Juthware

09:35 pm: Punk Tartans
I'm on a mailing list for the germanic languages of the north European Lowlands - that's Dutch, Scots, Low Saxon, English, Frisian and suchlike. Currently there's a competition going (prize: a credit on the website! It's not commercial or anything) where we submit photos to illustrate the web page for each language.

Since these are traditional dialects we tend to get photos showing lochs, windmills, old houses, farms and suchlike. You can see some of the submissions so far here. I'm looking for something more up-to-date and yet having Scottish connections. What I'd like is a photo - either landscape size or panoramic - showing people in modern punk-style tartans. The idea is that it shows a modern style that's developed from a Scottish tradition.

Does anybody have any such photos they've taken that they wouldn't mind me sending in to the competition? Or you could just send it in yourself if you like. It can be your friends or anything - they don't all have to be wearing tartan, just one or two would be fine as long as the tartan's noticeable.

Thanks for even thinking about this - I just don't want my dialect represented by a herd of extra-hairy cattle or wee sleekit couering timrous beasties and suchlike :)

08:35 pm: Windows no More
Just to let everybody know, I'm back online after a two week absence due to my ISP switching me to broadband without warning.

Also on a new machine, as my old one didn't have a network card. I'll be in touch on MSN etc as soon as I can figure out how to do that sort of thing from Linux :)

03:27 pm: Listen Very Carefully, for I shall Make this Mistake Only Once
The mistake is taking too relaxed an approach to booking Whitby accomodation!

Don't worry, I'll be there even if it means taking a B&B or hotel in Scarborough or something, but meanwhile, if anybody knows of any vacancies for one person or hears of any cancellations, I'd be grateful if they'd let me know!

09:51 pm: That'll Teach Me to Te,mpt Fate!
OK, in the last post I mentioned two injuries and said "Lucky those things dont come in threes!"

So tonight at my Thai cookery class I was rummaging in my bag forgetting there was a hand blender in there...

Didn't quite get my hand blended (sic) but had to get plasters on my finger to stop my Thai Green Curry turning out more like Thai Red Curry :)

05:46 pm: Insidious
Decided to start posting to LJ again - let's hope it works out this time.

Insidious, the Bristol night out, was at a new vernue, the Carvern below the Crown pub. After driving around for an hour with a map off the Internet, got a text for lady_of_the_dead saying it was near Bristol Bridge and then located it in seconds, almost.

The place was jampacked with people rushing off to the dance floor time and time again, so I take it the music was good! I got the impression that a lot of people would have liked to talk to me but didn't know how - and neither did I! I maybe need to make a point of taking a pen and notebook again and encouraging people to use it.

Woke up this morning with a really sore knee, which is strange as I didn't dance all that much. The only thing I can think of that was different was I wasn't wearing big goth boots - maybe there's a reason for those things and you should never dance without them! Anyway, it goes nicely with the shoulder injury I'm still recovering from after slipping on wet grass whilst racing a three-year-old, I'm just glad these things don't come in threes (touch wood!).

Insidious is a really good night, wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. It's not a regular event but worth watching out for if you're within getting-to distance of Bristol: insidious2006

01:16 am: Dreamreaders Stop Here
Usually I only have nightmares, or at least nightmares are the only dreams I remember. There aren't usually many people in them, and often these aren't people I bother much with in real life.

But recently my dreams have taken another turn. At the weekend I dreamed I was in a place that seemed to be Whitby, SC and Xtro all rolled into one, and it was seething with goths (though nobody I actually knew).

Then a couple of days ago I dreamed I was on a ship and the entire crew were taken captive by as part of some sort of government conspiracy and we were saield to a town in Kent where I managed to escape. This was an amazing town with the most impressive and beautiful architecture, and I noticed that a large proportion of the population were goths, though no-one I actually knew.

Then last night I dreamed that I was back in my old workplace in Wales. As before it had hundreds of employees but although I didn't know any of them they were nearly all goths of the most varied sorts.

It occurs to me that I haven't been out with other goths for a few months now, and this may be having a profound effect on my dreaming patterns! Maybe I should start going out again soon, and my dreamscape will be restored to its normal nightmarish bleakness.

09:28 pm: Mobiles
I was pondering getting a new mobile phone today. Mine is really old! After a bit of reading I think I want to get G3 but not yet. Articles pushing G3 seem to say the technology is improving all the time, which to me means it's best to wait if I can make do with what I have for a while yet.

Any comments or suggestions?

05:34 pm: Bad Taste on Channel 4?
Just seen the programme about Richard Whiteley. I was a bit surprised about all the comments on how bad his taste in clothes was. Even Carol and his partner said this.

I always thought his jackets and ties looked great. Anybody agree or am I the only one?

08:45 pm: Inverted Meme
Things I haven't done, that you probably have.

