SNOT and SNEEZE

So I'm still fully under-siege from my cold.

It took control of me on Thursday night in the end and I spent most of yesterday asleep in my nice comfy bed at home. What a way to spend your day off, eh? I was out with my friends for the night but my face started to hurt and my headache camer back with avengence - stupid sinus epic fail.

My nose is more or less permanently blocked and it's pretty horrid. When it's not, I'm sneezing non-stop. Blah!

But hey, it is Saturday, I'm playing with my laptop in bed and have Grey's Anatomy on dvd so it's not all bad. I also discovered that the cold packs in my first aid kit come in really handy when you have a headache. Plus, my Fleepz is coming over to see me at lunchtime with Grubbs veggie cheeseburger and chips - oooooooooooooooh so naughty, but a little treat when you're ill can do you so much good.

On Snot and Latex

It would appear that I have been ambushed by a cold.

I am coughing, spluttering and full of snot. GROSS.

Despite my best efforts I have still ended up getting ill, so I am just going to carry on fighting it with vitamin c, fruit and garlic and refuse to surrender!

Anyway.

It was pancake day yesterday so we had a small gathering (consisting of myself, Jordy, Phil and Barbara) and sat about drinking tea and eating pancakes with lemon, sugar and chocolate spread – and a few peanut butter cookies too! It was most pleasant indeed.

Got to my desk this morning to discover a nice selection of Andrex goodies waiting for me: Andrex Shea Butter and some other things which haven't hit the market yet, but are unbelievably useful...watch this space :)

Today at lunchtime my colleague Luciano and I headed to Taboo to look for trousers for his TG outfit. I’d not been in there before, no idea why. It’s a very cool sex-shop where they buzz you in through the front door; the decor is bright and very tasteful, lots of dark wooden ornate shelves and such. They seem to stock a lot of good stuff, loads of toys and accessories and a fair amount of lovely, lovely clothes. I pretty much fell in love with the latex school girl outfit I found, complete with matching knee-high frilly latex socks. It was DEVINE. It was also £85 so something to save up for I think. Luciano tried on a fetching pair on pvc trousers while I browsed the shelves and admired the canes, paddles and restraints.

There were a number of older men in one of the sections, checking out the array of p0rn. It made me giggle inside. To be honest though, the shop had a really nice atmosphere despite the daunting exterior. I came out of there with a mental shopping list of all the good things I require/desire. Going to pop in there with Phil on Saturday I think :D

Luciano bought the trousers and left the shop very happy indeed. We can’t WAIT for TG, it’s going to be so much FUN!

A series of mini-adventures!

Friday more than made up for the mini misadventures of Thursday.

Firstly, I wasn’t late for work. This was a good start indeed!

Following on from that, I spent a really nice lunch break with my dear friend and colleague Luciano and nommed veggie sushi.

After work 2/3rds of my team went to the Queen’s Head pub for end of week drinks and a good old bitch about various work connected issues. It was ace. Really nice to actually be out and socialising with the girls for once; it isn’t that often that we are all free at the same time. Flo is our senior team member and is an invaluable help to us – especially me. She’s extremely patient and a very good teacher but she’s getting minor grief from two of our team members who don’t seem to accept her seniority. She’d had a rough week, so I dashed down to the Disney Store after work and got her a new glass for her desk at work – to be in keeping with mine and Bala’s comedy purchases the day before. After all, Disney is one of our clients, so why not? It wasn’t much, but sometimes a little something goes a long way and soon we were all smiles and happy chat.

A couple of hours later, Phil and his mate Ian joined us for a few, and then we adjourned to mine for some grub and pre-clubbing drinks. We’d decided to give Deviant one more shot before giving up on it altogether because in previous weeks it had just gone so far downhill.

It ended up being such a fun evening.

