| dammit janet! |
[2009-12-09 19:47] |
So, last night I went out in my pants.
...
Okay, as a sentence that's quite good all by itself, but I feel I should add context. Basically, it was Agreed that a group of friends and I would go and see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Last night was the actual night, and I flung myself home work and back out the door again faster than I've ever needed to before. The agreement was that we'd all get ready at Matt's, so it was a bit of a shock to arrive with no make-up on etc to find everyone arriving all ready.
So, a frantic five minutes later, and then another few minutes figuring out my corset etc etc, we piled in the back of Dobbin's very small car. The last time I did this, I was seventeen, which should tell you how long ago it was that was. Funnily enough, I've grown since then and so had the rest of us. Giggling anyway, we made our way to Manchester, got slightly lost, and then managed to find a decent parking space near the theatre.
We tottered our way there in high heels, feeling very self-conscious. My cunning plan to wear two pairs of tights seemed less cunning, given they were black fishnets and red tights. I felt a bit better when we got to the theatre, which was a glorious mash-up of lots of people of both genders wearing stockings and corsets and with much more make-up on than me.
Rocky Horror was, of course, absolutely awesome. We had quite good seats, and danced along like mad people, and laughed so hard that I was weeping, in places. It was a quite clever performance, with a very attractive Frank, and lots of unexpected humour and playing the audience. Dave Spikey was the narrator, so lots of local humour about Denton ("six hundred kids in the local school, only four surnames") and generally brilliant times. It was also the signed version of the show, so a very enthusiastic man in corset, suspenders and rather attractive heels stood at the side of the show, signing along and dancing rather enthusiastically, which I felt was a lovely touch.
I was gutted to go home, actually, but we all had very early morning things to deal with. So home we went, after striding through Manchester in our underwear feeling very confident indeed.
PICTURES OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.
Tomorrow I am off to St Andrews, which promises to be lots of fun indeed! I should probably try to do things like packing, though. |
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| nostalgia squee |
[2009-12-09 19:39] |
have been doing some tidying. with my vila's royal mounties outfit I found a badge saying "vote spike" with a pic of exceptionally foxy me and gaspodia, and a very blonde emperorzark!!
hmm. time to get the band nack together, I think! |
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| The Middle of the Week |
[2009-12-09 19:34] |
I celebrated the middle of the week this week with a lovely gentle half-hour yoga and relaxation class - this is a habit I could happily form :-)
Dinner is done and dusted, which suits my metabolism (by 8pm, I'm too tired to be hungry, and by 9pm, it's bed-time) ... just a little light Flooger-molestation (in the form of his blood tests and insulin injections) left on my To-Do list tonight. (Obviously, lots of things like 'stepping on the cats' permanently on my To-Don't list).
Hopefully, Mater's Citizen Advocate was able to visit and talk with her today - and hopefully, Graze will successfully deliver a selection of fresh and dried fruits to Mater's bed tomorrow (and she'll enjoy the benefits of eating them).
I'm also writing a few Christmas cards ... |
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| Playing With Your Food |
[2009-12-09 17:09] |
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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Bizarroblog/~3/eCpxlePA7ms/bizarro-is-brought-to-you-today-by-bill.html  Bizarro is brought to you today by Bill Maher.
As a lot of you know, like my friend Bill Maher, I'm an ethical vegan. (As opposed to someone who is vegan purely for his own health.) I occasionally think of cartoons that have to do with this topic and its related issues – nutrition, cruelty, health, the environment – and I toss them into the mix. I have been guilty of being pretty preachy about it in the past, it is difficult not to be when you are fighting against the suffering of those unable to speak for themselves, but I try very hard not to be and I hope I'm getting better.
I think this is a fairly successful cartoon in that regard. It evokes the subject of food choices without being overt. To me, there is something inherently funny about a little girl expected to slaughter a live chicken at her school lunch table.
