debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Default)
Uh hi. So, life, eh? Gets away from one. I have pretty much had my head down since September or so. Possibly earlier, I don't even remember September at this point. I've been temping at one place since the beginning of October, which on one hand is nice, plus steady income. But on the other hand, I have all the time constraints of working a full time job, PLUS rubbish pay and no sickness allowance. Plus, I'm still doing all the things I was doing when I was unemployed, as well as working a 35 hour week. It wasn't just you flist, I didn't really see anyone for months.

However, I have managed to do a social thing every weekend of this year so far. I know there haven't been very many of them, but it's still a huge improvement.

Tonight I had a couple of friends round for dinner. (The wine is affecting my typing something terrible. The backspace key is getting a workout.) It was nice and I busted out, and finally pretty much perfected the pomegranate pork recipe. Final (probably) version posted below for posterity and my future reference.

Pomegranate pork )

And I'll tell you what. I have Thoughts about that whole pomegranate/female sexuality metaphor thing that people have. It's all very poetic and romantic until you have actually tried to get the seeds out of a pomegranate, and then you realise that what the metaphor actually means is that it's messy and fiddly, and a pain in the arse, the pith is quite nasty, and it's not necessarily worth all the effort, especially if you can buy it already done for you. You have a lot of time to think about these things when you're wrestling with actual pomegranates.

And now I should probably go to bed, and sleep off the wine and the port.

How are you all? Anyone still reading this? If so, happy birthday for Monday been, [personal profile] aunty_marion.

I wish DW would adopt LJ's Tag tickybox menu. It's one of the few things LJ has got actually right, as opposed to bollocksing up. I can barely remember what my tags are these days.

Right. Cold and a bit drunk. Bedtime! (I'm such a tragic lightweight these days.)
debitha: A sign from a kids playground that says, "Pretending to be an aeroplane is permitted in this area" (Aeroplanes are OK)
Life is quietening down a little. I can't decide whether to be relieved or paranoid.

Basically, my life has been nuts since about April. It may have been earlier than that but, to be honest, I don't really remember before April. I thought I couldn't remember earlier than late May, then I remember that I was running a fest that posted in May, so that covers April!

I kind of want to tell you all about it, but it would take too damn long and you're probably not that interested anyway, so I'll just hit the highlights:

Late April - trying to get things organised for fest which posted all through May.

May - posting the fest, and a 4 day trip to Lisbon with J.

June - J came to stay for a couple of weeks. She had her Viva in Exeter, so I drove her down. We took a couple of days and spent a little time in Exeter, Beer (no, I'm not kidding), and Lyme Regis. Training dig was on, as previously mentioned. What I don't think I mentioned is that BBC Breakfast News showed up to film us for a piece about volunteers in Archaeology, so I ended up on National TV. Yay? I think [profile] smarla's wedding was in June, so that must be when A came to visit. We mostly hung out, and she did her bridesmaidly thing. We went to London for a couple of days, right when that heat wave struck. OMG, you guys, 30 degrees in London is not OK. We went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum, and to Harrods, and the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, and shopped a lot, because that is how A rolls.

July - We had an Open Day at the training dig site as part of the Festival of British Archaeology. The highlight of which, for me, were the Medieval re-enactors. They were camping, so once the punters had gone I wandered over and ended up practicing archery until I got blood blisters on my fingers, having dinner with them, and generally hanging out. They seemed quite keen to adopt me, and I had a whale of a time, so if I can find time somehow I may try and get involved. I could learn sword fighting, you guys! And then I went to my very first con. It was a small one in Canterbury, and I had a ball, met lots of people and generally overcame all the social anxiety I'd been having about it. Then there was more hole-digging - the Roman site was pretty interesting, but more tedious than last year. We're pretty sure that they were recycling glass and extracting silver from lead, though. (The site is not far from the main road to the lead mines at Charterhouse, so that would make sense.) I spent the first few days of the dig camping on site with the woman who was organising it. I probably shouldn't mention all the slightly tipsy driving around fields we did after hours. >_> (Please note that bit about fields - we would no way in hell have gone on the road.) Then there was another Open Day, this time about prehistory on Bathampton Down. I did a lot of burbling away about things and ended up in the local paper. I think that might have been my 15 minutes of fame. Alas.

