Party like its....

1999 hits. Woo hoo! Any minute now the moon will hurtle off into the wide blue yonder and Barbara Bain will be no more.

Pets in a bag

Brain in a fog. Blah! Discovered Sainsburys chocolatey cup cakey things yesterday and now I am addicted. Sponge.... deep, dark sponge....with a ludicrous amount of chocolate moussey icing on top and a bit of flake drowning madly in it. Very messy but very yummy. I looked like a two year old with brown stuff round my gob. Heh heh. And I got chocolate under my nails. If I didn't wash my hands I could be nibbling on the stuff for weeks. Not to mention looking like someone who'd been at a fisting party but we won't go there.

Saturday morning was spent at work, god help me. I need the money. It was nice to be able to get alot done without the phones going off every five minutes though. I half heartedly attempted some shopping but got bored quickly so I went home & fell asleep in the armchair. Good job I did as I'd forgotten we were going to my uncle's 60th party that night. I really didn't want to go as I was knackered but forced myself to get tarted up in my spangly jeans and long red tunic top, straighten my hair and put my face on. Once I got there and got a pint down me I was ok and started to enjoy myself. Most of my aunts, uncles & cousins were there & it was lovely to see them. My aunty Joyce found it a good excuse to reminisce with my mum. Aunty Joyce used to babysit us alot when mum & dad were at work. She told me about my early kleptomania when I took some money from somewhere & toddled off to the shop on my own. I was only four apparently. She also told of the night my dad had got tickets to see Johnny Mathis but mum was too ill so he took Joyce with him instead. She got so carried away that she sat listening to him with her eyes closed and my dad said he might as well have bought her the bloody record. My uncle is a big Elvis fan so his son (my cousin) arranged an Elvis impersonator to DJ & sing. I'm not an Elvis fan but I thought he was really good. Definitely a 70s Elvis though. He looked like he'd been at the buffet early if you know what I mean. I didn't get up & dance at all but still ended up with a blister on my foot thanks to some slightly impractical shoes (and the walk to the bus stop). Mind you, for me anything other than trainers or Doc Martens is impractical. The girlie glamour puss in me wants to be able to wear Jimmy Choos but in reality I'd be attempting to hack my feet off at the ankles by the end of the night. Rather like those climbers you hear about getting trapped by a boulder and hacking their own arm off with a swiss army knife to get free.

Hmmmmmm. There's nothing like a bit of perspective is there?

A warning to the curious

Beware oh humble Am Dram enthusiasts. Play authors may seem like little fluffy bunny wabbits but they can be as cruel and cut-throat as a divorce lawyer (not all of them though - I know a couple who are really rather lovely). Take our current production (please!). The author approached our little group asking if we'd put on her newest play which hadn't even been published yet. For some reason this was a pre-requisite of the play being published at all. We thought nothing of it and said ok. Script arrived, dialogue only including spelling mistakes and incomprehensible scentences. No stage directions. We carried on with not a care, working hard putting it all together, rehearsing, singing, moving furniture, moving some more, getting exasperated because there were too many bodies & tables on stage etc. Our director meanwhile contacts our adjudicator from the GMDF to discuss the play which he will come to see & review. During the conversation it emerges that some play authors have a curious little habit of not writing stage directions themselves but getting a group to put on their play so that it is done for them without them having to lift a finger. They then claim all the credit. It seems our author is one of those people.

We'd been told from the start that our production would be the world premiere. "Woo hoo!" we thought. Not so. Turns out our lovely author had also contacted another group in the Lakes and they are putting on the play before us. Tomorrow night in fact. When we've been advertising for ages that ours is the 'world premiere'. She (the author) had also apparently been bragging to our director that the Lakes group have a full band for their production. Well whoopee fucking doo for them! And this is the same woman who offered to help us out with publicity but we haven't seen hide nor hair of her. What a charming example of humanity this woman is.

Not.

So again, be warned aspiring actors and directors lest the hounds of hell be unleashed upon the world clutching copies of 'Playwriting for Dummies'.

Headache

Cheesecake in causing headache shocker! I ate a rather nice piece of Costco lemon cheesecake earlier, promptly fell asleep in the chair and later woke with a banging headache. Life just really kicks you in the nuts sometimes doesn't it?

Oh I got one of the puds btw. No custards but then I shouldn't complain should I?

I'm lacking inspiration today (thanks to the cheesecake headache) so I'll just update on the listening to; reading; etc.

Watching; Around the World in 80 Treasures (though I'm mostly falling asleep to it), ER, Most Haunted, new Will & Grace and Dr Who of course. I started to watch Grumpy Old Women but got very bored very quickly. It was all "Kids blah blah" "Husbands blah blah" neither of which apply to me. I related more to the grumpy old men.

Recorded; Two Hitchcock films I've not seen before - Topaz and Stage Fright, Simon Thurley's Building Britain (or whatever its called), Animation Nation (for the clips of Bagpuss and Mr Benn).