Lots of people are concerned about environmental issues these days, so they choose local foods to save the pollution caused by shipping foods across country. If you're doing this but still buying meat, you're undoing your efforts many times over. Animal agriculture is responsible for far more greenhouse gases than all transportation combined.
Many people insist on organic meats to protect their family from harmful chemicals. Animal protein, in and of itself, feeds cancer and heart disease as fast as the hormones and chemicals you fear. Organic meat is a bit like organic bullets. It misses the larger point.
Many people become angry and defensive when they hear these things and I understand that. Attacking a person's diet is like attacking their religion, ethnicity, traditions, and family. Sorry about that. I'm the sort of person who is more than willing to toss a tradition overboard if it serves no purpose, harms me, or depends on the victimization of someone else. Like cheap sneakers made by orphans, I can do without them. It's just how I roll, homey. |
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| Wednesday, 9th December |
[2009-12-09 19:16] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Jim Noir - My Patch | ] |
Do you have a Doctor Who community or a journal that we are not currently linking to? Leave a note in the comments and we'll add you to the ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) who_daily reading list.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Because of the high posting volume and the quantity of information linked in each newsletter, who_daily doesn't link fanfiction that does not have a proper header. For an example of a good fanfic header, see the user info
Off LJ Links
Day Nine of the official site's Adventure Calendar: The Great Big Doctor Who Christmas Quiz.
The Doctor Who News Page has full details of DWM #416.
Day Nine of the SFX Countdown To The End Of Time is a caption contest.
DWO WhoCast episode 149 is now available.
The TV Movie will be re-released on DVD as a special edition in 2010.
BBC iPlayer has The Doctor's Daughter available. (Poss. UK only)
The TARDIS Scanner: Who Tube has a fan shot vid of Derek Jacobi talking about playing the Master.
Doctor Who Online has a 'Win 4 Doctor Who DVD Box-Sets' competition.
Life, Doctor Who & Combom reports on an unexpected TARDIS spotting.
Big Finish reminds us that the Short Trips books won't be available after the end of the year.
Doctor Who Methadone reviews The Fires of Pompeii.
Discussion and Miscellany
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) helygen links to the preview clip from the extras to the specials DVD box set.
acciochocolate has details of the Atlanta Gallifreyans' December meeting.
principia_coh has three, non-spoilery high res End of Time promo images of David.
thehornedgod quotes the latest instalment of the SFX interview with RTD. Spoilers!
sue_denimme has a picspam, Celebrating Ten #19: The Shakespeare Code.
Challenges/New Communities
Doctor Who Friending Meme.
mattsmithstills announces voting for Challenge #001.
Fanfic
Completed/Single Part fics
Ficlet: Bells by spikewriter (Ten | PG | spoilers for Waters of Mars)
Jack: But Time Didn’t Stop by ericadawn16 (Jack/Ianto, Martha | PG-13)
One good memory by stillxmyxheart (Rose/Ten | G)
Advent Calendar Drabbles #9: Apprehension by azriona (Ten, Rose | PG)
Ficlet: The Man in the Parlour (2/2) by littledoglaughd (Charley, Eight | PG )
Something by sofia_rock (Doctor, Master, Last of the Timelords cast | G)
Mine and Meet your Master by the_redjay (OCs, The Master | PG-13)
Works in Progress
Donna and the Waters of Mars (3/8) by katherine_b (The Doctor, Donna | PG | spoilers for Waters of Mars)
Gentlemen (1/4) by darkestboy (The 3rd Doctor, Jo, the Brigadier, Benton, Yates, The Master, The Monk, more | PG-13)
Doors & Carpets (4/?) by jhumor (Human Doctor/Rose | unrated)
Consci_Fan_Mo (9/?) Gone Fishing by padawanpooh (Six, Peri | G)
Eyes Wide Open (1/?) by wishiknewwho (TenII/Rose | G)
Icons & Graphics
x5649 has 20 End of Time preview icons and a wallpaper Spoilers!
incanta_art has a Waters of Mars wallpaper.
brittahnayy has 8 DW icons.
couleurverte has 5 Tenth Doctor icons and a wallpaper.
everrdeadly has a few DW icons within a multi-fandom post.
kathyh has 30 Doctor Who icons, including both classic and new series images.
