After ages of being annoyed that I couldn't get the background image and box sizes I wanted for the look and feel of my blog, in between Christmas TV and debauchery, I finally got a chance to sit down and interrogate the code behind the standard Blogger template, and hacked it so that my blog now looks like both my YouTube and MySpace pages.
Satisfied smile.
Such a small, but oh so significant change for me. Now this place feels more like home...
Nesting?
Moi?
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Monday, 24 December 2007
Seattle
Seattle, and the Pacific North West has very much made a deep pocket of warmth in my heart. I loved my 6 day visit, from the people, the culture, the food, the arts, and the endearingly changeable weather (which fondly reminded me of London).
When I first landed in Seattle, I went to find my pre-booked shuttle car from the airport to my hotel in downtown Queen Ann, and met this rather gorgeous, and delightfully intelligent blonde lady in her mid-40s, with whom there was an instant spark, and from the moment I helped her retrieve her lost gloves, to the moment we realised we were the only ones in the shuttle car together going to our hotels, we hit it off instantly, and chatted away like we'd been friends for years. Regardless of her being 12-15 years older than me, I found her incredibly beautiful, elegant and several kinds of hot. My gaydar pinged just slightly, which did make me wonder if she was a lovely late bloomer, but I decided to take the budding friendship for what it was, and was very pleasantly surprised when she gave me her card, and even more so since we have now exchanged a few emails. As hot as she is, I'm not setting myself up for one of my famous falls again, but will say that I'm enjoying her friendship, and delighting in her witty, quirky and sometimes refreshingly geeky sense of humour. So lovely to connect again.
On my birthday, while waiting for the Seattle Underground Tour of Pioneer Square to start, I had the pleasure of soaking up the lovely woody atmosphere of the Elliot Bay bookstore, with the comforting sound of old creaking floorboards under my feet, and high bookshelves full of books of every kind, with special hand-written notes by bookstore employees of why they thought certain books were a good read - it was definitely a nice way to while away a few hours in the warmth and presence of so many interesting words and thoughts.
The Underground Tour was wonderful - packed with Seattle's quirky history, a sense of adventure, interesting details on the founders' relationship with Chief Seattle and the Native Americans, and a healthy dose of humorous and sobering tales of the forthright and lively relations between the business men and women and the town planners of the 1800s between then and now. Definitely something I would recommend, and once I have processed the photos, I will definitely share them with you.
I also got to visit Capitol Hill, which was excellent. I dropped into some quirky shops and independent book stores, and also an interesting little Indian jewellery store, where I bought an unusual blue and red Tibetan pendant, from it's very intelligent and worldly owner, with whom I had an interesting conversation about travelling and property developing around the world.
I also got to drop into the wonderful Bailey Coy bookstore, which has a lovely treasure trove of lesbian and gay books, stationary and artwork. I happily browsed around for an hour, and then went up to the sales counter to ask the rather cute woman with dark blonde hair and glasses if she stocked Paige Braddock's "Jane's World". I got a very throaty and darned right sexy "Hello...!" from her, and some very good chemistry going on as we chatted. All the while I was thinking, "Damn, she's cute...a shame I can't take her back home with me...". I even got a wink and some good wishes for the rest of my stay in Seattle.
Sigh.
I don't think I've ever got such a cute and sexy welcome in a long, long time - pity I was only on a flying visit - but remembering her will always give me the warm sexy fuzzies... ;0)
The following day was spent exploring the wonders of Freemont - visiting its quirky and inspiring independent art shops and frame galleries, and also the Freemont Troll, and the sign that declares Freemont 'The Centre of the Universe'. ;0) I was also very fortunate to sample a wonderful Thai restaurant called 'Jai Thai', where I must say I had the most authentic Thai food I've ever tasted since being treated to a 3 course meal at the house of a Thai friend over 12 years ago now. The people at Jai Thai really do prepare their food with the best quality ingredients, and at an amazingly reasonable price too.
That evening, I walked up to Greenwood to spend a few hours with my two favourite authors, Kelley Eskridge (a writer of speculative and sci-fi fiction, who is also a screen writer), and Nicola Griffiths (a crime thriller and and sci-fi writer too). It was really a lovely evening, spent sampling real ale, some excellent white wine and good pub food, as well as sharing stories about growing up in unusual environments, the delights of cooking using fresh organic ingredients, and some quirky stories about dealing matter of factly with illness (Nicola copes quite admirably with MS), as well as joys of travelling too.
