TITTWIS 40: We don't need no stinkin' paper bag!

Are there no 40s in the UK?

40s are malt liqour which has a higher alcohol content than regular beer. cheaper too. A 40 is usually only 2 or 3 bucks. Cheap, nasty drunk.

My son peed in his face this morning, it was great.

I've never had a 40 either. I tend to get wasted off a 1/2 of a regular beer anyway though.

The next time I changed him, he had a tiny baby boner, it was so cute. I wonder if that inhibits his peeing?

WTF??

It's technically a holiday here so some Americans might be at home I guess. G. doesn't get the day off, and I'm always here so it's a normal day for me.

I way overslept this morning after many long dreams about high school, old jobs, old friends. weird. am I going to die or something today? Was that my life's flashback?

How was the weekend for everybody? We spent most of it driving around looking at houses with G. asking, "would you want to live here? here?" I don't care a whole lot. I like porches, lots of windows and no carpet. But if you're buying that's all stuff that can be changed, right? Instead we made copious notes about the state of the neigborhood and any signs of gentrification. I also kept my eyes open for the closest schools and made note to look them up. (although I expect them all to be not good.)

Now, I have this house to clean. The kichen looks like the apocolypse hit and there isn't a clean dish in the house. The laundry is also toppling and refridgerator is bare. arrggh!I can only do so much in one day! I have to watch Tyra and Oprah!

look for bootleg DVDs. I'll keep my eyes open.

are you going to know the gender Pink or are you going to wait until delivery?

Hi, Pink.

How many month pregnant are you now, Pink?

Where have all the escapists gone?

Mmah back atcha, Pink.

I had a big important meeting with my "new" bosses yesterday and totally wowed 'em. So much so that they finally delivered the cheque I had invoiced them for OVER A MONTH AGO. I think I also impressed the one of the funders of the project who sat in on the meeting via speakerphone, and sort of effed everything up by saying that the people with the money have developed a different idea of what they want this project to be, so it's almost back to the drawing board, which, since I working on a deliverables-vs-payables system, means I need to maybe look for a loophole so's I can get paid for the work I've already done.

Pink, that policy sucks! It's your baby, it's your business.

Houses . .I'm not so picky. The things I like - hardwood floors, windows, decks and porches - are things you can add yourself so no biggie if it's not there. The housing market is rough in Austin these days so G. is more concerned with long-term investment and whether the house could be resold five or ten years down the line. whatevs. I'll just be glad to finally get to have my pink room!

Huk - surely you should get paid if you've done the work, it's not your fault the fucktards changed their minds!

Sam - Tell me about it! I really want to know to the point that I might have a private scan to determine the sex. I hate not knowing.
A pink room eh? Pray do tell! Of course, I totally approve. ;-)

I just want to have one room to paint and decorate all pink. Hopefully a baby girl could then make her home there. Or a boy, whatever.

There's so much regionalization going on on ILX I might just start an Austin thread all for myself instead of reviving a real bloggy-blog.

I can't believe that they won't tell you the sex of your child, Pink.

I cannot imagine living in Texas without central air, Sam. Otoh, whatever you pay out to install it will bring added value to the house.

Perhaps the freedom of having things how you want it is one of the few pluses with our medical systems.

http://www.amerestaurant.com/about.html

The food is amazing.

Me, I'm all for unisex baby clothes and all, it's kinda weird how you have to make a child fit into a gender role right from the beginning. And I think my friend is the same, but she didn't have any need to know if it's a boy or a girl beforehand anyway, so she's okay with them not telling.

Fucking dream job as a media coordinator.

Review of Ame

I have an interview Friday with the university systems office for an electronic media coordinator. It's working with the state's public school iniative which would be fun. I'd be creating online learning materials for public school teachers and students. And the pay better than local member institution (my last employer). hurrah!

people'd get pissed off if the prognosis is wrong, if they'd like already bought lots of baby boy stuff or something.

My kid's wearing pink and purple, I don't care what it is. ;)

Good luck with your interview, Sam!

I'm not sweating mine yet b/c I'm still getting unemployment checks, woo-hoo!

