In honour of the fact...

...that when I just came on my blog the statcounter read 888, here is an 8 related meme that I aquired from Keris

Eight Things I Like:

1. Sunshine, even when I'm stuck at work, but especially when I am sitting in it.
2. Chocolate.
3. Anthony (should I have put him at No.1?)
4. Formula One.
5. Poking holes in the foil on the top of new jars of hot chocolate.
6. Kettle Chips.
7. Reading a new book in the bath.
8. Getting tweets from lovely people.

Eight things I did yesterday:

1. Played World of Warcraft.
2. OU study - wrote notes on various things including relative age/absolute age and geological time.
3. Twittered, lots.
4. Ate pate on bagels.
5. Listened to Anthony swearing at the football.
6. Watched a couple of episodes of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency (which I've had saved on the V+ box for months now).
7. Painted my toenails pink.
8. Obsessively looked up the weather forecast for Oulton Park on Sunday.

Eight things I wish I could do:

1. Carry a pregnancy to term. (see No.1 two sections down)
2. Stop being an emotional eater.
3. Save money for longer than a couple of months.
4. Turn a cartwheel.
5. Own a horse.
6. Be debt free.
7. Drive a Bugatti Veyron.
8. Declutter.

Eight things I don't like:

1. Washing up.
2. People who think they have every right to be rude to me because I work in a shop and they work in an office.
3. Coffee.
4. Turkish Delight.
5. BNP leaflets - I've had one through the door every day for the last two weeks.
6. The week before payday.
7. People who tell me ridiculously stupid things and then say "Well it was in the Daily Mail..."
8. Lewis Hamiltwunt.

Eight things I look forward to:

1. Carrying a pregnancy to term.
2. I'M GOING TO MONZA BABY!!! *ahem*
3. Going to Milan in September (what do you mean that's the same as No.2...)
4. Spending a few days in Essex in June.
5. Weekends off. (in general)
6. Leyton Orient winning League One next season.
7. Going to Oulton Park for the BTCC this Sunday.
8. Buying a house with Anthony.

Eight TV shows I watch:

1. Ashes to Ashes.
2. Numb3rs.
3. CSI:NY
4. Charlie and Lola (I love Lola).
5. Eleventh Hour - Rufus Sewell mmmm...
6. BBC Formula One coverage - soooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than ITV.
7. Dollhouse - giving it a go anyways.
8. Buffy - yup, still.

Five months ago...

...it was my birthday (and I became old).

At the time I posted about my plans to put together a playlist of 150 songs for my 30th birthday, the 150for30.

It's still a work in progress.

I'm 37 songs short of the full 150. I've got 34 songs that I need to download (I'm doing 10 a month on payday) and I'm still missing 3 songs for the 0-10 section.

Below is the list of the 37 songs I've found for that time, can anyone help me think of three more?

I'm after the big songs from between 1978 and 1988, I'm sure there must be a few more key songs from that time that I just haven't thought of. Songs that were played everywhere and that have just slipped my mind.

So here's the list, any more ideas? (Keris...I'm looking at you here...)

All Around My Hat - Steeleye Span
American Pie - Don McLean
Babooshka - Kate Bush (TDL)
Bicycle Race - Queen
Blinded By The Light - Manfred Mann
Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell
Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry
Cathedral - CSNY
Christmas Must Be Tonight - The Band
Dancing in the City - Marshall Hain (TDL)
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
Gaudete - Steeleye Span
Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City - Harry Nilsson
Guitar Man - Bread
Hotel California - Eagles
House At Pooh Corner - Livingstone Taylor
In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry
Karma Chameleon - Culture Club (TDL)
Layla - Derek and the Dominoes
Love The One You're With - Stephen Stills
Making Your Mind Up - Bucks Fizz (TDL)
Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel
Orinoco Flow - Enya (TDL)
Our House - CSNY
Photographs and Memories - Jim Crace (TDL)
Shaddap You Face - Joe Dolce (TDL)
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
Spirit in the Sky - Doctor and the Medics (TDL)
Stand and Deliver - Adam Ant (TDL)
Stuck In The Middle With You - Steeler's Wheel
Sunshine On My Shoulders - John Denver
Take On Me - A-Ha
Teach Your Children - CSN
The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
The Weight - The Band
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham
We Will Rock You - Queen

(TDL)= To DownLoad.

For bonus points, can you guess any of the 14 songs from that list that have made it onto my work playlist...

A recipe...

...for creating a grey Tuesday.

1. Write a long To-Do list


2. Look outside at heavy rain


3. Read back through long To-Do list


4. Sigh

...for cheering up a grey Tuesday.

