the tens of thousands, and there was a huge underlying feeling of 'is it over? who's next?'.

There were reports that London was being evacuated (which turned out to be wrong), and everything came to a halt for all the attention on New York.

I hadn't heard the word 'unprecedented' on the news so much since the death of Diana ('unprecedented outpourings of grief'), and the shock from America at having been attacked for the first time was almost audible.

I remember thinking, 'Well now they know. Horrific as this is, they will see that sudden random killing attacks are devastating and they will surely never, ever do this to anyone ever again'. I really did think that. Me and my eternal bloody optimistic mind.

I thought, how could America attack anyone after this? How could they consider bombing a town anywhere in the world, when they know how it feels to be under attack.

I didn't think I was being naive and idealistic, but the follow-up proved that I was.

Hugely revengeful attacks on Afghanistan followed, then Iraq, and God only knows where else. Increase in hate, increase in terror, exploiting terror and fear to get away with whatever Bush bloody wants. Increase in racism, in US and UK abuse of human rights and allegations (ha!) of torture.

What the hell did we learn that day? Nothing, clearly.

Over the last few weeks there have been various documentaries about September 11th, of which I have seen / heard a couple.

One I was watching, contained the only footage of the attacks from inside a tower. A French guy who had been filming a documentary following New York firefighters, and found himself in the midst of all this.

Watching the footage - actual video of inside the buildings during the attacks - was terrifying (especially because, unlike we're supposed to with movies, I did know what was gonna happen next) and made me question how I would have coped, reacted, saved myself, or not. Would I have jumped from a window with no hope of surviving? Would I have been able to outrun the fog of dust?

That kind of footage - films of the apparently inconceivable events that happened - filled our TVs at the time of the attacks. People were witnessing these events as they happened. How many times did we see those planes go through those buildings? A hundred? A thousand?

And it struck me. Would the world be so complacent if we had seen footage, a hundred times in a day, of a bomb going through an apartment building in Lebanon, or if we had seen footage, five hundred times in a day, of a hospital being blasted in Iraq, would we be so complacent? Or would we be memorising the dates and reminiscing and weeping for those people so far away?

Because we bloody should be.

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Technorati tags: September 11th; 911; incurable_hippie; anti-war.

Music Meme.

Open iTunes/iPod or Windows Media Player to answer the following.
Go to your library.
Answer, no matter how embarrassing it is.

How many songs? 2273

Arrange by artist:
First artist: Abdou

Last artist: Zorba the Greek!

Arrange by song:
First Song: 4st7lb US Mix - Manic Street Preachers

Last Song: Zither - Doves

Arrange by time:
Shortest Song: Latin - Father Ted (6 seconds)

Longest Song: La Mer - Debussy (24:02)

Arrange by album:
First Album: 1967-1970 - The Beatles

Last Album: Women's World Voices 2

First song that comes up on shuffle: Pay Attention to Me - Orlando Brown (Thirteen)

How many songs come up when you search for "sex"? 2

How many songs come up when you search for "death"? 1

How many songs come up when you search for "love"? 103

Arrange by play count:
Which is your most frequently played song? Free like a flying demon - E-type


PS, you can see what I generally listen to here at last.fm.

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Technorati tags: music meme; music; incurable_hippie; memes.

Are you feeling naughty??

Edited to add: Apparently they have caught on, and now if you offer to pay less than their 'suggested amount' they won't let the transaction go through. Nice while it lasted though, eh?!

Well, get rid of that filthy mind, and read on...

Shopping Spree

How to Get Free Books, CDs, and Movies from Focus on the Family—Thereby Taking Money out of the Pockets of Anti-Gay Bigots—in 12 Easy Steps by Noel Black.

Gay marriage is on the ropes and you may be feeling despondent about the tedious process and dim prospects for any kind of meaningful change in the near future. And why wouldn't you? There are a total of eight states in the U.S. that don't have Defense of Marriage amendments either on the books or in the works, and Massachusetts is still the only state that permits same-sex marriage. The Washington State Supreme Court handed down its anti-gay-marriage decision several weeks ago and Washington's gay community is licking its wounds and contemplating an incremental push for civil unions.

