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February 28, 2005
We love cheese
The other night, whilst perusing the late night grocer for something for supper, Sweetheart had the idea to get a bunch of different cheeses and some crackers and just have a little free for all. I thought it was a great idea and bought some Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Crunch ice cream to go along with it.
I love letting Sweetheart pick out cheeses or new foods for me to try...this is becuase he always manages to get something that I wouldn't dare try on my own, and it's always delicious. (Except for the whole leek fiasco that I won't go into now).
He picked out about 4 cheeses that were all equally delicious and I nearly burst from stuffing my face, they were that good. I don't really buy any bleu cheese becuase the look of them usually puts me off. Somehow Sweetheart knows how to get around the looks thing and pick out something spectacular.
At any rate, the next day, I was bragging to Rue about the Cheese and Crackers (and Ice Cream) picnic we had, while we walked to her flat.
We discussed with much fervor the risk of spending money on an unknown cheese, for fear that it will taste as bad as it looks.
The woman walking in front of us, upon hearing our chat about cheese, stopped abruptly and turned around.
'I couldn't help but over hear you talking about cheese,' She said to our surprised faces. 'If you like cheese, I highly recommend h. Mellis on Great Western Road...they let you try the cheese there in the store. Mind you, they aren't cheap, but you can get some really great things in there.'
I've heard of H. Mellis before, and I had been ready to suggest it to Rue before the lady turned around. But, no matter...
At any rate, that's Glasgow...people always looking to help and to share and to be overall friendly.
Today the weather is patchy grey skies with intermittant moments of misty rain.
x
Posted by calima at 02:19 PM | Comments (5)
February 25, 2005
Zoom zoom
This morning, Sweetheart, talking in his pseudo sleep (his eyes were open), said to me, 'I should marry you becuase you can speak a little Arabic'.
And I was like, 'Get married? ... Wait. Arabic?!'
We discussed it this morning and he has no idea why he said it.
I love it when he talks in his sleep. This is becuase it's usually me talking mid-sleep and I'm always trying to get David Duchovny to help me find Scully so we can solve some Xfile.
*cough*
Today is a rather mild day, in the 'busy' sense of the word. I only had one class today, which was a nice change of pace. I've been working non-stop all week, so I kinda need a wee break before I go back to work again tomorrow.
And I think I'm going to go back to the theatre...at least for a once a week shift. I miss my friends, and plus, I could use a little extra dosh.
I've been working most of this afternoon on fixing up blogs and forums and things, and now I'm about coded out, and ready to head home. Of course, now that I say that, a huge cloud covers the space where the sun and blue sky used to be, and threatens rain.
Of course. Because it always rains when I have to go outside.
Oh well, at least it's not snow (I hope).
I'm wearing a very summery top today becuase I've decided I'm sick of winter and if I refuse to believe it's still winter out, then winter will just go away.
Kinda like monsters in the closet. If you don't believe in them, they aren't really there.
~~~
Miles W Davis is being a pest today. The maintenance man who fixed my kitchen window let Miles roam free in the close, and now Miles thinks he can go out whenever he wants.
Um. no.
Jackass.
Anyhow, rather than being annoyed at Miles wanting to go out, I'm more annoyed at the maintenance man for letting him taste semi-freedom in the first place. It's not Miles' fault he wants what he can't have. It's just that he wouldn't have known he wanted it if Maint.Man hadn't shown him the door.
Alright. I'm going home now.
x
Posted by calima at 03:27 PM | Comments (4)
February 24, 2005
Pasta salad
Since I couldn't recreate barbeque for supper last night, I made pasta salad instead.
I have this weird thing with pasta salad lately. I dunno what it's all about. Prolly the southern girl in me...iced tea has also been on my list.
Received an interesting email this morning, which I'll get to in a second. I've gotten some interesting emails since the creation of this blog (especially since I've moved to Glasgow)...my favourites are from people who are wanting to visit or move to Glasgow and want some ideas or help. I like helping, I love Glasgow, and of course I want to share!
A while back, as some of you may or may not know, I got an email from the producer of 'The Great Love Swindle' tv show, which was shown on E4 (which I adored (the tv show that is), but didn't get to see the remainder of the series). The email came becuase of the review I wrote for the HC Reviews portion of our website here.
