The Booker Prize...

...is not something that I choose books based on. In fact, having looked at this list, I have read exactly zero of the winners, and exactly three (Small World (1984) and Nice Work (1988) by David Lodge, and Astonishing Splashes of Colour (2003) by Clare Morrall) of the shortlisted titles. (and the David Lodge ones were read because my parents had them and one of the covers appealed, exactly how I ended up reading Animal Farm and 1984 before I'd started senior school).

Basically, that type of writing is not my type of reading.

But this kind of thinking is my kind of thinking.

Julian Barnes, in his acceptance speech, said: "I'd like to thank the judges - whom I won't hear a word against - for their wisdom. And the sponsors for their cheque."

Thanking the book's designer, Suzanne Dean, he added: "Those of you who've seen my book - whatever you may think of its contents - will probably agree that it is a beautiful object.

"And if the physical book, as we've come to call it, is to resist the challenge of the e-book, it has to look like something worth buying and worth keeping."

Can I get a HELL YEAH!

I will freely admit to buying books based on their looks. There have been countless books where I have read a proof copy and known I wanted to buy the book, then not bought it because it just isn't nice enough to be worth the money when I've already got a proof copy. There have also been quite a few where I've made myself wait for the paperback to be released, only to be disappointed by it, and instead buy the hardback before it gets sent back to the publishers.

One year, darling Miss Emily bought me this beautiful hardback, quarter leather bound edition of The Colour of Magic from a second-hand bookshop.

Later, I discovered that the mail-order book club I was a member of had started producing these editions and I added to my set. Sadly they only ever produced up to book 18, but I do keep my eyes peeled in case one day, they decide to complete the series.

When I went down to London at the beginning of September, Mama and I spent a nice couple of hours at the British Library, and she practically had to forcibly remove me from the shop due to all the beautiful Folio Society editions that they keep in stock there. Warning; if you follow that link, prepare to be scared by the prices. Instead, I had a quick look on eBay when I got home, and Folio Society editions do turn up on there quite often.

I treated myself to this totally gorgeous slipcased edition of I Capture the Castle, for a barginous price of £8.50 (inc shipping). (the edition on the right is my original second printing copy)

Now I just need some kind person to be selling off these editions of The Hobbit and The Silmarillion at sensible prices, and I'll be a mostly happy bunny.

Mostly happy, because I'll still be lusting after this, and this, and this, and this, and this. Ooh, and these.

Anyone won the lottery recently?

PS: I'm experimenting by having set all of the above links to open in new windows/tabs. Let me know if this majorly narks you, and I'll get rid of it.

Seriously...

...prodding buttock.

I may have just found the perfect motivational tool for 99% of my days.

I've just managed to spend an entire hour on the cross-trainer (assisted by the wondrous Lady Gaga), my legs now feel like jelly and I'm worried I may faint in the shower, but I did it.

My motivational tool is below:

This is the baby jacket that my darling sister brought me back from Canada in 2005. In fact she brought it back exactly six years ago last Monday (20th). Unfortunately that makes tomorrow exactly six years since I had my first miscarriage.

We've got an appointment with the specialist at New Cross next Tuesday. Hopefully we'll get a few questions answered and get a few pointers for the future.

But I'm thinking that making myself sad and angry so that I blast it with the cross-trainer until I fall over will be an excellent coping technique.

As for the other 1% of the time when it just makes me want to eat chocolate, hopefully the 99% will help counteract it!

Well...

...that was number 4.

A few of you might remember this post about history repeating. (If you don't, follow the link and read it).

Well it did.

The day after we got back from our lovely Lanzarote holiday I peed on a stick. And it told me that I'd probably be avoiding chocolate for 8 months or so.

Unfortunately last Tuesday there was another little bit of history that repeated itself.

Namely, this bit.

Once again we went for the first scan, and once again there was no heartbeat.
The plan then was to go back in the following Tuesday (tomorrow) for another scan, and then to be "surgically managed" on Wednesday. My body had other ideas and tomorrow's scan is now to check that it's done it all itself with no help from any doctors.

I have spent the last week in a bit of a fog, well to be honest a lot of a fog. Anthony is pretty much the same, he just doesn't know what to do with himself or how to help me. Therefore when he hasn't been at work he has been getting himself hooked on The Walking Dead or having mad organising sprees in the garden.

I have been lucky enough not to have to go into work (fat lot of use I'd have been there anyway) and have instead been blasting through some achievements on WoW.

This had its own side effect, the PC had a fatal error on Saturday morning and we had to go and buy a new one. But that's another post

However every terrible thing brings good things in its wake. In this instance it has brought postmen bearing chocolate gifts from fabulous people, it has had me giggling at links on Twitter posted by people trying to get me to smile, it also had me in tears with surprise when the person knocking at the front door turned out not to be a salesperson, but instead a Kayels bearing flowers and cupcakes.

These people are my real true blessings from this. The people who may not live just round the corner (and those that do and offered to post me bread through the letter box one slice at a time so as not to disturb me) but who are no less my friends because of their geographical distance.

You have all been real heroes this week, thank you so SO much.

PAD Week 9...

