Saturday 31 May 2008

Attack of the pain fairies

I've been attacked by the random pain fairy again.

I'm now so drained, I'm having problems staying awake.

I still don't know what his pain is - but try to imagine all your internal organs, simultaneously deciding to SCREAM at you, wrapping their hate all around your torso from just under your breasts to just above your womb (front and back). And it lasts for about half an hour and nothing makes it stop, however you try to position your body.

I ended up sprawled over the sofa, clenching my fists and occasionally smacking the wall in frustration.

I get completely randomly attacked by this - there are no indications of it before it happens and it happens at different times of the day. It's never happened in concordnce with something I've eaten/drunk. It's like I said, completely fucking random.

The last time it happened, it struck at about 6am and I spent an HOUR in the livingroom trying not to cry. When I saw the doctor he said it sounded like muscle spasms and that I should take pain killers.

I had actually taken Ibuprofn for it, but it didn't work. This time I had taken cocodamol just twenty minuets before the pain hit - so fucking painkillers don't affect it.

Though for the most part, I'm happy that it's so far only happened every few months.

Anyway - it happened earlier and now I'm tired and feeling nauseous. So I'ma go relax for a bit.

Friday 30 May 2008

Peter Hitchens on Abortion

Right. I read P.Hitchens editorial on abortion and 'hybrid' embrios this weekend and have been stewing over it ever since.

As a 25 year old woman and a feminist, I took a great deal of offense at his report. Mostly because he has insinuated that any 'pro-choice' person is actually 'pro-death' , and that any 'pro-choice' woman is simply so because she wants to have as much un-protected sex as she can.

Well, I am a pro-choice woman. Contrary to his implied beliefs, however, I value the loving relationship over the one-night-stand. I also believe in contraception over abortion.

Condoms and Femidoms if you're not on the the pill and if you have a crap memory, like myself, the contraceptive implant (this is the route I have gone down - it's perfectly safe and you barely even know it is there.)

Though I am pro-choice, I believe that every possible route to PREVENT a pregnancy should be in place before sex is even contemplated, and if you do inadvertantly find yourself pregnant, every route other than an abortion should first be explored.

I abhor those women who have had multiple abortions, simply because a baby in thier life is not yet something they want. These 'life-style choice' abortionists should get their bloody heads around using contraception - it really isn't very hard. And any woman who gives the old excuse 'oh, my boyfriend doesn't like condoms' should BLOODY WELL use something else - there are a wide range of choices open for them.

There are many different types of pill you can take. The contraceptive implant is very easy, very effective and has the added bonus of you not having to remember to take a pill every day. There are various types of coil that can be inserted into the womb. And there are even injections available.

So any woman hiding behind the 'boyfriend hates condoms' excuse is a complete idiot and should be told so.

As well as being a firm believer in contraception, I actually think the abortion limit should be lowered - especially considering the fact that medical advances mean any baby born very early these days can, and often does, survive.

I never want to see abortions made illegal again, hoever much I dislike the practice in general, because doing so would ruin many more lives than just those women who fail to properly prevent a pregnancy. Hitchens could not concieve of a viable situation in which an abortion is preferable to adoption or keeping the baby.

I can think of many.

Besides the various medical reasons, there are the rape victims, the pedophile victims, the women who simply cannot afford to carry a pregnancy to term, with all the finacial strains just the pregnancy causes and what about the girls who are too terribly young to be having sex in the first place - why should they be forced to carry a pregnancy to term, when they are still children themselves?

So - while I dislike abortions in general, I support there being a choice available for women to do it if they wish too. But I do think there should be stricter regulations on it (women who have multiple abortions for social reasons, for example, should be punished or made, by law, to take the implant or coil) and a lower cut-off point, of perhaps 18 weeks.

I also, controverstially, believe that a law should be introduced, stating that all teenagers, from the age of say, 13, should be fitted with a contraceptive - both boys and girls. And that this contraceptive should only be removed when they are 18 and considered adult enough to be able to care and provide for a child. But I accept that this is never going tp happen.

I absolutely hate being thought of as someone who supports abortions simply because I want as much contraception-free sex as possible. That is the thought that pisses me off the most about the linked article.


---------
Here are some of my thoughts on the article.

Let's have no more of this footling about over abortion. The issue isn’t how old a baby has to be before you cannot kill it. It is whether you think it’s right to do away with another human to suit your convenience.


On the face of it, I agree with this comment - these days abortions have become so accepted that they are treated as another form of contraception, instead of the last resort that they used to be.

But I do not like his choice of wording, lets face it, until it is born, it is not a 'baby' - it has various names at the different stages of gestation, and you should try to use them when discussing those particular stages. His hoice of the word 'baby' is simply an attempt at emotionalising the whole report, for while there are plenty of late gestation abortions, there are also plenty of earlier gestion abortions, when the 'baby' is barely even recognisable as such.