When I'm feeling despondent over the state of gay rights in America—or the concurrent assaults on reproductive freedom, science, and rational thought—there's just one thing that helps me overcome my feelings of despair: getting free shit from Focus on the Family!

Few people know that Focus on the Family — the powerful evangelical Christian para-church based in Colorado Springs—will give you, absolutely free of charge, books, CDs, and DVDs. Usually people pay for these products, and the millions of dollars raised helps Focus on the Family produce yet more books and CDs featuring Dr. James Dobson and other Focus "experts." (Focus on the Family's experts, when they're not chatting on the phone with Karl Rove, run around the country teaching people how to stop being so gay and when it's appropriate to kick their kids' asses.)

Not only does ordering free stuff from Focus on the Family—sent to myself or people I don't like—satisfy a deeply juvenile impulse, it has the added benefit of taking money directly out of homo-hater Dobson's pocket. The one drawback is that getting free shit from Focus on the Family is a tad time consuming and a bit tricky, but it's well worth the effort.

Here's how to do it:

1. Go to www.family.org and you will see their home page.

2. Once you're at the home page, look for the "Resources" link in the blue bar on the left-hand side, right above the "Search" box, and click it.

3. Under the "Resource Category" menu on the left-hand side, you'll notice categories such as "Homosexuality." Go ahead and click that for shits and giggles.

4. It's time to start shopping! Scroll down a little bit and feel the homophobia flow. How about a nice copy of A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality? Go ahead and click the "Add to Cart" button.

5. Now comes a tough decision: Do you have the book sent to yourself so you can sell it on eBay for cash (my personal favorite) or do you keep it on your mantel as a high-larious conversation piece to point at and laugh when your friends and family come over? Or do you send it to a jerk? I always opt for sending it to myself. Yes, you may end up on the Focus on the Family mailing list (though I've been doing this for some time and have never received anything beyond what I ordered), but reading Focus on the Family's junk mail is a good way to keep tabs on their activities and it will cost them even more money in postage.

Please note: Focus on the Family won't send you more than $100 worth of materials for free in any given shopping trip, so be sure to keep it reasonable and return often.

6. Select "Add New Shipping Address" and click "Proceed to Checkout." Or, hell, continue to shop and pick up a box set of The Chronicles of Narnia on CD.

7. The next screen will ask you to sign up for an account and give your information. Don't worry, they don't ask for your credit-card number. Enter whatever name and address you like, because you won't be paying. You might want to make up a phone number, too.

8. Once you've filled out all the required fields (you can also create a fake e-mail account if you're super paranoid), click "Proceed to Checkout" one more time. You'll now find yourself at the "Here Is Your Cart" field. Annoying thing alert: You may have to reenter your info again after this field to actually set up your account. But just keep going until you get to the "How Much Would You Like to Donate?" page.

9. So, how much would you like to donate? Zero dollars, obviously. Don't be fooled by the field in the lower-right-hand corner that shows you the suggested donation amounts. Simply select "Enter other total amount" and enter 0.00 as the amount you would like to pay. (Don't put in a dollar sign or it will ask you for credit-card information!) Proceed to checkout.

10. You'll now be led to a screen that will try to make you feel guilty about the amount you haven't donated. But don't feel bad! Just proceed to checkout again.

11. Jesus! Here you are on the twelfth step and you still don't have your self-hatred materials! And you thought preventing homosexuality was supposed to be easy! Click "Checkout Now" and you're done.

Congratulations!

You have just removed a few dollars from the coffers of a major anti-gay organization. You can further capitalize on your brief investment of time by selling the item/s on eBay. You'd be surprised how much money you can get—a friend of mine makes a few hundred extra dollars every few months on this perfectly legal activity.

