Scribbled By Candlelight

For she's a jolly good fellow...

2008-03-04T20:54:33Z

Happy birthday, temve!

I'm keeping my promise to spoil you with a good dinner on Saturday! Assuming of course that we actually leave the cinema while we're there :D

*sends tidal porn waves and love*

Late night meme-age

2008-01-08T01:32:18Z

Happy new year, guys!

I'm about to head to bed but while my mp3 player updates, here's a meme:

The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really,
we know nothing about each other. So I want you to ask me something you
think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you
have no idea about. Ask away.

Sweet dreams!

P.S. Freya is now a holy terror on four oversized fluffy paws. She likes to play Tarzan on people's ankles when they get dressed. So far, mine are her favourite.

Busy season!

2007-12-29T17:03:32Z

Having been without internet for a bit, a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to motetus and meletor_et_al! *sends ninjas in party hats to be your willing slaves for the day - you know, fetching cake, killing annoying relatives, that sort of thing*

Plus an on time HAPPY BIRTHDAY to mercurialmind. I'd send you ninjas, but you apparently have more gorgeous imaginary men hanging round you than you need already. Hope you're having a great day!

*throws streamers in the direction of the U.S*

phurie_dae @ 2007-12-23T23:47:00

2007-12-24T00:27:34Z

I had a wonderful birthday - thanks to everyone who sent their wishes (and porn. And art. Seriously, you guys rock and I love you).

I had a yummy birthday dinner with the most decadent brie and cranberry sauce starter and chocolate-chunk-and-clotted-cream berry pie for dessert. Sparks gleefully kidnapped the Christmas helium balloons and entertained us with his best squeaky Irish accent on the way home. My parents bought me a new digital camera (something I've wanted for absolutely AGES) and Sparks bought me season one House. My haul also includes chocolate, funky zebra socks, two awesome Batman Begins fics, one painting of a sexy half naked Puck and one of some adorable ninja kittens :D.

There was one extra surprise waiting for me when we got back from dinner. Not a total surprise, mind you - we've known we were getting one of these for a couple of months now but as far as I knew, it wasn't happening until next week. However, Sparks and my parents conspired to surprise me by moving up the delivery date to yesterday.

Ladies and, er, ladies? *grins* I'd like you to meet Freya.

Rrraar! I bite!

Not a morning kitty.

Tasty thumb!

Feisty baby, grrr.

I sleep now.

It's now officially Christmas Eve here, so Merry Christmas , Happy Holidays, and every variation thereof. Have a wonderful few days, guys. I'll check in soon.

Probably with about a hundred more kitty pics ;).

Oh crap, it's Christmas?

2007-12-20T12:46:58Z

I hab a cold.

That's what I get for working in a little office. We're all harbingers of disease this week :). At least I still have my voice, unlike one guy, and I don't have a hangover, unlike absolutely everyone else. Christmas night out was last night, and drinks were on the company credit card, soooo...Well, only three of us (out of eleven) have made it into work before noon. We're still waiting on the others to appear. I'm guessing it was a good night. I was an old lady and went home before midnight, since a combination of alcohol and stuffed sinuses made me extremely sleepy.

I am SO not ready for Christmas. I still have a few presents to get, and in any case I find it very hard to be ready for Christmas without also being ready for my birthday first, and I'm still in denial over that being on Saturday. That's the day after tomorrow. Crap. It's also the last day I can possibly get presents, so I'll have to be up early tomorrow to finish up the last bits and pieces.

The bastard is now out on bail, under curfew, which I'm hoping he's stupid enough to break. He has to be inside between the hours of six PM and six AM which, considering it gets dark at four o' clock in the afternoon and light at eight in the morning, is not exactly comforting. I'm taking the bus or getting a ride home when it's dark - but it's FAR too cold to walk in any case! The grit is freezing over. I'm thinking of investing in a pair of ice skates to get to work.

Now I shall go and buy a hot lunch and answer the three week old comments to my last post!

happy dance

2007-09-25T22:26:41Z

I am employed.

Specifically, I am employed by Hunted Cow Studios which is a games developer located in - wait for it - Elgin. For those of you not in the know, Elgin is my home town (or as much of a home town as a RAF brat can claim) and where I am currently residing with my parents.

Basically, some sneaky goblin granted the wish I didn't even know I'd made and set up a games studio in a teeny middle-of-Scotland's-nowhere "city". Who weren't even officially hiring but called me up roughly twelve hours after I emailed them my CV and portfolio, interviewed me three days later and hired me on the spot (after, before the spot - they'd already ordered a desk and chair for me before I got there).