The abortionists are not interested in compromise. Why should they be? They have always known what they were doing. They must know by now that the more abortions you allow, the more you have. They have – for the moment – won the argument that you can kill if it’s convenient. And our whole society has adopted the same self-serving view, often without realising it.


This is the very opinion that I despise - just because I support abortion, does not mean I like the idea of having abortions simply for convenience, and I would presume to assume that most pro-choice supporters feel the same way.

I would also presume to assume that very few members of British society enjoys a 'self serving view' in which they think (however unconsciously) that it's ok to 'kill if it's convenient.'

This writer holds a very dim view of his fellow citizens.

'Slutbucks'?

I found this little article in the Daily Mail (Yes, I do unfortunately read the Daily Mail, I am unashamed to admit it) and I felt I had to leave my comment.

Oh stuff it up your ancient frilly knickers, you bunch of close minded, stuffy old religionistas. It's a simple illustration, depicting an non-real, fantasy creature. Said fantasy creature has always been the manifestation of sea-fairers sexual desires. If they want to cover up this simple little piece of design, they should take into acount the hundreds of thousands of much more salacious images to be found in any given art gallery, art book, art school, temple, church and so on. An utterly ridiculous reaction, indicative of the religious outlook, 'lets complain about something that offends us on a purely aesthetic level, but completely ignore that far more pressing issues of reality.' Utterly stupid.


Yeah. Don't know whether it will be posted, so I thought I'd copy it over.

Sunday 25 May 2008

Cross-Polination?

Please escuse my random ramblings.

A few days ago, I was privy to a conversation between my Baptist BestFriend and one of her ex-flatmates, another confessedly Christian girl of about 20.

What I heard in this conversation, and my subsequent conversation with my Bestfriend has lead me to thinking over the apparent cross-polination of religions and religious ideas.

The initial conversation was about a third ex-flatmate, who had mysteriously left the flat a few months ago. Apparently, she had been suffering harrasment from other flatmates, going so far as to find a 'Voodoo/Vodun Doll' on the floor directly outside her front door.

Now, this third flatmate - and most of the other flatmates - were all Christian, and upon discovering this Doll, apparently they all went into hysterics about curses and demons and not touching it.

The second conversation with my BestFriend was what got me thinking.

BestFriend herself does not claim to believe that a Voodoo/Vodun Doll could cause any sort of harm, but she is still wary of them (and apparently Ouija Boreds, I discovered last night, despite my explanation that the Ouija Board was first designed as a party-game and has no occult connections whatsoever) - but she explained that some Christians really are scared that something like a Voodoo/Vodun Doll can cause harm and set curses and so on.

Now - my thoughts ran like this.

Christianty does not have anything like Voodoo/Vodun Dolls in it's Holy Book. In fact, the Doll is almost exclusively a Voodoo/Vodun object. And Voodoo/Vodun is about as far away from being Christian, as I am from being a Fairy Godmother.

For more information on the religion of Voodoo/Vodun, go here.

As we have established, this Doll plays no part in Christian faith - so why did the girls react in the manner they did? Why have I heard and seen many reactions to non-Christian religious items, that are as hysterical as these girls?

Why, in fact, do Christians (and I'm sure, other religionists) actually believe a Voodoo/Vodun Doll can curse them?

The Doll is not part of Christian faith, it is part of Voodoo/Vodun faith. To put it bluntly, to believe that a Voodoo/Vodun Doll will harm you, you must first accept that the Voodoo/Vodun Faith is as legitimate as your own.

But of course, the usual answer to that will be that it's not the Voodoo/Vodun itself, but the idea that Satan or a lesser demon can work through it.

So why treat the Doll how the Voodoo/Vodun want you to treat it? ie: don't touch it and actually believe it represents the person it's aimed at.

These practices are part and parcel of the Voodoo/Vodun belief in what that Doll can do/represent. By treating it as you believe Voodoo/Vodun practitioners would, you are admitting that you believe them, that you believe that little snippet of their faith is as real as your own.

And this goes for a great number of things.

For instance, the Christians who turn to Alternative Medicine - most, if not ALL, alternative medicine is based on a faith system of one sort or another. I have yet to see any mention of Chi/Qi/Chakra/Energy being mentioned in the Bible - yet plenty of Christians (and other religionists) are completely willing to allow that this faith system is as Legitimate as their own.

So why do they do it? Why do none of them notice that allowing themselves to believe anything that is even slightly contradictory to their professed religion, is undermining said religion - because as soon as you start admitting that some other faiths are as real or valid as your chosen one, you have to start admitting that all of them are equally as valid.

And then, after a while, you start to realise that all these contradictory things can't be true, because of their completely contradictory nature. (And then, hopefully, you end up with Athiest's and people who reject CAM.)

YesNo God poll

Saw this linked over at Pharyngula and had to join in.