I enjoyed the evening so much, that I happily decided to forgo doing the geeky fan thing, and didn't get them to sign books or dissect their books in detail, which I think made for a much more relaxed time all round, where we all felt like we could be ourselves - and I am sure was a nice break from all the interviews and promotional tours they have been doing. At the end of the evening, Nicola was lovely and paid for my meal (as their birthday treat to me), and Kelley drove me back to my hotel (as by this time, it was raining quite heavily, and I had a particularly sore knee from all the walking I had been doing). They also offered to show me around the islands of Puget Sound whenever I next visit, which was really lovely of them. All-in-all it was a really nice experience.
The rest of the trip was spent doing the wonderful Savor Seattle food tour, where I got a quirky personalised tour (as this was the first time they had had only one customer show up in the tours history - they did, however, have a fully booked afternoon tour that same day), so I got to forgo all the formalities once again, and as well as listen to some gossip from various vendors around Pike Place market, got to sample some fantastic food, wine and deserts, as well as buy some very good quality fresh coffee, tea, cheese and chocolate gifts for the folks back home.
After a wonderful day at the Seattle Art Museum, I also got see The Golden Compass (which was good, though sadly not as wonderful as it could have been - I have a feeling the directing and screenplay let down the actors and the story, which was a little disappointing). The Seattle Symphony, however, was wonderful, and listening to Handel's Messiah with Christian Knapp (conductor), and Celena Shafer (soprano), was definitely a treat I would like to experience again.
My final day was spent visiting the Key Arena (whose name always reminds me of my completely unrelated, but much loved Bogie and Bacall film, 'Key Largo'), and the various attractions around the Space Needle, with the Experience Music Project, Pacific Science Center, and Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame being some nice places to visit.
---And you know, even after all of that, and how much I really loved my whole trip, I still don't feel I have gotten to see the full beauty of Seattle, and of course Oregon, and Vancouver. I really do think this calls for another trip in the summer if I can save up for it - I would love to spend a few days just strolling along the coastline, and experiencing the forests and lakes of Oregon, with a stop-off in Vancouver for a bit of exploring, and then back down to Seattle to explore the islands around Puget Sound, and finally track down 'Twice Sold Tales' (that bookstore with the resident cats - it used to be in the Queen Anne neighbourhood, but unfortunately moved to the University district, which I ran out of time to explore).
When I first landed in Seattle, I went to find my pre-booked shuttle car from the airport to my hotel in downtown Queen Ann, and met this rather gorgeous, and delightfully intelligent blonde lady in her mid-40s, with whom there was an instant spark, and from the moment I helped her retrieve her lost gloves, to the moment we realised we were the only ones in the shuttle car together going to our hotels, we hit it off instantly, and chatted away like we'd been friends for years. Regardless of her being 12-15 years older than me, I found her incredibly beautiful, elegant and several kinds of hot. My gaydar pinged just slightly, which did make me wonder if she was a lovely late bloomer, but I decided to take the budding friendship for what it was, and was very pleasantly surprised when she gave me her card, and even more so since we have now exchanged a few emails. As hot as she is, I'm not setting myself up for one of my famous falls again, but will say that I'm enjoying her friendship, and delighting in her witty, quirky and sometimes refreshingly geeky sense of humour. So lovely to connect again.
On my birthday, while waiting for the Seattle Underground Tour of Pioneer Square to start, I had the pleasure of soaking up the lovely woody atmosphere of the Elliot Bay bookstore, with the comforting sound of old creaking floorboards under my feet, and high bookshelves full of books of every kind, with special hand-written notes by bookstore employees of why they thought certain books were a good read - it was definitely a nice way to while away a few hours in the warmth and presence of so many interesting words and thoughts.
The Underground Tour was wonderful - packed with Seattle's quirky history, a sense of adventure, interesting details on the founders' relationship with Chief Seattle and the Native Americans, and a healthy dose of humorous and sobering tales of the forthright and lively relations between the business men and women and the town planners of the 1800s between then and now. Definitely something I would recommend, and once I have processed the photos, I will definitely share them with you.
I also got to visit Capitol Hill, which was excellent. I dropped into some quirky shops and independent book stores, and also an interesting little Indian jewellery store, where I bought an unusual blue and red Tibetan pendant, from it's very intelligent and worldly owner, with whom I had an interesting conversation about travelling and property developing around the world.
I also got to drop into the wonderful Bailey Coy bookstore, which has a lovely treasure trove of lesbian and gay books, stationary and artwork. I happily browsed around for an hour, and then went up to the sales counter to ask the rather cute woman with dark blonde hair and glasses if she stocked Paige Braddock's "Jane's World". I got a very throaty and darned right sexy "Hello...!" from her, and some very good chemistry going on as we chatted. All the while I was thinking, "Damn, she's cute...a shame I can't take her back home with me...". I even got a wink and some good wishes for the rest of my stay in Seattle.