And then it was somehow August - Which was the second week of the Roman dig, a few days to myself, and then off to Spain for a couple of weeks holiday, visting my cousin. I am such a wimp about the heat. I do not do well when the mercury goes over 30. While here I've been to Ronda, the Malaga Feria, and Antequerra, but mostly I have been by the pool.

At the end of the month, my brother and his wife (lol, my brother has a wife. I will never get over that) are coming to stay for a couple of days before she goes to Italy to do a Masters course. After that, my brother will be staying with me for a while, depending on if/when he can get himself a job over here. I think that might be it? At that point I may have access to enough time and brain to keep track of my f-lists.

Meanwhile, I have missed all of Torchwood: Miracle Day so far. I was going to try and catch it, but then I didn't, and now I'm not sure I can be bothered. What say you, f-list? Is it worth the effort to catch up?
debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Mermaid - Jan Pienkowski)
We get storms in New Zealand, and in England. I mean, obviously, right?

But the storm that's rolling around the western Mediterranean tonight makes you realise why there was always a god of thunder. The lightning isn't so much striking as dancing. Maybe just for the sheer joy of it. Single and double streaks of light that sometimes streak down, unless they feel like leaping sideways. I swear, as I watched one, I felt it in my eardrum. Occasionally there's an answering leap from further west, or to the north. Every so often there's a dull shout of thunder.

I have to get up in a few hours, or I'd just sit up all night and watch it. It's mesmerising.

There's just a little rain coming in at the moment. It has that sharp metallic smell you sometimes get when it's been really dry.
debitha: (Potsherds)
So, viruses suck hard.

I knew I spent a lot of time on my laptop, but having had it out of commission for over a week now has been like being without a limb. I'm not sure what I've done to offend technology as a whole, but it's clearly something. Blah blah, woe is me, blah )

In other news, I have been digging holes in fields again. I was quite impressed with the sizeable hole I dug yesterday - probably about 1m wide by 1.5m long and half a metre deep. I was less impressed with the complete absence of any finds whatsoever within it, but them's the breaks. Today I am temping in the afternoon. Probably just as well to have a break - swinging a mattock about is fun, but quite hard work for my puny arms, and I'm very tired.

The site itself is a bit of a weird mishmash. This is not a surprise, as the bit of it we dug last year was a bit of a weird mishmash as well. My impression is that it's been used and re-used so often that you can't really get a clear picture, but we will see what the professionals say. The comedy tan-lines at my wrists have begun. I will be back on that site a bit next week, and on another site for a couple of weeks at the end of the month. I suspect they will be really hilarious by mid-August.

I dyed my hair streak green for [profile] smarla's wedding (which was lovely, btw). Unfortunately the colour was a bit more... neon than I had bargained for. It also faded out a) really quickly, and b) very yellow. I have run some blue over it this morning, and I'm hoping that will make it a little less obtrusive. It should at least go a dark green, if not properly blue. (She said optimistically.)

And on that note, I'm off to attempt to get my shit together, and also to reboot the computer, in the hopes that it will automatically replace the CD ROM drivers I have just deleted. (It should do. The internet said so. *chews thumbnail*)

Uh, hi guys

Jun. 9th, 2011 11:07 pm
debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Default)
I haven't updated since February? O_o

I kind of haven't kept up with my f-list since then, either. So, hi! What's up in your life?

I have been busy, mostly spinning wheels, but some key highlights have been coming off my meds, a trip to Lisbon for a few days with travel-buddy!J, and a couple of days in Exeter with same.

