What a Novel Idea

This proud, majestic example of cartoon horse is the second to experience rejection during my online gaming career. This one is not called Spanky, nor is it languishing in the depths of WoW having not been fed in a month, but all the same it is feeling the first twinges of neglect.

I do have a good reason for my appalling ownership skills, however: thanks to some inspiration from Sparky Tim, who let me read the novella he just completed at the weekend (and may I just say that it will be many years until the smugness of having been the first to read that work of genius wears off), I have begun writing my own book again.

This is not the first novel to have fallen squib-like from my biro. Back in school, I wrote a Point Horror-style tale that I seem to remember included every single difficult-to-escape-from situation I had ever read about (which was a lot). It was a popular undertaking and, at one point, I had a line of classmates on the desks beside me, passing the pages along like a readership conveyor belt as I completed them.

It was pants, of course. The next attempt wasn't much better - I think it was called Xanadu, but I'm not sure why, as that word had bugger all to do with anything. Certainly not the diary of a teenage tearaway, written by, as you might guess, a wannabe teenage tearaway.

Next up was a sci-fi piece that I absolutely loved - I got quite far with it, too, and had lots of marvellous characters and a beautifully crafted plot. Except I then found out I'd been a complete muppet, failed to do my research and set about telling a completely impossible story. So that put an end to that venture.

My latest attempt, however, I have high hopes for. The plot is water-tight, I love the characters and the setting, now I just need to get the damn thing down without writing text as flowery and over-enthusiastic as a bad fantasy novel involving a burly bloke in sandals named Ershwin.

Although Best Mate and Laura seem to be enjoying it thus far, as evidenced by this greeting from Laura yesterday evening, in search of the next installment:

Laura: where is it? where is it??
Laura: gimmeh
Me: ello!
Laura: hai
Laura: gimmeh
Me: LOL ok hold yer horses, this isn't polished yet, you realise!
Laura: i know i know!
Laura: shup an gimmeh
Laura: jkjk
Laura: but srsly
Laura: gimmeh

Meanwhile Best Mate cleverly summarised the whole thing as follows:

This is really making me get the heebie jeebies about something very urgent that i dont know what it is yet but i still care!

I'm not at all sure why these two don't set about writing books too, they'd be bloody hilarious, but when I suggested the idea to Best Mate, she said:

Oh yes i like the sound of that! Most of them would be ninsense. See?

Wish me luck everyone, only another hundred thousand words to go, piece of piss!

An Arabian Foray

I've known Abby Coalcliff of Devilish Cupcake since her very first days in the virtual fashion world - our fates coincided because her clothes were the first I ever blogged, back in the days of Style Disorder, and, on the flipside, I was the first person to blog her clothes. Things like this tend to help you bond.

She's still one of my favourite designers and seems to have a knack of inspiring my creative juices with her funky, colourful designs - such as with the picture above, which was one of my first forays into flickr arty goodness.

Talking of which, I've been complaining for years that I have no way to get the pictures in my head out as anything other than really crap stick men, so fiddling around with Photoshop, as amateur and bull-in-a-china-shop as I may be, is wish-fulfillment for me.
I said at the beginning of the year that I wanted to learn photography: post-processing is, of course, a big part of this, so improving my Photoshop skills has a practical side, too.

Abby sent me a message recently, asking if I'd do a teaser shot for the dress she was making. I believe I may have squealed - at work, of course, as these things wouldn't be mortifying in private - and said a very big yes, and these pictures are the result. The dress reminded me of Arabia, so I went for that as a theme.

I can't work out which I like best, because in a couple I played with lighting effects to hide the dress slightly, in the interests of keeping it teaser-y, but the prettiest seem to be those with full, bright colour.

The shots were taken in a strange little Arabian-themed club in which noobs in system skin kept wandering up and going into appearance mode right next to me. Like ants, they are: if you don't stamp on the first one, the lot of them come to investigate.

Now be nice about them, everyone, as I have the fragile ego of an artist now, and also the emo tendencies.

They all look rather better when viewed bigger, by the by, so I recommend clicking on the pictures for a closer look. In fact, I positively demand it.

Speed-posting, whip in hand

This will be a hurried entry, because I am trying to beat Tim. He is on his way home from dropping me off, but even if I utilise my snazzy speed-typing skills I highly doubt I'll get this post up before his appears because the cunning sod already wrote it and just has to click the publish button.

We have just returned, you see, from watching the new Indiana Jones movie, along with Lorna and Yaz, which may go some way to explaining the race-to-the-finish mood. Being a lazy bastard, of course, this is about as competitive as I get in the swashbuckly stakes.