Fanart and Creative Endeavours
tardis10 shares a Doctor and Master drawing their friend gave them.
qthewetsprocket has made macros from a couple of End of Time promo images. Spoilers!
tencrush has Dalek and TARDIS cross stitch patterns here, here and here.
You can reach us in the comments or at whodaily@gmail.com. |
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| Really, people? I mean . . . really? |
[2009-12-09 12:58] |
"In September, Public Policy Polling released the stunning results of a survey designed to measure extremism in the mainstream. Among other things, the poll found that 21% of Americans believe that Obama is the Antichrist or may be. Among Republicans, 34% believe the president is or may be the Antichrist, while 64% of that party's voters say he is not or may not be an American citizen." -- Mark Potok, "Gathering Storm", Intelligence Report (published by the Southern Poverty Law Center), Winter 2009, IFC.
21%? Twenty-one percent of Americans believe our president is or may be the Antichrist? I am appalled.
(If you take these statistics a step further and make the reasonable [I think] assumption that all of these people belong to the 78.4% of Americans who identify as Christian of some form or another [the Antichrist being a Christian theological concept], you're looking at something in the neighborhood of 26% of American Christians who believe this.) |
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| (no subject) |
[2009-12-09 18:54] |
Heh. Been a bit busy of late - and a commute into london last night (and making work by 9am this morning) has left me a little ... knackered. Still, worth it - Fishworks is definitely on my list of places to revisit.
So it's been nice just to browse the web a little, searching out a few things for others (council meeting actions on Sunday) and for myself:
http://www.virgingalactic.com/
That is so cool! |
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| Liverpool = Terminus |
[2009-12-09 13:27] |
And so our thoughts turn again to the UK.
Naturally, I've been thinking a lot about the UK lately, and today I wanted to share some more thoughts about the British invasion.
Some years ago, I was writing a series of stories, which I called, "The Encyclopedia Capricciosa," a sort of science fiction history of music, with stories spaced every 5 years. I'd written stories for 1915 (about the Italian Futurists making music with very weird instruments), 1965 (about surface guitar), 1975 (about glam rock), and 1990 (about an effort to sequence Michael Jackson's genome). You can read them here: http://www.frankwu.com/storieshome.html
One story I always wanted to write and never got around to was about how the UK saved rock and roll. Rock and roll! The joyful noise without which I can't do art! The songs that mark the milestones of my time on this planet! The soundtrack of my life!
My story was intended for 1960, and it detailed how the UK saved rock and roll from disappearing off the face of the planet.
In 1960, rock was in bad shape. Elvis was in the army (and soon to return with non-rock pablum like "It's Now or Never"). Buddy "Peggy Sue" Holly, Ritchie "La Bamba" Valens and Big "Chantilly Lace" Bopper had all perished in a plane crash. Eddie "Summertime Blues" Cochran had died in a taxi. Jerry Lee "Great Balls of Fire" Lewis was blacklisted for marrying his 13-year-old cousin (!). Those who said that rock was just a passing phase seemed right.
But it wasn't dead, it was like a great empire of glorious dissonance, slowly falling, slowly dying. But it would rise again. And here we see the parallel between this period of music and Asimov's Foundation books. Rock would rise again, eventually, but we needed to shorten the period from maybe decades to... perhaps five years. Why five years? Because rock and roll seems to complete destroy and remake itself every five years - five years being the school/prison term of an American high school student held back a year for bad behavior. And a new sub-genre of music seems to crop up every five years (surf guitar, psychedelia, glam rock, heavy metal, disco, rap, technorave, dance, hiphop, mashups, in succession).
But just as the Foundation stories required a Terminus - a depository of all knowledge, the seed from which to grow a new civilization - so rock and roll needed a foundation in 1960.
