tinyswirl

I’m blitzing this place tonight, gonna make it feel like my new, pixelated, home. It’s bound to go odd, so beware!

9th Nov 08 not done yet

So I was thirty back at the beginning of last month and I didn’t ‘blog about it. I really have got out of the swing of things… I even made the resolution to take a photo for each day of my thirty-ness - which went out of the window even before the end of day one, when I didn’t have time because I was running around like a mad thing…

However, study is over for this year, and the nights are most definitely a lot longer (won’t be long before the sun barely leaves the horizon up here) so I’m probably about to hit you with an onslaught of blogging. Also, I’m going to try and take more photos this coming year, purely because I enjoy it and like looking back at them!

It’s frustrating that the net filters mean I can’t Scrobble at work, else my Last.fm chart would look a fair bit different. To be fair though, I think the top album for the past week would still be the same. It’s not exactly a new release but I got the Garden State soundtrack for my birthday and I love it more with every listen (even if it does have Cold Play on it.) It’s a very good “listening to while I’m working” album and I especially like (and it surprises me that I did) the Bonnie Somerville track at the end.

Another birthday present I’ve enjoyed at work is Details by Frou Frou. Boy complains it’s a bit samey (he got it from my Amazon wishlist for me) but I like it. Although I must admit Psychobabble freaks me out after I recieved an unsolicited phonecall last month (How did you get this number…).

Anyway, battery is running low on the laptop and I want to go and watch a crappy film on the tv.

Until tomorrow!

You know, for some inexplicable reason, I was so happy it was the weekend I practically danced off site, after announcing to my co-workers “The weekend has landed!” (and was extremely chuffed when one of them was not only immediately able to recognise the quote but also had the soundtrack on his laptop..)

I think Himself was rather embarrassed by my gabbling and boogying but, hey

I’ve got absolutely nothing to look forward to this weekend really. I’ve got the normal chores to do - cleaning out various animal accommodation, track down exactly where the hens are hiding their eggs (dammit), make sure all are fed, watered and not beating each other up… chasing around lambs to get them wormed… not exactly glamorous but at least the sun is shining!

I’m not saying anything about Stolen Earth (beware: link has spoilers) apart from how cool was it to see all those names fly through the title credits?

I think that’s quite restrained really.

Come on next Saturday….

We had to cull a cockerel yesterday. Not the nicest decision I’ve had to make in my life but it was either that or he was confined from all the other birds for the rest of his life - which is until about September - (neither practical or humane) or left with them and pecked to death (inhumane). That’s one of the down sides of being a smallholder. It was quick though, and happened with as little stress for him as possible so that is the most important thing.

There’s good news with the ducklings. We’re happy to let them free range now (they’ve proved they know where “bed” is) and we’ve set up their accommodation so that they don’t have to come into physical contact with the ducks if they so wish. We’re still keeping both sets in sight of each other but after one of the young females had a run in with Osguth (and, Jemima aimed a peck at her) we’ve decided that, unless the young’uns decide otherwise, they won’t be in a confined space together yet.

I made a boo boo with my latest Amazon order which meant I had to cancel one of the items. I ordered the DVD instead of the soundtrack for The Beach. The soundtrack (when I eventually order it) will be one of my “reclaim” buys - a replacement for one of the many CDs I had stolen/lent and never returned/gone missing in transit I’ve had over the year. I’ve still got the delights of Eddie Izzard’s box set heading my way (as well as a book about chickens). Better luck next time with the CD.

Daytime here still seems never ending. The sun seems to barely dip below the horizon - “the night” is never truly black and I miss seeing the stars. Some clear nights I find myself looking forward to the darkness returning. Especially those nights when I find myself still working outside at 11am because it’s not registered just how late it is.

On the other hand, sorting out all our animals in the dark won’t be so much fun.

(17 days ’til hatch day..)

“…but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly…. timey-wimey…. stuff.”

