The Impossible Planet

I know, it's been weeks since I last posted!! Sorry everyone, but I'm back :-)

I love Doctor Who. I think it's my favourite programme. This Saturday's episode is said to be very scary!! YAY!!


courtesy of Sir Didymus



The best show on tv and a brand new two part story. You don't need to have watched it before... but now's the perfect chance to find out just what 40% of the viewing audience in the UK, and an average of 7 to 10 million people are raving about week in week out... the show with the highest Audience Appreciation figures average...

The show that mixes sci-fi and horror with all out comedy from the cream of Britain's writing crop [including Russell T Davis, Queer As Folk/The Second Coming/Casanova; Mark Gattiss, The League Of Gentlemen; Steven Moffat, Coupling; Matthew Graham, Life On Mars; Stephen Fry, nuff said].

The show with the best leading man on the box in David Tennant [Casanova, Blackpool, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire], and one of the best leading ladies in Billie Piper [So Much Ado About Nothing, Spirit Trap].

The show with a guest star list that so far includes the likes of Anthony Head, Simon Pegg, Tamsin Grieg, Zoe Wannamaker, Pauline Collins, Annette Badland, Penelope Wilton, Adam Garcia, Anna Maxwell Martin, Sophia Myles, Richard Wilson and Simon Callow, and this week features Shaun Parkes and Danny Webb!

The homegrown mainstream smash that shames anything America's produced for television in the last five years.

TRUST ME. WATCH IT. IF YOU'RE NOT HOME, TAPE IT AND WATCH IT LATER OR CATCH A REPEAT... THIS IS MUST SEE TV.

AND PASS THIS MESSAGE ON.

SATURDAY. 7pm. BBC1.

I was young and I needed the money.....

I mentioned on the OG Forum that I once went for a job interview in a massage parlour, and details were requested. As I wrote it up for there I thought I'd post it here too.


After I left University with my (really useful) archaeological degree I couldn't get a 'proper' job anywhere. I wanted to work in Stoke and the local museum only had vacancies for people who already had museum qualifications. I worked in Hanley market on a bread, cheese and oatcakes stall (that's where my Mum sold Russ Abbott some cheese); in a clothes shop (but I asked to be made redundant because they were messing me around with my hours); in a Pot Bank where most people were making pots but I was gluing the black artificial coal pieces together that are used in gas-fires (I had a reaction to the glue and started walking into things so I had to leave); and finally in a local cafe that opened for the Pot Banks at 6.30 am, so we had to get there before 6 am.

Me, my Mum and my next-door neighbour all worked there together, with the couple who owned it. The man who owned the 'massage parlour' (he didn't call it that obviously - he was a physiotherapist) used to come in every day for breakfast and then lunch. Apparently his last girl left so he needed a new assistant and asked me if I'd be interested, and that the money would be better than the cafe. He said he'd need to do an interview so to pop in any time. My Mum thought it was a bit dubious(!) so I took her with me, which I don't think he was expecting.

He showed me round - very nice and tasteful - and told me about the kind of work he did. Apparently he was the official physio for Port Vale Football Club (just up the road) so I'd be able to work on all those footballers too. Then he started talking about the 'training'. Apparently I wouldn't need to go to college, he'd teach me everything I needed to know...

When I would be massaging (sorry, physiotheraping) clients they would have various nether regions tastefully covered with a towel. However, I'd have to learn how to massage (sorry, do physiotherapy) on the entire body so, before the place opened each morning, I would have a practical session with him. Of course, so I could learn properly, he wouldn't be using any towels, so I could see exactly what I was doing...

It was at this point that Mum and I decided that this wasn't really the career I wanted to get into so we said thanks and left.

Funnily enough, we got a phone call from Hanley CID a few months later saying that the girl he'd taken on instead of me was being questioned about solicitation, and he was being investigated for running a brothel!!! After we told them I'd only gone for an interview but turned the job down they said it was okay, they didn't need to interview me.

New Car = New Start : this was very good advice!

*still shaking*



I've done it!!!! I'VE FINALLY PASSED!!!!

