Vita Brevis Breviter In Brevi Finietu

Vita Brevis Breviter In Brevi Finietu

Thursday 29 November 2012

Photo Every Day #334

Really not feeling well. So here's a photo of Draco doing what I've been doing all day.

Photo Every Day #333

Tonight I made chicken & sweetcorn noodle soup. I've never made it before and I just winged it to be honest. I prefer cooking when I have a basic recipe but then just throw in random amounts of random things. I started by boiling the chicken with garlic salt. I then took the chicken out and cooked the noodles and sweetcorn in the juice. I also added half a chicken stock cube, salt and pepper seasoning and then some more garlic salt just for good measure. I then shredded the chicken and brought it all to the boil. It was really tasty and even the boy said it was pretty amazing so I was pleased with the results.

Chicken & Sweetcorn Noodle Soup:
Homemade Chicken and Sweetcorn Noodle Soup

Song Of The Day: Queens Of The Stone Age - Hanging Tree
Reason: One of my favourite QOTSA songs and Mark Lanegan is one of my favourite singers of all time. Seeing him at Academy 3 in Manchester was one of the best gigs I've ever been to!

Highlight Of The Day:A lovely day off.

Wednesday 28 November 2012

I Recommend: Cat Products

Cat Products

Cat Tower - For play time I would recommend getting as big a cat tower as you can afford. I got ours off eBay brand new and it was £50 including delivery! It's huge; around 1 meter wide and 5'7 in height. The cats love it as it has scratching posts, places to sleep and give them a good view when they sit on the top.

Whiskas Kitten Pouches - When we first got Asami we had to decide what we wanted to feed her. I picked Whiskas as a brand because I liked the choice of flavours and feel it's really good value for money. I also like the fact that they come in different varieties; there's meat in gravy, steamed fish and grilled meat/fish as well as the usual 'in jelly' styles of food. I feel that this stops the kitties from having the same old food every day. I also use their kitten dry food to compliment the pouches.

Whiskas Temptations/Crunch - I like these as they're designed to compliment the flavours of the wet food. I think it's good to encourage the cats to eat a range of textures and keeps their food interesting. I don't put these with every meal, but give them every few meals to keep them interested. I also love the little packets the come in as they're shaped like a cats face complete with little ears!

Lead & Harness - As we are keeping our cats as house cats, we decided to train them to go outside using a small harness and a lead. So far Asami has no problems with the harness but isn't sure what to do when she's outside or on the lead yet. If it works it'll be good that they can go outside when I can supervise them and know they're safe, but if not we'll just have to spoil them more indoors.

Toys - Asami and Draco have a lot of toys. Some are proper cat toys, some are things they've found round the house and just like. Current favourites include; balls with feathers, a ball that makes bird tweet sounds when it's rolled, part of a makeup brush, a small mouse and a long furry snake on a stick. They adore anything with feathers and fluffy bits, but don't seem to like the toys with jingly bells in. I try and buy toys that are more on the heavy duty side as cheap items seem not to even last for an hour.

Dreamies - Probably the kitties favourite thing on this list! Just like the adverts, the cats actually go mad for dreamies! They come in a good range of flavours and are really well priced. I give them these when I'm about to go out or when they need a bit of attention or distracting.Their faces when they crunch them are adorable!

Webbox Lick-e-Lix - I only bought this for the first time a couple of weeks ago but it's a really good treat. Different to biscuits or wet food, it's like a mousse. Asami really loves it so I will be buying it again.

I also love:
* A good cat brush - Really good for the fur and makes them purr!
* Cardboard boxes  - A kitten's favourite hiding place
* Kittten milk - A yummy change from water
* Clumping Cat Litter - Easier to clean on a day-to-day basis and the soiled part all sticks together!

Tuesday 27 November 2012

Photo Every Day #332

So today was day 30 and my last day before a day off!! Hallelujah! I can't wait to just take it easy! Although it's looking like I have to do the big shop tomorrow which is depressing. The cats have been fighting like crazy this evening. I can't quite tell if it's playing or actually fighting. Asami has been jumping on Draco and tackling him. He's been making growling sounds but keeps going looking for her. They're mad! We've had to seperate them until they calm down or someone loses an eye. Draco already scratched me on the face earlier because he thought I was Asami.