A while back, my Dad had reason to gaze upon this site (long story but basically I didn’t believe what my internet was telling me about the status of my hosting…) and told me, or at least words to that extent, that it didn’t exactly look fab…. (”fab” is my new most-used word, expect it to crop up a lot. It’s not, however, a word my Father would actually say.)

I’m starting to get sick of the look of it too, but nothing I can find looks right and I’m too busy with real life and other people’s bits of cyberspace to have time to do some redecorating.

I’ve gone completely fan-girl and purchased all of the last 3 series of Dr Who last weekend, when we were visiting the city. They were about half price so, in theory I saved myself about £110. I still hid the receipt/price tags from Himself. Not that he has any say over what I spend my money on - it’s just he hates Who and I would never have heard the end of it.

Of course I’m ploughing my way through the episodes I’ve missed. Top of the list - New Earth, as I needed some of the blanks filled in from Gridlock. I must say though, the more I see of Tennant, the more I appreciate him his acting. It’s actually a combination of his acting and Lis blogging about the show (although I do have to agree with Rose when she said “.Great hair… some really great hair.“.)

I finally got my Aylesbury Ducks a couple of weekends ago. Osguth and Jemima have settled in well (apart from going awol to visit next doors ducks the first time we let them out and leading to us building a fence at 11pm that night. Thank goodness we are down to virtually nil darkness at the moment). Jemima gave us an egg yesterday, which became my breakfast about an hour later…. Meantime we’ve got one bantam who’s eggs are inedible because she’s on antibiotics, another that’s laying eggs anywhere she thinks she can hide them, one gone broody and, as I write, sitting outside on about 9 eggs… and don’t even get me started on the non-bantams and the mallard ducklings.

At least the lambs are being reasonably well behaved.

It’s late. Another 6am start tomorrow, better head for the bed….

It feels very strange to no longer be a regular blogger, to no longer be appearing on blogrolls and contributing to the noise that is the internet. This blog is just generating white noise at the moment, so excuse me whilst I nudge the dial and the static tunes in to the sound of my “voice”.

It feels like my catchphrase right now is “things are a bit mad” as life has suddenly shifted from 1st to 5th gear and I’m struggling to keep up (how many metaphors can I fit into one blog entry, I wonder?) I’m sitting here listening to Smashing Pumpkin’s EP, Tonight, Tonight, which hasn’t graced my ears for about 3 years, on repeat and wondering where to start…

Well the big news at the Croft is that we now have livestock! 2 lambs (both ewes called Alice and Hotpot , 5 hens (Mildew, Petra, Melody, Betty and Twink) and a cockerel called Sputnik. I won’t bore you with photos but I’m enjoying looking after them all. I’m on a mission to get the chooks “trained” so that they’ll come to me and I can handle them without anyone getting too distressed. The lambs will follow us around the yard and when I’m taking them from their sleeping quarters to our garden (where they spend the day) I practically fall over them they walk so close!

Of course, food is always a good incentive….

Next on the list is ducks and pigs.

Seeing as it’s Saturday night there is absolutely no way I can go without mentioning the latest Dr episode. I’m becoming such a fangirl I even watch Dr Who Confidential – if I can do so without the boyfriend coming back into the room to accost the remote control (he hates all things Dr Who). I must admit I think it’s partly to do with David Tennant. Actually it is as I originally started watching the “new serieses” regularly because of a combination of Lis’s comments about the programme and my previous experience of Tennant’s acting (Casanova). I had seen some of the Eccleston episodes (partly because I wanted to see how Billie Piper fared, I think). Anyway, back to tonight..

I wasn’t sure about the whole idea of Agatha Christie being in an episode but actually I found the whole thing quite entertaining. Favourite bit had to be the “detox” scene, of course and I’m loving the bits of humour that are being injected into this series. The Dr always did get some good one-liners but someone is scripting some pretty good stuff for the sidekick too. From the clips of the next episode (not airing next week because of Eurovision, which is good, seeing as I’m out of the country!) it looks like it could well be of the same ilk as ”Blink”. ‘Tis all good….

