girlofprey

Playstation are the best and I love them:

• The election is tomorrow. Sky News keeps reporting about polls that have Donald Trump in the lead over Hillary, and even though I know on average she is ahead and always has been, and even though I know it's in Sky News' interests to make out like the election is really close and uncertain to keep people watching, it still makes me feel sick and anxious. The two biggest superpowers in the world aren't both allowed to become facist dictatorships, while the country I live in is just being the worst. No.



• My period just keeps on keeping on. I guess it's not that surprising, given that I've been taking pills to change it (and for only half a month at that), and given that I haven't had cramps as strong as usual this month. Still. Huh.



• No train gits tonight. Thinking about it, and the arguments they had about overtime, they might be shift workers and therefore not be on most of my trains. But you never know when they will be. Fuckers.



• Only 2 pages of Evie/Jacob fic, AO3? Are we not allowed to have incest anymore? For God's sake.

I know I'm amazed by/picky over adverts a lot nowadays, but:



I still think this one would have been better if the guy who goes over at the end had been all "Bitch, you're going to jail"

Jesus, it's raining. The kids at the Leeds Festival are gonna be sad tonight.

In other news, my beautiful watch died today, after I think about two years of service. It will be sadly missed. There is actually another watch that I'd really like, but it's by Police, and £109 where I saw it, which was in fact an outlet shop. So I should probably just go back to browsing the New Look £15 watches instead.

Also, yesterday I learned my phone would still play it's alarm even if it was switched off. It did so by using a weird pale version of it's graphics on the screen, and then switching itself off until the next alarm had to ring. I'm thinking of renaming it Ghostphone.

And now there's thunder. Oh, festival kids.

Also, I just want to say that I really love the Doritos mariachi band. If there was a CD of their music, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

On Saturday, my parents and I went to see Les Miserables.

( Random thoughts, maybe some spoilers )

Also, the other day I saw an advert on TV for a new Ministry Of Sound CD called 90s Anthems. I recognised literally every song in the advert. It was a little bit like my childhood compressed into 20 seconds. Then I went and looked at the tracks online. I read the first 6 and knew them all. So I bought that CD. Because having a particularly frantic aspect of your childhood always available on disc seems sort of handy, really.

( Discussion of rape and sexual abuse, based on something I saw on TV this afternoon )

And then after that, while looking for something else to watch during the adverts, I got to see this advert. IT'S OKAY, LADIES. IT'S OKAY THAT MEN ARE SEXIST AND/OR JERKS. THE MEN OF KFC ARE GOING TO LOOK AFTER US. Alternatively, it's the equivalent of pubs putting "ladies welcome" signs up in their windows. Which is nice.

From Tumblr; Spinach Party

From Oglaf: The Love Skull looks upon your Valentines Day gestures with contempt

ETA: Also, I love Kate Beaton (Warning for reference to domestic abuse)

Things:

• The second/last episode of this series of George Gently was just on. It was a lot more to do with Gently and Bacchus than the setting, which I think is what the previous episode was lacking, so once again it was quite grand, yay.



• I finally listened to The Decemberists' The Hazards Of Love album in one go all the way through yesterday. Man. It's quite depressing. Things make a lot more sense now, but a lot more horrible stuff happened than I thought it did, and the ending is slightly sadder. Although we never really got to 'the end' the end, so you can make up your own ending for it really, if you want to. And the thing is, what's good about it is that some of the lyrics are so full of euphemisms and odd phrasing that you can sort of interpret them a lot of different ways, and a lot of people do, and some interpretations are a lot sadder than others. It's interesting really, because it was apparently first conceived as a musical, before the band realised it was "unstageable", so there must be an actual story to some of the bits that are quite vague, something they would have had to depict on stage - unless that's why it's unstageable. But I'd assume some of the story was a lot more specific than is in the lyrics, but there doesn't seem to be any sign of the band saying what it is or isn't. But I suppose that's part of the fun of it, and there's plenty of plays where people endlessly debate the meaning or what certain words or passages mean. So it is good. Really really sad though.



