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[Rizzo]

Got the call, going back to hospital today, surgery tomorrow. 

I cannot convey enough psyducks to express my nervousness.

None the less, I shall attempt to keep embloggening my experience here; http://brainsurgeryblog.blogspot.com/

[Lunchbox]

Good luck Rizzo! We love you! Come back to us safe.

[JD]

Just saw Paranormal Activity 2 in celebration of one year of knowing my girlfriend! I met her when a mutual friend of ours took us to see the first Paranormal Activity exactly one year ago. I am truly the biggest baby though, I was shivering and gripping my lady's hand like a vise throughout the entire thing, and now I'm afraid of going into my kitchen to make myself food or my basement to retrieve my homework that's due tomorrow.

You are a gigantic baby.

Good luck Rizzo!

[jhocking]

and now I'm afraid of going into my kitchen to make myself food

me, I got stuck in the kitchen after seeing the first movie. When I'm hungry I'm pretty much not paying attention to anything else, but once I ate then I realized I was alone in a dark house.

[Lines]

I refuse to see that movie as I'm going to be housesitting in December and I don't want to freak myself out. Spending the night alone in a house is one thing, but spending the night alone (with a dog, though) in a house you don't live in after watching haunted house movies does not sound fun.

[tania]

my apartment is full of flies because of how busy i have been the last two weeks and how little time i have had to clean. i finally took out the garbage today and swept a bit but they're still here in pretty substantial numbers. i don't know how to get rid of them so from this point onward i am just kind of hoping they die and go away on their own. it is hard to be in the position i am in now and not feel pretty bad about yourself as a human being for a variety of reasons.

[Lunchbox]

Just pray that it doesn't end up like that bug in the Sims where you could get rid of the flies but still hear them buzzing FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

[Elizzybeth]

Tania, when I moved in July, I brought a bowl of fruit with me and, at some point in the unpacking process, stuck it on top of the refrigerator.  I promptly forgot about the bowl of fruit until, over a month later, the kitchen had a disgusting smell I couldn't get rid of and the air was thick with fruit flies.  I finally found the bowl of rotten apples, strawberries, and grapes.

I made a point to kill every single fruit fly I could catch over the following couple of weeks.  It was a fruit fly genocide in my apartment.  A fruit fly holocaust.  I was the fruit fly Hitler.  They did finally, ultimately, eventually die out.

I've been there.  It'll be okay.

That or you'll become Hitler.  Exercise for the reader.

[Lines]

We get fruit flies sometimes just because our building is old (the come from the sink???), but we stick a bowl in the kitchen that is a mixture of dish detergent, water, and apple cider vinegar. The vinegar attracts them and then they get stuck and die. Problem solved! Just make sure to change the mixture out every few days. And taking out the trash often gets rid of them, too, because chances are they're hanging out in there and they get tied in.

[Jace]

Also, get a couple window fly strips.
We had a super bad fly infestation because I live in my bedroom, and someone left trash in the kitchen when I first moved in. I was the first person to move into our house, and there wasn't much of a reason to go into the kitchen, so I didn't notice the maggots and flies.

[Drill King]

I may or may not have bed bugs.
fear.

[JD]

Ew

[Wasteroo]

but spending the night alone (with a dog, though)

oh man, I promise you if you see Paranormal Activity 2 the fact that you have a dog with you will just make the entire experience worse

[pwhodges]

wrote to the main builders in the UK looking for a job (couldn't be offered one because of apprenticeship rules)

I'm intrigued by this, can you explain more?

Organ building was then a closed shop, and the only way to get a job in an established company was through a formal apprenticeship starting at age 16.  I was a 21 year old soon-to-be-graduate, and so could not qualify.  Cuthbert Harrison, the owner of the largest (then and now) UK organ builders wrote me a two-page letter (in longhand) giving his apologies and expressing his frustration - he also (I later discovered) wrote to my parents explaining it to them as well.  Harrison's still operate apprenticeships - this from their website:

Such labour-intensive techniques require an unusual quality of craftsman. Typically, a Harrison man will join the firm at sixteen on a four-year apprenticeship - the firm is one of the few left in the country operating a traditional apprenticeship scheme. Harrisons' workshop has a family atmosphere and the presence of brothers, and sons, of previous organbuilders reinforces this. The overwhelming majority of the organ builders are recruited from the Durham area; most stay with H&H throughout their working lives. The ingenuity and tenacity of its workforce have been an inseparable part of the firm's success.