Phil wore his wonderful new sky high black boots and was SO tall! We piled into a taxi and went to meet my colleague Mike at the Star Sailor pub in Hove, to be joined shortly after by Luke and Rory, my two friends from my old job who I hadn’t seen for a while. We chatted away for a couple of hours and it was great. I had a really ace chat with Mike about 80’s horror, slasher movies, zombies and graphic novels. He’s such a fanboy!

By this point we were all pretty tipsy and charged off to the club in very high spirits. It rocked. It was busy, but not too crowded, lots of familier faces, old friends I hadn’t seen in ages, and decent tunes. I danced more than I had for ages! We also had a grand old time laughing at the funny little chavs who appeared to be on some sort of stag do/birdthay party and were most distraught when someone banged into them on the dancefloor during KoRn’s “Blind”, spilling their drinks. The look on their shocked little faces, it was hilarious.

All in all, a good night out. Made me very happy indeed! Got home about 3 and munched toast before falling asleep watching Family Guy.

Most excellent.

A series of mini-disasters

You know the kind of day you can have sometimes, when everything that can go wrong, does? The really annoying kind of day? No major disasters, just a string of little upsets which become more and more annoying as the number mounts up?

That’s the day I had on Thursday.

I was late for work – not by much, but then it’s never by much it just happens a lot. Bad start.

My parcels arrived – which should have been great. However, the surgical masks were the wrong colour, and the new shoes were the WRONG SIZE. Well, no, they were the right size, I ordered a 5, and got a pair in a box marked 5, with the label 5 sewn in, but they clearly are a 4. DAMNIT. As they were in the sale, we can’t send them back, so I have got to try and sell them myself now so that Phil can get me a new pair. They were a Valentines present! SUCH cute shoes too, it just isn’t fair.

It was a really busy day at work, leaving me little time to stop and think.

I forgot to buy fabric dye.

It rained, and I got soaking wet on the way home. My dreads took hours to dry. Also, I was wearing my red cat shoes which have the holes in the soles, so my feet got wet too.

I burned a batch of cookies.

See, nothing serious. Nothing which could really phase me, and nothing which, in isolation would even be a proper problems. But all combined, it meant that I was in a right old sulk by the time I got to Phil’s, damp and dishevelled, so I hid under the duvet until the world was less rubbish.

The one highlight of the day was shopping with Bala for presents for her god-kids. Toy shops are the best! We bought ridiculous drinking glasses in the sale in the Disney store; hers has Ariel on it and mine has Tinkerbell and actually manages to look quite goffick as it is black! So it wasn't all bad, I guess...

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

I just made the nommiest vegan peanut butter cookies!

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius

50g peanut butter
50g caster sugar
50g demerara sugar
100g plain flour
5 desertspoons of sunflower oil

Mix it up, put smalls balls of the mixture on a baking tray covered in grease-proof paper. Squish.

Cook for 15 mins.

LET THEM COOL!

I didn't and burnt my tongue ;)

Noms!

Only 106 cals in each one - these amounts only make 12 as I was experimenting

Becca and Nic coming over for tea later, so will have vegan goodness to feed my Lady Doom!

Boyfriends, shoes and DVDs

Jordy’s got a boyfriend, Jordy’s got a boyfriend! Hehehe.

So it would appear that Valentines weekend went well for all! Jordon and Jamie had their lunch date on Saturday and it went very well indeed. They ended up spending the WHOLE day together, right up until he had to go back to Worthing. SO cute :D He’s coming over to spend the night tonight, and Phil and I will get a proper chance to check him out – we saw him briefly on Saturday and first impressions seemed top notch. YAY! *squeeee*

Had a LOVELY Valentine’s Day in the end. We headed out into town and wandered around the sex-shops, but didn’t find anything we really wanted to part with our cash for. I think we will wait till we go up to London for that. What we’d really like is a nice paddle, the ones we found seemed to be ever so...vanilla. Flimsy and more for show than anything else! Not so good. We had a wonderful afternoon meal at The George, which honestly does the best veggie and vegan food I have ever had. We went there for our first “official” date ever, so I’m quite fond of the place!

