spleen_queen

02:57 pm: #holidays are coming, holidays are coming, holidays are coming#
I still get excited every time I see that Coca-cola ad. I did a bit more shopping today and got Charlie some nice boxer shorts and Twister!, which I'm sure we'll end up playing naked at some point. I also got myself 2 pairs of smart trousers for work from dorothy perkins, because they were having a 20% off day.
Tomorrow, Charlie's taking me to Maidstone and we're going to do all of our family christmas shopping. I also want to get some new tinsel but the only place I found any today was sainsbury's, and they only had 4 colours. There were baubles in loads of other shops but no tinsel. Has it gone out of fashion or something?

07:08 pm: I only have this week to go before I start my new job. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! What do I wear on my first day? I think I might take pictures of myself in various outfits and ask your opinions. It's a good thing all of the important people's photos are on the company website, I can make a handy reference sheet so I don't embarrass myself when I forget their names. I need a work bag. I don't know what I'll keep in my work bag, but I'll definitely need one. I also need some way to justify buying myself a laptop.

I went shopping today and got Left 4 Dead 2 and 3 M&S T-shirts for Charlie (who gets through T-shirts like most people get through something that people get through really quickly. All I can think of is bread).

02:30 pm: I has a job.

On the 7th I start as a Conservation Assistant at Groundwork Kent and Medway. It's a 6 month contract, 25 hours per week, same as the office trainee job I originally interviewed for. I'll be assisting with surveys and plans and getting funding and stuff, and doing a bit of practical landscaping stuff in the summer.

02:55 pm: My job interview on Friday went better than I thought it did (too shy, quiet etc. as usual). I got a phone call a few hours after it saying that they hadn't been able to decide between me and one other person, and they wanted to invite me to interview for a couple of other similar positions. On Monday I've got an interview to be an education assistant, which seems to be mostly preparing stuff for the people who do environmental awareness days at schools.

Tags: jobhunt

02:04 pm: Me and Charlie went to see Marcus Brigstocke in Maidstone last night, doing his new show "God Collar", which is basically about religion and spirituality and stuff. There were a couple of bits that were a bit slow, but other bits that had me falling off my seat, and one bit that made me cry a teeny bit. At one point he did an impression of Dylan Moran, which was perfect. The only really quotable bit I can remember is "there have been a couple of documentaries on BBC3 about how hard it is to take care of a relative who has Altzheimer's, and the most painful thing is how you can see the person and they're physically there, but the person you know is mentally and emotionally gone. That's what it's like to have a friend with an iPhone."
At the end he took a couple of questions from the audience, then a couple more that weren't about his appearance on Hole In The Wall, and one person asked him about when Rufus Hound got naked on Argumental. Apparently what they didn't show was Rufus' teammate getting up and lifting his penis with a biro and going "this isn't weird! this isn't weird at all!".

What a lovely image.

Tags: funtimes

12:17 pm: hey look, a livejournal!
dum de dum...

I had my second driving test a week ago, and failed again, but I've got another one booked in a month's time and I really think I'm going to pass this time.

I keep applying for jobs, getting my hopes up, and never hearing anything from them *sigh*. There are barely enough jobs for me to keep applying for anyway; Kent Messenger's website only has about 140 jobs for the whole of kent, and half of those are for carers or teachers. Plymouth News, on the other hand, has about twice as many.

And why am I looking at jobs in Plymouth? Charlie has had enough of working in his boring factory job, and wants to do a degree in robotics. Plymouth is one of the only places that he could get into with his grades and without a full A-level in maths. He's going to apply this year and hopefully get a place for September (he's got enough UCAS points plus 2 years engineering experience, so I don't see why he'd have a problem getting in). Double rooms in houseshares there are around £60-80 per week, so we're looking at moving there together for the three years, and if I can get a full time job and he has a part-time one, we should be fine :)

It's too late to go to any proper open days before applying, but our friend Simon is there so we're going to visit him and he'll show us around. He says it's awesome, and he is awesome, so we are happy to take his word for it.


