Tonight!

Holy cramps, Tegoshi. I wonder if I might actually be up the duff. My stomach feels like it's triplet loading* and my lower back hurts, I am shuffling around like every obaachan from every drama ever. Woe. As I have just posted on Twitter; I want a massage but fear I might have to pay some pretentious dickhead £28736428764 for the privilege else otherwise I might end up in a brothel. And you know, I am kind of deprived of It, lately, and more than a little desperate for It, but I don't think I am that desperate, and I just want a massage really, you know?

I also have a secret fear that a massage may somehow make me cry - I'm not sure why! Do people get emotional when they have good massages? I think they might. Then again I nearly had a cry when I saw two snails having a kiss last week. Wah! Even snails get more affection than Yours Truly.

*I think the real reason for this is a trip for Chinese food, where I had a plate of spicy trotters! Trotters, it turns out, are pretty much 99% fat, 1% meat - or at least these ones were. It was a little too much, but I wasn't quite brave enough to try 'old palace fish head and lamb soup'. And here is a photo of my friend's braised trotters - the chopsticks pictured are mine! I think I probably took about five minutes to lift them.

(I have long been of the opinion that it would be arsey and pretentious of me to stress and expend too much effort on using chopsticks, I have no se-asian heritage and no direct experience of using them, no chopstick using families have been cross with me when I have gone round for tea, no restaurant staff give a monkeys - but the thing is... sometimes... it would be useful not to be MASSIVELY cackhanded? Furthermore, cooking chopsticks are useful... up to the point where your hands cramp to death and you drop stuff everywhere. So - perhaps it is time to improve my skills and be one of those pretentious d1cks you see - hey! like that polo-neck guy in [donzoko?] eating edamamae and reading the Louis Vuitton guide to London. Anyway, god, Donzoko is great. I could sit in there for hours as long as the Asahi black and plates of garlic keep on coming).

Yeah! Wasn't the weather lovely this weekend though? I had a lovely wander from London Bridge down to Rotherhithe, via a slightly odd Asian food fair (there was a camp tv chef demonstrating south indian cookery in a lovely Liberty print style shirt who went to the same boarding school in India as Freddie Mercury! Coo er) and picked up this smashing book - stuff you've forgotten, things you neer thought you knew and lessons you didn't quite get around to learning, in a lovely colourful and engaging way! It even has a quick aide memoire for blooming chopsticks so I suppose I should get to it. Bring on the RSI.

PS: hmmm! How do I make my para flow around the picture?! Align=left doesn't seem to be doing it... arghhhh.

So, so so - I have a complicated thing to do today which may involve a long discussion and then more wrangling with stupid WORDS and their MEANING ugh - however I am tired, it's Friday, I want to go shopping for dresses at lunchtime and I cannot be bothered with work.

But yet my screen is too exposed for bejeweled and other things that look like fun. Has anyone got a text adventure in Excel they could send me?

Ot would anyone like to ask me an anonymous question? I shall provide super agony Brane advice?

Or confess a [dirty] secret (or a dirty egret)?? IP logging off (as always).

Or we could just talk about the Manics and how awesome they were last night, or talk about excellent music we have heard lately? Or pretty dresses? Or if you are coming to Poptimism tonight? It feels like I haven't had a dance for ages (You Love Us is pretty insanely hard to dance to - why is that)?!

Bring it on, Lewis.

*if at least three people give me a good comment I may share my "music in the bedroom" story which does Not have a happy ending where people Get Some. Does it EVER?! Ugh!

I am tempted to make a Jin "WTF MENTALIST" icon.

Would someone make one for me?

*twiddles fingers*

Do my bidding!

Ha! I hadn't seen that at the beginning the show provides a definition of 'mentalist' as something akin to a 'hypnotist'... um. That... definition... depends? HA...

Over the weekend I saw seven pugs!!!

And a shop called "pugs and kisses"!

Putney should be renamed "pug-ney".

Really quite busy today, but expect more on the pugs later. I bet you can't wait!

Please answer my question about animal fat!!

YUM, eh? Sorry veggies.

... I have barely understood a WORD of what a certain section of my friends have been talking about.

Is this what it's like to the rest of the world when I get excited about jpop?

Woe!!

You should only be allowed to win Crufts if you FIT IN THE TROPHY.

And if you can't be a dog, at least be in a dog costume.

I am aware this rule knocks out my own chances of winning best in show but I could always get a ribbon or something. I don't want the world...

I am cooking Duck Maigret, I mean, Duck Matrisse, I mean DUCK MAGRET of course.

My flat smells gorgeous.

I should eat duck way more often.

(See: Waitrose should have duck on half price special offer more often).

QUAAAAACK!