And if your conscience begins to bother you, think of it this way: Focus on the Family would probably like for you to have the materials anyway, because there's that minute chance that, once in your hands, the materials may inspire you to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Finally, don't forget to pass this information on to all your friends. Proselytizing isn't just for Christians, you know. Go gay!

(NB, not that I'd know anything about it, international postage adds $10 to the cart, so account for that in the $100 limit...)

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Technorati tags: free stuff; anti-bigotry; incurable_hippie; narnia; creative protest.

Apparently...

Tony Blair's popularity is currently lower than Thatcher's was during the poll tax riots!

Ha!

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Technorati tags: UK politics; bliar; incurable_hippie.

Reading like it's going out of fashion.

I have been reading quite voraciously lately. Some cruel combination of depression and medication means that a lot of the time I cannot focus on reading much more than short magazine articles. So when I find I am capable of books, the temporality of that ability weighs heavy and while I love the reading which ensues, I never know when, all of a sudden, I'll be looking at the pages blankly and the ending of whatever I am reading will have to await my next phase.

I love reading, I love books, and I have been trying, and enjoying, genres of books which I have never totally embraced before. Let's say that trying to work out who the murderer really was does keep the pages turning!

Here's some of what I have consumed...

Refugee Boy, by Benjamin Zephaniah - A beautifully written and thought-provoking book which I bought for pennies in a charity shop. I knew I liked Zephaniah's poetry, and actually did not know he had written novels.

The book centres around a boy whose parents are Ethiopian and Eritrean, and suffer persecution where they live. The father takes his son on a 'holiday' to Britain, then seemingly abandons him in the hotel they are staying in, with a letter explaining it is for his good and safety, and he can seek asylum and be well-treated there.

Already the reader is experiencing the dilemma of whether that is the kindest thing a parent could do, or whether in fact he has actually been abandoned. His exploits and tales are beautifully and convincingly told, and I adored this book.

Book reviews to hopefully follow...
The Devil's Feather, by Minette Walters

We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver

The Sculptress, by Minette Walters

The Abortionist's Daughter, by Elisabeth Hyde

Fear and Trembling, by Amelie Nothomb

Want to Play?, by P J Tracy

and I am currently reading Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh.

See also pippa reviews blog

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Technorati tags: books; book reviews; incurable_hippie.

Hello For Now.

I've been on my first holiday in 6 years! A few days in Scarborough, by the seaside, has been a lovely, and exhausting, break away from day to day life.

More to come, but just hello for now.

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Technorati tags: photos; boats; incurable_hippie; holiday.

Book Meme: Tagged.

1. One book that changed your life?
All the Rage: Reasserting Radical Lesbian Feminism - my first real introduction to radical feminism, totally inspired me and fired me up!

2. One book you have read more than once?
The Best Little Girl in the World by Steven Levenkron. A story about an anorexic teenage girl that, as a teenager, I read and re-read obsessively. I was very disappointed, on re-reading it a couple of years ago, how twee and simplified and unrealistic it actually was.

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
Outdoor Survival Handbook: The Classic Indispensable Guide to Surviving the Outdoors by Ray Mears. Seems the obvious choice.

4. One book that made you laugh?
Join Me: The True Story of a Man Who Started a Cult by Accident by Danny Wallace - strangely compulsive book which I found difficult to put down, even though in many ways it was driving me mad. Many laugh-out-loud moments though, making it great.

5. One book that made you cry?
Life and Death by Andrea Dworkin. Devastating, but essential reading.

6. One book you wish had been written?
How to Change the World by incurable hippie.

7. One book you wish had never been written?
Any of these.

8. One book you are currently reading?
Want to Play? by P. J. Tracy. I have phases of reading thrillers, and I'm in one at the moment. This one is fitting the bill nicely!

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
The Idea of Prostitution by Sheila Jeffreys.

10. Now tag five people.
Zinkibaru
Anais Nin
slow downloads
travelling punk
Gwyn.

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Technorati tags: meme; books; incurable_hippie.