Bad Books For Bad Kitties:
Bad Books For Bad Kitties

Song Of The Day: Aesthetic Perfection - Spit It Out
Reason: Class tune!

Highlight Of The Day: Getting a couple more bookings under my belt at work.

Monday 26 November 2012

Photo Every Day #331

I finally managed to sort myself some days off! Roll on Wednesday!! My parents came over today to see little Draco, he seemed to take a shine to my Step Dad and sat on him for most of the time they were here. I've also been online xmas shopping, or at least attempting to. Instead I've been looking at furniture on Not On The High Street which has some really nice, different things on. Now we're jsut waiting for our Chinese takeaway to arrive then it's off for an early night (again).

Nearly Friends:
Nearly Friends

Song Of The Day: Queens Of The Stone Age - You're So Vague
Reason: Really wish I'd gone to see them when they toured last, they were amazing when I saw them at Leeds Festival in 2006

Highlight Of The Day: Knowing that the days off are coming!

Sunday 25 November 2012

Photo Every Day #330

So today was my 28th day of working with no days off! I'm exhausted. I feel mentally and physically drained, I can't concentrate properly and I certainly can't stop yawning! Never again will I complain about having a long week when I've worked a measly 5 out of 7 days.

Don't Leave Me Mummy:
Don't Leave Me Mummy

Song Of The Day: Avenged Sevenfold - Beast & The Harlot
Reason: Haven't listened to them in so long, great song and amazing album.

Highlight Of The Day: It being time to go back to bed.

Photo Every Day #329

Today I sold my first voucher at work! I seem to be doing quite well seeing as I've only been there since the start of the month. It's also nice that I work with fellow cat owners, which means I can share my photos of Asami and Draco and get to see their cute kitties too! Asami has been a bit better with Draco today, she's not hissing or bopping as much, but does like to watch and follow him 90% of the time. She's also been way more cuddly and attention seeking than usual which is nice as it means she'll actually sit still and be stroked and picked up for more than 30 seconds!

Ginger:
Ginger

Song Of The Day: James Arthur - Let's Get It On
Reason: Such a good rendition! Very suave!

Highlight Of The Day: Selling my first voucher.

Friday 23 November 2012

Photo Every Day #328

Today my friend gave me my (late) birthday present. It was worth the wait as she got me some new plugs which I've wanted for a while now. They've got little cartoon skulls on and they're wearing pink glittery bows! They're very cute and girly; they also remind me of Brody Dalle's arm tattoo, which is a skull and cross bones wearing a bow with the words 'fuck off' above/below it. Brody is one of my all time female idols so I feel like I'm pinching a bit of her style!

Girl Skulls:
Girl Skull

Song Of The Day: Kylie Minogue - Timebomb
Reason: It's used on the TOWIE advert and keeps getting stuck in my head! I don't know the words so I'm just stuck with the basic tune.

Highlight Of The Day: A dinner date with my girlfriends

Photo Every Day #327

So today we gave kitty a name! He's now called Draco, I personally just love the name! It means a few different things in different contexts. For example, it Latin it is used to reference to a dragon and in Greek it refers to a large serpent. Draco was also the first lawmaker in Ancient Athens in 650BC and he imposed extremely harsh, severe laws which is where the term Draconian Law comes from. It also refers to a constellation of stars in the shape of a snake. Draco is also the name of a character in the Harry Potter series.

The most interesting reference that I could find however, is that Draco is one of the names of the hounds in Ancient Greek mythology. The basic story, although there are several versions, see Actaeon come across the beautiful woman, Artemis, bathing in the woods whilst out hunting. Artemis is often described as the goddess of the hunt, wild animals, the wilderness, virginity and childbirth, and in Classic Greek mythology she is Zeus and Leto's daughter and sister of Apollo. After Artemis catches Actaeon staring at her naked body, she forbids him to speak. He sees his hunt party in the distance and tries to cry out to them, but by speaking, breaks Artemis' command and turns into a stag. His dogs (sometimes told as Artemis' dogs) then not recognising them as their master proceed to attack and maul him to death, devouring him as they would any wild animal.