And that foundation was Liverpool, more specifically the docks of Liverpool. 45s from the dead Buddy Holly and the blacklisted Jerry Lee Lewis had found their way onto freighters from America that crossed the ocean, to be unloaded in Liverpool. There they found their ways into the hands of a Liverpool College of Art student who was remaking his old skiffle band into a rock and roll band. A band that would name itself as a pun on Buddy Holly's band "the Crickets" (and later record three of Holly's songs). They were British lads with Liverpudlian accents, but they sang like Americans, because they listened to American rock and roll. And their band that would spearhead the British invasion and signal the rebirth of rock and roll with a triumphant journey to America in February 1964. It was their first journey to America, but it was a return trip of the music that the ships had carried across the ocean, a journey culminating in hysteria at an airport and a triumphant appearance on Ed Sullivan - a journey almost exactly five years after the Day the Music Died.
Rock and Roll was reborn, and Liverpool was the Terminus, the Foundation, that had restored the music of our lives.
(More random thoughts about the UK on their way.) |
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| (no subject) |
[2009-12-09 17:55] |
One of the big gains from being able to check and respond to my email so easily with my iPhone, is simply keeping it within manageable limits. Posted via LiveJournal.app. |
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| (no subject) |
[2009-12-09 08:54] |
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Hello every... one. I'm the only one here, aren't I? Well, I'm about to purge my journal for legal reasons, and I was wondering if any of you lovely people would like to host my Ford/Arthur story so it doesn't just disappear? It was called " Evolutionary Throwback" and a few people liked it. I was so proud of finishing it and would be sad to just throw it away... |
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| Urk! |
[2009-12-09 17:51] |
I have had a note through the door twice now saying someone has cleaned my windows.
I have no idea who they are or what I would be meant to be paying them... and have never paid a window cleaner.
Think it must be front of house only (no access to back) so about 4 windows.
thoughts? |
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| I'm now wishing I could teach my rats to craft... |
[2009-12-09 17:46] |
On the twelfth day of Christmas,  allierat sent to me... Twelve stars sewing Eleven stripes writing Ten cats a-chatting Nine books baking Eight vampires a-parenting Seven candles a-slimming Six rats a-crafting Five aski-i-i-ing questions Four vans trainers Three dc trainers Two nurse outfits ...and a glitter in an astrology. |
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| They've got the same old show on my radio |
[2009-12-09 17:25] |
| [ | Tags | | | politics | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  aggravated | ] |
Now it's official.
The public sector are paying for the bank bailout. 1% pay cap over the next two years. Because public sector workers -- mostly on relatively low pay to begin with -- are easy to punish. Even though this is not their mess. |
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| (no subject) |
[2009-12-09 18:26] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Indigo Eyes - Peter Murphy | ] |
why has livejournal decided to stop sending me email notification of comments??
edit: ah. it seems this is the reason. at least they could have sent out a notice that notifications were down. |
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| In The City |
[2009-12-09 16:47] |
Last Thursday was of course TUN day. As I got there a tad early and always have my trusty Lumix compact with me, I decided to walk around the nearby area to see if there were any photographic opportunities. The following few are the best ones...
( Eight More... ) |
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| Links for 2009-12-09 |
[2009-12-09 10:00] |
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(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.) |
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| Femtroopers |
[2009-12-09 16:29] |
Oh my god. There's a whole section of Star Wars Cosplay that is dedicated to being hot, sexy lady Storm Troopers. Seriously, Google it.
 |
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| A burst of efficiency |
[2009-12-09 15:40] |
So far today I've done post office stuff, done some tidying (real and virtual) and revised three more chapters of Grass King. I'm still liking it, though there's a sticky transition in c. 8 that I can't get quite right.
Later on, I'm ferrying Caro winolj and the Evil Ramses to the vet, then perhaps making apple and cranberry pie. |
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| "When troubles come, they come not as single spies but in battalions." |
[2009-12-09 07:41] |
Okay, everyone pity me. For four weeks I've been struggling to find work, to pass out resumes, to network.