Obviously, I was chuffed to have recieved such a lovely email!
This morning, I received an email from the director of a film called Manasarovar, which is playing at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Sunday the 27th (at 2pm) and on Monday the 28th (at 845pm).
Mr Kurian asked me to make a wee mention of the showing in my blog here as a way of advertising, and after much contemplation, I've decided to adhere to his request. I was apprehensive at first because I've never heard of or seen this movie, and I'm not too keen on advising people to do something without having done it myself.
At any rate, I've decided to go ahead and make the mention of the movie for Mr Kurian's sake, and state kindly and explicitely that I haven't seen this movie myself. But from what I can tell on the website it looks pretty good.
Plus it has Neha Dubey of 'Monsoon Wedding' in it, and I loved Monsoon Wedding.
I may or may not be able to go, though I'd like to, and maybe I'll make Loki go see it with me. If I do get to see it, I'll be sure to put a review up on HC Reviews for all you colonials who are stuck in the US. Ha.
At any rate, I wish Mr Kurian tons of success with the movie and all the awards for which it's nominated.
And now I'm off to my lecture where I'll dream about the pasta salad I brought for lunch today, and wish that it was accompanied by a barbeque pork brisket and corn muffin.
Happy Thursday
x
Posted by calima at 11:54 AM | Comments (5)
February 23, 2005
Oooh look, another post!
Not only have I blogged for 3 days in a row, but today is extra-special-bonus day, as I leave another post for the day!
Woo!
Ok...here's the post:
Can we all please stop talking about barbeque in front of Calima? She is going to die of dehydration from drooling so much.
That is all.
;)
x
Posted by calima at 12:21 PM | Comments (3)
It was snowing
This morning...when I got up...there was ....*choke* SNOW
And now it's gone. I love Glasgow. la dee da...
I'm really starting to feel dire effects about not having a computer at home. You know...this is the first time in about (more than) 10 years that I've had to live without a computer. I did ok there for a while, but now I'm starting to show definate signs of withdrawal.
I need to get something worked out at home asap. I hate hanging around the computer lab at uni like a freak. Though I might've even if I did have a computer at home, if only for the sweet flat screen monitors they have in here. Bless.
I've been meaning to get the Beast back from Sweetheart, but we keep forgetting...
*sigh*
In Kitty News, I think that Miles is *much* younger than I was told. I don't know much about kitty teeth and how to gauge their age based on that, but he's missing a couple, and I think that it's kitten teeth that have recently fallen out. Plus he's been 'teething' and chewing on misc items (like my wicker laundry basket, which sends wretched shivers of horrible pain up my spine and to my brain), so, I'm thinking that he's probably just turning (or turned) 2. This is a FAR cry from being 4 years old, which was what I was told when I got him. But no one could really seem to make up their mind about what he looked like, or how big he was, etc.
Yesterday, I totally missed a kodak moment with the little whipper snapper...he was in the sink (as usual), but he was crouched down, with his ears flat, as though he was getting ready to pounce. Wish I would have gotten the picture of him...
Anyhow, happy Wednesday to you all. I'm going to go home now and bemoan my fate as a non-computer owner.
boo.
x
Posted by calima at 12:08 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2005
Responsibility and Blogging
I was reading an article today about how a guy was asked to leave his job becuase of comments made in his blog, and ran accross another article along the same lines.
Anyhow, it got me to thinking about responsible blogging/journalling. This has come up a lot in my 4 years of blogging/journalling, and I've never really come to a clear conclusion as to where I stand.
I know a journal is a journal, and someone out there is going to argue the point that: 'It's my journal and I can write whatever I want to, and if you don't like it, don't read it'.
And then there's someone who's going to say, 'Well, if you let the entire public read your journal, then you have to be responsible about the things that you post...i.e. you can't post something completely untrue on purpose.'
And I'm like, 'Eh...I can see both sides of it.'
My thing is that I try to be a responsible blogger, for the simple reason that I don't want to be responsible for spreading un-joy to the world. And also that I feel the need to protect myself and my identity.