I did a couple of months temp work, but I have so much on over summer I decided not to really work. Financially speaking, it's a... bold move. >_> I've got the odd day of temp work though, and I'm doing some freelance stuff proof listening to audiobooks and pulling together some paperwork for someone. I am beginning to wonder whether I can drum up enough freelance stuff to keep myself afloat. Not having to be in an office 9-5 would be so great.

The training dig is on at the end of this month, and A is coming over for [profile] smarla's wedding, also at the end of this month. In July, we're back to the Roman site, this time for two weeks, instead of four days. It looks like it was a glassworks, the third found in the UK, so that's pretty exciting!

Next Wednesday I am going to see Newton Faulkner live. Man can play guitar:




And the other night I went to see Thor, knowing absolutely nothing about it. Thoughts about Thor )
debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Default)
I have had a very busy week with the orchard and moving stuff at the farm that BACAS use as a base. Two days at the farm, two work days at the orchard (one in the pouring rain) plus the Wassail yesterday. In addition, I had yoga on Tuesday, choir on Wednesday, and the BACAS lecture on Thursday. On Friday I finally sorted out all the Stuff I have acquired for the orchard and BACAS. This entailed a trip to the tip, and to Argos for a bookcase of a very specific size.

For the curious, here are the two songs we're doing for choir at the moment.

Youtubez )

[personal profile] taldragon and [profile] lazyknight came over from London for the Wassail, which went really well. The weather was fine and not too cold, which was brilliant considering how much rain we've had this week. There was music and fire and cider, and a chap called January who led the proceedings. I handed [profile] lazyknight my camera, so there will be pics soon!

However now, because I am too tired to concentrate on anything much I am uploading the pics I took on various holidays in 2009. Because that is how far behind I am. Oops! Anyway, here are a few from the Old Forest and Winchester Cathedral.

A Brief Jaunt Through Hampshire )
debitha: Hitting a button that says 'Protest' (DW - Protest)
It's an epic standoff between caffeine (AWAKE) and anti-histamines (instant narcolepsy)!

I think the anti-histamines definitely have the edge. The headache is presumably the collateral damage.

Also, my chest hurts from coughing. *whine* *sulk*
debitha: A sign from a kids playground that says, "Pretending to be an aeroplane is permitted in this area" (Aeroplanes are OK)
Sadly, my illness at the end of November meant I had to skip the Medieval Landscapes course I was signed up for, but I have been going to BACAS lectures and readings at the Best Bookshop in the World. This month's BACAS lecture was on archaeology in the military area of Salisbury Plain. This was particularly exciting because there is an excursion out there this summer. It's normally very difficult to get access to it, what with there being shooting ranges and the like out there, but because of that there has been no plowing or building works, so the archeology is in a very good state of preservation. I also went to see Bettany Hughes last night, talking about her new book about Socrates. She's a really interesting and enthusiastic speaker, and I will be looking buying one of her books - probably the one on Helen of Troy. Which is not to say that the one on Socrates doesn't sound fascinating, but it's £25 quid at the moment, which is a bit much!

The carol concert went pretty well. I lost the harmonies most of the time, but had a blast. I had forgotten how much I enjoy performances like that. I'm too hopelessly nervous to be a soloist, but being up on stage as part of a group is a real buzz.

Things have been insanely busy with the orchard. We are supposed to produce a newsletter for sponsors every few months, but it's been 12 months since the last one. The December edition is supposed to go out with sponsorship renewals, so I had to write that up and lay it out, along with posters and flyers for a training course and the Wassail in January. I also had to write a short article for a local magazine. Next on the hitlist is the website, which is basically just a couple of paras of text.

I am, somewhat belatedly but still, picking out pics for next year's calendar. I have cut it down from 130 to 58 by taking out some portrait oriented shots and a bunch that are good but not spectacular, but now it starts getting difficult. There will probably be another pic-spam poll in the next day or two after I get it down a bit further. I'm sure you'll be looking forward to that. :o)
debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Default)
So, November was a bit of a No Posting month. Whoops! I spent most of the last week violently ill, with what sounded like the rising of the Old Ones in my belly. Not good! Fortunately I am now recovered, apart from a touch of Post-Illness Feebleness.