My job involves painting many, many pretties in all shapes and sizes (from web graphics and wallpapers to teeeeeny icons for spells and effects) for this game, and eventually helping to write quests and do the odd spot of 3D model work (which since the game is low poly, I can actually do without royally sucking). I started Monday and spent most of the day playing the game itself to get familiar with it (but I really only heard "play the game for money") and today I was working on a new background for the official website. I'm still getting back into the swing of sitting at a computer for such a long stretch without getting to move around much, but I already LOVE the job. The studio is small, only eight people besides myself, and so far I'm the only girl. It's quiet, but everyone is really helpful and friendly and did not mind when I got thoroughly confused by a combination of Windows Vista and the games editor. Plus, I can run Trillian and play my music and did I mention that I'm getting paid to paint pretty things?

As motetus helpfully pointed out, now I need to get a flat of my own. Which I cannot wait to do, but since I don't have to up and leave right away I'm going to stay here for a bit and squirrel away my wages into a savings account so I can rent and fully furnish somewhere nice. Commissions in the evenings/weekends, personal paintings once those are done, and some general happiness and enjoying of life for a while. Yes. That sounds like a good plan.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hound a few communities until the new House and Heroes seasons appear!

Hey people

2007-09-12T17:30:28Z

So what have I been doing?

1) I went to Cyprus. Yes, I know I said it was going to be Greece. I THOUGHT it was going to be Greece. Let's just say that my parents are prone to changing their minds at the last minute and the flow of communication in this house is seriously flawed.

2) I got organised. I rewrote my CV and created a few totally new versions. I updated all my galleries with new work and personal details, created a new gallery at Epilogue (I actually got in! Whee!) and created a CGJobs profile. I also registered a new domain name, and will be launching an official website as soon as I can design one.

3) I learned how to type, surf the net, and paint with a kitty sprawled across my lap.

4) I hit the classifieds. I applied for a junior concept artist position down in Cambridge and one in Canada. I'm about to cold call a company in Bristol who are hiring, but for what they haven't specified. There's also an internship with EA in Germany that I'm considering, but I don't know if it's paid or not. I also looked for something short term around Elgin for some quick money. I did find a job, but after three days I discovered that the manager treats her staff like absolute shit. Now I think I'll be going to work with my mum, as the pre-school she's at is seriously understaffed and I've worked with kids before.

5) I got back to painting! whitemunin, look out for my email tonight or tomorrow :D.

Now, who wants to see holiday pictures?

Aphrodite's rock. Or rocks, rather, because I think all of them fall under the same heading. There's one more a bit further out that you're supposed to swim roung twenty times, and it will make you twenty years younger. Sparks was less than impressed when I tried to convince him to try it.

The big rock by the beach? Sparks and I climbed right to the top. Most spectacular view ever. Unfortunately, the sun was in my mum's eyes so we don't have a single decent shot of the two of us waving from the top.

Sexy!

Sparks with his first cocktail. Bizarrely, his face is not red at all whereas underneath his T-shirt, his chest is violently sunburned. This is what happened when silly redheaded teenagers think they're going to try and go home looking like bronzed gods. Fortunately, it gave me the upper hand whenever he started being annoying. I threatened to switch his aftersun lotion with salt water while he slept and he was never sure if I was kidding.

The harbour at Paphos. Beautiful, but SO hot.

Aaah! It's hideous!

We went on a glass-bottomed boat trip around the island, then stopped for an hour here to go snorkelling. The snorkelling was awesome - the fish were EVERYWHERE. The boat trip was not so hot. Guess who apparently gets seasick?!

We went out for dinner every night. My mum took pictures of us just about every night too, yet failed to get a shot of my dad where he was not flipping her off. It's his life's mission to stick his middle finger up in every single photograph of himself.

This guy actually got up and walked around like this! They got about ten more glasses on before they finally fell off and shattered, and he was moving about after every new glass. I even put one on myself - no trick to it that I could see.

There are stray cats everywhere in Cyprus. There were five or six regulars that hung around our hotel. The hotel staff fed them once a day, but we also bought cat food at the local supermarket and fed them at night. They were incredibly friendly. I fell in love with a few of them, including a tiny kitten that kept hiding next to my legs until I picked it up and let it sleep in my lap. It broke my heart to leave them behind, but you can't bring stray animals back to the UK.

Our last night we had a meze (lots and lots of traditional dishes. Tiny helpings, but soooo many of them!) and the restaurant we went to had live music and very lively staff. Sparks and I got kidnapped by a few of them, along with a number of others, to go dancing in a chain around the restaurant, into another bar (kidnapping more people as we went), then to stand in a big circle and do what I can only assume is the Cypriot version of the hokey-kokey around a flaming cloth. I am deadly serious!

