mayfly182

mayfly182 @ 2009-10-12T12:12:00

2009-10-12T12:05:08Z

I have just received word that my aunt has finally died.

Random thoughts / feelings -

- Relief
- A fair helping of guilt (of course)
- Sadness
- Why the hell should I be feeling guilty or sad? She was my aunt, yes, but she lived in Holland and I can only remember meeting her twice in my whole life, the most recent time 12 years ago at her brother's/my dad's funeral when I wasn't exactly feeling sociable. I don't even remember what she looked like. Hell, we barely even had a language in common, English was I think her fourth language.
- Is her husband still my uncle? Someone who was married to my aunt and got divorced isn't my uncle any more, I'm pretty sure, in fact I think he might even have got married again. How does it work with death?
- Was it really necessary to keep giving a pretty elderly woman chemotherapy up until a couple of weeks before her death, when the cancer had already metastasized to various places including her brain? Sometimes I think modern medicine has a lot to answer for.
- More sadness. I knew my uncle a bit better than my aunt, he was much more talkative. I don't want to imagine what he's going through right now.
- Perhaps the bad memories of my dad dying (also of cancer) will leave me alone now.

mayfly182 @ 2009-10-03T17:07:00

2009-10-03T16:44:32Z

Bestest charity shop trawl ever, despite stupid bloody back pain and subsequent exhaustion.

I bought:

An old hostess trolley in dark stained wood with barley twist legs. This will house lots of plants.

A beautiful bone china willow pattern tea set consisting of three cups, three saucers and three small plates. These are clearly very old.

Two original paintings, one quite large watercolour landscape in a tatty frame (you can have the frame if you like, Angyl) and one small botanical study of a blackberry in what looks like acrylic, beautifully done and framed.

A cream bathrobe, very floofy (but missing its belt, damn)

A bright red silk dress which looks unworn

A blue silk waistcoat (which I shall probably give to my brother)

Two pairs of shoes - an unworn cream suede pair and a mint green pair with multicolour wooden soles

A pair of black linen-mix trousers

A smart-casual black jacket

A burnout silk chiffon top in rose and plum shades

A ribbed khaki top which I plan to use as the base for a costume.

Total cost? £15.50

This insane list of bargains was brought to you by the St Luke's twice-annual sale of 'all clothes, shoes and handbags are 50p'

Mostly for Ravenblack:

2009-09-29T19:19:05Z

http://www.yousuckatcraigslist.com/?p=3178

That is all.

mayfly182 @ 2009-08-17T20:07:00

2009-08-17T21:42:13Z

Good things about doing some gardening for my mother's very elderly neighbour:
- A real sense of achievement. In three hours I removed about a dozen would-be trees, at least as many brambles and a huge amount of ivy and a horrible spreading Hypericum. Beat that, paper-shuffling desk jobs.
- Excellent exercise, see above.
- Being paid, at least in part, to eat blackberries (he did say he didn't want them going to waste). Yum.

Bad things about said gardening:
- OW EA ARG FIRE ANTS OWWWW!!!

Cunning little buggers they are too. They don't just bite you as soon as they get onto you, oh no. Then only a couple would get their mandibles into you before you brushed the rest off. Far too small a punishment for disturbing their preciouss nest. Instead they use pheromones to coordinate their attack so they all bite at once. The 'fire' bit comes from the formic acid they spray into the wound, and it really does feel like being burned.

This is why I love personal ads...

2009-06-02T22:01:48Z

This is the start of the profile of a guy who tried to chat me up online today:-

"I AM A MALE 5 FOOT 11 INCHES LOOKING FOR A TRUE GIRL. A GIRL WHO CAN REALLY SHARE HER HEART. I REALLY LOVE BOOBS."

He didn't get very far.

A couple of weeks ago I got something equally amusing; the worst chat up line I've ever had used on me.

"Do you have a bandaid? Because I scraped my knee when I fell for you."

Yes, really.

Writer's Block: Significant Change

2009-05-28T21:01:11Z

Have you ever tried to change yourself for someone you were in a relationship with (or wanted to be in a relationship with)? Did it work?