My friend set up on his own, starting doing odd jobs, and soon becoming a well-respected expert on early (pre-1800 British) organs - of which there are very few, since the UK had two periods in which organs were systematically destroyed (Henry VIII, though that was only partial, and Cromwell, who made a clean sweep - no pipes and only a handful of cases have survived since before his time).  Another acquaintance took a job as an assistant to a local organ "builder" - i.e. local tuner and repairman - but stuck it for less than ten years.  Neither of these appealed to me.

While I was at the BBC, I was contacted and told that Cuthbert Harrison, having no son, had advertised for someone to be his personal assistant, to learn the trade directly from him, with the explicit aim of taking over the firm when he died.  Not going for this, because of family commitments (I had just married and had a step-child and a new baby) which would have made moving to the other end of the country very hard, was one of the pivotal decisions of my life.  The man who took that job did become (and still is) the manager of the company.  Even now I occasionally regret that decision in a wistful sort of way - but I do not regret the life I've had as a result of it.

[Barmymoo]

That must have been frustrating at the time but it's really cool that they still operate the apprencticeship system now, so few companies do. I hadn't really imagined that organ building would be quite so specialist but I guess violin making is (I have a friend who is training in that) and organs are more complex.



Grr. Thrird morning in a row we've been woken by the fire alarm - first morning it was another building's drill which we could hear because we're close to the edge of our building. Second morning it was our own drill. This morning it was the really, really irritiating new type of alarm they're using where if there's an alarm in an ajoining building they play this partial alarm with pauses between the noises, which means "don't leave the building". It is just as loud and more annoying, and they don't turn it off - and you're meant to just get on with your day with a noise that is unbearably loud.

[look out! Ninjas!]

Just pray that it doesn't end up like that bug in the Sims where you could get rid of the flies but still hear them buzzing FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

I cannot sleep now. Thank you, I wasn't planning on doing anything tomorrow anyway.

[Lines]

but spending the night alone (with a dog, though)

oh man, I promise you if you see Paranormal Activity 2 the fact that you have a dog with you will just make the entire experience worse

Well, I never saw the first one, so I doubt I'll see the second one.

[tania]

stick a bowl in the kitchen that is a mixture of dish detergent, water, and apple cider vinegar. The vinegar attracts them and then they get stuck and die.

i tried this this morning but with salad dressing instead (i don't got any vinegar) and it worked! i came back home after classes and there were like 20 odd dead flies hanging out in there. i'm going to keep this up for the next few weeks or so. thanks!

[Tom]

Urrgh, chemistry exam today. I can't stand chemistry, that isn't biochemistry, anymore so I've done only 13hrs study in the past 4 days for it which is not good.

[Lines]

Yay!

(That was to Tania, not to Tom. )

[Barmymoo]

Weird. I just came to reply and started my reply with "What's that in response to?" but you must have edited in the second between me reading your post and hitting reply because it's down there in the little summary box.

Another fire drill today! But this one was just a test in the faculty, so we didn't have to evacuate. I am glad to know that I am so well protected against the possibility of dying in a fire I hadn't noticed.

I went to a seminar by P D James today. She is really old but also really animated and still totally with it and generally it was great. Not an amazing seminar but an amazing woman. I haven't actually read any of her books yet but I went because my mum is a big fan and also I'm generally interested in female authors, particularly female authors who were born in 1920. Man. When I saw her I thought she was about seventy at the most, but she is ninety. Crazy times.

I realise I am a bit incoherent here. Time for bed.

[Ozymandias]

I'm generally interested in female authors, particularly female authors who were born in 1920.

That's not a very general interest. I'd call it quite specific.

[Lines]

Weird. I just came to reply and started my reply with "What's that in response to?" but you must have edited in the second between me reading your post and hitting reply because it's down there in the little summary box.

Yeah, I noticed it as soon as I posted it that it was not the best thing to post after Tom's, so I changed it!

I just made my roommate watch the orginal Omen with me. I am happy she liked it.

[David_Dovey]

Wait wait wait so flies are attracted to vinegar?

Do you attract more with vinegar than you do with honey?