(One of the bar staff was verrrry sexy, so I wasn't too put out)

Other than all this? We went to a lot of beaches, did a lot of swimming. There was much lounging by the pool. We also took a brief trip to the RAF base at Akrotiri, where they had the best beaches and the Naafi (military supermarket where they sell tax free goodies). It wasn't very eventful overall, but it was enjoyable. Naturally, I came back with stunningly tanned feet and patches of sunburn just about everywhere else, despite large quantities of factor 50. Pale freaks like me just don't stand a chance.

Blah

2007-07-04T23:31:28Z

I want to finish my coursework, but I also want to quit.

I want to finish my commissions but I can't take the time away from coursework.

I want to paint something, ANYTHING else, but I feel guilty about not working on commissions.

I love my family, but I also want to smack them and then run away. Anyone in the UK need a cook? A gardener?

(Disclaimer: phurie_dae cannot cook or garden.)

I want to move out and have my own place to live, but I don't have money coming into my bank.

I want money coming into my bank, but I don't have time to get a job yet.

...

Basically, I just want the world to stop and let me breathe for five seconds.

*curls up with Voyager reruns and hot chocolate*

(P.S. Major hugs to mercurialmind, shrieking_ell and meletor_et_al for distracting me with shinies and keeping me sane. I love you all)

The Buffy Factor

2007-06-23T01:26:18Z

Ah, Supernatural. It was touch and go there for a while, but you redeemed yourself in the final episode. And now I love you again, Winchesters.

I like background noise when I'm painting and, having exhausted everything else, I started tearing through Supernatural. I finished two seasons in something like a week. Around the middle of season 2 I felt my interest slipping away. It was annoying. I WANTED to enjoy the show. It was much more addictive than I expected (the secret to getting me hooked is to have utterly lovable characters. Especially ones that look good when slippery and wet from the shower).

Then it had to go and get sick with Joss Whedon disease.

Disclaimer: I adore Joss Whedon. He is a genius (an EVIL genius, but a genius nonetheless) and he makes great shows. But I lost my taste for Buffy somewhere around season 6, and the first time I saw Serenity it left a bad taste in my mouth, because the man's idea of upping his game is to inject more and more Doom, Death, and Despair into his shows. Angel just plain crashed and burned at season 4 because I think it was trying to keep up with Buffy, and got way too heavy too soon. And so it looked like Supernatural was going in that same direction although, as I said, it redeemed itself with a really good season finale.

It's mainly the supernatural fantasy type shows, although I see it here and there in other genres too. New shows feel like they have to one-up everything that has gone before and so before you've even finished the first season, the bloody world is ending and our heroes are crying over each other's graves. And I'm sitting there thinking, "Waiter, this is NOT the fun, ass-kicking escapism that I ordered." I want to laugh, gloat and be happy while demons get their butts whipped. I want to unwind and feel cheered and uplifted. I don't want to feel so depressed it's like my soul has just been sucked out through my ribcage.

(And yes, enduring the fictional apolcalypse and watching much loved characters fall to pieces IS stressful and draining. Yes. It is. Shut up).

And you know, watching the end of Supernatural has helped me put my finger on where everything seems to be going wrong. See, once upon a time, when a Bigger Bad Than Before came to town, our heroes became bigger and badder too. They learned new skills. They found new weapons. They dredged up new information and twisted the bad guy's plan right around on him (and that, right there, is my favourite part of any battle for the world - the LOOK on the bad guy's face just as the heroes rise from near death and turn the tables on him). Every time something worse came along, our guys just got that little bit cooler.

Now the trend seems to be that in order to beat the bad guy, our heroes have to sacrifice something bigger. Their morality, their family, their friends, their souls, their lives, somebody else's life...By the time they're done sacrificing stuff in order to screw over the baddies, everybody is so depressed it almost wasn't worth it (this is usually where we get all the angst over the cost of being a hero. Anybody remember when being a hero was FUN?). You kind of wish the bad guys had won. I mean, at least THEY usually have a sense of humour.

Hell, much as I love the latest James Bond movie, even that wasn't immune.

So I'm going to cross my fingers for Supernatural, and pray to high heaven that the damn writers don't burn the poor Winchester boys out. There is PLENTY of angst to go around already. They don't need any more death and despair. Just bigger guns.

I'm serious. If they apocalypse this show to death before I get to see more of half-naked Dean, I am going to be pissed.

Okay, so...

2007-06-17T23:39:40Z

My poor mum is horribly sick. She came home from work a few days ago, shaking with chills and vomiting. A few hours later, she was sweating buckets. Then she was back to a normal temperature, then the cycle started up again. All the while her face from her throat to her ears were on fire, and she had a rancid taste in her mouth that wasn't caused by throwing up. We spent two days dosing her up with painkillers, then finally I caved and called up the NHS helpline, spoke to a lovely, helpful and concerned nurse and a dismissive, bored, unpleasant doctor. I took the advice of the former (get her seen by a doctor right away), ignored the latter (dismissed half her symptoms and wanted me to let her suffer for a few more days), booked her an appointment with the out of hours doc at the local hospital and took her in. The doctor there took one look at her and gave her a course of antibiotics. Her throat was badly infected.