A month or so back I joined a choir at long last. It's a pretty laid back sort of choir, we just sing a bit, we'll probably do the odd concert here and there because the conductor has lots of concerts. There's one next Saturday - apparently we'll be warming up the audience with some Christmas carols. The thing is, I have come to dread doing carols in a choir. I'm sure you're wondering what on earth could be hard about carols. Everyone knows them, right? The problem is, you see, that I'm an alto. The bits of carols that everyone knows are the melodies. But that's not what we get to sing. So every time, we have to unlearn what we know, and start over. While someone else is singing the bit we actually know over the top. It sounds great when we get it right, but OMG SO HARD!

ETA: ALSO! It is snowing again. Only about another centimeter so far, but it looks set to keep going for a while yet.

And now on to Stuff That's Neat!

[personal profile] cluegirl wrote a glorious little Greek Mythology fic. It's about 900 words, so a quick read - you should check it out, especially mah Classics Geek Peeps. In September - In September, the Oracle of Delphi came, carrying a box of brightly colored chalk.

Pansy cookies! How cute are these? I am totally having a go next spring.

Pink has a new single called Raise Your Glass. The video is glorious and a bit weird. And has the F word in it a couple of times, so probably don't play it at work.

debitha: Dalek: Tea and Cake or Death? (DW - Tea and Cake or Death)
*waves*

In which I blither on at length about nothing in particular )

I didn't think I had a lot to tell you, but I guess I did. Huh.

How are you right now?
debitha: A baby kiwi (Kiwi)
This is an amazing graphic of the seismic activity in Canterbury this week. That is a LOT of earthquakes.

Here is some footage of the new Fault line.


And here's footage from a shop security camera.


I wonder what the new fault will mean in terms of NZ's geography. Is it just another point of stress relief for the Alpine Fault? Is it going to be a big deal in its own right? Will it mean a change of altitude on the Canterbury Plains? If so, higher or lower? Or is Aotearoa just wriggling a little in her sleep?
debitha: (Potsherds)
So, I am all membered up with the local Archaeological Society. Today I joined an excursion to an Iron Age hill fort and a 14th century castle. The guide was fantastic. He knew his stuff, and he loved his stuff. There is nothing better in a guide. Sadly, there is only one more excursion this summer and it is fully booked, but they do have lectures through the winter, which look really interesting. (Including one about the Salisbury Plain Military Training Area, which is interesting in itself, but apparently there will be an excursion there next year. The general public aren't allowed there, on account of the army making things go boom, so I'm quite excited about that one!)

On Monday I start their Dig course. People keep asking me if I'm going to be an archaeologist, and I keep saying no. I am, however, beginning to wonder whether I could find a career in it. Probably not as anything that requires an actual qualification, but... Well, it can't hurt to start putting out some feelers, can it?

Bath Uni does lectures on Wednesday afternoons, but none of them look particularly exciting. Maybe I should sign up for that Italian course at the college.


I shall leave you with this awesome vid of chicks being kick-arse. Oh man, Cut-Throat Island. Good times, lol.

Title: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Vidder: [personal profile] damned_colonial, aka Skud
Fandom: Age of Sail multi-fandom (see notes below)
Notes:

My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone. I earnestly wish to point out in what true dignity and human happiness consists—I wish to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them, that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness, and that those beings who are only the objects of pity and that kind of love, which has been termed its sister, will soon become objects of contempt.