• Also, I had some further adventures in looking things up online. Like Casey Affleck. Now, I know what you're probably thinking, 'he's Ben Affleck's brother, he's not even up to BEN AFFLECK standards (whatever your feelings on Ben Affleck), he's probably shit'. But no, I saw him in Gone Baby Gone, and he was actually really really good in it. But an article or an interview online or something said that he picks his projects with GREAT CARE, and doesn't do films all that often, so I thought 'oh, fine', and resigned myself to waiting for him to do something else. The next film he did was The Killer Inside Me, which as far as I could tell, was about how sad it is to be really violent and beat women to death. It may very well have been a really good film, and I think there is a place for looking at what abusers are like as well as what it's like to be abused. But it didn't feel like something I really wanted to watch, or not at the time. So I decided to wait for the next film of his, whenever that would be.
  
  I looked him on imdb yesterday - and he's in FUCKING EVERYTHING. I mean, not everything. But a lot more than the 'He's a talented and elusive artist, OKAY' article led me to believe. He's in all three Ocean's Eleven films! I've seen at least one of those, and never noticed him. His next film coming up is a comedy with Ben Stiller! The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, which I almost saw because it has Sam Rockwell in it briefly, he has a main role in! He IS Robert Ford!! Dude. I mean, in a way it's nice, because it means there are a lot more films I could see him in, and he's more likely to bring out a new film soonish, that isn't all about beating up women. But dude. I was CRIMINALLY MISLED about the scarcity of Casey Affleck films.



• I have now seen the new Haribo advert. And wept.

I went to Scarborough yesterday for the day with my parents and youngest nephew. ( Scarborough )I love Scarborough. Like, properly. I've probably said.

I've not posted since the last time I went to the seaside, I think. I had a pretty busy couple of weeks, the week that we got back we ended up having my 2 nephews (mostly separately) four times, instead of the usual two, mostly because it was the school holidays and my mum thought it would be good for them to get out of the house a bit. Also, I had said that I would get my bedroom tidied up since bringing all my stuff from Nottingham, finally, before the end of August, so it wouldn't be over six months since I moved in and still not done, and I really did want to do it. However, I largely didn't and also didn't count on having my nephews over four times instead of two, which sort of left me making a big effort last Tuesday. And I actually managed to get quite a bit done, it didn't take long, but I got a lot of stuff put out instead of sitting on the floor, and I'm pretty clear about what I need to do now to get it pretty much finished off. Um, except for the magazines, and the big box of I think magazines that I found in the wardrobe, and the drawer and big bags of magazine cuttings and pictures I should at least go through. But pretty much done. However, that was Tuesday, I think. Then I went to Leeds with mum on Wednesday, I did a bit more on Thursday, then I slept in and we had my oldest nephew again on Friday. And then I decided to give myself a rest on Saturday and Sunday, because I was starting a college course in Wakefield on Monday. And yes, I'm going to college, sort of. It's only on a Monday for four weeks, and I don't have to take notes or have a test at the end or anything, but it's interesting, and possibly worth doing if I want to get into the NHS or anything. So yes, that was Monday. Then Tuesday was Scarborough. Today I had a Jobcentre appointment, and now I'm here, making this post.

I keep meaning to post and talk about films and TV I have seen, but then I can't remember what I've seen, and it's hard when I have problems with things I've seen, or NOTHING OF VALUE TO SAY, except 'oh I love Lucy Punch' (which I do), so then I mostly give up. I was going to talk about my current love of children's nursery rhymes, having listened on the way to Devon and on the way back, and when we were going to Scarborough yesterday, to the CD my dad bought last year of them. He bought two actually, and one is slightly odd and is just weird new versions of nursery rhymes, trying to make them kind of modern and funky and is WEIRD. But the other is a mix of traditional nursery rhymes, new songs they seem to have made up themselves, and folk songs, and is sung by either a man and/or a woman with quite good voices, or a children's choir. A CHOIR. SINGING NURSERY RHYMES. They have things like Molly Malone and The Leaving of Liverpool on there, which always makes me think of cakesy, because I know it would totally be the leaving of Liverpool that grieved her. And it's just really lovely. Also at one point you were going to get a post about THINGS I HATE, including the current Strongbow adverts and people who post fic in communities and in the summary space, instead of putting a summary just put a link to a prompt on a Kink Meme, when IF THEY HAD TO GO TO THAT PAGE TO COPY AND PASTE THE LINK THEY COULD HAVE COPIED AND PASTED THE ACTUAL PROMPT AS WELL, SURELY, SURELY, SO PEOPLE DIDN'T HAVE TO FOLLOW A LINK TO FIND OUT WHAT A FIC WAS ABOUT AND THEN THAT EITHER BE A WASTE OF TIME IF THEY DIDN'T LIKE THE SOUND OF IT OR HAVE TO COME BACK AND FOLLOW ANOTHER LINK TO GET TO THE FIC, SURELY, OH MY GOD. But I thought that, on it's own, might be a bit negative.