...27/02/11 to 05/03/11.

PAD Week 8...

...20/02/11 to 26/02/11.

Alton Towers...

...(where I went on Wednesday) was rather good fun.

For your viewing pleasure, here is my fabulous sister and her equally fabulous boyfriend Brychan getting on down to the Austin Powers theme tune.

You won't be able to hear the music, because my camera is stupid and cannot record sound.

But it's pretty damn funny soundless nonetheless.

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.

I have been utterly...

...neglectful in not blogging about the Chinese Grand Prix sooner. This is partly due to the fact that Anthony has been here every evening (and distracting me) and partly due to the fact that I'm having a bitch of a time at work at the moment (and unable to vent/blog about why).

Anyhoo.

So on Saturday morning I got to watch Sebastian Vettel sticking his Red Bull on pole and being rather happy about it. Then I went to work and had a rather better day than usual due to the God that is RichieFingers and the comic talents of Donal, our resident Irishman.

Sunday morning I got myself up to watch all the pre-race chatter and saw something come up on the screen that I wasn't sure if I'd seen correctly. Nothing about it popped up on Twitter, and although Martin Brundle mentioned it in his grid interview of Vettel, Sebastian didn't expand that much on it and they didn't repeat the shot.

Then after the race I found this on the red bullog.



I did see it. I wasn't imagining it.

Sebastian Vettel has a sticker reading "Kate's Dirty Sister" stuck inside his cockpit, just above the steering wheel.

But who, or what, was Kate? And why exactly was his car named after her sister? Her dirty sister...

The man himself explained later:

"Like a ship, a car should be named after a girl as it’s sexy.

My original car was called Kate. But then it got smashed at the opening race in Australia. So we called this one Kate’s Dirty Sister because it is more aggressive and faster"

So there we have it. I got smashed in Australia...and Emily has won a Grand Prix. I'm so proud of her.

Kate's Dirty Sister Google Search.

Twitter is suddenly...

...the in thing, which is a little bit scary for me since I first signed up to it back in March 2007. I never usually discover the cool things early on, I'm always late to the party.

I started tweeting again back in December when I was after a new thing to take my mind off other things. It certainly helped...

Tweetdeck is my interface of choice, if I ever get a phone I can tweet from then that might change but at the moment it works perfectly for me.

I have all sorts of people filtered off into groups...

There is the Perfect group, consisting of lovely lovely people like Caroline_S, Keris, emmaj1983, threeleggedcat, antoniajane and of course Miss EmLah.

There is my Groupie group which features stephenfry, neilhimself, bobbyllew and alandavies1 (he's a secret Leyton Orient supporter y'know), among others.

Other contacts are split into book/blog/F1/randomly interesting related groups.

Then I have a new group that I added just today.

This one makes me giggle.

******************

Please put your hands together for the Fake F1 Drivers!!!

* fakejenson * FakeAlonso * fakefelipemassa * FakeKazNakajima * fakemarkwebber * FakeSebVettel * fakehamilton *

All bossed about by fakemaxmosley and all bitched about by fakejuanmontoya.

Now we just need a FakeKimi to turn up and it'll all be good. (Not that I expect a FakeKimi to turn up, we all know he's too busy drinking/sleeping/eating icecreams to Tweet).

Basically...Twitter rocks.

Timed Meme...

...No. 2.

(I've answered these for the day I did it (last Wednesday) rather than guessing the future!)

1. How old will you be in five years? 35

2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today? Day off so no people just the cats.

3. How tall are you? 5'11"

4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks? CENTER PARCS!!!!

5. What’s the last movie you saw? The Brothers Grimm

6. Who was the last person you called? Emily

7. Who was the last person to call you? Anthony

8. What was the last text message you received? "They said a flower couldn't signify love, the Rose managed it. They said a plant couldn't survive without water, the Cactus managed it. They said a vegetable couldn't read text messages...Well Done! I'm sooo proud of you my little cabbage!"

9. Who was the last person to leave you a voicemail? Don't think I've ever had one on this phone!

10. Do you prefer to call or text? Call

11. Have you ever had drink come out your nose? yes

12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced? Other.

13. When is the last time you saw your mum? September (ridiculous I know)

14. What color are your eyes? Grey Blue

15. What time did you wake up today? 0948

16. What are you wearing right now? black skirt, lemon jumper

17. What is your favorite Christmas song? Gaudette

18. Where is your favorite place to be? with Anthony

19. Where is your least favorite place to be? Wolverhampton on a Saturday

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere? New Zealand

21. Where do you think you’ll be in 10 years? living in a messy house full of books.

22. Do you tan or burn? burn then tan

23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? I used to have a very strange dream about dinosaurs.