I don't blog at work (dammit) and I don't blog about my work, if I can help it (aside from pimping the free coffee machine), but this is mainly becuase I don't want some nutter out there figuring out where I work and then stalking me. I have my own stalking problems at the moment without this journal being involved.
But I digress.
One of the reasons that I don't make this journal private in any way is because when people are secretive, things have a way of getting out somehow. And someone you didn't want to know, will find out one way or another and then major drama will ensue.
It's just best if everyone knows where the journal is, is privvy to everything and then responsibility is taken when writing the journal. That way, there's no blame-shifting and no finger pointing.
And other such nonsense.
I suppose my argument gets stuck a little when I write something that I don't necessarily care if the person I'm speaking about reads. I suppose I should care, but if it's something that I would say to the person's face if I saw them, I dont' see any need to keep it out of the journal.
I suppose the responsibility there is that, it's one thing to insult someone to their face, but it's another thing entirely to insult someone to their face and in front of everyone you know.
However, my personal feeling is that this journal is about me not about what I think of other people, and it's not a vehicle that I use to 'get back' at people who piss me off. It's mine.
So, anyway...what do you guys think about being responsible bloggers? Agree? Disagree?
x
Posted by calima at 04:40 PM | Comments (6)
February 21, 2005
Say 'No!' to precipitation!
The past two days people have been saying The 'S' Word. I've been dreading the possibility of S especially since one of the reasons I moved to bonny Scotland was to get away from S.
The S, you guess, stands for 'snow'.
So this morning, during lecture, the sun was streaming in, it looked like a gorgeous pre-spring day. The next time I looked up from the fury of notes I was taking, I saw snow floating down in that menacingly but delicate way. Just like the beauty of a jelly fish you admire until it stings you.
And then, 5 minutes later when I looked out the window again, the snow was gone and the sun had reappeared. Emerging to the fresh air after class, a glance to the skies revealed that no evidence of any cloud had been within a 20 mile radius. Did the snow exist? Or is Glasgow really that messed up?
The answer is 'B'.
Today, Scully had a fantastically exciting idea for me to try, and while I'm rather annoyed that I didn't come up with it first, I'm glad she mentioned it. In fact, I had a hard time concentrating in lecture today becuase I was working it out in my wee head.
I shall reveal all....eventually.
In other news, I have been acting as a the 'anti-establishment' girl that I was born by misbehaving at work. Not outright misbehaving, like, say, kicking over the coffee machine (which I would never do becuase I adore the coffee machine and all its free coffee), but by checking my email when I'm at work.
I will note that our IT department has done their damndest to make sure that no one can access hotmail, or gmail, or yahoo mail or whatever other free mail is out there. But I found my personal email completely intact (how could they have possibly known?) and have been checking it regularly.
Then, IT caught on.
Well, I gotta give them a little credit here. There's prolly just one wee guy with a spotty complexion whose sole job is to look through the internet logs looking for random rogue email sites. Well done, little spotty dude...you caught me.
Yes, my webmail was made 'inaccessible'. So, I logged directly onto the server.
Go me.
At any rate, I'm feeling a bit of guilt here about it, as I know I'm not supposed to be reading my personal email at work, but dammit, it's so boring at work! If I could blog, and email, I'd be a much much happier employee.
But truly, if I had to decide between the free coffee machine and email, I'd choose coffee any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
It makes mochas. It's not the best, but it's better that naething.
As far as my journal 'road' goes, thank you all for commenting. I think, 'Both' won out. And I totally forgot about my lj friends who read the 'rebroadcast' of this journal over there...thank you all for your comments. I was wholly surprised, really.
The reason I was waxing contemplative over it, was becuase some days I question what type of entry to put in, becuase I'm not sure myself if I should include the personal life stuff, or if people read this to read about life in glasgow. And where is the dividing line?
I decided on Sunday, whilst reading another brilliant scottish blog (at work, of course I was!) that I decided that I can have both, all in one blog.
So there it is. chocolate and peanut butter reunited again.
I'm all about diversity.