Draco:
Draco

Song Of The Day: Metallica - Nothing Else Matters (Acoustic)
Reason: Beautiful song and is even more amazing done acoustically.

Highlight Of The Day: Naming little Draco!

Thursday 22 November 2012

Photo Every Day #326

Today we got a new baby! A gorgeous little black kitten. He's only 9 weeks old, the same age we got Asami at and we're hoping they'll be playmates. So far Asami is trying to establish her dominance and keeps hissing at him and trying to bop him. We stop her when he's being harassed but when they're apart they're fine. He's already really confident and cuddly; he's sat next to me in bed having a snuggle and keeps climbing onto my chest and shoulders. He's got beautiful eyes, they're a grey-blue-green kind of colour which is lovely. It's difficult to get a nice photo as he's all black and tends to look like a blob or a shadow. He doesn't have a name yet as we're still deciding!

New Baby:
New Baby

Song Of The Day: Plan B - Playing With Fire
Reason: Another great song that actually say some truthful facts about our society.

Highlight Of The Day: Getting our new addition.


Tuesday 20 November 2012

Photo Every Day #325

Something I found in the paper that really sums up mine and the boy's relationship!!!

Relationship Summary:

Relationship Summary

Song Of The Day: Queens Of The Song Age - Song For The Deaf
Reason: One of the best albums I've ever listened to by one of my favourite bands ever

Highlight Of The Day: Realising that I do really enjoy being at my new job.

Monday 19 November 2012

Photo Every Day #324

Just a quick one as I'm really starting to feel exhausted. It's my 22nd day in a row of being at work and I'm desperate for a break! We had a nice Costa on my lunch today though, so it's all good.

Costa Treats:
Costa Treats

Song Of The Day: Slipknot - Wait & Bleed
Reason: Old school classic.

Highlight Of The Day: A nice lunch break with the boy.

Sunday 18 November 2012

Photo Every Day #323

Tomorrow we are having a house inspection from the RSPCA as we are getting a second kitten!! We're getting a little black male so that Asami has some company. I'm so excited, but slightly nervous that the fact we're moving soon will put them off. Hopefully Asami will be well behaved and will show how nicely we look after her and how much we spoil her with too many treats!!

Dreamies:
Dreamies

Song Of The Day: The Saturdays - All Fired Up
Reason: I've listened to it about a dozen times in work today, it is a song that makes it easy to want to dance to it though.

Highlight Of The Day: Cleaning up the flat properly.

Photo Every Day #322

Today at work I booked my first client in! I think I did everything properly and remembered all of the important bits at least. I'm starting to feel a lot more relaxed and settled there too now, so I'm really enjoying it. We also gave the rat's cage a good clean out and have changed the set up so that they have a bit of a change of scenery. Asami wasn't happy that we were trying to clean the cage rather than pay her attention and kept climbing into the cage!!

Asami Pretending To Be A Rat:
Asami Pretending To Be A Rat

Song Of The Day: T-Spoon - Sex On The Beach
Reason: Really awful cheesy song, but someone mentioned it on Facebook and now it's stuck in my head!

Highlight Of The Day: Good day at work.

Saturday 17 November 2012

Photo Every Day #321

Tonight we had what I refer to as rubbish takeaway. This generally refers to food such as burgers, kebabs, chips and the like which are as cheap as anything. The phrase 'you get what you pay for' is heavily involved in the experience too. They generally have no taste and are literally just to fill an empty stomach after drinking. Anyhow, sometimes it's nice to eat utter crap in order to appreciate nice food.

Rubbish Takeaway:
Shit Takeaway

Song Of The Day: Nine Inch Nails - Right Where It Belongs
Reason: Beautiful lyrics.