In the past 24 hours I've gotten one volunteer opportunity, two freelance pricing requests, and two face-to-face interview appointments. Okay, I appreciate it, but... could the universe like, you know, space it out a little? |
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| Six Million Dollar Mad (Bad And Dangerous To Know) |
[2009-12-09 15:32] |
George Gordon, test poet for NASA (National Absinthe Suppers Association), a man barely awake...
"Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was before...
Better, stronger (at least 80% ABV), faster (though he now tends to go in circles due to the club foot), more incestuous...
We have the capability to build the world's first Byronic man."
I blame the BBC. Putting a story like this on the radio when I'm just waking up. I was sure they said "Byronic fingers". Not quite sure what they meant but... |
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| Muhahahahaha! Intelligent Grappling lives! |
[2009-12-09 07:26] |
A long time ago, I wrote the "Intelligent Grappling FAQ," in which I proposed that gravity was such an important force in the universe that it could never have happened by chance, and that "gravity" was a weasel-term physicists used to confuse the public. "Gravity only attempts to describe what objects do. It does not explain WHY they do them. It is that challenge that Intelligent Grappling is intended to meet." Later, I added: 6. In order to accept Intelligent Design, must I accept Intelligent Grappling as well?
YES. Intelligent Design says that there is a non-naturalistic, conscious designer at work at the biological level. Intelligent Grappling says that there is a non-naturalistic, conscious grappler at the physicial level. Accepting a naturalistic explanation for one phenomenon but a non-naturalistic explanation for another is a philosophically corrupt position and we do not advocate it. While this is an important point at the end, and the key philosophical point (if you accept a tinkerer god in biology, you must accept one in physics), I never thought that the ID folks would be so stupid as to actually adopt it.
I was wrong: Everything is made of atoms. Atoms have no means to relocate themselves in a rapid and precise way to build any living thing. To make an average adult's replacement red blood cells alone, over 4900 quadrillion atoms per second must be sorted from the food we have eaten, selected, assembled, and delivered to our blood stream; that is every second of every day of our adult life. Muahahahaha! It's not just biology, it's every physical reaction that requires constant, divine intervention in order to happen with the accuracy necessary to keep us alive. This is divine providence made creepy: you're not just a bag of wet meat, you're a bag of wet meat that would fall apart instantly if it weren't for the angels holding you together. |
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| woo hoo! snow day for Hazy! woo! |
[2009-12-09 09:18] |
Governor Closes State Offices, UW Campuses
Posted: 8:58 am CST December 9, 2009
Gov. Jim Doyle has closed state offices and all University of Wisconsin campuses on Wednesday due to the snow storm. The governor's office said public safety, public health, and emergency response workers will still report to work and those services will still be provided to the public...
Forecasters expected 9 to 16 inches of snow to fall in parts of Wisconsin. The National Weather Service said some parts of the state are expected to get 15 inches of snow, with most likely to fall Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning.
=====
When I went to bed last night there was already 6 inches poised like a hat on our birdfeeder and I knew then there was no way I'd try to drive to work. I would burn a vacation day if I needed to. BUT as it turned out they closed our Madison office.
So I get an actual snow day without penalty! I'm gonna write out holiday carda and make cookies, so there! |
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| Yuletide |
[2009-12-09 15:16] |
Brush-up on source material: done
Notes on what canon details I need to get right: done
Full length, scene-by-scene outline: done
Ideas for freaky dream sequences: done, and totally awesome
Words written: 0
Waaaaaaah.
(I'm not going to default, and I'm sure the next time I actually have, say, four hours uninterupted writing time, I can get most of it finished. But yeouch, getting started on this one is proving difficult.) |
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| Blue Box Lives (again) |
[2009-12-09 15:03] |
So I got my SATA drive in and XP installed on it fine, and I've just formated my other two partitions ready for use.