Tuomas I sympathise, I too love the studying. This fall it's all coming to an end forever (along with my own student aid), sigh. Good luck with your interviews, everyone!

Pink, did you have your scan yet?

Not that I disagree, but can you clarify?

Well I had my scan yesterday & thank God the baby is perfectly healthy & extemely active! We asked to find out the sex & the lady said she couldn't tell us but we could try sexing it ourselves & then she moved the thingy & said "we're now looking between the baby's legs" & sure enough, we've got a little boy! :-) (well at least we think!)

I have to leave for my interview in a moment and I woke this morning with a massive sore throat and headache. arrgghh! I just want to stay in bed with some hot tea but now I have to trek downtown and talk myself up in front of strangers. I'm in such a foul mood it's not even funny.

I had the day off yesterday, and I was going to spend the whole day working on my (on the verge of getting behind schedule) other job, but instead I didn't do anything at all. And then I fell asleep. Doing nothing is exhausting!

Thanks's M!

It's cold and gloomy here. yucko.

The weather here leaves me eternally unhappy. When it's 80F+ in January, I bitch. When it gets cold enough for a coat, I bitch. I honestly don't know what would make me happy.

I'm going to Taco Bell. That's how crappy I feel. ;)

FYI: I DON'T CARE.

we also have to paint, redo the floors at the new place. come may, all shall be peaceful again.

http://12.168.161.3/Branding/localhost/AustinHomeSearch/Photos/6714064_0.jpg

It has a free standing garage, huge driveway (perfect for bbqs) and covered patio in the back.

can you hire people to pack? For me, packing means lots of looking and reminicsing.

Is there bbq in Texas?

What kind of back yard does it have?

The backayrd's actually a bit smallish as there's been a huge room added on to the back of the house. but like I said there's a brick covered patio which will be sweet for sittin' on.

It looks great, Sam! I hope you'll be enormously happy there!

are canned asparagus gross? I'm overdue a trip to the store and am trying to make the best with what's on hand.

the steelers won didn't they?

Anyway. I just wanted to drop in and say hi because I hadn't done so yet in this thread. So hi.

Pink, are you reading lots and lots of Expecting books? I just finished Little Earthquakes. It's silly and fictional, but I still feel I learned a lot about birthin' babies.

We close the last week of this month and have to be out of this house by the 15th of next. Not only moving but painting and re-doing of floors must happen in those three weeks. In fact, I should be packing and stuff now, not messing around on the net.

I wish I had something interesting and life-changing to report, but I don't. My band finished recording our cd. It's being mixed now, cover art is being commissioned, that sort of thing. Meanwhile, I'm fantasizing again about painting our apartment. My favorite BenMoore paint colors at this point are.. watch out... BUTTE ROCK and DILL PICKLE. Yum.

I flubbed that interview. No big deal b/c I didn't really want the job once I heard more about it. I would like to try and stay unemployed till after the move if possible as that would make things easier. But then I really got to find something!

Pickled Okra,

Arab-style pickled turnip,

cornichons, and

dill pickles,

I love you.

Nibbles,

M.

xxpost

Congrats on the house Sam! Looks cute and green/leafy.

Having said that, today I have:

- been bumped into by a car backing up;
- been nipped by a dawg who is NOT AT ALL AMUSED about having a bandage on her foot, NEVERMIND that I have to change it (she has a MAJOR FOOT PHOBIA DO NOT EVER TOUCH MY FEET NO NO NO I DON'T LIKE IT OW OW YOU'RE HURTING ME DON'T OW OW NO NO NO ACK ACK HELP ME);
- given myself a holy mother of god papercut; and
- opened the very sharp corner of my desk drawer into my very tender thigh.

I'M GOING HOME NOW.

Hey I need some quick help. A job I've applied for (a really good one it seems) has sent me four essay questions to answer and return by tomorrow. One of them wants me to list four sites I like and discuss the graphic design principal at work. ARGH.

I no longer have an at-hand list of such sites since I don't really care. But i could do this job and do care about paying bills so want to at least get an interview. Anybody know some good-looking sites (or places to look for such) off the top of their head? I can write very well about anything. I just need something to start with.