"What if all the world's inside of your head,
Just creations of your own?
Your devils and your gods,
All the living and the dead
And you're really all alone?
You can live in this illusion.
You can choose to believe"


Highlight Of The Day: Well not a highlight as such, but giving our manager a good send off as she starts her maternity leave. Sad to see her go, but super happy that she's having the baby she wants so much.

Friday 16 November 2012

Photo Every Day #320

Today I went to my Dad's house to look over some information that we got from the solicitors to do with the house. He had bought me 4 jars of perinaise!!! Yummy! One of my favourite things to eat. We're making a lot of progress with the house, we're starting to pay and sign things and it's all getting a bit complex! But hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.

Peri Tower:
Peri Tower

Song Of The Day: Aesthetic Perfection - The Great Depression
Reason: Adore the song and album, fantastic lyrics and music which doesn't often happen!

Highlight Of The Day: Learning about telesales at my new job!

Thursday 15 November 2012

Photo Every Day #319

So today I finally started my xmas shopping! Mostly just for the boy's family so far but it's still a start!! We're trying to do all our xmas shopping on a super tight budget this year since we're still in the process of buying the house so I'm feeling a bit like I'm doing a bad job. I usually spent more time thinking about what to get but as I'm limited by cost and time I feel I've picked rather bland gifts! Still, hopefully they'll at least get used or appreciated.

Christmas Spectacular:
Christmas Spectacular

Song Of The Day: Amelia Lily - You Bring Me Joy
Reason: Love this song, she's really talented and I'm glad she didn't win the X Factor as I reckon she stands a better chance of success now.

Highlight Of The Day: Finally starting my xmas shopping!

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Photo Every Day #318

Today is an update on the boy's foot! He's able to walk a lot better on it now but it is quite badly bruised now!

Bruised:
Bruised

Song Of The Day: Debs Xmas Advert Theme
Reason: It plays every two seconds in work and reminds everyone of Harry Potter! Wands (hangers) at the ready!

Highlight Of The Day: A relatively stress free day at both jobs, albeit a super exhausted feeling throughout. I've done 2 and a half weeks in a row though with no days off and I think I'm finally getting a day off next week!

Monday 12 November 2012

Photo Every Day #317

Tonight we have had one tired kitty on our hands! So that makes two of us who are desperate for sleep!

Tired Kitty:
Tired Kitty

Song Of The Day: Adam Ant - Prince Charming
Reason: Reminds me of the good times

Highlight Of The Day: Homemade battered chicken for tea.

Sunday 11 November 2012

Photo Every Day #316

We went shopping a few days ago and came across this forgotten gem! I used to eat this all the time at uni, just straight from the jar. I don't really fancy the idea of eating it on toast like it says to do on the back. However, I am going to put a big dollop of it in my Cadbury's fudge hot chocolate next time I have a cup!! Yummy!

Fluff:
Fluff

Song Of The Day: Kelly Clarkson - I Do Not Hook Up
Reason: Purely for the reason that it was stuck in my head before and I couldn't remember the lyrics/song title. I kept thinking it was 'I do not put out', but that's probably a bit too British a phrase.

Highlight Of The Day: Peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks! Nom!

Saturday 10 November 2012

Photo Every Day #315

Today's PED is of my new favourite drink! Fudge flavour hot chocolate!! It's amazing!! Good old Cadbury's.

Cadbury's Fudge Hot Chocolate:
Cadburys Fudge Hot Chocolate

Song Of The Day: Psy - Gangnam Style
Reason: Just saw his live performance on The Jonathan Ross Show and it was awesome! Cracking tune!

Highlight Of The Day: Having a bit of a relax whilst online furniture shopping

Friday 9 November 2012

Photo Every Day #314

Today we went out to East Orient Chinese Buffet restaurant as our manager is leaving to have a baby! I'm gutted that she's leaving but I do love social events with everyone outside work. We all ate loads, so we definitely got our monies worth!

Work Buddies:
Work Buddies

Song Of The Day: Olly Murs - Trouble Maker
Reason: Love this song!! So catchy!!

Highlight Of The Day: Being with my work friends!