Critical Cynicism.

So, Britain is on 'critical alert' for terror attacks. Plans to explode 9 aeroplanes over the Atlantic, travelling from the UK to the US. Air chaos today.

I don't really get what's happening.

So, this potential plot was unveiled and lots of arrests and raids this morning. That's fair enough, but then all the airport security systems went into overdrive, doing mega-security checks, and banning hand luggage, drinks etc. from the planes. Alert status was raised.

And I thought, Well, if they've just done these arrests and raids, surely we're actually more safe rather than in more danger.

But what do I know? This huge big discovery happened, they're doing their best to keep us safe. That's good surely.

Then I thought, Well, why today? Were the attacks supposed to happen today? If so, it's pushing it a bit fine really, to arrest this morning. But better late than never I suppose. But if they weren't supposed to happen today, why the sudden surge in alert status? Hmmm....

I have to admit that I started thinking of Dubya, and how he is so good at terrifying Americans at the thought of further terrorism, as a means to make them so scared that they will agree with whatever nonsense he proposes (bombing anyone else, Bush?), as long as he assures them it will keep them safe, and stop terrorism.

Is that what's happening here? I think it is in general, but is today's drama to do with that in a bigger way?

And then we find out that George W. Bush was informed about this situation last Sunday, and that relevant airlines were informed yesterday.

So... it's a huge sudden terrorist threat that they knew enough about, days ago to tell idiot-blokey across the ocean, but didn't start actually doing anything practical here until today. If it's such a massive risk this morning, why not yesterday morning? Or the day before? How urgent just is it?.

And then I thought about how sometimes things like this are absolutely perfect for diverting the media from something else. Making all the media and public focus on baby bottles on planes, so that noone thinks about a (the utter disaster of Lebanon), b (Iraq's utter disaster) or c (anything else we're not hearing about. And there's plenty).

I genuinely don't understand what is happening. How far can I trust 'intelligence' after the execution of a Brazilian electrician on the tube, and the shooting of an innocent guy in the raids a few weeks ago? They claimed to be acting on vital information then. Are they now?

I don't know if we're being duped, manipulated, bullied, informed, fooled, laughed at, or protected. But it's just not sitting right, somehow.

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Technorati tags: terrorism; UK Politics; incurable_hippie; cynicism..

Volunteering Lunch Expenses Campaign.

We need your support for the Volunteering England lunch expenses campaign.

As part of Volunteering England’s ‘Right to Reasonable Expenses’ lunch campaign, we are urging volunteers and volunteer involving organisations to join us in Volunteering England’s Lunch Expenses Protest Week. We want you to post your lunch receipt to the Secretary of State The Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP at the Department for Work and Pensions to illustrate the true cost of buying lunch outside the home.

Volunteering England Protest Week will run from Monday 14th August to Monday 21st August 2006.

We must convince the DWP to withdraw their guidance ‘A guide to volunteering while on Benefits’.

We need your support to maximise the protest week.

Please forward this email to all volunteers and volunteering involving organisations you know. We are also calling on umbrella bodies that have a wider membership to circulate this message as widely as possible.

We have until Monday 21st August to make a real difference to 2 millions volunteers who could be affected by the guidance.

Below is the wording of the letter template for you to use.

To the Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP on the issue of volunteer lunch expenses.

Please find attached receipts for the cost of lunch whilst volunteering. The new interpretation in the Department for Work and Pensions ‘A Guide to Volunteering While on Benefits’ prevents volunteers on benefit from claiming reasonable expenses. We believe that:


• the guidance issued by the Department for Work and Pensions is unfair and contradictory and should be withdrawn


• lunch expenses are a legitimate expense, the cost of which should be reimbursed to benefit claimants whilst volunteering


• nearly two million people may now face an unnecessary barrier to volunteering which directly contradicts government’s expressed aim of opening up access to volunteering to disadvantaged groups.

The message and receipts should be sent to:

The Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP
Secretary of State
Department for Work and Pensions,
Richmond House,
79 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2NS

Further Information
For more information about the work and services of Volunteering England, please visit our web site.

