Hiatus

Rather than leave you all in the dark and hoping that I'd come up with something, I've decided to put this blog on hiatus until September. I don't want to keep doing these rubbishy little updates; you lovely people deserve better! So if you can wait, or remember to come back in a few months, there will hopefully be a fresh start for Almost Daily Exploits, and for me.

Achievement Unlocked

Ladies n' gents, I've done a guest comic at Interesting Times! Check it out!

Red-faced

I don't sweat.

Not like normal people, anyway. I've been out in the blazing sun all day, cycling up hills and through traffic, and I'm just not sweating.

I decided to ask my body why this is.

"Sweat?" she gasped, clearly appalled at the suggestion. "Everybody sweats, how frightfully common. No, I think my system is much better."

Ah yes, her system. Because when a body gets hot, it has to cool off one way or another; and when mine gets hot, I end up looking like a socially-conscious tomato that's just farted.

Thanks, body. Thanks a lot.

In other news, the photo course is going very well, and I'm still taking hundreds of fire photos. Because these guys are awesome, and crazy talented. I found out that Gav can do staff-twirling too the other day, he's been keeping that one quiet!

As always, the photos can be viewed large on my Flickr page.

Friends like these

Stupid changeable weather.

There comes a point, on days like this, when the abruptness of the weather change makes you question your choice of clothes. For me, today, it was at about the point the rain turned my t-shirt seethrough.

On the plus side, I did meet a lot of friendly people on the way home!

Speaking of friendly people, I was trying to explain Twitter to Ross last night. We were trying to explain to Dan why friendships with people you'd never met were perfectly valid and rewarding, and he raised the very interesting argument that I could be going out and meeting real people in the real world. Which is, of course, a perfectly valid point, and therefore made me want to cry and hit him with the keyboard until he stopped twitching.

Because, I mean, it was all very well being the introvert when I lived in Plymouth. Understandable, if not excusable. But now that I've moved to the promised land, why does it still feel so far beyond my reach to actually meet people by myself?

Well, the answer's obvious really. I'm horribly insecure. I don't really feel worthy of the friends I do have, and the thought of trying to make more is as daunting a prospect as it was when I was nine.

So! Food for thought there, for me anyway. Hope you're all well.

FIRE

It's happened. I've run into a full-blown case of writer's block. I've bought a beautiful new notepad, deserving of only the very best of first novels to be written in it, and it's managed to shut down every form of writing.

I can't write stories, or even poems, which I always found much easier. I'm really choking on this blog post, aware as I am that it's not my best! I can't think of anything to draw either. It wouldn't be true to say that I've got nothing to express, exactly, because I am going through stuff; I just seem to be struggling to express it.

Fortunately, in the meantime, the photography is going from strength to strength. So until I can chop this block into little pieces with my pointy writer words, these will have to do.

Pictured: Dan, who I only tease because I like him so much, and Ross who is essentially a really awesome teddy bear.

Eight things

Well well well, three holes in the ground. Looks like I've been tagged by the lovely Lacey! And like a moth to a flame, or a fat kid to junk food, I'm drawn to a good meme even though I know they're not good for me.

I'm supposed to write seven things I like, then tag seven people. Sounds simple enough, but I think I'll try for the more... unusual... likes. Everybody likes chocolate; I want (as always!) to be a bit different.

1) I like lying on the floor. Or sitting on the floor. I feel more comfortable, more confident, and more like I've chosen my own place to be. Lying on my back staring at the ceiling has the added side-effect of making me giggle uncontrollably for absolutely no reason. Peculiar, maybe, but a good laugh is always enjoyable! So, yes. Being on the floor.

2) I like thinking about ambitious interior design projects that never come to fruition. From the bedslide that I wanted when I was ten, to the canvas wall hangings that would look like doors and windows into other worlds, I've always had a 'dream room' in mind. I still think the wall hangings would be ace, actually.

3) I like my brother. My best friend growing up was always baffled by this; she had one big sister and they fought all the time, but my brother has always been one of my best friends. We have a similar sense of humour, and as ***this source of all wisdom*** says, "Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew you when you were young."

4) I like poetry! I like poetry so much! I enjoy the visceral feel of Salome by Carol Ann Duffy; the macabre tone of Poe's Raven; the earthy vocal poetry of Scroobius Pip, and the mellow introspection of Wordsworth. For some reason, poetry is the art form that resonates with me the most. One of my (very few) ambitions is to get some of my own published.

5) I like my bears. I have three: Strangler (so called because he is golden brown), Thomas, and a little white bear called Susan(I don't have any photos of Susan online. She's white, holds three red roses, and you can record and play messages by squeezing her paws). They are adorable. I put Strangler's heart in myself, at the Bear Factory, so he's very special. Thomas is very special because he's Gavin's as well, and Susan is special because I met her in a charity shop and took her home to Gav. I love my bears.

6) I like my post-shower routine. I take long showers, about half an hour usually, but that's nothing to what I'm like afterwards. It's a constant source of frustration to Gav that I like to set aside an entire evening to shave, moisturise, cleanse, tone, pluck and buff the appropriate areas. It is a lot of unnecessary hassle, but there's something very soothing about taking a bit of time to care for my appearance.

7) I like me. Not very day, but enough. I'm ok.

I won't nominate anyone, not this time, but feel free to write your own. Drop me a link in the comments if you do, I'd love to see what you write!

Oh and lest I forget, the Interesting Thing of the Day is the legendary HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure! After all, it was apparently Towel Day today. Rock on. Now, just to warn you, this game is damn near impossible. Only play it if you have a healthy disregard for such concepts as 'sanity,' 'savepoints' and 'free time.'

Lost girls

They are not bad children, the ones who go missing. Red Riding Hood, for example, was raised as well as most (and a great deal better than some.) She merely fell prey, as so many do, to the irresistable lure of the woods.

How many have been tempted astray by a wandering moonbeam? A white rabbit? The brightest flowers (always, somehow, just a little further off)?

The stars distract me. My feet to stray from the path, beaten by the feet of a thousand men; the only sure way home. My eyes turned skywards, I mindlessly walk into shadow so deep that I never
stop
f
.a
..l
...l
....i
.....n
......g...

Persephone, Alice, and me - we three
Went down to the forest to play.
Seph gave a shiver and ran to the river,
Just Alice and me got away.

Myself and Alice well knew, we two,
It's bad to stay out on your own.
We stayed close together 'til she chased a feather
And left me out there on my own.