[Lines]

Apple cider vinegar. Apple cider. Vinegar.

[tania]

they might like honey more, but in this crazy province salad dressing/vinegar is much more affordable than honey and therefore more expendable so i'ma stick with the disgusting fly-ridden soapy concoction i've already created

[allison]

Actually no you really do catch more flies with vinegar.

[Gemmwah]

My work doesn't know about my bipolar and I am not up to going in today at all, and I never know how to call in sick about it, it always feels a bit like I'm lying because I can't justify why I can't come in.

[Barmymoo]

Could you tell work about it? Maybe not over the phone, but as a long-term thing it might help if they knew? I can understand why you might not want to though.


Grrrrrr I hate it when cases start with sentences like this:

"In assumpsit, the declaration stated that the plaintiff had brought an action against the defendant in the Exchequer, to recover certain moneys, that the defendant had pleaded various pleas, on which issues in fact had been joined, which were about to be tried, and that, in consideration that the plaintiff would forbear proceeding in that action until a certain day, the plaintiff promised on that day to pay the amount, but that he made default, &c."

What does that even mean? I have to plough through dozens of waffly sentences like that, each one with a tiny extra detail but then mostly repeating the previous stuff in a new way, before I get anything of use out of the case.

[Jimor]

"I'm not feeling well" works just fine. I know sometimes it depends on the job and its sick time policies, but unless you're on some kind of probation where missing days will get you in trouble, your work doesn't need the details. When I was a supervisor, I always made it a point to NOT sound like a suspicious dick when an employee called in, whether it was inconvenient that day or not.

Hope you feel better.

[Gemmwah]

I don't like telling places I am applying to about it because it makes them unlikely to hire me, and then pulling it out of the bag later, lying about an existing medical condition etc is frowned upon. And my work always ask what's wrong because they're nosey and try to guilt me into coming in anyway.

Also, thanks.

[Barmymoo]

ARGH how did I forget about VAT? I am a total moron. I was quoted £85, and that is what I sent on to the expenses thingy, but I just rang up to chase up my invoice (appears to have been lost in the post somewhere) and it's like £92. I was already over-budget so I will just have to pay the extra six pounds myself. Not a huge amount in context but still, I am a law student. What an idiot.

On the upside just handed in a form that will get me £60 from a law firm for no reason whatever.

[David_Dovey]

"In assumpsit, the declaration stated that the plaintiff had brought an action against the defendant in the Exchequer, to recover certain moneys, that the defendant had pleaded various pleas, on which issues in fact had been joined, which were about to be tried, and that, in consideration that the plaintiff would forbear proceeding in that action until a certain day, the plaintiff promised on that day to pay the amount, but that he made default, &c."

Whoever says the English language is getting worse is a bullshit liar, it's just finding different ways to be terrible

[Hairy Joe Bob]

I ate the greasiest fry up for lunch. So much grease I almost had to be carried home by my girlfriend. So full. Ugh.

There was a chap on Bond Street walking on a tightrope playing the fiddle. As I walked past I couldn't help muttering under my breath "fiddle dee dee, och begorrah, back in de old country, god I love being oirish, stick it up yer arse, all the english are bastards" in an Irish accent. I got told off by a woman for being rude. Had to explain that actually I was Irish and so was allowed to mock my own culture fuck you very much!

[muffy]

These fly-removal tips have made me feel better about the general squalor that periodically appears around me.

The building I live in is old and we had this pet mushroom in the corridor outside the flat that the landlord would remove every few weeks. It always grew back differently and attracted different types of flies with each incarnation. The reason I am referring to the mushroom-beast in the past tense is that the patch of ceiling where it grew has since caved in, shedding rubble over the stairs. There is now a massive hole in the ceiling, but the flies seem to have left it alone at last.

I love my pad.

[jhocking]

I just got a couple drinks with people from work. Now I'm going to the gym. I'm going to the gym drunk.

[muffy]

Awesome! Surely that just means that your heart will pump the alcohol through your system even faster?

[tania]

drink lots of water! whenever i try to run after forgetting i just had a bunch of coffee not much earlier i always end up really thirsty and crampy within like 15 minutes and it's pretty awful. i imagine alcohol probably dehydrates you in much the same way. usually if i remember and drink like 3-4 glasses of water in anticipation i end up okay though.