I'm not sure whether I enjoyed the movie or the company more. And I'm not just talking about Tim and his incredible talent for not moving a muscle for the whole running time, or the fact that we three girls sounded like a bunch of nans (the phrase "he'll do himself a mischief" was never far from our lips).

I am also referring to the nutter we shared the cinema with, who insisted on interacting with the screen and sharing his astonishment at the plot developments. "No!" he shouted, more than once, and (on one very memorable occasion), "WHAT!"

The movie is very good - not, perhaps, as much of a movie feast as its predecessors but very amusing, highly entertaining and definitely worth watching. It has more Indy than your average Indy, but I guess when you're the franchise that created the cliches, you're a bit buggered when those cliches are too cliched to use any more.

And that will have to be that, because I really need to click publish...

Secrets from my headphones

I got tagged again, which I can only attribute to being an easy and very obvious target. Thank you Tim. So here we go, the iPod challenge. Which I am told has something to do with the shuffle function.

1) How would you describe yourself?

Sugar by Ladytron. Well there's a good start eh?

2) What do you like in a bloke?

Queen of the Damned, by Korn and Slipknot. Erm...

3) What is your motto?

What You Waiting For by Gwen Stefani. That's not too bad, actually.

4) What do your friends think of you?

In the Nightside of Eden by HIM. Which is exceedingly cryptic.

5) What do you think about often?

A Sequel of Decay by Tristania. The mind boggles...

6) What do your parents think of you?

You Are the One by HIM. Well of course I am.

7) What do you think of your best friend?

She Drove Me To Daytime TV by Funeral For A Friend *sniggers*

8) What do you think of the person you like?

Love In Cold Blood by HIM. Interesting...

9) What do you want to be when you grow up?

Immortal by The Rasmus. True fact.

10) What do you think when you see the person you like?

System by Chester Bennington. Which might explain the faces I pull.

11) What song will they play at your wedding?

Give It To Me by Timbaland. Oh very appropriate.

12) What will they play at your funeral?

Frozen by Celldweller. Does this speak of cryogenics, one wonders?

13) What is your hobby/interest?
Running Blind by Godsmack. This, too, explains a lot of the faces I pull.

14) What is your biggest fear?

Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold. Actually I quite like bats, they've got cute little faces.

15) What is your biggest secret?

Alone I Break by Korn. That's crockery, furniture and anything else you're daft enough to leave me near, to clarify.

16) What do you think of your friends?

Crazy by Kidney Thieves. Yes, the lot of you are crackers so that fits nicely.

17) What is your theme song?

The Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson. I <3 my iPod.

18) What do you think of your family?

Beyond Redemption by HIM. So much truth in this exercise.

19) What is your best friend's theme song?

Shallow End by Lacuna Coil. (she'll understand this: when teaching Best Mates to swim...)

20) What is your mood right now?

The Weapons Are Concealed by Biffy Clyro. Well my brother's now been here 10 days, so who's surprised?

21) If your heart could talk what would it say?

I'm Doing The Best That I Can by Godsmack. Bless.

22) What do your co-workers think of you?

The Last Remaining Light by Audioslave (I so wanted it to be I Never Told You What I Do For A Living by My Chemical Romance, I was ever so tempted to cheat)

23) What does your future look like?
Song or Suicide by HIM. Oh dear, emo days ahead then......

I tag you all, all of you, every last one. Go forth and play songs randomly, my pretties.

The greatest show on Middle Earth

When I turn coat, I do it in style. I spent a large chunk of yesterday directing plaintive whines towards anyone likely to listen, it having suddenly occurred to me that I don't really like musicals, so a three-hour one, even based on my life-long literary passion, was probably going to be an exercise in strength of will(ow).

I was basing this opinion, however, on the miserable experience that was, fittingly, Les Miserables. There is only so much joy can be wrought from abject poverty and the killing of small children in the name of revolution.

Lord of the Rings, I was overexcited to discover, was the opposite: lavish, lush, imaginative and full of surprise after clever surprise. It must have been hernia-inducingly expensive to put on: from the detail of the costumes to the giant climbing vines adorning the stage and front boxes to the constant effects and splendour, everything was as big and bright as possible.

They did an admirable job of avoiding comparison with the movies. The characterisation was different, the themes and emphasis were a step away - everything was different enough to stand alone.

