Grr.

[slemslempike]

I went out for lunch with some people from the department. I had carrot cake. I didn't actually want carrot cake, as I only really like the icing and not the cake part, but I asked for the orange cake, and she said "carrot cake" and for some reason I said "yes". I scrutinised the cakes as I walked back to the table, and I'm sure the other one was an orange cake. Probably she was trying to hoard it all for herself, and putting spokes in the wheels of anyone who wanted it. I also had an orange/grapefruit/lemon juice thing which was nice, if rather frothy.

I am having to resist the urge to use the red marker pen on my keyboard to colour over my eyebrows.

I had a weekend of mostly sleeping, reading, and watching Freaks and Geeks with Alice. And then we cleaned the kitchen and did all the washing up on Sunday. There was a lot of it, so we divided it into glasses, bowls, plates, pans, pan-type accessories, plastics, knives, forks, spoons, sharp knives, other cutlery and bits of the oven, and then rewarded ourselves for each cateogry completed by...moving a magnet from one side of the boiler to the other. It wasn't so bad, as Jen had done the mouldy bits earlier, but I made Alice do the pan that she had (apparently accidentally) welded burnt rice to the bottom of while I scrubbed the oven. It's not exactly sparkling, but it's certainly less brown than it was.

I've finally got a form to go to a conference on "Entertainment, Leisure and Identities" in May, which oursin very kindly told me about - thank you very much. Hopefully I can get my department to help me with the costs - they have a fund, but I don't know how it gets distributed. There will apparently be a paper called "from Mississippi to Merseysippi" about The Beatles. I feel I should take nerdcakes so that she can spread her (accentless) Liverpudlian pride amongst a wider audience.

Current annoyances:

People putting out requests for specific assistance (experiences rather than googlable info), and then not thanking people who respond.

Being called "dear". I generally accept it in the spirit in which it's intended from people who use it habitually and whom I know, but on the whole I don't like receiving endearments, and that's possibly my least favourite. It sounds either elderly or patronising to my ears.

But then I have been in a foul mood for at least the last week, in the sort of temper where you want to kick things, preferably things that will break while making a harsh noise, slam doors very very loudly, tell absolutely everyone you meet to fuck off and mean it, and possibly burning things down. I have nobly refrained from almost all of the above, but can't promise that this will continue.

Did I hear aright that Sandi Toksvig is going to host The News Quiz next series? I am not at all sure how I feel about that. I mean, hurrah, for Sandi is excellent, and I have had the occasional twinge while pondering what hignfy would have been like if she had got the hosting job (and will anyone write me that fic, beg though I do? No, apparently they won't. You bastards.). But if she's hosting then that means she can't guest, and I find her so funny and wonderful, and she won't, presumeably get to collapse in giggles and make jokes about groping Alan Coren quite so often.

Comments

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Yes! I mean, carrots are rather sweeter than other vegetables. I think a pepper cake might be quite nice. I love broccoli but I don't think I'd like it in a cake.

I wish you luck with the quantity theory of money. Is that about how much money there is? I have some money, if that helps.

It is a bit sunny sometimes. This morning it was a little bit too cold for no gloves, and then about ten minutes later my hands were boiling awfully and the whole rest of the journey they were on and off really irritatingly.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Hmm. My Vagina = Penhall's Trousers?

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! He's certainly squeezed himself into tighter places before now. The baseball uniform was particularly eye-watering. Glad to have been of assistance, and hope that the equation comes up in your exam. When is it?

[nerdcakes.livejournal.com]

Hee! I would totally come with you, only I fear that they might not appreciate hearing me cheer every time the word 'Liverpool' is mentioned. ;)

Well done for the not-burning of things. That is really all you need to achieve, I think.

I feel much the same way about Sandi hosting The News Quiz. Mostly, though, I'm quite happy that she'll be on it every episode omg. And hopefully she'll continue make that exact same joke about how she and Alan Coren are like a married couple but it'll be sad that she'll be stuck asking questions instead of answering them.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Yes. I have discovered where we keep kitchen matches, but I will surely forget again if I get toweringly angry. It seems like too much effort. And probably it would burn down and burn my fingers before I managed to get anything actually lit, and that would make me even crosser than before.

"Because we never have sex". Ah, Sandi. How I love her. I think she'll be a good host probably. I might start haunting the BBC tickets page to try and get tickets for that.

[sinsense.livejournal.com]

The paragraph that begins But then I have been in a foul mood for at least the last week is so very excellent, and so exactly describes my mood for the past week that I gasped when I read it. Bravo. (I almost wrote "Bravo, dear," which is the other part of my mood -- I want to say things that people have expressly told me not to say. What in hell's name? Foul moods are dangerous.)

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Oh good, a partner in fury! Even when I'm mostly okay there's a growling in my chest. I'm hoping it will pass without overcoming me so that I run rampant through Lancaster shouting at people, as that might be a bit embarrassing once I'd calmed down.