24. What was the last thing that really made you laugh? Daws and Donal being bitchy

25. How many TVs do you have in your house? 2

26. How big is your bed? double

27. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer? desktop

28. Do you sleep with or without clothes on? without

29. What color are your sheets? white

30. How many pillows do you sleep with? 2

31. What is your favourite season? summer

32. What do you like about autumn? the smell of woodsmoke

33. What do you like about winter? blue sky on frosty mornings

34. What do you like about summer? sunshine

35. What do you like about spring? the fact it's getting warmer again

36. How many countries have you lived in? 2

37. What cities/towns have you lived in? Awali/Stroud/Istead Rise/Billericay/Canterbury/Wolverhampton

38. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet? bare feet

39. Are you a social person? mostly, but if people get too much I want to hide!

40. What was the last thing you ate? Mini Kievs

41. What is your favourite restaurant? Cafe Champagne

42. What is your favourite ice cream? Phish Food

43. What is your favourite dessert? Phish Food

44. What is your favourite kind of soup? Chicken

45. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB & J sandwich? none

46. Do you like Chinese food? yes

47. Do you like coffee/tea? I like the Whittard's Fruit Tea, I hate normal tea, the smell of coffee makes me feel sick

48. How many glasses of water, a day, do you drink on average? two maybe

49. What do you drink in the morning? smoothie!

51. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed? left side at home, otherwise usually the closest side to the door.

52. Do you know how to play poker? vaguely

53. Do you like to cuddle? yes

54. Have you ever been to Australia? no

55. Do you have an addictive personality? yes.

56. Do you eat out or at home more often? home

57. Do you still talk to your last ex? not the last one

58. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? nope

59. Do you want kids? yes

60. Do you speak any other languages? little bit of French/German, few words of Arabic/Russian, trying to learn Italian for September.

61. Have you ever gotten stitches? no (can't quite work out how!)

62. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? yes

63. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool? pool

64. Do you prefer a window seat or an aisle seats? window

65. Who did you copy this note from? Emily

66. Whats your relationship to them? lovely sister

67. What is your favorite thing to spend money on? books

68. What is your favorite TV show? arrrgggghhh....um....My So-Called Life/Being Human/CSI:NY/Buffy

69. Can you roll your tongue? Yes

70. Who is the funniest person you know? Donal

71. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? nope (the cats would eat them)

72. What is the main ring tone on your phone? Follow Me by Uncle Kracker

73. Do you still have clothes from when you were little? nope

74. What red object is closest to you right now? tomato ketchup

75. do you use separate water to wash your hair? yup

76. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? no doors on it

77. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees? a bear

78. Do you flirt a lot? yup, bad girl

79. Whats your favorite chat up line? want a drink?

80. What is your favorite food? chocolate

81. Can you change the oil on a car? If I have help and guidance from Anthony (or a book that tells me how to tell someone else how to do it)

82. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket? Nope

83. Have you ever run out of petrol/diesel? Nope

84. What is your usual bedtime? I always try for 10ish...I usually fail

85. What was the last book you read? Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

86. Do you read the newspaper? sometimes at work

87. Do you have any magazine subscriptions? Cross Stitcher

89. Do you watch soap operas? nope

90. Do you go to the cinema often? Last time was Die Hard 4.0, before that was X-Men 3...so no!

91. What radio station did you last listen to? Radio 1

92. Who is in the picture frame closest to you? Emily and Brychan

93. What was the last note you scribbled on a piece of paper? the details of a book for a customer

94. What is your favorite sports team? Leyton Orient

95. What is your favorite board game? Ludo

96. What song do you currently like? Hand In My Pocket - Alanis Morissette

97. When was the last time you attended church? Alf's dad's funeral.

Did you all...

...have a nice Christmas?

I had a very nice Christmas Day, a not so nice Boxing Day (due to being at work serving idiots who can't wait ONE MORE DAY to go shopping) and then a very very nice birthday.

I have TWO new Leyton Orient shirts (a team shirt and a polo shirt) to wear plus some very scary boot-style slippers that my mother sent me and assorted other lovely things. These include a very very posh handbag from my darling sister who is trying so hard to make me elegant and grown-up. Pictures of this will follow, because it's just too damn gorgeous not to share!

We also appear to have a breeding population of Terry's Chocolate Oranges since everywhere you turn there's another one!

This may conflict slightly with my goal reaching on my lovely shiny Wii Fit that I got for my birthday. Chocolate Oranges are not exactly healthy food after all.

Today is a day for chilling out even more, especially since Anthony is fighting off the lurgy. He's doing this by shooting people on his XBox (not a 360, he wouldn't let me get him one) while I work on my birthday playlist.

Very unimpressed that "Leyton" pops up on the spellchecker!

My sister...

...needs your help.

In fact, she needs Shoe Help!

Since everyone knows that I am not good at shoes, you guys will be much more useful than me.

I fully intended...

...to blog tonight.

I was going to blog about my holiday week, statues, flooding, Lewis Hamiltwunt and my new passion for Cranberry & Raspberry Tea.

But I went back to work today and the first book I saw when I walked in the door was this. (and then I bought this one too).

So tonight, this is me...














You can always read my sister's insightful piece about Lewis instead.

Tonight...

...I was going to blog about the lovely time I had in Cardiff last week watching my baby sister graduate.

But since my shoulders are bloody killing me and I couldn't get a doctor's appointment until Thursday - I am going to have a long hot bath with a Big Blue bath ballistic in it.

I shall probably have a glass of wine (in one of my pink glasses) too.