So far the brits have voted 68% NO XD

YesNo God Poll

Enjoy - and go make your country proud!

I couldn't have said it better

"There are many who consider that Scientology has all the hallmarks of a cult"

I've got this round disc thingy with a film on it. The film plays when I shove it in a dvd player.

Many people think this round discy thing I've got has all the hallmarks of a DVD.

While some remain in doubt, possibly mistaking this round discy thing with a film on it for something else; a skateboard, perhaps. Or a toaster. Or maybe a miners lamp.

Theloonyfromcatford on The Guardian article


If it looks like a cult, if it sounds like a cult, if it acts like a cult - it is a cult. Scientology should be banned.

I cannot express how happy I am that the kid won his case.

Late night trip to the vets

Copy pasted from last nights LiveJournal Entry:

Our evening and BBQ went well until about 21:00 when we noticed a lot of blood all over the garden.

We tracked it down to Moogle - we think she must have caught herself on some glass or something, because there was this HUGE and DEEP gash on her back right paw, bleeding all over the place.

I called up the only PDSA open at this time of night on a weekend and they told us to apply pressure for 5 - 10 mins and if it stops she'll be alright with an appointment on monday. We tried it, and it didn't work.

SO I called them back and we arranged to turn up in an hour or so. Matt did the rounds to find someone we know who drives - he eventually got Kam, and she agreed to take us to the PDSA just outside Bimingham c.c

We bundled Moogle up and drove her down. Matt waited in the car with Kam while I took Moogle in.

The vet gave her a look over and I and the male-nurse held her while he cleaned the wound and checked it (poor Moogle was in so much pain she nipped me - and this from a cat who has never bitten anything in the entire 18 months we've had her)

The vet decided she needed stitches (and I'm telling you, after watching him clean this wound, it was HUGE and DEEP, like woah) and so I had to sign a form to allow them to put her under and then I was waiting for twenty mins.

They brought Moogle out after about twenty mins or so, let me know that she's still doped up, has had some anti-biotics and painkillers. We're not allowed to feed her and we have to make sure she doesn't take the bandage off (whole leg thing, she looks like she's got a club attached to her leg c.c)

We're going to keep her in our room overnight with a small bowl of water. We've got to book an appointment with the local PDSA for either Monday or Tuesday (depending on whether or not they're open on Bank Holidays) so they can change the bandage and check her over to make sure she's healing alright.

We still don't know what did it >>

And she's still in the catbox, eyes huge and black, all doped up and half-asleep and apparently pissed off with us for inflicting her with vets ^^;

Wednesday 21 May 2008

'Offensive'?

Still not quite sure how the subject was raised, but I happened to inform my best friend, who happens to be a Baptist (in the UK sense of the word), that I believe she had no choice in the matter of her religion and that it was basically forced on her since her childhood.

She took immediate offense at this and said that she did have a choice and that in fact I was there when she committed to it. She does not believe that her religion was forced on her.

(When we were 15/16, she underwent her Church's Baptismal rites - in which her Pastor dunked her in a pool of water - I attended, because she wanted me there as her best friend.)

Now, in my understanding, to have a choice, you have to be given a selection of options.

Her parents are incredibly unlikely to have sat their three daughters down and told them of all the other religions available, or even that no religion is also a viable option. They are very unlikely to have said 'you can join in with us if you like, but you don't have to believe it now - make your minds up when you're old enough'.

Her parents are far more likely to have brought all three daughters up as Christians - taking them to church every Sunday, sending them on Bible Camps, having them participate in other festivals and happenings going on with their chosen church, giving them Bibles and Bible-quotes as presents and so on, so forth.

(In fact, I know for a fact that everything in my previous paragraph is true, as I witnessed most and was later told of the others.)

So I feel, that even though she may have been offended by my assertion, I was indeed correct. She was not given a selection of choices to choose from, she was given one choice and basically told from the get-go that that is all there is, 'believe it because we do'.

And this is where I have my problem. Why can Religionists not see that as children, we are pre-programmed to believe what any authoritative adult figure tells us? Children are completely open to believing whatever they are told, it is a fact of life. If they weren't so programmed, children would be far more vulnerable, and in a very real sense, would not learn the things they need to learn to be well adjusted adults.

Children learn by imitation - that's how a baby learns the language of it's care-givers (you can take a newborn 'French' baby and give him to Chinese care-givers and he will speak Chinese, not French, when he starts talking)- so it's the same with Religion. Children will imitate what their care-givers do, learning by rote the various rituals, practices and even thought-patterns of the adults around them.

So there is no 'choice' in this matter. The only people who 'chose' their religions are the people who converted to or from when they were adults, over the age of, say, 18 and when they were fully able to make the conscious decision for themselves.

So, whether or not it was 'offensive' to say so, I still feel it needs to be pointed out.

Solicitors contacted

I called the local Trading Standards office, but apparently Wolverhampton doesn't have a department for Business related matters. Also, because it's a business realted matter in the first place, the laws are slightly different.

I have also contacted the local 'Free Half Hour Consultation' Solicitor and am expecting a call-back from them some time soon.

This is now the third week I have been unable to work, fixing my computer for free is a given and does not cover the monies lost due to inability to work. Solicitors are a must.

Hopefully this wont go to court. If it does, I'll just go with it.

Friday 16 May 2008

Waging War on Penine Computers x______x

The bastards promised to call ahead today and then drop off my computer.

They have done nither.

Pissed off is no longer even barely suitable to cover my feelingso n this matter.

On Monday, I am going to pop in to Citizens Advice and book an appointment to get Legal Advice over this.

Updates when I get them.

H

Thursday 15 May 2008

I am so glad to be moving ...

We spotted a hoard of cops hanging around the pub at the top of the street earlier. Didn't know why at first.

It turns out that there was a shooting. At The Pegasus, a pub that is less than a minutes walk from my house. The Pegasus, in fact, where on Thursday 1st May, election day, they held a huge 'Anti-Racism' rally/BBQ.

Now - I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, I bet it was two non-whites involved. I base this statement on some simple and obvious facts.

Whitmore Reans - the part of Wolverhampton that I currently live in - is predominantly inhabited by first and second generation Idians, Pakistanis, Iraqis, Saudis, Turks, Kurds and so on. The next level down is those of African descent, black people of all shades from such places as the Carribean, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and so on. Right at the bottom of the list, is those of caucasian descent, the Polish, Romanians and then the Brits(we are the minority in our own bloody country).

The Pegasus is predominantly frequented by Asians and Blacks. Hence my statement.

This is not the first time this has happened, the pub five or so minutes walk away, down by the Avion Centre has also had a shooting, involving the same racial groups, just a few months ago.

A pub (in which I worked only one night and refused to go back to) in the centre of town, used to be host to frequent disputes between the same two racial groups. In fact, the most talked about incident involved a young black male answering his phone during a fight and blowing his own brains out, because he was holding an un-safety'd gun in the same hand!

I currently live not fifteen minutes walk away from an alley affectionately nicknamed 'Rape Alley' - I'm sure you can guess why.

The alleyway at the end of my block is frequnetly found covered in broken glass, dumped white goods and television sets. I once walked past it and spotted a drug deal taking place (between two middle-eastern blokes).

I happen to know for a fact that there are a great many dealers in the area and most can be contacted at the drop of a hat.

I was once followed home by a Turk on a bike. I have also been followed part-way home by a black youth who kept asking me to be his girlfriend. Turks and Kurds eye me up as I walk past. I once even had a very smarmy I'd-peg-you-as-a-Dealer bloke try to touch me when I stopped to sit on a bench on my way home. (I saw this same man not two days later, having a very loud argument with another man in the doorway of a dilapidated looking house - and from what I could hear, it seemed to be about debts...)

I feel uncomfortable wearing low-cut tops in this area, because I have been on the recieving end of stares and scowls from obviously Muslim men (obviously, because of the style of clothing, facial hair and scull-cap hat things.) I have never felt uncomfortable wearing low-cut tops anywhere else. In fact, I'm quite proud of my cleavage!

I hate having a front door that is almost completely made of glass. I have woken Matt up on many occassions to make sure no-one is in the house, because I've heard a noise in the middle of the night and had panic attacks thinking we're being burgled, because our front door is the poorest excuse for a door I have ever seen.

Now, I mention all this, because I am again complaining about that which sparked me off the other day. The lack of integration by immigrants into their host country's society.

Admittedly, not all the problems mentioned will have been caused by the rampant mini-countries within Whitmorereans alone. A lot of it can be blamed on the fact that this is low wage area (and that's another thing I can rant about for hours on end.)

What I'm getting at, for the main part, is that there is an awful lot of clonflict in this area alone, between the various different represented countries. And the main reason for that is the Tribalism.

The refusal by the various immigrant cultures to fit in with the host country.

You can walk down a street in this part of town and feel like you're in another country alltogether - you'll be the only Brit walking down it, for a start. You'll also be the only English (as your first language) speaking person there. If you're a woman, you'll likely be the only woman there wearing Western clothing.

And it's all segregated - a different street tends to look like a different bloody country. All the Kurds, Turks and Saudis hang out up by Stavely, for instance. All the shops in the area are run by Indians and Pakistanis (except for one or two Polish shops and those are very far and few between). All the various people of African descent are in the flats on Evans and Lowe (or near those streets anyway).

I don't know whether there was some purpose to this, or if it's purely by chance, but it really doesn't help the matter. And I don't know about anyone else, but I feel incredibly uncomfortable walking down Stavely street these days, because it's always full of Turkish, Kurdish and Saudi men, hanging around, smoking, playing with their hair and generally watching you as you walk past.

Each one of these groups of immigrants is perfectly fine for who and what they are, but the sheer numbers of them means they start building their own little communities/villages and segregating themselves off from everyone else, as if they don't really want to be here.

Call me xenophobic if you like, but I'm getting sick of it. England used to be England. Now it's a collection of other countries, slowly building up from within.

I honestly think something needs to be done about this, because I know it's not just Wolverhampton suffering. Most of the towns and cities in the Midlands are suffering exactly the same - and London is probably where it started. The Midlands isn't known as 'The Balti Belt' for nothing.

And it's not just the segregating of communities - there appears to be a policy of 'positive bias' or something similar in the government at the moment. I have repeatedly heard tell of new immigrant families being favored over british families when it comes to housing here in Wolverhampton.

Matt himself was moved into an empty, un-heated flat when he first left home, only to watch as an immigrant moved into a flat across from him, had the place refitted and refurbished. Matt had to cook his food with a camping stove, and lived in the livingroom on a mattress, with a radio/cassett player. Weeks later that immigrant moved out taking absolutely everything with him - illegally. But nothing was done, and the same thing happened three more times.

Currently, two family friends are still on the waiting lists to get new, bigger houses. One cuple has a son under 1year and another baby on the way but they are still living in a 1bed flat, while immigrant families are constantly being moved into bigger, better homes all around them.

Admittedly, most of the immigrant workers are willing to do and actually do do, the menial jobs that an awful lot of British people are currently unwilling to do. But that does not mean they should be favored over our own countrymen.

It's just ridiculous.

And you know what? I'm glad I'm moving back down south, where it is predominantly white and British. After living in this area for six years, I'm thoroughly sick of it.

Wednesday 14 May 2008

Computer Update >>

Right. So.

I had that computer working for TWO WEEKS and what killed it was a 'catostrophic failure' of the Processor, Hard Drive and one of the sticks of Ram.

So. How pissed off do you guys think I am?

There was two weeks worth of work on that hard drive. Now all irrevocably lost.

All gone.

Work for my portfolio, commissions (cgaussie01, I was halfway through your second one - so I need to restart that when I get the computer back), an essay I was writing, some fics I was working on, my music, my saved fics, my photographs and my stock images.

ALL GONE.

... >> PISSED OFF barely covers it.

Apparently they'll deliver my computer back to me on friday.

H

Tuesday 13 May 2008

Why don't they do this with thier OWN religion?







They seem completely willing and happy to talk about the history of someone elses religion, and even use actual evidence, but for some reason will not do the same with their own.

This sort of hypocrosy is quite annoying.


Find these as part of a larger 'comic' here: Allah Had No Son

Monday 12 May 2008

'British values mean nothing to me...'

This is disgusting.

Firstly, I am disgusted by the fact that a 13year old girl has been forced to marry a 14 year old boy, simply because 'their fathers agreed' - whether or not this girl now claims she 'loves married life' (despite the fact that she still lives with her family, while he lives two miles away with his) she obviously had little say in the matter and no idea what she was getting into.

Secondly, I'm disgusted with the parents views on the matter:

"Just because I live in Britain doesn't mean I've got to behave the way you lot think is right. I'll live my life the way I want and that includes the way I bring up my kids. I don't care what the neighbours think, or social services. It's not my problem people around here don't understand our culture and values."


Thirdly, I'm disgusted by the fact that there are fourteen people living in a two-bed house, all of the same Polish-Romany-Gipsy family, and not a single one of them works. Add to that, not a single one of the children go to school, either.

So here we have, in one family, in one story, the reasons I really bloody hate the current state of afairs concerning immigration in our country at the moment.

I don't give one tiny little jot about colour or creed, what I care about is the hoardes of people coming in to this country, living off benefits and disregarding the laws.

IF YOU WANT TO LIVE IN THIS COUNTRY, RESPECT THE LAWS, RESPECT THE PEOPLE AND GET A BLOODY JOB. STOP TAKING OUR BENEFITS SYSTEM FOR GRANTED, STOP PRETENDING YOU ARE STILL IN YOUR HOME-COUNTRY AND STOP THINKING NO-ONE WILL NOTICE IF YOU COMMIT OBVIOUS ACTS OF CHILD-ABUSE AND THEN CITE 'TRADITION' AS YOUR EXCUSE.

Can you tell I'm sick of these people?

Marrying off your 13year old daughter is illegal in this country. Either respect that law and integrate into the culture of your new host country - or GET THE FUCK OUT. I don't care if it is a 'traditional' in your culture previous to moving here, I don't care if you yourself were married at 14 and suffered no ill-effects, I don't care if your daughter is not allowed to 'have sex until she is eighteen', I don't care if you think your neighbours and the social services should have no say in teh matter.

You are NOT in the same country you grew up in. You are NOT allowed to do these things in your new host country. Teh Social Services DO have a say in the matter. Traditions do NOT matter in this situation.

It is against the law to do what you did, whether your daughter welcomed it or not - she is NOT an adult and she can NOT make that decision. She's still wearing t-shirts with cartoon characters on them, and does not want to leave the family home yet, becasue she 'will miss' the family!

Get a job, stop having children, stop leaching off the government and SEND YOUR CHILDREN TO SCHOOL so THEY can get jobs!

If you do not abide by the laws and culture of your host country, you should BLOODY WELL FUCK OFF BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM.

/rant.

Bristol Comic Expo

Saturday:

Up at 07:30 - lots of running around trying to remember what we were likely to forget (uh... yeah) made sammiches for the train-journey, stuffed portfolios in my ruck-sac, called taxi, put down meat, water and biscuits for the cats then got to the train station.

Two adult saver tickets, return to Chippenham? £86 >>

Train was packed and boiling arfin hot, spent first twney minutes standing in the corridor, but got a seat when we stopped in Birmingham. Slight feeling of trepidation all the way thee, but that's normal, I get like that every time I go to a Con. Though I was thoroughly enjoying watching the countryside turn into the prettiness of the county I grew up in.

Becca was right when she texted me - when we got there, Long Line Was Indeed Long! We got to the end of it and were told to go back to the front because we were pre-pay ticket holders XD All that walking in all that heat, for nothing! Ah well ^^

Got goody-bag each and then went to find Becca et al sitting by the cafe. I dumped my stuff and set off with Becca for a quick reconnaissance trip around the whole hall. Located various things - such as Tokyopop (hard to miss) and Mark Buckingham's table.

Took photographs, chatted with a few people, (one of whom was the Webmaster for the convention - you may have seen him wandering around in a black Hakama, carrying a high res camera) dumped a pile of my business cards on the entrance table and then went back to the bag-pile. Also handed out a few of my cards to various people ^^

For someone who is essentially broke, there wasn't much to do in the main hall, so after a bit of chatting with Matt, Becca et al, I went to go and chat with Mark. Unfortunately, he was just leaving, and we bumped into each other down one of the packed walkways. We spent about ten mins giving each other a quick catch-up and he told me to catch him again later after the Vertigo Panel.

He had to go so I went back to Matt, Becca et al and we all decided to go to Weatherspoons - or the equivalent anyway (it had 'The Knights Templar' in huge lettering on the wall, which amused me greatly, because I'm mildly addicted to Assassins Creed at the moment XD)

We were scheduled to walk back all together, but I was on a far more important schedule, so Matt and I went ahead to collect our stuff from the pile. Got there, had a mild heart attack over my missing port-folios, found them, prepared to go - said g'bye to Becca et al (who by this time had turned up) set off and saw Tony Lee and Dan Boultwood.

Stopped for ages to have a chat and showed Dan my 'folio's (I'm really chuffed he liked XD) told Tony he didn't HAVE to wear all those clothes (silly man was wearing a full three piece, in a hall with no ventilation and chock-full of people!) and then swapped cards with them both before haigh-tailin' it to the Ramada for the Vertigo panel.

Though we actually had no idea where the hell we were going >> We asked a likely looking bloke also on his way there, but he was also lost! So we all three walked together and asked two other blokes - who despite living in Bristol couldn't help much XD We eventually found it and parted ways in the reception room.

Got into the Panel about fifteen minutes late - very annoying c.c However! We were in time to learn about new Hellblazer projects, reprints of old Hellblazers containing Mark's work, lots of info about Fables, not many questions - but I honestly think everyone was dieing of heat-induced brainfarts >>

When the panel finished we went round to the singing room and I cued for an hour and a hald to get a pic off've Mark XD I spent the time chatting with two blokes who had come up from Windsor - one of whom had this HUGE intricate tattoo of various Star Wars characters (primarily Boba Fett) in this huge all-out battle, apparently it went 'from ankle to arse' in his own words.

There were also a number of French blokes jumping in and out of the various ques - got chatting with one of them when he showed me this great image of Batman he'd asked for from one of the 2000AD artists. Apparently they run a comic-con in france, and he has this HUGE stash of A3 artwork, all signed, for auctioning at his con >>

I never did get the names of the two blokes I spent ages talking too, but I did give one of them my card because we got chatting about art and comics.

Finally got to Mark and told him he could relax soon, cause I was last in the que - spent ages chatting and chatting and chatting XD Haven't seen Mark in a couple of years, so there was lots of catching up to do. He congratulated me on both my engagement and my business ^^ He also doodled Death for me ^^

We swapped University Horror Stories, talked about how hard it is to get into comics, how fun it is to Freelance and how much we hated our fuddy-duddy, anti-comic tutors.

Promised to buy him a drink some time in the future, because he had to hurry away (and really, ALL the artists, writers and editors et al were looking frazzled and worn about by this time - after 6) so we collected our stuff and went and sat in the Ramada Bar for an hour or so.

Waved 'Hi' to Tony, smiled at a few familiar faces and basically flopped in one of the comfy chairs and tried not to fall asleep - I know it doesn't sound like we did much, but the heat all day just sort of sapped all our strength - that coupled with there basically not being ANY seating in the main convention hall - sorta made for an hours worth of FLOP.

Eventually went back to the train station, found the right train and was picked up in Chippenham by Mom. Dad was cooking various meat-products on the BBQ when we got there. Many hugs all round, ages spent sitting on the garden chairs in the back-garden, talking about the con, Becca's new hair, Iron Man, comics in general so on so forth ad infinitum...

AJ and Matt went for a walk, Dad went to bed and I sat and watched The Andromeda Strain P1 with mum (WHOOBOY that's a good program! AND Tom McBeath's in it! XD Thoroughly enjoying himself and over-acting - apparently he'd been telling people for MONTHS that he was working on a new secret project - and then Andremeda Strain appeared! TOTALLY WORTH the wait.)

Clambered into bed around 01:00 >>



Sunday:

Slept in, in blissfull silence (so miss living in Wiltshire, really, you honestly don't know how much) until 09:00 and then spent the morning slowly getting things together and discussing when we're moving down. It's loosely set on 5 weeks from now - Matt wants to be in Wolves for his birthday and we plan on a BBQ and inviting friends over for it as a birthday/leaving party.

So we got to the train station for 11:20and the damn thing was delayed >> Didn't get to the Con until 12:15 or so. We had planned on spending some time wandering again, but ended up not having time.

I got talking to .. uh... Ilya? I didn't get his name and feel real bad for it c.c But talked to him for ages and he looked at my port-folio's and was impressed and gave me advice (and actually wrote names down for me! XD He gets SO MANY POINTS for doing that, I have a crap memory) and said I should totally keep at it and then go talk to Yishan Li just round the corner.

While talking to him, Becca et al - including Thalia! - turned up and we had a quick chat, though we had to turn down their offer of joining them at Weatherspoons again. Said g'bye and went to talk to Yishan after swapping cards with Really Helpful Dude. Swapped cards with Yishan as well and she basically told me all the same stuff and that I should talk to YAOI Press XD The company I already know about (apparently Yishan works for YAOI Press.)

We then tried our best to find Booker et al - but it was sorta fruitless c.c Instead we found Keith! So we spent ages chatting with Keith XD and promised to meet up with him again in the Ramada for a drink. So Matt and I headed off to the Ramada so I could go to the Gay Comics panel in the Boardroom.

I left Matt and our stuff in the Ramada bar and went upstairs and spent ages sitting in the lobby of the first floor with Gambit and Ghost (they were cosplaying on Saturday but not today XD) chatting away and swapping stories waiting for someone to open the door. Before long however, the lift broke! We spent about twenty minutes trying to figure out how to help a group of people stuck in the lift (I'll never forget Ghost asking the lift-people if anyone was pregnant and a male voice shouting back I AM! XD)

Eventually, the lift was pried open and we stuck notes all over it to inform any potential users that it was broken c.c

The door was finally opened when the Panel Leader arrived - and it turned out one of the blokes who had been chatting with us was on the panel (David Shenton!) Yishan Li was another Panelist and the other two were Alex Fitch who had extreme problems trying to pronounce Paul Gravett's name XD

I was a thoroughly interesting panel - if a bit small. There were about fifteen people there, so it was small and close and allowed for much better interaction - but as it was pointed out, there were no press in general and specifically no gay-press.

We had a good long discussion about the different representative types of gay characters and the comics/literature that features them and we also discussed the problems that the gay community in general is facing when it comes to PROPER representation in comicdom.

All in all, it was an interesting discussion - covering everything from YAOI, to Marvel and DCs forays into gaydom as well as the actual lit you can find. I learned some things and taught some things - it was fun ^^

When done I went back down to the bar and found Keith sitting with Matt. We had a good half hour reminicing and joking XD It was nice to spend time with Kieth again! But we had to run off to catch our train, so hugs aplenty and promises of keeping in contact ^^

On the way to the station, we found the Storm Troopers all hanging around outside the entrance to the Con and Matt stopped to get some photos - I ended up taking a shot of him apparently under arest with five guns pointed at him XD Quite fun, and he's VERY pleased to have got that shot ^^

The train ride home was bllaaaahhhh >> I HATE leaving Wiltshire - I always feel grumpy and depressed watching as the landscape turns from pretty-wiltshire into crap-dingy-industrial-midlands x____x

However, the cats were very pleased to see us when we got back XD

I spent most of this evening sitting out in the garden reading the various free-comics and things I got in the goody-bag. I first had to remove the damn washing that belongs to wasserface next door from my line x___x

Chatted with Olga a bit, let her know we'll be moving soon and she was quite put-out - apparently she likes having white people living here XD By which I am very amused, because she's from one of the ex-Russian countries herself.

