Ding Dong Sheila's Dead

On a sad note...I got rid of my Toshiba laptop: Sheila. She just gave up. She is survived by her a replacement Vaio Laptop which will remain nameless out of respect for Sheila. She was a slow, power hungry bitch but she was all mine and will be missed... a little bit ^_^

...and, yes, that is my foot.

The Shit has hit the Fan

As if life wasn't crappy enough. We're in a recession/ suffering the effects of it. We hardly have any money and what money we do have goes to pay for the basics. The basics that are too expensive. Basics like bread, eggs and milk. People are having to make decisions about what not to eat in order to heat their homes. And naturally that brings about apathy...I think they call it anomie, at least that's what Durkheim says; events out of our control have deeply impacted us resulting in normlessness. While that is the reality, and it's a cruel reality, it doesn't excuse all the shit that's going on.

On a more positive note, these looters, anarchists and ne'er-do-wells are like the UN of looters, anarchists and ne'er-do-wells. It's a muticultural riot. Tony Blair (aka the devil incarnate) couldn't have wished for more. We've come so far.

Mr. LaMontagne

In between depression, kanji and stupid A'levels, I realised that I love Ray LaMontagne. I feel like he's giving me a hug when he sings.

You know nothing about people

You'd think that after spending several weeks with some people you'd know them. But I don't. I don't know what about they're families or their journey to get here. I don't know them and I don't make it my business to. I enjoy writing on my blog and a key part of that is to be observant but I find that I care less and less about the people and things going on around me. I'm apathetic about most things right now. Maybe I'm going through one of my depressions, maybe I'm just jaded. I don't know...

It's just a fucking Cape!

Have you met that person who thinks that they know everything about fashion and therefore whatever they say is law. What they say is beyond reproach and a conversation that should have lasted only a few seconds ends up taking minutes of my precious time, which could have been spent daydreaming and lazing. It ends up as a mini argument and the subsequent silence all so that you can forget about the whole saga by the next day. It's boring, it's a waste of time and it's annoying. That person insists on arguing with everything that you say, just because they have thunder thighs and have to be very careful about how the dress. And in the end I think about how I didn't really care that much about the topic in the first place and I was only trying to banter and that she's 29 and this is so lame. I think about how I need a job so that I can get a hair cut and buy some lovely clothes instead of the clothes I've had for five years plus. The clothes I wore when I was 18. I think about how I'd love to be shopping in Japan and away from this situation because I'm bored, unbelievably bored and restricted. It's just a fucking Cape!

A Cocktail and a Farewell

That lucky bitch got to model for the Designer. I'm sorry to jump straight into it like but I'm so green, so what if I'm barely 5' 2'', so what if I have a hips that hate me. I could have done it. Okay, so I've had my rant and I've left la-la land. Life's comme ci, comme ca - if your wondering. I've been at this internship for a month and I'm definitely starting school this September... I just don't know where. I'll either be at a university or at a college. I don't have to state which I'd prefer, do I?

I was reading wanderinginmiyazaki today, she was leaving Japan after a 2 year stint as a teacher. I was... what's the word... not as strong as melancholy but thereabouts. I was sad to see her go because the blog was great and real and welcoming. But I could still see that she had had a great experience and it was time to move on. She seemed like she had learned and grown from life in Japan. Good Luck ^_^

Word of the Day: Indolent...

...yes, that's me. Indolent, faineant, otiose basically I'm a lazy git. Today I remembered that I have an exam on the 7th. When I told my mother she laughed while she remarked that she worries about me. Me?! Why? She said it was because I didn't like learning. I had to correct her. It's not that I don't like learning, it's that I don't like what I'm learning. If I despised learning I wouldn't have decided to learn a whole new language all by myself. It's not easy and really requires dedication. I haven't had time to blog lately and I feel like I've been neglecting SayJ, unfortunately it's gonna have to go on for a bit longer. My mother's having the kitchen done and I'm studying for my resists. I promise after the 24th I'll be back with some more anecdotes ^_^... .. .   .

A Quickie

I'm supposed to be studying know, so this one's gonna be short. My mum's having the kitchen done so we only have the sink and a portable stove at our disposal. The neighbours are playing obscenely crappy loud music again, which wouldn't be a problem if my mother would just give me the landlady's number. She thinks I'm gonna be nasty to her but I'm just gonna be a bitch.

Me... an Officer... hhmmmm

I had to laugh. I'm not that fussed, anymore, about the things the jobcentre makes me do. I just tried to apply for a job as an Applicant Enquiries Officer at a university. Me. I had to do the standard registration thingy; the first question they asked was: Do you have A levels? So I answer YES, then they ask: Do you have any customer service experience in student applications? or something like that. It was one of those questions that everything hinges on, I could tell, and so I answered NO. 'I can not tell a lie'. It quickly takes me to another page with a message saying: 'Unfortunately you have not proceeded any further'... blah, blah, blah. Gee, I didn't see that one coming. I had to laugh. The job offered a £23,000-26,000 salary. Why would any employer in their right mind give me that much money, knowing that I have no customer service experience and that my last job was as a sales assistant in year 9 on my work experience. I had to laugh. Hehe.

Something Funny

Learn Japanese, it's Easy

NO. It is bloody-well not easy. It's hard to keep motivated because even when you don't have a job and you've been kicked out of school (temporarily), you can get easily detracted. i.e. We just got the Food Network over here in England, and TV in general's kinda crap so my sister put it on the Food Network just so it's not too quiet. We're watching Grill It! with Bobby Flay: Chef Extraordinaire or so he thinks. Why is he so obsessed with chillis? Even though I don't care for food adorned with cilantro, it's still better the taking those two steps to my Japan Centre Kanji Book. I'm rambling aren't I?

p.s. Why do all American cooking shows revolve around a 'battle of culinary masters'? Ever heard of Rick Stein?

The World of Suzie Wong

Suzie Wong was a proactive, savvy girl, but most importantly she was stylish. Personally, I think it's hard not to find a stylish women in the 1950's. Don't get me wrong, I very much appreciate and admire modern fashion, but it can never match the effortless glamour of the decades past.

The plot is pretty simple, architect Robert Lomax (William Holden) wants to be an artist so he moves to Hong Kong to see if he can make it. On route he meets Mee Ling aka Suzie Wong (Nancy Kwan) who unsuccessfully tries to have him arrested for stealing her purse. They go their seperate ways. Lomax has limited funds so he looks for lodgings at Wan Chai district where he stumbles across his accuser coming out of a hotel. Lomax goes into the hotel and rents a room for one month. This comes as a shock to the landlord; his rooms are only rented for a couple of hours at a time. Yes, you've guessed right, Suzie's a prostitute. Lomax asks Suzie to pose for him and they strike up a romance in the process. They fight, they laugh, all the things never absent from a love affair. There's more but that would be spoiling it for you.

It's a great oldie to watch when you have some time free.