Status: Alive

Car Status: 2 door Honda Civic. Stick shift, of course [22mp of mostly incomprehensible ranting about the stupidity of automatics excised]. Runs well. Needs more gas.

Passion Fruit Status: I has them.

Word Count Status: 50,000 done in 29 days. I is awesome.

Hair Status: Turns out writing 50,000 words in 29 days leaves little time for things like haircuts. Hair getting unruly.

Stealing Lines From Zoetica Ebb Status: Rising dangerously.

Terror Alert Status: How the fuck should I know, I'm just a Livejournal entry?

International Fame Status: Googling "Peter Brunton Livejournal" turns up my page as first result. Feel good about this. Still only sixth result for "Peter Brunton", but that's actually up considerably from "Somewhere down at the bottom of page 40".
Curiously, sixth result is not my LJ, but my Twitter. Yeah. Weird.

Twitter Status: Did I mention I have a Twitter account? It's @voroxpete, just so's you know.

Cookie Status: Lacking. Unfortunate.

Spending Two Hours Watching Old Thunderbirds Episodes Status: Y'know, we really shouldn't have to have a status for that. It should just be assumed. All the time.

Novel Status: Feels good man. Read on for details. ( LJ Cut Status: Cutty )

Yeah.
Last night, at 10.46pm I finally did it.
After months of holding onto it, dreading the day I had to do it.
After some pushing and prodding from my mind.
I finally damn well did it.
I fucking finished the first chapter of Twilight.
SHIT YEAH!
Or, in the words of my dear Team Spoon:
MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!!!!!
GET A SPOOOOOON!
ME BISCUIT'S FALLEN IN ME BREW!!!!!!!
*dip finger*
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
BASTARD!

When I have something to say
Won't you listen not just go away
But it's as if
some naked robot pulls
you to her side
and I am left
as the one everybody may deride
for I am stuck
Like a rainbow painted grey
within the mists of silence.

I am lost, but I have more to say
And I can see you turning away
It is as if
that droneing radio
has some sort of pep to make you go
don't leave my side
I have promised you this ride
and you have left
your choice
but don't say I didn't promise you a voice
you chose
to stay in silence.

I'm having one of those 'well I could...but meh...'
I want to write, I want to draw, to roleplay, to just play some game which requires no thought, to chat, to do pretty much anything but keep just stumbling to a halt.
I blame too much food at lunch time, Christmas Meal with Old Pulsar...and 4 ofspring.
There's a number of things I want to do, start, finish etc but the energy is lacking, and getting one of those 'I'm just annoying people' lags too which isn't helping.
No the meal was fun, even if I did get drooled on and laughed at as I'm sat there holding a baby out in front of me with a 'am I'm going to accidently break it?' expression.

One more week of work, not having fun atm as along with all the other big project / not enough staff already and so on the guy I share some of my jobs with is off sick.
Such is the fun.
Had I guess you could call it an anxiety style dream last night, which I think is my first. I don't want any more.
Which is dumb because I have so little to whine about.
I don't like self-doubt, could somebody please just shoot it in the head. It would be so much kinder heh.

Got a works do after work tomorrow, they are okay though I tend to just sit and listen and eat. It harks back to how I used to be and while not unpleasant it's not great.
Means I will miss swimming, which I like and is good for me but I supposed I was expecting to fumble it a bit over Christmas.

Will be good to see the family next week, there's no...responsibility...when at home. Bill makes the meals, we go for walks, everything is relaxed.
Like being a kid again I guess without homework, not that it was such a chore heh.