Anyway - I've now spent faaaarr too much time writing all this up and am going to go to bed c.c

H

Tuesday 6 May 2008

Belief Questionairs

Sam Harris is after volunteers to take part in his current research. Go to his blog and find the four surveys provided. I filled out all four. It doesn't take long at all.

Reaserch Volunteers Needed

Still having problems with the computer - despite being repeatedly told that the thing hangs on the POST screen (as in, before it's even detected the hardrive) the bloke on the phone kept insisting we try putting WinXP on it, in place of WinVista. Which is a load of bollocks and implies that the idiot shouldn't be working in a computer related job in any way shape or form.

Arseholes.

Sunday 4 May 2008

Court action? Off-line update

Yupp - this may well end up as court action. Though at the moment, it's simply the THREAT of court action.

Basically, my new computer has now finally given up the ghost.

My NEW COMPUTER has decided there is no hardrive. It freezes on the POST page for fucks sake.

This has been causing nothing but grief for me as the business owner and Matt as my computer go-to.

I cannot work with a computer that freezes every 5 to 20 mins, and Matt is getting fed up going back and forth to the guys who built it, and getting fobbed off with what amounts to bullshit.

Finally, today, it started freezing with little more than thirty-second's worth of the computer actually working. And it kept doing this, right up until it decided there is no hardrive.

So Matt took the side off and tested evrything he could and it appears to be a motherboard problem.

He's going to go back to these guys on Tuesday and he has my leave to threaten court action over the loss of revenue to my business - as I've had serious problems actually working on my commissions due to these faults, and I am currently unable to work on the commission I am half-way through.

So. Unfortunately, my CG commissions will have to be put on hold until this is sorted out.

My traditional commissions are still ongoing.

Ugh. Updates when I get them.


*Written using Matt's computer.

H

Friday 2 May 2008

Deserves a mention:



Apparently, the 'Face Of Jesus' appeared in this mans cider bottle. Personally, it looks more like a Grey to me - but that may just be my upbringing.

Which is the point really. If this had been the cider bottle of an Athiest, they probably wouldn't have noticed it and if they had, wouldn't have cared beyond sharing the amusement with their fellow drinkers.

If it had been the bottle of a Muslim (as unlikely as that sounds, being staunch anti-alchohol sorta people) they'd have said it looked like Muhammad. If this was seen by a Viking, they'd think it was Thor.

So - it's all a bit subjective really. Though beyond that, it's certainly a waste of news-space, even if it is the Daily Mail.

Thursday 1 May 2008

The threat of Creationism




Just about sums it up really. I'm thoroughly enjoying this guy's video collection.

The clip of the three Male Scientologists telling the videographer that he is a criminal, can be seen in full here: Crazy Scientology Followers

Comment on Scientology Reincarnation

Kirsty Alley was interviewd in Playboy - quote found and copy-pasted from The Frame Problem

PLAYBOY: Sounds like you have all the answers. Where do we go when we die?

Kirstie Alley: We just pick another body. We go to the nearest hospital where women are giving birth, find some good-looking parents and jump in. I don’t think there’s a rest period, though there might be a confusion period if you were killed in an accident and knocked out of your body. It would all depend on the shape you’re in as a spiritual being, which is our natural state. The better the shape you’re in, the less confusion. At least that would be my hope. This is just a prison planet–and here’s what it takes to get out: a Get Out of Jail Free card or a Get Off of Planet Earth Free card. You should have one in your wallet or purse at all times, just in case. You know how we’re all looking for the big secret in life? That’s it.


My comment:

The ‘re-incarnation’ thing always gives me pause, with whichever religion is spouting it.

For re-incarnation to work in the way described, you’d have to have a finite number of ’souls’ and a finite number of ‘bodies’. It’s patently obvious that this isn’t the case, because the world-wide population is growing every year, and the population isn’t full of apparently ’soul-less’ bodies. So where are the ‘new souls’ coming from?

In Scientology’s case, there can’t be a big-bad out there constantly dropping more paralised-aliens into volcanoes and blowing them up - otherwise we’d notice. (It would be hard not to notice A-Bomb exploding volcanoes - wouldn’t you think?)

And then - when the soul moves into a new-born body - what happens to the thetan’s attached to the soul in the last body? Does this new body ‘carry-over’ the thetan’s from the last one? Or does it have less and less thetans with every body-jump? And if this is so, doesn’t that mean that eventually, if you’re a Scientologist in every ‘new-body’ at least, you’d simply die one day and never jump to a new body?

It’s all very confusing.