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Technorati tags: volunteering; benefits; incurable_hippie; campaign.

Wardrobe Refashionistas.

The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

I, Pippa hippie,

Pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months.

I Pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recylcle pre-loved items for myself for the term of my contract.

I Pledge that I shall create and craft items of clothing for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract.

I Pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings!

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I was inspired to do this by a post of Caroline's, and I loved the idea. I have been altering fabrics and clothes lately (with varying techniques, results, and randomness) with mainly bleach, dye, tie-dye, embroidery (loosely!), beading, adding embellishments. I love it, and the feeling of walking down the street knowing that noone else in the world is wearing what I'm wearing. And getting compliments! Wow!

I intend to add regular posts about my refashioning of pre-loved items, both here on hippie blog, and also on the Wardrobe Refashion blog itself.

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Technorati tags: wardrobe refashion; altered clothes; incurable_hippie; creative.

Amitryptyline.

This site shows ads since the 50s in Japan, of various psychiatric drugs. Unfortunately the American site, which this one was apparently based on, is down.

Amongst (many) other things, I take this:



As advertisements go, it doesn't really fill me with confidence about this drug making me feel any better. It looks thoroughly menacing. I hope it was at least a 'before' picture!

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Technorati tags: psychiatry; drugs; incurable_hippie; mental health.

Watch Out.

Oh yes watch out, we're everywhere. You may never know if the woman giving you filthy looks as you peruse the top shelves in the newsagent is one. Or the woman who slaps you when you grope her in a club. Or the woman you live with. Or the woman opposite you in the office. Or the women you pass in the street, the library, the pub, the park or the gym.

Feminists are everywhere, so beware, misogynists. Watch out!

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Technorati tags: feminism; feminist; incurable_hippie.

Fabuloso Sunday Links.

(from H.E.R.B. (Had Enough Religious Bullshit)

Strange statues around the world

Beautiful Smoke Art

Google's accessible search engine for the visually impaired

Google Accessible Search FAQ

Population: One Person is One Pixel

Flickr Related Tag Browser

Annoy him with the cursor (flash)

Cows With Guns

One Word. So Little Time

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Technorati tags: links; comedy; incurable_hippie; beauty.

Good Advice.

“She generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it)”.
-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

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Imagine a Woman, by Patricia Lynn Reilly

Imagine a woman
who believes it is right and good she is woman.
A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.
Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman
who believes she is good.
A woman who trusts and respects herself.
Who listens to her needs and desires and meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman
who has acknowledged the past's influence on the present.
A woman who has walked through her past.
Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman
who authors her own life.
A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf.
Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and to her wisest voice.

Imagine a woman
who names her own gods.
A woman who imagines the divine in her image and likeness.
Who designs her own spirituality and allows it to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman
in love with her own body.
A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is.
Who celebrates her body and its rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman
who honors the face of the Goddess in her changing face.
A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom.
Who refuses to use her precious life energy disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman
who values the women in her life.
A woman who sits in circles of women.
Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine yourself as this woman.

((Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself: Embracing Your Wisdom and Wholeness))

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Technorati tags: lewis carroll; alice in wonderland; incurable_hippie; imagine a woman; poetry; women.

Best, Worst, Funniest...

Did I ever mention having a ridiculous number of letter-related disagreements with my MP? It is for that reason that the front page of today's local paper is featuring in this entry. Ha!

In less gloating news, I am currently reading:
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Fabric Art Journals: Making, Sewing, and Embellishing Journals from Cloth and Fibers.

Currently listening to:
We Are Shampoo
Hits: the Very Best of Erasure
Hole: Celebrity Skin

Amazing blog of the week: Women's Space / The Margins.

Bizarrest search result leading to hippie blog: result number 3 for 'Lambrini and Weight Loss'.

Currently feeling: exhausted, inspired, irritated.

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Technorati tags: books; music; incurable_hippie.