i know it can be time-consuming signing online petitions and there are so many good causes etc etc blah blah, but here’s just three that are worth taking the time to bother with -

the government is looking into stopping funding courses for part-time students. this affects the OU in particular but may affect other institutions too. as so many people studying part-time are elderly/disabled/long-term sick/single parents and on low incomes, this disgusts me. i myself have taken courses to expand my education or just because i enjoyed a subject. if the government gets its way, only rich people will have that option in future. you can learn more and protest the stupidity here.

http://www.whalesrevenge.com is looking for a million people to sign their anti-whaling petition. enough said.

and amnesty is looking for people to unsubscribe - to say NO to torture. boing boing explains it nicely (no, i haven’t built up the courage to watch that video, yet) and you can unsubscribe here.

one last one (i know this makes it four): ten reasons why extending the pre-charge detention period to 42 days is too much. (and sign here if you agree).

okay, now i’ve thoroughly scared off any right-wingers who may have accidentally called by, i think i’ll go for a lie-down… thanks for listening. i promise there’ll be no more politics until the new year!

my christmas preparations are not going well. i feel like a total failure as i’m both hemorrhaging money and under-performing. *sigh*

i ordered something to be sent to a friend of mine, but neglected to put their address; so now i have to stump up for shipping. i’ve missed the last post for australia so my dad and stepmum* will get nothing from me again. (last year i made the posting date with months to spare… but my presents didn’t turn up regardless - i’m not sure which is worse). i still have loads to wrap, lots of last-minute parcels to send and i’ve got a sore throat and feel exhausted.

oh, and that carol concert i was going to? the car broke down.

we won’t have any carpet or have got rid of our old living room chairs by the 25th, and i’m crossing everything we manage to get a tree up.

i really want to be festive and joyous and have some good clean fun - i mean, this is my favourite time of the year! but christmas seems to be kicking my ass at the moment. (and whilst of course i know there are more important things in the world that i could be worrying about, i’ve chosen this).

so is there a way for me to turn things around? i know lowered expectations would help, perhaps some hot chocolate would too?

or maybe alcohol.

*SORRY!

you may have noticed that i’ve added a li’l icon to my sidebar to show my support of the hollywood writers’ strike. this isn’t something that people over here are too riled about - yet - perhaps because it won’t affect our favourite US-made TV shows for a few months. but when i was in the US it was BIG news, and i wholeheartedly support the campaign, and really really hope it can be resolved at the next round of negotiations next week.

in the meantime, i want to encourage everyone to do a couple of things to support the striking writers:

1. sign the petition

2. send a box of pencils to a media mogul

i’ve just done both (the internet makes collective bargaining so easy!)

just in case this whole thing has bypassed you completely, here’s an excellent video showing what the strike is all about. » more…

hello!

i have absolutely nothing, not one thing to blog about. i do have a v v rough draft of my noo yawk trip on my alphasmart (portable word processor-y thing), but it needs transferring to the PC and sprucing up nice and i’m tired. actually, i’m completely exhausted and feel very low.

people keep accusing me of having tremendous fun because last week i got back from noo yawk and next week i’m heading to florida.

i know, that sounds like a really hard life, but i didn’t feel well at all throughout my holiday. and florida is a workshop, and i’m muy anxiouso about it as i know it will be emotionally gruelling, plus lots of solo travel which is not fun, especially as i have no one with me to read signs so will be popping my glasses on and off like a mad glasses-popperer. and i’m so exhausted and swollen-ankly that i’m not sure how i’ll cope with it. i’m not sure why my mood has plummeted about 199 storeys, but it has so forgive me if i’m a little moaning lump of misery but i’m actually not having fun yet. but at least i’m blogging! (sorry).

i’ll eat and sleep and see if that helps.

in the meantime, i’m in woman’s weekly again tomorrow, being much more helpful/cheerful…

is rubbish.

as women, if we’re tired or stressed we’re supposed to have baths and light candles and drink red wine but i DON’T LIKE doing those things and they don’t make me feel better, so there.

what if i was a man? could i also do those things to de-stress or would i have to have a beer, watch sport and play-fight with my buddies? cos i DON’T LIKE those things either.

i like lying on my bed reading magazines, watching great american tv or stuffing my face with food. i like insight meditations, podcasts and blogging. and i don’t like going to sleep, but it’s the only thing that truly helps.

so there.

and no, i’m not stressed at all now. not me. i just seem to have a LOT to do, that’s all…

don’t you love it when you work on a piece for a new market you’re hoping to crack and at first they’re kind of interested but then it goes totally unacknowledged and completely unwanted so that months and months and months and months later you finally realise it ain’t never gonna be published? no? me neither. it does give me blog material though, so here is one such piece for your delectation: enjoy/feel a bit sorry for me after you’ve read it!