I think I deafened the poor examiner when he told me because I shrieked so loud then I started crying and shaking so much I could hardly sign the form - the two signatures on it are completely different!

I only got 4 minors (out of an allowable 15) so I drove really well :-D

I'm a Driver!!!

It's taken me two years and eight days to pass, from my very first lesson. I daren't add up how much it's cost me altogether... it was £93 just for today!

Did I mention I'm a Driver!!!

Fourth time unlucky...?

Okay. I'm fed-up and worrying about Saturday. I had a lesson last night and spent half of it in tears. My instructor's had a new car (2006 Mini) which is the same model (thankfully) but the clutch is different, etc. I'll have driven it for a grand total of three hours before my test at 10.44 am on Saturday morning.

I'm so worried I'm going to fail again...I find it *so* frustrating that 17 year old lads pass their test after about 3 lessons and I keep failing. That's not me being derogatory to teenagers btw - it's just my frustration that at 37 I should be able to do this!!!

I'll keep you updated on Saturday.

I feel like some pictures - Scotland

I've been on holiday to Scotland lots of times, it's one of my favourite places, especially the Outer Hebrides, a group of islands off the north-west coast of Scotland. I had a book on Skye when I was younger and there was a picture of a house in it that I was determined to buy when I got lots of money. When I went there on holiday I made my Mum drive round the island until we found it!!



We went on a trip to Lewis and saw the Callanish Stones, I love ancient monuments, especially mystical ones.



One of the things I love about the Islands is the beaches. With the white sand and the azure sea it's hard to remember you're actually looking at the Atlantic Ocean!



Now I'm getting all nostalgic for Scotland...I think I need to go there again on holiday.

Very Short Update

I might as well just copy+paste from earlier posts.... I failed my driving test again - for the third time!!!

My manoeuvres went okay this time because I didn't have to parallel park. It was the rest that was rubbish. My gears went to pot, I tried to pull out of a junction in third instead of first, I stalled twice, I was bloody useless!!!

I have put in for it again - March 18th. It's so expensive so I better pass soon. The test is £55 (more expensive on a Saturday) and £38 for a two-hour lesson.

I hate driving.

pbwiki - still great!!

I've written about pbwiki before, in September when I started this blog. I've found it really useful for my writing, a good back-up along with my hard-drive and my flash-drive. I've been using it for my F2K work as well as my novel.

Mine is a private one as it's got all my work on it, but there are public ones out there too.

Here's a few I found that show how some people use them...

Narnia Confidential

FrauBucher: Books and Book Searches

Spam Legal Action

The Reading Cat

F2K : Lesson Three

I found this difficult to write, I cried a lot. It's about Jake.


From your own writings, pick out a paragraph you like; then tell it from a different POV.


The lead slipped from her hand and the dog nimbly dodged underneath the couch, jumping over the metal struts supporting the legs.

"Hey you, come back here!"

Annie chuckled a little as he faced the corner then headed back around the room. However, her laugh was strained, the tears were falling. He walked back towards her, his trailing lead getting tangled round the vet's legs as he tried to move out of the dog's way. She sat down on the floor, leaning back against the wall, "Come here darlin', come and have a cuddle".

He headed straight for her and, turning round, sat down on her outstretched legs. "That's a good boy." She put her arms around him and gave him a hug, breathing in his doggy smell. Normally she hardly noticed it, but now she wanted to remember everything she could. His white fur tickled her nose and she sneezed, surprising them both.

The nurse came into the room carrying a metal dish and she and the vet both looked down to the pair sitting on the floor. Annie nodded slightly and nudged her dog off her lap. She stayed on the floor, kneeling up to hug him again as he stood in front of her, his side pressing against her. She could feel his heart pitter-pattering under her hand as she held him close.

The vet spoke softly, "Hold him tight for me; I just need to shave a little bit of his leg."

He knelt down too. The electric razor whizzed but it was so quick that the dog didn’t seem to notice the noise. The nurse knelt down beside him and passed over a small antiseptic wipe.

"This will be a bit cold for him, hold him and keep talking to him."

Annie hugged him again as he moved his leg away from the coldness. The vet took one of the syringes from the metal dish that the nurse was holding.