[birdsflying]

Erk. I use 'dear' a lot. But not in a patronising manner! (I hope). Am sorry to hear you are cranky. Would you like to join me when I toast marshmellows over the smoldering remains of my finance department? (Is supposedly sorted now but I still plan to burn them to the ground.)

Am working my way through my comments at the moment but wanted to say: thank you so much for your suggestions. I need the gender/age thing for the section on my participants (butnot for my actual hypothesis, I wanted to leave it out by the supervisor was all 'no, no - you need a bit about the people you ae asking!'.) but I did add a 'prefer not to say' section as per your advice.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Oh no - I certainly didn't mean you, as I know you always comment when you're less snowed under, and anyone I know at all really - it's in communities when someone makes a post asking for detailed information, which they get from people, and then - nothing. Not even an ETA to say thanks. Grr. But definitely not you, and if I'd thought I wouldn't have said.

And same for dear - I don't mind when it's from someone I know, and I know where they're coming from, it's more when it's from people I don't know very well, or at all, and it's very presumptuous.

Marshmallows hurrah!

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I don't think I ever say 'dear' except when provoked past bearing by internet trolls, and usually not even then. I usually associate it with little old ladies.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

My mum calls me dear sometimes, and that's okay. My it's all grr making otherwise, I think I probably think it's like when you get provoked by trolls.

[whatho.livejournal.com]

I've had random angriness too. It might be the tree pollen. Or it might just be that I'm a bit rubbish and thus a good focus for anger.

Carrot cake is wrong. It's a wartime thing. People don't have to use carrots in place of sugar anymore because sugar isn't rationed. Neither is there any place in chocolate cake for beetroots, though I've seen no fewer than two recipes that seem to think otherwise.

And if you do colour over your eyebrows, kindly take a photograph.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Random angriness is very strange, and then I get angrier because there's no real reason.

Beetroot in chocolate cake? I think I would like to try that once so I can disparage it with impunity.

I have not coloured over my eyebrows. I have to give a presentation at another university tomorrow and I don't think it would go over very well. I still might do it another time.

[whatho.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine once absentmindedly drew a big blue cross on her forehead then apologetically refused to answer the door to anyone with the statement: 'I cannot talk to you now because I have a big blue cross on my forehead'. It's just such a good plan.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Did I hear aright that Sandi Toksvig is going to host The News Quiz next series?
I thought it was good news. She'll be on every week and perhaps she'll write her own script, which would be funnier than the one it takes about ten people to write for Simon Hoggart. More good news from Radio 4: Marcus Brigstock & Andrew Sachs starring in The Code of the Woosters. Sunday afternoon.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I heard about Marcus Brigstock, and I do think that will be very good. I shall have to remind myself to listen again.

The script will certainly be better if she has even a tiny hand in it. Also I like her sometime Danish detachment from the crazy world of British news.

[sabethea.livejournal.com]

But then I have been in a foul mood for at least the last week, in the sort of temper where you want to kick things, preferably things that will break while making a harsh noise, slam doors very very loudly, tell absolutely everyone you meet to fuck off and mean it, and possibly burning things down. I have nobly refrained from almost all of the above, but can't promise that this will continue.


YES! ME TOO! And I thought I was alone and everyone else was good tempered all the time and it was just me who wanted to do this. (And kick the cat, which I've also refrained from doing except by accident when she sneaks under my feet when I'm carrying the baby and can't see her.) *very much empathy*

And useless fact of the day... Joey Maynard's least favourite endearment was "my love" - even from Jack, apparently!

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I didn't remember that! She was rather fond of calling her offspring brats though. I don't mind "my love". It does make me think of that woman in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves who greets Little John with "alright my luverr?" at the hanging.

I am normally reasonably even tempered, with small flashes of homicidal rage that passes quite quickly, but this past week is just vile.

[sabethea.livejournal.com]

Ah. I am rarely to never even tempered and sulk about the fact that the rest of the world seems to be... :-P

The "alright my luverrr" woman was clearly Cornish. Have never been adressed as 'my lover' so much as in Cornish shops.

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

There was an entire book of vegetable desserts ('Beyond Carrot Cake' or some such) at the library I worked at. I was never brave enough to open it.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

There's a marmite cookbook in the town library. I wonder if they have desserts?

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

Ew ew ew ew. What a truly horrible thought. I am a bad Kiwi and prefer Vegemite.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry if I've used 'dear' to you in the past. I may have done - I do use it, but only to people who really *are* dear to me, and you're certainly that.

Boo to your bad mood. I'd vote for kicking things that won't break, and shouting very loudly at something that won't mind. I don't like being in a bad mood, in case I end up saying something that will hurt someone, or breaking something that I'll be sorry about later. Whatever you opt for, I hope the mood goes away soon.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

P.S. I love the icing on carrot cake. I mostly think that the cake is only there to provide a bit of contrast for the icing, which is clearly the main feature.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Oh, I definitely didn't mean from you! It's really people I don't know, or who are presuming a closer relationship that we have.

Yeah, the worrying about saying something that I really want to, but will probably regret later is a thing with me. Argh.