At the very beginning, the theatre is filled with wandering hobbits, mingling with the audience and trying to catch fireflies. This marvellous interaction continues when, in the small break I think replaced the second interval, the theatre is invaded by bounding orcs. One of which, to my delight, took it upon himself to terrorise my brother.

I stalked Scrooge-like past the merchandise stalls at the beginning, scoffing at the idea of buying anything. "It's not like it's the movie version," I thought to myself. Having turned coat by halfway through, I ended up scurrying back out during the interval and picking up brochure, programme, poster and soundtrack.

Which decision I am relieved to have made, as I haven't stopped humming one of the songs ever since. Who the hell was I kidding? If it relates to Lord of the Rings, I will not only love it passionately, I will hunt and gather as much memorabilia as I can, to be hoarded within the nooks and crannies of my flat. I will also lust after Aragorn, this is a given.

Oh and I brushed up against Michelle from Skins in the ladies' room.

Indulging the witter

There's another meme going round - I think it started out as a cunning bonding exercise in-world, but was dragged to the blogosphere and has begun doing the rounds out here. Which is the medium I shall therefore choose, in the interests of keeping up with the times and, of course, finding an excuse to show off some of the pictures I've made.

1. What time did you get up this morning?
8.45 - I like to leave these things to the last minute, now that work is just a 15 minute walk away.

2. Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds, although I do like pearls if properly placed.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Iron Man, as extensively documented in a previous post. Seeing Doomsday on Monday, which is not even slightly relevant to the question.

4. Favorite TV show?
Battlestar Galactica, very closely followed by Buffy and Heroes.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
I don't eat breakfast, it would involve getting up with more than 25 minutes to spare before I have to leave, which is just never going to happen.

6. What is your middle name?
Diana, for my grandmother.

7. What food do you dislike?
Seafood, because it gives me the heebie jeebies.

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment?
Too hard to answer as I don't buy CDs any more, but I suspect either Avenged Sevenfold or HIM would qualify.

9. Favorite sandwich?
Ham and cheese.

10. What characteristic do you despise?
Laziness, there's just not enough life to go wasting it doing nothing.

11. Favorite item of clothing?
My coat, it's black with a furry hood and I adore it!

12. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be?
Egypt, to explore the mythology - the most fascinating ancient culture of them all, it was.

13. What color is your bathroom?
White tiles, white everything - really quite dull.

14. Do you make friends easily?
SL-wise, I'm pretty wary, I've come into contact with an awful lot of idiots over the years and am of the general opinion that most people are after something. But there's a lot of people in both lives that I would be a very unhappy bunny without, so I'd say I just don't move from acquaintance to friend very easily.

15. Where would you retire to?
Tuscany, in a beautiful, sunny country setting, where life is slow and the days are long. Assuming they have a good internet connection.

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
Going to Cyprus for my 21st.

17. Favorite sport to watch?
Football, but only international games.

18. How many towns have you lived in?
Three - Bournemouth, Exeter and London.

19. How many do you think will send this back?
Hatty may do it, and curse me for it, but I'm not sure anyone else will.

20. Whats on your bedroom floor right now?
A huge pile of books and the throw I keep kicking off the bed.

21. Favorite saying?
The definition of an expert: ex, the unknown quantity, and spurt, a drip in a hurry.

22. When is your birthday?
February 1st - and sometime in June on SL, I forget the exact date.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Night person, I'm far more dithery in daylight and tend to get much more done in the evenings.

24. What is your shoe size?
Size 7 - I have no idea what that is in any other country.

25. Pets?
None, not really allowed them in my rented flat, but I so badly want a cat and a hamster.

26. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
Not yet :)

27. What did you want to be when you were little?
A journalist.

28. Which talent would you most like to have?
Artistic, because as you can see my pictorial talents are somewhat primitive.

29. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
All of them.

30. What is your favorite flower?
Orchids and white lilies

31. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
May 25th, because it's a bank holiday weekend.

32. What color are your eyes?
Dark brown

33. What was your favorite toy as a child?
A fluffy cat my grandparents gave me and I used to carry around with me absolutely everywhere. I believe it was called Pussy...oh dear.

34. Summer or winter?
Until this week I would have said winter, but for some reason I'm happy as can be in the sunshine this year and really enjoying the stirrings of summer.

35. Hugs or kisses?
Both, please.

36. Chocolate or Vanilla?
I'm a girl, of course I'm going to say chocolate.

37. Do you want your friends to send this back to you?
Yes, but I'm going to shrug nonchalantly and say I'm not bothered. I've been taking lessons from my teenage brother.