Please hire Sam and pay her handsomely. We all think she is awesomely, fabulously outstanding and really cool too.

ok thx bye

love,

TITTWIS Hivemind

Caribbean queen
Now we're sharing the same dream
And our hearts they beat as one
No more love on the run

I lose my cool when she steps in the room
And I get so excited just from her perfume
Electric eyes that you can't ignore
And passion burns you like never before

I was in search of a good time
Just running my game
Love was the furthest
Furthest from my mind

Maybe I'm just being mean.

yeah, built from scratch.

I spent all of yesterday in the kitchen cooking up a romantic v-day dinner. Today, I'm going to spend all day in the kitchen. .cleaning. bleh.

Last night G came home with a bouqet of roses and lilies but then this morning after he'd left for work I found my present waiting in the filthy kitchen: a lovely pink and black leather laptop case and a $100 gift certificate to the yarn store. yay!

I need to get scrubbin' here soon.

how were heart days elsewhere?

Your laptop case sounds quite fetching, Sam.

I started him off with shrimp cocktail (I don't care too much for shrimp) and a dos equis served in one of my crystal goblets. Then we had a salad of romaine, cherry tomatoes, and avocadeo dressed with pureered avocado, lime juice and chili powder. Dinner was spinach sauteed in garlic and pepper-encrusted filet mignon with a red wine sauce. I got to drink the rest of the wine. num. For desert a very rich devil's food cake, heart-shaped, with glazed strawberries between layers and fresh berries on top. The icing was a bit of a disaster though (all was from scratch) as I foolishly subsituted chocolates and ended up with a runny, almost sickingly sweet mess. It still looked nice but Martha would be so asahmed of me. :(

Then we watched American Idol. Pure class!

I didn't do anything - went home, ordered a pizza, and Spencer went to my mom's, so I read and went to bed. Whee.

Rubbish. It's just a question of different taste. I don't drink a lot of beer and the only cusines I can think of where I'd drink it with dinner are sushi and Mexican, epecially Mexican. If I drank tequila at dinner, the results might be hilarious for everyone else but ugly for me. Also, champagne is carbonated. Your dinner sounds delicious, btw. Just as an aside, can you imagine living somewhere you couldn't get good avocado?

Hi, Pink! Hope your mum-in-law is OK.

Michael, there are so many things, food-wise, that I get here which really end up keeping me here.

Luna, your night sounds pretty good actually! Thanks for thinking of me yesterday, :hugs:

argh, pink, no medications is something I really worry about re: getting pregnant. you're doing ok otherwise?

though i did have some sparkling grape juice last night (i miss booze, but i react to it badly).

the pizza kicked ass! i wish i had some leftovers.

Butter lettuce, super-thin sliced fennel, grapefruit or mandarine sections de-skinned (pain in the ass, btw), and smoked trout, all dressed simply with a drizzle of olive oil, lemon, and a touch of pepper.

Can you tell I haven't had anything to eat this morning?

Stupid assholes.

Last night Mark and I ordered pizza and drank some nice wine and port and shared some tiramisu, it was yum. I might like port too much.

I have sadly only had a bowl of berry burst cheerios today. I have some leftover salad and of course yummy cake for lunch. but that would mean going into the kitchen. ack! I've showered, read the paper, shopped for yarn. hmm maybe I'll walk the dog now!

Anyway, remember how I was asking your (general TITTWIS) advice about what exercise program to get into (or something along those lines)? Yeah, I went with the Jazzercise. I've been going for about a month and most of my muscles scream out at me (particularly my thigh and upper arm muscles), but I've been running out of breath a lot less and am getting a little more energetic. Though I must confess that halfway through one of those classes, I'm not at all grateful to be there. Though hopefully I'll get better at it as I progress.

M. White, you are seriously the classiest guy I know (or "know"). I'm going to look up "debonair" in the dictionary and expect to see your picture right next to the defintion, you know.

I'd like to take this moment to run up to Pink and give her a tackle hug. Or a very gentle hug, if the tackle hug will damage Pink Jr. (many congratulations on that!).

