Last time I did something interesting outdoors, I wound up laid up in bed with flu for a fortnight :(

I’ll remember that in future!

I’m not asking.

Lahvley gal, flu! (xpost * 2)

Cold and rainy, cold and rainy, cold and rainy. Meh.

COLD SHOWER OH NOES!

If I catch (more of) a cold today, I’m suing my fcking residence hall.

Bloody pissing it down this morning, it was.

Very stormy here again overnight.

We had an awful storm here at ten to eight, just before I left for work.

Kerr, did you notice I’d been looking at your last.fm page this week?

morning! lovely weekend full of rarely-seen friends. have some kind of lurgee. don’t care.

Let’s recap the morning so far.

1. No hot water in shower.

2. Pissing rain, heavy winds.

3. The next westbound circle line train is due to arrive in 19 minutes

4. Wait in the rain and wind for 19 minutes for the 205.

5. Arrive at college with 2 minutes to read student’s essay.

6. Bullshit my way through tutorial, stomach growling from hunger.

FP, yeah i noticed you had visited a couple of times. Are B&S or Stereolab your top artist this week?

Actually I’ve forgotten to check the past couple of weeks who is top of watercooler charts.

Awwww, sorry that’s all so rub, Gooblar. But just remember YOU’RE A ROCK N ROLL STAR and then it’s all alright.

I had a good weekend. Lots of much-needed and well-deserved REST.

Stayed in on Friday night, ate stir fryed tofu in ginger sauce with boiled rice (I don’t know why I’ve never been to the CHinese restaurant at the top of my street—it’s REALLY GOOD) and slept.

Saturday I caught up on loads of stupid shopping I’ve needed to do for ages. Cleaned the flat, unblocked the plughole in the tub, all that kind of thing. And then went out to see the fabulous Gooblar Band who get better each time I see them. Talked wonderful gobshite with G and PBW all night (managed to get in an argument with PBW about folk music) and in bed by 10.

Sunday I slept. Felt bad about not making Sinker’s party, but I just needed to rest. I slept and I read and pottered about and made mine own ginger stirfry (ginger is the magic food that makes my stomach better) and then mucked about on the ‘puter and wrote a brand new song! I think this may be the duet I’ve been threatening. It’s called Meet Market

Awesome. Single cover:

Dibs on the tall dude in the middle!

Weather is ok here, but I drove my guitarist friend down to his parents’ place w/all his gear yesterday b/c he got evicted last week. His parents live near York, next to the swale, and it ahd obv been super-heavy there, all the fields were flooded and the river was up to the top of its banks.

Ginger stir fry sounds pretty damn fine to me.

Shower stopped working last night, just as I finished washing Adam’s hair. I have to phone the manufacturer helpline, suss out what’s wrong, and fix it. Tiresome as the water will have to be turned off.

other than that, shit is OK, I suppose.

And I just looked at the sign-up sheet for next term, and no one wants to take my mini-course of seminars :(

Fcking first-years, preferring Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Joyce to Nathanael West and Carson McCullers.

What is going on with The North? Apparently it’s crazy arctic winter flooding up there. While it’s still summer down in London. I was walking around in a t-shirt yesterday. A t-shirt! Outside! In December!

Shower not working = utter rub.

I have discovered the secret to ginger stir-fry, which is shred it up nice and fine and then fry it up with the onions and build your sauce off that—soy sauce, honey, bit of mustard, etc.

Interesting things you can do outdoors... rock collecting?

Glad to hear you’re better, i appear to be due a little gut wrenching today. I cooked all day friday and all day saturday which was fun.

Perhaps I should see if the thai place has ginger fish on today.

The new Ghost album is FANTASTIC. Anyone want to hear it? Email me at this address and i’ll send it.

Oh noes! How was camping, though? Was the Xmas dinner good? (That is what you were doing this weekend, right?)

Camping and xmas dinner were great. Gut wrenching may be due to over indulgence.

early years playing thurs: http://www.supmag.com/checkit/archives/2006/12/sup_holidaze_pa.html

Thursday? I thought it was Wednesday. Oh dear, I’m confused. Or am I going to the ballet on Wednesday. They did tell me they were playing this week.

At the Old Queen’s Head, which is that lovely place we go to the folk open mic nights at, Ed!

Still waiting to hear from Dare to find out if she is up for hanging out tonight, otherwise I’ll be at the folk.

