Going Ape

Today I went here: http://www.goape.cc/Pages.asp?M=1&Page=27

It was a really good laugh. Took four kids for the birthday treat. The best bit was on a 'black' challenge - the hardest. Unlike the other very high and very long zip lines, this one began with a few seconds of freefall from a great height before you felt your safety harness doing what it was meant to. Exhilirating. Highly recommended but learn from me and take gloves!

"so unfair"

Today I became the mother of a teenager. The change is startling.

I have duly bought myself a twin set and pearls so that he has good reason to be thoroughly ashamed of me in public. I have invested in some sensible scholl shoes so that when his friends come round I can leave them in the hallway for him to trip over unceremoniously. I will of course be banning everything fun for the next 7 years. I will cease to make any effort to understand him. I will develop an intolerance to anything louder than the sound of the kettle boiling and try my utmost to ask him to speak properly even when he's making perfect sense. I have decided to set up a series of meetings under the guise of being reasonable but with a hidden agenda of me trying to make him squirm with guilt over things he hasn't done or over which he has no control. I will make a point of telling his friends how early he goes to bed and insist on a kiss goodbye whenever he's in public. I will deliberately choose tasks for him when his favourite programmes are on television. I'm working on a look of disdain that I can use whenever he buys clothes for himself. I have started hiding his favourite clothes so that he is obliged to wear awful clothes when he goes where there might be girls. I have put a one hour time limit on the bathroom so that he has no way of making himself presentable before going out. This is only the first day, think what miseries I can dream up in another 6 years and 364 days.

It's inexplicable. I woke up today and I was completely different. Trying times indeed.

Hedda Gabler

Last night I went to see a production of Hedda Gabler at the Almeida theatre in Islington.

http://www.almeida.co.uk/index.cfm?id=hedda

Richard Eyre directed and it was really very good. The set was great, some of the actors were particularly impressive and the text itself has some very insightful lines. Not at all the heavy, static type of performance you may associate with Ibsen. (I saw a ghastly 'Doll's House' and thought I'd never get on with him for a long time.) We had restricted viewing because the seats sold so quickly but it was still a very enjoyable evening. And who was sat a few rows in front of us but Alexei Sayle!

Later, over copious wine, we toasted Ibsen with the wish that Scandanavian drama may ever outstrip its furniture trade.

cat buckaroo

http://www.ashearer.f2s.com/blog/?p=2

This is not to be missed. Having a rather flighty cat I think I will have to start with small items. Crisps maybe.

achievement

today i ran.

due in no part to public transport, officers of the law or life-defending escapades involving the elderly on zebra crossings.

no, i just ran.

don't watch this space. i think the fascination with exercise will fizzle out when i clock the fact that i'm not losing several pounds simply by virtue of wearing trainers.

zoo

Took the lad to his favourite place on earth yesterday. Turning the car engine off is like firing a starting gun at the beginning of the race for him. The uber cool long haired drumming skate dude with an attitude to match anyone's, turns puppy at the sight of furry critters.
Ring-tailed lemurs, bears,birds, zebras, baby giraffes, lions and tigers and camels (brown ale and sandwiches too?)
But the piece de resistance was, of course, the penguin pool. We got there for feeding time and I had to take photo after photo for him to print off and stick on his wall when we get home.

A pricey day out but it was the last day of Easter hols and I still maintain that a lemur would make a great pet!

mind twister

http://flash.qbol.net/pl;p/youxi/images/04042203.swf

See if you can do this and not tear your hair out. Apparantly there are 13 items and only a handful of very intelligent people can find them all.

Punctured but not deflated.

Had another piercing today. My first experience with a needle rather than a gun and I can't believe how little it hurt. I have a hoop and ball at the top of my right ear. And then there were six!

to bed, perchance to sleep

Last night I woke up at 3 and lay awake for two hours, woke at 6 lay awake for an hour. The night before I woke at 5 and didn't sleep properly again. This has been going on for a week or two now. You judge how pleasant it is to have my company at the moment.

Don't mention...

I struck up a deal with a colleague. I will bake her bread and she will fill in the gaps of my film knowledge by lending me videos and dvd's. I have a breadmaker, she has the movies. I got pretty hammered on Friday night after work and I have no idea where the bag with the films has gone.

Calvin woz ere?

http://groups.msn.com/clickclicktherapy/town.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=506

belle-textes

If you thought texting had killed off the art of letter writing read this one I picked up this morning;

"I see you're now a published literary critic! I, on the other hand, am a dilettante academic-cum-playwright manque. I must start writing DRAMA soon; the warm ink of my imagination is beginning to flow. Two unwritten essays are all that stand in my way. Oh! the frailty (and loneliness) of megalomania."

making a kil'n

What a fab night last night. Went to 'The Kiln' which is a very groovy place I shall be frequenting again. Told someone earlier in the day I was going out and they laughed at me when they realised it was about pottery and not a club. Ya boo. You choose from a stash of blank pottery pieces, they give you all the paints and brushes and sponges, you paint it, they glaze it, you collect it a week later. I chose a fairly simple plate over the triangular tea pots, noodle bowls and chickens (yeah, quite) 'cos it could get really pricey. It was such fun. So was getting drunk afterwards and collapsing at a friends house and sliding around her living room floor on my back.

livin' it up

Today's high point was a cheese scone from Mark's and Sparks. Whether you pronounce 'scone' correctly, like me, or incorrectly, an M&S cheese scone takes some beating. Although competition was conspicuously absent today. Take the St Michael's challenge soon. Satisfaction guaranteed!

annual review

It's always nice when you ask your boss what he thinks your weaknesses are and he furrows his brow, scans the ceiling and begins; 'Umm...'

link for A as promised

http://www.palimpsest.org.uk/

partay

Went to a splendid party this afternoon. Was sorry I couldn't stay longer but had some family stuff that needed doing. (yawn yawn)

Think I'll sit and watch a film this evening as I have no stomach for 'Crime and Punishment' right now.

lost count

had an inordinate amount of jd&coke tonight that i presume must have been watered down as i feel stone cold sober still. heard three live bands at esquires. got home at half one only to discover it's half two. happy easter and happy british summer time.

29. All Families are Psychotic.

I am blind to the faults of Dougie and frankly the man makes me feel great about my personal life. (see title) Yup, Coupland pulls it off again. A corker about a bunch of nuts that you end up feeling at one with in a quirky kind of way. Unusual ending, typical of his style that definitely calls for suspension of disbelief for the greater good of making a worthwhile point but without sounding preachy. Top notch.

a good friday

Had an hours recreational skiing at the snow dome, ate a mixed grill, watched a film then went and chilled out with friends who live on a boat. Pretty cool day.