Afterwards, we wandered home, via Blockbuster where we picked up 4 DVDs for £10 (Blair Witch 2, Halloween Uncut, The Covenant and Equilibrium). We snuggled up in bed and feasted on freshly popped popcorn, Green and Black’s chocolate, grapes and champagne. It was HEAVEN. In between movies, I surfed on eBay for goodies for TG in March; I managed to find a very cool green (full) First Aid bag for £10 and 50 green surgical masks for £8 – SO exciting! I will finally get to wear my lovely black latex nurse dress on 28^th, can’t wait! Oh, and Phil was amazing and bought me two pairs of shoes from Demonia – they were in the sale, but still, TWO pairs, am such a lucky girl :D

Yesterday was a phenomenally lazy day, where I managed to spend most of it in bed, dozing and reading V for Vendetta. Phil bought me the graphic novel for Christmas and I’m really enjoying it – very different to the film, but really good. I pretty much spent the day being slept on by cats too. Hehe, sleepy kittehs. I also cut my fringe myself (Sorry B, but you are so far away in NZ and it was getting soooo long) and it’s terribly short now, but hey, it doesn’t look too bad. I think that was the most productive thing I managed all day! Awful behaviour :P

Anyway. Tonight, Phoenix is coming round for tea (a friend of a friend who I’ve only met the once, in real life, but our cats are friends on facebook. Yes.) which should be lovely.

Work wise, I am doing the early shift which means my brain isn’t usually functioning before 10am...luckily it seems quiet enough this morning. I need to book some time off soon, I have a few days to use before the end of the month or I will lose them. Phil and I are planning to go to Cardiff and Norwich this spring, it’s just a question of organisation really!

Be My Valentine...

Happy Valentines Day to all! ♥

Our original plan to head to London for a tour of the fetish shops has been postponed by both of us feeling decidedly un-travelly and the trains being a big load of bum. Bus replacement service? No thanks. So we'll put that on hold til another weekend and have a wonderful time in Brighton instead!

I cooked a lovely veggie roast last night and we had a nice bottle of sparkling rose wine to go with it. We then snuggled up and watched V for Vendetta :D It was lovely, there was much snuggling and cuddling and such ;)

This morning meant breakfast in bed - mmmmm, porridge - cards, presents and kittehs! Ace. I gave Phil a little lion holding a rose, Green and Blacks chocolates and a handmade card - he loved them! I got an amazing card in a box it was that big! So cool and made me laugh. I'm getting a present later when we go out for a wander in the North Lanes :)

Jordy, now fully recovered from the Gay Mumps, is heading out to have a DATE with a VERY SEXY man! It's SO exciting, he hasn't been this happy on a Valentines Day for years, and he very much deserves it. The guy seems nice, I hope to meet him soon...and sending many good vibes to my dearest housemate and hoping it all goes well!

Right, that's enough for now. I hope you are all having a lovely day, wherever you may be, whoever you may be with xxxx

Friday 13th!

Good morning avid blog readers! :D

So it seems that I don't update this blog as often as I should do. I've been admonished by two good friends now, so I shall reiterate my promise to write more frequently.

Tis Friday the 13th! Yay! I love this day, it makes me happy. Oh yes, I am that Goffick ;)

Nothing overly untoward has happened today, in fact, quite the opposite. I arrived at work to find that I have a short day - leaving off at 3.30pm, lovely! I also had a nice box of new tissues waiting for me on my desk; one of the little perks of working for the makers of Kleenex is the free products they provide for us at work, and this box is GREEN with little white sheep on it - and one little black sheep on his own! Heehee, little things like that make me smile.

Off to London tomorrow for Saint Valentine's joy with Fleepz, should be most exciting! *bounce* Will tell all when I return...

Slytherin in the SNOW

As anyone who looked out their window, stepped outside, watched TV, went online or listened to the radio will know, it SNOWED in the South today!

LOADS of it!

Les films et les romans...