We got her home and since then we've been running constant watch keeping her warm, cooling her down, giving her painkillers and the antibiotics every few hours, keeping her fluid levels up and making her eat so she can take the medicine. She can hardly lift her head, so one of us has to feed her or make sure we bring her something she can just pick up, and she can hardly swallow so we have to make sure all her food is liquid or chopped up very small - even mushy stuff like bananas have to be cut up small for her.

If we're not in the room and she needs us, we just get a text saying "Nurse!"

I'm absolutely shattered, but given that I called the NHS half convinced she had meningitis or something, I'm rather relieved. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in tomorrow. Until then, I know I owe emails and comments, but I am going to SLEEEEEEP so I can take her to her nurse's appointment tomorrow (she made it months ago - excellent timing. And when I say "take", I mean "sit beside her in the taxi", because I'm not insured for fishing the car out after I accidently drive it into the river).

Tuna brain

2007-06-16T00:30:10Z

Me: *type type type*
*Loud thud* (Cleo jumping from kitchen windowsill)
Me: *type type type*
*Thunder thunder thunder thunder thunder thunder* (racing paws coming upstairs)
Door: *flies open*
Cleo: THUNDERCATS! HO! *rockets across room and takes a FLYING LEAP onto my windowsill*

Or rather, into the curtains.

Curtains which happen to be rather flimsy and slippery and not at all suitable for catching a flying cat, but which are excellent for sending said cat skidding straight into the window and then back off into a complicated twisted aerial maneuver (complete with ominous ripping sounds), during which she manages flip around and claw her way between the muslin onto the actual sill. Where she stays for all of two seconds, because the humilation of her little incident was apparently too much.

Do you know how much lap time and chin scratching I had to provide before she recovered from that?

(Not to mention how sharp a nipping my fingers got from having the audacity to close the curtains in the first place.)

Photos (on time too - amazing!)

2007-06-13T19:54:48Z

I need to add a new camera to my huge list of Things I Need (but since item one is a place of my own, I'm not holding my breath). I dug it out, realised the batteries were dead, so plugged them into the recharger. The next morning, I managed to take precisely two photos before it died again, which either means the camera is broken or I've finally worn out the rechargable batteries.

(I can see you coming up with the dirty remarks. Yes, yes I can. Stop it. Yes, I DO mean you.)

So here are two rushed shots - one blurry, because I can't hold a camera straight to save my life.

Some friends of the family are having their daughter christened this weekend, so we sneakily collected some photos of her and I did a small black and white painting of her for a gift. It turned out remarkably well, and only took me a day (working from photos is so much faster than from imagination), but now the requests are pouring in, and apparently I need to revise my fees. My mum thinks I could charge a hundred pounds per portrait. I'm still boggling at that. I'm also getting a few commission requests from people who have seen my work online. I need to finish my coursework sharpish, I think. I already have a project for whitemunin as my top priority, but if I work out some set fees and hours per project (I've never kept track), I might be able to start scheduling some more work.

I'm dying to have a regular income again (preferably a larger one than I had as a student). I feel much too old to still be so dependent on my parents.

pokes reflection

2007-06-12T17:35:09Z

My hair is blonde.

I will take pictures tomorrow, when I've styled it myself and it's actually my hair instead of this strange, sleek, shiny thing that the hairdresser gave me.

I keep leaning sideways out of my chair so I can see my reflection and give it funny looks. I haven't been properly blonde since I grew out of knee high socks, ribbons and pigtails.

*cue lots of fluffing, shaking, and headbanging*

Yes, meletor_et_al, now I DO have an excuse for my ditziness! :P

Ten Rules For A Quiet Life

2007-06-05T12:35:33Z

Home is good. I have my things put away, I have a BIG, SQUISHY leather chair and am no longer stealing my mum's hairdryer, cotton balls and hair serum every morning (her nail polish collection is still fair game though. But that's ok, because so is mine). However, while the old rules of my teenage years are gone (I am in fact being encouraged to bring guys home now. I suspect I'm going to be fixed up with a cute pilot for the Summer Ball whether I like it or not), there are a few new ones that I need to learn.

1) Do not question why she buys all these lovely cans for holding coffee and sugar if she insists on buying packs of the stuff that are at least twice the volume of the cans.

2) When scolded for putting the wrong colour towels in the bathroom, do not point out that all the towels are merely varying shades of the exact same turquoise.