(Just sent a rambling email to PBW trying to explain what I was *trying* to say when I was arguing with him. Well, not really arguing. You know how I get when I’m interested in exploring an idea in conversation. Problem is, I find myself being almost uncontrollably slightly *rude* to him because I’m so attracted to him. This is rub and I need to learn not to do this.)

dunno, got that invite from supmag. i am viva voce-ing tonight yay.

Yeah, it is Thursday. Ballet is Wednesday. I’m just confused.

ha ha, the Early Years’ guitarist also works for wbankers. Mathsrock solidarity, yeah!

Speaking of which, I should get to work.

There’s a documentary about Battersea power station on resonance this afternoon at 16:30.

They should get out more.

Oh no, he brought up Dylan. This is war.

Who did? Where?

(Isn’t BatPowSta next door to Res?)

Uh-oh. Never get into a landwar in Asia, and never get into a deep discussion of Dylan with PBW.

BPS (not PBW) is in Battersea! Res is on Denmark St, I thought!

I have not responded to PBW’s impudence yet. Never get into a landwar in Asia and never get into deep discussions of songwriting and “originality” with Kate! (I think this is going to be fun.)

Are B&S or Stereolab your top artist this week?

Stereolab at #1, B&S at #2.

Never get into a landwar in Asia

I’m tempted to buy my mother the Princess Bride DVD for Christmas, but can’t really decide if she’d go for it.

Fcking first-years, preferring Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Joyce to Nathanael West and Carson McCullers.

You’ll just have to go sit in a cafe. And look sad. And, erm, write a ballad about that.

Yep. Me and my two students.

I’m familiar with McCullers, but explain me Nathanael West.

(Maybe we can trick you into giving the seminar here for our own literary edification. Don’t blame me for knowing nothing about literature! I studied art and work as a mathematician!)

Dammit, I’ve just been asked to do a marketing analysis and some projections for next year. CAN’T THEY SEEE I’M TRYING TO HAVE A TECHNICAL DISCUSSION OF THE FOLK TRADITION AND “ORIGINALITY” AS EXPERIENCED THROUGH THE WORK OF BOB DYLAN HERE?!?!?

West seminar will have to wait a bit, as I have a student coming in in 5, and I should re-read his paper.

Hi all. Mad weekend—too much booze and things. Had a massive roast with the nicest roast potatoes EVER yesterday.

The folk tradition and originality via Bob Dylan? ha ha ha your mate’s gonna be so busted.

Goose fat?

No, no, his take (if I understand it correctly) is that everything about Dylan is very deliberately and consciously borrowed, hence that makes Dylan part of the Folk Tradition, even though his songs are “original”.

I’m not necessarily disagreeing with him, I just love debating this stuff. (You can take the girl out of art school... etc.)

I am having a “cumberland pie” right now and wishing it was roast potatoes. Sigh.

I am eating salami sandwiches and have just been chatting to the Office Goth. Who seems to have caught a cold. Well, I did say it was bloody freezing on the beach.

What were you doing on the beach with the office goth?

Educating her.

I’m slightly annoyed, because I dropped my spare padlock key on the beach somewhere.

Don’t encourage him, Kerr!

You can’t talk Kate, after that comment you left on the blog!

So she tied him up and the key was lost and it took hours to free him and that’s how he caught the cold? Fair enough.

Like you weren’t asking for it, with that blog entry, FP!

No no I have two keys, but I’m annoyed I lost the spare (was attached to one of the locks but I must have dropped it in the dark). The other key is on my house keyring.

And it was me being the dominant one, if you must know. And chain rather than rope, because if you’re iffy on knots, padlocks are rather easier in the dark.

True, Kate!

You’ve been tying up the office goth. DON’T YOU KNOW BETTER THAN TO PISS IN YOUR DRINKING WATER?!??!?

Jesus, I give up. I really do.

It’s like that episode of the Simpsons where every single character goes through their tagline until it gets to Lisa and she folds her arms and goes “I refuse to be reduced to a simple slogan!” or words to that effect.

I must take my stand here.

A pervs got to do what a pervs got to do.

B&S in joint 1st place again http://www.last.fm/group/UK+Watercooler/charts

Oh my god, his nose is soooo pointy.... sigh.

Kate, what did you think about TSM getting in the NME and Q albums of the year?

I didn’t know they got in Q. (I’m not sure I knew Q existed any more.)

I’m just pleased any time they get any kind of exposure, TBH.

Honestly, I’m going to turn off the interweb, put on my headphones and do some work now. No more ILX, no more TSM board, no more teasing FP, no more arguing with PBW about Dylan until this marketing projection is DONE.

Listen to the Ghost album.