It's been a good weekend! purplemermaidcame to visit, and helped with the fitting of the bodice for my 12th night dress. We now have a calico mock-up that seems to work, despite my odd shoulders! (the distance from centre of my chest to my left shoulder is less than to my right shoulder, which made the straps difficult to get right!) - that means I can start on the gown next weekend. I also now have the hem pinned for the kirtle (undergown) and plan on spending this afternoon stitching it.

yesterday we went to the demo at Caerphilly castle. I wore my grey and purple wool Elizabethan outfit, but despite the several layers of linen, and 2 layers of wool I was freezing! I bought an extra pair of socks from one of the traders, so ended up with 3 pairs and stout boots to try to keep my feet warm. it was OK in the sunshine, though, when out for the wind. Unfortunately I forgot to take a scarf or anything to keep the back of my neck warm, so I ended up with a really bad back and neck ache. In fact we were all a bit in the wars, since purplemermaid had a wrenched knee, and caomhinmaca was strangely cold (he's usually always too hot). The mulled cider, available from one of the traders, was excellent for warming me up a couple of times through the morning! We stayed for the morning and early afternoon, until the cold and aches got too much for all of us and we headed for home around 2pm. There was lots of interest from the public, which was good, and the castle was very busy. I think day in the fresh air definitely made me sleepy, though, because I was almost falling asleep over dinner! We had a good evening sewing and watching silly films (Dirty Dancing, Strictly Ballroom and Shall We Dance)..

This morning has also been fun and relaxing - watching a Knight's Tale whilst I pinned my hem, caomhinmaca ironed the huige piece of calico I just bought and purplemermaid sewed her waistcoat. purplemermaid has now left for her journey home, and I'm about to spend the afternoon sewing and watching recorded episodes of Taggart!

I wonder how many of you did exactly the same gesture, or how many of you pictured it? The rest of you just think I'm mad now, so no change there.
Christmas has been unplanned mostly in my case so far. Got the family presents (or should be on their way) and done some others (I feel like I cheated on most of them but still so long as the reciever doesn't complain it works).
The bit which is planned has me driving down to the folks a week on Monday and coming back up the following Monday. It's going to be odd this year with Nina there too for part of it.

Posting from Nakor and Athena's house, the sprog is asleep upstairs. A couple of the old gang are up, and more tomorrow. Including desturbingly 4 offspring. Steff not making it this year which is unfortunate.
Tomorrow we have Christmas lunch. I'm apparently on Heimlich duty after Uncle Andrew tried to choke himself last time.

Today has been...as seems to happen with my free time at the moment...busy. Opticians appointment, BnQ to pick up stuff with Mr Six, lunch with people, drilling holes all over Mr Six's flat and putting up blinds and loo paper holders and then round here.

I'm missing larp already...cos I'm sad :p

Seeing as I'm somewhat unreliable with posting at the moment I shall wish all a happy Christmas
:)

I am myself
I am myself
Can no one else hear the wind
I am myself and the laughter
on the edge of sight
as I am taken
beyond myself
on the floor
your cock in my mouth
can no one else hear
the laughter so pure
I am myself
I am myself
and the laughter is the howl
of self on the wind.

Oh there's another one.
Shall I sleep with you too,
Did you lose interest?
Shame, and twenty two is
too long to wait.

I have some undefinable type,
and some undefinable blind spot,
when it comes to private and public
often ably demonstrated in bars
and my attitude to sex...

is probably best left alone.

Except, it is what I am good at,
my talent, were I to write myself down
would revolve around this
subliminal, numinal, indescribable thing
oh not to blow my trumpet and declare
I am good at this;
sport
game
communication

but I know that it is, special,
even if I cannot venerate it in those ways
deemed
normal.

And you,
are too young,
She is much more suitable an education.

But still,
not yet twenty two.

letter to a 16 year old me. ( cut for people with too much on the page )

Well as you have guessed i'm slow to post, loads of things to say, so in no particular order

We had a wonderful time at Raglan plenty of fighting and was great to catch up with all my friends who I had missed for two years. Mary was announced for her Pelican and sat her vigil. She will be elevated at Coronation in January

The couple who where sharing a house with Lena have moved out to their own house. so after two weeks of mad decorating we have had the last of my items from Kinghorn back from storage. So now we have our house ready for visitors

We had a couple over from Calontir (St Louis) for two weeks and had fun running around the country giving them a flavor of our life and history