Thursday 8 November 2012

Photo Every Day #313

Today we got round to cleaning Asami's ears with the cleaner that the vet gave us. We have to do it once a day for seven days in a row which she will probably hate us by the end of. Her poor little legs were flailing everywhere and she kept trying to flatten her ears down so I couldn't put the nozzle in. We did manage to get quite a bit of wax out so that's good. She doesn't look like she has ear mites at all now as most of the black stuff is gone, it's just sort of a yellowy brown wax that's left. I think she has a fairly big wax build up due to the fact she has such tiny ear canals! The vet couldn't even get the tool down her ear to see her ear drum on one side! She has grown a fair bit since we got her though and she seems even longer in the body.

Watching:
Watching

Song Of The Day: Psy - Gangnam Style
Reason: Such an amazing song! Proper party song plus excellent dance moves!

Highlight Of The Day: Getting two shifts, totaling 14 hours in a row with only a 15 minute break, out of the way!

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Photo Every Day #312

Today's PED is of a yellow snail I found stuck to the side of the post boxes. The post box seems to be the best place for strange stuff at the moment! It's not a great photo as I was trying to take it quickly so my neighbours didn't think I was a crazy loon. Pixie also came for a visit and I furthered my photography research.

Yellow Snail:
Yellow Snail

Song Of The Day: Mindless Self Indulgence - Shut Me Up
Reason: Reminds me of the good old nights out in Star at Leeds Met SU. Good times, great people.

Highlight Of The Day: Opening 2 accounts at work! My 3rd for the week already plus our department is having a great week in general.

Photo Every Day #311

So today was my first Tuesday in my new job (straight after a shift at Debs!), it's going well, I seem to be picking everything up and I've met everyone now! I'm starting to get tired and it's only day 8 out of 25 but we'll see how we go.

In other news, we bought Asami a little harness and lead. She doesn't seem to mind the harness at all, but wasn't quite sure what to do when she's on the lead. We did take her outside but she didn't seem to like it at all! She just tried to crawl back towards the door. But it was only her first walk so we did quite well considering.

Asami's First Walk:
Asamis First Walk

Song Of The Day: Slipknot - Vermillion Part 2
Reason: Stunning song, very different to their other songs


Highlight Of The Day: Being a proud kitten Mummy.

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Photo Every Day #310

Today's PED is of some surprise chocolates and flowers that they boy got me. They were delivered in a box and I really wasn't expecting them. It was a really nice gesture.

Surprise Flowers:
Surprise Flowers

Song Of The Day: Green Day - Walking Contradiction
Reason: I still love them. I'm not such a fan of their new stuff, but still love them as much as I used to.

Highlight Of The Day: Taking another step closer to owning our own house.

Sunday 4 November 2012

Photo Every Day #309

So I've finished my first weekend at my new job. I'm really enjoying it. I especially love working in the front reception area, it's so nice having so many photos and such a massive window to see out of. Again, everyone was really nice and are going out of their way to try and help me which is great. In other news, the boy's ankle is still mega swollen! I've never seen anything like it!

Puffy:
Puffy

Song Of The Day: Lana Del Rey - Ride
Reason: The video is superb!

Highlight Of The Day: The end of a long week...to start it all over again tomorrow!! Haha

Photo Every Day #308

Quick one as I'm now super tired! We've just had a trip to A&E as the boy had gone over on his ankle whilst playing badminton this morning. We did have the 'pleasure' of encountering some pure idiotic individuals.

The first, a scruffy man who asked reception to call him a taxi. Fair enough. The receptionist told him that there was a phone in the corner he could use. He said he didn't have any cash and could they pay for the call. The receptionist told him it was free to use for taxis. Then he said 'are you paying for it', the receptionist repeated that it was free. Then he say 'no I mean are you going to give me the money for my taxi'. He then proceeded to act like they were doing him a disservice by him having been there.

We then had 2 underage teen girls walking. They were clearly drunk and one girl 'couldn't remember how' she had cut her knee. The other girl was clearly there just so she'd have a story to show off and brag about to her other friends for the next few days. They spent the next 40 minutes making around 10 calls to friends, laughing and joking as loud as they could under a 'please turn mobiles off' sign.