-- Mary Wollstonecraft, "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman", 1792

debitha: (Medusa)
To be honest, it's progressing a lot slower than I intended. I've been home nearly two weeks, and I had expected to have done a lot more than I have. So I'm going to fall back on telling you what I ought to get done, so I'll feel embarrassed if I come back and haven't done it. The tricks you sometimes have to play on your brain. *headshake*

Aaaand, cut! )
debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Default)
So, hi! I am now into week 2 of my hiatus from working and enjoying it thoroughly, if gently. I have spent an awful lot of time online. I am back in The Game. (If you don't already know what it is, I'm not telling you. My geekiness knows no bounds. Let's leave it at that, shall we?) I have started tackling the garden, which has got into a Bit of a State in my absence. Likewise, I have started poking the housework, which has been in a Hell of a State for a good while longer.

Sadly I missed the week long archaeology course at Bristol Uni (unless they have any last-minute dropouts for next week), but the local Archaeological Society runs one as well, so if I don't get into the Uni one, I'll look into that. Might as well make the most of my Time Out.

I have set myself up with a Dreamwidth account, same details and all. Any suggestion about blogs and comms I should be following there?

Hopefully it will help balance my karma against the fact that I just signed up for AIM to be able to chat with someone. AOL, ew.

While I was back home I ended up fulfilling an adolescent wish of mine from student days to have a blue streak in my hair. The colour has washed out, so I am re-doing it. With this. Hopefully the whole foil thing will get easier with practice. I'm about to go see how it worked out. Result, streaky, but not bad for a first effort. It's come out relatively pale, but that just makes it a sort of peacocky colour.

Aside from the gardening, I haven't been getting any excercise at all, so tonight I am going climbing. In fact, I'd better eat my dinner and get ready to go.


In the meantime, entertain yourselves with this bit of glory.

debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Default)
- Today is my last day at work. From tonight until 1 July I am officially on leave. It didn't occur to me until I was on the way home last night that when L asked me how I felt about leaving, she was probably expecting a response more along the lines of feeling sad and maybe a bit nervous than, "Yeah, great!"

- On Saturday I fly out to New Zealand. I will start out going to my parents' in Hawkes Bay, then we're all down to Hanmer Springs for my little brother's wedding, then up to Wellington on the 4th of July. If any South Islanders can/want to be in Christchurch on the 4th, I will see if I can get myself down there for a meet up before my flight. Wellingtonians - when are you free? I will be there from 5-16 July. Probably mostly staying with my friend J in Tawa, but if anyone really wants me... :oD

- Signal boost: Discussions about Social Justice tend to have their own language. I tend to read and not say a lot because of the likelihood of putting my foot in it. [livejournal.com profile] sihaya09 is looking at creating a Learner's Guide. At this stage she's looking for links. If you've got any suggestions, drop them in. If you're interested in learning more, keep an eye on her posts.

- Flatmate occasionally feels moved to buy those toilet-cleany things that you put in the tank to 'freshen' the toilet. It took me ages to realise why that really, really bothered me. It turns out to hearken back to my childhood, growing up in earthquake-prone New Zealand. We were taught very young about things to do in an emergency. One of the things we were taught was that in the event of a major civil emergency, like a big quake, where our facilities are cut off, the water in the toilet tank is clean and fresh, and can last you several days if you're careful. So it turns out that what's bothering me is that she's poisoned our emergency water supply. So there we go.

Mum To Be?

Apr. 7th, 2010 07:58 pm
debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Default)
So Sainsburys would have you believe.

I've had some fatigue issues lately, so had some blood tests done. Some of the results were borderline, and the doctor recommended folic acid. Sainsburys a) apparently don't believe that anyone but a pregnant women could possibly be taking folic acid, and b) feel the need to announce it to the entire world by platering the container with a bright yellow label that proclaims 'MUM TO BE' with 'Folic Acid' in much smaller print underneath.

I am epically annoyed by this in a whole range of ways. First of all, I was not looking for 'Mum to be', I was lookig for folic acid. Funnily enough, I couldn't find it, and ended up having to ask at the counter.

Secondly, people who are not pregnant women take this vitamin, and would like the supermarket to fuck off with its presumptions.