38. When was the last time you cried?
A week or so ago, because something reminded me of someone I really miss.

39. What is under your bed?
Nothing, I sleep on two mattresses as my bedroom is a cubby hole and isn't tall enough for a proper bed.

40. Who is the friend you have had the longest in SL?
Vicious Firefly, I've known her since my first week, I think.

41. What did you do last night?
Played LOTRO with TimothyL and had a night off from escorting my brother around London.

42. Favorite smell?
Potatoes and minted peas cooking on a spring morning.

43. What are you afraid of?
Death, spiders and not achieving my ambitions.

44. Plain, sweet, or salted Popcorn?
Plain popcorn is stupid, salted is the work of the devil, so sweet please.

45. How many keys on your key ring?
6 and a rainbow heart that Laura gave me for Christmas.

46. How many years at your current job?
I suppose that would be 'freelancer' and therefore I have been doing this for almost a year now.

47. Do you have any scars?
A little one on my arm from where I got trapped under a roundabout as a small, foolish bairn.

48. Favorite day of the week?
Friday.

Please do feel free to consider yourself tagged, if such a thing would please you.

Starstruck...again

Just before the interval of last night's show, Derren Brown instructed the audience to write questions on little cards, to be sealed in little black envelopes and placed in a bowl on the stage - the purpose of which was for him to guess the question, the answer and the asker's identity during the second act.

We were far too slow to join the throng heading for the stage and failed to get an envelope, so I concentrated during the rest of the show on sending out confusing vibes to make his task much harder.

Important note: No, I don't actually think he's psychic.

Anyway, the point of my recounting this little tale is that, while shuffling stage-wards, I spotted none other than the fabulously funny David Mitchell heading in the other direction! Who is, I might add, really rather attractive in person.

I caught his eye, did some strange oogly-boogly eye thing in sheer excitement, brushed against his arm and prodded my brother repeatedly until he hissed that he doesn't know who David Mitchell is.

Sigh.

I, however, was absolutely thrilled and have added him to my list of incredibly random celebrity spottings, alongside such eminent persons as:

• Phillip Schofield, ambling through Waterloo
• Donald Fisher from Home and Away, also at Waterloo (and an awful lot shorter)
• Timmy Mallet once hit me over the head with his mallet and I told him to piss off, thus ruining my chances of appearing on the show.
• I met that Cindy bint from Eastenders and she was really rude and sour-faced.
• The Playbus once drove past me several times and waved.
• Helen Mirren asked me what floor of a building she needed to go to.
• Tony Bennett having dinner in a restaurant, before asking to be moved because Dean and I kept pointing and giggling at him.
• The Cheeky Girls, wandering along Baker Street.
  
• Bill Bailey lives on the road I used to walk down to work, so I saw him all the time.
• Matthew Kelly came and presented awards at my school - he's awfully tall.
  
• I walked right past Neve Campbell and Alan Davies, who were in Waitrose at the same time, and managed to not spot either of them.
• I saw Richard Ashcroft in a different Waitrose.
  

The cherry on the cake...

I used to live directly opposite Chesney Hawkes, on the same road as Sir Trevor McDonald. Down the road from Aled Jones. I am THAT cool.

So who, dear readers, have you spotted upon your travels?

A Gift to Comedy

As I was giggling frantically at another of his cunning word-play witticisms yesterday, my dear colleague David glanced over at me appreciatively and called me "a gift to comedy".

Which is in many ways true, because I laugh loudly, constantly and easily and am at my happiest when doing so.

In fact, my very favourite people are the ones who make me laugh. Which brought me to realise, as I sat shedding tears of laughter at Dara O'Briain's show last night, that the quality I probably value most of all in others - aside from not being a twat - is humour.

Make me giggle, win my heart, that appears to be the golden rule. There are certain people who can have me breathless with mirth within minutes of talking to them. A surprised and slightly concerned Tim, not having seen me for at least a year, once immortalised this concept as follows:

"Reminded that former work pal Sarah laughs at anything and everything; resolve to refer to her as the giggle-a-tron from now on."

Fortunately I know a satisfying number of highly amusing people, which means my comedy cravings are addressed often. Alternatively, I can simply scroll through my blogroll and know someone on there will have frisbeed something across the intermaweb to make me smile.

My question for you all is thus: what do you value most about your friends? Is there a quality that connects them?

Man of iron, child of doom

It is Day 3 of my enforced familial interlude, and thus far neither of us has died or burst into tears. Away from the shadow of the parentals, it appears we get on just fine. Plus, as I suspected, we have very similar tastes and a shared interest in not bickering.