I’ve been distinctly underwhelmed by my most recent “buy it because it sounds good on Last.fm” purchase. I should have known better because a CD I bought which featured the same vocalist (different band) doesn’t grab me much either. Oh well, it’s more tracks to block out the ambient noise that you get in an open plan office. A much more successful purchase (enough to make the thumbs do the texting) was The Con, which I bought at the back end of March, when I was in Edinburgh for the weekend (again…) Admittedly, I wouldn’t have initially even have found Tegan and Sara if it hadn’t been for the joys of the Last.fm (ie: “what my friends have on their most played list”). I’m well and truly hooked, and the only bad thing I’ve found about them is the attitude of some of their other fans. But that’s not worth getting into. I’ll probably just get a troll infestation!

I’ll just say… “It’s all about the music, people… get over it!”

So tomorrow I head back up to Scotland, after my week’s visit back to the area I grew up in (I’ve been on a training course). It’s been a bit weird just being a visitor. My parents no longer live in my “home town” and I stayed out of town, so everything felt a little.. disjointed. It felt less odd than when I used to come home to the house I grew up in and everything so familiar and yet so different.

It’s eight years since I was here for more than a day (because of family weddings) and even when I’ve been back I’ve not been into the town centre, and I’ve been there every day, before the course starts, noticing the new, wondering about the gone, soaking up the familiarity of the still-there. I’ve found myself staring at everyone I’ve walked past, looking for any suggestion in their features that they could be someone I knew, of a name forgotten in the mists of time or a whisper of recognition from them.

I had that today, I saw someone in the cafe I had breakfast in who I worked and socialised with around ten years ago. Busy in conversation, her gaze flashed my way, but not a hint of recognition there…

Two successes this week (apart from completing the courses) were in managing to finally see people that Facebook helped me re-connect with. I had dinner with three school friends, one of whom was one of my “best friends” and who drove me to see my old house. We then went and sat outside the house of the parents of the other one of our trio, plucking up the courage to go and say hi and get some contact details for her. And we did.. and we made contact that night with the joy of texts…

Tomorrow morning I say good bye, once again, to the town, as I fly off to the place I now call home. But this time I am resolved to return to regularly once more.

I’m so crap, I’ve not been near this blog for too long. I do have a reasonable excuse in that I still don’t have broadband at home and I don’t really want people at work looking over my shoulder as I type in the randomness that spews on to the web from my direction…

That, and I have no time in my lunch break to look up decent stuff to blog about (because my life just isn’t fascinating enough to support a blog any more - not that it ever was the first time of course.) It also occurs to me, as I type, that the version I have of Firefox doesn’t recognise “blog” or, as it has transpired within this sentence, “Firefox”.

Gotta slap that dictionary into shape, methinks. [It recognises "methinks", goddammit!]

So what the hell have I been up to and where the hell have I been? Nowt much really duckies. Started The New Job in February (so slightly less of the “New” now then). I am no longer a supermarket lackey and now work somewhere I get to stretch my brain a bit. It’s officially my “First Grown-Up Job”, as far as I’m concerned. Working in Outdoor Education is very rewarding and I had some great times, but it’s more of a lifestyle (and felt like an extension of being a student! :D) and the wage and the lifestyle weren’t what I wanted anymore. Now I have my own desk, my own phone line (not answering calls for other people or using someone else’s desk temporarily) and I get to play with maps and ‘puters and go outside still.

Not that I’m going to completely walk away from the OE type stuff. My baby, my Infrared*, is in our workshop, calling to me…

Where was I? Oh yes.

We’ve got ourselves 6 chickens - 5 hens and a cockerel. Only two have names so far, but we are working on it… and we should be getting the ducks this weekend…

Crap, stupid-o-clock. Time for bed!

*Damn Flash only sites… look under “product range -> river -> infrared” if you want to know the boat.