"How...how long will it take?" Annie asked, tears running down her face.

He smiled gently, "It's very quick, less than a minute, just keep talking to him all the time". She nodded, and buried her face in fur.

"It's all right my love...it's all right." Hot tears ran down her cheek and spilled onto her dog's back. She deliberately didn't watch what the vet was doing but heard the clink of the syringe in the dish and tried not to think about the liquid death that was pumping round his body. She knew that it was nearly time.

"I love you darling, you know I love you, I always will." She repeated the same words over and over, kissing the top of his head. She wanted the last thing he heard to be her voice, the last thing he felt to be her arms around him and her kisses. She wanted him to know that he was loved. Her voice turned thick and croaky as she cried.

She felt him sag against her, and gently supported him as she let him slide to the floor. She started to sob even more. It was over.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Jake could smell the scents of strange creatures. He recognised his own kind, and those pesky cats, but there were others in the air... He skipped across the room under the bed, there was one wafting on the air over in the corner and he wanted to have a closer sniff.

He heard her voice calling from behind so turned back and, pushing past a stranger, trotted up to her and sat down heavily on her lap.

This is much nicer than sitting on the cold floor, he thought. He felt her arms around his tummy and smiled happily to himself as she scratched one of his ears.

He stood up again as she nudged him and then pressed himself against her as she hugged him. Hug me again, he thought, I love it when you tickle my tummy and scratch behind my ears. Scratch my back too, in that place I can’t reach however hard I try.

He felt someone else kneel down beside him and looked round, confused at the new people who were here with him. The whirr of something strange distracted him a little but he snuggled back against her and closed his eyes in pleasure.

What’s that, it’s cold...ouch...and it’s sharp...

He could feel water splashing on his coat and looked up, worried for a moment when he saw she was crying. She smiled at him again and he felt reassured, everything’s fine.

He could hear her voice telling him she loved him and he wished he could tell her that he knew, and he loved her too. But these humans, he thought, they just never seem to understand what we say.

Her voice seemed to be getting further way, and he felt a sudden wave of tiredness sweep through his body. His eyelids felt heavier...he leant against her.

So tired, just need to sleep for a little while.....

Word Cloud

I found this on mentalexcrements' site.

My Blog summed up in 100 words.





You can buy T-shirts with your very own Blog Cloud on.

F2K : Lesson Two - Writing Exercise 2

Write one (1) paragraph using all the senses. Include at least three (3) words or phrases that suggest something without saying what the sense is.

She walked, trying to move silently through the trees. Dried brown pine needles crackled under her boots and she winced in dismay. Quickly she turned to see if there was any sign of someone following her but there was no one there. Her chest hurt as she breathed in the Christmas-scented air quickly and deeply, her heart still pounding from running into the forest. Her misty breath clouded her vision as she peered into the blackness behind her. As she reached the bottom of the slope the ground became very soggy. Mud squelched under her pink wellingtons, dirtying the bright white daisy pattern. She skidded a little in her hurry, trying to keep her balance on the sloping ground. Suddenly a crow cawed loudly as it flew up from a nearby tree, breaking the heavy silence. Turning again to look behind, her foot slipped in the mud and she fell heavily. The mud was thick and viscous under her hand. She tried get up but her hand kept sliding away so she turned herself over to push herself up from her knees. She tried to stifle a sob as pain shot through her ankle where she'd twisted it as she fell. She could feel the sweat running down her face but when she wiped it she was shocked to see streaks of red amongst the dark brown mud on her hand. She felt around her mouth gingerly with her tongue, and tasted the coppery tang of blood seeping from the inside of her cheek. She must have bitten it as she fell but hadn't even realised until she saw the blood on her hand. Daylight was starting to fade and the forest was becoming gloomier all the time.

F2K : Lesson Two - Writing Exercise 1

Write one sentence for each sense (all 8 of them).

Sight
As the flames reached ever higher, sparks and flaming flakes of ash rode the wind upwards and disappeared into the smoke.

Hearing
The child covered his ears with his hands and shut his eyes tightly, but the screams of the women still echoed in his mind.