On Day 1, after settling him in, we watched Resident Evil 3, which I cannot help but like because Milla Jovovich is one of my girl crushes, hence my dressing up as Alice at the last Twitter party. How can you resist a woman so unashamed about her gorgeousness? Also there are zombies and bangs and jumps and someone I find spectacularly irritating dies horribly, which ticks an awful lot of boxes.

Yesterday we went to see Iron Man, which I was expecting to be a bit bland, but completely adored. I have noticed that those of my friends who, like me, err on the side of geek loved it, while the non-geeks didn't like it much at all. Robert Downey Jr is mouth-watering and charming in both his sweaty, wife-beater apparel and his natty suits and has re-earned his privileged place among my Hollywood uber-crushes.

We also watched The Kingdom, which I was in too much of an Iron Man afterglow to properly appreciate and was all a bit serious and chilling. I want to see the shiny superhero movie again, please.

Tonight we're off to see Dara O'Briain at the Hammersmith Apollo, after which I will get some time on LOTRO if I have to shut him in the wardrobe to do it.

SCD Weekend Quiz

I'm supposed to be in bed because my brother arrives tomorrow to suck out my will to live, but we all know I have no willpower in the face of quizzes, so I've taken it upon myself to answer this one by Thema Felix on Shopping Cart Disco.

1. When you hear about a new release, which are you most likely to run out and buy: hair, shoes, or clothes?
Hair, I have enough to weave a planet-sized hairball, yet somehow never seem to have any. One of SLife's great mysteries, I suppose.

2. Skin choice: pale, tan, coloured (like green), or dark? Blond, brown, red, or black hair?
Pale, always pale. It just suits me better. Also I spent my first two years wearing white goth skins and only grudgingly moved over to any kind of colour at all, so I'm probably still being a bit otherwise about it. I favour black hair, that being my rl favourite (and how mine is in rl when I'm pro-active enough to get to the hairdressers) although I do enjoy the occasional dirty blonde or red.

3. Which event do you most likely put on your calendar: fashion show, live concert, store sale, sim opening, club contest, or a class?
Store sale, I don't really attend the others what with being a hermit. I put the rest of those on the calendar for my writer team though, if that counts.

4. What’s your ideal SL™ job?
Pretty happy with the ones I have :)

5. Sexy clothing preference: silks, lingerie, or revealing clothing(mini skirts, super tight dresses, etc)?
Erm...lingerie, I guess. Never saw the point in it before though, it's not like in real life when you know you're wearing something special and it changes your whole posture. But it turns out that it's fab for photographs :)

6. Facial hair on male avies (or yourself, if you are male): yea or nay?
Yea, definitely.

7. Land home or skybox?
I have a 512m patch with a Holodeck on it (shup, I know it's geeky) but I never ever go there - I am generally to be found in Willowz's skybox on Canimal or Laura and my lovely homely home (with added Top Gear annex) in the sky. So uhhh...2 out of 3 for skybox.

8. Decorating your walls: SL™ photos, objects, RL photos, or RL art?
We have a cat clock and a calendar Sysperia made. And the skybox features the infamous Christmas Mouse, my timeless companion.

9. Do you prefer to own land or rent?
Neither!

10. Small boutiques or large stores?
Small boutiques, as I get confused easily.

11. Photo-realistic skins and clothing or hand-drawn?
Hand drawn, there's something a bit creepy about lifelike veins in a cartoon world.

12. For your one-on-one conversations, do you prefer voice or typed chat?
Typed, or I can't watch the telly :P Also I hate my voice. I won't even do it with WillowZ willingly, and she's been subjected to my voice more than enough in the real world. I'm shy, what can I say!

13. Prim objects or sculpties?
Sculpties - think of the shoes people.

14. Bling, effect sounds, and particle effects: on or off?
Are you kidding? I keep my sound muted and run away from bling. Items with non-optional bling make me cranky.

15. (If you use one) What photostudio do you like best?
Thanks to my squatting prowess, I use about a zillion.

16. Face light: necessary or blinding?
Necessary - BUT! If you download Ana Lutetia's windlight presets, you no longer need one! It's like magic, and I'm tempted to ask her to marry me.

17. Do you pick up all the freebies you find or only pick the ones from designers you know?
All of them, because they're like testers and I often find new places to shop that way.

18. Pre-fab buildings: do you own one? Do you like them?
Yes because I'm a primtard and, left to make my own home, would reside within a plywood cube.