I tried to forget Valentine's Day was yesterday. I saw part of a romantic movie while eating dinner (Forget Paris, which was on Flix), but it's entertaining overall, so I didn't view it as part of the whole package. As a rule, I generally have zero feelings about Valentine's Day, but yesterday the significance of the day hit me. I guess it's because I'm getting older, or maybe it's because of some other reason -- I honestly don't know why yesterday bothered me as much as it did, when other Valentine's Days were non-events to me.

Um, that'll be it as far as updates go.

The main Yahoo page had this headline in their 'In The News' section:

Video: Sharapova trades racket for bikini

and the first thing I thought was, 'she must be pretty good to play tennis with a bikini.'

im going to be a dad!

Hey Pink -- things have been going better for me, thanks. Things are kinda peachy if I'm not hanging around ILX. How about you? How are things going on with you?

M. White, only you would describe a visit to Hooters like that. (Me, I stay far away from it.)

Sam, thanks for the congrats. I've been hitting a low point where I don't feel as energetic and my whole body feels sore, but today I went and afterward I felt a little better. So I guess maybe I'll start feeling better again. (I go Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.)

Think of it as (1) social obligation coupled with (2) sociological curioisity. It frankly wasn't worse than most of the American chins I've been to. Seeped in mediocrity to be sure, but cheerful and they had good beer on tap, ffs.

Chris, I'm still thrilled for you. After so many years of living in hope, this must be magical. I hope this doesn't mean the end of your regularly scheduled sex life, for your sake. ;-)

HA. How many would that be, two or three? ;)

And yes, it was socially obligated; you made that point clear in your earlier post. I guess I sorta obfuscated my understanding of that with my parenthetical statement. Though it's good to know that you experienced good service and found "good beer on tap" there (disclosure: I'm a total nondrinker). Silver linings!

Ha ha ha, I can't believe I broke down and did my fangeek thing again. Oh dear God.

My other job is sorta giving me the option of bailing, and I can't figure out if I should or not. I mean, I've received 5% of the money the contract promised so far, and I've been working on it since early December. And that's a big reason why I let it fall behind schedule a few weeks ago, after I learned that despite following EVERY DIRECTIVE the employer had given me, I had to basically start over because the big bosses had changed their minds about what they actually wanted. At that point, as per the original plan, I was about to submit an invoice for 25% of the total project payment, but suddenly that work I had done was irrelevant to the project. Since I had spurned a few other jobs while I was working on that, I was facing pretty major drop in income AND the end of the month bills dogpile, so I had to put this project aside to concentrate on some quickie PAYING jobs.
Last week, they asked me for what I had so far under the new requirements of the project, and I sent it to them. It wasn't much, but the QUALITY was there. Oh yeah.
So I finally heard back from them THIS MORNING, and they're "frankly disappointed" with how little I sent them. And what happened to X, Y & Z? "Are you wanting to complete the contract for this or have you lost interest in the project?"
First of all, I'm frankly disappointed that I've been bankrolling their project. And I thought X, Y & Z were part of the original project and not part of the Project 2.0, so why would I have submitted those?

So I guess I'm just trying to run out my self-righteous indignation and faux-pride here so that I can grovel back to them, because I could really use the money.

It's a kind of light pink. although everything looks darker on the walls. It's going to be "my" room. Basically the guest(cat) bed and all my yarns! woo-hoo!

Hello, everyone. The baby news makes me happy. :-D

As for my cohabitation, we share most rooms, but the "guitar room" a.k.a. the "computer room" seems to belong to Nick. I monopolize the clothes closet.

In a way, though, I feel like all the rooms are a little more mine than his because I do almost all of the cleaning and decorating. My next project will be painting a few rooms, but I have to make myself wait until it's not the dead of winter so we can open windows, etc.

I scored a sweet temp job today, y'all. Three months of working for them for free has brought me an offer of three months of working for them to get real paid, huzzah!