BTW, is there anyone out there who has an old region 2 vcr that I can use to tape my favourite show? Channel 4 (in their wisdom) have decided to play it at about 2pm on Sundays, which means I will miss it for the rest of my life.
Will pay in pasta.
x
Posted by calima at 02:39 PM | Comments (2)
February 16, 2005
Will we run out of road?
I've been contemplating the path of this blog for a few days now. I've been blogging/journalling online for more than 3 years, which is a long time in cyberland.
I started out with personal journalling, just my uncensored thoughts and beliefs...then progressed on to a more censored approach when I decided to sheild myself more...but this blog seems to me to be a weird mesh of 'All about Glasgow' and just me complaining about this or that.
So, I'm a bit perplexed as to what direction I want this blog to take. I'm torn, really, between giving personal type stories and giving an insider's view into life in the UK (for the average foreigner).
And I'm torn.
So, as the readers of my blog, what do you guys think:
More personal? Or more glasgow?
Vote now!
x
Posted by calima at 12:43 PM | Comments (9)
February 14, 2005
Rip off
I hate this holiday.
It's not even a holiday at all, it's just a day. No one gets off work for V-day. Banks are still open. Supermarkets still have regular opening and closing times.
It isn't a holiday.
Now before you calima newcomers start jumping to conclusions ( 'Oh, great. Just another Bridget Jones single chick who can't get a date telling us all what a crap day Valentines day is. Next!' ) let me just pointedly state that I do have a boyfriend.
Yes, he loves me.
Yes, I love him, too.
But do we need to walk around with our hands in each others' back pockets while I tote around the 36 blood red overpriced roses that he bought me, while he carries the heart shaped box of similarly overpriced chocolates so that everyone can see how in love we are?
No.
'Why?' one may (or not) wonder.
The reason is because love is personal. It's no one else's business. And as the Beatles sang, love can't be bought.
Love doesn't need to be proven to anyone accept the object of your affection. .
Love, to me, is best proven by a surprise dinner ready to eat on a night when I am too tired to cook. Fuzzy socks when it's cold out. Buying the expensive cheese for sunday morning, just becuase it's been ages since we've had any. Stirring my coffee for me, when I'm too lazy to walk 2 feet to get to the sugar.
My boyfriend and I have been dating for a few years now, and during that time I feel like I've been able to grow up as far as my relationships are concerned.
I used to be very wrapped up in what everyone else thought of us. I kept feeling like I had to prove that we were in love to everyone else, and you know what? I don't.
I don't care who knows or doesn't know how much he loves me, or how much I love him. We don't have to sit on the bus snogging our faces off and getting all googly woogley 'oh, I love you more' 'Oh no, I love you more' blah blah blah cough gag gag gag.
I can tell how much he loves me by the way he looks at me. And sometimes it's across the room at a party, and sometimes across the living room...wherever. I get that look and I know I'm giving the same look back.
So, Valentine's Day, you can bite me. We celebrated last week and the week before, and the week before that...and back and back.
Besides...my favourite flower isn't a rose it's a...
x
Posted by calima at 12:52 PM | Comments (3)
February 11, 2005
Bears overboard!
So apparently sleeping for 18 hours really does help. I feel much better today. Not 100%, but better.
Had to get out of the flat today...Miles and I are driving each other crazy, and not in a good way (if there is such a thing). He seems to think that if he makes enough noise in the morning that I'll just get up and feed him. Unfortunately for him, I am determined not to get up until I'm ready to get up, despite the amount of noise he makes. The result is that the two of us are equally annoyed with each other.
He came dangerously close this morning to being turned into a rug.
Did a review of CSI:NY over at HC Reviews. Yeah, I was a little bit harsh. Either the show will get better, I'll get used to it, or both. We shall see. Don't let me down Gary Sinise!
Was reminded this week of Mariah Carey claiming that Marilyn Monroe spoke to her through her piano. It's such an odd thing to claim. You have to wonder if MC was really crazy to believe it herself, or if she was severely crazy by even mentioning it to the public. Becuase, seriously, if I thought Marilyn Monroe was speaking to me through my piano, I'd at least have the decency to keep that crazy to myself. At least then I could still feign sanity.