View 501 Answers

Reading the other answers to this, there's mostly the obvious pair of "No and you shouldn't ever have to" and "Yes, and it was a disaster". But really, we all act differently with different people. I swear less when I'm around my mum or grandma; some people I feel I can talk to about stuff that makes me miserable and with some I put on a cheerful face; my accent even shifts North or South depending who I'm speaking to. And these are just a few of the most concrete examples off the top of my head. So really, what's the chance you could remain exactly the same when a big new influence enters your life? And shouldn't there be some things you'd be happy to change for a partner, if it meant a lot to them? Especially getting rid of bad habits. My mum told me she was terrible at arriving on time, as I still am, until she had small children that absolutely had to be picked up from nursery school on time. And now, she's....well, still not great at timekeeping, but better than most of my family.
Trying to change something that you're not ready to change, though, or trying to remodel yourself entirely to what they want - obviously not that healthy and almost certainly doomed to failure. But trying to change yourself? Yes. It's entirely reasonable to want to be the best 'you' you can be for someone special. And most of us have a bad habit or three we could stand to lose.

mayfly182 @ 2009-04-28T17:40:00

2009-04-28T18:30:27Z

Nooooooo!

Earlier this year I took over my brother's allotment. I've already planted potatoes and sown peas, as well as spending many hours weeding the couch grass out. Now I've just learned that thanks to a fuck-up on the part of the council and my brother mislaying the contract he signed, it's not mine any more. I've also now got around 200 various flowering perennials I've just sown that aren't going to have a home when they come up. I'm really upset about this happening, and on the practical side....anyone want any perennials? I think I'm going to have a few spare. I don't know what yet, it's from a mixed packet.

Writer's Block: LiveJournal Book Club

2009-04-25T16:12:47Z

Out of all of your favorite books, pick just one you'd recommend everyone read. As a bonus: why did you pick that one?

View 505 Answers

A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson.

If you're not familiar with this, it's a popular science book, but so wonderfully well written and funny that for entertainment value it beats most other books I've read. In addition to this, I think that everyone could learn a great deal from reading this book, no matter how scientifically literate or otherwise they were. Reading this book also really affected me, making me feel several different emotions, but the overwhelming one was just how insignificant the problems I've been stressing about lately are. Everyone should read this.

Writer's Block: Shhhh

2009-04-19T16:54:57Z

Would you ever go on a silent retreat? How long do you think you could go without talking?

View 500 Answers

...
...
...

Writer's Block: Been There, Done That

2009-02-02T15:05:57Z

If you could live one day in your life over and over, which day would it be?

View 501 Answers

If it was midnight-to-midnight, then I can't think of a particular day I'd want to relive over and over. I can think of a couple of nights, though.

Is this the worst product concept ever?

2009-01-15T01:27:22Z

Cherry flavoured numbing anal lube

.....why?

Still alive

2008-12-06T08:24:30Z

For those who know I went to the A&E last night: I'm still alive. I've just got home after spending the entire fucking night there - got there 10:30pm, let out 7am. They don't know what's wrong but they don't seem to think it's too terminal or they wouldn't have let me out. I'm going to bed now, I'm writing this so people can know how I am without ringing and waking me up.

Police car meme.

2008-11-14T17:55:03Z

If you saw me in the back of a police car, what would you think I was there for?

Answer me, then post this in your own journal (or not) to see how many different crimes you get accused of committing.

mayfly182 @ 2008-11-02T00:56:00

2008-11-02T00:57:57Z

Mmmmm, beefcake.

Writer's Block: Fright Show

2008-10-23T12:14:01Z

'Tis the season for scary movies. Some rank The Evil Dead as the best horror film of all time. What is your favorite scary movie?

View 500 Answers

Most party political broadcasts scare the hell out of me.

Writer's Block: Eat Your Vegetables

2008-10-06T20:14:38Z

The fall harvest is showing up in markets now, including many of the green vegetables children find so disgusting and yet are forced to eat. What is the most disgusting thing you’ve eaten, either by choice or against your will?

Submitted By bloodcurdling

View 500 Answers

I can't remember why I tasted it, but tinned asparagus. Worst idea for preserving something EVER. Sitting around in water for months makes it go slimy and watery and stringy, and there are sulphur compounds in asparagus (which are what make some people's pee smell funny after eating it) and I think they reacted with the metal of the tin to produce a really offputting smell. Not so much 'something I've eaten' as 'something I've briefly tasted then quickly spat out'.
Very nearly as bad are tinned mushrooms, they also go horribly slimy. Tinned strawberries, also really yuck. Squishy watery things with an unpleasant metallic taste from the tin.

Fun.