KNITTING BIT:::::

Kat reminded me about knitty! I almost forgot.

knit side to side skirt. Simple and lovely. Love this. Must have. Must lose 2 stone pronto.

can't tell if the knitted thing is awesome or the big furry hat is the awesome thing.

totally do not know how on earth this totally blah cardigan is supposed to "remind you of your days when you were a Rush fan". Hein?

op art would make me go blind.

Why is there no equivalent crochet site for knitty, huh? I can actually *finish* crocheted things. ::::

PATE BIT ::::

Once you start making paté it is very hard to stop. There are two pots of paté de foie simple in the fridge and now I need to use up the rest of the liver, so, well, more liver paté it is. Paté de foie simple involves bechamel sauce! It's insane, I haven't tasted it yet. But seeing as I already have two pots and am about to make two other "pots" (will have to use egg moulds! kuruma and kokoro I think!), I think I will be spending the rest of the month eating paté. So, no rush. No idea how to get circumflex over the 'a'. And can't do a macron either. Language! You are my b1tch.

NECK SUCKING BIT :::

We saw Twilight earlier. I can't believe I am going to have to watch three more of them. Tomorrow is back to school, which is bad - I think I will take advantage by printing off "New Moon". BTW, I really hate the Twilight promo pictures where Bella looks about 8yrs old, I mean there is starting the movie with a shot of an innocent baby deer (WE GET IT! 2 SECONDS IN AND WE GET IT!) and then there's an entirely different, and entirely wrong audience. Having said that, Bella is the worst protagonist in the history of ever, even worse than the "look at my unique style made from a pillowcase and matched with designer shoes!" narrator of Blood is the New Black. At least that one has a good TITLE, you know?

I... I'll shut up now. *runs away*

Chaaaaaa~~, baby bootees pattern for anyone who wants it - these are super easy garter stitch bootees with super easy construction and they are so cute one could die. No I don't have photos. Be not intimidated by the picking up an' knitting, it's a piece of p1ss innit. Pattern free w/ mag ages ago so feel free to share.

1 ball debbie bliss baby cashmerino
3mm needles

CO 36 sts
K12 rows
Next row - *k1, p1; rep from * to en of row.
Repeat the last row five times more.

SHAPE INSTEP
Next row: k24, turn
Next row, k12, turn
Work 24 rows in garter stitch on centre 12 sts for instep.
Break off yarn.

Right side facing, rejoin yarn at base of instep, pick up and k12 sts along side of instep, k12 across centre sts, then pick up and k12 sts along other sie of instep, k remaining 12 sts. (60 sts).
K12 rows. Break off yarn.

SHAPE SOLE
Slip 24 sts onto right hand needle, rejoin yarn an K12 sts, turn.
Next row, K11, K2tog, turn
Rep last row until 12 sts remain.
Next row: k2tog to end.
Cast off 5 remaining sts.

Join back seam and stuff loosely with some tissue paper so they keep their shape.

O HAI. Due to popular demand (three people asked for the recipe), here is a recipe for those lime cookies I made a little while ago. I got the original recipe from the internet, and the internet person got it from a Martha Stewart book I think. But the recipe sources are long gone, so here's what I have written down in my little folder.

( Lime cookie recipe under nyer! )

Tonight is karaoke night! Hurrah! But what to sing. What to sing? I've been listening to lots of The Fall and Panic at the Disco (non-exclamation mark flavour). They will totally not have anything by the Fall, and I've sung the Panic song the other branch has. The other things I want to sing are 'Stop' or 'Drama!' by Erasure, and anything by Propaganda. Or maybe I will just sing anything they have by Ash.

Soooo, KAT-TUN have a new christmas single out (at some point)! I am super amused. It is called "White Xmas"! I'm not sure if it is *actually* them singing 'White Christmas' - I doubt it. Dear Mr. Kitagawa, what are you thinking - if anyone is going to do 'White Christmas' why not debut dearest Ikuta Toma but OH WEWW. Anyway, I am looking forward with grebt anticipation to Santa related photoshoots, Jin getting trapped in a box, Kame being the angel on top of the tree with a halo made out of tinsel, etc etc.

FWIW I know what I'm going to have for tea tonight. Cuttlefish spaghetti! I've known this for about a week. What about you? (Now I've typed this I bet it'll be off the menu or something. Doh)!

I PASSED!!!

I actually passed!

I passed!!

Only a few marks off a distinction in the law paper!

sdhgakljghkja;hg'!!!
snjfdkahslghskahgkljhfagklh!!!!!

I'm sort of still shaking a bit!!

I passed!!

*breathes*
*breathes*

So far I have celebrated, by er... eating half a jar of Nutella straight from the jar with a spoon!! I know how to live!! This post is going to stay public for a while so if anyone clicks the "random" button and finds my journal THEY CAN CONGRATULATE ME TOO - HI DERE!

GIVE ME CONGRATULATORY GIFS!! (yanno, or jpgs, or... whatever)! Celebration actual plans to come in a further post :) :)