3) The towels are NOT just varying shades of the exact same turquoise. One set is apparently mint green.

(It really isn't)

4) Swordfighting in the upstairs hall is not permitted.

5) It still counts if we're using wooden staves and metal poles.

6) Acting out Monty Python's Black Knight routine DOES get old.

7) Do not make fun of the decaffeinated espresso.

(Seriously, what IS the point?)

8) Don't shut the cat outside. Ever. Even if it's only for ten minutes. It's just not worth the grief.

9) She who lets the cat get onto the roof must get the cat down. This also applies to the attic.

10) When she says "I really shouldn't buy this," that is my cue to agree with her and save her money. Not the other way around.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my brother has stolen my PS2 memory card. Since we aren't allowed to duel out our differences anymore, I'm going to go hide his phone, his sword, and his desk chair.

Kind of an edit: And a day later, I finally manage to post this. Now I just need posting comments to work and I can stop cursing LJ to the depths of hell!

This is bad

2007-05-26T16:50:51Z

My dad and I just got back from Dundee. My room there is now empty, and my room HERE is overflowing.

I have a second bookcase. I do not have ROOM for a second bookcase. And if I move to the second bedroom, where there is more wall and floor space, I will not have the fitted wardrobe. Looking around, I...I really think I need the fitted wardrobe.

There is a small possibility that I have too many clothes.

My room here also now holds three printers - mine, my mum's, and one other - I have no idea who that belongs to. And half my mum's coursework, fabric collection, and assorted crap, because obviously I haven't been around as I was before to police my borders and keep my room a Mum's Clutter Free Zone. I swear, she has never thrown anything out in her life. There's a little red tent for the cat in here. Why is the cat's tent in here? (Why do we even HAVE a tent for the cat? She turns her back on anything cat toy related. Why would she play with a little red tent when she can have a cardboard box, or chase a catnip mouse when Louisa's tablet pen is SO much more fun to bat around?)

Ok. I can get this all to fit. I can.

I may have to knock down one of my walls, but I WILL make it fit!

(The law of "Because I say so!" trumps the laws of physics, right?)

Gleeee

2007-04-26T19:27:33Z

Okay, so I walked into work this morning and was greeted with a Wall of Deliveries (no, literally. As tall as I am!). About ten huge ones in all, which turned out to be filled with more new stock than I could put out if I had twice as many stands as I have and they were all already empty. Then the new boss started talking about moving me to another store and changing my shift patterns (again).

So, it wasn't so much the polite and graceful resignation I had planned as it was "Oh, hell no. I'm out of here! *stampede*"

Still, the end result is the same and precisely one month from tomorrow (including two weeks of holiday, hah!), I get to dance out of there. I'm pretty much overjoyed. I even managed to keep a smile on my face as I negotiated and sorted the contents of The Wall, because no matter how much of a mess it's going to cause and how much crap needs done to accomodate it, I only have seven more working days before it is not my problem any more.

If I hadn't come straight home and crashed until my no-sleep, crying fit headache wore off and now don't want to get dressed again, I'd go buy alcohol and have a little party. It's a tiny deal to anyone else, but it's huge weight off my shoulders!

Me: We need to talk

2007-04-20T23:27:07Z

I feel the need to make a few notes to myself to keep in mind over the next three weeks. So here we go. Dear self:

1) Coffee makes you want to throw up. Yes, yes it does. You've trained your body to believe that coffee = oh god, deadlines stress stress can't sleep I may burst into tears at any minute. Stop trying to deny it and buy some Red Bull if you simply must stay awake.

2) Alternatively, try going to bed before 4AM.

3) Midnight is not an acceptable time for dinner.

4) If you work through lunch and eat dinner at midnight, breakfast is not optional.

5) The printer did not do that just to piss you off.

6) Ditto Photoshop.

7) Yes, TV does distract you. No, I don't care how many times you've seen this one.

8) Watching short shows in an attempt to cut down on the amount of time you spend with TV running in the background just means you stop every half hour to find something else to watch. Listen to. I meant listen to.

9) It has been five minutes since you checked your email/LJ/DeviantArt. Quit it.

10) Seriously, stop ranting at the technology in the room. You're turning into your father.

11) What did I just say about dinner and LJ? Get your pasta before you burn it and then get the hell back to work.

Easter eggs and Allison Cameron

2007-04-16T14:09:29Z

Today has started off well. The weather is scrumptious, I have discovered two fine stashes of chocolate left over from Easter that I had totally forgotten about, I re-aquired a favourite song that I'd been missing for ages, and finall realised that I had forgotten to download the House episode I missed while at my parent's place the other week (said episode is now happily downloading, and I am gleeful!)