2008-10-04T21:54:38Z

Lots and lots more fail

Meme of impressive propagation

2008-09-25T21:18:13Z

Comment here and I will:

a) Tell you why I friended you.

b) Associate you with something -- a fandom, song, color, photo, etc.

c) Tell you something I like about you.

d) Tell you a memory I have of you.

e) Ask you something I've wanted to know about you

f) Tell you my favorite userpic from your list

g) In return, you don't need to post this on your own livejournal because you probably already have.

mayfly182 @ 2008-09-05T23:30:00

2008-09-05T22:42:58Z

At 5-something this morning, I heard muffled but familiar banging noises from the living room.
So I got out of bed and put a t-shirt on.
Went into the living room, where as expected there was a very soggy cat playing with an almost equally soggy mouse.
Grabbed the cat by the scruff of her neck with my left hand.
Cat automatically dropped mouse.
Grabbed stunned mouse with my right hand before it could run.
Put mouse in temporary mouse container in the bath along with a small handful of muesli and eggcup full of water.
Fed cat a handful of breakfast food in the hope she would eat it and then go to sleep
Cat ignored food and disappeared back out into the rain in search of a new mouse.
I went back to bed. It occurred to me as I was getting back into bed that the whole thing had taken just 5 minutes to deal with, which goes to show how used to this I am getting.

Oh....and I expected a soggy cat because she only seems to bring mice in when it's raining outside. Either she finds them easier to catch when it's raining, or she eats them outside when it's a nice night.

Wikipedia Meme

2008-08-16T17:12:49Z

Look up your birthday in Wikipedia. Pick 4 events, 3 births, 2 deaths, and 1 holiday.

events:

1349 - The Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing bubonic plague, were rounded up and incinerated - Oh joy. Perhaps that's what my dreams have been about lately.

1799 - British Prime Minister William Pitt introduces income tax to raise funds for the war against Napoleon.

1861 - American Civil War: The "Star of the West" incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. It is considered by some historians to be the "First Shots of the American Civil War".

1968 - The only known snowfall in Mexico City occurs; additional snow falls on January 10 and 11.

Births:

1624 - Empress Meishō

1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee (or 1911), American burlesque entertainer (d. 1970)

1982 - Kate Middleton, girlfriend of Prince William of Wales - Yuck. Why is this even on Wikipedia?

Deaths:

1858 - Anson Jones, 5th and last President of Texas (suicide) (b. 1798)

1995 - Peter Cook, British actor and comedian (b. 1937)

Holiday:

Martyrs' Day (Panama) commemorates the 1964 riots over sovereignty of the Panama Canal Zone

I share a birthday with Income Tax. Great.

mayfly182 @ 2008-06-14T22:42:00

2008-06-14T22:04:41Z

In a few hours I'm off to the airport. I have a six AM flight, yuck.
Anyone that doesn't already know, I'm going to ride vampire horses - see here and here

I'm back on the 28th of July, and I'll be holding a party on Saturday the 5th of July. It's odubtaig's birthday and I said he could have the party at my house, and I'm sort of combining it with a housewarming party even though my flat isn't finished yet. If you're reading this you're probably invited. Details haven't been worked out yet.

See you all (or mostly) when I get back. There may be pretty pictures.

mayfly182 @ 2008-02-12T19:06:00

2008-02-12T19:09:28Z

I have lots of spare plants of Stipa gigantea (giant oats) on offer. I've put them on freecycle, but if anyone would like some for themselves or anyone else they know, just say.
Details and photo of the plant here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/889.shtml

mayfly182 @ 2008-01-05T20:01:00

2008-01-05T20:09:19Z

I lost my phone/had it stolen at a club last night. I also have no internets at the moment, so if you're trying to contact me it's probably a bit tough. Email is probably best.
I will let people know new phone number when I get one, or if by some chance I get my old phone back.

mayfly182 @ 2007-12-24T22:23:00

2007-12-24T22:46:07Z

Erm, well, I found my ring. Somewhere I thought I'd already looked. *looks embarrassed*
Oh well, I'm glad to have it back.

In other news, today I tried some damsons that my grandparents had bottled in 1974. They were edible but not terribly tasty. They tasted something like prunes and something like compost. In the end we had gooseberries instead, in crumble. They were really recent, only having been bottled in 1997, and they tasted fine.

Moral: Eat bottled fruit within 33 years. After that they're definitely past their best.

mayfly182 @ 2007-12-22T21:40:00

2007-12-22T22:03:09Z

I have lost a ring.
I think it fell out of my pocket somewhere around the time of Mike's party. I'm posting this in the faint hope that it may have been at the party and someone picked it up.
It's a silver ring set with white opals all the way around. If you find it, please let me know. It is my wedding ring, from when I got handfasted. I would very much like to have it back.