1. Watched Eastenders.


2. Bought a lottery ticket.


3. Read Harry Potter.


4. Been to Spain or Greece.


5. Tried to solve Rubik's Cube (relevant if you're old enough!).


6. Bought or sold anything on eBay.


7. Had a hangover.


8. Decorated my house either inside or out with Christmas decorations.

10:35 am: Whitby!
Very strange Whitby this time. Fragmented. Spa very unpopular even with regulars. I hope the spa gets popular again because it's got:

• Loads of space (unlike the Buck)


• Lighted areas (unlike Laughtons or the Met)


• Live bands (haven't seen any anywhere else in Whitby)

OK so sometimes the sound system is bad, but I've heard (if that seems possible :) that it was good this year.

OK, so the tickets are overpriced, but maybe they'll have to make them cheaper now.

OK, so the organisation was terrible in April, but hopefully lessons have been learned.

I was disappointed that Shambles weren't doing anything, I've had really good times there the past two Whitbies.

The Buck was fun but could be a lot better. At least the landlord did promise to rip the toilets out and put new ones in for April. I don't think it'll ever be a great venue though, there just isn't enough space to accomodate an appreciable number like I've come to expect at Whitby.

And talking about space, the landlord of the Elsi got in trouble this time and has been issued a summons: Goths annoyed at 'disgraceful' police action

But!! As always I had a great time and met lots of great people, new and old :)

12:56 pm: Though I only look slightly like the picture...
( This is the kind of goth I am )

12:04 pm: Another Day, Another LJ
I've just created a new LJ specifically for talking about my experiences of deafness.

Take a look: cochlear_my_eye and if you're interested in reading it, add yourself to the friends list.

02:13 pm: Sandman Character
( See the pic. )

04:04 pm: I only have Four Interests!

1. british sign language:
   This is a way of communicating with hands and face and a few other body bits without having to make a sound. Useful in loud clubs, or if someone's deaf, or far away, or out in the garden when you're at the kitchen sink, or underwater, or spacewalking, or on the moon, or to pass clandestine messages when other people aren't looking, or if you're in a particularly graphic mood, or if your eyes meet across a crowded room.
2. deaf:
   A state of being which hearing people can never understand, though there are many courses you can go on to help you. The one thing hearing people have most trouble understanding is that deaf people can't hear. You can see the problem when they shout louder, or call after you when your back's turned, or or evacuate the building without thinking of you. The worst case is in many schools for the deaf where the entire school day is taken up teaching deaf children to speak and then when they leave school and start speaking to the general populace, oops - they still can't hear!
3. goth:
   Goth is listening to Bauhaus &c, wearing black, big hair and eyeliner, having a general preference for gloomier genres of art and literature, self-deprecation, indifference to things most people get excited about (such as sport, sunshine and life), and if you're British going to the Dev, Whitby and the Nightmare Afore Christmas. None of these things are optional unless you really, really know what you're doing.
4. scots:
   This is the language of Fergusson, Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, and 2 to 14 million other people - there are so many Scottish ex-pats that it's hard to narrow the estimate down. It's descended form Old Northumbrian and I could go on in this boring vein or you could check it out for yourself on my website.
   

Enter your LJ user name, and 10 interests will be selected from your interest list.

12:04 pm: Synthetic Culture - Flyers?
Does anybody know if there are flyers I can print for Synthetic Culture to get a reduced entrance fee? I can't see them on the website.

You can get £2 off for dressing like a pirate. Hell, the parrot alone would cost more than that!

12:10 pm: Picnic!! Or Not.
Stocked up car boot with picnic stuff yesterday and set off for Henley. Approaching Basingstoke news starts to come through that due to illness and bad weather attendance is going to be very low, so in the end we cancelled.

Stopped at Basingstoke to have a look around. Ooh, goths!! English-rose-type girl in Lush blushed profusely when I told her I was deaf but coped very well with the communication. She wanted to know if I knew how to use the solid deodorant. I said yes, I mean there's nothing to it is there? You just rub it on? Or have I been doing it wrong? Maybe she was worried I would try to use the waxy bit instead of the soft bit? Anyway, pleasantly surprised by Basingstoke, quite quaint in the centre where I'd somehow imagined it would all be new townish. I'd been there before but only for Dr Fells.

Made the most of the drive by popping down to Southampton for a cup of coffee with angryangeltoo and so home to eat the picnic stuff for dinner.

Quite pleased at the moment because everyone I had my fingers crossed for has passed their Level 2 BSL. And I win a £20 bet with someone who thought she'd failed but I was sure she'd passed :)

02:36 pm: Sunday Afternoon Quizzes
( Only click if you're really in need of pointless amusement )

11:31 pm: Xtro Photos
Xtro was packed despite fears of Infest leaving the place empty.

11:40 pm: Stolen from various people
One little compliment can make you feel amazing.

So give me a compliment, anything in the entire world, even that my shoelaces are pretty. Put this in your journal. And once you get some comments, put that entry in a memory or tag and when you are feeling down, just go to that entry and this will remind how great you are.

02:22 pm: Another Travelogue
This doesn't count places I've just driven through, passed through in the train or flown over (I once flew over the Isle of Wight during a flying lesson). It doesn't count stopovers such as in Dover port on the way to France but it does count the time I went to Oxford in the train by mistake as the long walk back the railway tracks to the station is dear to my heart :)

I've visited the counties in yellow. Which counties have you visited? made by marnanel map reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of the Ordnance Survey. © Crown copyright 2001.