Pic Source - Number Sculptures

Mum says that I was actually born at about 4pm, but it’s just past midnight here and I’m going to open my birthday cards and munch on a biscuit.

Happy Birthday to me.

I wish you a fabulous birthday, you wonderful woman!

I miss your lovely posts and pics. Long live No Smoking in the Skull Cave, the best blog in the universe!

The sleazy married cafe-manager wannabe-adulterer turns 39 today. All I gave him was a birthday handshake.

No funny business.

About a week ago my mum and I went to Brussels for the day on the Eurostar. It was a follow-up to the trip we took there last summer for my mum’s birthday. Last time I paid for us to stay at the Marriott hotel for a few days, but this time she paid as I’m rather financially-challenged at the moment.

I prefer taking the Eurostar to flying. I’ve been thinking about going to Rome by an overnight train from Paris. It sounds more romantic to me, like taking the Orient Express.

Anyway, we got the train to Brussels. Then instead of taking the taxi to the centre of town we decided to have an adventure and take the tram. After a few confusing minutes of trying to find the toilet in the station, then figuring out which tram to take we finally were on our way. The trams moved very quickly so we had to hold on very tight to keep from falling over.

So we arrived at Bourse Beurs and found the main shopping road, with lots of clothes shops. We looked around for a while and bought some bits and pieces.

After a while we stopped at a nearby hotel restaurant. We both ordered the 2nd most expensive item on the menu, the small t-bone steak for 16 euros each.

Then on to more shopping. We enjoyed a waffle, some ice cream while people-watching in the square.

Soon it was time to make our way back to the Eurostar station, and then back to London.

When we got to Clapham Junction we were delayed for a while due to a broken-down train. A young guy asked us for money while we were waiting for our train, saying that he was hungry.
“I’m hungry too,” said my mum, sending him packing.

It was nice spending some quality time with my mum. And my wanderlust is stirring again.

My blog is having its first birthday today. It’s been an interesting year, and I’d like to thank everyone who has shared the ups and downs with me.

A few days ago I was considering ending the blog, or at least having a break from it, but it’s okay now - we’re friends again.

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I’ve been nominated for some more of those blogging awards that have been going around blogland like a pox in the middle ages. It’s nice to know that someone hears your quiet whisper in this cacophonous world.

A.Writer has nominated me for a Creative Blogger Award. It’s funny cos I used to think of myself as such a creative person, but in recent months I’ve questioned that idea. Maybe I need to embrace my creative side again.

Here are my 5 nominees:

Becca - a talented artist and photographer.
Sophisticated Writer - cos she is.
Ben - a talented writer, with a sense of the aesthetic.
Nicholas - for Elijah (his debut novel)
Susan Helene Gottfried - for West of Mars - she’s a funny lass

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Becca has decided to nominate me for the Thinking Blogger Award, which is my 2nd one now.

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme

3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

Here are my five nominations:

Lillian cos her life is not as mundane as she thinks
Dr Monkey cos he makes me laugh
I Buy Books cos I also buy lots of books
Nicholas cos he writes about all sort of stuff, and gets really mad (like the Hulk)
Evil Spock cos evil begets more evil

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And the dastardly Dr M nominated me for a Schmooze Award (also my second one). After spraying his musky scent all over this blog I think I deserve that award plus a whole lot more from that sweaty simian. He had better start saving towards Christmas, that’s all I’m saying.

As it goes, schmoozing is the natural ability “to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.” Good schmoozers effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship.”

Since I was a bit greedy the last time I got this award and nominated 7 people instead of the usual 5, I’m only going to nominate 300 3 more bloggers this time.
Their comments always make me smile:

Absolute Vanilla
Liane Spicer
Lillian (again)

As it’s my big brother’s birthday today, Mum and I drove down to his place to say hi. Mum did her mother hen thing, which was fine as Bruv was suffering from tonsilitis and needed a bit of fussing over.

Here’s some more observations which I made during the trips there and back. Sunday evening is a special time of the week, isn’t it?

1. A young Asian couple are giggling. The girl is sitting on top of the guy’s shoulders, her jean-clad legs dangling vertically over his torso.
2. A young black couple walk up the road with their arms around each other’s waist. The woman is wearing a pink top with black detailing.
3. A young white woman with short dark hair rides her bike alongside our car. The band of her bright pink thong rises above the waist band of her jeans.
4. A couple of mature African women walking down the street. They are wearing traditional outfits, complete with elaborate hats. One wears a green dress which is cut diagonally along her back to reveal her shoulders, the other, who is slightly slimmer wears a brownish ensemble.
5. A young brunette emerges from a mini-supermarket. She puts her two orange plastic bags down on the ground beside her then bends over to rearrange the contents. She stands straight again and adjusts her knickers through her pea-green skirt. Then she slips her hand under the skirt’s waistband and adjusts her undies again!
6. A white guy in a red t-shirt lies beneath an estate car on top of a sheet of cardboard. He doesn’t appear to be moving. As our car approaches he smiles and gets up.