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Shortly after posting that, I got a letter inviting me to an interview this Friday. The job is mostly typing and filing and stuff for a charity, so it's only minimum wage, and it's 25 hours per week. I make that around £120 -_- at least that's more than the £50 a week I'm on at the moment. It's only a 6 month contract so the moving to Plymouth thing won't be an issue. I'll give it my best shot anyway, and if it doesn't happen then I can always have another go at Argos.

Tags: charlie, jobhunt

02:29 pm: detoxing hasn't gone very well; I may have eaten a whole block of cheddar in the last 3 days.
I have, however, been drinking a bit more water than normal and stopped having sugar in my tea, which is about as much as I could ever have hoped to achieve. I've also been doing a bit more exercise at home because I want to get back to having a really toned stomach like I did a couple of years ago when I would do up to 100 sit-ups a day.

I failed my first driving test a couple of weeks ago, and have another one booked in about a month. I had a lesson today and I didn't stall once! My driving was almost perfect and definitely up to the standard it has to be to pass my test, the only problem I really have is with nerves. When I had the lesson just before my test, my driving was fine, but as soon as the test started I regressed about 6 months and lost the ability to steer the right amount or drive in the right gear. Hopefully now that I know what to expect I'll pass next time.

Tags: driving

12:43 pm: this week, I am detoxifying. I decided it last night, but didn't remember this morning until after a cup of tea.

So far today I have had:
- 1 cup of tea (which shall be my last)
- bowl of Alpen muesli w/ goat milk
- glass of water

for the rest of the week it's going to be all fresh fruit and veg and water and green tea and being in a state of caffeine-deprived rage and sleepiness.

11:25 am: the egg-speriment
( is it possible to fry a perfectly toast-shaped egg? I decided to find out... )</div></div>

Tags: funtimes

07:08 pm: I sort of forgot about updating this thing :/

Anyway, I have written a song. It goes to the tune of Smelly Cat.

Jaffa Cakes, Jaffa Cakes
I can't stop eating you
Jaffa Cakes, Jaffa Cakes
It's not my fault

01:01 pm: Charlie's gone off for ten days holiday in Holland with his family who have already been there a week. I'm feeling a bit blue about the whole thing. Not because he's gone, but because his mum refused to let me go as well. I know she doesn't like me but it's not as if I've ever done anything to offend her. She's hated me more since Charlie asked if he could move in with me, but she's never treated him like she actually wants him around at all, and he's nineteen for god's sake, he shouldn't have to ask her permission to move out anyway.

Now I am going to channel my annoyance into baking, as mother keeps bringing home fruit from the park where she works. So far I've made 2 apple cakes, both of which have gone down very well, and today I'm going to make a blackberry cake. I've never made a blackberry cake before, but I don't have enough fruit for a crumble so I'm just going to experiment and see how it turns out.

Tags: charlie

11:06 am: I challenge you to challenge me!

Ask me to take photos of stuff. Anything at all (within reason) that I can take a picture of in my house or garden. You can set me a small task to do and take a picture of if it won't take long. Up to 10 requests per person, although I'm expecting more like 2 or 3 each :)

I'll start by setting myself the task of putting my camera batteries in the charger -_-

03:10 pm: It was my 19th birthday on Saturday, most of which was spent getting ready for a barbecue on Sunday. I had a great day and the only casualties were a chair and a swingball set (we lost the ball 3 times and only found it twice).

Photos are here



Tags: funtimes

11:28 am: One floor clean, two to go.

Here's that video of my room

09:55 am: Poor lil Cookie face is at the vet today to get her teeth sorted. It turned out that the computer system gave us a quote for what it would cost if she needed any  extractions, which she won't, so it'll actually cost £180 altogether. They take animals for surgery from 8:30 til 9:00, which is why I'm up at this time known as "morning".

It's my birthday in 3 days! I'm having a barbecue on Sunday, at the moment I've got 5 people definitely coming and 7 maybes, but I've just moved it from Saturday so that might change a bit, because a couple of people were going to a football match that day and there would be traffic problems for some others, plus the forecast is better for Sunday.
My aunt and uncle are coming for a few days from Friday as well, so I've got to get the whole house clean by then. I'll start off with my bedroom, which I've just rearranged around a gorgeous hand-painted cabinet that Charlie got me as my present, and then I'll take a video to show off my lovely lovely room.

