A fresher start

In looking back over journal entries for the past few years (as per the current meme) I've realised that I've lost sight, somewhat, as to what I wanted this journal for.

When I look back to entries written more than two years ago, they're full of the things that made my life up then; the people that I loved, the places I went, the work I did.

Now, I occassionally post something fannish. The rest of the time it's one-line dross.

This is at least partly due to the fact that I had a serious nervous breakdown two years ago. I didn't realise until after going through the posts made in July over the past few years: the world seems a darker place to me now, which saddened me.

So I'm going to make a concerted effort to blog more about my life, and hopefully record my route back to a happier place.

In the spirit of this...

I'm currently unemployed, and have been wallowing somewhat in the many obvious downsides of this. Yesterday I experienced the upside; getting to go into London and meet up with friends.

When I got to Piccadilly Circus, I immediately had a text message from Juicy saying she was going to be late. Of course it was at that moment that the heavens opened. I was part of a flock of businessmen, tourists and families with screeching children who ran desperately for cover, and I ended up sheltering in the doorway of Planet Hollywood for half an hour, waiting for it to pass. It's the closest I've ever been to that establishment. I ended up becoming a defacto tour guide and telling confused and wet strangers the way to HMV or Chinatown or Eros.

After dinner with Juicy and the divine_miss_j, we went to Borders and lugged every wedding magazine we could up to the cafe, proceeding to go through them with a fine-toothed comb for story ideas. DMJ has an interview next week for a wedding magazine, (for which I have everything crossed), and had to give them five article ideas.

It was informative reading, certainly, and a little bizarre. Our fave mag was Black Meringue, an alt-weddings publication that featured, among other things, adverts for wedding night butt-plugs and cock rings, bejeweled and glamorous. Awesome, in other words: I highly recommend it!

At the end of the night, DMJ and I had the following conversation:

DMJ: So do you think if you were getting married and bought a wedding magazine, these are the kinds of articles you'd like to read?
Me: (firmly) Yes. (beat) If I were a different person.
DMJ: Well, if you were getting married and purchasing bride magazines, I'm already assuming you're a different person.

Meanwhile, it turns out that Diana Wynne Jones has not one but two new books out, one of which is actually a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. That squeal you just heard? Yeah, that was me. So I'm heading to Foyles this afternoon, then out to Juicy's to watch Big Brother with her, thus saving rossywar from the Terrible Fate of my Terrible Taste in TV. We plan to have Italian, and I'm already hoping I keep my resolve to only order a green salad, and not pasta, chips and garlic bread. Mmm carbs.

Recent favourite things:

Music and Passion Inspiring, truly, and beautiful.

God Hates Shrimp. Thanks to nimnod for the link!