I had my 48th birthday, hired a large house and had 28 people round for a party, hell any excuse to see ladies in corsets, its always good to get drunk on champagne

WARNING THIS POST MAY BE CONTROVERSIAL

In the Christmas 'Sharing' performance with Ludus this year the intermediate class will be performing a dance with veils. In my opinion it is a beautiful and elegant piece, but a number of the 'moves' have raised some interesting points about the way veils are used to present the self. I am certain everyone reading this is aware of how in europe there is an ongoing debate about the wearing of religious clothing by muslim women, from the headscarf to the burka, and the extent to which this should be 'acceptable' in secularized society. So I thought I'd have a little muse on the topic.

Firstly, the veil as we are using it in dance. Dance is a form of expression using the body, sound and assists; such as tap shoes, fans, other dancers, or in this case, a large piece of fabric. In dancing for an audience, there are ways of presenting the body to convey certain moods. You can dance for or with your audience. You can confront them, hide from them, flirt with them, and hypnotise them. You might show your body but conceal your face. You might smile or frown, perform in an open or closed position. However when you introduce a veil, this accentuates the aspect of revealing and concealing the body. There are parts of our proposed performance where we intentionally conceal ourselves from the audience to heighten anticipation by drawing attention to what is hidden.

Now, moving onto veils (and society) more generally, As I mentioned a little bit in a previous post on performing emotion in everyday life because of expectations (whether at work or other social situations), we are all adept at concealing or revealing certain manifestations of ourselves. To conceal something is to determine its manifest irrelevance to the current situation, while to ignore it is to accept this as socially understood. To present something is to perform an act that introduces something as relevant. As the yuletide season is upon us, consider gifts. To conceal an object that has been bought as a gift until you have time to wrap it is to determine the process of choosing and decorating a gift manifestly irrelevant to the act of gift-giving, where by manifestly irrelevant I here mean that all involved will actively pretend that the process did not happen, even though there may be some evidence that it did (We can see this most readily in children professing a belief in Santa even if there is evidence that the parents were behaving suspiciously). Wrapped presents under a christmas tree, however, will be understood as irrelevant to any other activities by family in the house until the time for the exchange of gifts is nearly upon us. The presentation of a gift will then draw attention to the process of gift giving, of wrapping and so on, on the beauty of which people may comment.
So....where am I going with this? Oh yes, instead of gifts, think of the self as the object we are discussing. Certain aspects of ourselves we present, others we conceal, a few we ignore. The rules of how this is done differ between the sexes (ideally, perhaps they shouldn't, but we are talking about the real world of empirical relations here, folks). In women's case, these rules (again in the Western world) strongly pertain to appearances, generally at minimum the appearance of having 'made an effort'. And the extent to which the individual has complied with this leads to perceived implications as regards their character and so on. In men's case these rules seem to differ, but not being a man, I don't feel I have the experience or qualifications to comment. However, I have noticed that my seminar pupils respond better if I am wearing office attire and a bit of lipstick, while most males in my experience of academia can get good responses from students even when wearing jeans and a polo shirt. Perhaps the proverbial 'strong voice, strong handshake' is more a means by which men are judged in social interaction. I can only guess.
So, to return to veils. I was struck by reading this news story earlier today http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8368242.stm
about saudi arabian women hosting a tv show in full niquab. I thought, in the west, terrible though the thought may be, a career in tv or film for women is strongly biased according to looks over talent. Then there is the accompanying cult of celebrity. Surely wearing a full body covering as these women do could only open up freedom of participation in this way, as they will not be judged on looks alone? I am not naive about this, the ladies concerned may well have got their positions through family connections, and the premise of wearing a full body covering because otherwise men simply can't be accountable for their actions is quite frankly appalling. Though as personally I do tend to have some bias towards the idea that many men are rather poorly equipped to determine their own actions I can to a degree see the sense in the suggestion. To return to the 'freedom' in concealing the details of the body though, I think there may be some argument for that, particularly as it allows for people to take longer periods of time before judging each others' worth. However, the associated religious argument is something I am not interested in, nor prepared to, discuss.