Thirdly, I feel very strongly that it is not the place of the fucking supermarket to announce it to the world if one is pregnant. Anyone looking in the cart knows, (or worse yet, where annoyance two applies, think they know. Anyone with whom one shares a bathroom, or even anyone with nosy visitors risks unwanted and/or poorly timed revelations. IT IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS, SAINSBURYS. STAY OUT OF IT.

I'm not pregnant, I'm borderline anaemic. I really don't need my supplement packaging passing comment and encouraging others to do so, thank you.
debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Default)
First of all, let it be known that I really bloody hate the first week after the clocks change. I get thrown by it really badly, and spend a week exhausted.

Not helped by the frustrations of not more than sporadic internet connection at work for the last two days. Emails have been dodgy at best, websites... well, it took me nearly an hour to get someone booked on a course, normally a two minute job. Heads were meeting desks all over the office.

Tired or no, I went swimming last night. I managed 20 lengths of the 50m pool. I swum a whole kilometer! Whoo!

Tonight I went to hear Philip Pullman at the Guildhall, talking about his new book The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. His publishers decided to do a series of books re-imagining myths of the world - mythological fanfic, if you will. They invited a number of authors to pick a myth and retell it in their own way, which I find a fascinating idea and I'll be looking into it. (The publisher is Canongate if you're interested and don't want to wait for me to sort myself out!) I managed to restrain myself from adding it to my To Read List, but he's a very interesting speaker.

Tomorrow, I will throw a load of things in a suitcase (it's OK, I have a list) and jet off to Firenze for the weekend. I have only ever been on flying visits to Florence, and this will be another one, but this time I plan to see some of the sights I have missed previously. The Uffizi and David have been quite thoroughly Done, so this time I am going to the Palazzo Vecchio and Museo del Bargello and probably some other places that I will pick out of the guide book on the way there.

Ciao darlings, have a wonderful Easter.

Rising Sap

Mar. 6th, 2010 09:36 am
debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Default)
Spring is definitely on the way. We are getting cold, bright, frosty mornings. Not the winter ones that turn the countyside grey and chill, the ones that catch the early morning sun and colour everything golden.

There are banks of snowdrops (or possibly onions - it's hard to tell at 50mph) along the side of the A4, and my garden is full of sprouting bluebells. There are lambs in the fields at Corsham Court. It's light when I leave my house in the morning, and not yet dark when I leave work. And I saw the first hot air balloon of the season yesterday.

And I'm feeling it in my bones. That urge to clean and tidy. The utility room has already felt the force of spring. I bought storage drawers to put on top of the washing machine (the British love their front loaders). The million plasic bags are firmly wedged in one drawer, my gardening implements in another, and the box of random plastics has been reduced by a significant number of lids with no container, and the remainder now reside in yet another drawer.

But I'm not done yet. My room needs to be reduced back down to 'cheerful clutter' from 'tip', and cleaned to within an inch of its life. I am even going to attempt to turn the mattress. I am also trying to decide whether I can wedge a bookcase on top of my chest of drawers.

After that there is weeding to be done. The weeds are springing up all over the place, and I need to get on top of them before the get out of control. After paying the nice man to fix it up for me, it would be a tragedy to let it go again.

Also, the inside of the car is looking kind of gross so it is time that Oscar had a grooming session.

I am off to the Farmers Market shortly. Time to be up and doing!
debitha: Mermaid in silhouette (Default)
Blargh, I just spent 5 minutes assuring an automated voice that all those credit card charges really were me. I hung up on the first call because I assumed that you would get an actual person calling you if they were actually concerned about odd transactions. Silly me!

Anyway, I have had a pretty productive day today! I have sorted the litter tray, bought groceries, taken things down to the basement, vacuumed, done laundry, emailed my mother, booked a flight to Athens, and booked buses and hotels for trips to Greece and New Zealand (hence the phone call from the credit card company).

And now I'mma watch Dancing on Ice.

Random Cat Pic )

Memery )
Page generated Jul. 4th, 2025 06:41 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios