At a loss
2 days off in a row and I find myself at a loss as to what to do.
I've already napped, done the dishes (1st time in 3 weeks), made the bed (1st time in a month), cleaned the bathroom, took out the garbage and recycling, fed the cat, there's more but I kind of feel that's enough....
There was the early evening trip to Kensington, had a bite to eat, coffee, read FFWD, the new Banksy film looks good but that's one to take the boy to, home and it's yet early.
Now there are umpteen million books to be read, rooms to be cleaned, paintings to be begun, websites finished, a 1.5 litre bottle of Masi Campofiorin to be drunk (given to me by a generous wine rep as compensation for yet another missed nap at the restaurant), but I'm kind of at a loss as to where to begin....
Start with the wine and the rest will sort itself out.
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- Category: Miscellany
Women In Need - Extended Hours
The Women in Need have extended their hours.
Now this, while possibly good for a very few clients, is an absolutely lousy thing for staff. Speaking to them you detect a distinct lack of enthusiasm, but the decision came from head office (where the hours won't be extended in the least) and so they buckle down and live with it. Most of them buckled down to live with it, a few resigned in protest, the final straw that broke the employees back, but it's the way of the world.
Personally, considering the wages they're paid and the "necessity" of having a thrift shop open on Sunday, I won't be availing myself of their new and improved hours (I would if it was the people in Head Office working them, that then would be then worthwhile), and I'd recommend you don't either. There are much better deals to be had on the weekends, flea markets, garage & estate sales, let the employees have a life.
And maybe let Head Office know what a lousy policy it is.
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- Category: Rants
Garage Sales 2010 - Week 6
The May long weekend.
It's cool and depressing Saturday morning, and all of the listings are for either the deep south of the city or the far north.
A brief walk around the neighborhood turns up a single sign, following the arrow I end up nowhere. And that's garage sales for week 6. I go home and nap until work.
Sunday morning I found another sign, pointing at the same sale, and so I looked further - there's something just not right about a weekend without garage sales, and eventually, after much alley walking, found it. A sampling of comic books, some good antique typewriters (but I don't need a "good" one, I need one that's decrepit beyond repair...), some good movies (A Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove, Miyazaki), but on VHS and I'd pick them up for the people at work, but they don't have VCR's. There's a giant agricultural scale, weighs up to 1600 lbs, but it weighs (in itself) 120 lbs and while it'd be a great ornament for my bathroom I have to be real....
All in all a bust.
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- Category: Miscellany
Ex Voto
I'm a big fan of magic realism. Any of the novels of Márquez, the South American novels of de Bernières, the short stories of Borges.
And so trawling eBay in my search for religious kitsch and related treasures you can imagine my delight in discovering these:
They're ex-voto, or the fulfillment of a promise to certain saints for services rendered. Now you go to eBay and do a search for ex voto, or just click here. Some of them offer translations, but it's more fun to speculate. For example, above, the beloved Saint has obviously saved the poor family from a gang of voracious squirrels.
Above we have thanks given for saving a girl from a rain of frogs.
Or thanks for assisting my jailbreak. Why not? God's for everyone, not just the damned law abiding or self righteous...
Thank you for saving me from the giant octopus. Or for introducing me to my new lover....
Try thank you for helping me to save my cats from these rather fearsome dogs. Personally, I'd want saving from the flying ghoul carrying her head and spewing blood from the bloody stump, but apparently that's the saint and she's a good guy....
I don't speak Spanish, but I'm guessing she's thanking the Saint for bringing the devil to her bed. It's looking like there will be some spicy action there tonight...
I need a life like that, where the exceptional is commonplace, where it rains frogs and there are plagues of killer squirrels, where giant Octopus regularly seize and terrorize swimmers, where the Saints will bring you your demon lover....
This is only the smallest of samples, there are new listings all the time, no end of inspiration, a thousand possible novels in a few short pages...scroll through and see if you can guess what they're giving thanks for....
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- Category: Link of the day
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