Mark and I have our own rooms as such in our house. The room where we sleep is Mark's room, and nothing of mine is in there, while the other bedroom has all my stuff in it and is a total sty right now. It functions as the guest room. I'd like to decorate and repaint it (parts of the walls were painted orange by a former occupant) but have so far been too lazy to do so. The rest of the house was decorated before I moved in, and I've only really added plants. I'd really like us to redecorate, but we haven't gotten around to it yet.

It's nice being able to have my own room, even if it's really messy (I should go tidy it really), especially now that my computer's fixed and I can stop bogarting Mark's space.

Yay SGS - well done you!

my allergies are nutty today. And I start a new knitting class tonight which always leaves me nervous.

You guys, I just found my first gray hair.

I bought my Vancouver tickets last night. Now I just have to break the news to my job-job.

your first gray hair? i started getting gray hairs in college. i have a bunch now, but they're mostly underneath and not at all noticeable (i hope). i don't want to have to dye my dark hair to keep it dark, but i imagine i'll have to one of these days.

my mom started going gray really really early, and now has completely white hair. when she's tried to dye it, it's turned unnatural hues of beige. really horrible looking. i hope i don't end up with that when i'm old.

pink, birthday plans?

I'm now embarked on my first sweater and am frightened of all the complexity. so much math in knitting!

Anyway, enough of my VANITY.

There is a lot of math in knitting! My mom sent me a sweater for my birthday, and included the pattern for the cool vintage photo, and it was like looking at a programming language.

I have a few grey hairs but I think I'll be bald before I go entirely grey. >:(

Let's say you start by casting on 20 stitches, then by the end you've got 30 on the needle. . that's one wacky scarf. I frequently either drop or add stitches so I have to pay close attention and use lots of stitch markers.

*laugh* The last time I got this high over meeting someone, it was because I'd met Nick Rhodes for the first time. But... please excuse me, because I'll be dancing on clouds nine, ten, and eleven for awhile.

Fuckers.

- He appointed himself fridge monitor (even though the attorneys go out for lunch every day and he has never put one thing in there) and has taken to throwing out people's food if it does not have their name AND the date on it. Just has the name? Bang, in the trash because it's not "following (his) rule."

- He can't stand laughter of any kind, and if someone dares to do it within his earshot, he will come and close the door of whatever room you're in. He could close his, but that wouldn't be nearly as satisfying for him.

- He called me incompetent and said he hated me at a Secretary's Day lunch for something that was the mistake of another attorney and NOT me, THE DAY AFTER HE STARTED HERE. He was kidding, but not kidding, you know? Also, he didn't know me well enough to make jokes like that AFTER ONE DAY.

- He called the fire department on one of the partners for smoking on the balcony in his own office instead of maybe hi, asking him not to?

He's basically condescending and rude, has no people skills whatsoever, and no one in the office that I'm aware of - save for his associate toady - can stand him.

Also, he has bad dye jobs.

*I admit that one thing that I vaguely respect him for is that he's a GIANT PENIS and he doesn't try to hide that fact. I assume this is because he doesn't know how.

Dee, I'm so impressed you met Lorrie Moore! At a book signing or reading? I once heard that she's a pretty harsh critique of student writers' work, but then again I suppose it's easy to be, considering the quality of most student writing respective to the quality of her own. Anyway I'm glad to hear that she was a sweet person, and you must be so psyched :)

Anal Attorney Syndrome- must have the date on your food! Dude, g f yerself. No-one, but no-one shouold be obsessing about other peoples' food that much unless they work in the restaurant industry. Just do what most place do and have a bi-menusal fridge cleaning.

Hates laughter? Sorry, but people like this would do humanity the most service by acting as fertilizer.

Social ineptitude? More dorkesque than evil but some amount of pain infliction could be justified. Accidentally repeatedly staple his scrotum to his pants or something. Say, "Oh sorry! I'm incompetent."

If he called the fire department on me while I was smoking, he'd find his brake lines severed, at the very least.

Ok, two for two tonight fangirlishness-wise. This is what I'm currently watching on VH1C. The band isn't as tight as I'm accustomed to it being -- they were SO DAMN TIGHT in the late '90s and in the year 2000 -- but hey, it's them.

