“Noodling is an ancient fishing method in which the fisherman wiggles his or her hand underwater near a bed of fish in hopes that a catfish will bite or, even better, swallow his hand”
(from jwz, again, perhaps of interest to edling who might need to know that noodling is currently illegal in Missouri…but probably doesn’t care)
I’ve been pondering trying to consolidate my pension provision (I have about five little pensions, each representing something around two years of contributions, none of which are really worth anything on their own), so I’m trying to figure out what I should do…I’m tempted by the concept of SIPP, but I don’t think the pot is big enough yet, but what about everyone else? What are your plans? What do you think I should do? [0]
Time to retire…
Its amazing what you can see if you’ve already decided what you’re looking at, isn’t it? I was accused, earlier this evening, of sneaking some items into the previous buyers shopping….as if I’d choose that non-name junk if I thought I wouldn’t have to pay for it? Pah! Sadly he’d failed to notice there was in fact another shopper (between me and his wife) who quite graciously owned up to actually putting her shopping inbetween, kinda stole his thunder.
Back to work today, deathly quiet in the office, except for our little enclave of mercinaries. I often like working between Christmas and New Year because you can get so much work done without the distractions of having to deal with people. Of course, this is less effective if the people who spend all day distracting you come in to work too.
The last couple of days have been spent wrestling with the crowd in Cambridge, Monday meeting sushidog and sheepthief for lunch at Clowns – its nice to catch up with them both, and good to hear that I’m not the only one intimidated by Hesters friends.
Yesterday was another lunch, this time with simonsatori and meme_me, followed by an assault on the shops, then “House of the Flying Daggers”, a relatively plotless Chinese film with great fighting. btw, whats with the daggers being held behind while advancing? Is that normal?
When is it going to be safe to go shopping again? The last couple of days have been hordes of people all frantically fighting to get to the next bargain, with huge piles of chirstmas novelties lying completely untouched, even at 75% off. Do you think people are cottoning on to the idea that this stuff is junk? Or has it always been like this and I never noticed before?
“Always buy a cheap camera with a big traveler’s check at a drug store” she tells me. “That will be so obviously a tourist move they won’t even look twice. Take pictures, but not of anything that will identify where you are. Don’t even play around with that. A street sign in the background, the shape of a building or a lighthouse- it’s not worth it. Really, you should just expose the film anyhow. What the hell do you need pictures for. And don’t smile. People remember smilers. They ignore bored people. Be bored. Another shitty day in paradise. No clerk will ever remember you. They don’t want to remember tourists. Remember that. If you ask directions, do it at restaurants, never hotels and not hotel restaurants either. You want as little contact with hotel staff as you can manage. They are the first people someone looking for you will ask.”
– Shes a flight risk
“At first there were just a few isolated reports, but soon the nation was in the grip of an epidemic of exploding trousers”
(sadly only a partial article available online – evilmattikinz might be interested in finding out some more while he’s in the area?)
One for the conspiracy theorists: N379P
Game reserves, dovecots, towers, fishing rights, theatres, and odd items for sale.
“the safest house in Britain…an ordinary-looking 4 bed bungalow on the outside, but beneath is a nuclear bunker” or anyone want to go halves on “74 foot concrete water tower with outline planning permission for a commercial recording studio”?
Just trying out the picture hosting…
Happily some of the tension I had feared from a conversation on Tuesday night wasn’t present…there was no need for tension in the first place and I was annoyed with myself for letting it get that way…
Today I was struck by a distinct change in clientel at Tescos while I was buying lemsip for the holiday period (to fend off the threatening illness). “I told you it would be cheaper at Wilkinsons”, its not normally like this, I feel most…decadent, with a basket containing things not wrapped in blue and white stripes. Then the guy in front of me at the checkout had done all of his christmas shopping, trying to fit eight huge toy/game boxes into his shopping basket. How had he even managed to get around the store with that much tat? Gods, I hate Christmas…or maybe I hate people.
And now, I curl up in bed with a weak lemony drink and a book about statistics.
Hope you all have a good day tomorrow…
“Create a no-win situation for anti-choice protesters — the more picketers who demonstrate outside a Planned Parenthood clinic, the more donations the Planned Parenthood clinic receives.”
Someone buy this man a playstation.
“We looked at each other, took a deep breath, and launched the application. The monitor burst into flames….This doesn’t suck”
“mysterious cloud formation over Alabama was exactly the shape of Gabriel’s arse…McDonald’s Christmas Dinner…The traditional turkey and vegetables are placed in a bun by an underpaid twelve year old.”
