Persephone, Cassandra: Forsaken. February 12, 2010
Posted by phoenixaeon in Bendy beds and springy seats are supposed to be good for the health, blogs, Building work, EA300, OU, Personal Mythology: A Triumvirate, Poetry, TMA04.2 comments
Well, it’s been six months to the day since I sent my poems out. There’s been a deafening no response. Ho hum. I wonder if it’s because I used classical mythology? I remember reading a post on the Magma poetry blog asking if poems using classical mythology had a place in contemporary poetry. To my experience, no. No-one wants them. So, as I like them I am going to post them up here.
————————————————————————————————————————————-
As for other stuff; yay! I have submitted TMA04. It’s gone! So relieved. As usual it’s a collection of blah, I don’t think it’s very good blah, (oh, distracted by the Tazcat chasing his tail. Daft animal!), but at least it’s done. I wasn’t actually sure I would get through it, as I felt like giving up half way through. Now there are only two more essays left and the dissertation style ECA at the end. Another three months and the course will be finished. Can’t believe I’ve managed to get this far! Hoinka doinka! <– The new congratulatory expression.
The building work. Hmph. That’s come to a nails down a blackboard screeching stop. I should’ve known that it wouldn’t be done in the time frame they gave us, despite the fact that they were three weeks ahead in the first week of work due to good weather. I wouldn’t mind, but it’s mostly done. Kitchen’s in, almost all of the bathroom’s done, the bedroom’s done. There’s a few bits of finishing off – architraves and skirting boards, things like that – but nothing major. Except for paving the patio and constructing the wheelchair ramps round the back and front of the house. But guess what. There are no tradesmen to be seen, and there hasn’t been since about Tuesday. Grrr. Still, I can’t use the rooms yet because I don’t have the bendy bed or the shower chair. So I suppose there’s no rush yet.
New look. August 28, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in blogs, Bloody books, EA300.6 comments
I thought it was about time for a new look for the blog. I was getting a bit bored with its old appearance, so ta-dah! I think it looks a bit better now.
Today has been a bit of a wasted day. The gasman was meant to pay a visit to do the annual check on the boiler, but lo and behold – he never turned up. When Skidaddles called the company they said that no-one would be able to make it out today and that we’d have to reschedule. Fan-bloody-tastic! So a whole day of waiting in when I could have taken Princi to the park/bookshop/where-ever. Grrr!
I have also been waiting for the delivery of the course materials for the kidlit course. Ooh, I’m excited and anxious all at the same time. I am hoping that I can do the course some justice and not just flounder through like a floundering thing. I am hoping that installing Zotero into Firefox will help with keeping any journal/newspaper articles organised, and as an added bonus it helps with the bibliography too. Woohoo! I’d have not known about it if it hadn’t have been for a course tutor starting up an EA300 blog. The course hasn’t even started yet and the blog is proving to be a wealth of information! So, I think when Princi goes back to school I will sit down for a few hours and get familiarised with Zotero. I want to be able to utilise it well when it comes to writing them there dastardly TMAs.
Well, I’m going to treat Tazzle (Princi has gone to the park with Grandand). Yep, my brother’s cat is no longer his. Taz has taken up residence here, usually between my feet or on the back of my chair. I now feel like Mildred Hubble. Except that Taz is a black cat and not a tabby. Which reminds me, maybe I should go buy the Worst Witch books. I shall think on that!
I’m thinking it’s quite scary… March 12, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in blogs, Life writing.2 comments
I thought I’d have a read over of an old blog from 2002, to see if any interesting tidbits came up in respect of a life writing piece. I was specifically looking for a date in 2004 when I mentioned I was pregnant. Yay! I thought when I found it, but then started looking at other posts. I tell you, it’s damned scary that there is so much of me accessible on the web (if you know where to look 
), and yet here I am adding to it!
Saying there is so much of me, well. Some of it was quite cryptic, and I now have no idea what was happening at the time. Other posts were quite entertaining, even when they made me cringe in embarrassment. And then there were some that I thought had potential to be included in a structured piece of autobiographical life writing. Yay!
So, I will fully trawl through the embarrassment later and see what I can come up with. I know I have some scribbles hanging around that could work with the idea I have.
In the words of Hannibal from the A-Team – I love it when a plan comes together.
I hope!
All sewn up. February 11, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in blogs, Costumes, Fairy tales.add a comment
I have just spent the afternoon reacquainting myself with the sewing machine. Well, I didn’t use it, but I did all the deciphering of ye olde decrepit manual, and worked out how to thread the damn thing and reattach the foot. But yay! Rock on! I did it. Then Nanny and I set about sorting out making a costume for Princi for her school activity on Friday. She has to go in as a character from her favourite traditional tale/nursery rhyme. So, she has chosen an elf from The Elves and the Shoemaker. Nope, no Little Red Riding Hood for my munchkin. She did want to go in as the big bad wolf to begin with, but I don’t think that would have looked too good after her bad behaviour during this week (oh, she was good today, though). Nanny and I still have some work to do on the costume tomorrow, to make it look other than a reinvented t-shirt!
_____________________________________________________________________
On an aside, this very funny myspace page. It had me giggling and for some reason these words demanded that Will Shakespeare should speak in the voice of Dr Evil. Don’t ask. I don’t know why!
What type of blog are you? January 17, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in blogs.2 comments
I have just discovered this site – Typealyzer – that ‘categorises’ blogs. According to them, this blog is categorised as:
ESFP – The Performers
The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead – they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.
The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation – qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.
What do you think?