*: It could also be considered a signing, as she signed copies of her books after the reading. Oh yes, and there was a mini Q&A session too. So it was a full evening. Oh, and I totally got her autograph, obv.

ihttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/Hereward/CIMG0225.jpg

ihttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/Hereward/CIMG0057.jpg

This surprises me. Isn't length for the sake of it a bad thing? Or did it help you express all ideas, or perhaps it made you feel you didn't have to hurry your thoughts.

I guess it was so some of us wouldn't be allowed to write down just a couple of sentences and leave it at that. Or give half-assed answers. I mean, it really wasn't length for the sake of length, but more like a searching for some real depth to the content of the answers. She knew when one of us was bullshitting just to fill up empty space and would call us on it, albeit in subtle ways.

We closed on the house Thursday and have hardly had a moment's rest since. I've painted four rooms since then and we finally got all of the old flooring up yesterday. Thursday night we stared pulling up carpet and discovered soe ancient-ass tile underneath. We had to chisel that shit up off the slab - as in on our hands and knees with hammer and chisel. argh.

now we're ready to start tiling. i'm dead. every part of me hurts.

how is everyone?

Sounds like a lot of work but it should be great when you're done.

Raining like all get go here.

He took this week off so we really have to finish with the renovations now so we'll be able to move in afterwards.

O.E. Tiwesdæg, from Tiwes, gen. of Tiw "Tiu," from P.Gmc. *Tiwaz "god of the sky," differentiated specifically as Tiu, ancient Gmc. god of war, from PIE base *dyeu- "to shine" (see diurnal). Cf. O.N. tysdagr, Swed. tisdag, O.H.G. ziestag. The day name (second element dæg, see day) is a translation of L. dies Martis (cf. It. martedi, Fr. Mardi) "Day of Mars," from the Roman god of war, who was identified with Gmc. Tiw (though etymologically Tiw is related to Zeus), itself a loan-translation of Gk. Areos hemera. In cognate Ger. Dienstag and Du. Dinstag, the first element would appear to be Gmc. ding, þing "public assembly," but it is now thought to be from Thinxus, one of the names of the war-god in L. inscriptions

Why do I always feel talkative late at night when no one's around? I should really go to bed. Hope you will come back at some point, luna.

I'm off for a couple of weeks on vacation. I want everybody to behave themselves (within reason) and play nice while I'm away. If I have a chance, I'll look in to say hello but if I don't it either means I'm busy having fun, I'm busy not having fun, I'm hopelessly lost in some back alleyways, or I've finally met the camel of my dreams.

My iguana ran away yesterday. :(

Many adjectives have been used to describe me, Ned, but retiring has never been one of them.

Fun is offically banned in S.D., Huk, as we all know.

i am looking for a new apartment. it scares me.

house in progress:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49364169@N00/sets/72057594076439042/

didn't you just move Juulia?

still no chingy. :( I'm a bad lizard-mom

I've posted on craigslist, checked the shelter and am now going to post up some signs (although I think I shall have to make more with pictures)

I've lived in this apartment now for almost two years, which is approaching a record for me I think--longest time in one home since age 15 or something, ugh.

Julia, I know you've told me about your housing woes, so what you're telling me sounds like fantastic news if it ends up working out.

Tonight is election night here in Texas and I'm waiting to see if my cousin will gather enough votes to be put onto the Democratic party ticket for a vacated state Senate seat. It still seems like he'll win, but my heart is in my throat nevertheless. * (I've attended a few of his Christmas party fundraisers.) I'm also appalled by those people who gave DeLay that huge majority in the Republican party primary (not in our area, but noteworthy). Where I live had no hotly contested races, though. It was pretty boring. But I'd love to sign Carole Keeton Strayhorn's petition (for governor) and choose between her and that guy from Houston who ended up winning the Democratic party candidacy for that race. (Kinky's off my nice list because he acted like an asshole and a half to this really kind and sweet local reporter I've met up with a few times.) (Oh, Chris Bell! That's the other person.)