Is Marilyn Monroe speaking to me through my piano?
You may never know.
x
Posted by calima at 02:05 PM | Comments (2)
February 09, 2005
And the award goes to...
I deserve an award. Seriously.
There was an awards/party thing the other night, where individual staff members were given awards like, 'The Carrie Bradshaw Best Fashion Sense' award and the 'Mary Poppins All Around Nice Person' award.
Frodo and I decided that if there was a 'What About Bob?/ Kato Kaelin Award for Biggest Moocher' that we would win hand over fist.
Oh yeah? Why? you ask.
Becuase of the canapes. Oh, bless the canapes.
This particular party was free drink (to some disappointing extent) and canapes. Frodo and I went back and forth from one room to the next tasting every single thing we could. It was hilarious. I think everyone else was too nice to eat. We just stuffed our faces.
We ain't too proud.
It was a good night, but all that free drink went straight to my head, and I'm still feeling a bit hungover. Actually, I think I've caught cold between Monday and today, but I'm still trying to deny it, so I'll blame it on the drink.
Actually, I should blame it on stress, for that's probably the most likely reason for me catching cold again. I am blanketed in stress. I wonder if they have a pill for that?
x
Posted by calima at 11:56 AM | Comments (3)
February 04, 2005
Babe
Miles Winston Davis, I have decided is a shepherd. He's an odd one, that cat.
He cleans up the kitty litter that falls outside of his box, he cleans his dishes, and more recently, he's been 'herding' me. He runs around my feet while I'm trying to walk, and nips at my heels to get me to go a certain direction (usually trying to point me to the empty food dish).
I can't tell you how annoying this is. Cats get underfoot in general, but this one will not let me walk in a straight line, which is particularly annoying if the straight line is in the direction of the toilet in the morning.
Not sure what to do about him, but I've considered getting him a couple of sheep that he can herd. Or, conversely, entering him in a sheep herding competition with all the other dogs.
Look out, Babe. There's a new cat in town.
That'll do, Miles. That'll do.
Posted by calima at 12:56 PM | Comments (4)
February 01, 2005
the girl who was blue
Yesterday was a battle with the blue. I must admit that it's been sometime since I've had to fight the battle of the blue, so I think I was able to deal with it better than I normally do. It's being blue every day for a week that really gets people down.
I treated myself to pork chops last night. I've been so skint lately that I can't really afford to buy meat products, but I splurged last night and it was delish. Watched a very depressing show on telly about a man who has major head injuries and was in a coma for 19 years, which didn't really improve my blueness any, and then watched ER, which cheered me up a great deal. Not becuase I wasn't sad that the two girls died after being chucked out a window by their mother, but becuase my favourite character on the show just keeps getting cooler and cooler, and just basically rocks.
I've had to deal with a bunch of gossip the past few days, and I must say that I just can't be bothered with it. My workplace is a festering pool of gossip and office politics, and I just want to stay out of it.
My problem is that ever since I got here and 'forced' myself to be more friendly and outgoing I now have no problems making friends with just about anyone. This is a problem in the workplace becuase people will (and do) judge you by who you're friends with.
Oy. Just leave me out of it.
Also, I've decided to take a wee sabbatical from the theatre for a while. It was a tough decision to make, but it needed to happen. I'm just too bogged down with my main job and Uni and misc stress to give it my full attention. I talked to my favourite (male) manager (don't want oj gettin all jealous now!), and told him I didn't want to quit, and he said he'd just give me some time off and to let him know when I wanted to come back.
Bless.
At any rate, I have my 'last' shift coming up this week, so I'm looking to celebrate it. Or at least just try to swindle a couple of free pints out of it. Heh.
I'm trying to resist the urge to spend money. I need books for Uni, and then when thinking about the books I wanted, I realised that 'books' sounds like 'boots' and decided I needed some of them too. Need to hold off from buying for a while though. Hopefully I'll get a pair of boots in the mail *nudges Moosie*
The new series of CSI starts tonight at 9. I get off work at 9. You can bet I'll be pushing my way to be the first person out of the building.
Love CSI. Love it.
x
Posted by calima at 04:30 PM | Comments (3)