19. Would you rather be a Furry or Tiny?
Tiny, cos aaawww!

20. Graphic settings: Short draw distance or long? Release Candidate or standard viewer? Avatar imposters (yes/no)?
I got lost halfway through that question, so will just say that Spanky the Beautiful Computer can handle whatever I throw at it, but I'm too lazy for the release candidate.

21. Sim design: tropical island, residential neighborhood, urban streets, or themed fantasy (or another type I didn’t think of)?
Themed fantasy, like Straylight, Canimal or Grendel's Children.

22. When not in a club or concert, do you stream music or turn it off?
I got out of the habit of streaming when my pc couldn't handle it, so now I never do.

23. Flickr: Woot? Ick?
Bloody love it.

24. What’s your favorite place to explore or hang out (that isn’t a shopping area)?
Straylight, it's just so beautiful!

25. Animation Overriders: Do you prefer to make your own or buy a set? And where’s the best place to go for them?
I made my own from various pieces, a lot of them Maitreya and Torrid. I like to make my own because it's just that bit more personal, but it also means I can never be buggered to update.

Shock...awe...

I just came across this picture on flickr, which was created by the fabulous ColeMarie when I went down to Straylight to interview her for Twilight Magazine.

I cannot believe how incredible she's made me look! Check out the flowing hair and the amazing colours - the woman's a bloody genius.

So I thought I'd mark this moment for posterity and general vanity, because let's face it, it's squeal-inducingly exciting to be featured in a piece of art.

Reason #456 why I hate my flat

I am a touch peevish this evening. It is around 8.30pm and, despite having left work at the usual hour, I have only just sat down at the computer.

This would be because my landlords are idiots and the handyman they employ is similarly challenged. Under normal circumstances they are the most infuriating bunch to deal with, routinely ignoring pleas for help. A couple of months ago we managed to short my entire flat through misuse of Swiss cookware (long story): it took them a week to come and check I wasn't in danger of death by electrocution (and starvation, because the oven had blown up). And careful readers will also recall the window saga.

Today, however, was the irritating cherry on the dislikeable cake. The handle of my front door has been hanging off since last weekend, so obviously they thought it would be appropriate to leave it in that state until today.

So the blithering eejit fixed the handle, then bolted the door from the inside and exited via the back door, breaking it on his way through and rendering both doors unusable.

Why? Why bolt the door leading to the building exit and go out of the other one, necessitating the moving of several pieces of furniture, the locating of a key and a needless traipse through the overgrown garden and spider-ridden side shed? Why? Why not just go out the door you've been working on and is therefore probably open, revealing a 10-foot stroll through the lobby to the street? WHY? Nothing about this experience makes the slightest bit of sense.

Three hours and one very bad temper later, I am home but wishing to leave this hellhole.

Anyone got room for a Willow? Comes with own blanket :(

SLNN Writer Search

I've lost two of my writers for SLNN this week, both due to commitments in the real world, which is a huge shame and also means I'm currently short some talent.

Which means it's recruiting time. Know anyone with an eye for a story and an interest in pixel fashion who would like to write about style and get paid for the effort? Drop me a notecard in-world or an email to littlewillow@gmail.com if so.

Preferably before I work anyone into the ground to make up the shortfall... ;)

Brother-sitting

Doom is approaching. I have been "volunteered" (if emotional blackmail, pleading and blatant threats can be described as such) for brother-sitting duty next week. Ten full days of sulky teenage boy while MummyC and DaddyC swan off to Washington.

What on earth am I going to do with him for all that time? Presumably he will sleep until early evening, mope about a bit and then demand to be entertained and fed until the small hours, while being noisy and emitting smells.

I tried to put them off by threatening to take him to Camden Market and send him home as an emo or a goth, but neither image had a tangible effect on the situation. Consequently, I am in the process of compiling a list of things to do that fit the following criteria:

1. Would interest a sulky teenage boy
2. Sulky teenage boy would not be embarrassed to do with his elderly sibling
3. Won't cost an arm and a leg.

Thus far I have decided to take him to the London Dungeons and am debating the pros and cons of leaving him there. Any suggestions?

p.s. I'm looking forward to it really, but I'm not going to admit that, am I now?

Such a good friend

I am a wonderful friend. So loving and giving, as it happens, that I spent an hour tonight giving of my very breath to a bastard of a blow-up bed for Best Mate to sleep on. Here I am, looking suitably impressed with the situation.

I am dizzy and going to bed.

That is all.