(btw not one person took up my offer of a YSI)

That didn’t take very long at all!

I put on The Devil’s Interval, and we haven’t even finished burning catholics and heretics yet!

Cold shower has left me bone-cold and shivery all day.

(and whiny, obvs)

Find a pub with an open fire (there should be some in London this time of year) or at least a fake gas fire. Go and sit in front of it until your bones are toasty warm again.

Burn, burn, Judas, burn... Judas was a red-headed man... what a cheery song!

You suggesting gingers should be burned at the stake?

No, the Devil’s Interval are suggesting that.

You know how *I* feel about gingers.

Yr talking *male* ginger’s right?

nope all red heads, (and catholics) burn them all.

Hey! Some of my best friends are gingers, etc.

And *certainly* no burning Benjamin TSM.

So if you’re a ginger catholic you’re fucked?

Well, if you’re a *male* ginger catholic with a pointy nose... perhaps quite literally! ;-P

(We’ve stopped burning red headed catholics and got onto hanging Long Lankin now.)

tissp no has his wallet back. The north east seems to have added extra bushiness to his beard.

Why did they burn redheads? it’s not like Chris Evans was around then or anything.

I like when TISSP’s beard gets all bushy. Because it gets quite gingery then. Ha-HEM.

They are taking photographs in the office across the alley from ours, and the flashes are really distracting me.

How, exactly is Benjamin ginger? (dying, slowly, of tutorials here)

Well, OK, he’s probably not technically a *ginger*—he’s just an ordinary pointy-nosed freckled redhead.

But in the UK, pretty much “ginger” and redhead are used synonymously, even though they aren’t technically the same colour. (Ginger proper is the colour that Merkins would call Strawberry Blond)

I wonder I PBW gets a ginger beard. (OK, PBW is so young looking that I guess I wonder if he gets a beard at *all*.) I mean, sometimes blond boys get ordinary blondish beards. But if they’ve got that 30% Viking blood, then they have blond hair and BRIGHT GINGER beard which is totally hott.

I’m guessing since he resembles my brother so much, he probably has similar genetic makeup (this is sick and creepy and incestuous and all that, I know)—my brother totally gets the BEARD OF FLAME. He’s never experimented with facial hair for this precise reason. Which is probably a good thing.

Our Amber counts as “Strawberry Blonde” I guess.

Dammit, now I’m all excited thinking about gingers and I have to go and do some more marketing analyses. :-(

Calm down, dear!

Yes, I know I shouldn’t piss in my own water supply, but sometimes I have a hard time passing chances up.

Did the office goth have a good time?

Very much so.

I was looking for a good photo of Benjmain’s natural haircolour and just stumbled across this and couldn’t go any further:

Hurrah! This means I must be well! I’m not off my food any more, and I’m lusting after boys. I am officially no longer ill, in that case!

Hang on, blue is his natural hair colour?

Glad to hear it FP. I hope you and her didn’t wake up all of your town though ;)

I deliberately picked a rather remote beach.

I hope you weren’t in Ipswich!!!

far away in time...

Not that I’m suggesting anything. You know what I mean.

FP & His Muffins.

Is Benjamin wearing Kate’s boots of sex in that photo?

Lol Kerr! No!

Although I was slightly worried that someone would spot what was going on from a distance and call the police, because you wouldn’t realise necessarily what exactly was going on.

I’m trying to find a picture of them in natural daylight so you can see his real haircolour, not their crazy stage lighting. This is what I can find right now:

So a gothic girl saying “fuck me big boy” people wouldn’t know what was going on? Where exactly do you live?

Your search—“secret machines” “natural daylight”—did not match any documents.

Kate, you stole those boots of sex off Benjamin didn’t you?

No, I didn’t mean like that! I meant, it’s dark, you can see two people, one being restrained tightly by the other—you’d automatically assume it was nonconsensual.

So... uh, does anyone want to debate Joyce’s use of allegorical Three Letter Acronyms in Finnegans Wake, or, uh, something? ;-)

Your search—“secret machines” “natural daylight”—did not match any documents.

You should have tried “lightning blue eyes” and “daylight”:

So... uh, does anyone want to debate FP’s use of furry handcuffs, or, uh, something? ;-)

UNTIL I’M GETTING SOME SEX, NO ONE ON THIS BOARD IS GETTING ANY SEX!!!!!

Or at least talking about it.

Oh wait, I just remembered. I’m celibate. No sex at all, please!

Sorry.

How about the difference in Cape Farewells on different sides of the globe?

North:

vs South: