Headspace or headcase?

Probably both to be fair.  I appear to be only able to concentrate properly on one major hobby or interest at a time, and oddly I am at my most relaxed and at peace when doing this despite the frustrations that rear up suddenly every now and again with me thinking that I actually have twenty odd things that I should be doing.  Then I just go "phah!" - and continue to plod on doing singular item of interest and be blessedly happy and relaxed.

So at the moment, I am not doing terribly much photography wise - though I purchased a shiny glossy photography mag over the weekend for which I have had no time to yet devour - nor am I doing house stuff, or much reading, or much keeping in touch with people.  I am however doing rather well at work and am slowly but surely removing stodgy, stubborn layers of lardons off my body with my excessive walking and exercise routine.  If you haven't guessed it my current, hmmm, lets just call it obsession rather than interest, is that of exercising.

I am reading a book, nothing unusual there, except that since arriving back in Australia I have read a total of 5 books - which is rather rubbish given I used to read one a week, which makes me about 40 books down of my usual tally. Oh and I read 3 of said books in one week on the houseboat!  Though am not reading War and Peace, or anything remotely taxing, but something called Last Night at Chateau Marmont by the chicky who did Devil Wears Prada.

I feel that I am making some progress on doing more than one thing at a time as I have begun arranging Christmas cards, the Christmas tree is up and several presents have been purchased. Humm appears my taking some time out to tend to this rather under nourished blog has made me see that all is not as bad as I first thought and I am getting stuff done. Wow - go me. Phah.

Oh I have just remembered that I finally got around to visiting a long lost friend on the weekend (its only been um 2 years - love you Mel) and I cooked on the weekend too.  I make a very delicious, and very requested, chocolate Tiramisu.  Oh dear, its seems I am now a headcase because I thought I had no headspace... off to write some lists........

Randomness

Excited that a book about Thomas Cromwell won the Man Booker prize this year, extra food for my addiction to historical fiction centered around the 15th centry and Henry VIII. Looking forward to reading that.

Pissed off about pushy people on the tube, its not crucial to move 1 foot closer to the door and interupt me to do so, and right when we have only justed moved off from one station so you can get out 1 foot ahead at the next - two minutes away still! Your only going to be one of those people on the escalator who stands, so you will SAVE NO TIME, nadda, yip...in fact you might actually go backwards!! grrrrrrr.

Am tired...so tired. Hate being tired. More cause stress, job in want of going permanent and its mine for the taking (including taking into consideration of my situation) BUT at a cost. Hummmm feel bullet biting coming on and rock and hard place deliberations going on, so not fun.

Looking forward to a browse at the Ted Baker sample sale tomorrow morning, might be more for Mark than me, I never find things on sale, the new seasons shiney new and perfectly shelved and hung garmets are so more tempting. Given its a sample sale will find nothing in my size and won't be tempted by new stuff as its only a sample sale.

AND NOW....bugger it going to bed. PS did anyone get my email....*sniff sniff*

Quote Me!

"He never understood that women like to complain for the sake of it, to get things off their chest, and they don't want to be fobbed off with practical solutions and course of action. They just want sympathetic attention, and lots of it"

As said by the Mum in The Bad Mothers Handbook by Kate Long

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Mark and I were lucky enough to have been invited by Marks friends brother David, to visit the touring Harry Potter truck. A truck only generally visitable by Warners staff and lucky competition winners.

Our photo after waving our wands a bit...

The truck was decked out complete with costumes of Harry Potter, Dumbledore and Professor Slughorn. There was also the Sorting Hat (my fav...a talking accessory, how can you not..."does my bum look big in this..." then hat...."...no of course not" - I like) and a Quidditch broom stick.

Harry Potters costume

We then got taken into Dumbledores homely bookend office, had our photos taken, got videoed making a spell, Mark with Dumbldore and me with Harry's wand.... As for the spell I really cannot remember. Before quite literally being placed back outside in the hubbub that is Leicester Square. Well it was fun while it lasted.

Dumbldore's costume

The Sorting Hat and Quidditch Broomstick

Outside the touring truck

Quote me...