On the topic of House, there's something that's been bothering me (read: bringing my blood slowly to the boil) lately. What exactly is it with most fandoms that brings out the rampant misogyny?

Even worse, what the hell brings out such scary hatred of women in fandoms that are mostly comprised of women?. Way to enforce the "girls are all catty and backstabbing" stereotype, ladies. And some of you dare to call JK Rowling anti-feminist.

Since I mentioned House, some of you probably have a good idea what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't, here's the story:

Dr. Cameron, a woman, invites Dr. Chase, a man, to have a casual, no strings-or-emotions attached sexual relationship, since they're both busy people with no time to build real relationships and had already had sex once upon a time without letting it interfere with their professional relationship. Chase agrees to the arrangement. Cameron warns him repeatedly over the course of the next few episodes that she does NOT want a romantic relationship with him - it's just sex.

They do some pretty stupid stuff - they have sex at work and in a patient's house. Cameron initiates what we see of the stupid stuff, although Chase willingly goes along with it. Eventually, Chase decides that he does want more from the relationship than just sex. Cameron's feelings have not changed, however, and she ends their arrangement immediately.

According to most of the House fandom, this makes Chase a poor, abused woobie, and Cameron is a heartless slut.

Never mind that they BOTH consented to the sex. Never mind that Cameron was very, VERY clear about her boundaries, and Chase carried on regardless. Never mind that when Chase tried to break those boundaries, Cameron ended the relationship immediately instead of misleading his feelings so she could still have the sex. CHASE is a victim and Cameron, the WOMAN, is an evil whore.

What if I spun this around? What if the man was the one who warned the woman he didn't want a committment, and then she got all upset when it turned out he actually meant it? She'd probably be called a moron for getting involved with him in the first place. She'd be called clingy and pathetic for trying to push him into something he didn't want.

Presumably, Cameron was supposed to capitulate and fall in love with Chase - or at least give him a chance (and isn't that a familiar expression - "give the nice boy a chance." Even if the girl doesn't want to). But if it was the other way around, and the man gave into the woman's demands? What do you want to bet she'd be called a manipulative bitch for "trapping" him?

Ironically, when this relationship first started, everyone thought Cameron would be the one to get her heart broken. And she was called a dumb bitch for this, because she was just asking for trouble, she was an idiot who was going to fall head over heels in love. Because no woman is capable of separating love from sex, EVER. They are all weak and soft hearted and always let their feelings get in the way. And then she didn't, which came as a big surprise, and suddenly she's a bitch and a slut. Cameron was screwed no matter what she did.

Do you know how many relationships Cameron has had since the beginning of the show? None. Zip. Zero. She had a huge crush on House, and one date. She did have a one night stand with Chase. Then she started sleeping with him again this season. So in three years she has slept with exactly...one guy. Before the show, her only known relationship was a short, but loving and faithful marriage. Even when her husband was about to die and she had feelings for another guy, she refused to be unfaithful.

House uses hookers and makes sexual remarks to just about everyone he comes across, especially women. He occasionally hits on patients. Chase is a flirt who has attended enough BDSM parties to recognise one of the dominatrixes on sight. Foreman has had at least four girlfriends, one of which kicked off as a business meeting that turned into sex. Wilson. Where the hell do I start with Wilson? Three marriages, adultery, a huge flirt, slept with a patient, possibly going down the hooker route himself now...

But Cameron is a big huge slut. Riiight. What the hell is wrong with people? Cameron is not perfect, sure. But she's not the only one. Is it because she had/has a crush on House and actually dared to express it? Is the fact that House has a soft spot for her (the nature of which is debatable, but it is there) crapping all over everyone's fantasies of Wilson and House doing it on Cuddy's desk? (And this is somehow Cameron's fault. Remember, any guy who likes a woman that YOU don't like are clearly being used and manipulated by said woman)

You do not have to like a character. You can loathe and despise a character. But please have a ACTUAL REASON for it and ditch the mass character hate just because said character has a uterus and therefore must either be an emotional, PMSing, weak little sap or a heartless, bitchy slut. This goes for Cameron, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Sarah Williams, Rachel Dawes, Padme Amidala, Eowyn, and every other female character you can think of. Because I KNOW this is not just limited to the fandoms that I lurk in. The sins of the men are ignored, but the women are freakin' demonised for behaving to the exact same standards.

*pounces on the much-needed chocolate*

squeak

2007-01-10T00:10:57Z

Daniel Craig. Playing Lord Asriel in His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass.

I...

I may just have to die. Right here. Except I need to see the movie first.

Where I won't be able to stop picturing him all bound and naked and sweaty. Ell, this is COMPLETELY your fault! I would never have gone to see him in Bond if it weren't for you!