Touch
She tried to free her wrists tightly bound behind her, the coarse rope rubbing her raw flesh.

Smell
There was a rancid stench from the thick smoke billowing from the pyre.

Taste
The taste of death was in the air.

Time
The silver moon hung low in the sky, its reflection fractured in the frozen surface of the lake.

Space
As she sank to the bottom of the lake the trailing weeds entangled themselves around her, getting tighter as she struggled.

Unknown
His breath was hot against her cheek...she gasped slightly as his hand tightened around her throat, she could feel herself slipping into darkness.

My Jake

My dog Jake's a border-collie cross. He's been off-side for a while, he went off his legs on Chrismas Day and just lay there, looking confused. He didn't seem to be in any pain and after about ten minutes he was up and walking about. It happened again this morning. We were in the front room and he suddenly started yelping. All his legs had gone, they were splayed out like Bambi on ice. It must have been painful, straining like that and that was why he was yelping. He was in front of the kitchen door and we couldn't get in, but he dragged himself across the floor so we could open up the door.

I rang the vets and they said bring him right in. The vet gave him a good going over and said he had a heart murmur but it was probably arthritis that was causing him to go off his legs. He was getting stiff while he's asleep then couldn't get up when he tried. She said we could try an anti-inflammatory injection, but she knew what we'd come prepared for.

He's sixteen and he's had a good life. Giving him a pain-killing injection would be for us, not for him. So we had him put to sleep. I cuddled him while it happened, he just fell asleep. The vet left us with him and I stroked him while he grew colder under my hand.

We're having him cremated and having the ashes back, but don't know what we're going to do with them yet.

I've got some pictures from Christmas on my new digital camara, once I've worked out how to upload them, I'll put a couple of pictures up here.

I know it was the right thing to do, but it still hurts.

Birthday Blues

It's my birthday on Thursday, I'll be 37. I know in the great scheme of things that's not old, but somehow it's so much closer to 40 than the mid-thirties.

I guess I'm a bit down about it. It's not so much the actual age, it's that I look at my life and see that nothing's really changed over the last fifteen years. I finished my degree (archaeology - so useful in everyday life!) then had about eighteen months of casual jobs (market stall, shop, cafe, potbank) before getting a receptionist job at a doctors' surgery.

Fifteen years later I'm still there, working upstairs doing computer reports on clinical data. But the only real change in my life is the people I've met through the Internet - either in RL as well or just online. I still live at home with my Mum (I know, how sad is that!), we've got the same dog (a mad Border Collie-cross called Jake). I do go to a different church, Anglican instead of Methodist. Oh, my hair's red now but that's hardly life-shattering.

I am happy most of the time with everything, I guess I just get thoughts now and again about what I want from life - this is a 'now' time.

I don't know what could make it different and even whether I'd be happier if it was. Oh well... I'm sure I'll be back to my usual cheery self in a few days, after Thursday anyway ;-)

F2K : Lesson One

Bit nervous but here goes...


Have a character you have created tell us a little about you. Have them give us a view of you that we wouldn't normally see (why they think you created them, how they feel about you, what you put them through in your writing, etc.)

I was in a dark empty place but she hath given me life. For a short time at least - for then she gave me death. Thee might think I would be bitter about that, but I am not, at least not at her. I am Rachel. The witch-hunter Cramer claims I am a worshipper of Satan, but he is wrong. I am a good woman and a good mother whose only crime is to worship the old religion.

I know that it gave her grievous heartache to kill one of her own. She cares too much about such things, she needs to remember that everything lives and that everything dies. My life and death hath lasted many centuries now, but my soul doth not rest easy. I said I have no bitterness towards her for my fiery death, and that is true, but she hath filled my heart with hate, my mind with dreams of revenge. When I first met her I had a joyous life, but she changed that forever. I thought I knew where my life was going, but she hath taken that away from me... I see only blackness now. I do not know where my journey will end.


Let me know what you think, all comments appreciated. They don't have to be complementary - although obviously I'd like that best!! *lol*

Midway-thru-January Resolutions

Well. Umm....so where does the time go to? I think I did quite well with this to begin with, but then made the fatal mistake of stopping! It's hard to get motivated again, especially around Christmas.