My other big news is that last week, I think, my mother got a letter from HM Revenue and Customs, saying that she accidentally owed them £1,800, and they would have to take it out of her future tax, which is not very pleasant for her. But today, I got a letter from HM Revenue and Customs saying that I'd overpaid tax to them, and in a separate letter there was a cheque for £327 for me. Which was quite a bit lovelier.

Things I could do with this money:

• Put it into my ISA to make up for some of the savings I spent.


• Pretty much pay off my overdraft with it.


• Keep it and spend on some of the things that are coming up that I wanted to do, like Connotations, and going to see Tony Gordon in pantomime in Nottingham at Christmas, and for Christmas, as well.

Given that I have basically been hoping and planning to do those things for a while, it's probably going to be the third one. An alternative option would be to put it on one side, or into one of my accounts and keep a note of it, and save up as well and use it to pay for one of the (expensive) pieces of art I have been genuinely thinking about saving up for, for a while. But given my low income, I'm probably better off doing the third one, just at the moment, I think.

My other news: I love Nathan Wylde. And Lyndon Ogbourne. I love Nathan Wylde-Lyndon Ogbourne. I missed a bunch of Emmerdale while I was on holiday in Devon, and then most of the week after that, but I have been watching it lately and oh God. I worried for a bit that the writers were going to have Nathan become properly evil, or properly psycho, and he's kind of being a prat, but also INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL. At the moment, an increasing number of people - including Nathan's sister - are convinced that Nathan's half-brother Ryan is innocent of killing their dad (he is), that Nathan was involved in setting Ryan up (he was), and that Nathan is the one who killed their dad and his mum Natasha knows but is covering up for him (it's the exact opposite). I just managed to see last night's episode today, and HE LOVES HIS SISTER SO MUCH, AND SHE WAS LIKE 'I HATE YOU, YOU'RE EVIL, JUST ADMIT YOU KILLED OUR DAD', AND HE JUST STARTED TO CRY AND THEN BEGGED HIS MUM TO 'TELL HER I DIDN'T DO IT'. OH GOD. And he is not entirely the best actor ever, but he is PLENTY GOOD, PERFECTLY GOOD SOMETIMES.

And another person who suspects Nathan (and sort of Natasha) is Natasha's new boyfriend and business partner Declan, and Nathan hates Declan, and I slash them quite a lot. And today in one of the new soap mags Lyndon Ogbourne (who plays Nathan) said that the reason why Nathan hates him so much is because '"Nathan never got the chance to have it out with his father about what he'd done to the family"' (lying about having another wife, another life before he met Nathan's mum, a different name and stuff). '"He's been left with all this pent-up emotion, and his anger at [dad] Mark is being geared towards Declan. He just takes it out on whoever gets in his way."' AND OH MY GOD. DADDY ISSUES. ALMOST CANONICAL. AND MASSIVE. OH MY GOD. ON THE FLOOR IN A PUDDLE, PRETTY MUCH.

So. I have an interview next week. An interview I know about ahead of time, even. I have about fifteen things to do before then, but it's an interview, which I've not had many of so far in my job hunting. And it's funny, because before I got the message about it I was gearing up to make a post about how I thought I was probably going to have to move back to my parents' pretty soon. Which I probably still will if I don't get the job, and there's a chance I won't. I was in a bit of a tiz at the beginning of the week, because I was pretty sure I was going to have to move back to my parents', even though I hated the thought of leaving my flat, and then I got the news about the interview and it pretty much threw me, but I talked about it with my counsellor on Thursday and I'm feeling much better about it now. I'm just going to try to get ready for the interview, hope being stressed out doesn't affect my performance in the interview, and see what comes out of that before making any other decisions.