I have decided to overcome my issues as described in the previous post re not feeling as fluent in French as once I did but immersing myself in French film and literature.

It is all very well conversing with clients and colleagues all day, but in the evenings and at weekends as I socialise with a group where English is the common language, my French is lacking the richness of days gone by. I do have a number of books left over from my school days, but I suspect that the stories may not be so much to my liking now.

My first book to read is Le Fait Du Prince by Amelie Nothomb. My colleague Clementine has lent it to me, assuring me that it is weird but good and will leave me wanting to drink champagne all the time. Sounds promising! I think I will also start watching various of my DVDs in French, those which have the option. I know that series 3 of Grey’s Anatomy does and I haven’t watched that in ages. My Buffy DVDs are a possibility too.

I think I’ll have a peek at amazon.fr at lunch and see what lovely things lurk there for my reading pleasure....

Harry Potter Fans = Devil worshippers!

Here I am, sat up in Phil's bed typing away on my new laptop (thanks Phil!! ♥) watching episodes of Columbo and dealing with the monthly aches, pains and cramps - which I don't usually get so I am sulking a bit!

Having been admonished by my best guy, Master Halfpintjack, I have promised to update much more often ;)

New job still going well (I wonder when it stops being a "new" job?) and I'm getting much more used to using French on a daily basis. The girls I work with are really nice, most of the people in the office are friendly, if a little nervous of me. Well, I *am* the only Goffick in the whole office and a lot of them haven't a clue what to make of me and my fine eyebrows and lovely Slytherin dreads. Still have moments of feeling mute though; I got quite tearful on Friday (too many hormones and too much gin I think) and poured my heart out to Phil about it. The problem is that in English I posess a vast vocabulary and I'm witty, quick-thinking and well-spoken. In French, I am at no-where near the same level yet - my 14 year-old self was, but only for a 14 year-old girl, not a 28 year-old woman - and this stymies my ability to express myself as I would like, ultimately culminating in frustration. Even if I switch to English as I sometimes do, I can't be 100% sure that my collegues will understand as their mother tongues are Belgian French, French, Dutch, German, Italian etc.

I did however have a wonderful disagreement in a combination of English and French with one new girl about, of all things, Harry Potter. She's Belgian of African descent, and when she noticed my SLYTHERIN desktop theme at work, she launched into a diatribe about the perils of reading such stories of "sorcery". She has two kids, 8 and 10 and does not allow them to read the books or watch the films, as she doesnt want them exposed to the "dangers" - and besides, as the Church they attend has told them such horror stories about witches and demons, the children are far too scared to watch films like that anyway. Blimey.

I hardly knew what to say to start with, and then had to try very hard not to laugh at her, especially when she advised me to "pray to Jesus to keep my soul safe" if I insisted on reading books like that. I then explained how I felt about Ms Rowling's wonderful works of fiction, threw in a few other good titles for good measure and then reassured her that as a pagan, I very much beleived in the power of spells and magics and respected them, but that I was smart enough to know the difference between these children's stories and reality. Hilarious. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head, but seriously, having a go at me like that at work? Not cool.

She clearly thinks I'm a crazy Devil worshipper now, but hey. It doesn't bother me - it wouldn't be the first time someone had made that incorrect assumption about me ;) The icing on the cake was the fact that she herself has neither read any HP books or watched any of the films.

Apart from that, life is pretty good. Had a LOVELY day yesterday in Lewisham with Cassie and Sean and their gorgeous son Ryan. He's 4 months old now and totally amazing. Phil and I were completely smitten! Cassie looks the part as the Yummy Mummy! They loved the little presents we took them for him: a red Stewie from Family Guy babygro with "Little Devil" printed on it, and a black Guns N Roses ones! He's got the best taste in clothes, having a Rock chick Mum and metaller Dad clearly helps ;)

Ryan meeting his Uncle Phil and Auntie Chloe

Nice big update coming tomorrow with all the news from January :D

Update

Does this count? ;)