My laptop charger started to emit violent sparks from a section of frayed cabling. It was very scary, especially as said laptop and charger were situated on my lap at the time!

I’ve got loads on at work again. As I’ll be going on holiday the week after next, I’ve been having meetings to discuss how they’re all going to manage without me for 3 weeks. I was starting to feel rather guilty but they reassured me that they’d cope and I deserved the break.

My mum has been hassling me daily about packing my suitcase for Jamaica. It’s what she does before every holiday, and I guess it’s part of the mothering instinct, but it ain’t half irritating at times. I’ve been preparing for weeks, so save it for the night before, Mother!

My dad wasn’t content with the Motorola Pebl that I gave him last year, so he’s changed to a Razr. I’m not to tell mum, as she’d just whinge at him, so I’m telling you all instead.

Bought this cute fat Buddha statue. I like to rub his head for luck.

On Friday evening after work I went to a lovely pub in Greenwich to celebrate Veg’s 36th birthday. I had my usual tipple and enjoyed a nice chat with the wise man himself. He seemed pleased with the card that I’d got him (which called him a fantastic old bastard - which he is, in the best possible sense of the phrase.). It was also nice to see some of the old uni crew. Veg, I’ve gotta say that you’ve got beautiful blue eyes which I never noticed before and your wife is gorgeous! Well done old man!

Mariah Carey is one of my favourite singers. I grew up to her music, I sang along with her songs.

I knew all the lyrics. I knew the fairytale story of her rise to stardom and marriage to Tommy Mottola.

I bought any magazine which featured an interview with MC. I got all the albums, apart from the Christmas one, which I borrowed from the library.

I boogied along to that song, Honey and supported her emanicipation from the svengali hubbie.

I frowned at the sudden lack of clothing. I worried about the breakdown.

I went to see Glitter at the cinema.

I joined her fan club Honey B Fly in order to get decent seats at her concert by getting the special fan ticket hotline.

I was in the second row at Wembley. We had eye contact, Mariah saw my inner fire.

We’ve had a love/hate relationship at times, but it’s cool. Anytime you need a friend…

Yesterday was a good day.

I went to bed early on Thursday night, determined to have a decent night’s sleep. I woke up refreshed and ready for action.

Work went well. I got a lot done. Had a good meeting with my manager. My colleague didn’t annoy me too much. All was well. My colleagues got me a belated birthday bunch of flowers, which was really sweet and totally unexpected. I’d never been given flowers before.

I passed by the married guy’s cafe for a cup of tea as I hadn’t been there for a while. They gave me a little chocolate cake for my birthday too. I shared it out for everyone there (except him!). I saw his wife, a small Filipina woman. Later on, he whispered to me that he wanted to “screw me shitless!” (That’s romance for you!) Then he asked me how many boyfriends I’ve had. (Why does everyone want to know that?) My answer: “not many”.

Later on I went to Miguel’s house and heard all of his woes. Saw his room-mate who reminds me of my ex and freaks me out slightly. Hung out there for a few hours then went home.

I don’t have any plans for the weekend; I’m hoping that my dad will deign to come to the cinema with me to see 300. He hasn’t been to the cinema in decades.

I need to do some studying; my photography tutor emailed me a couple of days ago for an update on my progress. (What progress? I’m in retrograde!)

There are some short uni courses related to mythology and “wickedness” that I’m thinking of starting next month. I could probably teach a course in wickedness!

So tomorrow I’ll be 27 years old. It’s kind of a big deal, but not really.

When I was a child I thought that 27 was the age at which I’d get married and start a family. My aspirations are rather different now.

When I was 25 I had my quarter-life crisis, panicking about my life direction and the usual stuff. It hit me hard; I was no longer in my early-twenties, I had somehow aged into my mid-twenties, which was just a sidestep away from my late-twenties… There were so many things that I wanted to achieve by my 30th birthday - sort out my career, get my own place, etc. I could no longer afford to lark about like I had all the time in the world. I was a quarter of a century old. I was miserable in a stressful dead-end job, trapped there by several thousand pounds of debt.

A couple of years later I’m a bit more relaxed about my life. I still want to reach certain goals by my 30th birthday, but I also need to live a little bit on the way. I need to enjoy my mid/late twenties, not just race through them in order to tick off some boxes.

Tomorrow I’m going to enjoy a relaxing Elemis facial and a back/neck/shoulder massage. In the evening I’m going to watch Patrick Stewart in the Tempest. I’ve never seen a Royal Shakespeare Company production before, so I’m looking forward to it.