[Ballard]

I've been touring various academic institutions in various states of inebriation lately. As a New School student, I have access to Fogelman and Gimbel, the New School libraries, and also to the incredibly large New York University research library, Bobst.

So last week I smoked a joint at my old alternative high school with some friends and then went to Fogelman and caught up on some work.

And then this week I split a bottle of gin with a buddy before he went on a blind date and went to Bobst and did the same thing.

[Barmymoo]

Apparently next week I'm going to Norwich. A friend bought me a train ticket at 2am and I was powerless to resist. It's booked with my card but under her name, which might be tricky. I hope my Norfolk-based family are home next weekend.

[jhocking]

My fiancee was humming "Take Me Home, Country Roads" last night and looking up the lyrics. I've been humming it all day today, I can't stop.

[celticgeek]

That song showed up in a songbook I bought at a used book sale today. 

[Eris]

I actually had a very nice day today! I slept in a bit before going to work, and I actually got to work with people who I enjoy working with. Work was kinda slow, but busy enough to give us plenty of stuff to do (and we had fun bitching about our boss who was there and could tell we were bitching about him), and afterwards we went and sat in the local dog park and drank and talked and played with dogs for about 3 hours. I discovered cider is delicious, and had fun talking to people I don't normally talk to too much, and sat in the sun and had a good time! Now I am going to buy some more cider and my thai food for dinner, and try and fill out some questionnaires truthfully while I am a little bit drunk. All in all, a nice end to a pretty good day.

Hopefully tomorrow will be as nice.

[Barmymoo]

That does sound like a nice day, I am jealous of the dogs! I wish there was some kind of animal shelter or rescue or something round here, or just some more cats.

I have spent the last five hours in a graduate computer lab, and I have done more work than I remember doing in one go for years. Actually the last time I really managed to work consistently was when I was revising for my A levels and working in my office in the sixth form college. I think that is the key to this issue - I cannot work without a dedicated work space. My bedroom is far too distracting, too dark and too messy, and the library options are either a basement, or masses of glass. I haven't ever tried working on the top floor, which might be better, but still I can't leave paperwork there or sit in the same desk every time. I wish there was a way for undergrads to have offices but there are just too many of us. Anyway now that I know how to solve the problem I will see if there's anything I can do about it.

Pretty dang tired after being up really late last night, but I have had a productive day.

[David_Dovey]

Hannah I hope everything stays as fantastic for you as it is right now. Congratulations.

Blog Thread, travelling is fantastic and wonderful and all but geez do I ever miss having disposable income.

[Alex C]

Trying to fix my sister's computer without the benefit of restore points because her husband thinks system restore slows things down too much. Fuck you buddy, fuck you.

[JD]

Jesus christ my grandfather has gotten really weak. It takes 3 people to help him up the stairs now.

[Jimmy the Squid]

Hi blog thread!

I just got back from Melbourne and it is pretty damn good to be home. Melbourne was a whole lot of fun though! My tattoos ended up being about $1100 cheaper than I expected because the apprentice who gave me the quote over the phone a few months ago got mixed up between $1000 for two days work and $1000 per day. This is great because I got to buy a bunch of clothes as well! I also bought a special edition copy of Force Unleashed 2 which yes I could have bought in Sydney but shut up. Anyway it was an awesome holiday and I had a lot of fun and Harry was great as always and there will be photos of stuff once we put them on the computer.

[Zingoleb]

Within 10 hours and 23 minutes I will be out of this apartment. I don't think I'll sleep by then. I haven't slept yet and I am fucking tweaked.

Like, I am not new to moving. My father's moved a lot, and he's pissed off that I've kept count; this is the 30th time I'll have moved in the last 10 years. And it's the single most stressful one because unlike every other time, I don't just follow his cue. I'm planning all my moves and this is stressing me out so much. Words are absolutely failing me and I knead more coffee. Happy Hallo-fucking-ween.

Happy Hollow fucking, Ween.

[Lunchbox]

Thanks man.

I was gonna write a blog thread but so complicated right now.

Wait no I have it summarised:

This weekend the weather was nice so I wore a dress but it was also windy and a lot of people saw my underpants. It made an old man on a bus smile.
Then I  got a headache and have felt vaguely not human since.
I just made shepherd's pie and it is tasty.

WEEKEND
YOU WERE ODD