But here I am again - two posts in one day!!!

I got nowhere with NaNo but I am determined to keep writing my novel. I definately know that I'm one of those people who need lots of encouragement to realise that they can actually write okay. All the people who comment here at my Blog do that, and I thank you. I decided I also wanted to try a creative writing course that might help stretch my abilities.

I Googled and found F2K: Fiction Writing for the New Millennium. Everyone who registers is put into a virtual classroom and all the members comment and encourage each other. It runs for seven weeks with a new assignment posted every Wednesday, and I've posted up my first one!!! It's a bit daunting, but I'm enjoying it so far.

I think I might post my assignments here as well, then you can see some of the stuff I'm writing too. Maybe.

Well could you all cope with three posts in one day from me?!!!

Driving Test Update

I know - recover from the shock of me actually posting anything here!! I'm in the midst of putting a longer one together, but I thought I'd kick-off with this.

I failed my test again in December, on exactly the same thing. Who needs to parallel park in the Real World anyway? You just drive round until you find a space ;-)

I booked my third one online this morning. Tuesday 14th February at 10:14 am.

*crosses fingers for third time lucky*

A Poem

A Witch's Death by Silver DawnHawk

The forked tongues lick at my flesh
They lick me, teasing, hungry
I shiver despite the heat
I pull against the bonds that hold me
Freedom is beyond the choking grey cloud
My eyes water with unshed tears
Through moments of clarity I see the faces
And then they are swallowed by fog again
The tongues are hungrier
Licking with intensity
Playing with my clothes and hair
MOTHER, my mind screams
But I voice no words
The fog closes in
No more moments of clarity
The tongues finally enjoy their feast.

Silver DawnHawk's Website



Sorry I haven't posted for a while, I've been sewing my fingers off!!
Not a good month to NaNo, I've hardly written anything at all.
So here's a poem by someone else :-)

Mary Sue

I started writing the main section of my novel for NaNo and I found that the main character talks to herself a lot. Some of you may remember me saying here that I do this as well. She's just come out that way, I've not done it on purpose, but now I'm conscious that I mustn't write her like me...or more to the point how I'd like to be!! *lol* She musn't be a 'Mary Sue'!

I've heard of the name a few times before, often in connection with fan-fiction, but I thought I'd look into it a bit more.

'Mary Sue' - A female character who is so perfect that she is annoying. The name originated in a very short Star Trek story that mocked the sort of female characters who showed up in fanfiction. It usually refers to original female characters put into fanfiction, but can refer to any character.

Mary-Sues are characters who are usually extraordinarily gorgeous, amazingly talented, unusually powerful, and exceedingly attractive to whoever the author has a crush on. They often possess ridiculously fancy and pretentious first names -- Angel, Raven, Jewel, Lorelei Bianca Julia Marizza Snape -- and are very, very annoying.

This is a test I found to check if your character is a 'Mary Sue'.

And if you decide you do want to have a Mary Sue in your book then this could be quite useful ;-)

I'm Starr Devereaux, with Silver Topaz eyes, hair the colour of Tousled Mahogany and my signature scent is Ivory Night-Blossom. My paranormal power is Time Travel and my specialised skill is Expert Pilot. My distinguishing marks are Pointed Ears and my newly revealed relationship to a major character is that I'm Tyr Anasazi's Watcher.

So now you know! :-D

Next Test...

I promise I am going to write a post today about my book, but this is just a quick one first!

I've booked my next driving test for 21st December at 11.41 a.m. *crosses fingers* I hope my parallel park works better this time!

Popcorn

Meet Popcorn the Bear! This is the throw I'm sewing for my friend for Christmas. I've cross-stitched bigger pictures but the material I'm sewing on is huge! My hoop is about 2 ft across so it's not the most managable item to hold. I'm going to make the heart pink, I think it needs more colour.

I'm going down to London on 1st December so I need to get it finished by then. I'll carry on blogging but my NaNoCoMo will probably have to go on hold for a while...I'm running a bit behind with the sewing.