I got a letter from the Jobcentre anyway, saying that I could start having Jobseeker's Allowance again. Except that it used to be £50 a week and is now down to £40-ish a week. My mum pointed out that this is probably the same payment less the £10 a week my grandma gives me. Which I have always declared whenever I claimed. Bastards.

Anyway, like I say I'm just going to try to get on with things and do everything I need to do before the interview. Like buy an interview suit. My mum wants to come down and help me get one (especially since she's offered to pay for it), and the only time she's really free is Monday. Which is sooner than I was expecting company next, but she doesn't want to stay over in the flat, so it should be alright.

Today I went to a craft market in Sherwood because a jewellery maker I like was going to be there, explained to her when we saw each other that I didn't actually have any money at the moment and was just browsing, failed generally at social interaction, and then came back into Nottingham. Where I ended up either trying on or looking for dresses I liked that were either way out of my price range (£0) despite being reduced and were probably going out of stock soon, or had gone out of stock mere weeks after I had first seen them. I think it's only been a few weeks. I assume I've just got taste in clothing like no-one else's, because everything I like seems to go out of stock really quickly. But it's pointless anyway, because for the first time in a while I've got an actual interest in maybe buying some clothes, and I have less money than ever to spend on anything. Which is mostly annoying. I'm guessing that when it comes to dresses and faux fur coats I won't get much sympathy from my parents either.

Anyway. What was up with Strictly tonight? This series in fact? How many injuries have there been so far? It makes me think that maybe the professionals are pushing the celebrities too far this series, but maybe it's just a run of bad luck. I'm glad Laila went through, it was sad for her really that she got injured even if she did choose to do the dance anyway. What I could see of her rumba while she was managing to dance it looked beautiful, although it was hard to tell while she was obviously in pain. I'm glad she went through, anyway. And I'm glad Ricky and Erin went through, I really liked their viennese waltz, especially the second time around. I thought it showed that maybe Ricky had a little more of himself to show us, or something different to show us, whereas I wasn't getting that really from Phil. I liked him, but he seemed to always be either Cheeky or Trying Not To Be Cheeky in his dances. Frankly, I'd quite like to see Ricky and Ali go at this point, and the rest of them battle it out for the number one spot. But probably that's just me.

Also, has anyone seen the new show Misfits that started on E4 this week? It looked from the trailers I saw to be about a bunch of teenagers or young people on ASBOs or community service or something, but I've just learned from the internet that it's about a bunch of teenagers or young people on ASBOs or community service with superpowers. One of the female characters gets the power of being able to cause lust in other people, of which YAY!, but apart from that it looks alright. Is it any good?

Also, has anyone seen the new mobile phone advert which basically seems to be about organising a big redheaded breeding programme? It's a bit creepy, in my opinion. But in a way sort of pleasing, to me at least. It's like the spirit of Luke Rattigan lives on!

Cinema adverts:

( Spoilers for the Doctor Who season 4 promo )

The new Ford advert with the orchestra is quite pleasant, but totally missing a guy running in at the end and going "What...what have you done to my CAR?! I drive to work in that! My car! What - ?". And all the musicians looking faintly abashed.

Is it just me, or are almost all cinema adverts nowadays car adverts? Or speed warnings? They must think that everyone who goes to the cinema drives there, or WISHES THEY DID.

The Fiat advert I actually quite enjoy, because of the music and everyday masterpieces. I only don't enjoy the bits where they use this to spread propaganda about their car being one.

The Visit Scotland advert is quite sweet and cheesy, but the "far away from dry land" bit really just makes me think of "The sea forgives all! Not like those mean old mountains. I hate them so much!"

All the Direct Line Insurance ads really tell me is to never let my car or living room be involved in an insurance advert.

I hate the coke advert, except for the rainbow strap the busker wears, but that wasn't actually on today.

Trailers:

Eee, Semi-Pro! Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson, and Andre Benjamin! Maybe one day there will be an awards ceremony where they suprise Will Ferrell with all the gay boyfriends he ever had in his films. And I will flutter with glee.

The Spiderwick Chronicles one was actually last week, but mostly I love the girl who stabs things. And teaches her brother to stab things. And has good form (I believe). Maybe I should try to actually get into those books before the movie comes out.

I can't actually remember what else is out at the cinema at the moment. The Iron Man one was also on the other week. I love Robert Downey Jr.