Tags: cookie

10:48 am: I am covered in mud, bits of tree, scratches, nettle stings, and keep finding bugs on myself.

Why?

Because this morning when I opened the back door, just for a second, to chuck some stuff in the compost bin, Cookie charged out past me and I ended up chasing her through 2 neighbours' gardens, before cornering her on our shed roof. That shed roof is hard enough to get down from when you don't have a flailing cat in one hand.

Tags: cookie

11:39 am: Cookie is not a happy bunny. Nor is she a happy cat.

I noticed yesterday morning that her upper left eyelid looked a bit pink, then in the afternoon it looked a bit redder and more swollen, so I put her lampshade collar on her so she wouldn't scratch at it. Cookie doesn't like the lampshade at all, she gets confused every time it gets caught on a chairleg, but she'd like it less if she had puss dripping into her eye.
I took her to the vet this morning, where she got an anti-inflammatory injection, and some eye drops, and some cat food to stop the tartar build up on her teeth. It cost SEVENTY EIGHT POUNDS! And the vet said that she should have a full dental clean under anaesthetic, the quote for which was nearly four hundred quid! Even without some of the optional extras, it would be over £250.
Cookie is not insured.

I haven't been keeping up with the updates very well, but I've been out a few times to barbecues, cinema, clubbing, with people from school, and I've kept up with going to the gym every monday and friday (apart from today because I want to keep an eye on Cookie).

Tags: cookie

07:06 pm: the updating every day thing didn't really work, so I'll set myself a more realistic target of 4 times a week. Anywho my weekend...

Most of Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday were spent watching Red Dwarf. Charlie had just got every episode from his brother, and had watched up to series 5 on his own, and on Sunday night we finally finished series 8. The end of the last episode really didn't make sense with the Back to Earth episodes that were on Dave at easter.
I had a brief swim in the pool on Sunday; it was freezing. Charlie and his brother are arranging a big pool party in August when the rest of their family will be away on holiday, which should be great if enough of my friends can make it. It'll be close to my birthday, which is always a time when most of my friends are on holiday -_-
I ate meat when I was at Charlie's house, but that doesn't mean I've given up being vegetarian. I'm just only vegetarian when I'm at home now. It's fine when I'm the one doing the cooking, but I don't like being an inconvenience to other people who have to cook something separate for me.
Yesterday, Charlie and I went to the gym, but I didn't do as much as normal because I felt a bit ill. I didn't take my glasses, which was a pain because all of the equipment had been moved around and I couldn't tell which blurs were which machines.
Today, I cleaned one bathroom, had a driving lesson, and swept all of the paved bits of my garden. My garden has too many paved bits, it took fucking aaaages.

01:20 pm: Charlie is going to pick me up later to go to his house for the weekend. I'm sure I'll be expected to go in the pool, which I am absolutely dreading because although the sun is out, it's far too cold for me to want to go anywhere near an unheated outdoor pool.
My housework for the day has consisted of a load of ironing, cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, hoovering, and giving my bedroom a very half-arsed tidy up (taking a pile of clothes off the floor and dumping it on a chair). I did find a mascara that I've been looking for for weeks, but I couldn't find my clearasil, which I lost a few days ago. I now have four massive spots on my face, which I've put blobs of toothpaste on and now the menthol is burning my eyes. As always happens when I look like this, I'm sure there will be some delivery of books for my dad, or someone collecting for charity, knocking on the door any minute now.

07:06 pm: I had a driving lesson today, which went pretty well, although I did stall several times. I had 4 goes at parallel parking, one of which was good. I also need to work on slowing down and changing down a gear when I have to. Mostly my general driving around is okay though. Penny said I should look at booking my test around the end of September. She's just gone independent and has a different car to the one she had with the driving school so I need some time to get used to it. I don't like the new gearbox and sometimes my fingernail gets caught under a bit of plastic on the indicator thingy. That may partly be because my nails are ridiculously long.

Charlie's pool finally finished filling up today, photos in the cut.

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Tags: driving