(And? Linda Bergkvist was a concept artist for the film. I am going to have to learn to squee at a pitch inaudible to humans, because I will never be able to hold it back and I don't want to get thrown out).

phurie_dae @ 2006-12-28T19:33:00

2006-12-28T21:12:40Z

I keep saying I'll update "later" and then get distracted by something shiny and, well, don't. Oops?

A belated Merry Christmas to all of you, and since I'll be dashing off again to spend New Year at home and will have to fight for PC time, happy New Year. I hope you all ate as much as I did. I'm feeling rather guilty about that fifth helping of trifle. For breakfast. But anyway...

After a succession of non-running/missed trains, I made it down to Saltcoats and my gran's warm kitchen on Friday night. I discovered a lovely photo-collage of my baby pictures on the wall, complete with captions, and more of me growing up until age six or so (and then just a couple of me as I am now. I guess I wasn't very photogenic between the ages of six and sixteen). The kitchen was decorated with birthday banners and balloons, and the table was all beautifully set. I was busy looking at the photos so I didn't notice it was set for six.

And then my mum, dad, and brother appeared out of hiding and started singing "Happy Birthday."

They've been telling me since November that they weren't arriving until the Saturday. They were extremely proud of themselves.

My parents gave me a custom designed ring, which I knew about (white gold, claw set aquamarine with two channel set diamonds on either side) and my grandparents gave me a beautiful silver watch (mother of pearl face, gold highlights, diamonds set around the face and in the strap) which I also knew about and had chosen myself. Then my grandparents also gave me one hundred pounds (as a single note, which is wickedly cool looking and I kind of want to keep it) and my parents surprised me with a silver charm bracelet, plus a charm from everyone in the family (including the cat) and one from a family friend. They all have a teeny diamond set somewhere on them too. It was a very diamondy birthday *grins*.

Saturday night we had a family party, which basically involved ordering a vast amount of Chinese food and stuffing ourselves silly on pink champagne and crisps. Oh, and playing Trivial Pursuits, which involved vast amounts of cheating and heckling. And someone made a crack about pearl necklaces (meaning the jewellery, but it did NOT come out that way) to my gran and then she demanded to know why none of us could stop laughing. Picture for a moment, the prospect of telling your grandmother what a "pearl necklace" is. Yeah. My aunt finally got stuck with telling her. We are all disgraceful children. Highlight of the evening, seriously.

Christmas was quiet and, as mentioned, involved a whole lot of trifle. And turkey and chipolatas and all that good stuff. And keeping the cat out of the prawns (she was a determined opponent. Then more Trivial Pursuits and Scattergories and again, lots of cheating. In my defense, I only cheated when I realised my dad was beating me. Present-wise, I got the new clothes and boots that I'd bought myself, and the standard pajamas/teddies/perfume/fluffy things (SOCKS!) and around four new handbags. One of which is huge and red and shiny as hell and I love it, and another which looks like an 80's disco barfed on it and is going into a faraway corner of the wardrobe. My brother bought me FFVIII and I bought him Dirge of Cerberus, which I decided I was buying for myself about two seconds after he started playing it. GUNS, DAMMIT and also holy shit, graphics and pretty men!. And my pitiful first-person fighting skills have been improving thanks to the Batman Begins game motetus gave me for my birthday, so I might not suck!

Now I'm pulling two days of overtime before heading back home for New Year. Getting slightly tired of squishing travelling up and down Scotland in between work and other Things That Need Doing, Um, Yesterday. Especially since I'm getting no better at this being organised thing.

I missed you all during the busy exam season. Things went pretty well, and I'm safe for another few weeks now.

And finally? Less than a month until Germany! (I wonder if I should even bother unpacking?)

Pimp post!

2006-12-21T20:29:59Z

Proper update later, once ironing, packing, and present wrapping is complete. Otherwise I'll be up until the early hours doing it and that would be bad when I've got a full day of work and travel ahead of me.

For my fellow Labyrinth lovers: "What You Wish For" is a very well written, witty, thoughtful, and original fic about Jareth and Sarah meeting again on New Year's Eve. It's well, well worth a read. There are three chapters so far, and the author, KnifeEdge, has finished the whole thing and will be updating once a day until New Year.

(Her other fics are also excellent, by the way. She has a great sense of humour and knows how to gives things an original and sexy twist. And her goblins are bloody adorable).

Here it is - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3296360/1/

Bored, but not panicking. Hmm, progress...

2006-12-12T22:14:48Z

For once, I'm going to thank Scottish winters for being so cruel and hostile to human life. If one is trying to put off doing coursework by deciding that one really needs ice cream/pizza/jam doughnuts from the store? There is nothing like opening the curtains to check if it's raining and instantly recoiling in horror at the sub-arctic temperature and rattling wind that you can feel just through the window to put you off that idea, sharpish.