Now to see what happen when I plug my old IDE drive back in to see if I can suck all my music and photos directly off it... |
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| ENJOY YOUR HORNY CHRISTMAS,IT WILL SOON BE THORNY GOOD FRIDAY |
[2009-12-09 12:57] |
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http://revjph.blogspot.com/2009/12/enjoy-your-horny-christmas-it-will-soon.html 
From TONIGHT:
A campaign for a chain of sex shops wishing customers a 'Merry XXXmas' provoked a row with the Church of England on Tuesday. Religious leaders branded Ann Summers' slogan - in the windows of all its 138 stores - as "insensitive and crass" and called for it to be removed. There was also anger over another Ann Summers slogan calling on customers to "Have a horny Christmas".
The Very Reverend Chris Dalliston, Dean of Newcastle, said: "Without wanting to be a killjoy, my feeling is that it is insensitive, at best uncomfortable, and at worst a crass marketing slogan. Many people see Christmas as a sacred and special festival. That isn't to say ordinary fun and human enjoyment shouldn't be part of it, but people need to be sensitive to the feelings not just of the Church, but of the many people for whom Christmas is an important part of their relationship with God. One has to accept this is a time of year which is of great importance commercially. But it is about having awareness of the spiritual significance of Christmas as a celebration of Christ's birth. Let's not throw the Christ child out with the bath water."
Newcastle City Council received a complaint about the display, but chiefs say although they have deemed it "inappropriate" they have no powers to force the shop to take it down.
COMMENT: Personally I can't see any difference between Ann Summers using Christmas to sell stuff and all the other commercial enterprises that do the same, including all the Christian companies selling religious stuff. At least, Ann Summers is being up front with their "Have a horny Christmas" unlike all the companies that, oh so tastefully, tell us to have a gluttonous Christmas. The only way this sex shop's advertising could be deemed offensive is if you believed sex was intrinsically offensive. And it's not like we are talking about porn here - all they sell is accessories and stuff and they are possibly responsible for keeping more marriages together than the Church of England, with all its preaching, could ever manage. |
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| Where did the sun go...? |
[2009-12-09 13:00] |
I'm sure it was here a little while ago!
Riding on Monday was a bit disorganised (in that the whole 'having a lesson' thing never really got going: I'm hoping that it was just the fact that there were two new people in it, one of them who didn't seem up to the level, and not a sign of the teaching going crap again), but Taylor and I did lots of nice practice on our canter transitions, so it wasn't too bad. Still couldn't get a decent sitting trot, so I'm just going to blame it on him being wonky, I think.
Taylor again today, in a bit of a bitty lesson: I was late getting there (bus bah), and Taylor takes ages to get ready because he has so many boots and bandages. When we were ready to start, Jackie had someone in the school so (I am a coward...) we went out for a walk around the block , and then into the field for a quarter of an hour of (slightly muddy) canter. Nice lesson, and given it was my last one with Keeley I wasn't too bothered about the walk-and-talk to work ratio!
Mike back. Much better. Approve of Mike being back.
PS: Seriously, what is the deal with bananas on BoingBoing lately...?
PPS: Coo, power cut. I hope those burglar alarms aren't going to go off all day... Oh, no, there we are. Phew.
This entry was originally posted at http://flick.dreamwidth.org/774542.html, where it has  comment(s). Add comments here or there, if you feel like it. |
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| Morning heart attac |
[2009-12-09 13:49] |
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Most of you probably know I'm writing my diploma next year. I have to apply for it now. As in, by 14th of december, I think.
And, well, to be able to apply I had to take a certain amount of courses and seminars and whatnot in the last years. We had to collect signatures from the professors to get the points, we had to hand in these slips of papers with the signature, so everything goes to a person called Mr. G., who in the end will say 'Yes, you may give it a try' or 'No, you still need to take this and that class'.
I KNOW I was late with handing in some of the slips. But not totally, totally late. My last slips I handed in ... last thursday, I think.