1. Ignore list in favour of reading all 73 posts in Google Reader


2. Discover a fabulous new (to me) blog


3. Cry at fabulous new blog and remember that I am still allowed to grieve


4. Open up iTunes and put on crazy music


5. Get changed into:
   
   
   
   1. swishy black wrap dress
   
   
   2. leopard print tights
   
   
   3. lovely warm stripy jumper (dress is thin fabric)
   
   
   4. ridiculously high heeled (for me) red shoes
   
   


6. Do first item on To-Do list (put on dark load of washing)


7. Take pictures of feet
   


8. Write recipe on blog while leaning over awkward cat
   
   









9. SMILE!

Sorry...

...for the lack of posting.

The main thing going on in my life at the moment is work-related and I'm not really in the mood to blog about it. Since it's occupying most of my brain...blogging inspiration is vanished (pronounced vani-shed).

I shall try and kick start it by tracking down some memes that I haven't done yet, but in the meantime there are my (occasional) amusing comments on Twitter that can tide you over.
You should be able to see them
over there,
(down a bit/up a bit maybe)
<-----------
somewhere.

My OU course materials...

...arrived last week.

I have to confess I had a couple of problems getting into the box at first.

Problem 1 on the left, Problem 2 on the right.







I like to think they were just excited for me.

But the real problem started when I opened the box up and started looking through the books and paperwork.
I felt stupid.

When I was growing up I was a smart kid. I read like a demon and school was easy, and therefore boring. Senior school was pretty much the same at first. Easy - therefore I didn't really have to put much effort in.

The first time I noticed it was with essays in English lessons. Friends would do draft after draft, I'd write one. Then when it was marked for the first time and handed back with suggestions for changes I couldn't do it. I'd written it and it was done. If I tried to rewrite the sections the teacher wanted changing they'd stick out like a sore thumb and wouldn't flow like the rest of it. So I'd get the same suggestions on the second draft, except that this time the lack of structure would get mentioned.

It ended up being that I'd just write the thing and then leave it. I'd hand in the exact same essay the second time unless I'd thought of anything I could add to it, in which case the whole thing would have been written again. Not rewritten - written from scratch. Because these essays were getting me A's and B's the teacher never seemed to worry that I didn't seem to be able to rewrite and edit my work. I can remember getting so frustrated with her and with myself. This was one of the main reasons I didn't do English for A Level and why I didn't do the IB.

I got 9 B's in my GCSEs. 9 B's with hardly any revision.

I'd try to revise. I'd read over the work and know it. So I stopped bothering. I knew the stuff, why should I waste my time going over and over it for a better grade - I was getting the good grades anyway.

The problem really started when I started my A levels. I didn't know how to work on the stuff that I didn't get the first time round. I had too many other things to worry about rather than the fact that the Chi-square distribution method I used in Statistics was different to the one I used in Biology. The Biology way made more sense, so that was the one I stuck with despite the worried notes on my Maths work.

I went from being a smart child, to passing 1 A level and dropping out of uni.

I didn't feel stupid, most of the time I still don't. I can remember ridiculous amounts of facts and figures about all sorts of things. Mike (our Sunday lad at work) is always saying to me that he doesn't know how I know so much stuff.

I don't know either.

What I do know is that after years of being the smart kid - my sister has a university degree and I don't. I'm not jealous of her, I'm fantastically proud. And I'm not saying that she's stupid, she's a smart cookie! I just can't quite work out why I haven't got one - where did the last 12 years go?

It's taken me two years to decide to do another OU course. After I dropped out of uni I signed up for one, and then bailed out part way through when I split up with Jon. Then I started it again the next year but bailed before the course started because I split up with James and then moved back home.

This time I am starting small. I'm going with something that will seem more like fun than work, partly because I'm worried that if I don't I'll just quit again.

I am doing Fossils and the history of life which is one of their short courses.

I have already read the reference book that comes with the course. (and that Amazon.com review has made me feel stupider - "the text reads like something intended for intelligent junior-high students").

I would like some advice on this, the course actually starts on the 16th of May but I am resisting starting it now. Should I be? Should I just jump straight in? I've got myself the study skills book so that I can learn how to study as I study.

What do you think?

------------------

Oh, and you may have noticed the lack of structure to this post. Well it does have some sort of structure, just a very random one cos that's how my mind works. I have about 50 posts saved that I've typed and then decided not to publish cos they aren't coherent enough, but then they never get published because I don't know how to edit them...

Oh. Piffle. Stop explaining Kate, the folks get it already.