Sigh.
I don't think I've ever got such a cute and sexy welcome in a long, long time - pity I was only on a flying visit - but remembering her will always give me the warm sexy fuzzies... ;0)
The following day was spent exploring the wonders of Freemont - visiting its quirky and inspiring independent art shops and frame galleries, and also the Freemont Troll, and the sign that declares Freemont 'The Centre of the Universe'. ;0) I was also very fortunate to sample a wonderful Thai restaurant called 'Jai Thai', where I must say I had the most authentic Thai food I've ever tasted since being treated to a 3 course meal at the house of a Thai friend over 12 years ago now. The people at Jai Thai really do prepare their food with the best quality ingredients, and at an amazingly reasonable price too.
That evening, I walked up to Greenwood to spend a few hours with my two favourite authors, Kelley Eskridge (a writer of speculative and sci-fi fiction, who is also a screen writer), and Nicola Griffiths (a crime thriller and and sci-fi writer too). It was really a lovely evening, spent sampling real ale, some excellent white wine and good pub food, as well as sharing stories about growing up in unusual environments, the delights of cooking using fresh organic ingredients, and some quirky stories about dealing matter of factly with illness (Nicola copes quite admirably with MS), as well as joys of travelling too.
I enjoyed the evening so much, that I happily decided to forgo doing the geeky fan thing, and didn't get them to sign books or dissect their books in detail, which I think made for a much more relaxed time all round, where we all felt like we could be ourselves - and I am sure was a nice break from all the interviews and promotional tours they have been doing. At the end of the evening, Nicola was lovely and paid for my meal (as their birthday treat to me), and Kelley drove me back to my hotel (as by this time, it was raining quite heavily, and I had a particularly sore knee from all the walking I had been doing). They also offered to show me around the islands of Puget Sound whenever I next visit, which was really lovely of them. All-in-all it was a really nice experience.
The rest of the trip was spent doing the wonderful Savor Seattle food tour, where I got a quirky personalised tour (as this was the first time they had had only one customer show up in the tours history - they did, however, have a fully booked afternoon tour that same day), so I got to forgo all the formalities once again, and as well as listen to some gossip from various vendors around Pike Place market, got to sample some fantastic food, wine and deserts, as well as buy some very good quality fresh coffee, tea, cheese and chocolate gifts for the folks back home.
After a wonderful day at the Seattle Art Museum, I also got see The Golden Compass (which was good, though sadly not as wonderful as it could have been - I have a feeling the directing and screenplay let down the actors and the story, which was a little disappointing). The Seattle Symphony, however, was wonderful, and listening to Handel's Messiah with Christian Knapp (conductor), and Celena Shafer (soprano), was definitely a treat I would like to experience again.
My final day was spent visiting the Key Arena (whose name always reminds me of my completely unrelated, but much loved Bogie and Bacall film, 'Key Largo'), and the various attractions around the Space Needle, with the Experience Music Project, Pacific Science Center, and Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame being some nice places to visit.
---And you know, even after all of that, and how much I really loved my whole trip, I still don't feel I have gotten to see the full beauty of Seattle, and of course Oregon, and Vancouver. I really do think this calls for another trip in the summer if I can save up for it - I would love to spend a few days just strolling along the coastline, and experiencing the forests and lakes of Oregon, with a stop-off in Vancouver for a bit of exploring, and then back down to Seattle to explore the islands around Puget Sound, and finally track down 'Twice Sold Tales' (that bookstore with the resident cats - it used to be in the Queen Anne neighbourhood, but unfortunately moved to the University district, which I ran out of time to explore).
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Where have I been...?!?
Thanks US for your comment, and for asking for where all of my more regular snippets have gone. I really wish I could write my blog via ESP - it would be so much easier!
Part of the reason I have not updated in such a long while, is that I have been madly busy with work etc., and then, of course, my guilty, but indulgently fabulous trip to Seattle (of which I will say more over the next few days).
There is also the vanity factor - the ultimate blogger dilemma, where one wonders if after having so few comments on the blog in general, if one's writing really is too boring for people to read, and if one should just give up writing for a while until that burning need to spill things down in written form rises up again.
Sigh. I know. Pure vanity - but one really does need one's ego stroked every once in a while - so thank-you US for doing just that. I actually do have quite a lot to share that has been going on in the world around me, and to me, so will try and post a bit more this holiday season.
P.S...I have now re-published some of my older writing in the archives for 2007 - taken down in a fit of peak, when I was paranoid about being found by one of my real-life friends. At the moment though, I don't think that's gonna happen - so my dirty laundry is now aired once more...