Well, today I went to Mr. G. to ask him if he got everything.
It was not something I had to do. I calculated probably a hundred times if I took all the right courses, if I didn't miss anything, if I managed to cover all subjects. And well, he took a slip of paper and marked on it what I have, what I need to have etc. And in the end there were like three courses missing and I was like WTF?! I saw two slips from thursday were still missing, but only one of those covered a needed course and I was all OMG! WTF! What if I did something wrong?! But I checked everything a hundred times! What am I going to do now?! Did I really take the *wrong* courses?! As in, it was not that I didn't have enough, just it seems, not the right ones.
Oh well. Yes, as you can guess, in the end he was just too stupid to count correcty (Me:"You don't want to tell me these courses don't count because I did MORE than I had to prior to my pre-diploma, do you?!") and I did everything right, he just has to get the two missing slips and everything is fine. But gaaah, panic attac!
Also: Christmas is too close! I barely got any presents done! *more panic* |
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| Laundry Blogging |
[2009-12-09 12:11] |
Three other people here with the attendant and I right now. A woman reading the paper, man staring out onto the street and a young lad doing his drying while the attendant is folding a service wash.
As the store gets busier leading up to the 25th, my training duties get less and I spend my time helping out where I can. Yesterday turned, unexpectedly into a rewardingly different experience.
I only found out about it on my arrival at 11am but was told it was the day of the Annual Retired Staff Christmas Lunch. As I hadn't much on except a bit of filing, I asked if I could assist in some way as I wasn't in on this day last year. I was given the task of recording the event with the store compact digital camera.
The Lunch started at 12:30 and 26 former staff members inc guests were in attendance. The food was dually served by the Sales Managers. As I shuffled around the tables taking groups of 3 & 4, I got chatting with folks. Mostly ladies but there were 6 gents. The crowd were of varying ages, from 60 to 92 and the stories of their experiences spanned a multitude of topics, (Least of all retail). Extremely entertaining and fascinating.
The party continued in which much wine, fruit juice and water were drunk with traditional Christmas fayre. (Veggie option of course) and was completed with a visit from the Store's Santa and boxed present for each of the attendees.
My final task was to see everyone out of the prepared area safely and bid them 'Merry Christmas'. Which was a pleasure and before I knew it, nearly two and a half hours had past and it was done for another year.
Seeing everyone smiling and enjoying themselves really put a shine on my day and it was hard to pry the happy expression off my face for the rest if the shift.
Roll on December 2010! :0) |
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| AND DID THOSE FEET? YES THEY DID! |
[2009-12-09 11:14] |
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http://revjph.blogspot.com/2009/12/and-did-those-feet-yes-they-did.html From THE DAILY MAIL:
A new film, "And Did Those Feet" explores the idea that Jesus accompanied his Uncle Joseph of Arimathaea, on a business trip to the tin mines of the South-West of England. Whilst there, it is claimed he took the opportunity to further his maths by studying under druids. The theory is that he arrived by sea, following established trading routes, before visiting several places in the West Country.
In the film, Dr Gordon Strachan, a Church of Scotland minister, says it is plausible Jesus came to further his education. The country is thought to have been at the forefront of learning 2,000 years ago, with mathematics particularly strong.
Ted Harrison, the film's director, said: 'If somebody was wanting to learn about the spirituality and thinking not just of the Jews but also the classical and Greek world he would have to come to Britain, which was the centre of learning at the time. Jesus was a young man curious to find out about all sorts of things. He would have come to learn what was being taught about astronomy and geometry which was being taught at "universities" run by druids at the time.'
Jesus is said to have built a chapel in Glastonbury (thus founding the Church of England years before the Italians built their first church), and when theologian St Augustine heard of it 1,400 years ago, he wrote to the Pope to tell him about it. Mr Harrison said: 'The concrete evidence is this reference by St Augustine that at Glastonbury there was a small building or church that was put up by Jesus.'
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Folding now