On that note, you know what will instantly guarantee that I'll finish something at the last possible minute and in a huge hurry? Slapping a deadline on it. They should stop doing that, really. I'm sure it would work out for the best.

*grumbles and continues to type*

And you know I'm REALLY bored when I start jumping on the meme bandwagon.

Xmas Stocking

leave a gift for phurie_dae

get your stocking

Pictures, then :P

2006-12-08T23:11:55Z

Okay, so I regale you all with my traumatic tale of impossible clothing, and what do you do? Demand that I got through the whole ordeal again so that you can have pictures. And then I get told off for not smiling and do it AGAIN.

What kind of friends are you people?

Today was a gooood day. Instead of working my full shift, my boss Kim picked me up about halfway through and we went to Christmas lunch (which was at a Chinese restaurant, so it wasn't technically a Christmas lunch, but it was delicious nonetheless!), courtesy of the company! There were eight of us there - our regional manager, the three team leaders for our region and their four "star" retail associates (*glee*). We shared a couple of bottles of wine and spent the first two hours munching and gossiping. Then the last half hour was spent going over the TL's paperwork, and the RA's were given certificates of excellence and letters of thanks for all our work, going that extra mile, and whatever else we'd done that gave the company cause to splash out on lunch for us *grin*. And because of that last half hour, we got to call the entire thing a meeting and got paid for it. I actually clocked in an extra hour of overtime today.

After lunch, we all walked up to our biggest store (seven stands), which happens to be my new domain. I've been working there for about two and a half weeks now. The regional manager gave me huge props for turning the store around and making it fabulous, but Kim has been in helping me too, so it's not all my work. Nonetheless, my ego was happy! We showed off our pretty stands, which were fawned over by the girls from smaller cities. Kim talked me into buying that top :). Then we sat outside and had lattes because none of us really wanted to go home yet. Chai latte is just the most delicious thing ever on a cold afternoon.

After we called it a day, I went and bought some snuggly new pajamas. I may or may not put them on my parent's gift money - they were pretty cheap. So far I've spent about half and have two new skirts (both corded, one knee-length and dove grey, one calf-length and black), and a chunky black cardi. Plus a couple of other things we bought together. Not sure what else I want to get. Maybe boots.

Mmm, boots. Soft black ones. That could be a plan.

Okay, I think I need dinner of some sort now that it's...crap, 11PM.

*kitchen dash!*

Such a paragon of fashion excellence!

2006-12-08T18:01:53Z

The sugary topping on a really, really fun day - using Christmas money from parents to buy a beautiful evening top. Pale gold, silk camisole under a black lace, short sleeved wrap top that ties in the back with a gold silk sash, all sewn together in various places. You know the kind - likely to twist itself inside out, back to front, upwards, sideways, and may or may not have disappearing/reappearing sleeves. But really, really damn pretty, so who cares? Rejoice, and skip home to try it on.

Slip top over head. Manage to get cami on but find yourself missing a sleeve somewhere in the lace wrap.

Remove top. Spend the next ten minutes untangling it.

Spend another five minutes trying to figure out how you got the cami to face one way and the wrap to face another.

Slip top over head again. Barely get it over your shoulders before you realise you've lost at least three sleeves.

Remove top more carefully this time. Tangle free!

Spot zip on side of top. Oh.

Unzip, put top on again. Gap created by zip provides another problematic hole to get confused over.

Finally manage to get top all the way on.

Realise wrap is twisted on one side. Remove top.

Untwist. Put on again. Successful on all counts, except now zip will not zip back UP again. Must be a twist somewhere that you can't see in your tiny mirror. Remove top and look for twist.

I have a degree. I can do this.

All attempts unsuccessful. Did I buy the wrong size?

Nope, size is correct. Still not zipping up.

I will not be thwarted by a goddamn scrap of silk and lace.

...Okay. Consider returning top.

Picture telling staff that you can't work out how to put it on. Decide that size ~~will~~must be the problem.

Eyes fall on sash at back.

Loosen sash.

Top goes on without incident. Zips up perfectly. Re-tie sash. Squeal and admire.

Me: VICTORY!

Brain: Congratulations.

...

Brain: So, how exactly do you manage to get dressed in the morning? Does it hurt?

Me: Just. Shut. Up.

ARGH!

2006-11-29T00:53:54Z

I don't believe it. I don't BELIEVE it!

The one night I choose to go to bed early and get a decent, on-schedule nights sleep for once, and the FIRE ALARM GOES OFF.

TWICE!

Yeah, moving flats was just the best idea ever, wasn't it?

If it goes off again, I'm finding the drunken ass who's doing it and teaching them all the other fun things that we're not supposed to do with fire.

I bet it's those little tarts across the hall.