In the meanwhile, here is one of my fave Youtube moments:
Part of the reason I have not updated in such a long while, is that I have been madly busy with work etc., and then, of course, my guilty, but indulgently fabulous trip to Seattle (of which I will say more over the next few days).
There is also the vanity factor - the ultimate blogger dilemma, where one wonders if after having so few comments on the blog in general, if one's writing really is too boring for people to read, and if one should just give up writing for a while until that burning need to spill things down in written form rises up again.
Sigh. I know. Pure vanity - but one really does need one's ego stroked every once in a while - so thank-you US for doing just that. I actually do have quite a lot to share that has been going on in the world around me, and to me, so will try and post a bit more this holiday season.
P.S...I have now re-published some of my older writing in the archives for 2007 - taken down in a fit of peak, when I was paranoid about being found by one of my real-life friends. At the moment though, I don't think that's gonna happen - so my dirty laundry is now aired once more...
In the meanwhile, here is one of my fave Youtube moments:
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Thursday, 1 November 2007
I've been bad...
...I've been very, very bad...
I got my season ticket loan for buying my travel card in my pay packet yesterday, and after first trying to buy the ticket online, and the website refusing to let me complete the transaction, I was very tempted to spend half of the money on a birthday trip to Seattle instead...
I thought about it all day, thought about how restless I've been of late, of how I could earn back the money by selling stuff and doing other things in the meanwhile... How I'd promised myself that I'd go this year, and how disappointed I'd be with me if I just slacked off and didn't make the effort to... How a *very* weird set of coincidences has seemed to be pointing me in the direction of Seattle for the past 6 months...
By the time it got to 9.30pm last night, I'd wound myself in guilty knots, and then thought "**m if you don't do it before 10pm, you're never going to do it...! The only person stopping you is you... go for it! You need to do this.".
So I did - in a scarily short amount of time, I put together a cheap BA flight and cheap accommodation, and booked it all...
I can't believe it.
I'm actually going.
I feel incredibly guilty for using half of the loan money - but know I can make it up if I live like a nun for the next month and a bit - which really isn't that hard if I focus my energies on not going out and eating bland but nourishing food, as well as a few money-making schemes I've had in mind to start anyway.
I'm scared, but excited. Somethings been pushing me to go to Seattle for some years now. I'm not sure what, but I look forward to finding out...
I got my season ticket loan for buying my travel card in my pay packet yesterday, and after first trying to buy the ticket online, and the website refusing to let me complete the transaction, I was very tempted to spend half of the money on a birthday trip to Seattle instead...
I thought about it all day, thought about how restless I've been of late, of how I could earn back the money by selling stuff and doing other things in the meanwhile... How I'd promised myself that I'd go this year, and how disappointed I'd be with me if I just slacked off and didn't make the effort to... How a *very* weird set of coincidences has seemed to be pointing me in the direction of Seattle for the past 6 months...
By the time it got to 9.30pm last night, I'd wound myself in guilty knots, and then thought "**m if you don't do it before 10pm, you're never going to do it...! The only person stopping you is you... go for it! You need to do this.".
So I did - in a scarily short amount of time, I put together a cheap BA flight and cheap accommodation, and booked it all...
I can't believe it.
I'm actually going.
I feel incredibly guilty for using half of the loan money - but know I can make it up if I live like a nun for the next month and a bit - which really isn't that hard if I focus my energies on not going out and eating bland but nourishing food, as well as a few money-making schemes I've had in mind to start anyway.
I'm scared, but excited. Somethings been pushing me to go to Seattle for some years now. I'm not sure what, but I look forward to finding out...
Sunday, 28 October 2007
First Lesbian memory?
I was pondering the other day how so many people differ when it comes to their first childhood memories. Some people can't remember anything before 6 years old, and the odd strange person (like myself) can remember sitting up in their cot and plotting an escape route (to the absolute fright of my poor mother when I magically appeared downstairs a few mins later when she had no idea I could walk at the time).
Anyway, I digress, upon wondering about the above (you can see how my brain is full of useless junk) I was thinking back the other day, to when I had my very first 'Lesbian' thought.
For me it was actually my very first sexual thought/dream, so to speak, and I only remember it as it about knocked me sideways: One day when I was 13, I was innocently doing the whole going to school, going home and doing my homework thing as I'd always done, and then bam(!) that night I had this incredibly hot dream that my very cute school librarian (female) and I were snogging each other's faces off. While rather a nice dream, I had never even thought about anything sexual before that moment - certainly gave me pause for thought I can tell you!
It all seems so obvious now...
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