M. White, that's more about today's day name than I think I could've ever cared to have known. ;)

I'm giving up cookies and candy for Lent. The candy thing was a bit of cheating, as not many candies tempt me. (Reese's Peanut Butter egg is pretty much the only candy that makes me go "Ugh, I SO want you.") But cookies are my favorite sweet things in the world and it has already been hard to give them up. I have visions of going to the store a couple of days before Easter, buying a package of those Pillsbury sugar-free chocolate chip cookies and a liter of milk, and the day Easter comes baking the whole package and eating at least half of the warm, gooey, yummy cookies.

(*: OMG, I totally think my cousin won!)

Hope your lizard has returned by the time you read this, Sam. That chimney thing in the middle of your house is kind of weird, is it like a firepit or something? But I love love love your kitchen units!

Have a great holiday Michael, and don't forget to sample the excellent British cuisine while you're here ;)

I have been in my current home for exactly two months and I like it more than any of the others. So far.

Chingy busted out once but luckily we noticed him missing fairly quickly and G. found him on the neighbor's back porch. This time he was gone for a few hours though. :( I filed a missing report with the city yesterday and put up signs on telephone poles. Today I think I'm going to make little fliers for neighbor's mailboxes. And then I'll give up. :(

That chimney thing looks like it might have been a planter. But it's gone b/c we sledgehammered it out! G.'s mad b/c I didn't take enough pics of the outside. arrgghh!! *sigh* I've only been on my hands and knees laying stone tiles sorry I'm not a good enough photographer!

still no lizard though. . .

I am happy to report that the food (which we didn't have to pay for) at the Four Seasons, Hampshire, was delicious. I had a selection of four local cheeses after dinner on Thursday which were excellent.

Cairo is nuts, btw. More later, if I get a chance.

Sam, my fingers are crossed for you and Chingy re-uniting soon.

I like chip shop fish and chips in principle, but the standards and styles do vary hugely. I've had plenty of appalling ones, and being too greasy is normal, but I've enjoyed plenty as well.

And Martin, I'm no Philadelphian, but I don't think the cheese in a cheesesteak sandwich is supposed to be "Philadelphia" (i.e. cream cheese). That would be kinda icky. Anyway, it's interesting how you say all that. Are there no health inspectors in Britain who would be required to drop in unannounced to places that serve food and do inspections? I know that's required Stateside and many media outlets (usually local TV stations) will regularly advertise the highest and lowest scores of the week. Down here in my neck of the woods, there are two TV stations that do this.

Okay, time for me to go to sleep.

Sam - I'm sorry to hear about Chingy, I hope he comes home soon!

our weather's been down the crapper for awhile - no winter coats at all this winter hardly. grass is always greener blah blah.

Michael's showing us all up with his glamourous holiday.

when I was studying abroad in the UK my food experience was sublime. we had a french cook at my college.

hi martin!

Hopefully his days of freedom were blissful.

Square peg feelings are factoring in strongly tonight....

square pegs was a great show!

I never got to see "Square Pegs". I wonder how I'll get to.

I've been off today (fully) but have been busy throughout the day, up until now. Hence my posting here. Right now I'm taking a breather, drinking water and watching Martha Stewart (better than most anything else that's on, I find). Mmm, cool, delicious water. Mmm, not being out in that sticky, humid air.

it's rather cool here, bout to take missy for a walk.

I love Missy!

I ordered the b1ur DVD last week in a fit of nostaligia and got it today. there were 3 or 4 "newer" videos on there which I'd never seen, including the one for On Your Own. I think Dam0n A1barn was trying to channel 1992-era Beastie B0ys in that one. Oh, the horror.

and they're supposedly playing a secret show today and the best info I gets puts it at a big venue that will also be hard to get into so I'm all "eh, forget it." however G. says we will go and try when he gets off work.

What's wrong with me that I won't stand around for 3 or 4 hours to try and see my favorite band in the universe? What happened to the me that drove to Detroit in one 18-hr shot to see them?

She's grew old and lazy, that's what.

Miss Misery, as hard as I try, I cannot picture you being a Blur fan. I know you came of age during the Second British Invasion and all and you would have had to have had some teenaged interest in some of the British pop stars of that time, but I find it more likely that you'd fall in the vein of the "female rock & roller"/"rapper" sides of things even back then. Hey, this is something to work on, sure.