Muse on Moon Juice. November 8, 2008
Posted by phoenixaeon in blogs, Bloody books, Stephen Fry, writing.Tags: writing
1 comment so far
Well, last night I went to bed with a dilemma. Do I
- Carry on reading Webmage by Kelly McCullough? It’s getting interesting as it nears the conclusion.
- Read more of Reading As A Writer (RAAW) by Francine Prose? It’s certainly flaying my mind and leaving it open to the elements of words. I quite like the feeling.
- Dip into the Manga Shakespeare? Really intrigued to see how Shakespeare transfers into graphic novelisation.
In the end, I decided on looking at the Manga Shakespeare. It’s a very interesting concept, but I think it loses a little something in it’s execution. For me, especially where it concerns iambic pentameter, I need to see it in its original form. However, that doesn’t work so well in the frame of a graphic novel. Saying that, it’s far more engaging reading it in graphic novel form as the pictures adds some movement to the static text. I also like the idea of mixing the old with the new, Shakespeare’s text agaisnt the backdrop of Manga-style characterisations. It’s definitely a way to get kids reading Shakespeare. I think I’d have been more open to the idea when I was a teenager of reading Shakespeare in that form, rather than having it thrust upon me, and me alone, by my English teacher. I was bullied enough without taking extra beats for doing extra work. Nope sir, I didn’t like that idea. More fool me, but self preservation was much more important. Anyhows, going off topic. I started reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream, only putting it down because I was very tired. Unfortunately, even though my eyes were too tired to read any more, my brain was not shutting down.
Earlier in the night I had read the new blog post on Stephen Fry’s website, and that helped twist my mind as much as RAAW had done during the evening. But it was this, ‘Do they ever let the tripping of the tips of their tongues against the tops of their teeth transport them to giddy euphoric bliss? Do they ever yoke impossible words together for the sound-sex of it? Do they use language to seduce, charm, excite, please, affirm and tickle those they talk to?‘ that really snagged me, really danced on the poetic senses. So I think it was this partnered with RAAW and Shakespeare (this cocktail is now known as Moon Juice), that kick-started my brain and refused sleep to settle. I began mulling on a couple of points of Norse mythology in an attempt to find a way out of a plot hole I had written myself into. This eventually took me into sleep, but not before making me wonder if I should get up and write it down. I didn’t, as it is.
I woke up this morning and lay in bed not thinking about anything much. Then, in a flash of creative lightning, plot-patches began flashing up in my mind’s eye just as they do in when Chuck gets a hit off the Intersect. I hurried (as only I can in, a non-hurry, wibbly-wobbly type way) downstairs in order to scribble all of the fixes down. Thankfully, my brain didn’t burst and loose any of the information. So now I have plans to get three stories back up and running. I seriously need to learn to concentrate on one thing at a time!
I now understand I need to get my Muse drunk on Moon Juice before it will play.
Get out of my dreams! November 2, 2008
Posted by phoenixaeon in blogs, Dreams, F1.3 comments
I would like to know what my subconscious was trying to tell me last night after having a dream where I returned to Bradford Uni and then met Wil Wheaton at a comic convention. Hmmm? What problem was the brain trying to work out?
I am wondering if I should have a go at a NaBloWriMo this month as I’m not brave enough to do NaNoWriMo. What is NaBloWriMo? National blog writing month, meaning that I write a blog entry every day of November. Well, we’ll see how it goes. Two days done, twenty-eight to go!
Anyhoos, the plan for today:
- Do a couple of activities out of the BRB
- Research brown hair dye (sounds strange, but I have reasons)
- Sort out Princi’s schooliform
- Watch the Brazilian F1
- Maybe go and eat something…
First post… of a sort. September 26, 2008
Posted by phoenixaeon in A215, blogs, OU, writing.1 comment so far
Heee, my first WordPress post. Apart from the pages. Everything else has been dragged across the tumultuous information superhighway, losing comments along the way during a vicious battle with a pirate ship. But enough content was transferred to make it worthwhile. And the pages, they make WordPress even more worthwhile. Yay! I have side pages to put my poetry on! So over the next few days, maybe weeks, I shall play with WordPress, and work out all its foibles.
Anyhoos… I have not written anything much today, so off to read some course material and free my writes.
One of the most interesting blogs I’ve read… April 26, 2008
Posted by phoenixaeon in blogs.add a comment
Go check it out.
Not a good day… March 19, 2008
Posted by phoenixaeon in Anthony Minghella, Arthur C Clarke, blogs.2 comments
In the entertainment industry yesterday. Not with the death of British film maker Anthony Minghella and the Grand Old Man of sci-fi Arthur C. Clarke. A sad, sad day.
I think I was more affected by Arthur C. Clarke’s passing as I love to read, and anyone who has taken any notice in sci-fi over the last 40 odd years cannot have failed to be influenced in some way by him. The last time I felt upset by someone dying that I didn’t know was when I heard that the fantasy author David Gemmel had died. It’s such a strange feeling to have emotions for people that you didn’t know but had touched your life through their writing. Huh!
I’ve noticed lately that there has been mention on some blogs I read about an essay written by the author Robin Hobb about blogging writers. I blogged about it here, last September. It seems that there are lots of people getting riled by it (though not Scalzi, whose blog this link directs you to). Now, firslty, it’s been up on her site for ages. Secondly, it does have words of wisdom for slacker writers like me warning against the perils of blogging and how it could eat away your writing time. I really do not understand why, if they think it is offensive, they just don’t ignore it. Silly people.