The Tyranny of Top-Up TV

Who decides what you watch on TV? Your kids, your partner, maybe even (lucky!) you?

In my house an inanimate object is all-powerful: the Top Up TV box, designed to provide digital TV and “the best of satellite” in one affordable package, runs rampant. It deletes programmes it deems unsuitable, chooses not to record those it despises and always sends cheerful messages asking me to confirm that the changes it’s made to my viewing plans are ‘OK’. Where’s the option that says ‘No, it’s most definitely NOT OK, you’re really pushing your luck!’?

This small black box has big ideas. It’s too good for reality TV: during every episode of The Apprentice it froze for at least two minutes, always at the moment of maximum tension. And Any Dream Will Do? sent it into sputters of righteous indignation. Not once in three months would Top Up TV record this programme, despite being instructed and even begged to do so. More frustrating than not recording a show at all are the times the box plays the cruel trick of recording for a cursory seven minutes before turning itself off. Or records a programme in full but won’t permit it to play. And if I see another flashing message about a programme being declared corrupt “on boot”, my boot will be flying through the TV screen.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this… Top Up TV’s website promised lots of wonderful things, some of which are actually true: for £9.99 a month a selection of satellite TV programmes is downloaded while I sleep. Too bad a disproportionate number of them are about fishing and that series can’t be guaranteed to be in order. I can easily record from any digital channel (when the recorder lets me) and pause live TV for half an hour at a time. The machine’s cheaper than its competitors and can go days without a major problem and sometimes several minutes without a minor one, like needing to flash on and off repeatedly. Plus, I never need buy a TV guide now thanks to the fourteen-day on-screen schedule.

But my TV watching has never been so unpredictable. Not only don’t I know if this box will ever actually follow its instructions, I can’t predict when it will switch itself off and refuse to come back on. Perhaps this could become a new spectator sport: extreme TV.

In my attempts to understand this strange behaviour, I have entertained the thought that my Top Up TV is really a Buddhist sage in digital disguise: teaching me the importance of non-attachment by refusing to record those programmes I’m looking forward to most. Either that or I’m living inside a crazy reality show in which the first Top Up TV box to drive its owner to a nervous breakdown wins.

Mine could definitely be a contender.

i hereby make a vow: i will never again talk about another woman’s body. (or at least, goshdarnit, i’m gonna try).

i won’t discuss how fat/thin/scrawny/cellulite-covered she is, whether or not her hair’s a mess or her teeth stick out or her bum looks big in that dress or should she show off her baby bump or did she lose her baby weight too quickly. i won’t compliment her boobs or criticise her bum.

NOTHING.

» more…

another piece intended for publication that never quite made it. because i missed the boat on talking about independent bookshops rather than because i’m rubbish. apparently.

On a well-known London literary street two competing bookshops sit opposite each other. One is a large, well established independent; the other a branch of a large chain. Loyal to independents I made that my first port of all when I found myself in London recently. The shop had a great selection, with some highly specialised niche subject areas and a large range of fiction, magazines and gifts.

But this mythical place, a large independent bookshop that’s managed to weather the economy for over 100 years, was actually a bit of a disappointment. The atmosphere was kind of flat, (perhaps because there weren’t that many customers) the staff I spoke to were brusque bordering on scary and the café was tiny and cramped. It goes without saying (doesn’t it?) that in an independent you expect to pay the cover price (with maybe a small discount on occasion) so I was surprised this one had a ‘3 for the price of 2’ table, but the selection was so anaemic and dated as to be worthless. And if you’re charging full price for everything, you have to give the customer something extra in terms of service, surely!

The only thing I really loved about the shop was the books, and I can get those anywhere, so I walked across the street to the chain store. What a different atmosphere! Buzzing with people, my only complaint is the queues were too long (including for the Ladies’ – London needs more loos!) The decent-sized café (OK, a Starbucks, but it was nice), great discounts, a wide and interesting range and cute and colourful concessions made the chain a much nicer experience.

It’s not the conclusion I wanted or expected to draw but I won’t be going back to the independent next time I’m in the capital. Book lovers are always being told that If we want our independents to survive we have to support them. But will they return the favour? If I’m going to be scowled at whilst buying books before i sit in a noisy and cramped café to ‘relax’, I’d rather support the chains.

And as I know of so few decent independent book shops, I don’t think I have much choice.