Huck, are you off on holiday?

Could someone please invent a time machine so I can either travel back to the early '80s and live the life of a teenager then, or travel back to when I was 18 years old and knock some sense into me so that I could have actually taken advantage of those younger years? Please? Anyone?

but I find it more likely that you'd fall in the vein of the "female rock & roller"/"rapper" sides of things even back then.

well I was/am! Joan Jett was the first music I ever got into, and I started listening to rap over 20 years ago. But I was also raised on the Beatles, into duran duran in elementary school and had an anglophile phase in college. hugely into b1ur in my early 20s. cute. I only recently started listening to them again without cracking up at dam0n's horrible fake cockney accent. Nowadays I mostly listen to just rap and country. such good bedfellows.

last night we were unable to get into the secret beast1e show. They were only letting in people with SXSW badges (the $600 ones), not even wristbands and forget just flat cover. Even all the badge people didn't get in, the line was unbelievable. So we sat on the grass behind the ampitheater with all the other rejects and listened. It was only a 20 minute set. We got to watch the bats fly out while they played. It was fun.

Later that night we tried to go to a party that mixmaster mike was playing at b/c we thought they(beasties) might show up and b/c, well, MMM is amazing. DENIED! I have gotten into plenty of sxsw private parties but these people just weren't havin' dumb townies like us. As we dejectedly headed back to our car we ran into two members of my most awesome favorite TX band who just got signed to a SKATEBOARDING label (tres cool) and they were going in TO WORK AS BUSSERS! They tried to sneak us in saying we were also supposed to work but we couldn't even get in as dishwashers!

me & g. = teh loserz

My lil' bro's on his way into town and we're going to hit up some hip-hop showcases and probably some rollerderby action. yay!

thanks for letting me blog TITWIS! hugglez!

I am exhausted but somewhat thrilled after four days on the Nile. Tomorrow: Alexandria.

Sounds like the times have been hot in Austin! I would adore being there at the moment but so many things have come up that I had no choice but to stay down here, even though I was off school all last week and I took off work last Thurs - Fri. (They didn't give us St. Patrick's Day off. Though I think they'll give us Battle Of Flowers day.)

San, I figured you for a rap & country girl. :) Everyone needs to have their specialty. (I almost typed "speciality" -- like, dude, I am SO not British.) Me, I'm in a huge Heaven 17 phase at the mo. LOVELOVELOVE them. And the big band stuff my dad was into.

But anyway. Rantage over. I need to get back to reading the paper.

have been bed-ridden sick for the past two days but have finally stumbled out. arrggh.

maybe one of these days we should start a new thread.

And Mark, there is no such thing as rain without lightning here (er, I partially exaggerate). Actually, what really stopped me was the fact that it was about midnight when I saw this happening and, well, it'd been crazy to step out in the literal middle of the night to soak up the precipitation.

I wish there were enough Texans in this thing to warrant an active thread series comparable to some of the other regional thread series here, or even enough Texans with the motivation to keep such a series up.

Thanks dee, I'm feeling much better now. Now back to normal job-search and house-fixing stress. arrghh!

We're trying to get at least three rooms completely finished - tile layed, grouted, sealed - before moving in furniture this weekend.

We are still only about halfway done with renovations though. I have become the home-fixin' queen. Painting, check. ripping up carpet and tiles, check. Mortaring down slate, check. sealing and grouting said stone, check. Add installing baseboards tonight.

yes, a new resume!

Michael, do you have a collection of your Egypt photos online? have you posted a summary and I missed it? i would love an exotic vacation but I'm beginning to feel I'll never have one.

But I do have an interview on Friday (phear!) and I do have house. Which is looking rather nice.

In bad bummer news, my mom has Hepatitis C. They suspect she was given contimated blood when she was in the hospital for her ruptured stomach a year ago. This is on top of her lupus and rhuematoid arthritis. *sigh*

I'm sorry to hear about your Mom, Sam. It cannot be said that she has great luck, medically speaking.

Break a proverbial leg on the job front and post a photo of your pink knitting room.