Listening to; Natalie Imbruglia's new albums and the extra tracks on the Shiver singles - her cover of Crowded House's Pineapple Head is gorgeous, Terry Wogan and Jonathan Ross in the mornings (Is it me?), Snow Patrol - Final Straw which I've been listening to for a while now and is bloody fantastic.

Reading; Plays mainly. Educating Rita because I'm supposed to be directing it at the theatre next year (ulp!), Confusions by Alan Ayckbourn as I'm directing one of the one act plays in a few months, a new play called Washboard Blues because I'm in it at the end of May. I've also developed a fondness for spooky mags like 'Chat - Its Fate', 'Take a Break - Fate & Fortune' and 'Spirit & Destiny' magazine.

And here's a few little facts about me;

Favourite biscuit - the humble Custard Cream. Great to dunk in tea.
Favourite tipple - Timmermans Framboise (raspberry beer)
Two names I was almost called - Maeve (dad) Natasha (mum)
My middle name was chosen by my then 8 year old brother after Marie Osmond.
I once had a job interview in the Rovers Return.
I have been at the same wedding as Russell T Davies.
I had violin lessons at the age of 10 but never practiced & didn't like the teacher so I stopped.
Favourite word - moist.
Biggest scar - on my left index finger from when I fell off a wall when I was 11.
Favourite swear word - bollocks.

Right, I'm off to get some ibuprofen.

Oh, here we go...

D'you know, I'd just like to have a quick rant about my brother being an ungrateful bastard while we're on the subject. I buy him things now and again, stuff he needs or that I think he'd like, like a good sister. He very rarely appreciates them. I buy satsumas at Xmas which we both like and I say they're for both of us but he doesn't touch them. He was diagnosed with high blood pressure so I bought him a book about low salt diets - he's never read it. We ran out of Ricola herbal cough sweets just when he had a cold so I picked up some more from the shop but in two new flavours, Elderflower and Cranberry - he didn't even try them & went & bought some blackcurrant ones instead. I bought some Braeburn apples for when he came home from his recent op - he's barely touched them. He really is a fucking ungrateful bastard. I'm never buying anything for him again*.

*except for Xmas and birthdays.

Making a hash

Bro has been shopping today and bought the ingredients for corned beef hash which I haven't had for years. So I got home and dinner was waiting for me for once. And I was actually home at a reasonable time too. Most nights for the last week I've still been at the office at 6pm which is very late for me. Its all down to my boss though who has to faff about with a particular database before I can print all the work off and fax it to the gangs. Needless to say he always takes ages, chatting to people along the way while I'm tapping my fingers impatiently and looking at my watch every five minutes. Today he was in earlier and chatted less thanks to my immediate supervisor type woman having a quiet word with him last night.

Anyhoo, I notice that Bro has bought a pack of four M&S custard tarts (two of which he's eaten) and a pack of two sticky toffee puddings & cream. The $64,000 question is whether he will share them. To be fair, he has given me the other two custards on previous occasions so my luck may be in tonight. However, last time he bought STP (at the weekend) he ate the whole lot himself. The last two times I bought them I shared them with him (I would say I gave him one but that would give you the wrong impression). So, is my brother a fat selfish bastard or not? Stay tuned......

Faff

I've just got time before Fingersmith (giggle) comes on to say that woo hoo! we've now got broadband at home but boo hoo! it doesn't yet work on my account so I'm using my brother's to pick up emails etc. Have to be very careful which sites I link to...

Eccles-not

That bastard Eccleston has quit as Dr Who. Arse! Typecasting??? After saying in interviews that he was glad not to be playing brooding Northerners anymore? I bet there was a quibble over money. There always is isn't there? I'm disappointed that all the billboards have gone too. Replaced by posters for Hustle. Boo.

Work has been deeply shitty this week. I've been going through the same crap that I went through late last year when I had to choose who I wanted to work for as my employers had lost the contract I was working on. Only this time its been much worse. I chose one way and was happy with the decision until I got some more news that this choice would mean going back working for an agency. So I changed my mind and asked to stay on with my current employers. After much faffing and messing around I was told there wasn't a place for me. Two days later I was given a ray of hope by someone else that there was a place for me after all. But then yesterday after more faffing I was asked to ring my manager who claimed no knowledge and as far as he knew nothing had changed. So basically the wankers had got my hopes up for nothing, messing me about and basically treating me like shit. There were tears before bedtime I can tell you. I was giving serious thought to not going back on Monday but a couple of people persuaded me not to make a hasty decision and come back in, seeing what they could do from there. And I don't know if Russell Grant is taking the piss but my online horoscope predicts success in my job today (or the next couple of days). Yeah right!

On a much more positive note there have been a couple of births announced this week. My lust object Amanda Tapping had a baby girl on the 22nd. Over 9 pounds and without pain medication. Ouch! A couple of friends of mine have also had a baby on the 24th and they've named her Rose. And they're Dr Who fans. Well, I suppose it could be worse. They could've called her Nyssa or Ace. Mind you I haven't found out the middle names yet...