"Gratitude, humility and praise are the way to kindle love in a good heart, ... But when gratitude and admiration are expressed constantly they can have the opposite effect.

They become a kind of drug for the one who is on the receiving end, who then starts to demand admiration and gratitude at all costs, by means of violence, blackmail or threats. In so doing you can cause the person on whom you shower gratitude and admiration to believe in his superiority and above all his superiority over you.

In place of a companion from whom you expect love you create yourself a master who regards himself as a good, who gives orders, takes decisions and issues pardons and rewards where appropriate. But all those functions belong to another Lord altogether. The human reward for gratitude and recognition tends to be ingratitude.

The person who has tried to obtain love by means of gratitude and service tends to receive the opposite."

The Ultimate Intimacy - Ivan Klima

This quote, or rather extract, I found rather interesting, not because I believe necessarily that I have suffered like the character, but I can empathise with her. It can definately be true in relationships that one can shower the other with love, praise and gratitude and that it not be respected or taken as love that should be returned in the same copious quantities that it is given.

Quote me...

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."
Dr. Seuss

Quote me...

I have been meaning to put this one up for a while....but here 'tis now..

"...love comes in spurts. A little then a lot. It's not a permanent wave of happiness."...."Love is an hors d'oeuvre, a caviar-encrusted canape, not a staple diet."

Care of.........Katy Lette - "How to Kill Your Husband"

My Book List

This is a list of all the books; I am reading, have read and still have to read. There are about 42 books that I have read in the past 14 months, and that is about 3 per month. Not bad, but I need to improve that, though that doesn't count the couple of business books I have read either.

Reading -

Perfume - Patrick Suskind (reading)

Read -

The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst (excellent read)

The Poisonwood Bible - Barabara Kingsolver (set in the Congo, worth reading)

The Girl in Times Square - Paullina Simons (sad, but good)

Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisburger (better than the movie)

A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian - Marina Lewycka (v. funny)

The Story of Lucy Gault - William Trevor (a sad girl)

The Catalpa Tree - Denyse Devlin (why I wanted to visit Letterfrack in Ireland)

The Reading Group - Elizabeth Noble (good)

Olivia Jooles - Helen Fielding (funny)

Sensing Others - Frank Tallis (good and set in Kilburn)

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (I really liked this, not all will agree)

His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman (brilliant - they are making a movie now with Nicole Kidman)

The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood (short n'sweet)

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (excellent read)

Tough Choices - Carly Fiorina (former HP boss, inspiring)

An Inconvenient Truth - Al Gore (makes you love our planet more)

Tourism - Nirpal Singh Dhaliwai (good one)

For one more day - Mitch Albom (uplifting, also the author of The Five People you meet in heaven, which is also really good)

Thin - Grace Bowman (true story of an anorexic, very good)

On Beauty - Zadie Smith (good but not memorable)

A Long Long Way - Sebastian Barry (a long long war book, but interesting)

There's a bear in there - Merridy Eastman (just funny, true girly chick stuff)

The Bad Mother's Handbook - Kate Long (funny)

Hannibal Rising - Thomas Harris (his first book was the best on)

Don't ever tell - Kathey O'Beirne (sad)

Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller (disapointing)

The Nightwatch - Sarah Waters (didn't like the end much)

Things we know were true - Nicci Gerrard

The Adoption - Dave Hill

Annie May's Black Book - Debby Holt

Notes from a Small Island - Brill Bryson

Be careful what you wish for - Alexandra Potter

That certain age - Elizabeth Buchan

The Girl most likely - Rebecca Sparrow

Others I have read, or maybe tried to-
Panic - Jeff Abbott
Lazy Bones - Mark Billinghurst
The Broker - John Grisham
Ulysses - James Joyce (inspired by the Ireland trip, alas its a tome and I may never start it)
The Sea - John Banville (snore)
Narrow Dog to Carcassonne - Terry Darlington (boring could not get started)

Owned but not read just yet -
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
Peoples act of Love - James Meek
Left Bank - Kate Muir
Cats Eye - Margaret Atwood