Whilst we were waiting for xray to come get us, we could hear a man screaming as though he was being tortured, begging almost for his life. Once we came out of xray, there were around 4 police officers and a couple of criminals (one was crying and neither looked injured) sat in the waiting area.

When we got seen for the second time, we encountered the most miserable nurse I've ever seen (and I know some pretty miserable people sadly). Even when we tried to make a polite joke with her she couldn't even pretend to laugh. She didn't make eye contact with us once throughout and spoke with such a monotone voice. The one thing I hate is when people providing a service can't be bothered to use basic manners?! Maybe they should start trying to reform the NHS by teaching it's staff some basic manners...

It turns out the boy's ankle isn't broken though, just severely sprained. Which means a couple days off for him and me stealing his crutches. 

Swollen Ankle:
Swollen Ankle


Faking An Injury:
Untitled

Song Of The Day: Lana Del Rey - Lolita
Reason: Just in love with her and addicted to her music!

Highlight Of The Day: Nice first day at my new job (more on that tomorrow)

Saturday 3 November 2012

Film Review: A Bunny Girl's Tale (1999)

 A Bunny Girls Tale
 
A Bunny Girl's Tale is a short film which looks at the London based Playboy Club of the 1980s.

The film lacks any real direction. It is clearly such a vast and interesting subject matter and the director struggles to cover it in such a short space. By the end of the film I felt that I had merely heard a few anecdotes about the former bunny girl's experience at the club. The film really should have chosen to focus on one topic of interest, such as the unsolved murder of a bunny girl, rather than touching on one story to dash to the next.

Considering the film tries to claim that the bunnies were not glamourised prostitutes, the frequent use of dark, shadowy images almost seems to place emphasis on this negative point of view. A fair amount of the film shows an actress posing as a bunny run around doing a bit of a bizarre variety of poses and actions. As does the singing 'bunny girl' (I think this must have been PJ Harvey?) which really distracts from the piece and seems to be used just to fill up time. However, when the right archive footage is used it does work nicely along side the audio.

It's a shame this film didn't turn out well as it may have been a more interesting topic had more research and interviews been present.

Rating: 2/10

Friday 2 November 2012

Photo Every Day #307

So, today I can officially announce that I have a new job! It's at Venture Photography in Warrington. I'm going to be working on reception and meeting and greeting the customers who come in for photo shoots and viewings. Super happy that I'll be working in a more creative environment and it's a chance to try something new. Everyone I've met so far seems really nice so hopefully I'll just fit straight in. It's my first full day tomorrow and luckily one of my best friends is actually coming in with her family for a photo shoot! So it will be nice to see a familiar face and maybe have a bit of a practice on her. Because I'm starting immediately though it's ended up that I have to work the next 25 days in a row as I'm still at Debenhams too!! That's 170 hours until my next full day off! Just gotta keep chugging along and thinking of the pennies!! I'll have an update of how my first day went tomorrow!

Superkitty:
Superkitty

Song Of The Day: Natasha Bedingfield - Soulmate
Reason: A beautiful song

Highlight Of The Day: Having my induction meeting at my new job!

Thursday 1 November 2012

Photo Every Day #306

I wish this had been there yesterday so that it could have been my PED on Halloween. I came out this morning to find this pumpkin on top of our mail boxes! It's nice to think that someone wanted everyone to see it, especially since living in a block of apartments is usually quite anti-social.

Lantern:
Lantern

Song Of The Day: Lana Del Rey - National Anthem
Reason:Love this girl so much, my new favourite song of the moment.

Highlight Of The Day: Having a fellow kitten owner friend come and see Asami. Who promptly left the room and put herself to bed! How rude!

Photo Every Day #305

Another cat lady PED today. I have some good news that I can officially announce on Friday! So stay tuned!!

Cat Naps:
Cat Naps

Song Of The Day: Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl
Reason: Classic song! Had many a good night dancing to this.

Highlight Of The Day: The exciting news I received this morning.