Comments and musings welcome.

.... and I'm confessing to at least one over at t'other blog

What I miss
is what I always knew I would.
I miss
looking.
But then,
I always said I would.

Nougat. That stuff you get in the pink packs or in the middle of double decker bars.
I don't know how it's made, or what it's even made from.
Yes, I know I should just wikipedia it...
But I want to believe in something.
That it comes from mines. From various sites in Europe.
I would like to think other sweet substances such as cinder toffee, fudge and kendal mint cake are mined in the same way.
You could even have lakes of liquid caramel.
Wouldn't it be lovely if our chocolate bar fillings were made like this?
And I won't accept no as an answer for that question.
Om nom nom.

Waking up too late for the live and being still flaked out.
Sleeping more until 3 and missing the phone call to wake you up to go to lunch and join in then by 20 mins.
Despite phone being beside you and having it ring 3 times.
Finally waking up at 7 pm and it's dark.
Recieving an message on facebook from a flatmate saying how unfair it was that I was leaving the kitchen in the state it was and that I had to tidy up right now.
Yes, the day after the tiresome event mid afternoon when I was still asleep and already I get a stroppy message telling me to clean up a bunch of mess that 25% of wasn't even mine.
Realising that a whole lot of bags with my stuff haven't appeared in my kitchen. I seriously need these back as they contain all sorts of things that I need pretty soon.

If theres one thing I hate more than being depressed, it's being so happy you could cry and then having that happiness destroyed into depression. All I did was a good deed to make my society happy and have a great time last night. And this feeling is how I'm rewarded. Thanks a fucking lot 'karma' or whatever.

Well, I got home late last night - around 10pm, which was actaully a little earlier than I expected, since the flight arrived 45 minutes early. Sat and opened mail etc for an hour, then had a bath and went to bed. It was so nice to be in my own bed, where the room wasn't stuffy and the heating didn't make a noise all night. Mind you I still woke up this morning with the headache I've had for the last 4 days - I think I have another sinus infection, which is causing the headaches. I'm still feeling a bit sapced out and jetlagged, but I think it was much better getting home in the evening than first thing this morning - and hopefully it will mean I get over the jetlag quicker.

I was really looking forward to making progress on my dressfor 12th Night today, but I'm still doing paperwork adn trying to catch up - just managed to get all the Christmas cards written, so that I could post the American/Australian ones which had to go this weekend. Now I have to to do accounts stuff, exchequer stuff and email.

The good thing is that this week (and next week) are only 4 day weeks at work because I have the Friday booked as holiday. The downside is that the 4 days are looking really busy!

Watch the first twenty seconds of that video. Now.

Don't ask me why, don't 'um' and 'ah', don't leave it for later, just watch the fracking thing. I am asking for a paltry 20 seconds of your life here, so stop reading this and play the video already.

*goes off into corner to freak out a little more quietly*

*but not very quietly*

--EDIT FOR CONTEXT--

Please note, I'm using a youtube link, but this video is originally from the official Solomon Kane movie site. It is official promotional material that they are using to sell their movie. Which is why I am more than a little overwhelmed by awesome.

Dear Lazyweb,

Starship A, parked on a moon, blows up due to an overloaded fusion power plant. Will starship B, which is in the process of running the frak away* and currently at a range of a few hundred, or possibly thousand, kms (exact distance remains vague), feel any sort of shock-wave? I know there'll be radiation, I've dealt with that, I just want to know whether we should be having any Star Trek stylee running from side-to-side of the set (not that there will be much, as the grav drive is sufficiently hi-tech to compensate instantly, I just need to mention whether or not it needs to).

I need answers ASAP as (eek) I have to get the copy-edit in for Monday, after which further changes will be rightly frowned upon by my editor.

Thanks!

*The explosion wasn't their fault, honest.